The MORE Trilogy

by T. M. Franklin

  “She’s very powerful,” Emma said. “You can’t hold her back.”

  “I don’t want to hold her back!”

  Ava felt a wave of irritation at how he was talking about her as if she wasn’t standing right there.

  “I also don’t want to see her hurt,” he said.

  “I’m not hurt,” Ava said quickly. “I’m fine. Emma’s helping me.” Her head throbbed and she rubbed absently at her temple.

  Caleb came toward her, his face softening. “You’re not fine, Ava. You’re pale as a ghost, and you’re covered with blood. Something’s wrong. You’re pushing yourself too hard.”

  “Don’t listen to him,” Emma snapped. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

  She turned to Emma, confused. “I don’t understand.”

  “I know.” She squeezed Ava’s shoulder gently. “It’s all right. I’m going to help you. But you have to see, Caleb is only keeping you down.”

  Ava glanced at Caleb, a tingle of worry twisting in her gut. “He wouldn’t do that.”

  Would he?

  “Not on purpose, but people fear what they don’t understand.”

  “Ava, don’t listen to her.” Caleb stepped forward, taking her hand and holding it firmly. “She’s doing something to you. You can’t trust her.”

  “Of course you can trust me,” Emma said in her low, reassuring voice.

  Ava couldn’t keep herself from looking into the girl’s eyes. They pulled at her . . . comforted her. They told her that Emma understood her. She wanted to help her.

  “He doesn’t want you to reach your full potential,” Emma said sharply. “He’s afraid of your power.”

  “Caleb?”

  “Come with me, Ava,” he begged, tugging on her arm. She didn’t move, and Caleb glared at Emma. “Let go of her.”

  Emma laughed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I don’t understand . . . what’s happening?” Ava swayed a bit on her feet. Emma turned back to her, giving her power a boost, and Ava steadied.

  “He wants to take you away from me,” Emma said. “He wants to keep you for himself. Keep you weak.”

  “That’s not true. Don’t listen to her, Ava.”

  Emma continued as if he hadn’t spoken, and Ava couldn’t look away. “He’s afraid of you, Ava. He knows you’re going to become one of the most powerful people on earth. Much more powerful than him. He’s jealous.”

  “Ava, she’s twisting your mind.” Caleb’s voice came to her as if from a great distance and then faded away.

  “You have to show him,” Emma said, her eyes piercing and black, that little sliver of pale green the only lightness in her gaze. “Show him he can’t keep you from what’s rightfully yours.”

  “Mine?”

  “He’ll put you at the mercy of the Council. Or worse, the humans. You’re better than that, Ava. You deserve more than that.”

  Ava blinked. She didn’t like the sound of being at anyone’s mercy. She turned to Caleb. “Why?”

  “Ava, no.” His face crumpled. “You can’t believe that. You need to come with me. I can help you.”

  “Help me how?”

  “We can run some tests. Find out what’s happening to you.”

  “I heard him talking with Gideon.” Emma brought a hand up to cup her cheek, her fingers pressing in hard. “They want to take you to New Elysia.”

  “Is that true?” Ava asked, feeling sick with betrayal at the expression on Caleb’s face.

  “Only as a last resort,” he said. “And not against your will, Ava.”

  She shook off his hand. “How could you?”

  He reached out to grab her again, and her gift flared up, throwing him backward.

  “You can’t trust him, Ava,” Emma said, standing next to her.

  “She’s the one you can’t trust!” Caleb shouted, getting to his feet.

  “You know that’s not true.” Emma took her hand, and Ava relished the feeling of Emma’s power surging through her, making her stronger. “There is something I didn’t tell you Ava, because I wasn’t sure you were ready. I think you are now.”

  “What? What is it?”

  Emma raised their joined hands, and Ava caught sight of her tattoo—the curved lines, parentheses facing opposite directions, a line crossing both in the center.

  Like a sideways H.

  Ava turned Emma’s arm slightly.

  Like the H on the corner of the baby blanket back home.

  “Yes,” Emma breathed. “You know it. Don’t you?”

  “It’s . . . on my blanket.”

  Emma nodded. “You remember what I told you?”

