O.U.R.S (Tessandra Young Series Book 2) Read online

  An idea comes to me and I motion for Hunter to help me. Without question he follows my lead and carefully picks up Tessie and cradles her unresponsive body against his chest. I can see that, although he is strong, he isn't impervious to the pain from her fire and Ice as he carries her outside into the snow. I pick up the pace, wanting to reduce the amount of time Hunter is in contact with her powers. “If we can’t shock her out of this catatonic state then we may need to just let her let it all out.” I explain to everyone as they follow us. Hunter places her gently on a bed of snow in a clearing far enough away from the cabin so that if she does explode it won’t cause any damage. I notice him wincing and draw upon my healing to help ease his pain.

  Before I can focus my attention back on Tessie, Ace and Declan call out. “Her powers building, if you are going to do anything do it now.” If we weren't in a critical situation I'd almost find it funny that they are unrelated and said the exact same thing. I look around at all the sad faces, they all believe our Tessie will be another victim of explosive powers syndrome. Before we escaped we had heard rumours of EPS, but none of us had ever seen it before. Test subjects were pushed to their limits and as a result they quite literally exploded due to their bodies not being able to handle the influx of power.

  “I was thinking we could try what we did last time her emotions started getting out of control.” Ace shakes his head and mutters about lovers kiss not being the answer. He walks over to Tessie and before anyone can react, he slaps her hard across the face. Zack and Zayne quickly grab Hunter's arms trying to restrain him but he’s too strong. Phoenix and Quinn jump in to help, they each grab onto his shoulders while Zack and Zayne hang onto his arms. I shake my head, ignoring Hunter and the others for now.

  Glancing over at Ace and Tessie, I gasp as all the air leaves my lungs. Her whole body is now encased in ice-like flames, her tiny left hand is clasped tightly around Ace’s wrist. He was kneeling over her when he slapped her and she must have grabbed him and thrown her powers into him. Ace falls onto his side on the ground next to her, writhing in agony as the flames wrap around his arm. I’m tempted to leave him like that for daring to put his hands on our girl but now is not the time for petty vindictiveness. I swallow my anger and motion for Kalum and Declan to pull him free from her grip.

  Kalum and I work together to get the flames on Ace put out. Healing his burns would only take a few seconds but with Tessie so close to combusting, I can't concentrate enough to do anything. Kalum drags Ace away from me and I a move even closer to Tessie. I study her face and realise that shocking her won't work. I steel my heart to the fact that this might be the last time I ever look upon my golden haired beauty. I kneel down and hold my palm to her cheek, flinching from the scorching heat. “I love you.” A single tear rolls down my cheek as I stare into her frightened eyes. I'm in love with a girl I've only known for a short time but I feel it, the love I have for her is all consuming. I take one final look at my Tessie and then I let my hand fall. With my shoulders slumped in defeat I get up and walk slowly back to the group standing a safe distance away. I know they all care for her but they don’t know what I do and if they ever found out, they’d probably kill me. With the knowledge in my head I feel that maybe it would be better if she did find her end here. It’s certainly better than what is coming for her.

  Tessie's high pitched scream draws me out of my guilt laden thoughts. Her whole body is surrounded by red and blue flames, the fire having now taken over and suppressing the ice power. I stare hypnotized by the beauty of such a cruel end. Her golden hair flying up off the ground and around her head in the updraft of heat. I'm fascinated by her crystal blue eyes blazing with flickers of flame. My panic subsides as I realise she isn't self combusting, the fires are slowly receding. It takes minutes but feels like hours before her skins returns to her normal colour. She stands up and I stay still, not knowing what else to do. I look at the others and they are all staring without moving as well. I inhale sharply as she drops to her knees on the ground. Where there was only snow moments ago is now huge circle of blackened earth. The grains of sand glossy and glass-like.

