by AJ Eversley
His pulse raced, and his mind reeled. She’d broken the control Coleman had over her? How?
“Are there others?” He asked.
“Not here, though I know of only one other.” She gave him a knowing look.
“Why are you protecting her and the other girl, Sawyer? Who was that girl that recognized me? Who is she to you?” Kenzie asked.
“She is my daughter.”
Kenzie snarled a laugh. “You’re a Carbon. You can’t produce a child, nor should you be able to feel or remember those human memories, even if they existed.” Coleman and his team had removed any memories that could affect the Carbon’s directive a long time ago.
“I feel and remember all of my human host’s memories.” Her eyes narrowed. “She is my daughter.”
“Well, your ‘daughter’ is an enemy to us. She’ll be found and killed, with or without your help.” He moved a step toward her. “And you are now a traitor on this vessel and will be punished as one.”
She dodged his advance, stepping around him.
Kenzie moved to grab her.
“You loved her once!” she said, stopping him in his tracks.
“What?” Kenzie said, barely a whisper.
“You loved her. And Sawyer loved you, probably still does.”
“Liar! I don’t even know who she is.” As he reached for her arm, she once again dodged out of the way, circling back a few feet.
“You sacrificed yourself for her once and risked your own life to ensure her safety. That is the love you felt for her.” Kenzie’s arms went slack at his side, and his face blanched.
Russo lunged forward and grabbed his arm before he could move away.
Instantly, Kenzie’s vision went black, and the pain was nearly unbearable before it quickly dissipated. He opened his eyes and found himself in a small room with a pedestal and a keypad in front of him. His hand was on the keypad, and his energy coursed through him stronger than he’d ever felt before, but he didn’t let go. He heard his name being called in the distance, and as he looked around, he found her. Sawyer.
She was screaming at him, begging him to stop, but he knew this was the only way he could save her—the only way she could ever have a chance to live. So he didn’t let go.
“I love you.” He felt the words on the tip of his tongue as the stars danced across his vision, and his body collapsed to the ground.
Some time went by in silence. He couldn’t move his body or open his eyes. He felt his heart still beating, soft and faint, but it was as if his soul floated over him, ready to leave to the afterlife, but something pulled at him to stay and hold on. He felt a hand grip his arm, and his body was dragged across the cold cement and rocks. As his body regained some strength, his soul still holding on with all its might, he peaked an eye open. He winced at the light from the ship he was being dragged aboard, and the surface changed from cement to cold metal.
“Take him to the doctor, quick!” she said. They lifted him from the ground, and he caught a glimpse of the one who pulled him from the wreckage—the one who saved him. Russo.
With a jolt, he was back in Sector 7, standing across from Russo, who released his arm.
“You…you saved me?” He struggled to find the words to formulate all the questions running through his mind.
“Yes. I saved you. For her, for both of you. It was the only way you’d live, to bringing you here. You need each other. Together…” The words were stuck on her tongue as she closed her mouth.
He shook his head. “Why can’t I remember? Why don’t I remember anything about her?”
“Coleman had those memories erased.” Russo said, reaching forward to grab his arm.
Kenzie flinched, but all he felt was a gentle squeeze.
“He can’t erase the love though,” said Russo. “That will always remain.”
Kenzie felt a flutter in his chest, but the questions kept beating in his mind, causing his head to hurt and a ringing in his ears to sound. He ran his hands through his hair. “She’s our enemy. I’ll be forced to kill her, and there’s nothing I can do about it.” He pleaded with her, searching for a way out. He had no idea what this meant, or what any of it meant. The look in her eyes and the feeling in his chest when he saw her told him Russo wasn’t lying.
“I will help.” She nodded.
“No one can know about this—no one,” Kenzie warned.
Russo nodded and swiftly left the room, leaving Kenzie alone in Sector 7. A tightness remained in his chest, and the words I love you still lingered on his tongue.
Chapter 27
No matter how hard I concentrated, I couldn’t get the damned pebble on my bed to move. I stared at it and focused so hard that my brain hurt, but it sat there motionless, silently mocking me.
I scrubbed my hands over my face and flopped onto my pillow. For the last two hours since I returned, I’d been trying to get the pebble to move, trying my best to recreate whatever had happened on the cliff, but I came up empty. Not even a twitch from the pebble.
How the hell could I do it again? I didn’t even know what I’d even done the first time.
There was a faint knock. “Yes?”
“Sorry to bother you, miss,” said a tentative female voice from the other side of the door, “but your friend is awake and asking for you.”
Leaving the pebble behind, I sprinted out of the room.
“Thanks,” I shouted, speeding past the small lady outside my room.
Max’s door was open when I arrived. Anthony stood watch in the hallway, and the healers surrounded Max as they checked his wound. He sipped on a glass of water.
“Hey,” he said weakly.
“How is he?” I asked a healer searching his body as I reached the side of his bed.
“His vital signs have stabilized, but he will need time to heal. I think he will be all right,” she smiled, nodding subtly to her assistants. They all swiftly left the room.
I sat on the edge of his bed and checked his forehead for a fever. He feebly swatted my hand away.
