Branded by Fire

Sing-Liu gave a nod. "See you around."

Watching the other woman leave, Sascha was struck by the changes wrought over the last year and a half. The first time she’d come here, Hawke would have never allowed her to wander freely. Even now, she knew there were certain sections where she’d be denied access, but all in all, it was a definite improvement.

Toby’s teacher glanced her way right then and, a short conversation later, the boy walked out to meet her in the corridor. "What’s the matter?" he asked at once, his E senses telling him she wasn’t as calm as she appeared.

"Come with me." She walked him to an empty classroom and, closing the door, took a seat opposite him. "Toby, I need to talk to you about Sienna."

"Oh." She could almost see the struggle in him. "Loyalty’s important."

"I know, kiddo." She took his hands. "I don’t want you to betray her. I just need the answer to one question." A question Toby could answer better than even the adults in his family.

"Just one?"

"Just one."

"Okay."

She held his gaze. "Does Sienna need help?"

Toby bit his lip and nodded, the movement jerky with emotion. "She’s so afraid, Sascha. It’s breaking her in here." He fisted a hand and circled it over his chest.

"Oh, baby." Getting up, she knelt down to hug him, stroking her hand over his back. "Have you been trying to help?"

A nod against her, boyish arms holding on tight. "Before, she was afraid but it was okay. I could help her. But now she’s all shut up. I can’t get the rainbows inside."

"You did good, Toby." He’d no doubt helped Sienna far more than he realized. If the girl was splintering on the psychic plane, having a brother with empathic abilities would’ve leached off some of the pressure. But now Sienna wasn’t allowing even her adored baby brother inside. That meant serious trouble. "Okay, sweetheart, I want you to go back to class and try not to worry."

"Will you help her?" Cardinal eyes looking solemnly into hers.

"I’ll try my hardest." She wouldn’t lie to him. "But Sienna’s stubborn. She’ll fight me."

That actually made Toby relax. "Yeah. She’s fighty."

Sascha laughed. "That she is."

Dropping Toby back in class, she made her way through the SnowDancer tunnels to Hawke’s office. She needed to speak to Sienna, and for that, she’d need Hawke’s permission. Which was going to be a hurdle in itself.

Frowning, she stopped, realizing she’d gone completely out of her way. Strange. She knew how to get to Hawke’s office, but instead she was heading toward the paintings that lined the entranceway. It would’ve been logical to turn and put herself back on the right path, but she was no longer in the Net. Logic didn’t rule supreme.

Trusting instinct and her growing abilities, she continued on toward the hallway lined with an amazing array of images of wolves at play, at rest, even in combat. She wasn’t as surprised as she should’ve been to see Sienna Lauren at the farthest end of the tunnel – the part closest the door. The teenager’s face was stark white, her free hand clenched rigidly enough to hurt. She was running the fingers of the other over what looked like some kind of a fracture in the wall.

"Sienna." Sascha kept her tone soft, able to sense the distress coming off the girl in waves. It was the first time she’d seen her this close to breaking. Sienna had turned eighteen that summer, but except for her run-ins with Hawke, she acted with a maturity beyond her years – unsurprising, given what Sascha suspected of Sienna’s abilities. The girl’s training had to have been brutal. "Sienna," she said again, putting a hand on the girl’s shoulder.

Sienna jerked away from the wall. "I didn’t mean to." On the surface, it was an angry declaration. "I didn’t, Sascha."

Sascha wasn’t close to Sienna, but she was coming to realize that as an empath, she had a shortcut to people’s trust. It was a responsibility she intended to honor . . . no matter what. "It’s okay," she began, trying to soothe.

"No," Sienna interrupted. "Hawke will go crazy." There was no fear in her, just a staggering sense of having done something bad. Something very bad.

Hawke? Sascha frowned, then looked at the wall. The fracture, the crumbled paint. "You did this?" she asked with utmost gentleness, taking the girl’s hands in her own and turning them over – powdered stone clung to her skin.

"I didn’t mean to," she said again. "I only wanted to look at them – they’re important to Hawke. I – " Her voice hitched, her breath broke. "My emotions are going haywire, Sascha. And without control, I can’t – " She cried out, wrenched her hands away. A second later, power filled the air. It was so strong, it raised the hairs on the back of Sascha’s neck.

Fear threatened to take over but she stood her ground. Panicking would just make it worse. Everything about Sienna pointed to a combat ability – which one, Sascha wasn’t sure, but one thing was certain – such Psy were very, very, very unstable until trained. Before Silence, many on the extreme end of the scale had died when their powers turned on them. "Sienna," she said, drawing the girl’s attention. "Look at me." She infused her voice with command, made the girl meet her eyes. "Focus."

Sienna blinked eyes that had gone inky black, drowning the white stars, and nodded in an uncoordinated jolting motion. A minute later, her hands uncurled and the sense of power disappeared. Both of them breathed a sigh of relief. A single, clear tear escaped Sienna’s phenomenal control. Her heart twisting up, Sascha gathered the teenager close. "Shh, we’ll figure this out."