THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

reaction like hers. We had to get her out of here, back to the school where someone could help her.
    “I’m not stayin’ here,” Tony continued babbling and pacing. “These guys are serious whack jobs.” 
    “We’ll figure a way out of here as soon as we can,” I said, hoping to shut him up.
    Nope. Tony pounded over to where I knelt next to Gabby, but kept his focus only on me. “‘As soon as we can’ is fine for you two. I’m on death row.”
    Fighting the urge to snap at him, I asked Gabby. “Let me see your arms.” 
    She lifted her chin, indecision playing hard through her flushed face.
    I understood her hesitation. She shielded her secret gift by avoiding touch. I offered quietly, “You can trust me when I say I’ll not judge you or share anything about your gift.”
    After the things she’d seen me do today, she must have decided I was telling her the truth, because air wheezed out of her with relief.
    I braced myself to touch her skin, prepared for any image or sensation when I gently scooped her arm in my hand. Fragmented images scattered through my mind, mixed with her burning pain and fear of dying. What I picked up came in pieces, meaning she could hide her thoughts somewhat, but not very well while her body fought an infection. 
    The red lines continued to crawl up her arms, raging hot as if acid etched deep into her skin.
    I detected an odor of something building that my mind labeled as gangrene, but this didn’t fit with the vision of rotting flesh that followed the name. I didn’t have time to question what I knew or how much I knew, but I was sure these streaks could kill her if we didn’t stop the strange infection.
    “We’ll be okay,” I reassured Gabby and released her arm before she could catch the desperation in my mind.
    “Of course you two will be fine,” Tony continued ranting from where he’d paced to the other side of the room again. “Meanwhile I’ll be sacrificed to the god of Loony Land. Or the goddess. But you don’t care, which figures. Won’t be the first time I’m thrown under the bus. The last time was by people I thought were friends.”
    I understood Tony’s fear of being put to death, especially for something he hadn’t done. He should realize I wouldn’t let this bunch harm him or Gabby without a fight, regardless of my sporadic superpower, but I didn’t have the patience to figure out what Tony meant by a bus. I buried my need to strike at something out of frustration and told him, “No one is going to die. It’s probably just a scare tactic.”  At least, I hoped so. “Put your mouth to some use for once. See if you can get us some health aid here.”
    “You mean medical attention?”
    I shot him a look that had him backing up.
    “You don’t get it. They don’t care if any of us lives or dies.”  Tony stomped back over and drew in a deep breath as if ready to unleash a snarl, but stopped and whistled between his teeth on the next exhale. “Whoa, babe,” he said, bending over to examine Gabby’s arm more closely, really seeing her this time. “Daa-yum. That’s bad.” 
    “Not helping, Tony,” I snapped. “Need medicine.”
    “No problem. I’m on it.” Tony spun around and got within a foot of the wall and yelled, “Hey, a-holes, you hear me?”
    Diplomatic, Tony was not, but loud he was.
    Someone should respond. I had clearly been hearing noises on the other side of the reeds since we’d been deposited here. Mostly kid voices that sounded as though they were in a play area.
    Laughable to think children played in this place.
    Tony balled his fist and smacked it on the wall, only to earn a quick blast of energy zapping him. He jerked his hand back, yelping. “You sorry-sack-of-skunk-crap! Man, that stings.”
    “Try your feet?” I suggested. “The soles might insulate you from the shock.”
    “Why don’t you try, Xena?” Tony demanded, still shaking his hand, no humor anywhere in his voice. “Instead of givin’ orders. Do somethin’.”
    “Fine.” I stood and approached the nearest wall, giving it a solid thwack with my sneaker-covered foot. That earned me a small tingle, but nothing like the static power that had surged when I’d hovered my palm near the reeds earlier. I raised my voice and shouted, “You? Out there. We need medical assistance. Now! ”
    “And food ,” Tony called from the other side of the cramped room before mumbling, “Who asks for ‘medical assistance’? This isn’t a five-star