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  Making holes in space is far easier than patching her past together.

  Duulahar grew up knowing that her adoptive mother had killed her birth mother, or at least, that is what was on the video that her father kept showing her. It was not the most pleasant of upbringings.

  Her father decides to break a lifetime of habits and send her shopping in his treasured sports car, and she knows that her dementia-laden mother is the target with her as the scapegoat. Her father is not particularly subtle.

  Kidnapping her mom is a reflex, but Duulahar knows that putting distance between her father’s hypnotic talent and those in his way is all that she can do to keep them alive. Her talent for small holes in space will not help her here.

  Her stubbornness versus her father’s evil. Who will win?

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Port Hole

  Copyright © 2019 Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-4874-2622-4

  Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by eXtasy Books Inc or

  Devine Destinies, an imprint of eXtasy Books Inc

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  www.eXtasybooks.com or www.devinedestinies.com

  Port Hole

  Team Eight: Origins, Book 6

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  “Centuries ago, so long that we don’t know the precise day, the ancient race stole humans from the world of Earth.” Duulahar checked to make sure she still had an audience.

  The bedding was clenched in fists. Her audience was bending forward.

  “The humans were placed around the cluster on the worlds that were habitable. Thirty worlds were seeded with them, and then, the ancients left them alone to live or die.”

  She turned the page of the ancient book. “The worlds were separate, and no one could speak with anyone on another world. Families were divided, people starved, people thrived, and they did it in their own cities, their own colonies, their own worlds.

  “Eventually, a scientist from Remorad...” She paused while her audience’s face lit up. “Made a discovery. He discovered resonance. All the worlds of the cluster vibrated with the same energy, and if you could trigger the other world to use the same frequency, you could walk between them.”

  There was a laugh.

  “When Remorad touched the other worlds, they realized that other humans had been scattered around the cluster and we all orbited the same great star. There was much celebration on some of the worlds while others wished to remain to themselves. The worlds that remained independent were given communication in case they needed help. The other worlds pledged to come to each other’s aid.”

  Clapping ensued.

  Duulahar waited until there was calm in the room. “When the worlds grew close, they realized that on some worlds, the populations were changing. Gifts were beginning to appear, and while most were good citizens, some were not. Those who were not needed someone just as strong to hold them back. So, over a hundred years after the worlds made contact, the first heroes were asked to help when the hostile forces raised their heads.”

  Leythana smiled and bared her teeth.

  “So, the heroes were called one by one when there was need. Investigators were assigned to figure out who to call for which villain. They got better at it over time, and heroes stopped dying. In the last century, the heroes became organized. They formed a team, and when one was called, all were called, so that no one had to fight alone.”

  Leythana snuggled down into her bed, and Duulahar kept reading. “There were single heroes, heroes who liked to fight in groups, and married heroes.

  “The married heroes lived long, happy lives, fought many battles, and retired from their hero duties to live happily in the countryside with a huge garden and a big swing so that they could live happily for the rest of their lives. The end.”

  Leythana smiled softly and sighed. “That is a good story. Do I know you?”

  Duulahar touched Leythana’s hand. “I just come to read you the stories. Have a good sleep. Minos will be near when you wake up.”

  She closed her book and set it down on the chair, walking out of the room and easing the door closed, setting the silent motion alarm when the door was secure.

  Minos was cooking in the kitchen, making dinner and breakfast at the same time.

  “Did she eat?”

  “She ate. She still thinks she likes red peppers, so that wasn’t a problem.” Duulahar exhaled and took the plate that was slid over to her.

  “How do you think she was today?”

  “Not bad. She was calm all day, so no restriction measures had to be enacted.”

  “Good.” Minos got his own meal, and he gestured for her to join him at the table.

  She was surprised, but she headed to the table and set her plate and cutlery down.

  “How was she really today?”

  Duulahar smiled. “She was fine. She was bright, alert, she had fun, and her memories of you are completely intact.”

  He frowned. “Does she remember you?”

  Duulahar sighed. “No. Nothing. She doesn’t remember me at all.”

  “Does it bother you?”

  “No. She is degrading at a slow and steady pace. She doesn’t need to remember me.”

  Minos asked her bluntly. “How do you feel about her? She did kill your mother, after all.”

  Duulahar scowled. “I know. You show me the vid every year on my birthday. It isn’t something I can forget, but Leythana is the closest thing to a mother I have ever had, even if it was ordered by the courts.”

  Minos tapped his fork against his plate. “It doesn’t bother you?”

  She calmly continued eating. “Of course, it does. I have no idea why Leythana put a hole in my mother’s head, nor do I know why I was given to her to raise.”

