I stepped back, observing the flowered mosaics. My vision blurred and the tiles moved into various patterns. Finally, the letters C I N appeared. The dot in the ‘I’ was the entrance tile. The tile was chiseled into a rough looking circle. It was obvious when you looked carefully, through relaxed eyes.
“I see it!”
“Once you pull that tile, there’s no going back,” Celeste said. “You’ll die, Lisa.”
“I’ve got an idea,” I said. “I think I’ve figured out a way to help keep us all alive.” I stepped forward.
“Every beginning before you had an idea, a plan. You’re not any different. If you link with people you’ll get to live. Unlocking that door will be the end. Your curiosity will destroy you.”
I raised my arm, ready to pull the tile. “You see, Celeste, if I don’t do this then we’re all dead. Anna has a plan—you said the truth was right in front of my eyes—I see that now. The Epochalites, they’re her family that she wishes to save. If I save them, she’ll be happy.”
“No!” Celeste cried. “Don’t touch that tile. You’re wrong, Lisa!”
It was too late. The tile twisted in my fingers. I pulled. The walls quaked; a rusted crank of chains creaked, pulling the door ajar.
I recoiled, backing into Celeste. She shuddered. Persons in white and black hooded cloaks with sea shell belts stood in three rows. Their arms were folded in front of them. One glared back at me. His skin was translucent, his veins showing.
“Bow,” Celeste said. She tugged on my shirt, forcing me to my knees.
“Anna, Anna,” they chanted. Two rows of Epochs marched around us. Then, the last row surrounded us. Three Natives in business attire shook their heads at Celeste.
“Who is this?” They asked her.
“Lisa Brown—the new beginning,” Celeste answered.
“Nootau,” I said. “Are you Nootau?”
Nootau stepped forward. “I am Nootau. How do you know my name?”
“What did Celeste do to shame you?”
The Native American ordered me to stand. I set my eyes on his. “Her family died from disease. I brought her home and raised Celeste with my family. She turned on her new family. This vixen just doomed you for her best friend—the real traitor—once more.”
I refused to look away. “Oh, Nootau, Celeste didn’t make me let you out.”
“Who did?”
“I did it.”
“Well, you’re a very foolish girl.” He brushed past me, following Inteus and the last of the Epochalites down the hall.
Chepi in her ballerina tutu and dress shirt knelt. “My Celeste, I love you dearly and you’re always going to my daughter, no matter what Nootau says.”
“Then fight for me, mom! Stop him! Please!” Celeste begged, grabbing her mother’s tutu. “I need you to save us.”
Chepi shook her head. Water brimmed in her eyes. “I’m sorry my love. My heart breaks for all your friends. You’re going to be fine. Nootau is still your father. He won’t forget it—no matter how upset he is.”
“MOM!” Celeste screamed. “Please, please, please.” She laid her face on the tile floor. “I don’t want to see anyone else die. Please, stop him, mom.”
ALEX—
Alex and the energy taker…
Anna paced in front of me. She wouldn’t look at me. Did she feel remorse for what she planned to do? We were her longest running group of fulgurites. I’d failed her on purpose. Why would I ever create a new beginning just so she could restart her powers? Celeste told me the truth years ago. Did Anna know of my treachery? If she did, I’d be eliminated no matter how much she liked me. My purpose was to give her a new beginning. She had Lisa. If I’d ever imagined that Ally and me both striking Lisa would turn her into a nucleus, I never would’ve done it.
“Alex,” Anna finally spoke. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Then don’t.”
“Unfortunately, I need your longevity to complete my task. I need to save my family.”
“It’s your fault they’re like this. You’re the one to blame. Why bring others down, too?”
Anna raised her hands, pointing them at me. I felt the life being sucked right out from within me. My back arched and I felt my body rise off the ground.
“Stop!” I screamed.
She complied, my body smacking into the floor. I gagged, crawling as far away as I could get inside her bubble of protection.
“Why are you doing this, Anna?”
“It’s the way it has to be. I’m sorry, Alex. When I first met you, it was to lure you into my trap, make you create my new beginning but, I grew to really care for you and your innocence.”
