by Vivien Reis
Gran didn't have much of a backyard, and her bedroom window faced it anyway, so he didn't want to do it there. He trekked across the street, catching a cat's glowing eyes in his peripheral as he stepped onto Mr. Nue's front lawn.
Mr. Nue was a stockbroker, or played the stock markets, or poker, or something, but Ben knew he wasn't there. He'd lived across the street from Gran for as long as Ben could remember, and he always left for Florida during the winter months.
Ben crept through to the backyard, fumbling for a few minutes to open the gate on the privacy fence. The snow had melted in patches during the day, and he knelt, placing the stone on the exposed earth. He picked up the tiny dagger.
The lack of trees in the yard allowed the moon to cast a pale, colorless glow over everything. His phone read 11:59. He waited for it to tick over, his palms growing sweaty, only faintly aware of the cold and hard ground under his shins.
“Now.”
He opened the lid on the tumbler, realizing now that the leaves were floating all around in it. Taking a deep breath and holding it, he chugged the gritty tea down, gagging midway through.
The blade slid easily over his index finger, the red a shiny black under the low moonlight. As he smeared the blood over the orb, something stirred in his mind. The black seemed to blot out the translucent sphere in perfectly uneven swirls.
He hadn't thought to bring a bandage or a rag with him and twisted his finger around the bottom of his T-shirt, squeezing it tightly.
The drink lifted his head high, high. He reached forward to pull the paper out of the container and an afterimage trailed his arm like a visual echo.
“Focus,” the voice growled.
Ben read the piece of paper under his phone light, annunciating each word before moving on to the next.
As he finished, he fished the match out from the box and lit the piece of paper, the flames licking dangerously close to his fingers, multiplying and overlapping in his strange new vision.
He waited for a sign, wondering how long it would take. Clouds shifted over the moon and his surroundings disappeared in darkness.
It bubbled under his skin and mixed with the tonic flowing through his bloodstream. The orb glowed brightly as it absorbed the blood, forming a flowing red mist inside the stone.
The vision was coming, he knew it now.
“Bennie boy," the voice called.
But he didn't want to listen right then, he wanted to find out where his mom was.
The voice growled its disapproval. “You've kept me waiting, boy.”
"Please, I need to know. I just need to know where they are."
The red smoke spiraled and Ben was sure it was taking form in something, but then it spun away again. It seemed to be searching for his mom. It was working.
A twig snapped and Ben flinched. A blurry figure stood several yards in front of him.
It was Avery.
What was he doing there? He hadn't seen the boy in over a week.
"Bennie," he said, his body moving stiffly in Ben's warped vision. He stood over Ben and smiled. "I've waited for this moment for a long time."
What moment was he talking about? Ben opened his mouth to speak, wondering how he had even known to find him there.
Avery's smile w i d e n e d and something expanded inside Ben as well. It shoved him to the far corners of his mind, and he cried out in pain. He looked up at Avery as the boy leapt toward him.
He dove straight through Ben, pain searing through his heart, his lungs, his eyes. Everything retreated, the world growing darker as Ben was pushed aside.
A dark and cold door slammed in his face.
As Red watched the transformation, Ben's posture changed. He seemed to take up more room, his shoulders broader, his muscles tighter. Her heart raced.
She sent a silent comm to her nearby Army.
Their King had made it past the second stage.
# FORTY-THREE
Abi slammed into the ground, rolling a few times before coming to a stop. The world moved unnaturally around her, and she flipped onto her stomach, dry heaving.
"This is your fault. This is all your fault." The boy's taunts were like acid in her mind and she winced.
"She's the one?" another asked.
Her arms trembled, but she pushed herself up. Their anxiety, their anger, floated in the air between them. Her legs didn't seem to work, and she stumbled toward one of them, unable to stop herself.
The boy shoved her away, and she almost fell back to the ground.
There were four of them, all older than she was, circling her like wild animals. Abi's heart slammed with every beat, distorting the edges of her vision as she tried to think.
Her only communication had been on accident, and she couldn't use a muscle she couldn't pinpoint. There was no way to keep all of them in her line of sight and she spun in jerky movements, a buzz of fear vibrating through her. She would rather be cornered than circled, her head spinning with the constant turning.
"Are you working for them?" the leader asked. There was something familiar about him, but she couldn't place what.
"No. I—"
"Stitch into her memories," another boy, lankier than the rest, suggested.
"I had nothing to do with any of this. I swear!”
"Liar."
She jumped as the largest boy stomped in her direction. "We're not stupid. A root isn't possible unless two Oracles want to root to one another."
"I didn't know that. Please, my dad…" The words stuck in her throat, refusing to finish the sentence. She spun, afraid of what they might do with her back turned, but they were all around her.
"What else have you told them? Have you told them about Elysia?"
It was impossible to place where the voice had come from, and she looked from the leader to the boy to his right. "No."
A hard shove came from behind her, whipping her head back as she tumbled to the ground. Sand crunched between her teeth and her cheekbone throbbed. She had to get up. Get up. Get up.
She coughed, trying to push herself off the ground.
