by K. Manna
I thrashed some more as I screamed inside of my head.
And if I choose not to marry that cruel, heartless creep of a man—no, that monster—then I will lose my healing abilities, which I could totally live without, but can I truly live without the use of my hands? It would be so difficult to take care of myself or anyone else. There would definitely be no more painting for me, and what is life without painting? That is what I most enjoy.
After weighing both insane choices, I finally came to a decision.
Gage ended up losing his life, and the other winners gave up—unknowingly—a huge part of themselves. I have to do what is right, what is fair. This is the right choice, and it won’t affect anyone else but me. Yes, I will go through with it.
The Zylo walked into the room after one tap on the door. “Your time is up, dear.” His eyes glanced over the messy room. “I see you have been busy. What will your decision be?”
I bit my lip, taking in a big breath and then letting it out. “I have chosen … not to marry the Zyon. Take from me like you have taken from the others.”
“Wow, Margo. I have to be completely honest, I cannot believe what I am hearing right now. You are choosing to give up so much when you could gain so much more.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “My answer is final.”
“I see. Well, Sir Felix will be in for you shortly then. When I see you next, we will be family.” The Zylo’s lips curved into a slight smile before he walked out the door.
My tongue rolled the spit around in my mouth. I could have spit on him.
What an evil asshole. I don’t want his filthy name. I don’t want to be related to a family that believes in such cruel traditions.
“Gage, I should have died with you. I would be better off.” I shoved the warm jade stone into my pocket, gripping Yuni to my chest.
Sir Felix came to get me within minutes.
It’s a good thing he isn’t talking much because I don’t wanna hear anything coming from his fake face. It is so sad to think of the others going with him willingly, cluelessly, thinking great things were about to happen when just the opposite was in store for them. To think that all along they knew they were tricking us, playing the good guys when they were really the bad. This whole thing is sick.
We walked up the stairs where I so wanted to grab Sir Felix’s collar and whip him down the stairs and let him feel pain. There was no way that I would go back to heal his injuries either. Then we went down the long hallway that I had been down many times before, until we stood in front of Dr. Avery’s door.
His dumb picture on the door makes me wanna grab it and smash it! I can’t believe they all knew. They all played us. We were all cheated, treated like pawns in their little game. This terrible game of theirs only revolved around five special abilities. Five lives that would be changed forever, stolen away, tortured.
Dr. Avery answered the door. “Margo, I was hoping that you would change your mind. Are you absolutely sure about your decision?”
“I’m not so sure about anything anymore, Dr. Avery.” I rolled my eyes, walking past him without looking him in the face.
“Please, sit in the chair, Margo. Everything will seem as when we took scans of your brain. You may feel a bit of pressure in your hands when we are making the change. Everyone reacts differently, you see. After you have woken and the change is complete, you will most definitely feel pain radiating from your lower arms down,” Dr. Avery explained.
Sitting in the chair now, I gripped the stone in my pocket with one hand and gripped Yuni in the other. “Then don’t wake me. Let me sleep forever.”
Dr. Avery didn’t reply to my comment. Instead, he stepped over to his workstation and began pressing buttons.
“Why five?” I asked.
Dr. Avery looked at me with a confused expression. “Five what, Margo?”
“Why do they pick five special abilities to take away from five innocent people?” I asked. “Why not give the Zyon all that he can get? Make him so macho and perfect and all. That is the point, isn’t it? And why do we have to have the same birthday as the Zyon? What does that matter?”
“This decision was made long, long ago due to studies that had been performed with previous zyons. Researchers monitoring these studies found that the human body works much like a time clock. So when doing these ability transfers, the past zyons’ bodies reacted well with those who were born on their exact birthdate. And the reason that they only choose five abilities is due to the human body only being able to safely take and adjust to a small number of transfers. Five transfers has long been considered the optimum risk-to-benefit ratio. Any more and we risk the Zyon’s body rejecting the energy and turning the whole thing into a complete mess.”
ONLY five. Did he seriously say only five? Like that isn’t enough. Even taking one person’s ability is fucking cruel.
The door opened right then and there.
The Zyon. Ugh, why can’t he just leave me the hell alone?
The Zyon swaggered into the room with a smirk on his face. “You have brought your little friend that you sleep with, I see. I hope it comforts you during the change as much as it does when you dream.”
Did he just say the friend that I sleep with? How does he know what I sleep with? The only way he would know is if he watched me while I slept. Huh, oh my! It is true. I sensed it that one night. It felt like someone was watching me in the room, and it was him. What a weirdo.
I looked away not wanting to see his pathetic face. Dr. Avery came over and began attaching wires down both of my arms and at different points of my hands. I could no longer hold my stone in my pocket, but at least I knew it was there with me.
“I have one other question, Dr. Avery. Why didn’t the Zylo heal the baby zyon if he has the ability to heal?” I asked stiffly.
