We resumed training after dinner. It was almost midnight when I finally managed to teleport myself into the chalk circle. We celebrated with a beer and an almost immediate collapse into bed. The next morning, I was alone in the cabin. Burke had left me a note. “Teleport to Alistair’s office. Try not to die.”

  I groaned and drew the mental link. If he trusted me to teleport a long distance after a single success, he had more faith in me than I did. The link was easy enough due to the spartan nature of the office. I selected a corner where people never stood and drew the psionic shell around myself. His training had pushed me to do it faster and faster and now I could seal the shell within twenty seconds.

  Once everything was ready, I linked my destination to the shell. Austin had told me to enlarge the link until it contained the entire shell. It hadn’t worked for me. What did work was when I took a mental step backwards, pulling on the link, feeling the connection start to draw taut like a bowstring. When it felt close to breaking, I let go.

  I flew through fractal space and time. Teleporting within the cabin had been practically instant. This time, I was able to enjoy the sheer panic of shoring up a fraying psionic shell. When I burst back into reality, I was soaked in sweat and gasping for breath.

  Applause echoed across the room. “Sooner than expected,” Burke said.

  “He met your expectations?” Alistair asked. He was sitting behind his desk, clapping for me. I didn’t have the breath to say anything in response.

  “He exceeded them for the most part. For the official record, Kevin Parker satisfactorily completed his accelerated training for second tier power. I recommend he be officially licensed.”

  “And so it shall be. Congratulations, Kevin. You are now a fully licensed second tier psion.”

  I was still gasping for breath. All I could do was give them a thumbs up before the sudden pain in my chest dropped me to the floor.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I opened the door to my room, expecting to see Max and Drew. The room was empty. I double checked the time, then the date. It was nearly midnight on the last Friday of July, which meant today was the last day of finals. I knew where to find everyone if we were still observing our traditions. Andreas’s room was only a few steps down the hall.

  It was a hard few steps. I’d spent the afternoon and evening in the Establishment infirmary. When I dropped, Burke carried me to the infirmary where a medic realized I’d left a couple pieces of myself behind with only a flicker of her Sight. Luckily, a collapsed lung wasn’t a life-threatening emergency for a psion. Unluckily, losing a chunk of liver was. They had me in a bed in a heartbeat.

  By early evening, the worst of the damage had been regenerated. The medics who’d taken care of me had warned me not to exert myself for a week or so. The regenerated tissue wasn’t as integrated as the rest and could tear if stressed. I’d also had severe internal bleeding, and while the causes had been taken care of, I was still a little low on the red stuff and would be for a few days. Burke had given me a ride back to the dorm after seeing how pale I was when coming out of the infirmary.

  I finally drew myself up in front of the room, knocked once, and then walked in. I caught a half dozen looks of surprise before a blur of red and pink cannoned into me. “Welcome back!” Star nearly screamed in my ear as we collapsed to the floor.

  “Ouch,” I gasped as I felt something inside twitch. “Internal injuries. Careful.”

  “Sorry!” She scrambled backwards and gave me her hands to help me up. I was weak enough from the impact that she had to pull me up. “What happened?”

  “Give me a minute.” I staggered over to the table. The familiar faces were all there, Max and Jess, Drew and the empty seat next to him, Andreas, and even Grace. One face was missing. “Where’s Kaitlyn?”

  People looked to Andreas, whose face fell as I asked the question. “She left earlier today, right after finals.”

  Jess leaned forward on the table. “She’s been quiet ever since then. Not going out as much. She said she was going home for break, get away from things here for a while, but I didn’t know it’d be today. Think she needs some recovery time.”

  “That’s too bad.” I sunk into an empty seat. “I’d like to talk to her. I think there’s a lot of things we need to talk about. She probably has some questions for me.”

  “She does want to talk to you,” Andreas said. Jess nodded. “But it must wait until next trimester.”

