A Diamond in My Pocket (16 page)

The other man still had me
restrained, but not for long. I explored inside of him and found a weakness;
his heart. I said to him, “You shouldn’t be hauling me around with your bad
heart, sir,”

“Shut up!” He tightened his hold on
me, but then let go and clutched his chest, “What did you do to me?”

“Well sir, I think you’re having a
heart attack. You better sit down or something, I’ll run for help.” I didn’t
wait for them to contest, I ran like a regular human down the alley and straight
to my motel room. I had to pound on the door for the others to open it. I ran
in and called 911 for an ambulance, telling the dispatch a man appeared to be
having a heart attack in the alley by this motel. When the time came to report
my name, I hung up.

Chapter 9

Protector

I turned around to find Justin
standing and blocking me in the corner, “So, you think you can just waltz out
of here and do whatever you like? You put us all at risk when you do. What if
the lights went out and a Shadow Demon got someone?”

“Leave me alone, Justin,” I spoke
softly.

“You can’t tell me what to do,
muck.”

“Don’t call me a muck.”

“I’ll call you whatever I want to and
you can’t stop me,” he sounded like a second-grader out on the playground.

“Yes, I suppose you can call me
whatever you want, but I
can
make you stop.”

“What?”

I irritated his stomach so much he
literally had to jump across the bed to make it to the bathroom in time to
puke.

I sat, shaking. This ability to
cause pain or injury astounded me. I would never have to worry about being
mugged, molested or bullied ever again. I wouldn’t have to put up with Justin
calling me a muck either. To prove my point, I went to the bathroom door.

“Everything alright?”

“Leave me alone, muck!”

I twisted his stomach again and he
wretched further. “Justin, I don’t want you calling me a muck anymore.”

“Shut up! Muck!”

More dry heaving.

“Justin, stop calling me that. I’m
asking rather nicely, now.”

“Muck!”

I manipulated his gut and I heard,
along with everyone else in the two rooms, him struggle to get his pants off in
time to unload the biggest grumbly tummy ever!

“Justin, please don’t call me a
muck anymore. And before you do just to spite me, think about the fact you’ll
dehydrate if you persist any further in this unwinnable battle.”

After a small stretch of silence he
said, “It’s wrong to use your abilities to cause pain.”

“It’s equally wrong to bully and
tease others. Can we call a truce?” I asked through the door.
Through the
door!
I hadn’t even realized I’d continued to ail Justin even though he was
out of eye-sight. Was that a normal practice for Healers? Of course, hurting
his stomach was not something a Healer would probably do; it would be something
a Death Clan member would do.

Uh oh, am I turning to the
tantalizing evil side of the healing ability?

“Truce,” Justin’s muffled voice
came from the other side of the door.

“Thank you.” I walked away and sat
on my bed. The phone rang and Jessica answered it. It was obviously Chris, and
by the one sided conversation I overheard, Justin must have called him to
report me missing. Was Chris worried about me? Did he curse himself for
separating himself from me? Jessica hung up the phone and looked at me, and
then turned away and went into the other room.

When, oh when, would this
assignment be over? I couldn’t wait to … to what? To meet the Death Clan, lose
my powers and watch Chris die? This new life of mine truly sucked!

Justin came out of the bathroom,
looking like death warmed over. With his eyes, he shot daggers through the air
at me. Jessica informed him Chris wanted him to call back.

I listened as Justin whined and
complained to Chris that I’d tortured him, I’d used my powers to harm him and I
was turning evil. What about
his
bullying? The whole ‘sticks-n-stones’
saying wasn’t true at all. I wondered if it was absolutely imperative for
Justin to be with us when the diamond was delivered. I imagined the
possibility, picturing the details in my mind, and now all I had to do was peek
into someone’s future for the ramifications.

I waited for Justin to come saying
Chris wanted to speak with me, but it never happened. Fine! Just fine! I fell
asleep and didn’t wake until the morning.

A loud knock at the door startled
everyone. Kayla opened it to find two police officers standing outside, “We are
looking for the young lady who made the 911 call last night.”

Everyone pointed to me.
Thanks
guys.

