"Krista," he said, lifting a hand as if to touch my cheek, but jerked back as an electric shock raced through him.
I stepped forward to help him, but was knocked backward on my butt as my hand encountered an electric current.
"What the heck is that?" I said, standing up to rub my sore bottom.
"It's an electric cage," Mark said, pointing to the voltage boxes lining the perimeter. "As long as this is turned on," he said, indicating his ankle bracelet, "I can't leave and no one can enter."
I moved closer to his space, eyeing the voltage boxes warily. He sat down on the floor as close as he could get without getting shocked. I did the same sitting directly in front of him.
"You've Ascended," he said, after a few minutes of silence.
I nodded my head, not wanting to admit that we had all assumed he had Descended.
"It suits you well. You've never looked more beautiful."
I grimaced at his words, since I was sure I pretty much looked like pond scum. I had dried Daemon blood on my pants and who knew what else.
"You left." I said, no longer able to contain myself.
He studied me for moment before finally answering. "He told me you believed I left you on my own freewill, but I didn't believe him. I could have never left you. How could you believe that? Didn’t I show you countless times how I felt about you? I didn't break our Link Krista. You did by buying into his lies."
I jumped to my feet indignantly. "I didn't break our Link, you left me." I said, louder than I intended. "You told me you were doing what was right, that we all should have our own freewill."
"Krista, I never said any of those things," he said quietly.
"Yes you did, everyone heard you," I said, choking on a half-sob.
"Krista, I didn't say those things because I was no longer there."
"What?" I asked, sinking down on the floor as an awful truth began to creep over me. "Tell me you’re not saying what I think you are." I pleaded in a whisper.
He nodded his head.
The room began to spin. How had I let this happen? Mark never said those things because he was not in possession of his body. Victor had used the time I was unconscious to use Mark's body as a human host. The lies that left his mouth had been orchestrated by Victor. He was right, he didn't break our Link, nor did Harmony. By believing Victor, I alone had broken our Link.
I bowed my head as sobs racked though me. I had done this.
"Krista, look at me," he pleaded.
I lifted my tear streaked face. "Krista, I think it was all meant to be. Haniel had spoken many times about how special you are. How you would do great things. I believe The Light always planned for you to be an Ascended."
"But, what about you?" I asked, sickened by what I had done.
"I don't know," he said, sounding defeated for the first time. "Harmony hasn't allowed me a moment alone with my emotions for the last two months. By keeping me contained though, it’s only served to make her stronger. I'm surprised they're allowing even this, but I'm sure my father has some hidden motive."
"I need to contact Haniel and see what’s happening with the others, but I think Victor is able to block me somehow," I said, remembering my duties.
"You can do that?" Mark asked, clearly impressed.
"I can do all kinds of cool things," I said, falling into the easy banter we had always shared.
His mouth pulled into a smile that was always guaranteed to turn my insides to melted butter. I mourned the loss of our Link, but I relished in the way we still seemed drawn to each other. It seemed like an impossible situation, but for the moment I enjoyed the presence of the boy I had loved my entire life.
"Like what?" He asked, smiling broadly at me.
And just like that I was lost. I filled him in on everything he had missed while he was gone, including the escalation my gifts had taken. I told him how I had faced my fear of bugs and saved our friends in the process. I gave him all the gory details of John's attack by the bear and how I had been able to redirect her. I talked non-stop, telling him every last detail.
"Wow, you're like Wonder Woman," He said, awestruck.
"No, I'm not. Everyone keeps saying I am, but I'm still myself. I just have new clarity. It's like how they say if we could tap into more parts of our brain, we could accomplish so much more. I guess as an Ascended, I'm able to use all my brain, no matter how small it is," I said making a joke of the situation. “Besides, my new powers aren’t doing me a whole lot of good at the moment, are they?”
He chuckled at my words. "You've been hanging out with Shawn too much, that's something he would say."
I smiled and was about to respond when the door opened at the far end of the room. Startled, I surged to my feet as Sam and Shawn were dragged into the room by four huge Daemons. I rushed to their sides as the Daemons unceremoniously deposited them on the floor and slammed the door behind them.
