The Riser Saga

by Becca C. Smith

  And Dean’s.

  Whoa. I could see him, like an outline of him. I knew no one else could, but every time Dean moved whichever part of him moved would leave the same trail of light.

  In fact, any time anyone moved there was a trail of light. It wasn’t just the hearts. I wondered what that meant. The hearts were the only thing that continuously gave off the light because they were constantly moving. I concentrated on Elisha’s heart and found Isabelle’s mind grasping on to it because of its movement. It felt very similar to when I connected to the dead. I can puppeteer the dead because once I have control over their swirling holes the rest of their bodies are mine to move.

  It was almost the same here. Because Elisha’s heart was beating steadily I could grasp onto the trails of light surrounding it. I could make it stop because I controlled its movement. I controlled its movement because it was moving. This was seriously blowing my mind.

  I slowed Elisha’s heart rate down so low that her blood pressure dropped instantly. The girl passed out before I even made it across the room.

  Eva moved the knife closer to Ryan’s neck, “Don’t come any closer. I’ll kill him.”

  “No, you won’t,” I made Isabelle say.

  Dean had snuck up behind Eva and now appeared, grabbing the arm holding the knife and making her drop it to the floor. He reached up and started to grab Eva’s head to snap her neck.

  No!

  I connected to the movement of his arms and hands just like I did with Elisha’s heart and…

  …made him freeze.

  Dean was stuck in mid-pose.

  Eva took full advantage of this pause and wiggled herself free. She leaped to Elisha’s side and crouched over her protectively.

  Dean looked at me with complete shock. Apparently, Isabelle had never done anything like that before. I felt disbelief running through my mind-inside-Isabelle’s system, too: she seemed to be reacting the same way as Dean. I had done something with her powers that, even after three hundred years, she’d had no idea she could do. Oops. Somehow, I knew I’d regret that. Giving more power to your enemy is never a good thing. I’d learned that first hand a few times already.

  I kept holding onto the trails of light that had formed when Dean moved, keeping his arms in place. He started to walk forward towards Eva and Elisha. I connected to the trails of light his legs were making and made his legs stop as well.

  Isabelle could control anything that moved.

  If they weren’t moving she had no power over them.

  “You’re not Isabelle,” Dean looked at me, his eyes cold and calculating.

  “I’ve taken over for a while,” I made Isabelle say.

  I quickly connected to the trails of light making Eva’s heart beat and made her pass out on top of Elisha.

  No killing.

  I was sick of it!

  I hurried over to Ryan and uncuffed him. His eyes met mine, confused.

  “It’s me, it’s Chelsan. They were going to leave us here so I took over Isabelle’s body.”

  Ryan hugged Isabelle/me, but refrained from kissing her. Good boy. That would have been awkward later. “Let’s get you down from there,” he said, looking up at my near-unconscious body.

  I made Isabelle unhook my body from the ceiling. I could only imagine how much that must have hurt and I counted my lucky stars I didn’t have to.

  Ryan held my body like I was made of glass. He looked up at Isabelle. “We have to get you to a hospital.”

  “I have something better, but I can’t take all of it because Max needs some too.” I realized Ryan had no clue what I was talking about, but I wasn’t leaving without the formula. Literally. I think my body would keel over and die first.

  As Isabelle, I turned to Dean, “You’re going to help me, then you’re going to let Ryan and I leave. When we’re far enough away I’ll return Isabelle’s brain to her, okay?”

  Dean actually seemed more amused than angry at this point. I think he was getting a kick out of all this magic-mojo-stuff. “We’re the ones who wanted to save you two in the first place, in case you didn’t know.”

  “I had to take over Isabelle’s body to come back, so I’m not impressed. Do we have a deal or not?” It must have been odd for Dean to hear Isabelle say those words, but he shrugged in agreement all the same.

  “Deal.”

  “Ryan, you stay here and tie Elisha and Eva up. We’ll be back,” I said.

  “Be careful.” Ryan eyed Dean suspiciously. “Don’t keep your eyes off that guy.”

  “Don’t worry, I can see him when he fades into the walls,” I told Ryan to calm him.

