Mike fell to the ground. Gripped by a seizure, he convulsed uncontrollably for about thirty seconds as his skull bowed out, threatening to crack. More books penetrated his mind. A wave of infiltration started at his medulla oblongata and traveled to his cerebellum before going all the way to his frontal lobe and rounding back to the temporal lobe.
Mike’s brain was being smashed in every direction. His spine tensed, and his body locked in place. Everything went white, and Mike’s head felt heavy. Breathing became difficult, and then it stopped.
Chapter 14
A TINY CHALK-COLORED hand slapped Mike’s flush cheek. The young man slowly regained consciousness and sat up. He didn’t remember the convulsing fits from a few minutes before. His senses felt very awake and more acute.
“Whoa, thought I lost you there for a minute.” Alayna let out a huge exhale. “That would have been a lot of paperwork to fill out. All right, let’s see where you’re at now. How are you?”
Mike answered, “Quite fine. Thank you for asking.”
“Hmm. Sounds like you made some progress. You smoked a lot so you should know what titanium is.”
Mike shifted his eyes around. “Discovered in 1791 by William Gregor. Named after the sons of the Earth goddess of Greek mythology. Atomic number is 22. Has a relative atomic mass of 47.867 and its melting point is 1670 degrees Celsius. Or 1943 degrees Kelvin. Boiling point...”
Alayna shook her finger in the air. “Stop. Stop. That’s way too much knowledge for now. You can’t handle that many thoughts running around. Your head will explode. With the plant of knowledge, you can’t overdo it or it will drive you mad. Once you get to a certain level, then it’s on you to learn more. This won’t make you a genius, but it will bring you up to speed. Let’s get you fixed up.” She reached inside the neckline of her dress and pulled out a green pill. “Here, take this.”
Mike bit his tongue softly to create saliva, took the pill from her hand, and put it in his mouth. He leaned back and took a big gulp. The long, cylindrical pill took a rough ride down his throat, but he forced it into his belly.
Alayna looked over at him, wide eyed. “Wait, no, don’t take that. You didn’t take that, did you?”
An instant sheen of sweat developed on Mike’s forehead as his panic-stricken eyes stared at Alayna. Black blood blisters bubbled up on Mike’s forearm, and his heart skipped several beats. Alayna’s hands disappeared inside her purple dress. Her right hand burrowed down toward her belly button.
“There it is,” she announced and produced an orange pill with a little piece of lint stuck to the side. She flicked away the lavender fuzz and held the pill out in her open palm.
Mike’s hand wavered left and right before he reached out and snatched the pill. He attempted to throw it into his mouth but it hit his upper lip and fell to the dark dirt below. The black boils expanded and threatened to pop, and his breathing became labored.
Mike’s blood felt like it was coagulating and slowed to a crawl. Falling to his knees in a vain attempt to find the tiny object, the light faded and everything became dark. He felt like he was freefalling in the air, wind beating against his wrinkled, rippling face.
Then, all the pain started to flutter away.
Two small fingers and a thumb poked past his lips and teeth. The taste of dirt hit his tongue along with another unidentifiable flavor and woke him up.
He heard Alayna’s voice. “Swallow. Swallow it. Now.”
Mike tried to swallow the dirt mixture but his mouth was too dry. He coughed and gagged, and kept chewing the pill until he almost spat it out. Alayna dove into the tangled mess of roots and wormed her way toward the waterfall. A few seconds later, Mike felt moisture on his lips and opened his mouth wide.
Water rushed in. He closed his mouth, and the saturation helped the pill and soil slide down into his stomach. Immediately, Mike regained his vision, and the swells of black skin contracted and returned to a soft pink flesh color. His heart still raced from the strange experience.
Alayna gave him a few moments to gather his wits. “Tell me about the Emancipation Proclamation.”
Mike smirked, eyes glazed over with a red fire looming behind each glossy shell. “Executive order signed by Abraham Lincoln, who was apparently a Vampire Hunter in his spare time. January 1st, 1863.”
