A Hidden Element

by Donna Galanti

  Pain attacked him. He grunted and jerked. He would not cry out. Sharp stone bit into him. Over and over. Like the invisible creatures in that well.

  Make the pain yours, Son. Accept it. Don't be weak.

  He tried to drive the voice away, but his father's angry face reared. It rose over the well. The dark encroached upon him. The world of white faded away. Stars appeared above.

  Don't leave me here to die, Father. Please.

  You must suffer for being weak.

  Teach Brahm or Feo, Father, please. I'm not weak. They are.

  You are my true heir. You are the strongest one of all.

  But he was here now. His people had turned on him, yet they adored Caleb. Why? Because he helped the weak? Didn't that make him weak? And Laura. How he had wanted her. They had created life between them. Like he and Manta had done. He and Laura could create more sons. Why couldn't she love him? Why couldn't she give in to her Destroyer side? Strong Laura. She had survived him.

  The creatures nipped at his legs with fire from their carnivorous mouths. They bit into his most vulnerable places. He twitched to make them stop.

  "Father, please. Don't leave me here!"

  Embrace the pain they bring. It's the only way you can be a Destroyer and rule.

  They're hurting me, Father. And it's s-s-so cold. Please. I don't know if I can be a Destroyer.

  Weakling!

  His father's face swirled away. The stars receded and the sun blinded him once again.

  "Father!"

  Teeth chomped away at his legs and privates. Tore chunks from him. His blood ran. He thrashed about, screaming. He stared unblinking at the light above. It burned into his bleeding eyes. He watched it as it watched him. He kept his eyes on the golden orb above. The bites increased. He remained still and let the creatures eat on him as he once had.

  And his hate grew. For himself.

  And he would die from hate.

  As his wife had.

  How fitting.

  The cold had melted away. Warmth radiated through Ben. His pain was almost gone. It throbbed far away, barely touching him. Silence filled his head with blessed peace. There was no wind, no blowing snow to sting his frozen face. No soaked jeans plastered to him with a chilling grip. He half slumbered, connected to life again. Soft light gleamed through his sleepy eyes.

  Laura! Charlie!

  He jolted awake and sat up. A gray robe had replaced his clothes. He lay on a padded table in a round room. Sloped walls shimmered midnight blue. He was thrown back to the night Charlie had been born. The maternity rooms had been so tranquil and softly lit to soothe women in labor.

  Except the night Charlie was born, Laura's serenity had turned to fear. He recalled staring at his son's head pushing his way into the world between her quivering legs and Laura screaming in agony—and mad horror. I don't want to see it! He changed inside me. I know it. She had gripped his arm as he wept alongside her. Don't let it be a freak.

  Ben loved Charlie no matter what he was, and he needed the chance to tell him. He jumped off the table and swayed. Must get to Charlie and Laura…and their baby. Were they okay? Fear spurred up his throat. Had to get out of here. Where was here? Part of the Elyon compound? Something told him it wasn't.

  Food and drink waited for him on a table. A cheeseburger and pickles. A human offering. He hesitated. They had saved him. They wouldn't kill him now. He gulped the food down as he ran his hands along the wall, looking for a door.

  "Let me out. I have to save my family." He pounded on the wall. Its light kept a steady pulse. Stars flickered in and out. "Help me!"

  The light became still. Ben stepped back. A picture formed on the wall. A face appeared before him. An Elyon face. White hair flowed into his pearly skin. Yellow eyes watched him. Sympathetic eyes.

  "Why am I here?"

  The face spoke to him yet its lips did not move. You would have died out there, Ben Fieldstone.

  Tiredness swept over him.

  "Thank you for saving me but I need to get to my family."

  Soon. They come.

  "No, now!"

  His fell on one knee. His side ached. Dizziness flooded through him.

  Your body is not fully recovered from your death experience.

  "I don't care. Let me out. They will die."

  Not if we can help it. We have traveled a long distance to reclaim our people from the evil Destroyer Uprising. Laura and Charlie are part of our new world here. And your new son.

