I turned away from Justin to signal
I was done with this conversation, but he quickly grabbed my shoulders in anger
to try to force me to turn around. His fingers were gripping me firmly and
causing pain. I realized immediately this physical contact created a link into
his brain that I couldn’t access any other way. His past and present opened to
me bombarding me with images I’d rather not have in my head. His future flowed
in along with the dark, foreboding intentions of his heart. I already
understood this about him; but not this much detail. He would lead a group of
people on a quest for ultimate domination and would not be above murdering,
pillaging and plundering in order to gain power. With the Death Clan wiped out,
Justin would rise to the top and become the next force to be reckoned with.
I was pulled out of his mind as I
hit the ground, not knowing how I got into this situation. Justin’s hands were
still on my shoulders and Chris was trying to pull them off me. But so was
Justin. My mind held his hands on me. I mentally let go of him and his arms
flew back and he scooted away from me with confusion on his face.
Chris stood over me. He wasn’t sure
if he wanted to touch me or not, so I got up on my own power. He moved back
from me and we both sat down in the chairs facing each other.
Justin whispered in a raspy voice,
“What the hell was that? My hands were glued to you!”
Chris’s eyes held the same
question.
How do you answer a question to
which you have no idea what the answer is? Instead of admitting my own
misunderstanding I chose to issue an empty threat, “Physical contact with the
intent of malice is no good on me. Don’t touch me again!”
“I won’t! After this meeting, I’m
going to petition your removal. You are becoming too dangerous to remain in the
clan.”
“No you’re not, Justin!” Chris
jumped in.
“She’s evil, Chris! She’s probably
enchanted or something and we shouldn’t keep her around.”
“She saved your life, Justin!”
“She had to!”
I stared at the two of them as they
fought back and forth. I interrupted, “You won’t need to forcefully remove me
from your clan. I’ll leave on my own. I’ve had enough of this life and this
world of powers and I care not to stay. And besides, I suspect my abilities
will be gone once the diamond is out of my presence.”
“Why ?” they both said in unison.
“I didn’t get my additional powers
until I was around the diamond.”
“Why didn’t we get any other powers
then?” Justin sounded as if he didn’t believe me.
I shrugged my shoulders.
Chris spoke with his mind,
“Please
don’t leave the clan.”
“I may not have a choice,” I
answered Chris which angered Justin when he realized we were having a
semi-private conversation.
“Oh, so now you two are carrying on
a conversation without me? Fine!”
“What do you mean?”
Chris
asked ignoring Justin.
I repeated my sentence. “I may not
have a choice.”
Mrs. Winter entered and informed me
I had visitors. Two leaders of the Seers entered the small cubicle. Mrs. Winter
invited Chris and Justin to step out, but they both declined, Justin insisted
on being present for all meetings concerning me.
“Very well,” the older man nodded
to me, “I’m Arthur Stiles and this is Curtis Shultz. We represent the Seers and
would like to ask you some questions. We are aware of your multiple abilities
and are wondering why we can’t view your future.”
“I can’t see yours either,” I
deflected back at him before Chris had time to surmise I had no future, like
Jonas.
“I’m blocking you,” Arthur replied.
“Runners and Mind Readers block me,
but I can still observe their futures,” I challenged.
“Seers are different.”
“Well, then you’ve just answered
your own question,” I said confidently.
“Perhaps.”
Curtis spoke up, “This clearing was
never seen as the meeting place. Why and how did you change the location?”
“I recognized the clearing from my
vision when we came upon it. The plans were put into motion to hold the
exchange here.”
“Yes, but we never envisioned this
location.”
“Well, what do you envision now for
the future after the delivery?” I asked.
“It is too near, and anything
beyond is foggy.”
I asked, “Will you unblock your
mind and let me try to read the future?”
There was hesitation, but Curtis
agreed. His walls came down and I envisioned him addressing a large
congregation of some kind, discussing the happenings at the clearing and the
destruction of the Death Clan. I pulled out of his mind, “Your future involves
teaching others about the fall of the Death Clan.”
