by Vivien Reis
"Jesus H." He shrank away from her. "No wonder they want you to block your thoughts."
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
"All right! We'll work on protecting your mind from others first."
As he finished saying this, a sickening shiver pressed hard against the back of her neck. Nausea twisted her stomach, and she doubled over with a gasp.
"You'll feel a lingering sensation after the nausea subsides."
Still clutching her stomach, she groaned. "What did you do to me?"
"It'll pass. We don't have time for you to explore your new powers, you’ll have to jump in headfirst. Can you feel it?"
She definitely felt something, but it was more like bottled rage than an untapped ability.
"Cut the sarcasm." His lips set into a hard line made more pronounced by the bulging jaw muscles in front of his ears.
The nausea eased up, and she straightened a little more and more with each breath. "It feels hot," she said, pressing her hand against her collarbone. It was impossible to pinpoint where the sensation stemmed from since it seemed to radiate through her whole chest.
"Learn that feeling. Remember it. That's how you'll grasp on to your new abilities for the first few weeks. Now try protecting your mind."
She waited for him to explain this process to her but he didn't. How did he expect her to know this stuff already?
His demeanor changed and her vision darkened. Fear crushed her, knowing what this was, having seen it before. Darkness spread until it was everywhere and all around her. Something clung to her lungs like a sticky film before it squeezed the air from her, not letting go.
She was back in the basement, but she knew she couldn’t be.
Her nails dug into the skin on her neck as she grabbed at her throat. The burning in her chest blossomed. She was dying.
Then it lifted, and she woke on the rough dirt at the bottom of the stairs, coughing as oxygen entered her hoarse throat.
"What," she coughed out, "the hell...is wrong with you." He stood over her, not moving an inch to help her up. She stumbled to her feet, one hand still on her throat to ease the violent coughing. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"Whether or not you're ready for this, Abi, you need to learn how to protect yourself."
"You're just like them," she spat, letting the memory of the basement and those people flood her mind, knowing he could see.
"Now you're getting somewhere." He grinned in a smug way. "Those are the people you need to protect yourself from."
"Why! What's the big rush right now? Huh!" Every few words she had to take a deep breath, her throat so rough it stung her eyes.
"Because I don't have time for this!" As he said this, his influence on her mind pushed the words past her ears, booming deep in her head. "The sooner you learn this, the sooner I can get back to what's really important."
Tears stung at her eyes and she hated herself for it. What had she done to deserve this? She didn't want to be here, she didn't want to be a part of this.
"If you want to go home so badly, then you'll buck up and learn."
Her chest shook as she tried to regain some control, to not break down in front of him. She loosened her tightened hands, the flesh on her palm stinging from her nails.
"Use that anger," he said, his voice calm now. "Let's try again."
Expecting the darkness to come immediately again, Abi flinched. But it didn't. He was waiting for a response from her.
She didn’t want to do this, to willingly torment herself, but what he’d said was right. She wanted to go home, to see her dad, to tell Ben and Gran she was okay. The Consul said mastery of her new abilities could take years, but how long would it take working with Benning?
Straightening her posture, she nodded and braced herself.
"Corporal Benning! What are you doing?" Myra hissed through her teeth. She marched over and stood with her hands on her hips, nearly as tall as the Commander from Abi's angle down on the ground.
They had moved to a grassy area between the huts after the first three times Abi fell on the rough path. She had a painful bruise on her shin from landing on a large rock and a swelling finger she had jammed trying to catch herself.
And her head was pounding.
"Training," he answered.
"Her mind has barely healed from the King's Army and you're...you're torturing her!"
If she’d had any energy left, Abi would have laughed. That giddy feeling morphed into stinging tears, though. Her body had passed exhaustion, except it wasn't her body that felt exhausted. She wasn't overly sore or hurt, but she could hardly tell herself to get up off the ground. Clouds blocked out most of the afternoon sunlight, but she still had to squint against the throbbing pain behind her eyes.
"The Consul instructed me to begin her training. You're the attending that signed off on it. Plus," he added, motioning to Abi, "she agreed to it."
"That—agh—that means nothing! She doesn't know a transmutation cast from a moxie incantation, much less what the limits of her own mind might be. I signed off on mild training. This is far beyond that and, frankly, I'm disappointed. You knew better."
Abi was impressed. The Corporal didn't respond, but she was pretty sure it wasn't Myra's bout of feistiness that had silenced him. He seemed like a lion letting a cub gnaw on its ear.
"Come on, Abi. Let's get you up." Myra helped her stand and then guided her to the front of the hut.
"I'll be back tomorrow at 0800 for our next session."
"Goodbye, Corporal," Myra nearly yelled. They shuffled up the stairs and Abi collapsed on the top step, splaying out across the porch.
"Why in the world did you agree to that? You could have seriously injured your already weak mental synapses."
"Gee," she groaned. "Thanks."
"You know what I mean." Myra sat next to her and huffed.
Abi had been so concerned with how her training was going, so wrapped up in herself, that the events of the morning had slipped her mind.
"How did it go?" She was almost afraid to know the answer.
