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Rayen shoved her hands in her hair and growled to keep from throwing a blast of energy at Zilya. Pulling her hands down, she continued to where Tony and Zilya were facing off.
Zilya snarled at Tony, “I will not warn you again, TecKnati.”
“You’re always fightin’ the wrong people, blondie. I’m trying to help Callan and your village. So is V’ru. So back the heck off and stay out of my way. And if I catch you trying to bully V’ru one more time, you’ll regret it.”
Zilya lifted her hands.
Rayen warned, “Make a wrong move and I will fry you.”
Shoving a shocked look her way, Zilya said, “You would not dare touch me.”
“Yes, I would, and you won’t like it.”
“You are not more powerful than I,” Zilya argued without conviction.
Tony chuckled, a dry nasty sound. “Bad move, blondie. You’ve never been present when Xena unleashed her power and cooked a croggle just by stabbing it with a spear. But you know what? Go ahead and keep pushing Xena. I’d like to see you toasted.”
Rayen sent an arched look at Tony.
He opened his arms. “What?”
She squeezed out a sigh. “I’m trying to help so you can get moving on the computer.”
“She started this crap.” Tony put his hand on V’ru’s shoulder. “Let’s get busy, little man.”
Zilya started, “V’ru, if you—”
Tony swung around and raised a hand so fast Rayen was worried that he had kinetic powers, but he only pointed at Zilya. “I’ve told you before and I’m only saying this one more time. V’ru is under my protection. Don’t mess with him.” Then Tony and V’ru entered the hut.
Kaz finally said something. “Zilya, this is the time to work together, not to fight. You should trust that V’ru will reveal nothing more than is needed to prepare that computer to trade for Callan.”
She didn’t acknowledge his words, merely replying, “When we return home, this will all have consequences.”
Etoi, Zilya’s assistant and closest friend, came into the clearing then. She wore ankle-high boots made of something like leather and a muted burgundy tunic with a braided gold edge that stopped short of her knees. Swinging her blond-and-black ringlets at Rayen, along with a full load of bad attitude, she warned, “If you threaten our Governing House leader again, you will not be allowed to remain inside the village.”
“Says who?” Kaz asked.
Tagging him with her furious gaze, Etoi answered, “Says me, if you are not willing to do your duty as a warrior.”
Rayen just rolled her eyes. “I’m tired of the threats. Do you or do you not want Callan to be freed?”
She’d said that just to break up the friction, but Etoi shrugged. “He’s only a warrior, not a leader.”
Now she wanted to strangle her for real. “Mathias left Callan in charge of this village.”
Zilya lifted her nose. “Then Callan left me in charge.”
Kaz interjected, “He left you and Jaxxson in charge. You have joint authority. We are done here. Return to whatever it is you do to fill your days and we’ll deal with bringing Callan back.”
Zilya’s cheeks flamed, then she returned to her natural annoying self. “You have enjoyed too much autonomy here, Kaz. It will not go well for you when we are home again.”
With that, Zilya and Etoi marched off.
Muttering to himself, Kaz said, “I’ll worry about that if I ever see home again.”
Rayen wanted to comfort him and reassure him that he would go home again, but she was in no position to be making false promises.
Tony stuck his head out of the hut. “Need you in here, Xena.”
She couldn’t imagine why he’d need her with the computer, but she followed Tony as he ducked back inside. He had the keyboard off and V’ru stared at the electronics with a fascination she couldn’t appreciate.
“What do you need?” Rayen asked. “Didn’t Gabby pick a good computer?”
“She did better than good,” Tony said. “She got Nick’s laptop, and he has state-of-the-art everything. This baby is loaded with every option available.”
Had Gabby known that was Nick’s computer when she grabbed it? Knowing Gabby, the answer was yes. “I don’t see what the problem is then.”
V’ru looked up and his straight black hair fell over his huge brown eyes. He shoved a lock off his face, a futile effort when it fell again. “We made several alterations that emulate what Tony tells me your portal computer does, but this is not the same configuration.”
The sound that came out of Kaz could only be called relief. “You are saying we won’t be giving the TeKs a computer they can time travel with, correct?”
“Correct,” V’ru confirmed. “That’s not the problem. This has to at least power up long enough to pull a fast one.”
Kaz frowned. “What do you mean by fast one, V’ru?”
V’ru shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s what Tony said.”
Tony chuckled and explained, “We’re going to have to convince the TeKs to trade Callan for a computer that isn’t going to do what they think. That’s going to require some slick talking and sleight of hand to get him out of there, thus pulling a fast one.”
