Part 45
Wildman darted between me and the
guard.
“Stop!” My yell was strangled. I
had to lower the gun; I’d almost pulled the trigger when he moved. My heart
raced and sweat dripped down my back.
“Get me out of this thing,” Teddy
said. He was straining at the bars of the cage.
Wildman had the guard on the
floor, savagely beating him. He wasn’t moving, except with the blows that
rained down with a strength that seemed to defy Wildman’s size and had
everything to do with his fury.
“Just wait.” I holstered my weapon
and rushed over. I didn’t want to touch him—who knew how’d he’d react?
Wildman’s teeth were bared in a frozen snarl and his eyes were blazing slits as
he battered the man on the floor. “Wildman? Hey. Stop now. He’s down.” I licked
my lips. “You’re going to kill him.”
“Good!” His fist smacked into the
guard’s slack face again, blood spraying across the gray stone floor.
“Not good. We have to finish and
get out of here, remember? We have to destroy the machine.” My inkling was a
fully blown realization now. Wildman had been here before. He’d seen this
machine before, and he’d definitely known this guard before—and not in a good
way.
I didn’t know why he came back
when he’d seemed not to care before, and I hated this had dredged up so much
hate and fear, but we needed him. “Help us stop them once and for all.”
His nostrils flared, but he got up
from his crouch over the prone form under him. The guard wouldn’t be getting up
anytime soon. I averted my eyes, unable to look at the man’s bashed in face
anymore.
“Lock me in the cage, and then get
ready to push the button,” I said. I stepped into the metal cage, shuddering
when the door clanged shut, trapping me inside.
“What are we doing, Will?” Teddy
asked. “Isn’t this exactly what the king wants us to do?”
“No. I’ve read all of Schvesla’s
books—every word he ever wrote. He mentioned that he had to be very careful to
trickle his power into the earliest version of the machine, or it would
overload. He risked damaging himself every time he used it because of the
feedback it would create. Think of it like a candle. A small flame can go out;
too high of a flame will melt the wax too fast. The wick has to be just the
right size to support the flame to give enough light without going out or
destroying the candle completely. He mentioned he’d found a way to stabilize the
process and make it safe for him as well.
“I’m guessing that’s you. Schvesla
and Murci were inseparable. The king targets Beta and Gamma pairs, friends or
people who have a connection like the twins. I’m stronger than any Beta I’ve
ever read about, and you’re brilliant. You are capable of seeing paths in your
mind no one else can follow, and you never forget anything.”
I stared deep into his eyes. “I’m
depending on you to bring me back. To not let me fall completely.” I stretched
my arm out of the cage, and he reached for me. Our fingers locked together.
“Ready?”
He took a deep breath and nodded.
“I’m ready.”
“Just stay calm, whatever happens.
Okay, Wildman, we’re ready.”
Wildman didn’t say anything, but
he must have started the machine. There was a hiss and a cloud of steam
whistled from a valve on the top, filling the room with a sharp stench. Shit. I
hadn’t thought about the noise; maybe the guard who’d surprised us was the only
one close by. I’d have to hope we could complete our mission and get away
before it alerted anyone else if he hadn’t been alone.
The metal around me hummed, a low
vibration I could feel over every inch of my body. Wherever I touched it, even
through my clothes, the metal lit up. Almost like a siphon, it sipped the power
from my body.
I shuddered.
Teddy groaned. “This feels bad. I
can feel it, flowing out of you and into me.”
Squeezing my fingers around his, I
said, “Just hold on. Hold on to me.”
I hadn’t realized the machine
stabilized my power flow through him. I thought the surge would only endanger
me. Clear as a bell, I knew what we were going to have to do, but I didn’t want
to.
“Give me more,” Teddy said through
clenched teeth. “Don’t let the machine take it. Send a surge; short it out.”
“You could get hurt.” My clothes
were starting to cling to my body as sweat coated my skin.
“Do it anyway, before it’s too
late. I’m ready, I swear.”
I stared at Teddy, needing to see
him when we did this, even if it pressed my face uncomfortably against the metal
bars of the cage, increasing the vibration and the glowing. “Okay. Just… don’t
let go.”
“Don’t let go of me either.”
“Never.” I closed my eyes, letting
out a deep breath, and relaxing the hold I kept on my ability. The metal flared
even brighter, lighting up the room. The rods above us began to tremble,
rattling above the machine which belched out steam.
“Not enough.” The cords in Teddy’s
neck stood out
This was it. Do or die. For the
first time, I really pushed. I strained to focus, sending more and more through
the machine, through Teddy.
His eyes lost focus, and Teddy’s
features went slack. I tried to call out to him, but my jaw was locked shut. Now
that I’d forced the waves of power, it was cresting higher than I could control
it. My head began to swim.
A loud grating noise echoed
through the room, and then the rods began to fall. Steam blasted through the
room, filling it like smoke, but Teddy didn’t move.
What had I done to him?
TBC
Way more going on now, right? More next week. Now go check out the other Briefers.
Oh you horrible, horrible, horrible woman! How dare you leave us hanging like this??
ReplyDeleteLove you, Cia. LOL