The Change (Unbounded) (7 page)

Stella rose from the computer, setting down her headset. “I’ve given the computer a few search parameters to look for indications of what might have happened at the burn center, but I have to leave in a minute. Bronson made dinner.” Her voice became painfully bright at the mention of her husband. I didn’t understand why, but I liked her enough that I was curious to know the reason.

“Be extra careful on your way home,” Ava advised her.

“I always am.”

Ava set a comforting hand on Stella’s arm, and though the contact lasted only fleetingly, I knew it was genuine. Turning, she said to me, “Let’s go.”

With a farewell nod at Stella and Cort, I followed Ava out the small door and down the concrete ramp to a white sedan. I had barely opened the passenger side door when Ritter appeared and threw a black duffel into the backseat. It clinked heavily as it landed.

Great. Just great,
I thought as he ducked into the car
.
His presence would make any escape attempt that much more difficult, but at least I still had the phone in my pocket, and I would use it the moment I had the opportunity.

As she started the car, Ava said, “I have a late class tonight, so Ritter’s going to stay with you.”

“I don’t need a babysitter.”

“But you do need to begin training. Tonight will be your first lesson.”

“What kind of training?” I tried to keep the resentment from my voice, but I didn’t think I was fooling Ava—or Ritter who hadn’t yet spoken a word from the backseat.

Ava kept her eyes on the road, shifting down as we approached a red light. “Every Unbounded is genetically predisposed with an ability. Some are good at science or medicine. Some have a way with computers and technology. Languages, combat, patterns, numbers—you get the picture.”

I rolled my eyes. “People aren’t genetically predisposed for careers.”

“Oh, but they are. Even among mortals many sons and grandsons follow in their parents’ footsteps.”

Since I’d wanted to follow my father into law, maybe she had a point.

“Unbounded really don’t have a choice.” Ava glanced at me and then back at the road. “We often think we’ll go into something different—we may spend years fighting it—but we always end up in the same or similar profession as one of our Unbounded ancestors. It’s tied up with the gene. Most of us develop many different skills over our long life spans, but we are truly talented at whatever drives us, so we focus on our dominant trait. Playing to our strengths makes sense.”

“Let me guess. Stella’s has something to do with computers.”

“She’s what we call a technopath—an ability that wasn’t even understood until the past fifty years or so. Not only does she understand anything to do with computers, she can connect directly to them with a neural receiver and, through electrical impulses and eye movements, increase the rate of processing, programming, searching, or whatever by dozens of times. The rest of us see gobbledygook if we try to use a neural receiver, but her brain manages to make sense of the information.”

That explained the metal probes and the eyepiece. “So what’s our family trait?” With my luck, my ancestors were all chefs. I hated cooking.

“You will be learning combat.”

I choked back a derisive laugh. I’d tried a self-defense class once and quit after ten lessons. The relief in the teacher’s expression hadn’t been in my imagination.

“I hope you will apply yourself tonight.” Ava’s voice contained ice. “You’ll be surprised how much Ritter will teach you in a few hours. He’s an exceptionally gifted fighter.”

From the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Ritter. His face was expressionless, but I knew instinctively that he found this whole situation amusing. I doubt he’d think it funny when I finally managed to escape.

“I guess that explains your interest in karate,” I said to Ava, as she turned the car into an area where the houses all had to be worth several million dollars. I would have gaped if my whole world had not already been turned upside down. “But I don’t understand why you waste time teaching. If you’re basically at war with this so-called Emporium, why bother with anything else? A karate class can’t change the world.”

“It’s actually taekwondo.”

“It’s still a waste of time.” I had the sense that I’d irritated her, though I could see no sign of it on her face. “What’s the point of teaching self-defense classes when on other days you’re saving the world—a world that doesn’t even know it’s being saved?”

That it seemed anticlimactic was only part of the issue. As an almost immortal, a demigod, shouldn’t there be something more in her life? At the very least I’d expect prominent positions on important boards or think tanks. Or even a life of utter luxury and indolence.

