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wall. Approximately five hours until sun down. He would very much like to know what she was
doing at that moment.& But he had to give her this time to herself.
Back in the library, as soon as they had grasped hands to seal the challenge, Black had left
the TGB and gone to the nearest communications console. There, he had pulled all of his men
his eyes and ears across the Field and told them to back off of the Red leader for the day. He
did not, under any circumstances, want to give Victoria just grounds on which to call the entire
Game off.
He couldn t have that.
He needed her. In so many ways& .
It was safe to say that he had been much more than impressed with her display of power in
the training room that morning. In fact, truth be told, he had been stunned speechless for several
minutes.
To rip apart a room telekinetically was one thing. To melt metal was even more impressive;
it required immense control of atmospheric temperature and an innate understanding of the
differences in object states.
But to put it all back together& . That was truly something else.
Victoria had destroyed everything around her, in probably every way imaginable. Black had
barely managed to shield himself from her power while maintaining his invisibility.
- 68 -
Heather Killough-Walden
But when she had closed her eyes and set it all right, he d been blown away. Re-attaching
jagged plastic pieces into seamless perfection? Un-melting fifty pound metal discs into their
original shapes?
The air had even been cleared of dust motes. It was impossible, what she did.
She was very, very powerful. Almost as powerful as he was.
He d waited for four hundred years for someone of her caliber to come along. Individually,
the members of Game Control could not defeat Victor in a battle of magic and might. However,
collectively, they were a force to be reckoned with.
Black couldn t win alone.
But he could win with Victoria on his side.
In the training room that morning, she had more than made that possibility clear. It wasn t
until everything had been put perfectly back into its place and Victoria had opened her eyes and
smiled that Victor at last managed to find his voice and hide his shock. He d put on quite an act.
And when she d shoved him into the wall, it had given him quite a headache.
A part of him had wanted to congratulate her. Another part had wanted to retaliate by
shoving her up against the wall and then pin her there beneath him as he ran his hands through
her honey scented hair and grazed his teeth along her throat and the smooth, taut skin over her
collar bone.
Now, Victor pressed his gloved hands to the glass of the tall windows and laid his forehead
against its smooth, cool surface. He closed his eyes and forced the need in him to back down.
He had to admit that he felt a measure of trepidation. He wanted Victoria alive. What if she
fought so hard that he had to use too much force? She was like a thorned rose. So dangerous. And
so delicate at the same time.
Then again& . He could never truly hurt her.
- 69 -
The Game
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
He would have to be very careful with her. The next three days would see seven rounds, each
possessing of ten hour time spans. Victoria Red would do everything and anything within her
power to keep from being captured for those seven rounds.
She was an incredibly bright and determined young woman. Victor had a feeling that this
Game was fated to see most, if not all of those seven rounds come to fruition.
* * * *
It s crazy, she muttered to herself. You ll be caught. You ll be killed. She shook her
head and continued to pace frantically back and forth across the floor of her master suite. This is
nuts.
But it was the only way.
She knew that, deep down inside. The only way to make certain that Victor Black did not
find her and capture her was to make certain that she was not there to be found and caught, in
the first place.
She had to leave the Field. She had to breach the wall.
But was it even possible? Had it ever even been done? Attempted?
Surely, Game police would be all over the wall. How would she even get close to it?
Victoria ran a furious hand through her long golden hair and then stormed to her chest of
drawers, yanked the top drawer out, and moved all of her undergarments aside until she found the
small velvet pouch she was looking for.
She picked up the pouch, pulled the straps loose, and shook its contents into the palm of her
hand.
A small gold pendant winked up at her in the soft overhead lights of her bedroom.
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Heather Killough-Walden
The necklace consisted of a thin gold chain and, attached to it, a small, square smoky quartz
crystal.
Victoria did not remember where she had gotten the necklace. She only knew that, after
she d been brought into the Field and trained, she d been escorted to her room for the first time
and this necklace had been waiting for her beneath her pillow.
It was a beautiful piece of jewelry, and the only one she owned, though she never wore it.
She wasn t sure why, but for some reason, she felt it was necessary to hide the ornament. She
didn t want anyone to know she possessed it.
And she especially didn t want anyone to know about its secret. It was a unique crystal
because, though it looked whole and seamless, all it required was a touch of mental energy and
the smoky quartz split all along its side so that it could be opened.
When opened, as one would open a book, it revealed two images one on each side. The
images were laid there, in three-dimensional and full-color detail, and portrayed a little girl on the
left. And a flower on the right.
The little girl had long, golden hair that fell in ringlets around her shoulders. Her eyes
reminded Victoria of her own, though they perhaps looked larger in their youth. She was smiling,
but it was a strange smile. A touch sad. Maybe scared?
It was a hard smile to pin down. Victoria had been trying for ten years.
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