"Charlotte? Charlotte can you hear me?" James called, lifting her from the floor and cradling her to his chest.
Her forehead was covered in a cold sweat, though beneath the sheen of perspiration it felt as if her skin was on fire. Her eyes had rolled back in her head, her teeth clenched and her body rigid. Tears streamed down her cheeks and he had sensed her alteration before he had even reached her side, but where it was going, who it was after he had no idea.
"What's wrong with her?" Annakiya asked, kneeling beside him, wide-eyed and fearful.
James gritted his jaw but didn't answer. Nobody else knew the pain Charlotte's power could cause her, though it had been so long since he had known it to physically hurt her.
"Kiya you can't be here. She's too dangerous like this," he breathed finally, lifting Charlotte from the floor and placing her back on her bed.
"I'm not leaving when she's like this," she said, her tone defiant.
He sighed, throwing her an exasperated look, knowing he should be grateful. She had had the good sense to come for him immediately, scattering her own bedclothes across the floor in the process. He scarcely wanted to think what would have happened if some of the other girls had been made to share a room with Charlotte. At least Kiya knew to look out for her.
"You don't know what she's capable of," James growled, but Annakiya just flashed him an as-if look and turned her attention back to Charlotte.
"James, what's happening to her? She can't be sick..."
"It's her alteration. I don't know what's causing it to act like this now, but I know when she's like this she can't see friend from foe. You should move back". Kiya gazed at him for a moment, before retreating to the other side of the small bedroom.
It was a tiny box of a room, decorated plainly in grey and brown, with a bunk bed on one side and a dresser on the other side. A door led to a small washroom, but really it offered Annakiya little space from Charlotte and her rampaging alteration.
"What about you?" Annakiya breathed.
"I'll be okay," he sighed. "She won't hurt me".
He tried to sound confident, though he felt anything but. He could hardly remember the last time he had helped her with her alteration. He could barely recall how it felt to let her see him so vulnerable, to feel the crushing weight of her power bearing down upon him. "Just think happy thoughts".
"Happy thoughts," Annakiya mumbled beneath her breath, her voice trembling.
James smoothed back Charlotte's hair frowning as he watched her, her face screwed up with pain. "Charlotte, can you hear me?" he whispered, hoping against hope she would respond. "Charlotte you have to pull your alteration back. You are stronger than it".
He didn't need to know what would happen to them if Charlotte attacked somebody in the compound. They were having enough trouble proving that they weren't a threat without a midnight confrontation.
Charlotte whimpered, arching her back. "Pull it back – fight it," he pleaded, bringing his lips close to her ear. Her muscles trembled with tension, her hands twisting into the sheets.
He took a deep breath, focusing on her, focusing on the pain she was feeling. He imagined her relaxing, her face calming down as if she were only sleeping. He imagined that she couldn't feel the pain her powers were causing her. He had seen their backlash before. He had seen her crumble, drained of colour. He had seen her brought to the brink, trying to control them, but for months now nothing had tested her control like whatever was tempting her now.
YOU ARE READING
Feared
Science-Fiction'Play the game, she thought, remembering the only three words that had helped her to survive at Kingston. Only back then she had known the game, she had known what they wanted her to be, what they had wanted her to do - this man was different. She d...
