The Fire In My Eyes (36 page)

She laughed. “I think we need to get out of here, before he wakes up and tries again. Or calls for help.”

“Red sparks, you said?” I asked.

“Do you think they're BPI agents?” Her voice trembled. I nodded and she squeezed my hand. “I think it's a good idea to get out of here now.”

“No argument here,” I said.

We both got to our feet, but she froze before taking a step. “Drop your power. Now.”

I had already cut my power back to a trickle, but at the tone in her voice, I twisted it off entirely. We stood there in silence for almost a minute. “What's happening?” I whispered.

“I felt three more people start looking for us,” she whispered back. “We need to get out of here. Fast. Don't touch your power. Don't react if they brush you. Just keep moving. They won't be able to find us if we get far enough away.”

We left the building and started to trace our footsteps back the way we came. The campus was quiet at this time. Most students seemed to be done with classes. We only passed a handful of people as we trotted downhill. Nikki was walking faster and faster and I almost had to jog to keep up with her. “Hold on,” I said as I caught up. “You're acting funny. Don't attract attention.”

“I can't help it,” she said. “I'm terrified. It's taking everything I have just to keep myself from running down the hill.”

“You'll have plenty of time to be scared once we get off the campus,” I told her. We followed a curving road back the way we had come. No students were heading down this way. I didn't like being so exposed. “Besides, I'm here with you,” I added.

She gave me a quick smile, and then froze. Her eyes went wide. “Don't see me,” she whispered. I heard a breeze rattle the remaining leaves on the trees ahead, but none of them were moving. It wasn't wind.

I tugged her hand and led her onwards. A sense of pressure gripped my mind, but I forced myself to ignore it. If we didn't give them any proof that we were psions, they wouldn't be able to tell. In theory, at least. The pressure slackened, then vanished. Nikki staggered for a step or two, then righted herself. “They passed over us,” she said.

I stopped dead before we reached the top of the staircase. “They'll be watching here,” I said. “I would be. It's a fast way down to where there's a lot of people.”

“How do we get out of here, then?” she asked.

“We create a distraction,” I said.

Nikki let go of my hand, crossed her arms and shivered again. “There's no way I'm going to be bait. No way.”

“Not like that,” I said. “It's got to be something that attracts their attention and keeps them from sensing us. Once we get down into the city itself, there should be plenty of people around, they won't be able to focus on us in particular.”

“Can't we ask Ripley for help?” Nikki asked.

“They'd sense telepathy,” I said. “It'd point right to us.”

“Dammit, what can we do, Kevin?” I didn't have any more tricks in mind, but I had to come up with something. If we wanted to keep them from noticing us, we'd have to hide our presence, but the act of using psionics to hide us would draw their attention. I didn't trust that I could keep us hidden against the combined focus of three trained agents.

I flipped that idea on its head. Was there some way I could keep them from sensing anything? I couldn't attack them fast enough to knock them all out, but was there some way to temporarily overload them, just long enough to get away? Some way to blind them, psionically speaking?

I slammed my fist against my palm. “I think I've got it.”

“What?” she asked.

“Ever heard of a flashbang?”

She shook her head, then frowned. “No. Maybe, actually. Isn't that a cop thing?”

“Sort of. It's like a grenade that makes a bright flash and huge noise. They toss it into a room to disorient people before they rush in.” Many computer games I used to play used something like that, so I was familiar with the idea. How they actually worked in real life, I had no idea.

“So you're going to drop some sort of psionic grenade at your feet?” she asked. “Do you really think that's a good idea?”

“Do you have anything better in mind?”

“No. How do you want to do this?”

I grabbed for her hand. “Keep your power completely off. I don't know how this will work. Hopefully it won't blind me, but it might. I'll count down, do it, and you count to three and start running. Drag me if you need to.”

“All right.”

I took a deep breath and considered the concept. If I just set off a huge flash of psionic energy, it would probably overwhelm whoever was looking for us. If nothing else, it would hopefully blanket the immediate area and might make it impossible to focus on us. Maybe. This could go badly. “Here goes. Three. Two. One!”

