Chosen (36 page)

“You’re the expert here!  What do you think?”

“I think that it makes it so that none of us are able to use the crystals without the others present.”

“So you’re giving up your autonomy for it?”

Liz shook her head.  “We don’t have much autonomy if we’re so
limited
, Tracy.  Ashley told you, didn’t she?  About the connections between all the elements of the world?”

“Sure,” I said.  “I guess.”

“Well, we’ll have the power to modify those connections however we want!”

“Assuming the other two people are around.”

“Yes.  But that’s not important!”

“Then what is?”

“How much flexibility it affords us!  We are all bound by oath, right now, to share this with only each other.  What’s the harm in another link between us?”

“Alright,” I said, considering it slowly.  While the crystals did scare me, the other girls all seemed to be dealing with them just fine.  Maybe I was being too paranoid.  Maybe the desire I felt for them was perfectly natural – normal, even.  And maybe the desire would subside as I got more accustomed to the crystals.  Plus, Liz contended that the dangers would disappear if we were to link.  Was it really so bad, to seek out safety amid the uncertainty?  “Let’s say we were to link.  What happens then?  We become bound to use the crystals only if the others are around.  Correct?”

“Right,” Liz said.

“And when the others
are
around, all of us can wield more power than we could have individually?”

“Ehhh,” Liz stalled. “Not really.  A triangle has three points.  What would happen if all three of those points tried to move in their own, uncoordinated direction?  All at once?  The lines connecting the points would snap, shattering the connection.  That’s why only one of the three can ever wield power.”

“Wait! So two of the people cede control to the third?”

“Right.”

“But how do you decide who gets the power?”

“It’ll be me, of course,” Liz said smoothly.  “I’m the natural choice.  I discovered the crystals, after all, and I know the most about their use.”

“And the others are fine with that?”

“Of course!” Liz said quickly.  Maybe a little too quickly.  “They know I’m the best choice.  And I’ve led them all this far already.”

“So what you want
me
to do, then,” I said deliberately, “is give up all my control, all my abilities, just so that
you
can use your own to a greater degree?”

“When you say it like that,” Liz began, but I cut her off.

“So what am I to you, then?” I asked angrily.  “A vessel through which power flows?  With no more say or intellect than some inanimate object?  Just a shell of a body?  Or – even worse – just another type of crystal, which you can draw more power from?”

“It’s not like that,” Liz began.

“Oh?  Then what is it?  Please, do tell.  Because from my perspective, ever since you met me, you’ve done nothing but try to use me for your own gain!”

“That’s not true!” Liz defended.  I could hear the emotion rising in her voice.  “I looked after you once you used the crystal.  I made sure you were okay after Ashley attacked you!”

“But I would have never been in that situation in the first place were it not for you!”

“Come on, Tracy.  Think!  I freed you from your boring little life, and shared with you a wonderful gift.  Do you know how many other girls would kill to be in your shoes?”

“You showed me only so you could use me,” I seethed.

“Can you get it through your thick skull that it’s not like that?” Liz yelled at me.  “I showed you this to include you! Not to spurn you!”

“But you did it only so
you
could get more power.  I was the key to unlocking everything for you, wasn’t I?  You knew it from the moment you met me!”

“That’s not true—”

“Ashley said she knew how strong my potential was the first day.  I’m sure you would have known that, too!”  I remembered the first time Liz placed the crystal in my hand and asked me what I felt.  She had been so excited when I told her.  Now I was realizing it was probably all an act.  “You
knew
how strong I was, and you pretended to be surprised when I told you I could use the crystal!  You deceived me, Elizabeth!”

Liz threw her hands up in the air.  “What are you talking about?  I had no idea that you would be so strong!”

“Liar!” I spat.  “Ashley told me
she
knew.  How could you not?”

Liz took a deep breath.  “Ashley has – had – a unique gift.  She can sense the potential within others.  Almost everybody has it, hidden deep inside, but not all are able to access it.  You were one of the few who could.  I didn’t know any more about it than you did when I met you.”

I paused for a moment.  It wasn’t like me to get so heated, and yet, I couldn’t shake the feeling I was being used.  Nor could I shake my anger.  “But as soon as you found out, you set out to use me, didn’t you?  That’s just as bad, Liz.  Worse, even!”

“How is that any worse?  I showed you who you really are.  Without me, you’d have no idea of what you can do, what you’re capable of!”

“Yeah?  Well maybe I was better off that way!” I screamed, and turned away. 

“Tracy, wait,” Liz called after me.  But I didn’t listen.  I was seething inside.  All of this was just a ruse for her to use me, a trick for her to gain more power through me.  And to think, I had thought of her as a friend not long ago.  I hated myself for being so foolish.  Even Ashley, the one person who was once downright hostile toward me, was now showing herself to be a better person than Liz.    

I stalked toward the distant exit, my fists clenched at my side, my mind running through all the events since I’d met Liz.  After a moment, I came to a horrifying conclusion:
all
the girls were collaborating to use me.  That had been their plan all along.  I remembered the smiles and nods that came when I first told them I felt something hot burst forth from the crystal.  Thinking back, I realized just how fake that the whole relationship was.  The smiles never reached their eyes.  It was all so… plastic.  Even Madison, the one girl I thought I had connected with the most, was in on it.  They were all just hungry for the power I could give them.  None of them would think twice about using me.

