They so weren't going to want to let her know anything about it.

"Sorry, I'm in the wrong area."

"No problem, come in."

She shook her head. "No, thanks."

Ian placed a warm rea.s.suring hand on the small of her back. She straightened, bolstered by his presence. "I've gotten lost and was looking for Sian."

The man, his black eyes sharp and a.s.sessing, smiled. "No problem. But this Sian of yours, he's not here." And he closed the door. In her face.

She swallowed hard, shock reverberating inside. They didn't know Sian? How was that possible?

"Please tell me that wasn't a wall of computer monitors in there."

"It was," Ian said grimly. "And I have no idea why."

They walked quietly down the hallway, both silent, both wanting to put some distance between them. At the end of the hallway, Wendy pulled out her cell phone and dialed Sian. No answer. c.r.a.p. She sent her a text anyway. Normally Sian was always reachable. Why does the fourth room on the left of floor six of the Council Hall have a room full of computers and monitors? Are they on our side?

She reached the double doors and pushed them open.

They wouldn't budge.

Ian lent his weight. The doors still wouldn't move. Puzzled, Wendy turned to look behind them at the long hallway. All the doors were closed as they'd been as they walked past. All the doors but one.

The one where the computer center had been.

They watched as the same huge man stepped out into the hallway, a second one right behind him. Side by side they walked down the hallway toward Wendy and Ian.

Only there wasn't a smile on their faces. In fact, they looked downright scary.

She mustered a smile. "Hey, this door is locked. Do you know how to open it?"

"If you don't have a code, you can't get through there."

The second man said, "No one goes in there."

"Why not?" Ian asked, stepping forward to slightly shelter Wendy. The way the men were looking at them made her want to hide. But there were two of them and only one Ian. Besides, he was tired and worn out too. He wasn't up to fighting both of these a.s.sholes.

"Okay then. We'll go back the way we came." Wendy plastered a bright smile on her face and went to walk forward. Instead of moving out of her way, the men shifted, a subtle movement that allowed them to cover the full width of the hallway. In other words, they weren't going to allow her to pa.s.s.

"c.r.a.p," she whispered.

Ian reached out and grabbed her hand and tugged her backwards slightly. She resisted, then accepted his lead. From a slightly more sheltered position, she watched as the two big men approached.

"What are we going to do?" she whispered.

"Get the h.e.l.l out of here," he answered slowly. "I'm getting a little tired of being knocked around, drugged, and getting my a.s.s kicked. It's time for a little payback."

The two men must have heard him as they stopped and looked at the two of them a little uncertainly. But they didn't say anything.

Wendy grinned. "Good. I'm really glad to hear that." She straightened and stepped up next to him. "Because I'm a little tired of you going through all of that, too. It's been a h.e.l.l of a week. I'll be happy to go home and rest. What about it, guys? Are you going to let us pa.s.s?"

The first man laughed. "If you can get past us, you can leave."

The second man snorted. "Look at the two of them. They're just kids."

"Oh, absolutely, we're young compared to you. But we also have friends in high places and you are so crossing the line right now." She felt justified in warning them, but a part of her hoped they ignored it. She almost wanted a fight.

What the h.e.l.l was wrong with her?

"It must be Tessa's influence," she muttered under her breath.

Ian heard her, and then as if understanding, he grinned at her. "Hey, don't feel bad, we're all changing with that girl around to show us the way."

"I'm all about picking the fight you want to win," Wendy said comfortably. "And making sure you can win the fights you start."

The two men snickered. "What fight is that? What the h.e.l.l kind of fight do you think you can give us? And who the h.e.l.l is Tessa?"

Ian's shocked laugh burst free. "You don't know Councilman Serus and Rhia, and you don't know their daughter Tessa?"

"That r.e.t.a.r.ded girl? What's she got to do with anything?"

"Oh, nothing," Wendy said, hating that Tessa was viewed in that light. "She's just responsible for bringing down Moltere's Mountain, shutting down the blood farm, taking the hospital and that's just the start."

The look on the men's faces was comical. Ian didn't wait for them to process the information. He up and kicked the first one in the jaw, then lunged forward and slammed his fist into the nose of the second man.

Both went down screaming.

Chapter 11.

Tessa sank deeper into the maze in her mind. On her left was the door to the highway Hortran had showed her. She needed to go down there sometime but not right now. She had to stay focused. And get Deanna into her place. Whatever that meant.

It was so weird to consider this concept. A few days ago she'd have laughed her head off. Now she was struggling to navigate the impossible mess in her mind. How was anyone supposed to do that?

This wasn't normal.

But she had to find a way. She turned so the highway access was at her back and surveyed the vast emptiness in front of her. The all-encompa.s.sing darkness. Nothing moved. No light shone to highlight objects or to cast shadows.

What was she to do with that?

With a deep breath, she called out, "Show yourself, Deanna."

Nothing moved.

"d.a.m.n it," she said. "Stop playing games. This is my body. My mind. You are a guest. Welcome only as long as you behave."

A ripple of laughter shifted through her consciousness.

d.a.m.n.

She frowned. Cody said deal with this and she wanted to, but she was at a loss as to how. She considered the things she'd learned to do so far. Trial by fire, so to speak. Maybe she only learned under duress. When it really counted.

