by Vivien Reis
She wrapped herself around their minds and she felt them latch on to hers. The room. She took herself back, imagining where it was, and the tiny details of the furniture.
This image developed in her mind, blossoming into full color.
And then she jumped.
# FORTY-THREE
Right away Abi could tell something was wrong. She hopped into the hospital room, ready to take cover, but she was alone.
Fear gripped her so tight that she began to hyperventilate. The room was empty and Ben was nowhere in sight. She had jumped with Roderick and Mason, but where were they? Why hadn't Mason taken her back?
Abi had done her job, but now she was all by herself.
A whoosh sounded as Roderick appeared with six other Oracles, who immediately hopped back to transport still more people. It was supposed to be a smooth running chain, except for one person.
"Where's Mason?" Abi forced some measure of calm into her voice, but she couldn't be there. She wasn't supposed to be there. The glowing orbs blasting around in the vague memories of her rescue haunted her thoughts. She had no idea how to do any of that.
"He must have been dropped somewhere along the way." Dropped? That was a thing? "Wait here while the others bring back reinforcements. We'll start spreading out here soon."
"Wait, I need to go back." She grabbed his arm hard, not caring about the surprise on his face.
"I'm not leaving, that's not my mission. If you want to transport back to Elysia then do it. I'm not helping you."
She gaped at Roderick before jumping up to follow him. His rifle was oddly shaped and painted in a shiny silver. More Oracles hopped near them, and Abi wondered what their assignments had been. Were they supposed to rescue Ben? Take over the entire island and put an end to this revolt?
The hallways were deserted.
"Didn't you say there were a lot of people?" Roderick whispered.
Abi did not want to be in the halls with him, but being left alone in the hospital room was even less appealing.
"There were, I don't know what happened."
Her brother hadn't died. He couldn't have.
As they moved down the hallway, four other Oracles at their backs, Abi wondered if she should be carrying one of those weird guns.
"Block your thoughts. We don't want them getting wind of our presence."
"Sorry," she whispered. She couldn't even keep her mind closed off and she was debating holding one of their guns? Yeah, right.
They got to the end of one of the halls and Abi glanced back. Oracles were filing in, all whisper-quiet. They split into two groups, some following Roderick and Abi, the rest heading the other way down the hall. Roderick took a right and Abi trailed behind him a bit, putting a few other Oracles between her and the front line.
The hospital seemed like a maze. None of the corridors they checked looped back to the other Brethrens there with them. They kept wandering, and Abi felt the pull of something buzzing all around her.
"Do you feel that?" she whispered, to no one in particular.
A woman with hair twisted up in braids stopped. "Feel what?"
"I think we're headed in the right direction. I can feel something all around me."
An explosion ripped through the wall barely a few yards in front of them. People shouted, Roderick screaming commands as blue orbs began to fly.
The weapon Roderick held seemed to shoot out concentrated forms of blasts and Abi ducked down low, flattening her body against the wall.
She retreated, along with half a dozen other Oracles, when another blast went off, separating her group from Roderick's.
Oh god. Everything echoed and blasted around her, and she tried to concentrate. She needed to get out of there. She was a sitting duck without so much as a weapon.
But there was too much going on. She couldn't concentrate enough to hop away.
There was more shouting up ahead and blasts flying. Her group stayed put, creeping just far enough around the corners of the wall holes to shoot at whatever lay inside.
"Abi, come on!"
Some of the peppered blasts subsided, only far off ones audible. She ran forward with the rest of the Oracles, meeting back up with Roderick. They continued on until the lights winked out and silence blanketed them. She could hear dozens of people trying to quiet their breathing at once, a couple fumbling with their biocrystals.
They waited.
A pulse rippled through the air toward Abi, and she stumbled backward into another Oracle. It had come down the long corridor to their right, and no one else seemed aware of it.
She approached Roderick, who was waiting just like the rest of them.
Instead of speaking, she sent a tiny message to him, hoping it went through. "Did you see that?"
One bounced back almost immediately. "What?"
"Something came from that corridor. I think that's where Ben is."
Roderick stared at her a long moment before nodding. He waved at the Oracles directly behind him, and they turned to give the same message to those behind them.
They shuffled as quietly as they could down the corridor until a hum stopped them all. It was chanting. The hallway dead-ended into two giant double doors. Abi's heart hammered in her chest, her eyes wide.
A few more hand signals and the team fanned out on either side of the corridor, hugging the wall. Roderick sent a silent comm to another Oracle who vanished, reappearing several moments later with a dozen other people.
As they took the final steps toward the door, it swung open automatically, leaving them all open and exposed.
Roderick jumped forward, hands upraised in concentration, his body stiff. Abi wasn't sure what he was doing, but dozens of people in dark hoods awaited them on the other side.
After a few moments, it became apparent that the hooded figures weren't able to actually see them. One inched forward, weapon drawn, and fired a single shot down the corridor. It missed Roderick, but struck an Oracle behind them. His involuntary grunt set off a chain reaction. Weapons exploded into action and Oracles hopped away, down the hall, out of the corridor altogether, surrounding the hooded figures.
