by Lucy Rains
“I told him you would come.”
I turned to Merrick, unable to hide the sadness in my eyes. “I should have come sooner.”
Merrick smiled sadly. “I should have researched your world’s atmosphere better.”
At that point a million questions burst into my mind. My adrenaline had finally slowed down enough for me to think clearly and I realized that Merrick was the first Lothree I had met that was not apart of my victri.
“Damn it Jade, let's go!” Alex shouted again.
“Come on little jewel,” Kyson said, taking my hand and leading me forward.
“But I have questions,” I murmured.
“I think you’re going to like this,” he said.
Roman and Charles followed Alex through the trees and into the clearing. Pierce and Gavin waited for us to catch up.
Pierce handed me another little water bottle before stepping into the opening. “We are behind schedule. And now I’m sure we’re going to be even more postponed.”
Water dripped down my chin and I wiped at it. “Why?”
Kyson and Merrick walked into the clearing and my eyes drifted past them to the landscape. A shimmering surface grabbed my attention and my senses suddenly perked up.
The scent of wet earth.
The sound of shifting water.
My heart jumped in my chest.
“Hold this,” I whispered, handing my empty water bottle to Pierce.
My stride quickened, lengthened into bounding steps as I sped by Alex and Roman.
A lake was just beyond our treeline, waiting, calling to me. I crunched through the perimeter gravel and stopped at the water's edge, squatting down to touch the lip of the lake. The tips of my fingers skimmed the water and the familiar flickering sensation spread up my arm. I smiled.
Everyone walked up beside me, setting their bags down and beginning to untie their shoes. Charles and Merrick sat down on a nearby log that was perpendicular to the water’s edge. Roman stood to the side of them, arms folded, feet shifting.
I unbuckled my vest and dropped it to the side of me. My shoes were next, and then my shirt was ripped over my head.
A low growl rumbled behind me and I turned to Gavin. “I’m more covered than in a swimsuit,” I pointed out. My thick, conservative black sports bra holding me in just fine.
“Keep your pants on,” he growled.
I stared at him while unbuttoning my pants and ripping down the zipper. His jaw clicked in tense anger but I didn’t back down.
Pierce, Alex and Kyson came up behind me, blocking my view to anyone nearby. I didn’t care. All I wanted at that moment was to be immersed in the pure water sitting in front of me.
Standing only in my underwear, a breeze blew over me, whipping my hair behind my head as I stepped forward. Smooth water pebbles pressed into the soles of my feet as the crystal clear water lapped over my ankles. A mixture of a gasp and giggle fell from my mouth as the fluttering crawled up my legs.
A shirtless Alex trotted by me, hooting as he threw himself into the water. Kyson and Pierce stood several feet away on both of my sides, allowing me space but still nearby. Gavin walked forward calmly, sloshing through the water till he was at his shins.
My energy pulsed through my hands into my arms, spreading into my chest. I opened my hands, leaving them by my sides but facing outwards. My eyes slipped closed as I allowed my energy to seep from my skin, moving into the water in front of me. I felt it’s desire to flow freely but I controlled it, held it back. Little by little, I increased the flow and listened to the water churn in front of me.
A gasp sounded behind me, a few words from Merrick. My eyes opened and I looked at the swirling vortex in front of me. A hurricane of water at rising at least 10 feet high. I smiled, pleased with the sight. Pleasure pulsed into my mind, a reaction from all of the guys at my actions. Seeing me well, happy and strong again.
My hands relaxed and I released the water, letting it crash back to the lake’s surface. “It’s just like the ocean,” I gushed, grinning at Pierce.
He smiled, a twinkle in his eyes. “Good to know.”
I looked at Gavin, hoping he knew what this could mean for us.
“We don’t have much time,” Kyson reminded me.
“Oh,” I said. “That’s right. Just a quick dip.” Not waiting for his response I ran forward towards Alex. His face broke into a wide grin, beaming at me. I lifted my arms over my head, flipped myself over him and sunk beneath the fresh water.
