Unaltered #2_A Diamond in my Heart (15 page)

My eyes found Freedom again. He had a
smirk on his face that was hard to read. I hated the fact that he
was wearing sunglass because I couldn’t see where his eyes were; I
couldn’t tell if he was looking at me or not. Only Freedom would
understand the possibilities and advantages of having a group of
unaltered guys attack a person of powers, but was Freedom trying to
figure out if Brand was a person of powers?

Brand was down to the final five
contenders who were nervously dancing around him not wanting to
engage. Finally, the cheering crowd urged the battle on to the
finish. To everyone’s surprise, except mine, Brand was the last one
standing. I was very proud of him and my beaming smile was evidence
of it.

I watched as Brand stepped over a
couple guys and approached Freedom. I wanted to yell, “Wait!” or
“Don’t” but it was too late. All I could do was read lips at that
point.

Freedom said, “You don’t need to be in
college, son. I can offer you employment right now.”

Brand’s head bobbed as he replied
something back.

Freedom laughed and then said, “Well,
I’m sure you are, but this job would not be lacking in women.
However, I need to know, would you have a problem with fighting at
night?”

Yep, there it was.
Freedom was trying to figure out if Brand was a
person of powers.

Brand answered.

Freedom asked for clarification, “You
don’t have a problem with fighting in the dark?

Brand’s head shook back and
forth.

“Where did you learn to fight? Have
you had any formal training?”

I saw Freedom reach into his pocket
and pull out a business card and hand it to Brand, then turned and
walked into the crowd and disappeared from my view.

Brand turned his head and searched the
crowd until he found me; but before he could move toward me he was
surrounded by girls. He didn’t look too happy and he pushed his way
through them ignoring their advancements.

I looked up the hill and saw Suz
leaving with her friends; that was a relief at least. We wouldn’t
have to worry about her confronting Brand again. The new concern
floating through my mind was would she spread the rumor that Brand
was a hypnotist and would it fly as quickly as her rumor that Brand
could beat any number of fighters?

Brand finally found me. “Did you see
that creepy looking dude?”

“Yeah, what was that all about?” I
asked naively.

He handed me the business card. “He
wanted to hire me to be his bodyguard. There’s more, but I’ll tell
you in the car.”

I looked over at him admittedly
shocked knowing he must have sensed Freedom was more than what he
appeared to be. We ascended the hill, shrugging off congratulations
along the way, and climbed inside my car.

He launched into his pent up concerns.
“Calli, that guy knew about the Shadow Demons, I know it! He was
very concerned about the dark and nighttime as if he knew the
dangers associated with it. Only another person of powers would
know that.”

I looked at the business card closely.
It said: Top Jobs Consulting, and listed a phone number. I figured
I’d try to call the number at a later time just to see who
answered. For now, I needed to calm Brand down. I said, “I used my
Healing ability to feel inside his body, and yes, he’s a person of
powers. You were wise to turn down his offer.”

“I know, I repeated several times once
he began asking about the dark. One time he asked me about my
relationship with you. He didn’t use your name he only referred to
you as ‘the girl I arrived with’.”

So, he had noticed
me.

“Brand, the Shadow Demons are the
common denominator in the world of powers. They bring everyone down
to equal footing. I think he was trying to determine if you were
just a good fighter or if you had an ability that was strong enough
to attract Demons. I think he was only interested in you if you had
powers and because you didn’t seem to be afraid of the dark, he
probably assumed you were normal. His last questions about your
skills and if you’d had any formal training were-”

“How did you know he asked me
that?”

I looked over at him feeling more than
a little sheepish for slipping up like that and I made an impromptu
decision. “Brand, when Suz set the firecracker in middle school, it
blasted my eardrums apart. I was deaf for many months and in that
time I was taught how to read lips. I’m a lip reader. I saw
Freedom’s side of the conversation.”

“Holy cow!”

“No one knows, not even Suz. My mother
encouraged me to keep it quiet or else my classmates might take
advantage of my ability. I don’t think she had any idea how wise
she was to give me that advice. I need you to help me keep my
secret, Brand.”

“Ditto, I don’t want Suz knowing about
my feelings for her.”

“Deal.”

“You know, Calli, you’ve slipped up
more than a few times. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I
could tell you knew more about me than anyone else.”

“I used to read your lips across the
cafeteria.”

“Hey, is that how you are able to
match so many people up?”

“It’s part of it. There’s more to me
than just that, but now’s not the time to go into it. I’m going to
call this number later from a secure phone line and check it
out.”

“Let me know what you come up
with.”

We drove back to town. Brand chatted
the whole way about all the many repeats he did to win the fight,
how many times he was hit and other testosterone infused bragging.
My mind was troubled with the fact that Freedom was involved with
this whole deal. I needed to tell Maetha somehow, but how? She
really needed a cell phone.

A couple nights later I found my
opportunity to call the number on Freedom’s card. I was in the
Biology lab completing my studies and asked the professor if I
could use his phone. I went into his office and dialed the
number.

A cheerful female voice answered. “Top
Jobs Consulting, how may I direct your call?”

“I was given this number by a man; I
didn’t get his name.”

“Hold, please.”

I waited for a moment not sure if I
should hang up or not. Then Freedom’s voice sounded on the other
line, “I was beginning to wonder if you’d call at all,
Calli.”

“How did you know it was
me?”

“Because the card was meant for you,
not your happy-go-lucky friend.”

“Why are you interested in
Brand?”

