A Hidden Element

by Donna Galanti

  She put her hand over is. "I don't know. Adrian might have plans for you." She had to buy them time. And she couldn't let Ben know all that had transpired between her and Adrian.

  "He spoke to you. What did he say his plans for you are?"

  "He wants me to help him lead his people to a new world. I let him think I'll be part of his community. Charlie is his new hope. Tomorrow I'll ask him to let me see Charlie, as a gesture of goodwill. I'll see if I can get inside our son's mind, turn him back to our side."

  Ben looked at her. "Why did he put us together tonight?"

  Laura moved into him and closed her eyes. "I don't know."

  "He has another son. Did you see him in the church?"

  He has another son coming soon too, Ben. But she kept those thoughts hidden. "Yes, he called him Caleb. He said Caleb was training Charlie in Elyon ways. I saw him in my vision, too."

  "Maybe this Caleb can be turned against Adrian. He didn't look too pleased Charlie was named leader."

  "Tomorrow. We'll find a way to fix this tomorrow."

  "Promise me, Laura, you won't let him touch you." He pulled her deeper into him. She felt his heart throbbing against her chest. "I'll kill him if he does."

  "Never, Ben. Only you can touch me. You made this." She moved his hand across their child who waited to show himself.

  But what if Ben learned Adrian had impregnated her? She had to keep a spark of hope that Ben's seed had found its way into her womb. But could she love her baby no matter whose son it was?

  She placed Ben's hand on her breast. "Love me."

  He looked at her, shocked. "Here? In this place?"

  "Yes. I need you to make everything all right for one night."

  He buried his face in her breasts, loving them with his lips. "One night."

  Yes, just let me have one more night.

  "Tomorrow we'll get Charlie back. We'll find a way to get out of here. We'll survive."

  She held his hand, flashing back to the first time she had intertwined her fingers with his and the day they shared secrets buried inside them that forever linked them. Her parents killed by a house fire, his crushed by the spaceship that landed one night and changed their lives.

  And she gave herself to her first and only love, one last time.

  Ben moved into her as he took her on the worn mattress. He gently stroked her, kissing her belly that rose toward him over and over. She wanted him to pour into her. She imagined his seed spiraling up into her uterus, connecting with their child, making him their own.

  As if she called to him, Adrian appeared before her. She closed her eyes as Ben moved across her body. She didn't want to see Adrian while her husband made love to her in their cell. But he remained in her mind, watching, smiling as Ben ebbed and flowed into her. It might be the last time to be with her husband. The next time she offered her body it may be to a monster. He would plunder her. And she would let him.

  She would do anything to save her family.

  CHAPTER 31

  Charlie stood at the altar. The Elyons had gone and Adrian and Caleb remained with him. Leah had kissed him with the promise of more and left. For now she didn't fill his mind. His mind hurt with all that had transpired today.

  Had he really killed his dad?

  He had wanted to. His dad had been weak, like Adrian had said. His killing him proved Charlie was more powerful than him. Hate flowed through Charlie like a golden honey, soothing and sweet. It filled him with power and lust and want. It had felt good to send his hate into his dad. He watched him twist and writhe in pain, and when they dragged his dad away relief surged through him. His mom had cried out in his mind to stop, but he couldn't stop.

  What had he done? Grief welled in him alongside revenge. The two mixed like oil and water in his heart. His dark heart. He was like his mom's twin who had killed so many she loved, like he killed who she loved today. Was it meant to be? Adrian had said so.

  He stared at his hands which looked like Adrian's. Like Caleb's. Like so many others here. He had power in this place. And he had used his power to kill his dad. He had hurt someone weaker than him. It's what bullies did. And in that thought, sweet power filled him. He'd never be bullied again.

  No going back now. He was a Destroyer. Today he'd proved it.

  "You fulfilled your destiny today, Charlie-boy," Adrian said, echoing Charlie's thoughts. "Your human father's purpose in this world was to provide passage for your life. His purpose is done now. Your mother understands. Her place is here with us now. Like yours is. All you've been through has been leading up to this day."

