Axiom Theory: Book Four of the Shadow Series (32 page)

Her adrenaline surged as she stepped up to his body. Casper’s light was gone. She held out her own hand and forced her power to intensify so that she could see him more clearly.

“Lauren?”

The sound of Prim’s voice calling in the distance made her forget about anything else.

“I’m coming!” she shouted back. In less than a breath, she had disappeared and then re-materialized at Prim’s side. Her worries didn’t stop when she’d found him. Resting on the floor with his back to the wall, his face was a mess. His nose jutted grotesquely to the left side and a gash on his right cheek looked as though you could nearly see the teeth on the other side.

She was afraid to touch him. She didn’t want to cause him anymore pain. “Oh my God, Prim.”

He looked to her and managed a smile. “Hey, beautiful.” The act of speaking felt like running a marathon. “I thought I told you to stay home.” He laughed but the pain took over causing him to wince.

Lauren leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I never was good at taking orders.”
A cold chill ran down her spine as Casper’s voice appeared behind her.

“Ain’t that the truth?”

Lauren turned and watched as Casper’s energy swelled. As he threw his hands forward, she took Prim’s arm and phased. In a swirl of movement and lights, she brought the two of them back twenty feet away. She looked to Casper with teeth clenched, hatred and anger surging through every cell. Every breath was used to fuel what was to come.

From a kneeling position, she launched herself towards him and felt his ribs cave as her shoulder collided with them. She pulled up, allowing Casper to fall backward without interference
, and watched as the back of his head bounced off of the ground. She stepped over him, her legs straddling his chest, and held both palms towards his face. She looked deep into his eyes as his flesh started to dance beneath the glow of her power. Her jaws ached with tense fury as she pushed harder and harder. She watched his eyes grow larger and his mouth open wide with pain.

“Tell Isaac hello for me,” she growled and, with a final push, she watched as Casper’s body exploded into a cloud of dust.

Continuing to kneel by the boy’s side, Test had become lost in a brief period of confusion. It wasn’t until a sudden movement in his peripheral vision stifled his thoughts and, as he looked up, he saw Ashley enter the room. Without hesitation, he threw his right arm towards her and watched as her form shimmered with the pulse that ran through her. Confused, he repeated the motion and then stood, backing away from her continued advance.

“Don’t be mad.”

Test heard the words come from Ashley’s lips, but the voice was not hers. With his hands raised, his fire raged with both fury and fear as he backed himself against the curved wall.

“It’
s okay, Test,” she said, raising her hands to match his. “It’s me, Alyssa.”

Test’s heart raced as his mind tried to make sense of what was happening. As the image of Ashley stepped directly in front of him, she reached out and caressed his cheek.

“Alyssa?” he asked.

She nodded her head. “I’m sorry, but we had to come.”

He stared into her eyes. Though he knew it was Alyssa, her form still disturbed him greatly. As he opened his mouth to speak, Alyssa began.

“Cliff came to us with a plan.” She turned and motioned to Iku’s
empty shell of a body lying on the floor. “It looks like we were a little too late.”

Test’s head dropped and, with his chin to his chest, he let out a deep sigh. “It wouldn’t have mattered,” he replied, flipping a hand towards the boy. “That kid is more powerful than all of the rest of us combined.”

Alyssa turned and walked to the boy. Kneeling down beside him, she brushed his hair to the side and examined the cut on his brow. She looked down at the younger version of Test with fascination and pity. “My God, how old is he?” she asked.

“I can’t remember for sure, but I don’t
think he’s a year old yet.”

“
Poor kid,” replied Alyssa.

Test walked up and stood behind her, looking down over the two of them. “I hit him hard,” he said with an air of regret.
The pain in his knee was a testament to the fact. “But he was killing Prim.”

Alyssa reached behind and gripped Test’s leg. “It’s not your fault, Test, but it’s not Destin’s fault either.”

“Destin?”

