‘No, I was planning on running the base operation here on Frujia,’ he argued.
‘With Amie going into space for an indeterminate duration of time?’ Taren suggested he might want to rethink his future.
Swithin served Taren a sideways glance. ‘You’re a real busybody, you know that?’
‘No,’ Taren disagreed, ‘I just have more foresight than most.’
‘Is that right?’ Swithin liked what she was implying although he had a bone to pick. ‘Well, if you have so much foresight, then why haven’t you figured out that my brother is crazy about you?’
‘I have figured that out,’ Taren said. ‘And we plan to marry this afternoon, if you’ll be our witness.’
‘What the fuck?’ Swithin was bowled sideways and then figured she had to be joking. ‘You’re shitting me, right?’
Taren shrugged. ‘Talk to Lucian, it was his idea.’
‘That’s really great news,’ he lied through his teeth, ‘I just need to speak with Luc a sec.’ Swithin, concerned that his little brother might be rushing into something, began to run toward home.
‘He’s at my place.’ Taren called after him as he raced off down the beach path road to their project units.
Lucian answered Taren’s front door and found his brother panting in the doorway. ‘Have you fucking lost your mind?’ Swithin queried as he gripped both of Lucian’s shoulders and forced him back inside.
‘I gather that’s your way of congratulating me?’ Lucian made light of his brother’s distress.
‘One date and that’s it?’ Swithin reasoned.
Lucian grinned, having experienced several lifetimes in that one date. ‘I know it seems sudden —’
‘Sudden!’ Swithin stressed the understatement. ‘You barely look at a woman in a hundred years and now you want to marry this one after one date?’
‘That just goes to show you how sure I am.’ Lucian wasn’t fazed by his brother’s lack of support.
‘Sure, okay, she’s a great lay, I get it,’ Swithin reasoned, ‘but marriage is a little extreme, don’t you think?’
‘I can get someone else to be a witness.’ Lucian found his attitude tiresome. ‘But you’re the only family I have, so I’d rather it were you.’
Swithin cringed, tortured between his own fears and pleasing his brother. ‘Well, Taren is a great catch, and if she makes you happy then, whatever …’ He threw his arms up in the air. ‘Guess we’re going to a wedding this afternoon.’
Lucian smiled, appreciating his brother’s support, despite his reluctance to give it.
‘You dumb bastard.’ Swithin grinned sincerely. ‘Give me a hug.’
It was a long time since Swithin had hugged Lucian, and he was even a little surprised by how emotional he was. It wasn’t until Swithin began to waver in his stance that Lucian realised that his brother was being overpowered by the protective stone, and so Lucian let him go. ‘Are you all right?’
Swithin staggered back to a seat, holding his head as he did so. ‘I’ve been having dizzy spells the past couple of days.’
‘It’s symptomatic of your condition,’ Taren fibbed as she entered through the open doorway.
‘Why, you’re not pregnant are you?’ Lucian joked, and Swithin served him an unamused expression.
‘Well, if you’re both determined on getting married today …’ Swithin, having recovered his sensibilities, raised himself. ‘I’d best go take a shower.’
‘Amie is welcome to come,’ Taren suggested on his way past her to the door.
‘Provided she’s still talking to me,’ he chided.
‘And you her,’ Taren commented.
Swithin was puzzled by the comment, but did not linger to question it.
Out of her mind with worry, Amie was so relieved when Swithin walked through the door that she ran and flung her arms around him. ‘I’ve been so worried.’
Swithin gave a laugh, genuinely surprised by the reception. ‘I thought you would have run a million miles by now.’
Amie pulled back to look him in the eye. ‘No, I couldn’t —’ She noticed his eyes struggling to remain open and quickly led him to a seat, and made him sit.
‘I’m sorry, babe, I keep getting these giddy spells.’ He nursed his head a second.
‘I know all about the dizzy spells and I have a cure.’ Amie held up the piece of stone that Taren had given her for Swithin. ‘Apparently, it’s Phemorian, and besides shielding you from being found or manipulated by other psychics, it prevents you passing out when you come into contact with someone else who is wearing one of these.’
