Caged (Talented Saga) (17 page)

Captain Alvarez was speaking to the large group of students assembled in the Arena stands.
I followed Henri to the center of a mat and we took up positions facing each other, about ten feet apart. We waited for Captain Alvarez to finish his introductions. The shrill sound of the whistle reverberated throughout the Arena, and I wasted no time in charging Henri.

We ran at each other, but he lunged first, his long body leaving the ground and becoming completely horizontal as his huge hands reached for me.
At the last second, I broke to my right, dropping to the ground in a roll. Henri tucked his long body into a roll of his own and we spun around to face each other once more.

Henri rose to his full height, but I’d remained crouching, and I didn’t hesitate before I launched myself vertical like a lioness using my Telekinesis to propel myself higher so I would collide with Henri’s shoulders.
He was ready and caught me, wrapping his long fingers around my waist and flipping me over his head, but not before I’d made contact. I added the momentum that I already had to Henri’s flip, and let my feet fly over my head, landing squarely on the ground.

Henri stumbled as a result of my blow and dropped to one knee in an effort to steady himself.
He flung one leg out and I felt the front of his foot connect with the outside of my ankle, effectively cutting me down, and I fell.

I should have landed on my face, but my reflexes were quick from years of training.
I was able to get my hands underneath me and instead fell in an awkward push up position. I felt Henri close in from behind, and judged the distance to be close enough for contact. Pushing up onto my hands, I kicked back as hard as I could just as he was bending towards me.

My feet caught him first in the stomach and then in his chest, knocking him backwards and off-balance, giving me enough time to get on my own two feet and turn to face him.
By this time, we were both breathing heavily, and I knew that I must be sweating terribly in my suit, but the temperature-regulating function kept me comfortable.

We both backed up a couple of feet as we tried to catch our breath.
I felt what Henri was going to do before my mind could really register it. The suits could stretch and mold to any body shape, making them easy to morph in.

Henri kicked off the ground and leapt towards me again, but this time, as his feet left the ground his body morphed into his favorite go-to shape – a gigantic bird.
Henri flew at me in bird form and I had barely enough time to react. Letting myself fall backwards, I kept my feet planted. I used my own powers to keep my body horizontal with my knees bent. Henri the bird flew right over me. As soon as he cleared my head, I twisted around and jumped, wrapping my arms around his thick neck. I was unable to get my short legs wrapped around his body because his huge wings were in the way.

He flew low around the Arena with me clinging to his neck.
He tilted one way and then the other in an attempt to throw me off, but I held tight. Throwing all of my concentration to my mental abilities I willed him to change back. Within seconds my mental battle won out over his physical one, and we were falling to the ground, a tangle of human limbs. We rolled several times until finally his heavy form landed on top of my much smaller one. He lifted himself up to take the weight off of me, I gave him a wicked smile as our eyes met, and I had just a second to see the look of confusion cross his face.

As soon as he had lifted himself off, I tucked my knees to my chest and used all of the strength that I could muster to kick him in the stomach.
Henri flew backwards, propelled farther by my telekinetic powers. But I had only seconds of satisfaction before I sensed a new threat coming.

Rolling first to my stomach and then quickly to my feet, I had just enough time to see a huge predatory cat leaping at me.
Henri rarely morphed into anything besides the huge bird, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t. I dove to the side as the huge cat landed where I’d been standing only seconds before. I stood, and the cat and I circled each other. I again risked using my mental muscles to will Henri to change back to human. I watched as my efforts were rewarded and the huge cat was replaced by Henri’s human form, now down on all fours.

Using my mental powers often physically exhausted me.
I’d trained since coming to School to utilize them during a fight, but rarely implemented them in a real battle. While I’d had the best physical training available, and could hold my own against a normal person, I was really no match for a Morph. I’d used my mental powers because it was my best defense against a trained fighter like Henri in his morph form, but it cost me a great deal of my own strength.

I stood facing Henri, my entire body shaking from the physical and mental exertion.
My skin was dry, thanks to the suit, but sweat stung my eyes and soaked my bandana. Taking several deep breaths to calm myself, I tried to refocus my mental energies.