“Don’t hurt Lisa, please. Take my longevity instead.”
She frowned. “I need everyone’s longevity—not just Lisa’s.”
“No!” I yelled.
Anna’s bubble collapsed. “My family calls to me. She stepped out of my house, slamming the door. I tried to follow her but my limbs were too weak. I struggled anyhow, crawling towards the porch. I had to save Lisa and my family. I loved them no matter how annoying they were. Even Donna meant something to me.
LISA—
March forward…
I brushed Celeste’s hair out of her face. She sobbed. I watched the Epochalites and C I N march down the hall chanting “Anna, Anna, Anna”. My stomach churned, tying itself into knots. What was happening? What had I done? Was I really ready for what I had to do? “Celeste, can you walk?”
She shook her head letting out a pitiful shriek. “You’re all going to die!”
I ran after the Epochalites.
Inteus spread his arms. The cafeteria doors burst open, chairs tipped over onto the floor. The music stopped and everyone in the cafeteria froze. Their eyes widened at the sight of the Epochalites. Some fell to their knees, begging they be spared.
I ran through them, standing between the guardians C I N and the others. No one was dying on my watch. “Stop it!” I shouted.
The Epochalites lined up in three rows.
“This is insane,” I said. “What’s going on?”
Chepi lowered her head. Nootau and Inteus stepped forward. “We’re the guardians of our kind. You’re the new beginning and have sealed your fate by opening the doors for the Epochalites,” Nootau said.
Two Epochalites lowered their hoods exposing their hideous translucent skulls. Many of the others behind me gasped, some vomited, while many shrieked. “We do not want to take away anyone’s longevity, Nootau. You said we could live above, out of hiding,” one of the Epochalites said.
“I have a plan,” I stammered. “Let me try to save us all.”
Inteus rolled his eyes, motioning for Francisco to join them. He stepped forward, taking his place with his fellow guardians. “It’s been a while.”
“Too long,” Francisco said.
“I have a plan!” Why did they act as if I were invisible?
“So do I,” Anna said. She stepped through the Epochalites. “I have a plan where my family can be free of their curse and live up above, out of hiding.”
“What happened to them, Anna?” I snapped. “Whose fault is it that they’re the way they are to begin with? There’s no Epochalite tribe. We’re all fulgurites, aren’t we?”
Anna smiled. “Smart girl,” she said. “Yes, I made my family this way by my desires. See, when you use your thoughts to attain your desires, worse things than storms happen.” She stepped forward, inches from my face. “Each time you desire, longevity is taken away from you, aging your body until you’re a walking corpse like my family.” Anna pointed at the Epochalites. “Or, you turn to fulgurite and shatter.”
“They used their desires and turned themselves this way?” I questioned. Several Epochalites shook their heads.
“I allowed my desires to drain me and out of fear, I stole nearly all their longevity turning them into Epochs; they long to live so desperately that anytime they touch someone with longevity, they steal it and grow stronger.
Francisco knows what I mean. Look at him. He’s stolen many fulgurites’ energy. You’d never know that he is an Epochalite—just as you cannot tell by looking at me that I am as well. We have none of our own anymore. We must steal yours in order to live.”
“We don’t want to steal your longevity!” Several Epochalites shouted. “Stop it, Anna! Let it be. We’ll go back underground.”
“I promised to free you!” Anna screamed. Funnels ripped through crowds. Epochs and Fulgurites flew through the air.
“Come with me,” Charles said. He snatched me by the arm. Where was Tobey? Was he safe? It’d been Anna all along! Kimi and Michael followed Ally outside the school and Charles tossed me over his shoulder. “You need to get as far away from here as possible.”
“I need to check on Alex!”
“There’s no time. Anna is going to steal your longevity and once she takes yours, then everyone here will die with you. She’s going to kill most of you and turn the others into Epochalites. Anna will reverse things so that her family can be free.”
“Put me down! I have a plan!”
“There’s nothing you can do but run,” Charles said. “I know where to hide you so she can’t find you.”
