The Divide

by E. J. Mellow

  “Yes, very.” I spread my hands along the flexible lightweight material covering my stomach. “I’d like to wear it every time I’m here.”

  “You will.” Elena glances to Raymond. “We think it will be a necessary precaution after tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?”

  “That’s the other thing I wanted to discuss. Tomorrow you will be introduced to Terra. After hearing the reaction of the guards who fought with you, it’s time. Also, I don’t think the secret will be much of a secret after tonight—best to get ahead of it.”

  “What will I need to do? I won’t…I won’t need to give a speech or anything, will I?” I can feel my face paling at just the thought.

  “We’ll get into more details in the morning, after you’ve gotten proper rest.” Elena glances to the Navitas bag that slowly drips into my veins. Great. Her nonanswer obviously means yes. I swallow. Put me in front of a horde of Metus any day rather than force me to engage in public speaking. I can only hope to convince her what a mistake that will be.

  “Do you mind if I take the vest for a while?” Raymond wipes his hands along his pants. “I want to run some diagnostic tests, and we’re working on finishing up a few more vests for you so you can switch them out to be recharged.”

  “Oh, sure.” I shift in my chair, and Dev helps me to remove it, careful of my IV tubes. Once out of the snug armor, I feel strangely vulnerable, even with the black protective layer of clothing underneath. I rub at my chest. “You know, I thought about manifesting the vest the other night, but it was too difficult for me to recreate in my mind. The altered Navitas inside feels different from the energy in the usual weapons.”

  The engineer’s brows rise. “Yes, and that’s very perceptive of you to pick up. It is different energy, and getting it to activate and be held within the threads takes a precision machine. I wouldn’t be doing my job properly if you could merely imagine this and all its capabilities from thin air.”

  “Well, then two thumbs up for doing a good j—ow.” I drop my left hand from giving a thumbs-up, forgetting I had the IV for a second.

  “Thank you, Raymond.” Elena inclines her head to him. “If you have no further questions, I’d like to talk with Molly in private.”

  “Oh! Yes—no, I mean, no. I have no more questions.” He fiddles with my vest. “I’ll just bring this back to the lab. Thank you for allowing me to accompany you with today’s events.” He bows to Elena. “It was truly an honor. And Molly, I look forward to our continued work together.”

  I smile at the teetering man. “Me too.”

  He bends at the waist one last time before dipping out of the room.

  “Dev, you can close your mouth.” Elena waves her hand in his direction, stopping him from saying whatever he was about to say. “You can stay for this. I have no doubt she’d tell you afterward anyway.”

  He and I share a sheepish glance.

  “I have a few other things to attend to before tomorrow, so we can save most of the details of this conversation for our next energy training, but what you did with Tim…” Her blue-jeweled eyes lock with mine. “You succeeded.”

  I flex and relax my free hand. “Yes. Well, sort of.” The image of his angry bubbling skin swims before me.

  “You stopped and removed the threat of him becoming a Metus.”

  I’m unsure if that was a question or not. “Um, yes?”

  “Then you succeeded.” Walking to the front of the room, she clasps her hands behind her back. “This is quite groundbreaking, your new ability to reverse a usually irreversible process. We will need to explore this further, as well as record your memories soon.”

  “Record them? Like what you did with the past Dreamers?” I sit up straighter.

  “Yes, so we have them on record in case…well, it’s better to gather them when they’re still fresh in your mind.”

  I frown. “Elena, you don’t need to skirt the issue. You want them in case something should happen to me before my twenty-fifth birthday.”

  She studies me a moment, a strange respect growing in her gaze. “Yes.”

  I nod and look away, a familiar tightening twisting in my gut any time I think about the date that looms ever closer and the two choices that are terrifyingly starting to look like one absolute.

  Dev touches my shoulder, and I glance to him. His brows are furrowed as he regards me, and I know he wants to ask what I’m thinking, but he holds off because of Elena’s presence.

