Psycho Gem

Chapter 18: Your Fault

Leo held his hands up as a dome of energy flashed around us. Leo closed his eyes, straining a bit as the dome of light disappeared. We were in a completely different place. I took a second and realised I was very close to Tracks' home street at midday. I started running as fast as I could while Leo and Abby trailed behind. I would've flown, but having the civilians around us see our powers would definitely grab the attention of B.U.R.N.E, who were the last people we needed to deal with in the current situation. Abby knew this, so she was keeping herself invisible to normal eyes.

"Abby, go on ahead. Find out what happened!" I said before she flew ahead of us to Tracks' house.

I knew that we might've already been too late, but I prepared myself for the worst. I wondered what Malcolm would do with his son's body. I thought about what I might find. Would he be hurt? Would he have hurt others? Would he even be there at all? As we turned the corner onto the street, Abby popped up beside me with a dreadful expression and terror in her eyes.

"I-it's bad, Magus. It's really, really bad," she said with panicked stammering.

She was about to tell me more when we finally reached Tracks' house. I kicked open the door and was immediately met with shock. The hardwood floor was drenched in a pool of blood. Tracks was on his knees, sobbing into his hands, right in front of the corpses of his parents. I was piecing together what happened when I noticed the parents had big gouges in their necks, bite marks. Vampiric bite marks. I couldn't see Tracks' face because his back was turned to me, but I could assume what happened. Malcolm may have made him do it, but the deed was done either way. Leo was frozen in shock, trying to comprehend what happened. Abby was fidgeting like crazy, trying to figure out what to do in this situation. I slowly stepped toward the crying boy in front of me, trying not to make any sudden movements. I was finally right behind him. I took a deep breath and tried to get his attention.

"Tracks?" I softly called his name.

He quickly turned his head around and jumped as if I startled him. His mouth was covered in blood, and his grey cheeks were stained with tears. His breathing rapidly sped up as he got to his feet and nervously backed away, acting as if there were a pride of lions cornering him.

I once again tried to step closer to him. "Tracks, I want you to take a deep bre-"

"SHUT UP!!!" He shouted.

Everyone was taken aback by that outburst.

"Tracks, I'm sorry about-"

"NO YOU'RE NOT!!! If you were, you'd make it up to me by dropping dead!!"

"Tracks, we want to help you," I said, trying to calm him down.

"No, you don't! If you really wanted to help me, you wouldn't have dragged me through hell after hell! You wouldn't have turned me into a monster!" his voice developed a dark echo the more he spoke. His eyes began to produce a red glow.

"Tracks, please just try and calm down," Leo said, trying to diffuse the situation.

"Who the fuck are you, eh? Do you even care about me? Do you even care about-" Tracks yelled before looking at the two corpses right next to him and completely freezing.

He stood there staring as he began to hyperventilate, panic and rage taking over his mind.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!" he screamed at me in his fury, his eyes glowing even brighter and his voice sounding like that of a beast. "YOU SAID YOU'D PROTECT ME!!!"

I tried to use my magic to calm him down, but it wasn't working. Then I heard a voice echo in the back of my mind.

"I remember it so vividly. It's so difficult at first, but this pain will guide him," I heard Malcolm say. "Just as it did for you and me."