Stella shrugged but then gave Christa a little push. She hurried over to Jake. His arms came around her and he hugged her close.
Behind Stella, the last of the Tel agents appeared in the doorway of the time machine. He was pushing the bomb in front of him, heading toward the crashed spaceship.
“Just stay where you are,” Stella said, “and no one will get hurt.”
“Are you freaking crazy?” Kaitlin snarled. “You’re going to set off a fucking bomb that will destroy most of the planet, and you can stand there and say we won’t get hurt.”
Stella shrugged. “It will kill you, but I doubt very much it will hurt.”
“You don’t have to do this,” Kaitlin said.
“If we don’t, then my people, my family, my world will cease to exist,” Stella replied.
“You don’t know that for sure.” But Kaitlin knew as she spoke that she was wasting her time. And really, could she blame them? They were presumably saving the ones they loved. To them, the cataclysm was history, something that had already happened. Kaitlin, and the rest of the Kindred, were already dead and had been for centuries.
Christ, they couldn’t fail now. There had to be a way. She moved closer to Kane and slipped her hand in his. His strength flowed through her.
Think.
They had numbers on their side—there were only four of the enemy—but they didn’t have any weapons.
Except they did.
They had their minds—the most powerful weapon available. Rose could send psi-bolts, Quinn could compel people, Sadie could control animals. Alone, none of them were powerful enough to attack the Tel agents. But they weren’t alone.
The Tel Group might have capabilities beyond any of the Kindred’s individual powers.
But they didn’t have Kaitlin.
She was a Foci.
That was her superpower.
The problem was she had no clue how it really worked, whether she could channel their powers, focusing the Kindred into a weapon that would defeat their enemies.
But she had to try.
Except while everyone was wearing the reflector device, she could do nothing. None of them could. Which meant they would have to come off. Shit, this was going to hurt. And hurt bad. But could they function through the pain? Just long enough to take down the Tel Group? They had to. Because nothing else was going to save them. And she didn’t want to die.
She edged closer to Kane. He looked down at her, a frown forming between his eyes.
“We have to take off the reflector devices,” she whispered.
His eyes narrowed. “Are you sure?”
“It’s the only chance we have, but it’s going to hurt. So we need to be prepared, and we’re going to have to be fast.”
“Will it be enough?”
“It will have to be.”
She stared at Jake, willing him to look her way. He still held Christa in his arms, but as though sensing her concentration, he turned his head slightly. She stared some more, then casually touched her finger to the reflector device. His eyes narrowed, butthen he gave an almost imperceptible nod. He turned to Quinn, who was to his right.
Kaitlin shifted her attention to Rose, sent the same message, and she in turn passed it on to Finn on her left.
Within seconds, they were all informed. They were all ready, their attention on Kaitlin. She glanced at Stella.
The woman was watching her, suspicion in her narrowed eyes.