  "Our baby! He's okay? How can you know?" Ben struggled to get up, but he found himself floating, being carried on nothing. They placed him back on the table.

  He is fine. We see many things. We see the present. We see the future.

  "My sons…" He now had two chances to make it right. He hadn't been there for Laura in her darkest time of need. He needed a lifetime to make it up to her. Let us have a lifetime. But for now he was so tired. The light was fading.

  Your people are near. We hope they will accept us in our final hour. If not, we accept our end.

  I accept you.

  So tired.

  Rest now, Ben Fieldstone.

  And he did.

  Light appeared in the dark. A tiny dot. It grew and grew. The floor of the tunnel angled up. They neared the surface. They ran faster. Benny gurgled from being jostled. They had reached the end of the tunnel. White blinded them. The storm had passed. A crystalline landscape spread before them. Heavy blankets of snow glittered untouched. Birds' feet marked it with their scattered pictures. A cold gust blew soft flakes past them. They swirled and played as if glad the blizzard had left them behind. It presented a surreal scene from the dark and danger they left behind.

  Laura pulled Charlie back. Their captors could be waiting above to snatch them.

  "Got to find the vehicle Caleb told us about, Mom."

  She put her fingers to her lips. He nodded. Together they searched the walls of the tunnel.

  "Here," Charlie whispered. She squinted in the dark, her eyes trying hard to adjust from the blinding light of the snow back to the inky black of the tunnel.

  Deep in the recesses of the wall he had found a hole. Inside it sat a bulky form. Charlie pulled its cover off to reveal an all-terrain vehicle of some kind. It had a long wide seat that two people could easily sit on and three wheels.

  Thank you, Caleb. And Adrian.

  They wheeled the vehicle out to the end of the tunnel. Its key hung from the ignition. Laura looked up at Charlie. He got on the front. She settled in behind him. Benny protested at being squished. She soothed him.

  "Get us out of here, Charlie," she whispered in his ear. She sensed his same trepidation at heading out. Underground they felt safe. Now they were exposed.

  "There's a compass on the dash," Charlie said.

  "Caleb said to head east."

  "How do we find Dad?"

  "First, we need to get safe. Your dad would want it."

  Charlie nodded then turned the key. The vehicle started up with a hacking rumble then smoothed out to a dull roar. He pressed his foot on the gas. They blasted forward into the bright world before them. He gunned it. They launched out of the dark and into the glaring sun, slamming down onto a drift. Wheels spun then they sped forward over the snow. It blew around them angry to be parted. No one attacked them. No shouts of alarm called out.

  Laura hugged Charlie tight. Benny's cries punched the air, but she had no choice but to hang on. Her eyes teared up from the freezing wind. Fall had been taken out by winter. A strange, early snow for here. Trees flashed by. Charlie deftly wound between them. Pride welled inside for her son. He had been through so much and now guided them to safety like a man.

  She dared to peer behind her. A world of white enveloped them. Nothing more. Her heart began to slow. They were going to make it. She breathed in deep. The air had a crisp, ozone snap to it making everything pure and clean. She needed to feel clean again and not think of Ben being dead. He was alive until she saw his lifeless body
before her. She would not let him go until she touched his cold, dead face.

  The woods opened up and Charlie stayed a straight course. They were alone in a lifeless landscape. Snow shot down from trees as branches split and fell, not ready for the heavy burden placed upon them. Wooden screams wrenched the air. Blowing snow scratched her face. Her knuckles were raw from the cold. The frozen landscape held them captive in its terrible beauty.

  She peered behind her again. Their tracks were visible for anyone to see but only stark trees contrasted the draped world behind them. They roared toward civilization. She turned her head back when movement caught her eye.

  Two shapes behind them. They grew closer. Gray figures on all-terrain vehicles.

  "Charlie, faster! They're after us."

  He bent his head down and increased his speed. The vehicle tipped dangerously.

  "Hang on, Mom."

  She looked again. They were gaining.

