I turn around to find Justin standing and blocking me in the corner. He puts his hands on his hips and says, “So, you think you can just waltz out of here and do whatever you like without telling anybody? You put us all at risk when you did that. What if the lights had gone out and a Shadow Demon got someone?”
“Leave me alone, Justin.” I try to push past him.
He reaches up and pushes my shoulders back, making me bump into the end stand, knocking the phone to the floor. His face moves close to mine. “You can’t tell me what to do, muck.”
“Don’t call me a muck,” I threaten, my heart still pounding from the encounter with the men.
“I’ll call you whatever I want, and you can’t stop me.” He sounds like a second-grader out on the playground.
I wish he’d move away from me. “Yes, I suppose you can call me whatever you want, but I can make you stop.”
“What?” His eyes widen as he straightens his back, pulling his face away from mine.
I reach inside of him and irritate his stomach so much he literally has to jump across the bed to make it to the bathroom in time to vomit.
I sit on the bed, shaking. This ability to cause pain or injury astounds me. I will never have to worry about being mugged, kidnapped, or bullied again. I won’t have to put up with Justin calling me a muck either. To prove my point, I go to the bathroom door.
“How’s it goin’ in there, buddy?”
“Leave me alone, muck!”
I twist his stomach again, and he wretches even more. “Justin, I don’t want you calling me a muck anymore.”
“Shut up, muck!”
More dry heaving.
“Justin, stop calling me that. I’m asking nicely now.”
“Muck.”
I wrench his gut and hear, along with everyone else in the two rooms, Justin struggle to get his pants off in time to unload the biggest grumbly tummy ever. Nasty.
“Oh God!” he screams in pain and disgust.
“Justin, please don’t call me a muck anymore,” I say letting my voice rise an octave to sound sweeter. “And before you do it again to spite me, think about the fact you’ll dehydrate if you keep it up.”
After a small stretch of silence, Justin manages to say, “It’s wrong to use your abilities to cause pain, Calli.”
“It’s equally wrong to bully and tease others, Justin. Can we call a truce?” I ask through the door. Through the door! I hadn’t even realized I’d continued to affect Justin even though he was out of eyesight. Is that a normal practice for Healers? Of course, hurting his stomach isn’t something a Healer would probably do—it would be something a Death Clan member would do.
Chris’s lecture on the Death Clan and the natural order of things springs to my mind. Uh oh. Am I turning to the tantalizing evil side of the healing ability?
“Truce.” Justin’s muffled voice comes from the other side of the door.
“Thank you.” I walk away and sit on my bed.
The phone rings and Jessica answers. She greets Chris on the other end. Justin must have called him to report me missing. Jessica hangs up the phone and throws a concerned glance in my direction, then turns away and goes into the other room. Was Chris worried about me?
When, oh when, will this assignment be over? I can’t wait to . . . to what? To meet the Death Clan, lose my powers, and watch Chris die? This new life of mine positively sucks!
Justin comes out of the bathroom, pale and trembling, looking like death warmed over. His eyes shoot daggers through the air at me. Jessica informs him Chris wants him to call back.
I listened as Justin whines and complains to Chris on the phone, claiming I’ve tortured him, that I used my powers to harm him, and I’m turning evil. But what about his bullying? The whole “sticks-n-stones” saying isn’t true at all. I wonder if it is absolutely imperative for Justin to be with us when the diamond is delivered. I imagine the possibility, picturing the details in my mind, and now all I have to do is peek into someone’s future to see the outcome.
I wait for Justin to come tell me Chris wants to speak with me, but that never happens. I fall asleep and don’t wake until morning.
* * *
A loud knock at the door about six o’clock startles everyone. Kayla opens the door to find two police officers outside. “We’re looking for the young lady who made the 911 call last night,” one of them says.
Everyone points to me. Thanks guys.
“I made the call, officers,” I admit. “Is there a problem?”
“You reported the medical emergency in the alley?”
“Yes.”
“Well, the man died, but not before he claimed you had hurt him with your mind.” The other officer behind him tries to stifle a smile.
“I’m sorry to hear he died, but how could I hurt him with my mind? That’s ridiculous. What about the other man? He seemed hurt as well.”
“He was transported to the hospital. We need to speak with your parents.”
“I’m not with my parents. This is a track-and-field team. We’re on our way to Calgary to attend a meet. You can speak with our supervisor, Justin Macintyre.”
I sit on the bed, listening as Justin assures the officers I had nothing to do with the man’s death. I had gone out for a walk and returned all scared and called 911. He told them I didn’t dare stay with the man because I was only sixteen, so I had come back to the room and called for help. The officers seem to buy the story.
I’m amazed at how Justin maturely handles the situation, proving when he wants to, he can behave like a decent guy. I look for the future concerning his presence at the delivery. I see the clearing through his eyes, but the view is from a distance, as if Justin is watching from up on a hillside. Chris and I stand near the stone table. Chris crumples to the ground along with all the hostages. I pull out of Justin’s head. He definitely needs to be with us at the meeting to transfer the diamond, or many people will die, including Chris.
