Tethered Twins Saga: Complete Trilogy (Twins, Souls and Hearts)

by Mike Essex

  The mention of my father’s death sent a deep pain surging inside of me. I started to feel more awake instantly.

  Catherine leant in close and whispered. “They told me not to hurt you but that’s something I couldn’t commit to. This is for destroying everything I ever built.”

  She held a small pen shaped device near to my ear and I heard a low hum ring out through my mind.

  “Don’t fight it,” she said.

  The humming noise sent me right back to where this had all began; Vlad stood over my brother using the same device to try and kill us both. The noise intensified and I felt my body start to spasm whilst the heat continued to race around my veins.

  I remembered experiencing Will’s death and how much I’d wanted to fight in order to save him. I thought about how much I’d been through to bring him back and how Catherine was about to take that all away. Once I was gone they’d hunt down Will and I couldn’t let that happen again.

  The heat was pulled back from across my body, surging towards my stomach. A flame inside of me was reignited as the core fired into action again. The humming stopped and Catherine took a step back.

  “That’s impossib…” she said, cut off mid-sentence as I seized control of her body.

  Her eyes grew brighter, turning from brown to orange and then finally to black. Her head sunk down as blood ran from out of her ears. She collapsed to the floor in a heap.

  An unknown figure released my binds from a remote location and freed me from my prison. Whoever they were I hoped that they had started running.

  Although I couldn’t see into the next room I could feel the presence of more of the Vanir. I knew now that they were responsible for everything that had happened. I reached deep into their minds and severed the Tethers that kept them alive.

  I never saw the faces of those I had killed. They were just nameless Tethers to me. They were a threat and they had to be stopped.

  Without the monster in my mind to help me stop, the power inside of me continued to grow, taking on more and more people at once. There was no-one who could stop me now and I didn’t care.

  FIFTY TWO

  The first time my core had been ignited Grace had promised to stop me if it ever happened again. With her body now resting at the bottom of the River Thames, that was no longer a possibility.

  I was on my own now.

  When I’d been trapped in my father’s machine all I’d wanted was a way to protect the ones I loved. Now finally I had the power I had tirelessly searched for and there was no way I was going to give it up again.

  I left my weapons on the nearby table, there was no need for them anymore. I could reach into the mind of anyone I wanted and destroy them instantly. The Vanir, the force attacking London, the McDougals, anyone who tried to stop me wouldn’t stand a chance.

  Whether she had meant to or not Catherine had ignited something in me that I’d forgotten was even there. The core March had given me wasn’t just necessary to survive the machine, it was a lifeline that could give me even greater power. I saw that now. I could see everything clearly.

  All of the time I had spent in the machine had only caused the core’s power to grow. In the air I could see the Tethers between people stretching out high up into the heavens, before they stretched back down again to their twins.

  I burst into one of the rooms and saw a thin orange line running between two scientists that were twin brothers. As one of them made an effort to run past me I watched the line extend between them. It looked so fragile, like a string holding together two cans to make a rudimentary telephone. Breaking it was almost too easy.

  But, they were a threat that I couldn’t have. Breaking the Tether was as easy as blinking and I did it with as little remorse.

  “Truly, you are a descendent of the Gods,” said Cleon, his voice coming as clear as day through the intercom.

  “I’m coming for you and your sister,” I said.

  “So be it, daughter of Freyja,” he replied.

  His taunting revealed his plan to me. They were finishing what the Vanir had started, killing the descendants of Freyja and Freyr. Eli, Evan, Will and I must have been part of that bloodline, or at least that’s what Cleon believed. They were willing to cause so much destruction purely because of a prophecy and for what?

  “My grandparents? Did you kill them too?” I shouted.

  He didn’t reply, but I knew the answer. I had no grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles or even a father any more. They’d all been taken from me throughout my life. Most of their deaths I had seen as accidents or old age but now I suspected something much darker.

  Cleon and Corinna may have believed in Gods but I doubted that faith would help them to survive what I had planned for them. They had almost wiped out my bloodline and now I was going to do the same to them and anyone that helped them.

  I focused on the Tethers around me, examining the way they stretched around the building and to the heavens. There must have been more than fifty of them. Each of them a set of lives I could destroy.

  With a blink I destroyed ten of the Tethers in one go. The orange lines between then pinged free of their bodies and surged upwards towards the sky. Corinna would have probably seen that as a sign their Tethered souls were heading back to Heaven. That was too good a place for them.

  A morbid sense of curiosity grew in me and I went to the room that contained the nearest Tether. I watched him cower in the corner, clad in his purple robes and golden mask. He had probably thought they’d protect him from me. He was wrong.

  I had entered the room with every intention of giving him a long drawn out death but he just looked so pitiful. Instead, I shut off all of his senses in a single go, destroying the Tether he held with his sister and instantly killing both of them.

  Pulling all of the power I had into my stomach I focused on the remaining Tethers in the building. One by one I could feel them being drawn to me as I readied to take control.

