The Strange Power

by L. J. Smith

Chapter 15

 

  She felt nothing at all through the telepathic web. It was like being connected to a glacier.

  "Go on," Mr. Zetes said.

  Gabriel glanced at Kaitlyn, then at the white-haired man.

  "I'd rather kill you," he said conversationally, to Mr. Zetes.

  Kaitlyn didn't get it at first. She thought he might just be stating a preference, rather than refusing.

  Mr. Zetes, though, looked unamused. Forbidding. He put one hand behind him.

  "If you're not for me, you're against me, Gabriel," he said. "If you won't cooperate, I'll have to treat you as an enemy yourself. "

  "I don't think you'll have time," Gabriel said, and took a step toward him.

  Kaitlyn grabbed at the metal mesh of her cage. Her numbed brain was finally getting things together. She wanted to laugh hysterically-but it didn't seem right.

  Don't kill him, she thought wildly to Gabriel. Don't really kill him-he's crazy, don't you see? And we've got to do things-police, an institution-but we can't actually kill people.

  Gabriel tossed her the briefest of glances. "You're the one who's crazy," he said. "If anybody ever deserved it, it's him. Not that your idea didn't have its points," he added to Mr. Zetes. "Especially in the rewards department. "

  Mr. Zetes's eyes shifted from Kaitlyn to Gabriel during this exchange. They narrowed, and he nodded slightly.

  Kaitlyn was waiting for some sign of fear. It didn't come. Mr. Zetes seemed calm, even resigned. "You won't change your mind?" he asked Gabriel.

  Gabriel took another step toward him. "Good night," he said.

  Mr. Zetes brought his hand from behind his back, and Kaitlyn saw that he was holding a dark and very modern, very nasty-looking gun.

  "Baron, Prince-guard," he said. And then he added, "If you make a move now, these dogs will jump up and tear out your throat. And then there's the gun-I've always been a very good shot. Do you think you can dispose of all three of us with a knife before we can kill you?"

  Gabriel laughed-a very disquieting sound. Although his back was to Kaitlyn now, she knew that he was giving Mr. Zetes his most dazzling, disturbing smile. "I don't need a knife," he said.

  Mr. Zetes shook his head, gently and disparagingly. "There's something I'm afraid you haven't realized.

  Joyce hasn't tested you since you formed this . . . unfortunate linkage, has she?"

  "So what?"

  "If she had, you would have discovered by now that it's quite difficult for a telepath who is already in a stable link to reach outside that link. Nearly impossible, I believe. In other words, young man, except for communications within your group of five, you've lost your power. "

  Kait could feel the disbelief surging in Gabriel. His walls were lowered now, his attention was focused elsewhere. Then she felt something like the drawing back of the ocean just before a tsunami-a sort of gathering in Gabriel's mind. She braced herself-and felt him unleash it.

  Or try to. The wave, instead of crashing down on Mr. Zetes, seemed to crash around her and Gabriel instead.

  It was true. He couldn't link with anyone else. Not to communicate with them-and not to harm them.

  "And now, if you'll sit down in that chair," Mr. Zetes said.

  Kaitlyn's eyes shifted to the chair. She'd barely noticed it before. It stood on the opposite side of the room from the door, and it looked frighteningly high-tech. It was made of metal.

  With the gun in front of him and a dog on either side, Gabriel backed up to the chair. He sat.

  Mr. Zetes went over and made some quick movements, stooping once. When he stood, Kaitlyn realized that Gabriel was now restrained in the chair by metal cuffs at his wrists and ankles.

  Then Mr. Zetes stepped behind the chair. Two winglike devices swung forward. In another instant, Gabriel's head was held motionless by a device that looked as if it were meant for brain surgery.

  "The crystal can do more than just amplify power," Mr. Zetes said. "It can cause excruciating pain-even madness. Of course, that was what happened with the pilot study. " He stepped back. "Are you quite comfortable?" he asked.

  Kaitlyn was remembering the pain that had resulted from being in contact with a tiny shard of the crystal, a piece the size of her fingernail.

