The Embers Of My Heart (30 page)

I smiled as she walked away. If anyone could make people feel better, Lisa could. I turned back to the city and let Star drift from my mind. I needed to have some fun tonight and stop dragging my friends down. I turned to walk back inside, but a sudden flash from the streets outside caught my eye. I turned back and saw that a few street lights had gone out. I shivered. They all turned back on after a moment, one of them spitting a few sparks in the process. I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind. There was no trace of psionic power in that direction.

It was probably just a momentary power outage. I let go of my worries and headed back inside. Over the next couple of hours, I joined each of my friends. Max, Jess, and I discussed politics. Andreas introduced me to a series of engineering students he planned to work with in the future. I helped Drew stagger to the bathroom. I danced with Lisa. Kaitlyn avoided me and I still wasn't sure what was going on, but at least we were civil.

By the time the event ended, I almost felt like my old self again. We headed out to the parking lot, Max and I walking on each side of Drew, making sure he kept upright. Everyone was comfortably tipsy except Lisa and me, but Drew had overindulged. "You're good, right?" I asked Lisa.

"Sure am. You?"

"Yup." We both looked at Drew as he leaned on Lisa's car. He had his head down and odd noises were coming from his direction. "He's not puking on your car, is he?"

"No, if he was, I'd have to murder him," she said. "Drew, sweetheart, are you going to be sick?"

"Yeah."

She looked back to me. "I'm not driving him, then. The van's got room, right?"

"Easily. Andreas will probably be upset if he pukes in there, though."

"Either way, Drew will be cleaning a car," she said. "But I'm much more dangerous to piss off. Right, sweetheart?"

"Yeah. Whatever."

I looked to Andreas. He swayed gently in the evening breeze and showed no signs of hearing our conversation. Kaitlyn was walking on one of the parking lot lines and doing a surprisingly good job at staying straight, considering how much she had drank, and how high her heels were. Both were useless in this situation. Max and Jess returned my gaze when I looked to them. "You're volunteering to help take care of the drunks," I said.

Jess glanced at Max. "Shotgun."

"Fuck! No way!"

"I'm not dealing with puke," she said.

"I'm wearing a suit jacket!"

"So take it off."

Max groaned. "This isn't the way I wanted this evening to end. Kev, you know we're going to be listening to him puke all night, right?"

"We'll make him sleep in the shower."

Together, we encouraged Drew into the back seat. Andreas had thought ahead and put a bucket in the back of the van. Max took custody of it and sat next to Drew. Andreas got into the middle seat and almost immediately fell asleep. Kaitlyn stumbled her way over and took her heels off before climbing in. She cuddled up to Andreas and mumbled something under her breath. I made sure everyone was buckled in before heading around to the driver's side.

Lisa was waiting for me beside the door, shifting her weight back and forth. "He going to be all right?" she asked.

"He'll be suffering tomorrow," I said.

"Sure will. His hangovers are legendary. You know the way back?"

"Not really. I'll follow you?"

"Sounds good. See you there!" She headed for her car.

I hopped into the van. Jess jumped in next to me, arranged her dress, and we both buckled our seatbelts at the same moment. I looked over at her and for just a moment, I could have sworn it was Star. I shook my head and she sneered at me. "What are you looking at?"

"No comment."

"You're weird."

"I know."

"Why were you looking at me like that?" She looked over her shoulder to the back of the van. "Seriously."

"You reminded me of someone."

Her eyes tracked back to me and her sneer turned into a sly smile. "Someone you had a one night stand with?"

"Something like that."

"Now that's weird, Kev."

"You're telling me."

Before she could continue, Lisa backed out of her parking spot. I turned the van on and followed suit. We made it a block away before stopping at a red light. I noticed another set of streetlights flicker down the street to our left. This time, they stayed off. I frowned and looked in that direction. There was something moving in the distance, I was sure, but couldn't make it out. The street seemed far darker than it should have, even with the lights out.

"Kevin!" A telepathic message slammed into my mind with the force of a heavy blow. I closed my eyes as Absynthe's presence hit me. "Kevin, this is an emergency. Where are you?"

"On my way back to campus from a formal," I replied, keeping my eyes closed so Jess wouldn't see the glow.

"What's going on?"

"Shade's gone."

"What?"

