The Bloom Series Box Set: Bloom & Fade (65 page)

“
You left me,” she
said.

“
I had to,” said Roku.
“Look what you’ve become.”

She screamed at him. New strands of
lightning burst from her body and slammed into his chest. The tips
crawled over him, searching for a way to burn his skin.

He turned to Haven. “Do it!” he
shouted.

Kamiko’s trance was broken. She turned
her head just as Dormer and Haven gave her everything they had.
Haven’s wings spread behind her. They opened up into the air,
fanning out like giant blades of light. Her vision went blue as she
let go. There was no need to visualize the sphere of energy in her
mind’s eye—no need to call it forth to the forefront of her
imagination and draw the fire from its core.

The energy came to her naturally,
without thought or concentration. It erupted from her fists like a
volcanic stream, twisting through the air and hitting Kamiko in the
head.

Dormer must have been storing up as
much of Kamiko’s energy as he could safely retain since they first
arrived. A wide tunnel of black energy laced with blue lightning
exploded from his chest and hit Kamiko in the stomach.

The four of them remained in those
spots, frozen like a painting: Dormer and Haven unleashing their
powers against Kamiko, and she, hovering in the air with dozens of
lightning bolts reaching out from her body, putting everything she
had into destroying Roku. He stood before her, funneling the
powerful energy upward, holding his ground against her malicious
onslaught.

One of the four had to weaken
eventually, and Haven was determined it wouldn’t be her. She grit
her teeth as more energy flowed down her arms and shot into the
steady stream hitting Kamiko. Her wings pulsed with her exertion,
lighting up the entire room in bright flashes.

It went on like that for what seemed
like minutes.

Roku looked up at Kamiko and smiled
sadly. He closed his eyes. Suddenly, the energy he was funneling
disappeared. He was no longer absorbing and dispersing—he was
completely blocking her energy flow. Everything she aimed at him
hit his skin and disappeared.

Kamiko looked confused for a second,
and then she tried to back away, but she wasn’t able to cut off her
assault in time. The stream of dark blue plasma that connected her
to Roku suddenly reversed directions. All of the hair on Haven’s
skin stood up on end as a massive electrical shift crackled through
the air.

Roku grabbed Kamiko and pulled her
close. She struggled to push away but he held her there in a tight
embrace. Their bodies vibrated rapidly, like plucked guitar
strings. The vibration traveled through the floor and into Haven’s
bones.

Dormer’s stream of energy broke off
and he reached for Haven. He shouted something but she couldn’t
hear him. In the middle of the room, a blue ball of light had
completely engulfed Kamiko and Roku. Kamiko screamed and the ball
exploded like a star going nova. A shockwave of energy ripped
through the room. Haven and Dormer were thrown back. They slammed
into the wall and fell to the ground. Colton’s chair fell over
backward and skid across the floor until it crashed into the side
of a couch.

Bits of debris crumbled to the ground
near Haven’s head. Dormer lay next to her, groaning softly. His
eyelids fluttered open and he saw Haven.

“
Are you alright?” he
whispered.

She nodded and they helped each other
up. Roku and Kamiko lay apart in the middle of the room, forced
away from each other by the blast. Roku lay on his back with his
eyes open, staring up blankly to the far-away ceiling. A thick
smear of blood ran from one side of his mouth and down his face.
Haven could tell, even from a distance, that he wasn’t
breathing.

Kamiko lay face-down, unmoving. Haven
and Dormer approached her slowly.

“
I’m almost out,” said
Haven. She reached deep within herself to summon more energy.
Residual traces of power tugged at her from deep within, but she
knew she needed more time to call on anything powerful enough to
put up a good fight.

“
Same here,” said Dormer.
He held his left arm close to his body as they walked. Haven
thought she had heard the crack of bone when they hit the
wall.

Across the room, Colton stirred. He
wriggled in his chair against the chains. He managed to get one of
his arms free and scoot the chair around so he could see the rest
of the room. His eyes met Haven’s and she stopped walking. She
wanted to say something but didn’t know the right words.

Colton saw what they meant to do, then
he looked down at Kamiko. Her face was toward him. He watched her
for a moment, then his eyes opened wide. He quickly peeled off the
tape covering his mouth and shouted, “She’s awake!”

Dormer lunged for Kamiko just as she
turned and saw Haven. She grinned and blue energy blossomed from
her body. Another shockwave exploded outward and knocked Haven and
Dormer to the floor. Two thick strands of blue flame licked out
from Kamiko’s back like giant snakes. One hit Dormer in the neck
and slammed his head against the floor. The other opened its wide
jaws and lunged at Haven’s face.

42

C
olton used his free hand to loosen another chain that kept
him bound to the chair. He lay on his side next to a couch,
squirming to get free. A blue shockwave slammed into him and pushed
his chair back another few feet. It scraped along the couch until
he was able to grab one of the legs and stop himself.

Across the room, Kamiko slowly got to
her feet. Twin snakes of blue fire grew from the middle of her
back. They writhed and twisted in the air as they pinned Haven and
Dormer to the floor.

The one that had Dormer by the neck
flickered near its head as he tried to absorb all of its energy,
but it was either too strong or Dormer was too fatigued to fully
deflect the plasma. He struggled uselessly against it, unable to
free himself.

Kamiko looked down at her two captives
and casually brushed her hands together. She knelt down next to
Haven and pushed a flaming strand of hair from her face.

“
You’re not the only one
who’s full of surprises,” she said.

Haven choked against the fire, barely
managing to breathe. “You killed him,” she whispered.

Kamiko turned and looked at Roku’s
body. “He killed himself,” she said softly. “Foolish boy.” She
turned back to Haven. “I should blame you for his death. You
brought him here.”

“
I’m here for
him
,” said Haven,
looking over at Colton.

