Unaltered #2_A Diamond in my Heart Read online

  “Get in!”

  Brand jumped and entered my car with a fluid motion slamming the door shut. I could see the bus driver shaking his head and rolling his eyes. I put the car in gear and drove away. “See? That wasn’t so bad.”

  “I need to repeat, Calli.” He pulled his blood covered hand away from his stomach.

  I yanked the steering wheel to the right and pulled over. “Wait!” I scanned his body quickly and found his injury was pretty serious but not irreparable. “Brand! I can heal you.”

  “But the blood, your car, if I repeat—”

  “No! Lean toward me, your injury is on your back and I need to touch it.” He leaned, or more like fell toward me, and I quickly pulled his shirt up from his waist and rested my hands on his skin. I felt the mending within him as sliced muscles and organs righted themselves. His exit wound on his stomach was the last to heal together… but, he’d lost a lot of blood. I searched my own body for excess energy to transfer to him, extra ‘plasma’ so to speak, to sustain him until his own body could replace the lost blood. Instinctively, I took my hands and ran them over his entire body mere millimeters above his skin and clothes transferring my energy to him.

  “Calli, you’re amazing. What does this Chris guy have over me?”

  “Knock it off, Brand.”

  “Sorry about your car; sweet ride, by the way.”

  “It will clean, don’t worry about it. The bigger question is how are we getting you home?”

  The question was answered before we arrived; the power was restored and the Demons were pushed into the shadows.

  “You left your big puppy on the bus, Calli.” He pointed out my error as I slowed to a stop in his driveway.

  “Oh, so I did. I had more important things on my mind.” I smiled and then looked beyond him to his front door. “No Demons, Brand. You’re good to go.”

  “What should I tell my Mom about this blood?”

  “Just tell them it’s not real and was a prank pulled by some other boys.”

  Brand began leaning toward me as if he was going to kiss my cheek, but I put my hand up and stopped him. “Just get out, Brand.”

  “Sheez, you’re strong willed.” He got out of the car and jogged up to the door.

  I drove away once he was safely inside. What a day! I decided to hit the car wash and shampoo the interior of my car before I went home. First I called my mother and told her I was back in town but would be delayed getting home so she wouldn’t call out the cavalry. I told her someone threw-up in the passenger seat and I was going to go clean it at the twenty-four hour car wash. She bought it.

  *****

  Graduation came and went without much fuss. Well, if you don’t count Suz and all her exaggerated antics of jealousy and self-inflicted depression, then there wasn’t much fuss. My parents were curious as to why my friendship with Suz had ended, but the new development of me hanging out with the all-star quarterback had them a bit preoccupied. I’ve tried to tell them he’s just a friend but they didn’t buy it. Even more frustrating is the fact that Brand has apparently stuck onto me and is no longer ‘playing the field’. All the females who swooned over him now throw dirty looks my way; so much for ambiguity and blending into the shadows.

  Now that school is out, I no longer have to ignore snide remarks, or pretend not to hear the animal sounds directed in my direction. However, one day was particularly fun when one of Suz’s snotty friends was making a pig snorting sound and actually snorted a bunch of phlegm into her throat. She hacked and coughed and dry heaved; I guess she really was a snotty friend.

  *****

  One week after school ended, Maetha and Beth came to visit me late in the afternoon when my parents were out and I was pleased to see both of them. Beth looked good; she had confidence and composure even though she still wore a bit too much black eyeliner, but that was just my opinion. I guess it doesn’t really matter how a confident woman dresses.

  Maetha spoke, “Calli, Beth and I will be in town for a few days and will be staying at the hotel by the river. I think it's best if we do our training there and I want you to bring Brand with you. Here’s our room number,” she handed me a card, “Beth’s cell number is on the back.”

  “I’ll find out when Brand is available and get back with you.”

  Beth jumped forward and hugged me tightly. “It’s so good to see you again, Calli. You look really good; you’re all grown up.”

