Fractured Light (26 page)

“Thanks, Christian. For everything,” I said, wishing he didn’t have to go. He seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“Christian, do you mind if I have a word with you out in the hall?” Jake asked.

“Of course not.”

As soon as they left the room, I turned on to my side with great difficulty. A few minutes later, Jake returned.

“What was that all about?” I asked.

“I just wanted to tell him thank you for saving you. I heard what he did. He’s one of a kind, you know that?”

“I do.”

“You know what’s really strange? He reminds me of your father.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I can’t put my finger on it, but he has this whole hero/protector thing about him.”

“I know what you mean.”

Jake stared at me; his eyes dripped with concern. “Are you comfortable? Can I get you anything?”

“I’m good. Super tired though.”

“I’ll let you get some sleep. Do you mind if I sleep in the chair? The nurse said it folds out into a bed.”

“That would be great. I’d love the company.”

*     *     *     *     *

I don’t remember falling asleep or Jake getting his bed ready, but suddenly I was wide awake. I wasn’t sure what time it was, but it must’ve been well into the night by the looks of things. The lights outside my room had been turned down, and faint sounds of beeping were coming from down the hall.

I rolled onto my back, surprised how much better I felt. I closed my eyes to go back to sleep, but the feeling in the room inexplicably changed. It felt heavy, almost suffocating. I opened my eyes only to find myself instantly paralyzed, unable to move any part of my body. Even my head remained trapped by an invisible force.

My eyes circled what I could see of the room, searching for the source of my current predicament. I found the problem at the foot of my bed. For there stood the tall shadow of a man. I couldn’t see his face, but by the hostile feeling in the room I knew whoever it was meant me harm.

I tried to scream, tried to move, but my body wouldn’t respond. Fear gripped me, but it wasn’t fear that had paralyzed me. It was something in the air, physically pressing down on me until I felt I might be crushed.

The figure moved closer. It was an unnatural jerky movement, much too fast for a human. It jerked again; this time moving only a foot away. The shadow made no sound. It was as quiet as the dead and its presence was just as disturbing. Its head cocked to the side as if it were analyzing me. I still couldn’t see its face, but as the shadow began to lower itself to me, its eyes looked as if they were growing smaller until they were two black circles with an even blacker center.

I attempted to scream again, but nothing came out. I focused every ounce of strength I had on trying to make any sound, but my efforts were wasted. In that moment I knew I couldn’t do it alone. I called upon Light, imagined its power filling my entirety. It responded instantly until my whole body tingled. Finally, I sat up, mentally flipped on the lights, and opened my mouth. Erupting from my lungs was the kind of scream you only hear in horror films.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Jake cried, looking as if he’d just heard a gun go off.

“Is everything all right?” a nurse asked as she rushed into the room.

My heart beat out of my chest and beads of sweat dotted my forehead. “There was someone in my room,” I gasped.

Jake looked around. “Where?”

“Standing next to me. Just a second ago.”

The nurse moved into the hallway. “I didn’t see anyone come in, and I’ve been here all night.”

Jake placed his hand over mine. “Do you think it was a nightmare?”

“No! It wasn’t a nightmare. He was here.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know, but someone—not nice.” I’d wanted to say a Vyken, but didn’t want to scare Jake. For some reason the very name seemed to terrify him more than it did me. How I knew it was a Vyken, I couldn’t be sure. I’d never met one before, but by its unnatural movements and the way it had affected me, what else could it have been?

“Would you like a sedative, dear?” the nurse asked. Her tone reminded of the book
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
.

“No, I don’t need a sedative.” They didn’t believe me. I collapsed into bed. Christian would’ve believed me. I glanced over at the clock and sighed. 4:27 a.m.

“Try and go back to sleep, Llona,” Jake said, his voice soothing.

“I won’t be able to,” I mumbled. “What if I promise to stay awake? I’ll watch TV or something.”

“Really?”

“Sure.”

For some reason I did feel safer knowing he’d be awake. I turned over, tucked the blanket under by chin, and closed my eyes. Before I fell asleep, I said a silent prayer, hoping that whatever Christian had to tell me would somehow help protect me. If Christian knew about Light then there was a good chance he knew about Vykens.

Morning greeted me with an onslaught of different doctors who poked and prodded at me like I was some newly discovered jungle insect.

“It’s remarkable,” my excellent hearing heard one of them say from down the hall. “Dr. Adams said she must’ve been clinically dead for at least fifteen minutes.”

“Someone must’ve made a mistake. She’d be brain dead if that were true,” a female voice replied.

“Go ask him yourself. Or better yet, read her chart. See if you can make sense of her lab results.”

Their voices trailed off, leaving me to wonder what was wrong with me. This was the first time I’d ever been to a hospital. In fact, it was my first time seeing a doctor. I never thought it would be a problem until now. I needed to get out of here and quick before they decided to seal me off in some giant petri dish.

As soon as Jake returned from getting breakfast at the cafeteria, I blurted, “It’s time for me to go.”

His mouth gaped open. “You can’t go yet. The doctors are still running tests.”

“No more tests. I’m fine.”

“Llona, please. Let them make sure everything is normal before they release you.”

