Coercion by Tamara Hart Heiner

Author:Tamara Hart Heiner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tamark Books
Published: 2019-04-12T10:19:29+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Trey nervously paced in the small hotel room Amy and Melissa had arranged for us. Meredith and Beth had gone to the ice machine, and it was just me, pretending to be interested in the television while the strange boy beside me marched around the room.

“Can you just sit down?” I said. “It’s not like you’re accomplishing anything.”

He ignored my request, shoving one hand through his red hair while he marched. “Gathering Deklas and Kartas in one place, it makes us an easy target for Samantha.”

“What’s she going to do, launch her torpedoes at us? Besides, Melissa said none of us are staying in the same hotel.”

That didn’t stop Trey’s pacing. “Will it be enough? How many Deklas are coming? It gives her a chance to—” Trey cut himself off.

I frowned at him. “Gives her a chance to what?”

He shook his head. “Nothing, it’s nothing.”

The hotel room door clicked open, and Meredith and Beth walked in with a full bucket of ice and several soft drinks nestled inside. Beth settled beside me on the bed we would be sharing while Meredith sank down onto the other. Front desk had brought a rollaway bed for Trey, but he still hadn’t opened it or set it up.

“So what happens now?” Beth asked, focusing her attention on me.

I shrugged. “We just wait.” I glanced at the cell phone Melissa had let us borrow.

Trey uttered a low growl of frustration. “We are worthless to them. The only one here who can do anything is Meredith, who still has to spout off poetry to get her powers to work!”

“Thanks,” Meredith muttered. “Feeling really useful now.”

“You?” Beth turned a lifted eyebrow in Meredith’s direction. “He pretty much just said the rest of us are good for nothing.”

Trey threw his arms into the air and walked out of the room.

“Should one of us go after him?” Beth asked.

“Let him stew,” I said. “Whatever is going on is way over our heads. He knows it.”

Meredith flipped on the television and sifted through channels until she found the news. I didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’t turn my eyes away from the thought that we might get updated information. Luckily the newscaster’s biggest concern seemed to be the early migration of butterflies, and I lay back, letting my mind drift into a hypnotic state of relaxation.

I turned across the pillow and said to Meredith, “Do you have your poem ready?”

She bobbed her head, though she looked uncertain. “I don’t know if it will work on Samantha.”

I splayed one hand wide. “I don’t see why not. Your spells work on me.”

“Yes, well, I don’t know exactly what she is anymore.”

“I guess the best we can do is try. But there’s still the problem of her minions. The army of people she has under her command. You can try the poem on them.”

Meredith didn’t look any more reassured. “And how human are they?”

She brought up a relevant concern, but I brushed it off. We couldn’t be plagued by our doubts.

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