Unaltered #2_A Diamond in my Heart (10 page)

Maetha was genuinely
shocked to hear my observation. “Are you saying he was able to
manipulate
me
to
answer the way he wanted?”

“Not exactly, your own freewill is not
able to be controlled, but everyone has their breaking point or
‘button’ and when pushed they tend to behave the way he wants them
to.”

“To what end? What does he have to
gain from manipulating me?”

“Perhaps it’s just an experiment on
his part. Until I figured out what he was doing, he had tried to
get answers out of me, attempted to get private information out of
my mind, but I wouldn’t give in. It frustrated him to no end. I’m
going to have to talk with Beth and warn her of what he’s
doing.”

Maetha was obviously disturbed by
Brand and the revelation that he used his ability on her without
her knowledge.

Beth, on the other hand, exploded with
anger when I told her Brand was playing her. She marched right over
to him with her fists clenched and jaw set and gave him a piece of
her mind. “How dare you try your power on me!” Her teeth were
clenched together and her words were more like a hiss. It was nice
to see the Beth I knew from a year ago.

“I’m sorry Beth, I was caught off
guard with your beauty,” Brand said

“My what?”

“I’ve never met anyone like you before
and I reacted poorly. Can you ever forgive me?”

“Well, just don’t do it
again.”

Uh-oh,
I thought,
he's doing it
again.
I turned to Maetha and put my
thoughts out for her to read.
“Do you see
what he’s doing? Beth isn’t the sort of girl to back down so
quickly and it can only mean one thing—he’s repeating. He’s
rewinding and trying different phrases until he finds the one that
gives him the desired result; by making one attempt after another
he eventually gets his way. Keep watching. I’ll bet she ends up
hugging him soon. He always ends with a hug.”

We watched as Brand leaned forward and
whispered something to Beth to which she giggled and then hugged
him. I caught Brand’s eye and shook my head. He shrugged his
shoulders as if to say, “Sorry, I can’t help myself.”

Maetha spoke to my
mind,
“Calli, this power of Brand’s is
very dangerous. He needs to learn how to use it properly and in a
manner that supports the will of nature. You need to take him under
your wing and teach him about the greater good.”

I replied with my
thoughts.
“As far as I can tell he only
uses it to get girlfriends and evade traffic tickets,”

“Well, Beth won’t become
one of his conquests on this trip; I can assure you of that.
However, I do see a certain level of attraction to him on her part
so keeping them apart long term isn’t going to be up to us. His
future is a crazy plethora of possibilities in which only some of
them reveal Beth as the one he ends up with. His mind is all about
percentages, I’m finding. I’d say he has about a 15% chance of
ending up with Beth.”
Maetha put her hands
to her head as if she was experiencing discomfort. She said out
loud, “Wow, his head is a mess. How do you navigate through it,
Calli?”

“I’ve found it’s better to steer clear
of it. I don’t like the headache that navigating brings
on.”

“I understand what you mean. This pain
is like nothing I’ve experienced.”

“I call them Brand-aches.”

“I’ve experienced these headaches with
the other Repeaters too."

"Repeaters?"

"Yes. At least, that's what we call
them. Soon after his power was identified, my associate Silvia, in
Columbus, Ohio used the information to befriend a female Repeater
and gain her trust. I met with the young lady and experienced the
same explosion of pandemonium and pain within my head. However,
this girl named Nicole didn’t use her power in the same way Brand
does; Nicole is a juvenile delinquent.”

“There are others like me?” Brand
joined in on our conversation.

“Yes, so far we’ve identified a small
handful of Repeaters; five possibly six, all close to the same
age.”

“I want to meet them.” His voice held
genuine excitement.

“Someday you will, Brand.” Maetha
smiled at him. “Let’s get back to training.”

We spent the rest of the afternoon
learning about the energy fields around humans and the colors
associated with them. It might as well have been a foreign language
because it went right over my head. I don’t know that I’ll ever be
able to detect auras, most likely not as long as I view the whole
idea as being ridiculous. However, when I remember the memory in
Chris’s mind of what he saw when he looked at me, I am reminded
that auras are not hogwash because through his eyes I saw my own
iridescent glow. If only I could see it now with my own
eyes.

Before we parted, Maetha took me aside
and said, “Calli, Brand’s power and the way he uses it has to do
with his basic personality and his life experiences prior to the
power emerging. From what I can tell, which isn’t much, Brand’s use
of his power is by far the most threatening to the human race than
the other Repeaters. His power of persuasion and charisma coupled
with his ability to manipulate endlessly and tirelessly says to me
that nothing would stop or deter him from succeeding at whatever he
set in his mind. Study and learn his intentions and what he
desires, try hard to sway his mind in a good direction. Keep his
allegiance and don’t lie to him or you’ll lose him. I would take
him under my own wing but I can tell he doesn’t trust me like he
does you. He’s in good hands with you, Calli.

*****

Brand and I made plans to meet at his
house a few days later in the evening because his mother would be
gone. We would be able to run a few experiments with the Shadow
Demons and hopefully gain a better understanding of them. He
insisted on calling it a date and it didn’t matter how many times I
told him to ‘knock it off’, he wouldn’t. I told him he could call
it whatever he wanted but it wouldn’t change the fact that I knew
it wasn’t. He called me stubborn or something along those
lines.

I drove to his house and parked in his
driveway and reached for the extra shirt I’d brought with me. Mrs.
Winter’s ‘shirt in the shadows’ demonstration was the most
effective, in my opinion, at visually appreciating the fierceness
of the Demons.