"He's gone. Woke up and left. No idea how long ago. One witness, they said he asked where you were. Demanded to know." Her tone was furious. "What happened? Why is he looking for you?"

"He's coming for me?" Cold sweat slid down my sides and my throat closed up.

"What happened, Kevin?"

"Why isn't she moving?" I heard Jess talking to my right. "The light turned green already. She needs to get off her phone."

"Just answer me, Absynthe!"

"Yes, he's looking for you, now answer me, dammit!"

"Wake up, Lisa! Oh, there she goes."

Psionic power surged from the street to the left. I froze as a torrent of power flashed to life and blew down the street. Streetlights blew out in a series of green sparks as the psionic darkness to our left lifted. A blur of silver roared down the street and I stood on the brakes.

The van wasn't the target.

The silver car flashed into the intersection and hit Lisa's car directly on the driver's side door. Metal tore and crumpled. Glass shattered. The impact pushed her car at an angle, driving it directly into a streetlight, throwing more sparks into the still night air. Lights turned on up and down the street. There was silence. There was stillness.

I looked to Jess, hoping against hope that I was seeing things. "Oh my god," she whispered.

Chapter Twenty

Steam rose from the crash site in a white cloud. I grabbed at my seatbelt, tried to throw the van into park, tried to pull the key out of the ignition, and tried to get out all at the same time. Next to me, Jess whispered something I couldn't quite make out. I finally hauled the seatbelt off and twisted in my seat. "Max! Call 911 now!"

"On it," he said. Andreas and Kaitlyn were awake in the middle seat, but neither of them seemed completely with it. I didn't look further back. I couldn't. "Where are we? What's the cross streets?"

"Get out and look!" I snapped. "Andreas! Kait! Keep Drew in the van!"

"What-"

Andreas acted. Once Max slid out from the rear seat, the lanky Norwegian jumped to the back and grabbed Drew's shoulder. Kaitlyn spun and blocked his view of the windshield with her body. "What's going on? What happened? What was that noise?"

He knew. "Jess, help them if you can," I said.

She pushed her door open and puked. No help was coming there. I jumped out of the van and sprinted around to the other side where Max was standing. He had his phone to his ear, but lowered it as I approached him. "Help them keep Drew under control," I said. He nodded. "I'm going to check and see if there's anything I can do."

Sirens were already wailing in the distance. Help was on the way. I repeated that to myself as I approached the wreck. Steam and smoke wafted toward me and I covered my nose and mouth with one hand, waving away what I could with the other. Her car had been cleanly t-boned. The driver's side bent inwards. I swallowed hard and took another step closer, trying to avoid the glass and shards all over the intersection.

Movement caught my eye and I turned toward the silver coupe. My stomach heaved and I closed my eyes for a moment to get it under control. The driver of the other car had come through the windshield, but something had caught him and held his lower half. Partial ejection. No seatbelt. Lacerations crisscrossed his face. Blood rolled across the hood and dripped to the ground. One arm was outstretched and blood flowed down his fingers.

His eyes opened, shockingly white in the midst of the bloody ruin of his face. I stepped closer. Something had sliced across his torso and more blood seeped into the seat cushions. His outstretched hand twitched and his eyes seemed to focus on me. I took another step and leaned toward him as his lips twitched.

"Don't die," I whispered. "Don't talk, don't die. Help's coming, man. Just hold on."

"Hurt," he whispered back to me. "He says...suffer. Die."

I staggered back and nearly fell. The man coughed and more blood trickled from his lips. Anything else he was going to say was lost in a wet cough that sprayed across the hood of his car. There was no way he could survive this. Someone had aimed him like a weapon. I stumbled back another step as the sharp metallic scent of his blood mixed with the steam and gasoline and other car fluids. Overwhelmed, I had to turn away and retch. I tried to tap into my psionic powers and settle my stomach, but my power flowed away from my reach, seemingly as disgusted by the scene as I was.

