The Divide

by E. J. Mellow

  But all I can do is stand there, paralyzed. Watching, stomach in my throat, Tim fall to his knees in agony. The burning mucus expands with each second, and the only thought screaming through my mind is that it’s happening again. It’s happening all over again.

  — 43 —

  MY HEAD WHIPS to the side as a vicious sting swells along my cheek. I blink to Aveline’s angry and desperate eyes, her hand hovering close by. “Snap out of it!” She tugs me forward. “You can help him!”

  Tim lies on the ground, skin pale, lips blue, and his hair seeming to grow grayer by the second as the parasite eats at his energy. His chest heaves up and down, up and down, and his gaze is glazed over as both his arms, and now part of his chest, are covered with the burning lava. Slowly he is becoming one of them—even in death they can still destroy.

  “Molly.” It’s not Aveline’s slap that brings me back, but her heartbreaking plea. I shake out of my panicked haze and push away my biggest fear. We will not lose you. I refuse to lose you.

  “Yes, yes. I can help.” Quickly, I kneel by his side. “Guard us,” I say, and switch to the sight of energy. Tim’s abdomen glows blue-white, but the areas where the Metus mucus slides forth devours every Navitas cell it crosses, growing stronger and covering it with a black sludge. Taking in a deep breath, I have another second of hesitation, when images of doing this before flash in front of me—a barely discernable face staring up at me, agony in his eyes, and a last desperate gurgled plea to end his life. I push back a sob. This will not end the same. It is not too late. Holding my hands over his body, I gather my personal supply of power, knowing it’s more potent than what’s trapped in my vest. Searching out, I find what I’m looking for—the seed of his soul flutters erratically beneath his ribcage, like a caged bird aware of its impending death. This time without hesitation, I lock on to it and gasp. Every ounce of Tim’s emotions radiates into me—terror, hopelessness, excruciating endless pain, the tortuous sensation of thousands of knives raking along my arms, working their way up and over every nerve. It takes all my strength not to vomit from the agony and break the connection. With a desperate burst of will, I swallow down the bile edging up my throat and stay concentrated on pouring my Navitas into Tim, refilling the emptying canister. I push the brightness onto the dark, feeling the nightmares trying to fight back, their whispers of how I will fail, that there’s nothing that can be done, I’m a loser, a nobody, a fake. I plug my mind from the hate, separate its words of defeat from my determination to succeed. I can do this. I will do this. I am powerful. I can make a difference. Like a slug dusted with salt, the darkness squirms and begins to curl away. Repelled by my thoughts, my good intentions.

  The noise of battle is a far-off layer of reality as I remain holding tight, pouring and pouring. Goodness, love, heal, hope. The power of light eats away the emptiness of hate. My skin grows cold, my mouth dries, but I don’t stop until the last black drop of evil and death is gone. And when it is, I blink back to the world as it is. The heightened plane of energy fades, and I sway on my knees.

  “I’ve got you.” Dev allows me to fall into his side as my mind pounds, every inch of my skin moaning with exhaustion.

  “Is he…did I?” I can hardly keep my eyes open.

  “Yes, you saved him. You were amazing.” His lips press to my temple. “But we need to go. He needs to get to the infirmary.”

  I saved him… My heart swells with disbelief, and I manage a glance down. Tim’s eyes are closed, but his chest rises and falls. While he’s no longer covered in the parasitic lava, he hardly looks any better with his angry red skin that’s swollen and bubbling with blisters. Parts of his black uniform have melted into his flesh like a plastic toy left in the sun.

  “Oh God.” I lean forward. “Tim, Tim! Oh God, his arms! His chest!”

  “It looks worse than it is. Trust me, but we need to get him out of here. The sooner he’s with the doctors, the better. Can you stand?”

  I nod and push up onto shaky feet. All I really want to do is collapse into a puddle and sleep, sleep for days, sleep an eternity, but I notice all the remaining Nocturna and Vigil watching me now. The last Metus must have either retreated or were all destroyed, but I can’t currently bring myself to care about the specifics. All I know is that we’ve won, for now, and the only thing important is getting Tim back, and fast. “Dev, I can make a portal…one to the outside of the hospital.”

