“West! Hold Tom down and Tacker will find out what’s really going on.” Liam snapped.

“What? No!” Tom screamed, panic leaking from his voice. Helena watched his muscular activity hastened as he frantically crawled toward her.

Helena felt the adrenaline rushing into her veins as Tom closed the distance. I can’t let him touch me! If I let a simple graze slide past open skin ... I’ll become his slave and I don’t know the transfer speed. Can West reach Tom before he reaches this spot or could Tacker telekinetically grab him?

Doing the calculations, she gauged the distance, speed, and possible trajectories. No, West is hesitating and Tacker has the possibility to grab him, but could just as easily miss in the dark. I have to assume that he’ll reach me. I need to keep my clothing bundled up to prevent skin contact and use my ability to incapacitate him if he does come into range. The others will fear me if I kill Tom. I’ll need to paralyze him and find a way to suggest restraints, perhaps clothing.

She decided to move to the right and prepare for the worst. As quietly as she could manage, she shuffled to the right nook, rolling her feet across the hard stone floor. Tom’s blind, he doesn’t know where I am. If I keep distance, eventually West will find him, if he gets close I’ll strike. Hopefully, it won’t come to that. They’ll want to know how I knocked him unconscious.

She felt the cold stone wall slide up against her back as she entered the corner.

Crawling over the two girl’s unconscious bodies, Tom reached her earlier position and branched left, scrambling around the area in search for her. Good, I won’t have to use my ability. West should have enough time to grab him.

West followed Tom’s panting and fumbled movement. Snarling as he neared Tom; West leaped onto his back. “No, please, I won’t do—anything.” Tom gasped as he rolled around the ground with West.

They struggled for several seconds. Tom seemed unaccustomed to grappling and West quickly took the upper hand, placing him in a hold. Maintaining a headlock around Tom’s neck with his right hand, West held Tom’s arms together with his left.

In a choked tone, face pressed against the stone floor, Tom pleaded. “Please, I won’t touch any of the girls. I swear—I won’t.”

West grunted as he pressed his weight down on Tom’s squirming body. “Got him.”

“Good!” Liam said with anticipation. Why’s he excited? This is a stressful situation, I could be made into a slave...

Helena winced as needles slowly began piercing her brain and she suddenly felt a lag in her physical condition. What’s this … why is my strength being sapped? Her mental diagram faded once again as her Focus diminished and her concentration weakened with her brain’s continual pain.

“Hold him still,” Liam instructed. “Tacker will tell us if he’s lying, just give him a second.”

After Liam finished his words, he tapped his brother and they both felt their way over to West. Fumbling around in the dark, Liam found Tom’s face. Tom was shaking violently as he struggled in West’s grip.

“Hold still!” West growled, tightening his hands around Tom’s arms, pinned at his back.

Liam leaned close to Tom’s left ear and started whispering. Helena couldn’t hear Liam’s words, but she noticed Tom’s sharp jerk as his body completely tensed before going limp. What did Liam do to Tom? His entire nerve-system went into shock before completely loosening up?

“Are you going to question him, Tacker?” Liam barked with irritation. “The sooner we get this over with, the quicker we can figure out what’s going on.”

“Yeah, just give me a second.” Liam retorted, using his brother’s voice.

Helena leaned closer with sudden interest. Now that’s impressive, he’s managed to match Tacker’s voice and tone perfectly. Maybe he has some kind of vocalization capability, perhaps Acoustokinesis. It’s a powerful ability, being able to manipulate sound. Tacker’s just twiddling his thumbs, while his brother takes the conversation. Helena mused at the aspect. Tacker obviously doesn’t consider what he says, but his brother compensates for his lack of thought. They both seem completely used to the act.

“What’s your name?”

Tom’s response came in a dead monochromatic fashion. His fear, desperation, and the angst were gone. “Tom Howard.”

Helena frowned. What’s with his change? His voice has altered completely, its monotone and even … it’s almost like a trance. Also, the last name Howard is a Lesser House, under the guidance of the Great House Golitin. Tom must be a Lesser Noble.

Helena took a deep breath to calm her adrenaline pumped heart. Why are two kidnapped nobles in the same room? Moreover, most of the room’s occupants have been found to be espers. The situation escalates, yet again. It also seems that whatever Liam’s ability is, anyone might be able to question him.

“What’s your ability and its parameters?” It seems like he’s fairly weak in his auditory ability. Only being able to accomplish his hypnotism close to the ear and from his stumbled movements, it indicated that he can’t use echolocation … of course, it could always be an act.

Tom hypnotically depicted his ability. “I don’t know what my ability is called, but I can manipulate females to do whatever I want. It can take one to five minutes to reach the brain, depending on where I make skin contact. It loses its controlling factor over a few minutes if I don’t regulate the administration and filter it because the body will start producing its own if I do not tell it to stop.”