  Ava stared at the symbol, now so obviously the same. How had she not noticed it before? “It’s the symbol for Pisces,” she said, her words slurring a little. Her head throbbed as she tried to understand what was happening. “Your sign.”

  Caleb started toward her, but Ava held him back without conscious thought, her gift protecting her.

  “Not really my sign, no,” Emma told her, tilting her head with a slight smile. “In the Zodiac, it’s the twelfth sign.”

  “Twelfth?” Ava’s mind whirled.

  The blanket. The symbol. Destiny.

  “The Twelve.”

  “Yes.” Emma smiled. “I’m one of The Twelve, as well. My father is Elias Borré.” When Ava continued to gape at her, she added with gentle touch to Ava’s cheek. “We’re sisters, Ava.”

  Sisters?

  Caleb pressed his palms against the invisible barrier keeping him from Ava, feeling his way along it in hopes of finding a hole—an opening of some kind. But no. Ava didn’t even seem to be paying attention to him, but she was somehow keeping him at bay. Her gift, it appeared, had developed the ability to work without her direct control.

  And Emma, it appeared, had control of Ava.

  He could feel her presence inside Ava, a foreign presence mingling with her gift. A thick black stain tainting what had once been pure. What had once been his.

  “Ava!” he shouted. She paid him no heed, though, absorbed in Emma’s words.

  “I wasn’t hidden, not like you,” she told Ava. “I was the last to be born. The one who put the blocks in place was killed by Protectors, so Father needed me, you see? You all needed me. And Father kept me close so I’d be ready when it was time to bring you all home.”

  “Home?” Ava swayed on her feet a bit, blood trickling from her nose. She wiped at it absently, and Emma caught her wrist, brandishing Ava’s red-stained palm.

  “Once we get home, back to Father, it won’t hurt anymore,” she said, wiping Ava’s hand with the bloodied napkin. “He helped the others. He’ll help you too. You’ll see.”

  Ava said something incomprehensible, and Caleb shouted, pounding against the invisible barrier impotently.

  “He won’t stop,” Emma said with a warning glance his way. “He’ll take you to the Council, and they’ll keep you imprisoned, drug you, dampen your gifts—anything to keep you under their control. You know they’re afraid of you already. If they knew what you could really do, they’d never stop trying to get their hands on you.”

  “He wouldn’t . . .” Ava shook her head slowly, but her eyes, wide and almost glazed, remained focused on Emma. “Caleb wouldn’t do that. He loves me.”

  The wall wavered, and Caleb took one cautious step forward and then another.

  “No,” Emma said firmly. “He’ll never let you use your power. He’s afraid of it.”

  Caleb took another step toward Ava silently, afraid to shift and startle her.

  “I’ll never betray you, Ava,” Emma said, her palms on Ava’s cheeks. “We’re sisters. We’re family. I only want what’s best for you.”

  Caleb reached out and took Ava’s wrist.

  She turned on him, her eyes flashing as she ripped her hand from his grip, threw it up, and threw him away. He flew through the air, slamming into a half-uprooted tree.

  “Ava, no,” he pleaded,
panting as he tried to center himself. “Please. Come back to the Colony with me. Let me help you.” He started toward her once more, but she threw him again, and he landed in a heap on the ground.

  “No!” she shouted. Then in a quieter, uncertain voice, she said, “No. You can’t . . .”

  “That’s right,” Emma said with an icy smile in Caleb’s direction. “No one can stop us.”

  Caleb got to his feet, staggering a little as he held his hands up in what he hoped was a placating gesture. “Ava, you know me. I love you. I would never hurt you.”

  She slammed him against another tree and held him there, the bark cutting into his back, his feet dangling above the ground.

  “Stop, Ava. Please.” His voice cracked as Ava’s hold tightened. “Remember what Emma can do. She changes memories, twists your free will. She’s manipulating you. She’s using you like she used me.”

  Ava took a step toward him, her head tilted as she watched him fight against her invisible bonds.

  “She’s a Rogue, Ava. You can’t trust her.”

  “No,” Ava whispered, tightening her grip even further.

  Caleb couldn’t breathe; his ribs cracked under the pressure.

