Splintering Reality (Breaking Order Series Book 2)

by Catherine Kopf

  Just don’t forget where you come from. Be there for your sister…

  I couldn’t abandon them.

  I clenched my fist. “I can’t do that.”

  “Then you’ll do it by force.” The Illusionist threw cards my direction.

  I ducked behind my white wooden desk.

  I had no choice but to fight. It was self-defense. Only self-defense. I reached out my hand and shot a wave of sound at The Illusionist. A piece of his mask cracked open. I did it again, revealing more of his face.

  Amber eyes hid behind the mask, as well as locks of dark red hair. This matched the description of a boy Cal told me about— a boy she compared to me. What remained of his face was melted like a candle, peeling off, decaying. My bet was that he suffered severe burns. The boy Cal described was so kind, pleasant— What the heck happened to him?

  “Is your name Sam?” I asked.

  “What if it was? Talking will only get you killed,” he snarled.

  The lights sparked in the bedroom, lighting the carpet on fire.

  I wheezed. “I can help!”

  “I have a purpose. Such is the fate of those who are subjects of Project Dark Phoenix.” a twisted smile like the one on his broken mask formed on his face.

  “Listen to me!” I shouted.

  Sam raised his arms and distorted the room. His body appeared many places at once. I hit the desk. My lungs squeezed from the flames.

  “Enough of talk,” he paused. “I need to get this over with.”

  I was ready for it. A card. A trick. Something that would’ve killed me.

  A burst of flame struck Sam, causing him to wince in pain.

  “Get away from my brother you freak!” Enya screeched.

  A puff of smoke appeared, and within moments, The Illusionist disappeared. There was no way to save him. Not here. Not now.

  “Two weeks…” The Illusionist’s voice echoed through the hall.

  As soon as his voice faded away, the fire alarm system blared, sprinkling the room in water.

  Enya stretched out her arm to get me up. “You okay?”

  “How did you know to come?” I took her hand.

  She spat out the answer like a poison. “Dustin— he sure knows how to keep me informed. Let’s get out of this rainfall. It’s driving me nuts!”

  I looked to my side. Mother’s journal burned in the ashes. The flames gobbled up the pages that would spill The Regime’s secrets.

  “No…” I picked up the journal’s ashes, each piece crumbling to dust as I rubbed along the pages and binding.

  “… I’m so sorry, Ambert. Anything left?”

  “Just this flash-key.” I showed Enya the object in my pocket. “This is our last link to Mother.”

  “Mom’s inside of us too whether we like it or not.”

  Just don’t forget where you come from…

  Enya’s thick hand touched my shoulder. “Did he come for you? Again?”

  “— Yeah. Yeah, he did. Enya, maybe it’s best if I—” I looked away from her, hands quaking.

  “Hey! We need to stick together.” Enya ruffled my hair. “You’ll do nothing stupid on my watch.”

  “Thanks for keeping me straight, Enya.”

  Ivory and Kuan-yin rushed into the room, just as excited as two kids on Christmas morning.

  “Cally! Cally’s awake!” Ivory jumped beside me.

  “We rushed here as soon as we heard the news.” Kuan-yin took in short breaths.

  It had been so long since I saw Cal, and she had no idea about my power over sound. Would she even want to see me? That was a ridiculous question. Cal was the most loyal person I knew. Of course she’d want to see me!

  A smile widened on my face. “Things are looking up.”

  TWENTY-NINE

  Calista

  I found myself reliving my dream. Everything so real and frightening it was like it happened for real. Arms grabbed onto me. Loud gunshots echoed in the background. I suffocated on the smoke. The time was close for my decision, and I was nowhere near ready. The voices still sang:

  “Choose between two lives, both with loyalties true,

  Before time runs out, broken promises will catch up to you.

  Both connected with dreams and flame— one will lose themselves all the same.

  The girl is the key, the answer to your path,

  Call upon your gifts. Stop the visions of wrath.”