  His brows knit. “Are you sure? You seem like you’re about to faint.”

  “Yeah, I just need…” I glance to the nearest Nocturna. “Can I have that?”

  He numbly glances down to the flaming arrow that’s uselessly hanging from his fingers and then raises it up to me, a question in his gaze.

  “Thanks.” I take it and angle the burning head straight at my heart. He shouts a warning just as I stab myself with the implement, the vest suctioning it in. My body jolts with energy, and my eyes momentarily go wide. Holy wake-up calls.

  “Let’s hope you don’t start doing that recreationally.” Rae is holding up one end of a shiny white gurney, Tim lying in the center. Aveline has an oxygen mask to his face, and everyone acts fast to utilize the first-aid kits located in the nearby hover cars. Taking a wider glance around, I notice more injured Nocturna and Vigil being held up and helped by their comrades.

  With no time to react, I breathe in a settling breath and imagine the place we need, the place I’ve walked by dozens of times. Almost instantly, the space in front of us opens, the scene on the other side the entrance to the hospital that’s in City Hall Square. The Nocturna around us gasp and mutter between themselves as Rae, Aveline, and another Vigil hurry through.

  “Take all the injured.” I nod at the doorway. “I’ll hold it until then.”

  The group doesn’t move, still wondering who and what I am, but then Dev barks a command, and they jump into action.

  It doesn’t take long for the last hurt soldier to hobble across the portal’s threshold, and even though we suffered a number of losses, thankfully our casualties aren’t as high as I had originally thought.

  Dev touches my elbow. “Our turn.”

  Relieved by the prospect of finally leaving this field, whose odor only holds the memories of death, I step forward, Dev following on my heels. The fresh air that greets us almost brings tears to my eyes.

  “You can close it,” he says as we stand at the base of the hospital’s steps. “The rest are staying to take care of the damages, and another team is on their way to help.”

  I drop the visual from my mind, and the door puckers out of existence. I sigh, the first real breath I’ve taken tonight. Stepping back, I watch as doctors and nurses rush from the sleek entrance of the building, taking in the new arrival of patients. Their eyes widen with shock at our sudden appearance, but they dutifully wait to ask questions.

  A few turn to us, but Dev waves them off, telling them to concentrate on the others. A crowd has started to grow from the square, asking what’s going on. A line of city soldiers march onto the scene, keeping the onlookers from interfering with the hospital staff attending the wounded and carrying them inside. One guard addresses the people, explaining a simplified—and less threatening, I might add—version of the recent Metus attacks. While I want to scream at him that, no, it wasn’t only a few, I understand his reasoning for not wanting to scare a mob of worried onlookers.

  I hear whispers of “they just appeared out of nowhere” along with mutters of the possibility of a war with the Metus. I lower my head as I catch eyes with a few civilians, not knowing if they suspect me to be any different from them, but not wanting to stick around to find out. Thankfully, Dev places his hand on my back and guides us toward the hospital. The glass doors silently slide apart as we enter. “We need to find Aveline and Rae, see where they took Tim.”

  I work hard to keep up with his brisk pace. Even with the renewed energy from the recent arrow, my body is well aware that was merely a temporary fix for what only proper rest can
give. But I stay silent on the subject of exhaustion and try to ignore the dull throb that’s growing at the base of my skull, for I know what the imperative is in this moment—Tim.

  The hospital’s sterile scent digs into my nose, and the endless white of the floors, ceiling, and walls is discombobulating. Dev stops at one of a dozen tablets hovering nearby, and his fingers dance across the screen, quickly bringing up the crazy Latin lettering and foreign symbols. Deep grooves etch between his brows as he searches for whatever he’s looking for, his hard gaze revealing his desperation in learning the fate of his friend. “This way.” He grabs my hand, and we enter an elevator and ascend a few flights until a woman’s voice announces, “You have arrived at the Corpus Regen level.”

