Unjust

by Tiffany Lovering

  “This is not normal,” I said starting to cry.

  “Why are you all of a sudden starting to get your powers?” she asked. “This should have happened right after you were crowned.”

  “I don’t know, but please help. I don’t know how to control it.” I was suddenly self-conscious with Mykel there. I didn’t want anyone to see me like this. I felt really vulnerable and incredibly frightened.

  “I’m going to go see what the other Guards are up to,” Mykel said. “I’ll be back a little later.”

  This was so strange, it felt like Mykel was doing what I was thinking instead of acting on his own accord. Angel and I talked about how to control the voices and how to focus on one voice to understand what was being thought. It took about an hour to master it but it didn’t scare me any less.

  “What you are going through is just as anyone else. It’s going to take a bit to get used to it.”

  “What else is happening to me? I think there’s more than these voices.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I think Mykel left because I was thinking about feeling exposed with him here.”

  “Interesting, try it on me,” she said.

  “Uh…okay, but I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  “I don’t know what you’re doing either. I guess just think about what you want me to do.”

  I concentrated really hard and she got up from the couch and went into the kitchen and got me a bottle of water before returning and handing it over to me.

  “Whoa. Was that what you wanted?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You need to be careful with that. Don’t take advantage of that power because if I’m not mistaken, you could probably get someone to jump off a cliff if you wanted.”

  “That’s scary,” I admitted.

  “I don’t even know how to control that, or anyone who has a similar power to help you. Maybe if you don’t put a name to your thoughts, the power won’t know where to direct itself. Try it.”

  I thought as hard as I could for her to put the bottle back in the refrigerator, without using her name. She didn’t move from the couch.

  “Are you trying?”

  “Yeah, it didn’t work.”

  “Is there anything else you’re experiencing?”

  “Well, it might be nothing, but every time I touch something, I get shocked.”

  “Jasmine, that’s not nothing. I’m pretty sure you have something like Tyran has. You should really talk to him about that.”

  “This is all happening way too fast.”

  “But you’re able to control everything very quickly.”

  “I think I’m going to go back to my room,” I said. “Thank you so much for your help Angel.”

  “You’re welcome. If you need anything, I’m here okay? And please talk to Tyran, he’ll be able to help you.”

  “Okay.”

  Clementine and I returned to my room and Tyran was in the kitchen getting some coffee.

  “Hey where have you been?”

  I didn’t answer but I took his hand, shocking him in the process, and dragged him with me to the elevator. When we were in Cali’s room, she was on the couch and I said, “I have powers.”

  “What?” Tyran asked. “Really?”

  “I can hear people’s thoughts like your sister. I can also make people do anything I want them to do.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Cali asked.

  Cali I want you to jump up and down like a rabbit. As she was doing what I'd told her, she said, “Holy crap Jasmine!”

  “The shock! When you grabbed my hand,” Tyran said.

  “I don’t want to even think about what that is right now. Everything I’ve learned so far has been too scary.”

  “It’s okay Jasmine,” Tyran said.

  “Listen, please gather the Heads and bring them to the platinum room, I will meet you there.”

  I left behind the two of them. I knew that there was no reason now for me not to go along with the group tonight. Maybe I could even convince the Queen to come out of the palace peacefully. It was really hard to think about anything without a name attached to it. I didn’t know how I was going to do it all the time and I hoped I would eventually just get used to it.

  When everyone was seated, I stood up and said, “There’s a change in plans.”

  She’s not going. I heard Tyran think.

  “I’m going with you tonight,” I announced. “I have discovered that I do have powers and I think one is quite powerful and might be useful.”

  “And what is that?” Kelly asked full of doubt. She’s crazy. I concentrated on Kelly as she got up and opened the door and closed it three times and sat back down in her seat. “What did I just do that for?”

  “I made you do it.”

  “Jasmine, no matter how powerful you may be, Pyrencia’s palace will be protected from it,” Mykel said. “It’s just too dangerous.”

  “Then I will go inside the palace with Tyran and the rest of your group.”

  “No,” Tyran said through clenched teeth.

  “Yes.”

  “It’s a death wish. It will be the end of Tamporlea,” Kelly said.

  “Listen,” I said calmly. “I’m going with you and I’m going inside the palace. End of discussion. I just wanted you all to know now instead of me just showing up unexpectedly.

  “Jasmine, you are crazy,” Cali said.

