Free Malcolm (Book 1, The Redemption Series) by S.J. West Page A

associated with teleportation. Then, when I was fighting Amon, he was able to do the same thing.
    I was too...
    “Can I phase?” I ask, watching Malcolm's expression because if there is one thing that I will know is if he tries to lie to me.
    “Yes,” he says without hesitation. “You can phase, Anna.”
    “How?” I ask. “How does it work?”
    “We're able to fold space and travel between two points that we've been to before,” he says. His brow furrows like this fact worries him for some reason.
    “What's wrong?” I ask.
    “It's just that,” Malcolm says, his eyes drifting around my room as he looks at things. “I've never been to Cirrus before, but somehow I was able to come to you when you needed me.”
    “How did you even know I was in trouble?” I ask again, wanting to understand just what our connection is to one another.
    Malcolm is silent as he looks back at me. I'm not sure he's going to answer until I see his lips part and he whispers, “I felt your pain.”
    This time I'm the one who is silent because I'm not sure what that means.
    “You felt my pain?” I ask, just to clarify.
    Malcolm doesn't move or say anything else. He simply stands there wordlessly, either unable or unwilling to tell me more. My guess is the latter.
    “Are you the one my father told me about in his last message to me? Were the two of you best friends at one time?”
    “We have been friends for a very long time,” Malcolm tells me.
    I reach behind my right ear and pull off the neural memo patch there. I swing my legs off the bed and walk over to Malcolm. I hold out one of the last gifts from my papa to him.
    “He would probably want you to see his last message to me then,” I tell him.
    Malcolm looks hesitant to take the patch from me. Finally, he holds his a hand out, and I tilt mine to drop it into his palm. He places it behind his right ear and plays the message. Once it's over, he dislodges the patch and hands it back to me.
    “Can you tell me what happened here tonight?” Malcolm asks. “I need to know exactly what occurred and how you were injured.”
    “I was sitting in the front room with....”
    It's only then I remember Vala.
    I quickly dash out of the room without explanation and run to where her little body is still lying motionless by the door to my chambers. I kneel down beside her small form and pick her up. I rush into a room off of the sitting room and on the opposite side of my bedroom.
    “Lights!” I call out franticly, illuminating my study as I walk over to my desk.
    I sit down behind it and say, “Tools.”
    The silver tools I've used to repair Vala over the years suddenly materialize on the surface of my black desk. I lay Vala down in front of me and pull apart the seam on the underside of her belly, praying whatever Amon damaged when he threw her against the door is easily repairable.
    I'm faintly aware of Malcolm leaning up against the entrance of the room watching me intently. I look up briefly from my task and feel my heart race when our eyes meet.
    “You look like you've done that before,” he comments, sounding somewhat impressed with my mechanical skills.
    “I have,” I say, returning my attention to Vala, determine to fix her quickly. “I just hope it doesn't take me long to figure out what's wrong. Vala has an organic brain. Like anything living, the longer her brain is starved of nutrients the more damage it'll receive.”
    Malcolm pushes his shoulder off the door frame and saunters over to me. I notice a slight catch in his gate, like he's favoring his right leg for some reason, but don't make mention of it.
    He comes up behind me and props his hands on the desk on either side of me. I feel his warm breath against the crook of my neck as he leans in to study the inner workings of Vala's design.
    “Impressive,” he says, sounding in awe of my little friend. “Andre must have spent a great deal of money to give you such a gift.”
    “Papa has always been generous to me,”