Bloom (15 page)

“But when you brought me here I wasn’t dying.”

“Oh, but you were. The men at the medical center don’t like to operate on living specimens. They keep a certain amount of prisoners alive for long-term studies, but they much prefer a subject that won’t wake up in the middle of the procedure and cause trouble. The drugs they injected into your system would have killed you shortly after you arrived here.”

“What did they want from me?”

“To find out what makes you the way you are. They believe that if they can uncover the root of our abilities, they can dig it out and alter it to fit their dark needs.”

Haven flipped over a fallen leaf with the toe of her shoe. “In that case, thank you.”

Elena smiled. “You are very welcome.” She walked past Haven and slowly sat in the grass at the top of a small hill. The bones in her knees popped loudly as she stretched out her legs in front of her. A small blue light floated to her, touched the top of her head, then floated away.

Haven walked over and sat in the grass beside her.

“Do you like the lights?” asked Elena. “I made them myself.”

A cluster of blue lights formed directly over Haven’s head. They swarmed together and spun in the air like a pinwheel before flying off in every direction. “They’re beautiful,” she said. “What are they?”

“Just a distraction. They make me happy.”

Elena raised her arm and extended her pointer finger toward the ceiling. A small ball of blue light formed between the first two knuckles of her finger—exactly like the blue light that Haven had seen on her own hand in her kitchen—and slowly moved to the tip of her fingernail.

Elena watched the light, turning her finger to the side as it hovered at the edge of her fingernail. With a gentle blow from her mouth, the light floated up into the air and joined the others in the trees.

“Is my brother still alive?” asked Haven.

Elena’s smile faded and her arm slowly lowered to her lap. “Yes. He is at the medical center where we found you.”

Haven felt the threat of tears well behind her eyes, but forced them back with anger. “Why didn’t you save him? Why did you take
me
?”

“We thought you
were
your brother. We lack the resources to save everyone that is taken by Bernam and his followers, so we must bide our time and strike when it is most important.” She sighed. “Our numbers have been decreasing over the past months. Some go out into the world and never return. I believe they were either killed or captured by Bernam and taken to his medical facility for testing. He’s searching for something—something that he thinks he can only find in us.”

“Why take Noah? He’s just a little boy.”

Elena hesitated for a moment. “Your brother—” she said, then stopped. She seemed to be searching for the right words. “I explained to you that there are Sources and Conduits, and that some are more powerful than others. On each side, there is one who is the
most
powerful. Others may be more capable than these two individuals in only one area, such as storage capacity for a Conduit or burst capabilities for a Source, but the most powerful individuals on both sides more than make up for these shortcomings by being masters of their remaining abilities. More than any other of his or her kind, this person wields a power so profoundly versatile, yet so completely dangerous, that it eclipses all others in existence. If this person is a Source, they are known as a Phoenix. The strongest Conduit is called a Void.”

“Which one is my brother?”

“Neither,” said Elena.

Haven looked up as a blue light floated over her head. It glowed brighter and split into two lights, which swirled around each other as they quickly rose higher in the air.

“You’re a Phoenix,” she said suddenly.

Elena nodded. She looked as if admitting it caused her great pain.

“I have never been able to sense the existence of any of our kind,” she said, “until very recently. It was an aspect of my ability that I was told would manifest itself when the time came. I must admit that I had my doubts. Now I know that those doubts were wrong.” She looked over at Haven hesitantly. “Your brother is a hybrid. He possesses—or rather, he
will
possess—the characteristics of both a Source and a Conduit. He will be able to create his own energy and also to unleash it without the need for a counterpart. This hybridization of our abilities has only happened once before, and that person died because they did not know how to control their unlimited potential. It is the holy grail for Bernam, and it is why he has taken your brother. If I, as a Phoenix, could sense the existence and location of your brother, then it stands to reason that Bernam, as a Void, could sense it as well. He wants to be a hybrid, and he will stop at nothing until he achieves his goal.”

