Sophie leans forward. “What are her specific powers? Raleigh, we need details now. We need a timeline.”
“Yes,” Karl says, and he looks to the right, exchanges a glance with Zahlia—a glance that I know Raleigh’s noticed. Karl smiles. “We need to know that you’re competent enough to lead your section and command Shania. Effectively, you would be in control of the entire population. Both of Untamed and us Chosen Ones. An overall leader. An important, but crucial, position.”
“I can assure you I am competent,” Raleigh says, glancing at me. “Like I said before, we have made significant progress, which I will update you on tonight.”
I frown. That’s twice he’s talked about another meeting tonight—one I won’t be at… My frown gets a little heavier. Logic tells me he can’t have any plans he’s keeping from me but wants to tell the Section, as he doesn’t know my powers have returned. So, he must be trying to buy time, hoping that, by later today, I will have got my powers again, and that he can then give the Section concrete information.
I shudder, envision another torture session after this meeting.
Raleigh clears his throat. “For now, I will say that soon—very soon, mark my words—we will make a huge jump in such progress.”
“Raleigh, I am assuming that—given your reluctance to answer my question and give us information regarding Shania Sarr’s specific powers, that you do not yet know this information.” Sophie raises her eyebrows, and the jewels pierced there sparkle like the chandeliers. “Am I right?”
Raleigh folds his hands carefully in front of him, on the table. “It takes time. Things like this cannot be rushed.”
“But how much progress has been made?”
He glances at me, sideway. “We are on the verge of great progress, like I already said. I assure you this is true, and I will have impressive results to report to you, very soon.” Raleigh smiles widely. “It will happen, I can guarantee that.”
“How can you say that without knowing her powers?” It is Zahlia who speaks, stepping forward on heels that clip-clop.
Raleigh visibly bristles. “I can assure you—all of you—that very soon I will know her powers. Very soon. Remember, I command Shania’s soul—that is proof of how powerful I am.”
“Your power isn’t being questioned. Your competence is,” Karl snaps. “If Shania had been in my section—not that I would’ve left any Untamed roaming free—”
“You do not have any spirits in your section though, Karl,” Raleigh says. “Drones cannot easily or accurately detect life-signs if there are too many spirits about. Therefore, there are areas of my section that I cannot scan to locate the Untamed.”
“Nonetheless, if Shania was in my section, I would already have found out what her powers are. And we would already be saving everyone. You’re too lenient.”
Raleigh laughs, a deep rumbling sound. “I assure you I am not too lenient.”
“Have you had any sessions with her?”
“Of course. I can show you the results of her defensive powers. She can kill. She is a very proficient killer, as naturally she would be.”
“Every Seer can do that,” Karl says. “We’re interested in what every Seer can’t do. Her abilities. Raleigh, perhaps when it comes to the Renewal, a new leader for Section Three should be—”
“A new leader wouldn’t command Shania’s soul,” Raleigh fires back. “And may I suggest that you take some Calmness? Your aggressive tone is not helping in the slightest.”
I look to the side, see Zahlia smile.
“May I suggest that you remember what the priority is? To save the Untamed. You’re stalling, and you’re letting them suffer. You need to be firmer with Shania. You also need to get your augmenters fixed.” Karl peers at me. “Dear, you know this is the right thing, don’t you?”
I wrinkle my nose, start to open my mouth to say something—but the strangest feeling crosses over me. It’s as if there are thousands of tiny fireworks in my body, going off. But they’re so small, I can barely feel them.
One of the other men leans forward. “You’ll be saving everyone, but you have to work with us.”
“I am managing perfectly fine,” Raleigh says. “Shania is under my control. And, believe me, when I make great progress with Shania’s powers, you will regret having questioned me.”
And then—then I feel it.
Something is wrong.
My powers. My Seer powers, they’re pushing through the seal—the seal I made and—
Oh Gods?
Was I too exhausted? Didn’t I seal them off properly?
