Synectica

Chapter 16

 Netta concentrated on a the map of Quacistria opposite her in the room and tried to reach deep into her soa to find the strings of energy from James' mind. She caught hold of them quickly and then began the process of collecting the energy strings from Ella and Alice as well. Finally, she had a firm grip and was able to hold onto the connection. It felt like she was holding three balloons on strings in a tornado, but she had done this before. She took a breath and refused to lose control. If she had learned anything from what James had taught her, it was to not lose control, not matter what the circumstance. It was especially important for her because her powers were so temperamental and if she lost control, there was no telling what her powers could do to her or to others.

"Testing....testing..." she tried using her new telepathic link.

"Received," James replied. "Now recite what I told you." Netta sighed.

"Fine. Round about the cauldron go, in the poisoned entrails throw. Toad that under cold stone days and nights has thirty-one. Sweltered venom sleeping got. Boil thou first in the charmed pot. Double double toil and trouble fire burn and cauldron bubble."

One of the strings slipped away and she heard James' voice spoken out loud.

"Guess we're done now...." she said to Ella and Alice who were still in her telepathic link. Both girls chuckled and Netta broke the connection.

"You did well," James said almost proudly - almost.

"Thanks," said Netta. She had learned not to expect much praise from James. Alice punched him in the arm.

"Well? She did great!" she said, completely bubbly. Even Ella seemed excited. James muttered something and walked over to the computer tables. Ella gave Netta another pat on the back and left to do homework.

"Well, I've got a test to study for," said Alice, "but you're welcome to stay if you want. It's not like we'll be doing much." She laughed at herself and then walked to her bed where an open textbook lay with note cards scattered around it.

Netta shrugged and slumped in a chair at the large table near the kitchen area. She stayed here most days after school, even when she wasn't training. Somehow the converted bunker seemed more like a home than her foster home had ever been. Occasionally Ella stayed late as well and she and James would disappear for hours at a time behind one of the doors at the end of the room. Ryan, having no tact whatsoever, asked James what they were doing in there alone for so long. James responded by breaking Ryan's femur, which only made Ryan howl with laughter. It took nearly two hours for Ella to convince James to heal him because he couldn't very well go around with a bone sticking out of his leg. The constant bickering and fights that broke out every five minutes between Ryan and James made Netta feel like she had found herself a real family. Everyone felt free to yell at each other and say when they were upset which meant the world to Netta because it meant that they cared about her enough to tell her when they had a problem with her so that they could fix it and move on.

James was watching a map on one of the monitors which had a red dot that moved every so often. Netta walked over to where he was sitting put her head in top of his, mentally counting how long it took him to shoo her off.

On-

"Netta get off me," James snapped. Netta cupped a hand over her mouth so that she wouldn't laugh.

"What's that?" Netta asked him, pointing to the monitor with the map.

"It shows us where energy is being used. Most of the time it's not Quacistrian energy, but every so often the dot stays in one place, sometimes for hours at a time. That's when we know that a half blood is using their powers and it's also how we found you. Everyone in the QO's energy signatures are put into the program so that it doesn't pick up on ours because-"