Psi Another Day (Psi Fighter Academy) (7 page)

“True.”

“So, why does he hang out there?”

“Works with troubled youth. Molding young minds, and that sort of thing. It’s also the Official Hangout of the Cool of the School. They even have their own section.”

I patted Kathryn on the head. “Remind me not to go there.”

“Rinnie!” a voice called from behind.

Tish walked toward us, followed by a boy I knew only as Whatsisface. He had the most oddly shaped body I had ever seen. His neck was excessively long, his shoulders narrow and sloping, hips and belly very wide. He tottered on unnaturally short legs. A Friar Tuck hairdo rested like a beanie on his undersized head. No wonder he was a major target of Mason’s goons.

“Hi, Rinnie,” Tish said. “I never thanked you for the other day. You shouldn’t have bothered. It’s not worth the hassle.”

“I, umm…you’re welcome?” I looked at Tish for a sign that I had responded correctly, but her woe-is-me eyes remained unchanged. I did a double take and noticed that the dark circles under them were painted on. What kind of fashion statement was that?

“Stay away from the front of the cafeteria,” Whatsisface said. The dark circle under his left eye was definitely
not
painted on. “Art Rubric and Chuckie Cuff are charging a toll.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll do that.”

“Did you hear about Erica Jasmine?” Tish’s eyes filled with tears. “Her little sister Christie was kidnapped this morning. Right inside the elementary school.”

Kathryn and I caught each other’s gazes. She looked as terrified as I felt.

“Mr. Munificent was right,” Whatsisface murmured, rubbing his black eye. “As if things aren’t bad enough here without a kidnapper to worry about.”

…

The rest of the day was agonizingly long. I wanted so badly to text my little sister Susie, but she didn’t have a cell. That evening while the other students were doing their warm-up stretches, I made it a point to train with her before class started. Susie was ten years old and, like me, had been a student at the Academy since she was six. She was my little buddy, and there was no way the stalker was going to touch her. I couldn’t personally guard her all the time, so I decided to make sure she could guard herself.

The Kilodan wasn’t big on breaking inanimate objects with our bare hands, but he
was
big on breaking them with our minds. We practiced on boards like the regular martial arts people did. I chose a nice, heavy oak slab about two inches thick, and dangled it on a wire from the Academy ceiling. If Susie could shatter that, she could shatter Elmo.

“Will the Kilodan find Christie?” Susie asked.

“He’s the best hunter we have,” I said. Christie and Susie were friends from school. “He can find anybody.”

“I should go after her myself,” Susie growled. “If the kidnapper is lucky, the Kilodan will find him before I do. I won’t be as nice.”

“Susie, you know you aren’t allowed. Be patient. I know it’s scary, but the Kilodan will handle it.” She sounded so much like me, I couldn’t imagine that we weren’t blood relatives. Whereas I am blond and pale, Susie has gorgeous black hair and tans better than anyone else in my family. She blinked at me with her deep chocolate eyes.

“Don’t be scared,” Susie said, reaching up to touch my cheek. “I won’t let him get you.”

“My bodyguard.” I hugged her. “Now let’s practice, in case you have to save me.”

“Okay.” Susie turned to the board. “Board, prepare to be boarded.”

I covered my face with my hands. “I gotta keep Andy away from you. Okay, elbow down, fist vertical, and imagine that your arm is a cannon.”

Susie was still six years away from her black belt, too young to have an Amplifier. Her Mental Arts skills were powerful, but completely unpredictable. She dropped into her fighting stance, hands clenched, fists tight, knees stiff.

“Relax,” I said. “He took your friend. Find your anger.”

“Okay.” Susie squinted and pursed her lips, concentrating with everything she had. She extended her closed fist slowly toward the dangling board, then bared her teeth like a lion cub about to attack. Her face became so furious I almost giggled.

“Focus…”

Her arm stiffened and her feet shifted. Her breathing quickened. Her whole body shook like a jackhammer.

“Blast it!” I shouted, trying not to laugh at my vibrating little sister. Susie’s shoulders lurched violently, her fist flashed open, and a tiny
pop
echoed against the Academy walls.

Hmm.

A cricket chirped in the distance.

On the plus side, the board wobbled a little, which was actually pretty impressive for a first try, but I knew Susie wouldn’t be satisfied.