Of course you didn’t! You don’t even know how, you haven’t done it before! You didn’t even know you could. And you haven’t slept. How can you expect your seal to work? Why did you trust yourself to know?
But it felt like I knew, almost like I’d done it before—like I knew what to do. Old territory.
I breathe deeply, close my eyes for a second, try to hold the seal in place, keep it all together—and away. Away from me.
But the threads are unraveling, and earth’s rising.
I open my eyes, my breathing heavy, and I see a door. A door, suspended in front of me. on the table, with the section leaders around it.
And they’re still talking, they haven’t noticed it.
It’s just me who can see it.
Just like how I’m the only one who can see Jed.
Help me.
A lone voice. familiar, but…a woman…a woman I know. A woman who’s in trouble. A woman who needs me.
My Seer pendant flashes hot, then cold, against my skin where it’s hidden.
And then there’s darkness everywhere, a darkness that clutches at me, and I know I need my Seer powers—just know.
Save her!
The seal breaks.
Immediately, I’m pulled, tugged. Not me, but—my hands…someone’s pulling me.
I look down at them, dizzy, disorientated. My hands are in my lap, still but….
This way!
The voice makes me jump, and—
Shit.
No.
I shake my head—and I’m pulled into another person’s body.
And I know—just know—that Raleigh, or one of the Section, is going to notice, going to realize, going to know what I can do.
A lake stretches out before me, frozen. The surface looks like marble, and white lines streak it, mark the turquoise mass below. To the right, the ice is broken—broken into a jagged mess, and the water moves. Behind, there’s a bank—a bank opposite to the one I’m standing on—and I see people there. Viktoriya and Taras, others too. Men—more men I haven’t seen before. All wrapped up, bundled. One carries a harpoon.
And the land is different—more trees, more wooded. A different part of the peninsula? I look to the right, and I see the reindeer. See them moving backward, their noses pointing up in the air, see others frozen to the spot, and some racing away, lichens still in their mouths.
I suddenly realize Viktoriya and Taras are screaming.
They’re all screaming.
Chaos. Shouting. Everyone’s shouting, and there’s someone behind me. It’s cold. Fur tickles my face, and the person I’m in takes a step forward. Don’t know who it is—not Viktoriya, not….
“No!” someone screams. A man’s scream. “She’s under the ice! Dominika’s under the ice! She’s fallen—”
I turn—take control, make whomever I’m in, turn. See Marina crying, screaming—her face red.
“Get her out!”
And then the person I’m in—the man, it’s a man—he’s running. He gets to the edge of the hole in the ice—and he kneels down. Cold ice grabs me, and I wince. A strange heat seeps through his knees.
He looks into the water—strangely blue, compelling—and it’s so dark. So deep. Yet gray too. Sludgy, with ice crystals in it. He dips a hand in, and I feel the iciness of the water as if it’s my own hand. I wince—make him wince. Or maybe he does it anyway.
H
e leans farther forward—leans right over. Oh Gods, he’s going to fall in if he leans anymore… I get ready to exert control, to pull him back, but then he does so himself, turns.
“I can’t see her!” he yells, and his voice reverberates through me.
And I can’t see her either—I look as hard as I can through the man’s eyes, trying to see Dominika, and—
I have to get her out.
That’s why I’m body-sharing. Part of me knew this was happening? Because I’m connected to Viktoriya? And I made this new connection, so I could help, because this man’s closer to Dominika than Viktoriya is, on the other bank… My eyes widen and—
“I can’t swim!” the man I’m in yells. “Someone has to get her out!”
He can’t swim?
I go cold.
The man I’m in can’t swim.
Shit. If I can’t take over his body properly and squash him out, and he gets control and panics and fights me—oh Gods. My heart pounds.
And his body’s bigger than mine, heavier—heavier than what I’m used to, and Dominika is heavy too—how can I make this man swim and try and bring her up to the surface, to the—
“She’s been under there too long! Her heart!”
Something clicks in me.
Dominika.
“Rope!” someone shouts, but I disconnect from the man, feel myself pulled back to my own body—tug, tug, tug—but I fight it, push off, and—
Cold water, ice, all around me.