“So, they will fall?” Curtis asked.
“Yes.”
Arthur asked, “Why can’t we
visualize that?”
Justin spoke out of turn, “She is
surrounded with mystery. I sense treachery.”
“Shut up, Justin,” Chris said.
“Can a Seer learn how to view visions
closer than four weeks?” I asked the Seers.
“What are you talking about?” Arthur
asked.
“Is it possible to have visions of
the near future?”
“No. Seers foresee changes in the ‘future’,
not the ‘near future’.”
“When you look for someone’s
future, what do you find on the average?”
“Happiness, sadness, consequences,
destruction and changes in status quo,” Curtis answered this time.
“Vague things related to the
individual,” Arthur added.
“Can someone train their mind to
identify details about individuals?” I asked.
“Perhaps; but no one’s ever
succeeded.”
Chris’s expression fell as if all
the wind had been let out of his sails, “That
can’t
be true.” His eyes
met mine and I already knew what he was thinking. He was wondering about the detailed
vision he’d seen about me.
“She can,” Justin said rather smugly.
“She can what?” Curtis asked.
“She can view the detailed future
days out, not weeks out.”
All eyes were on me again. I looked
at Chris, then at Justin, and wished I had the paddle Mrs. Winter had talked
about.
“If you possess that ability, tell
us what happens today at the meeting,” Curtis demanded.
“I already did. It goes well.”
“More detail,” Justin insisted.
“It goes
very
well.” I
answered sarcastically.
Justin threw his hands in the air. “See
what I mean?”
“Will the Death Clan be stopped?” Arthur
asked.
“I already told you they will be.”
“Will anyone die?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I’ll not answer that. Telling you
will only change the future. Right now the goal will be accomplished; to stop
the Death Clan’s rise to ultimate power.”
Arthur nodded, “Understandable that
you wouldn’t want the ones with mere hours left to live to panic, but please
help us understand how you are able to view the immediate future.”
My patience waned and my voice
climbed, “I don’t know why or how, alright?!”
Chris stood, “Leave her be. She
can’t answer your questions any further.”
The men stood and left the cubicle.
“Thank you,” I said to Chris.
“This is such a burden to you.”
His deep compassion for my
situation melted my heart. I nodded my head.
“Well, this will all be over soon.”
Chris had no idea.
By lunchtime, we’d met with the
Healers and Hunters too. The Hunters didn’t seem to think I had too many
special qualities, but were amazed I held other powers besides the Hunters’
abilities and that I had no scent. Weird.
The Healers, on the other hand,
were thunderstruck. But no more so than I was to learn their strongest members
were the same two men who came to the motel to collect the dead bodies.
The tales of how I instigated a
heart attack in my would-be kidnapper and eliminated the two Hunters had
reached the Healers’ ears. I knew Justin had something to do with the
information leaking.
“You can feel weaknesses?” Andrew
Stuart, the same man I spoke with at the hotel, said.
“You can’t?”
“Death Clan members learned how to
sense weaknesses. To locate feebleness they needed to sense healthy tissue and
organs and that is how they are able to kill; they go after the heart and stop
the electrical impulses. However, neither a Healer nor Death member can heal themselves;
therefore, they remain in a group and heal each other.”
“Are you likening me to a Death
member?”
“Not at all. I’m only amazed you
learned so quickly how to scan inside the body for weaknesses.”
“Well, pardon my candidness, but
what the hell is the use of being a Healer if you can’t sense imminent illness
or disease?”
The other man spoke up; his name
was Robert Yates. “We heal injury and sickness as it presents itself, the same
as you did when your clan members were shot in the forest.”
“What about cancer? At what point
can you detect a tumor, and are you able heal it?”
“We can detect tumors when they
become painful, but only because the individual comes to us with pain. Usually
by that time, they have severe cancer and not much can be done.”
