The Grisha Diaries (A Darklina Fanfic)

Chapter 10: Ultralight Beam

IT WAS THE middle of that very night when it happened. The world had been sleeping, until it wasn't. When the life I had built was knocked down with a wrecking ball and annihilated into smithereens. When the orphanage, likely all of Keramzin, burst into light.

Lighting strikes me right in the chest, jolting me awake. Its electricity dissipates through my body waking every cell with pure energy. Either the universe exploded or I did and I can only experience it.

My body bathed itself in the light I radiated, becoming a pure white ball of heat. Heaven was the only place I could be. As the surprise lessens I examine my nirvana until I look down and realize that I am floating a foot or so above the bed I must have just been lying in.

"Alina!" I hear a shout. "Alina! Make it stop!"

"I'm okay" I shout back at the recognizable voice. "I'm okay!" My senses fully return as I see Mal. My eyes adjust to see the outline of his figure just a few feet away from me shielding his eyes from me when I realize he is the one in pain.

Mal's existence in our bedroom confirms that I am most certainly not dead. This is real, very real. The light all around me is radiating from me. This is my light! I realize with excitement. My head falls back as I drown in the ecstasy of it. Not even the purest of drugs could replicate the high I feel. I could glow for hours, days even before I'd want to turn this off. I feel a rush of adrenaline, but rather than energy it shoots me up with satiation, color, and warmth. Like the feeling of the first sip of water and realizing you had previously been incredibly dehydrated. I never realized how ill I had been until I was guzzling in the light.

"Alina!" Mal shouts again.

For him, I lean up and rein in my newly returned light, allowing him to look at me straight on without being blinded in his own bedroom. However, my grin remains beaming brightly when Mal is finally able to meet my eyes.

"Alina," he repeats, calmer this time. "I'm so happy for you," he says sincerely with a smile on his face. "But, I fear you are going to wake the children. And the neighbors. And, the rest of town."

He makes a point.

"How do you think this is happening? What did you do?" The questions begin pouring out of him.

"I'm not sure. I- I- don't know. But it won't stop."

"We need to tell Nikolai and the Grisha. They will know what to do." Mal starts furiously making plans, running around the room collecting clothes and meaninglessly throwing them in other locations around the room. "We will figure this out together," he tries to reassure me while acting quite frantic.

As he paces my body itches to use my abilities again. The connection between the light and I seems to still be fusing back together.

I feel my body adjusting to my powers with ease. All three amplifiers are very present, driving their influences into my bloodstream. And, I'm absolutely frantic when I feel a pull in the center of my chest. It's barely there, but a strong and noticeable tether is intact.

I need to get Mal out immediately. For the sake of Ravka, the safety of my friends, and answers, I need to see the other side of that tether.

I snap with a need to be alone for this. "That seems rash. But let's discuss it in the morning. I'm not sure I will be able to stop glowing. Should I go to sleep in the sitting room?" The patience I express to Mal when every cell in my body feels as if it's about to burst, deserves an award.

"Oh, uh of course your body would be tired after exerting so much. No, no. I'll go check on the children and peek outside to see if anyone noticed. You sleep here, anything to help you stop glowing." I barely hear his response as my instincts focus on tracking his movements across the room, counting the seconds for when I am able to jump across the tether. Impatience is an understatement. Mal gives me a gentle and agonizingly slow kiss before exiting the room. As the door finally closes behind him, I reach across the tether and pull with all that I am, desperate to see what is at the end of it.