Free The Deviant Underground (Time Bandit) by Elisabeth Roseland Page A

amazing.” Charge reached out for her and engulfed her in his warm embrace. “I knew you could do it.”
    Susan squatted down to take a better look at it. She even waved her hand all around it as though to check to see if there were strings attached. “How long will it stay there?”
    Kathryn shrugged. “I don’t know.” Her sense of horror and embarrassment slipped away. “I’ve never tested it.”
    “Can I touch it?” Susan asked eagerly.
    “Sure. You can pick it back up again.”
    Susan reached down and took the vase. “It felt just like picking it off the table.” She looked wide-eyed at the bright tulips. “Awesome.” Kathryn just smiled slightly. She couldn’t speak; her head was spinning.
    Charge kissed Kathryn affectionately on her forehead. “Now,” he said, stepping back. “Teleport for us.”
    “What?”
    “Teleport,” Charge repeated. “It’s okay. Go ahead.”
    “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
    “You're a teleporter,” Susan explained. “You can move from one place to another at the blink of an eye.”
    Kathryn frowned. She of course knew what the word “teleport” meant, but she had never thought to apply it to herself. In fact, she didn't know that she was teleporting when she disappeared. She had just thought she was . . . well, she didn’t know what she was doing.
    After a few moments, Kathryn spoke. “I really have no control over it,” she admitted. “I’m likely to end up out in the hall, or worse, out in the street.”
    Charge gripped her shoulders and looked into her eyes, “You can do it. Just like you did with the vase. Concentrate.”
    Kathryn nodded. She had never purposely brought about the weird feeling in the pit of her stomach; in the past, she had always disappeared by accident. She didn’t quite know how to access it. She thought about it for a minute, and then realized that when she had teleported, it was because she had desperately wished that she were somewhere else. So she took a deep breath and wished herself across the room. The tingling began in her stomach; it was actually more like a pulling sensation, like someone was yanking her forward by her gut. The feeling got stronger and stronger. The room quivered, like she was seeing it through a wave of heat. Suddenly, Kathryn found herself by the front door. A wave of nausea passed over her, and she fell to the ground.
    Charge rushed to her. “Are you okay?”
    “Yeah,” Kathryn groaned. “This always happens.” He helped her to her feet.
    “That was so cool!” Susan said. “We told you that you could do it”
    “Yeah, well,” Kathryn gripped her stomach as the nausea passed, “don’t expect to see that particular trick too often. It makes me feel like shit.”
    “That’s just because you haven’t practiced,” Charge said. “With practice, you’ll gain control, and you won’t feel sick anymore.”
    Kathryn shot him a look. She didn't believe him, and she wasn't willing to try out his theory. Falling on her ass and feeling like puking were not things she wanted to repeat with any frequency. She made her way back to the couch and picked up her pack of cigarettes from the table. She took one out, lit it, and took a long drag. It had been an unbelievable past few hours, and the familiarity of the cigarette felt good.
    She looked at the faces of the people she thought she knew. They were now so much more than just her boyfriend and her best friend. They were like her. They had a secret, too. She looked at Susan. “What about you?”
    “What about me?” Susan smirked.
    “What is your gift ?” Kathryn somewhat mockingly used the term they had insisted upon. “Or can you also shoot lightening out of your ass?”
    Both Susan and Charge laughed. “No, my gift is more mental in nature.”
    “Mental?” Kathryn took another drag from her cigarette. “Show me.”
    “Okay.” Susan sat back in her chair. “Close your eyes.”
    Kathryn looked at Susan skeptically before