“Oh, Noah,” whispered Haven. A warm tear rolled down her cheek.

Elena reached over and wiped away the tear. “There is still time,” she said. “Now that you are awake, you can come with us to the medical center and help us rescue your brother.”

Haven shook her head slowly in defeat. “I don’t even know what’s happening to me.”

“You will,” said Elena. “In time.”

“How much time is there?” said Haven hotly. “What if he’s already dead?”

“They still need him, Haven, and as long as they still need him, he is safe. You must hold on to that hope for as long as possible.”

Haven sniffed and rubbed her nose. “Were my parents like me?”

“You mean did they have their own abilities?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know.”

Haven closed her eyes as the sharp pain of a migraine suddenly flared behind her eyes. It hit her much faster than it ever had before, driving deep into her skull.

“What’s wrong?” asked Elena.

“Just a headache,” she said with a groan. “I get them occasionally.” Haven rubbed her temples to try and dull the pain.

“Those will pass. They are quite common for Sources before they fully adjust to their new abilities.”

Haven opened her eyes as the pain slowly faded. She thought about everything Elena had said. “I thought everyone’s fire was supposed to be a different color. Every Source, I mean.”

“Their energy, yes.”

“But my fire is blue, like yours.”

“I noticed. Not
quite
the same, but close enough.”

“What does that mean?”

Elena smiled. “I’m not sure. But I bet we’re going to find out.”

15

C
olton sat in a large conference room on the eleventh floor. Several rows of chairs faced a polished black podium, behind which stood Bernam. He wore a thin suit and sipped water from a faceted glass. His private jet had landed on the pavement outside the building earlier that morning and was being refueled during his long speech.

Shelly sat next to Colton, leaning in and resting her shoulder against his. Reece sat on the other side of Shelly with his arms crossed, leaning away from her.

Bernam set down his glass of water and repositioned the podium microphone directly in front of his mouth.

“As I was saying,” he said, “it doesn’t matter where you came from. It doesn’t matter what you were before you got here. What matters is the future. You’re all here, now, because you want something more—more from life, more from each other—”

Shelly reached over and quickly squeezed Colton’s leg. Reece saw her do it and leaned farther away from both of them.

“—more from yourselves.”

Colton looked around the room.

He, Shelly, and Reece sat in the last of three rows of chairs. Alistair sat in the front row, relaxing comfortably in his seat while he listened to Bernam’s speech. In the second row, two identical twins that Colton did not know sat side by side—young men with tan skin and short, spiky blond hair. They both wore identical jeans, t-shirts, and black leather jackets. They sat low in their seats and seemed bored with the speech.

“As you know,” continued Bernam, “this morning I returned from Japan. Dane and Lee—the only ones among us who have achieved Unity—were there for several weeks taking care of some personal business for me.” He gestured to the twins, who grinned broadly. One of them turned around and winked at Shelly. She stuck her tongue out.

“You’ve all been training very intensely during my absence,” said Bernam. “I’m very happy to hear that the newest member of our group is doing far better than we originally expected.” He smiled sharply at Colton. “No offense meant.”

“None taken,” said Colton.

The truth was that the past week had been unbelievable. He had spent several hours every day in the training room, testing out his capacity for containing different forms of energy. He could keep himself fully charged for just over two minutes before being forced to release, and that time was slowly climbing every day. According to Alistair, most Cons peaked between a minute-thirty and two minutes.

The time not spent in the training room was divided between the gymnasium and Shelly. She barely let him have a moment alone after his rigorous daily routine. Colton couldn’t find anything to complain about—she was beautiful, smart, and had a great sense of humor.

She was teaching him things that Alistair hadn’t bothered to mention, like how to use sunlight to nourish his skin and how to manipulate objects with small bursts of stored energy. Colton was especially fond of not making contact with doors when he closed them. With a wave of his hand he could push the door from several feet away. He was getting good enough so that he didn’t slam them shut as he always did when he first started.

