Chapter One #2
Ithal felt pressure on his mind, and he looked at Vaken’s serious uncle. He shook his head. “Don’t do that. I’m eight.”
The pressure stopped.
The man blinked. “I am sorry.”
Vaken touched Ithal’s arm. “He’s Hyreno, too, so I think he can sense it.”
Ithal raised his spiked fin and let out a psychic beat. Vaken’s uncle paled and stepped back. Ithal lowered his fin. His mother said it was only in case of an emergency when it could do some good. “I apologize, sir, but I have never met a nice Hyreno.”
The uncle nodded. “So you have psychic abilities.”
“Just the blast. So far, sir. I can make it hurt. Do you want it to hurt?”
Vaken turned Ithal’s body toward his. “Just forget he is there, Ithal.”
“Okay.” He looked at the agents. “Anything else? They said we were going for dessert.”
The men smiled. “If we have more questions, we know who to ask.”
Vaken’s uncle Vikor walked in close, his horns gleaming. “Me. I will contact the query centre and offer his mother my legal services.”
Ithal looked at Vaken’s aunt, who smiled, nodded, and kissed the red man. He growled, and she smacked him on the butt. “Go legally save the hero.”
He grinned and headed off.
Shisha took Ithal’s hand in hers and held it tight. “You are going to be safe, Ithal. No matter what.”
“Yes, Miss Shisha. Thank you.”
Vaken laughed, and they quickly went to say farewell to their remaining classmates who were waiting to be questioned. Ithal knew they would be talking about this for weeks, but since no one had seen his mom, it should blow over.
He hoped it would. Mom really hated the spotlight.
* * * *
Alody sat in the active training centre, waiting with the two agents who had brought her in. She sat in silence, and that unnerved them.
Her clothing had torn and burned as she ran. She had forgotten how exhilarating it was to simply let go and do what her body wanted to do.
Seeing the bus rapidly heading downstream had brought her joy to a screeching halt. Energy bands had wrapped around the bus and locked around her body. Taking a deep breath, she flew upward and pulled the bus with her.
The touch of a psychic on her mind made her smile. This was the kind of disaster to wake an active. Hey, sweetie, can you get someone to punch holes in the floor to drain the bus?
Yes, ma’am. Are you Ithal’s mom?
Yes.
He said you would come.
The bus got lighter by several hundred pounds.
Can you tell the folks on the bus that we are heading straight to the hospital so that anyone injured can be checked out?
Yes, ma’am.
You are doing well, Maiette.
Thank you, ma’am.
Hang on. I am trying to make this smooth.
She could hear the kids cheering and smiled. They might be damp, but they were safe. Emergency flood reporting didn’t list anyone else in danger. The actual defenders and actives had taken care of everyone else.
She flew across the city, and the clouds stopped dumping water on her. The hospital gleamed, and the lights beckoned. It was equidistant to most of the areas of town that housed the children.
Ithal was safe. She wasn’t going to have much time to talk to him, but she was hoping that a parent she knew would be there before agents arrived to take her for a query.
She lowered the bus outside the hospital but not blocking the ambulance bays. She landed behind the bus, and the emergency door swung open. She smiled at Vaken and hugged Ithal. She then told him what was about to happen.
Ithal understood. They had been interviewed by government agents before, and finally, Aksalla let a normal mother in with an activated child of Hyreno origin.
A few governments had genetically tested them, and that was when she produced the adoption files that she had confirmed in eight different countries when he was a baby.
There was no doubt that he was hers all around the world.
She had his birth mother’s death certificate, complete with genetic scans.
Ithal looked up at her. He knew, and he was going to make sure they were reunited. She could see it in his grey eyes. She stroked the fin hidden by his hair and smiled as Vaken’s mother arrived.
Vaken had already asked his mother if Ithal could stay with them, but then he had family who were involved at all levels of the legal necessities of being an active in Aksalla.
When Salat and Khytten arrived to take her, she tried to act like she didn’t know who they were. They had been polite and careful, not bothering to cuff or restrain her in any way.
Salat said, “Thank you for doing that. I don’t know if a team member could have gotten there in time. My cousin would have been devastated if Vaken was injured.”
“They wouldn’t have made it. They were two minutes from Manketto Falls.”
Khytten gasped and reached for Alody’s hand.
A questioner came out and smiled. “Miss, please come with me to an interview room.”
Alody squeezed Khytten’s hand and got to her feet. “Of course.” She turned back to the agents. “Thank you.”
They stood and nodded.
Alody smiled. “Sorry this messed with date night at the live range.”
They looked startled, and she followed the questioner.
It was time to get this over with.