  “The last trimester,” Max said. He slid a mug over to me. I didn’t know if drinking was a great idea with a freshly healed liver and a touch of anemia, but I could nurse the drink all night and ask Star to burn the alcohol out of my system if I couldn’t do it myself. “Not like we’re having kids here, but man, this’ll be the end of the third year for you, Kev. You’re going to graduate.”

  “Am I?” I asked. “I don’t know what my grades are like anymore. I don’t even remember half of the classes I took.”

  “I’m finally graduating,” Max said. “If I can do it, you can too. Not like Drew here. Switching majors screwed you. Glad you can afford to stick around.”

  “It’s only an extra two trimesters,” Drew said. “And I can’t afford it. Student loans, dude. I’m going to be drowning by the time I’m out.”

  “I think Drew and I will be the only ones left,” Andreas said. “Kaitlyn is graduating at the end of the year. And your double major is complete, Jessica?”

  Jess shrugged. “Technically, I could graduate now with one major, but I still have my undergrad thesis for the second. I could double down and go on to grad school. Already took the GRE just in case.”

  Andreas sighed. “It will be lonely here. At least everyone else is staying here over summer break.”

  “You’re the one trying for eternal student status, dude.” I let out a quiet sigh of relief as Drew spoke up. I’d asked everyone to stay at Ripley over break at Absynthe’s suggestion. The recent attack was fresh on everyone’s mind and no one argued too much, aside from Max. He bitched about it for fun.

  Star slipped her hand into mine as the others discussed the extent of Andreas’s craziness. “You ok?”

  “I teleported back,” I said to her. “Burke thought I’d be fine. I left a chunk of myself behind and they had to do some emergency regeneration on me. I think he’s upset there’ll be a big blood splatter in the middle of his cabin’s floor.”

  “That’s disgusting. But the teleportation thing is awesome.”

  “Wait, you can teleport now?” Jess’s voice cut through the conversation. “Are you even fucking kidding me? Can’t you do enough ridiculous shit already?”

  I shook my head. “It’s not like Star Trek. It’s slower, it’s not instant, and it’s way more dangerous.”

  “They’re not instant either,” Jess corrected me. “And they’re plenty dangerous.”

  “Whatever,” I said. “And no, I’m not going to show it off here. I’m dead on my feet.”

  “So you’re not going to try this?” Drew pointed at a decanter in Andreas’s hands. The liquid inside this time was a murky red. “Good for what ails you, dude. I think. We had a vote while you were gone and you won.”

  “No, no, and hell no. I’d pass right out.”

  “Star said she’d drink it if you didn’t show.”

  I looked at her. She grinned. “I’ve had some awful shit over the years. I can take it.” I continued staring at her until her grin dropped away. “I think?”

  “Split it,” I said.

  Andreas poured two shots for us. Star and I toasted each other. I sipped mine while she slammed hers and put the glass down on the table. “Oh. That wasn’t awful,” she said. “Tasted pretty good, actually. I might have more.”

  “Wait for it,” I murmured as I finished mine. She was absolutely right. While it looked disgusting, it tasted fantastic. The alcohol burn wasn’t even noticeable at first. She turned in her chair to face me and started sliding sideways. I reached for her and my head spun. Before I could recover my balance, she grabbed for my hand and we fell under the table together.

  I woke up with a start. My head throbbed and I closed my eyes, willing the pain away, before opening them again. I was in my dorm room, in my bed, and my left arm was numb. The numbness was due to Star sleeping on it. “How is that even comfortable?” I asked.

  “Hmm?” Her eyes fluttered open, widened, then slammed closed. “Oh, fuck, my head.”

  “I told you so.”

  She stuck her tongue out at me and refused to open her eyes. “Let me stay here.”

  “Could you get off my arm first?”

  She shifted her weight and I pulled my arm free. Pins and needles and tingles sent pain up to my shoulder. “What time is it?” she asked.

  I felt around for my phone. “Close to noon. Why?”

  Her eyes shot open. “Oh shit, we have to get ready to leave!”

  “What?” She shot out of bed, still wearing the same clothes as last night. I sat up and immediately regretted my actions. “Leave? Where? What?”

