Chosen (44 page)

Eve’s face was strained.  She was obviously struggling with standing by and watching as her friend was hurt.  “Another minute,” she said.  “Ashley knows what she’s doing.  I know that look.”

“Chris has gone mad!”

“Not yet,” Eve said.  “Just hold on.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“So?”  Chris demanded of Ashley.  “Are you going to stay true to your word?  I want you to use the crystal right
now
.  No more excuses or demands.”

“She
can’t
use the crystals!” I said to Eve.

“I know.  Just hold on…”

Ashley nodded.  She walked toward the crystal, and Chris took a step toward it as well.  But he still positioned himself between Liz and the others.  Ashley was right up to it now, and she reached out very slowly, very carefully…

Just before she could touch the crystal, Liz broke out of her gag.  “Don’t do it!” she screamed with all she had.

“Shut up!” Chris hollered, but didn’t turn back.  He was watching Ashley, and was nearly trembling with anticipation.

“We have to do something!” I pressed.

Eve looked at me.  “You’re right.  Here!”  She shoved the small packet from her pocket toward me.  “I’m not strong enough to do anything, but you are!”

“Your crystal?  I thought only you can use it.”

“
Anybody
can use it,” Eve said brusquely.  “Go!”

I hesitated for only a moment.  Using the crystal was something I swore never to do.  But, that was before the life of a friend was at stake.  Could I live with myself if something happened to Liz because of my stubborn refusal?  No.  I snatched the crystal from Eve’s open hand.  I didn’t know what I could do with it, but I still had to try.

“Chris?  I’m here!” 

Everybody turned back to face me.  Ashley pulled away from the crystal.  Madison gaped at me.  Chris smiled savagely.  His eyes darted from Liz to me.  And, without warning, he lunged at Liz with the knife.

I drew power from the crystal—overwhelming, chaotic power.  The light exploded from my hand, freezing everything.  Chris hung in mid-air.  Everything was covered in that symbolic blue, but there was an increased intensity this time.  The crystal in my hand felt alive, as if it were being amplified by the large crystals in the room. 

Danger
.

Again came that unnerving feeling, but I deliberately ignored it.  If I let up now, Chris would get to Liz.  I had to do something.  But what?  I had no training, no idea what the crystals were capable of.  All I had to go on was what little Ashley had told me the time I woke in the woods.  Everything was connected, she said.  The crystals allowed you to take advantage of that property.  I set to it.

I pulled more power into the crystal.  The connections flared to life.  It was sudden, like the great swell of a tide.  Immediately I could
sense
them.  I could
feel
the connections between myself and the earth, between the crystal and the rocks, between all the elements.

Danger
.

I was determined not to let up.  I drew more power, vainly trying to expand my feel of the connections.  It worked!  My senses expanded.  In an instant, I could feel everything in the room.  I knew where everything was, from the smallest speck of dirt to the largest boulder, by instinct alone.  I could tell exactly how far away Liz was.  Without looking, I could feel
where
Eve was right behind me.  It was an explosion of the senses.  Everything in the cavern was linked, and I
felt
all the links.

But I was drifting.  The more energy I pulled in, the more power I commanded, the less I felt like
I
was there.  I was becoming thin, vaporous.  It was the manifestation of the danger I felt. 

Danger.

Without warning, the crystals in the middle flared to life.

Danger!  Danger!

One minute they were dormant, the next they were filled with energy.  I could feel them opening, like a flower blossoming, or a captive beast testing its muscles upon release.  The energy they commanded was colossal.  They fed on the power I was putting in my crystal, sucking it into themselves like a giant black hole.  The light from my crystal flowed into the crystals in the middle, and I could feel my control slipping away.

I couldn’t let that happen.  With immense concentration, I poured everything I had into the rock between my fingers.  The flow to the middle crystals slowed, then ebbed to a halt.  I had complete control again.  The feeling of danger ceased slightly.

I had to do something to save Liz.  I felt the connections again, the millions of links that made up the ethereal energies flowing between all the particles of the universe.  I felt, and
saw
, the usually imperceptible ebb and flow of power through everything in the room.  The inanimate rocks, the dirt on the ground, and even the very air around me – everything was connected from its origin at one common source.  There was life to it, a sampling of the energy that was held at the start of all existence.  Everything here was
alive
.  The rocks, the air, the ground, all had that vital energy linking them to me and me to them.  And I could tap into it.

Danger
.

The feeling returned, but I ignored it, focusing instead on tracing the connections around me.  If I knew what they were, perhaps I could figure out how to use them.  I felt myself reach out, testing the boundaries of the crystal’s power.  There were none.  Anything I wanted to do, I could.  I felt an ethereal mist come into being around my body and expand outward, connecting itself to everything in the cavern.  I was there, and I could command the connections, shift and change them however I saw fit. 

My mind raced.  I could feel the ground, feel the tiniest of cracks, the smallest of fissures, any imperfections at all.  I could see it all clearly in my mind’s eye, the structure of the entire cave.  I knew the location of every bit of rock, every individual molecule, every infinitesimal atom.  I knew how they connected to each other, knew how they lay in place in the world, and how they could be used.

I traced the rocks with the power.  I was looking for a fault in its formation.  There were many – hundreds, perhaps thousands— and with the right amount of energy each would quickly deepen and drive the earth apart.

DANGER!

