by Kyra Dune
“But I kil-”
“Stop.” He laid his hand on my shoulder. “I don’t want to hear any more about it. Let it go, Abby. Otherwise it’ll eat you up inside. And don’t tell anybody else about what really happened at the airport, okay?”
I nodded. He didn’t have to worry about me saying a word. “I’d like to be alone for awhile before we have to go to the compound. Would you ask Brandy and Curtis to stay with you in your room for a little bit?”
“Sure.” He squeezed my shoulder and then stood. “Try not to worry too much. Everything is going to turn out all right.”
“Okay.” I knew he meant well and he was only trying to make me feel better, but I really wished he would stop treating me like a little kid. I was old enough to know everything doesn’t always turn out all right. No matter how much you might wish it would.
After Derek left, I went into the bathroom and ran a tub full of water as hot as I could stand it. I sank in up to my chin and tried to relax, but I couldn’t shut off my mind. You know how it is when you have a hundred thoughts all bouncing around inside your brain like ping pong balls? That’s exactly what I had going on.
I closed my eyes, thinking maybe it would help. Instead, images I didn’t want to remember flashed through my mind. All those emotions came bubbling up to the surface until I started to feel a panicked, closed in feeling again, like at the airport. The feeling like all the air had left the room and I was suffocating.
Water slapped me in the face. My eyes snapped open and another wave hit me. Yeah, you heard me right. A wave. In the bathtub. I sat up straight and it was like I was sitting in my own personal, miniature ocean. Which probably sounds cool in theory, but trust me it was not cool at all. It was terrifying.
“Stop.” I whispered. “I’m in control and I want you to stop.” Panic fluttered in my stomach as the waves only got choppier, until they were sloshing over the side of the tub and onto the floor. I tried to focus on my power, to control it, only I couldn’t find it. I couldn’t feel it inside of me to make it stop. I had no idea how I was doing what I was doing.
Which only made me scared and frustrated, two emotions I did not need to add into the mix. But it wasn’t as if I could help it. “Stop it!” I shouted, slapping at the water. “Stop it, stop it, stop it!” Okay, I know, at this point I was practically a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. Not my finest moment.
The air stirred, chill against my wet skin. It swirled in front of my face, gathering up water until I was staring at a minuscule tornado. I shrieked and leapt out of the tub, sliding across the wet floor into the door. I was totally freaking out, which of course was only making things worse.
I don’t know how long the pounding on the door went on before I heard it. Luckily, I still had enough wits to wrap myself in a towel before I stepped out of the bathroom and yanked the door to the room open.
Zack stood in the hall, fist poised as if to knock. He took in my disheveled and frantic appearance, then pushed me back into the room before shutting the door. “What happened?”
I pointed into the bathroom, where the tornado had risen to the ceiling and was flicking droplets of water against the walls. “I can’t make it stop.”
Zack looked inside and said a word my parent’s would have grounded my for a week for saying. He gave me a stern look. “You need to calm down. Right now.”
“Don’t you think I tried?” My voice had risen to a whole new level of shrill. I was in full on panic mode.
“Try harder.”
“Easy for you to say.” Anger rose up in me. Like I didn’t have enough going on already. Wind rushed past me and hit Zack, shoving him into the wall.
“Oh my god.” I clapped both hands to my mouth. This was it. I had completely lost control of my powers and something terrible was going to happen, I just knew it. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” Then I started to cry on top of everything else.
Zack grunted. “It’s okay. I’m fine.” He took a step toward me and laid both hands on my shoulders.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Nothing I haven’t done before.”
A chill hit me like nothing I had ever felt before. It swept through my body, shocking my nerves. Icicles shot out of the bathroom and stabbed in the wall only inches from where we stood. But I was too numb to react. Almost too numb to even think. I blinked slowly and it felt as if ice had formed on my eyelids.
“Abby?” Zack’s hands moved to my face. I could barely feel them, my skin was so cold. He cursed, whipping off his jacket to wrap it around me. “Come on, we need to warm you up.”
We sat on the bed and he reached over to turn the heater on full blast. Then he wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me close against his side. “You okay?” He rubbed his hand up and down my arm as he spoke.
I nodded. Only I wasn’t okay. Not really. I was scared. Not of him, but of how much force he had to use to back my powers off. It was a good thing he was battle trained or no telling how far things might have gone.
I tilted my head to look up at him, needing to talk about something, anything, to get my mind off what had happened before I started to panic all over again. So I said the first thing that popped into my mind. “Why did you do it?”
He frowned. “Do what?”
“Tell them you killed that woman.”
He shrugged, shifting his gaze away from mine. “Like I said, I don’t care what your friends think about me. I’ve racked up enough kills in my life, it’s not like claiming one that wasn’t mine is going to hurt me any.”
“But why did you do it?” I pressed. “You didn’t have to say anything. You could have let me tell them the truth.”
“Would you rather I had?”
He was irritated again and it wasn’t what I’d meant. “No. I... I’m trying to say thank you, but I’m not doing a good job of it. It meant a lot. What you did. The way you’re always there for me. It’s good to know you have my back.”
