The Divide

by E. J. Mellow

  “In meditating?” He seems rather taken aback by my offer.

  “Yes, do you meditate?”

  “All Vigil are meant to meditate for two to three hours a day.”

  “And have you done yours yet?”

  He shifts uncomfortably. “No.”

  I pat the space again. “Then this is the perfect time for you to do it.”

  “But I’m meant to guard you.”

  “Does that door lock?”

  He glances at it. “Yes.”

  “Then there you go.”

  He sucks in his cheeks, looking uncertain.

  “Alec, as your Dreamer, I command you to sit and meditate with me.” I know it’s not fair to pull that card on him, but come on, he deserves to take a load off. Plus, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to get in the zone with him standing and staring at me the whole time.

  He hesitates a moment more before coming to sit beside me, his thick legs impressively folding into a pretzel shape. I smile, pleased. Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes, ready to channel my inner Riki and let her put me in the chi mode. She’s much better at this than I am, and currently I need all the help I can get. Elena’s reaction has left me a bit mentally preoccupied. Not that having a new handful of memories swimming in my brain helps either.

  “Thank you, Molly.”

  I pry open one eye to see Alec looking at me with such reverence and gratitude that I frown. “For what?”

  “You honor me by asking me to sit with you and share your meditation.”

  “Oh, Alec,” I say, reaching over and placing my hand on top of his large one, “I’m the one who’s honored.”

  The small grin and blush that spreads across his face is enough to make me burst into tears. He’s such a young boy in this moment, despite his extra-large form, and I suddenly feel extremely protective of him. Clearing my throat, I sit up straighter. “Okay, my young deshi, let’s do this thing.”

  And with that we both shut our eyes and go to that space of emptiness, allowing our bodies to be deconstructed and then put back together again—to become reborn.

  Who knew meditating could be so cool?

  —∞—

  A while later, feeling a lot better, I walk with Alec to the training room. His dark complexion shines, almost glowing, reminding me of how Elena looked after she meditated. I wonder if that’s due to the fact that they’re Vigil. If so, it’s a nice benefit of being from their race, well…one of many, I guess, given their long lives and ability to easily travel between dimensions.

  Studying Alec’s profile—his crooked nose that has become such an endearing quality to his features, and the small speckle of gray near his temple—I wonder about his actual age.

  “Alec, did you know the last Dreamer?”

  He glances down to me. “Yes, I did.”

  “Really? What was she, or he, like?”

  He thinks for a moment as we continue forward. “He was very passionate and noble, an exemplary fighter—”

  “Not to sound unimpressed or anything, but most of the Dreamers I’ve seen have all been like that. I want to know what he was like like—his personality.”

  Alec’s brows furrow. “Okay, well…he had a strange obsession for practical jokes, most of which we Vigil were the butt of.” Despite his dismissive tone, I catch a lightness in his eyes, and I laugh.

  “Sounds like I would have liked him.”

  He grins ever so slightly. “Yes, I think you would have too.”

  I try to imagine who this man was, what he was feeling and if he enjoyed that he was the Dreamer.

  “So what happened to him?”

  Alec’s features quickly shut down. “He stopped coming” is his simple reply, and with that I know the topic has closed. For now. I’ll definitely be asking Elena for this particular Dreamer’s memories. I purse my lips. I only hope she’ll oblige.

  Once Alec drops me off at the training room. I walk in to find it empty. Deciding to do some stretching while I wait for Rae, I multitask by poking around my memories for any hints of past Dreamers’ deaths. It’s all blank though, like that part was cut out, redacted, omitted. Is Alec telling the truth, that they merely stopped coming, just like that? The fact that I can’t even find a specific cutoff time makes me believe otherwise. It all just grows fuzzy, dissipating into a fog. But why hide information for any other reason than because it’s worth hiding? Flashes of all the violent and abrupt endings of Vigil and Nocturna flicker before me, and I swallow. Was that also the fate of every Dreamer? Is it my own?