Swithin was completely stunned a moment, and did not touch her offering. ‘What are you saying, that you —’
‘— have a Power.’ Amie completed his query with a nod as she kneeled down in front of him. ‘I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid that if you found out you’d disown me.’ She held her breath as she awaited his reaction, which was looking like it might be rage, but he gave a large exhale before he spoke.
‘I know a bit about that.’ He couldn’t bring himself to be mad at her.
‘Still, I fear that allowing you to be intimate with me has triggered your own dormant power,’ she confessed, and again Swithin looked betrayed. ‘I swear I didn’t know that could happen, or I would never have allowed you to get close.’
Swithin had bowed his head to process her confession and when he looked up his expression gave no indication of his resolve. ‘I would have hated that more than this,’ he stated.
‘Really?’ She was hard pressed to believe him, but his claim brought tears to her eyes just the same. ‘So you’re not mad at me?’
‘I’m furious,’ he told her calmly, ‘but it will pass.’ He grabbed hold of the stone in her hand and then kissed her to test her claim. ‘You’re right, that is much better.’
‘Got to love those Phemorians.’ She beamed with happiness.
‘I have a whole new appreciation for their culture,’ Swithin assured her and they kissed, until the encounter became heated. ‘Do you think we could move this to the shower?’
‘Okay,’ Amie agreed with a grin, ‘any particular reason?’
‘Because we have to attend my brother’s wedding this afternoon.’
Amie was gobsmacked. ‘After one date?’
‘I know, it’s absurd.’ Swithin took her envy for an objection.
‘I think it’s romantic,’ she corrected, and Swithin rolled his eyes.
‘You don’t want to get married,’ Swithin appealed in all honesty, ‘especially to a guy like me.’
‘So sure about that, are you?’
The look of revelation on Swithin’s face made Amie realise that his resistance came not from being opposed to the idea, but from a lack of self-esteem. ‘I was pretty sure.’ Swithin raised both brows to reconsider, now that the idea had been planted.
‘Ever heard the old saying, fortune favours the brave?’ She climbed off him and headed for the shower. When she chanced a glance back at Swithin he was grinning to himself, and Amie felt a burst of joy shoot through her heart.
She’d doubted Taren’s forecast that they would marry, because Amie had known when she’d met Swithin that he was a bad boy and not the marrying kind. But since working together, she’d watched him discover a keen interest in oceanography and now that they both had a secret to keep, they seemed even more fated to be together.
Amie stripped and climbed into the shower, considering that what had begun as one of the worst days of her life, was turning out to be one of the best; and she had one person to thank for it. She’d thought Dr Lennox was a complete bitch when she’d first met her, and she couldn’t have been more wrong. A true friend. The thought brought a sentimental tear to Amie’s eye; she’d never had one of those before — at least not a friend who knew what she truly was. And now I have two. She turned as Swithin joined her in the shower. He hugged her close and kissed her with passionate intent, before pulling away to look her in the eye again.
/> ‘I’d hate for you to think I am a heartless coward, so …’ He raised his brows in question as he summoned the courage to ask. ‘Would you consider marrying a guy like me?’
‘No,’ she teased, ‘not a guy like you. But I’d marry you in a heartbeat.’
He smiled and, both petrified and thrilled by his spontaneous decision, he lifted her up and kissed her.
As Amie wrapped her legs around him, and they backed up to the shower wall, kissing and squirming in an emotional frenzy, she felt more liberated and joyous than she had been since she graduated college.
Soon after that Amie had been discovered, secretly recruited and controlled by Khalid. She had not truly made a decision of her own choosing in decades, but she was free to do as she wanted now and she intended to take advantage of that, however short-lived her new freedom may be. She had not tested the power of the Phemorian stone in Khalid’s personal presence, so she could not be sure Taren’s claim of protection was true. But she was free of her sleeper encoding and Khalid had not shown up unexpectedly lately. She was hoping his absence meant that the stone was making it more difficult for him to locate her.
