by Vivien Reis
A faint crackling right next to her ears, growing louder and louder. She searched around but saw nothing. Her head shrank in on itself and she flew away from everything faster than she had reached it.
With a sickening crunch, she was back on the island.
The sun shined bright on her face and she squinted.
"Abi." Jesse had both of his hands near her collarbone, close to her neck. "What happened?"
"Ben. He's in trouble. He’s dying." The words came out muffled like she’d swallowed cotton balls. What had happened to her brother? Gran hadn't been with him, and she would never leave him.
Everything after that moved in fast-forward. Jesse carried her, leaves crunching beneath their feet as she tried to come back to the present, to let go of what she had seen.
Had her brother made it? Was he even alive right then?
They appeared back in the Vikars’ amphitheater, a room Abi was rapidly growing sick of seeing. It was standing room only.
A group of Vikars disappeared down the passageway branching off of the meeting room.
"The root. I think it's her brother." Two of the Vikars appeared relieved, another looked worried.
Abi tried to process what he was saying.
"We must have been wrong." He explained what little she had told him about her vision. "If she saw Ben at a time of crisis then he's the root."
"What else did you see, Abi?" Cecelia asked, and Abi realized with shame that Jesse was still cradling her in his arms. She patted his arm and squirmed free, allowing him to steady her.
"Doctors. Half a dozen, maybe. There were machines everywhere. Ben—" She took a shaky breath. Her dad had looked like this. What had happened to Ben since she had left? "He was on a gurney. There was this woman in a yellow dress and—"
"What did she look like?" Gowri asked.
Abi concentrated. She had been preoccupied with Ben, but she pulled up the mental image, describing the woman as best she could. "Tall, strawberry blonde, skinny, bright yellow dress."
"That's Evelyn," Roderick said, anxiety spreading through the room. "The King's Army has him."
"What were they doing, though?" Abi didn't expect them to know exactly what they had been trying to accomplish.
"Something to increase their powers—that's always their motivating factor behind everything." Cecelia pursed her lips, thinking aloud. "We're preparing for a battle, but we don't know where this battle is to take place."
Jesse interrupted. "If she has a root in her mind with Ben—"
"—then she can take us to him," Roderick finished.
All eyes turned to Abi, her face reddening.
A whirlpool of movement and questions and activity sent Abi's head spinning. The moderately sized room was now packed with Oracles getting debriefed on the plan.
She tried to listen objectively but felt sick every time her name came up. It was followed by things like, "—will hop three of us to the location, since she's the only one that's ever been there," and "—will stay with Roderick while his second-in-charge hops back to collect the others."
She had no clue what was going on, and no clue what her role in all of it would be.
The group broke apart, people still rushing in and out of the cave to gather supplies and energy.
"What the hell is going on?" She and Jesse were finally alone, but that didn't last for long.
Jesse ushered Abi over to two men standing in the shaded grass. "You wanted to see her?"
"Yes," Roderick said. "Abigail, this is Lieutenant Mason."
The lieutenant was shorter than Roderick with a bald and shiny head. "You've been assigned as lead traveler for this mission."
Abi and Jesse spoke at the same time.
"Me? Lead?"
"You must be mistaken."
"No, there's no mistake. Your friend Abigail is the only person who has been to their compound," Roderick said, clasping his hands behind his back.
"How can we be sure that it's their compound? What if it's just another safe house?" Jesse's nervousness at this situation fed into Abi's own fears.
Abi hadn't been anywhere. She had seen something, in a trippy and floating dream. How did that qualify her to lead anything?
"That's a chance we're going to have to take. For now, it's our only hope. If more intel is received between now and then, we'll adjust our plans."
"But—how..." Jesse was stammering, looking from Abi to the Council and back. "This is dangerous. She's not ready for it."
"Unfortunately, she's as ready as time can allow for. We need to get there, and she's the only way," Mason explained.
There were so many things wrong with that argument that Abi couldn't begin to list them. "I don't know what kind of training you think I've had, but I can't hop anyone. I've never even done it by myself."
"Then you have—" Roderick checked his watch "—four hours and forty-two minutes to learn."
Time pressed on Abi like a physical weight.
"Wait, she would have to transport massive numbers of people." He probably didn't realize it, but Jesse had moved to stand in front of Abi. "How can we be sure that she would be able to withstand that and still be ready for what happens next?"
Her stomach rose into her throat as she thought about what the next part really entailed.
"We've come up with a workaround," Mason said. "She'll transport a handful of us there, who will hop back to either Elysia or Roden, transporting groups of people to the compound. That way, not all of our members would have to come to Elysia, and Abi wouldn't have to transport that many of us."
"And what happens to Abi while everyone else leaves her there to provide transportation for others?"
"We can have a small detail put on her. But all this depends on how many she can actually carry." The director shot her a pointed look.
"Why can't I just hop you guys there and then leave? I'm not a fighter." Saying this in the presence of Oracles that were fighters, she felt a little guilty.
