The MORE Trilogy (22 page)

“Now look at the leaf,” Audrey said quietly.

Ava looked down, aware of Caleb’s gaze but trying to ignore it.

Audrey’s voice was soft and rolling, almost hypnotic. “Try to block out everything but the leaf,” she said. “Notice the variations in color . . . see each rib . . . each vein.”

Ava’s focus narrowed, her field of vision limited to the jagged borders of the leaf. She breathed slowly in and out—deep and even—her vision narrowing a bit more with every inhale. For a few minutes nothing happened. The leaf fluttered slightly with her breaths, but other than that, nothing. Then, just as she was about to give up, her vision sharpened. Like someone turning the knob on a microscope, details she hadn’t noticed before started to come into focus. Instead of one color, she saw several—dozens—ranging from the deepest evergreen to the brightest chartreuse. The tiny veins seemed to grow before her eyes, branching out in every direction, again . . . and again.

“What . . . what’s happening?” she murmured, mesmerized.

“Keep looking,” Audrey encouraged. “Just . . . see.”

Ava couldn’t turn away even if she wanted to. The shapes and colors danced before her eyes, swirling and growing until she could see the walls on each.
Were those cells
? The tiny globe of a nucleus. She wondered how much she could see. How deep she could go.

“Ava.”

Was there something smaller than that? Could she see even deeper? Maybe even to the very essence of life?

“Ava!”

She blinked, jumping slightly at the urgent tone in Caleb’s voice. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to find the two of them watching her closely. “What?” she asked, her throat a little dry.

“You’ve been staring at the leaf for more than fifteen minutes,” Audrey said gently. “It’s easy to get caught up, isn’t it?”

“I don’t . . .” She blinked again, noticing someone had put a glass of water in front of her. She picked it up with a questioning glance, but Audrey just nodded, so she took a long drink. “That was amazing,” she said finally. “Is that what you see?”

Caleb sipped his coffee, frowning at the now-cold brew. “Not all the time,” he replied. “You have to concentrate . . . focus. Otherwise you’d go crazy.”

“I can see that.”

“It’s easy to get almost hypnotized,” Audrey told her. “Especially for those who aren’t used to accessing the ability. It’s important you don’t do it on your own—at least not for a while.”

Ava nodded, remembering the lulling effect of her experience. She could have stared at that leaf for hours, she knew. Longer, probably. It was a little unnerving. “And hearing is the same?”

“All the senses,” Caleb replied. “It’s only a matter of fine-tuning your skills.” He frowned, running a finger around the lip of his cup. “Well, at least we have an answer,” he said finally. “You definitely have Race blood in your veins, not that I had any doubt, really.”

“Lucky me,” Ava muttered.

“Audrey?” One of the perimeter guards approached the table, sliding his cell phone into his pocket. “I just got a call from the Guardians monitoring Mabley’s Corner.”

At his grim expression, Caleb’s stomach tightened. “What is it?”

“We have a problem,” the guard replied. “The couple who gave you a ride to Mead—the Jordans?”

Caleb’s shoulders slumped, and Audrey cast a worried glance Ava’s direction.

“What about them?” Ava asked, a nervous tingle twisting in her stomach. “Are they all right?”

The guard looked to Caleb, as if for permission. At Caleb’s tight nod, he replied, “They’re missing.”

“I can’t believe this,” Ava said that evening as she paced in the living room. “Don’t they know anything?”

Audrey checked her computer again as Caleb spoke in low tones on the phone. “Not yet,” she said. “Guardians checked the house. There was no sign of foul play.”

“Well, that’s something,” Ava said with a sigh, collapsing onto the sofa.

Caleb and Audrey exchanged a telling glance before Caleb turned his back, continuing to talk on the phone.

“It really isn’t, is it?” Ava asked. “There wouldn’t be any signs, even if they were taken by Protectors.” She didn’t give voice to her bigger fear, that they hadn’t been taken, but something worse.

“No,” Audrey said. “Not any visible signs. Although there would be some residue left if the Protectors were there.”

“Residue?”

“The mind operates on electrical impulses,” she explained. “Our Race leaves a different electrical imprint, if you will, than ordinary humans.”

“So how do you detect that imprint?” Ava asked.

“It deteriorates over time,” Audrey said as Caleb hung up the phone and sat next to Ava. “If it’s been longer than an hour or so, only a specialist will be able to detect it.” She glanced at Caleb, lifting an eyebrow.

“Bel said the Council isn’t sending one,” he said grimly.

“That means they already know,” Audrey murmured. “The Council is behind this, then.”

Caleb nodded.

“So . . . what?” Ava asked, standing up to pace again. “Can’t we go to the Council? If they’re holding the Jordans, we have to help them.”

“Ava—” Caleb began, but she shook her head, refusing to listen.

“No! They didn’t ask for this. This is my fault.”

“Ava, there’s nothing we can do.”

“But we have to,” she pleaded, sitting down and grabbing Caleb’s hands tightly. “We can’t leave them there.”

“The Council doesn’t have them, Ava,” he said quietly.

Ava’s eyes filled with tears as the reality of what he was saying sunk in. “No,” she whispered.

