Tangent (A Liminals prequel novella) by Maree Anderson

Tangent: Chapter Eight

Tangent 

By Maree Anderson

Chapter Eight

Around midnight, the lights in the corridor flickered and died. "And that's our cue," a voice by Rix's ear whispered. "Get your arse out of bed, boyo."

Rix rolled off the mattress. In the gloom, he could make out Kade rolling up a couple of blankets and stuffing them beneath the covers. The kid then plunked a dark mass of something on the pillow, and tugged the coverlet up until only the barest glimpse could be seen. "Mop-top," he whispered. "Dyed black. Nearest thing to your dreads we could come up with at short notice. Should buy us a bit of time."

Rix uttered a soft grunt of approval. And had just enough time to wonder who "we" happened to be, before Kade handed him a piece of clothing. "Lab coat."

Rix shoved his arms into the coat, and managed to hold still while Kade placed a pair of glasses on his nose. "Clipboard," the kid said, handing one over. "Can't do anything about the dreads, so we'll have to wing it. If anyone catches us, channel 'officious prick' and say Reilly Kincaid instructed you to bring me to the lab to run some tests. You got that?"

"Got it."

"Good. Now listen up." Kade reached for Rix's hand. "I'm gonna sync with you and piggyback-phase you, okay? So you gotta relax and trust me."

"I do trust you," Rix whispered back. And damned if it wasn't the truth.

"You done this before? Had someone sync with you, I mean."

"Nope." Rix had only ever synched with Lily—once, to get them both out of a tight spot. And he'd been the dominant one—the one doing the synching.

"Fantastic. Well, find your happy place and let me do the work. Oh, and fergodsakes don't panic and start siphoning energy from me or this is gonna turn to shite in a big hurry. Ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

Kade's hand squeezed Rix's. "Count to three. And whatever happens, don't freak out."

One. Two. Three—

Tendrils of Kade's energy probed, hesitant at first and then entering in a rush to circulate through Rix, now surging ahead, now lagging behind, and then matching his energy flows. He felt rather than heard Kade's thoughts: So far, so good. Now for the tricky part....

"The tricky part" being Kade synching his energy's vibrations to Rix's—matching the pattern exactly.

His mind drifted to his parents. They'd synched so effortlessly—like they'd been two halves of a whole....

Shit. He made a conscious effort to think about the good times—before his dad had gotten sick. Before his mom had fallen asleep at the wheel after an extra shift she'd taken to help pay for his cancer treatments, and never made it home. Before Rix had been outted as his father's sole caregiver, and placed in foster care, leaving his dad to die alone—

The energy that had been purring through Rix's veins buzzed and throbbed, and every hair on his body was standing on end.

Whatever you're thinking, stop bloody well thinking it and think of something else!

Sorry, Rix thought back. He let the memory of his parents fade and concentrated instead on Lily. Her beautiful eyes and expressive face. Her slim body thrumming with excitement as she'd presented him with a cake she'd baked for his birthday. She'd helped old Mrs. Hicks for a month when the old lady had a fall, and had refused to take any money. Instead, Lily and Mrs. Hicks had put their heads together and come up with a plan to bake Rix the cake. "Everyone deserves a cake for their birthday," Lily had insisted—just like she had insisted Rix blow out the candles and make a wish.