  I realise I’m just standing here frozen to the spot, staring at her in shock. I have no idea what to do or what to say. What we are witnessing is impossible. We were always told once the combustion starts, it doesn't stop until the person is dead. She looks up at us all and her face morphs into a mask of pure fear. Her body starts to shudder and Ace and Hunter snap out of their dazes, they both move in sync, trying to get to her. They only make it a few feet before she curls up on the ground and lets out a feral sound. Waves of power, invisible to the naked eye, blast into us. I’m thrown by the sheer force behind her power and I find myself staring at the sky, my ears ringing. It takes e a few minutes before I can think straight, let alone get to my feet. Shaking the stupor off, I force myself to my feet and search the area for Tessie. She's nowhere to be seen. I don't know what to do or what to say. I stare at the spot where she was standing completely numb. She's just gone. “What do we do?” Hunter asks at the same time Zack and Zayne ask where she went. “I don’t know what happened. As far as I knew self combustion left a body. She’s just gone.” I feel something warm on my cheek and scrub at it. I’m crying? I don’t cry. I square my shoulders and swallow the lump in my throat. These guys need me to be strong. I can do that for them. I start walking back to the cabin, refusing to look at the spot where the girl I love disappeared.

  ∞∞∞

  Once we are all sitting around the table as I heal Ace’s arm, I’m tempted to leave it with a huge scar to remind him not to ever lay hands on my girl again. I shake those thoughts off and get back to the problem at hand.

  I ask them if they have any ideas on where she would teleport to. My theory is that she was scared of hurting us and wanted to get away. I keep repeating to myself that no body, means she is still alive.

  “I’ll make some phone calls, call all my contacts with the Genetic Liberation Group. If anyone sees her or hears of a girl appearing out of nowhere we’ll know within the hour.” Ace gets up after his speech his stupid leather coat flapping behind him as he leaves the room. Phoenix and Quinn follow him mumbling about checking out the internet. Kalum and Declan offer to check all the places she has been over the last few weeks, they take off to see what they can find.

  Hunter grunts at me when I ask him if he can think of anything. He grabs a bottle of JD and walks towards the stairs. “She’s gone, why should we waste our time?” I open my mouth to say something but Zack and Zayne tell me to leave him be. “We’ll search the grounds, maybe she just teleported a short distance away.” I nod my head and wait for them to leave.

  As soon as everyone is gone I get up and check the doors are both shut. I grab my mobile and bring a text box up on the screen. It takes me a few minutes before I get up the courage to send the text.

  Mobile: 721 is missing.

  The response is almost instant.

  Samantha: Location and time of disappearance.

  Mobile: 132am Ace’s got a cabin in Snowy Mountains

  Samantha: Keep them there until we locate 721

  I look around guiltily as I pocket my phone. Everyone is going to find out if I’m not more careful with what I do around them.

  Chapter 4

  Tessa

  The last thing I remember is seeing Braydon's emerald eyes looking into my own. Then nothing but pain, so it gives me a really big fright to wake up and find Mariah Verantis standing over me. Mariah was a classmate of mine from back at school. She used to be my best friend until I made the mistake of telling her that a vision had shown me her dad was cheating on her mum. I look at her closely and notice that she's no longer a bottle blonde, her hair is a dreary looking brown with faded blonde highlights. I open my mouth but she slams her palm over my mouth. “Stay quiet.” I shake my head and she makes a shushing sound. “If you don't be quiet he'll come down here. Promise me you'll stay quiet.” She whispers against my ear. I nod my head
and she slowly removes her hand. “Where are we? Who is he and how did I get here?” I try to whisper but my throat feels dry and I start to cough. Mariah again shushes me but doesn't answer me. She’s creeping me out more than being kidnapped did, with her weird silence. Mariah used to be the type of person who would talk nonstop. She doesn’t complain and whine like a little bitch, she is the bitch.

