The Ashes of My Soul, page 16
“No. You know why.”
“I do know why.” I hated lying to her, but I had to convince her by any means. “Max is taking her out tonight. She’ll be gone at least three hours, more if Max can sweet talk her.”
Star sighed. “You know, I don’t trust Max after he told her I was here.”
“I told him off for that. He’s doing this as sort of an apology. He claims he’s doing it under protest, but I don’t think he wants to get any further on your bad side.”
“I’d think he’d be more nervous about getting on your bad side.” I blinked and stumbled. I didn’t know what she meant, but I didn’t like the implications. “But all right. As long as you make sure she’s off campus. Otherwise you’re going on my bad side.”
“Is that like your naughty list?”
“That’s a completely different thing and you know it.”
I grinned and paused outside the door to the dorm. “So you’ll come up?”
She let out another sigh. “Fine. If you’re nervous, I’m nervous. It’ll be nice to say hello to Drew too. When?”
“When do you get off work?”
“Half hour.” I already knew her hours and had scheduled everything accordingly. “I can come straight there if you’re really wound up. Otherwise I’d like to shower and change first.”
“That’s fine. If Grace is around, could you bring her as well?”
“I think so.” I also already knew Grace would be around. She’d make sure the schedule was kept from her end. “All right, so I’ll see you in about an hour? I’ll call before I leave. One last thing. Did you check with Absynthe first? Last I knew, I was banned from campus.”
Contacting Absynthe hadn’t crossed my mind. “I’ll do that now and let you know if there’s a problem.”
“Sounds like a plan,” she said, not knowing how right she was. “See you later, love you!”
“Love you,” I said. As soon as I got up to the room, I waved off the looks from Max and Drew. “One wrinkle. Give me a moment.”
My mind stretched out to find Absynthe. It took a moment to establish contact. “Yes, Kevin?” she asked. Her mental landscape looked the same as always, red and black and elegant.
“I wanted to check with you before we executed a plan.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Ominous.”
“Not anything to do with psionics, not directly, but I wanted to check with you on this. Star’s coming here tonight for a security sweep. I told her I felt like someone’s been watching me.”
“Ah,” Absynthe said. “You too?”
My train of thought nearly derailed. I’d only been using it as an excuse. I didn’t actually feel watched and I didn’t want to get Absynthe too interested. “A little. I figured better safe than sorry.”
She tapped red fingernails on the arm of her chair. “Truth be told, Kevin, I’ve been considering asking both of you about this. Our standard sweeps of the campus have been turning up some discrepancies in your building. We’ve been finding some sort of blind spot from time to time, but every time we try to focus on it, everything looks fine. Do you have any idea what it may be?”
I chose my words carefully. “I might, but Star should be able to verify for me. I’ll let you know.”
“I could help verify it as well.”
“No, that’s all right.”
She tapped her fingers again. “Some reason you don’t want me around?”
“Yeah. My fiancée is coming to visit while my roommates are out of the picture.”
Her hand stopped mid-tap. “Right. I don’t think there will be a problem, but I will notify the people on watch I trust. I can’t guarantee Alistair won’t find out, though.”
“Not too worried there,” I said.
“If you’re not, then I’m not either. All right. If anything happens, you know what to do.”
“Light a mindflare and run around screaming.”
“Exactly.”
We broke the mental connection and I refocused on the real world. “All right. Everything’s on track. I needed to check with Absynthe.”
Drew grinned. “Dude, this is some cloak and dagger shit. I can’t believe this is going to work.”
“Don’t count on everything going right,” Max said. “What if she gets cold feet at the last moment? What if Andreas’s stuff doesn’t work on her for whatever reason? What if she keeps an eye on us up here and sees me and Jess still around? Man, I don’t trust any sort of plan with this many steps and places where it could go wrong.”
I nodded. “I get it, but you also need to get used to it, because this is sort of how our powers operate. We can get away with these ridiculous plans because we cheat.”
