I walked over to her, the green smoke billowing around me as I moved.
Kneeling down next to Elisha, I placed my hand on her back.
Elisha flinched, then looked me in the eye.
So much anguish.
Tears automatically filled my eyes. I could feel the suffering radiating from her. As despicable a human being as she was in the past, I knew Elisha was different now. And I didn’t know how she would ever be able to live with herself.
“Chelsan!” Elisha said my name like I was her only lifeline.
“Elisha, we have to stop what you started. Do you understand?” I had sympathy for her, but people were dying.
“Oh God, Chelsan, what have I done? What have I done?” Elisha shrieked.
I held both her arms to steady her. “Elisha, what can I do to stop the clones?”
Her purple eyes were filled with desperation and dread. “Nothing. There’s nothing you can do! I didn’t make a kill switch. It’s all over now…” she trailed off and her eyes turned glassy.
I was losing her. She was about to go into some kind of traumatic coma.
“Elisha! Stay with me!” I shouted.
But she was gone. Her eyes closed and she slipped into unconsciousness.
“Elisha!” I shook her.
But Elisha was out cold. Her conscience was too much to take in all at once. Her brain was on overload and she just couldn’t cope.
I lifted her up like a baby.
Walking through the broken-down asylum, I tried to imagine Elisha here as a little girl. If only someone like me could have fixed her then, she would have lived her entire life in Havenville with Beth. She would have been happy.
I walked out of the asylum and handed Elisha off to Turner’s men, who immediately handcuffed her. I didn’t know what Turner would do with her, but he needed to know what I had done.
Everyone was coughing, but otherwise okay.
Nancy and Ryan both came in for a hug at the same time.
Turner was handling Elisha’s capture pretty roughly so I told everyone what had happened.
Their faces were white, especially Eva’s.
“She kept screaming Beth’s name.” I didn’t realize how traumatic seeing Elisha go through that actually was.
Nancy’s hand went to her mouth from the shock.
Even Turner looked fazed, but not much. He had a way of turning his emotions off, even with a soul!
But it was Jason who changed the subject, “We have to focus. The Franklins are going to kill everyone.”
Jason was right, it was far beyond Elisha now. The I.Q. kids she’d planted inside the Franklin clones were finally exacting their revenge. They were going to kill the world.
Jason had a portable holo-projector and played all the news stations outside like it was happening right in front of us. Thousands upon thousands of people were dying.
I tuned everyone out to focus on doing something anything to stop them.
“Chelsan,” Ryan whispered.
I looked up at him and noticed at his side was the Franklin clone holding his hand.
“Why is he doing that?” I asked quietly.
Apparently after a few choice words Turner and Harry were having it out again and it became harder and harder to ignore them.
“Could someone shut them up?” I heard Jill complain.
Ryan was totally focused on me and the Franklin clone. Ryan was baffled himself at the clone holding his hand. “I don’t know.”
The imagery and sounds from the holo-footage was becoming unbearable. People were dying by the second. I’d never felt so helpless in my life. We were stuck in front of an abandoned insane asylum and I suddenly wished I could admit myself.
At this point even Isabelle had backed away. She looked over at me. She was in pain, but I saw something else in her eyes. Relief. All those years of thinking that the only father figure she ever had wanted her dead must have been impossible to live with.
We needed to stop all the Franklins, but they were scattered across the world. There was no way to reach them, let alone stop them.
The world was ending and I couldn’t do a thing.
I wanted to vomit.
What was I missing?
Then I glanced over at the clone holding Ryan’s hand.
A seed of an idea was starting to grow, but it was just out of reach. Something about Ryan’s connection to these clones. But what? So what? Ryan could hear what they were thinking? How would that help me?
Connection.
Roberta had bound me, Ryan, Max and Isabelle together.
Max was connected to Elisha. Ryan was connected to the I.Q. kids. I was connected to Isabelle…
And Isabelle had the power to kill.
Whoa.
What my brain was piecing together, I wasn’t liking.
Was I really considering killing all the Franklin clones? Could I really do that? Not just morally, but physically as well. My powers to control the dead kept me at a four-mile radius, but did Isabelle have such a range?
What was I thinking?
I couldn’t kill hundreds of kids. Sure they were a hundred years old, not really kids, not really people. Were clones really people? Yes, I believed they were. For someone who was surrounded by death, the last thing I wanted to do was create it myself. I didn’t think I had it in me.
I watched more and more innocents die: children, babies, mothers, fathers…
I started to cry.
I couldn’t help it.
It was devastating to watch.
If I could stop it, I had to try.
I thought about Isabelle, Max and Ryan and I spoke to them, You all have to trust me. Do you trust me?
There was a resounding YES from the three of them and I wanted to cry even harder. They looked to me to fix this, and they believed I could. I wasn’t sure if I deserved such faith, but I took it anyway. What I was about to do to them they may never forgive me for.
I slammed into all three of their swirling bright lights…
…And I controlled them all.