Chris and his group arrive at our motel shortly after the officers leave. The night before, all I wanted was to be near him, to try to understand his actions, but this morning as I watch him storm over to me with dark clouds of anger on his face, I’m not so inclined.
The force of his exposed mind hits me hard. You attacked two poor defenseless men and killed one! How dare you use your powers like that!
“That’s not what happened,” I say. I roll my eyes as I try to appear unaffected by his anger and disappointment, but inside, my heart thuds and I feel my cheeks flame.
Why don’t you tell me what happened then?
“I didn’t kill the guy. He had a bad heart anyway. He and his friend shouldn’t have tried to kidnap me. I was only protecting myself.”
Protecting yourself means staying put in your room and not venturing out after dark! And what about Justin? What did you do to him?
“Save it, Chris. I don’t want to hear this from you, of all people.”
“What does that mean?” he asks aloud.
“Whatever you want it to mean. We better hit the pavement if we’re going to make it to the clearing tonight.” I try to change the subject, but I inadvertently dig my hole deeper.
“What are you talking about? What clearing?” Chris asks in confusion.
“Isn’t that where we’re headed?” I ask.
Justin jumps in. “I thought we were going to the Death Clan’s caves. What’s all this about a clearing? Do you have something you need to tell us, Calli? Are you working for the Death Clan?”
“If I was, you’d already know, wouldn’t you, Justin?”
“You little bit—” Justin moves toward me with his hands outstretched, as if he wants to squeeze my neck.
Chris jumps in front of Justin before he can get his hands on me. I don’t flatter myself one bit by thinking Chris is protecting me. He’s merely keeping the peace.
“I’ve seen the clearing in a vision, complete with floodlights and tents, and all the clans, and the delivery,” I say over Chris’s shoulder, drawing the attention of everyone.
“And you think we’re going to reach this place by tonight? Your visions are four weeks out, Calli, remember?” Justin points out.
I hate to admit it, but he’s right.
Shanika jumps in with, “What happens when the package is delivered?”
I respond casually, “Doom, destruction, and the end of the world . . . stuff like that.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Justin scoffs. “Tell us what happens!”
“Aren’t you worried my visions are somehow related to a witch? Chris is. Maybe my visions are null and void. Who knows? After all, I’m the new girl. What the hell do I know about your world?”
Chris turns away from me and issues orders over his shoulder for everyone to be ready in a few minutes. He leaves the room and stands outside my window, where he puts his thoughts to the front of his mind. I look away. I don’t want to acknowledge him at the moment.
* * *
We run all day long and cross over the border into Canada. I convince Justin to let me try running on my own to see if I’ve gained speed. Naturally, I have, and I’m relieved. Now I won’t have to hold hands with anyone as if I’m a little kid. We stop for a short break for lunch. I’m careful not to close my eyes for fear of having a repeat of the day before. We all know how well that went. Chris continues to avoid me, and he finds reasons to leave the area whenever I approach. It’s a good thing he doesn’t know about the diamond in my pocket or else he’d really be freaked out.
The only thing to lighten my mood is watching Kayla’s antics as she continually tries to place herself next to Chris. She thinks for sure he likes her, and if she keeps herself under his nose long enough, he might make a move. Emotions, hormones, and misconceptions are the same whether you have cosmic abilities or not, I observe.
I think more about the fact the heart-attack man actually died. I consider it an act of self-defense, especially because if I was a normal girl, I’d be defiled and dead and dumped in a ditch right now. That’s what they’d planned. In fact, I probably prevented future kidnappings and deaths of other girls. So was it so wrong for me to have done what I did? No. My only regret is that the other guy lived.
The mountains grow larger and larger as we run throughout the day. We stop at the edge of the forest near a town in southern Alberta in the late evening. When the wind hits my nose, I smell danger.
“Hunters!” I yell to Justin and Chris. For a moment, I think they don’t believe me, but Chris would rather err on the side of right than wrong. He leads us into a thick wooded area where we have more options to hide.
“Where are they?” Justin asks.
I put my thoughts out into the forest and find the two Hunters. I smell their rancid odor as they carefully follow our scents. “They’re hot on our trail.”
Ashley asks, “Why don’t we run to the safety of the town? The Demons will be out soon.”
Lizbeth answers, “Then they’ll know exactly where we are.”
“They already know where we are!”
“Quiet,” I command. “Chris, take everyone further into the forest.”
“Justin, you take them. I’ll stay with her.” Chris hands the order down.
“No! I don’t want you here. Leave Beth with me.”
The decision is made in an instant, and Beth stays. We reposition ourselves a little higher up the hill to provide a better visual advantage.
Beth whispers, “They know we have to stay in that town tonight. I wonder why they didn’t wait there for us to return?”
“Beth, use your mind to talk to me. We need to keep quiet.”
“Oh, right.”
I grab her arm as the Hunters come into view. I scan the closer one’s body and find his weakness: an aneurism in his brain, which I rupture, and he collapses to the ground. The remaining Hunter gives his companion a brief glance and continues moving forward, tightening his hold on the rifle in his hands. I feel inside his body and struggle to find anything wrong. His entire body is in excellent condition. I scan him again as he moves out of my sight but still find nothing to irritate or aggravate. He stops and leans against a tree stump, positions himself, and raises the gun, focusing down his gun sights.
