Hello, Tethered Allies!
It's wonderful to meet you!

∞ The Tethered Ones ∞

Chapter 9

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• Liberty •

The sun had gone by late evening. Earlier, Vikram and Faisal visited Luna, and Liberty received limited information about her condition. Her fiancé knew she was excited to run to her sister again, just like she was weeks earlier when she realized Chase was an evil man. She was glad Amir became her brother-in-law instead of him.

He was exactly who Luna and Sarah needed in their lives, and she was thankful for whatever spiritual being had brought them together.

After giving a quick shower and making sure her niece could use the restroom without any disturbance, Liberty stood by the doorway and quietly checked on her while she slept. She did what she could without her mother. Sarah worried about her parents and stated how her papa played with her whenever she wanted. Liberty hugged her and promised to bring her parents back. Sarah smiled.

Staring absently, she felt a hand touch her shoulder and turned around, gazing at Vikram. He nodded toward the end of the hall for a group meeting, so she closed the door after watching Sarah cuddle a pillow.

Strolling into the living room, she nodded at Cassie, Cami, and Mera, who all sat on a couch near the front door. Then she took a seat opposite them, next to her parents. Raul was standing outside, guarding their surroundings. And Max stood next to the TV, displaying several faces of their new allies—the people who had contacted him about helping them.

With his hands shoved into his pockets, Colin had pressed his forehead against the window, his back facing the room. He stayed silent and alert for any sudden movements looming outside.

Maria, Sloan's partner, arrived two days ago and had perched herself in a chair with her eyes focused on her phone. Every so often, Liberty noticed her head turning sideways and speaking to someone she couldn't see. Maria's jaw clenched, and then she looked flushed. She figured it bothered her about Sloan being brought to Louisiana from Sweden with another ally of theirs, a young man from Australia named Dylan.

With three people in America and two people inside Beijing, Liberty sighed, realizing their siege and rescue operation was massive. And everybody's lives were at stake.

Heavy footfalls came down the steps, and she turned her neck to see Darren joining in. He helped Sue get comfortable upstairs to rest while the rest of them discussed their extraction plan.

Tugging her collar, Vikram whispered near her ear, "I'll check on Luna and Amir in a minute. Okay?"

She nodded. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me, Lib. They are my family. We stick together." He leaned forward and pecked her forehead, then turned his attention to Max. "Are we going to get on with this or what?"

"Just give me a sec," Max murmured, adjusting a cord to the TV. "The video feed keeps getting disconnected," he said, messing with more wires around the back. "I think I've got it now. Sorry about that."

Darren flopped down in a recliner and exhaled a deep breath. "Who are they?"

Max faced the room and then pointed to the faces on the screen. "These are our friends. This is Enya Stavros, from Athens, Greece. Mila and Siddhartha Patel are from Mumbai, India. Fe'ya Assan is from Cairo, Egypt. And Cyrus Shah is from Lahore, Pakistan." Liberty gulped, realizing that there were several people trying to get through on the video call. "There is another pair who had reached out to us, but their call got lost. Xavier Salamon from Hungary, and his partner, Kessara Huang, from Thailand."

"Why doesn't everyone use telepathy?" Darren asked.

Max gave him a look. "No one can use their abilities without risking us. I may have shields around my yard, but the hunters still don't know about my cabin. My grandparents specifically built this place in case a war broke out against Tethered Souls, which they knew would happen."

"But isn't it risky for them to connect to us through the internet?" Darren countered.

Vikram scooted up and placed his elbows on his knees. "Max was in the United States Marine Corps for twelve years, and he knows how to keep a secured connection. Using our abilities isn't an option right now. Plus, not everyone in this room has telepathy." He glanced at his fiancée and then hopped up to help with the wiring of the TV.

"Hi." Mila's soft voice murmured as the video feed went blank; Liberty recognized her voice.

"Hello?" Max replied, his ear next to the speaker.

"I can hear you. I just can't see you," she said.

"I can see Max and everyone in the room," said the other masculine voice, which had a nice English sound to it. Cyrus?