I let my body drop to the bottom of the lake, letting my arms drift up and feel the energy in the water purify my body. Weeks worth of tension eased out of my limbs, my muscles loosened, and my mind cleared.
The water moved around me in a soft wave, adjusting to my body and sensing my movements. Alex appeared in my line of sight, smiling as he wrapped his hands around my waist. Wrapping my legs around him, I released a small amount of energy from my palms to spin us slowly in the water. It was like our own private dance. I wrapped my hands around his neck and pushed my lips to his.
After a few seconds we released each other. I began doing our slow backwards layout flips, like we had done in the ocean. We waited, watching each other’s bodies move through the water.
I was in the middle of my third rotation when Pierce’s voice screamed through my mind. An excruciating panic pressing into my temples. I jerked in the water, my eyes closing and my body folding in. He screamed at me again.
And again, and again.
My feet pushed into the soft surface and I flew upwards at a blinding speed. The water felt my urgency, pushing my body forward and to the rocky edge.
I whipped my head around, my mouth open, searching. A body lay on the ground. Merrick, Charles and Roman was missing. Pierce and Kyson were flat on the ground, in a few inches of water behind a large rock. Gavin.
My heart skipped a beat, where was Gavin?
“JADE, DOWN!” Kyson screamed.
A bullet bit into the rock in front of him and I screamed as I dropped to my knees.
Alex’s head came above the surface, “Stay in the water!” I shouted.
A sick dread filled my chest as I glanced back at the body on the ground.
Whose body was that?
Another bullet pelted the water to the right of me, but it wasn’t enough to pull my focus away from the lifeless body.
Black clothes.
Kyson was yelling my name.
I didn’t feel any disconnection with any of the guys.
Pierce was in my head.
Black clothes.
Another bullet in the water.
Merrick and Roman were wearing gray jumpsuits.
Where is Gavin? I shouted at Pierce.
Behind you!
Behind me.
Pierce was in my head again.
Black clothes.
No.
“No,” I choked. Keeping my body flat in the water, I army crawled forward.
Kyson was screaming my name again.
“No, no, no…"
Merrick’s head peered over the edge of the brown log they had been sitting on. His eyes were full of sorrow, his emotions filled with fear.
I was several feet away from the body when a bullet bit into the top of my left shoulder. Moisture brimmed in my eyes but I kept crawling.
When I recognized the sight of soft gray hair, I whimpered.
When it became clear that it was full of blood, I screamed.
And screamed.
My body shot up, readying to lunge forward to Charles’s still body when I was tackled from behind.
“Jade, no!” Gavin growled into my ear. “It’s too late, you need to get behind something.”
“NO!” I cried out, trying to push forward but Gavin’s arms were too strong. “Char-!”
My cry of anguish was cut off by the crushing impact of a bullet slicing into my cheek. My head was forced to the side and I teetered on my knees. I fell forward, gagging on the overwhelming pain shooting
through my face. A searing fire ran through my jaw, through my head, down my neck. A shattering sensation shook my face. Shards of teeth rolled around my mouth. Warm liquid spilled down my neck and onto my chest.
Gavin wrapped his hands around my body and forced us to roll out of the water. I felt his body jerk when a bullet hit him. Darkness threatened to pull me under as my body healed itself, the pain almost too much to bear from his mind and my own.
He moved us behind the log next to Merrick and Roman. My trembling fingers went up to my cheek, feeling the open wound leading into my mouth start to enclose. My tongue dabbed at my teeth that were righting themselves. I spit into the damp sand that we laid on, expelling the blood that had gathered in my mouth.
My head came up to see Roman staring at me. His eyes wide, glued to my face and the mess that I was. His chest heaved and his hands shook.
I pinched my eyes closed and rolled my head around. “How many?” I rasped.
“Three shooters,” Merrick said, cringing as a bullet hit into the front of the log again. “Maybe more.”
