Perhaps Lila needed her mother for something. Maggie turned and walked back toward her. “Joan’s out there somewhere, Lila. Do you need her?”
Lila came to stand a few inches in front of Maggie and looked at her steadily but didn’t answer right away.
“Lila? Are you okay?”
Lila cocked her head to the side. “It is you, isn’t it?”
Shivers ran down Maggie’s spine, and she stepped back involuntarily. “Where did you hear that, Lila?” she demanded. “Why would you say that to me?”
Lila smiled in a way that made Maggie’s hair stand on end. Something was off about her eyes—they had an iridescent glow, and her voice sounded deeper, more guttural than normal.
“Lila?”
Lila stepped closer and reached a hand up to Maggie’s forehead. “You can call me B.”
Her fingertips rested between Maggie’s eyes, and white-hot pain exploded inside Maggie’s skull. She felt something thud against her knees, and in the flashes of sight between bursts of blinding pain she realized it was the ground. She wanted to wrench away from Lila’s fingers, but the pain was too intense to think about moving.
Whatever Lila was doing, Maggie couldn’t fight it physically. She tried to fight it with her mind. She didn’t actually know how, but she thought of a barrier. It helped, dulling the pain ever so slightly. She pushed the barrier, using it as a shield to push the assault away from her brain, but Lila’s power struck downward with renewed force.
Maggie’s throat was raw, but she couldn’t think why. Just when she thought the pain couldn’t get any worse, it burrowed down more deeply until the entire length of her spine felt like it was on fire.
She heard other noises she couldn’t identify. They were drowned out by the sound of the pain in her skull. Then there was nothing.
***
Marcus didn’t need to see Maggie to know what she was doing. She stayed crouching just outside the cave where he’d left her for about five minutes after Clay moved off. Clay was hiding on the north side of the cave under some aspen trees. Joan and Karl were to the south, spread out between Clay and Marcus.
Then Maggie zeroed in on him. He felt Maggie recognize him. Then she started walking toward him. He’d climbed into the low branches of an oak tree. Now he jumped to the ground and waited to see her. He let his gaze wander around the landscape, even as his thoughts wandered.
He didn’t realize Maggie had stopped until he heard her screaming.
“Maggie!”
Racing out of the stand of trees, Marcus made a straight line for where he could both hear and feel her. She was in intense pain. He could feel Karl, Joan, and Clay become aware and start moving toward her as well.
Marcus willed his legs to move faster, but his body couldn’t respond as quickly as his mind. He cursed himself for leaving her alone. Based on the Destructive energy at work, if he didn’t get there soon, Maggie’s mind would be completely destroyed.
Chapter 18: Explanations
After what felt like a millennia of white-hot pain, Maggie heard voices. The first was feminine.
“Lila, what are you doing?” Joan’s voice was raised but controlled.
Then there were masculine voices around her as well. She was pulled into someone’s arms, leaning against a masculine chest. Odd, that she could absorb such details with the pain searing into her. She focused on the voices around her. It seemed to help keep the energy from destroying her consciousness.
“Joan.” It was Karl yelling. “You’ve got to stop Lila. You’ve got to give it your all. I know she’s your daughter, but she’s doing damage. We must protect Maggie. She’s the key to the prophecy.”
“Joan!” Marcus yelled. “Do something.”
Maggie focused in on his voice. It was clearer in her head than the others and gave her strength against the energy.
“She’s my daughter. I can’t hurt her!” Joan yelled.
“Joan!” Clay yelled. “That’s not Lila!”
Suddenly, a thick bar of power, like a brick wall, slammed between Maggie and Lila. It sheared through the energy between them.
The fiery pain ceased all at once, and darkness enveloped her.
She could still hear faraway voices, but they were indistinct, floating in the ether of her mind. She felt soft pressure on both of her temples, but it was a faraway sensation, as though the sides of her head were miles from her brain. Something forced her lungs to inflate, and it was as though with the air she sucked in, she also drew reality and consciousness toward her. Colors and sounds and sensations came rushing at her as she inhaled, arching her back so her diaphragm could fully extend.