Our eyes locked and suddenly I didn’t feel cold at all. Our faces were so close. Our lips only inches apart. I knew he was going to kiss me. My breath caught even as my heart raced. Then a startled gasp had me twisting around to find Brandy staring at us from the doorway. So much for Derek keeping her in his room.
Brandy’s gaze shifted from us, to the icicles melting down the wall, then back to us again. “We thought we heard a noise.”
“We?” The word came out a little strangled. Sure enough, Curtis came peeking over her shoulder, eyes wide. And as if that weren’t bad enough, a second later Derek was charging past them into the room. His expression darkened when he saw us and I can only imagine what he must have been thinking.
“What’s going on in here?” he asked.
Zack stiffened. “We had a little incident, is all. It’s been taken care of.”
“Yeah, I can see how you’re ‘taking care of it’.” Tension built across his shoulders. “Get your hands off my sister.”
“I’m only trying to warm her up,” Zack said through gritted teeth.
“Why would she need....” Derek’s voice trailed off as his gaze cut to the side and he noticed the icicles for the first time. He called Zack a nasty name. “You used battle training on Abigail, again? Are you insane?”
Before anybody could react, Derek was across the room, hauling Zack off the bed by the collar of his shirt and then slamming him into the TV stand. “You are out of control.”
Zack’s hands curled into fists. “Abigail is the one who is out of control. She couldn’t get a handle on her emotions, so I had to do something to help. I only used as much force I needed.”
“You couldn’t think of a better way to help than attacking her?” Derek asked, right up in his face.
Zack looked Derek straight in the eye and said the worst possible thing he could have said. “Another idea for distracting her crossed my mind, but I don’t think you would have liked it any better.”
Derek took a swing at his head, but Zack
ducked under and rammed his shoulder into Derek’s chest, driving him backwards. I jumped up in time to avoid them as they hit the bed. They rolled to the floor with Derek on top and he managed to land a solid punch to the side of Zack’s head before he was kicked into the desk. Something in both their eyes scared me. They hated each other and if it came down to using their powers, somebody was going to get killed.
“Stop it!” I screamed. Air whooshed past me and slammed both of them face down on the floor, holding them there. “Both of you, stop it, right now.” My chest was so tight it was a miracle I could even breath, let alone speak.
They glared at each other as they lay panting on the floor. I was so scared all I’d done was delayed the inevitable and the thought of them hurting each other over me was one thing too many to deal with. I dropped onto the bed and burst into tears. The power left me to feel like nothing more than a teenage girl in way over her head.
Brandy stepped over the boys and wrapped me up in a hug. I couldn’t see her expression with my face pressed against her shoulder, but I could imagine her giving them a killer look over the top of my head. “Everybody out, now.” Her tone left no room for an argument. “And as for you too, don’t you dare to even consider finishing this nonsense outside. If either of you care about Abby in the least, then you will go your separate ways and stay gone until you’ve both calmed down.”
I heard them leave. Heard the door shut behind them. I sagged into Brandy’s embrace. “This is all so messed up.”
“Come on.” Brandy urged me to my feet. “Let’s get you cleaned up.” She led me into the bathroom and sat me down on the lid of the stool. She ran hot water over a washrag and handed it to me before leaning up against the doorframe with her arms crossed.
“All right,” she said. “Tell me what happened. Why are you wearing nothing but a towel and Zack’s jacket? Why were there icicles embedded in the wall? Why is this floor sopping wet? What –?”
I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing. Brandy frowned, tapping her foot against the tile while I pressed my face into the washrag and laughed until I was gasping for breath. By the time I was finished I actually felt a little better. I sat back against the cold porcelain and lowered my hands to my lap.
“Are you finished?” Brandy asked.
“I think so.” Another giggle bubbled up. I pressed my fingers to my lips. “Sorry. Last one. I promise.” Maybe I should have felt bad for so obviously irritating her, but I didn’t. A little moment of hysteria had left me feeling somewhat calmer.
“Then can you answer my questions?” she asked.
“Okay.” I started with me getting into the tub and ended with them coming into the room. Of course, I left out a few details, like the almost second kiss and Zack’s lie. But it’s not like those were important. At least, they weren’t important to her.
By the time I was finished, I didn’t feel much like laughing anymore. “I’m so sacred, Brandy. I don’t understand these powers at all. Sometimes, they do exactly what I want them to do, and other times it’s like something comes over me and I can’t control it. Like, somebody else is using my powers through me. Only there isn’t anyone else. It’s all me. And that scares me most of all.”
I looked up at her. “What if it wasn’t Zack at the door? What if it was you, or Curtis?” I looked at the wet splat quickly drying on the wall and imagined instead of water, it was blood. “Oh god.” I buried my face in the washrag.
“You wouldn’t have hurt us.” Brandy laid her hand on my shoulder. Her fingers were cool against my skin. “I know you, Abby. You could never hurt someone you love.”
I wanted to believe her, I really did. But I couldn’t afford to lose myself to blind hope. Alice had told me once how my powers were a weapon and she was right. They were a weapon. A powerful, dangerous weapon in the hands of someone who had no idea how to control them. I was like a three year old with a loaded shotgun. Only worse, because no one could take my power away from me.