"Ugh, girl. Where is your silence stone?" It seemed to take a lot of effort for Myra to peel herself off the bed. She grabbed the stone and handed it to Abi.
Myra huffed again and Abi could hear her strained swallow before she spoke. "It's not good. Forty-two is our count so far." She didn't specify what the count meant, but Abi could guess. "We have dozens of stragglers trickling in, but some are stuck in regular hospitals either in surgery or fighting for their lives. We can't just take those people and they're too ill to get up and hop by themselves." She wrung her hands together, like she was trying to sooth a tremor away.
Abi pushed herself up, hesitantly resting her hand on Myra's forearm. "I'm sure you helped a lot of people today, but you need to focus on yourself for a while. You should eat, get some sleep."
"I have to go back soon, though. The hospital is overrun, and we're calling in any Oracles who've had even a tiny bit of medical training to assist."
"Myra." Abi felt strange doing this, comforting and giving advice to someone that seemed a decade older and more mature than she...and someone she hardly knew. "If you don't take care of yourself, you can't take care of those people. You need to let your mind rest. Recharge."
Her eyes misted over, but no tears fell. Myra nodded. "You're right. I'll call for some food."
Within a few minutes, a man appeared next to Myra and handed her a tray with two large salads. They moved to a picnic table across from Abi’s hut with a view of the beach below them.
She picked at her salad, her stomach hungry, but her limbs hardly under her control. How could she be so terrible at this? Yes, it was all new to her, but she couldn't feel any of the attacks the way Benning said she should. Was something wrong with her?
Myra took a bite of her salad and then covered her mouth. "We really need to get you a necklace for that crystal." Myra pointed at the crystal that lay on the table between them. "It only really
works when it's on your person."
Abi hadn't even realized that she had laid it down. She picked it back up and held it in her left hand while she ate, thinking again about the crystal she’d found at her house. She wanted to ask Myra about it but didn't want to risk Myra telling someone yet.
They ate the rest of their meals in silence and slowly walked back to their huts. Abi said goodnight and climbed up the stairs.
She needed to find an ally—someone who wouldn't run to tell the Consul about the necklace. Someone not afraid to go get it from Cora's house.
And she knew just who to ask.
# THIRTY-TWO
"Where is he?" Gran shoved past Sheriff Belmore, ignoring the shouts from the first officer she’d barged past.
He was lying in a bed. His eyes were open, but they gazed unfocused toward the ceiling. Mer's hand flew to her mouth, tears threatening to form. Handcuffs secured Ben to the bed and he looked haggard and bruised, his hair a mess.
Exactly how Mary had looked seven years ago.
"Mrs. Cole?" The sheriff stepped into her field of vision and she turned away, wiping at her eyes though no tears had spilled yet.
"Why is he handcuffed? Is he under arrest?"
"Well, no ma'am. I—"
"Then could you please take the restraints off?"
She turned and found him struggling for words. "It's more for his own protection than anything else. He broke the softer restraints the hospital uses and he...he keeps trying to hurt himself."
"In what way?"
"Scratching and biting at himself, almost like a nervous tic. Let me get the doctor. He'll be able to explain this better."
Mer nodded, but the sheriff didn't leave yet.
“Has Ben ever taken any recreational drugs, Mrs. Cole?”
The urge to slap him made her hand twitch. “Excuse me?”
“Has Ben—”
“I heard you. The only ‘drugs’ he’s on are the ones the doc gave him for his headaches.”
“Well, we’ll be able to confirm that in a day or so with his tox screens.”
She didn’t like his accusatory tone and felt another one of his long-winded explanations coming.
“I wasn't there when he was restrained, but there's already been several videos posted online about your grandson."
"Get to the point, Sheriff!"
"He had a fit. He attacked two students and tried to rip a chunk of one of their ears off. " Belmore pulled out his cell phone and clicked a few buttons.
How had it come to this? She couldn't imagine the boy lying in the bed in front of her ripping someone's ear off. He had changed. Maybe he’d had an adverse reaction to his medication…
"This is one of the videos." He held out his phone, and she waved it away.
"I'm not interested in watching that."
"You need to understand what happened, Mrs. Cole. Ben didn't have a seizure and pass out. Social media is devouring these videos right now and they're all talking about possession. Now, I know the struggle your family has gone through in the past few weeks, but this is different. The families of both students who he attacked want to press charges."
"What kind of charges?"
"Aggravated assault, bodily injury, hell, one parent even threw around terrorist allegations," Belmore huffed and rubbed his hand through his hair, mussing it. "Watch the video. I'm going to go talk to the parents and see if we can't work something out. The world knows what's going on with Ben and your family, but I don't know if that'll be enough to keep them from pressing charges."
He thrust the phone in her direction and left. She looked down at it. The thumbnail read "Possessed Boy ATTACKS High School." She tapped the play button and a shaky video appeared.
There were screams and yells. The camera was pointing down and the sound crackled a few times before the student righted the camera. Ben stood in the hallway, a circle of students around him. It looked like a school fight, except there was no one in the circle with him.
