Receiving power
“OK Charlize, once you lay on the altar, your manifesting of power should take place and then we will begin,” Eli said.
All six of the elders were standing in a semi-circle around me. Mom and dad were standing at the foot, while Kate and Jerold stood at my head. Everyone in the room was looking at me expectantly, waiting for the inevitable, waiting for me to acquire my abilities.
Under pressure, who me? Never!
I glanced around for Jace. I spotted him leaning casually against one of the walls. His arms were folded across his chest. I gulped. Gosh he looked sexy! He smiled at me, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. I shook my head, but grinned. I couldn’t help it. Jace always made me laugh. Suddenly my grin turned into a grimace.
Oh God!
Pain seared through my head. I was starting to get really bad stomach cramps. I closed my eyes from the sudden, sharp, stabbing pain I felt in the pit of my gut. My head was pounding hard, my heart was beating rapidly and I felt as if I was going to pass out. I had a sharp spasm as my muscles convulsed and contorted. My legs jerked upward. Oh my God the pain was unlike anything! It seemed to be consuming me in a tremendously-epic-proportion searing my entire body; it was as if someone shoved me into a blender just for the heck of it.
Mom and dad grabbed for my legs while Kate and Jerold took hold of my shoulders as another overwhelming shockwave shook my whole body. I had an irrational thought, one that really shouldn’t pop in my head while I was in so much pain, but it did.
Oh now I know why my mom, dad, Kate and Jerold are in the circle with me… To hold me down!
That crazy insane thought fled my mind as I convulsed and screamed with hot, burning pain. My eyes rolled inward. I felt a Boom-Boom pounding in my brain, and I was sure someone had to have taken a sledgehammer and simply hit me over the head. I looked up to see who the culprit was. However, I saw no one with a sledgehammer, or any other kind of weapon for that fact. Wonderful, I am having delusions, I am having effin’ delusions! A wrenching, shattering scream escaped from my mouth. I barely heard what my mom asked over my screaming.
She sounded upset, “Why is this so bad on her?”
No one said a word as another gut-wrenching spasm tore through my body. Period, God bring back the period pains! What I wouldn’t give to have that kind of pain right about now. Well, I guess that’s what I get for cursing in my head, but man it hurts. My body started to convulse again, so much that the cold altar—jeez, couldn’t they have found a warmer altar—started to shake uncontrollably. My whole body convulsed violently. I felt as if I was going to die. The pain was too much.
“God, Eli!” My mom shouted over my screams. “Start the incantation now! Eli, we need to help her!”
I don’t think I have ever heard her sound so afraid in my life. I heard Jace saying my name. He too sounded afraid for me and that had me worried. Everything seems to go the wrong way with me, or something strange happens that no one else has felt. Like when we crossed over, I felt all the elements and everyone looked at me like I was the first person to ever feel such a thing. And now, I am feeling pain beyond belief.
Well I’m the luckiest girl ever. Woohoo!
“OK,” Eli boomed. “OK, it is almost time. Is everyone ready?”
My heart was pounding in my ears now, and a humming noise, the same humming noise I heard the nights I was attacked, was slowly taking over my surroundings. I just knew that in no time I would either die or pass out, but if I passed out and awoke with this same pain I was feeling right now, then God, just let me die.
“Eli,” Zeb’s voice spoke up over my loud cries. “She is in a lot of pain. Let us start now! Let us rid her of this agony!”
“OK! Now!” Eli shouted. They all began chanting. Eli was speaking in some language I didn’t know, while everyone else in the room chanted the words in English.
Over and over Eli chanted, “Vox intus vos nos dico ut thee, vox intus your cruor iam est vicis futurus expedio. Veneficus of your animus, veneficus of your phasmatis, nos dico ut thee, exorior iam futurus expedio. Lepor lepos vos es iam, Lepor lepos vos iam vadum exsisto. Vox, vox surge per is Dulcedo, Dulcedo sic mote is be.”
Everyone else repeated after him, but their words—thank God—were in English. “Power within you, we call to thee. Power within your blood, now is the time to be set free. Magic of your soul! Magic of your spirit, we call to thee, come forth now to be set free. The Charmed you are now, charmed you now shall be; power, power surge through she, Dulcedo, Dulcedo so mote it bee!”