  “You’re still half asleep,” she said, kneeling next to a row of suitcases lined up by the foot of my bed. “We’re going to Niagara Falls for the month, remember? I packed for you as best I could, we’ll buy other stuff as we need it. I talked to Absynthe and your mom about the trip and they both agreed it’d be fine as long as we check in every day. I had the chance to have a good chat with your mom, by the way. She’s nice. Sort of intense. Impatient? Hard to describe.”

  I rubbed at my temples. “So you talked to my mom without me?”

  “Over the phone,” she said. “Like I said, she’s nice. She pulled a couple strings for us. How do you feel about convertibles?”

  “They’re cool, I guess?” I looked down at my own clothes. They’d been soaked in sweat at least twice since I’d put them on. “Any shirts of mine you didn’t pack?”

  She threw one at me without looking up. “I think we’re set. Two suitcases each. We’ll have to do laundry once or twice while we’re there. They bought you a convertible, by the way. I’m driving.”

  “You’re making my head spin twice as bad as it should be,” I complained. “Can a convertible fit four suitcases? Wait, they bought me a car?”

  “Two in the trunk, two in the back seat,” she said, finally standing up. She pulled her own shirt off, threw it at me, then pulled on a fresh tank top. “Your mom said they’d be here at noon. Let’s get this shit down to the lobby so we don’t have to make multiple trips.”

  I rolled myself out of bed. My left arm still had twinges running through the abused muscles. “All right, all right. Don’t they say the true test of a couple is a road trip?”

  She smirked at me as she lifted two of the suitcases. “I think we’ve been tested enough, don’t you?”

  I grunted and grabbed the remaining suitcases. We headed to the lobby, then straight outside at her insistence. We didn’t see anyone else on the way down. Either all the other students had gone home already, or they were being psionically encouraged to stay away. Maybe both. I leaned against the wall, trying to stay in the shade, but didn’t get even a minute’s rest before our ride arrived.

  “Oh my god,” she said, almost squealing as it came to a stop at the curb. The convertible shone metallic blue. The lines were sleek and I had no doubt it could break every speed limit in the country without any effort whatsoever. “Oh my god!” she repeated.

  I wanted to say the same thing, but for a different reason. My mom was in the passenger seat and Absynthe was folded into the back seat, but my attention was on the familiar white-haired old man getting out from behind the wheel. He held the door open for Absynthe to get out. While Star headed straight for the car and was intercepted by my mom, I walked straight toward Alistair.

  “Good morning, Mr. Parker,” he said. “Consider this a reward for your successful training.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “I’m surprised to see you here.”

  His eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “I wanted to meet your fiancée. Nothing more.”

  I already had a headache and his presence was making it worse. “Sorry. Woke up ten minutes ago. No coffee. Not functional yet.”

  “Your injuries are healed?”

  “Mostly. Need to take it easy for a few days.”

  “Good.” He brushed past me and headed straight for Star. I followed in his wake, wishing I could warn her. “Miss Sarah Kelton?”

  She turned to face him, not seeming to recognize him. “Good morning? Afternoon? Sorry, have we met?”

  I cleared my throat as I stepped up beside him. “Star, this is Alistair Ripley.”

  I had expected her to show nervousness, maybe fear, but I didn’t expect her to narrow her eyes at him. “Oh, I didn’t recognize you. My apologies.” Her frosty tone indicated nothing of the sort.

  He lifted his hand to her, and after a long moment’s hesitation, just enough to be slightly rude, she shook. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Kelton. May I call you Star?”

  “Only my friends call me that,” she replied. The look on my mom’s face was priceless. “Sarah, please.”

  “Sarah, then.” Alistair seemed to take it in stride. “I would love to hear how you met and developed this star-crossed romance, but alas, I imagine you are in a hurry to leave.”

  “Yeah, I want to get away from here,” she said.

  I wanted to say something to her, but before I could, Absynthe came up beside me and stepped on my foot. I glared at her and she shook her head. Alistair smiled as if he’d caught the byplay and nodded toward Star. “Of course. I won’t keep you, then.”

