Last Guard (Psy-Changeling Trinity #5) by Nalini Singh

Her head hurt, nothing fitting quite right.

After one last look at this tranquil paradise, she teleported to her apartment … and to chaos. A scream echoed through the telepathic channel she used with the other As she’d met, and it was an agonized plea for help.

Ager.





Chapter 25



Grandmother, I found her.

Her? Oh. I see. Is she doing well?

She’s Payal Rao.

Well, Canto. You do like to keep my life interesting.

—Conversation between Canto Mercant and Ena Mercant

PAYAL RESPONDED INSTINCTIVELY, her body collapsing like a doll’s onto her bed as she threw her full energy into the Substrate. The oldest A of them all was being battered by massive waves of glowing blue cracked with fissures of bleeding black—as if the fabric of the PsyNet was tearing itself apart.

Look for the answer, Payal! Canto’s piercingly clear voice. Suriana and I will help Ager!

Payal didn’t take offense at the order. She saw it as a logical division of labor, given her detail-oriented mind and ability to see the grid in the Substrate. She found the part of the grid that correlated to Ager’s zone.

It was contorted into a stomach-churning “ball” in one section—but there were no smooth edges. Only hard, jagged “bones” that split the fabric of the Substrate and sheared off sections that bled viscous black. When she looked at the mirror section on the PsyNet, she saw an assemblage of minds that blazed so hot they were burning out one by one. Bright fires extinguished after a short flash.

Scarabs who’d gathered in one location?

Another mind appeared in the distance. Martial, with strange—almost invisible—shimmers of black fluctuating through it. Empath? If so, a very unique one. More likely, it was an Arrow with unusual shields.

Then a mind of obsidian darkness: Kaleb Krychek.

But they were too late. The dazzling minds burned out of existence one by one, all within a matter of split seconds. Seeing that Krychek and the unfamiliar mind were already working on the resulting hole in the fabric of the Net, she dived back down and told Canto what she’d discovered as she began to straighten the grid.

The shards cut her psychic hands, but that couldn’t be helped. She worked on.

Canto vanished from her vicinity halfway through. Ager?

I’m well, young Rao. But Canto gave me too much of himself. He may have flamed out. He kicked Suriana out of the merge when she was teetering on the edge, but stayed too long himself.

Panic fluttered in Payal’s throat, but she made herself finish the grid repair—she would not let Canto down. That done, she checked that Ager was well enough to hold their zone before touching base with Arran and Bjorn.

The two had been dealing with a smaller riptide, had come through unscathed.

Opening her eyes on the physical plane, she scrabbled for her phone and found the direct line for Silver Mercant. She had that number because EmNet had needed her cooperation to spread out in this region.

The phone was answered by a mellifluous male voice. “Director Mercant’s office.”

“This is Payal Rao. I need to talk to the director at once. It’s an emergency.”

The assistant was well trained, because he made no attempt to divert Payal or block her access to Silver. “She is currently in a meeting, but I’ll break in. Please hold.”

Silver came on the line five seconds later. “Payal,” she said in her crisp, clear tone. “What’s the problem and what resources—”

“You need to check on Canto,” Payal interrupted. “He may have flamed out after an anchor emergency.” And Payal couldn’t teleport to him after her own energy output. She’d flatline halfway through, end up in a random location for which her brain had an image.

It might be a safe place—or it might be the middle of a freeway.

Silver hung up without a response. Payal was fine with that. She’d rather the other woman move with rapid speed than be polite. But her stomach ached as she worried and wondered. Would Silver think to call her back? She had no reason to do so. Payal was nothing to the Mercant family.

Silver’s name flashed on her phone screen.

Payal couldn’t answer fast enough. “Is Canto all right?”

“Groggy but conscious. He did flame out, so he’ll be crashing soon.”

Relief smashed into Payal, obliterating what control she’d achieved.

“You’re an A?”

When Payal confirmed that, Silver said, “He won’t be able to assist with the A network for twenty-four hours at least—it could be up to forty-eight. I’ve never known Canto to flame out—do we have to prepare for a collapse?”

“His anchor point will hold.” Payal pushed her hair behind her ears. “Being an A is who we are, flameout or not. I’ll handle any more active issues while he recovers.” As he’d watched over her, she’d now watch over the interwoven system he was working so hard to create.

Payal would make sure the As didn’t fall while Canto was down.

AFTER hanging up with Payal Rao, Silver sat in her office and thought about the past few minutes. It was pure luck that she’d known Pavel was heading out to visit Canto, even better that he’d had his phone—he tended that way now that he’d talked Arwen into playing with his thoroughly disreputable bear self.