"Shawn what happened?" I asked my brother, shocked by the dazed look on his face.
"I don't know. They dragged us off from that hallway and when I woke up, the other Links were gone, and Sam was still unconscious. I think those bastards hit her too hard. She was bleeding from her nose and mouth. I tried to clean her up," he said, rolling Sam over onto her back.
I gasped when I saw Sam's blood-soaked face.
"I tried mopping it up, but I only had my hoodie to work with," he said, indicating his saturated jacket that was riddled with holes.
"What happened to your jacket?" I asked as I hurried to the sink on the opposite side of the room from where Mark was being held.
"Those Daemon-Asses have fiery touches is what happened," he reminded me as I mopped up Sam's face with a wet cloth.
"They do," Mark said from obvious personal experience.
Shawn whipped around, startled at Mark's voice.
I watched as conflicting emotions passed over my brother’s face. He went from looking hurt to confusion and finally anger.
"What are you doing here?" he barked, looking at me to gauge my reaction to Mark's close proximity.
"He can explain," I said to my irate brother as I continued to mop up Sam's face. "But you're going to have to wait for that explanation because I think Sam is hurt worse than we thought."
Shawn pivoted back around to face me in one fluid movement, completely forgetting about Mark. "Why? What's wrong with her?" He all but yelled in my face.
"Hey watch it," Mark said, stepping as close to the barricade as feasible.
I glanced over and saw that he was fuming at the tone of voice Shawn was using with me. My pulse fluttered as I looked into his eyes and saw his emotions clearly reflecting in them. I was instantly flooded with the countless memories we shared.
"Krista," Shawn pleaded, jerking me away from my walk down memory lane.
"Because, she's bleeding from her nose and ears," I said, tilting Sam's head to the side so he could see the small trickle of blood that had pooled on the elaborate Oriental rug. "Plus, her pulse feels really weak. I'm not sure what they hit her with but they did a lot of damage."
"It wasn't the Daemons, it was Harmony," Mark said quietly.
"What do you mean? Who the Hell is Harmony?"
"My sister," Mark said heavily, as he sat on the only chair in his makeshift jail. "She's a Descended, which means she has all the power Krista does, but she also has The Dark One in her corner. She can control the emotions of multiple subjects around her, just like you can Krista," he continued bitterly. "Of course she uses her gifts to get in your head, to control your mind. I'm guessing that while you were knocked unconscious, she was tearing into Sam's brain."
"How do you know that?" Shawn demanded, still not ready to believe anything Mark uttered.
"Because, I've seen her do it too many times to count over the last few months. My father convinced her to break her link, that’s how she became a Descended. Now she controls Mason’s mind to be her lackey. She uses just enough mind control to keep him docile. I don’t even know if he even realizes they’re no longer linked."
"Okay, so how do we help Sam," Shawn asked.
"I don't know if you can. I'm guessing by the fact that she’s bleeding from her ears that her brain is swelling. If she doesn't get medical attention soon, her brain will most likely bleed out. I'm sorry man," he said once again, bowing his head in defeat.
"That's not true Krista, you can save her. You have like superhero healing abilities," he said, pleading with me.
I shook my head as hot tears burned their way down my cheeks "You know it doesn't work that way Shawn. I can't heal supernatural injuries," I said, holding Sam's lifeless wrist loosely in my hand so I could monitor her pulse.
"We have to do something. We’re not going to just sit idly by and let her die!"
My heart broke as Shawn openly cried over Sam's deathly still body. Just a few hours ago, I had assured Sam I would get her and Shawn out of this mess, but that was before I discovered Mark would also need to be saved. I looked down at my friend's face, recalling the first time I had seen her standing above me on the grassy grounds of the private school we attended. She was so full of life and like no one I had ever met before. Looking at her crumpled body on the ground, with my brother weeping over her, I knew I needed to make a decision quickly.
"I might be able to help her," I finally said, making the only decision I could.
"You can?" Shawn said, not daring to believe. "What do we need to do?"
