Well, then it’s plain and
simple; no one finds out the truth. Not until the day I deliver the diamond;
the day I lose my strength.
At present, Hunters loomed just
over the ridge, Justin posed a threat to the success of our assignment and everyone
else had stars in their eyes whenever they looked at me; kind of like what I
witnessed in the vision at Harold Bates office. And just how did Maetha fit
into all this? Mr. Bates clearly knew she’d given the stone to me, but didn’t
tell either of the two guys. Yet, she gave Justin the perfume for the Hunters
to track us easily. Are Maetha and Mr. Bates working for the Death Clan? If so,
what would be the purpose of having us tracked down and killed?
“Are you alright, Calli?” Chris sat
down next to me.
“Define ‘alright’.”
“You’re in heavy contemplation. Can
I help with anything?”
“I don’t even understand this
myself, how could you possibly help me?”
“Well, I understand the different
powers due to the fact we have some who work for the compound. I’m good friends
with them.”
“I bet you don’t employ a Death Clan
member.”
“We don’t keep one with the clan,
no, but we do have a Healer.”
“Healer?” I realized Chris must be
anxious for that particular power to emerge. “Chris, can a Healer cure cancer?”
“I suppose, but they probably
wouldn’t.”
“Why?”
“We really don’t have time to go
into that, Calli.”
“Well, Jonas has cancer and as soon
as we can get him to a Healer, the better. He doesn’t have much time.” My eyes
watered from exhaustion.
“How do you know he has cancer?”
“I sensed it in his body after
trying to see future.”
His eyes widened and his mouth
parted. “How much time do you think he has?”
“If I can’t see his future now,
then he will be dead before four weeks.”
“Does he know?”
I shook my head and admired the
dancing firelight on Chris’s face and marveled at how handsome he was,
particularly when he wasn’t scowling at me. At the moment he was searching my
eyes. I watched as his gaze fell to my mouth, then slowly back to my eyes.
He stood, cleared his throat and
stepped away from my side. “Let’s keep this to ourselves. There’s no point in
alarming Jonas; especially when we can’t do anything about it. We need to focus
on everyone learning how to block their minds and getting away from the Hunters
tomorrow.”
Kayla stood nearby and coughed to
interrupt us, “Some of us are ready to be tested.”
Late into the night we worked on
blocking the mind. I learned so much more about the clan because of their
inability to block effectively. They also learned what it felt like when a Reader
was in their mind.
Finally, we stopped the exercise
and found our spots to lie down. Justin sat on the other side of the cave,
staring me down. The defiant expression on his face told me his feelings
wouldn’t be changing anytime soon. His mind opened to me, not that I wanted to
enter his thoughts,
“You think you’re so high and mighty with all your
so-called powers. You think anyone here gives a damn about you? No, they only
care to be around someone with more power than…”
I didn’t want to hear any more of
what he had to say so I turned away to break the link.
Chris came over and sat by me. “Did
you eat your energy ration yet?”
I shook my head.
“Here, take one of mine. You’re
going to need all your strength tomorrow.”
“Will we arrive at the destination
by nightfall?”
“No. We’ll have to find lodging. That
is, assuming we are able to capture the Hunters in a timely fashion.”
“What time do the Demons leave? At
sunrise or before?” I asked him.
“I’m not sure. Once the sun is up,
it’s safe.”
“As soon as the sky starts to
lighten, wake me please. I’ll watch for the exact moment they disappear, and
then we’ll begin our plan of action.”
“Good.”
“Good.” I repeated mainly because I
couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“Well, try to get some sleep.” he
said staring at me. His eyes hadn’t left mine yet. Why not? What was he
thinking? Oh splendid! Now I’m wishing I could read his thoughts. What’s wrong
with me? I need to decide whether or not I want to be able to read minds. Chris
spoke in a low sultry tone, “Calli, did you get past my blocking just now?”
“No.”
“Good.” He got up and left my side,
leaving me wondering what he’d thought about.
Now he leaves me hanging?