“I made the call, officers. Is
there a problem?”

“You reported the medical emergency
in the alley?”

“Yes.”

“Well, the man died, but not before
he said you’d hurt him with your mind.” The other officer behind him tried to
stifle a smile.

“I’m sorry to hear he died, but,
how could I hurt him with my mind? That’s ridiculous.”

“We need to speak with your
parents.”

“I’m not with my parents. This is a
track and field team and we are on our way to Calgary to attend a meet. You can
speak with Justin Macintyre, he’s our supervisor.”

I sat on the bed listening as
Justin assured the officers I had nothing to do with the death. I had gone out
for a walk and returned all scared and called 911. He told them I didn’t dare
stay with the man because I’m only sixteen, so I came back here and called. The
officers seemed to buy the story.

I watched Justin as he maturely
handled the situation proving that when he wants to be, he can be decent. I
looked for the future in his mind concerning his presence at the delivery. I
saw the clearing, Chris and I at the stone table, and the gathered clans, but
from a distance this time. Justin was at the delivery but situated far away,
watching the events unfold. In the center of the clearing, Chris crumpled to
the ground as did all the hostages. I pulled out of Justin’s mind. He
definitely needed to be with us at the transference of the diamond or else many
people would die, including Chris.

Chris and his group arrived shortly
after the officers left. Last night, all I wanted was to be near him, to try to
understand him, but this morning as I watched him storm over to me with dark
clouds of anger over his face, I wasn’t so much inclined.

The force of his exposed mind hit
me hard,
“You attacked a poor defenseless man and killed him! How dare you
use your powers like that!”

“That’s not what happened,” I
rolled my eyes as I tried to appear unaffected by his anger or disappointment,
whichever it was, but inside, my heart thudded against my chest and my cheeks flamed.

“Why don’t you tell me what
happened?”
his mind blasted at me.

“I didn’t kill him, he had a bad
heart anyway. He shouldn’t have tried to kidnap me. I was only protecting
myself.”

“Protecting yourself means
staying put in your room and not venturing out after dark!”

“Save it, Chris. I don’t want to
hear this from you, of all people.”

“What does that mean?” he said out
loud.

“Whatever you want it to mean. We
better hit the pavement if we’re going to make it to the clearing tonight,” I
tried to change the subject, but only dug my hole deeper.

“What are you talking about? What
clearing?” Chris asked in confusion.

“Isn’t that where we’re headed?” I
asked.

Justin jumped in, “I thought we
were going to the Death Clan’s caves. What’s all this about clearings?  Do you
have something you need to tell us, Calli? Are you working for the Death Clan?”

“If I was, you’d already know
wouldn’t you, Justin?”

“You little bit—” Justin moved
toward me quickly.

Chris jumped in front of Justin before
he could get his hands on me. I didn’t flatter myself one bit by thinking he
was protecting me, he was merely keeping the peace.

“I’ve seen the clearing in a
vision, complete with floodlights and tents, and all the clans, and the
delivery.” Now I’d caught everyone’s attention.

“And you think we are going to
reach the place by tonight? Your visions are four weeks out, Calli, remember?” Justin
had a point.

Olivia jumped in with, “What
happens when the package is delivered?”

“Doom, destruction and the end of
the world … stuff like that,” I said casually.

“Don’t be stupid. Tell us what
happens!” Justin scoffed.

“Aren’t you worried my visions are
related to a witch? Chris is. Maybe my visions are null and void, who knows? After
all, I’m the new girl, what the hell do I know about your world?!”

Chris turned away from me and
issued orders over his shoulder for everyone to be ready in a few minutes. He
exited the room and stood outside my window where he tried to communicate with
his mind. I looked away; I didn’t want to acknowledge him at the moment.

We ran all day long. I convinced
Justin to let me try running on my own power to check if I’d gained speed. Naturally
I had, and relieved I was, now I wouldn’t have to hold hands like a little kid.
We stopped for a short break for lunch. I was careful not to close my eyes for
fear of having a repeat of the day before, and we all know how well that went. Chris
continued to avoid me and he would find reasons to leave the area whenever I
came near. It’s a good thing he doesn’t know about the diamond in my pocket or
else he’d really be freaked out.

