Page 77 of Awakened Gifts
“Funny. I was going to say that you were far more impressive when you were the monster without a face. Knowing you’re nothing more than a bitter old woman with a pathetic grudge and unimaginative ideology… Well, it just makes you look sad and redundant instead of intimidating.”
If you wasn’t watching, you wouldn’t see the slight change in her eyes, the way they darken for a fleeting second. But I feel the emotions she’s not guarding, and I just pissed her off. I’m debating on whether or not that’s a wise thing or the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever done.
She laughs, masking her fury with mocking laughter, doing all she can to keep her cool façade in place.
“Unimaginative ideology,” she repeats, snickering under her breath. “That’s funny coming from a puppet like you; a girl so stuck on fitting in that she can’t even tell the world who she is for fear of being dejected. You have no aspirations to be anything more than a little speck. But my plans—unimaginative or not—hold a greater future. And no one will ever touch me again.”
The anger lacing her words is threaded with something so raw, so real. It’s something so suffocating with potency that I can’t even name it at first.
But then it hits me, curling around me and naming itself with an unmistakable tag. And I really wish I didn’t feel it. Under the fury that lines her to the core, there’s pain. Heartbreaking amounts of excruciating pain that forces me to wince when I tap into it too deeply. The torture… Her memories are still fresh, as vivid as the day she received the unseen scars that cut to her soul.
The flawless skin on the surface hides the pain that was forced upon her for so, so long. I’ve only felt that pain once before, and that was with mom. If my empathic powers hadn’t been on the glitch when Aunt Symphony was alive, I would have probably felt from her, too. But even Araya’s pain has nothing on what is radiating from Alice. The difference is feral and tame; Mom’s torture didn’t last as long, and she was able to be saved from the darkness—in more ways than one. Alice spent centuries as a science experiment, and the darkness consumed her before someone pulled her out.
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” I say with a strained breath, finding sympathy for the monster before me. “You don’t have to be this way. Don’t rule with an iron fist based on a fraction of the people that make up this world. There is just as much good as there is bad.”
She laughs humorlessly at first, and then it turns a few shades of sinister—a skin-crawling pitch that spikes the dread within my blood. Her head drops back, and the songs of her cathartic release become aimed at the dark sky above us, one that is slowly churning with my gift’s force.
I want to seize the opportunity to hit her while she’s not looking, but at the same time, I’m holding out for hope that I can somehow reason with her. She’s not a sociopath if she can feel so much pain. That means somewhere—though it may be buried deep within—there’s a person to be saved; a victim that was hardened as a means of survival because it hurt too much to feel.
“You really are your mother’s child,” she says at last, bringing her head back down to meet my gaze. “And you’re just as weak and foolish as she is.”
With that, she thrusts her hand forward, and without any warning, my chest is hit hard with a concentrated force I never saw coming. My body lifts into the air as the crushing weight denies me a breath. I’ve never been so thankful for the fact that I don’t actually require air, because it hurts too damn much to breathe right now.
When my body collides with the shifting earth, I mentally curse myself and my surroundings. I should have hit her while I had the chance.
When I stand and dust myself off, she glares at me from a distance. “You should be dead,” she hisses.
“Apparently I’m not as weak as you thought,” I say dryly, dusting my jeans off, trying to appear bored and not at all surprised that I was able to stand up and recover so quickly.
She starts closing the distance, and I do the same. The time for reasoning and threats has come to an end, and there’s nothing left to do but duel until one of us goes down. Considering she more than likely has reinforcements on the way, I need to hurry and try to be the last one standing.
I lash out, this time grunting when the force expelled from me is so magnificently powerful that it painfully leaves my body, and her eyes widen just as a shriek is forced from her lips. She’s blown backwards, giving me a small glance in confidence’s direction. When she thuds against the earth and leaps back to her feet without seeming fazed, my brush with confidence ends, and I’m left to endure her next assault.
Each time she strikes, I take the full blow, unable to fend off her power with my own, just as she’s unable to defend against my attacks. It all seems to be an exact replica of our last encounter. Only there isn’t so much blood lost. In fact, neither of us is bleeding. Yet.
Great. We’re trading licks again—just like she did with my savage, only this time, my body seems to be less destructible. Oddly enough.
Jase. Of course. It all falls into place, making sense for the first time. My savage knew she wasn’t strong enough while detached, but denying my counter when he was clearly alive and willing made it impossible for my two halves to become whole. But then… she stripped me of Kellan, and somehow she gave me Jase.
I’m not strong enough. She needs her counter.
I’m stronger. Alice is stronger, too, though. And it feels like we’re slowly reaching an impasse with each and every unsuccessful blow.
“Enough,” she growls when she stands up from her latest attack.
Her eyes start to dilate, and my heart patters in response. No. Shit, no. Not her savage. Emergents aren’t supposed to have savages. I don’t think.
“Don’t,” I plead, not knowing the devil that will arise.
“You know,” she hisses, staring at me as her eyes pulse, slowly promising a world of destruction. “The first time I went savage, it shocked the hell out of the Scorpions. They fucked with me for so long… Then I tore them apart, and I enjoyed every single bit of it. But I couldn’t control it. Couldn’t pull it forth when I needed it. I haven’t tried this since your mother’s blood was so graciously gifted to us, but now is as good a time as any.”
She needed to be stronger. She needed to be that strong monster that shredded the people in all of those facilities. So she stole from her daughter and her granddaughter to give herself the strength to destroy us.
“Fucked up world,” I say to myself, ignoring the sounds of cars approaching and gunshots ringing out.
At least I try to ignore them. Until I hear the one voice that breaks my heart and tears my soul to pieces.
Jase. No! Get out of here now!