As they chanted, my body calmed, and peace came over me. Then a whoosh of light flashed in my head as I was bombarded by memories. Memories? My memories! Memories of Callamose long ago that had been suppressed surged forward, flooding my brain; flashes of breathtaking memories. Oh, and how wonderful it was. I remember everything. Every year my family and I would come to Callamose, and every year I would dread the day when we would leave. Eli the Seer would always wipe my mind of all things Callamose and everything about the supernatural worlds.
“Eli,” Mom asked one day. “Do we have to do this to her again? Can she not keep her memories this time?”
Dad hugged my mom and said, “Yes honey, you know we have to do this!”
In that moment I knew why I was always more angry with my dad than my mom. He gave Eli permission take my memories. Sure, I would get them back, but still he was allowing this to happen, allowing Eli to take a part of me!
“Janet, I am sorry, but you know that there are people… The wolf shifters in particular are out there waiting for her, ready and dead set on destroying our Charlize. We cannot allow that. This is for the best, trust me.” Eli beseeched her to understand.
Nevertheless, at the end of our stay in this wonderful, enchanting realm, the outcome was always the same. Eli would smile at me, I would nod my understanding and Callamose would once again leave my thoughts.
“I am sorry little Charlize,” Eli would smile sympathetically at me before wiping my mind, before stealing my memories, and before it was over he would say, “You do understand why we do this?”
I nodded even though I didn’t understand. I didn’t know why he would do this to me. In that moment I hated him, in that moment before complete loss of Callamose, I wanted to run and keep what was, what is, and what should always be mine. However, I have not been back to Callamose in three years.
The last thing Eli said to me was, “Charlize, you are strong and you will be powerful like your parents, but you will not be returning here until your sixteenth birthday. Do you understand me?” I nodded as that was the only thing I could do. Tears streamed down my face as I looked at Eli, then I glanced over at Zeb, Eli’s second in command.
Zeb kissed my cheek and said softly. “Youngling, I will miss thee, but soon you will return. Do not cry. Do not waste your tears on something that you will soon get back. We will see one another very soon, I promise you.”
Wow, he was so sweet and caring. Okay, crazy, but Zeb was my friend? Boy, look how much he has changed, not so nice now are we? The realization hit me, I remembered everyone: Jace, Rose, all the elders, all the supernaturals, but the one that stood out the most was Jace. Oh, I remember him. I remember our friendship and I remember the love I had for him.
I remember: How when I was 10 and fell down, Jace picked me up and said he could fix it. When we used to play in the forbidden zones. When I was 13 and Jace begged me not to forget him. Not to ever forget him.
“Charlie, my mom said you are leaving for a long time this time.” Jace picked up a rock and threw it not meeting my eyes.
I kicked the dirt with my shoe. “Yeah, that’s what they tell me too!”
Jace turned to me and grabbed my hands. “You are my best friend and you know what?”
“What?” I asked shyly.
“I think if you were to forget me forever my world would be lost. I know I am young, but I know what I feel for you. I am so afraid that when you lose your memories, I
will also lose you. I am so afraid you will forget all that we are.”
I shook my head violently. “No Jace, I could never forget you.”
He started to cry. Angrily he rubbed at his face. “Please promise me you won’t, because I know I could never forget you. I could never forget my heart!”
I promised him. But I did forget him… Until now!
What will happen now? What does this mean for me and Tru?
Because, even though I remember Jace and what we were to one another, my feelings for Tru are still there. My feelings for Tru are still the same. Except, now I know why I felt so much for Jace when we first met and that just strengthened my feeling for him. I opened my eyes and locked gazes with Jace. I smiled and whispered, “I remember you.” Jace sighed and held his hand over his heart. I looked at everyone now smiling at me and I said, “I remember all of you.”
I saw Jace out of the corner of my eye wipe his hands over his eye’s.
Was he crying?