  Ignoring her for the moment, I look around trying to figure out where we are. The walls are concrete and I don't see any windows. Two mattresses are against the walls opposite each other. A set of stairs at the other end of the room, lead up to a plain wood door. “Are we in someone's basement?” I ask even though I'm sure that we are. Mariah sniffs and nods. “How long have you been here?” She looks at me for a moment then asks a question of her own. “What's todays date?” I blink and cock my head to the side. I tell her the date and she whimpers. “Five months, I've been here for five months.” I quickly run through the calculations in my head and realise that she must have been here since the last day I was at school. “Who is he?”

  Foot steps rings out above us and Mariah scrambles away from me. She sits up straight on the mattress and stares at the wall. The sound of jingling keys echoes down the stairs followed by the distinct sound of a bolt being pulled. I lay back down and pretend to be asleep. The clunk of boots gets closer and then stops. I peek from beneath my lashes and see a guy standing with his back to me. Slowly opening my eyes I take in his short stature and brown hair. He starts to turn around and I slam my eyes shut, I try to summon my powers like my guys showed me but nothing happens.

  “You can stop pretending my love, I know you're not asleep.” My eyes fly open and I scramble back until I hit the wall. “Shaun?” He turns so he is facing me and I gasp. All along the right side of his face is severe half healed burns. If I hadn’t heard his voice I would never have known that the guy standing in front of me was Shaun. His face pulls up into a snarl and I cower. I’m not ashamed to admit that the effect his scars have on his face actually has me scared. I school my face into a blank expression and stare at a spot just behind him. “How did I get here?” He smiles and I flinch. “You teleported into your bedroom my love. I knew you would come back to me. It was only a matter of time before you found your way home.” I don’t remember teleporting. I don’t even remember much of what happened after my powers started going crazy. I had lost my temper because the guys were telling me that Peter was the one who had come looking for us.

  It’s probably best to just play along, at least until I can figure out why my powers aren’t working. I slowly rise to my feet and gulp before looking Shaun right in the eyes. “Of course I came back.” I’m shuddering inside at what I have to do next. I lift my hand and run it along Shaun’s arm, like I’ve seen women do when they are flirting. Shaun’s smile grows and I can see that he is delusional enough to believe he has won. I get as close to him as I can without actually touching anything except his arm. I can feel my lips wobble slightly as I fake a smile. I glance quickly at Mariah and try to tell her with just my eyes to run. She shakes her head and suddenly her entire demeanor changes. She stands up and walks over to where Shaun and I are standing. “She’s faking it love. She just wants you to think she is on your side.” Suddenly Shaun’s hand is on my cheek. He looks right into my eyes and I’m not sure what he sees there but it has him pushing me away. I land with a thump on my butt. The only thing preventing me from being bruised is the mattress beneath me. “I told you, love, she doesn’t want you. You don’t need her anyway. You have me remember.” Mariah holds Shaun’s face in her hands and turns it to face her. I frown as his brow draws down in confusion. He shakes his head like he’s trying to clear it and Mariah repeats her last words. “You don’t need her, because you’ll always have me.”

  The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoes around us and I let out a small squeak of surprise. “How many times do I have to tell you not to try using your powers on me?” Shaun growls. My mouth drops open and I stare at Mariah. She notices me staring and before I can blink she is on me with her hands around my throat. “This is all your fault, you fucking bitch.” She screeches as she tries to choke the life out of me. I’m gasping for air one second but in the next I gulp huge heaving breaths. Mariah’s screams fill the air and I cringe as my vision clears. Shaun is on top of her, slamming her head against the concrete floor. I’m torn between wanting to help the bitch and wanting to make my escape. Self preservation wins out and I make a run for the open door at the top of the stairs.