I tried to find a comfortable
position to sleep in, but with the hard rocks, lack of bedding and an orange-sized
diamond in my pocket, it was difficult to do. I reflected on the plan for the
morning. Justin’s group would go off into the forest and ours would remain in
the cave and follow the Hunters once they took the bait.
Chapter 7
The One He Missed
At some point, I drifted into a
dreamless sleep. Of that I am thankful, because I was exhausted. I awoke to
Chris shaking my shoulder.
“Calli, wake up.”
My eyes tried to adjust to the
darkness of the cave. The fires had nearly died but the faint light of dawn was
coming in the entryway. Justin sat right near the edge of the opening. I sat up,
stretched my arms and took Chris’s offered hand.
“What’s the time?” I asked.
“Five-thirty. Can you come tell us
if the Demons are gone yet?”
Justin moved out of my way as I filled
the cave entrance. I didn’t need to look, I could tell they were gone because
the air smelled peaceful. “They’re gone. Wake the others.”
Everyone was ready to go in less
than two minutes. I remembered I hadn’t spoken to Chris yet about giving the
diamond to Justin. But before I did, I needed to compare the stone in my pocket
to the fake. I placed my hand over the outside of my running suit, over the
diamond, and inhaled deeply not detecting any aroma.
“Chris, would you come here for a
minute?”
He left the others and came over. Even
before he got to me, the intriguing odor of the diamond in his pocket hit my nose-buds.
“Chris, the diamond has a scent. I
can smell it, and if I can, the Hunters can. I think,”
“That Justin should carry the
stone,” he finished.
I nodded and he left me to give
Justin the stone. Justin tried to refuse, but Chris’s lips told him he was
responsible for the mess we were all in and he should man up and try to help us
out. Justin took the small box and put it in his pocket, zipping it shut and
scowled in my direction,
“Happy now, muck?”
Yes, as a matter of fact.
Justin led his half of the group
out of the cave and down the trail, backtracking a little before cutting off to
the right and running into the dense forest.
The plan was the rest of us would
stay in the cave and wait for the Hunters. Justin’s group would run for twenty
minutes, and then turn back. Hopefully, we would be coming up on the rear of
the Hunters and Justin’s group would be coming back to close them in. I really
hoped the Hunters would simply give up and not try to fight, that would be the
easy ending. But, as I knew all too well, nothing is ever easy.
Chris sat next to me near the cave
opening. We both made sure our bodies and heads were hidden as we kept our eyes
peeled for the Hunters.
“They won’t move till six o’clock,”
he said to me while keeping his eyes focused on the forest.
“Do you think they might explore
the cave before following the scent of the diamond?”
“I hope not.” The fear in his voice
did not go unnoticed by me.
“I don’t think I should watch,” I said
as I moved away from the opening.
“What? Why?”
“My mind reading ability happens
whether I want it to or not. If I accidentally go into one of their minds and
they can tell, it might alert them. I’ll sit over here and you can communicate
with me through your mind.”
“Alright.”
“Can you tell me more about
Justin?”
“What do you want to know?”
“He’s faster than you, yet he lets
you win? Why?”
“Going to jump right in to the big
questions, huh?” he muttered.
I stared at him waiting.
“I’ve been the fastest for a while
now, until recently when Justin challenged me to a private race. Before the
race, I discovered he’d been associating with the Death Clan. When he beat me,
I threatened to expose his traitorous behavior, but he begged me not to. So I
ordered him to tell everyone I won. He did.”
“Why is it so important to be the
fastest?” I knew Chris wasn’t telling me everything, but I decided not to press
the issue.
“At my age, once I fall behind, I
become washed up. I’m the oldest of the group.”
“So, at what point do you accept
that others are faster than you?”
“When I’m ready to move on or
someone decides to make a scene.”
“What do you move on to?”
“There are all kinds of things I
can do. For example, I’d like to get married, eventually,” he said ardently.
“Chris,” I didn’t want to hurt his
feelings, I didn’t even understand his level of emotions, “I’m only sixteen and—”
“Who said anything about marrying
you?” He turned his head away and tensed. His mind hit me with,
“There they
are.”