“Aw, crud,” she groaned. “How come I can’t do it? My hair didn’t even poof.”

“Are you kidding? That was awesome!” I said. “I couldn’t get it to move until I was twelve.”

“I didn’t break it. C’mon, show me!”

I smiled, and kissed her cheek. “It’s all in your head.”

I eased into my fighting stance and slowly raised my half-opened fist to the suspended board. I didn’t have to try hard to find my anger. I thought about the children I saw in Elmo’s mind. Instantly, my body tingled as mental force ignited the rage inside me, ripping down my arm, gathering speed like a jet engine winding up for takeoff. Sparks snapped as though I was traveling down a plastic sliding board. My hair frizzed, my body twitched, my hand opened, and the board exploded with a sonic boom, sending fragments across the Academy floor.

“Cool!” Susie screamed. “Lemme try again! I wanna—”

“Line up!” a voice bellowed. The other students took their places on the practice floor.

“Oh, crud, time for class,” Susie said. “Can we practice again later?”

“Definitely.”

Andy and the Kilodan entered and bowed to the class. Andy hit a button on his chest armor and the theme song from the
Addams Family
played softly in the background. I did a mental eye roll. I could always predict the weirdness of the lesson by the music Andy selected. Tonight promised to be unusual.

“Fear,” the Kilodan began, “is a terrifying weapon.”

“Scares me half to death,” Andy quipped.

The Kilodan elbowed him and continued as though nothing stupid had been said. “Most fear is an illusion, yet we convince ourselves otherwise. Fear makes us see things that do not exist. It creates monsters in our minds. Turn your opponent’s irrational anxieties against him, and you will gain an easy victory. Today we practice the Dart of Paranoia, a technique that makes imaginary terror
feel
very real. Lynn and Andor.”

I smiled as I drew my Amplifier. I loved battling Andy with the Dart of Paranoia. It never mattered who won, the outcome was always hilarious. Last time I skewered Andy with the Dart, he started dancing around, screaming that somebody had copied daytime soap operas over his Three Stooges DVDs.

I faced Andy.

Fear me
, I thought. My hair fluffed, and psychic flames rippled down my arms. Red mist shot from my Amplifier, and took the shape of a short, fiercely pointed spear. I eased into my fighting stance, holding the Dart of Paranoia in both hands. Andy’s weapon had taken the form of a banderilla, the brightly colored barbed dart used in bullfights. Andy loved theatrics. Without warning, he attacked, stabbing fiercely at my heart. I parried with a lazy flick of my own Dart, and blew him a kiss.

Andy smiled. “A thought just crossed my mind.”

“Short journey,” I said, and lunged forward, slashing at Andy’s leg. “Tell me all about it.”

Andy twirled his banderilla, knocking my attack aside. “I think it’s my turn to win.”

“Even a blind pig finds a truffle occasionally,” I said, resuming my guard. Andy thrust low with his banderilla, and I flicked my Dart to block. He stopped short and slashed high.

“Oink!” he yelled triumphantly. His Dart brushed my forearm and I started to laugh, knowing I should not have fallen for such an obvious trick. I tried to think of an appropriate insult, but then the whole world changed.

The laugh caught in my throat and my vision blurred and refocused.

Mason stood grinning at me. “Smile, Peroxide.”

“It’s not bleached!” I covered my face as Mason reached out for my hair.

Rinnie, it’s okay, it’s not real.

I thought I heard Susie’s little voice in the distance. I looked up, trying to find her, but a huge face blocked my view, laughing and pointing. “I’ll take your sister,” a man in an Elmo mask whispered. Wires of cold fear tightened around my chest, restricting my breathing.

“You will not!” I screamed, and closed my eyes tightly. Uncontrolled terror filled me, and I thrust my palm forward. A sharp crack echoed through the room.

“Rinnie!”

Suddenly, there was silence. I opened my eyes, and found everyone staring. But they weren’t looking at me.

I followed their gaze to find Andy’s limp body lying against the wall, his chest armor shattered.

“Oh, no,” I whispered. “Andy—”

The Kilodan knelt beside Andy’s body. I couldn’t tell if he was breathing. The class began to murmur. My heart thumped so hard I thought it might burst through my uniform. Then slowly, Andy opened his eyes and looked down at his demolished chest armor.

“Good one,” he said weakly. “Do I know how to work the Dart, or what? I’ll bet you never watch Sesame Street again.”

