Pinnacle

by Lynn Veevers

  “Not exactly. It has to be another Natural Mystic. You will look exactly like them, be able to do the things they do, but your thoughts are still yours and your inner core is still yours. There is a lot more to it, but I am still researching that part. It has to do with a transfer and adaptation of powers,” Blaire explained.

  When Blaire got a load of the look on Kaya’s face, she fell silent for a moment. Then hesitantly, she spoke.

  “Kaya, you haven’t mirrored someone else have you?”

  “My Aunt Diana. I wasn’t even trying. She’d made me so angry and I morphed into her, right down to the clothes she wore.”

  Blaire was perplexed and lost in deep thought. The room was absolutely quiet as everyone watched Blaire, waiting for what she would say next.

  “You are a Gallagher, as is your aunt. Why don’t you know any of this? She should have told you. You should have read at least a good part of your family tome which, I might add, is probably the most extensive and detailed among the clans.”

  “I guess that is the question now, isn’t it?” Kaya said. She was content to let the subject drop. More secrets unraveling was the last thing she wanted to deal with, so she turned her attention to Kenneth instead.

  “How did you know I was in trouble?”

  “I heard the yips of the Afflicted and since all the wolves in this area were accounted for in this house, I knew there was something up. More importantly, they were the type of yips and howls you would hear when a pack member has found and cornered prey. It is how we let our other pack members know where we are, especially if we need help bringing down the prey,” Kenneth said solemnly.

  Kaya was sure, in light of all that had gone on, she and Kenneth were OK where the divulging of secrets to third parties was concerned. She was sure that they would retouch on the subject at a later time and that suited her fine. Then she saw Josh and Anissa walk into the room. Kenneth’s gaze darted from Kaya to Josh, their eyes locked, and an understanding silently passed between the two.

  Kenneth moved toward Kaya, ready to explain himself. Kaya could tell by Josh and Anissa’s intensive stares that they knew. She tried to sit up and realized she had been placed on the kitchen table when her rescue party had returned back to the house with her.

  She powered through the weariness her body felt to fully bring herself to a sitting position. Kaya felt the rage welling up to the surface. It was an equal rival in its potency to the pain that radiated from her side where the she-cat had dug her claws in. She ignored it, swung her legs over the edge of the table, and proceeded to give Kenneth the best death stare she could muster.

  “How dare you!” Kaya shouted as she scooted off the table and advanced on Kenneth.

  She was two strides from making contact with his face by way of her fist when she ran into a wall. It effectively landed her on her butt. Pain shot through Kaya’s side when she hit the floor. She grabbed her wound and felt tears stinging the backs of her eyes. She couldn’t tell if it was from the physical pain or the emotional one, though.

  She glanced up from where she was on the floor and saw Josh standing next to Kenneth. Anissa still stood on the opposite side of the room, serene in her expression. She cast Kaya a sympathetic look, almost as if understanding her predicament as she calmly worked her yo-yo up and down its string. Josh regained Kaya’s attention when he spoke.

  “Kaya, please calm down. Kenny didn’t have a choice,” Josh said.

  She scoffed at him, not trying to hide her resentment in the least bit.

  “Really, Josh, he didn’t have a choice?” she yelled with sarcasm in each word.

  Slowly, Kaya got to her feet and advanced Kenneth, fully intent on lighting him up, when she ran into a wall again. Only this time, she realized it was literally a wall, an invisible one. She took a half step back and looked at the two of them standing there. It was then the realization hit her like a freight train; the dark auburn hair that was truly more of a dark red than brown, the amber eyes. Kaya looked back to Blaire and then back at Josh. She narrowed her eyes with angry annoyance.

  “You two are related, aren’t you?” Kaya said after a moment.

  Josh was a Natural Mystic. She wondered how she had not picked up on it. Blaire unfolded her long willowy frame from the chair she was sitting in and answered the question. “We’re cousins. Our fathers are brothers.”

  Somewhere in the recesses of Kaya’s recent memory, Josh’s last name came to her current attention. Macintosh, the same as Blaire’s. Kaya considered Josh for a long time. Her anger defused and she sighed in resignation.

