First World (26 page)

“I’m not here to take Abby
,” he said, as if I were a piece of furniture he needed delivered. Without expression, he continued, pushing back his blond hair. “Brace explained the mission you’re to undertake. I want to assist.”

Josian
leaned casually against the wall. “Why would you want to do that?”

I knew him well enough now: that was his suspicious voice.

Lucas shrugged. “This seems to be the way to repair First World.” He looked directly at me. “I would think that was my job more than anyone’s.”

I hated to say it; the unease was still there, but
I couldn’t shake the slight curiosity. That didn’t mean I wanted him along on the journey. But I was interrupted as I opened my mouth to object.

“Are we getting this party started or what?” Francesca’s light-hearted words broke the tension. Surprisingly, she had a wicked sense of
humor. She’d be enjoying the strain in the room.

“You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you,
Frannie?” Lallielle glared at her. “So Aribella goes with Lucy, Samuel, Brace and Lucas? Is there anyone else about to join the group?”

Francesca shook
her head, her mouth apparently too full of cake to speak.

When I looked out the window, the large glowing numbers in the sky told me it was
eight minutes to midnight. Eight more minutes before I stopped being Abigail, Earthling, and my destiny as Aribella, First Worlder and Walker, kicked in.

Leaving the arguing group, I stepped outside. I needed a few minutes to walk, so I scooped up the train of my long dress and st
rode out onto the sand.

No one knew what to expect when I reached my power enlightenment.
Josian had told me that full Walkers were born with their powers; they just develop further as they age. First Worlders’ powers kick in at maturity, which is twenty-eight. They assumed I would fall somewhere between this.

“You shouldn’t wander off by yourself, Red.”

Brace appeared at my side. He was as sneaky as Josian sometimes.

I was standing on the edge of the water line, allowing the cool water to wash over my aching feet. I
mentally made plans to burn those heels the next day.

He
too was barefoot, with just dress pants and his white shirt, the top two buttons free. “What are you thinking about?”

I glared at him. “You can’t actually expect me to share my thoughts with you
, disappearing Chuck.”

He sighed, staring out into the horizon
. “Actually, I’m almost hoping you don’t share too many of them. You already drive me crazy with your words. Thoughts are sure to be much worse.”

Did I really want to know what that was about?

Once again I found myself turning to leave the crazy tension he created. I’d never think of myself as a coward, but something about Brace scared me to death.

It didn’t matter
, though. Brace captured my hand, preventing me from escaping.

I’d had enough. Using his bulk, I brought myself in close, lowering my shoulder, and flipped him cleanly over my back.
I was lucky enough to have taken him by surprise. Yanking my dress up, I went to pin him down, but he was too fast. Within seconds he reversed our positions. I found myself on my back in the sand, staring up at him. He used his bulk to hold me down before bringing his face close to mine.

“You are important, Abby.” He was serious. “
These events are much bigger than you and me.” His velvet brown eyes softened. “Despite the fact you constantly irritate me.” He leaned closer. “But I would take on anyone to keep you safe, by my side, where you belong.”

The last part was barely a whisper
. I wasn’t sure if I would hear any more over the beating of my heart.

I sucked in a ragged breath. His lips were inches from mine.

He shook his head. “Why did it have to be you, Abigail ... all this time?” His thick sooty lashes framing those captivating eyes, his expression and body against mine was driving me insane.

And then he kissed me.

His full firm lips pressed into mine and I forgot everything.

His strange
behavior.

The long absence.

My lips opened as the kiss deepened.
He kept the bulk of his weight off me, as if he knew I would hate the loss of independence. All that touched were our lips. I could escape at any point – not that I wanted to.

He did bring one hand down to
cup my face. Fireworks exploded behind my closed eyes. A fire burned through me.

Brace groaned against my lips.

And in that moment the time clicked over to midnight. A surge of energy arched me under Brace. The pain was suddenly everywhere, sharp and intense. I looked down to see if knives were filleting my bones from my body.

“Red, what is it? What’s happening?”

Pain arched my back again. Brace held me as he tried to figure out what was attacking. With
a bloodcurdling scream, my body succumbed to the pain and I writhed on the ground for a few endless moments. My sole aim: just keep breathing.

Clarity returned in an instant. All pain ceased.

I was still in the sand. But I was alone.

Sitting up, I looked around. I was overwhelmed by the crashing influx of sensory information. I noticed immediately my eyesight was clearer. Even in the dark, I could make out certain landmarks I’d never have seen before. My hearing was also improved; I could hear Josian yelling from inside the house. Within moments, he was at my side.

“Baby girl, Brace said something happened to you.”

I must have been down only seconds.

Josian’s
shock was apparent as he helped me to my feet.

The rest of the group were making their way
along the beach to where we stood.

Josian
kept staring at me.

“Dad, I
’m fine.” I grimaced at him. “But you could have told me about the pain. That was brutal.”

