Age of Power 1: Legacy (37 page)

Ian’s hand slammed down on the table. “No! You will tell me
what 
I
 want to know! Or this little drama goes to the press,
along with the fact that you’re under arrest for being a terrorist!”

Uh huh.
And that was
the other shoe dropping.
Except I had my own threats.
“Go ahead. I’m sure the very public trial will give me plenty of chances to
tell people about Alex’s people. You know, the Noumenonii. After all, I can’t
be the only one who’s been wondering about Alex’s origins. And I don’t mean the
divine ones that the media is so fond of pushing out to the public.”

I saw that it struck home. Ian started to say something,
then
closed his mouth. I had him, and he knew it. For some
reason, I was immune to his
powers,
did that mean I
was immune to others of his kind as well? I’d probably find out someday.

But right now, I had given Ian notice that we were both on some
kind of
even ground. Seeing that he understood that point, I
decided to give him something that he wanted. I said, “Fine, she is a full-on
telepathic terrorist. She can read your thoughts, control people, and she
almost single-handedly turned Africa into a two-state continent.
Any further questions?
Oh, and she wants you dead!”

He said, “What are her plans, Vaughn? You have to know by now.
Tell me!”

I leaned forward as I said, “No. You tell me! She tried for
weeks to get at this place, and you blocked her out.
How?
If you had the power to stop her; why didn’t you find out what she was up to,
then?”

Ian winced, and then said, “We were able to block her, but the
power she has is sufficient to stop any probing. We couldn’t get past her
mental shields. You know what she’s up to, so tell me!”

I sat back for a moment, looking at this man. Dana had loved him
once. No, she still loved him. So there must have been something good in him.
But what they had done to her…

I said, “Answer my question first. Why didn’t you help Alex stop
Yama? Why did he have to go it alone? Where were these Noumenonii?”

Ian shook his head. I noticed he tensed up. His voice was tight
when he finally answered. “We didn’t know he was alive. We didn’t even know he
was here.”

His face was a mix of anger, remorse, and sadness. Something had
happened, all right, something that had marked him. I asked, “Did you know
Alex?”

He sighed. “I knew of him. It’s a long story.”

I chuckled. “Wow, really? Well, sum it up. You tell me yours,
and I’ll tell you mine. How come your people didn’t know he was here?”

He looked at me, hesitant. I knew he wanted to push me on
Yasmine. But I needed to know why this psychic based culture hadn’t done
anything for my friend. Finally, he relaxed, giving in to the situation, and
reached down inside his shirt. He pulled out a silver chain that had a light
pink crystal attached.

I cocked my head a little as I said, “That looks familiar.”

Ian snorted and answered, “It should. I’m certain you’ve seen it
before. It was found among Alex’s personal items that he left behind.”

Click
…that was it. I had
first seen it in my sophomore year. Alex and I had gym class together, and I
remembered that he had worn that around his neck. Despite the jeers from
bullies about it looking ‘faggy,’—their word, not mine—he never took it off.
One jerk had even made a grab at it. It was the only time that I had ever seen
Alex angry. No one ever touched him after that. The guy who tried to take it
recovered after his sprained wrist healed. Yet, Alex had left it behind.
Why?

Ian put it back under his shirt. I said, “Cool, so you’re
essentially grave robbing. Nice, but not too surprising, given the things I’ve
heard about your lot. Alex told me it was his mother’s. So what does this have
to do with your inability to keep track of one of your own?”

Ian flinched at the tone of my voice. Yay, I finally got someone
to listen to me. But it was in a bad sort of way as he started getting angry.
His voice was cold when he spoke. “It’s a psi dampener. His mother created the
thing and keyed it to Alex. She…left us. Actually, she ran away. And we never
even knew he existed until the night he pulled that aerobraking maneuver with
Yama.”

Blink. Blink. I said, “What are you talking about, Ian?”