  Charlie looked at Caleb seeking his thoughts, but he revealed nothing.

  "I killed my dad."

  Adrian moved in front of him and pressed his hands on his shoulders. "Look at me, Charlie." Charlie forced himself to look into Adrian's flattened face and yellow eyes, and it filled him with a sense of righteousness. What he had done today was his passage to a new world. If he didn't accept this role and his duties then his people may die out.

  One human's death is so small compared to preventing an entire species' extinction.

  Adrian's thoughts curled inside his head. Yes. He was right.

  Smoke drifted down from candles that burned low, sending long shadows across the sanctuary. "I am your father now," Adrian said. "It's meant to be. And Caleb is your brother. He will continue to train you and help you realize your full potential. And your mother will be here with us, guiding you as well. We are all Madrocs."

  Charlie looked at Caleb, who nodded. "Why me?"

  Adrian flung his arms outward as if claiming the world to be his. A haze of smoke from sputtering candles encircled him like a halo. "You were conceived from despair, Charlie. Your mother was conceived in desperation before my brother died in his ship's crash. You are half human, half Elyon, and my blood. You have a true Destroyer heart, not like some." He frowned at Caleb. "Some of us are weak and incapable of carrying out our destiny, no matter the hard choices. Remember what I said about hard choices, Charlie?"

  "It comes with power."

  "Yes. And today you made a hard choice. You have the power. You were created in darkness and shall lead us out of darkness. Are you ready?"

  Fear and exhilaration exploded inside him. "I'm not sure."

  Adrian frowned. "You need to be sure, Charlie-boy."

  Caleb stepped forward. "Let me take him to the arena. We can work on more skills. That may help. Right, Charlie?"

  Silence stood between them. Finally Adrian nodded and smiled at Charlie. "Good idea. I know you've had a difficult day and this is all new to you."

  "Yeah, new," Charlie mumbled.

  "You need time to adjust and accept. It will come. But don't take too long. Our time here grows short. We need to move out into the human world undercover and begin our mass generation."

  "Charlie understands, don't you?" Caleb stared at him.

  "I do."

  Adrian nodded, apparently satisfied.

  "Come on, Charlie," Caleb said.

  "Yes, go with Caleb. Work on mind bending today. It's what you'll need most in the human world to get what you want."

  Charlie nodded and slipped behind Caleb who strode fast as if he wanted to get far away from the sanctuary and what happened in it today. He turned back once to see Adrian facing the altar, his arms raised. His immense outline glowed celestial in the candlelight, a godly figure to be worshipped and feared.

  And Charlie did both.

  Charlie stood on one side of the arena with Caleb. On the far side a man and woman stood like figures on a stage waiting for their cue.

  "Will I learn to see into to the future today, Caleb?"

  "No, that is the final power to learn when you fully commit to being a Destroyer."

  "Can you do it?"

  Caleb hesitated, as if not sure what to tell him. "No, not yet. Right now Adrian says it's time for you to learn how to get others to do what you command."

  "What does that mean?"

/>   "Hard choices, Charlie. These two volunteers are here to do anything you mind bend them to do. No matter the consequence. You may meet humans out in the world you need to control to carry out a mission."

  The man and woman nodded at Charlie. Both were dressed in jeans and tops, like humans. Like Charlie had dressed days ago. They looked strange to him now. He had gotten used to a path of gray robes wherever he went. It had become comforting.

  The couple smiled at him, waiting.

  "Once you send your thoughts to them then you can control them with speech. It's no different than mind bending to kill. Send your thoughts to the husband first. He is angry with his wife. She has left him and stolen all his money."

  Charlie pierced the man's mind and his smile turned to a frown. He twisted around to the woman.

  "And let the wife know she is angry at him for being a drunk and beating her." Caleb urged him on. "She wants a divorce."

  The wife turned to her husband and shouted at him. "You drunk bastard. I hate you."

