Unaltered #2_A Diamond in my Heart (23 page)

I knew Maetha had not told Brand about
his ties to the government T19 program and I felt strongly that I
shouldn’t either. I hadn’t had a chance to explain to Chris the
intricate nature of my relationship with Brand and I knew it must
be confusing. I tried to answer in such a way that it would give
Chris information also.

“Brand, listen, I don’t understand
your powers or why you’re able to repeat around me and neither does
Maetha. That’s why she asked me to teach you about the different
clans and abilities; through understanding comes knowledge. The
most important thing you can learn from me is the advantage of
observing a situation instead of trying to control it. Take our
upcoming capture for example; try observing rather than
manipulating the outcome. Your true power will come in the form of
choosing wisely; when to intervene and when not to intervene.
Sometimes people need to die for the will of nature to be satisfied
and sometimes a person must be saved for the same reason. The trick
to figuring out which outcome is natural is found through
observance.”

“You make it sound like I might have
to let people die even if I can save them.”

“I’m sure you’ll find yourself in that
very situation many times in your life, but if you learn to look at
the situation, look for the cause and effect, the good or bad
choices leading to the moment, you’ll be able to come to a
conclusion of whether or not you should help. The day a diamond
shard entered my heart was the day a group of Healers who called
themselves the Death Clan was wiped out. They had taken nature’s
will out of the equation when they decided who lived and who died;
and when that happens, nature finds a way to eliminate the
impediment. An Unaltered had to be used in order for the Death Clan
to destroy themselves. It didn’t have to be me, but I was chosen to
attempt the mission. If I’d failed, someone else would have been
used and the diamond shard would now be embedded in their heart
instead of mine.”

Chris’s repressed anger surfaced.
“Yeah, and in order for the mission to succeed lies were told and
false impressions were made. Sometimes nature’s not kind. Sometimes
she’s a manipulative bitch!”

“How far off base was your
vision, Chris? Really?” I asked more than a little irritated. He
looked at me admittedly confused. I continued, “It was because
of
your
vision
that I was chosen; the very same vision that just came to full
realization. You misinterpreted it from the beginning, Chris. I was
never a Healer, only a girl with a powerful piece of rock in my
body. Maetha chose me because of our future together. Of all the
powers floating around out there in the universe love is the
strongest power, Chris; without it heroes would cease to exist,
there wouldn’t be anyone to risk our lives for and no one to
protect. Your need to protect me and my need to protect you is what
brought the Death Clan down. Without that variable, without that
passion, or the immense power… well, there wouldn’t be much to
fight for.”

The previously angered heat in Chris’s
gaze had changed to pure heat. His bottomless blue eyes had a way
of looking deep into my soul and tugging on my pinky toes; I didn’t
divert my eyes from his and actually cherished the moment where I
could unabashedly stare at him.

Brand, once again, interrupted our
moment. “Well, I can tell when I’m a third wheel; I’ll just go over
with the other guys.” He stood and left us alone.

“I’ve missed you, Calli. I’ve spent
too much of my time being bitter and hurt.” He placed his palm on
my cheek and rubbed his thumb across my bottom lip. It felt so good
that I couldn’t help but press my cheek into his hand.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you just now.
You only came up with the conclusion I was a Healer because you had
no other knowledge of other possible reasons for me to be able to
heal.”

“I want nothing more than to hold you
close to me, Calli, but I cannot because of this amulet, because of
Maetha once again.”

“Chris, what happened to Mrs. Winter?
Why isn’t she the amulet wearer?”

“Beth called for her assistance in the
investigation of Charles’ and Curtis’ disappearance. We discussed
the possibility that it may be a trick to get the Runners' amulet
wearer out of the compound so she relinquished it to me for the
duration of her trip. I was taken the next day. I have to say, when
Brand took each and every guard down flawlessly it reminded me of
the female who took me hostage.”

“Were you drugged? I mean, how did she
get you out of the compound?”

“She had me at gunpoint and
informed me that if we didn’t reach the checkpoint by a certain
time,
you
would
be killed.” Chris reached out and took my hands in his. “I figured
that Justin was behind the kidnappings because who else would know
to use my fear of you dying to force me to do something? Anyway, I
also had decided that I would not give over the amulet if you were
in fact dead. It would do Justin no good to kill you and I really
felt he knew that.”

“Chris, there’s something I need to
tell you concerning the diamond shards; all Justin needs to do is
kill the amulet wearers and the shards will be his. However, Justin
doesn’t know this. Wherever he’s getting his information from it's
not complete and I don’t quite know why. I have my own suspicions
about this whole deal and who’s really behind it… using Justin as a
puppet. For now, we need to rest. I can tell you honestly that
there’s nothing I would want more than to be held in your arms
tonight, but…” I couldn’t finish.

He smiled at me and leaned forward and
kissed my lips carefully, taking care not to get our amulets too
close. Then he lay down on his side and patted the floor in front
of him. I lied down on my back near him but not too close. He
placed his hand on my arm and said, “These necklaces might as well
be chastity belts. I can’t wait to get mine off. Wait a minute,
Brand isn’t wearing one, I could give mine to him for the
night.”

“Not a good idea, Chris. We don’t need
to make him anymore powerful than he already is.”

“What is his power exactly?” Chris was
intrigued.

“He can rewind small stretches of
time.”

“He’s a time traveler?”

“Something like that. It’s confusing
to think about but terribly powerful. He used his power on you
earlier, I could tell.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry about it, Chris, he only
used it to manipulate an answer out of you. Didn’t you think it was
suspicious he figured things out a bit too quickly?”

“I just figured he’s a smart
guy.”

“He is, and that’s part of the
problem. You cannot give him the amulet, Chris.”

“Alright.”

