"No, you don't understand. I know how to use it." She pushed the sphere onto his leg and focused. The pulsing energy flowed through her, but... it felt off—tainted, somehow.
Hunter moaned and gasped for breath. Wasn't it healing him? No, it was draining him of energy and giving it to Lucy, just like last time.
She pulled it off of him and examined his wound. It had gotten worse, the blood flowing faster.
"What the hell did you do to me?" He glared at her in anger.
She shrunk back and looked down. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I was just trying to help."
"You have to get rid of that thing. I can't believe you've been keeping it in your backpack like some toy. That's a classified and deadly piece of technology that IPI has been looking for. How did you even get it?"
Through her shock and fear, she told him about her assignment in Russia, and about Adam and how he'd given it to her. Her heart broke as she realized he'd never be okay with her keeping it, because she could never get rid of it.
Mr. K's voice floated on the wind again. "You've got company."
Luke ran up to them, out of breath and looking scared. "Where'd he go? Where's Beleth? Mr. K said you guys were in trouble."
Lucy looked up toward the sky. "He got away, again. I'm okay, but Hunter is hurt."
"Damn it, I should have been here to help you both... just like I should have been there last time with the lizard. What are you guys doing this far out, anyway?" He looked around, noticed their packs and the raft, and his expression changed as it all clicked into place for him. He glared at Hunter. "You slept with my sister? What the hell?"
Before Hunter could say anything, and honestly she didn't know what he would say given how angry he was at her, she spoke up. "I'm an adult, Luke. Who I sleep with is my business, not yours."
"Fine. Whatever. You two need to get back to camp, now. Lucy, help your boyfriend walk." Luke stalked off.
Neither of them spoke as Lucy carried their packs and helped Hunter walk back. She stuffed the sphere in her pack, and Hunter noticed but didn't say anything where Luke could hear, though his frown spoke volumes.
Once Luke was out of earshot, Hunter started in on her. "You going to tell Luke, or should I? Maybe together we can convince you to drop this thing and leave it alone."
"Why do you think you have the right to tell me what to do? Neither you nor my brother is my boss. It's my life and I can do what I want. The sphere has helped me more than you could possibly know. It's how we discovered our shadow powers and how we escaped from Rent-A-Kid. Without this thing, I'd probably be knocked-up as a breeder in some clinic right now. Is that what you want?" She turned her shadow power on and pushed into Hunter's mind. "You will deny any knowledge of this to my brother."
As soon as she said it, her gut tightened into a knot and she knew she'd messed up big time.
Hunter's face fell. "I thought we had something special, Lucy, that we were building a trust between us. I shared so much with you, but now, I'm just not sure where we stand."
He limped away on his own, leaving Lucy crestfallen and miserable.
As if to add to her mood, large drops of rain fell from the sky, drenching her. She pulled the sphere out of her pack and clutched it close to her. The pulse that once comforted and soothed her now felt hollow and fake, like a drug that promised escape but only landed her in a bigger pile of shit.
In the tree beside her, a spider web swayed in the wind and hung heavy with water drops. She stared, transfixed by the elegant pattern woven by the spider. Another gust of wind tore through the masterpiece and, in a heartbeat, ripped a hole into it, shredding what must have taken hours of hard work to create.
Just as she had torn a hole in the fabric of her life, with choices made in the heat of the moment—forcing Mr. K and Hunter to lie for her, carrying around something that was clearly causing harm to those she loved. Her choices had hurt others.
Lucy swore to fix her mistakes and make right what she had ruined.
First thing, she needed to get rid of the sphere. Even the thought of that sent a spike of pain through her heart, but she didn't care. She couldn't keep ignoring her problems and using the sphere to make everything feel better.