I could hear shouting from the van and saw it rocking side to side. Max was nowhere in sight. I hoped he had gotten back in. It sounded like Drew was out of control. Once my stomach settled, I turned back to the crash. The other car had recoiled back a couple of feet from Lisa's car after impact. I made my way toward her driver's side door. The door bent inwards, the windows were all shattered, and steam puffed from her hood. As I got closer, I could see her sitting in the seat with her eyes closed. Her seatbelt had kept her in place and her airbags had deployed, for whatever good they'd do in that sort of crash. I wasn't an expert. She looked less injured than I expected, aside from the cuts from flying glass. I lifted my hand, shaking, and touched her neck. She had a pulse. I let out a sigh of relief and peered further into the car.

Something from the frame, whether it was a piece of her car or his, had pierced her side. I examined it as best I could from my angle. It looked like it had gone nearly all the way through her, near her back. Her bright red dress was dark around the wound. I swallowed hard. Her kidneys, her bowels, her spine, all of them were potentially injured. I took another deep breath, closed my eyes, and tried to tap into my power again. Rules and regulations be damned, I had to do something. Witnesses could have their memories changed. I'd take all the blame.

Nothing stirred within my mind. My power failed to respond. Not even a trickle came to my desperate need. I gritted my teeth and tried to force it. I earned nothing but a headache.

A hand fell on my shoulder and I jumped. "Is she...?" Jess whispered.

"She has a pulse."

"Do you think she's going to make it?"

I looked at Jess. Her expression was unreadable. "Get Drew," I said.

"Are you sure?"

"Get him. Now."

Something in my tone seemed to sting her and she turned and ran. I turned back to Lisa and reached in to touch her cheek. As my fingers brushed her cheek, her eyes fluttered open. "What..."

"You were in an accident," I said and put my hand gently on her shoulder. "I think you're a little hurt, but you're going to be all right. Ok?"

"Drew?" Her voice was shaky and thick. "Is Drew ok?" The sirens were drawing closer.

"I'm ok!" I looked up and shifted to the side as Drew rushed to the door. "We're all ok. You're going to be ok. Everything's going to be ok." He reached into the car and pulled her hand up. "I promise. You're going to be ok."

She smiled, but then her eyes went wide. "Oh." Her lips quivered. "Oh. It hurts." She coughed and her face screwed up into a grimace of agony. Drew's eyes glanced down and he gasped. "It hurts," she repeated. "Oh god, it hurts."

"You're going to be ok!"

"No. She won't be." The voice was low and unexpected and our heads turned to see him standing there. His long coat stirred in the absence of any wind. "She's going to die, Parker. The first of all your friends."

Drew stood up straight next to me, but I held an arm out to hold him back. "Your fight's with me, Shade. Don't bring others into it."

He smiled, a death's head rictus of white teeth across his dark face. "Then make me stop." His eyes flashed green, darker than I remembered, and Lisa shrieked.

"Don't hurt her!" Drew shouted. He brushed me aside and charged before I could stop him. Shade stepped into his punch and hammered a blow into Drew's ribs. I heard a crack. He didn't even get a chance to drop to the ground before Shade flung him into Lisa's car, eliciting another shriek of pain from her. Drew sagged to the ground and didn't move.

"Don't hurt her." Shade mimicked Drew's tone and spat on the ground. "Idiot."

Seeing Drew smashed into unconsciousness set my mind back into the proper track. The shock melted away and I called my power up, feeling it coil and twist through my mind. "You've been in a coma for months. Do you really think you can win a fight with me right now?"

Shade folded his arms. "I've already won."

"What?"

"You can fight me and let her die. I can hold out long enough. If you turn your focus to her, I'll hurt your other friends. I have another puppet waiting to drive into your van. The cops and ambulance got distracted. They won't make it in time. What are you going to do, Parker? What can you do?"

I didn't have any time to mull over my choices. I had one chance to save Lisa. I had to take Shade out faster than he expected. I let my psionic power flicker as if I was conflicted and confused, but before he could sneer at my supposed lack of control, I flashed dozens of sparks at him. He swatted them away and danced backwards as I smashed the ground where he was standing. Asphalt chunks flew into the air and I swung at them with a psionic bat. One clipped Shade's coat and tore through.

He moved in next, closing the distance with speed I simply didn't have. He wound up power for a massive strike, but I knew his style and that he knew my strength. A head on assault wouldn't work for him. I diverted his feint with a single thread and bound a half dozen more threads into a lash that curled around his legs and yanked them together. Energy sawed through my binding before I could haul him off his feet. I followed up with a multi-pronged attack.