  The words of the fake Enya lingered in my head. “You won’t protect the life you want to save…”

  I glanced at a mirror. The glass shimmered and produced a glare. While I was on one side, Aurelia and The Boy With the Violin remained trapped behind the other, chains covering her body.

  “What do you see?” his voice echoed.

  I spoke as if he asked a dumb question. “A mirror.”

  “Your choices affect the great mirror of the world. There are several things you’ll have to do as time goes on. Fate’s unraveling its thread.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “... You’re going to have to make your decision.”

  “Then you know who the two lives are, don’t you?”

  “No.” The Boy With the Violin cleared his throat. “But visions are getting more insane. Out of control even. It’s a sign.”

  “I… I don’t know what to do! I’m still new to this, and the best I’ve done is take out some Regime guards with my friends.”

  “And free cities.”

  “... I… I guess you’re right.” I lowered my eyes.

  He placed his hands on my shoulders. “If you let your bias cloud your heart, there will be consequences. Dark ones. The Regime will overwhelm The Dreamers.”

  “Aren’t we winning?”

  Aurelia’s frail voice croaked. “Calista, I’ve been trying to warn you… Project Dark Phoenix… it’ll snuff out everything, even morality as we know it. Dreams will be just as corrupt as The Regime.”

  The dream faded into another scene.

  “Another batch of Dreamers, sir.” the scientist brushed a piece of dark hair out of his face.

  “And?” The Commander gleamed into the flames as he did before.

  “It still wasn’t a match. He wasn’t onboard.”

  The Commander threw a glass toward the scientist. He barely dodged. The Commander’s teeth clenched, his eyes consumed by rage and fear. “Were the drugs, the testing, the projects not enough to find one boy?”

  “We’re trying our hardest, Commander…”

  “Not hard enough! The special ones with talents, The Oracles, those with magic, all of them get jealous and outcast their own! It’s better if they’re controlled or don’t exist at all.”

  The scientist sighed. “‘Follow to achieve and trust those who lead’. It’s a slogan. We know it. The question is if you do, Commander.”

  “And yet you fools can’t find the one person I ask for.”

  “We’re fighting a growing resistance, sir. Calista Knight is leading a group of radicals wanting to overthrow our order. We have to focus on that and…”

  “Does it look like I care? The resistance should crumble! Be destroyed!”

  “I know sir.”

  “Even with the prophecies predicting dreams will be our downfall, Dreamers refused to acknowledge when someone’s talents could be used for the greater good!”

  “Sir, we know this. Isn’t this why we have Project Dark Phoenix? We’re doing everything in our power. I’m pushing hard for…”

  The Commander pulled out a gun and shot the scientist in the forehead. His limp body collapsed to the floor.

  “Oh, Moreno… so close yet so far trying to find out my secrets.” The Commander pressed a button on an intercom nearby. “Pack my things for Darkguard. I’m taking care of this myself.”

  The scene faded away.

  I had so many pieces of the puzzle, but I was unsure how they were going to fit together. I had to be c
areful about what cards I would play next. One slip and everything would fall out of balance.

  Somehow Aurelia thought I could fix things. She cried it out to me. I didn’t understand why.

  The odds stacked against me.

  Something pressed against the upper left side of my face. It was cold, wet, and bitter to smell. Wait! This was the medicine from when I fell on the ice! Warm, comforting sheets wrapped against my body, but I couldn’t move my right arm. All I could feel was a persistent pain like a knife was cutting into it.

  Beep. Beep. BEEP. BEEP.

  I made my eyes open, but everything blurred. I was in a room with white walls from the blobs of white covering my vision. Something laid in my arm, a needle of sorts tickling and pricking my elbow like it was a thorn.

  Someone sat beside me on the bed. I couldn’t make out who they were, but I could see that they were looking right at me.

  “Calista? I’m so glad you’re waking up.” the voice seemed familiar: feminine, caring, full of love.

  I wrapped the sheets over my body. “Where am I?”

  “You’re in one of Serre’s hospitals. Enya made sure they took you here right away,” the stranger stroked my hair… I knew that gesture from anywhere.