A vision of Charles bloody head flashed in my mind and my hands curled into claws, digging into the ground. Anger burned through my body, my chest raged like an inferno. Gavin wrapped his arms around me again to keep me still. I howled in protest, my body winding tight.
“Use your krin,” Merrick whispered in urgency. “Use the water!”
“No!” Gavin shouted, flexing his muscles even tighter. “Don’t speak to her!”
My canines lengthened and a fire stirred in my chest. My cries became lower in pitch, and I growled in protest against Gavin.
“Jade,” he whispered into my ear, “don’t fight me.”
“You can not stop her,” Merrick said calmly.
My eyes opened and I sucked in a deep breath of air, fueling the fire that raged hot in my chest. My palms pricked with my energy. I focused that energy into my arms, into my shoulders, spreading into my chest.
“Jade, you don’t know what you’re doing,” Gavin stuttered, feeling the warm heat pulse through my skin.
“Yes she does,” Merrick responded. "She is powerful. The krin will guide her."
Gavin pulled his arms away from me in a hiss of pain, my body feeling like fire on the inside and out. He looked at me with an expression of devastation, knowing what I would do next.
My hand wiped at the blood on my chin as I pulled myself to a stand. As soon as I was on my feet a bullet flew past my right ear. Gavin cursed loudly in frustration. I dropped my hands to my side, palms forward, releasing my energy.
I stepped over the log, ducking my chin down as I searched through the trees. My sixth sense flew out, finding the four men attempting to end our lives.
A burst of energy ripped from me and the lake water rose in response. The bullets were landing in front of me now. Hitting my wall of energy and water that I had created. I zeroed in on the locations of two of the shooters and began stepping forward slowly.
My hands shook. My teeth ground together and my feet entered the water. The men had positioned themselves several feet apart. On the ground, some in the trees. To my left...some straight ahead.
Alex jumped out of his cover of water and sprinted behind me. Without looking at him, I continued forward. My eyes focused, my mind determined. I moved my hands up and in a circular rotation, keeping my eyes on the first two men as the water became violent with an unseen tempst.
The bullets came faster, more frequent. I stopped when I was knee deep in the water, releasing a cry of rage as I threw my hands forward at the two men. I felt their their confused panic as the water came flying at them. A ten foot wall of lake water that obscured their vision and swallowed them whole. I felt their anguish as they struggled to breathe. The water came back to me. And their emotions were gone.
My concentration broke for just a second as I searched out the other two. The lake water dropped and they began firing at once. They managed to get my shoulder before my wall of energy was up again, pushing me back a step, and my anger was refueled.
Tears streamed down my cheeks and I stepped farther into the water. But I did not sink. I did not go lower. The water beneath my feet became solid. My body shook with emotion, and the beginnings of exhaustion. I needed to move quickly.
I sprinted, gasping through my sobs as I moved towards them. The wind began pulling around my bare skin and I shivered.
Bringing myself closer to where they hid behind trees and foliage, the wall of water grew and moved with me, ready to strike at my command. I didn’t pause as I felt their horror of what was coming. Bullets came faster as I threw my hands forward, curling them into claws as the water wrapped around the two men. I saw one fall from the tree, and I gripped tighter. The channel of water retracted, pulling the men with it. My arms straight above my head, lifting the men in the air and bringing them crashing to the ground.
My hands dropped and I choked on a sob. Staring at what I had just done. Wanting to do it again.
The water trickled slowly back into the lake, streaming down the bank and back to its origin.
There were voices. Emotions. Somber. Angry.
I turned around and began walking back towards the others.
But my feet stopped.
A noise.
My eyes closed.
A rumbling.
My ears pricked and I turned around, looking into the trees.
There was an emotion. Two emotions.
Frustrated.
Hostile.
The rumbling became louder. Deeper.
Helicopter.
Pierce, What’s happening?
I called Harold, told him to pick us up here. Before I knew there were shooters.
