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1.
PRESENT DAY
“Why
me? You know I’m not ready.” Sorcha huffed
and slumped into the overstuffed chair. She was prepared
to try anything to get out of this task, even if it mean behaving in
a way she would never normally behave.
“Oh,
do stop Sorcha, you sound like a petulant teenager.” Netta
lectured from behind her desk in the plush office. “You
will be the most powerful Walker the Psy have ever seen. So
this duty falls to you.”
“Yeah,
the operative term there is ‘will be’. I’m not a
Walker’s freckle yet.”
Netta
almost laughed at Sorcha’s irreverence, but schooled her features
in time. She leaned forward and placed her elbows on the
desk. “It’s not as bad as it seems Sorcha, I’m sure
that no one will bite you.”
“Netta,
you are sending me to find the Omega! The chances of me
being bitten rose exponentially the minute the word Omega was added
to the equation.” Sorcha toyed with the lacings hanging
from the leather wrist guard she always wore on her right
wrist. Then she muttered “And I don’t want to
go.”
“What is
really going on Sorcha? It is not like you to be
so…”
“Whiny?”
“Yes.”
“Its
scary Netta, I’ve never been away from Haven before.” Sorcha blew
her blond bangs out her face. “Its pathetic really, I’m
twenty five and I’ve never left Haven.”
“You
are leaving Haven at a young age for a psy – even if you are an
adult Sorcha, many don’t leave Haven until they are at least one
hundred years old. So it should be scary for you, but I
have full confidence that you’ll do just fine.”
“Glad
someone does.”
“There
is one small matter that I’ve yet to mention.” Netta
braced herself for Sorcha’s anger.
“And
that would be?”
“You won’t
be going on your own. Raven has been assigned to go with
you.”
“No
Netta.” Sorcha jumped out her chair. “Raven hates my
guts! She tries everything she can to make things as
difficult as possible for me. Then she tries some more.”
“I’m
sorry Sorcha, her father made the request for her to join you, and
you know he’s got a lot of clout on the counsel. Just
try and remember that she is envious of your powers.”
“What
powers Netta, I haven’t showed any sign of these stupid Walker
powers I’m supposed to have.”
“That
doesn’t mean you don’t have them, and Raven is jealous that do,
even in her wildest imaginings she could never be as powerful a psy
as you are Sorcha. So just ignore any taunts she passes
your way.”
Sorcha
sighed, there was no arguing with the counsel. What they
decreed for the Psy was law, but Sorcha didn’t have to like it.
“Fine, when do we leave?”
“When
ever you are ready dear-heart. It’s a matter of
teleporting yourselves. So go pack some things. And
do remember to let me know what is happening.” Netta
stood up and moved over to the groaning bookshelf, she reached for a
jeweled brooch. She glanced at the piece of jewelry then
handed it to Sorcha.
“Keep
this with you, you merely have to touch it with your bare skin to be
able to speak to me.”
Sorcha
took the brooch and gave Netta a gamine smile. “I bought
you a cell phone for your last birthday. Are you ever
going to use it?”
The
older woman laughed. “You know I’m hopeless with matters of
technology.”
“You have to
learn at some point.”
“And
I will, just not any point in the near future. Run along
now, go tell your mother what is happening and get ready to
leave.” Netta loved the charming scamp that
Sorcha portrayed whenever they were together. Although
Sorcha was usually far more serious in nature – Netta had always
been like a grandmother to the girl and Sorcha knew how much stress
was involved in Netta’s administrative position, so Sorcha did what
ever she had to so Netta would smile more often.
“Ma’am,
Yes, Ma’am.” Sorcha threw up her hand in a mock salute. Then
stepped forward to lay a kiss on Netta’s cheek.
“I’ll
see you in a couple of weeks Netta. Look after
yourself.”
“I
will, and beware that none of the Omega bite you. Though
I’ve heard that they are handsome lads, you might want to
reconsider being bitten.” Netta teased her.
Sorcha
rolled her eyes, and smiled. “You should have got a
doctorate in match making Netta. When are you going to
learn that it just doesn’t work when you try and match me up with
someone?” Sorcha went through the door before Netta
could suggest someone else she thought might be good for Sorcha. She
sometimes wondered why Netta hadn’t been born a nymph, she had the
soul of one.
Back
in her apartment on one of the upper levels of Haven Sorcha picked up
the cordless telephone and dialed the three digit internal number
that would put her through to her mother and father’s apartment.
“Hey Mom.” She spoke as
her mother answered the call.
“I’m
going to be leaving in a few hours.” Sorcha tucked the phone
between her ear and shoulder as she opened her closet to pack some
clothes into a bag.
“You
are leaving now!” her mothers voice spoke directly into her
mind.
“Mom!
Don’t do that, you know just about anyone can listen in when we
have a telepathic conversation. The trip I’m going on
does not need to be gossip, its seriously hush-hush. Only a select
few and the counsel knows about it.”
That
was part of the reason, but only a part. The truth was
Sorcha detested telepathic conversations. She felt they
were an invasion of another’s mind and privacy, and so she avoided
delving into others thoughts at all costs. It was a weird
idiosyncrasy of hers, but one she took seriously.
“Does
Netta still mean to send you after a child’s story?” Her
mother used the phone line this time with a trace of disdain in her
voice.