She opened her eyes to find Marcus lying over top of her. His hands were on the sides of her face, his forehead pressed against hers. He’d healed her, brought her back. She was sure of it. She told herself the weakness in her limbs was from the ordeal, not from the feel of his breath on her face.
His eyes focused and he sat up a few inches so he could gaze down into her face. His expression was worried, and Maggie was acutely aware of how violently she was trembling against him.
“Marcus.” Karl’s voice interrupted Maggie’s thoughts.
Marcus looked up.
“Is she okay?” Karl’s voice was much too serious for him.
Marcus nodded. “We need to take her to Doc, but all her synapses are firing again.”
Karl looked relieved, then apologetic. “I don’t mean to…interrupt, but there’s something you should see.”
Marcus started to shake his head, but stopped and studied Karl. Maggie saw it, too: there was fear in Karl’s face, and that wasn’t like him. Marcus looked at Maggie one more time before getting to his feet. She sat up on her elbows, following him with her gaze. He glanced behind her and then Maggie felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Clay give her a reassuring smile.
“You okay, Maggs?”
She tried to nod but wasn’t sure if she actually did. Her body wasn’t cooperating the way it should.
“What is it?” Marcus asked Karl.
“It’s Nathaniel Strellend—the one Doc said we needed to find. He’s the one who put the shield between Maggie and Lila.”
Marcus frowned. “But he’s a friend, right?”
“You need to see who he brought with him.” Karl pointed with his chin over Marcus’s shoulder.
Marcus turned slowly. Maggie followed his gaze.
A middle-aged man Maggie didn’t recognize stood nearby. Behind him were a woman and two small children. Another man stood there as well, but he was hidden behind Strellend’s tall figure.
“I hope”—Strellend stepped forward—“that both women are all right. I can see none of you recognize what just happened. I knew the moment I saw it. I only hope I wasn’t too late to prevent irreparable damage.”
Marcus frowned then arched an eyebrow at Karl.
Karl looked at Strellend. “Show him who you brought with you.”
Strellend looked at Karl in a way that said he too was mystified as to what Karl was getting at, but after a moment he stepped aside, motioning the man behind him to come forward.
“We found him along the way. We call him Trap.”
The man stepped up beside Strellend.
Marcus looked at the second man and his expression became utterly still. His eyes widened only a bit and a single wrinkle appeared his brow, but the horror his expression conveyed made Maggie afraid. She was sure Marcus didn’t breath for a full ten seconds.
The rest of team looked at Marcus with confusion, except for Karl, who just looked sympathetic.
Marcus looked again at the man called Trap and his whisper was so soft that Maggie had to strain to hear it.
“David.”
***
“What do you mean no? How did you know to come then?”
While Karl yelled in Nathaniel Strellend’s general direction, Maggie studied the man Marcus had addressed as David. He was shorter than Marcus and more thickly built but
an otherwise spitting image of his brother. Same strange eyes, same hair, same mouth. Dark circles resided under his eyes, and they seemed shallower, less grounded, somehow.
“I mean I haven’t met your team. Other than Trap, we haven’t seen a single person in weeks. And I didn’t know anything. I was coming here anyway.”
“Why? And who’s Trap?”
Marcus’s hands were on either side of Lila’s head, and he was looking intently into her eyes. Maggie knew he wasn’t really seeing her though. After a few minutes, his hands dropped and he got to his feet. Lila’s eyes fluttered open.
“Lila.” Joan leaned over her daughter. “Lila, say something.”
Lila blinked, looked around, then rolled out of her mother’s embrace and vomited.
“He’s Trap. That’s what we’ve been calling him because he couldn’t talk at first, and he wouldn’t give us a name.”
Marcus came to kneel beside Maggie again, putting a hand on her arm. She looked up and saw concern in his eyes. He slid his hand up her arm until it came to rest on her neck. He was scanning her again. She could feel it as the slightest vibration touching the tips of her fingers and toes, her nose and knees and earlobes.
