I think, “Just make it through this Corinna. I’m here waiting for you.”
Monica commands one of the other guardians, “I need you to hold open the incision. Jake, pliers.”
The sound of used equipment hitting a metal bowl makes my stomach tighten and turn. I focus on the steady sound of the heart monitor to distract me. Monica
’s voice strains, “Almost got it. Just need to sever the...”
Suddenly the beat on the heart monitor sp
eeds. Monica is not talking anymore. The guardians assisting across from her speak rapidly in Japanese. One announces in English, “She is bleeding out!”
No! Please save her! My pulse pounds in my head and my skin crawls from considering the worst thing that could happen after we saved her: her death. Luke’s grip on my arms tighten instinctively as I start to make a move toward Corinna. Still averting my eyes from Corinna’s neck, out of the corner of my eye, I see Monica’s gloved hand drop one, then another round disc-like device into the metal bowl. Seeing my sister’s crimson blood on the Copulas makes me light-headed.
Monica’s voice is urgent. “Cauterize it, fast! There isn’t much time! We need to implant the new Copula and close her up.”
The heart monitor is going crazy while Monica and the guardians tightly hover over my sister. Monica’s
voice quickens as she works, “Give me the new Copula. No, there! Cauterize it there! Done? Okay, I’m closing her up!”
I feel one of the guardians looking at me. I’m careful to only look into his eyes avoiding Corinna’s body. He looks from me to Luke, letting his gaze linger with him. He looks back at Monica and says, “Turn her over.”
Luke whispers, “Come with me, Isabel.”
Without putting up a fight this time, he turns me around and tucks me under his arm against his chest.
Nothing good can come from Luke asking me to go with him right now. An involuntary sob escapes my mouth, knowing that something must be really wrong for the guardian to look at me like he did and for Luke to respond to it by pulling me away.
Suddenly, the rigorous beep of the monitor, becomes a long, solid tone. I try to turn around to see what is happening, but Luke holds me firmly to keep me from looking. Through blurring
vision, I look up at Luke as he watches the scene unfolding behind me. The look he has on his face...I use all the power within me to break free from him. I shove Monica out of the way of me getting to my sister. Ignoring the bitter cold of her fingers, I clasp Corinna’s hand in mine; I need to make them warm.
My eyes wander from our joined fingers up her back to the red mass of hair splayed on the table. I feel Luke’s hands on my shoulders again, more forceful now. “Isabel, let go!”
I ignore him, entranced by my sister’s soft, peaceful face. I will not let her go! I close my eyes and pull in all the hurt, anger, and sorrow that has built within me. I feel the sheer potency of my energy boiling, ready to burst. I hear Monica at my side now, “Pull her off Luke or I will do it myself. We need to try and save her!”
Luke growls back at Monica, “That is what she is doing! She has the ability to heal; Lactrosis.”
I feel his hands loosen their grip, but remain on me. Luke thinks, “I am a healer too. Let me help.”
His hands become temperate on my arms and I feel the warmth penetrate my skin and flow through me. Luke thinks, “Focus the energy on her
, Isabel.”
I envision her stilled heart and imagine the energy in me as a steady, electrified flow leaving my body and entering hers, straight through her skin and into her chest. The intensity of the fire burning within me
liquefies my limps and my eyes grow too heavy to hold open.
Behind closed eyes I see my sister as a little girl again, holding my hand and smiling at me. She pulls me along and we start to spin around in an open field. She throws her head back and giggles her same little girl giggle that always made me join in on the laughter. Then, I hear my own childish laugh as we spin faster and faster. The world around us is spinning out of control, but my sister remains the constant. “I love you
, Corinna.”
The world around us begins to slow and little Corinna pulls me into her arms. She giggles softly and whispers in her small voice, “I love you
, Isabel.”
My heart swells at the sound of those words and a whimper breaks free from my lips, pulling my focus from the memory of us. The harder I try to refocus on the memory, the further away it fades. No, no, I can’t lose focus! I have to save her! With my eyes still pinched closed, the memory dissolves and I feel the failure of losing my sister hit home. I lay my face on her chest and let my soul break for her, body quaking uncontrollably. Luke’s strong hand caresses my back. He whispers into
my hair, “You saved her.”
I shake my head. “No.”
What is he saying? I lost her, I didn’t save her! The memory of us faded away! She faded away! I open my eyes and pull my head up, looking into my sister’s face. Motionless and pale she lies beneath me. I look down my hand tightly clasping hers. That is when I hear the constant beep of the heart monitor sputter for two distinct beats. I pull my eyes from our hands and look at her face again, looking for any sign of life. The long beep, sputters again, and then holds a rhythm. My own heart feels like it is going to burst out of my chest as I rise up. The room starts to spin, but Luke is right behind me keeping me from falling.
Feeling Monica hovering by mine and Luke’s side, I reluctantly release Corinna’s hand, lean back against Luke’s chest, and watch Monica tend to my sister.
Jesca
Xander and I walk on either side of Monica down the dimly, lit hall. I am thankful Monica put some space between Xander and I after his jealous rage back in the cafeteria. We walk quickly to the wing of the facility where Corinna and Isabel have been for the past two days. After, Luke and Monica told us about Isabel’s account of Corinna’s surgery, how Isabel saved her with her healing ability, and that she had not come out of a coma yet, I had to see her.
Luke and Monica were concerned that Isabel may be guarded with her and not be receptive to my presence. I told them if they didn’t show me where they were, I would turn this facility upside down until I found them.
Monica turns her head toward us while keeping the quick pace toward the metal doors. “Her vitals are solid. We removed the breathing tubes this morning and her brain function is strong. She is still not responsive though.”
She stops at the doors and turns to face us. “We don’t know what she will be like when she wakes. Isabel is adamant that her sister will be herself. I know her emotions are fragile right now, so I didn’t pose my concerns.”