“I was, but am no longer. I’m worried
for you, Calli, concerned that you are being manipulated into a
life you wouldn’t choose for yourself.”

His comment confirmed what Maetha had
told me about him; he felt she’d forced a life on him that he
didn’t want. “Where did you find that many unaltered guys to fight
Brand?”

“Unaltereds are a dime a dozen where I
come from, the question you should be asking is why did I do what I
did.”

“I already know why.”

“No, I don’t think you do.”

“You’re free to think what you want,
Freedom.”

“So, Calli, you understand what I have
to offer you? You won’t get the same offer from Maetha; only an
eternity of servitude.”

“Tell me how your offer would
differ.”

“I can remove the shard from your
heart and return you to your natural state where you can live your
life the way nature intended; not in the way Maetha intends for
you. You’ll be spared from having to watch all your loved ones die,
knowing you could save them but not allowed to do so. You’ll be
free to grieve properly not forced to become cold hearted as Maetha
would prefer. You can be freed from this terrible future and regain
your identity as a human being living life to its
fullest.”

“What do you get out of it?” I
asked.

“Simply the satisfaction of knowing I
saved a young girl with her whole life ahead of her from the pain,
anguish and horror that I’ve been forced to live because Maetha
decided otherwise.”

“That’s not the reason and you know
it. You only want my shard and could care less about me. If you
felt that your life Maetha forced you to take on was so horrible,
you’d surrender your diamond and be done with it. I think you like
your power too much and you want more.”

“Calli, I’m impressed with your level
of understanding. I have a better offer for you then because I
sense that you also like your power too much to part with your
shard. Join me, Calli, and I can help you live life as a fully
independent Diamond Bearer answering to no one.”

“Would you teach me how to block out
everyone the way you do?”

“Of course, but only once I believed
you were committed to me.”

“What happened to ‘fully independent
Diamond Bearer answering to no one’?”

“I can’t very well teach you my
methods just to have you take them straight to Maetha. So what do
you say?”

“Let me think about it.” I hung up the
phone and turned to leave the office only to find my professor
staring curiously from the doorway.

“What is a Diamond Bearer?” he
asked.

“Just a club.” I walked past him and
out the door.

When I arrived back at my
dorm, I crashed on my bed with so much running through my mind. The
Mixer I attended at the beginning of the semester exposed me to
Travis, and Travis was one of Freedom’s thugs. Freedom has been
following me this whole time. He’s been placing individuals in my
path to try to sway me to his side or at least get me to willingly
give my shard to him. If he wanted my shard bad enough, why didn’t
he simply kill me and take it? I deduced he really
did
want me to join his
side. He must feel I’m still impressionable enough to change
allegiances. Well, he’s wrong.

How could I be certain Maetha wasn’t
the ‘bad guy’ he implied? The more I thought about it the more I
realized that if Freedom was more on track than Maetha, the other
Diamond Bearers would join forces with Freedom, and since they
hadn’t I came to the conclusion that Freedom was the one off
balance.

I stared at the ceiling feeling at
peace with my conclusion when a vision filled my mind. I saw a
young boy’s running ability surfacing in a town on the New York
border. He would be in P.E. class competing on an indoor track when
his super-speed would reveal him as a DNA altered individual in
need of protection from both Demons and evil clan members who would
kidnap him to use his powers. A representative from the Runners
Clan would come for the boy and that person would be Chris. He
would be punctual and the boy wouldn’t be taken by those who would
do him harm.

I rolled over in my bed and hugged my
pillow. My mind revisited the day on the bank of the river while on
the journey to deliver the diamond to the Death Clan. Chris would
have died in any other normal situation, but he begged me to save
him and I did. Freedom had made a point when he said I wouldn’t
have to watch the ones I love die when I knew I could save them. I
tried to imagine what that would be like but I didn’t have to
imagine too long, I’d already experienced it with Chris.

On that day by the river, I felt his
deep love for me and I’ve often wondered how he could have felt
that way about someone he’d only met just a few days earlier.
However, since handling the whole Sanguine Diamond and experiencing
the feelings within other people when I read their mind or view
their future I have a much deeper sense of understanding. When I
looked into Chris’s mind in the Healers' cabin before I left for
home I felt his emotions when he saw me enter his hospital room. I
experienced them with him.

Maetha had said that without the love
between Chris and I, and my desire to alter the outcome to ensure
he lived, the delivery wouldn’t have resulted in success meaning I
wouldn’t have become a Diamond Bearer. The fact that I possess the
proper traits of self-sacrifice makes me qualified to be a Diamond
Bearer.

Suddenly it hit me like a
300mph train; Freedom
was
after Brand, not me. Freedom already knows I have
the proper traits to be a Diamond Bearer and that my allegiance
cannot be altered. He knows that someday the other diamond shards
will reunite within my heart making me his equal and when that
happens I’ll have as much power as him… but
I’ll
have Brand by my side making me
more powerful than Freedom. Freedom has these unaltered thugs who
are immune to Readers, Healers, Seers and so on, but I have a guy
who can render Unaltereds incapable within seconds
and
is immune to Readers
and Seers.

I reached over for my phone and called
Brand.

“Hello,” Brand answered.

“I called the number,
Brand.”

“Did you talk to the guy?”

“Yes, he’s a psychopath. He arranged
the fight just to watch you in action. I’d go the other way if you
see him again.”

“I planned on it anyway. He made my
skin crawl.”