  My vision cleared, revealing a thin woman, aged in her late forties. Her hair was pulled back into a dark brown, messy bun. Her coco brown eyes reminded me of the warm times she gave me in Fortress. I never thought I’d see her ever again, especially on my adventure.

  Tears filled my eyes. “... M-Mom?”

  “I’m so glad you’re safe.” she embraced me tightly and refused to let go.

  Despite the needle in my arm, I gripped her even tighter. “... I’m just glad you’re okay…” I looked up at her. “Is Gran here?”

  “Safe and sound.” Mom smiled and brushed my red hair out of my face.

  I yawned. “How long have I been asleep?”

  “A week, Sweetie.”

  “That can’t be right!” I shook my head.

  The doctors put me on a powerful painkiller for my hand and forced me to rest. I had a ton of external injuries in my upper body and lost five and a half pints of blood, especially in my arm. The doctors gave me a blood transfusion and patched several places on my body with stitches. Thankfully, I’m a universal receiver. After the stitches and the damage, they placed me under a medical coma, so I’d heal without interference.

  “Are you hungry?” Mom rubbed my shoulder.

  My stomach growled. “I’m starved!”

  A nurse entered the room and removed the wiring connecting me to the EKG. She carefully took out the IV in my arm as well. Finally, she wrapped new bandages on my right arm— from my wrist to halfway to my elbow— and placed it in a sling. Looking back at the wound, it now had twenty small stitches where the bleeding was. It’d scar once the stitches dissolved.

  The nurse looked me in the eye. "Now, you have to be careful with this sling and the bandages. It's the last we have for you. Don't try to use this arm for a while. Be careful what you do and have someone watching you at least a day while it heals."

  Because of the medical coma, the doctors didn’t want me out of my hospital room and gown for a few days.

  “I’ll get your Gran.” Mom held my hand and smiled.

  I grinned back at her and she got up to talk to a nurse.

  I placed a hand on my chest and asked, “Where is it?”

  “What, Sweetie?” Mom’s face showed care and concern.

  My eyes scanned the hospital room. “Your necklace thingy.”

  “My what?”

  “The one Chief Starbright gave me!”

  “Was it silver with a cross? Blue gems?” Mom held the rosary in her hands.

  I grasped onto it and placed it back around my neck. “Yes!”

  “Calista, I don’t know how to tell you this, but…”

  Gran hobbled into my hospital room. “Hey, Missy! Nice to see you’re okay.”

  My face lit up. “Gran!”

  Mom cleared her throat. “Ma, she’s being exposed to…”

  Gran squinted her eyes to see the rosary around my neck. “Well, I’ll be…”

  “What?” I glanced at Mom. “It’s yours, right?”

  Mom met me in the hospital bed and rubbed my shoulder. “No… I’m sorry Calista. I think it’s about time you knew…”

  “Please don’t get into a discussion saying I’m adopted and that I’m different.”

  Gran chuckled. “What?”

  “It happened to Ambert.”

  “Calista… you’ll always be my daughter regardless of blood.” Mom’s eyes watered.

  “Missy, you didn’t inherit your powers from nowhere. They came from Astra.”

  That name… I’d heard it before from Chief Starbright when she saved me. “Astra?”

  “Your biological mother.” Mom lowered her eyes and clutched her hands together.

  My eyes widened. “That’s impossible!”

  My mom’s name was Suzanne. Suzanne Knight: warm, caring, kind. Even if she didn’t look like me, she’d always be my mother.

  Gran spoke up for her. “She was an Oracle like you: kind, curious, loyal… until The Regime sent an assassin to kill her. Astra’s death… it was a huge loss for the Dreamer community.”

  “As Astra’s daughter, your potency for visions is stronger. You’re connected to The Fates, and that makes you a threat,” Mom croaked.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

  “Putting you in danger, sending you out alone… any parent wouldn’t wish that type of adventure on their kids. Not if it costs them their lives.”

  “And Father?”