  "Now tell him to smack her and yell at her to shut up."

  Charlie commanded and watched in awe at the couple playing out his orders.

  "Go on Charlie, make it up from here."

  A thrill spurred Charlie on. Hit her again, husband. He goaded the man on. She needs to be punished.

  The man did as Charlie said. The woman shrieked.

  Wife, smack him back.

  She did, leaving a red mark across her husband's face.

  Run, wife. Husband go after her. Pull her down. Kick her. Yeah!

  His playthings acted out their parts, grabbing and hitting one another. Blood flew from the woman's nose. The couple scrambled over each other in the dirt. This was like creating his own action movie.

  "Now it's time for the husband to take her down, Charlie," Caleb said quietly.

  Charlie had forgotten Caleb stood there. He was so entranced on the scene he had created before him.

  "You mean…?"

  "Yes. He has a knife. Make him use it."

  Charlie watched the couple smack each other around some more.

  Husband take the knife and plunge it into your wife's chest.

  The man pulled the knife from his back pocket. He popped open the blade. The woman screamed. And screamed again when her husband plunged it into her chest. Blood seeped down her shirt.

  Again, husband. Get her good.

  Adrenalin rushed through Charlie like a racing train. Power filled him like never before. His head pounded with the intensity of it all. His fists clenched, squeezing the rush deeper into him.

  The man stabbed the woman over and over as she clung to his legs. She sank to the ground, covered in blood.

  "Stop," Caleb ordered. The man stepped back and looked down at his kill. Caleb strode to the woman and placed his hands on her. The rush flew out of Charlie as fast as it had come. What had he done?

  He ran over to the woman. "Is she okay?"

  Blood spattered the dirt floor. The husband smiled at him, wiped his bloody knife on his pants, popped it shut, and slid it back into his pocket. Caleb moved his hands across the woman's chest, his hands stained with her blood. Only it was Charlie whose hands should have been stained. He had forced this man to murder his wife.

  "She'll be fine," the man said, rubbing his hands together. "Not the first time she's almost died for the sake of our community." He laughed and put his hands on his hips. Charlie felt sick. At this man's words. At his own actions. He was a Destroyer. Like his mother's twin. Caleb continued to work on the woman. She opened her eyes and smiled. Caleb helped her up. She looked down at her shirt.

  "Another one ruined. Good thing we've stolen plenty of human clothes." She laughed and the man joined in.

  Caleb walked them to the arena gate. "Good work. You can clean up now."

  They left, leaving Charlie to stand in a ring of blood.

  Mom, where are you?

  "Charlie?"

  He looked at his hands. Clean. But he felt dirty. He had made a person stab another in a murderous rage.

  Caleb rinsed his hands under a spigot in the wall. "Are you okay?" He looked at him.

  Charlie nodded, not feeling okay at all. "It seemed like a game. But it was real."

  Caleb dried his hands and walked over to him. "Yes. It's a very real and dangerous game. Our people have done these things many times in the human world to get what we need to survive here." He put his hand on Charlie's shoulder.

  "Kill for real?"

  "Yes, and other things. Mind bend to get money for supplies, to get humans to do what we want, to erase their memories. Once we make our mass exodus and settle into new communities out there we can mind bend humans to be part of our community and breed with us on a planned scale. Our genes will overpower human genes and Earth will be a new Elyon. If we want to survive we must consider our situation one of life or death…as my father says."

  Charlie shook Caleb's hand off and walked away. He looked into the woods that surrounded them for miles and miles in their own world. "And it's what Adrian wants."

  "Not just Adrian. But the leader of the Underground Destroyers who directed his group before we came here. Adrian was chosen to lead our mission here by their laws and grow our people into a new world of our own design to ensure the strongest gene pool."

  "And slowly wipe out all humans?"

  "Yes."

  "What if we go out in the world in peace and let whatever happens…happen?"

