Shine: Season One (Shine Season Book 1)

by William Bernhardt

  I’m dreaming?

  “You can save your sister. There’s still time.”

  “How?”

  “Defeat him.” Memphis spoke with an authority that cut through the confusion.

  “But how?”

  My arm stung where the needle had been. I glanced at my arm to find thick silver blood oozing from the open wound. The room disappeared. Only Memphis remained. He stood with his hands in his pockets, his tattoos dark against his skin, his eyes intense as he stared at me.

  “Use your Shine. It’s the only way.”

  “What—how?”

  A buzzing sound filled my ears as the world faded. I knew where I was returning. I couldn’t go back there. Memphis wanted me to use my Shine. But how?

  The pain returned full force. I tried to scream, but my swollen tongue felt as if it had turned to cotton. The clatter of my heartbeat filled my ears. It beat faster than I’d ever heard it before.

  My heart sounded wrong, as if something were choking the life out of the arteries leading to it. I gasped, struggling for air, fighting the pain that wanted to overwhelm me. It was too much. I cried out, hearing my own voice over the deafening heartbeats.

  I wanted to pass out again. How could anyone endure this?

  A hand pressed to my chest. I searched through bleary eyes and found Lavalle looming over me.

  He focused on the tube in my arm, although now, instead of being attached to the machine, the line led straight into his arm. Silver-black blood pumped through the tube. When had he exchanged them? Time seemed slow and disorienting. I didn’t remember falling asleep. Was Katelyn in the room with me? Had she ever been in the room?

  Searching the room, I found no sign of my sister. I couldn’t even find the table where she’d been lying. But if she wasn’t in the room with me—where was she?

  Stinging pain interrupted my thoughts.

  I inhaled deep breaths, focusing on the line. Could I rip it out? My fingers had grown numb. I tried to flex my hands, but with alarm, I found I couldn’t move.

  “Almost there,” he whispered, his voice a hiss. Fire burned in his eyes. Eyes that looked too much like Memphis’s.

  Memphis, where are you?

  Someone moved into the room on silent footsteps. Addie Hawthorne stood in the doorway. Her skin had healed. She looked like her old self again. Had they already used my blood for her? If so, how much blood did I have left? Would they use the rest of my blood for Lavalle?

  Lavalle’s pale gray skin faded, replaced with flesh tinged in pink. Dizziness clouded my vision. I had to get that tube out. The blood circulating through my body slowed to a trickle, replaced almost completely with the silver solution. I felt it tunneling into my heart, transforming it. How could I fight this? How could I fight him?

  “Please, stop,” I managed to whisper.

  His hand pressed heavier into my chest, as if an anvil weighted me down. When I glanced at his hand, I found that he’d moved it away. Why did my heart feel so heavy?

  A clammy sweat broke out over my skin.

  I couldn’t let it end this way. I had to stop Lavalle. If Katelyn was still out there, if she was alive, I had to save her.

  The pain receded as I refocused my energy. I could defeat him. I knew I could.

  Use your Shine.

  My Shine let me hear his heartbeats. As the blood left my body, it entered his. My stomach sickened as I realized that my own life’s blood was being used to restore life to him. If I didn’t stop him, he wouldn’t stop with me. He would continue his experiments on other Shines. He would murder them. He would torture them, the same way he’d done to me.

  The weight on my heart increased. I focused my Shine to search through my blood, looking for the source of the heaviness, where I found something abnormal. The thick silver liquid had congealed, forming a large clot. I knew what would happen once the clot blocked my blood flow.

  I managed to grip the edges of the metal table. “Stop, stop please,” I begged. The pain was too much. If I could pass out again…

  But no. I couldn’t go that way. Losing consciousness meant he won. I’d learned a lot since the Revens had first taken me. I’d learned that strength wasn’t a girl with a knife in a ripped prom dress. No matter how tough I thought I had been, I’d learned that true strength came from within.

  I ground my teeth, forcing my brain to stay focused.

  My heart sped so fast I couldn’t hear the separate beats. The clot tunneled closer into my vessels. Once it reached the main ventricle, I knew I would die.