The only thing that lightened my
mood was watching Kayla’s antics of continually trying to place herself next to
Chris. She thought for sure he liked her, and if she kept herself under his
nose long enough, he might make a move. Emotions, hormones and misconceptions
are the same whether you have cosmic abilities or not.

I thought more about the fact that
the heart attack man actually died. I considered it to be self defense, especially
because if I was a normal girl, I’d be defiled and dead and dumped in a ditch
right now. Those were their intentions for me. In fact, I probably prevented
future kidnappings and disappearances of young ladies. So, was it so wrong for
me to do what I did? No. My only regret was that the other guy lived.

The mountains grew larger and
larger as we ran through the day. We stopped at the edge of a town in the late
evening and when the wind hit my nose from behind us, I smelled danger.

“Hunters!” I yelled to Justin and
Chris. For a moment, I thought they wouldn’t believe me, but Chris would rather
error on the side of right than wrong.

We ran into the thick wooded area
outside the town and stopped.

“Where are they?” Justin asked.

I put my thoughts out into the
forest and found the two Hunters. I smelled their putrid odor as they carefully
followed our scents. They were getting closer.

“They’re just over the ridge, hot
on our trail. Chris, take the others further in.”

“Justin, you take them. I’ll stay
with her,” Chris handed the order down.

“No!” I barked at Chris, “I don’t
want you here! Leave Beth with me.”

The decision was made
instantaneously and Beth stayed. We repositioned ourselves a little higher up
the hill. Beth whispered, “They know we have to stay in that town tonight. I
wonder why they didn’t wait in town for us to return.”

“Beth, use your mind to talk to
me.”

“Oh, right.”

I grabbed her arm as the Hunters
came over the ridge. I scanned the closer one’s body and found his weakness; an
aneurysm in his brain which I ruptured and he collapsed to the ground. The
remaining Hunter gave his companion a short glance and continued forward. I felt
inside his body and struggled to find anything wrong. His entire body was in
perfect working order. I scanned him again as he moved out of my sight, but
still found nothing to irritate or aggravate. He stopped and took a rifle off
his back. He leaned against a tree stump, positioning himself and focused down
his gun sights.

What do I do?! I wondered what he
was aiming at and with that thought, I entered his mind. I saw through his
eyes, the same way I’d observed the present through Chris’s eyes, he had the
back of Justin’s head in the cross-hairs. He could smell the diamond on Justin
and began to squeeze the trigger. I had to act. I snapped his neck with my
mind, feeling the vertebrae and disks crunch and grind, and then I threw up.

Beth was admittedly excited, “Calli,
you did it! What exactly did you do?” Her confusion at what had happened made
me throw up again.

She left my side and returned with
the others. I was still very much nauseous at what I’d done. I could feel his
vertebrae as if I’d snapped them with my bare hands. The crunching sound sickened
me and I heaved again.

Chris scrutinized me with dislike
in his eyes, yet, I thought I detected a glimmer of sorrow. But before I could
analyze his emotions, the horrible smell of the approaching Demons startled me.
“Run!” I choked out, “Stay in the light!”

In a flash, they were gone. I
rolled over on my back and stared up at the tiny patch of darkening sky above
me. What had I become?
I’m a cold-blooded murderer.
Tears filled my eyes
and sobs erupted out of my mouth. Why was this burden placed on me? Why me?

I laid in my misery for a little
while until the Demons floated above me on their way to the broken-necked
Hunter. I thought he was dead. Why would the Demons still be interested in him?
I staggered over to his body which lay in the light. He was alive. I’d only
paralyzed him, so I delved into his mind to find out who had sent him. These two
Hunters had been hired by the Mind Readers to find the diamond before the Death
Clan received it. They had every town directly over the Canadian border staked
out with Hunters, not knowing which town we would stop in. They’ve been sitting
here waiting for us. The Mind Readers were doing what they thought would be
best. I also discovered they did not issue an order for our deaths; it was
entirely these two Hunters’ intentions. They’d decided to kill to get the
diamond.