Both of their grins twitched. “Sure,” Max continued. “But it’s hard to get into that mindset, you know? Maybe using your powers is second nature for you now, but I’m still struggling.”
“And I’m sitting here like a dumbass,” Drew said.
“Like?” Max asked.
I stood up as they started to take shots at each other. “I’m going to take a shower. Meet you guys in Andreas’s room?”
Ten minutes later, I walked into Andreas’s room without knocking and paused. Kaitlyn stood in the middle of the room, hands on her hips, and turned to face me as I walked in. “No,” she said.
“No what?”
“No, you’re not doing this here.”
Behind her, I saw Drew rolling his eyes and Max crossing his arms in an X. My sense of apprehension had lessened after talking to Absynthe, but now it returned with a vengeance. “Doing what?” I asked.
“Bringing your bitch here.”
“Hey.” The bedroom door flew open and Jess rushed out. “I don’t give a fuck how you feel about Kev, but you are not going to call my sister a bitch.”
Kaitlyn stepped back as Jess invaded her personal space. Andreas appeared in the doorway and rubbed his head. I made eye contact with him and we both nodded. “Everything all set?” I asked.
“Didn’t you hear me?” Kait snapped, turning away from Jess. “I said no.”
“Andreas already agreed,” I said.
“Without my permission.”
“Why the fuck does he need your permission to do shit in his own room?” Jess asked. She stepped toward Kaitlyn again, as aggressive as I’d ever seen her. “Kait, you are not going to fuck this up for me. If you don’t want to be a part of this, fine. Go back to our room. Go out somewhere. I don’t care, but you will not ruin this for me.”
Kaitlyn looked around the room. “Fine. I won’t ruin it for you. I see who’s more important here. We’ll talk later.” The last bit was directed toward Andreas, and I saw a slight frown crease his face.
As she stormed toward the door, I held an arm out. “Hold on.”
“Get out of my way.”
“I’m going to give you a choice, Kaitlyn,” I said. “I noticed how you said you wouldn’t ruin it. Emphasis on you. Nothing about someone else ruining things.”
Kaitlyn froze in front of me. “What are you implying?”
“I’m implying you’re going to walk out of here and tell Nikki.” Jess’s eyes went wide and Drew let out a low whistle. “So you have two choices. You can stay here, with your phone in Jess’s custody. Or, you can leave, with your memory tweaked.”
“Or I’ll walk out and do whatever the fuck I want, and I’ll call security if you try to stop me.”
I didn’t budge as she came face to face with me. “I said two choices, Kait. If you’re not staying here, I will wipe out this evening for you. One or the other.”
“You wouldn’t dare. Nikki would find out-”
“Of course she wouldn’t. You wouldn’t remember it to tell her, and she wouldn’t have any reason to check and see if your memory had been tampered with. Besides, what’s she going to do after the fact?”
Kaitlyn stepped back and glared. “That’s not fair.”
“I don’t play fair.”
“I know. You cheat.”
I didn’t give her the dignity of a response. “Jess, keep her phone so she doesn’t accidentally send a text to the bitch.”
“So you get to call Nikki a bitch, but I don’t get to call your girl a bitch?” Kaitlyn handed her phone over her shoulder to Jess, who was turning as red as her hair. “Double standards, much?”
“Absolutely,” I said. “Take a seat. Watch a movie. Chill. If you touch a phone or make for the door, remember, I’m faster.”
She whirled around, her hair almost whipping me in the face, and stormed over to Andreas. “These are the types of people you keep for friends?”
Andreas looked down at her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “I do not agree with the heavy-handedness, but you are ruining something for Jess simply because Kevin has been planning it.”
“I’m not ruining it!”
He gently turned her to look at Jess, who was still red-faced. “You are insulting her sister and upsetting her. Even if this is Kevin’s planning, it is for Jessica, your roommate and your friend.”
Kaitlyn pulled away from him and stormed over to the couch. “Fine. I’ll sit here and shut up and not make a fuss. Once she gets here, I can leave, right?”