He lay there, watching helplessly,
still half-chained to the chair. The only energy he could draw from
the room was residual—barely enough to warm his skin, let alone
melt the chains. He would have gotten a good burst of it from
Kamiko’s shockwave if he was paying attention, but he had been too
focused on trying to loosen the chains and missed his
opportunity.

“
Ah, yes,” said Kamiko.
She stood and took a few steps toward him. “But didn’t he tell you?
He’s with
me
now.”

“
She’s a liar,” said
Colton. Anger flashed across Kamiko’s face and that made him feel
better. “I only agreed to go with her so she would spare the others
at the Dome.”

Kamiko stared at him, a look of
betrayal in her eyes. “Well,” she said finally, “I guess that means
I don’t have to hold up my end of the bargain any
longer.”

She stood next to Dormer as he writhed
on the ground. The fire snake twisted and plunged deeper into his
neck, as if it were burrowing down into his torso.

Kamiko knelt next to him and put one
of her hands on his forehead. Dormer tried to sit up but she pushed
him back down. “Shhhh,” she said. “It will be over soon.” Energy
flashed under her palm, pulsing in short, quick bursts. With each
one, light seemed to shine from deep within Dormer’s head. Each
pulse made his eyes glow and turned his skin translucent. Colton
could see the outline of his skull with each flash of
light.

“
Stop it!” screamed Haven.
Colton could tell she was trying to use her own energy to fight the
fire snake that kept her pinned to the floor, but every time she
pushed back, Kamiko sent a fresh wave of dark blue plasma down the
snake to slam into Haven’s chest.

Kamiko suddenly released Dormer. He
fell back against the floor and lay there, barely
conscious.

“
You’re right,” said
Kamiko. “It’s not fair for me to choose which one dies.”

She walked across the room and grabbed
Colton’s ankles. The fire snake extended from Haven to Kamiko like
a long tube of burning fire. It continued burrowing into Haven’s
chest and pressed her to the floor.

“
What are you doing?!”
shouted Colton. He grabbed for her with his free arm but couldn’t
reach down to where she had him by the ankles.

Kamiko dragged his chair to the middle
of the room and put him right next to Dormer. With a single burst
of blue plasma from her palms, his chains fell loose. He kicked
away from the chair but was too slow for Kamiko. She grabbed his
forehead and slammed his head against the floor. A pulse of burning
light burst from her palm and seared his brain. He wanted to scream
but nothing in his body was responding. The light came again,
blinding and burning, cutting into his head like a knife. Kamiko
grabbed Dormer’s forehead with her other hand and dark blue light
flashed from her palm.

“
It’s your choice, Haven,”
said Kamiko. Colton opened his mouth to speak but another wave of
pain shot through his body. He lay there on the ground, unable to
move. “Pick one of them.”

Colton’s vision flashed white and he
heard Haven breathing heavily somewhere nearby.

“
I…
won’t
,” she said.

“
Then I’ll kill them
both.” Another wave of pain and light. Colton heard something
sizzling deep within his body, as if her plasma was charring his
bones. He wondered if he was dying.

“
Don’t!” screamed
Haven.

“
Then make your
decision.”

Another flash of pain. Colton was
almost numb to it. It surged through his body and down his spine,
but he no longer convulsed against its power. He felt detached from
his own body, far away. Even between pulses, he was blind. He tried
to open his eyes but realized they were already open. All he saw
was a blinding white nothingness. His eye sockets felt strangely
empty. Nearby, Haven wept.

“
Oh,” said Kamiko. “Too
late for this one.”

Colton heard Dormer’s head hit the
floor with a soft thud as Kamiko released him. Haven cried softly
between deep gasps for air. “You killed him,” she said, her voice
hot with anger and despair.

“
Yes,” said Kamiko. “And
now I will kill the other one, too.”

“
No!”

“
You should have made your
choice when you still had time. There are consequences for your
actions, little girl. Hasn’t anyone ever told you?”

Colton could tell Kamiko was hitting
him with more energy, but he could no longer feel it. His body
convulsed under her hand with each pulse—he was unable to control
his own muscles. The only thing that remained within him was the
desire to reach out and take Haven’s hand, to tell her it was going
to be okay.

Another pulse, stronger than all the
others put together. Something broke deep inside him, as if a tube
had cracked in half to release his soul. Kamiko let go of his
forehead. Colton lay there, finally feeling something. He felt his
life leaving his body. He felt his essence flow out from him like a
deep, satisfying sigh. Yet he was not at peace. He always thought
that people who were dying experienced absolute clarity, as if they
were finally at rest after a lifetime of struggle.

He heard Haven screaming from far
away, calling his name and pounding on the floor. The bright white
nothingness of Colton’s vision grew more intense as he felt himself
slipping farther and farther away from her. Her screams faded. He
exhaled and realized he could not breathe in. He did not experience
terror, nor bliss, nor a sense of a completed life. Colton felt
like he had never made any difference at all.

He faded slowly, unable to breathe. He
lay there thinking of Haven, wishing he had been able to hold her
one last time.

Then, there was nothing.

43

H
aven saw him die. She saw the life leave his face in one long
moment where it looked like he was going to speak. And then he was
gone, just like that.

The burning sensation in her chest
disappeared while she looked at Colton’s body, motionless on the
ground. His eyes were burnt, empty pits. His skin smoked and
sizzled. Kamiko stood over him, looking down at his body. The
remaining fire snake still writhed from her back, looping through
the air and plunging into Haven’s throat and chest. It swelled to
cover her stomach. Soon it would be thick enough to consume her
entirely.

Haven barely noticed. The pain had
been replaced with anger and regret—regret for not being able to
save Colton. Kamiko turned to her and smiled wickedly.