Fractured Soul

by Rachel McClellan

  May looked down at me. “What do you think, Llona? I know you’ll make a great teacher.”

  “I’ll think about it.” The room fell quiet. I looked again at the dirt on my hands and under my nails. Something on my arm caught my eye, and I was surprised I hadn’t noticed sooner. A white cotton ball covered by a single piece of clear tape. “I was given blood,” I said.

  “It was mine,” Kiera said quickly. “Vyken-free.”

  “What about the rest of it?” I asked, feeling a little relieved. I don’t know what would’ve happened to me if I had been given more of their poison.

  Liam said, “Most of it was taken, but some of what was left was used on injured girls.”

  “You let them use it?”

  “It happened before we knew what was going on,” Liam said.

  “Was it poisoned?”

  “I don’t know yet.”

  I sunk into the bed. “Is there any good news?”

  “What happened tonight could’ve been so much worse,” Liam said. “Sophie saved a bunch of lives by sending girls home. That is the good news.”

  “But there’s still the other thing,” I said, looking back and forth at Liam and Dr. Han. “I saw it. The Shadow. It was there.”

  Dr. Han tensed. “Are you sure?”

  “There was no mistaking it. It came together from the shadows of the room and formed behind Cyrus.”

  Dr. Han looked at Liam. “He’s in control of it. This is bad, Liam.”

  “We’ll deal with it tomorrow.”

  I forced a yawn, not wanting to think about anything else bad right now. I just wanted to sleep.

  “Are you still tired?” May asked.

  “Yeah, I think I’d like some time alone. Rest and stuff.”

  “Sure. Of course,” Tessa said. “We’re going to go check with Abigail. See if we can help.” They left the room with Dr. Han.

  Before Liam left too, he said, “The next several months, possibly years, are going to be very difficult for you. Just remember, though, that you’re never alone. You still have your uncle, your teachers, your friends. And me. We care about you.”

  I nodded, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t force a smile. Just as Liam was about to close the door, I said, “Wait!” He looked back at me. “Will you stay? I want to sleep but don’t think I can do it alone.”

  He nodded and closed the door. “Of course.”

  FORTY-TWO

  My eyes opened. The room was bright; light spilled in between the slits in the blinds. It took only a second for me to remember everything. I swallowed hard, unsure how I was going to deal with today. “Liam?” My throat was dry, and my body ached, especially my leg, but at least I could move it now.

  He moved into my line of sight. “I’m here.” He looked the same as last night. Blood caked his matted hair and on the side of his face, and his shirt was torn. He looked terrible. I was touched that he had stayed the entire time.

  “Thanks for staying,” I said.

  “It was nothing. How are you feeling?”

  It took me a moment to answer. “Better.” While Liam spoke, I moved into a sitting position. “I thought of something else last night.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Dr. Han said Cyrus is controlling the Shadow. If that’s true, why did the Shadow, or really Cyrus, save Christian in the tower? Especially if he was only going to kill him later?”

  Liam shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe he wanted you to have more time with Christian, to cause you more pain.” His voice sounded bitter.

  I looked down at the bedspread, remembering Cyrus’s last words. I needed to get stronger, and fast. Before he could hurt me anymore. I thought of my friends. And Jake. “What next?” I asked.

  “We hunt down everyone involved. The Deific has already begun. They’ve been questioning the captured Guardians all night.”

  “What about the Shadow?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know anything yet, but we’ll deal with it. Whatever happens.”

  I looked toward the window. “Will you take me to him?”

  He knew exactly whom I was talking about. “They are shipping his body today, back to his father.”

  “I’d like to say good-bye.”

  “Of course.”

  Twenty minutes later, Liam was wheeling me down the hallway and into the elevator. I kept my eyes straight, but I could hear others being attended to inside many of the rooms. As soon as the elevator doors closed, I said, “I could’ve walked.”

  “The chair was available.” Liam didn’t say anything else until he wheeled me into a small room just off the main office on the first floor. I gasped when I saw a pine box sitting on top of a table. “Do you want me to stay?” he asked.

  I shook my head, my eyes burning.

  “I’ll be outside.” Liam closed the door.

  I stood up and limped to the box. I imagined Christian inside, alive and well. His blue eyes, the color of a shimmering dragonfly’s wing, and the never-ending dimple in his cheek. Trailing my hand across it’s top, I said, “I’m sorry, Christian.”

  Memories flooded my mind. I thought of the first time we met, when I’d fallen on the bleachers and he caught me. The times we trained together, laughing, sharing our deepest fears and regrets. I remembered how he taught me to use Light in ways other Auras wouldn’t dream of. I thought of our kisses, his letters, and finally his words of love and our future. It was too much. I rested my head on the box and cried.

  I stayed like that for a long time. I knew the moment I left this small room I would never be near Christian again. This thought left a hole in my heart, one that would never heal. But I was a survivor. I stood and wiped at my eyes. I would endure to the end, as Christian would want, but I wasn’t going to just endure. I was going to live life, starting by taking control.