I felt the shock of the sensation from Ryan and Max, but Isabelle was used to it and completely open to what was happening. Though the two boys were surprised at their loss of control, they didn’t fight it either. They really did trust me.
The first thing I did was test out Max’s connection to Elisha.
I was on energy overload as I controlled three extremely powerful people.
But I could feel the strength of the bond between Max and Elisha. It was like when I was flying in astral projection, a thick bright string bound them together.
I felt a surge of adrenaline.
This was working.
That’s when it became tricky.
I grabbed Ryan and the clone’s hand to make the three of us a circle. I wanted to join directly with this clone in order to strengthen Ryan’s connection with all of the I.Q. kids in the other clones.
As with Max’s link to Elisha, hundreds of thick strings of light spread out from Ryan and the clone. I could feel that every string led to another Franklin, no matter where they were on the planet.
I had to take a deep breath to steady myself.
Like when I had used the twins to control life, I was essentially doing the same thing with my own power now. It was exhilarating. I could feel every nerve in my body. I was so alive I wanted to scream in utter bliss.
Ryan’s voice called out to me in the light, Chelsan, don’t lose yourself.
The jolt of his words drew me back.
But the lure of the power was so great, it took all of my willpower to pull away from the desire to tap into everything.
It felt like I could connect to every living thing on the planet.
The craving was so strong I could barely breathe.
Then Max’s voice said, We’re here. Focus on us.
Like an anchor, the sound of Max in my head, pulled me away from the intoxication of the power.
Then Isabelle spoke, We
trust you with our lives.
The words reverberated in my brain.
And it was enough.
The weight of the responsibility of holding these three people that I cared about in my hands hit me like a hover-freight.
Through my light-induced stupor I could see the swirling black holes of all the dead soldiers and newly killed victims on the holos.
I had to stop them.
I tapped into Isabelle’s ability and anything that moved gave off the trails of light like before. Although no one was moving anymore. Not even Gramps or Harry. They had obviously stopped fighting long enough to realize the strange slackness of body from the five of us. And I swear, Terence was made of stone, the guy didn’t react to anything. He stood against an SUV, observing everything. Not the kind of guy you want to invite to a party, for sure! All I could see was the trails of light that their hearts gave off, small pulses of a reminder that they were alive and well.
Next.
Here goes nothing.
I reached into Ryan’s mind and simultaneously connected to every last clone around the world.
Oh crap.
The rush exhilarated me beyond measure.
Help! I cried out.
I was going to be lost.
I was losing…
…My…
…Mind.
Ryan soothed me, We’re here, don’t leave us.
Then Max, Concentrate on us.
Then Isabelle, You know what you have to do.
I did know.
And I was pretty sure only Isabelle did, too.
Ryan and Max had no idea I was about to use them to kill all the clones.
Their voices brought me back to sanity.
Although I was about to lose it after what I planned on doing.
I’d never forgive myself.
I wasn’t just killing.
I was killing my father.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I connected to every single trail of light in the clones’ hearts…
…And I made them stop.
Instantly black swirling holes formed in their chests.
I could hear gasps from Max and Ryan as they not only realized, but felt what I had used them to do.
I wanted to collapse in a heap on the ground, but I had one more thing to do.
Now, through my connection to the Franklin clones, even dead, I was still able to use their powers to control the corpses.
I connected to every single swirling chasm they controlled.
There were millions.
I disconnected them all from their black holes.
Including the Franklins, making it impossible for the I.Q. kids to continue to inhabit their bodies.
The devastation of what I had done was instantly visible to us all from the holo-news footage playing in front of us.
Corpses littered the ground all around the world.
Millions dead instantly with no explanation. One minute there were soldiers fighting, the next they lay dead among their victims.
I released my hold on Ryan, Max and Isabelle and I fell to my knees, sobbing.
I felt Ryan’s arms wrap around me and I almost wanted to push him away. I didn’t deserve sympathy. I was a mass murderer, just like my grandfather. In that moment, it didn’t matter to me that it was for the greater good. It was still assassination.
I barely heard Turner barking orders. Isabelle was explaining what had just happened and Turner was relaying the information to someone through his holo-communicator. It sounded like Roberta.
Elisha’s body was being carted away to what I could only guess was a high security facility. Gramps couldn’t kill her, but he’d probably keep her locked up for good. Sad thing was that Elisha wasn’t even a threat anymore. She’d most likely welcome being shut away from the world and what she’d done.
Eva and Max were embracing.
Isabelle was gently trying to wake Dean up. He was laying peacefully on the ground next to Terence and a hover-SUV.
Harry was in handcuffs and being ushered to most probably the same prison as Elisha.
And I was still in Ryan’s arms.
Ryan’s beautiful, forgiving arms.
I turned to him, waiting to face his eyes. Eyes that would hold disappointment and disgust at what I did. But instead I found only sympathy and concern. It broke my heart all over again. Why didn’t he hate me? I had used his connection with the clones to kill them! I’d hate me! Ryan just held me and kissed my forehead and said, “You saved us all.”