“What concerns?”
Monica crosses her arms over her chest. “We have never experienced a human being surviving after the removal of a Sondian Copula.”
I’m confused by what she is saying. “Experienced?”
Xander starts in, “Wait, Sebastian told us before the intersection that the MIT team had acquired a Sondian Copula. Was that you?”
Monica nods, “Yes, it was me and other Dobrian guardians.”
I thought the devices were just acquired, not removed from humans. Disturbing images of what the removal and death of these vessels might resemble run through my head. “So, you killed these people to acquire the Copulas.”
Monica shakes her head and looks at me. “We have only attempted two removals and they were from Sondian guardians that compromised our cover at MIT.”
Xander asks, “How did Sondian guardians get into your department?”
Monica, “We are among other scientists that are not involved in our fellowship. Most are average civilians unaware of what we know and do as guardians. Every so often, Sondian guardians go under the radar. They blend in really well with the average civilian. Most of the time we snuff them out, like the two we performed the removals on.”
Monica leans against the door, still blocking us from passing. “Look, it wasn’t easy to take these humans, sedate them, and risk killing them. I am not a cold blooded murderer.”
I feel guilty all of a sudden for accusing her of being a killer.
Monica continues, “After seeing Corinna the way she was in the forest and seeing a Sondian guardian up close, they are no longer civil human beings. Their minds are lost, warped. It’s like their soul has been numbed. Seeing them for who they had become made it easier to come to terms with what I was doing.”
Xander folds his arms across his chest and leans against the door pane. “Okay, what happened to them? Why didn’t they survive?”
Monica, “The first one died on the table; he bled out. The Sondian Copula is implanted deeper than the Dobrian. The copper wires connecting themselves to the vessel were wrapped around central veins near the spinal column. It looked like an ivy vine wrapping itself around these veins, sure-guarding that the device would not ever be removed without killing the vessel.” Monica shakes her head in disgust before continuing. “I can only assume that this was Michael Sanderson’s intention in order to guarantee that if they were captured alive, they wouldn’t remain that way if a removal was done. It is a miracle Balthazar lived after his removal. I guess that was Michael’s sick idea of punishment.”
Monica looks at me now. “The vessel that passed did not die in vain though. We were able to study the device to see how different the Sondian Copula was from ours. How their DNA was altered
comparable to ours to make them more aggressive. However, the way their device used orthomolecular therapy…” Monica looks at us realizing she might have spoke over our heads. “That is infusing the body intravenously with chemicals, elements, medication, etc.”
I nod, remembering Balthazar tell us back in the Tokyo facility how Michael experimented with trace elements through infusion from the device to make the vessels physically stronger and mentally pliable.
“That explains the copper wiring attaching itself to the veins within the body.”
Monica nods, “Our device does not. Well, did not. The new generation Copulas will have that modification as well as the orthomolecular therapy capabilities. The modifications can help our race in more ways than the obvious; cure diseases, prevent illnesses, eliminate genetic defects. The possibilities are endless.”
Listening to her reminds me of Ezra. She is just like him.
Xander asks, “The one you activated in Corinna is the new Dobrian Copula, right?”
Monica, “Yes, and so is Marcus’s.”
So if they have gotten the modifie
d Dobrian Copula, when will we?
“Are we all going to eventually get the new Copulas?”
Monica nods. “Yes, but it will take time. We must consider that right now, as guardians, we have some protection with our current devices. The average civilian has none whatsoever.”
I nod, understanding where she is going with this. “They need to be implanted before us. It is their only chance for survival.”
Monica, “The second Sondian guardian we captured had a different outcome when we removed the device. We had realized with the first what we had done wrong. We were able to go into the operating room with knowledge of how we could removal the device and not risk the vessel dying. Once again the veins were woven with the copper wiring so tightly, it was hard to see where the vein began and the wire ended. Every cut of a wire risked a bleed out. It was like a ticking time bomb ready to go off at any moment. On the last wire, one of the surgeons grazed a central vein. We quickly cauterized it, while implanting the new Dobian Copula. Her heart stopped. We quickly rolled her over on her back and injected her with a large dose of adrenaline. We thought we had lost her, but suddenly her heart started beating again.”
Monica’s eyes light up with the recollection of the experience for just a moment. Then the light fades. “She was in a coma for weeks, but never came to.” She pushes off of the door suddenly. “I worry that Corinna is headed for the same fate. If she does survive, she may never be the Corinna she was before the abduction and implantation by the Sondians. God knows what Michael Sanderson and his cohorts had put her through before sending her to Tokyo with Sam.”
I feel sick to my stomach thinking about the terrible things that could have happened to Corinna after her abduction. I remember seeing her on that battlefield in Aokigahara Forest. Her face looked so crazed and her movements so feral, like an animal with no soul. She does have a soul though; it had just been caged and warped. But, when her soul is unchained when she wakes, will it remain dormant and broken from the torture she endured or will it renew and heal. I sense Monica watching me. She is wondering if I am up to seeing Corinna still after hearing all of this. I breathe in a cleansing breath and release it slowly. I know what I need to do, so I work hard to push down the fear I have in my heart. “I have to try to help her.”
Monica looks at Xander and steps toward me. Her eyes narrow on me, “How?”
“Getting inside her head.”
Xander snaps at me. “Hell no!”
I’m not shocked, just angry with his arrogance, thinking he
can tell me what I can and cannot do. “I don’t think you have a say in this, Xander. It’s my decision.”
Xander’s anger gets the best of him as his jaw works from side to side. His voice hides his anger well though. “You would be entering her mind blindly
, Jesca. You don’t know if she is the normal Corinna, or the crazy Corinna setting a trap for you.”