Take control! Full control!
Pressure against my head, my body—my throat, it’s being squashed, and pain, pain around my jaw, my neck, my chest. Dominika’s body is heavy—we’re sinking… And—and I can’t feel her, she’s not moving.
Her heart is….
Take full control!
Something buckles through me and—
I can’t breathe, taste something sour. I thrash my arms and legs, but they’re hers, and she’s heavy. Short limbs, and—
And then her heart is my heart and it’s beating and her lungs are burning, and I fight against the water, turn my head, look up. Pain nuzzles down my spine and back—lots of backache and—
The water’s dark, hazy. I turn again, turning in the water, then I see a spot of dim light. But it’s like a halo.
I push toward it, swim, swim as hard as I can.
But Dominika’s body is heavier, cumbersome. I put all my effort in, barely make it any distance, and my head—dizziness pulls at me. Can’t breathe—but I’m aware I should be, wherever my body is, I’m breathing, aren’t I? Or if I die here, will I die completely? My death…my death’s supposed to be important.
I’m sinking. My head pounds. Fabric floats around me, pulling away from the roundness of the body.
I look down. Heavy snow boots with metal and—
Shit.
I fight to pull them off, strain against the round stomach to reach my feet, to reach the boots, and—
I manage it, my lungs burning, burning, burning.
I shove all my energy into swimming—swimming with this body, this body that—
My head pounds harder. Lightness and—
Keep swimming.
I’ve got to get out. Got to get her out. And I know I shouldn’t still be alive—that Dominika shouldn’t be…not in this icy water…but Seer powers, it has to be.
I fight the water, and I’m getting closer, closer to that pool of light, the entrance to the world and—
A snake slaps down in front of me.
I freeze, suck in water, and—
A kavalah.
No. No. No.
Spluttering, choking, a bad, bad taste. Shut my mouth and—
My eyes are on fire and—
It’s a rope, not a snake.
I grab the rope and kick out with my short legs, curse internally. Somehow, I manage to hold onto it, and—
My head bursts through the hole in the ice. Blurry figures, faces, hands reaching for me, hands that wrap around my short arms, hands that heave and pull me out. Shards of ice catch onto me, scratch me, and then…then I’m on the ice, lying there, grunting, shivering, and—
I fall back into my body. My own body. Pain and grunting. Cold, so cold, freezing, shivering and—
I look up, see Raleigh’s face hovering above me. With other faces. So many other people—the Section, Zahlia, more Enhanced. And hands—Raleigh’s hands are on my head.
I sit up, feel sick. Raleigh doesn’t let go of me. I’m on the table, at the edge, and they’re all looking at me. And—and there are wires attached to me. I look at my arm, see the wires sticking into my veins. I follow the wires to the machine. A similar machine as before, with a screen, except there’s no chair, there’s… No, I’m sitting on something on the table. A padded mat with sensors on and—
People are cheering.
Raleigh beams at me, then turns that beam to everyone else. “Did I not say that we were on the verge of new progress? Did I not say that I had a significant update for you that I would share at our meeting later today, where only section leaders would’ve been present?” His eyes narrow at Zahlia for the smallest of seconds.
Then Raleigh smiles—smiles like he knew this would happen. But we both know it’s a lie. He was trying to buy time—avoid admitting in this meeting that he didn’t know a thing.
And now this has happened. Now he knows I can body-share.
Shit.
Raleigh lifts his arms above me; I’ve never seen him so happy. “And how wonderful of Shania to demonstrate it now for you,” he shouts. “So here we have it. Shania Sarr is a body-sharer who, remarkably, has the potential for unlimited universal connections. And that, my fellow Chosen Ones—that is how she will win the war and wipe out the Untamed.”
For a moment, there’s silence.
“Unlimited universal connections?” Zahlia peers at me. “An infinite body-sharer?”
“Yes,” Raleigh says, and he points at the machine’s screen.
“That’s impossible. Body-sharing bonds can be made to a maximum of two hosts. No more than two.”