  “Cool it, Molly,” I pep talk myself. “Don’t go spiraling out of control just yet.” It’s not lost on me that by talking in the third person—and out loud—I might already have.

  Shaking my head and feeling as stretched out as a medieval prisoner on the rack, I lie back, watching the swirling Navitas in the lights above. Where in all of Terra is Rae? I smile at my new use of vernacular. Man, how has so much changed in such a short amount of time? Have I really only been here for two days? It feels like months. What will it be like to return to my world later today, to see Becca and Jared? My job? My job! I groan. It will be so mind numbing. As if it wasn’t already.

  Spreading my arms out to the side, I mimic making a snow angel on the padded floor. What I am excited for is the sun. Ah, sun, how I’ve missed you. Closing my eyes, I imagine lying in the bright-green grass of Central Park, the morning light filtering between the leaves of the trees above. How beautiful the lit-up canopy is. I can almost feel the warmth, smell the sweet spring air.

  The sound of someone walking into the room has me turning my head to find Dev standing in the doorway. He glances around, an odd expression on his face. And that’s when I notice the thousands of green leaves fluttering and falling from the ceiling, filling the room with their vibrancy. I hadn’t even realized I called upon my power to manifest them, so stuck in my daydream. My abilities seem to be getting more fluid with each Dreamer’s memories that I receive.

  Dev plucks an errant leaf from the air and rubs it between his fingers. Embarrassed, I make them all disappear. He looks up just as the one in his palm vanishes, and his eyes hold me still. His gaze is searing and seems to reach into me, searching, exploring, and filled with such reverence that I can’t help the warmth that spreads through me.

  “What are you doing here?” I sit up, tucking one side of my hair behind my ear.

  Dev blinks, removing any visible remnants of emotion from his face. “I’m to train you today,” he says, walking forward, his black T-shirt stretching against his muscles with the movement.

  “You?” I ask as my stomach drops, thinking about our last encounter in the hallway and how much I still don’t know about him and Anebel. Looking at him looking at me, I would never have guessed he suffered such a loss. But if there’s one thing I know about Dev, it’s that, if he wants to, he’s an Oscar winner at hiding his true feelings.

  “Isn’t that what I just said?” He steps past me.

  “All right, no need for the ’tude.” I push myself up from the floor. “Didn’t realize Rae wouldn’t be coming, is all…or will he later?”

  “Nope. It’s just you and me.” The way he draws out the last few words causes me to shift on my feet.

  “Um, okay.”

  “The change in teachers was unplanned.” Dev goes to the wall that houses the weapons. “But I thought it would benefit for you to overcome my speed advantage.”

  “Is that even possible?” None of my memories bring up this skill.

  “At this point, I wouldn’t limit you to anything.”

  Well, if he’s going to talk like that…

  “Here.” Dev throws me a Bō.

  I catch it and internally groan, remembering the last time we sparred with these.

  “As a warning, I won’t be going easy on you.”

  “Have you ever?” I murmur.

  He doesn’t respond, merely scrutinizes the way I hold my staff as he begins to circle me, our usual e
asy banter seemingly lost in the quicksand of his awakened past. Taking a deep breath, I push aside those thoughts for now and start flipping my Bō around as well, keeping an equal distance from him. We both stalk one another, waiting and watching.

  There’s a quick flash in Dev’s gaze right before he’s nothing but a blur and I’m knocked to the ground. I don’t even have the chance to put the air back in my lungs when he’s helping me to my feet.

  “Again,” he says.

  I narrow my eyes and step back, trying to figure out how to track his movements, but it’s like one moment he’s twenty feet away and the next I’m on the mat, my backside smarting.

  “Well, this is super fun.” I ignore Dev’s outreached hand and stand on my own.

  “Again,” he repeats.

  “Okay, let’s hold up there, Mr. Miyagi. How ’bout you provide a little instruction before we continue down this path where my ass ends up in a cast.”