  No.

  I closed my eyes, blocking Lavalle’s face from my view. I searched within my blood. Slowly, I pushed against the clot. It moved as I nudged it. I pushed more and it sped through my blood.

  Tears stung my eyes. The pain registered somewhere, but I closed my mind against it. I forced the clot out of my blood and into the tube.

  It raced with the flow of blood, out of my body, into the tube, and into his body.

  My life would be his death.

  He gasped as the clot entered his own heart. It moved faster than I thought possible.

  When he fell back, the tube ripped free from my arm. Lavalle screamed as the clot blocked his heart. He clutched his chest. Addie ran to him and caught him as he fell.

  My breaths came out in labored gasps. I practiced making my limbs work. I felt as though I’d run a marathon, but I managed to slide off the table.

  “What have you done?” Addie screamed. “You did this to him!” She held the man in her arms. His hand fell away from his chest. With my Shine, I saw that the clot stayed lodged in his heart. It grew in size as the rest of the silver solution pooled around it. Soon his heart would burst with the pressure. He would never live through that, no matter how much solution he’d injected into his blood.

  I limped backward toward the door. “Fix him!” Addie demanded.

  “Why?” I managed.

  She stood, her eyes aflame. I backed out of the room and into the hallway. Addie followed me, her footsteps like quiet whispers. After almost dying, I was doing good just to stay upright.

  I would never survive a fight with her. She knew it, too, as she focused on me with malice in her eyes.

  She flicked her wrist and a mirror-white dagger appeared in her hand. I stumbled through an open doorway and found that I’d made it back to the domed room. This time, I knew I wasn’t dreaming. What remained of the silver solution throbbed though my blood, clouding my vision and making my head pound with a dull headache.

  Addie entered. Lightning flashed, illuminating the entire room in its electric glow.

  “I needed him,” she said in an almost too-quiet voice. Thunder echoed her words. Her thin dress looked ghostly against the storm clouds brewing outside the wall of windows.

  I backed toward the windows. Could I break through them and make my escape?

  “He was the only person who could save my life,” she hissed, inching closer as I backed toward the windows.

  “He was a monster.”

  “No, you are. You’re a murderer now. How will you ever live knowing that you’ve killed someone?”

  “Easy,” I answered. “He wasn’t human anymore. He died a long time ago.”

  Addie laughed, a sound that was mocking and devoid of cheer. I could hardly believe this was Blake’s mom. How did I never see her for who she really was?

  “Are you going to kill me?” I asked. “How will you live with it—knowing you’ve killed someone?”

  A dark look passed through her eyes. “Oh, but sweetheart, you’d hardly be the first.”

  I swallowed the panic rising inside.

  “James Lavalle was never working alone. I’ve been there since the very beginning. The first slave he operated on—that boy died with a knife in his heart. This knife, actually.” She moved her hand in a slow, deliberate motion, letting the lightning’s glow reflect in the blade’s surface. “James needed volunteers and I found them for him. The first slave was a hard kill.
My conscience wanted to get the best of me—tell me it was wrong. But they were slaves after all. The second and third got easier. After a time, I didn’t even flinch. And then we found the girls with the unusual powers. Freaks, really. No, just like the slaves, they weren’t human either. And neither are you. I’ll sleep better tonight knowing that you’re dead.”

  “You’re lying,” I sputtered, trying to come up with a logical explanation to what I was hearing. “You’re not even old enough—how could you…it’s not true…”

  “I wasn’t the same person in those days. When James met me again, almost a century later, he didn’t even recognize me anymore. That poison did something to his brain, to his memories, and to me. He believed the lies I told him. James became who he was because of me. He was my puppet. I was more than his muse. I was his creator. And now you’ve killed him. But you won’t get away with it. I’ll drain the rest of your blood. I’ll take his experiments where he left off and start my own.”

  My back collided with the windows. Rain hammered against them, vibrating a strange dissonance through my body.

