The Eden Projects (Publishing edit)

Chapter 12. Complicated.

Present Day...

Zak froze.

He was a deer staring down the front of something like an exotic car.

Something fast and flashy.

That was Ace.

That was any situation that involved Ace.

Fast and flashy.

"Archer." He moved to take a step closer. Kasper was motionless, panting a few feet from where Archer sat slumped. Move- you have to move. He lowered his gun. Zak wondered why he even carried the thing in the first place, he never shot it. It was useless in his hands. He knew there was nothing he could do. "Arch. Can you move?" He tried again, taking another step.

Ace had triggered something deep within Kasper; it was the very thing they couldn't control, the thought-loop that sent him spiraling into nothing. One of his "moments." He was trapped somewhere in the labyrinth of his own mind; there was no reaching him.

"Zak, don't-" Archer slid away, covering the bleeding wound on his side with a shaking hand. "Don't move. Just stay there. It's just a graze."

Kasper's breathing changed, quickening before snapping off at the end as his body pitched to the side. He rolled over onto his stomach in the direction of Archer. "Urrghh—no—" he gasped, jolting awake with a start; he scrambled to get to his knees, pushing himself up.

Archer had slid a good distance away and sat quietly, trying to stop the bleeding. "Ace-" Archer winced. "Do something before one of us dies-" He shoved cloth into the wound. "Hurry-"

"Kas- you have to wake up." Zak did his best "commanding" tone; it did nothing.

Small spines and spikes had begun pushing their way through Kasper's skin, popping through his shirt along his spine where holes from the times before sat in rows. He was changing. 

"KAS." The urgency in his voice deepened.

Kasper's blood poured from the cuts in his skin, gathering around them in inky pools. An ungodly popping came from his entire body, a cacophony of bone and sinew unsettling. It was happening, and his bones began to readjust, cracking with each breath he took.

Ace only laughed.

"Ace- FIX THIS." Zak pointed his gun and backpedaled. Bullets won't kill him, but they'll slow this down. "You've proved your point." He looked to Ace, who folded his arms. He wasn't sure what point it was but he'd proved something. 

"Shut it, pretty boy. It's too bright for Adam to make a full appearance anyway. I'm trying to help him." Ace gripped his knife as he approached Kasper. "Can you hear me, you ungrateful brat? I'm helping."

Zak grimaced. He hated Ace. He hated everything he had done and would ever do in the name of help.

Kasper's head was down and his face had gone a ghostly white, laced with delicate black veins that streamed up his cheeks. Ace moved quickly and knelt down in front of him, his wings fanning out to keep his balance. He brushed the hair aside. "You need a haircut."

"Leave me alone." His eyes darted and he raised a hand weakly, batting Ace away.

Zak sighed with relief. He's still here.

"I'm surprised you can still talk." Ace's shock spun into a smile. "I bet you can sense his pain, right? You like it, don't you?" He looked to Archer. "Nothing to say about that, big guy?"

"Leave him alone," Archer said. It was gentle, a pained understanding of their situation. He knew they had no pull on what Ace would do.

"This is crazy, please just let us leave-" Zak began.