  Hatred surged through her. They had come this far. Nothing would stop them now.

  Charlie slammed on the brakes and turned hard left. Laura slid. Her foot slashed through the snow. She screamed, trying to hang on. The cold air burned her throat. Charlie grabbed her from behind with one hand. When she looked past him she understood why he turned.

  A wall stood before them. A great hull rose above them arching toward the sky.

  And it was not of this Earth.

  CHAPTER 46

  The ceiling moved in and out above Caleb. He focused on its blurry tiles in the dim light that stretched in from his tiny window. One square. Two square. By the time he counted twenty tiles the ceiling had cleared. He staggered out of his bed. So many faces reared themselves. Laura. Charlie. Ben. And his father. He was dead by now and Caleb couldn't stop it.

  The door opened. He squinted at the bright hallway glare. Tollen and the elders.

  "Time to put your father to rest, Caleb. Are you ready now to do your duty?"

  Caleb's tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. "Yes," he finally said.

  Tollen moved in to the room. "Then I'll return your powers to you. The people respond to you and you are a hard worker. You normally do your duty without being asked. Will you answer to me now?"

  "Yes."

  "Give me your arm." Tollen yanked up Caleb's sleeve and pushed a syringe into him to counteract the first drug. A humming swelled inside Caleb. It rose and quaked then moved away. Strength filled his limbs and mind.

  "Come." Tollen led the way.

  "What about Laur—the humans?"

  The elder turned back to him with a smile. "They have been spotted outside of the perimeter. They will be back in our custody soon."

  Caleb followed his new leader, his thoughts jumping about in his head.

  He wanted to help Laura and her family.

  He wanted to earn Tollen's trust to be with his sons.

  He wanted to breathe life into his father. He had hated him, yes, but deep down he had loved him, too.

  He could not do all these things.

  Perhaps it was time to choose.

  He was tired of saving everyone and not himself.

  Laura hung onto her son. He raced between the trees alongside the giant thing looming over them. It appeared two stories high casting a shadow of gray light. Charlie bent lower over the handlebars urging their ride on. The Elyons had turned with them. They were so close she saw their faces. They kept glancing at the building that hung over them.

  The engine sputtered and the vehicle jerked. Violent snow sprayed up.

  "Mom, something's wrong!"

  The vehicle slowed and then sped up. It bucked and lunged forward then slid on its side, one wheel in the air. She gripped Charlie harder. They skidded across crusty caps. Their enemy headed straight toward them now and would reach them in seconds. Mad men who wanted to imprison them again. Or end them.

  She hung on to Charlie as they crashed along, banging into trees.

  The Elyons were closing in.

  Two hundred feet.

  One hundred feet.

  Their vehicle spit out black smoke and died, slamming into a snow bank. She jumped up, swung a leg over the seat to get off, and fell deep in the snow. Charlie dragged her up. Benny's screams tore into her. Charlie grabbed her hand. They plunged through the merciless snow. It pressed heavy against her legs with its glacier grip. They headed to the wall that trapped them. The Elyons stopped their vehicles, were dismounting. They would reach them in less than a minute. The snow was so deep and there was nowhere to hide.

  "There's no escape," she said to Charlie.

  "Wait! There's a door here. It's some kind of ship. Come on."

  He pulled her along, but she sank to her knees. She clutched Benny who whimpered. She faced their captors. They slowed their pace through the snow.

  Charlie was yelling at her to get up. No. She had to end this now. She stretched out her hands. Sent her mind out. A killing machine.

  And then a great blaze of lightning flashed.

  His father hung in the stoning gates.

  Bruises painted his body in gruesome strokes. Blood streaked his pale torn skin. A violent death. More so than Rachel's. She had been bruised but not gashed and gouged with rock. His father had been battered to death with hate and revenge. His big head hung down, defeated. His massive muscles flexed no more. He could never hurt anyone again. His father's flock had once worshipped him and accepted the rules he enforced. They had followed him here for a new life as Destroyers where they believed they would not be persecuted. But they had been, by one of their own.