  Dean didn’t look too happy about that.

  “What? Isabelle never told you that?” I made Isabelle ask him.

  “Maybe she can’t. I’ve never seen her do this either.” He nodded to his frozen arms and legs. “And I’ve known her for three hundred years.”

  “Maybe she’s a little slow.” Wow. I was being mean, but I was really annoyed at this crack-assassin team. “Let’s go.”

  I released Dean from being a human statue and led the way out of the room. Dean was using his blend-into-walls power, but now that I could see the streams of light whenever he moved it was easy to track him. I wondered if Isabelle had ever been able to see Dean before, but I didn’t really want to open the lines of communication with her for fear of her bumping me out. I didn’t think she was powerful enough to do it, but when you’re feeling out of control and angry… I shuddered to think of all the things I’d done in situations like that. Including what I was doing right now by taking over Isabelle’s body.

  As we walked through hallway after hallway, each one was littered with the dead bodies of Elisha’s guards. I couldn’t help but feel it was my fault they were all dead. If I didn’t have my abilities Elisha would have used dead soldiers to guard this place. Because she was afraid of me being stronger than her and taking over her own men, she had hired live people. Now they were dead. Elisha wouldn’t care. Either way they’d still work for her. But it made me sick to think that I was inadvertently responsible for even more deaths.

  It also disgusted me that the woman I was inhabiting could murder so ruthlessly. What happened to Isabelle that she could kill so easily? I almost didn’t want to know. Almost.

  I opened the door to the lab and I gasped at the sight. All the scientists were dead, necks broken.

  Pissed off I turned to Dean’s semi-invisible figure, “You guys are sick! They were innocents!”

  Dean materialized and looked a little ruffled at the fact that I had turned to where he had been standing when he was completely cloaked. He didn’t like the fact that I could see him. Of course, as soon as I left Isabelle’s body I wouldn’t be able to any more. That scared me more than I cared to admit.

  “They were collateral damage. We needed Fortski.” Dean didn’t even break a sweat. He really didn’t give a crap. To him killing was like picking grass, something that needed to be done but wasn’t a real loss.

  I couldn’t wait to get out of this girl’s filthy body and be as far away from Harry and his team as I could. I was siding with Turner and Roberta on this one. These people were foul.

  “If I was in my body I’d make these corpses torture you.” No I wouldn’t, but it felt good to say. And it made Dean hesitate. He was scared of my power, I could tell. Probably because Elisha had used it to control his friend Charlie after she murdered him.

  I made Isabelle storm past Dean and out the door to the courtyard.

  Oops.

  Spread out before us was an entire army of Elisha’s men, loading their guns and setting up for a major assault. They must have rallied here and planned on taking the compound back.

  When they saw Isabelle/me suddenly walk in on them, they all swung their guns up and were about to shoot…

  I connected to their light trails and stopped all of them instantly. At least a hundred men were standing in front of me with the top half of their bodies motion-still lik
e rocks. After a few seconds of horror they tried to charge me like I was a red flag and they were the bulls. I made their legs freeze in place.

  Dean was actually amused now that it wasn’t him that was trapped.

  The men were yelling and barking orders, but none of them could move. I just kept them standing exactly as they were. It was strange, almost like when I controlled dead people, except these guys were freaking alive – trying to fight back.

  I made Isabelle move to the back of the courtyard and dig up the small bottle of serum.

  “How long can you keep them that way?” Dean asked.

  “As long as I’m in this body,” I said and hurried to the door.

  When we were both through I slammed the door shut, placing a nearby chair under the doorknob. “Ryan’s going to carry my body to the escape hovers my grandparents sent. As soon as we’re safely away I’ll jump out of Isabelle. The men out in the courtyard will be released the moment I leave Isabelle. I don’t know if Isabelle knows how to use her powers like I do. I’m sure it won’t take her long to figure out, but you guys might be in trouble. Those men will be after you.” As angry and disgusted as I was at Dean and Isabelle, I still didn’t want them to die. They were the only two that had actually wanted to rescue Ryan and me. Maybe it wasn’t their fault that they were so brainwashed by Harry. Three hundred years is a long time to take orders. Questioning those orders might not be easy for them.

