by A. P. Kensey
“Wow,” said Haven, without sympathy. “That must be quite a burden.” She slapped her thighs and stood up. “I better get back before anyone else dies. You go ahead and vaporize yourself or whatever you plan on doing that doesn’t involve helping anyone.”
Nathaniel stood next to her. “I’m helping you right now.”
“Could have fooled me. Do you have any idea how infuriating it is to know that you exist but I can’t ask you for help?”
“You need to find your own path, Haven. You need to win your own victories.”
She shook her head and turned away. “I can’t believe this. Alright, then, take me back.”
He moved toward her, then hesitated. “I could take you somewhere else. Somewhere safe. You don’t owe those people anything.”
She looked out at the ruined city. “Yes I do. Of course I do.”
Nathaniel studied her carefully. “So you’re not giving up, then?”
“Never.”
He smiled. “Fascinating. In that case, I hope you’re feeling recharged. You’re going to need it.”
Haven burned with rage at the thought of Kamiko standing over Colton’s body. Heat blossomed at the top of her spine and swept over her body like wildfire. “There’s enough in me to handle Kamiko, and then some.”
Nathaniel nodded and stepped toward her. “Then hold on.” He grabbed her shoulders and paused. “You know, I said you needed to find your own path, but I never said I couldn’t nudge you in the right direction.” He pulled her close and the world disappeared.
44
Colton lay on the floor, writhing in pain. Kamiko’s hand burned like acid on his forehead. The image of her standing over him brightened to the point of blindness. He heard Dormer struggling next to him, fighting against Kamiko’s grasp.
There was a sudden CRACK as the air in the room was split in two. Kamiko’s hand yanked away from Colton’s forehead and the piercing brightness that blinded him slowly faded as his vision returned.
“It’s impossible,” whispered Kamiko. She backed away, toward the exit. “You’re supposed to be dead!”
Colton thought he saw Haven standing on the other side of the room with someone else—a tall black man with broad shoulders and a long coat—but his vision was still too blurry to make it out clearly.
The first Haven—the one that had been there with him the whole time—lay groaning on the floor a few feet away. The fire snake disappeared and she lay twisting in pain with her eyes closed, unaware of the new arrivals.
Two Havens.
Colton’s mind struggled to grasp the concept. He pushed himself up onto his elbows and shook his head to clear his vision. Dormer lay unconscious next to him. Rapid footsteps faded away as Kamiko ran down the hallway, toward the exit.
“Is this your idea of a nudge?” said the new Haven across the room.
The tall man smile at her. Then he reached out for the Haven lying on the ground and grabbed her wrist. There was another loud CRACK as both of them vanished and the air in the room slammed back together.
Then it was just the new Haven, standing there alone. She ran across the room and practically fell on top of Colton. He groaned in pain as she hugged him as hard as she could.
“Easy!” he said. “I’m still here.” He leaned back and looked at her. She was exactly the same Haven he knew from before. “So I guess you’re trapped in some kind of time loop now?”
“You don’t sound that surprised.”
“Not with everything else that’s been going on.”
“To be honest, I don’t really know what happened.”
“Tell me about it later, okay?”
She looked him over, patting his arms, his chest, his cheeks. She pulled his face to hers and kissed him deeply. When she released him, he looked at her with only a hint of confusion.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she said. Happy tears rolled down her cheeks and she wiped them away. “Nothing at all. We have to go after her, Colton. She’ll go back to the Dome and—”
Dormer moaned and his eyelids fluttered open. He saw Haven and smiled, then beckoned her closer with a weak twitch of his finger. Haven went to him and knelt at his side. She gently took his hands in hers and rested them on his chest. His breathing was shallow and raspy. The whites of his eyes were solid red.
“Almost finished,” he whispered.
“Maybe Colton could help you,” she said. She looked at Colton hopefully. He nodded and stood up. Blood rushed to his head and he stumbled back to his knees.
“No,” said Dormer. He held onto Haven’s hands and shook them fervently. “Listen to me. She’s not a Phoenix.”
Haven looked at him in confusion. “But how could you know that? You saw how powerful she is.”
“It’s true,” said Colton. “She told me herself.”
“Listen,” said Dormer. “The Phoenix energy would never go to someone like her. It does not choose randomly. It is not chance. A person like Kamiko could never receive such a gift because her only focus is death. Do you understand me?”
Haven nodded. “It means she’s not as strong as we thought.”
“Only if you work together,” said Dormer. He cried out in pain, then relaxed. His eyes found Haven’s and he smiled. His lips parted as if he meant to say another word, but only a deep sigh came out. His body went limp and his eyelids slowly closed.
“Is he…gone?” asked Colton.
Barely noticeable breaths moved his chest up and down. Colton walked over and stood next to Haven. He rested his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently.
“We can’t do anything else for him now,” he said. “Let’s get Kamiko.”
They ran down the long hallway together. A control panel they had passed near the door was open and a key was pressed into a keyhole, turned to the side—the machine guns in the ceiling were switched off. Colton and Haven ran outside into the sunset light of the desert.
