General Harding closes the door to the crystal room, which locks automatically.
I notice that the metal pyramid is holding a small cloudy stone, probably another piece of junk quartz. I also notice that Brand’s quartz has been moved and is resting on top of the table in front of the pyramid. It still has a strong glow.
General Harding sits down on the edge of the table, unlaces his boots, and removes them one at a time.
A guard opens the door. “Excuse me, sir. This woman would like to join you.” Deus stands behind the guard on her tiptoes peeking over the guard’s shoulder.
Deus asks, “General, may I please observe this great moment?”
“Of course. Let her in.”
The guard steps aside, and Deus enters.
General Harding announces, “Soon we will be an unstoppable team, Deus.”
She smiles a self-serving smile. Her mind is un-readable.
The general’s use of the word “team” makes me shudder and confuses me at the same time. So far I’ve only witnessed him berating her. Why would he want to work together with her? One things for sure, the two of them will be a lethal combination if General Harding is able to become a Bearer.
After setting his boots on the floor side-by-side in perfect position, with the laces tucked neatly inside, the general lies back on the table. He turns his head and says to Deus, “Stand behind the barrier to protect your power.”
Deus follows his order.
General Harding nods to the technician to begin the procedure.
The table moves through the center of the machine and then starts its return. The lights dim once again as the bright beam of light crawls along the general’s body.
I glance over at Crimson, wondering what she’s thinking about, hoping she’ll let me know. She doesn’t. I for one am beginning to panic. I realize the vision I had had is about to play out before my eyes. Will General Harding actually become a Diamond Bearer, or will Chris kill his own father by not relinquishing the stone to him?
The table finishes traveling through the machine and comes to a halt. The lights regain their brightness, and the weak quartz on top of the pyramid loses its glow quickly.
General Harding sits up and shakes his head. “I feel different . . . better.” An aura forms above his shoulder and head. He stands and motions for the technician to leave the room. “Chris, lock the door.”
Chris turns the lock, securing the door from the inside after the technician leaves, then walks back to the glass box.
“All right, son, bring me the diamond.”
Chris reaches inside the box and wraps his fingers around the Sanguine Diamond. I hear his thoughts about the fact his father just called him “son” without sarcasm or anger. How many years has Chris waited to hear his father call him that? He pulls the diamond out and extends his hand with the diamond in it to his father, just like in my vision. Chris is about to act in a way that will bring about the death of his father.
I’m not sure how I feel about his actions.
General Harding reaches his hand out to take the diamond, but at the last second, Chris pulls his hand back slightly and says, “I relinquish this diamond to you.”
What?
The diamond passes between owners without a hitch. General Harding is now a Diamond Bearer. His face lights up with excitement. He examines the diamond closely and then raises both hands, cupping the diamond, and slams it into his chest like he’d witnessed me doing following Freedom’s death.
Crimson can’t believe what’s happened. Her thoughts are my thoughts. Chris actually relinquished the diamond to his father. I feel her incredible disappointment.
General Harding falls to his knees as blood pours out of his chest. “Help me heal,” he gasps and reaches for Chris.
Chris steps back and says with a waver in his voice, “I’m not a Healer, Dad. What about the healing crystals from the Shadow Demons? How do I get into the crystal room?”
General Harding shakes his head and falls over onto his side, his bloody chest facing me.
“What’s the code, Dad?”
Still no answer. His body stops moving for a moment, and then his heart muscle begins to heal over the diamond. Bone starts to re-grow and knit together. Soon the general begins to move his arms. He pushes himself upright and sits on the floor with his head hanging down, his chest cavity still largely exposed.
Crimson cautions me, Block your mind, Calli. He might figure out how to access it. New Diamond Bearers access powers in different ways. I never know which power will come naturally to a Bearer.
Apparently he figured out how to heal himself.
“Watch out!” Chris yells and waves his arm.
I turn and see Deus Ex walking toward General Harding, pointing the same .44 Magnum Harding used on Rolf.
“If it’s good enough for Rolf, it’s good enough for you. So glad you took my advice and killed him. You showed me exactly how to do it, and where you kept your gun.”
General Harding raises his head with an expression of terror on his face. He extends his hand out in front of him as if it might stop Deus.
She pulls the trigger only once.
The bullet hits his hand first and completely amputates it. The hollow point then opens and spreads out before it strikes the general’s still-healing chest. The impact almost rips him in half.
The diamond, which hasn’t been inside his body long enough for the heart muscle to attach, ricochets against the wall, over to the machine, back to the wall, and then slides across the floor and stops near Chris’s feet.
General Stanley Harding’s body slumps sideways to the floor, dead.
The twanging sensation settles into my body, letting me know the diamond has no owner.
The guards pound on the door, ordering Chris to open it. Max’s face fills the small window on the door.
Deus turns her gun on Chris. “Don’t even think about it, Chris.”
Chris raises his hands. “I’m not going to open the door, Deus.”
She smiles but doesn’t lower the gun. “Good. Thank you for giving your father the diamond, like I hinted you should do.”
“You said you wouldn’t kill me, Deus.”
“Are you going to try to stop me from taking the diamond?”
