Determination (12 page)

Mom let out one cold-hearted laugh. “I’m sucking you dry. This much energy is bound to get me out of here.”

“Okay.” Roxie took a deep breath and, closing her eyes, slipped into an emotionally cold state as she drew her sword with a metallic hiss. She wanted calm, but anger filled her. Her own mother behaving so cruelly towards her for no good reason got under her skin. She opened her eyes. This woman standing before her would always be her birth mother. Nothing more. It was just a fact of her life, but that’s it: just a fact, no love attached. Grandma was her real mother. Always has, always will be. She held her glowing sword with the point between them, just below their chins. “I’ll hurt you if I have to.” Even with her calm front, rage roiled underneath.

Mom glanced at the sword then met Roxie’s glance with her brows raised. “Oo, someone can make her eyes glow white.” She seized Roxie by the throat, lifted her off the ground, then stomped forward and slammed Roxie against the wall, making it moan and vibrate. Mom brought her face close to Roxie’s. “I dare you to try and hurt me.”

The impact stung a little, but nothing she couldn’t shrug off. Eyeing her mother’s cut wrists, Roxie’s detached state faltered ever so slightly and her stomach churned, but she looked away as she cut through her mom’s wrists. She dropped to her feet. Immediate relief washed over her, despite her fatigue. She was going to have to stop for food and rest once she got out of this mess.

Mom stared in open-mouth disbelief at her stumps, which ended in blackness, like a pair of black sticks. She looked at Roxie, then back at her stumps. She tilted her head back and let out a ear-piercing shriek, her hair dancing in a halo, and the darkness surrounding her spread.

Roxie helped Sekiro up, who hesitated a moment before running towards the end of the hall. Roxie walked. Running would get her blood pumping and right now her anger wanted to take over. Her mother’s wrath was assailing her in waves, feeding her with the desire to swing her sword at anything that moved. Roxie’s anger was mounting with every blow she took. She’d come with the intention to offer help and seek closure, but had received nothing but one emotional blow after the other. And now her own life energy was being used as a weapon against her. She could count the number of times in her life she’d lost her temper on one hand. It was getting harder and harder to not add one more.

Sekiro turned. “Roxie, please run!”

At least the Numina had the decency to ask, instead of order her around. Roxie hopped into an easy jog, glowing sword still in hand. She caught up to Sekiro, who was hopping in place ten sets of doors from the exit.

“Oh, no you don’t.” Mom’s voice filled the entire hallway, and so did the darkness. It filled in all the corners where wall met floor and ceiling, then spread like a spill, blocking every last door, including the emergency exit that led to stairs. The glow from Roxie’s sword became the only source of light in the hall, outlining dozens upon dozens of shadow people. There had to be at least three rows squished together, standing along each side of the hall, the front line outside arm’s reach. Their presence thinned her forced calm even more. If any of them attacked, she was going to find a way to take every last one of them down.

Sekiro gasped. “Run for the exit. They all know where you are!”

Roxie stopped and glared at the shadow people looming before her. They lurched towards her, amorphous arms reaching, and a few heartbeats later coldness seized her. Instead of panicking, she lost hold of her calm. First her mother and now them, who’d attracted every last one of them to Roxie. This was the end of getting pushed around and fed off of.

Remembering how Aerigo had used his strength of will to overpower Nexus, Roxie focused on what she wanted to happen to the shadow people. She pulled her arms to her, resting the flat of her blade over her shield, and concentrated. With a thought and outward fling of her arms, she slammed every last shadow person into the wall, the ones leeching her making louder thuds. Those who had yet to latch on hit the walls with faint thuds no fiercer than rain pattering against wood. The shadow people latched to her dropped to their feet and reeled themselves into her. Their light weight tugged at her arms and their icy touch slowed her movements. Roxie decapitated the shadow person holding on to her shoulder. Its form vanished and the iciness waned. She aimed at the second shadow holding on to the same shoulder and gave it a warning glare. It remained attached and didn’t pull its eyeless gaze away from her shoulder. She stabbed it in the throat and it vanished as well.

