Page 3 (2/2)

Zetes Gabriel felt a muscle in his jaitch He understood nohy Marisol had been so afraid of the old man He had a sort of malevolent power about hi He seemed to drain the will out of everyone around hiy, but slowly People around hian to feel nervous and exhausted-and dazed Like birds looking into the eyes of a snake

A quiet form of terrorization

Gabriel didn’t intend to be terrorized But now that he’d chosen his path, he needed Zetes The old anization, the contacts Gabriel planned to use all those things on his journey to the top

He was debating going in when the screah his consciousness It wasn’t a vocal sound, purely er as well as fear And it was Kaitlyn

Close North and west of hi else

And he probably couldn’t have explained why if anyone had asked hi wolf The screa for her life Gabrielfrohts at the end of the cul-de-sac He couldn’t hear anything except mentally; Kaitlyn never did screarappling figures at a dead run A red-haired , and clawing The ed but sure to win in the end He was heavier and stronger; he could outlast her

Deja vu, Gabriel thought Once in back of the Institute he’d found anotherKaitlyn-a man who’d turned out to be fro the unwashed hair and unsavory appearance of Kaitlyn’s attacker, was unlikely to be anything but a bus as they were The old man would be happy to hear Kaitlyn was dead, and it wouldthe shard froh Gabriel’s mind in seconds Before he’d even consciously coled a hand in the back of the dirty overcoat and pulled, yanking the man up Kaitlyn rolled out from under, and he could hear the surprise in her mind Gabriel!

So she hadn’t seen hi to stay alive Theaway He saw Gabriel and threw a punch

Gabriel ducked around it He jerked his arm and the knife in his sleeve snicked out His hand closed around it, feeling the welcoht, the s

Just like Wolverine, Gabriel thought, cutting the knife in front of him in a practice move The red-haired man’s eyes followed it He was scared; Gabriel could already taste the flavor of his fear

But don’t worry about the knife, he thought, knowing the man couldn’t hear hiwhile I do this

Gabriel’s other hand rose alracefully and stealthily, and touched the man on the back of the spine Just above the soiled collar of the overcoat, just at the nape of the neck

His fingers made contact with skin, found the transfer point He could find it easier with hisany nearer this filthy derelict than he had to There was a feeling of breakage, as if so loose The red-hairedThen Gabriel felt it-the rush of energy, like blue-white light streaking up fro into the air

Into Gabriel’s fingers, filling channels and rushing through the like a cold drink on a hot day-a cold drink in a tall glass, with ice cubes clinking against the inside and drops of water condensing on the outside And it was so-a sudden feeling of strength and peace and vigor And it was so on the bow of a catamaran with the wind in your face It wasn’t s, but they were as close as Gabriel could get to the feelings of refresh pure life, that hat it was And even frouy had been o of hi

The red-hairedas if he’d been deboned On the ground, he twitched once and was still He s to her feet

"Is he dead?" she asked

"No, he’s got a gasp or two left But he’s not at all well"

"You enjoyed that" Her eyebroere arched in scorn and her s to her forehead; the rest of her hair was loose in a glorious flame-colored waterfall She looked flushed and windblown and very beautiful

Gabriel looked away angrily He wouldn’t think about her, he wouldn’t see how beautiful she was, how fair her skin was or the way her breathing ed to so at the huddled figure on the ground, "You were doing a pretty good job on him yourself"

Kaitlyn shivered, then controlled it Her voice was softer when she answered "I could see he was full of nasty things His ain

"You could see into his mind?" Gabriel asked sharply

"Not exactly I could sense it so or a s" She looked up at Gabriel, hesitated, then took a deep breath "I’lad you showed up If you hadn’t" Her voice trailed off again

He ignored this last "Maybe being in the web has uy was slightly telepathic" He touched the overcoat with the toe of his running shoe Then he looked at Kait "Where are the others?"

Kaitlyn drew herself up, looked back calmly "What others?"

"You knohat others" Gabriel stretched out his senses, listening for the slightest hint of their presence

Nothing He narrowed his eyes at Kaitlyn "They’ve got to be around somewhere You wouldn’t come out here alone"

"Wouldn’t I? I a to ask why?"

Behind her, the sky was green and palest pink, shading to ultra out, the first light was touching her hair with red-gold She stood sliainst the dawn Gabriel had to work

to keep his face expressionless, to keep his presence in the web icy "All right," he said "What are you doing here?"

"What do you one," Anna repeated miserably "I woke up and looked and there she wasn’t She isn’t here"

Lewis rolled over in his sleeping bag, squinting and scratching "Did you check in the, uh"

"Of course I’ve checked in the bathroom I’ve looked everywhere, and she’s just not anywhere Her bag is gone, too, Rob"

"What?" It came out a yell Anna clapped a hand over his one, she’s gone, he said telepathically after ayou, Anna replied Her beautiful dark eyes ide but calm Anna always could keep her head in a crisis-and Rob was close to losing his Ever since last night his emotions had been in a turmoil

With an effort he collected hione for a while-and probably of her own free will So

"But-ould she leave?" Lewis asked, sitting up "I mean, she wouldn’t leave, but if she did leave-well, why?"

Rob looked past the dark, heavy shapes of the living room furniture to theIt was just dawn

"I thinkshe’s one to the Institute"

The other two stared at hiht between his

lower teeth He was still looking out the"I think yes"

"But why?" Lewis said Rob barely heard hilass

Kait was out there so hione to the Institute?" he de back to earth "But she ht have an idea she can influence Gabriel

-oron Mr Zetes"

Anna and Lewis audibly let air out of their lungs "I thought-I"

Rob blinked at hi that Kait defected like Gabriel," Anna said crisply "I knew she didn’t, but I thought ht she did’’

"Of course she wouldn’t do that," Rob said, shocked It was hard for him to understand other people sometimes-they seemed so quick to think the worst about each other, even their friends He knew better; Kaitlyn wasn’t capable of anything evil

"But she"You think she took the car?"

"The car’s out front I looked before I woke you up," Anna said "I don’t kno she could make it"

"She’d find a way," Rob said briefly Kaitlyn was silk and fire-over a steel-hard core of deteret there, if that’s where she’s going The question is, what do we do about it?"

"What can we do?" Lewis said