“Stop babying me,” he said.
I rolled my eyes. I grabbed his empty glass and filled it with more water. “You almost died.”
“Almost being the keyword—not did die! You needed help, and I thought the princess had me covered.” He shrugged, causing himself to wince at the movement.
“Don’t tell her that. She’s already blaming herself,” I said, unsure of why I was even defended her. I was still mad at her, but the guilt she felt was the same as mine.
“It wasn’t her fault. She wasn’t the one shooting at us.” He glanced at me over the rim of his glass. “How’s Chevy?” He looked at my feet where my shadow usually resided.
My chest tightened, and I dropped my gaze to my hands. “He…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. And Max didn’t make me. His expression softened, and he placed a hand over mine, squeezing it.
“I’m sorry, Sawyer. You know he’s in a peaceful place now, and he’ll always be watching over you.”
I smiled at the thought, keeping my tears at bay.
Silence filled the space between us before Max asked the question I was hoping he wouldn’t, “Isn’t he supposed to be dead? I mean…didn’t he die?”
“I’m just as confused as you are.” I rubbed my hands over my face. “He didn’t remember me. He had no idea who I was.”
As soon as I finished filling Max in on what happened that night and why Kenzie was after Lena, he sat up straight. “He’s her father? Coleman? And she didn’t think to tell us this sooner?” He winced at the sudden movement.
I gently pushed him back down.
“I should’ve trusted my gut from the beginning instead of us blindly believing someone we just met,” he said.
Max was upset, and rightfully so, but I found myself defending her once again. “How would you have reacted if she’d told us that up front?”
“I would’ve gotten the hell out of here right then and there. That’s what we should do now. Go back to the group and
work on training there. We’re at risk here; they’ll be back,” he pleaded with me.
“I can’t leave them. If we hadn’t come here in the first place, Coleman might not have found them.” My head dropped into my hands. “This is just as much my fault as it is hers.”
Max winced as he tried to sit up once more, but I held him down. He sighed. “Listen, Sawyer. You don’t owe these people anything. Coleman is a smart man. He would’ve found them, eventually.”
“You don’t know that. She survived ten years here undetected. I can’t just leave. All these people will die.”
His chest dropped, and he sighed. “Fine. As long as that’s why you’re staying.” He narrowed his eyes.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Kenzie tried to kill you. Whoever he is now, he’s not the same Kenzie you knew.”
Max was right. I felt the change in Kenzie too. It was written in his eyes. But I didn’t know if I could give up hope. I didn’t know if he was truly gone. My heart ached as if it were being pulled in a million directions.
“I’m staying for them. I can’t let another city be slaughtered at the hands of Coleman,” I said.
Max looked at me, seemingly trying to decide if I was telling the truth. “Okay.”
“I should let you rest,” I said, watching his eyes grow heavy. I turned to leave, but Max grabbed a hold of my wrist.
“Can you just stay a bit longer? Those healers give me the creeps. They smile way too much,” he begged.
“Oh, so you prefer my frowning face instead?” I teased.
“I prefer your face no matter what it looks like,” he said.
My heart leapt. Max laid his head on the pillow and closed his eyes, his hand still wrapped around my wrist. His thumb moved back and forth across the little indent at the bottom of my palm.
I waited until his breathing steadied and his thumb stopped moving before I carefully pried my wrist away and left him sleeping.
~
Lena was in her study with a book on her lap when I walked in. “How is he?” she asked.
“Sleeping but better.”
Her palm pressed against her chest with a sigh. “I am glad to hear.” She pointed me to the chair across from her to sit.
Plopping down into the soft oversized chair, I moaned. Books filled Lena’s study from top to bottom. One sat on her lap as she watched me carefully. I hadn’t talked to Lena since she told me she was Coleman’s daughter, and the awkwardness was eating me up inside. I was still confused and a little angry, but I needed her help.
“Something is on your mind,” she stated rather bluntly. Concern filled her expression.
I huffed. “Yeah, just a few things.”
She waited for me to speak, but I wasn’t sure how to explain it or what I was trying to say. But despite the hurt and anger I still felt toward her, she was the only person who could help me. And keeping a grudge at this point wasn’t going to do me any good.
“Earlier today, I think I used my…powers.”
“What happened?”
“Well, I was sitting on the edge of the cliff, and the pebbles started moving on their own. Then the rock broke off and hovered in front of me before it dropped to the ocean. I think I did that.”
“Telekinesis,” Lena said. “You have the ability to move things as you will them.”
“Well, I had the ability, once. I can’t get myself to do it again.” I frowned.
“What were you doing when it happened?”
“Well, I ran there. I was frustrated with everything and needed to burn off some energy. Then when I got there, I sat down. I laid my head back and…I don’t know. I remember clenching my fists together. I thought that made it happen, but it won’t do it again.” I looked down at my hands resting in my lap. My fists clenched and then released, but nothing happened.
“The hands are a vessel for your powers. They can either hold them in or let them out, but they are not the source of your powers, just the outlet.” She tapped her chest. “What was happening on the inside?”