  “We handled Elisha’s guards just fine twenty minutes ago, but thanks for the warning.” Cocky much?

  “You may be able to handle the live ones, but I’ve seen how you guys do against the dead ones, so have fun.” I was tired of helping these guys out. They were so used to being elite that they didn’t realize when they were out of their depth. They had tried twice now to stop dead guards and guns just didn’t cut it. Only Dean could disappear into the walls, Isabelle would be forced to fight her way out and she couldn’t stop the already-stopped hearts. Maybe if Isabelle could remember how I controlled movement she could get the live and dead soldiers to stop long enough for them to escape.

  At this point it was their problem.

  I swung open the door to the torture chamber and was relieved to see Ryan sitting there safe. My body was laid carefully in his lap and he was stroking my hair. I couldn’t wait to wake up in my own body and see him staring down at me. I was almost jealous of myself.

  I made Isabelle hurry over to Ryan and me. Pulling out the small bottle of Fortski’s wound-healing medicine, I decided I was going to be the one to pour the potion in my mouth. I couldn’t trust Ryan in this situation. He’d give me the whole serum for fear of me being hurt, and I needed to save at least half the bottle for Max. He was in a lot worse shape than I was.

  I wondered if Max was floating around me right now, watching everything. Probably. I lifted up the small bottle as if to toast to his floatie form. I had no idea if Max saw me, but I wanted him to know that help was on the way.

  “Hold my neck back so it’ll go down without me having to swallow,” I instructed Ryan. After all, no one was in there, so I needed the liquid to go down my throat. Gravity always worked best.

  Ryan complied and I made Isabelle unstopper the bottle and pour a few drops in my mouth.

  Everyone waited.

  Watching.

  So far…

  …Nada.

  Then something started to happen.

  The bubbling burns from the salve Eva had applied started to change color from angry red to a lighter and lighter pink.

  We watched in shock as, in a matter of seconds, the cuts and burns quickly shrank and turned into smooth unscarred skin. (Even better skin than I had before! Jill will be so jealous.)

  Ryan’s face looked more relieved than I felt, and I felt pretty darn relieved. In that moment I realized that he hated to see me in pain as much as I hated to see him in pain. If I ever doubted that Ryan loved me, all of that was gone.

  I also realized that Dean and Isabelle now knew about the formula and what it could do, which ultimately meant Harry would know. I couldn’t worry about that now, though. Ryan and I had to get out of there.

  Isabelle/me smiled at him, “Carry my body out front. Turner and his men should be here by now. When you’re safely away have Roberta join me in Isabelle’s head and we’ll jump out.” Then I made Isabelle/me place the bottle of serum in my real body’s pocket. Didn’t want to leave that behind!

  “Got it.” Ryan stood up and lifted my body, carrying me like a baby. He was gone in seconds and I was now stuck in a room with Invisible Guy and two unconscious lunatics.

  Awkward.

  Jinxing myself was always a particularly lucky trait of mine as I suddenly noticed Elisha starting to stir. I could knock her out again, but I was afraid of killing her. Yes, I know, she deserved to die, but I still didn’t want to be the one to do it. Just remembering how I felt when I had made her dead cells bore into her skin…

  …it made me sick. Really sick.

  I never wanted to go back to that dark place again. Not if I didn’t have to.

  Eva began to wake up as well.

  Dean had disappeared into the walls. I could see his heart beating behind Elisha. He was ready to kill if he had to. Man, these guys were worse than Brady the serial killer.

  Elisha turned to me, “I know you hate me, but I just want Chelsan. We can call a truce for the moment. How long ago did they escape?”

  “A few hours ago.” Lies. Maybe enough to stop Elisha from sending out an attack team. I wasn’t sure if Ryan was out yet.

  My heart sank.

  In fact, I suddenly realized that I wasn’t sure if Ryan even knew how to get out. He’d didn’t have access to Max’s memories like I did. Ryan had been kidnapped the same as me, locked in a room, and brought to this chamber. The compound was all twisty and turny hallways, and he was carrying me to boot.