  “Beth, it’s only been a year since I saw you. I couldn’t have changed that much. Look at you; you’ve changed more than me.” I was amazed to see the creeping color redden her cheeks.

  Maetha said, “Alright, call when you are able to come over.” They left and I immediately called Brand. I told him the woman from the amusement park was in town and wanted to meet with us again. Unfortunately, Brand was busy the next day but the day after would work alright. I told him I’d pick him up early on that morning and he excitedly ended the call with, “It’s a date!”

  I called Beth to let her know.

  I picked up Brand two mornings later and drove to the hotel. Beth met us in the lobby and shook Brand’s hand. He said only a couple of sly sentences to Beth and then put his arm around her shoulders and she let him do it! This was going to be a long day. I smacked his shoulder and said, “Stop it, Brand.” I knew he was repeating to get his desired result. Beth, on the other hand, had no idea what was going on.

  The day was long and tedious and it didn’t matter how many times Beth explained the process of viewing auras, I still couldn’t see anything. Maetha spent a long period of time talking privately with Brand asking him questions about his ability. Every now and then I noticed peculiar behavior in Maetha unlike her regular business-like manner and realized Brand must be repeating. Later on I spoke with Maetha and told her what I’d witnessed.

  Maetha was genuinely shocked to hear my observation. “Are you saying he was able to manipulate me to answer the way he wanted?”

  “Not exactly, your own freewill is not able to be controlled, but everyone has their breaking point or ‘button’ and when pushed they tend to behave the way he wants them to.”

  “To what end? What does he have to gain from manipulating me?”

  “Perhaps it’s just an experiment on his part. Until I figured out what he was doing, he had tried to get answers out of me, attempted to get private information out of my mind, but I wouldn’t give in. It frustrated him to no end. I’m going to have to talk with Beth and warn her of what he’s doing.”

  Maetha was obviously disturbed by Brand and the revelation that he used his ability on her without her knowledge.

  Beth, on the other hand, exploded with anger when I told her Brand was playing her. She marched right over to him with her fists clenched and jaw set and gave him a piece of her mind. “How dare you try your power on me!” Her teeth were clenched together and her words were more like a hiss. It was nice to see the Beth I knew from a year ago.

  “I’m sorry Beth, I was caught off guard with your beauty,” Brand said

  “My what?”

  “I’ve never met anyone like you before and I reacted poorly. Can you ever forgive me?”

  “Well, just don’t do it again.”

  Uh-oh, I thought, he's doing it again. I turned to Maetha and put my thoughts out for her to read. “Do you see what he’s doing? Beth isn’t the sort of girl to back down so quickly and it can only mean one thing—he’s repeating. He’s rewinding and trying different phrases until he finds the one that gives him the desired result; by making one attempt after another he eventually gets his way. Keep watching. I’ll bet she ends up hugging him soon. He always ends with a hug.”

  We watched as Brand leaned forward and whispered something to Beth to which she giggled and then hugged him. I caught Brand’s eye and shook my head. He shrugged his shoulders as if to say, “Sorry, I can’t help myself.”

  Maetha spoke to my mind, “Calli, this power of Brand’s is very dangerous. He needs to learn how to
use it properly and in a manner that supports the will of nature. You need to take him under your wing and teach him about the greater good.”

  I replied with my thoughts. “As far as I can tell he only uses it to get girlfriends and evade traffic tickets,”

  “Well, Beth won’t become one of his conquests on this trip; I can assure you of that. However, I do see a certain level of attraction to him on her part so keeping them apart long term isn’t going to be up to us. His future is a crazy plethora of possibilities in which only some of them reveal Beth as the one he ends up with. His mind is all about percentages, I’m finding. I’d say he has about a 15% chance of ending up with Beth.” Maetha put her hands to her head as if she was experiencing discomfort. She said out loud, “Wow, his head is a mess. How do you navigate through it, Calli?”