  Lightning struck the ceiling. The dome overhead gave way. Glass shattered. Shards rained down around us. They broke as they hit the marble tiles, a sound that drowned out the pounding rain. Addie didn’t seem to notice as she lunged toward me, her knife aimed for my throat. I dodged her attack, but she followed. She moved with preternatural speed. The silver liquid, freshly imbued in her blood, must have caused her to move with an inhuman agility.

  Dizziness clouded my vision. My own blood was a slow trickle that barely kept me alive.

  I’d killed Lavalle, but had only found a person worse than him who wanted me dead.

  Cold raindrops spattered my face. I found myself lying on the ground, but didn’t remember how I’d gotten there. Jagged glass fragments stabbed at my back, bringing me back to reality.

  The sharp blade of Addie’s knife was pressed against my neck. I tried to focus on the woman standing over me, but her image bounced around so badly that I had to shut my eyes. I’d avoided death less than an hour ago, and now I faced it all over again.

  Could I manipulate her blood the same way I’d done with Lavalle? But I couldn’t concentrate. The world spun, fogging my brain. My organs began to shut down with the blood loss. Addie was wasting her time killing me. My death would only be a matter of time now.

  But before I died, I had to stop her. I couldn’t let her win.

  I concentrated on the sound of her heart, and of the silver solution pumping through it. Her heart was the key. Lavalle had died when I’d stopped his heart. She could die the same way.

  It took all my strength, but I grabbed her arms and shoved her off me. Surprise lit Addie’s face as she stumbled back. Her knife clattered to the ground as she lost her balance. I grabbed it up. I aimed the knife at her chest, intent on throwing it through the woman’s heart, when she disappeared.

  Confused, I spun around. Laughing echoed over the frantic drumming of rain. Dizziness made the room whirl around me. I tried to focus on the sound of Addie’s laughter. Surely I could find her. How hard could it be? But the world seemed to stop as I felt my blood slow to a stagnant trickle.

  I held tight to the knife as I fell.

  A familiar voice cut through the haze. Warm arms encircled me. I inched my eyes open. Memphis held me. I listened to the sound of his heart, a steady cadence that calmed me. Where did he come from? How had he found me?

  I pushed my questions aside and grabbed his arm. We couldn’t leave. Not yet. “Her heart,” I managed. “It’s the only way…to stop her.” I placed the knife in his hand.

  Confusion clouded his face, and then understanding. Something hit us from behind. A sharp stab of pain bit through my shoulder as we fell. The last image I saw was of Addie standing over us, her face a mix of sadness and anger as she stared at her son. Memphis stood, the knife clutched in his hand.

  The knife I’d given him.

  My awareness ebbed. I heard screams, but wasn’t sure where they came from. I felt my body being lifted and realized that Memphis held me. He had blood on his hands.

  We ran out of the room. Another person ran beside us. Her kinky hair and brilliant smile brought tears to my eyes. I reached for her. Naomi squeezed my hand. Was I imagining her? Was she real?

  “Found you,” she mouthed.

  Memphis carried me out of the room with Naomi at our side. I blinked back the tears of joy. As long as I was still alive, I had friends. I had the best friends in the world.

  Behind us, I saw Addie’s body lying on the marble tiles. Her eyes were glassed over. Her skin matched the tiles. She lay motionless, her own dagger protruding from her chest. I listened for her heartbeats and found them silenced.

  I found it odd that her skin and gossamer dress so closely matched the color of the marble tiles, as if she was no longer flesh and blood, but, like Medusa after her battle with Perseus, had become a permanent extension of the stone.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Days must have passed. I couldn’t tell reality from dreams. I knew I was dying, and then I knew my life had been restored. The girl with the blue bangs had visited me. She’d found the poison in my blood and drained it out. At least I was fairly sure.

  Thirty units of blood. I remembered someone saying. Will she come out of it? That was a familiar woman’s voice, though I couldn’t tell who it belonged to.

  I’d sat with Katelyn on her balcony as I always did in my dreams. We’d sat on her porch and drank out of paper cups. We laughed when we discovered that we drank blood. I should have been appalled. I should have gotten sick and mortified and thrown the cup off the balcony. But in my dream, I realized that the blood was making me better. And besides, it tasted like punch. Katelyn said hers was a cherry slushy.

