Avenging Amethyst (Immortal Eyes) (12 page)

"I don't
want to alarm you, but it's very rare for darkness to take control of someone
like that so soon after turning eighteen. My theory is that since Lucas was so
old and powerful when your mother conceived you, he transferred more of his
darkness to you then a young Zhulik normally would to a Lovac."

That wasn't
exactly what I wanted to hear. "Does that mean I'm going to go crazy sooner?"

"Not
necessarily," he said, in a matter-of-fact tone. "You seem to be able
to block out the darkness a lot quicker than a normal Lovac too. I think you
may have to fight with darkness more but I don't think it will completely take
over sooner than it would for a normal Lovac."

"Great,"
was all I managed to say, though it didn't feel so great.

"I know
it's going to be hard and I'm sorry you were forced into this life. Every night
I pray that all of you Lovac will find your Dimidiums so that you don't have to
fight with the darkness any longer. I just hope my prayers come true
soon."

"Me
too," Felix said, smiling sadly at me. I could see he was concerned about
my future but I also saw fear in his eyes about his own fate. All of the Lovac
I met put on a brave face about their future but deep down, I knew they were
just as terrified as I was.

We left Carson's
office shortly after. He didn't have as much advice on handling the darkness as
I had hoped but he did make me feel better. He mentioned some simple techniques
I could do before bed to try to keep the darkness at bay while I slept and
mentioned that staying in the same room with another Lovac might help until I
get better control. It looked like I would be moving in with Riley or at least
staying in her room more often.

"Don’t
think you’re getting out of training today," Felix said when I went
to head back to my room. I paused in the stairwell and bit back a groan. My
body was still sore and I was hoping for an R&R day.

I was secretly
hoping that Felix had forgotten about training, at least for the day. He
dragged me to the gym and we started off with the usual running. It actually
helped clear my mind and by the end of the day all of the foggy thoughts were
gone. I was back to being as close to normal as I could be.

The rest of the
week was pretty much the same routine, with the exception of my mother’s
funeral. Her body had been buried earlier but there hadn’t been adequate
time for a proper ceremony. I expected to cry a lot, but my tear ducts were
dry. The pain in my heart was never dull though. I said a few words and
promised out loud to take down her killer. Felix stood by me the entire time
and comforted me afterwards. Even though the ceremony was far from peaceful, I
felt more at peace that she had a proper burial and there were actually people
to attend. Nearly every Lovac and a good portion of the Nesmyr at the facility
were there.

The next day,
the training continued like nothing had ever happened. I preferred it that way,
too. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life grieving and I
didn’t want to hear the sympathy from others. I focused all my sorrow
into the training.

We stuck with
running and weight training in the morning, with yoga stretches in between,
mental training in the afternoon with Rema and then took tours after dinner.
Felix showed me a few important rooms on the main floor, like the hospital wing
and the feeding room.

I was disgusted
by both of them. The hospital was sectioned into two parts; a section like any
other hospital, with beds for minor cases and a room for critical care, and
another section for Lovac that were starting to lose their mind, that was
basically a toned down insane asylum. Felix didn't want me to see the section
specifically for crazy Lovac, but I insisted.

He introduced me
to Daryn, who sat in the corner to his barred off room, scratching on the white
walls the entire time we were there. The other Lovac that was in this section
was Ashli. She seemed almost normal when I was introduced to her but as we were
leaving, I heard her screaming and thrashing around her room.

The feeding room
was just as traumatizing. There were humans set up in booths, with dazed looks
on their faces and multiple bite marks in their necks. Felix explained that
most of them were volunteers and were addicted to the hormones released by a
Nesmyr bite but no explanation would ever make it okay in my mind. There were
some things about this new world I was dragged in to that I would never accept.

Felix even
offered to let me try the blood but I refused. I know it would make me stronger
but the thought of actually tasting blood my stomach churn. He didn’t
pressure me and said most Lovac preferred to stay away from blood, though there
were a few who enjoyed it.

We continued with
the rest of our tours throughout the week. I was easily able to locate places
where people were using their power and Felix always found it fascinating. We
even discovered that I could locate Nesmyr even when they weren’t using
their power. They apparently always gave off a small radiance of power that I
could sense if I concentrated hard enough.

My body started
to adjust to the training and I could feel it getting leaner and stronger every
day. My training with Rema always got more intense but I was able to handle it.
Somehow, word of my abilities traveled around the facility and many of the
Lovac and even some Nesmyr went out of their ways to meet me. I felt like a
local celebrity.

I stayed in
Riley’s room every night and our friendship increased every night. The
sadness in her eyes never disappeared but it seemed to lessen when I was
around. I would never fill the spot of her sister, but at least I could be
there as a friend for her.

My feelings for
Felix seemed to grow every day and Felix seemed to distance himself from me
more but I knew he was having just as hard of a time getting his feelings
closed off. There were moments when he would look at me with hungry eyes and
times where he would reach for me, but he always stopped himself short. My
longing for him to touch me increased and on more than one occasion, I
contemplated taking action.

Nine days after
the kissing incident, during one of our yoga stretches, was one of those
occasions. We were sitting on the ground, stretching our legs. I had purposely
sat closer to him than I knew he was comfortable with. Our legs kept bumping
and when I made up my mind to just drag him into a kiss, the doors to the gym
slammed open, startling both of us out of our thoughts.