  “I’ve found it’s better to steer clear of it. I don’t like the headache that navigating brings on.”

  “I understand what you mean. This pain is like nothing I’ve experienced.”

  “I call them Brand-aches.”

  “I’ve experienced these headaches with the other Repeaters too."

  "Repeaters?"

  "Yes. At least, that's what we call them. Soon after his power was identified, my associate Silvia, in Columbus, Ohio used the information to befriend a female Repeater and gain her trust. I met with the young lady and experienced the same explosion of pandemonium and pain within my head. However, this girl named Nicole didn’t use her power in the same way Brand does; Nicole is a juvenile delinquent.”

  “There are others like me?” Brand joined in on our conversation.

  “Yes, so far we’ve identified a small handful of Repeaters; five possibly six, all close to the same age.”

  “I want to meet them.” His voice held genuine excitement.

  “Someday you will, Brand.” Maetha smiled at him. “Let’s get back to training.”

  We spent the rest of the afternoon learning about the energy fields around humans and the colors associated with them. It might as well have been a foreign language because it went right over my head. I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to detect auras, most likely not as long as I view the whole idea as being ridiculous. However, when I remember the memory in Chris’s mind of what he saw when he looked at me, I am reminded that auras are not hogwash because through his eyes I saw my own iridescent glow. If only I could see it now with my own eyes.

  Before we parted, Maetha took me aside and said, “Calli, Brand’s power and the way he uses it has to do with his basic personality and his life experiences prior to the power emerging. From what I can tell, which isn’t much, Brand’s use of his power is by far the most threatening to the human race than the other Repeaters. His power of persuasion and charisma coupled with his ability to manipulate endlessly and tirelessly says to me that nothing would stop or deter him from succeeding at whatever he set in his mind. Study and learn his intentions and what he desires, try hard to sway his mind in a good direction. Keep his allegiance and don’t lie to him or you’ll lose him. I would take him under my own wing but I can tell he doesn’t trust me like he does you. He’s in good hands with you, Calli.

  *****

  Brand and I made plans to meet at his house a few days later in the evening because his mother would be gone. We would be able to run a few experiments with the Shadow Demons and hopefully gain a better understanding of them. He insisted on calling it a date and it didn’t matter how many times I told him to ‘knock it off’, he wouldn’t. I told him he could call it whatever he wanted but it wouldn’t change the fact that I knew it wasn’t. He called me stubborn or something along those lines.

  I drove to his house and parked in his driveway and reached for the extra shirt I’d brought with me. Mrs. Winter’s ‘shirt in the shadows’ demonstration was the most effective, in my opinion, at visually appreciating the fierceness of the Demons.

  Brand sat on his front porch waiting for me and as I approached I tossed my shirt beside him.

  “What’s that for?” He picked up my shirt and stood.

  “Nice to see you too, Brand. The shirt is for later. Alright, I created a list of the experiments I’d like to try.” I pulled a folded piece of paper out of my back pocket and handed it to him as we stood on under the bright light bulb.

  “I have a few requests of my own, if you don’t mind, Calli.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, you can see the Demons, right? Well, I want you to show me exactly where they are. Where is the light not enough to hold them back?” His question was valid and was also number two on my list. My reasons for listing it were for a bit of a different experiment. He wanted to know where they were in the thinning light; I wanted to find out how much injury would be sustained at the ‘not quite dark, not quite light’ zone.

  “The streetlights will interfere with our experiment,” I pointed to the two nearby lights; one across the street, the other next to his driveway.

  “Not a problem,” he said as he opened his front door, reached inside, and pulled out a rifle.

  “What are you going to do with that?”

