The Holders

25



“Goddamned, dirty, back-stabbing, rotten son of a bitch!” I screamed against the gigantic calloused hand covering my mouth.

I could tell that the guy playing the part of the human seatbelt wasn’t a Holder, but when it came to the art of restraining he definitely knew what he was doing. His left arm was like an iron band around my arms and chest, trapping me against the seat, while his right hand was smashed so hard against my mouth I couldn’t even loosen my jaw enough to try and bite him. The only things I had that were free were my legs, and I made full use of them, slamming my feet into the back of Taron’s seat, his side, his right arm, and any other part of him I could reach. With any luck he’d swerve and hit a tree and I’d be able to make a run for it before he got me too far away from the school. As I looked around, however, I realized we weren’t even near the edge of campus.

Then I remembered: the charm. No one could take me off campus or out of any other buildings without my permission. I’d been stupid enough to leave Lorcan of my own free will, but no way would Taron be able to get past the school gates. Unfortunately, he knew this too, and had planned accordingly.

We pulled up to an old building on the other side of campus that I’d never seen before. The doors and windows were bricked over, and even though the shrubs and trees surrounding it had been kept neat it was clear the building hadn’t been used in a long time. Taron parked the van along the back wall, next to a large pile of broken bricks that had been chiseled away from one of the doors. As soon as Taron came around and opened the back door, I felt the presence of another Holder there waiting for us. It was an ability I’d never felt before, and it was coming toward us from the inside the building.

“Scaoileadh dá béal,” Taron ordered the guy holding me, as he pulled a rag out of his pocket.

Before I even had a chance to realize that the nasty sweaty palm was gone, Taron had leaned over me, shoved the rag into my mouth, and was tying the ends together behind my head. I thrashed my head from side to side trying to yell around the sour-tasting cotton. When that didn’t slow him down, I shifted my hips and kicked him square in the stomach with every ounce of force I had, sending him flying backwards out of the van and onto the ground with a thud. He rolled over clutching his stomach, gasping and coughing, and I waited for my captor to look over at him, or maybe lean over to check on him – anything to make him lose focus for the split second I needed to wiggle free.

But it didn’t happen. His grip on me never faltered, nor did it get stronger in reaction to my aggression. He was like stone, completely oblivious. What the hell was wrong with this guy?

“What the bloody hell took you so long?” asked the irritated voice of a tall man in a black leather trench coat.

It was the Holder I’d sensed. He pulled the still coughing Taron to his feet, then froze as he saw me.

“Where’s the kid?” he barked at Taron.

“Calm down, Cail,” Taron wheezed.

“You were supposed to bring the kid!”

“This is the one he wants, trust me.”

“Well get her inside then, before someone see us,” he said, glancing around, still looking more than skeptical.

“A ghlacadh a cosa,” Taron ordered my captor.

He released me, sliding around to the door, allowing me a good look at him. At first glance, he seemed a normal man – albeit huge, but otherwise not unusual. It wasn’t until I saw his eyes that I could tell something was wrong. He looked… dead. His eyes were glazed over and had no light in them, no awareness. He was like a zombie, doing exactly what he was told, with no other thought in his mind. It was one of the scariest things I’d ever seen.

I’d been hearing stories for weeks now about bad Holders stealing abilities, and evil Darragh, but for some reason they had seemed just that: stories. I’d believed they were true, but even so, subconsciously, they had always seemed far away. Like an erupting volcano: real and very dangerous, but not something I was ever likely to see in person. But now, looking into the cold, lifeless face of the man locking my feet together in his massive hands, I knew that whoever had done this to him was evil.

The feeling of barbed wire constricted around my ribcage as the realization fully sank in: they were going to take my ability.

And that the only way to do that… was to kill me.

I took a silent breath and reevaluated my situation. If I wanted to get through this then kicking and screaming was not the way to do so. There was no way I was going to be able to fight my way free of three grown men, therefore there was no point in wasting the energy trying. Besides, the more I struggled, the more likely they were to bind me, which would only make things worse. I was already gagged, if they decided to hog-tie me I was dead for sure.