I’ll never be his again, she decided, once I make a marriage vow I intend to honour it.
Khalid had visited with his father several times, feeding him victims to enhance his psychic sight.
The MSS database had proved useless in tracking down Mythric Zeon or Starman’s rock star girlfriend, who had also disappeared off the face of the earth. Mythric Zeon had worked for the MSS in the past, but all his files had been wiped from the database, along with all information about his team mates and their missions — Khalid suspected Chief Ronan had disposed of the files before he’d resigned.
Chironjivi had completely gorged himself on the terror of rape, torture and murder. However, it didn’t seem to matter how many women and girls they sacrificed to the bloodlust of the angry mob of phantoms, they were still no closer to finding a lead that might direct them toward this infamous boss — that even Anselm aspired to know.
‘Face it, son, you killed the only link.’ The captain was looking far more like a living human being after a good injection of life force.
‘I only got to listen to the intel tapes after I’d ordered his assassination, or naturally I would have tortured him first,’ Khalid replied.
‘Well, you shouldn’t be so quick to snuff out the competition,’ his father jeered.
‘Starman’s partner didn’t die in that crash!’ Khalid grumbled. ‘Yet all trace of Mythric Zeon has mysteriously vanished from existence!’
‘That must be an alias, as the name conjures no image for me at all!’ Chironjivi was perplexed.
‘Yes, so you’ve said,’ snarled Khalid, bored with the conversation.
‘Something very odd is happening …’
‘Get the fuck outta here, you don’t say?’ Khalid was exasperated.
‘… all those in the outer world you’ve asked me about, I can perceive nothing but light when I seek them.’
‘I think you are losing your skills, old man.’ Khalid was very disappointed.
‘You can’t find them either,’ his father hissed back, ‘are you losing your Power also? Or is someone playing games with us?’
Khalid was considering dismembering his father and being done with this messy charade, but it did seem a coincidence. ‘Maybe we’re chasing ghosts?’ he conceded — that’s what it usually meant when his father couldn’t perceive someone. ‘Spyridon is most likely dead. Valoureans may have murdered the ex-chief of the MSS?’
‘If someone is dead, I see only darkness,’ his father spoke up. ‘But the light around these people is blinding! The light field around their bodies should stand out like infected balls on that new gadget you’ve developed.’
‘There are very few of that prototype in existence. It will be sometime yet before every MSS agent carries one, and we’ll only have jurisdiction to use them on Maladaan. That gives these light fuckers at least three other planets to hide on!’
‘There’s always the Dowager Duchess Vidor?’ His father was digging deep in search of leads now. ‘There isn’t a whole lot that goes on in the psychic world that she doesn’t know about.’
‘Dear old Nanny.’ Khalid smiled from the sheer joy that the thought of tormenting her stirred in him. ‘Yes … I really should drop by and pay her a visit. Something, or someone is protecting these fugitives and Maiara could know the source. All I need to do is find one light fucker to discover their method and devise a means to impede them all.’
‘We could abduct Anselm?’ Chironjivi managed to grin without his face cracking. ‘Anselm obviously knows something.’
‘The most powerful man in the United Systems, have you lost your mind?’ Khalid considered the carnage around him, some of which was dripping from his father’s person. ‘No need to answer that.’
‘He’s just a man.’ Chironjivi was all for the idea. ‘Think about it. If Anselm went missing, Sermetica would remain anti-psychic, and Frujia would go with the majority — two fewer planets to hide out on, and Phemorians won’t give citizenship to men.’
‘Now that I am no longer his viceroy and living on another planet, that does give me a fairly air-tight alibi.’ Khalid had to concede that there was really no reason why he couldn’t abduct and murder his ex-superior. ‘And Anselm is so slack with personal security that it really won’t be hard. That will leave Sermetica looking for a new president and the United Systems looking for a new chairman.’ Khalid smiled sincerely for the first time in days.
The day had exceeded all expectation and Taren could not have imagined a more idyllic way to wed if she’d planned the event for eons! Lucian and herself, Swithin and Amie, went to the local registry and after two short ceremonies, and a couple of signatures each, they retired to a five-star restaurant by the ocean to celebrate.