I hope not, this is something to celebrate. I smiled and closed my eyes to concentrate on the information overload I was getting. It was all too overwhelming. However, there was a downside to all of this: it seems that I also have a ton of separate memories, the memories of my time when I was not at Callamose. It was confusing, like my brain has been split down the middle, one part of my mind is shouting, “You don’t know them, you have never been here and you just met them.” While the other part of my mind is shouting, “Yes, finally I can remember.”
All too soon the memories faded as this hot, blazing feeling crashed into, or out of me. But I do know that it was like a blaze of magic. I felt power pouring over me, through me, and into my veins. It was like an ebb and flow of pure energy, pure magic and pure power. It was the strangest feeling ever and man it felt good. I felt invincible. Then colors blossomed around everyone’s body in different shades. Was I seeing everyone’s aura? It was like looking at a field of subtle luminous radiation surrounding them in a cloak of color. I knew who precisely had the most power in the room. I felt it calling me and I knew in that moment that I could have all the power in this room. Somehow, I knew I could suck out everyone’s power just like a vacuum and make it my own. God was this how Tru felt? Did he feel this rush of sensation, this overwhelming need to have more? Mercifully though, the powerful feeling changed before I did something that was completely unforgivable.
Like suck on my mom and dad’s aura. Can you say gross?
After that power rush, flashes of the past hit me. All the same, it didn’t go back that far, maybe just a couple of days. I knew that I was seeing the past. It was kind of like a slide show, or maybe a short movie flickering through my head. Then the strangest thing happened, flashes of the future closed around my thoughts as the past faded into oblivion. I knew that I was seeing the future because my mom said something to Jace and before Jace had a chance to respond, I already knew what he was going to say. Sure enough Jace said what my mind just saw him say.
I have to say though, it was a little irritating to hear and see in my head what someone is going to do or say beforehand. Hopefully my magic will grow with age, hopefully! Finally my mini slide show movie stopped and next came a wave of emotions. I could feel what everyone was feeling, varying from worry, joy, excitement, envy and happiness.
Envy? Why envy?
Now for the finale, that’s what it felt like anyway.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A collision of noise invaded my head. Everyone was shouting at me. It felt like pandemonium. I set up and put my hands over my ears trying to quiet the noise, but nothing worked. I felt sick and scared all of a sudden.
“Please,” I said “Please be quiet.”
I opened my eyes and noticed that no one was moving their lips, but I could still hear them. Oh my God, I can hear their thoughts.
“How do you feel?” Eli asked.
“Not too good. The noise is really loud,” I said, irritation plane in my voice.
“I see. Interesting. Well now, let’s find out what power you have, shall we?”
I felt embarrassed. Everyone’s eyes were on me watching and waiting expectantly. Uh, apparently I have all kinds of powers. Right? But, that’s wrong. What Mom told me and what my memories are telling me is so not coming together with what was happening to me, inside me. I should not have this much power. Should I? I think I have clairvoyance, that’s one power. I think I’m a telepathic, which would be number two. I also think I maybe empathic. That would make three. Is that right? I clenched my eyes shut, I opened them and glanced down to see that my skin had turned a bright red color. Now I know that cannot be right. That would make four abilities.
Clairvoyants: One-check.
Telepath: Two-check.
Empathic: Three-check.
And now, a glow stick?!
When I set my body on fire, didn’t my hands glow red before engulfing into flames? Would that make five?
“What the hell?” I shouted looking at everyone’s faces.
“Charlie,” Mom asked, “Are you ok?”
She started forward, coming over to comfort me. I felt the concern flowing out of her and into me in waves, but I didn’t want to be comforted. I flung my hand out to stop her from coming any closer. It was supposed to just be the universal sign for stop, but instead of my mom stopping in place she flew backwards hitting the wall. Oh no, does that make six abilities? Something is definitely wrong! I shook my head and looked at mom in horror. I promptly raced over to her side.
“Mom? Oh God, Mom! I’m sorry! Did I do that? Mom, are you okay? Mom?” I frowned at her in concern.
“Yes dear, I’m fine. It’s fine, don’t worry.” Mom said it weakly as she kissed my cheek. She stood up on shaky legs.