Henri slowly rose from his hands and knees.
I tensed, readying myself for his attack. Instead, he slowly bent at the waist in a deep bow. I let out a huge sigh; he was calling an end. I inclined my head and gave him a small bow in return. He walked over to me and wrapped his long arms around me. I knew that he could feel my body shaking against him, but he didn’t comment.

“You’re better than I remember,”
his mental voice filled my head. I knew that he was just being nice, but at that moment, I would take any compliment that I could get. As we drew apart, I opened all of the senses that I’d been directing solely on Henri to the entire Arena. The whooping and cheering of the students filled my ears. Giddy from the physical release of tension, I turned and gave them a small wave.
Dr. Thistler was wrong
, I thought to myself.
Physical exertion was exactly what I needed.

“Amazing,
Tals,” Erik said, giving me a hug.

“Thanks.”
I smiled at his praise.

“Yeah, I might even have a bruise or two,” Henri joked.
Bruises were unlikely since I’d only hit him where the suit covered.

“They’ll make you look
more manly,” I laughed, playing along. “Frederick will love them.”

“Yeah, he really likes it when I get beaten up.”
Henri rolled his eyes, but his expression softened at my mention of his boyfriend.

“How is he?”
I asked. During my time at Elite Headquarters, I’d had the pleasure of meeting Frederick several times, and really enjoyed his company.

“He’s good.
Really good.” Henri smiled fondly.

“Lyons, Reich, Kelley, we’re ready for you over here,” Captain Alvarez called.

Now it was the students’ turn. All Talents took basic combat classes, and many of these kids would have taken more advanced training, but very few of them would have the opportunity to use their abilities in combat. Captain Alvarez broke the students into five groups, and assigned each to one of me, Erik, Henri, and two other Hunters that he’d brought with him.

I spent the remainder of my afternoon coaching the teenagers as they fumbled through using their Talents to fight one another.
Some had very developed powers, managing to morph on the fly into varying forms while others could barely manage a complete morph standing still. Several students were able to use telekinesis to throw their attackers off course. One particularly skilled light manipulator evaded her would-be attackers by becoming invisible, leaving her opponents confused and defenseless when she reappeared and attacked from behind. Her apparent mastery of her craft impressed me.

In the midst of all of this, there was a tall gangly girl that reminded me of Penny.
I recognized her from Ursula’s telekinesis class. At first, I’d thought she was a fairly Low-level Talent, but after working with her, I’d noticed that her problem wasn’t her Talent level – it was that she didn’t know how to use her abilities.

Physically, her only resemblance to Penny was the fact that she was tall and gangly.
She had light brown hair and a smattering of freckles across her pale face – a sharp contrast to Penny’s dyed bright red-orange hair. The girl had light brown eyes that appeared to be the same color as her hair, nothing like Penny’s color enhanced bright lime-green ones. Still, there was something about her that screamed “Penny” to me.
Maybe it’s the fact that she’s definitely not a natural fighter
, I thought to myself as I watched her spar against a particularly Talented Telekinetic. The boy adeptly avoided most of her blows using his mind. Her form was good, and no matter how many times he diverted, her she kept coming right back at him. If nothing else, the girl had a lot of heart.

I’d strapped my portable communicator to my arm, and I used it to pull up the gangly girl’s file.
Talent: Higher Reasoning, Telekinesis.
Interesting
, I thought. Dual Talents were rare, particularly when the Talents were as unrelated as Telekinesis and Higher Reasoning. But I now understood why she reminded me of Penny; Higher Reasoning Talents gave off a very specific brain pattern.

It surprised me that a Higher Reasoning would be interested in joining the Hunters.
Her Telekinetic powers made her a possible candidate, but since as she had yet to master them, it was doubtful that they would be much use on her Placement Exams.

Technically, any student could be assigned to any department during the Placement Exams, but it was rare for Higher Reasoning Talents to become Hunters.
I was sure that it had happened at some point in the Agency’s history, but a strong Higher Reasoning – and I was confident that this girl was a strong Talent – was better utilized in the Crypto Division.

Her name was Kenly Baker.
She was a junior, and therefore due to take her Placement Exams at the end of the year. Instantly, I started to think of the possible advantages of having a Higher Reasoning Talent, who also happened to be a Telekinetic as part of a Hunting team. She would instantaneously be able to compute the probability of success on a mission. She would be able to determine the best exit strategy if a Hunt went south. It would be like having a human computer in the field, one that could think and feel; she was a more proficient strategist than any of us other Talents could ever hope to be. By the end of my day with the students, I’d convinced myself that it was a great idea, full of nothing but advantages ...if she could learn to use her Telekinesis.

