The Ultimate Sacrifice, Talia Jager [novels to read .TXT] 📗

going on, Ralph? What’s wrong with you?” The dark-haired guy stopped coming at me.

I switched my gaze to him. I had no idea if I could do two at once, but we were about to find out. I stared at him until he started rubbing his temples and screaming out in pain until he collapsed. The lighter-haired man was struggling to get up, but as I focused back on him, he dropped to the ground again.

I kept them both on the ground as I approached Mira. Seeing her bloody and bruised body made the power surge even more, and the men on both sides of me fell flat on the ground. Both of their bodies were now motionless. I was shaking, but I didn’t dare move any further. I didn’t want to let either one of them out of my sight until Mira was safe.

I had to focus on Mira. I was thankful that she was immune to my gift or she would probably be on the ground now too. “Can you get to the car?” I managed to ask.

Behind me, someone responded, “She doesn’t have to. We’ll get her.” I immediately recognized Dr. Frost’s voice. “We can’t get to her until you stand down.”

My face felt wet, but I couldn’t tell if it was sweat or tears. “I can’t. They hurt her!” I cried. I felt something on the side of my neck. Immediately I knew what it was—the jet injector. “Do it,” I told her. And then everything went black.

I could hear voices, but I couldn’t open my eyes.

“Dead,” someone said.

“One or both?” a different voice asked.

“Both.”

“Both dead?”

“How did she…?” a third voice chimed in.

“She’s much stronger than we all thought.”

“Take care of them and clean up the mess.”

“Someone needs to take the cars back.”

“Is she okay?” I heard Mira’s shaky voice.

“She’ll be fine. Don’t worry.” That voice belonged to Dr. Frost.

“She did it for me, she did it to save me.”

“We know. Lay back and rest. We’re going to get you two home.”

“They came from behind,” she added, her voice barely above a whisper.

I felt myself being moved, but still couldn’t wake up. Then I felt a motor start and the vibration of the road below me. It was quiet again, so I slept.

The next time I heard voices, I was able to open my eyes. I was in a bed in the infirmary. I could see Mira sleeping in the bed next to me. Her face was swollen and purple. She had some stitches on her bottom lip and bandages were wrapped around her arm. I could feel myself getting angry again. How dare they do that to her!

I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. “Close your eyes, take deep breaths, and count to ten,” Dr. Frost said calmly. I followed her instructions. “Good. Again.” I listened to her and the anger receded. “Now, open your eyes and look at me.” I did as she asked. “Can you see me okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Am I blurry?”

“No. Should you be?”

She snorted. “No. I just want to make sure you’re not experiencing any side effects.”

“Side effects of what?” I asked, and then I remembered. “Oh, the shot. You had to drug me.”

“Yes. You remember everything?”

I nodded. “I think so.” As my memories came back to me, I caught her eye. “I’m scared.”

She looked surprised by that. “Why?”

“Because I’m not sorry,” I said simply.

She nodded. “Believe it or not, I understand. You were protecting your best friend. In a way, I’m almost proud of what you did for her. However, what you did wasn’t good.”

“Did I really kill two people?” I asked, hoping that maybe I was remembering wrong.

“Yes,” she confirmed.

“I…I didn’t know I could do that.” I trembled. As much as I wanted those two dead for what they did to my best friend, I was upset that I had lost control. The power in me had been so great that I caused the death of two humans!

“You have a very powerful gift.”

“How much trouble am I in?”

“There’s a lot to discuss. Once you’re up to it, we’ll be meeting. There is so much, Kassia, that you don’t know.”

“That’s the other thing I’m afraid of.”

It was almost lunchtime when Mira finally stirred. I was sitting up in my bed at that point. They had brought me something to eat and I was nibbling on it. When I saw her moving, I looked over and saw she was awake. “Hey.” I tried to smile.

The nurse noticed she was awake too and quickly pulled the curtain. Now why did she have to go and do that? It wasn’t like Mira wouldn’t tell me what was going on. I realized I was getting upset over something stupid and took some of those deep breaths Dr. Frost was always telling me to do. My body calmed down, and I finished eating my lunch. Soon after, the nurse opened the curtain back up.

I hopped off the bed a little too fast, lost my balance, and had to hang on to the bedrail for a few seconds. Once the room stopped spinning, I walked over to Mira’s bed and sat in the chair next to her. Carefully, I took her hand in mine. Seeing all of her injuries close up brought tears to my eyes. Silently, they fell down my face.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“I’m sorry…I…I was too late…I should have been there. It’s all my fault.” I sobbed.

“No, it isn’t. It is what it is.”

“Did he? I mean, did he rape you?”

She looked down and I knew immediately he had.

“I was too late,” I said again. “The one time you need me for something and I failed.”