“I won’t run from my problems.” I forced myself out of his grip by igniting him with my fingertips. “I won’t run.”
He dropped me in the grass. Alex stumbled, struggling to reach us. I ran, wrapping my arms around him. “What’d she do to you?”
“She took some of my longevity. I feel really weak and almost like a regular person again—frail, ya know? Did Anna hurt you?”
“Not yet.”
“Run away with Charles. He’s part of the resistance. He and Kimi will keep you safe. I trust them and Celeste. Celeste and Reginald have been trying to find a way to break ourselves from Anna but so far—we’re at a loss. There’s no other way but to kill her.”
Charles was the resistance? How much of what I knew was true? It didn’t matter; I’d figured everything out myself. “I have a plan, trust me; okay, Alex?”
He nodded, dropping his self in the grass. “I can’t walk any farther, I’m sorry, Lisa.”
“It’s okay; just stay strong for me, please.”
“Lisa,” he tried to speak. I glanced behind me. Charles and Kimi stood, protecting us. Celeste ran behind Anna and the guardians. Was that Tobey standing beside Anna? Were they both playing me? A sick feeling sat in my stomach. It was bad enough some psychotic lunatic wanted to suck the energy right out of me, but to see the first guy who ever ignited passion into my very soul, who swept me off my feet, rallying with my murderer—cut worse than death itself.
“Alex,” I said. “I can’t do this.”
“I love you, Lisa.” Alex grabbed my face. He pressed his lips to mine. “I’m sorry, I’m a jerk—I’ll always be a jerk. Everyone in every relationship will eventually get annoyed with one another. You and Amie are two different people and I love each of you in a completely different way. Do you understand?”
I pulled free. “I can’t have a heart to heart with you right now.” I stepped forward. “Anna’s come to kill me.”
“Lisa!” He screamed.
My eyes set on Celeste who ran alongside Pig and Rat. They were still yards away. What was she up to? I didn’t have time to dwell on Celeste. Anna stood only a few feet away.
“We do not want you to do this,” an Epochalite told Anna. “Stop this at once. We do not wish to give this curse to anyone else.”
“I promised to save you!” She yelled.
I glanced up at the balcony. The others along with the warehouse kids and footballers stood at the railing watching us from above. The only ones down below with the guardians besides Tobey were the two other groupies. The groupies held Reginald by the arms. Did they plan to keep him alive? He was valuable to them!
“Fight me, Lisa,” Anna said, readying herself.
“No. I won’t fight you without answers.”
“Enough with the questions, Lisa, you’re the most annoying and needy woman I ever met!” Tobey snapped. His eyes darkened and suddenly, he wasn’t so nice looking anymore.
“I thought you and me—” I tried to speak.
“Yeah.” He smirked. “Women get easier and easier to seduce and trick. In less than twenty-four hours I had you ready to give yourself to me. What sort of challenge is that? I could never be with a harlot like you.”
I bent over. Why couldn’t I breathe? My head throbbed and my eyes blurred. My body shook and I wanted to die. Anna could kill me and I’d be totally okay with it. Is this what Alex felt like when Amie betrayed him? What did Amie do that was so horrible? She obviously turned on him but was she a part of Anna and Dr. John’s mission?
“Are you finished with your questions, yet?” Anna asked. Lightning crackled in the sky. Thunder shook the ground, bringing me to my knees. My heart burned.
Tobey and Anna had played me. Had they used this same trick on others just as Celeste said? She said it wasn’t Frank or my mother’s rape that was my issue. What was it? I needed to know immediately. I didn’t have much time left before Anna attacked. Would Rat know? Where was Rat?
I spotted him next to Celeste. “Rat!” My voice cracked. He refused to help. Celeste shook her head at me. She folded her arms. Was she a part of Anna’s trick, too?
“Mother, stop!” Kimi begged. “Please, just leave everyone alone. They never did anything to deserve this.”