All eyes turned to Marcus when Strellend pointed to his shorter look alike and called him Trap. Marcus straightened his legs.
“That’s my younger brother. His name is David.”
David’s eyes were on his boots. He made no attempt to meet anyone’s gaze, especially Marcus’s.
“But what are you doing here?” Karl persisted, looking at Strellend again. “We sent a team of Trackers out to find you weeks ago. You’re telling me that you’re not here because of them?”
Strellend shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”
Karl looked at him as though he’d just announced there were fish in the sea. “But—”
“Karl,” Clay interjected. “We have about six stories that need to be told. Let’s get Maggie and Lila to Doc. We’re going to need his input.”
Karl’s lips pressed into a tight line, but he nodded after a moment.
“Karl,” Marcus said, “carry Lila. I’ll bring Maggie. Clay, you bring up the rear. Everyone else, follow us.” He bent and scooped Maggie up into his arms.
It took her by surprise, and she clutched his shoulders. “I can walk, Marcus.”
“You’re not walking.”
Sighing, Maggie looked over to where Strellend was gathering up his family—an auburn-haired woman half his age and two small children—and pushing them in Marcus’s direction. David’s eyes came up to follow Strellend, but then they fell on Maggie. Their eyes locked, and it was as though he was seeing her for the first time.
He crossed the space between them until he was standing directly in front of Marcus, who had Maggie in his arms. David was still looking directly into her eyes.
“It’s you,” he whispered.
He raised a hand to touch her cheek, and she shrunk away. Marcus turned to the side, pulling her back from David’s hand, and David snapped out of a haze.
He looked at Marcus, who was glaring at him, then immediately away. He seemed unable to meet Marcus’s gaze.
“Let’s go,” Marcus said coldly, turning toward the cave.
Over his shoulder, Maggie watched as David took a step toward them and reached out a hand.
“Marcus.”
Marcus turned around. David looked away, shutting his eyes. A tear leaked down his cheek. He fell to his knees.
Clay and Strellend were immediately at his side. Marcus whirled to face his estranged brother. Maggie studied his face from inches away. Despite the hard set of his jaw, she could see concern in the way the lines of his face deepened.
“Go, Marcus,” Clay said. “Take Maggie. We’ll bring him.”
***
A short while later, they were in Medical. Maggie sat on one bed while Lila lay on her back on another. The rest of the team, along with Nat and David, clustered around the two beds, listening. Another woman from the compound had taken Nat’s wife and children to where they could wash up, get something to eat, and rest.
“We were doing the exercise…and I’d located Marcus,” Maggie explained. “I was heading toward where you were, but then I heard my name. I saw it was Lila…and thought maybe she was looking for Joan…but her voice sounded strange.”
“Strange how?” Karl asked.
Maggie scratched her temple absently. “I don’t know. It was deeper…but not. It had an edge it doesn’t usually have—like an echo of a deeper voice.”
“When you say deeper,” Clay interjected, “you mean…”
“Like a man was speaking with her or over her. And he said, ‘You can call me B,’ and then there was just the pain.”
“B?”
Maggie nodded at Doc’s question.
“What could that stand for?” Marcus furrowed his brow.
“Bastard,” Karl muttered.
Maggie tried to conceal a smile, but no one else reacted.
After a moment, Doc spoke again. “Lila? Are you up to speaking to us?”
Marcus’s healing of Lila had been impeccable. Physically she was fine. She was traumatized though. Her eyes were shifty, and her hands hadn’t stopped trembling. Joan hovered protectively around her daughter, daring anyone to get too close.
Lila sat up shakily.
“You don’t have to if you’re not ready, Lila.” Joan’s voice was quiet.
Despite her trembling, Lila shook her head. “It’s all right. I want to know what just happened to me, Mom.” She straightened her spine and met Doc’s gaze levelly, though the bravado was ruined a bit by her quivering limbs.
