Inescapable (Talented Saga #7) (5 page)

Cressa was unsure how she knew the precise
thoughts running through the boy’s head. In that moment, the how
didn’t matter.

Forget about him. Focus on
you,
Cressa told herself, envisioning a
large metal shield dropping down from the inside of her skull to
protect her brain.

It worked. Cressa was no longer scared. She
could do this. She knew it just as surely as she knew her own
name.

Blinding white light exploded from every
corner of the room. After being in the dark for so long, each ray
that struck her corneas felt like salt in an open wound. Cressa
didn’t dare blink. She’d waited too long for this, and she was
going to savor each and every excruciating second.

The administrator’s voice returned through
the room’s speakers, warmth infusing her every word where only
coldness had been before.

“
Well done, Cressa Karmine.
Welcome to Phase Two, daughter.”

Talia

Vault, Isle of Exile

Four Days Before the Vote

My opponent’s right hook connected with my
jawline, the force of her blow causing my head to snap backwards.
For a woman nearly twice my age, Victoria Walburton packed one hell
of a punch.

I dipped my chin to one side, wiping a thin
smear of blood on the shoulder of a gray tee with INMATE emblazoned
across the front.

“
You hit like a
girl,
Madame
Councilwoman
,” I grunted, even as her next
blow landed in my left side, directly on my bruised
ribcage.

“
You fight like a child in
her first schoolyard tussle,” Victoria countered. “What’s next,
Lyons? Are you going to pull my hair?”

The councilwoman aimed for my solar plexus,
amber eyes betraying the maneuver a moment too soon.

I’ll show you a schoolyard
tussle,
I thought. Deflecting the incoming
assault with a sharp, quick combo kick. One foot batted away her
gloved hand, an instant before the other found a home in her
impressive six-pack.

The air whooshed from Victoria’s lungs. She
stumbled backwards several paces, shaking the hand I’d kicked.

“
Point to you, Talia,” the
older woman conceded, her British accent more pronounced than
usual. “Nice shot.”

“
Um, I think you
mean
two
points,”
I jabbed, grinning like a fool.

Bent at the waist, the ends of her auburn
ponytail sticking to one sweaty cheek, Victoria rubbed a flowering
red blossom on her abdomen—evidence that my kick, though barefoot,
had done real damage.

My smile grew even wider, my cheeks aching
from all the gloating I was doing. Well-deserved gloating, since it
wasn’t every day that I scored such an impressive blow on my
opponent. Our daily sparring matches had proved the councilwoman
was more than a glad-handing politician; the woman was a formidable
fighter and worthy adversary. Most days Victoria left me face down
on the mats, gasping for air.

“
Because you are losing so
abysmally, I shall grant you two points,” Victoria relented. She
eyed my expression critically. “Has no one ever told you that pride
is a sin?”

“
It’s not the worst one
I’ve committed.”

My comment didn’t evoke even the tiniest
hint of amusement. If anything, Victoria’s demeanor became more
grim than usual. Come to think of it, in the hour we’d spent
together that morning, the councilwoman had been remarkably grave,
as though her mind was a million miles away. Only the bumps and
bruises she gave me wiped the troubled expression from her thin
lips, though it always returned.

As my curiosity got the best of me, I
decided to ask her about it.

“
What’s up? You seem
bothered. I mean, more bothered than usual.”

Without warning, Victoria’s fist flew
towards my face. I raised my hands at the last second and took the
hit on my forearms. Victoria bounced on the balls of her feet,
neatly dodging my retaliatory punches.

“
In case you have
forgotten, Talia—” she grunted as I landed a roundhouse kick to her
shoulder, backing her into one corner of the exercise cube.
Wheezing for breath, she continued, “The Joint Nations will vote on
the Coexistence Treaty in four days. So yes, I’m more than a little
bothered by the prospect of failure and our race being wiped
out.”

Lashing out with one of her long legs, the
councilwoman caught me behind the knees. Though my legs buckled
from the blow, I instinctively kept my body from falling to the
mats. Her golden irises flashed with alarm as a warning expression
flit across Victoria’s otherwise stoic features. I hesitated,
eyeing her skeptically. The councilwoman backed away, retreating
farther towards the glass wall.

After leaning against it for a moment,
Victoria straightened to her full height, nearly a head taller than
my paltry five-foot-nothing. “Shall we say a draw for today?”

“
A draw?” I scoffed,
feigning incredulity. I put up my gloved hands and assumed a
fighting stance. “You’re crazier than I am if you think that’s
happening. A forfeit is the only way I’m letting you walk out of
here without another round.”

“
Technically, Talia, you
suffer from poor judgment, not mental illness,” Victoria said
dryly.

“
Not yet.”

We blanched simultaneously, both hearing the
unspoken words in our minds as though we shared the thought. In a
way, that was sort of the case. The thought had been mine; one I
found so troubling that I’d unintentionally projected it to
Victoria.

Victoria leveled a
disapproving glare on me, expression cold enough to freeze the
sweat on my face. Her mental voice flashed in my head:
“
Careful, Talia. That makes twice in the
last hour. You are getting sloppy.”

Twice?

Apparently I was still projecting my
thoughts, because Victoria responded mentally.

“
You should have fallen
when I kicked you behind the knees,”
she
sent.

Realization dawned. Without even thinking,
I’d used telekinesis to keep myself upright. Using my mental
abilities to inadvertently project my thoughts to Victoria wasn’t
so bad, since the always-watching eyes of Vault wouldn’t have
noticed. But the use of telekinesis would be apparent to anyone
watching closely.