  “It’s a lie,” Emma snapped. “Finish this. He can’t be trusted.”

  “Ava, no.” He gasped for breath, his head swimming at the lack of oxygen. “I love you.” Darkness crowded in at the edges of his vision, shadows taunting him with images of his death.

  “Please . . . Ava. I love you.” And Caleb couldn’t tell if the words actually made it out of his mouth or simply echoed in his head.

  Ava looked deeper . . . inside.

  Just like the bear.

  She rooted under and around, through skin, muscle, and sinew, searching for Caleb’s most vulnerable places. The tender spots that would get him to stop. To listen. To understand.

  “No . . .” He was quieter. No longer shouting.

  That’s good.

  “Ava. End this! “

  Ava faltered when she felt his power. It seemed so familiar, somehow.

  Peaceful.

  It sparked memories of soft touches and warm smiles. It reached out to her, curling tendrils tingling with warmth tracing over her skin. She could see . . .

  “Kill him!”

  His heart. Beating so slowly now. His power pulled away from her . . . reluctant, almost pleading.

  “No . . .”

  His heart.

  “No . . . I can’t.”

  Her heart.

  “Kill him!”

  “No!” Ava whirled on Emma, and the girl flew across the clearing and landed in the dirt with a grunt. Without waiting another second, Ava ran to Caleb and threw herself into his arms.

  “Ava, no!” Emma shrieked as she staggered to her feet, shaking off her surprise and reaching out to Ava with her gift. “You can’t!”

  “Caleb.” Ava sobbed, her head tucked into his neck as she clung to him. “Please . . .”

  Without wasting another second, Caleb wrapped her in his arms and shifted them away.

  Chapter 15

  Ava’s knees buckled when they hit solid ground, and Caleb was no better, both of them slumping to the damp grass in a pile of limbs. He drew a deep breath, and she felt him shudder before pulling her gift back enough to release him.

  “I’m sorry . . .” Ava’s mind swam with confusion—thoughts of Emma, her sister, Caleb . . . blurry images of what she’d done, and the world tilted on its axis as Emma’s compulsion weakened.

  Hands turned her over, examining her for injuries, and Ava realized for the first time that they were back at the Colony, and they weren’t alone. Gideon hovered over her with Tiernan, the sky lightening slowly behind them and casting their faces in shadow.

  “What happened?” Gideon asked. “Whatever you were doing set off warning bells with Simeon—our sensor,” he told Ava when she looked at him blankly. “Good lord, Ava, you’re covered in blood.”

  “I’m fine,” she said, her voice wrecked and raspy as she wiped at her nose. The flow had lessened considerably.

  “It’s Emma.” Caleb coughed, sitting up and holding his ribs. “She’s a Rogue. About a quarter mile due east.” He gasped out the words, gingerly lifting an arm to point in the direction of the trail.

  “On it,” Tyra said, already gathering men and weapons and heading off through the woods.

  Tiernan shot another worried glance Ava’s way before joining the group.

  Gideon helped Caleb to his feet, wincing at his pained whimper. “Are you all right?”

  “Fine. Few cracked ribs, I think, but they’re already healing.” He didn’t look in Ava’s direction.

  She felt sick. Things were beginning to fall into place now that the cloud of Emma’s influence was lifting. She’d believed what Emma told her, felt it true to the very core of her being.

  She’d hurt Caleb.

  Gideon turned to help Ava, and Caleb snapped, “Be careful.”

  “I’m not going to hurt her.”

  Ava’s heart sank when Caleb flushed and looked away. “He’s not worried about you hurting me. It’s the other way around,” she said flatly, getting to her feet and swaying at a rush of dizziness. “Emma influenced me, but I’m all right now.”

  Kind of.

  Ava wondered if she’d ever truly be all right again. The thought of someone tampering with her so intimately, so powerfully—she felt violated and ashamed.

  “Better get Adam, just in case.” Caleb still wouldn’t look at her.

  “I said I’m fine!”

  “How are we supposed to know that for sure?” Caleb asked, nodding at Gideon as he called Adam back over the radio. “I’ve been under Emma’s control. It’s not an easy thing to escape.”

