The Cure by Teyla Branton Page A

room.
    Ritter glanced at me.
    “I’m okay,” I shouted. “Go.”
    Actually, my eyesight was still half dark, and I almost couldn’t breathe. A couple ribs were busted at the least. But I wanted revenge every bit as much as he did.
    He dipped his head once and sprang after her, the taut lines of his body screaming in anticipation.
    I breathed in deeply, absorbing consciously. I needed energy.
    “Are you okay?” Kathy’s voice, stronger than I expected. She scuttled over to me, with Spencer still clinging to her waist.
    I forced myself to a seated position and tried not to wince as I put my arms around them. “I’m fine. Are you guys hurt?” Max licked my hand.
    “We’re okay,” Kathy said. “Stella was great. She wouldn’t let them get to us.”
    My eyes went to Stella. She was breathing but unconscious. I wished Dimitri were here and not in Mexico. He’d be able to tell in an instant if the baby was okay, and with his ability, he could often prolong life simply with the touch of his hands.
    “Oliver helped,” Kathy added. “He was shooting like crazy.”
    Oliver. He was sitting on the floor, staring vacantly at the door, his confusion pounding at my senses. I caught a glimpse of the SWAT team in his mind, exactly as it had appeared. But there was also a TV, and now I recognized characters from a popular weekly show.
    All at once, I understood what Ava and Oliver himself hadn’t yet realized. He could create illusions. I’d read documentation about the ability, but it had been lost among Unbounded for centuries, along with some of the other mental gifts. The theory was that both mathematics and sensing had to be in the Unbounded’s heritage in order to develop the ability.
    Oliver. Useless, full-of-himself Oliver had a gift that might prove vital to the Renegade movement. It was almost too much to believe.
    “I’d better see to Stella. Kathy, stay here with Spencer. It’s going to be okay. Uncle Jace and Ritter will make sure.” I extracted myself from them, told Max to stay, and climbed awkwardly to my feet, gritting my teeth against the pain in my ribs that was echoed by a renewed throbbing in my ankle. It felt a lot like broken glass inside the skin.
    I took my gun with me, slapping in a new magazine, and double-checking on the unconscious Unbounded. The two men weren’t even breathing, but that could change at any minute as their bodies made repairs.
    Kneeling beside Stella, I shook her head gently. No response. She was cut, scraped, and bruised over much of her exposed body. No telling what internal injuries she may have suffered. My hands went to the tiny mound of her growing baby. Two months ago I’d been able to tell that she was pregnant before she was sure that her missed cycle meant anything important. She was scarcely more than three months along now. Had she been heavier and a bit taller, her baby bulge might not be noticeable at all.
    Looking one last time at the fallen Unbounded to make sure they weren’t moving, I closed my eyes and reached out. All I felt was a pounding in my head and an urge to vomit. Some talent I had.
    Wait. There it was, a tiny, almost imperceptible spark of life, a minuscule pumping, so subtle compared to the ache in my head. My relief turned to worry as I contemplated the faint heartbeat. Every so often, the beat missed, as though it struggled to continue.
    Stella had lost so much, and without Dimitri here, I feared she would lose this final piece of her husband.
    Live , I told the baby, knowing the effort was useless. I wasn’t a healer. The outcome would be whatever was destined.
    “Is she all right?” Oliver had lost his fascination with the door and pulled himself over to where I sat. Blood stained the entire front of his shirt and the way he held himself, I knew it was his own.
    “She’ll be fine. Don’t know about the baby.”
    Oliver frowned. “I was no good to her. All I could do was fire the gun. She was like a maniac, trying to save us