We eventually drifted off to sleep on
the hard floor. I awoke several times in the night and each time I
found that Chris hadn’t removed his hand from my arm. It was as if
he was afraid that if he broke contact with me I might not be here
in the morning, that maybe this was all a dream. I felt the same
way and found comfort in his need for contact.

Chapter 13 -
Relinquishment

The guards broke our door down
flooding our room with sunlight and yelled orders for us to freeze
and raise our hands. Justin walked in and laughed. “You’re
pathetic, all of you! Get up.”

The guards encouraged us to move with
the tips of their guns. One in particular kicked Brand in the gut.
I shouted, “Justin, he gets hurt and I won’t give you my amulet!”
Justin glared at his guard and turned on his heel and left the
building.

We were ushered back to where we fled
from the evening before. It seemed that we were going backward, not
progressing forward; and yet I knew better. I’d had a thought a
little earlier that perhaps Maetha was behind Justin’s lack of
knowledge concerning the amulets all with the intention of helping
the shards rejoin within me. I’d find out soon enough.

We were placed in a room with large
windows and an exterior door. The five of us were positioned in a
semi-circle. I was in the middle with Charles and Curtis to my left
and Chris and Brand to my right. The guards had guns to our heads
and no one said a word. Justin paced the floor looking at his
watch; he was clearly waiting for someone.

A young female probably close to my
age entered the building dragging a man behind her. The male was an
obvious Hunter with a diamond shard around his neck. I felt into
his mind and found his name was Dominic. I tried to feel inside the
female’s mind and found the exact same mess as Brand’s mind. She
was a Repeater. I looked at Chris and he brought his thoughts to
the front of his mind confirming that this girl was the one who
abducted him as well.

The female walked up to Justin and
said, “I think I deserve a little extra for this one. He was hard
to catch.”

“You’re late. You’ll get what I told
you before.”

“No, I want a bonus.”

“I already gave you a bonus on the
last one. Take your money and go.” He pointed to a briefcase by the
door.

She stepped close to him and placed
both her hands on his chest and slid them down the front of his
jacket. One entered his side jacket pocket and pulled out an
envelope and waved it at him. “This will do just fine.” She turned
and left the building with both the briefcase and her
bonus.

Justin ordered Dominic to stand next
to Curtis and positioned another guard behind Dominic. Justin
addressed the group. “Here’s how this is gonna work, if you want to
live, you’ll each remove your amulet and reassign its ownership to
me. Then you’ll extend your arm toward me with the
amulet.”

I had to at least act as if I cared so
I said, “You will die, Justin.”

“Shut up, Calli. I will be able to
heal myself with the powers of the stone.”

“They won’t work on you, Justin.” I
knew this was all I should say and didn’t respond
further.

Everyone removed their amulets, mine
was a bit hard to pull it from my skin, and began reassigning
ownership. Then we extended our arms toward Justin. The dangling
amulets began to shake and stir slightly and Justin shouted,
“Closer! Tighten the semi-circle! Bring them closer
together!”

We inched forward and in one fluid
motion, Justin cupped his left hand in front of him, palm up, and
with his right hand gathered the leather cords in a sweeping motion
catching the clinking amulets in his left hand and he pulled his
hands to his body, to his chest.

The glass pieces exploded with a loud
crack flinging broken glass in all directions and bright rays of
light shot out from between Justin’s fingers and he screamed in
pain. His body crumpled to the ground at our feet. He lay face up
and a large gaping wound in the center of his chest oozed blood
where the diamond had blasted into him. I could see the merged
shards deep in the bloody crater of his chest and it sickened me to
think that if only Justin hadn’t been so bent of having ultimate
power he’d still be alive. Yet, like Maetha had said, it’s the way
the human mind works in so many cases. I couldn’t believe how calm
I was feeling. Perhaps it was because I knew this would happen; I’d
seen it already.

Brand broke the silence. “Should I
repeat, Calli?”

I looked at Chris who said, “It’s
nature’s way.”

My senses alerted me to something
else, an oddity that I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around, dealing
with the guards. They still had their guns on us even though their
‘leader’ was lying in a growing pool of blood. None of us dared
move for fear of being shot and yet the guards stood their ground
as if they were waiting for something or someone else; the puppet
master.

The door opened and Freedom walked in
with an opened pocket watch in his hand, the chain was attached to
the inside of his long coat, and my powers vanished. I could tell
they were completely gone! I couldn’t do anything. Brand looked at
me with question in his expression. Maetha suddenly appeared across
the room looking confused; her presence caused Freedom to do a
double take. “Well, good of you to join us, Maetha.” Freedom nodded
to one of the guards to indicate she needed an escort. A guard
quickly positioned himself by Maetha. Freedom then turned to me and
said, “Calli, I’d hoped you would have been with me at this point,
but I guess we all have our choices.”

I spoke out loud to Brand, “OK Brand,
this would be a good time to repeat.” I knew my statement held a
little too much emotion but considering the fact that for the first
time since I was sixteen I had absolutely no powers radiating
through my body, it scared the hell out of me.

“Would love to, Calli, but I
can’t.”

“Disturbing, isn’t it?” Freedom said
in his low, smooth voice as he calmly bent over Justin’s body and
dug into his chest pulling out the bloody stone. He stood and
walked over to me and said, “I believe you have something I need,
Calli.” He held up the diamond for me to see the vacant notch where
the shard from my heart would go. He turned away from me and at the
same time issued an order to the guards, “Kill everyone
else.”

I watched in absolute horror as the
guards opened fire on Maetha, Chris, Charles, Curtis and Dominic
while at the same time Brand rushed Freedom whose back was turned
and knocked him down to the ground. I was completely stunned and in
shock at the carnage all around me. Charles, Curtis and Dominic
were moaning from their injuries but Chris and Maetha lay face down
completely still. Dead!