  Mr. Zetes went over to the towering thing with the jagged growths in the center of the room. For the first time, Kaitlyn realized that the metal stand that supported it was mobile. The entire structure, though obviously heavy, could be moved.

  Very carefully and delicately, Mr. Zetes was bringing the crystal to Gabriel. Tipping it slightly. Adjusting it. Until one of the jagged terminals, one of the growths, was resting against Gabriel's forehead.

  In direct contact with the third eye.

  "It will take a while for it to build. Now I'm going to leave the room," Mr. Zetes said. "In an hour or so I'll come back-and by then I think you might have changed your mind. "

  He walked out. The dogs went with him.

  Kaitlyn was alone with Gabriel-but there was absolutely nothing she could do.

  She looked wildly at the door of the metal cage, pulled at it with the strength of desperation. She only succeeded in cutting her fingers. It took her about two minutes to discover that there was no way she could affect it, with fists or feet or the weight of her body.

  "Don't bother," Gabriel said. The strain in his voice frightened her into going over to look at him.

  He was completely immobile, his face white as paper. And now that Kaitlyn was still, she could feel his pain through the web.

  He was trying to hold it back, to close himself-and the pain-off from her. But even what little got through to her was terrible.

  The pressure behind the forehead-like what she had experienced with the crystal Joyce had used, but indescribably worse. As if something alive were swelling there, trying to get out. And the heat-like a blowtorch directed against that spot. And the sheer black agony-Kaitlyn's knees gave out. She found herself half lying on the floor of the cage.

  Then she pulled herself up to a sitting position.

  Oh, Gabriel. . .

  Leave me alone.

  "I'm sorry," she whispered, saying it and sending it at once. I'm so sorry. . . .

  Just leave me alone! I don 'I need you. . . .

  Kaitlyn couldn't leave him alone. She was locked into it with him, sharing the waves of agony that kept building. She could feel them break over her, spread out infinitely around her. Spreading, swelling . . . to include all of them. All five who shared the web.

  Kaitlyn! a distant voice shouted.

  The connection was shaky, tenuous. But Kaitlyn recognized Rob.

  It wasn't just pain. It was power. The crystal was feeding Gabriel power.

  Rob-can you hear me? Lewis, Anna-can you hear me?

  Kaitlyn, what's happening? Where are you?

  It's them, Gabriel! We've got them! It's them! For a minute, despite the screaming of her nerves, Kaitlyn was simply delirious with joy.

  We might lose them any second, Gabriel said. But Kaitlyn could feel what he felt-there were no walls between them now. The crystal had annihilated those. And his relief and joy were as strong as hers.

  Rob, we're in Mr. Zetes's house. You've got to find out somehow where that is-and fast. Kaitlyn told them about the study, and the panel. It might be closed again, but Lewis can open it. But you have to hurry, Rob-come quick.

  If you want to find us alive, Gabriel added. Kaitlyn was amazed that he was even speaking coherently.

  She knew that he was taking the worst of the pain himself. She felt a surge of admiration for him.

  Keep it to yourself, witch, he told her.

  It was an endearment, she realized. Witch. She supposed she'd better learn to like it.

  You could have told Mr. Zetes you'd think about killing me. You could have bought yourself time, she said.

  I don't b
argain with people like him.

  Kaitlyn, through the waves of pain that were starting to be tinged with crimson and carmine, felt an intense pride and triumph. You see? she thought to Rob. Mr. Zetes was wrong about all of us. You see how wrong?

  But Rob wasn't there anymore. The connection had been too fragile-or now the pain was wiping everything out.

  She leaned against the metal cage, dimly feeling its coolness. Hang on, she thought. Hang on. Hang on.

  He's coming.

  She didn't know if she was saying it to Gabriel or to herself, but he answered. You believe that?

  It roused her a little. Of course, she said. I know he is. And so do you.

  It's dangerous. He's risking his own neck by coming here, Gabriel said.

  You know he's coming, Kaitlyn said, able to say it with perfect assurance because she could feel it, directly.

  "Rob the Virtuous," Gabriel said, aloud. He made a contemptuous sound like a snort-which was marred because he almost immediately gasped in pain.

