Col wants nothing more than normality, but being forced to fly in public causes her to be bound by law.
Physical talents are illegal on Resicor, they fear an uprising and so lock their active talents away.
Col knows her talent for flight can get her arrested and if she dares to show it in public, her life will end in the dome.
A robbery at a museum ends up with her being thrown off a roof and it is fly for her life or die a free woman. She negotiates with herself swiftly and decides that freedom might be possible if she can live to see it.
Ysyr is on retrieval duty when he meets his first Resicor and she knocks him and his instincts on their backsides. Life with this woman might be awkward, but being without her is intolerable from the moment she put her trusting hand in his.
Excerpt:
Colah backed slowly away from the man with the gun. She had been at the museum of Resicor history with her sister and niece. The exhibit of ancient treasures was on display for the first time in four decades and the jewels had drawn admirers and coveters. The heist had begun just after Colah and her family had made it to the fourth-century exhibit.
“Keep backing up, bitch. The guard will take us seriously, or you will die.” The man jerked the gun and the sweat on his face was enough to make her nervous even if being on the edge of a hundred-foot drop had not been enough to do the job.
Colah kept her gaze calm and on her family. They would not see her scream or sob for her life. It would only irritate the thieves and humiliate her.
Her hands remained up and she stood with her heels over the edge of the drop. “I am as far back as I can go.”
He looked at her feet and then her face. “You are awfully calm for someone facing death.”
“I would rather face it with calm than with shrieking panic. This is how I would like to be remembered.” She kept her voice low and controlled.
The airborne vehicles were getting closer and to Colah’s dismay, they were not the transports that the thieves had requested. Gun ships were on the way and this was not going to go down easy.
Colah didn’t know who was manning the gun, but they deserved a medal. The men guarding the hostages were sliced in two with precision gunfire. As the gunship turned to fire at the final man standing, he lunged for her, with his weapon extended.
He fired just as the gunship came around and he separated into two shocked pieces.
Colah shouted when the icy burn of the bullet ran through her left shoulder and knocked her off her tenuous perch.
She heard screams from Cabbili and Makki but was unable to concentrate on anything other than saving her own life.
Making a choice between life and freedom in a hundred feet was no contest. If she had her life, she could pursue freedom later.
With the propulsion of muscle and mind, she changed her trajectory and lifted her body into the air in a graceful arc. She returned to the rooftop where her sister and niece were clutching each other, sobbing together.
“Cabbi, I am so sorry. They will come for me right away, but know that I love you both and always will. Makki, do your homework and always listen to your mom. She may not be right, but she deserves respect for putting up with your dad all these years.”
Makki sobbed and then smiled, “Aunt Col, you can fly.”
“Yes, sweetie, I can fly. And now, I can be arrested with as much dignity as I can manage.” She pressed a kiss to Makki’s forehead and hugged her sister.
The door to the roof burst open as the guards surged in to round up any residual thieves. Once they determined that there was no additional danger, the guard in charge approached her.
He held out wide manacles and gestured for her to turn around. As he locked her arms behind her back, he spoke the words she had been dreading for years. “As you are a physical talent, I now order you to be bound by law and remanded to the dome for confinement. Your restriction begins immediately.”
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