  She set her fork down. “That appears to be missing from my documentation.”

  He blinked at her, and anger and shame flared in his eyes before he snapped, “I need you to go into town for shopping tomorrow.”

  She was shocked. He did all the shopping, and she only went into town for her wellness checks.

  “Right. Well, I will take the creeper in then.”

  “No, take the bolt. The list isn’t very big.”

  He was ordering her to take the sports car. That was strange.

  “Great. Where is the list?”

  “I will write it and slip it under your door.”

  “You can just send it to my com unit.” This was getting bizarre.

  “No, I will handwrite it.”

  “Fine. I will do the dishes.” She nodded and got up with her meal only half gone. She scraped the food into the disposal and set the dish into the sink, running the water.

  He frowned. “I will do that. Don’t you have some studying to do?�
��

  She shut off the water, inclined her head politely, and walked out of the kitchen with her mind whirling.

  She opened her screen and set herself to answering the questions that began to rise on the display. She had studied the law of all thirty worlds in the cluster, and now, she was being tested on it.

  Two hours went by before she completed the exam, and it only took minutes before her score to be returned. Three hundred forty points, out of three hundred fifty.

  She smiled and blinked as the authorization to act in the legal archives came onto her screen.

  Duulahar blinked. She hadn’t requested authorization. She was now legally allowed to have it, but she hadn’t asked for it.

  A file number that she was very familiar with blinked at her. She clicked on it, and the video of the day she was born began to play, but there was more of it than she had thought.

  The woman who had carried her to term walked up toward the podium where Minos and Leythana were speaking to the crowd regarding the Team Program.

  The speech ended, and everyone clapped, but Duulahar’s mother had climbed onto the stage, and she was stalking toward the heroes.

  “Minos! Come here and see what you have done.” She gestured at her belly.

  Leythana looked confused, and Minos wrapped an arm around her waist, walking her toward the stranger.

  “Who are you, and what do you want?”

  “Minos, you used that power of yours to hold me down while you raped me. I have filed claims, I have made reports, but no one wants to see you for what you are... a monster!”

  Leythana pointed, and Duulahar knew what came next, but she was surprised.

  Leythana stared at her husband. “You did that?”

  He growled, grabbed his wife’s arm, and with the deft pressure on her wrist, he fired a pulse blast through the skull of the woman who had just publicly accused him with a very provable crime.

  Duulahar was ill. She watched as Leythana screamed and rushed toward the woman, frantically trying to wake the woman whose brains were making an exit via the back of her head.

  Leythana shook off Minos’s hands, and she aimed her hand along the dead woman’s belly, using her blast to rip open the womb via delicate pulses. When she was through, she reached in and pulled out the slimy baby, with soft purple fluff on her head, similar to the dark purple locks of Minos.

  She made a note of the related files and closed her computer. She would deal with that in the morning.

  Minos was her father. That was unexpected, but it made sense. Also, he fired the shot using Leythana’s power, which was glaringly clear. So, why didn’t he get charged at the moment of her mother’s death?

  Where were the complaints that should have been filed? He killed a woman in front of witnesses. There was reason for a complaint right there. Her father had always sworn that they had no secrets, but it seemed that he lied.

  She looked up the skills that Minos had used as a hero, and she whistled softly. Mass hypnosis was one of his skills.

  Duulahar blinked. He had never told her that. She knew that he was a mind pusher, but that was as far as she had gone into her research. He had retired after Leythana was injured, and their positions as heroes had been honoured at the same event where Duulahar’s mother had died.

  She had a sinking feeling and checked her bank balance. She saw an extra three hundred thousand credits that weren’t hers. Another check showed her Leythana’s account was the origin of the transfer, so Duulahar put most of the money back. She had an idea forming, and she needed as much money as she could to pull it off. Leythana’s mind’s degradation might not be a symptom of her contact with her husband, but it was worth an experiment to see if Minos was making the condition worse.

  It was worth a shot for the woman who was the only mother Duulahar had ever known.

  Chapter Two

  The list was slipped under her door, and she looked at it, knowing that they needed nothing on it. There was no way he wasn’t simply trying to get her out of his home in the most expensive car he owned. It reeked of a setup.

  Duulahar turned on the interior monitor display, and she slowly and silently latched each door, one by one. Then, she did the windows.

  This was dangerous. If this was wrong, if she guessed incorrectly, she was shutting herself out of the house and the only family she had ever known.

  A deep inhale and exhale, and she nodded. It was worth it.