Abi ducked, cringing against the wall, and ran along its side, hiding in the tiny sliver of space behind one of the open doors. When she peeked through the double doors, bolts sailed left and right. Beyond the people fighting, though, was another set of doors. These pulsed at her. She concentrated, imagining herself standing in that spot and then pop. She was on the other side of the fighting. The double doors sensed her there and she squeezed through them as they opened, skidding to a halt.
There were nearly twenty people in this room, and Ben was one of them. A woman stood over him, dressed in deep red robes and brandishing some kind of small dagger. Her hand was poised over Ben, and in a moment of still motion, she hopped beside the woman, attempting to take the dagger.
The woman hopped to the other side of Ben, ready to plunge the dagger down, when a pulse made the double doors rocket inward. Several robed figures went down and the blast jarred the woman, sending the dagger flying.
No. It wasn't the dagger. It was the red stone.
Jesse appeared next to her and held his hands up at the woman. She grimaced, frozen. Abi ran to the stone, scooping it up just as a shockwave pulsed from the woman, sending Jesse flying back. Before his body hit the wall behind him, he hopped behind the woman and drew back to punch her, his fist landing in thin air.
Someone tried to dig into Abi's mind and she pushed back, whirling to see a man advancing toward her. It was the man from the basement. She froze, unable to move, unable to think. He was there. She blinked and his hands were around her throat, squeezing so tightly she thought her head might pop, the pressure rising and rising as he lifted her off the ground, her feet stretching toward the floor.
Ben stirred on the stone table where he lay, meeting her gaze. But it wasn't him. His eyes were blackened and when he smiled, his teeth were pointed.
Darkness threatened the edg
es of her vision as her lungs burned for air. She kicked at the man, landing one hard in his groin, but he only faltered momentarily. It was enough that she was able to hop a few feet, coughing for breath as she backed away from him.
“The crystal, give it to me,” an animalistic voice roared in her head and her eyes again met Ben's. Fighting continued all around him but he was oblivious to any of it.
She looked at the stone dangling from her hand. What was she supposed to do with it? Her strength was already waning, and she hadn't taken any energy crystals. She wasn't supposed to be there at all.
Before she could decide what to do, she saw a familiar face fighting in the crowd.
"Mr. Flynn?"
The man wore a dark robe like the rest of them and when he glanced up, his gaze met hers. He hopped in front of her and she involuntarily took a few steps back.
"Give me that!" He reached for the crystal but she spun, darting on the other side of a tall podium. What was he doing there? Her mind didn’t want to process the dark robe. There was an explanation, a reason for all of this. There had to be.
He grabbed her arm at the same moment she tried to hop away. He forced himself around her mind, landing them on the ground a few corridors back. They were alone, blasts coming from right around the corner.
She took off at a sprint, her legs slow and lethargic. Mr. Flynn hopped in front of Abi and shoved her down. She scooted backward, staring at him in disbelief.
"Mr. Flynn?" His name caught in her throat, coming out in a squeak. She had known this man her entire life. He had been there for her middle school graduation, celebrated with her not three weeks ago when she spread the news of her story.
"Give me the stone." He pretended like he didn't know her at all.
Her nose stung as tears welled. "What are you doing, Mr. Flynn?"
"Oh, stop already. Give it to me!" He lunged forward and she rolled away from him, trying to scramble to her feet. The fatigue of her mind washed over her, she was nearly drained.
He grappled with her foot and yanked her down again. She scratched at his face, feeling his skin building up under her nails, and drew away, standing.
Mr. Flynn screamed, holding his hands to his face, panting. "You!" His anger morphed into a maniacal laugh. "Did you really think you could stop this from happening? After hundreds of years of waiting for the perfect moment?"
"Why? Why are you doing this?"
"Because the system is flawed! You follow the rules? Too bad, you don't get what you want. You break the rules? Boom. Get everything you ever wanted."
"You involved Ben in this. All of this is your fault!"
"Precisely. Oh, our beloved leader didn't believe in me, but I held strong. I knew Ben was the vessel, even though everyone thought it was little Miss Abigail." He said this as if he hadn't seen her grow up, been there for every birthday she'd ever had. "When the Brethren took you from us, they thought all was lost. But I succeeded. I spent hours with Ben, bending his mind and preparing him for the transformation."
Abi narrowed her eyes, unable to think of him as a traitor, as a Kingsman.
"You want to know one of the hardest parts? The medicine from his doctors. That took some finagling, let me tell you."
"And of this is to bring your precious King back? Why? To rule forever? You're nothing but a pawn. I can't believe you would do this to my dad."
"No!" His voice boomed all around her and she flinched, taking a step back. He chuckled. "I wanted your mom. Did you know that we grew up together? On that twisted little island of Elysia. Your mom wouldn't give me the time of day once we graduated, and that's when she found your father."
"You were his friend."
"Only so I could be with her! You saw how she acted around me. She loves me. And now we can finally be together." He advanced toward Abi and she turned, running. He hopped in front of her. She crashed into him, the necklace flying through the air. He hopped underneath the stone, catching it, and rose to his feet.
"What are you going to do?" She held back the tears, determined not to cry in front of this monster.