“But I’m not normal. Did it ever occur to you that my tests might show something strange?”

“Why would they?”

“Why wouldn’t they? I’m an Aura. I don’t know how that changes my physical make up, but I already heard a couple of the doctors talking and something’s not right. You need to get me out of here.”

He nodded. “All right. Do you want to wait until after breakfast? The cart is just down the hall.”

“No. Let’s just go.”

“Okay. I’ll send a nurse in to get that thing out of your arm, and then I’ll get the paperwork to get you released.”

“Thanks, Jake.”

After the nurse left the room, I dressed and tied my shoes. Christian was right. I did feel much better thanks to the moon. The only thing that didn’t feel better was my sense of impending doom. I only hoped that whatever Christian had to tell me would ease my mind.

Several minutes later, Jake returned holding a stack of papers. “All clear to go.”

I zipped up my coat. “Sorry to put you through all this.”

“It was an accident, nothing more. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

I tried to smile and averted my eyes. Me falling into the lake had been an accident, but what had happened afterward wasn’t. A Vyken had tried to kill me, and I knew he wasn’t going to stop until I lay as still as my mother had in her mahogany coffin.

W
HEN WE RETURNED HOME
, I
WALKED STRAIGHT TO MY
bedroom and closed the door. The mirror on the opposite wall reflected my image, and I shook my head in disgust. All I was, was an illusion. I kept myself hidden beneath a hat, I ran at the first sign of trouble, and most of all, I denied the power of Light. It was a strength that could protect me if I learned how to use it. And not the way my aunt wanted me to. Surely Light could be used for more than creating beautiful things and making people feel good.

I would start right away, I decided. I wasn’t sure how, but somehow I would learn to use Light offensively and defensively.

I’d barely finished breakfast when the doorbell rang. I was hoping it would be Christian, but instead Heidi walked in. She gave me a hug and asked how I was. I gave the usual answer, then faked being tired and disappeared to my room again. It’s not that I didn’t want to see her, I just didn’t feel like talking about what had happened and I could tell she was dying to ask.

I lay down in bed and put headphones on to drown out any sounds coming from the living room. I was sure Jake was filling her in, and I didn’t care to relive it again.

I thought about the Vyken being in my hospital room and couldn’t help but shiver. I’d almost been killed by a Vyken. I wondered if my mother had been as frightened and helpless as I had. I turned over, letting my mind ask questions it would never have answers to.

Suddenly I felt a gentle touch on my shoulder. I opened my eyes and rolled over. Sitting on the bed next to me was Christian. I don’t know why I did it, but all of a sudden I burst into tears and threw myself into his chest. His arms came around me, holding me tight.

“It’s okay. Everything’s all right now,” he whispered as he stroked the back of my hair.

I cried for several minutes until I finally forced myself to sober up. I had so many questions that needed answering and blubbering wasn’t going to get me any closer to the truth. I pulled away and wiped my eyes. “Sorry,” I mumbled.

“It’s okay. How do you feel?”

“My body feels great, but my head is a mess.”

“I’m sure you have a ton of questions.”

I nodded.

“Then ask.”

I took a deep breath and then let the air out slowly as I tried to decide which question to ask first. I began with what I thought would be the simplest one to answer. “Who are you?”

“I’m your assigned guardian.”

I opened my mouth to laugh, but he said it with such a serious expression that I quickly closed it again. “My what?” I asked again, thinking maybe I’d heard wrong.

“Your guardian.”

“Like a godfather or something?”

He shook his head. “No. I was assigned to be your guardian by the Council, the same Council your aunt sits on.”

He stopped me when I started to ask another question. “Before you bombard me with more questions, let me explain.

Every Aura, except for you of course, is assigned a guardian at age twenty when they leave Lucent Academy. The guardian’s duties are to protect their wards from Vykens. We serve for three years and then are transferred to a new Aura. I’ve been training to be one since the age of ten under the direction of my father who is also a guardian.”

“Is that why your father doesn’t like me, because he’s sick of Auras?” I asked.

“It’s not that he doesn’t like you, he’s just big on following the rules.”

“What rules?”

“I’ll get to that. But first I want to tell you our history.”

I swallowed.

“The first guardians were an elite group of men, specifically chosen by Auras for their bravery. The Auras blessed these wise men with special abilities so that they could help protect them from Vykens.”

“What kind of abilities?”

“We’re faster and stronger than normal humans, but nothing too crazy. Just enough to put us on an equal playing field with a Vyken. It takes a lot of hard work to get to that level, but when we do we get to teach the upcoming generation of guardians until we’re assigned to an Aura. When I turned eighteen, I was assigned to you.”

“Woah!” I interrupted. “You’re already eighteen?”

“My birthday was in the summer.”

“How did you get into school?”

He looked away, embarrassed. “I told them I was held back in the first grade.” His eyes turned to mine. “It was the only way I could keep an eye you! No guardian has ever had a ward as young as you before.”

“Why?”

“Because at your age, they’re at Lucent where they can be protected. They don’t need a guardian until later.”

“Surely there are other girls out there who have chosen not to go to Lucent. I can’t be the only one.”