  I came to Lucent with the desire to learn what I could and then get out. I never wanted to be a part of the Auras. Their way of life used to repulse me, but after all I’d learned, and I had learned a lot, I realized that they had been manipulated by someone they trusted. We were the same.

  No. I wasn’t going anywhere. Lucent was my home, and I was an Aura.

  One

  Pain burst in my head into a spectrum of colors, and a wave of nausea buckled my knees. Four minutes and twenty-two seconds. I can endure this pain for that long, I thought, trying to convince myself.

  The small plane’s engine roared, a high-pitched sound different from the steady hum of the last twenty minutes. Everyone had boarded a while ago. It was a silent crowd, not one that liked to converse with each other.

  I shifted my weight in the plane’s cramped closet. I could’ve come out since I’d just turned invisible, but I wanted to wait until the speed of the plane increased, covering any sounds the closet door might make when I opened it.

  It was shortly after Cyrus kidnapped Sophie from Lucent Academy that I began to teach myself to turn invisible. I practiced every day, sometimes for hours, until I could do it without all the paralyzing weakness. And although the pain hadn’t gotten any better, I was able to increase the time I could maintain invisibility to several minutes. I’d accomplished all this in just the four short weeks since Christian’s death.

  “You have four minutes,” Liam said through a microphone in my ear.

  Just then the plane lurched forward, picking up speed on the runway. I opened the door and peered into the plane’s small kitchen. When I saw that it was empty, I quietly slipped out and closed the door behind me.

  The front wheels of the plane were starting to bounce.

  I looked in the cabin. As I suspected, it was full of Vykens sitting in their seats, their backs to me, as if they were regular passengers. Except for one. Jackson. He sat three rows up to the right of the center aisle.

  Through the help of the Deific, Liam had finally received a tip on Jackson’s whereabouts. It was the closest we’d come to finding out where Cyrus was keeping Sophie. I glanced
to my left, to the emergency exit. By the way the plane was vibrating, I knew it was close to taking off.

  A Vyken stood up and came into the aisle. I pressed myself against a seat to keep him from bumping into me. I had yet to learn how to let matter pass through me. That may have been a trick only my mother knew how to do.

  After the Vyken passed by, I went to Jackson. He was looking down at his hands, staring at bloodied knuckles. I wondered how that could’ve happened. Jackson used to be a Guardian. He, and a bunch of others who had followed him, had joined the Vykens against the Auras months ago. I’d been training harder than ever to stop them all and restore the Auras to their former strength. The strength only a few knew about.

  I felt the plane lift. Still plenty of time to make my move.

  I reached down, careful to avoid touching Jackson, and undid his seatbelt. He glanced down surprised. I smacked the back of his head hard. He turned around and stared at the Vyken behind him. “What’s your problem?” he said.

  The Vyken ignored him.

  Jackson stood and confronted the Vyken again. “I’m talking to you,” he said again.

  The Vyken slowly looked up from the sports magazine in his hand. “I know Cyrus said we can’t kill you, but he didn’t say I couldn’t hurt you. Sit down, Guardian.”

  Liam’s voice spoke again in my ear. “Hurry up.”

  The sound of his voice this close to so many Vykens drew attention. Several of them looked around to see where it had come from. Time to pay for your crimes, Jackson. I drew my fist back and punched Jackson in the face. His hand came up to his nose. “What the . . . ?” he looked around.

  Several Vykens stood up.

  I punched him again. He stumbled back toward the exit, arms out stretched to steady himself. “What’s going on?” he yelled.

  I kicked him in the chest. It took just a second for him to recover before he started blindly throwing punches. “Someone help me!” he said.

  The Vykens looked around as if they didn’t know what to do.

  I dodged Jackson’s fist and punched him again. He was in position. I took hold of the emergency latch and pulled it as hard as I could. The door flew open, sucking air from the cabin. Papers and all kinds of debris flew past me. Jackson moved backward, his eyes darting around as if searching for help, until he was pressed against the wall separating the kitchen from the cabin.

  The other Vykens stood alert and ready to fight the unknown attacker.

  Grabbing Jackson, I spun him around and faced him toward the open door, his clothes and hair whipped around violently. And he was stuttering.

  I chuckled, glad he was afraid. I was about to reveal myself to him, so I could see the surprise in his eyes, but then I heard Liam’s voice in my ear, “Get out of there now!”

  Jerking into action, I wrapped my arms around Jackson’s chest and jumped from the plane, spiraling into a black abyss.

  About the Author

  Rachel McClellan was born and raised in Idaho, a place secretly known for its supernatural creatures. When she’s not in her writing lair, she’s partying with her husband and four small children. Her love for storytelling began as a child, when the moon first possessed each night. For when the lights went out, her imagination painted a whole new world. And what a scary world it is . . . Currently she lives in Rhode Island, where the graveyards are as enchanting as the forests.