Quite dangerous, the girls would have continued to become more hysterical the less skin contact they had with Tom. A very powerful, but troublesome ability. He has promise. If he ever makes it back to his House, he’ll be a strong ally for the Golitins. Are some of the others also of Noble Houses?

“Did you put us here?” West asked as he shifted his weight to a more comfortable position, now that Tom had stopped struggling.

“I don’t think you should...” Tacker began to say, but his brother placed a hand on his shoulder, gripping it tightly. Interesting, Liam is clearly the dominant of the two. Why does Tacker want to stop West from questioning Tom?

“No,” Tom replied without emotion.

“Do you know who put us here?”

“No.”

“What do you know!” West exclaimed in disgust.

“I can’t infect males, but I believe I’m close. My sister didn’t die of natural causes. My parents are religious fanatics.”

“That’s enough!” Liam shouted in Tacker’s voice.

Lowering his tone, he continued in his brother’s voice. “We’ll only get babble out of him now. Let me deal with him so we don’t have to continually watch our backs.”

Tacker felt his way to Tom and West, patting up Tom’s body, he found his head. Leam spoke in his brother’s voice. “We can’t have him endangering the group any further.” Her attention was riveted on Tacker’s movements. Those words didn’t bode well for Tom.

Twisting his hands, Tacker shattered Tom’s spine.

Helena’s eyes narrowed as she watched the bioelectrical current running through Tom’s body cut, the sound coming a moment later. The golden scratches running along Tom’s now broken pathways slowly began fading into black as the signal ceased. His now lifeless corpse fell completely limp in West’s grip. The twins are dangerous. They methodically killed Tom.

Her eyes darted toward Peter, who was still rubbing his temples. I doubt he’s fit enough to control their actions. The twins just got a grasp on the situation and already there’s a dead body.

“You killed him...” West’s hands started to shake as he dropped Tom’s unresponsive body.

“Of course, he betrayed the group’s trust and forcibly controlled both Tamie and Rean,” Liam said.

“He would have infected Helena next.” Tacker’s voice held an edge as he said her name. My name again … where did he get it?

Her internal focus snapped to Liam as he followed his brother’s voice and finding Tacker’s head, flicked his ear. A signal to stop, but it’s already too late. I know they have some form of information on me.

West backed up to the left wall and leaned against it. He had his head down, hands intertwined and under his chin as he thought. His arms were shaking. West’s taking the situation surprisingly well, he’s not completely freaking out. The twins had retreated a little ways away and were whispering in each other’s ears.

“We could have tied him up, you know?” West had a numb tone in his deep voice. “It’s not like he killed the two girls.” West’s pitch isn’t shaking from fear, but anger … interesting.

The twins stopped their low conversation. Liam ran his right hand down the side of his face in annoyance. “If we left him tied up in the corner, how long do you think it would be till he enslaved another one of the girls?”

“We’ll never know,” West said tiredly, his shakes subsiding.

“That’s a good thing in my book.” Tacker callously chuckled.

Liam flicked Tacker’s ear again and West’s head lifted to study the darkness.

“That’s the kind of attitude Lanpna Village had about espers—you know the Deities hate espers. In the end—the entire town was torn apart.” West recounted in a soft mutter. “Brother against sister, mother against father … it’s a slippery slope. You kill one man and then what’s another?” West laughed humorlessly. “Did you feel anything when you snapped Tom’s neck?”

Liam’s voice was coated with overtly fake sympathy as he replied. “Of course, I pitied him, I just...”

“Not him … he had a name and it was Tom.” West’s voice was cold and filled with disgust. “When you mention him at least have the morality to call Tom by name, you should at least give the dead that honor. Not being forgotten as another nameless corpse.”

Slight amusement spread across Helena’s thoughts. Where are all his acting skills and subtle voice manipulation gone? West’s not wrong, but people fight, kill, and die for causes every moment. There can be no peace in a world filled with freedom of thought and action. The opposition at man’s core will always bubble up. It isn’t a bad idea to act civil, but eventually, everyone reverts back to primal instinctual desires.

West needs something to keep the twins in check if he wants to lecture them. Fear is the most prevalent restraint or some cause, yet all he’s offering are empty warnings. The twins don’t seem to have a connection to this village, why would they care.

“What’s done is done.” Peter intervened, sitting by the water and splashing his face.

Helena turned her attention to him. He’s keeping the strain from his voice, but he’s obviously in pain. Not bad, he has the sense not to let his weakness show now that he’s entered the conversation.

“What do you suggest we tell the girls?” West gloomily asked, his head slumped back against the wall. It seems that he’s seen murder before and has a real detest for it. What will the clever Peter come up with?

“We’ll say he developed EPR.” Peter hid the fatigue well, but he let a slight hitch catch in his tone.

Helena was astonished that he’d come up with an answer so quickly. Will they know what this EPR is ... because I don’t?