When Ava didn’t immediately respond, I glanced at Ritter, who met my gaze without blinking. A shiver of awareness tingled down my spine, but I didn’t know if it was because I knew he was ready for me to make a move, or because he was so frighteningly attractive. I wasn’t imagining his hands running over my body. I wasn’t. There was Tom to think about.

I gave him my best cold stare and turned back to the front.

Ava pulled up to a gated drive, rolling down the window and punching a code into a little silver box. The black wrought iron gate swung inward, but Ava didn’t move the car forward. “You really want to know why I teach, Erin? Because there comes a time when the newness wears off, and you will have to decide what to do with the rest of your very long life. Fighting the Emporium is my main purpose and always will be, but there are many days when we simply watch and wait. Stella and a few others like her do most of that, informing us when we need to act. I could concentrate on amassing wealth like Laurence, and I did that at one time—we all did—but each of us comes to a point where we have to find our life’s ambition. To use what we know. To make our lives meaningful.” Her gray eyes had become black shadows in the dimming light. “I like teaching women to defend themselves. Especially against the men in their lives, the men they should be able to trust. If I have the chance to save even one woman’s life in my spare time, I’m willing to make the effort.” Without another word, she edged the car down the long, tree-lined drive.

Against my will, I felt the tiniest bit of admiration for this woman who claimed to be my relative.

We rounded a bend and the house came into view. All other thoughts vanished from my mind. To say the building was huge would be an understatement. Nothing short of a mansion, it was many times grander than all the other houses we’d passed. I had the impression of endless manicured lawns, towering trees, elaborate flowerbeds, ornate pillars, and many windows before I was whisked inside.

“We’ll meet you in the gym,” Ava told Ritter. “I’ll show Erin to the main floor guest room. Will you be staying tonight?”

“Yes, but don’t bother to make up a room. I probably won’t use it.” Another glance at me had my face flaming. Was his comment related to me and my strange attraction to him?

“Unbounded can’t read minds or anything, can they?” I asked as Ava led me down the hall.

Her step hesitated ever so slightly. “A few Unbounded have the ability of being sensitive to others’ feelings, depending on the situation and how well they know the person. Extreme emotion or stress can accentuate or hinder the ability. It’s unreliable even in the best of times, but still helpful, even vital, for many operations. It’s a talent the Emporium most desires, though fortunately their inbreeding hasn’t been successful at giving them enough of what they want.” Two seconds of silence, and then she added, “Why do you ask?”

“Ritter makes me uncomfortable.”

She laughed. “He makes everyone uncomfortable. But don’t worry—his ability is combat, not mind reading. Besides, anyone can learn to block a casual reading, and there are other methods we use when going up against the Emporium to protect ourselves.”

“And I guess they use those same methods against you.”

“Of course.”

Some part of me noticed the details of the carved wood panels that bordered the hallway, the elaborate crown molding, the many light fixtures, and the elegant furniture, the exquisite paintings that were probably originals, but for the most part I felt numb to the sensory information. What was opulence when compared to near immortality?

“Ah, here we are.” She pushed open a door to the guest room, or guest suite, rather, since we entered a spacious sitting room that connected to a bedroom. The walls were papered in here, but they had the same crown molding and elegant furnishings in shades of calming blue. “Dimitri bought you clothes today, and I had the housekeeper put them in the closet. You won’t be disappointed. Dimitri has a good eye.”

“He’s had enough years to learn, I guess.” I kept my words light, but I was touched that he’d taken the time.

“Hurry and change into something appropriate, so I can show you to the gym before I leave.” She didn’t trust me. I could tell from the deliberate casualness of her comment, the alert way her body moved.

“When can I see my family?”

She sighed. “Be patient. You have a lot of time.”

“They don’t.”

She gave me a wistful smile. “No. They don’t. Look, go along with this meeting in New York on Saturday, and then we’ll set something up with your family.”

“I have no skills. I can’t help you.”

At that she smiled. “I believe you have the potential to become one of the most valuable Renegades alive today. Your talent just needs to be awakened.”