My only chance was to convince Megara to help me. Clearly training on my own or even with Zack wasn’t going to be enough. I needed another hybrid, someone who understood my powers the way I needed to understand them. Someone who could help me learn to control them. If we couldn’t find her, or if she refused to help then... Well, I didn’t even want to think about it.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I pressed my forehead to the cool glass and stared up at the night sky above the trees. My nerves were strung tight and I was having a hard time holding my feelings in check. But I was working on it. The last thing we needed was for me to lose control in the back of a rental car.
Curtis rested his hand over mine. “You okay?”
I lifted my head and caught Zack watching us in the rearview mirror. Our gazes only held for a second before he looked away. Still it was enough time for me to see his worry. Not exactly a confidence booster.
“A little nervous is all.” I mustered up a smile for my cousin even though it was such a lie. I wasn’t nervous, I was terrified. The last time I got caught in the compound doing something I wasn’t supposed to be doing I ended up chained to a bed and Derek almost died. I was glad he wasn’t with us this time around, but Zack and Curtis were in as much danger as he ever was. Again, because of me.
They would kill Zack if they caught him. No doubt about it. He was a renegade, a crime punishable by death. I was less certain about what they might do with Curtis. I couldn’t imagine them letting him walk away with all he now knew about dragons. And if they wouldn’t hesitate to drown newborns in a sink, then they probably wouldn’t hesitate to execute a fourteen year old.
“Hey, Curtis,” I said. “Have I told you how sorry I am you got dragged into this mess?”
“Nobody dragged me anywhere,” he said. “I came because I wanted to. You’re my family, even if we aren’t blood, and you need my help. So here I am. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Pretty amazing, huh? “Even if I am a freak with uncontrollable powers?”
He shrugged. “Everybody has their little faults.”
I laughed. “Thanks for the understanding.” I put my arm around him and pulled him closer until our foreheads touched. “You know I love you, right?”
“I know. I love you too,” he said. “But you have to promise me something.”
“What?”
“Promise me you’ll never take off on me like before. And you’ll always let me in on whatever you got going on. Don’t shut me out like some kid who can’t handle it.”
My throat tightened. “I promise.”
Zack pulled the car off the side of the road. “The compound isn’t far now. We’ll go the rest of the way on foot.”
I climbed out of the car on wobbly legs. I was feeling scared again but it was something I was getting used to feeling. What does that say about the kind of life I was leading?
Zack led the way into the woods. The trees loomed overhead, thicker and more menacing in the dark than they would have been in the daylight. I wondered if this was part of the woods were I saw Zack kill for the first time. Not a pleasant thing to be thinking about, especially since it would only lead me to thoughts of the little boy I’d allowed to be taken off to his death. I had enough on my head as it was, I didn’t need all of that.
It didn’t take long for us to reach the wall. It seemed so much taller than I remembered. I wiped my sweaty palms against my jeans. This was it. No turning back now.
“So, are you going to tell us the plan yet?” I asked. “Or didn’t the drive give you enough time to think of one?”
Zack looked at me sharply and I raised a brow. Did he really think I was so stupid I didn’t know he hadn’t come up with a plan before we left the hotel? It was the reason I’d snuck myself and Curtis out of there without saying a word to anyone. Something I felt really guilty about and not only because I knew I could expect a good, long lecture from both Derek and Brandy when we got back.
“We don’t want to break into the compound with
as much... flare as when we broke out,” he said. “So we should go over the wall where we’re least likely to be seen. I was thinking here, around back near the cornfield.”
“What if they still have guards at the corn crib?” I asked. “Or out on patrol. They could be watching the wall.”
Zack shook his head. “Those guys were only out there because of your brother. They have no reason to think anybody would want to sneak in and nobody but us had a good reason for wanting out. It’ll be safe.”
“You don’t know that,” I said. “You’re only guessing and a guess isn’t good enough right now. We have to be extra careful.” I cut a sideways look at Curtis.
“Hey, I saw that.” Curtis crossed his arms over his chest. “You promised not to treat me like a kid. So you don’t have to hold back on my account. I can take care of myself.”
“No offense,” I said, “but you really can’t. Not in there. Most of the people on the other side of this wall are dragons with active powers. And you’re... you. So yeah, we do have to hold back on your account. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“Over the wall is our only way in,” Zack said. “Unless you want to try walking through the front gate.”
I made a face, but I knew he was right. It was only that I was scared. For them and for myself. But I didn’t want him to think I was a coward. “Fine. Over the wall it is. But how? This thing must be, like, ten feet of solid concrete. We can’t exactly sprout wings and fly over.”
“Actually, it’s thirteen feet of solid concrete,” Zack said. “But we don’t need wings to fly.”
I stared at him for a full minute before I understood what he was getting at. “No.” I shook my head firmly in case the two letter word wasn’t strong enough to break through to Zack’s stubborn brain.
“No way. No how,” I said. “I could kill one of you.”
“You are not going to kill us,” Zack said. “This is no different than floating pop cans and bottles, which I’ve seen you do plenty of times.”