  “Do you mind, and what is this?” she said, gesturing to the unseen wall between them.

  Josh waved his hands as if he were swatting away a pesky fly and then jammed them into his jean pockets. He stared at a spot on the floor.

  “Sorry. I am boundary gifted. I can form barriers around most anything,” Josh said nervously.

  “How long have you known about me?” Kaya asked, him feeling rather defeated. A quick glance at Kenneth told Kaya he was feeling just as nervous as Josh looked.

  “I knew in the first week of school. When you didn’t show up, Kenneth was beside himself over you. I have never seen him so worried about anything or anyone. He came over to my house that Saturday and we talked. Other than Blaire, there are no other Natural Mystics in this town, so naturally, I was surprised. I mean, you are not even from around here, and this region of the country is where most Natural Mystics are. The Midwest has the highest concentration of our kind in the United States,” Josh explained, glancing at Blaire.

  “Well, Josh, my aunt is also gifted and she lives here, as did her entire family, including my mother. That whole side of the family is from here,” Kaya informed him, fuming again.

  Josh’s expression was clearly a confused one as he stood there looking at Kaya, and then they both looked at Kenneth.

  “Did you know that Kenny? Did you know her aunt was gifted?” Josh asked.

  Kenneth looked positively sheepish. Apparently Kaya was not the only one he had not been straight with. He wore the guilt like a shirt.

  “Yeah, I have known for years,” he admitted.

  “Why didn’t you tell me then?” Josh wanted to know.

  “I gave her my word I wouldn’t tell anyone about her.” He spread his hands in a helpless manner.

  Josh looked crushed, like he couldn’t believe his best friend had kept this kind of secret from him.

  Anissa, who had remained silent and barely noticed this whole time, pocketed her yo-yo and finally spoke up. “I know I may not be the person to say this, but there are certain codes of honor Kenneth lives by, Josh. You know this, and if he swore himself to silence, you can hardly be mad at him. After all, if he’d given you his word, you would expect nothing less than for him to keep it.”

  For the second time in less than five minutes, Josh looked absolutely dumbfounded, but recovered quickly.

  “I guess you’re right, Nissa,” Josh said.

  Kaya turned on Anissa, her anger still fueling her mood, and decided to take out her aggression on the other young woman.

  “And what are you? Seeing how everyone here is something extraordinary, I assume you are as well. No, don’t tell me. Let me guess. You’re a unicorn, right?” Kaya said sarcastically.

  Anissa’s face flushed reddish-purple. Her rage over Kaya’s insult was evident in her expression and rigid posture. She marched right over to where Kaya stood, jabbed her right index finger into Kaya’s chest, and fixed her with a smoldering glare.

  “I am so sorry to disappoint you, Kaya, but there is nothing extraordinary about me. On the contrary, I am completely ordinary. I have no powers, gifts, abilities, or whatever you people want to call it. I am a normal seventeen-year-old with a full understanding of what my body is capable of doing,” Anissa said with purpose.

  She struck Kaya in one fluid and precise motion. Kaya had no warning, had not seen it coming at all. Anissa hit Kaya in the center of her chest
with the flat palm of her right hand and sent Kaya sprawling into Kenneth with so much force it knocked the wind right out of Kaya and landed them both on the floor.

  As Kaya sat there gasping for air, Anissa stood over her and spoke in a deadly calm tone. “Don’t you ever disrespect me again, you little self-righteous twit. You can be mad at them all you want, but I did nothing to deserve your attitude problem,” Anissa said with venom in her every word. She stalked out of the room still fuming, her jet black ponytail swinging behind her.

  When Kaya’s breath finally returned, she gazed up at Josh in utter shock. “Wow, did I miss a memo or something when it comes to her?” Kaya asked.

  “No, she is just as normal as she claims. However, the part she neglected to tell you is she lives with her father,” he said chuckling

  “What does that have to do with anything? “Kaya said confused.