I walked back to my room with an extra spring in my step, giddy about my newest idea.

“Talia!” Erik called out to me.

Turning at the sound of my name, I saw him jogging in my direction.

“Where’s the fire?” he joked.

“Huh?” I replied, still lost in my fantastic scheme.

“Why did you run out?” he clarified.

“I’m gross, I need a shower, and I have to talk to Mac about something,” I listed absently.

“How about having dinner with me?” His big turquoise eyes were hopeful when I met his gaze.

Remembering his proclamation that we were “friends,” I not-so-kindly retorted, “I’m having dinner with Penny.”
I did, in fact, have dinner plans with Penny, although I saw her every day, and I doubted that canceling on her would be a big deal.

“
Oh, ...well, okay. But I’m leaving tomorrow evening and I just wanted to spend some time with you.” He looked truly hurt by my refusal, and my resolve softened.

Just then, my communicator, still strapped to my arm, beeped with an incoming message.
It was from Donavon. I hit the text button option and read only one word: “dinner?” I quickly typed back, simply, “Penny, sorry.”

I looked up at Erik.
He was still staring at me with his beautiful sparkling eyes. My fingers involuntarily started typing a second message, this time to Penny to break our plans when I realized what he was doing.

“Erik!” I exclaimed.
“Do
not
use my powers against me.”

He beamed devilishly, not even the least bit abashed at being caught.
“I just really want to have dinner with you, nothing special, just the cafeteria,” he pouted, pushing his bottom lip out and fixing me with a look that I knew well, the one that had led countless girls to his bed.

“I can’t. I already promised Penny.
I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that, I turned and left before I changed my mind without the help of his will.

Chapter Sixteen

I showered and changed as quickly as I could manage, and text messaged Penny to tell her that I would meet her for dinner in an hour.
Then I called Mac.

“Danbury McDonough,” I said clearly as I depressed the voice button.

“Hello?” he answered his communicator on the first ring.

“Hey, where are you?
I want to ask you something.”

“I am in my office,” he answered.

“Mind if I come over?”

“That would be fine; I am just finishing some work,” he replied.

“Be there in a minute.” I pushed the end button on my communicator and set off.

I reached the administration building ten minutes later.
It was already dinnertime, so Mac’s assistant was gone. I walked past her desk and knocked lightly on his door.

“Come on in, Natalia,” he called.

Pushing the heavy oak door open, I shuffled into the room.

“I hope this relates to the spy in our midst?” he said, giving me a tired look.

Immediately, I felt bad about approaching him with what I’d thought was a brilliant idea just an hour ago. Now, under his hard gaze, I wasn’t so sure.

“Not exactly,” I began slowly, gauging his reaction.

“Natalia,” he started, but I cut him off before I lost my nerve.

“I want to personally train Kenly Baker to help her become a Hunter.”
I waited anxiously for Mac to say something. He just stared at me for several long moments with blank gray eyes, causing me to shift uneasily from one foot to the other.

“I don’t think that is a productive use of your time, Natalia,” he finally answered, turning his attention back to the work on his desk.

“No, but it is, Mac. Kenly is a Higher Reasoning Talent and a Telekinetic. I think that her Talents could actually be really useful in the field, if she could just learn how to fight. If she were adequately trained in hand-to-hand combat and weapons, she’d be an asset,” I replied earnestly.

“Natalia, there is a reason that Higher Reasoning Talents are never placed with the Hunters.
They don’t belong there,” he answered harshly, not looking up from his paperwork.

“I know, I know.
I know that she’ll need a lot of work before her Placement Exams, but I think that she could be really great,” I pressed, imploring him to come around to my way of thinking. “And Telekinetics frequently become Hunters.”

“Dual Talents are rarely strong in both areas.
If she is a strong Higher Reasoning Talent, then her Telekinetic abilities are likely weak,” he stated.

“But I don’t think that they are.
I think she just needs to learn how to use them better. And she only needs to be ranked Elite in one to be considered for the Hunters,” I pointed out proudly.

Mac spared me a withering look before returning his gaze to his desk.
He apparently wasn’t as impressed with the loophole in the system as I was.

