Etheric Researcher: A Kurtherian Gambit Series (Etheric Adventures: Anne and Jinx Book 2) by S.R. Russell & Michael Anderle

Author:S.R. Russell & Michael Anderle [Russell, S.R.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2017-11-30T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Monday morning saw Anne and Jinx walking to school in silence. Anne was tired, and Jinx was worried. Anne hadn’t slept well the last two nights—it was difficult to sleep when nightmares woke you up screaming.

Anne had ended up with three different nightmares. The first one she understood and had almost expected: a replay of her attack on the alien. The other two were worse, and she just wasn’t sure which was more disturbing. In one, she didn’t kill the alien and the Stooges got away with Jinx. Then they strapped Jinx down and cut pieces from her to try and clone her. That was the first time she woke screaming.

The other dream was disturbing on a completely different level. She was on an alien planet, and every time she looked at an alien it was instantly engulfed in flames and turned into a charred skeleton. Dream-Anne had tried closing and covering her eyes, but it didn’t help. Somehow she could still see the aliens. Male, female, child—it didn’t matter. She had no control over who got burned. What woke her screaming from that one was that she saw a Playground Ahead sign and couldn’t stop walking.

Seshat says that almost everyone who deals with this kind of thing needs counseling to get better. After she said it Jinx cringed mentally, afraid of being told to mind her own business but needing to try to help her friend anyway.

Sounds about right. Anne reached down to gently rub one of Jinx’ ears, acutely aware of the love that had given Jinx the courage to say those words.

You’re not mad?

If you had a badly broken leg and I told you that you needed surgery to have it heal correctly, would you be mad at me? This conversation made Anne realize how little they had talked since the incident. Just the fact that they were communicating again made her feel better.

I don’t think so, Jinx answered.

Anne grabbed the tip of her tail and gave it the briefest of tugs. I try to be at least as smart as you are.

—

School was…interesting. That was the only word for it. With her Kurtherian enhancements, Anne could hear most conversations held anywhere near her—all the conversations in the room she was in, actually. She wished she could conduct a poll. It would be interesting to find out if she were more admired or feared. By lunch period Anne had decided “feared” was in the top spot. It wasn’t the comments that led to this conclusion, it was that no one had been brave enough to ask about what had happened.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, she told Jinx when they had found a place to sit and eat lunch.

Well, you also kicked the asses of those Weres earlier this year. I’m guessing it all adds up, Jinx reminded her.

Anne chewed the bite of pizza she had just taken, then nodded her head. I’m not going to pretend to be happy or proud of beating up or killing people, but I think I prefer being able to defend and protect myself.

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