The Power of The Merge (Book 1 of the Daearies series)

(Chapter 11) KIT

The whole room was stunned witnessing what Emmie just did. I tried to reach through our bond to stop her from releasing too much of her power but I could do nothing. I should have been able to stop her but whatever she was seeing had pushed her to her limit. The scary part is I know that the power she just released was only a fraction of the power she held. If she wasn't in the power box, I'm certain she would have wiped out the whole room and by the look on General Sinclair's face, he knew that too. I wasted no time running after Emmie, I rushed down the hallways, using our bond to sense where she was, and found her collapsed in the showers. She was crying, the water from the showers hid the tears streaming down her face. I slowly approached her, not because I was wary of her but because I could sense she was frightened by what she had done.

"Emmie?" I spoke softly leaning down to touch her arm and comfort her. She opened her eyes and made no effort to conceal the fact that she was crying, she was emotionally exhausted. I put one arm around her and placed a hand behind her knees to lift her off the cold, wet floor, and carried her out of the showers to the sleeping quarters where Cora and the others were already waiting. I placed her down on her bed and Cora immediately took over, drying her with a towel. Milo, Cameron, and I gave them some privacy while Cora and Silver helped her out of her wet clothes. Cameron excused himself to fetch some drinks and returned with a tray of mugs filled with hot chocolate topped with marshmallows and chocolate flakes. I raised an eyebrow at the tray of hot drinks but he just claimed it would cheer Emmie up and he was right. When he handed her a mug she took one look at the marshmallows and smiled.

"Thank you." She said and we all sat at the end of the beds in silence sipping our hot chocolate.

"So, is anyone going to talk about what just happened back there?" Milo asked and Silver nudged him.

"We should tell them," Emmie said to me and everyone stilled.

"Tell us what?" Cora asked while shifting her gaze from me to Emmie.

"Kit and I climbed into a vent" Emmie started saying but her voice cracked, she was still shaken by what had happened in the assessment.

"And you didn't invite me?" Milo joked and Silver nudged him again and whispered for him to shut up.

"We saw what happens at the merge." I finished what Emmie was about to say.

"You what?!" Cora whisper shouted and everyone sat up straighter and leaned in, curious about what I was going to say next.

"And?" Cameron added looking around to make sure nobody else was here, but it was just us. Everyone else was probably too scared to come within a few feet of Emmie right now.

"We saw two children. One of them had powers before the merge happened. Once the merge was over they wiped the children's memories" I explained.

"The little girl mentioned her mother. They took her memories of her mother" Emmie added. The others sat in silence processing the information they were given, the quietest I have ever seen them.

"What does that mean?" Cora asked no one in particular.

"It means our superiors aren't telling us everything" I answered.

"I need my memories back," Emmie said and we all looked towards Milo.

"Why are you all looking at me?" Milo asked and then something in his mind clicked

"No, Absolutely not" Milo stood up and waved a hand.

"Milo you have to. We need answers." Emmie insisted.

"No, I'm not doing it. I can't. Even if I wanted to, I can't" Milo slammed his mug of hot chocolate down and folded his arms.

"You could try." I simply said and Milo sighed in response. He looked to each of us as though he was expecting someone to admit it was a very bad idea, and when no one did, he nodded

"Fine but if I scramble your brain" He pointed at Emmie. "I'm blaming all of you."

Later that afternoon I was called to General Sinclair's office. I was reluctant to leave Emmie because she was still a little shaken by what happened during the assessment. I never asked her about what that device they put on her head made her see, I didn't want her to relive the memory of whatever awful thing she saw. I heard her scream my name, I couldn't tell if she was calling for my help or calling to some vision of me she was seeing, perhaps it was both.

I knocked on Sinclair's office door and waited.

"Come in," Sinclair's voice rumbled through the door.

"Ah, yes. Kit. Take a seat." He gestured towards one of the two seats positioned opposite his desk.

"After what I witnessed at the assessment, I have discussed with the other superiors about having Emmie be monitored and do further training," I said nothing and he went on "We would like to explore the extent of her abilities and provide her with training that will help her abilities grow, to help her gain better control, to prevent what happened at the assessment from happening again." I clenched my jaw and tightened my fists under the table. He saw what she did at the assessment and wants to exploit that power for his benefit. I tried to think of his offer as a positive. Maybe testing would help figure out exactly what her power is. Maybe it will be good for her to gain more control. I know one thing; I am never going to let him use her or her power.

"If that is what you think is best, Sir" I nodded and forced a smile.

"And what do you think is best? She is your daearies after all," He raised an eyebrow. A question carefully constructed to gain an insight into my opinion on the situation but I wasn't about to tell him what I really thought, not when Emmie could be collateral damage.

"I agree, she needs to learn control over her abilities. If you are going to put her through extensive testing can I request that I be with her?" I asked and by the disapproval on his face I could tell he was about to refuse

"You wouldn't want what happened today to happen again, would you?" I added and his face turned neutral again.

"Very well, her training begins tomorrow" I wanted to protest that tomorrow is too soon for her after today's events but he bowed his head, redirecting his attention to the paperwork upon his desk.

"Yes, Sir," I stood and left the room. I need to find a way to get her out, away from these people. I headed for the fire exit that leads to the roof where I was to meet with Emmie and the others. Milo was going to try and see into her mind and recover any lost memories. I didn't like the idea of anyone snooping around in her head or her seeing potentially painful memories of her life before the merge, but it's what she needs to do. We need to find out more and this might be the only way.