Alayna held her index finger up. “Ding. Ding. Ding. I think that’s right where we need to be for now. You even threw in a pop culture reference. Make’s you sound a bit like an idiot savant, but we can iron that out. How do you feel?”
Mike shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head to the side. “I feel all right now. What was that first pill you gave me?”
She grinned. “Sorry about that. I panicked. I think I might be starting to go color blind.”
“Orange and green aren’t even close. And those pills were different sizes.”
Her grin flipped. “Hey. I saved you, didn’t I? Let’s stop focusing on details. We’ve crossed the first finish line. The real fun starts with your next lesson. At least for me.” She giggled.
Mike’s neck cracked as he tilted it from side to side. “When is the next lesson?”
“Probably tomorrow. So don’t you go and get yourself killed by George. You aren’t ready, and we all need you to succeed. There are bigger problems afoot so we need to get you trained.”
“I can’t wait to learn.”
Alayna stood like an unblinking bronze statue and stared at him. Mike thought she wasn’t breathing until her long eyelashes finally flickered. She cast a gaze of affection on the young man. “You said you can’t wait to learn. Eeek. That is a huge first test to pass.”
Mike scrunched his cheeks up, showing his dimples, and shrugged his shoulders. “It’s no big deal. I think I was always scared that I would get made fun of if I was too smart. Then, after a while, it flipped around so I just gave up. Learning intimidated me. Still does. I don’t want anyone making fun of me.”
“That won’t happen. Let’s get you back home so you can tell that girl, Emily, that you are done with this ludicrous plan. It’s time to focus on your duty.” She left the room, and Mike followed her into the darkness.
Mike restarted the conversation as a few twigs crunched beneath his bare feet. “I think I could do both if I wanted. I need money pretty bad, too, if you hadn’t noticed.”
“If you could just make it another week or two and fulfil your training, money will never be an issue again. You just have to hang on a little longer.”
“I’ve been hanging on my whole life waiting for that next big thing. Problem is, it’s never come. I think I might need to take the sure thing.” Mike ducked to avoid an overpass of intertwined roots.
“Mike, an hour ago you were speaking English on a barely comprehensible level. Now you are using the proper tenses and sentence structure. Trust me again. You won’t need to worry about money. Here, right around here.” She used her flaming finger to point around a dark corner.
They came to the door to the river, and Mike got ready to get wet. “What if you can’t cure me? What about that, too? I’m going to need money at some point.”
“I’ve accounted for all of that. You worry too much. That’s a problem intelligent people have by the way. The saying ‘ignorance is bliss’ is a rather potent quotable.” She stopped as she was about to open the door. “I know what it is. It’s the girl.”
Mike blushed and looked the other way.
Alayna shook her head. “I’m right. I warned you about her. You’d better stop whatever is going on right now. She’s been afflicted by the dark spirit world. The best thing you could do is kill her.”
“Fuck you.”
“Ooohhh. We seem to have hit a nerve. Easy, big fella. I’m only a purveyor of the truth. The truth hurts pretty-bad sometimes. She’s been tasked to kill you, and she’s fighting it, Mike. She’s actually doing a rather admirable job, too. But it’s only a matter of time. A ticking time bomb, waiting to go boom.”
“I appreciate your opinion. N
ow let’s get back home.”
“We crammed all that knowledge in your head and you still want to be a fool in love,” she mumbled.
Mike shot her a nasty look. “What? What’d you say?”
“Forget it. Get ready. I’m about to open the door.” Alayna removed her dress and hung it on a tree root. She moved off to the side and used the heel of her hand to pop open the golden rectangle. Dirty river water rushed in. Mike tried to push himself into the opening but the force of the water kept jostling him backward.
Something hooked his belt loop and thrust him up into the dark water. Mike swam upward but still couldn’t see the light of day. A pocket of water containing the power of a tsunami grabbed Mike’s body and wouldn’t let him swim any higher. The powerful undertow thrashed Mike around until he stopped fighting and went with the current.