I rubbed my face; the ache of dicing knives hadn’t quite left me yet.

Josian shook his head. “There shouldn’t have been pain.”

I looked at him closely. Disbelief laced his tone.

“What’s wrong?” I looked around for the problem.

The rest of the group reached us. Their faces were as shocked as
Josian’s.

I looked at Lucy. “Is my skin green? Do I actually look like an alien now?” I patted my face again, disturbing large chunks of sand residing in my hair.

“Your marks, Abbs ... We can all see your marks,” she said in a kind of stuttering awe.

Shaking my head in surprise, I looked down to see if my necklace had fallen open. It was resting in its usual spot, closed up tight. But, pulsing in the moonlight, my marks ran down my arm into the black of my dress.

Without thought, I raced back up the beach, pounding across the deck and inside to the nearest mirror: the downstairs powder room.

I used the energy stream to turn
on the lights and open the door.

I stared at my reflection.

The marks were fainter than under the
moonstale
crystal, but they were there. And my knife wound had disappeared. The pink puckered scar, which had been hidden under my dress strap, was gone. In fact my skin looked perfect, not one spot, scar or blemish. Besides my Walker marks pulsing away at me.

Josian
crowded in behind me. I turned my shocked eyes in his direction.

“Why has this happened?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know, baby girl. I’ve never seen this happen to any Walker before. But you are the first half-Walker that I’ve seen reach power enlightenment.”

He paused for a moment. Everyone else had crowded into the room behind us. I found myself pressed right against the sink that sat below the mirror.

“You told me the original Walkers had their marks on display, Jos.” Lallielle’s panicked voice came from the back of the group.

Josian
sighed. “Yes, but this has to be something different. Aribella is only half-Walker. I don’t know if this has something to do with the combination of First-World and Walker powers or something else entirely.”

I glared at my reflection
. “This is probably why people wanted to kill me as a baby. No one likes the unknown.”

“
Josian, we need to figure this out. We cannot send Aribella out to the youngling planets with Walker marks on display.”

Lallielle
spoke again as she forged her way to us.

“The average person doesn’t know about our marks
,” was his helpful reply.

“Do not worry yourselves. This is meant to be for
Aribella to complete her task. There is nothing more that can be done,” Francesca chimed in from the back of the room.

“Thank you,
Frannie, succinct and crazy as usual.” Lallielle was becoming much too adept at sarcasm.

“No need to be a witch,
Lallielle. I was just imparting my wisdom.”

Sisters are the same no matter what pla
net or age. I ran a hand along the pulsing pattern on my arm. I now had the world’s biggest ice breaker. Something this out-there was sure to be useful when trying to make friends on other planets.

“We
should think up a cover story for your marks,” Lucy said as Samuel lifted her up for a better look. “Although, you look gorgeous. They really suit you.”

“Thanks, Luce, that makes me feel so much better.”

She shrugged. “Who cares how you feel? Haven’t I always taught you: it’s how you look that counts.”

I stuck my tongue out at her.

Turning, I started shoving people back so I could leave the powder room. Brace halted me with a hand on my arm. His expression appeared to be light hearted, but his eyes were a smouldering cauldron of emotion.

“Lucy is right, Red. You do look gorgeous. But please, if you
value my sanity, no more screams of pain.” He leaned in closer, talking so low I almost missed the words. “I know my kisses are potent, but that was more of a reaction then even I expected.”

Flushing, I elbowed him in the ribs as I continued to move past. His kiss had been potent, and hot,
and ...

Focus
, Abby.

Taking a breath, I
finally made it out of the room and back into the hall. Lallielle, who had followed me, took one look at my expression before turning to the group.

“Alright, everyone, to bed now.
You’re leaving in the morning and you all need as much rest as possible.”

Thank god she’d seen that I’d had enough for tonight.

“I want to speak with Aribella before she goes, but, the rest of you, we meet back here at 0800 hours.” Josian reinforced her words.

I
pointedly ignored the worried glances thrown my way. One by one they filed out of the room, taking off to finalise their lives.

Lallielle
stopped Lucas with a hand on his arm. “If you are leaving with them tomorrow, would you like to stay here tonight?”

He nodded. “That would
probably be the easiest. I’ll have my assistant drop off a bag.”

Lallielle
nodded before gesturing for Lucas to follow the rest. He saluted us politely and walked off down the hallway. The edgy feelings disappeared with him.

Francesca stopped in front of me.

“I don’t know everything. For some reason I am getting less information than usual.” She laughed in her crazy way. “But I do know that this has happened to you, Aribella, because you were born to stand out. You’re important. You’re needed. And one day I hope my crazy visions all come together and make sense to me.” She shook her head.

Smiling
in a calm manner, I patted her on the shoulder. Her insanity would never make sense to anyone, but it had to be annoying to just get snippets of an ever-changing future. And then be expected to make correctly interpreted predictions.