V’ru nodded as if Tony had imparted a wisdom to be archived, then he said, “I was able to power this unit for only ten seconds with my residual power, but I’m not strong enough to keep it running very long. My power is focused on retaining information, not driving something physical. We need a superpower.”
Everyone looked at her.
“What?” She protested, “I couldn’t turn the last computer on by myself. What do you expect me to do with this one?”
Tony pointed at one spot. “See what happens if you touch that. And don’t blow it up.”
Good advice if she had any control over her power. Half the time it wouldn’t even show up without someone facing death or torture. She hovered her hand over the spot and felt no tingle of energy, so she dropped her finger down to touch the part Tony had indicated.
Nothing happened. She looked at him. “I told you.”
Running a hand over his short hair, Tony stared at the laptop. “Kaz, you try it.”
He did. Nothing again.
Tony put the keyboard back in place and once the laptop was whole again, he handed it to Rayen. “Try it again.”
She felt like an idiot standing there holding the laptop with nothing happening. “What do you want me to do this time? I can’t just call up my power.”
“Well, I can’t do it,” Tony snapped back at her. “Your power is what runs the other computer we used for traveling here. Way I got it figured, we need this one to function for about a minute. That’s all.”
She gripped the laptop tight. “I have no control over the other one and this one is clearly not the same.”
“Just try harder, Xena.”
She had to make this work for Callan. She closed her eyes and pleaded with her power. Not so much as a flicker. Opening her eyes, she placed the computer back on the slab of wood they were using for a table and asked V’ru, “Can’t you wave your hands and make a computer work?”
V’ru held her gaze with a tolerant one and flipped one skinny hand without looking up. A holographic screen popped into view. “You mean like that?”
“Yes. If you can do that, why can’t you make this computer work?”
He sighed, sounding like someone a hundred years old instead of a stick-thin eleven-year-old. “That is like saying why can’t you use your power to fly or teleport. Those are two unique energy sources just as your power and mine function differently.”
Kaz looked out the doorway. “The moon will be setting in a little over an hour. We must leave soon.”
When would this day get any easier?
Tony crossed his arms. “Call up your power like you did to unlock the doors. That’s all we need. Not croggle-killing level.”
Frustration boiling inside her burst out. “Don’t you think I would if I could?”
“I don’t know,” Tony argued. “How important is it to get Callan back? Or don’t you care enough.”
She took a step toward him. “How can you say that?” Heat coiled and spun inside her like a whip of fire.
“’Cause you ain’t makin’ much of an effort.” Tony lifted his shoulders. “Hey, if you don’t care about him being tortured, that’s fine by me.”
She yelled at Tony, “Make that stupid thing work!”
“Not my problem.”
“I’m going to make it your problem if you—”
“Look, it’s working!” V’ru shouted.
She jerked her gaze to the table where the computer had three circles whirling on the screen. She started laughing out of relief. “It is working.”
Tony scrubbed a hand over his face. “Getting you upset enough to power up is killing me, Xena.”
“Oh, no,” V’ru whispered.
The computer died again.
Kaz said, “That’s okay. She’ll make it work again. We have to go.”
Rayen caught the resignation in Kaz’s face when he acknowledged that she had to return to the TeK camp with him. She’d do her best to hide her feelings about Callan once they were around the female captive. A royal.
Tony wrapped up the computer and started to put it in his backpack, then changed his mind. “I’m leaving my pack with V’ru. We’ll just take the computer.”
Tony, V’ru, and Kaz were ready to walk out when Kaz turned to Tony. “I would rather you stay here and keep an eye on ...” He glanced down at the top of V’ru’s head and said, “The village.”
Tony looked to Rayen, and she nodded. There was nothing he could do once they got to the TecKnati camp if powering this thing was up to her.
“Sure thing,” Tony agreed, though not looking all that happy. She didn’t blame him as they were sticking him with Zilya, Etoi, and Kenja.
She held Tony back when V’ru and Kaz walked out. “Tony, you said we needed the computer to operate for a minute. It only powered up for fifteen seconds.”
“You weren’t even focusing on the unit and the overflow of your power got it running. All you need to do is concentrate when you get there and you’ll do fine, Xena. Plus, you don’t have a choice.” Tony glanced outside and back at her. “Kaz said you have to leave now, or you’ll miss your window of time.”
If her power showed up, she’d either make the computer work or take down the entire TecKnati camp until she found Callan.
If her power failed to show up ...
No. She couldn’t accept the possibility.
With no other choice, she headed out with Kaz to the tortalones.