“Oh, Andy, I’m so sorry,” I sobbed, tears running down my cheeks. “It was so real.”

“You just proved my point,” the Kilodan murmured impassively. He helped Andy to his feet, then clapped his hands. “Class dismissed.”

Susie and the other students looked shocked, but bowed obediently, then filed through the main door. I wanted to know what point I had just proved, but it was obvious that there would be no discussion, so I bowed and turned to leave.

“Wait, Rinnie.” The Kilodan’s electronically altered voice leaked the slightest hint of emotion. Fear gripped me and I stopped in my tracks. Other than mild exasperation with Andy’s teaching style, the Kilodan didn’t show feelings. He
never
called me Rinnie. That couldn’t be good. I didn’t think he even knew I had another name. I slowly turned to face him.

“I asked you to stop the trouble at your school,” the Kilodan said. “I was wrong to ask.”

“It’s okay. I know the man in the skull mask is connected to the kidnapper. Mason is my link to him. I won’t make the same mistake I made ten years ago. Nobody will die because of me this time. I’ll be careful.”

“What mistake?” the Kilodan asked.

“I did something stupid that linked me to the Psi Fighters. I don’t remember what, but I was always practicing when I was little. If I had just been more careful, they’d be alive today.”

“Is that what you think? Honey, your parents didn’t die because of anything you did.” His voice shook, even through the mask’s electronic modifiers. At first, I thought he was angry. But then I noticed the way he held his head. He seemed to be fighting tears. For the first time in my life, I wondered if the Kilodan might actually be human.

“Yeah. They did.”

“Your parents saved a little boy. It was completely accidental. By that time, the town was in terror, and the Knights had become very bold. A Knight pulled the boy off the street right in front of them, in broad daylight.”

Hmm. This was news. “My mom and dad weren’t masked, were they?”

“There was no time.”

“Why would they do that?” I asked. “Isn’t our first priority to protect our identity?”

“Our first priority is to protect the innocent.”

“Okay. So they saved the boy, captured the Knight…and?”

The Kilodan glanced away. “The Knight escaped. He recognized their Mental Arts skills, and knew they were Psi Fighters. You were kidnapped the next day. They received a ransom note saying he wanted to trade you for the boy they rescued, that you could be found in Dead End Alley. Your parents knew it was a trap, but went anyway.”

By now, tears were streaming down my face. “Why? Why would they risk their lives like that?”

“You were more important to them than their secret identities. Or ours. We don’t consider risk when someone we love is in danger.”

“What happened to the Knight?”

The Kilodan inhaled sharply, and I instantly felt his rage bounce off me, like the searing summer heat rebounding off asphalt. Just as quickly, it was gone.

“He was extremely powerful,” Andy said. “We know now it was Nicolaitan. Nobody else could have escaped both of them. And it seems that he has resurfaced.”

“Nicolaitan?” I looked back and forth between Andy and the Kilodan. “The leader of the Walpurgis Knights? He’s the one with the skull mask? He killed my parents? And he’s back?”

“Yes,” Andy whispered.

“You knew?” I was suddenly livid. “And you didn’t tell me?”

Andy’s eyes narrowed. “We weren’t certain that he was back until you saw the skull mask in Elmo’s memory. And I didn’t tell you Nicolaitan murdered your parents because—”

“You want me to find him,” I said. “I’m on it.”

“Because I knew you’d say that,” Andy said.

“No, we do
not
!” The Kilodan pointed a gloved finger at Andy. “See, I
told
you this would happen.”

“Look, Big K,” Andy began. “I—”

“Big K? What am I, a bowl of cereal?”

Andy bowed deeply, and spoke in Darth Vader’s voice. “Forgive me, my master.”

The Kilodan turned to me as if to say,
Forget you saw that
. Then he let out a long, electronically altered sigh that sounded like a deflating whoopee cushion, and became his emotionless old self again. “Andor is the reason I asked you to get involved at your school. He believes you are ready. I, however, do not.”

I glanced at Andy and was suddenly filled with affection. Andy believed in me. Andy stood up for me. Andy supported—“What do you mean, you ‘do not’?” I said, spinning toward the Kilodan.

“You are headstrong and impulsive.”

“And?”

The Kilodan slowly placed both fists on his hips. “I do not believe you are ready to do battle with a Walpurgis Knight.”