  Another car pulled up behind the convertible. A vaguely familiar Establishment agent stepped out of the driver’s side. His face turned ugly as soon as he saw Star and only a gesture from Alistair held him in place. “It has been a pleasure beyond description, Sarah.”

  “Likewise, Alistair,” she replied.

  They exchanged smiles again and Alistair walked over to his ride. He opened the door, but before getting in, he looked to us. “I do have one other question, Sarah. Tell me, how is Todd these days?”

  It felt as if the temperature dropped thirty degrees in an instant. “He’s fine. Just ducky.”

  “That’s a shame.” Alistair shot her another smile and ducked into his car. The driver followed after shooting her another deadly glare, then drove off.

  Star turned her head and spat on the ground. I blinked a dozen times in quick succession and still couldn’t find the words to say. “I can’t believe I touched him,” she said.

  My mom seemed to force a chuckle. “I’m surprised your fight or flight reflex turned to fight here.”

  “It’s not that,” Star said. She turned to look at me and gave me a wan smile. “Todd’s told me enough about what that old man’s done. If I thought I could get away with it, I’d have twisted him hard enough to stroke out on the spot.”

  Absynthe sighed and lifted her foot off mine. “And this one was ready to throw fuel on the fire.”

  “I was going to try and de-escalate, thank you,” I said. “I don’t know how, but I was going to try.”

  My mom put her hand on Star’s shoulder. “I’d rather not to fight my future daughter in law, so I’m glad you reined yourself in.”

  Star looked surprised at the touch. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Parker. I shouldn’t have been so rude, even to that rat bastard. It wasn’t the time or the place.”

  Absynthe murmured so only I could hear. “After you get back, we’ll have to talk about the proper time and place.”

  “Got it.” I stepped away from her, toward my mom and Star. “I’d introduce you, but I think you’ve already bonded, sort of.”

  Star’s smile grew. “Your mom’s awesome and she has great taste in cars.”

  “Thank you, dear. I’d say you’re awesome and have great taste in men, but I’d be a little biased.”

  “Mom, come on.”

  She smiled and then looked at her watch. “We have a meeting at twelve thirty and since Alistair decided to drive off in a snit, we’ll have to walk, Absynthe. Ready?”

  Absynthe beckoned to Star and myself. “Check in daily,” she reminded us. “More often if possible. I’ll let you know if we hear anything about Shade or his thugs. If Patricia or I tell you to leave, you leave, no questions asked. It’ll be because you’re in immediate danger. Mindflare and go.”

  “Got it,” I said.

  She handed me a black credit card. “From Austin. Direct access to a line of credit which doesn’t lead back to the Establishment.”

  “Thank him for me?”

  “Absolutely.” She studied me for a moment. “Be careful. Be fucking careful, Kevin. I don’t think we would have let you go if you hadn’t received your second tier license, and I think you should wait until you’ve healed. I know you’re not going to listen, so please, be careful.”

  “Absolutely,” I said back to her.

  My mom stepped in and gave me a hug, then gave Star a hug as well. When she let go of my fiancée, a car key was passed from hand to hand. Absynthe gave us a quick hand throwing the suitcases in the back and the trunk, and then they were walking away while we sat in the shockingly comfortable seats.

  She caressed the steering wheel. “Ready to go?”

  “What would you do if I said no?”

  “Leave without you.”

  “Drive on, then.”

  She flicked a pair of sunglasses on and we zipped away from Carson Hall with a slight squeak of rubber. A few minutes of sane driving got us out of Troy. The sanity level dropped as soon as we got on the Thruway. I didn’t get a chance to say anything before her eyes flickered blue behind her sunglasses, her hand dropped onto the shifter, and the acceleration blasted me back into my seat.

  “Holy shit!” she screamed, barely audible over the sudden whoosh of wind. “Did you count?”

  “Count what?” I shouted back.

  “How long it took me to hit a hundred!”

  “You hit a fucking hundred?”

 

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