We must leave the city, he repeated, as if talking to a rather stupid child. The Rooks are here... His mouth firmed to a frown. ...Terian. He worries me more than your human police. Or even SCARB, although I’m sure he will come in that guise, as well...
Seeing my bewildered look, he interpreted it on his own.
Rooks, he repeated. Other seers. I will explain later. His thoughts grew as impatient as his voice when they bombarded me next. Can we go? Are you done asking me questions I could answer better en route, Esteemed Bridge?
“Why do you keep calling me—”
I don’t have time for you to have an emotional reaction right now! he sent, his thoughts cutting into mine. Are you going to pretend you didn’t cause a fucking scene at that restaurant? That your eyes aren’t glowing...
He motioned to my face.
...Even now? As we speak?
When I didn’t answer, he clicked at me again. Pulling on my arm, not roughly but purely out of a desire to move me forward, he switched back to his physical voice as he started walking.
“You are at risk, Esteemed Bridge. You understand that this is serious?”
“Wait!” I felt the first real flickering of fear. “I’m not going anywhere with you! Besides, I can’t. I’ve got this GPS thing, and...”
Stopping dead once more, he reversed direction before I could regain my balance. He stepped towards me and I stumbled backwards, trying to get out of his way. Standing less than a foot away, he stared down at me.
Listen to me, sister, he sent. Hear this, for it is the last time I will say it.
His thoughts turned harsh in my head.
You cannot go home, Esteemed Bridge. Even without the Rooks. You cannot.
He gestured sharply, a downward slash. His eyes held mine, hard as glass.
...Over. It is over for you, this human life. Do you hear me, Esteemed One? Do not make the mistake of thinking you can go back. You cannot go back. Never, Allie.
I stared up at him, fighting for words.
His eyes flickered pointedly to the GPS on my arm.
You are already a criminal...a violent one. If you are a seer, they will show you no mercy. Your life living among them is finished. It is absolutely imperative that you understand this. You cannot trust humans anymore. Any humans, Allie.
His expression grew grim, but I saw sympathy there, too.
Feel whatever grief you need to feel about this, and then let it go. Do it soon. It will save you much heartache later. Or worse, a life of slavery and torture like nothing you can imagine.
My jaw fell open. I continued to stare up at him.
“The boy,” he said, exasperated. ...You threw him. I had to get you out of there when I saw...I could not believe it...
He made that odd clicking sound with his tongue, shaking his head.
...They did not warn me you would be telekinetic!
He sounded almost angry.
Staring up at him, I clenched my fists, forcing my brain to work.
Jon. He meant Jon.
There’d been witnesses at the diner. They’d seen me throw Jon across the room without touching him. They’d have my psych records from when I was a kid, know I was some kind of freak. There was the incident at Backdoor Bar with Jaden and the groupie. My parole. My unknown parentage. Maybe they would know a lot more than that, once they interrogated Jon and my mom. Hell, they might use drugs on them...even other seers. A seer impersonating a human constituted terrorism, so their human rights would be out the window if the World Court felt they had probable cause.
Telekinetic, christ. That had to be a scam. I’d never heard of a telekinetic seer before.
Well, other than...
I stared up at him, eyes wide.
“Yes.” He nodded grimly. You will be little Syrimne. Little female Syrimne and all the babies she could make. If SCARB finds you, your citizenship, even your sentience categorization will be revoked. That H mark you value so much...
He motioned towards my racial-cat tattoo and the barcode above it.
...It will be burned right off of your arm.
His mouth formed a grim line as he waited for me to catch up.
I couldn’t, though.
I couldn’t get past the Syrimne thing.
Syrimne was the bogey-man to most humans, even my own parents. In school, I’d seen all the old footage of him blowing up oil tankers and downing planes, setting hospitals on fire. He did all of it with his mind, sometimes from hundreds of miles away. It took an army to get him down, and more than half of them had been seers, too.
The black-haired man’s clicking sound grew softer, and contained more sympathy.
We must leave here, Esteemed Bridge. Even your human brother understood this. He did not like it...but he understood.
I bit my tongue, hard enough to taste blood. The man in front of me looked to be about 6’5”, barefoot. I didn’t stand a chance against him, if it came to that.
If he was telling the truth, I had nowhere to go anyway.