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MAKING HERSELF ILL had the benefit of delaying her surgery. The other benefit was that she’d been moved from her isolated closet to a small infirmary room. She was locked in, but at least she now had room to move. Morgyn didn’t want to operate when there was a risk of making an infection worse, which bought Naomi a few days while they ran tests to determine why she’d been vomiting. She wasn’t about to tell them it was because she was trying harder than she’d ever tried to induce a vision.
Two days of sickness and it still hadn’t worked, but the bond in her chest that connected her to her mate was stronger than ever. He was close, possibly on the planet, maybe even in the city, and he was coming for her. She didn’t need her visions to tell her that. If their roles had been reversed, if Shayn had been captured and Naomi left alone she would have done the same thing. She would have rallied every resource, called in every favor, done everything in her power to get her mate back.
But Shayn was up against a very resourceful enemy who didn’t care a bit about his well-being. If he came up against Sola Corp, they’d squash him like a bug.
She needed to know what was coming, what Sola and Morgyn would do next and how she could get out to save Shayn from needing to find her. She could follow the bond once she was out of the building, but she had to find a way out while avoiding the surgery that Morgyn wanted to do. Naomi still didn’t know exactly what she planned, but she wasn’t letting the doctor touch her brain, especially not when Morgyn was determined to make her more amenable to testing. Who knew what she could do to Naomi if she got her fingers under her skull?
No, thank you.
The monitors she was hooked up to were another problem. Every time she tried to induce a vision her heartbeat changed, sometimes kicking into high gear and other times slowing dangerously. She’d been hooked up to biometric monitors during many of her other visions and if someone bothered to cross reference that information they might figure out what she was trying to do. But pulling off the monitor wires was a sure way to summon an attendant to come check on her.
Naomi had to risk it. So what if they knew she was having a vision? She had visions all the time and no one ever thought she had been purposefully inducing them before. Before a week ago she would have told Morgyn if she had that ability, so Morgyn had no reason to believe she’d spontaneously developed it in the past few days.
She hadn’t, but that was beside the point. Naomi needed to do this. If she failed, Morgyn would own her for the rest of her life, and Shayn would end up dead or worse. Morgyn wouldn’t turn away a rare specimen like a Detyen just because he’d given her a bit of trouble. No, if he showed up she’d use him just as she’d used Naomi and there would be no way out for either of them.
Naomi took a deep breath and dived deep within herself.
She came up against that same blackness that had stopped her before. It was so thick she felt like she could barely move. This darkness was alive around her, cloying and deep and more than any person could be expected to handle. What did it mean that this lived within her? Was there an evil to it? A taint that could hurt her and everyone she loved?
No. It was dark, but she didn’t feel any malevolence. It just was, with no good or bad attached to it.
Naomi tried to move forward again, but the darkness wrapped her up so tightly that she was trapped, unable to move forward or back, unable to draw in a deep breath, unable to do anything but wait and hope that it let her go.
But what was it? This eternity of darkness was held within her mind. That made it hers, and she wouldn’t be its prisoner. She struggled more against it, determined to free herself, but the darkness didn’t seem to understand or care that she had no intention of being owned and conquered by it.
What darkness?
It was the smallest hint of a whisper, something that tugged at Naomi’s consciousness. Listening to it, hearing it felt the same way as when her instincts urged her on. In this darkness her instincts had a voice.
What darkness? her instincts demanded.
What darkness? It was all around her, how did her instincts not know that? She wanted answers, wanted to share the sight, but the question kept echoing, kept insisting that there was no darkness at all.
So what if there wasn’t?
Naomi stopped struggling. She could still feel the press of it against her, but when she moved her arm up and down nothing prevented the motion. She turned her head from side to side and again, there was no impediment. But there was still only darkness, even if it was no longer trying to stop her.
Stop looking at it.
Stop looking? Even when she closed her eyes there was still black. Unless someone turned on a light there was no way to escape it.
That was what Naomi’s logic told her. But logic also said that a person couldn’t see visions of the future, and she’d had that ability for more than a decade. If she relied on logic alone she’d be wiped from existence, an impossibility that nature couldn’t endure.
And she was possible. She was real.
What darkness?
Naomi opened her eyes and she saw.