“She will never be able to catch up - her exams are at the end of this year.
You won’t have the time to strengthen her senses and teach her to fight well enough to qualify for placement with the Hunters. And even if you could, by some miracle, manage such a feat, she’ll never make it through her Pledge year without continuous training. Besides, her skills are better used in other departments.”

I gritted my teeth and held firm.
“I know, Mac, but she has a lot of heart and really wants this. It won’t interfere with my other duties,” I promised. “Maybe I could even stop aiding in Donavon’s class?” I continued hopefully.

“The way I understand it, the two of you have been getting along much better in the past couple of days.
Why would you want to stop helping him?” Mac asked, finally finding the conversation worthy of looking up from his work.

“It’s getting me nowhere,” I replied emphatically.
“We both know that Donavon isn’t the spy, and I haven’t heard anything in the minds of his students that seems off. Maybe I could even spend that time in the Crypto Bank with Penny, going through more files,” I offered.

“Really?
You want to spend more time sifting through files? I was under the impression that you weren’t exactly thrilled with that portion of your assignment.”

“Well, no, not exactly.
But I have a feeling that’s the place where I’m most likely to find the spy. If you want, I can even stop helping Griffin since he isn’t our guy either.”

Mac mulled this over for a long time, and a quick swipe of his mind told me that he was on the fence.

“What is it that you think you will find if you spend more time in the Crypto Bank?” he asked finally. He seemed genuinely curious.

“I don’t exactly know,” I replied honestly.
“I just have this feeling that something isn’t right, and that’s where I’m most likely to figure it out.” Mac nodded his head slowly, processing my sketchy argument.

I kept quiet.
I’d already laid all my cards on the table, and at this point he was either going to agree or not.

“Fine.
You will stop assisting Donavon and spend that time in the Crypto Bank. You will remain with Griffin, though; I paired you with him because your weapons expertise is very valuable there. I will let you train the Baker girl after the school day ends. But I am warning you right now, Natalia – it is incredibly unlikely that she will even come close to scoring high enough to become a Hunter. I don’t want you filling her head with false hope. The girl will take the Crypto Placement Exam in addition to the Hunters’ Exam. I implore you to make sure that she is adequately prepared for both. In a fight, her Higher Reasoning will be of no advantage,” he warned.

“I suppose that we’ll have to agree to disagree on that last part.”
I smiled triumphantly at him. He made a noncommittal noise in response. Not wanting to give him an opportunity to change his mind, I turned to leave.

“Natalia?” he called.

I turned back. “Yes?” I asked.

“Please stay focused right now.
One of your greatest strengths is your focus and dedication to the ultimate goal to Toxic. Do not lose that now. Let’s find this spy and get you better, so that you can return to the reason that you are here.” He paused before finishing, but I didn’t need him to finish his sentiments; I read the words out of his mind. I took a deep breath and readied myself for him to speak them aloud.

“You are here to avenge your parents’ deaths.
You made that choice. I gave you the option to return to Capri, but you chose to come to the McDonough School.”

“I know,” I replied weakly.

“Do you still want to help track down Crane? Do you want another chance to kill him?”

“Of course, I do!” I exclaimed defensively.

“Then find the spy so that we can interrogate him, and find out what we need to know.”

“Like you had me do to Ernest?”
I knew that I’d gone too far the moment the words were out of my mouth.

“I am sorry about what happened to Ernest.
I really am. But we are at
war,
Natalia, and if it means that a few innocent people get hurt in the process, then that is a risk I will take. Every time.” His voice was scarily calm.

Once again, Ian Crane’s words played in my mind.
“You have no idea what your Agency does to innocent people.”

“That’s easy for you to say, Mac; you’re not the one who has to live with the consequences of what you personally did in the name of war,” I spat back, my temper clouding my better judgment.

“You have no idea of the sacrifices that I have made in the name of war.” Mac’s voice rose an octave, and I feared that he would bare his teeth the way he had in my hospital room. “Do. Not. Let. Your parents’ deaths have been in vain.” He punctuated every word in a low voice that sounded more animal than human, but at least no pointy canines flashed over his bloodless lips.

“I will find the spy.”
I spun and fled Mac’s office before he could say anything else, my victory concerning Kenly long forgotten.