by A. S. Oren
"Where are you going?" Zack asks, slipping and arm under Emma's to hold her up. Her head lolls back. I’m surprised it did her in so well.
"I need to talk to Tiffany and work out a few things. I need everyone believing the same story when she wakes up. She didn't believe me, and you had to go and tell her none of what I was saying was true. Thanks for that, Zack. You're the reason for this."
He grunts. "Come on, Elle, you told me the day I got her nothing would change and not to force it. Then, you go and do the opposite by telling her things she's not supposed to know. You're the queen; you know the law. Don't expose magic to those who don't have any." He lifts up Emma’s legs with his free arm and tosses her a bit until he has her cradled.
I roll my eyes. "I'm not breaking any laws. Emma does have magic; she just refuses to believe it because the doctors convinced her otherwise."
He nods. "Yes, but you also know she got on the yacht without a belief in it. Not only that, but none of us on the yacht had reason to believe she wasn't mortal. Maybe if you had told Trent why you wanted him to go after her, things would’ve played out differently."
We step walk through the door and toward the elevator. "They would’ve played out differently if you’d stayed away from her like I asked."
He presses his lips together and closes his eyes. "I love her. You knew I was never going to do that.” He relaxes his facial muscles. “It's obvious I didn't the first time around. When I met her, she was already in love with me. Did you expect me to break her heart? Would you have wanted that?"
I look down at my feet. "Well, no."
"All right then, stop playing the blame game. We all played a role in her future and in her past. There’s no going back now. What's done is done. She leaves in few hours, and everything will pan out just as it already has."
"That's easy for you to say. You'll see her again."
"Yeah, the me from several years ago. None of my memories are going change. Everything has already happened, even this conversation though I’m just now experiencing it. You should know that better than anyone."
I let out a long breath. "I only learn vicariously through the older me.” I stare at a concrete pillar in the parking garage as I pass it. “She's going to die soon."
"And yet she already has," Zack says.
We file into the elevator, which brings us up to the correct floor. Jeff does his best to not interfere. Crystal stands beside me looking like a potato: mindless, still, and plump. I'll have to erase this from her mind in a moment. For now, I'm just grateful for her uncharacteristic silence. "Time is a tricky thing, Zack. Everything that is going to happen already has. We're just living it through now, one day at a time. I just hope we make the right choices."
"Yours made much easier by the little merge you did with your future self," he says.
"You would think that, but the future won't be the same now. My decisions as Elle will affect things. All I know is that I have to stay out of it once she’s released, or we risk history repeating itself. I want Smothers’s vision to come to pass. I don't want the outcome of the future my older self had to come to pass. Emma is the answer. Changing her future changes everyone else's for the better. Smothers wouldn't tell me how or why, but I'm sure he had a reason for everything that is now taking place."
"My father is a wise man," Jeff says.
Zack eyes him.
"Oh, I guess I never told you that detail about Jeff.
We go through the double doors and down the hall toward Emma's room. "Jeff is Smothers's son. He helped start all of this years ago. Technically, he doesn't even exist yet. Like I said, Zack, time is a tricky thing."
Jeff opens the door. I pull back the sheets on Emma's bed, and Zack lays her down.
"If you so much as think about taking advantage of her, so help me, I will kill you."
Zack huffs. A bit of steam exits his nose. "You know better than that, Elle. When will you believe I love her?"
"When you stop holding on and let her fulfill her destiny."
He balls his fists. "Destiny is a choice."
I scoop my hair behind my ears. "Only the selfish and weak-minded would agree with that statement. We all play our part, Zack. It's time you accept yours and move on."
"Why don't you take your own advice and get out?" he says through gritted teeth.
His fists unclench and talons emerge from his fingertips. Anger management has never been a strong suit of his.
"Need I remind you you're speaking to a queen?" Heat rushes to my eyes, surely turning them from brown to a fiery gold. Golden scales seems out from my skin, threating to enrapture me with equal parts pleasure and anger.
Jeff touches my shoulder. "It's okay, Elle. He's just worked up. Go talk to Tiffany. I’ll pull the younger ones out of school and move them to the rec room for a therapy session."
I close my eyes and take meditative breathes before looking at Zack. "You are very fortunate Jeff is in not too keen on violence." My scales recede.
Zack rolls his eyes. I lean forward to smack him, but I stop when Crystal gasps. I forgot about her. Why does she gasp now and not when I shapeshifted my arm. "Crystal, why don't you follow me?" I touch her arm and escort her to her room. She sits on her bed. I look into her eyes and repeat what I want her to believe.
"She got hit pretty hard," Crystal says, running a hand through her pink mohawk.
I nod. "Yes, but she should be fine after a little more rest. Jeff said evening group has been moved. Apparently, we're going to have a long session in the rec room. You should join the others. I have to go see Tiffany before she starts the session."
She nods. I leave her room and grab a key card off of the nurse’s station desk. "Elle," Monica says. "I don't have you down for an appointment. I’m sorry, but I can't let you leave."
I stare her down.
"Oh, yes, Tiffany asked for you. Never mind."
"Thanks, Monica, I'll be back in a bit."
I leave through the double doors as the younger teens follow Jeff out of the learning center and into the rec room. He'll be able to keep everything under wraps from there by drawing back the barrier. I won't be protected in Tiffany's office, but at least I won't have to brainwash the whole unit. That'd be a bit taxing.