I let them remove me from the van, only making a show of struggling so they wouldn’t get suspicious.

“How long do I have?” Cail asked Taron, as they carried me into the dark building.

“An hour at least, but you won’t need it,” Taron told him.

“An hour! It’s never taken less than two!”

“Only with a Drain, which is why we’re using the Iris.”

“You’re sure it will work as well as a Drain?”

“Better. Trust me, I saw what it did to her. With the Iris she’ll be dry in under a minute, then you’ll have both her vial and the Iris to give the Master.”

They set my feet on the floor and shoved me into a dark room filled with a bunch of rusty music stands. Before I could make it all the way up to my feet, they had shut and bolted the door. I tore the gag out of my mouth and crawled quietly over, leaning my ear against the crack between the door and the wall.

“Here,” I heard Taron say, his voice low. “When you’re ready, take her Sciath off and put it in her hand. Make sure you have the vial ready before you give it to her, and it will do the rest. Leave this book with the body, I took it off the old man. I’ve got to get back. I’ll send the drone out as a decoy, to buy you some extra time, just in case. Don’t forget to pick up the old man. I locked him in the utility shed by the south gate, you can drain him once you are a safe distance away. “

“What are you going to tell them?”

“That she used the Iris to overwhelm me and got away. Then they’ll assume she ran into Cormac on her way to the dorm.”

“Are you sure that will work?”

“As hotheaded as she is, they won’t bat an eye,” Taron said, his voice growing fainter by the second, telling me they were walking back up the hall. I pressed my ear harder against the crack, straining to hear as Taron continued. “As for the rest, you tripped the charm on the boy’s dorm so they already know that something is going on, and they know that the old man is missing. When he doesn’t come back and they find the Alchemist’s book here, the story will practically write itself.”

Their conversation drifted out of earshot, but it didn’t matter; I had a plan. I removed my Sciath, and set it down on the stone floor and stepped on it, bouncing up and down. Slowly the soft gold started to bend, collapsing under my foot. I picked up the now flat, deformed square and took it to the one bricked-up window and began bending it over the ledge. I had to lean all my weight on to either side, stretching the bevel setting that was holding the large emerald in place. I flipped it over, bending it the other way, then back again, over and over, weakening the metal, loosening the stone a little more each time. My hands were throbbing and my palms bleeding, but finally I had it so weak that I no longer needed the ledge and could continue bending it with my hands alone.

I heard footsteps in the hall and knew I was out of time. I dug into the loosened facet with my finger and yanked the emerald free, nearly cutting the end of my finger off. I hid the stone in my bloody palm, then took the now stoneless Sciath and started banging it against the bricks covering the window.

“Hey!” Cail yelled, barging in at the noise. “What do you think you’re doing?”

He grabbed my arm, throwing me to the floor. He picked up my mangled Sciath and held it up laughing.

“You really thought you could dig your way out through a stone wall with this?” he mocked, tossing the lump of gold to the far corner of the room. “You’re not as bright as you get credit for, love.”

With my Sciath stone safe in my hand, I took a deep breath and braced myself. I didn’t know how much time I would have before he figured me out, but I knew it wouldn’t be a lot. He knelt down in front of me and pulled the Iris and a small glass bottle out of his pocket. That must have been the vial Taron had mentioned. I didn’t know what it was, but it gave off a strange sensation, as though something in me was being drawn toward it. It reminded me a little of the magnetic feeling I had whenever I was near Alex, only this feeling was in no way pleasant. It was like an uncomfortable sucking that I couldn’t help but shrink away from.

“Now then,” he said with a slimy sneer, “let’s get this done, shall we?”

He grabbed my free hand, forcing the Iris into it, but this time the moment the Iris touched my fingers I was ready.