  “Well, I’ll take my leave.” Her perceptiveness for us wanting a moment alone is clear. “But before I go, I want to express how truly proud I am to call you our Dreamer, Molly. You were remarkable tonight, and I believe that what you were able to do with Tim was merely the beginning.” She smiles—a rarity. “I will reconnect with you on the announcement plans soon.” With a small incline of her head, she’s whisked away by her entourage of Vigil guards, who were standing silent outside the door.

  I stare at the empty space she once occupied, still lost in thought from her earlier words. What you were able to do with Tim was merely the beginning. Phantom pains shoot up my arms with the memories. The agony he was in, we were in, the darkness hungry for the easily mutated energy flowing through him. I could feel how pliable we are to become evil when reduced to torment, stripped of our hope. Hope—the key to our humanity. What happens when none is left? I frown. Alec. A finger pops my bottom lip away from my teeth, and I blink up to Dev.

  “Keep that up and we’ll have to sew it back on.”

  “Sorry, I—there’s just a lot on my mind.”

  “Inevitably so.” He inches his way onto my reclined chair. “But let’s try to hold off worrying about all of them right now. You’ve done enough tonight.” He brushes back my hair, causing me to close my eyes briefly.

  “Have I told you I love you yet today?”

  A half smile tugs at his lips. “I was just going to mention how it was about time you did.”

  I fight a grin. “How courteous of you. At least I don’t have to worry about being forgetful when you’re around.”

  “There’s a lot you don’t have to worry about when I’m around.” His gaze suddenly grows serious, resolute.

  “Dev—”

  “I’m being serious, Molly.” He encircles my hands with his. “When you said you had a lot on your mind, I know which one of those things we share. And I meant when I said we’d find a way.” His grip tightens. “And we will. I promise you—we will.”

  I let out a tired breath. “You can’t promise that, Dev, and I’m not asking you to.”

  A crease materializes between his brows, and he momentarily studies our entwined fingers. “You know, there’s one thing I’ve learned from living in Terra—one thing that, no matter what, has always stood the test of time.” A fierce sapphire gaze rises to meet mine. “It’s that all dreams have ways of coming true.”

  The determination swirling in his eyes melts me to my core, and I tug him forward, bringing his lips to mine. Our movements are careful at first, a whisper of the heat boiling under the surface. There’s a graze, a brush, a tease, and then like a piñata popping, we fall uncontained. He pins me to the back of the chair, his mouth firm and demanding, mine all too eager to please. His hands possess, take, and the moan that escapes me only fuels both our actions. Our surroundings drop away, and just like every time he touches me, looks at me, calls my name, my world briefly becomes perfect, simple. He and I, and in this moment I hold on to it as long as I can. Postponing the responsibilities that will inevitably step into the forefront when we break apart. So for now, I keep us locked, lost, right up until the last drip from the IV pushes into my veins, setting my blood to its final course of rejuvenating heat.

  —∞—

  I rub the top of my hand where a slight bruise has blossomed, even though there’s no other mark from the freshly removed needle.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Dev frowns down at me.

  “Yes, go check on Tim.
I just need to step outside for second. The brightness of this hospital is making me feel crazy. I need a break from all the”—I glance around to the white on top of white of everything—“lack of color.”

  “Okay, but I won’t be long. I only need to ask when he’ll be conscious, for us to come back. I’ll meet you out there soon, and then we can go home.”

  Home. A slight smile tugs at my lips. “That sounds great.”

  “Good.” With a quick kiss, Dev turns toward the section where they are keeping Tim in a sleep-induced coma until he’s fully recovered. I head in the opposite direction and make my way back to the front doors.