"Finish the job." He waved and then disappeared with the crystal. Her heart sank. What had she just done?
She summoned the last drops of her energy and hopped back into the main room.
Only now, the tide had turned. The Brethren had retreated out of the room, and Abi had appeared at its center, surrounded by hooded figures brandishing shiny weapons. She was alone. Where had Jesse gone? Roderick?
Mr. Flynn smiled, one that matched Ben's, who was sitting still as a statue, watching her with black eyes.
"My dear sister." Ben's lips had moved but the voice didn't belong to him.
"What have you done to my brother?" She had addressed this question to Mr. Flynn, but Ben's body answered instead.
"Nothing he didn't do to himself." It chuckled, a noise that made her cringe. "I can only possess those who grant me permission."
"Finish it," the redheaded woman said, turning to face Ben.
Mr. Flynn strode toward what was once her brother and handed him the necklace. He twisted until it snapped, breaking the top of the stone off.
It was a vial filled with thick red liquid. He raised it up, touching it to his lips. Abi's eyes widened, not knowing what this would do, but knowing it would be bad.
"Stop!" someone roared and a new wave of chaos ensued.
Brethren Oracles hopped all around them, orbs flying everywhere. Abi ducked down, crawling toward where Ben had been.
The vial was poised at his lips, his head ready to tilt back. She thrust her hand out, willing her mind to reach his, to stop his actions. It was enough to make him pause and that was all she needed.
She leapt toward him, knocking the crystal out of his hand. It sailed across the room in slow motion, red liquid flinging everywhere. As soon as it touched the ground, it blackened and evaporated.
"No!" the redheaded woman shrieked, trying to wipe up the blood with her hands, to somehow cup it back into something.
A lion's roar grasped Abi, pulling her away from the world. As she spun, Ben's face drew closer and closer to hers, dark eyes, purple veins running across his skin.
They landed in a place she had never been. It was foggy and the quiet was deafening.
"You, bitch!" Ben screamed, veins popping up all over his forehead and neck.
She tried to move but her limbs weren't working. No signal reached her body from her mind.
"What have you done?" He held his hand out and crept inside her mind, and she was powerless to stop it. His strength made Benning seem like a dragonfly.
"Benjamin." His name came out as a whisper, before he forced her mind to believe she was choking again.
She looked at him, thinking his name as loudly as she could. “Ben. Benjamin. Ben.”
His grip on her mind started to fade and she fed the fire, sending pictures of them as children together, moments when she was there for his hockey games with her Logan's Bluff Bears sweater. The images poured into him and Ben whimpered. His demeanor changed, and his body slumped.
"Abi?"
"Ben!" She crawled toward him, supporting some of his weight.
"I don't feel so good." He turned, retching all over the foggy ground.
"Ben, oh god. I knew you were in there. I knew it."
"I can't fight Him any longer." His voice was hoarse and Abi felt sick with herself. She had no clue what he had been through. She should have pressed the Vikars to do something with him, to make sure he wasn't also an Oracle. If she had stepped in, he would still be the Ben she knew.
Something popped and Jesse appeared next to her. "We have to go." He made to grab her, but she pulled back.
"No! I'm not leaving him."
"Abi, this is an illusion. He's trying to trick you, to get you to stay."
"Ben is here, Jesse. We have to find a way to help him."
"The Vikars are pulling us out. We have to go before they come back."
She gripped
her brother tightly. She had abandoned him. This was all her fault.
"Abi?" he rasped. "I can't live like this anymore, Abi. I can't do it." Tears streaked down his face. The first time she had seen him cry since they were little kids. It ripped at her insides.
"You have to keep fighting him, Ben."
"I can't." He shook his head over and over and over. "I can't! You have to help me Abi. Help me!"
"How do I help? I'll do anything, just tell me."
He stared at her, his green eyes dull, before whispering, "Kill me."
She withdrew from him, shoving him and the thought away. "No!"
"I can't, Abi, you don't know what it's like. I'm a ghost in my own body and the things he does. I have no control over. He's sucking the life out of me. Please."
"Don't listen to him, Abi! He's lying."
"Please! It hurts so much." His skin was sallow and his eyes sunken. The muscle mass built up from years of hockey was gone. All that remained was a bag of bones in baggy clothes. "Please?"
Tears spilled from her eyes. She couldn't help him this way. She couldn't.
"Abi, just do it! Just help me, please." A short dagger appeared and she stared at it.
Why did he want her to do this? How had he lost so much hope?
"No!" she screamed, sobbing now. She never should have left him, never should have run away that day.
He grabbed her hands, shoving the dagger into them and wrapping her fingers tightly around the hilt.
"No, no!"
He pressed the blade against his chest and waited, his eyes shining.
"I can't," she whispered.
"It hurts, Abi. I want to be free. I can't fight Him by myself anymore."
The tip pressed into his skin, her body moving. He needed her help. She didn't want to, she couldn't. But her weight shifted for her, bearing down on the dagger.
"Abigail!" Jesse grabbed her by the arm and yanked her away.
She shrieked, at the same time Ben did. He transformed from the helpless boy into a growling demon, eyes jet black, a small snake slithering up his bicep.