I closed my eyes to concentrate and twisted my power fully open, far past the point where I could keep it stable. I felt three minds focus and search for me. Before they could find me, I forced all the energy in my mind out, an unstable burst of energy. The shock staggered me and my Sight burned white, then burned out. My head spun and I felt myself falling backwards. Nikki caught me, held me up, and helped me down the stairs. I heard nothing but roaring in my ears. When I opened my eyes, I couldn't see anything except for a field of white dotted with black spots. Had I blinded and deafened myself?

I heard a car horn in the distance and Nikki yanked on my arm. Something whipped past behind me, close enough to feel. She was leading me somewhere. I stumbled along in her wake. Every time I blinked, the white was fading to a darker gray, but no shapes were resolving. I had blinded myself. What had I done?

“Kevin?” It sounded like she was shouting in my ear. I jerked away and blinked again. Her face suddenly appeared in front of me, blurry and indistinct, but unmistakably her. “Kevin? Can you hear me?”

“I'm here,” I said. I could hear myself, but it felt like I was hearing everything from underwater. “Are we safe?”

“Yes,” she said. “But you look a little shaky. Are you all right?”

“I'm fine, but you should see the other guy. Other guys.” I chuckled and then groaned as my head spun. “How long has it been?”

“About two minutes,” she said. I winced. It had been more effective than I had anticipated. “We're far enough away that I can try and heal you without them noticing now.”

“I'll be fine,” I said. “But remind me for next time to shield before I light it off. If that's what happens for a spur of the moment idea, I'm terrified of what would happen if I was focused on it.”

“I could feel it,” she said as she placed her fingers on my forehead. The next time I blinked, I could see a faint green glow around her irises. “It felt like I got smacked in the back of the head. If I'd been using my Sight at that moment, I'm sure it would have knocked me out. There. Is that better?”

I shook my head back and forth. My hearing was almost normal and my vision was back in focus. “Yes. Let's get out of here.”

The moment we stepped back on the Ripley campus, Alistair Ripley tele'd me with a demand to get to his office right now. We ran there and the secretary waved us in without even looking up. Ripley stared at us over his enormous desk and shook his head. His expression was grim. “I trust you have a good explanation?” he asked.

“For what?” I asked.

“For setting off that mindflare. It was you, wasn't it?” He steepled his fingers in front of his face. “It was rather surprising to have an emergency distress call so strong and close to home. All of our reserves mobilized immediately. I had to issue an emergency order to stand by until we understood the situation. Well? Is there a reason?”

I explained what had happened and how I had come up with the idea to escape. Nikki added her own explanation. Ripley nodded throughout the story, then sighed deeply as we both ran out of words. “What else could we do?” I asked.

“Nothing. You acted prudently,” Ripley said. “Mindflares are disconcerting. They can confound the psionic senses of others. They can also be sensed at great distances. Some of our outlying reserve agents twenty miles away reported in as soon as they sensed the flare. Most organizations use it as an emergency signal, a last ditch effort. You've signaled that someone is investigating that campus. They will be very, very careful from here on out. On the plus side, since you did it without being taught on how to do it properly, no one is sure that it was an Establishment investigation.”

“I see,” I said. The energy from the flash must not have been Establishment green. If what Shade and Absynthe had told us was correct, it must have been blue. That would have confused people.

“Since the situation has escalated, I will take responsibility for the assignment,” he continued. “Based on what you have told me, there are multiple agents operating on the RPI campus. I cannot, in good conscience, allow you to return there.”

“No!” Ripley raised both eyebrows. Nikki and I had spoken at the same time. “You'll kill the kid just for being too smart. That's not right,” she said.

“He is no longer your concern, Miss Wainwright,” he said. “I will assume all responsibility.”

“It's not just your responsibility!” I hadn't heard Nikki ever shout like that. Judging by the look on Ripley's face, neither had he. “I thought you were supposed to be teaching us ethics!”

Ripley stood up and Nikki shut up. “I teach you ethics,” he said. “I never claimed to be an ethical standard for you to measure yourself against. You are no longer involved with this assignment. I will tolerate no more outbursts.”

“We won't let you do this!” Nikki ignored his warning. “We'll go back. We'll take care of it ourselves. We'll do the right thing.”