***
THERE WASN’T AN ARMED guard waiting to meet them at the space port, which Shayn took as a good sign. Clearly Sola Corp wasn’t expending any resources to look for him. They had no reason to care about him, other than the fact that he’d been an interesting specimen to study.
He found a cheap room for his brothers to use as a base of operations while he carried out his plan to get his denya back.
“It’s a terrible plan,” Brax said again. Dekon agreed, nodding his head with great vigor.
“You haven’t given me anything better.” Maybe it wasn’t fair to put that kind of responsibility on his brothers, but they’d had three days to come up with something while they were cooped up on the ship, and in those three days Shayn’s bad plans were the least terrible and most possible of their options.
“I told you—”
He cut Deke off. “Where can we get the creds for the hover bikes? Or the skills to drive them up the side of a building?”
His brother shrugged. “It seems easy enough in the vids I watched.”
“I’ll be fine,” Shayn promised them.
“That’s what you said when you left us the first time,” Brax shot back.
“Is there a scratch on me?” Shayn demanded, spinning around and holding his arms out so his brother could get a look. “I’m not the one in danger.”
“But you will be if you walk in there unarmed,” said Brax.
It really was a terrible plan. But what else was he going to do?
“I think it will work,” Shayn said, hoping he wasn’t lying. “And if you don’t hear from me by sunset tomorrow, I want you to call Oscavian planetary security and report me as missing.”
“Why can’t we just contact them now and tell them about your denya?” Deke asked.
“Because she is a resident and employee of Sola Corp. They have a dozen ways to make it look like she wants to be there. Besides that, I’m sure credits have greased enough palms to make sure security won’t interfere.” He’d thought about contacting security as soon as he got on Honora Station, but Shayn remembered how easily she’d been taken. That kind of abduction took skill and bribery.
“And they won’t just bribe security to look the other way while they dispose of you?” Brax asked. His words were getting more clipped, more cold as the argument escalated and he escaped into himself to avoid his darker emotions.
“Maybe they bribe, or maybe they kick me out because it’s easier. If you had—” He clamped his mouth shut before he let the hurtful words escape.
But his brothers knew what he was going to say. “If either of us had a denya we would understand. Right?” Deke crossed his arms.
There was no use lying. “Yes,” said Shayn.
“Then do it,” Brax said, finally breaking the silence that had stretched too long to be comfortable. “We’ll be standing by. I hope you don’t die.”
“I love you, too, little brother.” He turned to Deke. “And you, of course. Stay safe.”
“That’s rich,” Deke muttered.
Shayn left them with the hope they would do as he instructed and give him time to act. As he’d spent the last days spinning fantastical rescue scenarios, his mind kept coming back to the only realistic possibility. Sola Corp was protected by electronic, android, and Oscavian surveillance. He’d been a security guard on Honora Station and he knew his way around a duty roster, but he was one man and certainly no match for the triply redundant systems guarding the building.
All the security meant that there was one way into the building.
Shayn’s taxi dropped him off and he walked up the path to the front door, greeting the android with a bright smile. “Hello, I’m Shayn NaZade. I had to leave because of a family emergency, but if the doctor approves it, I’d like to continue my testing.”
The android looked at him with a blank expression, but he tried not to feel judged. Androids were blank by default.
“One moment, sir,” it said before it went silent, probably processing his request. It took several moments and Shayn felt exposed as each second passed. Would Dr. Pitner send security in to throw him out? Or lock him up? Or worse? The plan had seemed terrible when he talked it over with his brothers, and now it was even worse. Finally the android opened its eyes. “The doctor is in a meeting, but she would like to speak with you. Please proceed down the path towards her office.” The android gestured and a stripe lit up in the floor, guiding him to where he was supposed to be.
Shayn stood straight and stepped with confidence, knowing his denya was somewhere in the building. He could feel her, knew she was close, and now that he was inside he’d need to find her and get her out. The walk to Pitner’s office was over too quickly, and the door swung open before he could knock. Whatever meeting the doctor had been in, it appeared to be over now. She didn’t rise when he entered, instead gesturing for him to take a seat. “Mr. NaZade, I’m surprised to be seeing you.”