"No, that would be silly. Everyone would prefer to learn while they had time not when the only option was learn or die."

Yes, her growth these last weeks had formed a pattern. But in truth, the pattern had been set by circ.u.mstances, not by choice. Now she was trying to settle this early before it became a life or death situation.

Too late, came a tiny whisper.

She froze.

Who said that?

"Deanna," she called out. "Is that you?"

Being inside her mind, it could have been her own inner thinking. No, that didn't make sense. She'd spoken to Hortran, Deanna, and Cody this way, but no one else. So her options were limited.

"Deanna, what are you doing?"

No answer.

She turned in a slow circle but couldn't see anyone. Then she stopped. What was she expecting to see? Deanna in person? Deanna in energy form? A ball of seething color? She didn't see much in her own mind at any time. Why was she giving Deanna a form when she no longer had one?

She closed her eyes and waited. She didn't know for what. There was a tiny brush. Then a longer stroke. She waited. It came again. Was it Deanna? She peeked through her lashes. A color wiped across her vision. She gasped. What was that?

Energy, of course. But whose? She watched it come back again then dance around her. A different color moved in then out. A blue color. She smiled. That was Cody's energy. She had no way to know how she knew that, but she did. As she identified one color, several others popped through her mind. Her father. Her mother. David. Seth.

"Seth?" She gasped in joy. Could it be? "Oh my, Seth. Is that you? Are you okay?" She fired off the questions, hoping for an answer. There wasn't one.

But his energy swarmed around, at a slower speed and alone, as if not quite there. She couldn't explain it. Cody's energy swirled around her in peaceful waves. Other energy darted and danced. Slowly she identified a few more. Her friends from school, Wendy and Jewel were there as well. Ian.

In fact, it appeared that every person she'd met recently appeared to be here.

How did that work?

As if the information was already there, the answer floated to the top. When she worked energy, she picked up energy from those she worked with. Sometimes they reached out for her energy hoping she'd save them, and sometimes they'd reach out for her energy looking to attack her.

In other words, she was carrying around bits and pieces of everyone she'd ever had contact with, and that meant a lot of energy given the healing work she'd done lately. There was a bright shiny energy that twisted and curled to the side. It looked different. She studied it for a long moment then laughed. Jared.

"Hey, Jared." The energy froze.

She gasped. Leaning forward, she whispered, "Jared, can you hear me?"

The creamy yellow line wiggled. She laughed incredulously. Surely not. But maybe...

She glanced down to see Cody's energy. She reached out and stroked it. "Cody, can you feel that?"

There was no answer, but the wave of blue undulated as if he did. Like a huge panther waiting to be stroked.

She giggled and did it again. The energy moved under her hand as if the panther reared his head and b.u.t.ted her fingers looking for more.

She sighed happily. She didn't know what this place in her mind was, but it was special. Her brother was here. She knew that meant he was still alive. For that, she was grateful. Her relationship with him had definitely taken a hit last time. She hoped they could save him. He'd been drugged, was likely still drugged.

A second energy hung around him. She studied the orange rust-colored energy and realized it wasn't so much dark and murky as it was slow, sluggish, as if not in full health. She studied the other energies around it. Most were spritely. Dancing or moving with spirit. Except that one. It had the same sluggish movements of her brother. Her heart sank and sadness crept through her heart. That was her beautiful caring mother.

She'd turned into a dragon with those d.a.m.n drugs. Did the sluggish movement now mean that the drugs were still coursing through her mother's system or did it mean energy, at the time it had come from her mother, had been drugged? Surely that was it.

The alternative was unacceptable. She kept a careful eye on her mother and brother, wishing they'd stick together. Instantly the two energies slammed up against each other.

"Oops," she whispered. "Did I do that?"

The energies stayed locked together. She couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not. Could the two communicate? If they could, was that a good thing?

There were too many unknowns.

She looked over at Jared. If he could hear her and Cody could sense her, was she able to communicate with everyone here? Was this like a major communication hub?

And if so, how could she use that?

Was Deanna here? Did Tessa have access to all the energies of those people she'd communicated with? She hoped not. That would be way too much energy.

Besides, she downloaded Deanna's memories and information. Surely she didn't download Deanna's everything?

She groaned. There has to be a way to make this all go away.

Instantly her mind went blank. The colors were gone in a nanosecond.

The enormity of the shift left her shaking. Where had her friends and family gone?

Please return those that I just sent away.

And immediately her world filled with color.

She curled up in a small ball, letting shudders ripple down her spine. And d.a.m.n if Cody's energy didn't wrap around her. Tears came to her eyes. What would she do without him? She hoped to never find out.

Suddenly afraid of her new ability to have thoughts create a world in her mind on command, she knew that she'd have to control her thoughts or could easily lose something special someone special. She was afraid that even thinking like that was the same thing. She peeked from under her lashes and stared around. It looked the same. So she hadn't damaged anything.

This time.

Good. Feeling slightly better, she straightened her shoulders. "Look, I don't mind having all of you around as long as you don't interfere in my world more than I want you to. So if you do what I allow you to do then fine, you can stay. If not, you'll have to leave."