Page 106 of Defiant

Yes, I understood her.

Now I needed to stop her.

Chet,I thought to the delver.I need you to teleport away my body’s handcuffs.

I can’t do that,he thought back to me.Not with the drugs in oursystem. That blocked me from even talking to you, in prison. I can’t use any abilities.

That’s not true,I thought to him.The air warped earlier.

I…he thought.I don’t know. I…

All right. Time for some tough love.

Chet,I thought to him.We need to do something, or our friends might die.

But…you said…

I was trying to make you feel better,I told him.But that was wrong of me—because avoiding the problem is what got your people into trouble.

The air began to warp as he worried, his panic growing. I felt bad for using him, but I needed to.

Some of them might die,I said.And it’s going to hurt. We’ll get through it though. Pretending that nobody will ever be in danger is the same as living in the nowhere, pretending loss doesn’t exist.

It got worse. Soon those in the room noticed—particularly as pieces of wall paneling started to vanish. Random chunks being pulled into Chet’s tantrum.

Chet,I said.Look. You’re doing it! It’s working.

What?he said, panic rising in his voice.But…

Teleport away my handcuffs,I thought to him.A piece of them at least.

It doesn’t work that way!he thought.I can’t control it.

You can,I thought to him.We can. Together.

I pressed my mind against his, and let him lean on my expertise—as I’d learned how he saw the world, I let him see howIsaw the world. What I’d learned. Control. Precision.

Come on,I thought to him.

Brade cursed and barked for the doctor. She hurried over with another dose of the drug. I stepped closer to my body and felt it pulling me in, seeking to reconnect us.

Chet!I thought.If you’re worried about losing our friends,do somethingabout it instead of hiding!

I…he thought.I can’t…

You can,I told him, hovering closer to my body, feeling my soul fully being pulled in.We can.

I came to a second later, blinking as the doctor loomed over me, syringe already in my neck. The warping continued, and she looked at the air, waving her arms in agitation.

In that moment, I felt my hands go slightly slack. I grabbed the bar behind my back—the railing that I’d been locked to—and pretended nothing had changed. And now that I was in my body, the warping of the air faded. I was cut off from Chet again.

I used my seated posture to hide my hands, and didn’t dare move, lest I reveal what had happened. Instead I looked at Brade—who was again watching the doctor carefully. I was pretty sure, from that look in her eyes, I knew what was in the pouch at her waist. How could she ever be secure under Winzik’s thumb—even if she was secretly pulling the strings—as long as he had the ability to drug her and take away her powers?

Brade was paranoid. She always positioned herself with her back to the wall. Jumped when the door opened, watched her own people with care and even a sense of distrust. She would never let them have a weapon that could be used against her, like this drug. Not unless there was an antidote.

That was what was in her pouch.

As the warping stopped, most of her team returned to their command posts. Brade, however, lingered—watching me. Until at last something demanded her attention. She reluctantly turned to deal with it, and I finally dared to shift my hands and feel at them. Each had a metal cuff around the wrist. But, unnoticed by anyone, the chain between them was missing.

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