  I had to get out of Isabelle’s body now and help him.

  Here goes nothing.

  I leapt out of Isabelle and snapped back into my body.

  My eyes opened to see Ryan’s baby browns. “It’s me. I’m here,” I said.

  Ryan’s whole face lit up like fireworks and he kissed me more passionately than he ever had before. My brain nearly exploded from impact. But I felt better than I ever had in my life. The serum heightened every feeling, sensation and sense. All I wanted to do was stay in Ryan’s arms and be kissed like he was kissing me now…

  To my disappointment he pulled away and laughed.

  “I’m totally lost. Is that why you bailed early?” He kept kissing my face as he spoke, like he couldn’t get enough of me.

  “You can put me down now,” I laughed back.

  “Oh yeah.” Ryan carefully placed me on my feet, his hands cupping my face like he was breathing me in. “How do you feel?”

  “I feel amazing,” I confided in him. “Like I just came off the factory line.”

  Ryan kissed me again. For a wonderful moment I completely forgot where we were and any danger we were in.

  For a very short wonderful moment.

  I pulled away this time, “We’re in trouble.”

  “I know, it just feels like I haven’t seen you in years.” Ryan affectionately tucked my hair behind my ear. “Okay, let’s get out of here.”

  I grabbed his hand and led the way. Max’s memory imprints had been pressed on Isabelle’s memory and now, having been inside her mind, I had access to them as well.

  I knew Isabelle wouldn’t be far behind if she and Elisha had called a truce. She was probably pretty pissed off at me for taking over her body. I would be. But I wasn’t a killer, she was. When she got mad, she destroyed. We were so close to freedom.

  “Going somewhere?” Dean appeared in front of us with a creepy grin. “Can’t stop me now, can you?”

  I looked around, but no Isabelle or Elisha. I searched for anything dead that could knock Dean out temporarily.

  Dean misunderstood what I was searching for. “No
body to jump in?”

  I really wasn’t thinking about that, but now that he suggested it. I whispered to Ryan, “Get ready to carry me.”

  Before Ryan could acknowledge me, I jumped out of my body and straight into Dean’s. I snapped right into his swirling light and he was my puppet.

  Ha, ha! I wanted to see his shocked snarky face, but I’d have to look in a mirror.

  Ryan caught my body before it fell to the ground.

  “This way,” I told him and Dean/me led him forward.

  Ryan didn’t even question it. Our lives were so insane these days, something like this was just another drop in the bucket-of-crazy for us.

  I knew Elisha and Isabelle weren’t far behind and, frankly, Dean’s power to disappear into walls wasn’t exactly a skill that would help us at the moment. But it did give me small pleasure at making this conceited jerk have to help rescue Ryan and me. Although, Dean did volunteer to help us in the first place. I guess my taking over Isabelle’s body made him turn against us. This schizophrenic crew was giving me a headache.

  Blinking against the glaring sun, we exited the building straight into the arms of Turner and his men.

  Their guns were up aiming immediately when they saw Dean.

  “Ryan, get her in here.” Turner motioned to the hover-SUV behind him. Ryan hurried to the car and I knew we were both safe.

  “It’s me, Chlesan, I’m in here,” I made Dean say to Turner and it felt weird to hear a man’s voice come out of my thoughts. I was starting to have serious guilt, but it seemed like the only way to stop everyone from KILLING ME!

  Gramps raised his eyebrow in surprise… and… What was that?… Pride? Oh man, if doing something like this made him proud, it must be really awful.

  “We’ll get him locked up, then you can transfer back into your own body.” Turner motioned for his men to take Dean/me into custody. I let them tie him up with some kind of flexible metal rope. Dean wasn’t going anywhere.

  We all piled into the hover-SUV and within seconds were in the air on our way back to safety.

  In Dean’s body I sat next to me and Ryan while Turner sat across from us. Gramps pulled out a small black container holding a syringe. “I’m going to knock him out so he can’t disappear on us. You can go back to your body now.”