Inescapable (Talented Saga #7) (42 page)

“
Teleport?” I asked, unsure
I’d heard her correctly. Teleportation was a long defunct ability.
No documented cases had been seen in over seventy years.

Emma’s dopey expression from earlier
returned, the one she’d donned while talking to her boyfriend.

“
Yeah. This guy I know,
Kip, that’s his thing.” She blushed crimson. “You probably didn’t
notice him, but he was the guy working at the toy
store.”

“
Is he the only one?” I
inquired.

“
Yeah. Well, the only one
in our tribe. I think some of the others might have a teleporter or
two. His father had the gift, as well.”

“
Had?”

Emma’s expression turned somber, and she
crossed her legs atop her mattress.

“
He went missing two years
ago,” she said quietly. “On a supply run. We’re pretty
self-sufficient here. We grow our own food and the herbs the
healers need to make poultices and stuff, but every once in a while
we do need medical supplies from the mainland. Mr. Ozolos went to
fetch some medicine and never returned.”

There was more to Emma’s story—the guilt
pouring off of her was so intense I felt as though I was being
smothered by it. I put up a wall to block her emotions.

“
How strong is Kip? How far
can he teleport?” I asked, partially to change the subject away
from the boy’s missing father and partially because a new plan was
forming in my mind. For that plan to work, I needed this Kip
character.

Emma toyed with a strand of her long, blonde
hair. “As far as he needs to, I think. He’s only gone off island a
couple of times, always with a teacher. But he’s passed all of his
ability’s tests with flying colors.” Pride for her boyfriend
swelled inside of her, the feeling so overpowering that even with
my mental shields in place I still felt the effects.

“
Emma,” I began, deciding
how best to phrase my request. Subtlety wasn’t really my forte, so
I went with the direct approach. “Can Kip take people with him on
his, um, trips?”

“
Of course. Our abilities
teacher can’t teleport on his own. As long as Kip is touching a
person, he can take them along for the ride.”

Just what I’d wanted to hear.

“
Where do you need to go?”
Emma asked, correctly guessing my intentions.

It occurred to me that Emma might be reading
my mind, but I wasn’t positive.

“
London.”

“
For the vote?” Emma asked,
surprised.

Guess she wasn’t reading my mind after
all.

“
Not entirely. You said you
knew who I was when you first saw me. So you also know who I work
for, right?” I asked.

She nodded.

“
Okay, well, they have
likely sent teams of agents after me, so I need to hide. I have
some friends in London who can help with that. I just need to get
there.”

I’d actually forgotten that the vote would
take place in London. Emma’s reminder made me rethink my plan to
meet up with Kenly. London was probably teeming with UNITED agents.
If not, the city would be infested with them shortly.

“
You could stay here with
us,” Emma replied in a small voice.

The desperate look in her eyes made my heart
hurt. Reluctantly, I dropped my mental barriers and let Emma’s
emotions wash over me. Loneliness. She was incredibly,
overwhelmingly lonely. Her gifts made her feel like an outcast.
Constant worry over being found out kept her up at night. But she
also hated hiding who she was. A part of Emma wanted to go to the
mainland, where she thought she would find more people like her.
That was the reason she hadn’t told her father about my talents.
And why she’d intervened once Jeb learned my true identity. In me,
Emma had found a kindred spirit, someone with mental abilities
similar to her own.

I crawled from beneath the covers and joined
Emma on the bed. Mushy, gushy feelings weren’t my thing, but I did
understand how she felt. Even among my peers, I’d always stood out.
My talent was rare, and I was exceptionally powerful. That power
made me dangerous, and few of my classmates wanted to be around me
because of it.

“
I wish I could stay here,”
I told her kindly, more than a little surprised to find that was
true.

Life on Pelia was simple. Sure, there was
probably the same political nonsense as anywhere else, but being
labeled an outcast for my abilities was nothing new. And if Emma
had been able to hide her talents, then I could do the same. Then
there was the fact that no one on the island wanted to kill me.
That was a definite check in the pro column.

“
But you can’t,” Emma
guessed.

“
No, I can’t,” I agreed. “I
have a life, sort of. I do have people who depend on me. People who
need me. People I love.” Erik’s face swam in my mind. I closed my
eyes and pushed his image to the corner. “I need to get back to
them,” I finished, nearly choking on the words.

“
I understand. When would
you want to leave?” Emma brushed her cheeks with the back of her
hand, and I realized she’d started crying.

“
As soon as I can. I just
need to get word to Kenly—that’s my friend in London—and tell her
that I’m coming. I can get her exact location. That way Kip can
take me straight there.”

Emma eyed me askance and snorted. “How do
you intend to contact your friend?”

“
With my talents,” I said
as though it should have been obvious, which it should have been.
Emma had said she knew about me, which meant she knew what I was
capable of.

“
Doubtful. The energy
around the island is too great. Your mental reach would have to be
pretty incredible to push through the barrier. No offense, but not
even you are that strong. You’d need a boost. So will Kip for that
matter. That might be tricky come to think of it. Boosters are
locked up tight.”

Emma kept talking, but I stopped
listening.

If the energy surrounding the island was too
great for me to mentally communicate with Kenly in London, how had
I heard Erik earlier?

He’s Created,
I told myself. It wasn’t my talents that had
allowed us to speak, but rather his. That had to be it.

I opened my mind completely, fully expecting
a barrage of mental voices to invade my mind. And they did. I heard
Emma contemplating whether to ask if she could come with me to
London. I heard Ross reading to himself in the room next door. I
heard Jeb debating whether to turn me in. I heard an unfamiliar
female voice humming a tune somewhere inside the house, and could
only assume it was the healer, Andromeda.