  "Then our genes will become diluted over time without a controlled plan. We might not know who has Elyon powers and who doesn't. Some may turn against us. Some may or may not have powers, or know they have powers. And they wouldn't know why they had them unless we showed our true selves. And eventually they might accept these new talents if it happens over many decades, or centuries."

  "Like America's melting pot."

  Caleb looked puzzled. "Melting pot?"

  "It's what we call America. People came from different countries all over the world to find a new life. And we all blended together."

  "And did it have a good outcome?"

  Charlie wasn't sure how to answer. He bumbled around in his head for memories of social studies class. "Well, yes, I guess. People loved America so much they wanted to come here for a new life."

  "So then…this melting pot might work here."

  Charlie thought about it. "But people won't know who Elyons are. If they find out they'll think we're freaks."

  "I watched one of your movies, To Kill a Mockingbird. A man with dark skin. A man who once might have been a slave of humans here in America, right? And now others like him hold down jobs and have homes like anyone else here, isn't that true?"

  Charlie's head hurt from trying to make sense of all this, of what Caleb said, and most of all of how he felt about it all—and himself. "Yeah."

  "And so if people here can go from thinking of this different looking man as a slave, a criminal, and eventually as an upstanding citizen, could they think the same about us?"

  "I don't know. It's not making sense to me. Let me think about it."

  Caleb moved toward him and put his hand on his shoulder again. "Think about it. But keep your thoughts to yourself."

  "I know. Adrian taught me how. And my…dad…he taught me stuff, too." He looked at his feet. "I killed my dad, didn't I?"

  Adrian squeezed his shoulder. "No, Charlie. He's not dead. He's alive."

  A web of light pierced Charlie's dark heart. "But Adrian said he was dead."

  "Yes, well, he was mistaken."

  "Can I see my dad?"

  "No, Charlie. Now is not the best time." Charlie didn't know what that meant but left it alone. He wasn't sure if he wanted to see his dad after what he had done to him, but his dad was alive. That's all that mattered.

  "Come now." Caleb clapped his back. "Let's get some food."

  Charlie sighed and followed Caleb out of the arena. Exhaustion wrung his energy out of him. Using his powers for the dark side
tired him out. He looked back once at the accusing blood dark on the dirt.

  He wondered how much blood someone could lose and not survive. The idea sent a delightful shiver through him.

  And that scared him more than anything.

  CHAPTER 32

  The door banged open. Laura's eyes snapped open as consciousness slammed into her abruptly. She was sucked back into their nightmare. Three robed men pulled Ben off the mattress. One of them was Adrian's son, Caleb.

  "What are you doing?" Laura struggled to her feet. Sleep still carried her in its thick blanket. Dizziness engulfed her and she fell back on the mattress. The men held Ben firm but he shoved them away and lunged for the door. "Ben!"

  One man pulled him back. Ben punched him in the face. Blood sprayed down the man's gray robe. Laura pushed herself up and beat at the man with her fists. "Leave him alone!" He shoved her down on the mattress. Their attackers remained silent in their mission.

  "Don't hurt her, you bastard!" Ben got another punch in before the second man overpowered him and held his hands behind his back. Ben grimaced, trying to twist away but couldn't break free.

  Caleb moved toward Laura. "Are you okay?" He reached out his hand to her then pulled it away.

  She shook her head. "Let him stay with me, please."

  "I can't." His face looked pained as if he wanted to. "Adrian has ordered him to be eliminated."

  "Bastards." Ben kicked his captor in the shins and the man groaned. In a flash the other man swung a knife out from under his robe.

  "No!" Laura stumbled up. The knife gleamed in the sickly light then plunged into Ben's chest.

  Again. And again.

  Ben sagged in the man's arms. His knees fell to the floor. And Laura fell with him. She cradled his head. "No!"

  But his head did not move.

  He was gone now. For real.

  Caleb pried her away. "It wasn't supposed to be like this."

  His companions dragged Ben away. A bloody trail followed him out of the room. The last thing she saw was his face, peaceful in death. He left her here in this foul place. This time he would not be coming back.