He will kill you, your family and your friends without pause or emotion.”
Best get off the subject and doubly quick.
“OK, OK. So this, um…this reading thoughts thing; I just concentrate on doing it and it works?”
He looks at me for a long time and my head feels spongy.
“Don’t tell them, Jelly. I mean it. He’ll murder every one of your friends.”
“Don’t read my mind again,” I whisper. “I don’t like it.”
“Don’t tell them. You’ll regret it for the rest of your life. Trust me.”
Trust him! I shake my head. “Not for a long time.”
His hands fall away and he puts some distance between us. He’s so angry and desperate that he’s choking on it and the weird thing is that I sense it so clearly. I can read every one of this Crin guy’s emotions. He wants to say more, but pulls back and switches focus.
Wow. Did I just read his thoughts?
He smiles.
“ Almost, Camille. You got a blurred, muffled version; more like intuition than mind reading. Telepathy is one of the skills that cannot be taught. Once aware of the power, it will develop unaided. You simply have to will it.”
Hmmm. Maybe if I will it real hard, Travis Jenson will feel an overwhelming urge to remove his shirt whenever he sees me.
“Okay, I’ll give it a shot when I get back to Kansas.”
He frowns. “You don’t live in Kansas.”
Nobody ever gets my Wizard of Oz references.
“Never mind that. What about running away? I hope that’s as easy as reading minds.”
This time, the hand on my arm is gentle.
“Believe me. You have the potential to run faster than any of the people at your Earth school, Camille,” he smiles, “including the boys. But it takes time and practice. That’s why I’m here. I have many things to teach you, but the priority is to teach you how to pre-empt attack and then how to get away. He’ll be coming for you soon.”
I shiver and try to push all thoughts of capture and torture to the back of my mind. It’s a tough cookie to crack. As I struggle with the cookie, I have a thought.
“How d o you know it’s a him and not her?”
He laugh s and shakes his head.
“The Hunters will not take the female form. All of the bashrak Hunters are born male and find it impossible to deceive effectively as a woman. To understand the form and character of a woman is simply beyond their comprehension.”
Hang on one cotton-picking minute.
“What do you mean ‘assume the form of’?”
Sandal man looks at me like I’m the village idiot or something.
“The Hunters aren’t human, Camille, or Javorian. They aren’t close. They need to transmute into human form to live on Earth without suspicion.”
I choke. “You’re saying that they change shape, like Mystique in X -men?”
He nods, though looks a little mystified. X-men obviously wasn’t a box office smash back on planet insano.
“Wow.”
“Yes. It’s hard to see them, to really see them, which gives them an advantage. But all bashrak emit a force that you should be able to feel. It takes masses of energy to appear human and to keep the shape and sometimes, Javorian’s can pick up their energy pulse. Have you felt strange recently? Dizzy, weak, displaced?
“ Displaced? I don’t even know what that means!”
“Dislocated; like you ’ve moved sideways but the world has stayed in the same place.”
His words go ping, ping, ping in my head like a slot machine hitting the payload.
“ Yes! Yes, I’ve felt like that for the last couple of months, but lately, it’s been bad. Some really weird things have happened.”
Sandal man shakes his head.
“No, that’s different. That’s down to your powers. Nothing happens when you pick up on the pulse, other than that you feel…odd. Like, um…like…oh, I don’t know how to explain it!”
“Do things squirm in your belly?”
He looks at me closely. “No, that is not exactly
Best get off the subject and doubly quick.
“OK, OK. So this, um…this reading thoughts thing; I just concentrate on doing it and it works?”
He looks at me for a long time and my head feels spongy.
“Don’t tell them, Jelly. I mean it. He’ll murder every one of your friends.”
“Don’t read my mind again,” I whisper. “I don’t like it.”
“Don’t tell them. You’ll regret it for the rest of your life. Trust me.”
Trust him! I shake my head. “Not for a long time.”
His hands fall away and he puts some distance between us. He’s so angry and desperate that he’s choking on it and the weird thing is that I sense it so clearly. I can read every one of this Crin guy’s emotions. He wants to say more, but pulls back and switches focus.
Wow. Did I just read his thoughts?
He smiles.
“ Almost, Camille. You got a blurred, muffled version; more like intuition than mind reading. Telepathy is one of the skills that cannot be taught. Once aware of the power, it will develop unaided. You simply have to will it.”
Hmmm. Maybe if I will it real hard, Travis Jenson will feel an overwhelming urge to remove his shirt whenever he sees me.
“Okay, I’ll give it a shot when I get back to Kansas.”
He frowns. “You don’t live in Kansas.”
Nobody ever gets my Wizard of Oz references.
“Never mind that. What about running away? I hope that’s as easy as reading minds.”
This time, the hand on my arm is gentle.
“Believe me. You have the potential to run faster than any of the people at your Earth school, Camille,” he smiles, “including the boys. But it takes time and practice. That’s why I’m here. I have many things to teach you, but the priority is to teach you how to pre-empt attack and then how to get away. He’ll be coming for you soon.”
I shiver and try to push all thoughts of capture and torture to the back of my mind. It’s a tough cookie to crack. As I struggle with the cookie, I have a thought.
“How d o you know it’s a him and not her?”
He laugh s and shakes his head.
“The Hunters will not take the female form. All of the bashrak Hunters are born male and find it impossible to deceive effectively as a woman. To understand the form and character of a woman is simply beyond their comprehension.”
Hang on one cotton-picking minute.
“What do you mean ‘assume the form of’?”
Sandal man looks at me like I’m the village idiot or something.
“The Hunters aren’t human, Camille, or Javorian. They aren’t close. They need to transmute into human form to live on Earth without suspicion.”
I choke. “You’re saying that they change shape, like Mystique in X -men?”
He nods, though looks a little mystified. X-men obviously wasn’t a box office smash back on planet insano.
“Wow.”
“Yes. It’s hard to see them, to really see them, which gives them an advantage. But all bashrak emit a force that you should be able to feel. It takes masses of energy to appear human and to keep the shape and sometimes, Javorian’s can pick up their energy pulse. Have you felt strange recently? Dizzy, weak, displaced?
“ Displaced? I don’t even know what that means!”
“Dislocated; like you ’ve moved sideways but the world has stayed in the same place.”
His words go ping, ping, ping in my head like a slot machine hitting the payload.
“ Yes! Yes, I’ve felt like that for the last couple of months, but lately, it’s been bad. Some really weird things have happened.”
Sandal man shakes his head.
“No, that’s different. That’s down to your powers. Nothing happens when you pick up on the pulse, other than that you feel…odd. Like, um…like…oh, I don’t know how to explain it!”
“Do things squirm in your belly?”
He looks at me closely. “No, that is not exactly
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