Recalling the memory and the feelings I’d had inside of me, I said, “I was frustrated, angry, confused.” A sigh escaped me, and I closed my eyes. I saw Kenzie’s face again. “I was thinking about Kenzie…about how he was still alive but doesn’t remember me. How he almost killed Max. I was…mad I couldn’t help him, that I couldn’t save Chevy.”
The same tightness I’d felt earlier started growing in my chest as I squeezed my eyes tighter. This confusion and lack of control frustrated me to no end. I wished I could figure it all out, and that everything wasn’t such a damn puzzle. A subtle current began to make its way through me. Energy pulsed from the tips of my fingers to the bottom of feet. It was like someone had coated me in paint, and the paint slowly moved down my body to consume every inch of my blank canvas.
Lena gasped sharply. I opened my eyes to find a book floating between us.
As soon as I saw it, it dropped, splattering onto the floor. It was like someone had switched off a light inside of me. The current of energy I’d just felt disappeared in the blink of an eye. The papers flew out of the book’s worn spine. I scrambled to pick up the stray papers and mumbled a sorry to Lena.
She didn’t move. She smiled, causing me to stop mid-reach.
“What?” I asked.
“That is what you need to bring out your powers,” she said.
“What? Frustration? Confusion? I’ve got plenty of that going around.” I tossed the pages and book onto the table beside me and slumped back into the chair across from her. A headache was growing, and I rubbed at my temples.
“No, it’s your anger. The feeling of wanting to help your injured friend, wanting the man you loved to remember you. When you are angry, it propels you into action, to want to do something when others might feel fear, leading them to run and hide. You take the challenge in front of you and face it head on. And you are stronger because of it. That is what brings out your powers.”
My eyes widened with disbelief before she even finished. “No.”
“Yes! Anger has always been seen as a negative thing, but it is a motivator and a driving force that moves you toward your goals. It helps you focus on the big picture and moves you closer to the thing that caused the anger and the need to eliminate it,” Lena said.
That was one thing I’d been trying to drive out of my life. My anger had caused so much trouble in the past and had been a constant thorn in my side that I wanted to remove. I wished I could eliminate it from who I was so I could become the warrior—the Carbon—I needed to be to end this war. And yet, it was the one thing I needed to harness to use my powers?
Anger had been a part of my life for as long as I could remember, but I had never thought of it as a good thing. But it made sense. My anger fueled me to take action, to fix things, and to make it right. It fueled the compassionate side of me. That was my last connection to my mom, and the only thing I hated about myself. She’d given up her life to save others. She was always giving too much of herself. Even as a Carbon, she watched over me and still cared for me. And I knew that was a part of me too, but I never thought it’d manifest itself in this form or in this way.
My chest tightened again as I realized that was the one part of her that she gave me most of all. Compassion, selflessness, and empathy. A drive to move forward and see wrongs made right. She was the embodiment of every one of those, and now I was too. Only it was a twisted reflection of how I wielded it.
A current sparked to life once again inside of me. The pages from the book rose from the table and hovered in mid-air, suspended by an unseen force, a force within me. I was causing this to happen, and yet I had no control over it.
Lena locked eyes with me, though the papers obstructed her view. She said, “We can work on this. I can teach you.”
Chapter 28
Whack!
“Ow!” I yelled. The pebble that had just connected with my head dropped to my feet.
“Focus!”
Anthony shouted. A large stone in front of me faltered, but I caught it. I raised it higher into the air to prevent it from landing on Anthony who sat below. Every smooth and sharp edge of the rock flowed through my energy, and I felt it all as if my hand was grazing over it. Only it wasn’t. Nothing was touching it in fact, only my energy.
Another pebble flew, aimed at my head, but I dodged it. Except, I lost my concentration, and my powers faltered for a moment. The large stone dropped, and my energy wasn’t enough to catch it. Anthony rolled out of the way in time.
I dropped my hands in frustration, swearing under my breath.
“Sorry,” I mumbled as I helped Anthony to his feet.
“You must learn to stay connected to your powers despite what is going on around you.” Anthony brushed himself off after taking my outstretched hand.
I had managed to learn the basics of these powers. With my energy, I could make things move around me but only for a short amount of time if I had no distractions.
“I know, I know.” I plopped down on the grass and sighed. “This is impossible.”
“I didn’t think the word ‘impossible’ was even in your vocabulary,” Max said from his resting place under the tree. The mound of dirt Chevy was buried under was now covered in the bright, little sprouts of green grass, marking the time that had passed, though the pain still lingered.
Max was recuperating, and despite my protest, he insisted on helping out in any way he could. He’d taken on the role of ‘official pebble thrower,’ and boy, did he enjoy that job.
I glared at Max. “You try it.”
He laughed. “Would if I could. I’d probably do way better than you! Too bad you’re the Carbon and not me.”
I tossed a pebble at his head, and he dodged it with another laugh.
“See?”
“Shut up!”
“Enough!” Anthony bellowed. “Get up and try it again.”
I felt the urgency in Anthony’s voice. Over the past few weeks, there’d been more breaches in Lena’s shield, though there’d been no attacks. That was the part that worried me the most. They’d figured out a way to get through, but why hadn’t they attacked yet?