“The Council could have blurred their memories and left them alone,” Audrey said angrily. “But to do this . . .”

“They’re dead?” Ava said, choking on tears.

“They’re sending a message,” Caleb said grimly. “They won’t tolerate anything—any
one—
threatening the Race. They won’t back down.”

“I can’t believe this.” Ava’s face dropped into her hands as the tears began to fall. “This is all my fault. They were just nice people trying to help.”

“I’m sorry,” Caleb said, rubbing his hand in slow circles over her back. “I never thought it would come to this.”

“It shouldn’t have come to this,” Audrey said, jaw tight. “It doesn’t make any sense. The Council normally wouldn’t have bothered. It’s not like this couple knew anything, not anything of consequence anyway.”

“What are you thinking?” Caleb asked, still keeping up the slow rubbing as Ava got control of her sobs.

“I don’t know,” Audrey replied thoughtfully. “But it’s like there’s more at stake here than we thought. Is the Council really sending a message, or is it almost . . . desperate?”

“Desperate?” Caleb repeated. “But why?”

“Who cares!” Ava exclaimed, shrugging off Caleb’s hands. “This Council is nothing more than a bunch of murderers! They can’t just kill innocent people!”

“They don’t see it that way,” Caleb explained.

“Someone has to stop them,” she said through gritted teeth.

“How, Ava?” he asked. “You think Tiernan is scary? He’s one of dozens—hundreds—who have even more power. They can do things you can’t even imagine. How are we going to stand up to them?”

“These Guardians do, right?” Ava said stubbornly. “Maybe it’s time for someone to take them down.”

“Revolution?” Caleb snorted. “You think you’re the first one to consider that?”

“Well, why hasn’t someone stood up to them?” she shouted, eyes flashing. “Why haven’t you?” Ava’s words echoed off the walls as Caleb’s eyes fell. She glanced at Audrey, who was looking at her reproachfully. She inhaled sharply a couple of times and then sat down on the coffee table, defeated. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I didn’t mean to take this out on you.”

“It’s okay,” Caleb said. “I know this is a lot to take in. It’s a whole other world, Ava.”

“I’m beginning to see that.”

“We can’t do anything right now,” he said, gently taking her hands. “But there are many of us—more every day—who don’t like what the Council has become. But it’s too powerful right now to challenge. Not if you want to survive.”

Ava looked into his eyes, soft and worried. She sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly. “So what do we do?”

“Right now, we get you to the colony,” he said. “Help you to gain control of your abilities so you’re no longer a threat.”

Ava nodded miserably.

“After that, we’ll talk about a revolution,” he continued, a smile in his voice.

Ava shrugged, her lips quirking slightly. “I hope I have a really awesome power,” she said stubbornly. “One that’ll make
them
a little nervous for a change.”

Audrey set aside her computer. “Be careful what you wish for,” she warned. “You’ve already gotten an idea of how the Council deals with threats.”

Ava’s skin chilled, despite Caleb’s warm grip on her hands.

“Don’t worry,” he said quietly. “It’ll be okay. I’ll keep you safe.”

Ava wanted to believe him. She just wasn’t sure if she could.

The next few days were a mix of frustration and elation for Ava, as she continued to train with Audrey, as well as periodic bouts of sadness as she mourned the loss of the people who’d gone out on a limb to help them. She was angry about what the Council had done, but also—slowly and reluctantly—coming to terms with the fact that there was nothing she could do about it at the moment. It wasn’t as if the police could help. There were no bodies, and from what little Caleb had told her about the Council’s methods, none would be found.

It still sent a chill down her spine and an ache through her heart.

Audrey encouraged her to focus on developing her abilities, and now that she’d experienced her first thrill of enhanced vision, she was easily able to replicate it. It only took a moment now for her to zoom in on a spot almost a quarter mile away, and Audrey said with practice she’d only get better at it. She’d also begun noticing the little tells in facial expressions that Caleb had mentioned and wondered how she’d once thought it something supernatural.

It was really pretty easy, actually, once you got the hang of it.

Hearing was a little tougher. The first time she tried to access it, she’d been overwhelmed by the cacophony of noise that pounded down on her. She’d fallen to the ground, curling up in to a ball with her hands clasped over her ears. Caleb had to knock her out with a touch to her forehead to reset her hearing. Once she’d woken, she was much more careful, following Audrey’s instructions to the minute detail. It took much more focus to filter out extraneous sounds and hear what she was targeting. She still struggled with it, but she was getting better.

Ava found she didn’t enjoy the enhanced hearing nearly as much as the vision. Scent was relatively easy to focus, but the truth was, most things really didn’t smell that good. Even smells she used to enjoy—like baking cookies or freshly cut grass—took on an almost chemical aspect once broken down into their basic components. Ava found she enjoyed surface smells much more than in-depth ones.

Caleb had suggested she forego learning to amplify her sense of taste—at least for the time being—since it really didn’t have any defensive uses. Same for touch, although Ava did enjoy running her fingers over a piece of cloth or the bark of a tree and being able to feel every tiny defect down to the molecular level—variations in heat and structure that only gave her a greater appreciation of the complexity of creation.