Shadow Of The Past Trilogy ∞ THE DISPLACED

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Day Nineteen ∞ Early Tuesday morning

DANNY SNAPPED HIS HEAD DOWN to look at his arm. The pain was gone, leaving a cooling chill in its place. The crisis must be over. It couldn't have lasted more than a few minutes, but it seemed much longer than that.

—Mickmi?

He looked up at the security camera again and threw up his hands. "You enjoyed the show?" He might as well waste his breath on a brick wall.

—Mickmi, are you okay? Turning around, he listened internally for a reply as fatigue set in. Mi?

It took a while before the response came. —I am...

Danny sighed and sat on the bench, lifting his sock-covered feet off the cold floor. —You okay? I felt your skin burning. Will they give you a break? I know you're—

—I apologize... I should not have allowed... the sensory link to remain.

—What? he thought as the tiredness vanished as if by the flick of a switch. No. No-no, it's okay, I don't mind. I can tell how you are. ... Mi? ... Mickmi?

He exhaled. He couldn't feel or hear her anymore. —Sleep well, Mi. Hopefully those doctors would give her a few hours.

His stomach grumbled as his gaze fell on the table. Somebody had left a tray of food when he was sleep-walking—

Wait... What was I doing? The air escaped him; he hadn't left the room physically, yet he'd witnessed Mickmi being tested. Or was that just a dream? It had to be. But the experience remained so vivid in his mind—it had to have really happened. Like he'd left his body and actually found himself in the same room where she was...

He furrowed his brow. The idea of leaving his body was disconcerting, something he associated with dying. Yet here he was, starving like a wolf. He stared at the tray for a few more moments. No point in letting the food go to waste.

He'd barely made it halfway through the beef stew and potatoes when the door opened. Two guards stepped in, one halted inside the door.

Danny stuffed a forkful of food in his mouth as the other guard dropped a pair of shoes on the floor.

My boots. He swallowed half of the mouthful. "Are you taking me to Doctor Kruger?"

"Put them on."

Danny pushed his feet inside the hiking shoes. Empty. Not surprising that they'd confiscated his Swiss army knife. He grabbed another mouthful and his water canteen before standing up, expecting to be handcuffed.

The guard handed him a hood instead. "Cover your eyes. I expect no trouble from you."

The man by the door rested his hand on his holster.

"Sure." Danny pulled the hood over his head. As long as they took him closer to Mickmi, he'd be all cooperation.

∞

—Queen Lepantra.

Mickmi found herself rising from the depths of sleep. She did not move as she tested the heaviness of her limbs at rest, felt the cap of electrodes on her head, sensed the wires leading to the electroencephalograph, where a doctor sat jotting notes.

—Hear you me, my Queen?

A sliver of her Guardian's energy body hovered above her at a respectful distance.