Kittul stared at a blank white wall for what seemed like an eternity. Her captors set her in a chair, wrapped completely in redundant yet useless bungee cord. If she could to move, she could Shift out of it and escape. As she was completely paralyzed, she couldn’t even close her eyes. By now her eyes burned, the constant wash of tears the only reason she could still see. It infuriated her that her captors might think she was crying.

It terrified her that she wanted to but couldn't even do that. At his worst, Kent could only manipulate her. She might have called herself his puppet, but she could have walked away at any time. Eventually, she did. Now she was trapped, the idea of another life a ghost in the back of her mind, ghostly impressions teasing her fingertips. Slowly, surely, she was losing her grip on what was and what was not.

With sudden, shocking clarity, she remembered her last bout of self-doubt. She reached for her artificial memory, and there it was, hard-edged and above all real. Images, words, and codons all spilled into her mind, ready for her perusal or modification. To stave off insanity, she reviewed her symbiotic organism design. She still had still a few points where she wasn't sure which codon she wanted to use, but she had amino acids plotted out and the protein folds predicted with five nines of certainty.

Lost in genetic coding, she barely heard the rapping of high heels against the floor.

"So, Kittul. If that is your name. Who were you going to sell our data to?"

The sound of the brunette's voice pulled her from her contemplation. She wanted to answer, but her jaw remained as frozen as the rest of her. The brunette stepped in front of her. When Kittul wouldn't meet her eyes, she seemed to realize why.

"I'm surprised that someone with your resources couldn't break free of a simple paralysis spell. Okay. I'm going to release you from the neck up. No Shifting, no spellcraft, and no shouting. Got it?"

There was still no way for her to answer, so Kittul just focused on what she was going to say next. The brunette took her silence as assent. Pins and needles tingled in her jaw; before they were gone she spoke, forcing the ghost of Karin's jaw to work along with her own. "eMail. Append verbal attachment. Harry, I'm trapped. Help. End attachment. Send."

The brunette just stared at her like she'd lost her mind. She cleared her throat and spoke normally. "I'd like to speak with an admin, please."

"You'll talk to whoever I say you'll talk to. Now, who are you, really, and who are you working for?"

Karin tried to move the ghost of her thumb. Nothing happened. She sighed. If Harry didn't get her message, this was going to be a long, long day.

***

"Explain to me again why this is a good idea?"

The confusion in Sue's voice was mostly fake. I was glad about that, because I couldn't for the life of me figure out why she was doing what she was doing.

"Um, you've got me there. Why are you driving me to the Agency again?"

Sue looked over at me like I was being daft. "You need to go collect your cat. You don't have a car. I'm your girlfriend," she savored the word, drawing it out until I was nearly sure she was going to lose the thread of the conversation, "and besides that, I got your car trashed. So, I'm giving you a ride."

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I was beginning to realize how stubborn Sue can be. "I can't guarantee your safety. Hell, I'm not sure I can guarantee my own safety with Agnes going off the way she is."

"Which is another reason I'm going."

I opened my mouth to argue, but she shot me a look that snapped my mouth shut on whatever I was going to say. I was forcibly reminded of how she got her truck out of the spot she'd wedged it in. After asking me if anyone was watching, she put her back against the fender, braced both feet in midair against absolutely nothing, and shoved it sideways. It took her a few shoves to get it turned enough to wiggle out of the spot, but the fact that she could move what was for all intents and purposes a semi tractor boded ill for anyone who tried to hurt her.

Or me.

Of course, that memory reminded me of the question I kept asking and she kept avoiding.

"I've got to know; how do you do that trick of yours?"

"Um, are you sure that's appropriate conversational material with..." she nodded toward the sleeper cab, where Allie was curled up asleep.

I rolled my eyes at her evasion, "Not that trick, Sue. The one with the pole, and the truck."

"I told you. There might have been a pole there."

"And the truck?"

"Oh. There might have been a retaining wall at the edge of the parking lot."

I sighed. I was beginning to think Sue wasn't as gifted at math as Al. At the very least, she wasn't picking up on the implications of what she was saying. I tried again.

"So, what do you do, just push against what might be there?"

"Well, yeah, sort of. The... urgh..."

I thought I recognized her confusion from Al's frequent pauses. "Don't know the word?"

"No. Can't decide which to use. I can't decide if the proper way to say it is 'likelihood of something being there', or 'the extra-dimensional proximity to our current time stream'."

If I ever suggest Sue isn't smarter than I am, I should hit myself with a brick.

"Um... Al did his homework with you, didn't he?"

Sue blushed. She actually blushed, her exposed skin flushing as she looked away, refusing to meet my gaze. "Something like that."

I sat staring, shocked by the implication. "You mean you did it for him?"

"Um, you could say that."

"That..." I grunted in frustration, unable to vent my frustrations with expletives; the little girl in the back might have been exposed to them already, but that was no reason to further traumatize her. "I can't believe he cheated."

"Oh, no! No, he didn't cheat."

"So why exactly were you doing his homework for him?"

"I have better handwriting. It's a muscle memory thing."

I blinked a little at that last comment; it seemed entirely incongruous, and I was a little suspicious at this point. I reminded myself I was trying to give Sue the benefit of the doubt. "Okay. I trust you. Just tell me this; does Al know this stuff as well as his homework indicates?"

"Oh, yeah. You can be sure of that."

"Okay. Um... So, you realize what you're doing."

"Yeah. Proving the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics."

I stared at her, wondering if she realized the implications of what she was saying. "Well, you might not be."

"Oh, really. So how would you explain that I can touch things that only might be there?"

She had me there. Still, I tried to rally. "Can you pick them up? Or, um... can you go there?"

That caught her unaware. She stared off into the middle distance, thoughtful. I was obscurely glad I'd managed to stump her, but after a moment I realized something more important.

"Sue! Road!"

Without looking, she took the tow truck around a slow-moving sedan. Still lost in thought, she repeated her earlier question.

"So anyway, explain to me why this is a good idea?'

"It was your idea to drive me."

"No, I meant her." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder, indicating the sleeper cab.

"Oh. We can't leave her all alone in my apartment. We have no idea how long we'll be gone."

"So instead of leaving her in your apartment, which you tell me is armored like a fortress, you bring her along on our desperate attempt to spring your roommate from an organization dedicated to capturing, containing, and killing people like her."

I never thought dating someone smarter than me would be such a pain in the ass.