As she ran her fingers through Destin’s hair, she replied. “That’s his name—Destin.”

A brief silence took over the room before Test spoke. “That’s a strange name.”

Alyssa huffed and looked up over her shoulder quizzically. “Coming from someone named Test, that’s kind of a strange comment, don’t you think?”

Test shoved his hands into his pockets as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Ashley?”

The sound of the small voice came from the ground like a phoenix. Alyssa’s head snapped back to Destin and her eyes met his. She watched him glance to Test, blinking repetitively while trying to clear the blood from his eye. “You’re okay,” she replied as she placed her hand on his chest. “Don’t try to get up. Just take it easy for a minute.”

Destin closed his eyes as he replied. “You’re voice sounds funny.”

Alyssa’s heart skipped a beat as she realized she wasn’t using Ashley’s voice. It suddenly occurred to her that even if she had, she hadn’t heard enough of Ashley’s voice to be very accurate. Then again, the original plan that Cliff had thought up was to only get the boy away from the twins assuming that it would be in the heat of battle. Nothing was ever mentioned about what was to be done next.

Having waited too long to respond, Destin opened his eyes and looked to Test. “Who’s he?” he asked.

Not waiting for Alyssa to respond, he replied. “My name is Test.” He watched as the boy’s eyes grew wide with fear as he sat up from the floor.

“You said he was bad!” exclaimed Destin, glaring with desperation at
who he thought was Ashley.

Alyssa closed her eyes. There was no map, no playbook, no time for thought to get her out of the situation. Continuing to hold Ashley’s form, she spoke with her own voice. “Destin, you have been lied to.” She watched his head recoil as he lifted a hand to rub his bloodied eye. “Test is not the enemy. H
e is not the bad guy.”

Slowly, Destin began to push himself away from Alyssa. “Who are you?” he asked. “You’re not Ashley.”

Without acknowledging his statement, she continued. “Honey, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to say it.” She glanced back over her shoulder to Test who gave her a reassuring nod. Looking back to the boy, she tried to be as soft and comforting as possible. “You are here because of something terrible someone did. A while ago, Test was captured by some people who did a bunch of bad things to him.” She tried to edge forward as Destin continued to push himself away, but stopped when he began to move faster. “Do you know what DNA is?” she asked. Destin’s only response was a horrified stare. “DNA is what makes each of us who we are. Those men, the ones who took Test, they stole some of his DNA.” She paused, scared to death of what the knowledge she was about to share would mean to the boy. “Destin, sweet heart, you were created from Test’s DNA. You are what is called a clone.”

Test watched with
great anticipation for the boy’s reaction. Should he decide to fight, Test knew that everything would be for naught.

“Look at him,” said Alyssa as she motioned to Test. “Can’t you see
? He’s an older version of you.” Suddenly realizing how strange it must be for Test to be seeing himself as a child, she stood and took Test’s hand into hers. With a brief hesitation, she allowed the image of Ashley to disappear and presented the image of herself. “My name is Alyssa,” she said softly. “We are here to rescue you from Ashley and Casper. They only want you because of your power.”

Destin
began to shake his head. “No!” he shouted, the light from within him beginning to ignite. “I don’t believe you.”

Alyssa felt Test’s body tense. “Don’t,” she said firmly as she squeezed his hand. Turning her attention back to Destin, she pleaded with the boy. “Destin, please—you have to believe me. Why would you still be alive if we were the bad guys? Honey, you were unconscious and we stayed with you. If Ashley and Casper care so much about you, where are they?”

As if there weren’t enough occupying his mind, Test felt the sudden pull of a spirit racing by him as it flew down the corridor. Trying not to be distracted, he focused on Destin.

“Alyssa is telling the truth,” said Test.

“So you didn’t kill Isaac?” replied Destin.