  “Well, I’m not trying to kill you, am I?” Ava shouted, and her face crumpled as she broke out in sobs and collapsed back down into the grass. She was so tired. Her head ached, throbbing pain with every heartbeat. Breathing was a chore.

  It was only a moment before Caleb’s warm arms encircled her, his gift reaching for hers just as his body did.

  She slumped into his chest, whimpering, “I’m sorry . . . I’m so sorry . . .” over and over again.

  He murmured reassuring things as he rubbed her back with big, warm strokes. She couldn’t decipher the words, but they soothed her nonetheless. Eventually, she calmed, sniffling quietly into Caleb’s strength as he told his father an abbreviated version of what had happened.

  “Sisters,” Gideon muttered—again—as he helped Caleb get Ava to her feet, the two of them practically carrying her limp body inside.

  She shivered, the warmth of the common building a welcome relief. “Half sisters,” she said coldly, and Caleb chuckled.

  “Good to see you’re back,” he said.

  Ava still couldn’t laugh about it, but she forced a small smile, leaning into him and inhaling his comforting scent. “Are you sure you’re all right?” she asked.

  He leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “I’m fine. Barely feel it anymore.” He twisted a little as proof once they entered Gideon’s office.

  Ava spotted a futon along one wall and claimed it for her own. Caleb sat next to her and drew her close as Gideon paced.

  “So you’re a part of this grand plan of Borré’s.” He fumbled in a cabinet for a jar of R-cubes and tossed it to Caleb, who took a couple for himself and handed two to Ava. “And there are ten more of you,” Gideon said.

  “I’m not part of any plan,” Ava said stubbornly and popped the cubes into her mouth as if that ended all conversation on that topic. “There’s no way I’ll help the Rogues.”

  “Sorry, wrong choice of words,” Gideon said distractedly, obviously still lost in his own thoughts. “But somehow you broke free of her control.”

  “I could feel her,” Ava said finally, the memories clarifying the more she thought about them. “I could feel her doing it, but somehow . . . I didn’t care. But when Caleb—” She brushed
at her eyes, swallowing thickly. “I could tell something was wrong, but I couldn’t break free, not entirely.”

  “Ava’s mind has always been exceptionally strong,” Caleb said, his low voice lulling her. “I couldn’t blur her memories for any length of time, and my compulsion never stuck. And that was before the block was lifted. Once I shifted her far enough away, it seemed like Emma couldn’t maintain the link.” His voice held a hint of pride.

  Pride Ava felt was unwarranted. “Or maybe she gave up when she realized we’d go after her.”

  Gideon’s radio beeped as if on cue, and he answered gruffly. Ava wasn’t surprised to hear the report that Emma had vanished.

  She sighed, Caleb’s fingers stroking her arm and relaxing her. She yawned, and he pulled her down so her head rested in his lap. The cubes dulled the headache—barely—but she was still so tired.

  She fell asleep with Gideon ordering a search of the forest and Caleb’s fingers in her hair.

  Ava’s stomach rumbled, but she couldn’t bring herself to eat. She sat between Tiernan and Caleb in the common room, huddled over sandwiches and lukewarm coffee, and she toyed with the bread, breaking off pieces and crumbling them between her fingers. She’d slept for a couple of hours curled up with Caleb on the futon, and she almost felt back to normal.

  Almost.

  Her head still throbbed a little, a reminder of the huge output of power she’d displayed. Caleb assured her they’d figure it out, but Emma’s words haunted her.

  “Once we get home, back to Father, It won’t hurt anymore.”

  Her father. A Rogue bent on taking over the world.

  Perfect.

  Tiernan waved a hand in front of her face, and she looked up to see him watching her carefully. “You sure you’re all right?” he asked.

  “I wish people would stop asking me that,” she grumbled but then sighed heavily. “I’m fine. Just a bit overwhelmed by it all, you know? Not every day you find out you were created for world domination.”

  Tiernan snorted. “Think pretty highly of yourself for someone who couldn’t even move a training block until a few days ago.”

  “Yeah, well, I can sure do it now.” She eyed him, the challenge clear in her gaze. “You want to try me?”