The Lost Rainbow Mage: Complete Trilogy Edition, page 18
It landed on the sofa next to me, and I looked at it. I’d never heard of the brand, and I wasn’t interested in anything from Dr. Anderson. But my stomach grumbled. Maybe the healing had used up every bit of the energy from the morning pastry.
“Just a little something we had developed to fuel our stars.” He was so smug. “And I really do think you could be one of our stars, Meira. A jewel in our crown, if you like.”
I shook my head, still speechless.
“Eat up,” he demanded, nodding toward the energy bar. “We’ve got lots to do.”
I didn’t want to, but I was famished again, and I didn’t think Dr. Anderson would take no for an answer. So I ripped the foil wrapper open with my teeth and bit into the bar. It was sticky and sweet, but I couldn’t identify any of the individual ingredients.
Dr. Anderson zipped around the room, moving prisms and other objects into various positions, and each time he moved something, he’d step back and tap his lip. Then, sometimes, micro-adjust it before moving on to something else.
“Agent Cooper.”
Coop actually jumped at Dr. Anderson’s bark, suggesting his thoughts had been further away than usual. “Yes, sir?” He still hadn’t moved his hands.
“Escort Meira outside into the sun. We need her at full capacity for the tests.”
Coop swung his head toward me, and I stood. There was no point in arguing with the doctor on this. He’d just force his way, anyway. I shuddered at the memory of the gun pointed at me, but I gave Coop the tiniest smile.
Coop and I walked outside side by side, which was unusual. There was something equalizing about it, and maybe I liked being on equal footing with Coop.
“You okay?” His mouth barely moved as he asked the question.
I nodded. “You?”
He nodded as well.
“Let the sunlight hit you, Meira,” Dr. Anderson called from inside. “All of you. Turn your face up, arms out, turn around—all like you did the last time.”
I followed his instructions, closing my eyes and leaning my head back. Warmth flooded me, and I basked in it. Almost against my will, energy began to fill me again. It rushed into my chest and elevated my mood.
By the time I returned to the room, Dr. Anderson was nodding approvingly. “Perfect… Yes, perfect. I see it now. Fear as a motivator; the sun as a battery. Now that we’ve unlocked you, I think things are going to be just fine.” He studied me for a moment. “I can’t believe you didn’t discover your talent on your own.”
I gritted my teeth behind my closed lips and said nothing. The constant references to my talent made no sense. Except… I glanced at Coop as he moved to stand behind me.
Healing.
Actual fucking healing, and I’d done it.
Perhaps that was my talent. A small prick of pride flared inside me.
But Dr. Anderson was watching me, and he looked more malevolent than full of pride. “Are you ready? Stand on that spot over there.” He pointed to a circular sticker he’d stuck onto his carpet, and I walked to it. “We’re trying to get you to direct split colors today. Now you know how each makes you feel, you should be able to tune into them and direct them where you want them to go.”
As before, his instructions made no sense, but I didn’t ask him to explain further.
“Meira?”
I turned to him as he spoke my name.
“We can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way again.” He flipped back his lab coat to reveal his gun tucked into the waistband of his pants.
Fear clung to the edges of my new energy. Dr. Anderson pressed a button on his control table, and the prism in front of me and a rainbow arced from it.
“Separate them,” he instructed.
I felt for red, orange, yellow…and immediately felt sick.
Dr. Anderson watched me, and he leaned closer. “What have you got?”
“Yellow,” I gasped.
“Push it out… push it out.” He pointed. “Make it hit that glass over there.”
I concentrated, quashing the nausea, and forcing my energy out instead. Slowly but surely, a narrow beam of yellow light hit the glass, and a fine hole drilled itself right through.
“Stop!” Dr. Anderson held up his hand as he ran toward the glass, and I staggered backward, relieved now I didn’t have to sustain the effort.
I was going to need more energy bars.
“This is incredible,” Dr. Anderson muttered as he leaned close to the glass. “Agent Cooper, do you see this?”
