The Chardon Chronicles: Season Two --- The Winter

by Kevin Kimmich

  Chapter Three

  Matt, Telia, Francis and Owen watched the live stream of the events at JJ Gorman’s headquarters. Telia walked away when Commander Marcos started shooting board members. Matt felt sick and Francis and Owen watched with stony faces.

  Francis phone was buzzing. He whispered, “It’s Seth.” Francis answered and put him on speaker.

  “That was huge. The markets tanked. The circuit breakers kicked in twice! Now they’re just closed. Watch how the feds and media start spinning this thing as terrorism, the whole drug money laundering story will be sidelined. Leak some information on key media people, Francis. Marcos’s story will start to be seen as credible, then.”

  Francis said, “We’ll do that.”

  Seth said, “Keep it up. Go bigger!” He hung up.

  Matt rubbed his face. “Gaaak!” He shouted and shook his head. “So, our big accomplishment was people died, a whole lot of people just lost 25% of their life savings and will lose more tomorrow, and the next day. This is just mayhem, what good comes from this?”

  The others were quiet. They had no answer. Francis got up from the couch and went over and stoked the fire. The logs crackled, and he felt the scorching heat on his face.

  Francis said, “I’m with you Matt. I don’t think it’s getting to the root of the problem. It’s probably counterproductive.” He watched the black carbon husk of the logs turn scaley and gray and orange. He tapped his chin with a finger and gazed at the flames. He asked, “What happened when you tried to connect to the Sun?”

  Matt answered, “You know how Samantha touches you and it feels like sparks, maybe a butterfly wing on your skin? The sun was more like a tsunami of energy ripping through my body. Instead of being conscious in another place, it just blasted my consciousness away. I think I only really remember the initial moment.”

  Francis said, “Can we try to route that energy into the beast? Or how about dispersing it, or dampening it somehow. Kind of like carrying a flame across into the other side.”

  Matt shrugged. “I really don’t know. We can try some experiments and see what happens.”

  Telia spoke up, “If Matt connects to it again maybe I can try to do something with the energy.”

  “What if it’s harmful? It sounds like it could be!” Francis worried.

  “Well it didn’t kill me the first time. Maybe we can give it a shot, just be ready to cut it off if I really have a bad physical reaction. I’ll wear the heart monitor and all that jazz.”

  They all walked over to the barn. Matt downed a shot of whiskey and climbed up into the chair. He said, “Let’s just do this. Let me know when you’re ready Samantha!”

  Telia said, “OK. Give it a few seconds after I close my eyes.”

  Telia and Samantha were standing by the mountain stream when the normal background hum of the Sun became a roaring note. They saw the sun on the horizon, huge and white and glowing.

  Telia said, “Oh my god!”

  Samantha started to glow incandescent white, and Telia saw her own skin begin to emit the light. Then they all snapped back to normal consciousness. Matt was holding his head in his hands and sitting slumped over in the chair. His blonde-red hair was matted with sweat and his sweater was soaked through. He took it off and tossed it down onto the floor.

  Telia shouted, “Matt!” She ran toward the ladder.

  He held up a hand. He croaked, “I’m alright. It’s just very tiring. I’m extremely thirsty.”

  Francis said, “His heart rate jumped to 182 beats per minute. It was like that for about 5 minutes, then I stopped the test.”

  Telia said, “Well, I can tap into that energy, but, I’m not sure it’s really safe for Telia’s body. Maybe my vacation in the material plane needs to end.”

  Telia sighed, “Yes, I suppose so. I don’t know if that was healthy for me, let alone the baby.”

  Francis chuckled, “I can finally tell who’s talking. The eyes change ever so slightly.”

  Telia hugged him. “I love you Francis.” She hugged Owen and gave him a big kiss. “Owen, you’ve been a tireless champion.” She climbed up the ladder and sat on Matt’s lap. “Dear Matthew. You’ll see me in your dreams, now. Hopefully, when this is all done, maybe Telia will want me back.”

  Matt managed to raise his head and kissed her and said, “Bye Sam, we’ll see you soon. Thanks for everything.”

  Telia shook her head and said, “Wow, just like that, she’s gone. I feel extremely depressed and achy already. I hope my withdrawal isn’t like poor Amy’s!”

  Matt said, “It could be a harsh ride for all of us. She energized everyone.”