They were strolling around the park but did not walk in a group to avoid suspicion from the public. Vlasis and Daphne who was both in their forties walked together, keeping their eyes to the surrounding.
Zoe and Linus who were in their twenties kept a close look on Alexis, who was intently scanning as many people’s mind as he could to find a clue on Rhea’s whereabouts. They pretended to be in a deep conversation while watching the children playing at the playground. To the public eyes, they would look like a couple of lovebirds.
Alexis was sitting on the park bench, alone. He had been scanning the people’s mind for hours now.
The five of them, who were the Council’s Legion, had arrived in Exhorea (name given by them for this dimension) since last night but they were locked in a battle with the Resistant. Zoe, Vlasis and Alexis were injured but they managed to recover over the night, thanks to Daphne’s expertise in dealing with normal injuries and also poison- tainted injuries.
Alexis lost his focus as he recalled last night’s incident.
Alexis, Vlasis, Daphne, Zoe and Linus had just walked through the portal from their territory. Vlasis was the team leader for this operation. The tracker device was in his hand, the tool to search for the coordinated location of Rhea’s current house.
Being the only Reader in the team, Alexis was required to scan the surrounding people’s mind of any clue of Rhea’s whereabouts. They knew Rhea was known as Lilian Tanner here, the daughter of Jeremy and Maria Tanner who were actually Rhea’s guardian.
They were walking along the street about a hundred yards away from the location, shadowed by the big trees along the streets. They did not take the paved street; instead, they walked on the soil and grass, keeping attention away from them if anyone passed by the path.
Suddenly, five figures emerged from the darkness and ambushed them. Three of them jumped down from the trees while the other two came out from the bushes. They were quite fast. One of them shot a bullet at Linus. Although Linus tried to dodge the bullet, he could not entirely avoid it. The bullet grazed his shoulder. Blood seeped out from the wound.
“It’s poisoned!” said Linus angrily, putting pressure on the wounded shoulder. The Legion was already on the move, running away from the Resistant in search of the loophole to counter-strike them. The Resistant were on their heels, shooting more poisoned bullets from their guns.
“Alexis, status!” said Vlasis. Alexis understood right away. As a Reader, he was the only one who could easily determine whether anyone had their mind shielded or not.
“They are all shielded, sir! Though the level might be different from each other,” Alexis briefed the team who were still on the run.
“Zoe, now!” Vlasis commanded to Zoe. Zoe nodded and broke away from the team and was instantly consumed by the darkness. Zoe was the Keeper but had been trained to also become the Cracker, a learned ability to crack the mind shields. She was ordered by Vlasis to crack the mind shields of the Resistant first before the rest of them could put their ability to good use.
Seeing Zoe disappearing into the dark, one the Resistant member followed her but Alexis would not allow it. He stopped him and locked a fight with him. His opponent was already pointing a gun at him but he was faster. He drew out his own gun and shot his opponent’s hand, causing him to drop his gun to the ground. Swiftly, Alexis darted towards him and gave him a kick on the stomach which sent him backwards, panting and groaning.
Meanwhile, the other Legion members were also locked in a battle with the other Resistant members. They were actually buying time for Zoe to do the ‘cracking’. Vlasis was fighting two opponents at the same time.
Engaging in both mind and physical battle at one time could be tricky but that was what they had been trained for. Alexis read the Resistant members’ mind again, all at once.
Zoe had been doing a good job so far. The shield which looked like a vault to a Reader was cracking and some parts melting away. Alexis could already peer into their unprotected minds.
“Linus, now!” shouted Alexis. Linus squinted; his forehead wrinkled as he invaded the Resistant member’s mind and pulled the strings. They stopped abruptly.
Now, Linus was controlling them, pulling the strings as if they were mere puppets. Slowly, they surrendered their weapons which Daphne collected and put them at a distant. The weapons include guns, swords and knives, all of them already poisoned.
The Resistant members stood in a line up in front of the Legion, staring blankly into an empty space. Their eyes clueless although one or two of them had their muscles twitched which indicated that they were trying to break free from the ‘puppet string’ held by Linus.
Alexis played his role again. He scanned the minds of their hostages but was rudely shocked by his findings.
“They already shot poisoned bullet at the guardians. By now, they might be dead already,” Alexis told the others.
“How about Rhea?” Daphne asked.
“Their leader, a captain, had taken her into custody,” the revelation also shocked Alexis.
“Can you find out who is that captain?”Linus asked with a sudden grim interest.
“Wait, I think I get it,” said Alexis, squinting as he dipped deeper into their minds. “One of them mentioned about ‘Captain Zephyr’,”
“Zephyr,” breathed Linus.
“You know him?” asked Vlasis.
“He’s the youngest captain among the Resistant. But most importantly, we could be rest assured that Rhea will be kept alive if she stays with him,” explained Linus.
“I don’t understand,” said Alexis. Suddenly, his eyes widened in shock. “I sensed a strong shielded mind around here!” he exclaimed, turning around, searching the darkness.