Ian sighed. “Vaughn, Alex stopped Yama twice. The Day was the
second time. But he also did it the night the asteroid first brushed the
planet’s atmosphere.”

I looked at him, shocked. For the next few moments, all I could
do was stare. All at once, things became clear. The way the asteroid had passed
over us, and the reason why the first meteor hadn’t caused as much damage as
the scientists had expected; it was all thanks to Alex. And I remembered the
ditch in the middle of the road, the ditch with no meteor fragment. To
myself
, I muttered, “Alex…he crashed there. And he told me
he slipped on ice…wow.”

Ian didn’t notice my words. He looked at the crystal for a
moment longer and then put it back under his shirt. But I wasn’t finished.
Something was wrong with what he had said. The timing—it didn’t make sense.

I said, “Okay, fine. Then why didn’t you help him when the damn
thing came back?”

Saying nothing, Ian looked back at the phad. Reaching out to it,
he opened up a picture on the screen. I saw that it was Alex. Or rather, this
was a very young version of Alex Shaw. A tired looking woman stood behind him,
her hands on his shoulders. They were standing in front of a Cessna Turboprop
plane.

I looked at him. “What’s this, a family picture? I’ve seen his
mother, Claire. Why show me this now?”

For a moment, Ian gazed at the picture. I could see his face
through the screen of the phad. With an almost idle tone to his voice, he said,
“You have to understand, Vaughn. For centuries, humans have persecuted those
with psionic talents, as either witches, or pretending that we simply don’t
exist. Religious madmen, politicians, and dictators found us out and saw the
Noumenonii as either tools or obstacles to their raw need for power.”

I waited. But he kept looking at the picture, lost in thought.
Finally, I said, “A point can only be made if you say it, Ian.”

Ian blinked and put the phad down. A look of understanding came
across his face. Then he said, “The point that 
you
 want me to
get to is that you want our help to stop Yasmine. And I have to say…no. We will
not help you, Vaughn. We cannot help you. It would expose us…and we will not
take that chance. Not now, not ever.”

Damn. Why wasn’t I surprised? Still, I had to try. I said,
“Yasmine is going to come here. She knows you exist, Ian. She wants you, too,
now.”

Ian waved that away as he said, “Actually, Yasmine would never
find us. I’m sorry, Vaughn, but we’ll simply stay hidden.
Just
as we’ve done all these centuries.”

I put my hands on the table, trying to keep from grabbing the
man and shaking him. As quietly as I could, I said, “Look, she’s not going to
be alone. If she’s doing what I think she is, she’ll have a group of people. A
couple I already know about—”

Ian stopped me with a raised hand. “They won’t matter, Vaughn.
No matter what Yasmine does, we will not become involved.”

I glared at him as my voice became louder with growing anger.
“So you’re safe. While the rest of us get plowed under, you and yours will just
sit on some Mount Olympus-style throne and watch while Yasmine turns our lives
into some stupid game of super heroes versus super villains!”

I slammed a fist down. “No! It’s your world, too, Ian! Yasmine
will take you out! Hell, you straight out stopped her! She has you in her
sights, man! What makes you think she won’t work out some way to get at you
once she’s finished with us? She’ll go after you, your people, and anyone who
even smells like Noumenonii.”

Ian shrugged and said, “No, she’ll only find untrained psychics.
We don’t reveal ourselves until after they’ve been trained to a certain level of
capability.”

I stared at him in wonder. Was he that stupid? I could see it
easily. If Yasmine got past me, then she would eventually go after Dana’s coven
for the information. Hell, she’d probably find out about Dana by ripping 
my
 mind
apart for information. And if it wasn’t Dana’s coven, then probably some other
group would have the…oh…well…damn.

“That’s why no one remembers you. The Noumenonii erase memories
to keep people from asking questions. The witches know you exist, true. But
none of them knows where you guys live. Oh, that’s clever,” I said.