“Not till after she does,” I said. “Wouldn’t put it past you to run straight to Nikki so she could intercept Star on the way back.”
“You don’t trust me a bit, do you?”
“You wouldn’t trust someone who hated you as much as you hate me.”
Her mouth twisted. “I suppose you have a point there.”
Once she flipped the television on, Andreas beckoned to me. “Please check our final preparations?”
I walked into his bedroom with Max and Jess. In the center of the room was a small device similar to the one that had temporarily blinded me. Psionic power didn’t exist within ten feet of it. I couldn’t manifest power within the radius, and I couldn’t sense anything within the bubble from the outside. I also got one hell of a headache if I stuck around for more than a couple of minutes. “Everything the same from last time?”
“A slight increase in signal oscillation to the secondary harmonic emitter,” Andreas said as if I understood.
“Absynthe has noticed,” I said. Andreas frowned. “She hasn’t figured out what it is, but it’s an anomaly on a psionic sweep. Quick sweeps are picking it up, but they can’t focus on it..”
“But you verified even on a deep focus at short range, you could not psionically sense anything within the field?”
“I couldn’t,” I said. “That doesn’t mean it’ll block everyone.”
“A risk we will need to take.” I nodded. We’d spent nearly every evening trying to figure out how to disrupt psionic phenomena in a defined area. When it got to the point where I couldn’t tell if anyone was in his bedroom, we’d called it complete.
“When are we turning it on?” Max asked.
I looked at my phone. “She’s going to call me before she leaves. When she does, you two head in there and chill. Should be about a half hour from then.”
Max glanced at Jess. “Think a half hour is long enough?”
“For what?”
“You know.”
She turned red again. “Don’t even think about it.”
Max grinned and we left the bedroom. Drew sat next to Kaitlyn on the couch, keeping her company while also keeping an eye on her. We made it halfway through a sitcom episode before my phone rang. I looked at my phone, made eye contact with Max and Jess, and nodded. They scurried into the bedroom while I headed for the door. “Hey!” I said as I walked into the hall. “You leaving now?”
“Yeah, we’re at the bus stop. You’re sure?”
“I’m sure,” I said.
She sighed. “All right. Bus is here. Going to meet us?”
I made it to campus in almost record time, even without psionic assistance. For my hurry, I was rewarded with over five minutes of waiting. When they stepped off the bus, I was restless enough to nearly charge them. “Easy, dear,” Star said as I gave her a hug. “I missed you too.”
Grace lifted her sunglasses up just enough to roll her eyes at me. Both of them wore sunglasses even though it was close to sunset. Star took my hand and we started walking back to the dorm. When we reached the place where I’d been jumped before, Star froze. I tugged on her hand, but she didn’t move, except for turning her head toward a house as we passed. “Grace, check it out.”
“That’s weird,” Grace said.
“Right?”
I wished I had thought to bring sunglasses. “What’s weird?”
“That house is throwing me off. There might be someone in there shielding from detection, but if they are, they’re next to perfect. I can see something in my peripheral vision, but it looks normal when I look right at it. Can’t tell what.”
The number of things happening to me on this hill were too many to be coincidental. “Do you want to break in?” I asked.
“No reason,” Star said. She squeezed my hand and started walking again. “It’s on your campus and it’s not a clear danger. We’ll let Alex handle it.”
I let her pull me forward and we walked all the way up to the dorm. Her grip on my hand was getting tighter and tighter as we got closer, until right outside the door, her grip got downright painful. “Sorry,” she said, suddenly releasing me. “Give me a moment. Set my mind at ease.”
“No problem,” I said. She’d look the building over, no doubt. I crossed my fingers and hoped the disruption devices were able to block her. I turned to look at Grace, but froze as my vision passed over the parking lot. Max’s car was in plain sight. I clamped my jaw in place. I’d told her about his distinctive car, but I couldn’t remember if she’d ever seen it in person. Hopefully she was too distracted to notice it. I finished my turn toward Grace and saw her looking at the same thing. When she turned to me, I lifted a finger to my lips before turning back to Star.