It wasn’t fine! None of this was fine! Heck I just flung my mom across the room. What’s fine about that?
I was getting really pissed and it felt like my blood was boiling. My skin took that opportunity to change from bright red to a darker red color. Then everyone started talking in my head. Really, really loud! But somehow I was able to make out each individual thought.
Dad: ‘God what is going on with our baby?’
Jace: ‘Wow! My Fox is amazing, and so beautiful.’
Sonya: ‘I have never seen anything like it in my life!’
Samira: ‘I wonder if the girl will be ok.’
Rose: ‘This is so freaking crazy. Charlie is glowing. That is too cool. I hope I get magic like that so I can coordinate it with my clothes. Yeah that would totally rock!’
Mom: ‘Oh, my poor baby.’
Zeb: ‘I hope our youngling is going to be ok!’
Kate: ‘Wonderful, the power she has is wonderful. I must have power like that!”
Okay that was weird.
Jerold: ‘I wonder what else she can do. I wonder how much power she has.’
What’s with Jace’s guardians?
Sara: ‘This must be just awful for our Charlie, she looks frightened.’
I was so frustrated with everyone. I know what Sara thought wasn’t mean, but the mocking side of me wanted to answer her.
I wanted to say: ‘Ya think lady? I mean I am a freaking nightlight for God sakes.’
But the next thought to travel through my head was this one.
Robert: ‘Charlie is so very strong and she is doing such a good job holding herself together.’
Then all derisive thoughts fled.
Eli: ‘She looks very distraught. I don’t even know if she would be able to answer my questions right now.’
His voice boomed in my head, I looked at him sharply. His eyes widened. Yep he knows I just heard him. Then Zeb‘s voice pierced my thoughts again.
Zeb: ‘This is strange, although, it is very fascinating as well.’
I glared at him. Fascinating my big toe, I‘m not some kind of freaking science project.
Zeb: ‘Are you hearing me right now?’
I nodded at him and smiled dryly. Yep buddy boy, you
better watch what you say. I have the upper hand now.
Moohahaha, okay that’s just creepy.
Zeb: How is this possible? I have my strongest mental blocks up, not even Eli can cross them?’
In my head I said as loud as I could: ‘Not fun when someone knows you’re every thought is it. Hah.’
Zeb’s eyes widened, and then out loud he said, “Eli she is reading our thoughts and I have my mental barriers up in full force. Plus, she just talked to me in my head not like normal, like when someone thinks something. This was more like talking.”
“Yes I know,” Eli said. “This is truly amazing. She is our anomaly, the all-powerful. See Zeb, it is coming true.” I looked at him puzzled. “Charlie, long ago I read something about this. The book talks of a chosen one who will have extraordinary power just like the Traveler, and the chosen one will be his downfall. They will be named Cypher! And they will have the power to destroy him, and by God’s I think we have our chosen one. I think our Charlize here is the chosen one! Our Cypher!”
Chapter Eleven
Oz
My eyes seemed to open wider than I ever thought possible at what Eli was telling me. I didn’t want to be like the Traveler! I let out an involuntary squeak. All eyes were on me now. I swallowed hard. I really wanted to disappear, disappear out of what was turning into a nightmare.
Yeah-my-nightmare-so-called life.
All I could think over and over was, Vanish. Disappear. Become invisible. Vanish. Disappear. Become invisible.
That little chant played through my mind as I promptly turned and ran for the door. I had to get out of there. I had to go somewhere, anywhere, just as long as it wasn’t here in the room with these magical beings telling me that I was something I clearly didn’t feel that I was. And then something strange happened. As I ran towards the doorway, a warm tingling sensation crept up my body. My vision started to blur and then suddenly, surprisingly I vanished from the room. At first I was like, “Wow this is way cool,” as I saw the building fade away, but then when I saw the ground start to rapidly come closer, well, I was like, “oh crap I’m falling.” And I do mean I was falling out of the sky. I hit the ground pretty hard and rolled over thorn bushes, scraping my knees, and cutting a long gash in the side of my cheek. Ouch!
A Blaze of Magic: Chosen Saga Book Two Page 8