Free Gather the Sentient by Amalie Jahn Page A

billing.  Talk about a douchebag.”
    Jack chuckled despite himself.  “See?  That’s what I’m talking about.  I’m not even gonna feel safe sending her to kindergarten!”
    “May I suggest slipping a tiny set of nunchucks in her Hello Kitty backpack?”
    He glared at her.  “Hello Kitty?  Are you kidding me?  Girl’s gonna have a Black Widow backpack and a Buffy Summers’ lunchbox.”
    “Not letting her eat school lunch?”
    “Too many GMOs,” he quipped.
    At that moment she realized how much better she was feeling.  Jack always had that effect on her.  And the mention of food shifted her attention to her stomach.  “Still interested in Shake Shack for lunch?” she asked.
    “Thinking about a Mushroom-Swiss burger?”
    “Sounds perfect,” she laughed.

 
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER
    11
     
    PATRICK
     
     
    Friday, September 2
    London
     
    Patrick felt Akantha’s presence in the airspace above London before Wesley called with the news she’d landed safely at Heathrow.  Since observing her via video during Lillian’s biolocation, his connection to her had grown, further confirming she was indeed Number Six.
    “I haven’t seen you this excited in years,” Javier commented as they sipped scotch together in his office, awaiting her arrival.
    It was true.  The last time he’d felt such a powerful bond to one of the others was with Lillian, just before he and Javier tracked her to a country music festival in Texas during the fall of his sophomore year at Oxford.  After they discovered her birthday was a match, she’d infiltrated his dreams until at last he’d convinced Javier to travel with him to the US to track her down.
    He pushed back his chair and crossed to the other side of the room where a wall of floor to ceiling windows provided a spectacular view of the medieval city, as well as the valet parking drop off directly below.  There was a nervous anticipation to the moment, knowing he would soon be meeting another one of the chosen seven, explaining to her what it means to be one of them.
    It was a question he’d spent many years considering.  In the early days, as a teen, it had simply meant a life of freedom.  Freedom to do what he wanted, knowing his life was more important than everyone else’s.  He determined his purpose far surpassed the simple, fruitless goals of other people - to live, to reproduce, to die.  In that knowledge, he had lived a life without consequences, taking what he needed, when he needed it, from whatever source it could be attained.  And he had needed many, many things.  He’d helped himself to all the finest things in life, using his senses to assure he would never be caught stealing the things he desired – fine food, top-shelf alcohol, electronics, and brand-name clothes.
    As he entered his twenties however, it wasn’t enough just to steal what he wanted outright.  Power became his prime motivator, and he realized he could get far more of the control he wanted through market share.  He began fine tuning his abilities, seeking out markers which enabled him to sense shifts in the global markets. 
    He’d discovered the markers by accident as a child when he used the astral plane as a way to avoid his parents incessant bickering, which he found more annoying than upsetting.  He escaped his physical body and set out to explore the world from his unique perspective, sensing the emotions of both individuals and collective groups alike.  It was the reason he enjoyed high stakes sports gambling and had correctly chosen the winner of every European football match for over a dozen years.  The secret was in simply sensing the emotions of the teams’ players.  While he acknowledged skill was a consideration in determining who won or lost a game, he knew the emotional state of the players was often the most influential factor.  Sometimes all that mattered was who wanted to win more.
    Those emotional energies, or markers, were visible on the plane, and