The leader kneeled next to her, almost whispering in her ear. "The Consul forced my brother to help you and you betrayed him. You betrayed all of us."
The world folded on top of her, crushing the air from her lungs, squeezing at her throat and her head. Oxygen flooded back to her and she screamed, trying to push back at the boy’s attack, but it only strengthened, ripping at her skin.
"Stop!" she roared. The pain left her with an audible snap, and she came to on her side, her knees against her chest and arms around her legs. Her face was wet with tears and streaked with coarse dirt.
"Why did you do it?" the boy yelled. His mind reached out to hers and she stiffened, straining to block his next assault.
It slowed the effect, but the pain burned at her limbs and she lost concentration. She was on fire, every inch of her skin blistering—in her ears, her eyes, and under her fingernails.
Stop! She tried to scream, to push back, to do something, but he was too strong. Her frustration and pain tipped into anger, building as a solid ball in her chest.
The world brightened and the ball grew, moving like plasma through her until it enveloped her. Flames still burned her skin and she cried out, screaming until her hoarse throat couldn't anymore.
She curled her body tighter, the energy of the bright sphere now floating upward. Her mind stepped out of her body, and the ball pulsed bright blue above all their heads.
Two of the boys stared, frozen and tense, while the other two concentrated harder. The pain intensified, but she was separated from her body now, that pain only feeding her anger.
The ball began to shrink, brightening as it did so, and she knew what would happen next. These boys would pay.
"Abi, stop!"
Jesse appeared next to the leader, spinning quickly and knocking the boy down. He writhed silently on the floor, Jesse's outstretched hand silencing him and restraining the boy to the ground. The othe
r three boys hopped away, and then Jesse was next to her, trying to pull her body off the ground. But she wasn't there any more—she was watching from above. The sphere continued to shrink, smaller and smaller.
"Abi, you have to stop," she heard him say. "Come back to me, Abi." He slapped her face and her cheek stung.
She couldn't stop it, though. Her body was closed off even to her. The sphere brightened into a pinprick, preparing to explode outward.
He pulled her into his lap, shaking her body. "Abi!"
His yell pierced through her guard and she inhaled sharply, suddenly in his lap. The orb was gone, but the burning ache in her chest remained. Relief flooded into her from Jesse's mind and he drew her in closer.
Tears streaked down her face, and the closer he held her, the harder she cried. She wanted her dad there with her. She wanted to see him smile again, to hear his familiar voice call her name from downstairs. She wanted to be off the island and back with her family, somewhere she wasn't judged or manipulated or tortured. This place was too much for her.
"Shhh, you're okay." Jesse gently rocked her back and forth, his mind opening to her emotions. She was too tired to hold them back, to throw up her mental barrier, and the vulnerability felt good. Without saying a word, Jesse understood her completely. Her heart swelled, and she clung to him tighter.
His openness seemed to quiet some of her fears and her sobs dissipated. Jesse waited until her hiccupping had subsided and she breathed evenly.
"We have to go. At least have this one taken care of." He was still holding her, and she had to twist around to see what he nodded at.
Adrenaline pulsed through her again. It was the boy who had orchestrated the attack. She had forgotten he was there.
"I'm going to take him to the Consul. They'll know what to do with him."
Abi glared at the boy frozen on the ground. "What about his friends?"
"The Consul will punish them accordingly. That's Benning's adopted younger brother."
She tore her gaze away from the boy on the ground, looking at Jesse questioningly. "Did something happen to Benning?"
"He's missing. Him and at least thirty-two other oracles from this attack alone."
Jesse stood, grunting as he helped Abi up off the ground. Her legs felt like they didn't belong to her, slow to react to her attempts to move them.
They left Benning’s brother on the ground and set out at a slow walk, their weakened minds unable to hop.
"How did you know I needed help?" She grasped his hand, using it for balance. Her eyes ached from the crying and her voice sounded nasally in her own head.
"I noticed you were gone, and I came looking for you."
"How did you know where to find me though?"
"Well, first off I am a tracker, if you remember. Second, I might not have told you about our own little connection."
They had been hobbling off away from the beach when Abi stopped. "Please don't tell me there's something more right now. I don't think I can take it."
He chuckled, an out-of-place sound so innocent and playful compared to the rest of her evening. "It's an echo from the long-distance communication you were able to do weeks ago. A comm like that takes a lot of energy, and there's a bit of that energy remaining between the two of us."
Was Jesse trying to tell her something else? What if he didn't feel the same way she did, or worse, what if he was her affections toward him were a result of this connection?
“And that wasn’t something you thought to mention?”
"Honestly, I didn’t want to freak you out. Anyway, it'll wear off in a couple of weeks."
It took them nearly thirty minutes to hobble back to the hospital. The chaos had died down considerably, but there were still people hopping in and out of Elysia all around them as they walked.
Jesse left Abi with Myra, who seemed to be using her break to sit beside Theo. She was holding his hand, and Abi wondered if they had ever done this before tonight.
She hoped that they had.
Jesse hopped away to talk to the Consul and deal with Benning's brother.