“See what, sir?” Coop didn’t answer the question directly.
“The hole Meira has put in this bulletproof glass. It’s incredible.” He ran the tip of his finger over the surface of the glass and then turned to me. “How precise can you be?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t…” I sucked in a breath as fatigue overwhelmed me. “I didn’t know what to…”
Dr. Anderson moved to his desk. “Time to fuel up again. With practice, you will be able to work for longer.” He tossed another energy bar to me, and I fumbled it. “Don’t forget to go in the sun. Agent Cooper, escort Meira.” He all but clicked his fingers at Coop as he spoke.
The morning progressed with bouts of strange activity with light and prisms until I could control where I directed the individual colors. Violet was easiest to work with, bending to wherever I willed it to be, and a strange sense of pride took root in my chest.
But I didn’t want to be proud. I didn’t know what I was doing, and I didn’t know Dr. Anderson’s plans for me. And, based on his behavior and the whispers in the vent, Dr. Anderson probably wanted to use me as a weapon.
“Straight through bulletproof glass,” he muttered at one point, and it was like he was talking to himself.
Finally, he walked to his control table and pressed a button. The lights dimmed, and my stomach sank, leaving my throat hollow and vomit climbing from my nauseated gut.
“We’re going to work with shadows again now,” he announced.
Coop made a show of checking his watch. “Should Meira eat?”
“Yes, yes…” Dr. Anderson waved him away. “Go and get something to bring back.”
Coop had already turned around and was heading to the door when Dr. Anderson jerked his head up from what he’d been doing.
“And gather six more agents,” Dr. Anderson added.
Coop hesitated, and his steps faltered for just a moment. Then he nodded his head and left the room, clicking the door softly closed behind him.
“Sit, Meira. Sit.” Dr. Anderson gestured to the sofa. “Conserve your strength. I’m amazed at your achievements so far today. I couldn’t have predicted such strides forward, even though I knew you were special.” His tone turned solicitous.
I didn’t even look at him. I couldn’t. The tight feeling had already returned to my chest when he’d mentioned working with shadows. I didn’t mind working with light—the energy was pure.
But the shadows had hurt. They’d clawed the inside of my chest and made it hard to breathe, and I couldn’t guarantee I was safe to hold whatever energy they produced. Adrian came to mind. Would anyone else be safe from me?
Coop reentered the room and walked straight to me. He handed me a pizza-pocket, partly secured in a napkin. “Some lunch,” he muttered.
Six agents poured into the room behind him.
Dr. Anderson gestured to the wall. “Agents, backs to the wall, please. We’ll begin shortly.”
For the first time, I watched fear flicker across the faces of some of the agents. What had they told them about me and my powers? What were they afraid of?
Of course. They must have all heard about what happened to Adrian.
My gaze cut to Dr. Anderson. There was so much I needed to learn. Yet what were we doing this afternoon? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what Dr. Anderson had in mind.
After I took the first bite of the lunch Coop had brought me, Dr. Anderson pressed the button controlling the balcony door and shutters on his table, and everything closed. The room was plunged into darkness, but because I hadn’t worn my shades for the entire morning, my eyes soon grew used to the gloom, and I could make out various shapes.
The agents shuffled back and forth in their line. Some of them shifted from side to side, and some of them stared straight ahead as though they believed they’d been placed in front of a firing squad.
“Right. Meira, this time, I’m not going to ask you to charge yourself in the sun. I want you to reach for that energy from the shadows. Pull the light out of them and let it flow into you.”
I finished chewing, but he was impatient for an answer.
“Can you do that, or do I need to persuade you?”
My mind flashed to his gun again, and I stood before wandering to the darkest shadow. I barely had to concentrate this time. I placed the pizza pocket to the side and stood.
It was like the energy couldn’t wait to invade me, and I sucked in a pained breath as it tangled through my chest, wrapping itself through my ribs and squeezing my heart. I panted, bracing against the pain.