The feeling flashed in my mind, but I couldn’t pay any attention.  Liz was in danger, and I had to separate her from Chris.  The only way was to move to earth, to create a fissure so wide between her and him that he wouldn’t be able to reach her.  And I had to do it quickly, for as soon as I released the power of the crystal, reality would return to its proper speed, and Chris’s maniacal lunge would end Liz’s life.

There was a surge of power from the crystals in the middle, and for a second I wavered.  I lost my hold on the crystal.  Reality went back to normal speed, and Chris moved.  Panicking, I drew the power again.  The light flashed out just in time.  Chris was now a single step from Liz.

What was that?  How did I lose control?
   I put those thoughts to one side.  All that mattered was saving Liz.  Anything else could wait.

Then I noticed Chris again.  In the split second when  I lost control, he had turned his head toward me.  A savage, victorious grin now warped his face.  Those eyes seemed to pierce right into me, sharper than the tip of his blade.  I felt fear and didn’t know why.

But I had to focus on saving Liz.  I reached out with the power again, feeling through the fissures and cracks.  If I could just make one deep enough to separate him from her…

No, it wouldn’t work anymore.  The instant I lost control he had gotten too close to her.  I wouldn’t be able to drive the ground apart, not without one of them falling in.  I had to do something else.  I looked up.  The roof.  Yes, that was it!  Jagged pieces of rock hung down from the top, shaped over the years by dripping water.  If one of them fell in the right place… I didn’t want it to kill Chris, but it could slow him down.

I reached out with my mind, exploring the makeup of the roof.  The balance there was more precarious than the floor.  It was less rigid.  It would take much less power to shift the balance.  But I had to find the right piece.  Too big a rock would kill Chris; too small, and it wouldn’t deter him.  I also had to line up the fall to his trajectory.  I couldn’t miss. 

Luckily, the power of the crystal extended over everything, everyone, and I knew the exact dimensions of the place.  And of everybody within it.  I could tell, not consciously, but by feel, exactly where Chris was, and where he would be in the moments after I released my hold on the power.  I could project his path to that of the falling rock, and line them up perfectly.

I reached out, examining the pieces in the roof.  The power from the crystal, the light that linked me to everything around me, allowed me to do so.  There!  I found a piece, a jagged rock shaped like a wide carrot, right above him.  If I could just shimmy the end off…

The power from the crystal wrapped itself around the rock, flowing into the molecular connections that held it together.  A wisp formed and contracted tight around the piece.  It yanked, and I knew that when I released the power the piece would come down, right onto Chris.

DANGER!  DANGER!  DANGER!

I had done what I wanted, and now the feeling that had been hammering away at the back of my mind came into full focus. 
DANGER,
it screamed at me. 
DANGER!  DANGER!

The danger had something to do with the crystals in the middle of the room.  I knew I had to sever the flow of power.  I released my mind’s hold on the crystal, as I had done a few times before. 

Nothing happened.  The flow of power still continued from me into the crystal and out.  I tried again.  Again, nothing happened. 

DANGER!
 

The feeling was like a siren going off in my mind.  I began to panic.  Why couldn’t I release power? 

DANGER!
 

It was like the crystal had a mind of its own.  It refused to be cut off.  I struggled against it, desperately willing myself to pull away. 

DANGER!
 

The power kept flowing.  I sensed the connections, and knew where the power was going.  It was directed to the crystals in the middle.  They were trying to pull
me
in!

DANGER!
  

The crystals in the middle flared again with a vibrant light that shortly died away. 

DANGER!
 

I knew that if I didn’t get away now, I might never get the chance again.  Forcing it with all my strength, I ripped myself away. 

The connection to the crystal vanished. 

Reality returned.  Time sped up.  The peak I worked on cracked loudly, and the rock piece broke away.  It fell toward Chris.  Just as his outstretched hand was about to reach Liz, it crashed heavily into his shoulders, crushing him underneath.  I heard the unpleasant sound of breaking bone and winced.  Chris let out a terrible cry of pain and went still.  Liz was safe.

Relief swept over me.  I had done it!  I had saved Liz. 

But nothing was ever that easy.

Before I could even move toward her, the crystals in the middle came to life on their own.  I
felt
the surge of power that they commanded.  It was being ripped through
me
.  And I couldn’t control it.

A blinding light flared from the now-active crystals.  It was immensely more powerful than anything I could have done.  My mind and body strained from the torrent of power coursing through me.  The light was so bright, and so thick, it overwhelmed all my senses.  I couldn’t see.  I couldn’t hear. 

I could barely think.

Chapter Twenty-Eight – A
Voliar

I was floating in a river of light.  I could feel power flowing through me, but I was incapable of stopping it.  I couldn’t control any of it, couldn’t sever the connection. 

The river picked up speed.  I was moving faster.  Currents pushed me every which way, thrashing my body left and right until my senses numbed. 

I opened my eyes, and for an instant I was back in the cave.  The crystals in the middle flashed violently with light and power.  The air started to shiver, and reality waxed and waned scarily.

The moment was over – I was again in the river.  None of my senses worked.  The light was overpowering, and the river was pushing me forward with alarming speed.  Every second I was there I felt like I was becoming less and less.  The light was stripping pieces of me away, until I feared I would lose myself forever.

For the briefest glimmer of a second, I returned to the cave.  Fear was plain on the faces of all the girls around me.  But I couldn’t focus on them.  Somehow, I had gotten within mere inches of the crystals.  They were calling me.  They continued to flash the violent lights, vivid reds and blues and yellows.  They were active, and they were drawing power through me.