  She carefully unlocked Leythana’s room, and then, she crept out of her own room and out the front door, leaving her path clear.

  The barn loomed ahead of her, and she saddled up her mount and Leythana’s. She walked the horses to the field beyond the house, and she waited.

  The horses whickered and snorted to each other, and soon, Leythana was coming toward them across the grass.

  Leythana may have been nearly sixty, but she was spry. She ran up to the horses and petted her favourite. “Who are you?”

  She glanced over at Duulahar and smiled shyly. “I don’t know you, do I?”

  “You did once but not today. Would you like to go for a ride? We can go as far and as fast as you want.”

  “Yes, please. Can you keep up?”

  Duulahar swung up and into the saddle. “I think you might have me outclassed, but I will try.”

  She watched Leythana slide her slippered feet into the stirrups, and then, she was off, her gown and robe billowing around her.

  Duulahar grinned, and she urged her mount to follow. It was going to be a wild ride. Leythana didn’t usually stop riding until she was stopped, and Duulahar wasn’t about to do that. They needed to get as far away from Minos as they could.

  She kept her once-mother in her sights and followed at a safe distance. When the horse she was riding needed to stop, that was when Leythana pulled up and walked her animal for a few minutes until it had rested then she brought it to the nearby stream.

  Duulahar watched as Leythana spoke softly to the horse, no longer the child in the adult’s body that she normally cared for during the day.

  Duulahar smiled and walked her own horse over to the water. If they could get to the mountains, they could block pursuit, and then, she would be able to learn about Minos’s sphere of influence.

  “You look like him.” Leythana smiled, and she stroked the neck of her horse.

  “Like who?”

  “Minos. Are you a relative?”

  “I am afraid so.”

  Leythana asked softly, “Why are you here?”

  “I am here to do whatever you like.”

  Leythana nodded. “Are you gifted?”

  Duulahar snorted. “Not very.”

  “Are you equipped for camping?”

  Duulahar nodded slowly. “Yes.”

  “Then, we will head for the mountains and find a place to camp. I can teach you.” Leythana smiled. “Even if I am not quite sure of who I am.” She sighed and leaned her head against her horse. “Where is Minos?”

  “He is in his room.”

  “You mean our room.”

  “No, Leythana. His room. You two have not shared a bed for ten years. You have been ill.”

  Leythana nodded. “We are going to discuss that when my mind is clear.”

  “Of course, Mistress.”

  “What is your name?” Leythana got back on her horse.

  “Duulahar.”

  “I was always going to name my daughter Duulahar, but you are not born of my body.”

  “No, I am not.”

  Leythana smiled. “Another mystery.”

  “Easily solved.”

  “Shall we go, Duulahar?”

  “My mount is ready. Let’s go.”

  They walked off at a slow, measured pace that got them into the foothills before dawn. The early light concealed them in rocky shadows, and soon, they were into the forest below.

  They found a spot, removed the gear that Duulahar had brought, and
set up a campsite with plenty of cover.

  Leythana looked exhausted. It was her first time being this physical in years.

  “Why am I so tired?”

  “You are out of practice. You will gain stamina rapidly. I promise you.” The meds were going to leave her system rapidly as well, and she might get violent, but that was what Duulahar deserved if her hunch was wrong.

  Sleeping next to a woman that had used her blast talent on her on several occasions over the last ten years took more nerve than Duulahar thought she had, but she woke up six hours later, and her companion was making breakfast.

  Leythana glanced over when Duulahar emerged from the lean-to. “Who are you?”

  “Duulahar.”

  Leythana looked at her. “I was going to name my daughter that, but you are not my child.”

  “I am not.”

  “Why am I with you?”

  Duulahar sighed. “You were in danger. I think. He was acting weird, and you were slowly fading.”

  Leythana paused and removed the food from over the flames. “Minos. I am still with him?”

  “As far as I know. You don’t share a bed anymore. Not since...”

  Leythana beckoned her over. “Not since I began to lose my mind.”

  “Right. That.”

  Duulahar poured some coffee for both of them. “You know about it?”

  “He would play with my mind on assignments. Finding my weak spots. If I saw something he shouldn’t have been doing, he erased the memory.”

  Duulahar blinked and remembered the sensation of pressure on her mind. “He does?”

  Leythana chuckled. “He does it to you, too?”

  “No. But I think he tries. How are you feeling? What is the last thing you remember?”

  Leythana groaned and started to eat some of her oatmeal. She mumbled. “My retirement announcement. We were going to settle down and try to have a family, though quite frankly, I never guessed that I would end up with Minos.”