  “This is for my family,” I said as I readied to take the final strike against the Vanir.

  “Wait,” said someone running down the hall in front of me.

  Had Cleon dared to face me head on?

  The figure tossed their golden mask to the floor as they got closer. It was pointless now anyway, it couldn’t stop my signal.

  I hesitated from killing them as I saw them closely. They had no Tether stretching from them. They were different to the others. They were like me. They were part of The Deck.

  “You don’t have to do this,” said March as he reached me.

  I looked at the boy who had saved me many times and then back at the Tethers around me. It was time that I saved myself for once. It was time to stop the threat at the source.

  “I’m sorry but I have to,” I said.

  It took less than a second for the Tethers to ping back from their bodies, rising up in unison back to the Gods they so lovingly worshiped.

  FIFTY THREE

  I felt an intense rush of power surge through me as the bodies of the Vanir fell to the floor. I had taken control of my own destiny and it felt incredible.

  As the power ran through me I felt like I was engulfed in flames, like a phoenix finally risen. I didn’t fight the fire, I embraced it. My mind and body both wanted more, neither part of me wanting to be a victim any more.

  Unlike those I had just killed March held a Tether inside of him, a twisted orange line that circulated around his body. That must have been how those in the Deck survived without a twin, their Tethers were self-sustaining. Despite the fact I couldn’t hurt him the look on March’s face showed just how afraid of me he was.

  I’d survived being separated from my twin, I’d created a Tether where there hadn’t been one before and I’d been able to power Tobais’ machine. Perhaps I really was the descendant of Freyja as Cleon had suspected. He’d unleashed a God and it had been the end of his cult forever.

  “I know you’re confused,” said March. “But you have to listen to me.”

&nb
sp; “Confused? I’ve never been more certain. I can see it all now,” I replied, more orange lines starting to appear in front of me as my power stretched outside of the Vanir’s base.

  “I was the one who reactivated the core by injecting you. It was the only way to help you escape but you need to let me stop it before it’s too late,” said March.

  “How did you find me?” I replied.

  “A tracking device in the core,” he replied.

  This was exactly why I hadn’t wanted March around me anymore. He’d never been able to trust me. His lack of faith was all I could think of.

  “It’s over now. Just let me be,” I shouted, latching onto the Tethers outside of the base.

  “The Vanir are more powerful than you can imagine. They go much deeper than just this place. The three richest families, they’re all a part of this. We have to get you to safety,” he said.

  I’d had enough of March’s secrets. I released my grasp on the other Tethers, letting them live for now. The fire inside of me roared deeply.

  “How do you know this?” I said.

  “They’re the ones who funded The Deck. Jill just discovered it,” he replied.

  “You’re lying! You always lie!” an orange line started to grow from my core, pushing its way outwards and towards March.

  “I’m not, I swear. I didn’t know. Jill trusts me, that’s why she told me,” said March.

  “Why would they fund him?”

  “They wanted data from his experiments. I don’t know why,” said March.

  “YES YOU DO!” I felt an explosion in my core as the orange line surged outwards latching itself onto March. It unravelled the twisted Tether inside of him and latched itself onto it. He screamed out as he felt the impact.

  I hadn’t meant to hurt him. I just wanted the truth. He owed me that much after all we’d been through. I moved over to his body and sat next to him on the floor. His eyes shone a bright orange.

  “Oh my God. March are you ok?” I asked.

  A single line ran from my core into his mind, Tethering us together. I’d created a Tether once before, between myself and the snatcher but this was the first time it had happened outside of any machine.

  As March lay there, more of the orange lines grew around me, hundreds at first and then thousands. My power was growing in intensity, gathering up the Tethers of many innocent lives. March had been right, I needed to stop and I should have listened to him.

  I dared not move or speak. Thousands of lives hung in the balance and I could end them all so easily. It wouldn’t be because of a machine or my father or all the other things I’d blamed. This time it would be my fault.

  The lines started to move in unison, getting closer to me with each passing second. I didn’t know if I was doing it or the core had taken on a life of its own but the people I’d become Tethered to were all marching together towards me.

  “Tobias, are you there?” I said, reaching out into the darkness of my mind.

  The sound of a thousand voices shook me as they repeated my words back to me. I left March for a second and looked out of the window. The facility was surrounded by countless people, all of their Tethers reaching out high into the sky.

  In the distance behind them faint lines were beginning to come into focus. My power was growing even stronger. I’d never been so powerful and yet I felt powerless.

  “I need you,” I said to March.

  “I need you,” repeated the crowd, their voices chilling me with fear.

  Although they spoke in unison, in my mind I could hear every individual’s voice. It was like they were reaching out to me, begging to be saved.

  I focused all of my efforts on March. He still had the Tether tying him to me and for now at least that meant he was alive. There had to be some way I could bring him back. I took him tightly in my arms, bringing him to my chest.

  “March, wake up March,” I said.

  “March, wake up March,” repeated the crowd.