  He arcs a brow. “Can that happen?”

  “I’d rather not find out. Now, tell me what to do.”

  Dev leans on his staff. “Well, normally, if you were Nocturna, you’d be able to visually break down my speed and react accordingly.”

  “Riiight. But here’s the thing…I’m not a Nocturna.”

  “Yes, I can see that,” he says dryly.

  “Okay, then what’s a normal person like me supposed to do?”

  “Realizing you’re not a normal person would probably help.”

  I roll my eyes. “Fine. What’s a normal Dreamer like me supposed to do?”

  “Well, I think that’s your area of expertise, don’t you?”

  “Dev! Are you serious right now? How is this helping in any way?”

  He shrugs. “It’s helping to keep me entertained.”

  Motherfu—I rush him with a growl, twirling my Bō, and smile when I hear and feel the satisfying thwak as it makes contact. I move to strike a second time, but Dev’s gone, spinning around behind me and with breathless speed swipes at my feet. I go down with a grunt.

  Bending over me, his face is infuriatingly passive as he simply says one word. “Again.”

  — 15 —

  I HAVE NO idea how long we repeat this pathetic dance of me standing up only to get knocked back down, but one thing’s for certain—I. Hate. Dev. But, for real, I do. I’ve had to constantly rein in my…rather disturbing…vengeful thoughts in fear that they might actually manifest. And I’m pretty certain Dev would rather keep his arms attached to where they are and not shoved up a certain…uncomfortably small place. As I roll over with a groan from my most recent fall, I begin to question if he really deserves my mental restraint anymore.

  “This isn’t helping.” I remain lying on the ground. I’ll be down here in a few seconds anyway.

  “You need to tap into your power, Molly. Figure out how to use it to overcome my speed.”

  “Oh, is that all?”

  “There has to be something you’re not using,” he says, not a speck of remorse in his voice.

  “Trust me, there’s a lot I’m holding back right now.” I think about my creative revenge again.

  “Come on.” Dev pokes me with his stick. I hate that stick. “Get up. We’re not stopping until you’ve figured this out.”

  I actually whimper.

  “You’ll benefit from this, trust me.”

  I slowly sit up. “Why? The Metus aren’t as fast as you.”

  “They could be now. We don’t know all of their new abilities, and I have a feeling them changing into liquid isn’t their deadliest new addition.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “They’re growing smarter. I don’t think they would show all their cards so soon.”

  “Why do you think they’re getting smarter?”

  Dev rubs his hand against the back of his neck. “I think it has to do with the advancements in your world. The new breed of evil on Earth is rather sickening. Terrorism, cyberterrorism, nuclear and biological warfare, the amount of negativity and fear that spawns from those groups are a Metus’s dream.”

  Using my Bō to help me stand, and ignoring all my protesting muscles, I replay his words. “Dev, do you think that if the new evil in my world can affect things here, that the new good could as well?”

  He twirls his staff, thinking. “I guess it’s possible. Why?”

  “Well, when I was with Elena earlier, I mentioned some things about my abilities that she found surprising.”

  “Like what?”

  I hesitate in answering, not wanting him to freak out like she did. “Um, well, I can see the Navitas in you guys.”

  His Bō stills. “What?”

  “Elena called it your life’s energy.”

  Dev’s eyes widen. “You can see that in us? But how?”

  I shrug. “I’m not sure. I just can. Ever since what happened with Cree, I can kind of flip my vision back and forth between this plane and that. Like right now, I can see these blue-white strands moving through your veins, wrapping around your body.”

  “Molly, that’s incredible!”

  “Elena seemed worried.”

  Dev waves his hand, unconcerned. “She has a tendency to take things too seriously.”

  “Where you have a tendency to take nothing seriously.”

  “On the contrary, I can name one thing that I never joke about.” His gaze darkens as it rests on me, and I resist the urge to squirm. “Wait—” Dev says, blinking back to clarity as a new thought comes to him. “Try using that sight when fighting me. See if it makes a difference.”