Mike tried to conserve his energy but oxygen was running low and he couldn’t see anything. He swam upward at a forty-five-degree angle to try to get to the shore. Terror plucked at his nerves like an out-of-tune harp. His entire body convulsed, searching for air. Life was fading away. He didn’t know if he was anywhere near the riverbank as the undertow continued to wreak havoc.
Oxygen became more and more elusive, and giving up and drowning seemed like the most sensible solution.
Chapter 15
A CHILD-SIZED HAND wrapped four fingers and a firm thumb around Mike’s wrist. He could feel someone pulling him up and out of the undertow. A few seconds later, he gasped for air as his head broke the surface.
“GGGAAAAHHHHH,” Mike greedily sucked in some sweet air and went back under, swallowing some of the nasty river water. He came up quickly again and flapped his arms around like a crazy man trying to stay afloat.
Alayna treaded water and held Mike up as he regained some strength. When he stopped panicking, they swam on their backs to the bank and found their clothes.
Alayna squeezed some moisture out her braids and slid on her dress. One of the shoulders was misaligned, and Mike came over and adjusted it for her.
“Thank you, kind sir.”
Mike nodded. They finished getting dressed and walked back to Mike’s house. Alayna started brewing a pot of coffee as Mike searched around for his weed. The Plant of Knowledge was cool, but it didn’t take away any of his pain. His phone rang, and he pulled it from his T-shirt pocket.
“Hello.”
“Mike. I got the gun.” He recognized Emily’s voice, but not her message.
“What?”
“It’s Emily. I got the gun we talked about.”
Mike held the mouthpiece against his chest and wracked his brain. He didn’t remember talking to her about getting a gun. He spoke into the phone, “I’m not certain we ever talked about that.”
“Yeah, we did. We talked about getting a gun so that if we ran into anyone in Houlihan’s Square, we’ll be ready.”
“I’m not opposed, don’t get me wrong. That’s a pretty good idea. I wish I had one last time.”
“You wanna come over so we can plan this out?”
Mike knew it had already been planned and hoped she was calling him over for a nooner.
She said, “Maybe we should go into the Circle during the day and mark the spot so that we know exactly where to dig when we go back at night. That’s not cheating, right?”
“That’s a good idea, too. Do you mind picking me up?”
She groaned then giggled. “Just kidding. I’ll be over in, like, a half hour.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you then.” He hung up the phone and let his goofy smile develop.
Alayna’s voice made Mike jump. “I thought I told you not to smile like that when thinking about that girl.” She put two scoops of ground beans into the coffee maker she had bought for Mike.
“I forgot you shadow me everywhere. Don’t worry about my brass tax. I can keep the ladies under control.” He smirked.
Alayna rolled her eyes. “I’d love to smack that stupid look off your face right now. So, now. Let’s review the facts. She calls you to tell you about getting a gun that she had never told you about initially. Then she rambles on to say that you two should take that gun into the woods. To a place where the police don’t even go. Hell’s bells, what’s the worst that could happen there?”
“Don’t be eavesdropping on my phone conversations with those pointy, superpowered ears. I know what it must be. You’re just jealous. I see the way you’ve been looking at me. Gazing adoringly at me like I’m some sort of Adonis.”
Alayna snorted in laughter and shot coffee out of her nose and onto Mike’s kitchen table. She wiped her nose with the fabric of her dress, struggling to control her laughing.
She tried to speak through it. “You got to see me shoot something out of my nose this time. Oh, honey, don’t flatter yourself. I’m happy as can be helping you out. No hanky-panky. And by the way, don’t act like you weren’t gawping at my magnificent body back there at the river.”
Mike’s face turned burgundy, and he stared at the ground.
Alayna chuckled. “You might want to change that tell sign now that you have a bit more knowledge, which, by the way, was apparent when you said ‘gazing adoringly’ and ‘Adonis’. Brings a tear to my eye. Back to your obvious tell. It’s a dead giveaway that you’re lying. We should play poker some time.”
“This talk has been a pleasure, it really has, but I need to get out of these wet clothes. A girl that I’m not going to let you scare me away from is coming to get me. The door is over there, if you wouldn’t mind.”