Wow, I really
was
getting sloppy. My
talents were supposed to be dormant while I was a prisoner. Using
them at all, much less in a visible manner, was a huge faux pas.
One that would cause a great deal of trouble for several of us, if
it was discovered.

“
Talia?” Victoria prompted
aloud.

I sucked in air and plastered on a manic
smile meant to disguise my unease.

“
I’ll be more
careful,”
I sent, then quickly raised my
mental shields.

“
I mean, if you have more
important things to do than relive your glory days down here with
me, I guess we could continue this tomorrow or whenever,” I
flippantly said aloud, unlacing my sparring gloves.

“
Believe it or not, I do
have other matters that require my attention.” Following my lead,
Victoria began peeling off her gloves. “Which brings me to the
purpose of my visit.”

My curiosity instantly
piqued. Yes, I was
that
bored.

But Victoria didn’t usually have an agenda
when she visited me on Vault, other than blowing off steam with a
worthy opponent. Since I wasn’t permitted social visits on Level
Five, Victoria’s presence at the prison was supposedly for official
purposes only; the other councilmembers believed she spent time
with me each morning to press me for information regarding the
whereabouts of Kenly Baker. Except, Victoria hadn’t once asked me
about my former mentee.

While there was a long list of crimes on my
rap sheet, all of which contributed in one way or another to my
arrest, my decision to let Kenly go free was ultimately the reason
for my incarceration. Like so many of us from TOXIC, Kenly had been
infected with the creation drug. According to protocol, once we’d
rescued her from her captors, Kenly should’ve been contained for
observation and eventual treatment to reverse the effects of the
drug. But after all she’d gone through at the hands of the
Poachers—an organization specializing in the capture and sale of
Talents—I couldn’t stomach the thought of Kenly contained in a
medical cube. She’d suffered enough.

So, I’d traded Kenly’s freedom for my own.
At the time, I didn’t know that was the choice I was making.
Nonetheless, even with the added advantage of hindsight, I didn’t
regret letting her go instead of turning Kenly over to UNITED.

“
Talia?” Victoria snapped
again, looking slightly concerned by my prolonged
silence.

I quirked an eyebrow. “The
purpose of your visit? You mean you’re not here solely to amuse me?
Prison life is
so
dull.”

She didn’t laugh.

“
As we speak, Agent Kelley
is en route to a peace rally in New York City.” Victoria’s tone was
measured, though I detected the faintest trace of sympathy in her
steely gaze. “Though he has one more scheduled appearance after
this one, the night before the vote, the council has decided that
it would be best for him to return to the islands until
then.”

That got my attention. Victoria never shared
news of Erik aloud. Even mentally, she rarely did more than assure
me that he was okay. It took all of my willpower to keep my
excitement visibly contained. But if Erik was returning to the Isle
of Exile, I would finally be able to communicate with him.

While he was traveling around, acting as
UNITED’s poster boy for the Created, he was out of the range that
my mental abilities could reach. Erik’s own abilities were strong
enough to reach me no matter his geographical location, but I’d
blocked him from entering my headspace when I was first
imprisoned.

Initially, I didn’t want him to see how bad
Vault truly was; I didn’t want him to see the miserable conditions
I was living in, day in and day out. Because I didn’t want Erik to
feel guilty about my current predicament. Rescuing Anya, his
ex-girlfriend, from the Poachers was one of several contributing
factors to my incarceration, and Erik was the type to feel
responsible, even when it came to my own rash actions.

Blocking him was a decision I regretted
every day. By the time I was ready to swallow my pride and let him
in—truly, when my loneliness and longing for him had overcome the
fear of making him feel guilty—Erik had stopped reaching out, and I
couldn’t reach him.

Thankfully, I would finally be able to when
he was back on the islands. I missed Erik so much that it
physically hurt. Hearing his voice inside my head would be like a
soothing balm on my singed soul.

“
I’m glad he’ll be back;
Erik will be much safer on Eden,” I said to Victoria. With some
effort, I’d managed to make my tone as calm and controlled as
hers.

“
I have petitioned the
council on your behalf for a visitation exception,” she announced,
surprising the hell out of me. Victoria’s level gaze never wavered
as she studied me for a reaction.

“
And?” I prompted, voice
barely above a whisper. Hope was a luxury I no longer allowed
myself. Disappointment too often followed.

“
It was a battle. One that
became rather ugly, if I am being honest,” Victoria continued.
“However, because Agent Kelley is vital to this organization, his
continued devotion to our cause is imperative. No one wants him
unhappy, and we are all painfully aware that nothing would make him
happier than seeing you.”

“
So…” I ventured. “Is that
a yes?”

Victoria’s smile was uncharacteristically
warm. “It is.”

“
Seriously?” I blurted the
word before I could stop myself.

“
Seriously,” she answered,
the corners of her mouth quirking up even farther. “You have been
granted one hour of supervised visitation tomorrow morning.”
Victoria turned to the man standing silently on the other side of
the bars of the exercise cell. “Agent Yocum will play
chaperone.”

Agent Niccoli Yocum gave a small nod of
affirmation. Though his body was angled slightly towards Victoria,
my guard’s dark sunglasses—yes, he wore them inside—made it
difficult to tell where he was actually looking.

“
Unless, of course, you
have an objection?” Victoria raised one perfectly groomed eyebrow
in question.