  I opened my eyes and found that I lay in a hospital room. Panic took over. I’d never been a patient in a hospital and for good reason. My Shine would be exposed for sure. What in the name of Gandhi were they thinking?

  This must’ve been another dream. It was the only explanation. But one thing made me realize this wasn’t a dream. Time. In dreams, time was never constant. It always felt slowed and fragmented. But now, everything seemed to flow at a normal pace, the way it was supposed to be.

  I sat up when a host of people surrounded me, though none of them looked like nurses or doctors. Mom and Dad, Naomi, Memphis. Katelyn.

  My sister was the first to run to me and bury her head to my chest. “June!” she gasped. “I knew you’d be okay.”

  I patted her head, exuberant to have her close, and most importantly, alive. But how had I gotten here, and where was I? A thousand questions buzzed through my head. Naomi—she was alive! But how? Memphis—he’d saved me. But how had he found me? And how had Addie died? Had he killed his own mother?

  My parents—why had they allowed me to be brought to a hospital?

  Mom must have seen my questioning look. “We’re in the Shine cathedral,” she said, as if reading my thoughts. “We’re safe. Don’t worry, Naomi’s here. She’s the one you should thank.”

  I turned to my friend.

  “I can’t very well take all the credit,” Naomi said.

  “But you can take most of it, can’t you? You and Memphis,” Mom answered. “Go ahead, tell her.”

  Naomi raised an eyebrow.

  “You saved me?” I managed a hoarse whisper.

  “Well.” Naomi crossed her arms. “I wasn’t working alone.”

  “How?” I croaked.

  A half-smile tugged at her mouth. “Your voice sounds fabulous. Kermit would be jealous.”

  “Shut up.”

  She laughed. “You haven’t changed.”

  “Neither have you. Tell me, how did you do it?”

  “As you know, I’d been working with the Wheaton sisters when I got some intel. They contacted me while we were snooping around that plantation. The sisters found out about Adelaide Hawthorne’s supposed charities on Green Wood Pointe, that
were nothing more than Shine experiments. They knew she was a threat, a phenomenally huge threat. They needed me back in New York, but they were very specific about how I could travel. I couldn’t be tracked. No matter what. I’d never meant to stage my own death, but that’s how it worked out. I’m so sorry, love. I would have contacted you but it was too dangerous. I hope you’ll forgive me someday.”

  I nodded, not sure I could speak as I tried to wrap my mind around the new information.

  “We tracked Mrs. Hawthorne through New York but lost her trail soon after she left. That is, until Blake offered to help.”

  “Blake helped?”

  “Yes. He felt awful, I think, about what his mum was doing. He wanted to help you however he could.”

  “Hmm…” Maybe Blake had finally gotten his wake-up call. Having a murderer for a mother must’ve been hard for him, no matter how privileged a life he’d had.

  “But I couldn’t have done it without Memphis,” Naomi nodded at Memphis, who stood in usual stance, hands in his pockets, face unreadable.

  “Memphis?” I asked, my voice breathy—from the wooziness—I swear it was from all the wooziness.

  “He organized the whole operation,” she said. “Choppercars, detailed maps, a search and rescue procedure where we not only freed you but your family as well. You should have seen his plans, June, with bullet points and searchable grid patterns—the complete happy meal.”

  “Bullet points?” I raised an eyebrow.

  He smiled, that sly grin that made my heart rate shoot up.

  “But what about you?” I asked as I held Katelyn’s face in my hands. “I was so afraid for you. For all of you.” I looked up at my mom and dad. “He said that they had you—that they would…”

  “They kept us locked up. We were safe and they fed us. Poor Katelyn was more afraid for you than she was for herself.”

  “June,” Katelyn said and squeezed my hand. “We’re okay. We’re back together, so that makes everything okay.”

  But I heard the hint of sadness in her voice. “What’s the matter?” I asked her. “And why aren’t you in the hospital?”