“I know someone who has cancer. Will
you help him?”
“Who?” They both asked together. Justin
also wanted to know and I realized Chris hadn’t said anything to anyone.
I pointed to Jonas through the
pulled back curtain.
“I’m sorry, but I do not sense
anything in the boy,” Robert said.
“I do, it’s so obvious to me,” I
said.
“Try to imagine for a moment how we
view cancer. Cancer presents itself, in its early stages, as regular cells
therefore we can’t detect them until they are mutated and extensive, and, as I
said before, it’s too late to help them.”
“This isn’t early stage cancer, it’s
end stage. Why can’t you sense it?”
“Well, how did you discover his
illness? What tipped you off?”
“I couldn’t read his future. He
didn’t seem to have one, so I searched inside his body and found the mass.”
“Do you realize you used your
future seeing ability to detect the problem? We don’t have that ability. You
are rare.”
“So, can I heal Jonas? Or can you?”
“Well, here we get into sticky
water. If nature
—
”
I cut him off before he could even
go any further with all the nature crap, “I don’t care about that in this case.
I can feel his tumor. If I’m able to, after the delivery I’ll try to heal him. He’s
too young to suffer and die over an illness I can do something about!”
“We will assist you if we can.”
“Thank you.”
I won’t live past the delivery;
therefore, Jonas will probably die. I said it more for Chris to think that
everything would be ok after the delivery.
They left the cubicle and once
again Justin and Chris stared at me in silence.
I turned my back to them so I didn’t
have to receive their minds. I certainly didn’t want to hear Chris lecture me
on the will of nature again.
We were brought fresh running
clothes before the meeting. I stepped out while Chris and Justin changed, then
they stepped out for me. I pulled the pouch out of my pocket and held it in my
hands for a moment, appreciating the weight and heat. Without putting it down,
I changed my clothing and placed the invaluable treasure in the front pocket of
my clean jacket and zipped it shut.
I stood alone in the cubicle
thinking about my parents and the fact that I didn’t get to say goodbye. I haven’t
even spoken with them since I left home. I guess once I learned from Maetha she
had manipulated their minds, I didn’t worry about them worrying about me. But
it would be nice to hear their voices one more time before I’m done. I thought
about Suz and the how much I’d miss her, too. I thought about myself, only to
realize my fear and sadness was for everyone else around me; not myself.
I remembered once in my English
class we debated whether or not it would be good to know when you were going to
die. The class was pretty much divided equally. Some argued if you were aware
of the exact date and time, you could say your goodbyes and have all your
affairs in order. The other argued if you had the knowledge of exactly when you
were going to die, you wouldn’t be able to live and enjoy life. You’d be
focused on your impending death. I remember I sided on the ‘I don’t want to
know when I will die’ side. But look at me now. I know I’m about to die, yet I
didn’t get to put things in order and say goodbye. I got the bad end of the
deal all the way around.
Chapter 13
Sacrifice
The time came to walk out to the
stone table. As we made our way to the center, I glanced around the clearing at
the many hundreds of anxious people staring at us awaiting the unknown. More
tents lined the perimeter at the tree line and the flood lights were already
turned on illuminating the area. Clearly, no one wanted to take any chances
with the Shadow Demons.
I sensed Chris’s and Justin’s
apprehension, “Don’t worry, everything will be fine. You’ll see.” We stood on
the north side of the rock altar which, upon closer inspection, looked large
enough to be a bed.
Chris caught my eye and opened his
mind,
“Calli, let nature decide. Please.”
“Everything about to happen will be
in the best interest of all the clans,” I said for Chris’s sake.
Justin turned to me, “You really
irritate me, do you know that?”
I thought to myself as I focused on
Chris,
not for much longer.
Chris’s eyes widened with shock. For
a moment, I wondered if he’d heard my thoughts, but the whoosh of murmurs
throughout the crowd moved my attention to the tent of the Death Clan.