"That's up to you. If you want to transport back to Elysia, you're free to do so."
"Ready?"
She wasn't.
Abi had no idea what she was doing. Roderick, Mason, and Jesse took her outside where she proceeded to pick herself up in the air and drop herself back down, sometimes more than five feet from the ground.
They moved to the sandy beach after the third time this happened, and they pushed and prodded and Jesse explained and over-explained.
"I'm not getting it!" They had less than an hour to go and her insides had turned into acid. "I can't hop myself anywhere. How the hell do you expect me to hop with two giant guys!"
"We'll take a break. Five minutes." Mason checked his watch, and then he and Roderick gave Abi and Jesse some space. She wanted to choke both of them, especially Mason.
The island was still undergoing preparations. Before they had left the caves, groups of people were being briefed on their assignments.
"Why do I have to do this? I'm the newest person here!"
"Abi. Look at me." She did, but she was immune to those blue-green eyes. "You can do this. You conjured up a haelstorm yesterday, something most of us never learn to do at all."
"Yeah, because it's illegal."
"That's not the point. You have the skills within you to do this. I know you do. The stitching part is easy, we just need to practice the movement. Stretch your mind to the place you want to go, and allow your body to follow that trail."
He had explained this many, many times already, but it was far easier said than done.
"Let's take a walk." Jesse grabbed her hand. No butterflies errupted in her belly as he pulled her aside. They had all melted away in the acid that was her life. "I have good-ish news."
Abi didn't believe him. Nothing good was going to happen today.
"We took Cora to the hospital in Roden."
She stopped. "What? When?"
"She's safe in one of the hospitals. They took her an hour ago, and it was two men from Benning's
division. The Consul agreed that perhaps Cora wasn't out of the woods yet and gave the order."
"Why is she in Roden? Why not Elysia?" Abi wanted to see her friend again, know that she was alive.
"Elysia is protected. No non-Oracle minds can enter. It's how the island works."
"So, she's getting the treatment she needs?" Abi was clueless on the medical part, but she knew traditional medicine wasn't going to solve Cora's problems.
"Yes. But there aren't many vapor cases for doctors to research. It might be up to Deia at this point."
Abi couldn't ask what he meant by that. The implication of what she thought it meant was enough to make her want to sob.
How did they expect her to accomplish this crazy feat? She wasn't good at stuff like this—team stuff. That was where Ben had shined. Abi liked doing things mostly on her own, not having to rely on a lazy classmate to finish a project with her. And sports? Forget it. As soon as the coaches started yelling at them during elementary school PE, she bailed on the idea of organized sports.
But she was their only hope, their only option. The first great battle of their century was about to be underway, and Abi was smack in the middle of it.
# FORTY-SIX
This time wasn't like the last time. Ben was a passenger now in a dark cave, watching as the world moved past his body, as his body moved on its own.
It wasn't his anymore, and he was okay with that. It was easier, so much easier giving in. The headaches were gone, the fatigue, the stress. He had dealt with his mom, and that was all he’d wanted out of it.
Except for his sister. He knew she wasn't near him, he could feel it. A strange power affected all of his senses in ways he couldn't quite comprehend.
One of those ways was the root he had with Abi. That's how he knew she wasn't close by.
After He had taken over, Ben soaked into the depths of his own mind, sinking back to observe, letting go of the gory images that had haunted him for weeks.
His new mind didn't care about gore—it welcomed it.
But something wasn't right. Something itched in the corner of his mind, and the King accessed it for him, gently pushing Ben aside to reach it.
Abi.
She was up to something, something bad. His little sister wasn't bad, though. He tried to reason with Him, but He wasn't listening. He didn't have to.
Ben quieted and waited to hear the plan.
He felt the same emotions as He did, experienced the same revelations.
The Brethren were planning an attack, and the King's Army would be ready for them.
# FORTY-SEVEN
By the fourth hour, Jesse had successfully taught Abi how to link up with his mind, this time as the traveler and not the passenger. It was strange, like her head was too crowded.
"The part of your brain that uses linking is just like any other part of your brain. The more that you use it, the easier it gets. The weight you're feeling in your head grows lighter. That's when you know you can take on more people."
"I'm nowhere near that though. You feel like a million tons in my brain."
"I'll try to go on a diet. No promises though." There wasn't even a hint of a smirk on his face, and there definitely wasn't on hers.
She tried again, expanding her mind toward his and wrapping around it. A strange prickling sensation crept over her, like his mind was wrapped too tightly around hers.
Move down the beach, she commanded herself, visualizing it. Move us down the beach. Her stomach flew up to her throat and she hit the ground hard, landing half on top of Jesse, who was spitting sand out of his mouth.
It wasn't pretty, but it was progress. In forty-five minutes, she would have to do this with two people, whose older minds were much heavier than Jesse's.
"It gets exponentially easier, I promise. Six people feels a lot like four people. Learning the first one or two is the hardest part."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better? That I'm learning the hardest part of hopping?"
He didn't respond.
