Authors: B.L. Teschner
The loud vibration of
the heavy Mustang crashing to the ground echoed through the buildings
as he turned and jogged back to me, not waiting to see if his aim was
accurate. “Let's go,” he hurried me along, pulling me
next to him down the street.
I swallowed hard and
ran as fast as my legs could take me, struggling to keep up with his
speed. Once we made it around another dark corner we were met with
the sight of the secluded beach on the other side of the road.
“
There's nowhere
to hide,” I sobbed. “He'll find us.”
Just as the hopeless
words left my mouth a bolt of electricity jolted through my body. The
feeling was horrible, a burning sting that vibrated beneath my skin
and made me feel weak. I plummeted to the hard ground, yanking
Jonah's arm with the sudden force of my fall.
Jonah stopped and fell
to my side. “Summer! What's wrong?”
Fox strolled out of the
darkness and into the light of the moon with his arms crossed
casually in front of him. “You can't get away from me, Jonah.
You might as well stop running.”
Jonah's head snapped
over to his shadow-covered form. “You electrocuted her?”
“
I like that
little trick you did with the car back there,” he muttered,
ignoring his question. “You've probably figured it out by now,
but you missed me.”
I shook away the
buzzing in my head and grabbed onto Jonah's hand. He pulled me up and
held onto me tightly, wrapping his arms protectively around my body.
Fox uncrossed his arms
and walked toward us, making us step backwards into the empty street.
“Summer,” he cautioned me with a professional tone, “I'm
going to give you one last chance to change your mind,
without
force.”
I swallowed the heavy
lump in my throat and tried hard to mask the fear in my voice. “I
will
never
be with you,” I spat out. Unfortunately my
trepidation was obvious.
A low chuckle vibrated
in the deepness of his chest. “Okay, then. Don't say I didn't
warn you.” He lifted a single finger and shot out a bolt of
white electricity, hitting me directly in my stomach and sending the
both of us stumbling backwards.
“
Don't hurt
her!” Jonah screamed as he held me up. “If you want to
hurt someone then you hurt
me
!”
Fox shook his head in
agreement. “You let her go and I won't hurt her again. Cross my
heart.”
Jonah made sure I could
stand on my own and then immediately let me go, standing firmly next
to me with clenched fists.
“
What a
sweetheart,” Fox clucked while strolling toward us, making us
step further back across the road and onto the smoothness of the
beach.
“
What do you
want, Fox?” I pleaded while following next to Jonah's path in
the sand.
“
You know what I
want, Summer; I want you.” His hand pointed at Jonah's chest
and he sparked another white current, this time keeping it constantly
flowing, making him stumble backwards toward the dark ocean water.
“
Fox, stop it!”
I screamed.
Jonah let out a deep
growl and took off against the bolt, tackling Fox and shoving him to
the ground. Their two powerful bodies wrestled around on the sand and
moved closer to the water while they both tried hard to win the final
battle.
“
Help!” I
screamed desperately down the empty beach, hoping that somebody,
anybody
would hear my cries. “Where
is
everybody?
We need help!”
Somehow Fox had Jonah
pressed against the ground within seconds. “Give up, you're not
strong enough to beat me,” he yelled down at his crimson eyes.
Jonah groaned in agony
as Fox wrapped his hands around his neck and bled a constant bolt of
electricity out from his fingers. He fought back, punching up at
Fox's face and busting open his lip.
Fox flinched at the
pain. “You're not very strong when you have bolts of
electricity surging through your body,” he spat out, sending
drops of blood falling down onto Jonah's cheek.
They scuffled around on
the sand, their movement shifting them perilously close to the
rolling waves of the ocean.
Water and
electricity don't mix.
The words Jonah and I had told each other
before echoed through my mind. The sudden realization of the danger
ignited my fear. “Jonah, the water's too close!”
Hearing my worried
cries, he took a hand away from Fox and stuck it out to his side,
making the black water of the ocean pull back into a short rumbling
wall.
My troubled eyes moved
away from the water and fell on to Jonah's exhausted face: sweat was
broke out across his forehead from fighting against the raging power
of Fox's electric hands, and he was using his last bit of strength to
hold back the waves of the ocean.
What am I going to
do? His energy is fading and he won't be able to hold the waves back
for long. If the water hits him, he'll die.
The moment was one of
desperation. Jonah was the greatest person that I had ever met in my
entire life. He showed me love like I had never seen before; he made
me the woman that I wanted to be. I owed my life to him and I was
willing to give him anything, no matter what that meant for myself.
I swallowed hard and
prepared myself for what I was about to do.
Jonah, if there's ever
a time for me to help you, it's now. I let you down in the alley when
I couldn't take us away; I won't let that happen again. Please know
that I love you with all of my heart, and that what I'm about to say
isn't the truth.
I took a deep breath
and stood next to them in tears. “Fox, please stop! I want to
be with you!”
Jonah's shimmering red
eyes shot up at me with a sad puzzlement that cut through his tired
anger.
Fox kept his grip on
Jonah's neck and shot me a quick glare. “You're lying to save
your boyfriend's life!”
“
No, I swear! I
was only with him to make you jealous.”