“Honey, you’ll forgive me once you see your brothers and cousins and aunts and uncles again. Right now, your heart is invested in these pathetic creatures who have served their purpose by saving our energy, preserving its power. We’re ready to take it back. They’ve spent many years enjoying what belongs to our, to your, family. Come back to mommy. I won’t hold any grudges with you.”
While Anna was distracted, I stood, focusing my attention on Tobey. He was my weakness. The traitorous backstabber, broke my heart, weakening me, forcing me to lose heart. She wanted to cause me lots of suffering and long for death. It made fighting me for power easy.
Anna wasn’t getting away with it this time.
“I want everyone to get their longevity back. No more stealing anyone’s longevity. Give back what belongs to each fulgurite. Give back everyone’s longevity,” I whispered. Anna kept arguing with Kimi.
I watched Celeste, Pig and Rat creep closer, standing inches behind her father and mother. Chepi grew sad when Anna turned her attention on me. I realized then that the guardians worked for Anna and used the longevity of the warehouse kids to stay alive whenever they needed a boost. Energy surged through each of us because Anna needed it to. We could all be our own nucleus if we were self-contained and not supplying a lunatic with our energy. It was just a theory, but at this point I didn’t have any other choice but to hope I was right.
“No more sharing longevity. No more stealing longevity. Give back what belongs to each person. Give back what was stolen.”
Anna narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re not strong enough to play that trick.” Her eyes flashed. “You never made Francisco invisible with your thoughts. We let him leave. If you were a strong Oneida you would’ve passed that test and I wouldn’t be ready to steal your longevity. The trick was performed by every other beginning but you. You’re the easiest and weakest Oneida I’ve ever encountered.
Hail fell, pelting me in the head. “Sorry, Charles,” Anna said. “Unfortunately, I cannot save you.”
“Mom,” Kimi said. “What are you talking about? What are you going to do to my dad?”
Anna’s hands rose. Lightning crackled, smacking into my chest. I jerked backwards, feeling something suck energy from my veins. My heart slowed and my vision blurred.
Give back what was stolen. Give back what was stolen.
Tobey and Charles dropped, grabbing their throats. Tobey’s eyes widened. “You tricked me!” He slurred his words. “How dare you trick me?”
“I’ll miss you, Charles. I wish there was a
way to save you.” Anna dismissed Tobey’s cries, focusing on her past lover. “Remember the first time we met?”
Charles rolled over, holding his stomach. Stones appeared on his neck and shoulders.
“Anna!” Tobey screamed. His legs were fulgurite. “I’ve been faithful to you! You promised to save me!”
“And I will save you.” Anna grinned. Her eyes flashed again. “You’ll live under C I N forever as an Epochalite.”
“Mom! Stop hurting my dad!” Kimi ran towards Anna. She banged into an invisible barrier, falling backwards, unconscious.
“I have to kill you, Charles. It would be inhumane of me to keep you alive as an Epochalite. You deserve better than that. You’re the father of our child.” Anna let a stray tear fall. “I’m sorry, my love.”
Give what was stolen back. Give what was stolen back. Give what was stolen back. I tried to concentrate on my thoughts. But Alex and Ally fell to the ground next, twitching and convulsing. “Stop!” I screamed.
Donna grabbed her throat. My friends were dying because of my stupidity! What if I was wrong? A terrible thought entered my mind. Maybe my idea was wrong and I’d just doomed everyone I loved.
“Lisa, you’re a nice person, so for your own good, I’d close your eyes. I want this to be as painless as possible.”
Give back what was stolen. Give back what was stolen. Stones littered my arms. I took shallow breaths struggling forward. Give back what was stolen.
Anna raised her eyes to the sky. “You’re changing! My family is changing! Thank you Lisa, the Oneida!”
I looked over at the Epochalites. Their cloaks dropped and long, black hair and dark eyes on chestnut skin appeared. They were naked, grabbing their cloaks. The others who stood on the balcony were bending over the railing, twitching and begging to be saved.
I had a theory. When I desired for Ally and Donna to be best friends for life, I had to touch Donna. Maybe that’s why Francisco never disappeared. I never touched him. It was a long shot, I knew.
The C I N Series Bundled Page 35