I turned to the group huddled in
the far corner and put my finger up to my lips. They had already been perfectly
quiet, however this was the signal the Hunters were near. I focused back on
Chris and he opened his mind to me.
I realized by looking into his mind,
I saw the present as it unfolded. Incredible! Our pursuers walked around the
intersection point where Justin had taken his group into the forest. I noticed
one of the Hunter’s attentions followed our scent up to the cave. He took a
step toward us. And another. He sniffed the air and took another step.
A fellow Hunter called him and
asked what he’d picked up on. The Hunter smelled the air again. He told his
companion the scent strengthened in that direction, pointing to us. I couldn’t
breathe. He inhaled our scent again. His companion hollered to him that he’d
picked up on the more important scent. He turned away and took a step in the
other direction and stopped abruptly. He peered over his shoulder at us and
walked toward the forest where he joined hands with one of the Runners
disappearing into the trees.
Chris and I let out our breaths
simultaneously. “That was close!” I said.
“Too close,” he said.
“Chris, I experienced everything
through your eyes. You didn’t need to narrate, but I didn’t know how to tell
you without making sound.”
Chris stared at me in amazement and
motioned for the others to come over. “Let’s go. Stick with the plan. Lizbeth
and Tyler, you are the contingencies.” They nodded.
I caught Chris’s attention, “What’s
the contingency?”
With his mind, he told me,
“If
anything happens to either Justin or myself, Lizbeth and/or Tyler are to step
in place.”
“What about me?”
“You’ll be kept safe if a battle
breaks out. You are too valuable. Let’s go.”
He took my hand and we led the
others out of the cave.
I immediately picked up on the
Hunter’s scent and we began our pursuit. As we ran through the trees and thick
underbrush, I felt the warmth emanating from Chris’s hand. I was tempted to try
to view his future or to try to extract from his memories what he’d seen in the
vision concerning me; but we needed to get through this situation first.
We ran for about five minutes until
the scent of the Hunters had concentrated, meaning they were close. I detected
movement up ahead in the trees and I put my hand up to warn my group to slow,
then I heard the shot. We all hit the ground. I crawled to a better vantage
point and found in the distance Justin’s group all hiding on the south sides of
tree trunks which meant the Hunters would be somewhere north.
The bigger question was whether the
Hunters had figured out we’d arrived.
Another shot rang out causing a
flock of birds near us to scatter. We froze in place after hearing the muted
screams of pain from Justin’s group. Someone had been hit. I looked at Chris,
“Come on, let’s go.”
“You stay. Tyler, Jonas, Austin and
I will do this. We will double back, circle around and try to come up behind
them.”
“No! They may discover you coming
and turn on you. The wind is working against you.”
“Better us than you, and as for the
wind, we’ll run faster than it. We’ll reach them before our scent does. Hunters
don’t have eyes in the back of their heads.” He winked and took off with the
three other boys and sped down the trail the way we’d come. I watched
helplessly as more shots rang out into the woods. Another yelp of pain hit my
ears. What could I do?
A thought hit me; I needed to get
closer to the Hunters. I had a bad hunch about how this would all turn out, but
if I could get some information from them before it turned sour … I started to
crawl north.
“Stay here,” Lizbeth had a hold of
my ankle.
“I have to try to read their minds.
I won’t get too close.”
Shockingly, she let go. I crawled,
staying in the bushes as much as possible, until I found a clear view. I tried
looking into the closer Hunter’s mind. Nothing. I tried for the other one. Nothing.
I tried for one of the Runner’s mind and entered immediately.
On the immediate edge of his mind
sat fear and entrapment. He was a captive, held against his will, controlled
with the threat of his family being hurt if he doesn’t obey. His memories from
within the Hunter’s Clan came next showing a council meeting of several hundred
Hunters, planning this particular hunt, planning to go after the Sanguine
Diamond to harness the powers. The Runner’s mind switched to the day his powers
surfaced and a Hunter arrived to take him. His mind was filled with the wrong
information and he was forced to be a slave to them.