The only thing bothering Colton about the entire experience was Reece. He had been growing quieter and more withdrawn over the past week, spending all of his time in his living quarters and rarely showing up when everyone got together to relax. During the last two days he had barely said a word, and every time he saw Shelly giving Colton the smallest form of affection, he scowled with disgust.

Bernam took a sip of water before continuing his speech.

“I think we can all agree that this is the strongest team we’ve ever had—”

Reece stood up quickly and pushed his chair back until it fell over. He stepped over it and stomped out of the room, slamming the door closed behind him.

Bernam looked after him for a moment, then tightened the knot in his tie. “Well, as I was saying: I’m very proud of your hard work. It looks like it’s finally going to pay off. Everything I have promised you is just over the horizon.”

Colton leaned over to Shelly. “What did he promise you?” he whispered.

“Shh,” she said gently. “Tell you later.”

Bernam walked around to the front of the podium.

“There is only one more step to complete. Before we can start our heavy recruiting phase, there is one last mission—a very
important
mission—to find the final piece of the equation.”

“What equation?” whispered Colton.

Shelly didn’t answer him.

Bernam smiled. “And I’m going to be with you every step of the way.”

Alistair sat up in his seat and the twins clapped loudly. Colton had only been with the group a short time, but from what he knew, Bernam never accompanied them when they went out into the world.

Bernam glanced at his expensive watch.

“The plane leaves in five hours, at nightfall. I’ll see you all on-board.” He walked past the chairs and left the room.

The twins turned around in their seats to face Shelly and Colton.

“I’m Lee,” said the one on the left.

“I’m Dane,” said the other.

They had matching Australian accents. Colton shook each of their hands in turn. “Colton.”

“We know,” said Lee.

“That’s Shelly,” said Dane, pointing at her and smiling.

“I think she likes you,” Lee said to Colton.

“Who wouldn’t?” said Dane. “Just look at how his skin glows.”

“Did she show you how to do that?” said Lee. “I bet she did. Shelly’s got a thing for all the new arrivals.”

“Grow up,” she said.

“Wish we could,” said Lee.

“But we’re stuck this way,” said Dane.

He snapped his fingers and a red flame sprouted from his fingertips. Lee quickly grabbed it as if he were snatching a fly from the air and brought his closed fist to his mouth, then pretended to swallow the flame. He wiggled his eyebrows and the flames shot from both of his ears.

“Ugh,” said Shelly. She stood and left the room.

Colton leaned in toward the twins. “What do you mean you’re stuck that way?”

“Perpetual youth,” said Lee.

“Ageless,” said Dane. He shrugged. “Twenty years old forever. It happens.”

“At least it wasn’t at sixty,” said Lee.

Colton looked between them, confused. “But how does that happen?”

Lee sighed. “Didn’t Alistair tell you all of this?”

Colton shook his head.

Lee sighed even harder. “Fine. Sometimes when a Source and Con are linked, it halts the aging process. It’s a side effect of the shared connection. It puts them in a sort of stasis. No one knows why.”

“But that hasn’t stopped them from trying to figure it out,” said Dane.

Lee nodded. “Billion-dollar question, that one.”

“So it doesn’t always happen?” asked Colton.

“Weren’t you listening? I already said it didn’t. It’s exceedingly rare.”

“We’re just lucky, I guess.”

“So how old are you guys?”

They both grinned mischievously.

“We’ll never tell, mate,” said Lee.

“Adds to our aura of mystery.”

“I hear it’s what girls go for these days, anyway,” said Lee.

“That and money.”

Dane looked at Colton. “Speaking of girls, how are you and Shelly getting along?”

“What’s it to you?” said Colton. He felt the hair on the back of his neck rising.

“Easy, mate,” said Lee. “We just want to make sure she’s happy, that’s all. Shelly’s a good girl.”

Colton relaxed. “I barely know her,” he said, realizing his words were true.

“Give it time,” said Lee. He stood and slapped Colton on the shoulder.

Dane stood and slapped the other one. “Yeah, give it time.”