  “I don’t know…”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m scared I’d hurt you or something. I’m not sure what I’m looking for, and I have a feeling that if I touch any part of the energy in you, it would be really, really bad.”

  “Well, maybe it’s not about messing with my energy, but keeping tabs on it.”

  “I have absolutely no idea what that means.”

  “Molly,” he says with slight exasperation. “Listen, I can’t see what you can to assess it properly, but humor me for a second. Try fighting me while focusing on my life’s energy.”

  I frown, still unsure when Dev quickly smacks a blow to either side of my arms.

  “Ouch! What was that for?”

  “Don’t you want to keep me from being able to do this?” He hits my legs this time.

  “Stop it!”

  “Make me,” he goads suddenly from behind, and my ear gets flicked. I spin around as he retreats with a small grin.

  “And here I was thinking you couldn’t get any more annoying,” I say through clenched teeth as I follow his movements, switching to the sight that illuminates his essence.

  He wants me to humor him? Oh, I’ll humor him all right. All the way to the infirmary where they’ll have to remove my stick from his—

  I pause, stunned, noticing the Navitas in Dev reach out to the left a second before he moves there. No way. And then there’s a whoosh through the air as my legs are knocked out from beneath me, but this time as I hit the ground, I’m smiling instead of cursing.

  I jump up, my heart racing in excitement. “Again.”

  Dev clucks his tongue. “And I thought you hated that word.”

  I don’t respond, but instead I pay closer attention to how his energy pulses and flows through him. Seeing through this plane reminds me a little of when Dev made the protective wall of Navitas and it channeled into me. It’s like being submerged in water—my body feels weightless, things around me move slower, and everything is a bit blurry, except where there’s Navitas—that remains like a beacon, solidifying what it surrounds.

  This time when Dev rushes me, I see the trail of blue-white light shoot out in front of him, as if that’s his conscious thought leading him forward, marking his path.

  Unfrickenbelievable.

  I easily step to the side, and he runs right past me. Turning around, his brows pinch in with confusion, but he only hesitates for a second before tw
irling toward me again. And again I see it all before it happens, my movements seeming more fluid than his as I block his Bō with my own. One. Two. Three. I meet him attack for attack, and a giddy laugh bubbles up.

  “Whatever you’re doing”—he knocks his staff against mine—“keep doing it.”

  My mind tingles with the exertion to focus on his energy, and sweat slides down my face as I work on finding the upper hand. I’d think after having the training of more than a dozen past Dreamers I’d be the one with the advantage, but Dev’s extremely skilled. Even with the ability to predict his moves, I’m still only able to defend.

  With the strain of pushing myself in two directions—physically and mentally—my head grows thicker and thicker with tension right before it explodes in white-hot pain and I drop to the floor, groaning.

  “Molly, are you okay?” Dev asks in a panic.

  “Ah!” I put pressure on my temples and squeeze my eyes shut. It feels like I’m having a massive brain freeze.

  “What can I do? Should I get help?” He brings me to lean against him.

  I shake my head while taking in calming breaths and slowly open my eyes. I blink, finding my vision has returned to normal, and with it the pain dissipates.

  “Wow,” I say, relaxing. “That sucked.”

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “What happened?” Dev reassuringly strokes my arm, making me very aware of his embrace, but I don’t move away, telling myself I need the comfort.

  “I think using that sight has a time limit. I get a similar pain if I use my power too fast or for too long. My brain tends to freeze up, but this time it came quicker than normal. Watching you like that must suck my power up more rapidly.”

  “Okay, we’ll be careful next time then. Won’t push you longer than necessary,” he says as his hand absently moves to play with a strand of hair near my neck. If I were a cat I’d be purring, which means I should definitely move, should definitely be standing up, shouldn’t be considering holding off for a couple more seconds…