I barely used by telekinesis in my past life. No one could see me steal so why would I? Occasionally it was needed; to shift stock to cover up the odd gap left after I swiped something or to move the item within my reach. Both required next to no effort as I was aiming for subtlety.
There was nothing subtle in the telekinesis I used to yank up him up mid-fall, taking on his full weight in my weak grasp. I collapsed on the spot with the sheer mental effort of keeping him up and I felt a drop of sweat beading on my upper lip.
I crawled over to the ledge and dared a glance over. This was a far cry from from a relaxing evening. Pressing my stomach into the ledge I threw an arm over, thankfully getting a firm grasp of his hand. With a bit more telekinesis, I helped him scramble up the side of ledge and back to safety. The second he was back on the roof, I dropped the telekinesis and he fell in an exhausted heap on top of me. I coughed and wheezed as I pushed him off.
And in hindsight I now realise the first words I said in-between wheezes to my soulfinder were "You…. Fuckin'… Fatass!"
He looked at me, his eyebrows disappeared under a flop of sandy hair. "You are her. You are actually her…" he gasped, leaning in close to push back the hair that had been tossed over my face in the fall. I spotted the ah, 'destination' in his eyes before he acted so I quickly rolled over and shakily got to my feet.
"Oh no you! Back the fuck up." I snapped, belatedly noticing he was still half lying down. With deliberate slow movements he got to his feet and either he took me very seriously or the complete opposite as he raised his arms over his head in surrender.
"Ok, ok. Never exactly been in a situation like this before." He replied, laughing nervously. His bloodshot eyes were taking in the scene when it fully hit me. He had been this close to killing himself. I nearly wavered but there was a slightly more pressing matter to address before his questionable mental health.
"How are you my soulfinder?" I blurted out. "Or are ya some mind manipulator or have some illusion crap going on? 'Cause I cannot have a soulfinder."
He blinked, the skin between his eyebrows crinkling. "What? How could I fake this? And my 'party trick'," he continued with a roll of his eyes, "is shields Ms... Um lady." He glanced at my blanket. "I could probably shield that from you right here right now and you would never even know it was two feet from you. Or that you ever even owned it."
"Well, could these shields block you from a soulseeker for two years!" I snapped, fury boiling my blood. Even his twitching hand caused a new scorching flush of blood through my body.
"I had to hide!" he retorted angrily. "How was I to know it blocked me from a soulseeker? Do you think I have ever had the chance to test that?!"
I was about to throw out a cutting reply when I finally digested what he had said. "Hide?" I asked, my confusion dropping my voice to that of a befuddled little girl.
His shoulders slumped in defeat. "Yeah. I kept my shields up more than half the time to try and hide me and…" he choked, his eyes welling up. He looked broken, his hand now jittering uncontrollably yet he seemed oblivious to it.
Taking in his haggard appearance and unhinged air I could no longer maintain my anger at him. My hands yearned to comfort him, draw him into my chest and console him on whatever it was. Man, I never thought my soulfinder could make such a sap out of me. But I had to be careful not to agitate him further if his willingness to fling himself off a four storey building was anything to judge it by.
"Who?" I asked. I silently prayed that this person was still alive. Oh please let me not be insisting he relive someone's death.
It was unclear whether he had heard me as he focused on taking deep breaths, each seeming to relax him just a little bit more. After a heavy minute he answered "Belle, my sister."
"And why did you need to hide?" I asked, very aware I was treading dangerous waters.
"Have you heard of Milton International House?" he asked abruptly.
"Eh, um, yeah. Ridiculously huge clothes and jewellery brand that give loads to charity." I replied. No need to mention this was one of the most desired brands of my old connections. And one I stole most frequently for them back in 'those' days.
"Yeah, well not everyone involved is so keen on the "charity" part but daddy insists." He muttered.
"Daddy…" I begin to say.
"Caspar Milton, pleasure to make your acquaintance." He cuts in, the edges of his lips pulling up in a weak attempt at a smile. "One of two heirs to the giant share the original Milton family still has in Milton International House."
"But why would you need to hide. You guys could afford security, right?" I asked, awkwardly scratching the back of my neck.
"Yes, but how effective is that when the powers who want to hold you ransom are Savant? And want to hold you ransom to get the Milton in charge to cut ninety percent of all funds we give to charity and to resign as CEO?" He said. He seemed weary and I realized in that second, he had been hiding far longer than two years.
"I tried." He croaked. "So damn hard. Dad sent us away to boarding school and I kept us shielded. He knew the great deal of good we were doing and could not let the family down by passing over the reins to scum," he spat, "and he was so goddamn sure we were safe. So fucking sure!" he cried suddenly. "We trusted my gift. I trusted it! And now they have her!" he roared furiously collapsing in on himself. I leaped forward to catch him as he fell into mad hysterics, his hands practically pulling his hair out of his head.