“Yes, and
its not a child’s story. Netta has a trustworthy contact
that guarantees that the Omega are real mom. He even gave
us a starting point in our search for them.” Sorcha
hooked her mp3 player off the bedpost and hung it around her
neck.
“Where is
that?” Her mother’s unconvinced voice buzzed through the phone
line.
“The
compound run by Gabriel of the Forsaken.”
“Well
I suppose if you are going to be sent into the world at least it’s
to an angel that will keep an eye out for you.”
“Mom,
you’d swear I was still a baby the way you carry on. I’ve
been an adult for a while now.”
“One
day when you are a mother you’ll know there is no such thing as
your baby being an adult.”
Sorcha
rolled her eyes as she answered her mother. “Sure mom,
whatever you say.”
“Be
careful Sorcha, don’t take any unnecessary risks.”
There
was a knock at Sorcha’s apartment door.
“Got
to go mom, someone is knocking. I love you, give dad a
kiss from me.”
“I
will, love you my little girl.”
“Bye
mom.” Sorcha hung up and shook her head, over-protective parents
was a pain in the behind.
She
walked through to the living room area of her apartment and opened
the front door. The urge to close it again was immediate
and strong, but Sorcha gritted her teeth and kept the door
open.
“Raven.”
She greeted her nemesis.
“Sor. I
hope you are ready.”
Gods
she hated being called Sor and Raven knew it. So Sorcha
did her best to ignore the other woman’s deliberate
taunt.
“I’m
just fetching a few things then we can leave.”
“I
was ready hours ago.”
Sorcha
watch the dark haired woman sit down on the couch with her perfect
posture and felt like hissing. This trip wasn’t going to
be difficult enough – No – they had to send Raven with
her.
“I would have been here
sooner but Martin wanted to say goodbye properly.” Raven
smiled lewdly, so Sorcha would know she meant that Martin said
goodbye in an intimate way. Sorcha gritted her teeth again
and walked to the bathroom without saying a word.
Raven
hadn’t had any interest in Martin until she noticed that Sorcha was
watching him.
Then
Raven had done her best to get Martin for her own. It was
meant to hurt Sorcha and it had. As far back as she could
remember Sorcha had been attracted to Martin. Even in her
incredibly awkward teenage years she’d watched him, and secretly
had a crush on him. She’d never had the guts to do
anything about it. About six months ago Martin had finally
noticed Sorcha and started flirting with her. That was
when Raven had swooped in and made sure his attentions turned to her.
Sorcha had been very upset,
and she still was. She tried not to be, she didn’t want
anyone who wanted Raven even when they knew what a bitch she really
was.
Sorcha
knew she didn’t compare to Raven’s exotic beauty. Raven
wore her dark hair short and spiky and her features were elfin. In
comparison Sorcha’s long layered and often tousled blonde hair was
unruly. Her blue eyes though pretty were nothing anyone
would write a song about. And next to Raven’s five foot Raven felt
like a giant at five foot five.
Sorcha
opened her bathroom bag and called her essentials to her, using her
telekinetic abilities as easy as someone would use a remote control
to change the channel on a TV.
She
packed the bathroom bag into her backpack, threw it over her shoulder
and walked back into the living room.
“Ok
I’m ready when you are.”
“No
you aren’t, you haven’t changed your clothes.”
Sorcha
looked down at the clothes she was wearing, an old pair of faded
jeans that were a little snug but very comfortable her favorite pair
knee high lace up boots under the bootleg of the jeans and a tight
v-neck tee shirt. There was nothing wrong with the clothes
she was wearing, they were neat and clean, and they actually looked
very nice on her and she wasn’t going to wear a frigging ball-gown
to teleport to Gabriel’s compound. She knew Raven was
trying to criticize her so she smiled sweetly.
“Oh
you're right, I forgot my jacket.”
She
snapped her fingers, a showy and unnecessary gesture meant to
irritate the other psy and her camouflage jacket came flying from the
bedroom.
“You
are not wearing that!” Raven hissed.
“Why
not?” Sorcha hooked her finger through the tag on the neck of the
jacket and flung it over her shoulder.
“Are
you even going to pull a brush through your hair?”
Sorcha
lost her temper.
“Listen
very carefully Raven. I’m not your child or a child for
that matter. This is my assignment, and the only reason
you are going with is because your daddy has half the Psy counsel in
his pocket. So stop ordering me around. I will
do and wear what I like. And I’m sure as hell not taking
any orders from you.”
The
other psy gasped. “Well I never!”
“Yeah,
and you will never again. So stop it. Have you
memorized the coordinates?”
Raven’s
lips thinned out but she nodded.
“Good,
teleport yourself there, I’ll meet you.” Sorcha pulled
the ear buds of her mp3 player up and put them snugly in her
ears. It took a lot of concentration to teleport and
Sorcha always concentrated best when she had her music blaring in her
ears. She smiled when she thought Raven would have to work
twice as hard to arrive at the compound at the same time as she
did. Sorcha could have made it easy for Raven, simply
taking her hand and teleporting them both, but Raven had upset her
enough that she didn’t care how long it took Raven she wasn’t
going to help her.
The
base line of The Fantasy by 30 Seconds to Mars started up and Sorcha closed her eyes and concentrated on the
coordinates she needed to teleport to. She took a deep
breath and willed her body to disintegrate from where she was in
appear where she needed to be.
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