I walk right into Tiffany's office. It's rather cozy, dim lighting and comfy chairs.
"Elle?"
I lean against her messy desk. "I'm going to need you to tweak your schedule."
She looks down at her appointment book. "I have twenty minutes before Teresa comes. I can squeeze you in."
"Teresa?"
A delightful smile plays on Tiffany’s lips. "She's a group home leader. I was going to bring you in here with Emma and let you both know, but since you beat me to the punch, I might as well tell you. You're both being moved to a group home."
I stand up straight before taking a seat in one of the chairs. "I won’t be going," I tell her. I hold up my wrist and project an image of it cut deep with a jagged edge, blood pouring out.
"Elle, what have you done? We need to get that bandaged!" She scrambles through a filing cabinet for emergency supplies.
"Sit down, and forget I showed you. You'll be sending me to the adult unit," I reply. "Emma will go to the group home as you said, but you will make a call and have . . . Teresa . . . come an hour later than planned. Emma bumped her head last night and had to stay awake to avoid a concussion. Now, she is resting and needs a bit more time. You should call Teresa now so that she doesn't waste a trip.”
"That would be kind of me," Tiffany says, soaking in my every word. Mind control on humans is a bit too easy. What's that saying? It's as easy as taking candy from a baby? Well, I would hope no one gave a baby candy to begin with, but mind control is easy on mere mortals.
She calls Teresa. When she's about to hang up, I take the phone from her. "Hi, Teresa. I'm Emma's doctor, here with Mrs. Tiffany. She wanted me to talk to you about a few of Emma's medical needs."
"Okay," she says.
Mind control over the phone doesn't really work. Eye contact is much better, and proximity is key. I have to get this right without using my abilities. "Emma has a bladder control issue. We switched her over to a new medication, and it's taking her a while to adjust. She’s been fine so far, but you may want to stop by the store and pick up some Depends just in case her symptoms get worse."
"I can do that."
"Good, it's her birthday, so I suspect she will have lots of fluids tonight and thought it would be a good idea to warn you."
"Yes, I'll see if I can talk her into wearing one tonight. If not, I'll keep her in a separate room to avoid embarrassment."
"You are so kind, Teresa. Well, I think everything is settled. Emma will see you in a bit. Goodbye."
"Goodbye."
I hang up the phone. That was easy. I don't even know if there are meds that will cause that sort of issue, but she bought it, and that's all that matters. "Tiffany," I say, focusing my mind control on her and amping it up. "I believe everyone is waiting for you to start a session in the rec room. You will continue the session until Emma walks in and finish it a few minutes later."
"Very well."
"Face everyone away from the door and play some classical music. Things may get out of control in the hallway, but you are to remain calm and keep everyone distracted. Move along now."
She stands up and walks out of her office. I follow behind her. We walk through the double doors and into the rec room. I hold up my arm and let everyone see my bloody wrist.
"Lord have mercy," Tiffany says. "Jeff, you should go tend to that and find out what she used."
He cups a hand over my wrist and ushers me into his office. On the way there, I knock out Monica with a little sleeping breath. Jeff pulls up the cameras in his office, since he doubles as full-time security and nurse, and erases the last few minutes so that nothing seems out of the ordinary before shutting them off. He’s the one in charge, so claiming a glitch happened won’t be hard. With all of the magic I've used, there are bound to be repercussions.
"I need you to bandage my wrist, so Emma will think I had a breakdown."
His eyes widen. "You want her to think that?"
I sigh. "I know Emma; she'll refuse to get on the yacht if she thinks I can go with her. Besides, I can't be there when she gets shot. It wasn't in Smothers's vision. He must’ve known I'd never let the seeker shoot her if I could prevent it. I have to let it happen, and that means staying out of the way."
He pulls in his bottom lip with his teeth and nods."Okay. I hear you." He pulls down an emergency kit. I hate to do this to Emma. I don't want her to worry about me, but there’s no other way. I can't go with her to the group home. I have to have some believable reason for going to the adult unit.
"I'll be here to help you through it," Jeff says.
I run my hand over his soft, russet cheek, loving that he doesn't have a beard. "I know you will. I’d never make it through today without you. I've known this day was coming, but knowing and being here are two different things."
He lowers my hand wraps my wrist, fastening the bandage together with an adhesive strip. I stare into his silver eyes.
"Would it make you feel better if you could help her?"
I touch his firm chest. "What do you mean?"
"I know you thought giving her more information about our world would easy her into it, but what if there’s a better way?"
I circle his peck with my index finger. "Go on."
"What if . . . ” he shivers and holds my hand against his chest to stop my circling, “you could put a calming spell on her or leave her with a piece of your magic. Just having something of yours would help."
I mumble to myself. It would be easy enough to spell a piece of fabric. If she wears it, she'll stay calm. I can link a bit of my magic to it be able to track her. Then, I could use a crystal ball to see what's happening around her. "Jeff, you're a genius." I stand up and give him a kiss. He leans in to deepen it, but there isn't much time. I close my eyes and think of my childhood room. I know just what to use. I disappear before his lips can meet mine again.
Coming Soon!
AuthorPage: http://www.amazon.com/Zether/e/B00COEA9M4/ref=sr_tc_img_2_0?qid=1431355527&sr=1-2-acs