The Keeper Exams

Chapter Thirteen - Alive But Barely

Gwendolynn Latimer

The wind whipped violently at my face, cold, salty water bit into my skin and covered my tongue, making me want to hurl. A bright red sun beat down on me, the crimson tendrils reaching around my body and cloaking me under its fiery wings. A jolt sent me flying backward against a cold, metal railing as water splashed all around me.

"Ouch!" I growled, picking myself painfully up off the ground as the boat smashed against a fresh set of waves. Water sloshed under my feet and various types of fish were spread across the floor, having been throwing from the icy ocean water with the violent waves.

A vengeful telekinetic force grasps ahold of me, jerking my hands away from their death hold on the railing and lifting my shivering body into a spiral through the air. Then, all of a sudden, the force disappeared and I fell on my hands and knees against the boat deck, feeling spears of pain electricute my entire body.

A pained squeal escapes me and I grind my teeth together, slowly gathering my wits and stumbling on my feet as the boat tips dangerously to the left, throwing huge metal lobster cages and big pointy objects directly at me.

"Well shit." I comment, watching a particularly uninviting metal cage come soaring towards me, I dodge to the left just in time but lose my carefully placed footing in the process and slide down the deck, rolling with the fish over the edge of the boat. At the last possible second, I reach up and curl my wet fingers around the edge of the rail, holding on for dear life as the boat straightens itself in the icy water, leaving me holding on over the edge.

Cool fingers grasp ahold of my wrist and give a ferocious tug, I gasp and plant my feet against the side of the boat. Slowly, the unknown person and I manage to haul my shaking ass over the side of the boat, both of us collapsing to the deck in a heap of shivers and limbs.

"Idiot, get out of the storm!" The girl growls, jumping to her feet as another wave rocks the boat. There was a rope tied around her waist that was attached to a railing beside the door leading down into the center of the boat. If I had to guess, it was so that if she fell off she could climb back up. I stumble to my feet in alarm as a shock of hatred and anxiety runs through me.

"I didn't ask for your help!" I yell back, the girl raises one eyebrow and scowls.

"Then you'd be dead." She snarls and I lunge, for absolutely no good reason other than I wanted to. Her eyes widen and she shrieks, dodging to the left and using her rope to trip me. I tuck into a ball and roll to my feet on the other side, a surge of emotional power dancing around me.

I could feel everything. The numbness of the fish, the anxiety of the girl, and a strange homicidal despair from somewhere else on the boat. A third person. A swirl of fear descends heavily upon my shoulders and I gasp, suddenly very aware of my surroundings. I jerk, slipping and tumbling on the unsteady surface as I race across the deck, trying to wrench the door open.

"Here!" The girl snaps from behind and I whirl around just in time to see her toss me a rather large, silver key. She was struggling, the rope had pulled taut and tightened around her chest, currently crushing the air from her lungs.

I wanted to help, I felt the desire to run back and see if I could dislodge the rope but the feeling was squashed under the magnitude of my overwhelming hatred. And I had no idea where it was coming from. "Get the damn door open!" I nod, bracing myself as a gust of wind tears at my exposed skin, chilling me to the bone.

With shaking fingers, I press the key into the lock and hear the door click faintly. A surge of relief jolts my stuttering heart into action and I wrench the door open, tumbling through with a heavy sigh. I grasp the railing as the boat suddenly tips upright in the air and the door whooshes shut. A loud thud echoes from outside as a heavy body slams into the door.

"Emerald!" I shriek, watching a faint trickle of blood dribble from the side of her head, the boat jerks and tumbles back into the water and her body slides to the floor. I lurch forward, shoving my shoulder into the door and grasping ahold of the girl's hand, dragging her inside the boat. Another wave sends water splashing against the deck and I quickly slam the door closed.

The girl - Emerald, though I had no idea how I knew that - was out cold, but her chest rose and feel evenly. I suddenly had the uncontrollable urge to wrap my fingers around her throat and squeeze until her eyes flew open with the shock of dying. But all too soon the boat surged and rolled over and Emerald and I went sprawling against the ceiling.

With a sickening thud, the side of my skull smashed against the boat's metallic interior. Surges of agony swirled through me in a series of tiny razor pricks. A wet, sticky substance dripped down my forehead and I barely had the sense of mind to name it blood.

Something sharp stabbed me in the side and I cried out, glancing down to find myself shish kebabbed on a thin, rusted yet secured, metal pole. It went right through me, protruding from my other side and the sight made my stomach roll. Streaks of red glittered past my vision and a shrill voice filled my ears - except, the voice was my own ear splitting scream.

Then the boat flipped again and I went sailing through the air, slamming into the floor like a rag doll. There was nothing left in me, I was covered in my own blood and the agony of my injury was ripping me apart. I bit my lip as icy salt water slipped into my wound, ingiting a path of fire through my being.

Somewhere to my right, Emerald moaned and lifted her head. There was a deep gash along her stomach, blood and guts spilling out. "Emerald!" I howled, curling myself around my midsection as blood poured from either side of my waist - the pole's exit and entry wounds.

"Make it stop!" I screamed, arching my body as a wave of pure torment came over me as I smashed into the door from which I'd come through in an attempt to survive. But now it seemed that attempt was ill fated.

A swirling numbness spread through me, the entirety of my nervous system suddenly failing in the face of so much pain. I welcomed the feeling, pulling it toward me with everything I had left and wrapped myself in it's cacoon.

"Gwen..." Emerald muttered, propping herself against the door as the boat once again leveled out. I glanced up, a dazed expression on my face. My brain was foggy and filled with joy, I couldn't feel a thing and it felt so good.

Emerald was really hurt, bleeding out and fighting pain. And I understood the silent plea. I closed my eyes, gathering together all the energy I could and sent it swirling in her direction.

She jerked as my magic assaulted her, forcing her into a pit of numbness just like me. She only resisted for a moment before slumping forward and pulling it into her with everything she had.

A slight glimmer of something shimmered just to the edge of my mind, a bright spot of pain in the otherwise dull gray nothingness. I tilted my head and probbed the strange light, reaching out tentatively to the girl bent around herself, crying softly from the crimson blood dripping from the gashes on her thighs. Something had ripped the skin away from her body, taking with it small chucks of her flesh. Her left arm hung at an odd angle, but she was still alive. Barely but surely.

"Andreana." I whispered and her head jerked upward, I felt her reach up to me and suddenly, the power I'd been giving to Emerald began to flow into her too.

A gasped slightly, feeling my body threaten to give out under the strain of so much magic use. Then the little light of pain turned gray and her magic came back at me, filling the void of power inside me and reaching out to Emerald too.

And that's how we stayed - feeding off each other's magic, making the pain numb and reveling in the soft embrace of nothingness - until the darkness came, pulling the three of us under it's clutches. Alive but barely.