"Let's take a break." By this point, she and Jesse were sick of seeing each other. Neither had eaten, both feeling that every passing second was a second wasted.
As if sensing her thoughts, a boy about twelve years old hopped in front of Jesse and Abi. She wanted to punch the little kid, unwittingly gloating about how easy hopping was. The little brat.
But he brought gifts, specifically food. It was a plain sandwich, and Abi wondered how many people weren't sick to their stomachs right then with anticipation. Abi was, but she choked the food down anyway. All of her failed attempts at hopping had starved her.
After she finished, she wanted nothing more than to sleep. The food had slowed her down, and she pictured how comfortable her bed was right then.
She still couldn't move half a mile down the beach by herself, let alone with someone else. Jesse seemed to think that it was a big deal she had managed to move at all. She wasn't sure how that made her feel.
Roderick and Mason came back, ready and raring to go get dropped in a sand pit, since that was all she was good for.
Again and again they practiced, their minds nothing like Jesse's. Theirs had hard edges and rough threads. She waited expectantly for the falling sensation followed by the pop, but it didn't come.
Twenty minutes left.
She was screwed. She, Roderick, and Mason were shouting at one another with increasing intensity. They each had a tip they wanted to share, and Abi felt like hopping as far away as she could. By herself. No one to bother her anymore.
But the battle was drawing nearer. Less and less people were out and about, hopping to their respective locations to await transport from Roderick or Mason.
Jesse pulled her to the side, yet again. "Think of your brother."
He stared at her for a moment, willing the image into her head of Ben lying on the table.
"I don't exactly think that's going to help me focus right now."
"It's worth a try." She sighed, giving one small nod. Did it matter at this point? He continued anyway. "Let those feelings come back over you. The ones that you felt as you saw your brother lying on that table, doctors buzzing around him, the dread and pain you felt when you discovered he was in danger."
She resisted at first, but forced herself to focus on the image he was painting. Taking herself back, she was floating above her brother, experiencing the helplessness and pain again. Tears stung at her eyes and her breathing shortened.
"Now imagine that it's all your fault."
Her eyes shot open. "Why would you say that?"
"Because it is. Your brother's not dead yet, and if they continue with whatever they're doing, he's going to be."
"I'm doing the best I can, okay? You can't expect me to master this all in one go."
Jesse's stare was hard. "Yes, I can. And you should, too. You're only as strong as you're allowing yourself to be right now. And this hesitation I'm feeling when I connect with you, it has to stop."
"Are you kidding me? I feel like my brain is going leak out of my eyeballs at any moment, and you're telling me that I'm not trying hard enough?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying. You're not trying in the right way. This is all mental." A look of real hostility spread across her face and he gave her a frustrated one in return. "Not crazy, that's not what I meant. I mean, this is about your mental capabilities. You need to believe that you're going to do it, and you need to visualize what you're going to do. It has to be real up here," he reached up and tapped her temple, "before it happens in reality."
She glared at him for a moment, realizing that what he was saying actually made sense. But hearing him talk about it and doing it were two totally different things. She wanted to scream in frustration, but Jesse was right. At the end of the day, if she gave up on her brother when he needed her most, she wouldn't be able to live with herself. That sickening feeling was just what she needed to focus.
"Let's go again."
Ten minutes out from go
time, and Abi had just successfully hopped her, Roderick, and Mason to the other side of the island. There was no way for her to practice longer distances, and since no one really knew how far it was she was expected to hop, apparently that would have to do.
"I don't feel good about this." Her stomach was in a thousand knots and she had the urge to rush to the bathroom every two minutes. Jesse was standing beside her, in the group of people that were to be the first to go once Roderick returned. Mason was to hop Abi back to Elysia and then take another group in for reinforcements.
Part of her wanted to be there for the action, to help her brother, to find him, but she felt crazy for even thinking that. Benning hadn’t trained her in any offensive attacks. She felt hollow thinking of him. He had sacrificed himself to warn every one else. She couldn't let his death be for naught. They were prepared.
She was prepared.
At least, she kept telling herself that, praying that affirmations were a real thing.
"Hey, drink this." Jesse held out a tin canteen for her. For a moment, she thought it was alcohol until she took a whiff.
"More magic tea?"
He nodded, not even having the energy to smile anymore. Neither did Abi. "Trust me, you could use it right now."
She titled the canteen back, gulping down the tea. It warmed her, settling some of the nerves wreaking havoc in her abdomen.
In just a few minutes, Abi was expected to make Brethren history. She was supposed to be the spark that started the next war, a measly 15-year-old girl.
After that, the real hard part would begin for those going into battle—storming the entire complex.
"It's time."
Abi almost yelped. Roderick had come out of nowhere with the announcement. Surely they had some time left.
Her chest and stomach burned as all eyes turned to her. Hundreds of people were going to take part in this, and they were all counting on her.
Abi took a deep breath and nodded at Roderick and Mason. It's just like we practiced, no difference, same easy stuff, she tried to tell herself. She wasn't positive it did anything to help though.