The shadows latched to her right arm finished solidifying and let go. They were hospital patients wearing only smocks. She faced them as more shadow people recovered from their brief flight and latched to her wings and back. With a thought and snap of her wings, she sent them back into the wall. However, she could still feel their icy touch weakening her. On top of that, the quartet of solidified shadow people were filling her mind with thoughts of her laying down and just letting all of them feast on her life energy. If she didn’t handle them all quickly, she was going to succumb to their sheer numbers.

One of the quartet came at her with claw-like fingers and swiped at her face. It might as well have tried knocking her out with a leaf. Roxie swung her sword through its waist and it vanished. The other three tackled her but they felt like they weighed maybe five pounds apiece. She swung her sword arm and bashed the attached shadow person into the ground. Before she could follow it with a slash from her sword, it vanished. She turned her weapon and stabbed right by her ear. That one vanished, too. She finished off the last one trying to pry her shield off, then turned and woodenly faced the shadow people latched to her, breathing heavily. She felt cold enough to have her teeth start chattering. There had to be at least thirty of them with tendrils coiled around her torso. She looked like she was wearing a heavy black dress kicked up by a gust.

Roxie glanced down the hall. Sekiro huddled near the exit, watching everything unfold. There was nothing she could do to help and they both knew it. Roxie reached with her mind for the shadow people blocking the exit, then, using a throwing motion with her sword arm, she sent dozens of them flying down the hall and all the way to the other end. They careened down the hall like a mass of black minnows being dumped down a chute. The removal of their company allowed for some sunlight to pour in from open doorways. It also showed her mother standing a few feet away, her face and hair all black. She looked demonic with small horns protruding from her hairline. Big white fangs framed her mouth. She broke into a smile, revealing more pointed teeth, and then she lunged for Roxie so fast she couldn’t react.

Roxie bounced off the ground, slid a little farther and came to a stop. She felt the shadow people let go and her head began to swim. She’d lost so much energy to her mother alone. Only her rage and will to survive kept her conscious. Sekiro’s face appeared over hers and hands wedged themselves under her shoulders.

Sekiro grunted, then stopped trying. “C’mon, move! You’re too heavy for me to lift.” She kept her hands under Roxie’s shoulders, a steady pressure urging her upright.

Roxie tried to snap at her to tell her to try and sit up when her own life energy had been sucked out of her, but her mouth wouldn’t move.

She then realized she could sense the Numina trying to will her to get up. On top of that, she could sense her mother’s will urging her to stay down. The shadow people willed the same. All these wants filled her head like faint melodies playing nearby, Mom’s will the loudest. The melodies were more like verbal phrases repeating themselves over and over, making it hard to concentrate on her own will.

Roxie lifted her head, which felt like it weighed a ton, and saw her mother strolling closer, the solidified shadow people following right behind. There were so many that she couldn’t see past them. So many had stolen so much energy. No wonder she’d felt so weak so fast. Dragging her shield arm to her, she rolled her weight to one side and made herself sit up.

Mom lunged at her with superhuman speed and slammed her back onto the floor, pinning her stomach with a knee and placing her stumps right over Roxie’s heart. Coldness seized her and she gasped as it felt like her heart was being pried out of her chest. She was reaching the bottom of her well of life energy. Her mouth felt full of cotton and her face felt like it had been shot full of Novocain. The iciness was disappearing. This wasn’t a good sign. Panic began to encroach on her rage.

“How nice of you to help your mother out of this hellhole. I thank you from the bottom of my broken heart.”

Roxie wanted to tell Mom that she didn’t have a heart but, even if she could get her voice to work, it wouldn’t be a smart thing to say. Instead she focused on willing her mother to let go.

The shadow people latched onto her legs, making the numbness spread. Roxie’s eyes widened.