  Kaitlyn could never really remember the time that passed after that. It wasn't time to her, so much as a series of terrible, endless waves that eventually turned brilliant, bursting red and white like molten rock.

  She had no means of keeping track of them, and no consciousness of anything but them. She was alone with the waves of colored agony, thrown about by them like a swimmer caught in a riptide.

  Alone-except for Gabriel. He was there, always connected. They were both being thrown around by the pain, dimly aware of each other. Kaitlyn didn't think it did Gabriel much good to know she was there, but she was glad of his presence.

  It seemed a very long time, centuries maybe, but at last she sensed another presence in the maelstrom that was her world.

  Kaitlyn-Gabriel. Can you hear us now? Kaitlyn! Gabriel!

  Rob. Her own response was so weak and faltering, so small in the huge waves, that she didn't think he would hear it.

  Thank God! Kait, we're here. We're in the house. Everything is going to be all right-Joyce is with us.

  She's on our side. She didn't know anything about what he was doing. We're coming to help you, Kait.

  There was a near frenzy to Rob's words. Emotion- an emotion Kait had never sensed from him before.

  But she couldn't think now. Too much pain.

  She lost awareness until she felt a presence very close.

  Rob. She dragged herself up. The room was both too bright and strangely gray and dim. Alternating, like lightning. Rob was there, golden as an avenging

  angel, somehow coming between her and the pain. And Lewis was there, and Anna, both crying. And Joyce, her sleek blond hair all ruffled like a dandelion. They were running toward the crystal, although Kaitlyn saw their movements as discontinuous, as if under a strobe lamp.

  And then-like a light switch being turned off-the pain was gone.

  It left echoes, of course, and normally Kaitlyn would have found even the echoes unbearable. But it was so different from the actual pain that she felt wonderful. Able to think again, able to breathe. Able to see.

  She saw that Joyce had pulled the terminal of the crystal away from Gabriel. His forehead was bleeding freely, the skin torn. He must have moved his head somehow, in spite of the metal restraints. The blood ran down his face in streams, as if he were crying.

  He'd hate that, Kaitlyn thought. But Gabriel wasn't awake to be hating it. She realized now that it was some time since she'd felt any sort of communication from him, even a scream. He was unconscious.

  The door of the Faraday cage was opening. Rob was beside her. Rob was holding her.

  Are you all right? Oh, God, Kait, I thought I might lose you.

  There it was again. The new emotion. The one that felt almost like pain, but was different.

  Kaitlyn looked up into Rob's eyes.

  I didn't know, he said. I didn't realize how much I had to lose.

  It was like being transported back to the afternoon when he'd looked at her with awe and wonder, on the brink of a discovery that would change both their lives. Except that now he wasn't just on the brink.

  The full discovery was in those golden eyes, shining with terrible clarity. A pure light that was almost impossible to look at.

  It would have been like losing me, like losing my own soul, Rob said, but it wasn't really like him saying it to her, it was as if he were simply realizing these things himself. And now it's like finding my soul again.

  The other half of me.

  Kaitlyn felt it again, the universe around her hushed and waiting, enclosing the two of them. This time, though, there was a trembling joy to the hush, a certainty. They weren't on the threshold anymore. They were passing through. Everything being said between them, without spoken words or even words of the mind. It was simply as if their souls were mingling, joining in an embrace that wasn't quite the web and wasn't quite Rob's healing power, although it had elements of both.

  It was beyond all that. It was a union, a togetherness, that Kaitlyn had never dreamed of.

  I'm with you. I belong to you.

  I'm a part of you. I will be forever.

  Kaitlyn didn't even know which of them was speaking. The feelings were in both of them.

  We were born for this.

  He was holding her hands, she was holding his. She could feel the power flowing between them, the energy like millions of sparkling lights, like fresh, cleansing water, like music, like stars. But she felt she was healing him as much as he was healing her. Giving him back what the accident had taken from him, the part of him that had been missing.

  And then it was all so simple and natural. As if they both knew what to do without thinking-as if they'd always known what to do.

  She tilted her face up, he bent down.