Brand sat on his front porch waiting
for me and as I approached I tossed my shirt beside him.

“What’s that for?” He picked up my
shirt and stood.

“Nice to see you too, Brand. The shirt
is for later. Alright, I created a list of the experiments I’d like
to try.” I pulled a folded piece of paper out of my back pocket and
handed it to him as we stood on under the bright light
bulb.

“I have a few requests of my own, if
you don’t mind, Calli.”

“Like what?”

“Well, you can see the Demons, right?
Well, I want you to show me exactly where they are. Where is the
light not enough to hold them back?” His question was valid and was
also number two on my list. My reasons for listing it were for a
bit of a different experiment. He wanted to know where they were in
the thinning light; I wanted to find out how much injury would be
sustained at the ‘not quite dark, not quite light’ zone.

“The streetlights will interfere with
our experiment,” I pointed to the two nearby lights; one across the
street, the other next to his driveway.

“Not a problem,” he said as he opened
his front door, reached inside, and pulled out a rifle.

“What are you going to do with
that?”

“Reduce our light,” he said with a
devious smile. “Don’t worry, it’s just a BB gun—a high powered BB
gun.” He stepped off the porch and walked to the safety of the
light at the end of his driveway. He aimed at the light across the
street and pulled the trigger. I heard a pop from the gun and a
clink sound as the BB bounced off the metal pole. Brand cocked the
gun and tried again. This time he successfully cracked the
protective glass allowing the next shot to shatter the bulb. Then
he walked back to the porch before aiming at the light at the end
of the driveway. The crashing sound of the glass hitting the cement
below startled the neighbor’s yappy dog causing him to do what he
does best; bark.

“You missed and didn’t repeat,
why?”

“I don’t always repeat,
Calli.”

“Huh,” was all I could say. “I’ll walk
out there and stand at the line of Demons. I brought a light meter
with me to check for consistency with Demon presence verses light
levels. I suspect that a specific number will be the point at which
they are present; kind of like the formation of ice at the freezing
point.” I showed my meter to Brand and stepped off the porch into
the gathering darkness. I walked all the way to the sidewalk and
stood toe to toe, nose to nose with the Demons and then looked at
my light meter. I couldn’t see the numbers though. So I deduced
that depending on where the light meter was positioned would depend
on a proper reading. Obviously this particular meter wasn’t going
to be able to give me the results I needed. I’d have to shop around
for a different one; one I could actually see the numbers or one
that could transmit numbers to a computer.

I turned to Brand and said, “I’m
standing in front of them.” I stepped into the line of Demons. “Now
I’m standing with them.”

Brand walked toward me and slowed to a
stop before reaching me. “What does your meter say?”

“It’s too dark to read it. I’ll have
to go get a different one and try later.”

“Alright, so without the streetlights
the light from the front porch reaches as far as the sidewalk. I
already know the Demons are thick anywhere there is a defined line
of light and darkness, like around the corner of the
house.

“Come closer, Brand.”

“I don’t really want to. Even though I
can repeat back to the safety of the porch, it still hurts to be
attacked.”

“Brand, you are the only one who can
give us a better understanding of the Shadow Demons. Now, put on
your big-boy-pants and help me out.”

“If I take three steps forward,
they’ll attack me.”

“How do you know until you
try?”

“Calli, I just did. Honestly, did you
already forget who you’re dealing with here?”

“No, but how am I supposed to observe
their behavior if I don’t get to see it?” I couldn’t believe he’d
leave me out.

“Fine!”

I moved forward to take his hand but
he pulled back. “I don’t need to be touching you to pull you back
with me.” He touched his pointer finger to his temple and winked.
“It’s all done in here.”

I was actually shocked to hear this.
“Then why did you hold my hand at the amusement park?”

“Because I could,” he smiled exposing
his cute dimples. Then his smile faded and he added, “I don’t know
what would happen if I had physical contact with you when the
Demons attack. I won’t risk you being injured.”

“You can just repeat me back,
Brand.”

“Yes, I could, but I don’t want you to
feel the pain.” He stepped forward three paces and I watched in
horror as the Demons attacked. His body was actually lifted from
the ground by the Demons and black liquid oozed out of him. I knew
it was blood, but in the dark it was black. He screamed out in
agony for a split second and then the world whirled around back to
just before he stepped forward. He looked at me with a serious
expression on his face which was hard to see due to the low light.
“See what I mean?”

“Yes, I’m sorry Brand for pressuring
you into that.”

“Yeah, whatever,” he brushed off my
concern and said, “where do the Demons go in the
daytime?”

“No one really knows, that’s why were
conducting these experiments.”

“OK, can the Demons enter my house if
the lights are off?”

“Haven’t you tried to find out for
yourself?”

“You’re smart, Calli, I like that.” He
smiled at me and I rolled my eyes. “Let me rephrase my question.
Why don’t the Demons enter my house when the lights are
off?”

This had been a question of mine ever
since Clara Winter had demonstrated the Demons' ferocity at the
Runners' compound. I suspected that it was because there were
always lights on inside and outside the building but what if the
power was out like the night we came home from Cedar Point? Would
Demons be able to get inside?

“Brand, I want to try something.
Where’s the exterior power box for your house?”

“On the side of the garage,
why?”

“I’m going to flip the switch while
you are standing inside your front room with the front door opened.
If the Demons get you, you’ll repeat back to safety. If not, don’t
repeat. I want to come explore the darkened interior of your home.”
I walked to the side of the garage and pulled the handle that cut
all power to his home and waited. Brand didn’t repeat so I went
back to the front door.

“Calli, is that you?”