“I want what I’ve wanted from the beginning. You, human, as you should have been from the day you were born.”
“I am human.” I seethed, but beneath my anger, fear coursed through me. A cold stab in the pit of my stomach.
Not again. I couldn’t let her do this to me. My throat dried up and I fought the urge to beg. Anything but that.
“Don’t be ignorant.” She waved her hands at the two men flanking her, and they approached me cautiously, as though I were a rabid animal.
This was the fight I’d been waiting for.
Before I could give my brain a chance to second-guess itself, I struck out. I flung a fire-coated blade into the chest of the first assailant and gripped the shoes of the second with my telekinesis, jerking them out from beneath him.
A smile spread across my face as he fell backward, landing on his ass, hard.
“You should know by now I don’t like being touched.”
My mother considered me for a moment, and then she turned to the switchboard again, her hand hovering over the button.
“Wait!” Shit. She was going to kill Melody.
“Why? You’ve proven you can’t be trusted. You’re an ungrateful, spoiled,brat with no regard for—”
“Ungrateful?” I spat the word. “What exactly should I be thanking you for, Mother? You kidnapped my friend. You’re torturing her. You want to torture me!”
Her fists curled at her sides. “Do you have any idea what I am offering you? A life without the burden of—”
“My abilities are not a burden. They make me who I am!”
“They make you an abomination!”
I staggered back at her words and flicked a glance at the two telekinetics standing beside her. The first leaned heavily against the wall, my blood coated dragger now resting in his palm and hate filling his gaze.
The other stood beside him, angry but otherwise unfazed. I looked for their reaction to my mother’s words.
If she thought I was an abomination, then the same could be said of them, but neither looked surprised or bothered by her omission. What was wrong with them? Were they so brainwashed they didn’t see her utter hatred for psykers? For anyone who was different?
I breathed heavily through my mouth. Think, Aria. Think.
I didn’t have a lot of options here. I was confident I had a fifty-fifty chance of taking down the two TKs in front of me. They likely had more training, but I was properly motivated.
I could kill my mother. Take her out of the equation first and see how they responded to her death.
But that still left the issue of Melody. With my mother dead, I’d have no way to drain the carbon tetrachloride, and if her body was already failing, then time was of the essence.
There was also the fifteen-minute window to take into consideration.
How much time had already passed?
But if I could find Dia, maybe she could port Melody out in time. I didn’t know how long it would take to break through the tank she was in and I didn’t know if a port could be executed in the fluid.
The glass looked to be several inches thick. Was it ballistic grade like the windows? Could a shifter break through it if I couldn’t find Dia in time?
But then Tweedledee and Tweedledum wouldn’t let my mother’s death go unchecked. How long would it take to bring them down, assuming I could?
I didn’t know and didn’t think I could risk it.
A quick glance at Melody showed her eyes already closing, her head shaking as she struggled to remain conscious. If she passed out, she would drown. The water was barely below her chin. If she lost control of herself, she’d faceplant in the liquid.
“What do I have to do?” I bit out the words and tasted bile in my mouth.
There was no other way. Not one that I could see, at least. Maybe if Inarus or Dia were here, one of them would be able to port her out in time, but I couldn’t. The risk of me severing her body in two was too high.
I’d only ever executed a port once, and the circumstances had been extreme. I hadn’t even been consciously aware of what I was doing and I hadn’t tried executing a port since.
“Hunter, Adams, get her ready.”
This time when the two men approached, I didn’t react. The first—Hunter—grabbed me none too gently by my left arm and steered me toward the metal table beside Melody’s tank. The table I’d missed when I’d first walked in. Panic washed over me and I fought to shove it done.
No. No. No. I closed my eyes and fought back a wave of tears.
I followed him, my legs suddenly hollow.
Adams reached for my other arm, and together they positioned me over the table and forcefully pushed me back. My mind screamed at me to get up. To fight back. But one look at Mel told me I couldn’t.
I sucked in a shuddering breath. Her life was worth more than mine. There was a chance I would survive this. I wouldn’t be me. But I could survive it. I had to believe that.
Metal bindings clamped over my wrists and I fought the wave of nausea that rolled through me at the thought of what was coming next.
My mother drew closer. She brushed a stray lock of hair away from my face. “Shhhh…. It will be over soon.”
I blinked furiously, refusing to give her my tears.
“I hate you,” I told her.
She jerked back as though I’d hit her but she didn’t release me.
Declan’s roar filled my ears but I didn’t know if the sound was real or just a figment of my imagination.