“I came here for a reason, didn’t I?” He’d thought of every question that she might ask him, and he hoped his lies would stand up. “I had a family emergency. Quite sudden, and I needed to be home for a few days. I’m sorry I didn’t notify you before I left, that was incredibly rude of me.” Was he sounding too formal? Pitner’s face was as blank as the android’s and he didn’t know if she believed him.
“Is everything alright now?” she asked mildly.
Shayn nodded. “My brothers overreacted. By the time I made it home everything had sorted itself out.”
“Hmm,” was her response.
“Anyway, if it’s possible I’d like to continue my testing here. I think we can make real progress.” If she loved testing rare specimens so much, she couldn’t resist him, no matter how flimsy his story. He was counting on that.
“It’s interesting that you say you left because of a family emergency,” Pitner said. She waved her hands over her desk like she was trying to bring up a hologram, but nothing showed up. “Our security footage saw you leaving with another patient. And additional footage saw you with her at the space port. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were lying to me about why you left.”
Shayn didn’t react. He’d figured that security footage might link him and Naomi together and he had a response to that, even if the words tasted like ashes in his mouth. “That’s correct, I did leave the facility with another patient. She told me she wanted a little trip. And I knew the ride to Honora would be lonely, so I thought a little entertainment wouldn’t hurt. She was cute, and more than willing.” He leered, or tried to, but he wasn’t sure if he was quite able to master the expression. “We had some trouble with our ship and got separated. I thought she would have left a message for me or something, but these things happen.”
Pitner’s expression didn’t crack. “And you thought it was normal for a patient to leave without taking any of her belongings?”
He shrugged. “I left mine behind too. Sometimes speed is of the essence. Was she not supposed to leave?”
“No,” Pitner said, “she was not.”
“Oh.” Shayn knew that, and he was desperate to ask Pitner what was going on with Naomi now, but to get back into the facility he had to make Pitner think he didn’t care. He dropped any questions he might have asked and remained quiet.
Pitner swiped her hands in front of her again, and Shayn was sure she was looking at the holo display in privacy mode. Finally, she nodded as if she’d made a decision. “You’re lucky we haven’t gotten rid of your things or reassigned your room, Shayn. But if you leave again without telling us, you won’t be welcome back. We expect professionalism from the people working with us.”
“Of course.” Shayn nodded vigorously. “Thank you for this chance. I’d do anything for my brothers.”
“I’m sure you’d do anything for someone you loved. It’s admirable. Now please allow Dr. Konnor to lead you to your room.” She pressed a button on her desk and the door slid open to reveal an Oscavian man waiting for them in the hallway.
“Sure,” Shayn said as he stood.
He walked across the room and greeted the doctor, but Pitner called him back. “Shayn?” She waited for him to turn before she said anything else. “Keep your hands off the patients. Friendship is welcome... fraternization is not.”
He nodded and slumped his shoulders, appropriately cowed. He followed behind Konnor and listened to the man prattle on about some of the advancements in neuro-manipulation he’d implemented. Was he talking about Naomi? They’d screwed up her neurons plenty and it was a miracle she hadn’t been hurt. But there was nothing actionable or even particularly interesting in what the doctor said and before he knew it, Shayn was back at the room he’d been assigned a little more than a week ago.
It was amazing how much a life could change in such a small amount of time.
Konnor opened the door, using his palm on the lock, and Shayn entered. His clothes were still in his suitcase and his old tablet sat on the table as if he’d just gotten up to take a walk. It looked as if he’d never left.
The door closed behind him and Shayn walked around the room to make sure there were no surprises. Would he be under surveillance in here? It hadn’t occurred to him before, but given the sinister experiments Pitner had done on her pet psychics, it had to be a possibility. After a fairly thorough search Shayn didn’t find any cameras or listening devices, but that didn’t mean they weren’t well hidden. He’d be careful, but he’d always planned to be careful.
After several minutes had passed and he was sure Konnor was no longer right outside the door, Shayn was ready to go and find his mate. He could feel the denya bond pulsing within him and she was so close he could practically feel her pressed up against him.
He placed his hand on the door handle and pushed, but the door didn’t open. He tried again, pushing harder, not believing what had happened, even if he definitely should have expected it.
He was locked in.
Fuck.
