Kinetics: In Search of Willow (50 page)

"She's
on her way here with
Isiro's
entourage and a mass of troops. They have to stop
here before transferring to the Argentina base
anyway,
"
Jack
supplied.

"
Jack, you
shouldn't..."
Roy started, but Jack touched his
friend's
shoulder and
held eye contact with him for a few significant seconds. Roy
nodded. Were they passing a telepathic message?

"They'll
be here any minute
."

I took in a deep breath, still feeling
the pain from being choked by Roy. I rubbed my throat and then
sprinted around the four, making my way down the stairs.

There. There he was. The second I saw
him, I was in an all-out sprint. I jumped off the bridge and
stumbled to stop right behind him. He turned just in time for me to
see the whites of his eyes. My fist connected with the back of his
head. Grey stumbled only for a split second before whirling around
and grabbing my wrist.

"
How did you get out
?"
he said.

"
Guess
!"
I
shouted and spun to untwist my arm from his grasp. He let go and I
fell back and hit the ground with a
 
whumph.

"
Now is not the time
."
He murmured and started to walk away.

I lunged after him and
grabbed his legs mid-step. He stumbled and fell to the ground,
groaning in pain. He spun on his butt and kicked out, the heel of
his shoe connecting with my forehead. I rolled away, but
remembering my escape, I latched onto the pain coursing from the
growing bump on my forehead. I felt the fire licking the back of my
mind steady with a thrum. Just as in the cell I grabbed it and used
my outstretched hand to channel the fury and pain into a shooting
star of fire. The bolt lanced from my open palm and right
toward
Grey's
weather-beaten face.

In one swift move with his
arm the bolt exploded mid-air in a shower of fireworks. His eyes
glimmered in the light and the fire in my mind was iced over with
his cold stare.
"Don't
, boy. You have no idea what you are doing
."

"
I know perfectly well what I am doing
!"
I shot off a second bolt, weaker
this time as the pain subsided.

He deflected it again, but
this time the cold stare was replaced by something I
couldn't
read.
Curiosity? Anger? I stopped looking at him for something I could
use to fire up my powers again. A power pole a few hundred feet
away had been knocked over and its wires were sparking with live
electricity.

I vaulted off the ground
and ran for the sparking wire, I
didn't
even hesitate to grab the
wire and within
seconds
the energy coursed through my body. My hand was
in severe pain and my heart hurt in so many ways. The wire still in
hand, I turned toward Grey who was staring at me like I had
sprouted extra limbs. The energy and pain coursing through my body
built more and more and I held out my free hand toward Grey. His
eyes only just registered what was about to happen when a shot like
a flamethrower burst out straight toward him crossing the gulf
between us in a matter of split seconds.

He stepped toward me, and when the
flame was about to connect, a shield formed around him as he walked
closer to me.

"
Where is she
?"
I screamed over the roar of fire.

His brow twisted into
confusion.
"
Who
?"

"
The girl you kidnapped! Willow
!"
I dropped the live wire and the
fire shunted to a stop.

He stopped in his tracks
and stared at me. Recognition passed over his features.
"You're
the guy she
spoke of
."

"
She knew I was going to save her
."

"
She knew no such thing. She just said you would be great one
day if you learned to control your powers. How did you manage
that
?"
He glanced
down at the live wire cracking at my feet.

I grabbed the wire again and shot off
another bolt. He quickly and easily deflected it just like the last
ones. I stopped thinking and stared rapid fire bolts, hoping to
catch him by surprise. Every bolt I fired he deflected, walking
closer to me.

"
You are mistaken
" --
Deflect.
 
"—
if
you think I am the cause for your
-" 
Deflect.
 "—friend's
arrival
here
."

"
If you
aren't-" 
Bolt.
 "-
then who is
?"

"
Why
don't
you
-" 
Deflect.
 "-
ask her
?"

"
WHERE IS SHE, THEN
!"

The arm that he had used
to deflect my bolts rose up and pointed in the direction of the
Spiral. There the light from the teleportation wave illuminated a
dozen or so people arriving from parts unknown. Standing next to an
elderly man was a redheaded girl of 15. Willow. She had an ear
tilted toward the old man as he talked and pointed to the
destruction. Far off I heard the shouts of
Jacob's
men ordering every building
searched. From the Spiral more and more
Isiroans
appeared to confront the
invading Alliance. Willow and the old man stood in place.
Willow
surveyed with a
slow look until she was looking right at me. Our eyes met and I
stumbled forward toward her. She spoke to the old man, then
traversed the hill toward me. Grey followed after me and the old
man followed after Willow. She stopped on the other side of the
walkway. I
moved
toward her, but her strong voice stopped me.
"
Did you cause
this
?"