  Caleb hadn't wanted to come to Earth under these circumstances. He'd wanted to come here and be equal partners with humans. But he'd also wanted a life back home, even if he was ostracized by the other kids for not using his healing powers. They didn't understand he wanted to feel pain as humans did. He wanted to suffer as the humans did, to understand them. And now here on Earth he was forced to live a life as a Destroyer.

  He had to believe that a Destroyer could reverse his own fate.

  Could defy genetics. Could be good. Could heal. Could love.

  He had one day hoped his father could. Now that would never happen.

  "Go on now, Caleb," Tollen said. "Remove the executed."

  "Where will I bury him in this snow?"

  "You won't. You will carry him to the tree line and leave him there."

  "The animals will ravage him."

  "Yes. They will tear him apart and pick his bones clean. An appropriate end for a wild animal such as himself."

  Nausea swirled in the pit of Caleb's stomach thinking about his father's flesh being torn asunder and chewed on by snarling wolves. He moved forward and unshackled his father. Blood spattered the cobblestones beneath him. His father's stiff body fell into his arms and he staggered back and summoned his strength to pick him up. He used his sleeve to wipe the blood from his father's face, so at peace in its stillness. Had he ever known peace? He had never seen his father with his eyes closed. He didn't look monstrous, just sad.

  Hurry. Choose, Caleb.

  Snow began to fall, soft this time. It floated down and dressed his father's cold body. The flakes did not melt. He had been left out here dead for some time. Guilt spawned a seed of love inside Caleb. He had been drugged and slept while his father was battered to death. He looked at Tollen and the elders. Other Elyons had stopped to watch as they went about their business again. Back to baking and child care and laundry—after killing. They watched him now, wondering if he would have the same end as his father.

  Choose.

  "Why are you hesitating, Caleb?" Tollen demanded. "Follow orders or there will be consequences." He crossed his arms. The elders murmured.

  More of the community came out to see what was going on. And still he stood before them with Adrian's body in his arms. He looked down at his father.

  There was only one choice to make.

  If he let his father die then he could never be the father he had hoped to be for his
sons. He would be giving into his Destroyer gene—and that would destroy him.

  He carefully placed his father on the cold stone and closed his eyes.

  "What are you doing?" Tollen's voice rose loud and angry. A hate-filled murmuring swelled around him but he focused on his task. Laughter echoed in his ears. "You can't bring back the dead, Caleb."

  The laughter grew as others joined in. Caleb ignored them. He looked up once. His sons watched him. They did not laugh.

  He molded his father's body in his hands, cleansing it of pain and suffering. He willed life into him, inch by inch. Imagined his blood pumping through his limbs.

  Please, Father, come back to me a renewed being of light not dark.

  He felt movement under his fingers and opened his eyes. Color rushed back into his father's cheeks and chest. Veins pulsed like rivers of blue once more against white skin.

  The crowd gasped.

  "Look."

  "It's an Elyon miracle."

  "He brought him back."

  "He's our true Elyon leader!"

  "Yes. Yes! Caleb Madroc!"

  Tollen shook his head, as if not believing. "You're wasting your time, Son."

  Caleb looked up. "I am not your son."

  "No, you're mine." Adrian clutched Caleb's arm, his eyes wide with something Caleb had never seen before in them. Fear.

  Caleb helped him stand up. The crowd before him became silent. Then their voices rose up in outrage. "Kill him again!"

  Adrian hung his head.

  "No," Caleb yelled over them. They were silent once more and stared at him. Waiting. "Let him go. He is nothing now. His reign of pain is over. Let him be in misery. Let him flee as so many others did. Alone."

  He let go of Adrian. His father tottered, his naked body weak and pathetic. The snow fell again. Mad flakes bashed at them. Tollen stood there, clearly unsure of how to react.

  One elder stepped forward. "You're our true leader, Caleb. You brought him back to life. You've evolved to the higher form our scientists predicted we'd become someday. You can lead us into our new world where we will belong. It's destiny."