Ian flinched. He looked away for a moment, uncomfortable with
how much I was guessing. Good, I wasn’t about to let this go. I needed their
help, damn it. And if a little guilt-ridden trip down memory lane gave me a
chance to get that help, then so be it.

I said, “She loved you. You know that,
right?
Dana loved you with all her heart, and when you disappeared, she quit. She
walked away from the coven, the city she was born in, and she was going to live
the life of a reclusive librarian. All to get away from the devastation you and
your band of psychic merry men left behind.”

He muttered, “Stop it. There are good reasons…”

I gave a snort and said, “Right. Super psychics have great
reasoning skills; I can see that. You idiots couldn’t even hold on to one woman
and her kid. Yet, you think you can hide forever from the Empowered.”

I grabbed the phad and looked at the picture. I saw Claire
Grell—once Claire Shaw. Alex looked to be around six or seven. They were standing
in front of a plane. I looked at Ian. “Claire died in a plane accident over a
lake in Nevada, near Las Vegas. Was this taken right before she died?”

He nodded and said, “That was on the laptop in Alex’s bedroom.
Someone took the picture just before she took off that day. Alex
was left behind
on the ground. After the plane went down, he
was sent to live with Brian Shaw.”

Claire had green eyes and light auburn hair cut short. She was
smiling. I noticed that she had worn a crystal bracelet around her right wrist.
I also saw the pink crystal hanging down the front of Alex’s shirt. I looked at
him. He looked—well, he looked unhappy, almost scared.

And Claire looked tired.
So very tired.
Tired of what, though?
And why would Alex be afraid.
What would make him that way? I looked at Ian, and thought about what he’d said
about his people. “You say you didn’t know about Alex. And that the crystal hid
him.”

There was a moment’s breath as I put things together. “Ian,
Claire and Alex were on the run weren’t they—from the Noumenonii?”

Ian’s breath caught in his throat. He stared at me. I met his
eyes over the edge of the phad. I said, “It’s not hard to connect things, Ian.
Your people stay hidden. They didn’t help Alex on the Day; they won’t do
anything about Yasmine. They sound like xenophobes. So, I’m betting that the
Noumenonii don’t like losing one of their own do they? People might find out
about them.”

Ian took the phad from my hand and brought up another picture.
It was of Claire Grell, but this time it was a younger Claire. This Claire had
a bright twinkle in her green eyes. Her smile was easy, and she looked as if
she were about to break into laughter. She looked happy. And she looked a great
deal like a certain witch that Ian and I knew. Huh.

I looked at Ian and said, “I’d seen the other picture of her
before. But this one looks as though it was taken a long time ago.”

Ian closed the phad. “This came from just before she left the
Noumenonii. We believe she was pregnant with Alex at the time, and it was the
last time anyone in our society had seen her. Alex’s father was devastated.”

But eight years ago, Alex had come to live with his father.
“Wait, Brian Shaw is a psychic?”

Ian gave me a patient look. I didn’t see what he was getting at,
but then it clicked in my brain. 
“OMG!
 Brian
isn’t Alex’s father! The whole thing about Alex’s birth certificate not having
a father listed…that was true?”

And I just sounded like a mall rat gossip boy. Smiling, Ian
nodded. Until now, I had thought that that so-called revelation had been a lie
created by Joe Andrews.

Ian said, “Claire ran out on his real father. In the Noumenon
society, there is a strong push for a permanent bond between partners. Claire
broke the laws of the Noumenonii by leaving.”

I didn’t feel even a twinge of sympathy. I mean, I was sorry
that it happened. On one hand, Alex might have been a happier person if his
parents had stayed together. He’d lost his mother at ten, and then Brian had
been a dick to him for seven years. On the other hand, the Noumenonii had this
tendency to be hardheaded about things. They caused people to
be forgotten
by friends and family, and the few who did
remember them... Well, the Noumenonii didn’t even tell Dana’s coven how their
students were doing. What’s more, if they had helped Alex, we might not have
Yasmine as a problem.