  Stepping outside, I greedily fill my lungs with fresh air. The crowd is long gone, and a quiet after-hours feel has settled over the square. I’m all too pleased to glide into the anonymity of just another Terra civilian strolling the streets. I realize with a frown that this blending ability might all end tomorrow with Elena’s announcement. In fact, this might be the last time I’ll be able to walk unguarded here too. The thought depresses me. How will the people react? My presence will definitely be questioned. There will be confusion from the Nocturna, and most probably hatred toward their Vigil brethren for keeping such a secret for so long. I only hope the positive reactions will outweigh the negative. I mean, what I was able to do for Tim can’t be negated. The skeptics will have to see my presence as a benefit, in that regard. I let out a huff of air. I still can’t believe I was able to help him, my gift finally being used for a greater good. Holding out my hands, I take in their normalcy, still baffled that I contain such power.

  Flexing and relaxing my fingers by my side, I find a bench close to the hospital’s entrance and, on a sigh, collapse onto it. A line of trees behind me casts a shadow across this area, but I’m still able to tip my head up and gaze at the shooting stars above. Millions of sleeping minds zip across the sky, the beauty of them almost overwhelming. A wind dances through the square, and I close my eyes, momentarily taking in the peace. My confusion on which life I’ll be forced to choose has slowly been slipping away to reveal only one. One decision, one seemingly obviously way to go. But I push those thoughts away, just as I always do, praying it won’t come to that. Even though it feels slightly foolish to have faith in Dev’s promise of finding a solution, it’s still there—hope, the one gift to mankind that escaped Pandora’s box. I have hope that we’ll find a way—

  The rustling of a nearby bush startles me out of my thoughts. I sit up and narrow my gaze into the area behind me, but it’s too dark to make anything out. I listen instead. Silence. Taking another glance around the square, I spot a few Nocturna and Vigil strolling about, and their presence momentarily relaxes me. The surrounding buildings still have the hum of movement, even if it’s not as busy as normal. Settling back into the bench, I wonder how much longer Dev will be and if I should go back inside to find him.

  In the space between my indecision, a shadow emerges onto the path where I sit, and a chill runs down my spine. Call it intuition, a sixth sense, being a Dreamer—whichever—but instantly I know it’s the same shadow that’s been lingering out of my sight for weeks. The hovering ghost who’s been following my steps in New York, at home. A presence I hoped was merely a paranoid girl’s imagining now waits for me to acknowledge it.

  With warning goose bumps covering my skin, I slowly turn in its direction. And this time it doesn’t retreat into the dark. This time it steps forward, directly into the light. Even with his face newly shaved, I immediately recognize him, and my blood runs cold as my heart putters to a stop. “Dr. Marshall?”

  His white teeth flash in the night. “Hello, Molly.”

  — 45 —

  I ONCE READ somewhere that the dropping sensation you get in your stomach when startled or confronted with a threat is actually all the blood leaving the place where it’s not needed and flowing to more necessary body parts and muscles, preparing for fight or flight. So while looking into hazel eyes that I never thought I’d see again, and never in a million years thought I’d see in Terra, I wonder why my brain doesn’t presently count as a useful body part. Because it’s suddenly drained, empty, zombified. I can do nothing but blink, as if that will dispel his presence, revealing him as merely my hallucination. It doesn’t. He stays solid, a reality, and something about the way his smile is set with an unsettling curve gives me a very bad feeling that whatever this is, it isn’t a good thing.

  With his face cleared of his beard, the youthfulness I saw hidden underneath becomes very apparent. He looks only a few years older than myself, but the fact that he’s here allows me to deduce that he could be way beyond me in years. His blond hair is messier than I remember, and his current black Terra garb strikes a more imposing presence than his white lab coat and scrubs.

  By some miracle, I find myself able to stand. “What are you…how is this…I…” My mouth hangs open.

  “Yes, a bit of a shock, isn’t it?” He slowly glides forward, his steps alarmingly predatory. “But the feeling was rather mutual when I first realized who you were, probably greater, in fact.”

  “You’re a…Vigil?” My mind is still set to empty and is having difficulty putting anything together that’s comprehendible.

  “I am. And you’re the Dreamer.” His eyes light up as they take me in. “It’s all rather serendipitous, isn’t it? That you should have gotten hit by lightning while I was in New York. And to think, I was a day away from leaving to follow another lead in Beijing, when you were brought in. How lucky I am to have been there and found you.”