Ripley glanced at me, then back at her. “No. I forbid you to return to that campus, Miss Wainwright. I will not allow it.”

Nikki grabbed my wrist. “Come on. We're leaving.”

I looked over my shoulder just before we left the room. Ripley's expression was inscrutable, but was that a slight smile I saw? I couldn't be sure. The doors slammed shut behind us.

She led me straight back to my room and promptly blew up. I let her rage. After a good half hour of ranting, she told me not to go anywhere, then stormed back to her room. She returned five minutes later, dressed all in black and ordered me to follow suit. “Are we really going to do this?” I asked her.

“I am not going to have his death on my conscience,” she snapped, and that was that. I changed my clothes and we headed out. As we approached the exit of the dorm, Max and Drew walked in and immediately headed for us.

“Hey, where are you two going, all dressed up like that?” Drew grinned and winked at me. “Going to some goth club downtown? I didn't think you were into that sort of thing.”

“Wearing all black isn't goth,” Max said. “Proper goths would laugh them right out of the place. Besides, it's way too early to go clubbing, it's only seven.”

“We don't have time for this,” Nikki said. She seized my wrist and started dragging me ahead. Max and Drew exchanged glances, then Drew stepped in front of her and blocked her path. “Get out of my way,” she snapped.

He held his hands up. “Chill, Nikki. What's the story? You don't look too happy, Kev. Something going on between you two?”

“I said we don't have time for this!”

“Nikki, hang on,” I said. “Look, we're just going-”

“We're just going out. Now let us go.”

Max shook his head. “You two are acting weird. What's going on?”

I started to say something, but Nikki was faster. She held her hand up toward Drew, fingers splayed. I felt a surge of psionic energy, too quick for me to react. “I told you, get out of my way!”

She blew him backwards, flinging him toward the glass doors. I tapped my own power and caught him with a telekinetic grip, catching him just before he could smash through them. Max swore and fell on his ass. “What the fuck are you doing?” I shouted at Nikki.

“There's no time to deal with this sort of shit,” she said, far calmer than she had any right to be. “We've got to do what needs to be done, and we've got to do it now before it's too late. I'm not going to play patty-cake with these two idiots. We've got lives to save.”

“You just blew cover,” I said. Drew and Max were both staring. I lifted Drew and placed him back on his feet next to Max. He promptly fell on his ass as well. “Sorry guys, she's a little pissed at the moment.”

“What the hell is going on?” Max asked. “Your eyes, both your eyes? Is it contagious?”

“She pushed me without even touching me, what the fuck? Kev, what the fuck, man?” Drew seemed horrified. “You've been hiding this sort of shit?”

I looked away from my roommates. This wasn't my choice. “Nikki, have you learned how to tweak memories? I haven't.”

“I have.” She walked to Drew and slapped her hand to his forehead. Seconds later, she turned and stepped toward Max, who scrambled backwards. She seized him with a telekinetic grip and slapped his forehead as well.

“Wait, Kev, help!” he shouted to me, before going limp. I shuddered. They wouldn't remember this incident. I certainly didn't feel right about it.

“There. They won't remember seeing us.” Both of them were getting to their feet, looking a little disoriented, but none the worse for wear. Nikki grabbed my hand and led me down the stairs before they could come to their senses.

We walked across Troy in record time. Neither of us tapped our psionic energy after that incident and no one seemed to be looking for us, from either the Bureau or the Establishment. I could only imagine how many rules we had just broken, and how many more we were about to break. At the bottom of the huge staircase leading up to the RPI campus, Nikki stopped short. “Kev?”

“Yeah?”

“Sorry about doing that to your friends. I'm a little on edge.”

“I noticed.” The apology didn't quite make up for what she had done, but at least I had been able to save him from injury. It wasn't as if I had the moral high ground to protest what she had done, not after what I had done to her. Still, I hadn't done it on purpose.

She squeezed my hand and we walked up the stairs. The campus was quiet, far quieter than it had been earlier that afternoon. Instead of breaking left around the central field, we broke right and walked right to the engineering building. We took a small, nearly hidden staircase, and then approached the main entrance of the engineering building. Nikki pulled on the door handle. It opened. “I almost expected it to be locked,” she said.