Zyon Leon spoke before Dr. Avery could. “My father does not have the ability to heal. Each future zyon chooses five different abilities that they would like, so we may differ in abilities. My father chooses to have a healer always present instead of being a healer himself.”
I turned away from the Zyon as much as I could. I wanted to hear his voice as little as possible. This seemed to amuse the Zyon.
“Dr. Avery, I would like to watch her dreams during the change. It will entertain me for the time being,” the Zyon said, taking a jab at me.
What a creep. I can’t believe him. Just piss off, careless jerk!
Dr. Avery applied the wires to my head after the Zyon’s rude request.
I feel so helpless, so hopeless. I have absolutely no control over anything, not even myself, not even who watches my dreams.
This would be the very last time that I would hold onto Yuni or the stone, at least with my hands. The thought of not having any use of my hands terrified me.
Don’t think about it. Stop thinking about it. Losing the use of my hands is nothing compared to what Sasha and the others have gone through.
Dr. Avery waved the open amber bottle under my nose, and the burning sensation streamed up my nostrils. Closing my eyes, I let the darkness take me.
Mud surrounded me. It looked as if chocolate were oozing out of the ground, spreading over everything in sight. Even the tree branches dripped slimy, dark-brown mud as I hurried through this dead forest. I was lost and alone again. The dream repeated as it did before: running through the dead forest, slipping in the mud, reaching the beautiful land.
Once again, I stopped at the stream and took a drink, but this time when I peered at my reflection, it did not turn into Gage. It became …
The Zyon.
The Zyon sprang up from the water, growling words that made me fearful, and grabbing out for me like a madman. Backing away quickly, a sudden warm sensation filled my left hand, giving me the reflex to throw my hands out to block the Zyon’s touch. My arms moved so fast, but my eyes watched as if it were
slow motion. My hands pushed against his bare chest as a warm sensation in my left hand became burning hot. The fierce heat turned into a glowing green stone, shoving deeply into the Zyon’s skin and straight through his heart. Strong beams of green light flared in all directions from inside the Zyon’s chest as he convulsed uncontrollably. I watched in awe as something else started to occur.
RUMBLE …
The earth trembled violently beneath me, sending waves across the surface of the water; giant tree trunks began to burst up through the soil. Something crawled speedily up my leg, startling me.
BAM!
My head smashed into something very hard as I opened my eyes, realizing I woke to brush the bug from my leg. But then I realized that the stone in my pocket was growing hotter.
Is that what woke me?
I grabbed for the stone.
My hands still work! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
The scanner in front of me had cracked from the force of my head. An odd gurgling sound came from beside me, and when I looked over, I saw the Zyon’s body shaking as if he were having a seizure. Foam bubbled from the corners of his mouth. Dr. Avery stood beside him trying to help.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
The tremors caused the objects in the room to start to clank against each other and to fall to the floor, smashing into pieces.
“It’s an earthquake!” I yelled, pulling at the wires sticking to my body. I rushed to remove all those suckers, and finally, when free of them, I stood up quickly to leave the room.
Dr. Avery looked up at me with fearful, helpless eyes. “Margo, dear, will you please help Zyon Leon? I don’t understand what is happening to him so suddenly.”
This stopped me. I looked at Dr. Avery like he was fucking insane. Then I took one last look at the Zyon. “No. Never. He can rot in hell. You both can.”
And then I ran.
Down, down, down. I hurried through the hallways and down a trillion stairs. The palace and everything inside of it shook uncontrollably. Framed pictures on the walls were crashing to the floor, glass shattering into little pieces. Vases and statues tumbled to the ground with loud cracking and thumping sounds. Servants ran hysterically in all directions, but I didn’t feel scared.
I have been saved! Now my only goal is to get the hell outta here!
When reaching the main floor, I turned the corner and saw Roz carefully running in my direction while carrying the bundled baby zyon. Her little sister, Zyness Josephine, rushed just behind her, trying to keep up. A large painting crashed to the floor just as they passed beneath it. Roz dodged it, but little Josephine wasn’t fast enough.
With one end of the frame landing on her foot, Josephine screamed out, “Ow! It hurts! It hurts!”
Running to her, I picked the frame off of her little foot. “Get on my back. Come on, hurry.”
Josephine crawled onto my back, and I hurried to follow close behind Roz. We ran because our lives likely depended on it. Josephine’s injured foot dangled from beneath my arm, but I couldn’t hold it properly for healing.
Finally, we made it to a door that led outside to the back courtyard. This was when I realized …
Holy shit! It’s not an earthquake. This is my dream come to life.
All this rumbling commotion was due to gigantic tree trunks bursting out of the dirt. They grew so high above the palace walls as if they were reaching for the sky.
“Magnificent!” I hollered.
Roz looked back at me with a look that read “You’re crazy.”
She doesn’t understand. This is absolutely magnificent! That is the only word that can describe it.
Long branches sprouted from the massive tree trunks, green leaves growing within seconds. Birds flocked to these beautiful trees as if they were calling dibs on their new home.
