THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

to get the three of them out of here first?
    He hadn’t found a reason to smile since walking into Suarez’s classroom this morning and getting tied to Rayen, but he beamed one now. All girls liked to be appreciated. He’d learned that about the same time he learned to walk. “What’s so special about Zilya? I mean, can’t be looks ‘cause you’re gorgeous.”
    That hit the mark with Neelah. Her face visibly relaxed and a shy smile touched her lips. “All who come from the Governing House believe they are above the rest of us, even Etoi.”
    “You talkin’ about Zilya’s prune-faced girlfriend?” He lifted a handful of fruit, tasted a piece after deciding that if they wanted to kill him they wouldn’t waste food by lacing it with poison.
    Not when they could use spears to turn him into a human pincushion.
    Neelah nodded, her lips now curling in a sneer. “Etoi is a Rubio level servant. The very highest of rank for her position, but she is still just a servant. Nothing more.”
    “What’s the deal between your group and the tek-nah-tees?”
    “You’re our enemy.”
    “Not me, babe. I’m not one of them. Don’t even know what that is or what you guys are.”  Tony had an idea. “Can you write those names on something?”
    She cocked her head at his request then swirled her finger above the ground and the letters carved into the surface even though she never touched the dirt.
    “Awesome! How’d you do that?”
    Neelah grinned, dark brown eyes shining at the compliment in his tone. “I have other gifts.”
    Tony had never been slow to understand when a girl was coming on to him. “I have no doubt, babe.” He straightened his shoulders even as his mind raced with conflicting thoughts. He wanted to encourage a possible ally, but she could just be jerking his chain so he kept her talking. “How’d you end up here?”
    “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, like Etoi, except that she’s glad to be here with Zilya. Etoi believes she will be treated as more once we return, if we ever see home again, but she’s wrong.”
    “I still don’t understand.” He shook his head. “Who were the TecKnati trying to catch if you were grabbed by accident?”
    “It appears that the TecKnati have devised this plan to prevent Zilya and the other future rulers from attending the BIRG Con or taking over their respective Houses afterwards.”
    “Taking over? Like becoming crowned or something?”
    She shrugged. “I don’t know this crowning, but once a MystiK is presented at the BIRG Con, they’re acknowledged as leaders in training. They begin their official duties as they will assume the role of House leaders within ten years, or upon the sudden death of the existing leaders.”
    “So these TecKnati people grabbed you instead of the MystiKs they wanted. Yeah?”
    She gave a sad nod.
    “That sucks.”
    Her smile peeked out again. “You speak in the strangest way. I must go. But I’ll return if I can.” 
    “So you don’t think I’m a TecKnati?”
    “Oh, I’m hoping you are one.”
    That made no sense. Did she want a TecKnati ally? “Don’t take this wrong, babe, because I’d love to have you come back to visit, but if ya think I’m your enemy, why you wanna be friends with me?”
    She stood to leave. “I’d befriend the devil himself to get out of this place.” She paused then, her face determined. “And I’m not the only one.” 
    In the next instant she was gone and the walls buzzed again, but Tony felt better after the water and fruit. And Neelah’s information. He shifted the fruit bowl and flask near a wall so he could pace. The longer he walked in circles and criss-cross patterns the more frustrated he got at being stuck in this place when Mathias had no reason to lock him up.
    Or kill him.
    He slammed his fist into his palm over and over, ready for a target. How could everything he’d worked for at the Byzantine Institute disintegrate in the blink of an eye because of a computer?
    Until now, he’d believed his skill with computers would rule the day. That his natural abilities with technology would afford him control over his future and, most important, the chance to find his little bro.
    He’d never get Vinny back if Tony had to depend on other people. Gram had done all she could when Tony and Vinny got dropped in her lap as small boys. She’d held off child services as long as possible, but the day had come that the social worker put Gram in the position of