THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

clash of opinions, arguing with each other whether this level of power was even possible and, if so, would the MystiKs risk destroying their own world?
    The majority feared MystiKs. Which worked in SEOH’s favor.
    SEOH might not believe the MystiK power to be indefensible, but many of these old bastards had lived during the first effects of the fallout from the K’ryan Syndrome and still shuddered over several unexplained phenomenon that had occurred since then.
    Catching Rustaad’s eye, SEOH nodded, adding fuel to his self-made fire.
    Screams spewed from the vids, drawing silence in the room when every set of eyes watched in horror as the last space launch ended in disaster with flaming metal debris slicing through people racing from the observation stands. TecKnati friends and family were lost that day.
    The downside of living to an old age, as these board members had, was that every one of them had been affected by disasters such as this one.
    And every board member believed the MystiKs had been behind the destruction. SEOH had made sure they believed.
    “Gentlemen,” he said softly this time, addressing them as human beings instead of numbers. “We owe it to the future of this world to stop the insanity. What I’m suggesting is that if the MystiKs refuse to join us in developing and protecting this fragile world we call home, that we protect our future by gifting them with a planet to make their own. We start by taking their next most powerful generation of leaders and sending them to the planetary outpost first.”
    That is, if we don’t manage to eradicate the entire bunch by sending the K-virus back into the past once the inoculations for the chosen few to survive are completed at the Institutes.
     

CHAPTER 24
     
    Where was Rayen? Had they killed her and Gabby by now?
    Tony paced along the groove he’d worn in the hard-packed, green dirt floor of the crappy isolation unit. The hum of energy circulating through the walls taunted him.
    No way out of here. Not alive.
    When the sound stopped all at once, the change was chilling. He moved to the center where he could turn in any direction, prepared for the worst.
    An opening appeared, then a young girl stood there holding a gourd-like flask and a bowl. When she stepped inside, Tony looked past her shoulder until she said, “There are guards outside.”
    “Figures.”  He swung his gaze back to her. She might be a little younger than him, but didn’t look like she’d survive more than a day on the streets of Camden where he’d grown up in Jersey. Slender, fine-boned, her hair in strawberry colored cornrows, her tunic some shade of red. She didn’t look too threatening, but you never knew. Sure, he could probably overpower her and figure a way to use her to get past the guards, but that wouldn’t help Gabby or Rayen and right now he was tired of being alone. “What’s your name?”
    “Neelah.”  Her voice fluttered when she spoke and gave him the impression she might talk. Which surprised him. It was kind of nice not to be treated like an evil incarnate the way Sparkle Face treated him. Neelah extended the flask and bowl. “Here’s some water and fruit.”
    “Thanks.”  No chance to make a run for it, so Tony accepted the food, trying not to act too grateful, even if he was. He took a deep swig of...water? The stuff smelled like perfume and had an oily aftertaste.
    Feeling her eyes on him, he managed to look as though he liked the water. “My friends okay?”
    Her face brightened with interest that found its way into her pleasant tone. “One is still with the healer and the hunting party hasn’t returned.” 
    She didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave, so he decided to make a stab at getting information. Plus he liked the sound of her voice. “How old are you?”
    “Sixteen. How old are you?”
    “Seventeen.”  He squatted down to put the bowl on the floor then took another long drink from the flask. Once he got past the weird taste, the water refreshed his raw throat. “What’s with all this House talk? You from the same place as what’s her name? Zilya?”
    She glanced over her shoulder and when she looked at him again her eyes had lost the happy creases. She moved forward, squatting down to his level. “No. She’s of the Governing House, as is Mathias.” 
    Neelah said that with a load of disdain.
    Discontent among the natives? That could be useful.
    Wouldn’t Rayen get her panties in a twist if Tony figured out how