“Agents!” Dr. Anderson’s voice cracked out, and I flinched. “Try to attack Meira now.”
As one, six agents left from the wall, and instinctively I flung out my hand like I could command them to stay back.
An arc of blood sprayed through the air, coating me in rust-scented stickiness. No! From behind me, Dr. Anderson cackled.
I gasped. “Oh, shit. Oh, shit. What have I done?”
Groans and murmurs of pain filled the room, and I ran in the direction of the men. Six men lay on the floor, their wounds grotesque. Gashes gaped, spilling blood over the carpet. The two nearest me tried to scramble away. One was beyond help, and, surely, it was his blood I wore. Fucking hell.
“Are you all right?” I fell to my knees next to them and tried to call on the power of my healing like I’d done before, but my ability wasn’t there.
I leaped to my feet and groped blindly for the way out. “I need light. I need to get outside.” I beat on the shut doors. “Let me out.” Hot tears poured down my face. Don’t make me hurt people. I only want to heal!
Dr. Anderson snickered. “Complete your tests first, Meira. The faster you work, the more men you can save.” He sounded so relaxed about it, like I hadn’t just injured six men in one fell swoop.
I collapsed to the ground and wept.
twenty-five
My stomach rolled as nausea claimed me. Complete my tests?
Dr. Anderson stood over me. “Come. We must finish.”
I raised a hand toward him. “I need to see them. Let me see the men again. I can help them.”
Dr. Anderson leered in my face. He grabbed my hand and lifted me to my feet. “Oh, I know you can. But you can also bring them back, so there’s no rush.”
“There’s a difference between a hummingbird and a human being.” Coop sounded furious as he knelt beside his fallen colleagues. “Meira.”
I started to move toward him, but Dr. Anderson’s hard voice stopped me. “Not so fast. I’m not finished with my testing today.”
Anger mingled with my fear and surged through my whole body and clouded my thoughts. I couldn’t even feel as I reached for something to stabilize me, and energy rushed into my chest, the kind that hurt as it clawed at me and clogged my breathing.
I gasped as it fizzed and tangled and moved, searching for more immediate release. “I can’t. It hurts.”
Dr. Anderson laughed. “What are you going to do, Meira?”
“The sun,” I wheezed, “I need the sun.” I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to contain the pulsing in my chest.
It felt like I would explode into a million deadly pieces.
“It’s too strong,” I gasped out. “I can’t control it.”
“Then let it out.” He laughed malevolently. “Let it out and let’s see what you can really do.” There was a scraping sound as he pushed a large prism into place in the room.
“I need the sun.” I ground the words out as my torso heated.
“You don’t, though, do you, Meira? You can feel the power already.” His tone taunted.
“Meira.” Coop’s voice cut across the room. “These men need you.”
A sob escaped me. I was being torn in two. The men with me needed different things than I had inside me, and the power churning within me seemed to be ripping me in half in its bid to escape.
“The men are dying, Meira.” Dr. Anderson’s words chilled me. “You’re a killer again. What are you going to do about it?”
I screamed. It was loud and long and an animalistic howl. The energy inside me released without warning, and Dr. Anderson flew backward, hitting the wall behind him before crumpling to the floor.
“Shit. Oh, shit.” I started to move toward him to check for signs of life, but Coop said my name and stopped me.
“Meira.”
I rushed toward the console table. Maybe if I could open the balcony doors, I could help everyone. But there were so many switches and buttons here. I pressed them at random.
“How do I open the door, Coop? How do I get to the sun?” My movements became more frantic. “I need the sun.”
“I know.” Suddenly, his hand covered mine. “Let’s look together.”
“But what about the men?” I glanced over my shoulder.
“We can’t help them until I help you open the doors.”
I swallowed, hearing everything he wasn’t saying.
Coop slammed his hand into a button, and the shutters over the windows began to move. “Part way there,” he said, but his jaw remained tight.
I darted forward and stood in the first shaft of sunlight, sighing in relief as it touched my skin. The familiar warmth tingled against me, and I closed my eyes.