Abi sat in a chair next to Myra, asking a question she had hated being asked herself. "How's he doing?"
Myra shook her head. "His mind has receded into itself like some of the other Oracles here. He must've sustained a heavy mental blow. I'm just glad they got him out alive."
"Can I get you anything?" Abi promised herself this would be her last question.
"I'm good, thank you. And besides, you're not supposed to leave my sight."
With whatever remaining mental energy she had, Abi concentrated on guarding her thoughts. She didn’t want sympathy from Myra, didn’t want to pull her away from Theo, and wanted to live just a little longer without dealing with it.
It was morning before Jesse returned, looking just as exhausted as she felt. She had tried to sleep in the uncomfortable chair beside Myra, but could never seem to doze off completely.
He took her hand, asked if she thought she was able to hop, and transported her to a hut she had never been to before.
It was much like her own hut but larger. There was a small living area with a kitchen and two bedrooms on either side. It seemed like a family home.
"Is this where you stay?"
Jesse let go of her hand and headed to the kitchen, giving her that dimpled smile. "No, the Consul allowed us to use this one just for today. Since it holds two beds and can sleep another person on the couch, it's a hot commodity right now. They're doing a lot to house every Oracle to make sure they're safe, so tomorrow night won't be as nice."
All of this was above her. Like Myra, Jesse seemed so much more mature than Abi felt. He seemed to have so much to worry about, but kept Abi in the loop. He hadn't forgotten about her even though his work was off the island.
"Abi, I need to tell you something. It's important."
She eyed him, wary of what he was about to say, too exhausted to protest.
"That thing you did back there, when they were attacking you, did you know what that was?"
"The glowing thing?" She thought she might have imagined it.
"Yes. Do you know what you were doing?"
"No." His tone frightened her. She hadn't been trying to do anything when it had happened. “Why?”
"During your rescue, do you remember seeing blue flashes of light?"
She did.
"Those blue flashes are called bolts—they're like bullets. What you tried to do out there was the equivalent of setting off a nuclear bomb."
But she hadn't meant to. The energy had flowed from her of its own accord. "I didn't know..."
"I know." He held up a hand. "The Consul will hear about this—"
"But I couldn't know it was wrong. I don't even know how I did it."
"It's okay, Abi. You won't be in any trouble. I just need you to understand what it was. You could have killed everyone within miles of your location, including yourself. Promise me you won't ever do that again."
She nodded, not sure how she could make such a promise. The sensation of the orb building in her chest had just happened. How could she avoid doing it again if she didn't know how she had done it before?
That was all he said about the matter, and motioned for Abi to go into the room on the left. He leaned against the doorframe as she slipped past him.
A change of clothes lay on the bed for Abi, a simple T-shirt, and joggers.
"I hope you don't mind, this is just some extra stuff I had. I figured you might want to shower after everything that happened last night."
A rosy warmth spread across her cheeks. Was she about to wear a boy’s clothes? A boy that she liked? She turned away from him and mumbled a thank you, afraid she didn't have the mental ability to block her emotions right then.
She showered, streams of dirt and sand flowing slowly down the drain. She twisted her hair into a bun once she was out, getting a thrill as she put on Jesse's clothes. They smelled like him, his cologne or deodorant or soap mingling
into the fabric.
When she came back out, there was a pallet of blankets with a pillow on the floor next to the bed. Jesse walked into the room and set a glass of water on the nightstand, surveying Abi.
"Well it's not runway material, but you look comfortable."
Her lip twitched, a smile dying before it reached her lips, and then motioned to the ground. "What's this for?"
"Well...I figured you wouldn't want to sleep alone. I mean, if you want, I can definitely sleep in the other room. I don't mind at all, and I guess I should have asked you first. I can just—" He made to grab the pillow on the ground, but Abi waved at him to stop.
"No, no. I didn't mean it like that." How had she meant it? She certainly hadn't wanted him to sleep in the bed with her. Had she? "You're right, I don't want to be alone right now." A rush of excitement hit as she said this. She had never been so forward with anybody, so open with a boy.
Cora would have—
“Cora! Is she okay?” She’d forgotten about what he’d said before, that Cora was hurt.
A brief smile that didn’t stick flashed, like he was trying to fool her. “I don’t know yet. I can’t imagine what my mom must be going through, but I just took her. There’s nothing a traditional doctor can do for her anyhow. Myra said she’d let me know if anything changed.”
Tears stung her eyes again, but she choked them down. She didn’t know if she had anything left anymore.
“Jesse, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
“Don’t. Really.” He held his hand up. “You didn’t know. You couldn’t have.”
“But if I hadn’t left the stone with her—”
He crossed the distance between them so quickly she almost stepped back. But he wasn’t look at her in anger.
Slowly, he traced the side of her jaw with his thumb, his fingers
She formed the response in her head and was surprised when she started to say it, her filter not catching it. "I can't believe there's a boy sleeping on the floor next to me."
"A boy? Come on, you gotta give me more credit than that."
Emboldened since he wasn't able to look at her as they talked, she said, “What am I supposed to call you? A man?"