  “Tried to keep you away from any knowledge on dreaming so you wouldn’t be killed by The Regime too.”

  “… Father. He does care then…”

  “Very much, Missy.” Gran’s wrinkled face firmed. “That’s why we had to leave.”

  “Ma, not now…” Mom placed her hand in Gran’s raison-like one.

  “The poor girl deserves to know something!”

  “She needs to rest…”

  Gran tilted her head toward Mom. “She’s an empath.”

  I’d never heard of that term before. “A what?”

  “I feel emotions of people, mainly by touch. When I knew you’d been exposed to dreaming… when you were getting so curious… your Gran and I knew it wouldn’t be safe in Fortress, especially with Hugo’s growing anger.”

  “But… The Antiserum.” a light bulb lit in my brain. “You were the one who didn’t take it!”

  “I did say she was a rebel growing up.” Gran chuckled.

  I glanced up, still not soaking in the information they were telling me. “Is Ambert here too?”

  “Honey, I know you’re confused. It’s okay. Yes, he’s here, just banned from seeing you… that’s why he’s keeping his distance.”

  “Banned? By who?”

  “Hospital staff. The people here don’t like the twins, especially Ambert.” Gran’s face soured.

  “Ambert wouldn’t harm anyone!” I shouted.

  “We know that… but they’re terrified. I’m sure once you get out of the hospital ward, Ambert will meet you with open arms.”

  I slumped in my bed. “Yeah…”

  “What is it? You can tell us anything… you know that right?” Mom’s face showed her sweet smile.

  “I’ve had this vision. It’s so scary… and everything seems like it depends on me choosing between two lives.”

  “I know it’s hard. I wish Astra or your father were here to help you…”

  Gran bobbed her head. “Ha! But those three are here.”

  “We can’t send her to them. It’s…”

  I yawned and stretched in my bed.

  “Aww… we can discuss it tomorrow. Let’s let her rest.” Gran grabbed her cane.

  Mom smiled. “You had a friend request a room fo
r both of you. She’s dying to show you some quilt she made.”

  “Ivory…” my face lit up.

  “Go on and join your friends in the patient rooms now, Missy.” Gran’s toothless smile grinned.

  I nodded and Mom rolled my wheelchair to Ivory’s room where I’d now be staying for the remainder of our time in Serre.

  “But Dustin, I want to stay up!” Ivory’s voice cooed from the patient room.

  I knocked on the open door and Ivory smiled at me. A quilt laid over top of my sheets, weaved by hand. A purple sky with silver stars was hand-crafted onto the blanket, each carefully created and woven. A girl with red hair stood overlooking a city, turning her face away from me with a paintbrush in her hand. Though it was simple, the colors and personal touches made my happiness jump with glee. This was amazing!

  After yawning, Ivory pointed to my bed. “I made the quilt for you. Do you like it?”

  “I… I love it! How did you have time to make this?”

  “You were asleep, remember?” Ivory giggled.

  “She was so stoked about this surprise. Isn’t it sick?” Dustin asked.

  I nodded. “This is amazing!”

  “Alright, you both better get some shut eye.” Dustin turned to leave the bedroom.

  “Come on, Dustin! I can’t go to bed…” Ivory’s face pouted.

  Dustin chuckled. “Want a story first?”

  Ivory nodded. “Of course!”

  Dustin sighed. “You can leave if you want, Calista. You’re a teen.”

  “I… I actually never had stories read to me before bedtime.” I lowered my gaze.

  Dustin chuckled louder. “I can fix that. The Regime’s just a bunch of creeps with no heart.”

  He helped me into the sheets of my bed and Ivory plopped down into hers. The mattress bounced like a cloud as I sunk into it. The fluffy sheets made my eyes heavy and I yawned.

  “There was once a group of ‘heroes’ everyone called El Sueños Ocho. The company had Dreamers with tons of talents and mystery. They had The Guide, The Scientist, The Blade-Wielder, The Warrior, The Flame, The Connector, The Historian, and The Royal. Together, they brought peace to the land yada yada. Anyhow…”