Kamiko sat in the driver’s seat of the Jeep, frantically looking for the keys.
“Dormer has them,” said Haven loudly.
Kamiko’s head jerked up and she snarled when she saw them standing there. She hopped out of the Jeep and approached them slowly. Her eyes lit on fire and dark blue flame crept over her entire body. Lightning stretched out from her back and extended twenty feet in all directions, crackling and snapping as it reached for Colton and Haven.
“I will not hesitate this time,” said Kamiko.
“You just did,” said Haven. She jumped onto Colton’s back, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. She held him close and said, “Let her have it.”
Colton felt the surge of energy from Haven’s body. He was unprepared for the absolute raw power she produced—it hit him like a freight train and nearly knocked him to the ground. He focused on widening the gate for absorption—the mental doorway through which he let in all outside energy. It swung wide in his mind as the blue fire flooded his system.
He closed his fists and held them out toward Kamiko. She stopped walking forward, temporarily halted by this new development. Then she growled and ran forward.
Colton let go. He let everything out of him as fast as it was coming in—he was a direct funnel for all that Haven was giving him, amplifying her energy as it passed through his body on the way down to his fists. A pillar of blue plasma rocketed toward Kamiko and hit her in the chest. She lifted up into the air and slammed against the Jeep.
Colton stopped the flow of energy and waited. Kamiko fell off the side of the Jeep and hit the ground face-first. She clawed at the sand and crawled forward. Fresh bolts of lightning sprouted from her back as she looked up at him with hatred.
“Don’t stop,” whispered Haven. She buried her face into the side of his neck and closed her eyes. “Because she never will.”
The surge of energy that hit Colton was more powerful than the first. Kamiko got to her feet and stumbled forward, eyes blazing like spheres of blue lav
a.
Colton let the enormous amount of energy pool inside him. He focused on amplifying it on its way down to his fists. Soon his hands were glowing like two brilliant stars. The stars grew so large and so bright that his arms disappeared, lost in their brilliant glow. Haven’s energy wings unfolded behind him. They extended twenty feet into the air on either side, shining brighter than the sun. The sand at Colton’s feet pushed away in all directions.
Kamiko took another step forward and reached out for him. Colton screamed as he let loose a single burst of energy. The spheres of plasma on his fists shot out and collided in the air just in front of Kamiko. Her eyes widened as the spheres merged and swallowed her whole. The giant ball of blue plasma rotated in place like a spinning globe, its energy swirling over the surface like the clouds of a miniature planet.
The sphere slowly dissipated like fog in a strong wind, leaving behind only small wisps of blue smoke. The sand beneath it was crystalized. Kamiko was gone.
Colton found it difficult to believe what he had just done.
“We did it,” he said finally.
Haven moaned softly into his neck. He held her close as they sat down in the sand. Her eyes were distant and unfocused. Colton shook her gently.
“What’s wrong? Haven? What’s the matter?”
He pushed hair away from her eyes and felt her cheek. Her skin was icy cold.
“Elena said this would happen,” she said weakly. “How fast it could hit you once…once you were the next one in line.”
“No!” shouted Colton. “I don’t want you to be the next one in line. I want you to stay!”
“I’m dying Colton. I knew it could happen if Kamiko died. But we did it anyway, didn’t we? Because we had to. There was no one else to stop her.” She smiled up at him. “Just you and me.”
“Then we shouldn’t have done it! What if you’re not the next Phoenix? Sometimes it doesn’t choose you, even after you’re dead, right? She said that, too! Then what?!”
“Take me away from the building,” said Haven.
Colton stared at her, knowing that agreeing to do that would be admitting the inevitable.
“I don’t want you to leave.”
“Please,” she said, and reached up to touch his face.
Colton scooped her up in his arms. He carried her away from the building, toward the sunset. She rested peacefully against him, her eyes closed, a small, content smile on her face.
“Just here,” she said.
Colton knelt down and cradled her in his arms. She turned her head to look at the setting sun.
“I just remembered it’s my birthday,” she said. A small tear rolled from the corner of her eye. “You tell Noah to be a good boy.”
“You’ll come back,” said Colton. The desert wind cooled as the sun approached the horizon. Colton wiped at the tears that rolled down his cheeks.
“Tell him I’m sorry about Mom and Dad.”
“Tell him yourself,” said Colton.
She turned away from the setting sun and smiled at him. “We were meant to be together, you and I. We finally figured it out.”
Colton nodded, fighting to hold back his tears. He opened his mouth to tell her he loved her, but it was too late. Haven was gone.
He closed his eyes, pressed his forehead to hers, and wept. The last light of day disappeared as the sun dipped below the horizon, and Colton was alone.
From The Author
Book Three is Available
Book 4 is coming soon! Sign up for my newsletter to get an email when it’s released. I won’t spam you, I promise.
Indie books live and die by their reviews. If you enjoyed Bloom and have a moment, please consider writing a review so other readers can discover the series.
Thank you so much for reading.
—A.P.
Author Website
apkensey.wordpress.com
Copyright
This book and parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarities to actual persons, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.