"
I did it for you! To save you! Quick
we
can get out of
here
!"

She shook her head,
looking like someone who was about to scold a child.
"
Eugene, what you have
done here is unforgivable. People have DIED
."

"
But...
"

"
Why are you here
?"

"
I came to save you
."

"
I thought I left enough reassurance with you to tell you I
was going to be okay
."

"
They told me that he was going to hurt you
."

"
Who? Isiro? NO. Isiro saved me from the Alliance. The
Alliance is the one who tried to harm me
."

"
But...
"
I
barely got the word out, but the thought was already forming. She
was brainwashed. Jacob said as much.

"
Go home, Eugene! You are NOT needed
."
She spun on her heel and walked
back toward the Spiral. The old man stayed a moment more and
evaluated me. Around his neck glimmered a small, green crystal.
Isiro.

Rage. Rage was the pain.
Without knowing what I was doing I lunged forward and sent a blast
bigger than anything I could have imagined possible. The ground
itself seemed to set on fire in front of me. In seconds I was on
the ground, Grey had tackled me and the fire I had produced was
raging out of control. My clothes were setting on fire as were the
clothes of Grey. I struggled under his
scarily
strong grip and the fire
continued to rage.

Grey was unaffected by the
fire I was blasting out. It was out of control now. I
didn't
have any more
control over it than an ant has over the weather. I started to get
scared. I
couldn't
stop it. Grey seemed to realize the same thing and slammed
his hand into my head.

Stop.
 
I felt his voice in every
crevasse of my brain. His telepathic voice shuddered all the way
down my spine.

My muscles locked, and I stared wide
eyed into his face. But something else was happening to me in my
chest. Tears started flowing out of my eyes and the pain in my
chest started to grow. I curled in on myself and clenched my chest.
I felt a fire like none other burning a hole. I looked down and saw
a bright light coming from where my heart was. And suddenly
everything went dark.

All I felt was an indescribable
feeling of being stretched.

My body became colder and colder, and
what should have been the pain of having my body ripped to shreds
in the teleportation wake was dashed by the feeling of warm water
flowing through my body and

I was

Light.

U
nfortunately, everything has changed.

Willow melted like food coloring into
water.

An image of Willow stood in front of
me. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind a dozen dreams and
memories came flooding back. They were all of Willow, speaking to
me in between moments of unconsciousness, somehow telling me
something that I should have known from the start. I could almost
remember them all now. But something was wrong. The Willow in front
of me--

"
You…
you're
not Willow,
"
I said to her. She stood out like a single spot of paint on
the black canvas that surrounded us.

She looked at me and
smiled. Her eyes were the color of polished amber and not the soft
green of
Willow's. "
No. I am not
. Welcome to the space
between thoughts."

CHAPTER 37

"
War does not end strife - it sows it. War does not end
hatred. It feeds it. For those who argue war is a necessary evil, I
say you are half right. War is evil. But it is not necessary. War
cannot be a necessary evil, because non-violence is a necessary
good. The two cannot co-exist
."
 
~
US Congressman John Lewis

HARRY GLEESON

Eugene went limp and Mr.
Grey grabbed him. But I
didn't
have time to see what was going on. The Alliance
insurgents were coming around for another wave of attacks. Right
behind us, one of the Isiroan generals was forming up a defense
line between the insurgents and the Spiral. More troops were coming
in through the Spiral, filling the base with caustic light and
sound from over a hundred battles.

We were in a dangerous position. What
little formation there was in the Alliance was coming up to meet
the Isiroan defense line with an offensive line of their own. Jacob
Yoshida himself was at the front shouting orders. I turned to tell
Jack and Roy that we needed to leave and saw Eugene getting to his
feet. He pushed away from Mr. Grey and looked at the Alliance. But
something was wrong. His eyes were glowing white.

Eugene stepped forward and reached out
his hands. A ring of fire at his feet began to spin and swirl
around him getting bigger and bigger, turning into a hurricane of
fire. His hands became engulfed in flames as he appeared to gather
the latent energy in his body.