Sekiro’s hands slipped out from under Roxie’s shoulders. She tackled Mom and bounced off her. The Numina scrambled back to her feet and began harassing the shadow people, pulling them off one by one. She sent them stumbling backwards, but each of them regained their balance and latched right back on.

Roxie’s eyes rolled back and she lost consciousness--well, sort of. It slipped from her physical body to deep inside, where the core of her power was hidden. All she could hear was her fading heartbeat, and then she saw the wide open trap door that had once contained the first half of her power. Golden light shined through from deep within. There was only blank darkness beyond the light.

How had she arrived here after falling unconscious? She couldn’t accuse this moment of not making any sense since she didn’t know where anyone’s consciousness went after falling asleep or passing out. On top of that, this could be her full power’s doing. Maybe this was where she needed to go in order to find a way to survive.

She jumped in the air and let herself fall through the door.

Roxie became bathed in golden light and acutely aware of the vast amount of power her dying body still contained. She still had the strength of will to take on a god. Her core was bursting with power. It charged her with energy and determination. How could she harness it? Could she turn it into life energy and invigorate herself? She willed the power to fill her limbs and restore her energy. Instead, she felt her rage return and an unshakable desire to live. She looked up at the square opening and willed herself to wake up. “C’mon, Rox. Wake up. Wake up and fight! This is your energy; not theirs. This is your life and no one else’s. Wake up!”

Her awareness surged upward, out of the golden light, and into blackness. She felt the cold, the numbness, and the floor beneath her.

“Well, well. Look who’s miraculously returned from the brink of death.”

Mom’s dry retort fueled Roxie’s rage. She needed to put her mother in her place, then get out of this hospital and never come back. She tried to lift her sword arm, but it felt weighed down to the floor. It wouldn’t move.
Come on. Move!
Her arm still wouldn’t move. She willed it harder to no avail. What was going on?

The wills of Mom and the shadow people chanted away for her to keep still and just die. It broke her focus on moving her arm and redirected it to their will.
They
were what she needed to focus her will on. She tried to open her mouth and snap at them to let go, but could only throw her will at them. Mom flinched and the shadow people recoiled, removing their mountain of hands.

Roxie sucked in a merciful gulp of air and for a moment she suffered from only a minor leeching of her life energy. Once she stopped focusing on willing the shadow people to let go, they dropped back onto her and made her head swim. Her eyes started to roll back but she forced herself to stay conscious. The focusing made the swimming sensation go away, giving her the mental energy needed to assault them with her will again. The shadow people backed off, putting several feet between her and them. Mom remained kneeling over her with her hands pressed over Roxie’s heart. Mom was so much stronger than them.

Roxie tried to move her lips. She breathed out two syllables that didn’t sound remotely like what she was trying to say.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Are you trying to say something to me?” Mom leaned in, flashing her a heartless smile mere inches from her face.

Roxie swallowed the cotton feeling down and whispered, “Let... go.”

Mom lost her smile as her hands and face lifted away.

Roxie took in another gulp of air. Sensation returned to her face, and so did the coldness. Her whole body began to shiver. She lifted her shaking shield arm and pushed Mom so she wasn’t hovering over her. Mom hugged her arms around the shield and latched onto Roxie’s arm. Cold and numbness seeped back into her. Roxie swallowed again and poured all her will into having her mother let go and run back into her hospital room. “Let go.” Her voice came out no more than a whisper.

The floor vibrated as Mom’s hands let go like she’d been burned. Her concentration faltered.

Dark eyes widening, Mom shot her gaze all around the hallway, then settled on Roxie. The gears worked behind her eyes as her intent scampered between finishing sucking Roxie dry, or just backing off. A wave of despair emanated from her, filling Roxie’s mind with the nightmarish memories Mom had been reliving for the past eighteen years.

Mom let out a cry of desperation. “I can’t stop! I have to have every last drop of your energy. I need to get out of here!” She formed hands out of shadow and darkness, and curled them around one of Roxie’s shins.