A whirring noise started, and I glanced at the balcony doors as they began to slide open. As soon as I could slip through the gap in the middle of them, I was out on the balcony, offering myself to the light. My hummingbird danced in the corner of my vision as though she reminded me of all I’d done for her.
I drew strength from the good I could do as I looked out over the glass yard with its rainbows. Beyond the walls of this place was open country. If I could find a life somewhere, anywhere away from shadows, then the people around me would be safe.
Sweetwater wasn’t an option anymore because I’d been found there once before. These people had found me, and now I knew too much about myself. They would never forget.
“Meira.” Coop was gentle as he caught my attention. “There are still men in here who need you. Can you remember how you did it before?” He held up the hand where I’d healed his knuckles, and I nodded, although hesitation stayed any enthusiasm.
The idea of so many men hurt because of me… But I swallowed those thoughts. I could fix this. I could fix this like I couldn’t fix Adrian. I hadn’t understood then.
Who was I kidding? I still really didn’t understand. I had a lot more to learn, but I needed to undo the damage I’d caused first. If I could. No, I had to. It had to be possible. I couldn’t let six more men die because of Dr. Anderson’s evil.
I knelt at the side of the first man and released a shaky breath. Oh, shit. It looked bad. His face was covered in blood. Gashes covered him. Flakes of something glared from his wounds, almost like shadow shrapnel.
I glanced at Coop. “Where do I start?”
He shook his head. “This is your talent, not mine. Only you know the answer to that.”
But did I? How could I know answers when I only had questions? So many questions.
“Meira. Try,” Coop murmured.
I took a breath and then lifted the man’s hand in mine. Then I pressed my other palm against his face. The same warmth that had healed Coop began to flow through me, and the man gasped, his eyes springing open.
“Hurts,” he croaked.
I hesitated. I didn’t want to hurt him anymore.
“No, carry on,” Coop said. “It doesn’t hurt, but the healing feels strange. Make him better, Meira.”
I pushed more energy through, and the man’s eyes closed again as he rested. Then I moved between the men as best as I could, returning outside for a recharge after two. Then once more after four had been healed. After the last agent had been healed, Coop threw me an energy bar from the drawer, but I stared at it dubiously. I had no idea what was in it.
Knowing Dr. Anderson, there were some unusual ingredients that could have had any sort of effect on my abilities. And I was tired of taking part in Dr. Anderson’s evil plans.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” I said.
Coop nodded. “Then I’ll get you some real food.”
But food from the cafeteria might be no better. It was all from the facility. Dr. Anderson probably had a hand in it all. When I didn’t have an option, it didn’t matter. Now that I had an option, I wanted to exercise my right to choose. Dr. Anderson had been a kind of evil. Speaking of Dr. Anderson…
With a grimace, I glanced toward him, and I sighed. He hadn’t been blown apart like the agents. He had a few scrapes on his cheeks and face, but mostly he seemed like I’d knocked him unconscious.
“What are you going to do about him?” Coop gestured toward his still crumpled body.
“Check for signs of life. If he’s alive, we’ll let someone know so he stays that way.”
I didn’t want to heal him, but I didn’t want him to die either. Murderer wasn’t a label I wanted to wear the rest of my life. That wasn’t what or who I was. I couldn’t do anything about Adrian, but I could stop it from ever happening that way again.
The other agents all sat, propped against the wall as they watched us. They were weak, but they were alive and whole, and maybe that was the best I could hope for.
Coop knelt beside Dr. Anderson and checked him for a pulse. “He’s alive.”
I nodded and squared my shoulders. “Then that’s all I needed to know.”
Some of the secret service guards stood.
“I’m so sorry.” I could hardly look at them. “I didn’t mean to…” I gestured helplessly. They nodded curtly and rearranged their sunglasses like almost being killed was an everyday occurrence—and who knew? Maybe it was in this place, under Dr. Anderson’s watch.