After another long moment, her shoulders dropped and she let out a sigh. “Thanks. All right. Let’s go.”
“Don’t trust me?” I asked lightly as I swiped us into the building.
“It’s not a question of trusting you. It’s a question of whether their plans stayed on track,” she said. “Jessy always complains about that.”
“It’s usually her fault more than his,” I said.
Star laughed a little. It sounded forced. “She always was stubborn.”
I led them into the twisty warren of halls and stairs called Carson Hall. With the odd design choices forced from being built on a hill, I’d gotten lost in the dorm an embarrassing number of times. Now, I knew the direct path and we were in front of my door before long. I knocked once and opened the door, waving them on ahead of me.
“Sup, Drew,” Star said, walking in and grabbing my computer chair like she’d been there a thousand times before.
“Sup yourself. How’d you stay so tan?” Drew waved as I shut the door behind us. “Grace, looking fine as always.”
“Nice of you to say so,” she replied, taking the only other chair in the room, leaving me to sit on a bed. “So, this is your hovel?”
“Hovel?” Drew looked at me. “Should I be hurt?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know what they’re expecting from a dorm room. Spoiled by living in apartments for so long, I’d guess.”
“I’ve seen worse,” Star said. “But I’ve seen much, much better too. So, how are you?”
“Getting by,” he said. “Between classes here and my EMT stuff, I’m pretty busy. Actually took tonight off since Kev said you were coming up.”
She looked to me and I shrugged. “You’re taking EMT classes?”
“Yeah.” He didn’t say anything more, just turned to look at his desk. I winced. He still had a picture of himself and Lisa in there.
Star seemed to grasp the situation in an instant. “It’s a good calling,” she said. “I think you’re doing a good thing, for yourself and for everyone else.”
“Yeah.”
Grace stood up abruptly. “Kev, did I see a vending machine in the lobby? I need a drink.”
I stood up too. “I’ll take you. You guys want anything?”
“Something to keep me awake,” Drew said.
“Same,” Star said.
I led Grace out into the hallway. As we reached the stairwell, she tapped my shoulder and made me stop. “Listen in,” she said quietly.
I closed my eyes and tapped my power to amplify my hearing and focus it on my room. Star’s voice became clear within a moment. “Can I be blunt, Drew?”
“I guess.”
I heard a shuffle as someone moved. “I never knew her, but I guarantee she wouldn’t be happy to see you like this. You have to think about moving on.”
“I know.” There was a long pause before Drew continued. “Doesn’t mean I’m ready yet.”
“Let me know when you are,” she said. “I’ll give you Grace’s number.”
“Bitch,” Grace whispered, but she was smiling. “Come on, that’s what I wanted to hear.”
I followed her down the stairs, then lead her toward the vending machine near the entrance. “You got a thing for him?”
She shrugged. “He’s nice to look at. I’d go on a date with him, but I don’t think I’m the type of girl he should date as his first step back in.”
I couldn’t think of anything to say in response. Grace’s self-awareness was miles beyond mine. We bought drinks and headed back. By the time we got back, Star was leaning back in my chair and smiling, while Drew had his typical grin drawn across his face. I tossed him his drink and we all resumed our seats. “I was thinking, while you were gone,” Drew said.
“The fire alarms didn’t go off, you liar.”
He looked to Star. “See? Max’s influence.”
“Tragic.”
He continued. “We should go see Andreas. He has actual furniture. Way more comfortable than here.”
I frowned. “Is he around?”
“Should be. Let’s check.”
We walked down the hall and Drew knocked on Andreas’s door three times, the pre-arranged signal for Star’s presence. My palms were sweaty and I wiped them on my jeans. If I was this nervous, I couldn’t imagine how Jess felt. Andreas cracked the door open, then pulled it open wide. “This is a surprise,” he said, sounding less than surprised. “Good evening, Star, Grace. Please, come in.”