I broke out into a run.  I had to get out of the tunnel, and away from here.  The light bulbs provided precious little light.  The walls seemed to squeeze in on me as I ran.  All I could hear was the sound of my labored breathing and my own footsteps against the stone.  Shadows danced wickedly at the sides, making the enclosure even more claustrophobic.  I needed to get out, to be out in the open.  Far ahead, as a pale light in the distance, I could make out the exit to the forest.  I doubled my speed.

I burst out of the tunnel, and flew by a surprised Eve and Madison.  They called after me, but I didn’t hear them.  I wanted nothing to do with any of them.  I ran into the clearing and looked around wildly.  Which way to go?  Without somebody to guide me, I would just get lost.  Was my escape going to be hampered this early?

Then I spotted Ashley, sitting dejectedly on a lone rock on the other side.  I ran to her.  She could guide me out of here.

“Come on,” I said, taking her by the arm. “We’re getting out of here.”

Startled, she jumped when I touched her.  But then she pulled away.  “What about Liz and the others?” she asked suspiciously.

“What about them?” I said harshly.

“Where are they?”

“Not coming.”

“Liz said I need to wait for all of them.”

“They don’t care about you,” I spat. “Why would you care about them?”

“What are you talking about?”

I didn’t have time to play.  I needed to get away from here,
now
.  “You know what Liz told me?”

“What?”

“She said that you lost the power to read the crystals. 
Forever
.  And that it would never come back, no matter what you did or how long you waited.”

Ashley looked at me in shock.  Her mouth worked, but no words came out.  And then I saw something shatter deep beyond her eyes.  A hope that she had been holding on to was now gone.  She knew the truth.  My words only confirmed it.  Her eyes darkened. 

“This way,” she said.

Chapter Twenty-Three – Rob

Ashley rushed me through the woods, taking a path I didn’t recognize.  She said none of the others knew of it so we couldn’t be followed.  When I saw the trees thin out up ahead, I knew we were getting close.

“Here we are,” she said as we got to the edge of the woods.  “Just go straight over the hills until you see the road from the dorms to the main yard.  You can’t get lost.”

“What about you?”

“I’m going back.”

“But—”

“If what you said is true,” she told me, “and I have no reason to believe you lied, there’s somebody else I need to talk to.”

“Liz?”

She nodded.  “She let me hang onto a false hope for so long.  I want to know why.”

“Alright,” I said, squeezing her in a small hug.  “Thanks for bringing me here.”  It was ironic that the person who had been so unfriendly toward me at the start had now become the only one I could trust. 

“Tracy, wait,” Ashley called.

I turned back.  “Yes?”

“Here.  You should take this.”  Ashley reached into one pocket, and pulled something out in a fist.  She opened her hand, and in her palm lay a small, almost-opaque crystal.  Inside, I could see a gentle blue throbbing.   

I shook my head.  “I… I don’t want it.”  I had to force myself to say the words, because at the moment I saw the crystal, that instinctive desire awoke within me.  It took all the control I had to stop myself from snatching it out of her hand.  That type of influence of the crystal over my mind was exactly what I feared.

“You might need it sometime in the future,” Ashley said.  “Besides, it’s not like… it’s not like…” she was struggling to find the words, “it’s not like I can ever use it.”

 “No,” I said again.  “It’s yours, whether you can use it or not.”

“Will you just take it?” Ashley screamed.  I could see tears forming in her eyes.  “Please.  It reminds me of everything I cannot do.”

I stepped toward her, somewhat tentatively, but a little eagerly too.  There was something inside me that lusted dearly for the crystal, for any crystal, and then there was my actual conscious mind that told me to stay away.  The two parts waged war within my head.  Would it be so bad to have just one crystal?  But then I remembered the after-sickness, and the dangers it held.  And yet, with more experience, perhaps I could avoid that altogether? 

“Here!”  Ashley interrupted my thoughts by slamming the crystal into my hand.  As soon as she pulled her hand away, I could feel that familiar warmth rise within the crystal.  I was nearly shaking with anticipation.  To have been deprived of it for so many days, and then to finally have it right within my hands… My fingers brushed the smooth surface of the crystal, and I gripped it tighter.  I was ready to let the power flow through me.  It is what I desired, what I had so long awaited.  Now, all I had to do was open myself up and let the crystal take hold of me.  The glow within the crystal ebbed stronger, and I fed it more power.  The blue light erupted to coat everything around me.  I could
feel
my mind work faster.

Danger
.

My mind was wrapped in the ecstasy of using the crystal, and I was oblivious to everything else.  I drew more power, willing my mind to work faster, for the crystal to unlock every last capacity of my brain.

Danger
.

It was the merest flash of a feeling, rippling across the surface of my thoughts.  It was gone before I could locate it.  But, its meaning was undeniable. 

Danger
.

There it was again!  That it could penetrate the deepest recesses of my mind told me just how important it was.   

With a yelp, I threw the crystal to the ground.  As it left my hand, I was jerked back to reality.  The blue light retracted into the crystal as if sucked into a vacuum.  The sounds and movement of the world around me resumed.  A sharp pain burst forth behind my eyes, and I fell to my knees, clutching my head.

“Tracy?  Tracy! What’s wrong?”  It was Ashley.  She was kneeling down beside me, and had one hand on my shoulders.  “Are you alright?”

I took a series of deep breaths, which helped mitigate the pain.  Somewhat.  Shakily, I pushed myself up.  Then, realizing I couldn’t do it alone, resorted to leaning on Ashley’s shoulder to allow her to help.

“The crystal,” I breathed raggedly, “it… did something to me.”

“You tried to draw too much power, didn’t you?”

“No.  I mean, I don’t think so.  I don’t know!”