  “What’s the—”

  “It’s where Tim is.” Dev cuts me off and breaks into a jog. We weave through doctors and patients who don’t seem surprised at all by two people quickly moving down the hall. Turning a corner, we spot them, Aveline and Rae standing transfixed outside one of the many rooms lining this area, looking through a glass partition.

  Aveline glances up as we arrive and grabs for Dev’s hand as he approaches, her eyes red from crying. For a moment, I fear the worst. My heart jumps into my throat, and my nerves stand on end, but then she smiles, a huge relieving grin, and I nearly collapse anyway. “He’s going to be okay,” she says, her voice croaking. “They’re able to regenerate what’s been damaged. They’re doing it now.”

  We turn to peer through the window. In the center of an all-white room is a large, thick alabaster ring standing on end. In the center floats Tim, his body positioned toward us like Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, eyes closed as millions of blue-white lasers crisscross over his bare body, concentrating on his arms and chest. Two technicians in full hazard suits walk around him, checking on the readouts displaying along the far wall, and every so often reposition the circle that holds Tim hovering in space.

  “They’re growing his skin back?” I ask, mesmerized by the strange rhythm of the equipment.

  “Regenerating,” Rae says from behind me. “Earth will have this ability soon.”

  “That’s amazing.” I step closer. “So he’ll really be…he’s going to be okay?”

  A delicate hand touches my arm, and I turn to Aveline, her gaze shimmering with barely contained emotion. “Molly…I—” Suddenly, I’m wrapped in her arms. “We owe you everything. I don’t know how to ever repay you for saving him. I can’t…I can’t…” She hiccups on a sob, and I bring my hands around her small body, returning the hug.

  “There’s nothing to repay. I love him too.” Aveline grips me tighter. “Plus, I think it’s me that needs to be thanking you.” She leans back, confusion puckering her brows. “If I ever needed a slap in the face, that was the moment.”

  Relieving laughter twinkles out of her, and she shakes her head. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

  I’m momentarily thrown off balance when Rae’s large arm corrals me into his side. “You did good, kid.” He squeezes my shoulder. “Real good.”

  “There were still losses.” I frown.

  “Yes, but you kept there from being a lot more.”

  “What are we going to do about the tunnels?” I ask, not wanting to be praised anymore for what is still a tragedy for any who knew the lost.

  Dev presses his fingertips to the lip of the windowsill, his expression grave as he stares into Tim’s room. “I don’t know yet, but we’ll need to figure it out soon. A lot of those routes have been lost over the centuries, and if the Metus have been clearing them on their own, they could have made new paths. Ones that are unmapped.”

  The thought of all that still needs to be done suddenly drops an extra layer of weight onto my already-exhausted shoulders. Rae catches the droop in my body. “Has no one attended to you yet?”

  “Terra, I’m sorry, Molly.” Dev spins to face me. “I was so worried about Tim—”

  I wave away his concern. “I’m fine. I just…need a little rest, that’s all. Tim’s priority right now.”

  He glances back through the glass before returning his attention to me. “Tim’s with the best people he can be with at the moment. There’s nothing more we can do for him until his procedure is done.” He steps forward and traces his fingertips across my cheek and then behind my ear, my body instantly easing from the touch. “Let’s find you a Vigil doctor who can check on your vitals.”

  I look to Aveline and Rae, who both nod that I should go. “We’ll be here,” Rae says. “We’ll make sure he signs a thank you card when he wakes up, for you saving his clumsy butt.” We blink at him, and Aveline purses her lips. “What?” He glances between each of us. “Too soon?” Aveline smacks the side of his arm. “Ow.” He rubs the sting. “You could have just said yes. Haven’t we had enough violence tonight?”

  The echo of their bickering reaches us even after Dev and I turn the corner away from their hallway. And despite all the destruction, all the nightmares we had to fight against and the recent terror of possibly losing someone close to me, again, I allow myself to smile. I only hope it’s not in vain.

  — 44 —

  DRIP. DRIP. DRIP. The healing bag of Navitas slowly eases into my veins through an IV, and I shiver for maybe the tenth time. The energy is freezing as it enters my bloodstream, but turns to liquid heat as it mixes. The sensation gives me the willies, and I try not to look down at the needle inserted into the top of my hand.