  “Save me!” I shouted.

  “Save me!” shouted back the crowd.

  And then I knew exactly the words I needed to say.

  “I forgive you,” I said.

  “I forgive you,” said the crowd as I kissed March on the lips.

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  March woke slowly and looked at me softly.

  “Thank you,” he said weakly.

  I’ll never know if it was the words I said, the kiss I gave or the power I focused on him but I was thankful to have March back.

  Terrified, I realised that the crowd hadn’t repeated my last words. I didn’t want March’s life to have come at the expense of their deaths. I looked out of the window and was relieved to find them still stood there, waiting for attention.

  Their Tethers were still there ready to be broken but for now it seemed I’d released some of the control I had over them.

  “I can save you. Just trust me,” said March.

  And I did. He had put the core inside of me and if anyone would take it out safely it was March. All I hoped was that he could do it in time to help those outside of the facility.

  We couldn’t go back to the QWS base, there wasn’t enough time. The Vanir’s base had all of the medical equipment we needed and March assured me everything would be ok.

  I lay down on the operating table and held out my hand which he took.

  “Thank you,” I said, as he injected me with the anaesthetic.

  “For what?” he said, squeezing my hand tightly.

  “Saving me,” I replied, drifting off to a peaceful sleep.

  FIFTY FOUR

  As I closed my eyes I felt my vision shift as I was called towards the light.

  Without any control of my own I was dragged into the light, jumping into another body. I looked out of the new eyes and saw my body on the operating table.

  This was no near death experience; I’d jumped into March’s body thanks to the Tether between us. I didn’t want to watch him operating on me but I was trapped in the Tether event, along for the ride until March was done.

  March’s body felt weaker than I’d expected. His hands were shaky as he made the first cut, opening up the old scar where he’d first inserted the core. As he pulled apart the flaps of skin and clamped them open a ringing started to echo throughout his ears.

  Whatever I’d done by creating a Tether between us; it had severely hurt him.

  The experience felt unreal and it didn’t seem like my body on the operating table. It felt like I was watching a horror movie unfold and seeing some great special effects. The only difference being it was my blood, gushing out onto the table and my organs that were exposed.

  Had it been any other doctor I’d have been terrified but March had proven himself with this operation twice before. I knew he could do it. He just had to stay strong.

  He sucked up some of the excess blood and fluids to get a better look at the core. As he wiped the fluids away the core could be seen glowing brightly. I’d only ever seen it before it went into me when it had looked new and pristine. Now it looked like a reactor about to explode. Its shape was twisting violently as it burst in and out of life, connected up to my veins.

  March tried to activate the cooling system within the core but it refused to play along. He opened up part of the core and could see that the coolant was now depleted. Previously the cool wave that swept over me had helped to stop me, now it seemed that was no longer an option.

  He wiped his bow and his vision started to blur. Stepping backwards, he reached out for the wall and rested himself against it. He closed his eyes and started to breathe deeply.

  When he opened his eyes the blurred vision remained. The ringing in his ears intensified and his balance was shot.

  Was I doing this? Were the people outside experiencing the same thing? Trapped in March’s mind I had no idea what was happening.

  He could have given up but instead he rose up and grabbed some medical equipment from the table. Steadying himself w
ith one hand on the table, he plunged the equipment inside of me and set to work on removing the core. Through blurred eyes he removed the veins attached to the core and redirected them elsewhere in my body.

  Whilst he worked I experienced strange tastes and smells being recognised by his brain. The sense of touch faded in and out of his hands, one minute I could feel the medical equipment, the next it was gone again.

  With each vein he removed, his senses grew worse and that’s when I realised what was happening. March was Tethered to me and removing the core would break that Tether.

  He pulled the core from my body.

  “Noo! I shouted out, but no-one could hear me. I was shouting to the darkness.

  The core grew brightly on the table, beating away intently. Perhaps it would all be ok, I told myself. If the core could be sustained somehow then maybe he’d survive.

  He could barely see now and I felt the fatigue run through his body. With what little energy he had left he closed me up again and made sure I’d be ok.

  He turned to look at the core as it turned from orange to grey. It took one final beat and March dropped to the floor, the Tether between us no more.

  FIFTY FIVE

  I didn’t want to open my eyes again.

  Once my eyelids opened I knew all I’d see was March lying there; the life sucked out of him by the core that had been inside of me. But I had to open them; I had to know if he’d been able to save the others.

  I opened my eyes and the world looked different. There were no orange lines showing in front of me. Weakly I walked towards the window, desperate to know what had happened.

  I stared outside and was relieved when I saw nothing. Thankfully there were no bodies, just the bright light of a new day. They’d made it home safely. March had saved them all.

  With tears streaming down my face I made my way back to March. I looked in horror at what I’d done to him, terrors I couldn’t dwell on if I wanted to carry on. I closed his eyelids to hide his burnt out eyes and draped a sheet over his body. He had wanted redemption and this was all I could offer him in return.