Test glared at the ground between them and hung his head shamefully. “Yes, I did,” he replied. “He was an evil man, Destin. He killed so many that there’s no way to even count.” He lifted his eyes and bared his soul to the boy. “He took my first love’s life. He killed her for no other reason than to hurt m
e, to bring me to him. You see, Destin, if you were born a Shadow like we are,” he motioned between the two of them with his index finger, “and one of Isaac’s people came for you; you either went with them and served Isaac, or you died.” Test could see the boy becoming more and more upset, not only by the racing pulses down his arms, but by the wetness of his eyes.

“What’s going on?”

The sound of Aiden’s whimpering voice from just behind Test was a shock to all in the room.

“Aiden? What are you doing here?” asked Alyssa as she turned and
quickly snatched him into her arms. “You’re supposed to be with Auntie.”

Too upset to respond, Aiden burst with tears and buried his face into Alyssa’s shoulder. With all of their focus on Aiden, neither Alyssa nor Test saw Destin stand. It wasn’t until he was standing a couple of feet away that Test flinched. He saw the boy staring at Aiden and then examining Alyssa as she comforted him. With each passing breath
, the light from within him faded.

“Who…” he stopped, choking on his words.

Alyssa turned to Destin and saw the softened expression on his face; his eyes squinted slightly as he watched her. “This is Aiden,” she said. Before she could continue, Test spoke.

“This is our son.”

Alyssa’s heart swelled as she looked tearfully to Test. She could hardly believe what she just heard.

“But, he’s dead, right?” asked Destin,
a naïve child taking the place of the powerful force that was present only minutes before.

Grimacing discretely, Test replied. “Well, yes. Both he and Alyssa have passed. But that doesn’t matter. We’re still a family.”

Tears began to roll down Alyssa’s cheeks as Aiden lifted his head to look at Destin.

“Who’s this?” asked Aiden through huffing breaths. Each time he
huffed his bottom lip slipped inside his mouth.

Placing a hand on Aiden’s back, Test answered. “Aiden, this is our friend Destin.”

Aiden looked at Test and then back to Destin several times before speaking. “He looks like you,” he replied, his breathing becoming more steady.

Both Alyssa and Test laughed.

“He sure does, doesn’t he?” replied Alyssa as she tickled Aiden’s stomach.

Destin
viewed the honesty of the scene before him with the realization that he’d never seen anything like it in his short time in the world.
“Where is Ashley?”
he thought to himself.
“Why am I alone?”

W
ith a pit growing in his stomach, the realization that Test and the woman were telling the truth took his breath away. He felt dizzy as his sadness began to turn to rage. In a heartbeat, the furnace had been lit, and he had no control over how hot it would burn. “You’re telling the truth, aren’t you?” he asked.

With a furrowed brow and softened eyes, Test replied. “I’m afraid so, Destin. But that doesn’t mean…”

Before Test could finish his sentence, the entire room began to vibrate. The waves of energy pushed into him from behind like a wrecking ball and he spun to look down the corridor. As he turned back to Destin, an all too familiar white flash erupted in front of him. He threw his forearm over his face to shield his eyes and, when he lowered it, Destin was gone.

The vibration stopped just as Destin slipped into the room containing the other clones.
He didn’t know why he’d come this way; he didn’t know anything anymore. Though he tried to fight the urge to look to his right, he caught himself looking out of the corner of his eye at one of the babies lying on the floor. He examined its face and found himself walking unconsciously towards the body to look closer.

As he stood over the first body, he looked around and saw another
infant sprawled grotesquely amongst the pieces of stainless steel that had once contained it. He looked around and saw yet another. Each of their faces were identical.

He thought about
everything that he knew, questioning what was the truth and what was lies. He knew nothing but what Casper and Ashley had taught him. Standing with his legs spread slightly, he felt the bitterness and anger within him swell. He lowered his head and, with his eyes closed, could see the flashing lights from within his arms move faster and with more intensity. A sudden push on the right side of his body caused him to spin. Just in front of the door stood Test.