“What’s that?” West’s anger completely subsided as he straightened his composure against the wall.

“Esper. Psyche. Relapse.” Liam sounded impressed.

Peter began to explain. “It’s a brain contiguity defect that produces a lapse in the brain’s infrastructure. Fundamentally, it causes irreparable brain death. It’s said to be an extremely painful disease, causing its victims to experience every recorded memory in horrific scenery. Quite unpleasant; I hear the screams are atrocious.

“Even if Rean lights a fire and takes a look at his condition. We can say that we couldn’t handle his pleas for mercy. An act of kindness, if you will, it’ll be prettier for their ears and minds to process.”

“Nice suggestion.” Tacker complimented. Yes, a very interesting suggestion. Did Peter take it from the Twin’s minds? It’s best to side with the dangerous people if you know how to play with them.

“That explanation could fit—but there’s another girl in the room that has yet to speak up.” West’s eyes shifted, trying to peer through the darkness. “What are your thoughts on the matter … Janice was it … or Helena?” West caught the name slip. I won’t even have to ask, he’ll do the dirty work.

Shakily she said. “Whatever you want, I don’t want to think about it. It’s a grown-up thing.” Helena sensed Peter’s body quiver with silent laughter at her answer and tone.

“That’s it then.” West huffed. “However, you called Janice, Helena. What did you mean by that, Tacker?”

Liam shook his head and flicked Tacker on the ear again. His voice and tone came out as his brother’s. “I’m just a little light-headed, I don’t know. I thought she was someone I knew once, back at my Village in the Temaka Shorelines. It must be the residue from whatever drug is in my system.”

West grunted and let his answer slide. I doubt he knows anyone by the name of Helena. It’s a very uncommon name and comes from old Great House tales. Something a commoner wouldn’t have knowledge of.

Peter shifted positions and began crawling across the room toward the food. “It also leaves more food for us and I’m ravished. How about you guys?” That’s a rather callous statement. Is he trying to appeal to the twins?

West’s voice was low. “Don’t have an appetite.”

“Toss me a bar.” Both the twins said in unison. “I can’t remember the last time I ate.” Liam groaned. Helena felt an involuntary growl escape her stomach, in the following silence Helena guessed they’d heard and her thirst grew.

Peter laughed. “You’re a growing girl, of course, you need food.” He tossed a few bars her way. They slid across the floor, striking the wall beside her. Nice aim for it being pitch black.

Picking up the wrapped food, she winced as a screw drilled into her brain. This migraine is ridiculous! I haven’t even used my abilities for thirty minutes and I’m already experiencing fatigue. Rean dropped even sooner. What’s happening? It’s not a restriction. The Head of the Great Hatter House, Evangeline, has the ability to completely nullify all espers within a set distance, but this isn’t nullification. It’s as if something is sucking my Focus right out of me, but what can do that, an esper’s ability?

Peeling back the wrapper, Helena began to eat the dried food. It tasted horrible but was nourishment. It doesn’t make sense to poison the food. Why go through all this trouble to transport, confine, and stage this just to poison us?

“Got to keep our strength up, right Tacker? Never know when someone might strike unknowingly.” Peter commented with hearty laugher through bites.

“No doubt, you never know,” Tacker replied, following Peter’s flow. Liam elbowed Tacker softly, telling him to stop. Tacker shifted irritably. Intriguing, Tacker seems to be the more reckless of the two and the most gullible.

Peter started scooting Helena’s way, fumbling around in the dark, yet seeming to find the right direction. He must have some kind of directional knowledge, but how? If he’s a Telepath then he could figure out my general direction, I suppose.

The twins made their way to the dip in the floor to drink some water and West began trying to find the girls on the ground.

“So … Helena is your real name, Lady—Helena—Vandred.” Peter whispered.

Helena didn’t acknowledge his statement, staying silent since he obviously already knew she was an esper. Peter’s chuckle quickly turned into a groan. Another screw drilled into her skull and her physical fatigue deepened, her bioelectric image faltering momentarily. It seems to happen in spikes and affect all of us at the same time.

“I want to be perfectly clear with you Helena. I have information you need. You probably think I’m a Telepath, smart, dangerous, untrustworthy, and the works, right? This is not some Noble kidnapping; this runs deep, very deep.”

Her passive reception darkened with her drop in Focus, the yellow scratches dimming, yet again. “What do you want then?” Helena whispered, massaging her temples. I can’t compute all the information my fields are feeding me anymore and this migraine is only going to get worse. What do I do?

“Let’s touch foreheads.” Peter urgently whispered.

“For what?” Helena questioned suspiciously as she shifted her weight.

“So we can talk without them knowing what’s said,” Peter explained, almost frantically. “We don’t have much time.” I don’t trust him near my head. With the distance and my field weakened, he might be able to bypass my repellant shell and enter my mind.

Gritting his teeth, Peter pushed toward her.