"Have you
started training her to do defensive and offensive moves yet?" Riley
frantically asked Felix when she entered the gym and walked over to us.

Felix stood up
and offered his hand to help me up, an action he rarely did anymore. "No.
We were going to start them next week. She's doing really great at the--"

Riley cut him
off. "You have to start training her now."

"What do
you mean? What's going on?" I said when I was off the ground. Now that I
was level with her, I could see her eyes were rimmed with splotches of blood.
If Riley hadn’t explained that her eyes literally bled when she had
visions, I would have panicked.

"You can
fight. I've seen it. We're going to need to get you trained as quickly as
possible. Something big is about to happen and we'll need all the Lovac we can
get."

"What did
you see, Riley?" Felix asked as he gently put his arms on her shoulders to
try to calm her down.

"I... I
can't say exactly. All I know is there are some clever Zhulik planning
something big and we're going to need Avery's help." She was shaking now
and her breaths were coming out in shallow gasps.

"I think we
need to go see Rema. I don't mind starting training with Avery but Rema needs
to hear what you have to say."

Riley nodded and
nearly collapsed in Felix's arms. Whatever she had seen had taken a toll on her
strength. Felix picked her up and carried her all the way to the Lovac council
member’s floor. I felt guilty at the slight pang of jealousy in my chest
that Felix was so willing to hold Riley close, despite knowing they thought of
each other more like siblings than anything else. I pushed the thoughts aside
as we entered the little sitting area where Rema usually was.

Rema wasn't
sitting in her usual spot but had just exited one of the rooms on the right.
She was surprised to see us but worry crossed her face when she saw a limp
Riley in Felix's arms.

"What
happened?" she asked.

"Riley came
running into the gym to tell me I needed to start training Avery immediately.
She was also saying that something big was about to happen with the Zhulik and
we would need Avery's help."

"Lay her
down on the couch. When did she pass out?"

"Right
after I said we needed to come see you."

"Did she
mention anything else important?"

"No. That
was it."

"Wait,"
I said. "She said something about her knowing I could fight. That she had
seen it. What does that mean?"

"My guess
is that she saw you fighting in whatever big event is about to happen but only
if you start training now," Felix said.

"No,"
Riley muttered. Her voice was very quiet and she hadn't moved from the spot
Felix had put her in. "She can fight now. The Zhulik attack will happen in
less than two weeks if we don't stop it."

Rema and Felix
both gave me questioningly looks. "I thought you said you haven't had any
training before this?" Felix asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I
haven't," I said. I had never even thrown a punch at someone until the
night darkness made me attack Felix. "I have no idea what she's talking
about. Honestly. You saw me. I can barely run or lift weights. How can I know
how to fight?"

They gave each
other a quick glance and then Rema said, "Go back down to the gym and
start training immediately. I'll take care of Riley and see what other
information she has. I will come find you in an hour or so to see what
happens."

"Come
on." Felix gently grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the exit. I wanted
to argue more but I didn't think anything I said would help my case. Felix
didn't let go of my hand the entire way back to the gym and he wouldn’t
look at me.

"You don't
believe me," I said.

"Riley's
predictions have never been wrong. She also doesn't lie. If she says you can
fight then you can fight. I can't believe you've been hiding it the past week
and a half. I can’t believe I actually felt so close to you. Are you a
spy or something? Did some Zhulik pay you to infiltrate our facility?"

I slammed my
feet into the ground, stopping both of us only a few feet away from the gym
doors. I didn’t have a chance to call him out on admitting he felt close
to me. The thought of him thinking I would betray him was more important.
"I can't believe you would think that! Those monsters are the reason my
mother is dead and I never even knew you existed until that point. I haven't
lied to you about anything."

The hallway had
been empty but my shouting carried down the hall and I saw a few staff members
peek their heads out of doors. Felix gave an apologetic smile and continued
tugging me into the gym. I gave up resisting and followed him in, wiping the
tears of frustration from my eyes with my free hand. He turned on me the second
the doors were closed.

I would have
never expected what happened next. Felix threw a punch at my face. I braced
myself for the pain but before it could come I felt a burning deep in my gut.
Before I knew what was happening I was dodging the punch and quickly shifting
my body to elbow Felix in the chest. I didn't even know I could do that and we
both stood there in amazement as we tried to comprehend what had just happened.
I didn't get much time though because Felix snapped out of his shock first.

There was fire
in his eyes and I realized that I just proved that I could fight. He had no
reason not to believe I was a spy and a threat to all of them. When he came
after me again I felt that burning feeling in my gut takeover. I quickly dodged
anything he threw at me and retaliated with a hit of my own faster than he was
able to dodge.

A few minutes of
this passed before I understood what was happening. That burning sensation was
similar to the sensation I got when I sensed someone using their power, only
much stronger. This ability to be able to fight was part of my power.

"Felix! You
have to stop," I shouted to get his attention. I needed him to hear me
out. I didn’t have any control of my power and I didn’t know what I
could do to him if he didn’t stop.

"No,"
he shook his head. "You've been lying to all of us. You've been lying to
me. We opened our arms to you like family and it was all just part of some evil
plot of yours."

As long as he
kept throwing punches I would keep dodging and hitting back. I didn't want to
keep attacking him but my body had a mind of its' own right now. I kept trying
to get him to calm down but he wouldn't listen to me and would scream anytime I
tried to talk. I could see he was getting weak and I finally seized my
opportunity and jumped on him.