Flutter (The Discover Series)

by Andrea, Melissa

  I winced in pain, but managed to look behind me to see Adan charging for us, the other guy lying motionless on the ground.

  “Keep it moving, Princess.” He sneered, yanking me forward.

  I dragged my feet, but continued walking with him, trying to come up with a plan. Before I could think twice, I sprang into action. Spinning into him, his arm wrapped around my waist, he was caught off guard. I used that to my advantage as I brought my foot down hard on his, and shoved my arm into his ribs. I knew the exact spot to hit him, causing him to double over. He let me go and turning, I grabbed his shoulders bringing them down so my knee cracked against his collarbone. I immediately took off running toward Adan.

  I only got a few steps before I was tackled to the ground, the breath knocked out of me, as I was crushed underneath the weight of his body. I sucked in a deep breath, filling my lungs to capacity once the pressure was relieved. He flipped me around so he was straddling my legs and glared at me.

  “Obviously you’re going to make it difficult on yourself.”

  “Well don’t you feel stupid for thinking I was just going to let you kidnap me.”

  “Let me?” He laughed. “We’ll see about that.”

  I frowned as I watched him place his hand flat against my stomach. Sucking in a breath, I could feel the material of my shirt disintegrating under his hand until the burnt fabric flickered away. His hand seared another print on to my stomach. I gritted my teeth as I was assaulted with the taint of another mark. I tried to fight against his assault, but my body collapsed in exhaustion.

  “What are you doing to me?” I demanded, but it didn’t come out at all threatening.

  “It will be all over soon, Princess.” He taunted and placed his other hand on the other side of my stomach, repeating the process, and again on my thighs, until I felt like I was being crushed.

  Stop…calling...me…that.” My voice sounded like it was muffled. My head rolled from side to side as I tried to keep my eyes open.

  “I like you better like this.”

  He lifted my limp body up, resting me against the side of his body, and dragged me back toward the foggy wall. The only thing I could think about was Adan and I hoped that at least he was okay.

  My head hung limply, flopping around, as I had lost all control over my muscles and the ability to use them. I was going to be dragged off to who knows where, and there was nothing more I could do about it. I instantly wished I had been able to see Andres one last time. I felt the little glimmer of anger blossom somewhere in the center of my chest, growing brighter and stronger, unfolding until it sparked every nerve throughout my body.

  Warmth filled my hands and I could feel the power building in the center of my palms. Lifting my head as much as I could, I tried to gather as much strength as I could and locked my legs, jolting us to a stop. He jerked toward me and I shoved my hand into his chest, a bright light bursting from my palms, his body evaporating into a grey swirl of hazy mist.

  My body wilted to the ground as my support vanished. I was only a few feet away from the wall, and without thinking, I lifted my hand, feeling the warmth grow and swell inside of my palm. Throwing it toward the wall, a ball of light hit the barrier, just missing the attacker’s body. The wall ruptured into a black mist around me.

  I could vaguely hear Adan’s voice in the background, calling my name, but I was drained and too weak to answer him. I could no longer hold myself up, my body falling backwards, anxiously awaiting contact with the hard surface. I waited for the painful impact of the back of my head hitting the ground, but it never came.

  Darkness swallowed me.

  “Is she going to be okay?”

  The voice sounded far away, like my ears were stuffed with cotton and covered with a sea shell. The only sound present was coming from the air swirling around me. Was I still dreaming? The events of earlier tonight flashed through my mind, the reality everything that occurred caused me to cringe.

  “She is pretty badly branded, but I think she will be fine.”

  “Should I heal her?” The worry was evident in his familiar voice.

  Adan?

  The fuzz surrounding my head was making me partially deaf, but I was almost certain he was talking to Andres. I felt some of the pressure release inside of my chest with the knowledge that Adan was here with me and safe.

  “It might help her gain her energy back faster. She is almost completely drained.”

  “Drained?” Adan questioned.

  I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. Healing me? Drained? Andres seemed to be avoiding answering Adan’s question, which caused my curiosity to become piqued.

  I wanted to get up and participate in this conversation too, but I couldn’t move anything. I couldn’t open my eyes, and just thinking inside my own head made me feel weak and dizzy. I had no clue what was going on and their conversation only made me that much more confused.

  “Her energy is almost completely gone, which is why she isn’t waking up.”

  “She thought they were dreams.” Adan said, repeating what I had told him earlier.

  If they weren’t dreams, what were they? I thought.

  “She didn’t know any better. I made it impossible for her to understand, to know the dangers. I thought I was helping her,” I could hear the regret in his voice.

  I was starting to feel sick to my stomach at the way this conversation was going. I was stuck in my own subconscious, unable to pull away from their words, but unable to voice my own. Listening to Adan and Andres talk about me like I wasn’t here was frustrating.

  “If they’re not dreams, what are they?” Adan asked.

  “They are called toxic illusions.”

  Toxic? I didn’t like the sound of that.

  “The handprints, they are a dark venom; a link to her.”

  Was I the only one who thought this all sounded nuts?! Andres was talking crazy! No wonder I thought I was too, it was hereditary.

