The Silence Within (The Young Ancients: Tiera) (38 page)

"Sorry, he's a bit too good looking for me to trust, young or not. I suppose, but when we fill people in, from now on, or talk about things, we do it in orbit. Understood? Don't even trust to magic for this. We take no risks we don't have to. Anything less will probably get us killed."

Tiera shrugged with one shoulder, not caring if anyone saw it.

"Agreed. We'll probably all die anyway, but hey, what is life for? The hard part will be making sure that Tor doesn't find out."

That got agreement too.

Then they didn't speak until they got back to Noram, no one wanting to make the mistake that cost them everything.

Tiera made plans, some of which were going to be very, very hard. She'd need to learn to control her mind like Doris did, and do it fast, or Tor would figure it all out instantly.

Timon... Well, he was upset with Tor anyway, so it might work for them to just not talk, but it would be better if he got further away. He'd been supposed to attend the Printer school in the fall, but hadn't. He could do it now though, Tiera bet. She'd get with Countess Printer and use a little leverage and a bribe or two to make that happen. Trice would be the hard part. She and most of Tor's close friends. They'd give things away, thinking about it, if they knew, which meant...

They'd have to lie. Keep things secret and do their work as far away from Lairdgren as possible. While she stayed there and pretended that everything was perfectly all right.

On top of that, she'd have to go and confront her mother, which was a thing that she'd been avoiding. If she was Gray... Well, it was easy to say that she'd stop her, but could she? That would have to be very soon, she realized, hoping that something would come up to let her avoid it altogether.

It was an almost impossible plan, but when nothing else was available, you did whatever you could.

No matter how much it hurt.

Then, not waiting, still piloting her Fast Craft, Tiera held her mind as silent as possible, and didn't think at all, for a very long time.

Doing nothing but her task and feeling the growing silence within.

Other Books

By

P.S. Power

Young Ancients:

(Tor)

The Builder

Knight Esquire

Knight of the Realm

Ambassador

Counselor

Slave Line

Ancient Kings

(Timon)

The Dark Half of the Sun

Lord of the Sky

(Tiera)

A Simple Darkness

The Infected:

Proxy

Gabriel

Cast Iron

Proxy: Reunions

Cellophane

Dead End:

A Very Good Man

A Very Good Neighbor

A Very Good Thing

A Very Dark Place

Gwen Farris:

Abominations

Monsters

Strangers and Lies

Keeley Thomson:

Demon Girl

Keelzebub

Mistress of Souls

Demon Trap

Related works
:

Christmas of the Vampire

Other Places:

Shortcuts

The Lament:

Without Rhythm

Stand Alone Novels:

Crayons

An Unrelenting Terror