Stolen - Nhys Glover Page 0,12

one goal remained: Jenna!

I followed along behind the Keeda and the witch. Jenna appeared catatonic. Maybe finding herself abducted again, after what she’d been through so recently, had sent her into some kind of breakdown. Danans never went through severe mental trauma, but the other species that populated our world could and did.

The kidnappers headed out of the compound on the side away from the main settlement. There was no fence or wall around the compound. Everyone knew to stay away from it, unless asked to visit. It didn’t even have a guard in place, because that would have made the women feel like prisoners.

So, the intruders had just walked in, and were now just walking back out again, taking their quarry with them.

How had they entered our air space without being flagged? No alien spacecraft could just land on Varga without approval. Not this close to the government complex, at least. Those permitted to land did so on the huge landing pads above the surface of the planet.

Varga had never been threatened by invasion from space. Danans were too dangerous to be subdued in their own territory. The Vargeez, the bat-like original inhabitants of the planet, were known to invade from the south, but they didn’t have spacecraft.

But air-space surveillance should have at least picked up the existence of this unauthorized craft. It didn’t make sense!

Had the disaster caused by the storm disrupted our surveillance systems? Had everyone been so focused on what was happening to the south that they hadn’t noticed what was coming at us from above? Question after question ran through my mind. Or what constituted my mind, now I no longer had a brain to do the processing.

I didn’t understand other levels of reality. My father might walk some of those other levels, and he’d share those experiences with me, but I didn’t fully comprehend how it all worked. How could my personality still exist when the vehicle that created that personality no longer sustained it? I knew I was more than the sum total of my physical parts, but exactly how those other parts worked I wasn’t sure.

The kidnappers reached their small craft and soon took to the skies. I stayed with Jenna, afraid to leave her side.

Looking over the navigator’s shoulder, I saw the coordinates he programmed into the system. They were heading for the fringe, of course. Where else would I expect them to go? But the fringe was like a porous shell surrounding the habitable belt of the galaxy controlled by the Confederacy. Those on the fringe could partake of some of the benefits of belonging to the Confederacy without conforming to the rigorous rules imposed by the government. Because the populations on the fringe were spread so thinly, the peacekeeping force gave it little consideration, unless they were rooting out black-marketeers. The Confederate Hub wouldn’t stand for illegal commerce within its territory.

The craft was heading for Ursa Major. I memorized the coordinates so I could pass them on. How I hoped to do that, I had no idea. It was as if I hadn’t fully accepted my lack of a body. I might have rationally accepted my death, but I was still acting as if I was just a hidden spy on this craft, learning what I could to aid my side.

Reality hit home when I accidently brushed against the Keeda in front of me. I felt nothing. He felt nothing. How…?

I intentionally touched the male’s shoulder again and my hand passed right through him.

Panic rose up like a wave. I felt faint. The part of me that wanted to be away from here, away from a world I was no longer a part of, pulled at me. But the other held strong. The podmate bond kept me chained to my old life. Until Jenna was safe I couldn’t move on.

How did I pass on what I knew?

Dad! He walked these realms.

No! He never saw spirits of the departed. He’d told me that seeing those who’d passed on was a very specific ability, akin to his own, but different. Like Kius’ ability was distinct from his.

There were people who communicated with the dead. Dad had even made contact with a whole species who walked the other realms. Kius’ mother’s species. He’d hoped to get their help in locating the missing Danans. In the end, they hadn’t been needed because Marissa had developed the ability to communicate with her podmates in dreams.

But that skilled species was still out there. All I