  “That’s it. I’m getting you that blanket.” Dev walks to the door to flag down a nurse.

  “No, I’m fine. I swear.”

  “Your teeth are chattering. You are not fine.”

  “It’s all the adrenaline and this stuff.” I flick the glowing blue-white bag that hangs from a nearby hook. “How much longer do I need to be pumped with this stuff? I feel a lot better.”

  Dev thanks a medical assistant who hands him a fluffy gray blanket, and walks back to me. “Until it’s gone.”

  We were quick to find a Vigil doctor who knew of me and could help with the right medicine. She actually seemed flustered with the honor to treat the Dreamer and would probably have stayed hovering in our room if it weren’t for the many other new patients demanding the hospital staff stay busy.

  Dev drapes the soft material around me where I sit in a white reclining chair. He tucks in each end around my body until I’m cocooned inside, and I fight a grin, watching his concentrated effort. “What?” he asks, not looking at me, but still fiddling with his task.

  “You’re cute.”

  Blue eyes meet mine, a smirk lifting his stubble-filled cheek. “And I think this stuff is making you high.”

  “Would that be such a bad thing?” I plop my head against the headrest. “Being the Dreamer”—I say the word in sarcastic awe—“needs to have some perks.”

  He chuckles and sits on a stool, scooting it closer so he can hold my non-IV hand. “I think being able to create anything you can imagine is already a pretty big perk.”

  I scrunch my mouth to the side. “Yeah, I guess there’s that.”

  “How are you feeling, really?” He runs a worried gaze over me.

  I glance to the veins surrounding the stuck needle, watching how the liquid energy lights up their snaking lines like my skin is made of translucent paper. “I was telling the truth before. I do feel better. My headache’s gone.”

  “And your muscles? Are they still sore?”

  I gently move around. “Not nearly.”

  The tenseness in his shoulders eases. “Good.”

  I lift my hand from his to run it through his raven hair, and he leans into the touch. “This is getting long. I can almost grab it now.” I give a testing tug, and his eyes cloud, a wickedness swirling with the twitch of his lips.

  “Careful, midnight.” He threads his fingers back into mine. “I don’t want to be responsible for what would happen if you pulled that again.”

  I squirm in my seat. “Really, Dev? We’re in a hospital, probably the most un
sexy place in the world.”

  He fights a grin. “Well, aren’t you in this hospital?”

  I frown. “Uh, yeah?”

  “Then it’s an incredibly sexy place.”

  I snort out a laugh. “Oh God. I forgot how cheesy you can be.”

  He’s about to respond, when there’s a clearing of a throat. Elena stands in the doorframe with Raymond, not a hair on her blonde head misplaced, while the Vigil engineer looks as if he got stuck in a windstorm. His glasses rest askew on his pert nose, and his lab coat is rumpled along with his hair and untucked shirt. The visual disparity of the two Vigil is almost comical.

  “Am I interrupting?”

  Dev leans away from me. “If you felt the need to clear your throat, doesn’t that give you your answer?”

  Elena straightens her already rodlike posture as she walks in. “Yes, well…we wanted to see how our Dreamer was doing.” She reaches my side. “From the murmurs around the hospital, I would say you did far and away what I had hoped out there.”

  “I helped in ending the attack alongside many others, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Modesty is always a good characteristic for Dreamers to have.” She glances to Raymond. “Less chance for them to be overtaken by the lure of their powers.” He nods in a weirdly clinical way, as if she’s spouting a hypothesis about a test subject.

  “Elena, was there something else you needed besides checking on me?” I ask, wanting to move on from feeling like a lab rat.

  “Yes, there are a few.” She folds her hands together in front of her. “First, we wanted to see how the vest held up.”

  I look down at the thing in question, realizing I never took it off. “Oh, it worked great.” I find Raymond’s gaze. “Better than great, actually. The recharging capabilities saved my butt a couple times.”

  “Saved all of our butts,” Dev adds.

  Raymond’s chin tips up along with the corner of his lips. “That’s splendid. And was it easy to control, the amount of energy coming in and out?”