I snorted. “Even if fighting is my talent, I’d hardly have the corner on the market. You and Ritter are far more skilled.” Something didn’t add up here. There was more I didn’t understand, more she wasn’t willing to tell me.

“Don’t worry about your skills, or lack of them. Ritter will prepare you well enough physically. I’ll brief you more thoroughly on the plane to New York, but for now, only a few of us know all the details. It’s safer that way.”

Safer? Or an excuse to lead me on?

Keeping my doubts to myself, I took a few steps toward the bedroom door. “Whose house is this? Dimitri’s?”

“It belongs to a friend of ours.”

“Unbounded?”

“Of course. He lent it to us when we came to Kansas.”

“Yet you also have that house next to my grandmother’s.”

“You visited her often. It was a good way to see you.”

Keep tabs on me, she meant. My grandmother probably confided a great deal about my personal life to Ava, as she had to the other neighbors who all knew me by sight. I wondered if Ava had learned why I’d left law school.

My emotions seesawed again, and I glared coldly at her. “I will never forgive you for making my family suffer any more than they already have.”

The compassion in her face didn’t ease my anger. “That’s your choice. Regardless,
you
are my primary concern right now, especially after the anomalies in the burn center records. We closely guard our genealogy, and we don’t think they can connect you to us, but for the time being, it’s vital that your parents go through with the funeral.”

Vital for the Unbounded, she meant.

“I could at least call them,” I said.

“No, because you couldn’t explain. Even on secure lines we use code. The Emporium has enough technology to make countries like America and Japan look backward in comparison. Please just wait until after New York. This operation is extremely important.”

“Why?”

“I can’t tell you that. Not yet.”

“Because you don’t trust me.”

She sighed. “Because you haven’t decided yet what side you’re on.”

Having no answer, I turned and went farther into the suite. The centerpiece in the spacious bedroom was a huge bed with a wrought iron headboard, the mattress so thick I’d need a step stool to climb under the golden quilt. A door on the far side opened onto an oversized bathroom and a closet bigger than the bedroom in my basement apartment. Clothes filled a two-foot portion of one rack, and several drawers held underclothes and socks. Apparently, Dimitri felt our relationship would be long term.

Removing the cell phone from my pocket, I hid it under the socks. Better to keep it here as it was unlikely I’d have a chance to be alone during the training session. Besides, I hadn’t exactly decided who I’d call and what I’d say. It wasn’t every day I had to inform people I wasn’t actually dead.

Minutes later, dressed in loose gray sweat bottoms and a red sports bra, I reentered the sitting room where Ava waited. In silence, we went through the house again, going down a wide staircase that opened into a family room. Beyond that was the gym, its floor lined with mats and exercise equipment running the length of the walls. Ritter had changed into sweat bottoms as I had and was on his back lifting weights, his blue T-shirt darkened with sweat, his triceps gleaming with the effort. He was beautiful to watch.

“Ritter, not too hard yet,” Ava warned.

He cast me a mocking glance. “I’ll go easy on her.”

I only hoped I had the opportunity to “accidentally” hurt him. Really hurt him.

Ava was smiling as she left, as though she suspected my determination, which irritated me even more. “So what does a combat ability mean exactly?” I asked when she was gone.

Ritter put aside his weights and came toward me. “It means having fast reflexes and good coordination, anticipating your opponent’s moves, and knowing the best way to kill.”

If that was true, my chances for escape should be increasing by the minute. “Okay, let’s do this.”

Ritter took two long shiny sticks from a rack on the wall, tossing one to me. His was black, mine a deep blue with white marbling. I ran my hands along the smooth surface that tapered to a blunt point on each end. “This is a bow staff,” Ritter said. “We’ll begin with this since your skin is still healing. Hold it like this. No. Look at my hands. About this far apart. Spread out your feet. If they’re together, you’ll be knocked off balance too easily.”

I readjusted my hold and my stance. I felt good. Steady. Maybe I could do this.

“Come at me. I’ll show you how to block.”

I hit his stick with a satisfying thump.