What can I do? I wonder what he’s aiming at, and with that thought I enter his mind. I see through his eyes, the same way I’d observed the present through Chris’s eyes. He has the back of Justin’s head in his cross-hairs. He can smell the icy aroma on Justin and he begins to squeeze the trigger. I have to act fast. I break his neck with my mind, feeling the vertebrae and spinal cord crunch and grind. Then I throw up.
Beth grabs me, all excited. “Calli, you did it! What exactly did you do?” Her confusion at what has happened makes me throw up again.
She leaves my side and returns to the others. I’m still nauseous over what I’ve done. I could feel his vertebrae as if I’d snapped them with my bare hands. As I replay everything in my head, the crunching sound sickens me, and I heave again.
The group returns and Chris scrutinizes me. I think I detect a glimmer of sorrow. But before I can analyze his emotions, the horrible smell of approaching Demons startles me. “Run!” I choke out. “Stay in the light!”
In a flash, the other Runners disappear. I roll over on my back and stare up at the tiny patch of darkening sky above me. What have I become? I’m a cold-blooded murderer. Tears fill my eyes, and painful sobs erupt from my mouth. Why was this burden placed on me? Why me?
I lay on the ground, wallowing in my misery for several minutes until I see the Demons float above me on their way to the broken-necked Hunter. I had thought he was dead already. Why would the Demons still be interested in him? I stagger over to his body, which lies in the light. He’s still alive. I’d only paralyzed him, so I delve into his mind to find out who sent him. I find that the two Hunters had been hired by the Mind-Readers to find the diamond before the Death Clan could take possession. They had every town directly over the Canadian border staked out with Hunters, not knowing which town we would stop in. The Mind-Readers were doing what they thought would be best. I also discover they did not issue an order for our deaths. The Hunters decided on their own to kill us to get the diamond.
“Please finish me! Don’t let the Demons get me!” the dying Hunter pleads.
“I thought I’d already killed you,” I say. I walk away, knowing now I hadn’t actually murdered him. But I’m not going to help him either. I’ll let the Demons take care of him. So I guess I am a murderer after all.
I find the other Hunter’s body. I can’t enter his mind. The Demons aren’t interested in him at all. He’s definitely dead.
I walk out of the forest, contemplating what I’ve done. The Hunters would have killed whoever they needed to kill in order to get the diamond. And I am the only one in my party who can do anything about it. My shoulders aren’t big enough to carry this load.
I take an hour to walk the distance to town. I need every second of the hour to get my emotions under control. I come to the conclusion the teammates are like my family and I need to protect them. Just as a parent would protect their loved ones from a burglar, I will protect these friends. I’m the only one who can do so, therefore, it’s my responsibility. I smile a little as I realize I’m finally thinking of them as friends.
I make the assumption Chris will choose a motel on the outskirts of town based on the fact the sun had set when they left me. They wouldn’t have wasted any time securing rooms. I wander the parking lot until I spot Chris looking out the window on the second floor. I go to his door, which he only opens a crack.
“You’re in room number 213,” he says, not making eye contact.
I walk away, incredibly sad, and will my tears to stay behind my eyes.
I knock on the door of 213, and Justin pulls back the drapes to confirm it’s me. He unlocks and opens the door. Once I get inside, he and the others bombard me with questions.
“What does it feel like to kill someone?” Beth asks right away.
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean? You were puking your guts out. It must have felt awfully gross!” Beth’s curious eyes search mine.
“You think? I only paralyzed that guy. The Demons finished him off. The other Hunter was on death’s door anyway. I opened the door, that’s all.”
“Well, aren’t you just the goody two-shoes,” Justin taunts.
“Yeah, that’s me. Saving your goody two-shoes! You were the one with the package. They were after you and you alone. The rest of us would have been safe. Maybe I shouldn’t have stopped them.”
Justin stomps away in a huff.
I pick up on the fact the room is crowded and lacks an adjoining door like the other motel rooms we’ve had. One quick look into an available mind tells me there were only two rooms left in the motel and eight of us would be trying to sleep here.
Well, I will help that situation a bit. I take a pillow and walk to the door as the phone rings.
“Where are you going?” Beth asks.
“Out.”
“Why?”
“Because I can.” My voice cracks, but I don’t care.
I storm out and slam the door. I spotted a truck parked in the lot on my way in, and I intend to sleep in the truck bed. However, I have to walk past Chris’s room to get to the stairs. Great. I take my shoe off and throw it at the light hanging outside his door. It crashes into the bulb, sprinkling glass on the ground. Chris won’t dare open his door now that his light is off. But that doesn’t stop him from staring out the window as I pass by.
Well, stare all you want! Stare at my back as I walk away. I pick up my shoe and keep going. I climb into the bed of the truck and position my pillow. I glance back at the building only to find Chris has a direct line of sight from his second floor window. I roll over, putting my back to him, in an effort to put this all behind me.
Yeah, right.