“I was going about my day. I don’t remember what I was doing, but then I felt something.”
“Something?”
“A presence I couldn’t identify. You know how you can sometimes tell who’s coming up behind you, how you learn to recognize their neurochemical signature?”
“Did you recognize who it was, Lila?” Doc asked, nodding.
She shook her head. “No, on the contrary, but I felt like someone was there, standing right beside me—someone completely unfamiliar. And then”—her voice grew heavy—“there was this intense pain, like someone was drilling into my skull with a metal pincer. I tried to fight it and did for a while, I think, but every time I pushed against it, it pushed back a hundred fold. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t breathe.”
Her voice broke, and tears rolled down her cheeks. “He took over, and I was watching myself, riding around behind my own eyes, unable to control my movements.”
The silence that followed was broken only by Lila’s dainty sobs. Joan put her arms around her daughter, and Maggie felt for her.
“Lila,” Doc said gently, “you said he. He took over?”
Lila nodded, wiping her tears away. “It was a man. I could tell that much.”
“Were you able to get a sense of his purpose? What he wanted?”
Lila nodded again. “Yes. I knew exactly what he was doing. But that made it all the more terrifying because I couldn’t stop him.”
“From doing what?”
“Killing Maggie.”
Silence swept through the room again. Maggie shivered. Her fingers felt cold. Marcus’s hands were on her upper arms, and he squeezed with gentle reassurance. She glanced up at David to see him frowning. He was watching Marcus’s hands on her arms, and it seemed to disturb him for some reason.
“But, Lila,” Karl said, “could you tell who he was? Where he was from? Why he wanted to hurt her?”
Lila shook her head. “I couldn’t hear actual thoughts, so I can’t tell you any specific details about him. It was more a sense of purpose. He had a single purpose at any given time, and I could feel what it was. First, it was to overpower me. Then, it was to find Maggie, which he did through me. Once he saw Maggie, he said, ‘It’s you,’ and I knew right then that he would try to kill her.” Her voice grew thick again. “But I couldn’t stop him. I tried, but…�
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Maggie suddenly felt the urge to comfort Lila. She hopped off the bed and crossed the room, putting an arm around Lila. “Of course you couldn’t, Lila. It’s not your fault.”
Lila cried into Maggie’s shoulder for a few moments. She glanced up to find David watching her. He looked…impressed.
“Lila,” Doc said when Lila had gotten a hold of herself, “do you remember anything else, anything from when Nathaniel severed the link between you two?”
Lila shook her head slowly, her eyes searching the ground. “Not really. I think you hurt him, though.”
“What do you mean?” It was Strellend asking the question.
“As I was blacking out, I think he screamed—like he was in pain. I think when you severed the flow of energy, he might have gotten some kind of backlash.”
“Do you think it killed him?” Marcus asked.
“No. It was a cry of pain, but it didn’t feel final enough to be obliterating. I felt him retreating. If he’d been killed, I think he would have just suddenly been gone.”
Doc nodded. Then he turned to Strellend. “Well, Nat, old friend. How are you? It’s been many years.”
Nat nodded. “It has.”
“I wish you were back under better circumstances, but would you like to tell your view of the story?”
“You said outside that you knew exactly what had just happened,” Karl said. “Well?”
“Her mind was invaded,” Nat said it as if he were announcing what was for dinner, and David saw the others in the room shift uncomfortably.
“I didn’t even know such a thing was possible,” Joan said quietly.
“For the most part, it’s not,” Doc said. “I’ve heard of such things before, but they take a great deal of knowledge and skill. Most people don’t know how to do such a thing. Those who do wouldn’t, for the most part, have the ability to follow through with it.
“We each have a great deal of control over our own minds. Trying to drill into someone else’s is a tremendous feat. The fact that he achieved it with so little time and trouble is worrisome. Especially because, as far as we can tell, he’s not here. We have a man who can force his way into someone else’s mind, a kind of neurological rape, if you will, from—who knows?—maybe hundreds of miles away. He must be very powerful.”
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