  “I am stubborn, not crazy. Besides, Rebecca will be right with Tyran and me; I’m sure she can heal me if something goes wrong. That’s all I’ve got to say. I will see you tonight,” I said as I left the room. Everyone except Tyran stayed in the platinum room.

  “Jasmine wait,” Tyran said.

  “Just come to my quarters.”

  “I can’t let you do this. You’re my wife, please don’t put yourself into danger like this.”

  “I know we didn’t talk much last night, but Tyran, it’s important that you think of me as the Queen first and your wife second. I’m sure this isn’t going to be the only time that those two roles conflict with each other,” I said.

  “I don’t know if I can do that,” he said.

  “You’re going to have to find a way. I really need to rest, this has been a very overwhelming morning.”

  “Jasmine, we need to talk about the shocking thing.”

  “No.”

  I turned my back to him and went to the bedroom before shutting the door behind me. I had to go with them and there was no way that anyone could talk me out of it. I knew if I were to concentrate on the shocking thing, I would be able to do something to protect myself. I hoped I didn’t have to use it because it already scared the hell out of me.

  Eventually I drifted off to sleep as I let the voices in my head drift to a dull humming.

  Chapter 17

  The Final Attack

  Tyran woke me at around eight in the evening. I don’t know how I slept so long but I felt well rested when I got up.

  “Jasmine, we’re leaving very soon,” he said.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t just let me sleep through it.”

  “I was too afraid you’d divorce me by the time I got back,” he said only half-jokingly.

  “I know you disagree with me going, but thank you for not fighting me too much.”

  “Can we please talk about this shocking thing?” he pleaded.

  I shook my head and said, “I’m just too scared Tyran.”

  “You can’t fear it. It won’t hurt you, but you could hurt others if you don’t know what it is.”

  “How do I figure out what it is?”

  “If it’s anything like mine, which I think it is, you have to get angry and you can direct the energy to something around you. Something inanimate, like a pillow,” he said.

  “I can’t do it.”

  “Then you’re not going.”

  “Yes I am,” I said calmly.

  “Jasmine Taylor, you are my wife and you will do as I say!” he yelled
. I knew what he was doing but it was still irritating me.

  “Shut up Tyran.”

  He ran out of the bedroom and held the door shut with me on the other side. “You’re not going!”

  I pulled against the door but I knew it wasn’t going to help anything. I thought of using the power I had to remove him from the door, but I didn’t like the idea of messing with free-will.

  “Tyran Brocket! You move from the door now!” I yelled.

  “No! I will stay here like this and I won’t go with the others. You’re not going.”

  I was quickly getting angrier as I pounded on the door and I heard the elevator as Cali came up. What is going on? I heard her think.

  “Damn it Tyran!” I went over to the bed and pounded on the pillow in frustration. I screamed out of fear and Tyran came through the door. I felt the feathers from the pillow rain down as Tyran slowly made his approach.

  “Jasmine, you cannot touch anyone when you are angry. If that pillow were me, well, you wouldn’t just have feathers to clean up.”

  The strange thing was that as quickly as the anger came, as soon as I hit the pillow, the anger was gone. It was a tremendous relief actually.

  “Are you okay?” Cali asked.

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “We have to go,” Tyran said.

  “Cali, everything is going to be okay,” I said as we headed out the door.

  I followed Tyran and Mykel through the tunnels silently. We were leading everyone to the entrance of Pyrencia as quietly as possible. I tried not to listen to anyone’s thoughts because they made me feel what the thinker was feeling. As we reached the door of Pyrencia, Tyran tapped on my shoulder then to his head. He wanted me to listen to his thoughts.

  There’s a Guard just outside this door. Mykel is going to blast through it and the group just behind us is going to restrain him. As soon as that door opens you run as fast as you can behind me. I will lead us to the door of their palace. Nod if you got all that.

  I nodded slowly, trying not to feel scared. About five minutes later, Mykel lifted one fist in the air for everyone to see and raised one finger at a time. After all fingers were raised he blasted through the entrance and I ran. Tyran was very fast and as we ran through the grounds, he was setting fire to everything along the way. The closer that we got to the palace, the angrier I got. I didn’t try to push the anger away, I allowed it to fill every vein in my body.