“Stop!” She raised her voice a little. “You saved me. They weren’t done with me. It was going to get a whole lot worse and you came as quick as you could. You broke rules, not just regular human rules either. You broke our rules. You used your gift. You did everything you could. So stop. There is no need to apologize. You saved me.” She pushed herself up to a sitting position, wincing in pain, and we put our arms around each other. It was then that her body shook with sobs along with mine. We cried together for a while.

After quite some time, someone spoke up, “Girls, we need to talk. If you’re both ready, let’s go to my office.” It was Mr. Eaton.

I helped Mira stand, and we followed him.

When we stepped into his office, I was surprised to see Noe, Auralee, Daxton, Zane, and Dr. Frost there. Everyone looked visibly upset. Both Noe and Auralee looked like they had been crying. Zane’s eyes were red, but his lips were pulled in a tight line, and he didn’t look at Mira. Daxton met my eyes and gave me a sympathetic smile.

“What’s going on?” I looked around the room.

“Kassia,” Mr. Eaton began, “there is a lot more to our world than you know. You have always been special because of your gift. As you know, your talent is rare. Years ago, those like you were called death inducers. That’s still the official name, but over time, nicknames have been used. Death-blaster, killer-eyes, and most recently, mind-blower. Death inducers have always had a reputation for being uncontrollable. You’ve been told that some were killed or locked up because their gift couldn’t be contained. Your gift revealed itself early, and we’ve been trying to keep it a secret. But now, with last night’s incident, we’re pretty sure that word will spread.”

“How? It was only us there.”

“We don’t think so,” Mr. Eaton said. “There are many things lurking in the shadows. Many things watching.”

“Well, if they’re watching us, can’t they see us here? Wouldn’t they know about me already?”

“No. The school is protected. There is an invisible shield that extends just beyond the perimeter of the campus, where the clearing begins. Not even some of our own kind can get through, so there isn’t a way for them to see what happens here. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways. Things can get out.” Mr. Eaton looked intently at me. “Kassia, when you first came here, there were already whispers about what you could do, but you hadn’t killed anyone and that was important. The others didn’t care too much if you weren’t killing.”

“And now they do?”

He nodded. “Once it gets around that you killed two people last night, I’m afraid they will come for you.”

“Come for me?” I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”

“Once you’ve killed, it’ll be easier to do again, and your power will want you to. Demons want you on their side. They want to capture and use you.”

I gasped. “But I don’t want to kill! I mean…I did want to kill those men for what they were doing…” I glanced at Mira. “But I don’t want to kill. I don’t want to be a monster!”

Mira put her arm around me. “You’re not a monster.”

“These demons, how will they use me? Can’t I just kill them?”

“My best guess is they will somehow try to get in your head.” Mr. Eaton pursed his lips. “Brainwash you in a way. Then you’ll take orders from them.”

“No!” Tears fell from my eyes. Hey, universe: Anything else you’d like to throw at me right now?

“How do we keep her safe?” Mira asked. I felt horrible that she was worried about keeping me safe when she had just been…violated.

“We could hide her and hope they don’t come looking,” Dr. Frost suggested.

“I think the best option is to get you out of here,” Mr. Eaton said.

“You want me to go on the run?”

“In a way, yes. Maybe things will blow over and you can come home quickly.”

“So where am I supposed to go?” I asked.

“Wherever Noe says.”

“Noe? She’s coming?”

“We think you should all go together. It wasn’t a coincidence you four girls were put on the same floor. You need to be a team. Auralee, you can read the thoughts of people close by and make sure there aren’t any threats. Noe, you can see the future. Figure out where to go and make sure nothing is coming. Mira can do the cleanup so people don’t get suspicious. There is something else. I heard about the time Daxton was able to help you stop your emotions.”

My head shot up. “You heard?”

“Yes. He pulled you into a dreamland and your anger slipped away.”

“Yes.” I glanced over at Daxton.

“I think he should be part of the team too. He and Mira can stop you if you get angry.”

“And what if they aren’t there? What if I hurt Noe or Auralee?” I certainly did not want to do that.

“They’ll have these,” he said, holding up one of the jet injectors. “We’ll give one each to Zane, Noe, and Auralee.”

I nodded. “Good. Zane’s coming too?”

“Zane can talk to anything, whether it be a person who doesn’t speak English or even an animal…he might be able to get more information this way.”

“Hmmm…” Now came the all-important question. “Where do we go?”

“First, we will need to get you safely out of here. Then Noe will lead the way, wherever that may be.”

“Won’t it look weird? A bunch of kids traveling around without adults?” Mira asked.

“You won’t necessarily be out in the open. If questions arise, that’s where you come in. Compel them.”

“Everyone?”

“If you must.”

I could tell she wasn’t sure if she could do that.

“I couldn’t even compel those…assholes last night,” she