Birthright

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Kray sat with his usual crowd, but he kept an eye on Alex and Sydney, his mind still full of thoughts over what happened in the woods. Alex had insisted he go back first without them.

"Sydney and I have some things to discuss," she'd said in a tone that left no room for argument.

And he didn't want to argue, not in front of Sydney. The poor girl had been through enough, so he aimed a deliberate look at Alex that told her she'd better not do anything to her, and then he went off to join the rest of his class. He found Aries there already, a group of his buddies around him.

The boy looked furious enough to kill, but Instructor Curtis didn't seem to have any idea something was going on, so Kray concluded that Aries hadn't told her anything. No surprise there. Aries struck him as the type to handle things off the books.

Once class ended, he'd been debating calling Alex and demanding to know what she'd done with Sydney, but he had his answer now. Kind of. The crowd of Sanser and Meta girls sitting together had taken him by surprise. It had also raised all kinds of new questions.

What was Alex up to now?

When she left her table to empty her half-eaten plate of salad, he got up from his and met her by the trashcan. He leaned in close behind her and dropped his voice. "How is she?"

Alex didn't jump, but the muscles in her neck tensed. She placed the plate on a shelf and turned to him. "She's not having a breakdown. That's all that matters."

He narrowed his eyes at her callous remark. She started to leave, but he grabbed her arm in a tight fist, anger simmering in his chest. "Did you do something to her? I'm having a hard time believing you're capable of something as innocent as lunch with your newfound girlfriends."

She tilted her head back to meet his gaze, her eyes flat. "You're right. I'm not. I told her to keep her mouth shut or she'd find herself in a world of hurt. Then I sat with her to make sure her unstable feelings wouldn't compromise her need for survival."

Kray dropped her arm. He'd figured as much, but hearing it from her, seeing the cold look on her face—it made him understand the depth of Alex's capacity for cruelty. "Stay the hell away from her. She doesn't deserve to be manipulated by someone like you."

He stalked away without another backward glance.

#

Around six o'clock that evening, Kray received a message from Instructor Masso. He clicked the 'receive' button and a small hologram of Masso's face and torso popped up. He also selected the option that would transmit the audio to his ears only. He didn't want his roommate, who was watching a movie projected on his wall, to know his business.

Good evening, Kray. I hope this message finds you well. I promised yesterday that I would help you overcome the mental block preventing you from accessing your power. We will begin tonight. Please meet me at my office. It's in the Resource and Integration building east of the Great Library. Top floor, room 512. See you soon.

The hologram disappeared. Kray threw his legs over the side of his bed and pulled on his uniform jacket and shoes, more excited now than he remembered ever being since he came back to the Mainland. He got to the library in half the time it would normally have taken him. The Resource and Integration building was a squat octagon-shaped structure under the shade of the monolithic, glass-walled library. A human receptionist lady with a tight bun and a suspicious expression directed him to the top floor.

Masso opened the door when he knocked, inviting him into a roomy office with a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf heaped with books and a polished oak console desk that currently displayed a hologram of a labeled human anatomy. Or a Sanser. Hard to tell without reading the labels.