THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

their leader? As tall as Callan, this Mathias might not match Callan in muscle tone, but he carried himself as a king, shoulders back, eyes ahead. He had skin darker than mine. Reminded me of Nicholas from back at school, except Mathias had warm eyes that held a depth of understanding that made him approachable. Strange for me to think that when he was in charge of this group and they had captured us.
    His eyes didn’t fit his age. Not that he had lines or wrinkles, but he wore years of living on his face that said he’d seen far more than others with his seventeen or eighteen years. He asked me, “What are you doing here?”
    No matter where I went, I was doomed to be asked questions I couldn’t answer. “I don’t know.”
    Zilya interjected, “This is yet another tek trick, no doubt.”
    Mathias crossed his arms, irritation boiling in his face. “What new challenge have you brought to us?”
    “None.”  Who did these people think we were? “We’re not who you think we are.”
    Zilya answered, “In this sphere, you are either one of us or our enemy. There is no third option. So where does that leave you?”
    The enemy. Someone they claimed had killed children.

CHAPTER 13
     
    Muffled footsteps approached the chamber. I turned as Gabby and Tony entered the feather-encased room ahead of Callan. 
    Mathias moved over to stand alongside Zilya where they both faced us. Callan chose a position on the side where he could observe everyone. And look foreboding.
    Gabby had the same red vine wrapped around her wrist as Tony and I did, but her forearms were now a deeper pink. Had the heat or humidity caused that, was it still a reaction to the fight with the killer-flower bush, or was her skin just extra sensitive? She stepped over to my right.
    Tony stopped short behind me. “Your shirt’s torn and you’re bleeding. They stuck those spears in your back, didn’t they?”
    “It’s okay, Tony.”
    He stepped up beside me on my left, his dark eyes conveying rage at Callan. “She risks her life for your bunch of munchkin soldiers, or whatever those brats are out there, and you let them stab her?”
    Callan might as well have been formed of granite, right down to his glare. Turning me into a sieve clearly didn’t bother him at all.
    Ignoring Tony’s outburst, Zilya moved her head in tiny fractions as she considered the three of us, particularly Gabby.
    That’s when Tony noticed Zilya.
    I leaned over and whispered, “Shut your mouth, Jersey, unless you want to catch some demon fly in this place.”
    His mouth snapped shut and he speared me with a glare that felt more natural than his concern about my injured body.
    Mathias addressed Callan. “Is it true we have a new portal site to watch?”
    “Yes, in the area where we killed the croggle two months back.”
    By the subtle move of Mathias’s head, I had the feeling this was unwelcome news for some reason. Mathias spoke to Callan. “I understand these teks were trying to capture one of our new arrivals.”
    “Now wait a minute!” I snapped. “I saved that little girl from that croggle monster.”
    Callan sliced a meaningful look at Mathias. “The child was unharmed when I arrived, but I still don’t know where they came from and she destroyed every piece of the croggle by torching it before we could harvest any of the parts.”
    The loathing Mathias swung at me this time turned his eyes a brutal shade of purple, almost black. “That meat would have fed us for several weeks. The bones and skin offered additional shelter for those who cannot create their own.” 
    I turned to Callan. “I had no idea that you intended to eat that thing.”  It sure hadn’t looked appetizing. But Callan was doing his stone-faced warrior impression. No help there so I turned back to Mathias. “I only attacked the monster because I thought it was going to hurt the children fighting it.”
    A silent conversation seemed to flow across Mathias and Callan’s hard gazes. Mathias finally nodded and said, “We haven’t explored every inch of this realm. I will allow that there could be...other captives.” 
    Captives like us...or did he mean they were captives?
    Unconvinced, Callan crossed his arms, the muscles in his biceps clenching and unclenching. “They did not arrive in the area we normally monitor when the stripes appear in the sky or we’d have seen them when they ejected.” He paused, his long fingers curled into fists, then he cast a suspicious look at my