His evil eyes cut back
at Jonah. “I don't believe you.”
I took one last look
around the desolate beach. There was no one around; no one would see
what I was about to do. I closed my eyes and thought of the picture
of the cliff in Hawaii. “Fox, please,” I continued the
lies, “I want you.”
The giant cliff
overlooks the water for as far as your eyes can see. There's a single
palm tree off to the side that sways in the wind, welcoming you to
pass and peek over the edge . . .
Jonah could see that my
eyes were tightly clenched shut; he knew what my plan was. “Summer,
no!” he cried out through the surging pain.
The cliff travels
out into the air and forms a point at the end, leaving only enough
room for one person to stand at the very tip and look down at the
water . . .
I focused on the
details of the cliff, ignoring Jonah's pleas for me to stop. “I
told you, Fox, stop electrocuting him right now and I'll be with
you!”
My body shook from my
intense concentration as I tried harder than ever before to take
myself away. I was so afraid; my vision was more clear than any other
time in my life when I had tried to teleport. It scared me so much
because I knew it was actually going to work, that I would be taken
away from the protection of Jonah to a place where I would be alone
with someone who wanted to kill me if I didn't comply with his every
word. But I also knew that I could not and would not let the man I
was in love with die.
“
See, I knew she
didn't love you,” Fox clucked arrogantly.
“
Today's
your lucky day, Jonah; you don't get to die.”
Jonah's heavy breathing
filled the air, signaling to me that Fox had released his charged
grip.
Now is the time to
do it.
The high-pitched sound
that accompanied my pristine vision filled my ears and drowned out
Jonah's desperate screams that were begging me to stop. I stepped
forward and wrapped my arms around Fox's body, taking the both of us
away and leaving Jonah alone on the abandoned beach.
A soft breeze washed
over me and blew tiny blonde strands of my hair across my face.
Feeling completely drained of energy, I breathed in a breath of warm
air and tried to get my bearings.
“
Summer?”
My eyes flew open to
see Fox standing with his back against me, my arms still draped
around his strong body. I released my tight hold and stepped away
from him in disbelief.
He turned around and
met me with the same look. “Summer, did you . . . did you take
us somewhere?”
My mouth slightly
opened to reply but the words weren't there; I was in disbelief that
I had successfully used my ability. I looked at the beautiful sight
around us, taking in the view of the vast ocean behind Fox that
spanned away far into the distance.
Are we on Jonah's
cliff?
I turned around and
sucked in a breath of surprise as I saw the lone palm tree that I had
seen in the picture.
“
Summer?”
I sighed as I turned
back to face Fox and took in his disheveled appearance. His face was
smeared with blood and it continued down to his white shirt, which
had been torn open at some point during his fight with Jonah on the
sand.
“
Where are we,
Summer?”
“
We're in
Hawaii,” I said while looking over at the beautiful sunset.
“That's why it's still light outside.”
The bright rays
reminded me of Jonah and how he looked when he laid on his beach
underneath the glow of the lowering sun. My heart ached at the
thought of being away from him. I missed his love; I missed his
smile. But if I wouldn't have helped him then Fox would have surely
killed him. And now, it was up to me to help myself.
Fox's deep voice lit up
with excitement. “Are you a Divine?”
I swallowed hard and
hugged my arms around myself with a gentle nod. “Yeah, I guess
I am.”
“
Wow,” he
gasped, “that's wonderful. Why didn't you tell me?”
My eyes left the
setting sun and scanned along the side of the cliff. We were at its
edge, too close to the narrow tip that hung over the rock-infested
water below.
I bit my lip and looked
back at him with a smile. “I'm sorry, I should have told you. I
just didn't want anyone to know.”
A flicker of jealousy
flashed across his face. “Did Jonah know?”
“
No,” I
shook my head with the lie. “I didn't even tell
him
.”
A sigh of relief
breathed out of his lungs as he brought his hands up and rested them
on my shoulders. “I'm so glad we can share our abilities with
each other. I love you, Summer.”
The words disgusted me.
I swallowed hard again and tried to muster up a sincere smile. “I
love you too, Fox.”
He pulled me close and
wrapped his arms around my trembling waist, bringing my body up
against the exposed skin of his blood-splattered chest. “I've
been waiting to hear that for a long time.”
My body cringed as his
lips gently pressed against mine with a passionate kiss. I kissed
back with regret, feeling sick from the scent of his coppery blood,
hating myself for what I was doing.
I can't take this
anymore.
He kissed me deeper.
I
had saved Jonah by taking Fox away. However, I couldn't put on the
charade of loving that psycho; I had to save myself. I wished that I
were like my grandma, then I could teleport back by myself and leave
him behind on the island. But that wasn't the case with my ability,
at least not at that point in my life, and I had no choice but to try
and escape and make it down
to the ocean so Jonah could find me and I could use his energy to
take us home.
Fox broke away from our
kiss and smiled down at me, bringing his hand up to my face and
gently stroking my cheek. “We're going to have a great life
together. And now that I know you can do what you do, we can go
anywhere that we want. We can start a new life.”
I need to run away .
. .