Page 80 of Avelina

It wasn’t until that moment that I truly grasped that this war with the Ministry would not be an idealist’s fantasy. People were going to die. Maybe lots of people. Maybe me. I had known it intellectually before, and I had gotten a taste of it when Seleca attacked us, but I hadn’t really believed it. I had believed, deep down, that I would make it home, bring Aaron and Ward back with me, find my parents, and everything would go back to normal.

I had been so naive, but I understood the situation now. Ward was lying on the ground, bleeding again. Dying again, at the hands of his own brother, who was in some kind of trance.

These enslaved men could be made to do anything, including ignoring basic needs like eating, sleeping, and bathing. They could be made to kill their own family. It was unthinkable. It was as if their minds were separated from their bodies, like they weren’t even aware of what they were experiencing.

Their souls are imprisoned, I thought, or lured away.

“By the beautiful light,” Spirit said.

Yes. The light. I can’t see it, but Spirit can.

That’s the Projection trance, Aaron thought. His contribution startled me. I had become so lost in my own thoughts that I had forgotten he could hear them.

Right. Projection. Aaron, what is the complement of Projection?

Transformation, he answered.

My mind raced. An idea had been bouncing around in the back of my head that I hadn’t yet acknowledged, and I now had to test it out. My life depended on the answer, but I was willing to take that risk for Ward. I just hoped I wasn’t sacrificing Aaron in the process.

Aaron, I need you to trust me, okay? When I let down my shield, let me handle Ellis. You defend us from the others. Do you think you can do that?

Lee, it’s too dangerous. Your idea has merit, but we don’t know if it will work.

Please, Aaron. I just need a moment. If it doesn’t work, I’ll pull the shield back up.

Aaron wanted to think about it, as he was inclined to do, but we were out of time. I thought he might give me his absolute no again, but he just turned to face me, considering. The rain was now torrential, and in the dark, with the shield around us, I could barely see beyond the transparent barrier. It felt almost private.

Okay, he thought, resting his forehead on mine. I trust you. That had cost him something. Giving away trust had been more difficult for him than admitting he loved me. I needed to do a better job of earning that trust.

“Love,” Axel sneered. He had to shout over the rain, but his voice was piercing, a disturbing intrusion into our stolen moment. “It’s a dangerous thing. It makes you take unnecessary risks to save what isn’t worth the mud beneath your boots. Ellis, kill the dog.” Then he turned and threw his torch into the open front door.

Chapter Twenty-three

For the first time, Linorra didn’t know how to do the right thing. All her options felt wrong. Confusion bubbled up in her mind, threatening to rob her of her resolve.

There was no time to think about saving the house. As soon as I heard Axel’s kill order, I dropped the shield and the world transformed into a thunderous waterfall.

Aaron sprang toward the über-zombie holding Axel’s umbrella. He slipped a little in the mud, but they must have been expecting Aaron to jump at Ellis first because they were surprised when he instead pushed the umbrella man forcefully into Axel, knocking them both down. Axel squealed like a toddler and landed on his butt in the mud with his servant on top of him. The umbrella flew out of reach, and the rain engulfed them both.

I jumped toward Ellis, who still held a crossbow at Ward’s head, his hand shaking. I had a very similar idea to Aaron’s, except that I couldn’t push Ellis down. He was eight feet tall and had at least sixty pounds on me, but I was able to thrust his arm out of the way so the shot went wide and hit the side of the house. I grabbed his wounded hand and forced Connection into him as deeply as I could, screaming his name through the link.

Ellis! Stop!

Ellis did stop, and his eyes locked with mine. He struggled against me, pulling his hand back. I hung on for dear life, a difficult task given that we were both soaking wet. My link to him told me that he was confused and desperate and that his hand was broken and in excruciating pain.

Somewhere in his mind, he must have known that he’d been ordered to murder his own brother. His grip on the crossbow was shaky, as if he tried to make himself drop it. Perhaps he fought to take back control and was making progress, but it wasn’t quickly enough.

Ellis! Listen to me! I’m trying to help you!

Ellis wrenched his hand away, but his feet slipped in the mud and he fell backward, taking me with him. I landed on top of him, trying desperately to hang on. It would be mere moments before his superior strength overcame my efforts. Then he would kill me.

Aaron was busy with the other four überzombies and couldn’t help. He’d managed to shoot three of them in the upper thigh, downing them neatly, but the fourth über-zombie, the largest, was on top of him. He had gotten his hands around Aaron’s throat.

Axel shouted behind me, but I couldn’t hear what he said over the storm. I wanted to get through to Ellis first, but it wasn’t working. Desperate now, I rammed Protection into him as fast as I could, focusing on his broken hand.

This healing was nothing like that first time I’d healed Aaron. I had been weak and unpracticed then. I hadn’t known how to quickly mobilize the fragment and direct it with precision. I still had a long way to go, especially with flow regulation, but I had been using the Protection fragment daily for the better part of two months and was now stronger and more skilled.

I was still ignorant as a baby, though. I hadn’t understood how much the mutual attraction between Aaron and me had influenced how Protection actually manifested for us. The pleasure of it was always intensely sexual in nature. Even Ward, who had been expecting Protection to feel like sex because that’s what he was always told, had experienced it that way.

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