“Let’s go this way. My father keeps his boats over here,” Roz said loudly.
“Yeah, sounds like a good idea,” I said, out of breath.
We ran, watching the soil rip up from the ground, grass and dirt tumbling from the newly forming trees. Zyness Josephine really started to weigh on my back, but this didn’t stop me. I could see the ocean coming closer and closer into view.
Not too much farther. You can make it. Keep going. How in the heck did Sasha run this far with me on her back? My legs feel like they will break any minute.
“Go-Go!” A slurred voice called out.
Turning around to see who it was, I saw Anton and Preston. Preston held onto Anton’s arm for guidance. I smiled at the sight of them, waving them toward us. When they caught up with us, we all ran together down a grassy slope leading down to the beach. My feet soon ran through small pebbles of rock and then through even smaller bits of sand. The sand definitely made it harder to run with Josephine on my back. Finally, we reached the boat dock, where only one boat was floating on the water.
Roz handed the baby to Anton. “Please, hold him while I search for the keys or some other way for us to get out of here to get help.”
Awkwardly, Anton grabbed the little baby. He obviously couldn’t hear a dang word she said to him.
Doesn’t she know?
“Roz, he can’t hear you,” I pointed out.
Roz gave me a confused look. “What do you mean? He could hear just fine when I saw him last.”
“Yeah, well, he can’t hear now. Your father and brother have done this to him. This is what the Royals Rise is all about. You must know,” I explained quickly.
Roz’s eyes grew confused. “What? What are you talking about? That is insane, and totally not possible.”
“Oh, is it?” I asked. “Look at Preston’s eyes. He can’t see anymore either. Your family took that from him, too. They were about to take my healing ability but these magnificent trees saved me.”
Roz looked from Preston to me. “Are you truly serious? I don’t understand any of this. I had absolutely no clue this would happen, or could happen.”
The ground shook fiercely again.
I swayed to one side, saying, “What’s done is done. Hurry, go and look for a way out of this place.”
Roz scurried off toward the boat as I set Josephine down on the warm sand. Holding her wounded foot in my hand, I said, “Hold still, now. I’m going to heal your foot, okay?”
Zyness Josephine nodded her pretty little head covered with curls.
Closing my eyes and focusing on healing purple light, I did my damndest to make her owie feel better. With my energy low, it took a bit longer to heat things up, but thankfully her little foot hadn’t been injured too seriously. A cut and bruise marked the painful spot, but Josephine could still stand on it without whimpering.
I opened my eyes a few minutes later to find Zyness Josephine, eyes wide with awe, looking down at her foot.
Josephine smiled. “You are just like Sonya. Thank you, my foot feels much better.”
I wiggled her little toe. “Good, that makes me happy, and you’re welcome.”
Roz came running back with a frustrated look on her face. “It’s no use. I can’t find the keys. I can’t even find a small emergency boat that we could use.”
A large rumble shook the ground as a tree burst from the ground near the end of the beach.
“Dammit!” I shouted, my hand flew up, cupping my mouth, realizing that there was a younger one here that heard me. “Darn it, I mean. What should we do now?”
Anton handed the crying baby back to Roz while Preston sat down in the sand covering his face with his arm. It looked almost as if the light were bothering him, but it must have still been from that raging headache he had earlier.
“I don’t know what else to do,” Roz complained.
Ignoring her, I walked toward the water, letting the cool water splash over my shoes.
“I hate the feeling of wet shoes. Ugh, I hate everything right now!” I
yelled in frustration, kicking my shoes off into the white sand.
Squinting my eyes in the sunlight, I looked out across the ocean and into the distance. My hand reached for the warm stone that nestled in my pocket.
What was that?
In the distance there was a flash of purple light across the sky.
Or am I just seeing things? No, I know what I saw. Maybe it’s some sort of sign, some sort of calling, but from whom?
Suddenly, more flashes of purple light shot through the sky across the ocean as the stone in my hand grew hotter. I pulled the stone out of my pocket, looking down at its flickering green glow.
With my eyes closed, I whispered, “Please, please, take us to the purple light ahead. Take us quickly. Save us from this evil place.”
The wind began to whirl stronger and stronger, causing my hair to whip around in all directions. Flying hair swept across my face while I whispered these words over and over again.
Something can hear my words. Is it nature, or is it some other unknown force? Could it be my own energy?
I didn’t have a clue. Whatever it happened to be, it surely had some serious power and strength. A sudden movement made me arch forward, causing me to open my eyes. Slowly, from what I could see and feel, the entire royal island had begun to move forward through the water. It picked up speed. Water splashed over my legs, and spray hit my face. The world surrounding us blurred into many colors as we moved ahead.
It feels as if everything has stopped: all the noise, all the rumbling from the ground, everything except this soaring island of a boat that we’re riding on. Where is it taking us?
In the distance, something began to take shape. Something started to form. The closer the island came, the clearer the formation came into view.