"If you can hear me," Max said, "please say tethered."

"Tethered," said two female voices at the same time. Fe'ya and Enya.

"Tethered," said Sid.

"Tethered," Cyrus answered.

"Tethered," Mila whispered.

"Now that you can hear us and some of you can see us, I will begin." He stepped to the side and eyed the room. "The reason I've asked everyone to meet now is that these people want to fly here and to China to help rescue our friends, so we have little time to form a plan."

"But the roads and airports are a mess. They're not allowing anyone to fly," Cassie said, her lips trembling. "I can't even see Rosa or our children. I'm stuck here."

He raised an eyebrow and glanced at the screen. "That's where Cassidy Kwan comes in. She's a flight attendant from Taiwan and travels between countries. She can get us access to a small jet. Her partner is Fe'ya, and both ladies have extraordinary abilities. Cassidy can manipulate the thoughts of anyone she meets and give them visions. But Fe'ya can make someone's vain pop inside of their skull, killing anyone who gets in her way. She can cause them to have an aneurysm."

Whoa. Liberty's eyes bulged open, realizing she didn't want to get on the woman's bad side. Has she ever...

"Mila and Sid Patel are married. They're tethered and aren't part of the immune ones, either."

Liberty gazed around at the tilted heads and pinched eyebrows.

He cleared his throat and continued. "Somehow, they have never lost their memories, nor have they had any complications from being together. They are our Amir and Luna, but more advanced. It's really alluring how they can live, breathe, and have children."

"How is that possible?" Mrs. Carlyle asked.

"Nobody knows. The Patels are the first of our kind," Max replied, glancing at her. "They are the only known pair to be together like this."

"Wow, that's amazing," she whispered, grinning.

"Mila is from Vancouver," Sid said. Liberty and Vikram already knew their story, but the others didn't. They were also the ones who sent the rings with lead in them. "When she was one year old, her family visited my homeland. Our powers activated immediately after our mothers became friends. And we aren't defective. We're the complete opposite."

"The opposite?" murmured Mr. Carlyle.

"My wife and I can mend broken souls. For Tethered Soul who dislikes their abilities, we can help ease their decision to have them removed."

"In other words," Mera said, speaking up. "You can manipulate people's thoughts. Something like what Cassidy can do."

"No, Ma'am," Mila responded. "All we can do is take away their worries of their powers. Tethered Healers. We can heal anyone physically. It's okay if you don't like the Tethered Species. While your partner is in one of these places, we can alleviate your suffering."

"It's not that easy, Mrs. Patel. We will always have to be one step ahead to take down this organization," Mera remarked.

"That's our aim, miss," Enya said. "I have to get Dylan away from them. If we don't act now, he and Sloan will end up at St. Matthew's."

"Guys. Let's focus on one thing at a time." Max ran his hands through his brown hair and messed with the wires again. "So you all know what Sloan, Maria, and Zan can do, right?"

Liberty turned to look at the room as they all shook their heads. He caught Maria's gaze and nodded, then she stood up to address everyone.

"My cluster and I are the Tethered Triangle. We were born on March Seventeenth—the luckiest day of the year. Eight years ago in New York, we met, and our powers awakened just after our nineteenth birthday. I initially met Zan in China while he was visiting his family, and then we connected with Sloan in Austin, Texas, several hours later. We later found a man who helped us transition. We know him today as The Hunter. Chase Marquette. He's been hunting us since and won't stop until we're caught."

Liberty paused before asking, "So, the three of you knew him before all of this... happened?"

Maria nodded. "Chase wants us to experiment together. He discovered our collective abilities. Together, we protect everyone. After feeling their energies, we discovered our parents are Pure Souls. Zan could sense his father's abilities by glancing at his family pictures. He's that powerful. His mother's powers were triggered last year. She's in China after her capture in Russia."

"What about you and Sloan's parents?" Faisal asked.

"My parents are alive and don't have their abilities," Maria answered. "They don't know about our species, and I doubt they have even paid attention to the recent news of what happened on the highway. However, they are safe and undetected with my uncle in Puerto Rico."