The feeling that coursed through me at contact wasn’t at all like the first time. Now that I had my Sciath stone with me, the power of the Iris melted into me like butter into bread, mixing with my ability, giving me a rush like nothing I’d ever imagined. It was as if I were suddenly floating in space, looking out at hundreds of stars, each star a different Holder. I could not only sense Cail, but every Holder for miles and miles around, from the fully developed, to the weakest unawakened child.

I focused on the group nearest me, and easily recognized Min, Alex, Anderson, Reid, Jocelyn, and even Taron. He had made it over to them and was probably telling lies about me right now. I singled out Mr Anderson and shot my magnified ability out toward him like a lightning strike, melding with him almost instantly. Then I focused on every mind in the group, Imparting to them as loudly and quickly as I could: “It’s Taron! It’s Taron! He took me and the Iris! I don’t know where I am! Please hel–”

But I was cut off as the Iris was ripped from my hand.

“What are you doing?” Cail yelled. “Why isn’t it working?”

He set the Iris on the floor behind him and grabbed my shoulders looking me up and down, his eyes finally fixing on my closed fist. He tried to tear it open, prying my fingers apart, while I struggled, clawing and even biting. I managed to get a good solid kick to his shin, knocking him over and freeing me from his grip. I scrambled over to where the Iris lay, now unguarded, and snatched it up, knowing I would need all the help I could get. I scanned out again looking for the Order, and found them closer than they had been before. They were coming. They’d heard me and were on their way. All I had to do was buy them time to get here and everything would be all right.

I honed in on Mr Reid, merging with him just as Cail started to get up. The power enhancement of the Iris made my earlier short lesson feel like a Master’s Class as I kinetically lifted a group of music stands as though they were nothing at all, hurling them straight at unsuspecting Cail. I continued to send stands flying, buzzing around the room like angry hornets, pummeling Cail to the ground, allowing me to crawl closer and closer to the exit.

As I reached the door, I heard Mr Anderson’s voice echo in my head: “Hang on, lass, we’re coming!”

Unfortunately, the wave of relief the news brought me also brought the moment of distraction that Cail needed to throw one of the airborne stands into my arm, knocking the Iris from my hand, and snapping my connection with Mr Reid like a frozen twig. The stands fell out of the air in a shower of rusted metal, and before I could pull the door open and make a run for it Cail had a fistful of my shirt and was once again throwing me to the floor.

“You’re going to pay for that,” Cail growled, still panting, blood and sweat running down his brow.

With a malicious gleam in his eye he stomped down on my forearm sending an excruciating pain through it and forcing a scream from my throat. My hand wrenched itself open, the green gem rolling to the floor. Paralyzed by pain I watched helplessly as he kicked the stone out of reach and knelt down beside me again, Iris and vial in hand. He put the Iris back into my hand and I closed my eyes as the enveloping warmth – now, without my Sciath, exactly like it had been that first time – flowed over me leaving me drifting in the familiar sea of light. The sensation was just as I remembered it with one small difference. This time the pool of swirling contentment and far off sounds seemed to be draining away, as if someone had pulled out the stopper. I forced my heavy eyes open and saw the same dancing colors and light, but instead of floating lazily around me, they were being pulled away, sucked into the glass vial Cail was holding.

He was taking my ability – and with it, my life.

I tried to stay awake, but I was so tired. Every part of me was so heavy, it felt like I was sinking into the stone of the floor. I struggled to find something to hold on to, but with every second that passed my mind drifted further away.

I thought of Ryland, and how much he’d grown. He’d be OK now. He finally had somewhere he belonged and people who would take care of him. He was safe. He didn’t need me anymore.

The comfort that thought brought me was almost enough to make me surrender to the hazy, leaden weight pulling me down to the dark peace. But then, just as I was about to give up, I thought of Alex, and my heart tore from my chest. Alex loved me. He needed me, I had to hold on. Who would take care of him if I was gone? I pictured Alex’s face and hung on to it. Pictured his smile, and his laugh, and the way his eyes sparkled when he looked at me.

Everything began to fade around me, but I kept that image in my mind until the last possible moment. Until I couldn’t hold out any more. I took one last look into those fading blue eyes as they dissolved away…