SLAVE TO SENSATION

The Council chambers.

This was where it got tricky. If the other members were there, they might pick up what Henry hadn’t. Nikita was the most dangerous. In the same manner that Sascha had recognized her family’s signature in the vault, her mother would recognize hers if even the faintest hint of her mind emerged from the shadow of Henry’s psyche.

However, Nikita had mentioned nothing about a meeting when they’d spoken. Sascha would’ve never instigated a ghosting otherwise. She told herself not to panic. Then they were through the final checkpoint and in the innermost core. Six other minds flared bright around them.

The Council was in session.

Taking desperate measures, Sascha forced herself to go under further than she’d ever before done, merging her consciousness with the outer layer of Henry’s on a molecular level. Prolonging such a merge could mean the destruction of her psyche but there was no other option.

“Why are we here?” Crisp and young, the voice had to belong to Tatiana.

Though she was outside Henry’s firewall and couldn’t hear what he was thinking, she could hear what he heard—the others’ thoughts all had to pass through his firewall and, by extension, through her, to reach his mind. That was the genius of ghosting.

“Yes,” Nikita said, “I had to pull out of something extremely important without notice.”

“He’s taken another changeling girl.” Marshall’s razor blade of a mind.

Buried so deep that she was no longer a person, Sascha recorded the conversation without processing it. Reaction was her enemy here.

“When?” Tatiana.

“Two and a half days ago. We did too good a job of telling our subordinates to bury any further cases—they didn’t think we’d be interested in keeping up to date.” Marshall’s tone didn’t change. “I stumbled onto the information during a conversation with one of my guards.”

“This can’t be allowed to continue.” Nikita. “In spite of what some of you insist on thinking, the changelings aren’t without power. DarkRiver hasn’t forgotten their lost female—I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re already hunting. We’d better hope they don’t grow impatient and decide one of us will do in lieu.”

If Sascha had allowed herself to think, she might’ve been startled, having been unaware that Nikita had such a clear grasp of a truth most Psy ignored.

“What pack was it this time?” Enrique.

“The SnowDancers.” Marshall.

“It’s a wonder hundreds of us aren’t already dead.” Nikita. “Those wolves are vicious.”

“They’re only changelings.” Ming’s cool menace. “What can they do?”

“Don’t be stupid.” Nikita. “They know we have to get close to influence them—close enough to be vulnerable to their weaponry. The SnowDancers took out five Psy last year. The Net was never alerted that they were in any danger. They simply winked out of existence one after the other. Their bodies have never been found.”

“Why didn’t we make an example of them?” Henry.

“The Psy who got taken out were acting foolishly. They went alone into restricted territory open only to the wolves.” Marshall’s cold darkness. “We don’t support fools.”

“There’s no mistake this killer is Psy?” Nikita.

“The NetMind has picked up traces of certain pathological traits within the patterns of a Psy mind. The traits peak during the week that he holds the women.” Marshall. “There’s been no success in tracking him.”

“Only a very powerful psychic could hide himself so well.” Nikita. “It has to be a cardinal or someone close to cardinal level, someone who has access to the highest levels of the PsyNet and can nudge the NetMind into looking the other way occasionally. Otherwise it would’ve picked up more than traces.”

“We can’t risk exposure.” Tatiana. “He must be contained before he gives himself away.”

“I agree. It’s the only way to uphold the integrity of the PsyNet.” Shoshanna. “What if he’s a high-level Psy who’s necessary to the functioning of the Net? We need to maintain the ratio of cardinal anchors. Too many of them have proven vulnerable to this particular side effect.”

“If required, we leash him and keep him satisfied. We bring him the women he needs, women who won’t be missed, women not from aggressive packs like DarkRiver or SnowDancer. And we ensure he’s never discovered.” Marshall. “As of now, we all devote a quarter of our minds to monitoring the NetMind—the second it picks up any hint of the applicable pathology, we track it back to him.”

Applicable pathology? Something, which had once had a separate consciousness as a cardinal named Sascha, worried over the strange word choice.