Lallielle
watched her walk away and then kissed my cheek. “I know this is very stressful and confusing, but try and get some sleep tonight. You will need to be at your best for this journey.”

She hadn’t completely
erased the worry from her eyes. My gaze followed her along the hallway.

Once the
space was clear, Josian had my sole attention.

“Okay, before you leave, I need to make sure you can access the basic Walker powers. Have you noticed a change since you awoke?”

I nodded. “Yes, my senses are all heightened.”

Josian
looked happy with that. “Excellent. Your powers will continue to change and grow as you age and as you practice using them.”

“So they might just burst out of me randomly?” I asked in horror.

He shook his head. “It should be a slow growth. But then I never expected the marks, so what do I know?”

I could see
Josian wasn’t used to being unsure. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He clutched me a little closer.

“I need to make sure that you can access the
energy wormholes and open doorways to other worlds. I will not be letting you leave, no matter what
Frannie
says, if you don’t have the ability to escape.”

He took a deep breath.

“
I am going to show you a crude way of creating a doorway. Once you are more in tune with your abilities you will no longer need to resort to this type of energy manipulation.”

I nodded once, running my tongue nervously over my lips.

“Okay, as we have practiced, take some of your energy.”

I closed my eyes and reached into my inner spot. It was still there, in the exact same
place. Only this time it was different. Now, there was a bottomless pit of energy pulsing. It was alive and electric, with the same burning warmth I’d felt during my enlightenment. But thankfully muted.

“Draw from the energy, continue pulling it like string. Send it outside yourself, looping into a continuous circle. But do not let go of the end yet.”

The substance was still like sticky taffy but there was a tensile strength now that it had lacked before.

“Visualise the completed circle, but hold on to the end of the string. In the inner space of the circle
project an image of your bedroom upstairs.”

I followed
Josian’s words, picturing my gorgeous king-sized bed.

“Open your eyes,”
Josian directed. “And let go of the string.”

I obeyed again and as my lashes flicked up I gasped.

In front of me, shining brightly, was the dark night of a Walker doorway. Not as large or clear as the one we had taken to Earth. But it was there. And I could see my bed, not too far in the distance.

Without warning,
Josian took my hand and pulled me in. I was encased by the familiar sucking sensation. But it was different this time. Instead of an over-abundance of energized cells, moving at the speed of light, I simply drifted with the currents. It was a much shorter trip and at the end we exited onto my bed. No drama.

“That was amazing.”
I smiled in achievement.

Josian
, demonstrative as always, pulled me into a tight hug. “When all of this is over, I will show you the right way to open a doorway and walk between the worlds.

“And remember
, if you need to transport more than one or two people, you have to make sure your doorway is strong enough. At least two rounds of energy per person.”

I nodded as I pulled back. “Thanks. And I’ll be careful, I promise.”

He smiled and moved to exit my room. “See you in the morning, baby girl.”

My power hummed as I walked into my wardrobe to finally take off the dress, leaving it bunched on the floor. Everything I left on the floor here was washed and back in my wardrobe the next day.
Magic – or housekeepers.

I showered and climbed into bed. I couldn’t be bothered with pyjamas, so I just wore fresh
underwear. My marks continued to pulse at me. I raised a hand above my head so I could see them more clearly.

The enlightenment had not gone to plan, but I needed to get some sleep before tomorrow. I closed my eyes, only to find that strange new
depthless pit of energy tugging at my attention, like an itch that wouldn’t go away. It wanted me to explore, coaxing me closer. Shaking my head, I slammed a heavy roof onto it for now. I was scared to traverse those depths, to know what was there, deep down.

The next morning my eyes flew open. My newfound internal alarm clock had just woken me. It was early in the morning. I had quite a few hours until it was time to leave. As I sprang out of bed, I found my energy was boundless. I dashed into my dressing room. I felt stronger, faster and I knew exactly where I wanted to be right now.

Ten minutes later, I quietly walked out the front door and down to the water. The sun was mid-rise, its golden hue highlighted in the now familiar indigo sky. I dropped my
drying sheet – the material they used to dry off from the ocean – onto the sand before stepping into the cool water. I’d left my hair loose and wore a simple black two-piece swimsuit. It was skimpier than I would usually wear, but I wasn’t expecting company.

I stopped before the calm water reached my waist; I still wasn’t a strong swimmer. Palms down on the water, I crested with each small wave, enjoying the
fresh air and rays of the rising sun. All too soon, I had to leave; it was time to prepare for the next adventure. I froze as heat traversed my spine to settle at the base of my skull. It was the heat of a stare, and I recognized the signature warmth. I turned away from the horizon, and was not surprised to find Brace standing on the beach, watching me. He looked as if he had been going for a morning run and with my newfound senses I could see the sweat beading on his sun-kissed skin. By the time I made it out of the water he was gone.