  “A link? What kind of link?”

  “They were trying to tap into her.”

  “What for? Why?”

  “There are only two reasons they would risk doing this. They want her strength, and they were trying to drain her of it.”

  “It wasn’t working.”

  “No, it wasn’t. It was only draining her physically and emotionally. God, how did I not see this? Her appearance...the sun.”

  “What does the sun have to do with this?”

  I heard Andres sigh, and held my breath.

  “Sara has her own personal connection to the sun. She thrives off of the sun. It’s the strongest of her abilities. She has been calling on it for strength without even knowing it. Her body was starving for the nourishment, desperate to heal her.”

  “That’s why the sun has been so close.” Realization coated Adan’s words.

  “Yes. She was drawing it closer. This mark has been here for a while.” Tingles shot up my entire arm and I knew Andres had touched the mark. “It’s a type of dark venom, so it was rotting. It almost has the same effect.”

  All of a sudden my body was lit up by electric pulses. I could feel the sharp surges running up and down my arms, across my stomach, and down my legs, a scream building inside of me. I could feel the layers of scorched clothing being pushed aside, fingers gently fluttering across my seared skin. I knew by the spasms coursing through my body that is was Adan touching me, causing me the uncomfortable sensation.

  I wanted to tell him to stop, but I couldn’t. I didn’t have a voice to beg him, to stop, or the option to move to push his hands away. All I could do was lay there and endure the torture silently.

  Please, Adan. Please, stop.

  “What? What’s the matter?” I heard Andres ask.

  “Something is wrong. She…she wants me to stop.”

  Immediately the sensation stopped and Adan’s gentle probing was gone.

  “What?” Andres was taken aback, confused. “How do you know that?”

  Adan see
med hesitant to answer, and my own curiosity began raging out of control. How did he know that? Please, let’s add to this insanity.

  “I…I can hear her. I can hear what she is thinking. Sometimes I can feel what she is feeling. Like now, she doesn’t want me to touch her, it’s uncomfortable for her.”

  “You can hear her thoughts?” Andres asked, dumbfounded.

  Adan could here me?

  Yes Sara, he answered me, his voice echoing around my head, causing me to gasp.

  “Yes.” He said out loud this time, answering Andres’s questions now.

  “And when did you realize you could do that?”

  “In the mountains.”

  In that mountains?! He was there?! I realized I could direct my question at him. You were there? How were you-?” The familiarity of his voice inside my head suddenly clicked, twisting my stomach in knots.

  It was you. He had been the one in my head. The one talking to me through my death; the one I thought I-

  I stopped, not wanting to think about that.

  You lied, I accused him. You’ve been lying to me this whole time.

  “I’m sorry.” I heard Adan whisper.

  “What’s wrong?” I heard Andres ask.

  Adan was quiet for a long time. I wondered if he was going to answer Andres’s question.

  He cleared his throat and told Andres some of what was said. “She wants to know how I was in the mountains,” He explained.

  “Don’t worry about any of that right now, Sara.” Andres said. “Let’s just worry about getting you healed. Then, I promise, I will explain everything.”

  That was easier said than done.

  “The venom is strong, so I don’t know how much of the brands we can heal, but we’ll see what we can do.” I felt the bed shift and realized I was probably in my room. Andres continued, “It’s going to be unpleasant Sara, but Adan has healed you before, so I’m pretty sure it will work this time.”

  You healed me before?

  After you were attacked…you broke a rib, and I…healed you.

  Of course you did, I thought bitterly. So many things were starting to fall into place now.

  I didn’t know I could do that, it just happened. He tried to explain.

  Let’s just get this over with.

  “You can talk to her too.” Andres said, no question in his voice. I’m sure he was able to tell what was going on.

  “Yes.”

  Andres didn’t say anything to that. “We better get started. The longer the venom runs through her, the longer it will take for her to become conscious.”

  “I’m sorry,” Adan whispered his apology, but this time it was for what he was about to do.

  “Just bear with it, Sara.” I didn’t take comfort in those words.

  I felt Adan’s fingers sliding over me, but this time the sensation was completely different. I couldn’t put into words what I was feeling. It was like being on fire and doused in ice cold water at the same time. Electric sparks coiled around my bones, sending a shock wave through my muscles until they were contracting uncontrollably. I wanted to cry out from the overwhelming frenzy, but there was no where for the sound to escape to except my head.

  I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Adan kept repeating over and over.

  I could feel Adan, he was anxious, regretful. He felt everything I was going through as his body continued pulling the poison from my mine. I could feel the venom leaving my body and in its place, was something blissfully sweet. It was Adan. A part of him was coursing through my body, sending a sense of calm throughout my body.

  It’s almost over spitfire. He soothed. Just a little more.

  His voice was comforting, but it angered me at the same time. I didn’t want to hear him anymore. I didn’t want to hear anything at all. Without trying, I closed off my mind until I could no longer hear the sound of his voice echoing throughout my mind.

  I let my mind drift.

  I welcomed the quiet.

  My entire body was sore to the touch.