It was very rare that Taren ever drank alcohol, but she had agreed to a glass of bubbly — which seemed to have been constantly full all evening, despite her attempts to make a dent in the level.
‘So then,’ Lucian challenged Swithin over dessert, ‘if I’m a stupid bastard for wanting to get married, what does that make you?’
They all had a chuckle at Swithin’s expense and he bowed his head to concede his earlier error. ‘In just one day,’ he raised his gaze again, ‘my view of a whole lot of things has changed. And I have to say … the future is looking a whole lot brighter.’ His eyes came to rest on Amie and she clinked her glass against his.
‘Here’s to that.’ Lucian raised his glass to Taren, who reached for hers and knocked it over.
‘Steady on there.’ Swithin bumped Amie aside in their booth to avoid the spill.
‘Sorry,’ Taren mumbled, and feeling giddy she gripped her head. ‘Oh no.’
‘Is it the champagne?’ Lucian queried, concerned, as Swithin and Amie knew nothing about Taren’s talents.
‘I don’t think so.’ She felt Lucian’s arm about her, and collapsed into him. ‘Get me home …’ She managed to utter, before she lost the struggle to keep her eyes open and they rolled back into her head, leaving only the whites exposed.
Before Swithin and Amie could get a good look at her, Lucian closed Taren’s eyelids.
‘What the —?’ Swithin queried and stood, concerned, as Lucian gathered Taren up in his arms. ‘Is she okay?’
‘What can we do?’ Amie was anxious also.
‘Enjoy the rest of your night,’ Lucian assured them, as he lifted Taren up to carry her out of there. ‘She’ll be fine, really, just exhausted I expect … we haven’t had a whole lot of sleep in the past few days,’ he said, and they both grinned, rather empathetic on that count. ‘Mind if I take the car?’
‘By all means,’ Swithin allowed. ‘But are you quite sure she doesn’t need a hospital?’
‘Never surer.’ Lucian backed away a few steps. ‘Congratulations again! See you in a few days.’ He turned and made for the doors, with his new bride in his arm
s and a panic in his gut. It wasn’t Taren getting caught in a prophetic trance that bothered him, so much as whatever future catastrophe she was currently being made privy to.
With Taren and Lucian’s sudden departure, Swithin and Amie decided to call it a night and caught a cab back to Swithin’s unit, to enjoy what little remained of their wedding night.
It was the wee hours of the morning before Swithin finally fell sleep and Amie found herself alone and wide awake. She was brimming with happiness; she’d felt so alone and vulnerable for so long and now she was part of a supportive unit that was only going to strengthen over time. The feeling was completely exhilarating and not at all conducive to rest.
So Amie rose from her warm comfortable bed to take a shower and as she turned on the taps, she felt a hand slide over her bare behind. She turned to reciprocate her husband’s affection and was startled to find Khalid standing behind her.
To her horror she realised that she was not wearing her Juju stone — it was still beside the bed! ‘How did you get in here?’
‘Don’t fret my little puppeteer, ’tis only I, your master, come to have dominion over you.’
As he pulled her closer, Amie had to restrain her urge to push him away. Khalid didn’t know her conditioning had been broken and if she wasn’t accommodating he’d figure it out fairly quickly. To make her repulsion less obvious, she slid away to close the bathroom door, and Khalid spotted the body in the bed.
‘Who’s the chump?’ he queried, as she shut the door.
‘Shh,’ she urged. ‘It’s my husband, Swithin Gervaise.’
Khalid gripped her by the hair and pulled her roughly toward him, and she bit her lip to prevent herself from crying out. ‘Who said you could get married?’
‘You told me to get in on the project,’ she hissed in a whisper. ‘Well, now I’m in. But not if he finds you in our bathroom!’
Khalid was obviously satisfied with her answer, as he let her go.
‘Meet you at the project offices in a few minutes?’ she suggested. ‘There won’t be anyone there this time of night.’