He doesn’t respond. He’s silent. I let the light go totally out of me. We are done here. I’ve wasted enough energy on this man.
A shifting near the door catches my attention.
“Julia?” I turn my head at the voice. It’s Lincoln.
Lincoln!I think but I can’t seem to find the words to speak. I’m too stunned to find him standing there. He’s okay. He’s fine.Thank God.
“Where are you?” he asks. “I can’t see. Nathaniel will be here soon with an ambulance. It’s going to be okay,” he calls out.
I want him to be quiet. In my mind, I yell,Be quiet!I don’t want that man to know he’s here.
I hear movement. I blast light to find Will raising the gun.
“This is your fault,” he says.
I react without thinking. I have to save Lincoln. I will not let this monster hurt him ever again.
As the gun goes off, I send one huge protective blast at Lincoln. The echo of the gunshot is consumed by the force shooting out of me. I explode like a bomb. It happens so fast that I have just enough thought to pour all my love for him and his brother into it.
Keep Lincoln safe.
Lincoln shoots backward through the door that flies off its rusted hinges. I imagine him landing safely as though dropped onto a soft mattress far away from here. I send more energy to make sure that happens.
That’s when I understand two things.
William didn’t aim the gun at his son. He aimed it at me. The barrel is still pointing at me. I register it distantly in some part of my brain that I’ve been shot. I feel nothing but adrenaline.
And secondly, my explosion set off something terrible. The deep rumbling of a mountain starting to implode quakes the earth under my feet. I must have pulled from the very stone supporting the building. Enough residual light glows out of me to see tiny showers of dust falling from the ceiling.
William’s face is a mask of disbelief. He looks to where his son once stood. He looks at the gun in his hand. His head then slowly turns to examine the cavernous space around us.
We both run for the door. The movement causes a sharp pain to lance through my abdomen. The pain is intensified when Will tackles me. I slam to the ground, my chin smacking against the cement. My jaw jolts as my teeth snap together.
“You bitch,” he yells as the madness descends.
The cascading cacophony of the mountain falling all around us shakes me to the core.
“Let go!” I kick at him while I pull myself toward the doorway. The pain is distant as I crawl. Inches away. Must keep moving. The ground shakes under my chest. “We have to get out.”
My fingertips grab for the doorway and pull. But it’s not enough. I’m not fast enough. I can’t move. I look up into the darkened hallway to find Nathaniel limping as he pulls his brother from the ground and out of the cave. Out of sight.
Lincoln is safe. Nathaniel is safe. That’s all I needed. I let myself go. I slump with relief.
But then Nathaniel comes running back.
No. No!
Our gazes crash. His eyes widen when he sees William behind me.
“Run!” I scream at him. I try to blast him away but that last one cost me everything I had. It’s a harmless wave of light and nothing else. The pain in my side is making my brain foggy.
“Let her go!” Nathaniel yells. He raises his arm into the air.
Nathaniel has a gun too. The image of such a peaceful man so twisted with rage and threatening such violence is too much for my brain to process. I can’t make sense of it. This is what his father has done—turned a perfect gentle soul into this. Time has slowed down to a crawl as the crashing of the mountain deafens his yells.
Nathaniel’s eyes are black with anger. He’s not this man.
“No!” I yell but the sound is lost before it leaves my mouth. I don’t want him to kill his father. He won’t be able to live with himself.
I need to protect him. When he looks at me again I memorize his face. This is the last time I will ever look at him.
“I love you,” I say.
I close my eyes. I will summon whatever I can to send him away. My body feels abused and drained beyond anything I have ever experienced.
A piercing pain penetrates my skull and the lights go out.