  I didn’t look at anything other than the front door of the palace. I heard Tyran’s thoughts as he attempted to direct his powers to the doors, but nothing was happening. The doors were protected from his magic. I ran past him with my hands in front of me; when I touched the doors, they shook violently before breaking apart into the smallest splinters. As soon as we were inside, Tyran ran out in front of me again. He set fire to everything within the palace and people were coming out of their rooms screaming as they ran out of the door.

  I knew Queen Aella would be in her room, as it would be the most protected place within the palace. Tyran led the way up the double staircase and Mykel and I both managed to blast through Queen Aella’s doors. She was standing to the side and I tried to direct my thoughts to her, telling her to surrender. I could feel her fighting back with her own thoughts.

  “Kill her!” Mykel said to Tyran.

  “I can’t!”

  “Your powers are worthless on me. I can feel you trying to get inside my mind Jasmine. It’s not going to work.”

  I felt the fury burning inside of me again and I ran over to her and touched her, but nothing happened. My powers were worthless. We were struggling on the ground as Tyran and Mykel were holding back Pyrencia’s Guards with their powers.

  “Jasmine!” I heard Rebecca yell. “Catch!” I turned to where she was yelling from and she threw a sword that was displayed on the wall.

  In a fraction of a second, I took a step away from the Queen, grabbed the sword and as Aella tried to stand; I swung the sword in front of me, closing my eyes as I made contact. Rebecca screamed and I collapsed to the floor from exhaustion but I fought to not lose consciousness. I felt Rebecca by my side, “Can I touch you?”

  I nodded my head and she tried to heal me. I listened to her growing frustrated as her efforts weren’t working. What is going wrong? Come on, Jasmine. Strength, calmness…wait a…oh my god. She cleared her mind quickly and I could feel myself starting to heal from the inside out.

  Tyran was finally by my side telling us that we had to go. He covered my eyes and led us out of the palace again. Mykel was not following us and I hoped that he was okay. I could smell the fire outside, the scent of it overwhelming. I knew that Tyran was leading us back to the tunnel but I couldn’t see through the thick smoke. As we made it through the entrance of the tunnels I had to slow down. I wanted to wait for the others.

  “Tyran! Stop, I need to make sure everyone gets out okay,” I said.

  “Please do this my way,” he begged. “You’ve done what we set out to do, now let’s get you back to safety.”

  “Yes,” Rebecca urged. “Please listen to Tyran.”

  I looked at her questioningly and listened to her thoughts. Pregnant? How could that be? She’s got to be… and before she could finish the thought, I glared at her. She had to be wrong, well, it was possible. I should have known that’s why I suddenly had powers. “Jasmine,” she said.

  I shook my head, I didn’t want her to say anything in front of Tyran.

  “I need to go back,” Tyran said.

  I didn’t bother to argue with him, it would be useless anyway. He kissed me and said, “I’ll be back before you even know I’m missing.”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” he said before turning back toward Pyrencia.

  “Tyran?” Rebecca asked in an urgent whisper.

  “Yes, but please…”

  “Your secret is safe with me. I promise you that.”

  As we turned down the final tunnel, I heard some people but I didn’t know if it was thoughts or actual voices. It was Cali and she was saying “She cannot be here Zane! You have to take her out of the kingdom.”

  I knew Cali was saying it out loud, but by the look on Rebecca’s face, I knew she couldn’t hear what was being said. I opened the door and saw a fluffy striped cat that looked just like…

  “Jinx!” I knelt down and picked him up. “What are you…” If he was here, my mother was in the palace too. I concentrated on Cali and thought as hard as I could Cali, come out from wherever you are and bring my mom with you.

  I saw the platinum room door open and Cali came out with tears streaming down her face. I handed Jinx over to Rebecca and ran full speed before landing in my mother’s hug.

  About the Author

  Tiffany Lovering is a life-long upstate New York resident and spends most of her time devoted to her daughter, Allison’s activities. In between going to soccer practice, recitals, and spending way too much time on Facebook, she writes young adult fantasies and paranormal romance.

  Tiffany has been writing short stories since the third grade and started writing full-length novels by the time she was sixteen. Keeping those works to herself, she never thought of the possibility of self-publishing. It was her daughter who inspired her to put Tamporlea out for the world to see.

  Now, at 30, Tiffany plans to publish some of her favorite works from the past and new adventures that come along every day.

  Please remember to rate and review The Tamporlea Trilogy.

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  Email me: tamporlea.trilogy@yahoo.com

  Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tamporlea

  Website: http://tiffanylovering.webs.com/

  The photo that inspired Tamporlea:

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