Page 88 of Stealing Jia

“Why don’t I go fetch her. I need to make sure Cason, Pepe and Adoz are okay. Oh, and make sure the twins haven’t webbed my dad to the wall.”

Trayon grimaced. “Go.”

“And since I’m faster than a speeding bullet now, I’ll get there in record time.

“Wait!”Sariel and Trayon called a second too late.

Everything blurred around me as I zoomed toward the door. The stupid door didn’t open in time.Thud!I bounced off and flew backwards.

Trayon caught me. “You need training before you can use hyper speed.”

“Ow!” I wiped at the blood flowing down my face. “Did I break my nose?” It sure felt like it.

“You did.”

“I have summoned Soval,”Sariel advised.

Jubal grinned at me. “Nice try.”

“Thanks.”

Zarek and Zan frowned at their scanners.

My internal alarm suddenly screamed bloody murder. Monsters and a lot of them were heading our way. “We have a Rodan fleet heading our way, don’t we?”

“We do. Their survival hinges on Mallox and Giovanni’s ability to create super soldiers and the mind-altering properties of Eugleanophyta,”Zan replied.

Merda! If the Rodan won, we’d be nothing more than livestock. “Chiara and I can plant more bombs in their engine rooms.”

“No,”Trayon growled.“Our fleet is sufficient to defeat them.”

A cold clamminess seeped into my veins. Yeah, but how many would die? The thought of life without Trayon made me ill. There had to be a better way to stop the Rodan.

Soval entered, took one look at my blood covered face, and sighed. “You tried hyper speed?”

“I did.”I held still as Soval ran a healing wand over my face. The throbbing pain in my nose vanished. “Thank you.”

Soval handed me a cleaning cloth. “It is my honor to serve you, but do not try hyper speed again until you have tentacles and the proper training.”

“I won’t. I learned my lesson.”

“Good.”Soval gave me a respectful bow and left.

Trayon took the cloth from me and gently cleaned my face.“I will take you to Chiara.”

“Good idea.”I wrapped my arms around his neck and linked minds with him. “Show me how it’s done.”Whoosh!We zoomed down the hallway. Trayon’s tentacles acted like radar and kept him from crashing into things. Since I didn’t have any tentacles yet, hyper speed was definitely out.

In Trayon’s mind I saw the children running down the hallway. He skidded to a halt.

“Momma! Geepa!” Cason wailed and tried to climb up Trayon’s leg.

Pepe cried, “Where been?”

Twittering excitedly, Adoz flew circles around us.

“You are now Askole.” Chiara was wrapped around Pepe’s neck like a bandana.

“I am, except my tentacles haven’t come in yet.”

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