  “Reduce our light,” he said with a devious smile. “Don’t worry, it’s just a BB gun—a high powered BB gun.” He stepped off the porch and walked to the safety of the light at the end of his driveway. He aimed at the light across the street and pulled the trigger. I heard a pop from the gun and a clink sound as the BB bounced off the metal pole. Brand cocked the gun and tried again. This time he successfully cracked the protective glass allowing the next shot to shatter the bulb. Then he walked back to the porch before aiming at the light at the end of the driveway. The crashing sound of the glass hitting the cement below startled the neighbor’s yappy dog causing him to do what he does best; bark.

  “You missed and didn’t repeat, why?”

  “I don’t always repeat, Calli.”

  “Huh,” was all I could say. “I’ll walk out there and stand at the line of Demons. I brought a light meter with me to check for consistency with Demon presence verses light levels. I suspect that a specific number will be the point at which they are present; kind of like the formation of ice at the freezing point.” I showed my meter to Brand and stepped off the porch into the gathering darkness. I walked all the way to the sidewalk and stood toe to toe, nose to nose with the Demons and then looked at my light meter. I couldn’t see the numbers though. So I deduced that depending on where the light meter was positioned would depend on a proper reading. Obviously this particular meter wasn’t going to be able to give me the results I needed. I’d have to shop around for a different one; one I could actually see the numbers or one that could transmit numbers to a computer.

  I turned to Brand and said, “I’m standing in front of them.” I stepped into the line of Demons. “Now I’m standing with them.”

  Brand walked toward me and slowed to a stop before reaching me. “What does your meter say?”

  “It’s too dark to read it. I’ll have to go get a different one and try later.”

  “Alright, so without the streetlights the light from the front porch reaches as far as the sidewalk. I already know the Demons are thick anywhere there is a defined line of light and darkness, like around the corner of the house.

  “Come closer, Brand.”

  “I don’t really want to. Even though I can repeat back to the safety of the porch, it still hurts to be attacked.”

  “Brand, you are the only one who can give us a better understanding of the Shadow Demons. Now, put on your big-boy-pants and help me out.”

  “If I take three steps forward, they’ll attack me.”

  “How do you know until you try?”

  “Calli, I just did. Honestly, did you already forget who you’re dealing with here?”

  “No, but how am I supposed to observe their behavior if I don’t get to see it?” I couldn’t believe he’d leave me out.

  “Fine!”

  I moved forward to take his hand but he pulled back.
“I don’t need to be touching you to pull you back with me.” He touched his pointer finger to his temple and winked. “It’s all done in here.”

  I was actually shocked to hear this. “Then why did you hold my hand at the amusement park?”

  “Because I could,” he smiled exposing his cute dimples. Then his smile faded and he added, “I don’t know what would happen if I had physical contact with you when the Demons attack. I won’t risk you being injured.”

  “You can just repeat me back, Brand.”

  “Yes, I could, but I don’t want you to feel the pain.” He stepped forward three paces and I watched in horror as the Demons attacked. His body was actually lifted from the ground by the Demons and black liquid oozed out of him. I knew it was blood, but in the dark it was black. He screamed out in agony for a split second and then the world whirled around back to just before he stepped forward. He looked at me with a serious expression on his face which was hard to see due to the low light. “See what I mean?”

  “Yes, I’m sorry Brand for pressuring you into that.”

  “Yeah, whatever,” he brushed off my concern and said, “where do the Demons go in the daytime?”

  “No one really knows, that’s why were conducting these experiments.”

  “OK, can the Demons enter my house if the lights are off?”

  “Haven’t you tried to find out for yourself?”

  “You’re smart, Calli, I like that.” He smiled at me and I rolled my eyes. “Let me rephrase my question. Why don’t the Demons enter my house when the lights are off?”

  This had been a question of mine ever since Clara Winter had demonstrated the Demons' ferocity at the Runners' compound. I suspected that it was because there were always lights on inside and outside the building but what if the power was out like the night we came home from Cedar Point? Would Demons be able to get inside?

  “Brand, I want to try something. Where’s the exterior power box for your house?”