  He laughed, truly amused. “Her dad is a martial arts master and he taught her everything he knows. He is the authority on hand-to-hand combat. If you think that was bad, you should see her with a weapon. She’s what’s referred to as a Kunoichi, a female ninja,” Josh said smiling.

  Kaya couldn’t believe it. Little, sweet Anissa was also a dangerous deadly fighter. Never again would she judge another by outside appearances only. Anissa may look harmless, but as Kaya lay on the floor, she knew that was the furthest thing from the truth.

  Kaya realized she was still sprawled over Kenneth and gave the valiant effort to pick herself off him. Only when she went to stand, the pain in her side was so extreme she just fell right back into him. She grabbed her side and her hand hit a warm, wet spot. She was bleeding again. She heard Blaire shouting at Cole to help her move Kaya back to the table. Kaya’s body felt heavy and weak. She looked at Kenneth still sprawled on the floor with her. She felt herself going under again and right before she completely blacked out, she looked Kenneth in the eye and said one last thing.

  “I’m sorry.”

  7

  Inside Sterile Walls

  Tulsa, Oklahoma

  She was in darkness, total darkness, with the occasional faint sound of people murmuring. Kaya couldn’t make out what they were saying. It felt like she’d been like this forever. Pain radiated from her side but it was distant and muddled. For that she was grateful. She wondered if she was dead, but if that was the case, she found herself wondering why her mother wasn’t with her. Kaya just knew she would be. The murmuring was energetic, angry even, and she also heard something that sounded like someone sighing.

  She felt warmth flowing through her body and her senses started to sharpen. The murmurers turn into hushed, heated whispers. She recognized the voices. Owen and Diana were having words about something. Kaya couldn’t open her eyes, let alone move. The sound she’d heard earlier, the sighing, was her own breathing.

  Kaya’s dark environment started to shift to a dark, but luminescent red, and she felt the sun’s rays on her skin. She tried opening her eyes again. Someone had drawn the blinds up and the sun greeted her with blinding light. She surveyed her surroundings as much as moving her eyes would allow.

  She didn’t know where she was, but it was clean and mostly white. There was a porous, paneled white ceiling with classroom-style lighting and the soft hum of machinery. Cool air blew gently through her nose and tubing was lying against the skin of her face. Oxygen, she was on oxygen.

  Kaya mentally sighed because the clues had finally brought her some clarity. She was in the hospital.

  Down toward her feet, with his head resting on the mattress, Kenneth slept. He looked pale and had dark circles under his eyes. He also looked thinner than she remembered. She wondered how long she’d been here and what had been so bad that Blaire couldn’t fix.

  She had a million questions and no answers. She concentrated and tried to say Kenneth’s name, but her voice defied her. Once again she tried to speak, and Kenneth’s name came out as an almost inaudible croak.

  Kenneth’s head shot up off the mattress so fast she thought it might roll off his shoulders. Rolling his chair to the top portion of the bed, he stroked the hair away from Kaya’s face. The silence stretched and his relief became evident in his expression even though his eyes were bloodshot and tired.

  “You are in the hospital, Kays. You’ve been here for four days. You lost so much blood, we didn’t have a choice. You needed blood or you were going to die. Blaire’s talents only go so far. Replacing lost blood is not in her area of correction. When Anissa flung you into me, it undid the fragile mending Blaire had done. Anissa was beside herself with guilt. She is still making herself sick over all this,” Kenneth said in a whisper.

  Kaya tried so hard to say something, anything, but she just didn’t have the energy. She thought with her being unconscious for four days, she'd be full of juice, but she was so tired.

  Kenneth leaned down, kissed her forehead, “Try and get some more rest Kays.”

  Through heavy lids she watched as he looked up to where his father and Di were still quietly arguing over…she didn’t know. It was clear from the irritated expression on his face that he really didn’t care what it was they were squabbling over... “Hey, you two want to stop bickering and come over here. Kays is awake.”