“Nope. I don’t want it.”
“That’s good. I may have use for you, if you want to work with me.”
“I’m powerless, Deus.”
She lowers the gun and points to the crystal room behind the glass wall. “Not for long. You could take one of each power—not Brand’s stone; that one’s for me—you could be just as powerful as a Diamond Bearer. You and I could start a new group. With Brand’s repeating power and that diamond, I’ll be unstoppable. Soon I’ll have all the diamonds and then we can go after the red spinel. Think about it, Chris. Immortality.”
Crimson begins to move forward, toward the diamond. She’s careful not to step in the several pools of blood on the floor, which would give away her location if she left bloody footprints behind. She extends her hand to pick up the diamond.
Without warning, panels on three walls spring open, revealing obsidian.
The rushing sensation of my powers leaving my body makes my stomach lurch. I try to use my invisibility topaz, even though I know it has lost its charge. No luck. Out of the corner of my eye I see Crimson has also become visible. Deus sees me first and reacts quickly by firing off a shot, but she misses me entirely. I roll out of the way and hide behind the large machine. Apparently she isn’t such a good shot without her repeating power.
In the meantime, Chris scoops up the diamond, and Crimson runs toward me.
“You knew they were here the whole time?” Deus yells at Chris.
Chris shrugs his shoulders.
“Who’s the other Diamond Bearer? Never mind. Give me the diamond!” she insists.
“Okay.” He tosses the bloody diamond, and she clumsily catches it with one hand. She shakes it to try to remove some of
the remaining blood.
The obsidian prevents us from using telepathy. Crimson whispers to me, “Look for a panel box. Maybe a red button. We need to close these doors.”
I know what she’s thinking, even though I can’t read her mind. The exposed obsidian prevents the diamond from killing Deus, but once the panels are closed, Deus will die.
Max and the other guards continue to pound on the door, demanding to be let in.
Chris yells, “Take us off lockdown, Max. The door is blocked.”
Deus fires a shot at Chris. The bullet hits high and wide—a warning shot. “Don’t open that door!”
Chris shouts back, “You’re crazy!”
I’m not sure what comes over me, but I decide to try to knock the gun out of Deus’s hand before she shoots Chris. She isn’t at the top of her game. She can’t repeat, so somewhere in my garbled thinking, I think I may have a chance. I rush her from the side, and my body collides with hers. The arm that’s holding the gun swings in my direction. Her other hand maintains a firm hold on the diamond. We fall to the floor, and she fires a shot, hitting the far wall.
I faintly hear Chris give further instructions to Max to take us off lockdown.
I scramble to wrestle down Deus’s arm while she lies sprawled out on her back. Deus swings the fist that’s holding the diamond and punches my back, causing me to lunge forward. Then she points the gun at me and fires another shot. I let out a shriek as the bullet rips through the edge of my right thigh like a white-hot serrated knife.
I instinctually try to heal my leg, only to realize I can’t . . . not as long as the panels are still open. I glance over to the nearest panel and am relieved to see the panel door slowly sliding along its track. The main door is still locked from our side, preventing the guards from entering. I look down to find a growing puddle of blood around my leg. I press my hands on the wound to try to stop the bleeding. To say it hurts is an understatement.
Deus stands and attempts to enter a code into the keypad to open the door to the crystal room. Her gun is pointed in Chris’s direction as a warning to stay away from both her and the door. She uses her knuckle to press the numbers, as if she doesn’t want to loosen the hold on the diamond for a second.
The all-too-familiar “denied” tone from the keypad sounds through the room.
“Come on!” Deus shouts.
“Deus, drop the diamond,” I plead with her. “When those panels close, you’ll die if you’re holding it.” Why am I trying to save her? Why? Because she fulfilled nature’s will by preventing General Harding from becoming a Diamond Bearer. She at least deserves a chance to change her ways.
“I don’t think so.” She aims the gun at the glass barrier standing between her and Brand’s repeating stone. “I know Brand has a longer stretch of time than I do.” She fires her remaining shots into the bullet-proof glass, aiming above the quartz crystal. The bullets blast through the window and tear through the metal pyramid but don’t shatter the glass window. Deus uses the butt of the gun to pound on the glass. She’s able to break small pieces off around the bullet holes.
The panels continue their sluggish pace on their way to closing. Not there yet.
I look over at Crimson, who’s still crouched behind the machine. She mouths a message: “Keep trying to convince her to drop the diamond.”
“Deus, you don’t have to die. Drop the diamond.”
Her pounding efforts with the gun became more frantic. She’s creating a bigger opening in the thick glass. I begin to worry that she may actually succeed in getting her hand on Brand’s stone . . . and yet, what will she accomplish exactly? I wonder how long the obsidian has been exposed. She’ll only be able to repeat back two minutes, assuming the power in the quartz is exactly like it was with Brand. Will she repeat back to a point before the obsidian was exposed?
How much time does she have left? At some point she will run out of time.
Chris yells at her, “Deus, drop the diamond! You don’t need to die this way.”
“Shut up, both of you! I’m not going to die. Nothing can kill me!”