  His lips touched hers.

  In a minute they were exchanging the softest, most innocent kisses imaginable.

  Kait had never thought that kissing a boy would be like this.

  Not even Rob. She'd thought that kissing Rob would be wonderful. But this wasn't like something physical at all. It was simply like falling into the color of Rob's eyes. It was like falling endlessly into sunlight and gold.

  Born for each other. For this.

  A long sunlit wave, a wave of gold, came and carried them away.

  Dimly, gradually, Kaitlyn was aware of a loud sound. A loud vocal sound.

  "I said, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but really. Rob, there's something to do here!"

  It was Joyce, sounding sadly unmusical after the lovely voices Kaitlyn had been hearing. Joyce was looking at them, impatient and worried, and the tears on Anna's face were still wet. It had only been a minute or so since they'd all come in.

  Impossible, of course. Kaitlyn in her heart knew it had been hours, but that was real time, soul time, and not the time that was ticking away on this dreary

  planet. She and Rob had been floating around for hours, but it had only taken a minute here.

  Rob disengaged himself, letting go of Kaitlyn's hands. A small parting, but a hard one. Kaitlyn's fingers curled, empty.

  "I'm sorry. I think I can help Gabriel," Rob said. He got up, took a step, then turned back to Kait. He knelt down by her again. I forgot to say, I love you.

  Kaitlyn gave a half-gasping laugh. As if that needed to be said. "You go help Gabriel," she whispered.

  "No, I need both of you," Joyce was saying. "And quickly. You can't solve this with energy channeling, Rob-he needs to be brought back from wherever he is. I need all four of you to get in contact with the crystal. "

  That broke through the lingering gold haze in Kaitlyn's vision. "What?" she said, standing up. She noticed dimly that she felt good, physically. Strong. Healing power had flowed between her and Rob.

  "I need you all to get in contact with the crystal," Joyce said patiently. "And Gabriel, too-"

  "No!"

 
"It's the only way, Kaitlyn. "

  "You saw what it did!"

  "This time it will only be for a moment. But I need all of you to touch the crystal, everyone who's in the link. Now, for God's sake, hurry. Don't you realize that Mr. Zetes may be back at any minute?"

  Kaitlyn staggered as she made her way out of the cage. To let the crystal touch Gabriel again-impossible. It couldn't be done, it was too cruel. And the crystal was evil; Kaitlyn knew that. . . .

  But Joyce said it was the only way.

  Kaitlyn looked at Joyce, who looked back with clear aquamarine eyes. Eyes that looked anguished but earnest.

  "Don't you want to save him, Kait?"

  Kaitlyn's hand began to itch and cramp.

  She needed to draw-but there wasn't any time. No time. And nothing to draw with. Not a pen or paper in this entire sterile lab.

  "Please trust me, everyone. Come on, Lewis. Just get your hand ready to touch it. When I say now, grab a terminal. "

  Lewis took a deep breath and then nodded. He held his hand ready.

  "Anna? Good. Thank you. Rob?"

  Rob looked at Kaitlyn.

  If she could draw. . . But she couldn't. Looking back at Rob, Kaitlyn made a helpless motion that ended with a nod.

  "We'd better do it," she whispered.

  Joyce shut her eyes and sighed in relief. "Good. Now, I'll get behind Gabriel. When I say now, I'll move him in contact. Each of you grab a terminal and hold on, right?"

  Kaitlyn could vaguely sense the others agreeing. She herself was moving to stand in front of the crystal, one hand outstretched. But her mind was whirring with frantic speed.

  I can't draw . . . not with my hands. But the power's not in my hands. It's in my head, in my mind. If I could draw in my mind . . .

  Even as Kaitlyn thought it, she was doing it. Desperately visualizing oil pastels, her favorite, sweeps of color. First I'd take lemon yellow, fluffy sweeps, with dashes of palest ocher. Then curves of flesh tint-and two small pools of light blue and Veronese green, dotted together.

  All right! What is it? Step back! Step back and look.

  In her mind, she stepped back, and the sweeps and dots made a picture. Joyce. Unmistakably Joyce.