“But she is the key to the Untamed. A master body-sharer who fits them all. The reading indicates it—that is the code for unlimited. Shania hasn’t just got the capacity to forge bonds with one or two. She can connect to all of them.”
I squirm, try to move off the mat with the sensors, but Raleigh holds me in place. So I try to seal my powers off, stop them from monitoring them—only I can’t.
I can’t do it.
It doesn’t work. Shit. Why? I look down, my hands are shaking. I’m too jumpy, too much adrenaline in me. Need to be calmer to do it.
Sophie points at Raleigh. “Who did she go to? An Untamed, I assume? But which?”
“I—I…” Raleigh turns, looks at me. “Who did you go to?”
My eyes widen. He doesn’t know. He’s supposed to have my soul—have my eyes—yet he doesn’t know. Couldn’t see? Can’t see through my eyes when I’m body-sharing…because they’re not my eyes. They belong to other Untamed.
And the machine didn’t tell them who it was?
“You didn’t go with her,” Karl says, and he says it triumphantly, points at Raleigh, a vicious look taking over his face. “Nor do you know who she went to. You’re supposed to be in charge of her soul. Is body-sharing too powerful an ability for you to follow her when she goes off? Are you too weak for this, Raleigh?”
“I tried,” Raleigh says. He casts a withering glance at me. “But it was shut off to me. I could tell what was happening—but not where she was going, or who was hosting her.”
“But body-sharing, that is a rare talent,” Akim says, and the section leaders either side of him nod. “It is not unlike your command over Shania, Raleigh—except that you had to have her soul bound to you. Yet it seems that Shania can connect with anyone, anywhere, regardless of whether she has their soul. She just has to make the connection to the individual.”
“Such a great power,” Sophie says.
“And it will save us.”
“Bring up all the information we have on body-sharing,” Raleigh says, and then a virtual display appears in the air next to me, and tiny text fills it. All the Enhanced lean toward it, toward me, automatically, and silence descends as they read.
I try to look too, but my eyes don’t feel right, and I keep thinking the text is moving. And the font’s too small for me.
The next few minutes pass in a blur of talking as information is processed. They’re all making plans with Raleigh, with each other. Plans for me, working out how I’m going to use this power.
“If she shares their bodies, then she becomes them. For the time when the power is active, their body becomes her body.”
“What about the mind?”
“A body-sharer forges a connection with their host mind’s too. A permanent channel, if you like. One that does not rely on soul control, so it does not take too much energy. Shania will house hundreds of channels within her, once she’s dug the initial route to each Untamed who is still out there.”
“It means keeping her Untamed though—even once the augmenter problem is solved,” Zahlia says. She points to the screen. “Marta’s Lore indicates that body-sharing is a Seer power that cannot maintain a viable connection between an Untamed and a Chosen One. If an Untamed body-sharer is converted, he or she can no longer connect sufficiently or at all to their Untamed hosts as those pathways would fall in, a restriction placed on the Seer by the spirits and Gods and Goddesses. The only way for the bond to work again, would be for the host to also be converted.”
I chew on my bottom lip. Was that why the first few times when I body-shared it didn’t last for long? Wasn’t a sustainable connection, because I was being converted…and trying to connect to the Untamed?
“So, Shania will remain Untamed, breeding evil?” Karl asks.
“Shania will be under my control. And soon, it will all be over.” Raleigh smiles. “And this is the progress I knew was coming. My new augmenters are nearly ready. I can convert the Untamed prisoners we have here—with the exception of Shania, now we know she must remain Untamed for her to connect with the hideaways out there.” He raises his hands. “And now we know her amazing power, we know how the Untamed will end. Shania will forge connections with all the Untamed we’ve not been able to catch. I will use my powers to ensure this happens. She will then body-share with all the Untamed, dominate all of them, and during it we shall convert her—both with augmenters and the most powerful mind-conversion, and I shall also use my powers on her mind—and the connection will mean she converts everyone she is controlling at that moment.”
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