  He returned his grey gaze to Kaya and almost immediately, two other faces came into her view. Owen looked fierce as ever while Diana seemed flat out vengeful, but worried at the same time. Not exactly the reactions Kaya expected. Further examination would have to wait though, because the weariness of her body took hold and she was once again slipping into unconsciousness.

  When Kaya came to again, it was dark outside. At least, that’s what she assumed because the blinds had been drawn and no light shone through. She’d regained control over her motor skills and managed sitting up, but not without a painful pulling sensation in her side. Wincing she was amazed when her discomfort came with a verbal reaction as well.

  Kaya examined her little room. There was the chair next to her bed where Kenneth had sat the last time she had woken up. There was a television on the wall directly opposite the bed. It was on, but muted.

  There was a click and Kaya saw Kenneth opening the door and stepping through. He held a soda and what looked like a Chef’s salad. Kaya suddenly realized how hungry she was. It took just inside of a second for Kenneth to notice she was sitting up and awake. Like before, she saw an undeniable expression of relief cross his features when he saw she was coherent again. The salad and soda were deposited haphazardly on the food tray next to her bed.

  “How are you feeling, Kays?”

  “I’ve been better, but I suppose given what happened, I could definitely be worse. So what do the doctors think happened to me?”

  “They think you got mauled by a wild animal. We told them we found you on the road just down the way, carried you back to the house, and called for an ambulance. You were airlifted here to Tulsa. You had to have a transfusion, a couple actually. You were touch-and-go at first. It scared me to death. You finally stabilized about twenty-six hours into your hospitalization.”

  Kaya tried so hard to listen to the details, but the scent of ranch dressing had her not caring at all. Her mortality was still intact and it was hungry. Kenneth followed her gaze to the salad he had brought in. He reached over, opened the container, and handed it to her.

  “Eat up. I can only guess how starved you must feel. I can go back down and get another. Is there anything else you want?”

  Her mouth was already full. So she shook her head no. He laughed and waltzed out of the room, telling her he’d be right back. Then a few seconds later, he poked his head back in the room.

  “Use the nurse call if you need anything when I’m gone.”

  “All right. I will,” she said in between bites.

  Kaya ate the salad and as she munched the lettuce she thought of her mother and wondered if she’d tried to visit. She didn’t remember seeing or hearing her mother since she’d sat with her on the plane of the dead. Dread f
illed her and she was suddenly not hungry anymore. She questioned whether post-trauma defenses were that much different from sleeping. She knew even in death her mother would have come unglued not knowing what happened to her. Clearly her mother would know she had not died, because Kaya had not showed up on the plane of the dead again. Kaya wondered exactly what would happen if she opened herself. After all, what was it her mother had said when they had sat at the table? Leave yourself open? For the last four days, her body had shut out everything, including her mother.

  Suddenly she felt sick with guilt. Kaya sat back on the fluffy, lacey blue pillows, no doubt Kenneth’s doing. She closed her eyes and opened herself, even willed her mother to be there.

  It felt like an eternity passed in the few seconds she waited for something to happen. Then finally, it did. There her mother stood, just staring at her in disbelief.

  “I knew you must still be alive, but nothing could have prepared me for the wall I hit every time I tried to reach you,” she said.

  Kaya tried to stay non-defensive, “Mom, it’s not my fault you couldn’t get through to me! I was unconscious, not purposely blocking you.” Kaya quickly rambled off what had happened four days ago and her mother nodded in understanding as Kaya spoke.

  “Well my dear, it seems you’ve had quite the adventure. I am just glad you’re OK. I never thought fear was something I could feel in my current existence, but like with so many things, you have proven me wrong.”

  Right about then, Kenneth came walking through the door and over to Kaya’s tray to deposit yet another Chef’s salad. Kaya’s mother started to wave goodbye when Kenneth looked right at her and said, “Hello Mrs. Hunt. I’d shake your hand, but I am sure this does not work that way.”

  Kaya and her mother exchanged shocked looks, and then they both gawked at Kenneth and said, “How?” in unison. He just laughed...

  “I sensed her from halfway down the hall and remembered the sensation from the day at your house. Honestly, I was wondering when she’d show up.”