  Found me? Follow another lead?

  “What are you talking about?”

  His smile is pitying. “I’ve been searching a long time for you, Molly, waiting for you to arrive. I knew by the rising Metus population that someone would be called soon. I just didn’t know from where. We can never predict these things, you see.” He inclines his head, a professor teaching his student. “But luckily, there are only so many lightning-strike incidents to look into in a year.”

  “You knew who I was? That I was the Dreamer…when you saw me in the hospital?”

  “Not right away, of course.” He waves his hand impatiently. “There’s no test that can be done to reveal that, but then you mentioned your dreams, and well…it was quite obvious from there.” He’s right in front of me now, and I tip my head back to meet his eyes. “But still,” he continues. “I didn’t exactly know what I was going to do with you once I found you. I had ideas of course—plans, all involving avenging what was taken from me.” I flinch as he reaches out to play with a strand of my ponytail that’s draped across my shoulder. Loud internal voices are screaming at me now, telling me to move away and fast, but my legs won’t listen. They stay stupid and still, rooted to the spot. “Yes, they would pay. That much was certain. I knew no matter what, they would pay.” His face contorts in a deep-seated disdain.

  “W…who would pay?”

  He blinks to me. “The Metus, of course.”

  I let out a relieving breath. “Oh.”

  “And another—one other.” I swallow away my respite as his gaze clouds over. “But I never thought he’d factor into you, and I didn’t think he should. I mean, his kind hadn’t even known of your existence here. That is, until recently.” There’s a conspiratorial tilt to his lips. “Something was forcing us all to collide, it seems. Telling me to watch, to look closely and be patient. And I did, and that’s when I saw it. Saw you together, the way he watched you, looked at you. And it became perfectly clear.” His eyes flash back to mine, their lucidness a dissolving gleam. “Did you know he used to look at someone else like that? Exactly like that. How easy he is to forget his past.” He spits the words out like he can’t stomach them. “That’s when I knew it had to go another way. It made sense then what I needed to do, why you came to me. She was sending me a sign. Telling me what needed to be done to give her peace. I would take care of the Metus after bringing revenge to the man that pushed her into making those choices that day.” W
arning bells ring loudly in my skull. He’s crazy. Step away. Run. As his words sink in, with every beat of my barely puttering heart I finally will myself to take a step back, but he merely matches it with his own forward. “So I waited and watched, created distractions to get you alone, but you’re never alone, are you, Molly? Someone’s always by your side. He’s always by your side.” His lip curls in a sneer. “But he’s not now, is he?”

  I hold up my hands, warding him off. “Listen, Dr. Marshall, or…whoever you are, I don’t know what you want or…what you’re trying to achieve here, but I can assure you, there’s another way to get it.” I chance a look around, hoping someone is close by whom I could call to for help, but the square has suddenly cleared out. It’s just him—a man who’s quickly revealing all his loose screws—and me. The jovial doctor I thought I knew at the hospital is nowhere to be seen, only a heartbroken, hate-filled shell of a Vigil.

  He shakes his head. “There isn’t, but I would never expect you to understand. You never knew…” He scowls. “It doesn’t matter. You won’t remember any of this soon anyway.”

  A choking breath escapes me as he unsheathes a knife from his side. The foot-long blade’s intricate lines glow blue-white in the night, and my power hums in panic, knowing exactly what sort of weapon it is. The memory of rows upon rows of them in the inventions lab fills my vision, and without another thought, I blink back to the present and imagine him throwing the knife away, willing him to collapse to the ground. But nothing happens. He still clutches the blade and walks forward, determination set in his cold, mad eyes. Panicked, I lift my hands, angling a beam of Navitas to shoot straight at him, but it merely hits up against an invisible wall, spraying in every direction but where he stands. What the f—

  There’s a wink of light, and my attention is brought to his bicep. A glowing lightning bolt rests in a band wrapped around his arm. Like being doused with freezing water, I realize my powers are useless against him. This so isn’t good.