Other, fainter, mental ramblings reached my
ears from nearby houses, all jumbled together in one buzz of white
noise. Just like when I’d talked to Erik earlier, the reception was
patchy, though. I only heard bits and pieces of random thoughts. I
concentrated on the white noise, attempting to parse out the
individual thoughts. But I couldn’t.

I cast my mental net wider.
Louder buzzing, but the thoughts reaching my ears were still
disjointed. Then, because I was clearly a glutton for punishment, I
decided to try reaching Erik again. Pushing my talents to their
limits, I called into the ether.
“Erik?
Erik? It’s me. Can you hear me?”

The words reverberated inside my head, as
though they’d bounced off a wall and were hurdling back towards
me.

I concentrated harder. I could do this. I
was the most powerful manipulator alive today.

“
Erik? Talk to me. Say
something. Say anything,”
I
begged.

“
Talia? Talia? What’s
happening?” Emma’s hands were on my shoulders, shaking me
insistently.

I blinked, surprised to feel soggy fabric
against my cheek. I was no longer sitting, but curled on my side on
Emma’s bed.

“
I’m okay,” I muttered to
Emma, who was leaning over me with pure terror in her eyes. Pushing
myself to a sitting position, I saw a small puddle on the blanket
where my face had been. I touched my cheek. My fingers came away
wet. Tears were pouring from my eyes, dripping down my chin and
onto my chest.

“
Did I pass out?” I asked
Emma, stunned.

“
No. I mean, I don’t know.
Power was shooting out of you in sparks, and you started
convulsing. Then you fell over. It happened so fast.”

Shakily, I patted her hand. “I’m really
okay. I was just trying to contact Erik. And, I don’t know, it
didn’t work.” Using the sleeve of the sleep shirt Emma had let me
borrow, I wiped away the last of the tears I hadn’t realized I was
shedding.

“
Of course it didn’t. I
told you, you can’t use telepathy to talk to someone not on the
island.”

“
I did earlier today.
Twice,” I replied, frustrated by my shortcomings. “Or, I don’t
know, I guess Erik contacted me earlier.”

Emma shook her head adamantly. “No. He
didn’t. Erikson Kelley, your boyfriend, that’s who you are talking
about, right? He’s where exactly? The Isle of Exile?”

“
Yeah. He was last time I
checked, anyhow.”

“
Then he definitely wasn’t
contacting you earlier. It’s not possible. I’m telling you, it
takes like a thousand times your power to break through the energy
field. It’s not possible to do without a booster.”

I thought a thousand times was a pretty
large exaggeration, but I understood the message.

“
Erik is Created,” I told
Emma. “He is like a thousand times stronger than I am,” I added
with a smile. “He’s always got a booster in his system.”

“
I guess it might be
possible in that case,” Emma said dubiously.

“
The conversation was
broken up. I couldn’t hear everything he said, just every couple of
words.”

Emma nodded. “Okay, well that makes more
sense. I guess I’ve just never met someone that powerful.”

“
He’s one of a kind,” I
said. Remembering Penny had all the same abilities as Erik, I
amended, “Well, technically he’s one of two of a kind. But that’s
not important.”

Just then, a high-pitched whining noise
started somewhere deep inside the house. I heard Jeb’s bedroom door
open, and then his sock-clad feet moving across the wooden
floorboards. A second door opened. The whining noise grew
louder.

“
Can you hear that? What is
it?” I asked Emma.

“
Fax machine,” she replied
absently.

The noise ended abruptly. I focused on Jeb’s
mind, curious as to whether this newest fax was another alert about
my escape. His thoughts were laced with static, but I was able to
hear every word. Those words terrified me.

Received word the Lyons girl washed up on
Freedom Beach and is currently staying at your home. Please confirm
immediately. Once you do, we will send a team to collect her. Do
not warn her. She is dangerous. Bounty on her is large. You will
receive twenty-five percent, as you have in the past. NS.

Who the hell was NS? And how did he or she
know I was on Pelia?

The Privileged

Besançon, France

Three Days Before the Vote

Cressa watched the minutes drag past on the
desk clock. Exactly fifty-eight minutes after entering her room
with Nydia to change for bed, Cressa peeled the covers back and
climbed out of her bunk. She positioned her pillows in a reasonable
facsimile of a body beneath the blankets, figuring the ruse would
be passable at a glance.

“
Be careful,” Nydia
muttered, just as Cressa was easing the bedroom door
closed.

“
I will,” Cressa whispered
back.

The twins, Daphne and, to her surprise,
Ritchie were waiting in the atrium.

“
Thought you might chicken
out,” Lyla said when Cressa entered the rotunda.

“
Guess you have more
stones than we gave you credit for,” Shyla added, sounding
simultaneously impressed and annoyed by this fact.

Shrugging, as though she routinely took
midnight strolls around top-secret facilities, Cressa tried her
best to sound nonchalant. “I’m curious, same as you.”

Ritchie tossed her mane of coarse magenta
hair behind one shoulder.

“
Don’t lie, you just want
the chance to rub shoulders with a celebrity,” she taunted. “Daphne
says you’ve already met him once. Well, so have I, Cressa.” Ritchie
pronounced Cressa’s name as though it were a dirty word. “My
father’s stylist is partners with Kev’s manager’s brother’s best
friend, so Kev knows me. Don’t get any silly ideas—he can spot a
fame troll a million miles away.”