"Not we, but me," I said, feeling heartsick as I glanced at Mark. Haniel had been clear on the rules. I would have one opportunity to pull this off. If it worked, my energy supply would be completely sapped.
"What?" Shawn pleaded as I continued to gaze at Mark.
"Haniel told me if things became too crazy and I feared for my life, or saw no other way out, I could transport myself and two others somewhere else."
"Seriously? How?"
"I have to focus all my energy on a certain place and hope that I have enough adrenaline running through my veins. I won't be able to come back." I said, looking directly at Mark.
"Why would you have to? Haniel is here somewhere and besides, up until this morning, you weren't even supposed to be on this rescue mission. I'm glad you're here and maybe things were changed so you could be here to save Sam," he pleaded. "You wouldn't let her die."
"I can't come back," I whispered, trying to get Shawn to grasp the significance of my statement. If I saved Sam and him, I was condemning everyone else including Mark.
Shawn finally got the reason for my hesitation. "Krista, you're concerned for him? He left you. He stomped on your heart and walked away, not even bothering to wipe the blood off," Shawn said bitterly.
"You don't understand, he had his reasons," I said.
"Krista, I don't give a rat’s ass if he had his reasons. You could have died. He left you to die…." Shawn's words were broken off as Sam started convulsing.
Together we held her down so she wouldn't hurt herself while her body shook uncontrollably. After several minutes, the last of the involuntary shudders left her delicate body.
"Krista," Mark finally said from across the room. I looked up at him uncertainly. "You have to get her help now, she's dying. Shawn's right, this is your job."
I stood up and walked toward him. "I can't come back," I said, heartbroken.
"I know and that's okay. You have a higher purpose now."
"Krista," Shawn called across the room, jerking my attention from Mark.
I whirled around and saw that Sam was convulsing even more violently than the first time.
"Krista, you have to take them now," Mark said.
"Why is it we always seem to be saying goodbye to each other," I said, swiping a stray tear away before I turned on my heel and raced back to help my brother.
I grabbed onto Shawn's hand firmly with one hand and Sam's with the other. The whole idea that I could transport myself and others to another location was ludicrous. Although the idea seemed right out of a sci-fi novel, I believed Haniel without a shadow of a doubt. I chose the only location that made sense and gathered all my energy to the task at hand. I definitely didn't need to worry about having enough adrenaline, I could feel it racing through my body as all my focus honed in on the location I was aiming for. I looked at Mark as warmth like none other started from the top of my head and traveled down the length of my body. Mark's eyes were the last thing I saw before white sterile walls blurred out his image.
Chapter 14
I expected us to hit the floor of our destination like we had fallen from the sky, but we arrived in the busy ER of the hospital in the same position as when we left Victor's. Every bone in my body seemed liquefied and I slumped back against the closest wall.
A nurse that was hurrying down the hall tripped over Shawn and gasped in shock.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there…." she started to apologize until she saw Sam convulsing in front of Shawn."Oh my word," she said, racing to the counter. "I need a doctor stat," we heard her yell at the receptionist before she raced back to us. "What happened?" she asked, grabbing Sam's wrist to check for a pulse as she finally stopped the God-awful tremors.
"She hit her head," Shawn said vaguely as I used the wall to prop myself up.
"When?" she said, prying Sam's eyelids open so she could peer into them.
"Yesterday," I finally piped in. "She seemed fine, but today she got a nose bleed and passed out," I said, ripping an excuse off a TV show I watched with my mom. I was too worn out to come up with a more legitimate excuse.
The nurse nodded toward me, but any further questions were delayed as several doctors and a gurney arrived to whisk Sam away. Shawn tried to follow them, but the nurse firmly closed the door in his face after giving him directions to the ER waiting room.
"You okay?" He asked me dejectedly as he joined me against the wall.
I nodded my head weakly. I would have wept from the ramifications of the decision I had made, but I didn't have the energy to even muster that up. It was like I was a hollow shell. Haniel had warned me this would happen and told me that it would be several hours before I started to feel somewhat normal, and a full twenty-four hours before I could even think about transporting again, if then. There was no way I could get to my friends before the night was through. I had made my choices and now I would have to live with them.