Page 109 of It takes a Psychic

Baxter obeyed, crossing the chamber until he was close enough for Leona to touch.

“Baxter, stop,” Melody ordered. She did not take her eyes off Leona. “Go ahead, show me your third talent.”

Leona put her hand on Baxter’s arm. He appeared unaware of her fingers gripping him. Cautiously, she rezzed her talent to get a sense of his energy field. It was partially locked. No surprise. The first step was to free him. She sent out a little energy, just enough to counteract the trance.

It was as if she had flipped a switch. The tension evaporated from his body in a heartbeat. He looked around, bewildered.

“Where am I?” he said. He realized she was holding his arm. “Dr. Griffin? What are you—”

“You said you were going to flatline him,” Melody snapped. “You lied.”

“Not exactly,” Leona said. The physical contact with Baxter allowed her to focus through his nav amber. “I said Icouldflatline him for you. But I’d much rather flatline you.”

She sent a pulse of hot energy through Baxter’s tuned amber, channeling it through the heavy atmosphere of the tunnels, and aimed it at Melody’s energy field.

Melody screamed. Rage, horror, and panic twisted across her face as the intense currents hit her with the force of a flamer. She stared at Leona.

“Not possible,” she gasped. “No one can work Alien energy that way. No one.”

Her eyes fluttered. A terrible shudder went through her. She collapsed without another word.

Leona stared at her, wondering if she had just murdered another human being. Before she could process that possibility, Richey collapsed slowly, gently, to the floor. She crouched beside him and breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that his pulse was strong.

A flash of bright blue appeared in the doorway. Roxy raced into the chamber, chortling madly, the ribbons of the fascinator streaming behind her.

“Roxy.” Leona scooped her up and held her very tightly. “I’ve been so worried.”

Oliver materialized at the entrance. He glanced briefly at Melody’s very still form and then looked at Leona.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

His voice was so cold and so controlled she knew he was channeling a lot of intense emotion. It was all there in his specter-cat eyes.

“Yes,” she whispered. She took a breath and tried again. “Yes, I’m okay. I’m burned out for now. It will take me a few hours to recover, and I’ll probably have a panic attack later, but right now I’m…okay.” She looked down at Melody. Another rush of horror zapped through her. “I may have killed her. I didn’t mean to, but I’ve never done anything like that before and I—”

“You didn’t kill her,” Oliver said. “Trust me, you would know if you had.”

He was right. She pulled herself together and reminded herself that the energy of violent death was unmistakable. There was no hint of that vibe around Melody Palantine.

Oliver crouched near the unconscious woman and checked for apulse. “She’ll definitely wake up. Not sure what kind of shape her para-psych profile will be in, though.”

A familiar figure appeared at the entrance.

“Assassin,”Burt roared. He had a flamer in his hand. He aimed it at Leona. “You killed Vincent Lee Vance and now you’ve murdered the acolyte.”

“Put the flamer down,” Oliver ordered quietly.

Burt did not acknowledge the command. It was as if he didn’t even see Oliver, Leona thought, and this time Oliver was not trying to be invisible.

She tightened her grip on Roxy, who was sleeked out and trying to escape her grasp.

“He’s still in a trance,” she said quietly. “With Palantine unconscious it will eventually wear off, but at the moment—”

“It’s a problem,” Oliver said. “Yeah, I can see that.”

Leona felt energy shift in the atmosphere and knew that Oliver had just cloaked himself in his talent. He glided up to Burt, snapped the flamer out of his grasp, and then moved back.

Burt whirled around and launched himself at Oliver.“You can’t be allowed to interfere with the Vance destiny. With the future.”

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