  I make it out the door and look back over my shoulder. Shaun is now on his feet, his hands and clothes covered in blood. I shudder and grab the door, hoping to slow him down. Once I have the bolt slid across I turn and run. I slam into something hard and drop to the floor. My head is pounding with my own heartbeat and it takes me a minute to think clearly enough to lift my chin and look at what I ran into. Standing over me, with a look of happiness on his face is Peter. I look back at the now locked door and try to think clearly enough to decide which is the lesser of two evils. Stay with a killer or go with a psychopathic idiot who tried to assault me. Either of which could end with me in an unmarked grave. Shaun starts banging on the door and Peter takes the decision away from me. He stalks right over to the door and undoes the bolt. Before I can get to my feet, Peter has pushed Shaun backwards down the stairs.

  I hear a series of thumps and then a loud crack. The silence that follows is scarier than the ordeal I’ve just been through. I jump to my feet and run towards the front door. Peter grabs me around the wrist and I grunt as he pulls me back from the door. His grip is surprisingly gentle yet firm. “Not so fast, young lady, you and I need to have a little chat before I let you go.” He spins me around to face him and I scream as the flashbacks from my last encounter with him cycle through my mind. “Stop screaming, if I wanted to hurt you I would have already. I need you to do something for me and then I’m going to let you go.” My mouth snaps shut at the strangely truthful tone in his voice. “What? Why?” He smiles at me again and I notice that his eyes are clear and lucid. Not crazy like the last time I saw him. “I need you to answer a couple of questions.” I nod my head and he asks if I will try to run if he lets me go. I shake my head and just like that he lets me go, I consider running but without my power I have no way of getting back to my guys. So running would be pointless.

  “Good, now, have you gone through the change yet?” I frown at him. “Did you go through the change?” He repeats. I have no idea what he is talking about and with everything I have been through my mind is not working as quickly as it usually does. “What change?” He studies me for a moment then something flashes in his eyes. His expression goes from calm to angry. “We need to go, now!” He grabs my arm and I try to pull it free. “Hal.. Uh, Tessandra, you need to come with me. There are Ultra agents are on their way. I can hear their thoughts.” I stop resisting, there is something about him that I’ve never felt around Peter before. He almost seems like he is someone else. Peter pulls me along at a sprint out the front door and over to a huge black SUV. He hits the button and opens the passenger door for me to get in. Once I’m in and my seatbelt is on, he slams the door and runs around and jumps in on the drivers side. The tires screech as he pulls out of the driveway and speeds off down the road.

  I stare out the window and notice that we are in my old neighborhood. I look over at the guy next to me and I have the weirdest feeling that all is not as it seems. I’m staring in thought out the window when he finally speaks. “Have your powers gone dormant?” I glance over at him. He’s smiling happily as he drives, the smiling is really starting to creep me out so I once again try to summon a flicker of fire but nothing happens. “Why?” He turns the car onto the main road leading out of Orion. The sun is setting and I watch it out the front windscreen as he continues to talk. “If your powers are dormant then you have started the change, if that’s happened then you are no longer of any use to Ultra as a breeder.” I cringe at the term breeder an
d turn to face him. “Does that mean I’m of no use to you then?” I watch as a shudder runs through him and a look of disgust appears on his face, he shakes his head in response and turns onto a dark back road.

  We’ve been driving in silence for nearly four hours before he finally pulls into a driver reviver. I’m still numb from having seen two people get murdered right in front of me. At least I think Shaun died. I shudder as I remember the sound he made when he hit the concrete floor at the bottom of the steps. Frank parks the car and turns the engine off, pulling me out of my waking nightmare.

  “I’m going to explain something to you but you need to stay quiet and listen.” His expression is so serious that I find myself nodding. “O.U.R.S, stands for Original Ultra Research Subjects. That is what the scientists at J.O.Y Research call test subjects that were born within the facility. There are only twenty known surviving Ultra’s. Well minus the two who were with me until a week ago. You are the only other known surviving female from the Ultra subjects. The female Ultra’s were born with an immunity to the powers of almost all test subjects but it doesn’t kick in until they go through the change. Are you following me so far?” I tell him that I am and he continues.