Ben's face was contorted as if he were squinting, his mouth hanging open. His shoulders were hunched and shook as he panted loudly, swinging his hands out as if to scratch someone not there. The camera jostled again as students pushed backward. Ben stilled and swayed for several seconds before he slowly cocked his head, twisting it to an unnatural angle.
His eyes darted to Mer, staring at her through the student's camera, his head lolling to the side. He lunged forward, shrieking a high-pitched and equally baritone cry. There was more jostling and Mer fought to see what was happening before the camera finally stilled again.
Ben was on top of a boy on the ground, blood in his mouth, the student bleeding and writhing under him.
Another student, a large boy, tackled Ben off the kid. A police officer appeared and together they flipped Ben over onto his stomach, pulling his arm around so hard that Mer winced. He trashed, knocking the student off him. A teacher appeared, three large men now restraining him. Ben's eyes met the camera again but this time they had changed.
The video froze and then played in slow motion as Ben's eyes fully came into focus.
They were black. Not entirely, but where they should have been white they were pitch black, the color leaking into his irises. She nearly dropped the phone and looked up to find Ben staring straight at her from the bed, straining against the handcuffs.
A slow smirk spread across his lips.
"Hi, Gran." His voice was too deep, unnatural. Chills spread over her back and down her arms.
A hand touched her shoulder, and she jumped, the phone sailing across the room and crashing to the floor.
"I'm sorry," Belmore said, backing away. "I thought you heard me come in."
"I can't. This video is...Ben wouldn't do that. He couldn't." When she glanced back at Ben, he had resumed staring up at the ceiling.
The sheriff ignored her comments, retrieving his phone and checking it over. "I spoke with one of the parents, he doesn't want to press charges, but his wife does. He might be able to talk her down, but I'm not sure about the other set of parents. They've got the medical bills from their son's ear.
"He'll have to stay in the hospital until the doctors clear him for release, and then we'll be taking him to the station if the parents wish to press charges. I strongly suggest you do not speak with the parents. Mer?"
"Y-yes, I heard you. Don't talk to the parents." She nodded her head a few too many times, still thinking of the video she had just watched. What had happened to her grandson? Even Mary's episodes had never been so bad. "When can I take him home?"
"That depends on the parents. If he's charged, you can post bail for him, if he's not, then you can take him home once the doctors clear him."
She shook her head, not daring to speak the words she was thinking. It wasn't home she wanted to take him to. She couldn't imagine him sleeping in the room across from hers, not after the video she had just seen.
"Excuse me." Her voice was breathy and she rushed down the hallway, feeling ill, seeing those black eyes staring at her. This wasn't Ben. He would never do something like that.
Mer rubbed at the cross hanging around her neck, fearing this was bigger than what she could handle.
# THIRTY-THREE
Three rapid bursts of explosions woke Abi from a dead sleep. She shot straight up, her hands shaking violently as she threw the comforter back and leapt to the floor. Her legs almost gave out, the soreness from yesterday somehow worse.
"Abi!" The eruptions happened again, but Abi was aware enough now to know it wasn’t explosions. Someone was banging on the front door of her hut.
Her shaky relief twisted into anger. Who the hell was waking her up like this?
She yanked the door open and found a towering figure taking up most of it. He barged right in, and Abi crossed her arms over her chest in horror, realizing she’d forgotten to put on a bra in her haste to answer the door.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" His voice exploded inside her head and she shuffled aro
und him to grab her thought stone from the bedside table.
"We aren't supposed to start training until eight o'clock." As she said this though, she realized that it was already past eight o'clock. By over fifteen minutes. Her face flushed but her thoughts were still slow to form.
"Aha. So you slept in. Need I remind you how much of my time you're already wasting?" He crossed his arms to match her posture, making her look like a little mouse in front of an angry giant.
She wasn't sure what he wanted her to say, but she wasn't in an apologetic mood. Not after the way he’d woken her up.
"Well, if you'll excuse me for a minute." She strode to the door and opened it, motioning for him to leave. "I need to get dressed."
"Not only are you wasting my time, but I'm doing you a favor by being here. Although I was ordered to help you, I'm in charge of whatever curricula you learn." His lips didn't move but his voice boomed inside her head again. "And I can make that training as easy or as difficult as I like."
Abi knew a threat when she heard one and bit her tongue to keep from responding. She also knew the Consul wouldn't allow this man to be in charge of her training if he didn’t know what he was doing. Right?
She motioned at the door again.
He left, his boots striking hard against the wood floor. Abi got dressed, brushed her teeth and pulled her hair back in a ponytail. The previous day’s training didn’t seem to have any positive effects on her. She didn’t feel any different, other than the lingering mental fog.
It had only taken her a handful of minutes but when she joined the Corporal in front of her hut, a fat vein was pulsing in his forehead.
This wasn't exactly the best way to start the morning.
Instead of going around to the side of the hut, they moved to the picnic tables, which had plenty of grass to break her near-guaranteed falls.
"Ready?"
This time, he didn't give her any visions or shout anything inside her brain. Sharp pangs crashed into her stomach like someone was stabbing her again and again. The previous days' training had taught her nothing, and she gasped on the ground in pain for what felt like an hour before Benning let up.