Easing him to the ground, I fumbled for my cell and dialled one handed, convincing myself my telekinesis could stop him literally going over the edge.
"Phee! Go to my dorm room now and bring Vick." Caspar seemed to have fully lost it beside me, rapidly talking to himself hysterically. Now his whole body was jittering and I was certain he was having a fit.
"Wha-" was all I heard before hanging up. I threw the phone away and wrapped my arms tightly around my soulfinder. And I was relieved when a brief moment later I felt his arms wrap around me. I felt strong with him here and I seemed like his anchor as he slowly left the rough waters to safety.
I had Caspar down to my bedroom, my blanket now wrapped around him, by the time Phee, Yves and Victor had arrived. He had calmed down considerably though I could see his hand tapping a erratic beat against his arm underneath the blanket. Again he seemed oblivious to it as he watched me unpack a few more things: some books, a thick notebook, a few pens.
"So which room are you?" I asked nonchalantly, my back to him as I neatly arranged everything.
"Seventeen." He answered, still watching my every move curiously. "Are you English?"
Thrown off I actually turned to face him completely. "Er, yes, yes I am."
"So why are you here?"
"Well, I live in America with…" I paused briefly. What were the Benedicts? They were my family in a way but not in more ways. Trying not to grimace I said "… People."
"I see…" he said mostly to himself when a knock came at the door. Opening it I was surprised to see everyone had shown up already and were already in the building...
"We followed some people in who probably thought we were students." Phee said as she made herself at home, looking through everything I had arranged, Yves and Victor coming in behind her. This was the first time since Caspar entered my room that I felt his eyes leave me. He immediately zoned in on Victor and I felt him put up some mental shields. To be honest, I could fully understand this logic. Even without saying a word, Victor was intimidating to say the least.
He remained standing while Phee and Yves leaned up against my desk. "Can you explain the situation?" Victor asked calmly once everyone was somewhat comfortable. I rehashed the bit I knew.
"And so I think Caspar's sister here is…" I trailed off uncertainly.
"Kidnapped." Caspar said bluntly. "With a week or so by our biggest investor who wants the company and a ransom. $50 million. If the ransom hits the police or public notice, they kill Belle."
The lack of emotion in his delivery left us cold for a few seconds. I let Phee see parts of what had happened earlier and going by the Benedict's expressions she let them in on it too. The soulfinder part... I was keeping that to myself for now.
"Would this be something the net or the FBI would deal with?" I asked Victor.
He grimaced, thinking hard. "Yes…" he said slowly. "The business is run by a Savant family that is prominent outside Savant circles. I can involve the FBI if I can get proof of the kidnapping and clarify disappearing is outside of her character."
It was a relief to see Vick could try to do something but Caspar's expression did not change. He stared vacantly forward, lost in his own thoughts. Victor was already moving on, bouncing a few ideas of Yves. "It would probably be best to contact Mr. Milton so we can get the most current state of affairs from him."
With that, Caspar's eyes widened considerably. "No!" he shouted furiously, startling us all. "You cannot contact him!"
Victor frowned while the rest of us jumped. I quickly went over to Caspar and sat beside him, worried he might try to run or do something mad.
"We cannot contact authorities. My father would kill me for risking Belle like this." He said. "We got the ransom a week ago and we have a month. My father is insistent on just collecting as much money as possible, quietly."
Victor nodded curtly. "We will do what we can without his knowledge then." He took out his phone and began tapping in some details.
"We need to head back to our place," Phee said, rubbing a finger along her lip in worry. "We have the landlord coming at eight to go over the letting agreement. Will you be-"
"I will be fine," I replied firmly. As I guided them all out I turned to Caspar, still huddled in my blanket. What on earth was I going to do? "See you tomorrow guys."
Author person (Finally!),
Hey... That was quite a gap in updates, huh? Me is sorry... And I can not promise consistent updates either, mostly due to The Most Temperamental Internet In The History Of Humanity. And with how... uncertain I am with this story though still stubbornly refusing to leave it unfinished. And I left it on a blimmin' cliffhanger for nearly 11 months... Whoops.
In fairness I should admit I hate editing this story in a word document. Oddly, I like editing it online (same story with my other story) which is really not smart when you have internet that genuinely does whatever the fudge it likes! So sorry for any typos, please tell me if you see any so I can correct them.
So yeah... Sorry again... Lets just leave it on that awkward note. Feel free to murder me in the reviews if you wish ;)