"Sloan and her sister's parents are alive as well," Max said, looking around the room. "But their father is about to be a target. His ability has now activated, but his wife's hasn't. Their birthday passed in May, and he reached out to me for guidance."

Cami took a quick sip of her water and then spoke. "Do they know about their children?"

"Yes," Max answered. "Mrs. Sullivan always knew about Tethered Souls. Her father's family, dating back to the sixteenth century, kept journals to pass down to their descendants. She found her great-grandfather's handwritten diary about his connection to a queen. He didn't mention the woman's name because he wanted to protect her privacy, but he did provide information about a group that gathers people with special abilities. They are the Biological Research and Development Agency. 'BARDA' for short. Chase is their leader."

"But why? He's a Tethered Soul, right?" Mr. Carlyle inquired, sitting straighter.

"Yes, he is," Max said. "This is deeper. Chase's companion was Silvia from Rio. After they connected and fell in love, she suffered from the consequences of meeting him in person. He stayed healthy. In the same year, he found BARDA and tried to take over. As you can see, he succeeded and will continue collecting anybody with the tethered gene, whether their powers are activated or not."

"Chase is an asshole," Liberty huffed, earning several looks her way.

It still shocked her to learn that Chase had a partner who died after they'd met. He needed to understand why. All of them wanted to understand it, too, but not at the expense of other people's lives.

"I don't get why Chase acted like he knew nothing," Mrs. Carlyle remarked.

The screen turned on, and everyone in the room could now see the five people who were listening in on their conversation.

"From what I understand, he didn't know about Luna right away," Max said, standing against the wall. "He's always known about Sarah, though. It wasn't until Luna murmured Faisal's name on video that he knew she was like him. He made her have the worst treatments possible, so she'd crack and say who she was. Then he wanted to keep having fun with her because he had her under his control."

"No shit," Cami snapped. "He still has her under his control. I don't know how we're going to get them out."

Liberty wanted to tell her she was wondering the same thing, but she didn't want to say anything. They were on edge as it was.

Cami tucked her strands behind her ear and wiped her sweaty palms onto her jeans. "They'll hurt them," she murmured, her voice cracking.

"That's where I come in," Cyrus said through the sound system. "I'm a psychologist, and I'm friends with Faisal and Amir. My partner is from Rome, and we are immune to each other. Gabriella is a therapist, and we met in medical school before our abilities became active. Chase may let us through the door by using our professions. We'd like to help, but we will head to Greece first. Enya has an ability, and we'll need her assistance."

"What can you do, Enya?" Liberty asked, gazing at the young woman. She was around eighteen years old, with long dark hair covering her shoulders and a deep set of brown eyes.

"I can hide Cyrus and Gabi from being detected. Think of it like having a magical cloak over them. Cyrus will rescue Dylan and Amir, while Gabi will get Sloan and Luna. My cloak differs from a shield. No one can sense the essence of another person's powers."

Wow. Liberty so wanted to have the tethered gene right now. Being able to hide people was pretty badass and kind of genius.

"What about the two people who couldn't come through?" Cassie asked.

"Xavier can control the weather and could create a distraction for us. I'm thinking of thunderstorms," Max said, chuckling. "Kessara can cause someone to have paralysis. All she has to do is touch a person at the top of their head, and they won't be able to move for thirty minutes or so. She'll also have to go with us undetected."

"The downside to our plan is..." Sid said. "They will use our DNA if captured. We may never escape again. We're dealing with BARDA and anyone who's been engineered."

"Engineered?" Cami asked, her eyes wide.

"Yes, engineered. This organization not only cures illnesses using Tethered Souls' DNA, but they can also do something that goes against the laws of science," Max explained.

"Tell them," Fe'ya urged. "They need to understand what's going on."

"The organization is creating our species. They are helping people become Tethered Ones."

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Have we fallen into the rabbit hole, yet? Things are becoming darker and twisted as the story continues. Raise the stakes, they said. It'll be fun, they said. Whee!