I looked up. Looked back at the trees. The aggressive emotions were coming closer. No…
What?
More… I closed my eyes and felt with my mind. There’s two more.
The chopper blades were becoming louder with each second, coinciding with the emotions coming closer.
Tell him to go back! I screamed.
What?!
Ice pricks ran down my neck when I heard the first gun shot.
My head swiveled as I felt the oncoming people change course, moving to the west. Moving towards the helicopter.
My feet moved, my legs pumping over the water surface. More gunfire. The trees next to us began swaying, the helicopter almost right over us.
The water began rising around me as I ran, following me. The helicopter appeared over the trees and held its position. The men came close enough to the treeline that I could reach them. My hands shot out and wind ripped around me as I enclosed them with a current. But not before they got off three shots.
Chapter 34
Everything was moving in slow motion.
The smoke rising from the tail of the helicopter. The helicopter spinning, hitting trees. The men laying lifeless and wide eyed on the ground.
Rain began pelting my face as I stared in horror. A chill sank into my skin as the wind whipped around me.
A burst of flame exploded from the middle of the chopper. I could see Harold’s face for a split second through the front glass.
This wasn’t happening.
Couldn’t be happening.
Acting on instinct, I ran out of the water, my feet smacking the soft earth as I reached my hands up high over my head. There was a roar of fury behind me, barely audible over the helicopter rotors and engine as well as the wind.
There was no water around me as I came closer to the falling chopper. No water waves to throw out. I was on my own. My face twisted at the effort I pushed into my energy. Everything I had, all that was left. I channeled through my palms and into the sky at the falling helicopter.
I watched it’s descent slow. Watched the tail almost hit another tree and then stop. It was slowing, but it wasn’t stopping. I pushed harder, desperate to succeed. Wind was against me, pushing the helicopter down to the earth.
My muscles began to scream in
agony. A sharp pain struck in my temples. My legs gave out and I fell to my knees. I screamed in my exertion, not willing to give up.
In my focused state I barely felt the presence come up behind me. My eyes were glued on the helicopter as it began dropping at a faster rate. Then there was warmth. Pressure. On my chest. I sucked in a breath as I felt Pierce’s energy fuel my own. My eyelids drooped for a second at the renewed power it gave me.
The chopper slowed, no longer spinning. Pierce pressed his hand to my chest harder, knowing my body was about to give out. My hands were burning. I had never emitted so much energy for so long and my flesh was becoming raw. I focused harder. Pushed harder. Bore down harder.
The helicopter was fifty feet from the ground. Then forty. I heard my name cheered behind me. At thirty feet I was beginning to feel hope. At twenty feet a gust of wind impaled me from the side and I teetered on my knees, my arms pushed slightly out of the direction from the chopper. Only a few inches. Maybe two. But it was enough. The chopper picked up speed at the last second and the tail flew backwards into a tree. Both reactions caused a much harder landing than the damaged machine could take.
Fire exploded from the main cabin the second it hit the ground. I screamed in defeat. Sorrow punching a hole through my chest. I dropped my hands to the ground and clawed at the soil, fresh tears filling my eyes. I choked on a sob, coughing. Pierce’s arms wrapped around me and I let myself fall backwards into him.
My whole body was shaking. Dizziness swirled through my head and I couldn’t work the muscles in my neck. My tears stopped as the sky became black and eventually disappears.
********************
My body was moving, swaying.
Someone was carrying me.
Clothes had been pulled on to my body. My damp undergarments had soaked through.
The wind had calmed, but tiny specks of rain dabbed at my forehead.
Gloves had been placed over my hands, shoes back on my feet.
Consciousness flew back into my mind and my eyes opened. My head tilted up and my body twisted. “Charles!”
Kyson pulled me closer, as if to shield my body from the reality of what was happening.
“Put me down,” I rasped. My throat was raw, my voice hoarse. “Where is he? What did you do with him?”