“Zoe!” called Daphne. There was no answer.
“I can’t reach her mind,” hissed Alexis frustratingly.
“We split,” Vlasis directed. “Daphne and I will track Zoe down. Alexis and Nilus stay here. Alexis, keep in contact with our minds. Nilus keep the hostages in your control,”
“Understood,” Alexis and Nilus responded in unison before Vlasis and Daphne disappeared into the darkness.
After that, everything that happened became blurry and vague. They heard the clashing sound of swords from the distant and Zoe’s yelp which echoed through the night. Then, Alexis saw that their hostages’ minds were building up their mind shield back. Clearly, Zoe had lost her touch.
From the information Alexis obtained from Daphne’s mind, Zoe was injured not severely but enough to cease her ability for the time being while Daphne and Vlasis were fighting with two other Resistant members.
“I’m losing control,” muttered Linus through gritted teeth as he fought to keep his hold on the strings of their hostages’ minds. Alexis could see the hostages’ eyes started to blink. They fingers stirred against Linus’ order.
“We are retreating. Meet at the neighbourhood park,” Alexis read Vlasis’ order with his mind. He turned to Linus who was struggling to keep in control and also battling with the poison in his wound.
“Vlasis ordered us to retreat to the park. There will be many people there, so they won’t do anything to attract people’s attention,” Alexis told Linus. Linus nodded. With the last bit of his control, he severed the strings from their hostages’ mind and both Alexis and Linus fled the scene, leaving the hostages free but still confused and fighting to pull themselves together.
They met Vlasis, Daphne and Zoe ten minutes later at the park. There were a few people strolling around the park at the time. They sat under a tree, where the shadow hid them from the brightness of the spotlight around the park.
Zoe and Vlasis were wounded. Zoe was shot on her arm while Vlasis had a long slash wound across his back. Nilus had begun to feel the effect of the poison from his wound on the shoulder.
Daphne treated their injuries using the antidotes she brought with her while Nilus manipulated the minds of the people around them so that they could not see them there.
“What happened?” asked Linus after Daphne done treating them. They sat leaning against the tree to rest.
“There were two more Resistant members came attacking me from behind. They shot my arm and I lost focused. Luckily, Daphne and Vlasis arrived one time,” Zoe narrated.
“We’ll track Rhea tomorrow,” said Daphne. “Your injuries need to heal first. You will need at least overnight to recover,”
Vlasis nodded. “I think the Resistant did not didn’t follow us here because there have other duties as well. Maybe they are guarding their portal,”
So, they stayed and slept under the tree with Alexis and Daphne taking turns to stand on guard while the others were required to sleep to recover faster.
Alexis looked around. He sighed, Lilian Tanner’s name were almost on everyone’s mind since this morning because most of the people in the area had seen the news about Jeremy and Maria’s murder and the mysterious disappearance of their daughter, Lilian. This could be more difficult than it seemed.
Alexis tried again. This time, he expanded his perimeter, scanning people’s mind again and again. Then, he heard it.
“Lily, where are you now?” the voice was genuinely worried. “Is she in trouble? Is she OK? What if something bad happened to her?”
Alexis rose from his seat and started to walk towards the voice. Zoe noticed Alexis’ action and so as the others. They trailed him at a non-suspicious distance like normal pedestrian.
After ten minutes, they found themselves in the compound of Pinewood High School. Alexis walked alone to the compound. It was lunchtime, so there were quite a number of students around the school compound. Vlasis, Daphne, Zoe and Nilus did not follow Alexis as he walked further out to the back of the school building.
Alexis arrived at a lake behind the school building. He walked directly to a boy who was leaning against a tree near the lake bank.
Alexis saw flashes of what the boy had seen. Two dead bodies sprawled on the carpet of a house; the frantic phone calls to the police; the police patrol cars’ arrival; the fear he had for the girl named Lilian.
“Ryan Thomas,” Alexis called out as he was standing beside the boy. The boy turned, the miserable expression still lingered on his face which was slowly replaced by curiosity.
“Yes?” Ryan replied.
“Do you know a girl called Lilian Tanner?” asked Alexis.
Hints of shock spreaded through Ryan’s face as Lilian’s name was mentioned.
“Yes,” he answered hesitantly. “What do you have to do with her?”
“I’m her old friend from her former school,” Alexis quickly concocted a lie. “I came this morning to see her but was told about the tragedy. I came to this school in the hope I could find anyone who know her personally. Do you know anything about it?”
“Yes. I drop by her house yesterday but it was dark and the door wasn’t locked. So I entered the house but her parents were...,” his words trailed off but Alexis could see what he wanted to say in his mind.
“And Lily?”
“She is still missing. The Police said she might have been kidnapped or she managed to escape but there was no trace of her or her kidnapper,”
“You are a good friend of Lily?” asked Alexis.
-End of Chapter 6-
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