Chapter 6
Cat was sure that she was freezing to death. Her eyes were playing tricks on her, so she must be close to death. Her ears were fooling her too, because not only did she see Talon racing towards her, but she could also hear the dull thud when he landed right next to her. When he grabbed her, and she could actually feel his arms around her and the heat of his skin, it dawned on her that this wasn’t a dream.
Talon. She let out a strangled sob. He was kneeling next to her, looking at her, checking to see if everything was okay. His gold eyes bored into hers, and in them, there was no accusation or reprimand. The only thing she could see was the love he felt for her. Had she really thought that he wouldn’t find her? With one move, he grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder. This wasn’t especially dignified, but she was in no position to complain about it. She could feel a hysterical giggle erupt when she thought about yelling at Talon to put her down. She could feel him turning his head as if he wanted to convince himself that she was alright, but even a flexible and nimble warrior like Talon couldn’t look into her eyes while her head was banging against his hips.
Cat laughed when she thought of the look the Mind Reader must have on his face. Surely, he was watching her flight. Talon’s nearness made it easier for her to ignore the impulse in her head. The further away he carried her, the less she wanted to fend him off. This was fantastic! It must have something to do with their connection. In her head, she was running through the various options that lay before her and Talon – the possibilities were endless, especially if his presence and help enabled her to resist such attacks! She raised her head, overly confident now, even though it was hard to do so. Talon was not concerned with moving gracefully. All he cared about was speed, and that meant that her body was being banged around quite badly. Even so, she was able to catch a quick glimpse of the path they were leaving behind.
The damned Sethari just wouldn’t quit. He was following them! It was good that he was so slow and couldn’t compete with Talon’s strength and power. For a moment, she considered giving him, and thus all Mind Readers, the middle finger. The creature must be in their debt somehow. Just when Cat decided against using that universally understood gesture, however, she noticed something.
Talon was slowing down.
A lot. He wasn’t out of breath – that much she could hear – and since she could still see the Sethari, she knew that they weren’t out of the danger zone yet. She was sure Talon could still smell their enemy. Or maybe not, if he was running away from him? “What is going on?” she asked, trying to get herself upright. It was difficult, but she finally managed it. When she was finally upright all the way, Talon stopped running altogether. He made a soft and tortured sighing sound that ripped right through her.
“Please put me down,” she asked him, so she could get a look at him. He complied slowly, if somewhat reluctantly, and put her down. What was going on with him? His reluctance gave her an uneasy feeling. She took a step away from her beloved, reached for his face, and turned it towards her so that she could look at his chiseled features. On the outside, nothing looked different. His eyes stared straight at her, but they were blind. It was a terrible sight, and it caused tears to well up in Cat’s eyes. She knew what was happening and who was doing it to him. “Damn you all,” she thought, before taking a deep breath and jumping into Talon’s head.
As expected, someone else was already there. Someone who was trying to put that same impulse to turn around, in his head. The same someone who had tried to put it in her head too. Cat thought about it. She could either try to chase this presence out of Talon’s head, or she could try to jump into the attacker’s head herself. Which option was better and promised more success? With great regret, she retreated from Talon’s thoughts. It was a humiliating experience for a man like him to be forced to do something against his will. She would have loved to spare him this experience, but right now, it was more important to beat the attacker with his own methods. She realized with a start that he had already turned around and was pulling her in the wrong direction.
Cat allowed the stranger to determine which way she went, pretending to obey. At the same time, she sent out her spirit. It was unlikely that the Sethari himself was the source of the influence. She had never heard of any member of his race having this gift. Her old colleagues must be nearby somewhere. They had probably reactivated Anna. Where was she hiding, and why hadn’t she felt her old mentor and teacher’s signature when she was in Talon’s head? Unfocused searching was difficult, but not impossible. However, it would take far too long. Anna had such exceptional skills that she could be somewhere completely different. Her radius was enormous, so it was entirely possible that she was 300 miles away, sitting in a damned office somewhere. Cat scanned her surroundings one more time, but other than the Sethari, nobody else was here – there wasn’t even the slightest hint of another Mind Reader.
Fine. She and Talon were quickly approaching the Sethari. She had only one chance before the trap, or whatever it was, would snap shut. When they reached him, it would presumably be too late for her and Talon.
She readied herself and jumped right into the strange creature’s head.
“Hello, Cat,” his voice greeted her. She froze. Not in fear, but in confusion. Of course he knew her name. She was a silly goose. He had had a thorough look around in her head and had probably also received thorough instructions from her ex-colleagues. She looked around. She wasn’t sure what she had expected. Maybe hunger or desperate longing for energy, but she found none of that in the Sethari’s head. Instead, he seemed almost familiar to her. She squeezed her eyes shut and looked around. Nothing in this strange head seemed familiar to her, but there was a second when she realized that she had been there before.
There was this unnerving familiarity. It felt like what Cat thought it must feel like to come home – warm and cozy. She had the distinct feeling that she was being welcomed with an abundance of love. It was just an illusion, she told herself. “Don’t let yourself be fooled,” she reminded herself. A very clever mind twister is at work here. One who wanted to make her believe that he had been waiting for her for a very long time. One who didn’t want to do her any harm. Quite the opposite. He had been looking for her for a long time now.
“What do you want from me?” she whispered in his head. She understood that he had not been sent by her ex-colleagues to trap her. He was here of his own accord, pursuing his own goals.
I want… nothing bad, his voice whispered back softly. As if trying to prove his good intentions, he released his grip on Talon’s thoughts. It was an amazing gesture, Cat thought, still consumed with mistrust. Too amazing to be true.
Was that a giggle she heard? It sounded like a real expression of amusement, and it made her relax, in spite of herself – only by a fraction, mind you, but it was still a noticeable difference. If he was a mind twister, then he was an unusually good one. She had met a few who could create fantastic illusions, but she had always known that they were false images. Here and now, however, Cat was sure that he was genuinely amused.
And then, without any warning, the man sent her an image of herself. She was fifteen years old. Her stepmother had turned her back on her and Cat saw her younger self making a face and sticking her tongue out at the woman. The image vanished. How was it possible for the Sethari to remember that? It was impossible. It couldn’t be! Another image appeared in her head. A tall young man with blue, scale-covered skin, strolling down the street. The sun made the scales that were lying flush with his skin, sparkle. He bent down when he saw something in the street that caught his interest. He pushed the red baseball cap off his forehead. Cat’s heart skipped a beat.
It was Coran, her twin brother, and he had on the same clothes he had been wearing on the day he disappeared.