What?
How could he say that?
Before I could move, I was suddenly embraced by the whole gang. A giant pile of arms wrapped around me like a lifeline to sanity. Nancy, Bill, Jason, Jill and even Max held me until I was filled up with their unconditional support. This was my family. It made my eyes well up with tears of joy.
Jason was the first to pull away and his face suddenly appeared on every news station on every channel – reporting live from the scene. It was like watching through Larry the cockroach’s eyes, about a thousand of him making an announcement.
We all listened. Jason told the world everything that had happened in the last few days leading up to the horrific slaughter everyone had just witnessed. He left out the part about me controlling the dead, the world wasn’t ready to know about people with powers like me and Isabelle. Jason placed all the blame on Elisha and assured the public that Vice President Geoffrey Turner had everything under control.
It was too much.
I buried my head in Ryan’s chest and cried.
Really cried.
It was over.
Truly over.
I could feel it.
Relief, sadness, happiness, guilt, washed through me.
All my muscles felt like Jell-o.
Ryan lifted me to my feet. When my legs nearly buckled, Bill and Ryan supported me to the SUV.
We all piled in and seconds later our vehicle was in the air, headed back to what I could only assume was Population Control.
I leaned into Ryan and closed my eyes.
I woke up in bed.
My bed.
At Nancy’s house.
My eyes filled with tears.
I was home.
It felt so good I wanted to scream, but I knew that would have scared the crap out of everyone.
The room was empty and I wanted to see everyone stat.
As I walked through Nancy’s house I could hear the clink, clink, clinking of dishes coming from the kitchen. I had another surge of happiness as I opened the door to see my family sitting around the table, eating the pot roast and potatoes Vianne had apparently made for everyone.
All of them were there: Nancy, Ryan, Bill, Jason, Vianne, George, Jill and Max. No Eva. Max and Bill probably weren’t sure how I felt about her and didn’t want to upset me. No Isabelle, either. Not that I expected her, but still, we had been through a lot together.
When they saw me, like a giant school of fish they all stood up and hugged me. They were laughing and joking. I couldn’t help but feel the happiest I’d ever felt in my life.
We’d all made it.
Some of us would never die, and I hoped that someday soon that would be all of us.
No one needed to talk about what happened.
The wounds were too fresh.
We just needed to be normal for a while.
“So,” Nancy grinned at me. “I picked out your prom dress because I knew you’d never do it.”
Prom?
It suddenly sounded like the most amazing event ever. I’d pick a school dance over everything that I’d been through any day.
“I trust you,” I said and sat down to enjoy the best meal I’d ever eaten.
We all talked about prom and how Joan was going to flip out because Jason told her he couldn’t take her to the dance. Nancy planned on fully flaunting that in Joan’s face. It was so nice just to talk about nothing and everything. As long as I had my friends I knew things would be jus
t fine.
Later that night I tried to go to sleep, but I was too wired. I watched Ryan peacefully sleeping next to me.
I thought about Roberta and Turner and how different our feelings were now from when we first met. Our relationship was still tentative at best. I knew in my heart I’d never really forgive them for killing my mother, but we had definitely come to some sort of neutral ground. Maybe someday we could have a “normal” relationship. Somehow, I doubted it, but still… I was open to maybe…
I heard a tapping on the window.
I wasn’t alarmed. I knew who it was.
I slid out of bed and opened the window.
Isabelle crawled inside.
She eyed Ryan.
I shook my head, “He’s out like a light. He won’t hear us.”
“I just wanted to say good-bye,” Isabelle said.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Dean and I are disappearing for a while, maybe do something different.” Isabelle seemed genuinely hopeful about the notion.
“Well, I wish you guys luck. If you ever need me, you know how to contact me,” I said, pointing to my head. We were bonded for life and telepathy was a part of that package.
Isabelle smiled, though there was pain behind it. “Will do. Good-bye, Chelsan.”
“Good-bye,” I said and then did something we both didn’t expect. I hugged her.
Isabelle, after a moment of surprise, hugged me back.
Then she pulled away with a slight grin and disappeared out the window.
I stared at the darkness for a few minutes before I crawled back into bed.
I snuggled in close to Ryan and for once in a really long time I fell into a deep, uninterrupted sleep.
Becca C. Smith received her Film degree from Full Sail University and has worked in the Film and Television industry for most of her adult life. In 2010 Becca published her first novel, Riser followed by the sequel, Reaper, in 2011. In 2012 Becca wrote the children’s novel Alexis Tappendorf and the Search for Beale’s Treasure.She is also the co-author of the teen graphic novel Ghost Whisperer: The Haunted. She currently lives in Los Angeles, CA with her husband, Stephan and their two cats Jack and Duke.
Her website is: www.beccacsmith.com.
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The Riser Saga Page 95