  As I came back to consciousness, I tried to remain as still as possible, moving my body as little as possible. It is hard to explain, but my body felt like I had rubbed minty cream all over That feeling that you get when you take a deep breath after sucking on a mint was roaming over my body.

  The sun was gleaming in through my bedroom windows, not as harsh as it usually was, but enough that my body was coated in a golden layer of warmth. I felt more aware of my body now than I had last night. I knew I was no longer floating in some in-between point anymore.

  I wiggled my toes, then my fingers, just to add an extra verification that I was free, and everything seemed to move on command. I opened my eyes slowly, wanting them to adjust to the light slowly, but they didn’t seem to need the help as they opened with no difficulty.

  Every window in my room was open, letting in the sunlight, and I vaguely remembered Andres saying something about my body needing the nourishment. I stretched out my muscles, wincing slightly as the tissues revolted in discomfort. I just wanted to lie here a few more minutes. Getting up meant having to relive last night, having to hear Adan’s voice inside my head again. It meant having to think about his omission of the truth, his lies about everything that happened.

  Moving meant facing the reality of the situation, and even though I had been begging for that exact thing the last couple of weeks, the depth of the circumstances were far more outrageous than I had expected.

  If I laid here just for a few more minutes, I could pretend I was a normal girl, waking up on a normal morning, expecting to accomplish normal things.

  Just a few more minutes of normal, that’s all I needed.

  Another minute passed and I laughed at myself. I partially covered my eyes and forehead with my hand, wondering if I was becoming hysterical.

  I didn’t actually expect that to work.

  I was born the opposite of normal, and because of that I couldn’t be normal if I tried. I had abilities for freakin sake! What sort of abilities, I was still unaware of, but I knew the answers were waiting for me in the other room.

  I could feel Andres’ presence all around. It could have been my imagination playing tricks on me. Maybe because I was aware of the so-called power I only thought I could feel Andres, except the harder I tried to focus on what I was feeling, the more I doubted that it was just in my head. I could feel the hurricane of emotions spinning around on the other side of the door. He was anxious, nervous, scared, sad, happy, excited. The impact of his reflections was making me dizzy; he was all over the place.

  Sitting up, I tried to block out Andres and his emotional rollercoaster ride, and just focusing on preparing myself for everything he was about to unleash on me.

  Getting out of bed, I walked into the bathroom and examined what was left of my clothes. I touched the frayed edges of the handprint and pieces of the fragile fabric crumpled, falling away. Pulling the shirt over my head, I tossed it to the ground, no hope left that it was salvageable.

  My breath caught as I examined the marks across my belly and arms. They were faint in color, even the one from a couple of weeks ago, but they still were disturbing to see. I ran my fingers over the ones on my stomach and there was only a slight reaction from them, the pain lessening as time went by. After turning on the shower, I quickly discarded the rest of my clothes and slipped under the water.

  Forty minutes later I stood in front of my bedroom door, dressed, and ready to face Andres. There was no flutter igniting under my skin and I knew that Andres was alone. I didn’t know if I was relieved or upset about that fact. In my head I was upset with Adan, but my body was betraying me, aching for Adan, making it hard to be a hundred percent angry with him.

  Turning the door knob, I walked out of the room in search of Andres. He was exactly where I thought I would find him; the kitchen. He was standing by the counter, staring out the window above the sink, gazing out into the woods. I was afraid to look in that direction. Afraid that maybe he
would be staring at the horrible black fog.

  “I don’t think you have to worry about that anymore.”

  Placing one knee on the table’s bench, I placed my hand on the edge, and leaned into it.

  “You can hear my thoughts too?” I asked, annoyed at yet another intrusion.

  He turned to look at me. “No, but I can sense your…fear.”

  I felt embarrassed. It was basically the same. My feelings were no longer private.

  “Is there anyway to not do that? Sense my emotions?” I fidgeted with my hair, pulling it over my shoulder, twisting it.

  “I can work on it. I’ve spent most of your life doing it.”

  I folded myself on the bench. “Why?”

  “It was my job to make sure you were always okay.” He said simply.

  I nodded. “Maybe you can just limit it. Only…sensing,” it was hard to wrap my mind around that, “when I’m in trouble?”

  “Of course. It will be easier once you learn to control what you want, and don’t want, to share. Right now, your feelings are very loud.”

  I blushed. “Awesome.”

  He let out a little chuckle. “It will get easier.”

  I didn’t know how to respond to that. “I feel like I’m in shock.”

  “That’s understandable.” He said.

  “Once the shock wears off, I won’t be so calm about this.”

  “I know.”

  As long as we were on the same page, I thought.

  “I know you have a lot of questions.” He started.

  I blew out a breath. “Understatement of the century.”

  “I promised I would explain everything, and I will.”

  “Good.”

  “I should have done it weeks ago,”

  It probably wasn’t the time to tell him ‘DUH!’

  “How are you feeling? Stronger, I hope?”

  “A lot stronger, actually.”

  It was true. I hadn’t felt the nagging exhaustion that haunted my body the last few weeks.

  “Good.” He said.

  “Well, we might as well get the elephant out of the room. I don’t know if I can take much more of this awkward back and forth.”