Alayna grabbed her coffee, and Mike went into his bedroom. He rooted through dirty clothes to find an outfit, and finally decided on a gray V-neck T-shirt with streaks of white stains on the belly and an old pair of army green cargo shorts. As he dressed, he wondered why Emily wanted anything to do with a broke, unhygienic guy like him.
Pulling up the sleeve on his right arm, Mike flexed. Oh yeah, that was why. He questioned whether she would notice his new intelligence. He hadn’t felt smarter but the words he intended to say were changing in his mouth before they were released.
Suddenly, Mike started hacking and coughing. He spat a wad of blood into his hand and kept coughing. It lasted for about a minute and finished up with Mike expelling another mouthful of salty blood. While he worked on stopping himself from gagging, he imagined the big C was getting closer to claiming another victim.
Mike paced back and forth in his room until the honking horn of a vehicle grabbed his attention. He shook away the haze, scraped a pizza sauce stain off the side pocket of his pants, and ran toward the front door. Mike stopped and rinsed his mouth out with some Mountain Dew before heading outside.
MIKE AND EMILY WALKED through the woods of Houlihan’s Square. Mike shifted the shovel in his right hand, and used the back of his left to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
The couple had been walking in silence since they crossed the official line of Houlihan’s Square, but now Mike perceived a change in Emily’s demeanor as they continued toward the center of the haunted area. After being all smiles back at her house and on the ride over, she was now twitchy and frowning.
A pungent stench of rotten eggs and sour urine permeated the forest. Mike noticed Emily fighting away the urge to vomit. The Glock 43 hung in its holster against her hip. Despite the retching, she looked pretty badass carrying the firearm.
Conversely, her face painted a picture of terror. Mike tried to remain calm, but the familiar feeling started to creep in. The gravity of the situation weighed on him more now that he knew how stupid it was to be in these woods.
Hysteria streaked through certain parts of his body before connecting like a web. His legs told him to turn back, and his mind agreed.
Despite the crippling fear, he continued toward the place where he had witnessed his best friend being torn to shreds by the beast. The sunlight didn’t make the anxiety any better. There was some undefinable pressure in the air.
A humid rolling fog seemed to stick to
Mike’s skin, causing a scratchy sensation. His feet burned and an unnerving chill ran up and down his spine. He forged ahead and peeked over at Emily.
Mike wanted to say something to break the tension, but he didn’t want to be heard by George. He tried to think about the sex from earlier that day but he kept jerking his head around, reacting to every little sound. He wondered if Emily was using him to get the money and then toss him aside.
The circular pattern of boulders appeared twenty feet ahead and Mike’s chest tightened even more. As he neared Houlihan’s Circle with Emily right behind, he peered around the muddy pit in search of his best friend’s bloodstains.
A loud grunt broke his concentration as his eyes shifted around, trying to look everywhere at once. He spun around in circles, making himself dizzy.
Mike stared at Emily, her image going in and out of focus. He staggered back and forth for a few moments and finally regained his equilibrium. Emily pulled the index card out of her pocket.
The two didn’t speak. Mike could read the signs of fear plastered all over Emily’s petite body. She walked over to the Northern Boulder and Mike followed before getting snagged by a web of magnetism.
The strong force grabbed hold of his shoulders and spun him around like a cyclone.
Fight it.
Hold on.
Too strong.
He gave in.
The dark energy tossed him four feet in the air, and he landed on his left side with a thud. As he got to his feet, he attempted to wipe away the mud from his forearms before becoming frustrated and giving up. He looked over at Emily, who was watching him with eyes so wide, they were about to pop out of her skull. Her wide-open mouth couldn’t produce words.
Mike ran over to her, expecting to get snagged again, but the strange force had receded. The two followed the exact directions on the index card and Mike realized why Kyle had died. Their hole was about a foot off the mark.
With a heavy heart, Mike started marking the spot in the middle of the Circle. A third smell permeated the air and he dropped the shovel. Mike recognized the odor.
Bloodline Awakened Supernatural Thriller Series: Books 1-3 Page 48
