Farrow could only nod at first.
“When I heard the way that guy talked to you, I wanted to rip his head off.” Alik’s whole body shuddered as he walked toward Farrow, who still held the knife in her hand.
“Um, thanks Alik, but I really could have taken care of myself.”
“You’ve taken care of yourself your whole life. No one was going to get away with speaking to you like that. I hope you don’t mind that I stepped in.” He was reaching for her shoulders, carefully rubbing them as though trying to soothe her, when it was obviously he that needed soothing.
“Alik, what happened to you?” Farrow asked, her mouth still wanting to hang agape.
“I don’t know, I just felt this surge of energy and my whole body tingling with what I assumed at first was adrenaline, until I felt my clothes get too tight. My heart felt like it grew, too…pounding like a racehorse in my chest. I just felt…” he looked down at himself—still wide and unbelievably huge, “…a massive burst of…”
“Rage?” Farrow offered.
“I just wanted to protect you. I felt compelled to do whatever it took to keep you safe.” Alik looked down at himself in disbelief. “Apparently, my evolution has another part to it. Meg’s was like this. She kept discovering new and sometimes scary things she could do after her evolution.”
“So you think this is part of your evolution?”
Alik was nodding. “I’d love to run this by Evan, or even Meg.”
“From what I understood, during your evolution your abilities are enhanced further. Meg’s sensitivity to emotions turned into empath abilities, psychometry, and ‘influencing’ others.”
“I was the one with perfect memory and advanced strength. It would make sense for me to become retro-cognitive and now, apparently I can get upset and become even bigger and stronger.” Alik was shaking his head in amazement.
“But Meg always had had some negative effects because of her advanced gifts. You know the headaches and dizziness. I don’t feel any negative effects except the occasional motion sickness for the retro-cogging. My body’s response to anger hasn’t come with any caveats so far.
“I wonder if you’ll get stretch marks,” Farrow teased.
“That’s not funny!” Alik looked more closely at his skin.
“Vain!”
“No, but if I’m going to go all giant, I don’t want to look like a baggy, loose-skinned, freak when I’m normal.”
“This is truly something to think about.”
“The stretch marks?”
“No, the hulking-out thing.”
“I wonder if there will be more as time goes on.”
“More what?”
“Exactly. I don’t know what, but this just proves I’m not done changing.”
“How do you feel?”
“Ready to go rip the arms off Arkdone and beat Bjorn with them.”
“Well, okay then,” Farrow’s brows raised. “Let’s get this tire changed so we can get going with that well-thought-out plan.”
Chapter 58 Holes in the Heart
Meg had pulled the neck of her grimy T-shirt down enough to stare at her chest. There, left of center was a cut puncture wound into her skin. The skin was puckered red around the spot, like an infection was starting, though Meg knew she would be fine in a few hours with her incredible immune system. That is, if you’re still alive in a few hours. She grimaced at her beloved coyote still lying unconscious across the room.
She had been racking her brain trying to figure how to keep Maze from running toward her when he awoke. He would obey her order to stay, but only for so long. Meg shivered and tightened her grip around her knees. There was a damp chill in the cell’s air and she hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since breakfast the morning she was taken. Though there was no window, she estimated by the way she felt that it had already been at least thirty hours since she was taken.
She had only used the corner furthest from Maze once to urinate. As humiliating as it was, she made herself pretend she was camping, only instead of a shovel to dig the hole, she used the butt of the gun she was able to grab with her feet to keep her chest even farther away from Maze. She figured there was a video camera watching her, but at that point, she didn’t care. If that sick SOB wanted to watch, there was nothing she could do to stop him.
The thought of Arkdone and his “offer” made Meg want to throw-up. Just as she was thinking for the thousandth time about trying to reach out with her empath gift, she stopped herself. Arkdone seemed in tune with her gift and may send a blast of pain right to her head as he did earlier. She was so distraught about Arkdone’s viciousness, she wondered if she could negotiate something for the release of the others.