She pounds harder. The hole becomes big enough that she can finally reach her arm inside and wrap her fingers around the quartz. “Oh shit!” she exclaims, as the panels click into place, hiding the obsidian and its power-canceling effects.
My powers rush back into my body at the same time Deus’s legs give out. I scan her body and find the diamond has activated and caused her heart to explode within her. Her arm is caught in the glass, preventing her body from falling all the way to the floor. The diamond tumbles out of her left hand, and the quartz falls out of her right on the other side of the glass wall.
I let out my pent-up breath and focus my mind on my bullet wound, willing it to heal. I have lost a fair amount of blood. Crimson’s mind melds with mine again as she sends me healing energy.
Guards rush in as soon as Chris unlocks the door. The general is lying in a puddle of inky blood, obviously dead. Deus is hanging oddly by her trapped arm, without any blood to indicate an injury, but she’s clearly dead as well.
Max asks Chris, “Sir, are you all right? What happened?”
“Deus shot my father, and then I think she was electrocuted when she touched the stand in the crystal room.” Chris points in her direction, and the guards look over at Deus.
Max glares at me and asks, “What is she doing here?”
I quickly glanced over at Crimson and discover she has activated her invisibility. I speak to Chris’s mind: Tell him to seize me and lock me in with the other prisoners. You’ll be able to maintain your position and authority over the guards.
“She sneaked into the facility. Seize her and lock her up with the others. Be careful. This is a crime scene.”
Max hands the orders down and glances around the room. I read his mind: There was another female. I know I saw two females.
Two other guards come over to me and pick me up by my arms and then haul me out of the room and down the hall. I read their minds to discover they are suppressing their morbid joy that the general is dead.
The guards deposit me in the observation room where everyone else is held and close the door. Gasps and cries are uttered as everyone takes in my appearance. I must look pretty bad with my blood-covered hands and leg.
Brand and Clara Winter rush to my side.
“Calli, you’re hurt!” Clara grabs hold of my arm.
“I’m fine. I’ve already been healed.”
Brand asks, “Who shot you?”
“It doesn’t matter. We can talk about that later. Right now, we need to get everyone out of here.” I notice their shackles have been removed. “You’re not cuffed?”
Brand replies, “No, the guards came in, walking like zombies, and removed our restraints a little while ago. Calli, you didn’t tell me Beth’s brother was here. Why not?”
“Later, Brand.” I suspect Crimson had a hand in the guards’ decision to release the prisoners from their bonds.
I sense Crimson is about to open the door. I watch through her eyes. I see that she followed the guards down the hall when they dumped me in the room. Crimson viewed the key code in the mind of the guard and she’s waiting for both of them to leave.
Before the door opens, I feel that Chris has picked up the diamond from the floor and has placed it in his pocket. He is its owner once again. He sends his thoughts to me. Calli, can you hear me?
Yes, Chris, I respond.
I think we can clean this compound out before the ‘big boys’ get here. If I’m viewing the future correctly, we have about twenty minutes. Crimson is going to help free the prisoners.
The door opens, and Crimson enters the room. Understanding that no one knows who she is and that they will be naturally hesitant to do as she says, she tells my mind to tell everyone to follow her if they want to escape.
“Clara, this lady can help all of you escape,” I say. “Go with her. And hurry, there’s not much time.”
Chris’s though
ts enter mine. Keep Brand. We need him.
As Clara and Crimson lead the group out the door, I reach out and hold onto Brand’s elbow. “Please stay, Brand. We need your help.”
“I don’t know what I can do to help you now.”
“You can hold the quartz that contains your Repeater power and help us make the most out of the small amount of time we have to clear the compound of all the research.”
“You could do that as well, Calli.”
“You’re the one with experience using the power.”
“All right, but I’m not going to kill anyone.”
“There’s no one left to kill.”
I think about the fact that Brand’s charged quartz is what killed Deus. Not the quartz itself, but her desire to have Brand’s power. If he hadn’t willingly given it up, she might still be alive. I decide not to share my thoughts with Brand that nature used him to eliminate Deus. Chris had been right when he said Brand’s power was the only thing that could kill Deus.
My mind’s eye pictures what Crimson is both doing and seeing as she leads the prisoners toward the building’s exit. She uses her Mind-control a couple of times to make the guards turn and walk in the opposite direction, allowing the group to escape through the main door. I lose connection with her mind as she enters the obsidian field outside the building but reconnect when she reaches the front gate and causes the guard stationed there to forget he ever saw the group of people leave the compound. Of course, no one in the prisoner group knows what she’s doing.
With most of the guards and workers huddled in the hallway near the machine room, I am able to sneak Brand into the lab. “Hide in here,” I say as I push him into a supply closet, “until I get back.” I don’t wait for him to agree before closing the door.
Voices in the hall catch my attention. I hide behind a cabinet and listen. Chris issues commands in the same manner as his father, and with the same authority. “Max, take everyone into the observation room until the authorities arrive.”
“Sir, the prisoners are in there,” Max reminds Chris.
”I know. Everyone needs to be kept together, away from the crime scene, in order to preserve the evidence.”
The Diamond Bearers' Destiny Page 22