Midale

Chapter Twelve: With Power Comes Pain

The initial surge of power felt good. It was like sitting in a hot bath and slowly all your muscle pain just dissolved in the warm water. Until it got too hot. I could feel all my bones on fire, ready to burst at any coming moment. My screaming filled the air as the power got too much for me to house inside my body.

"Is this suppose to be happening?" I heard Emma ask, her tone filled with concern and urgency.

"No, she's loosing control." Cassidy said. She skimmed through her mother's journal, panic showing all over her face. After a few seconds of fruitless shuffling between pages she threw the book away in frustration. Her eyes landed on me, still groaning in pain, and she took a breath.

"Madison you need to listen to me very carefully."

She waited for a response. I managed a slight nod.

"You need to think about a good memory, something that will anchor you to your consciousness and stop your power from taking over."

My head was throbbing with pain but I knew this was my only chance. I couldn't give into the pain. I closed my eyes tighter and then willed myself to sweep through my memories and hold on to one that made the happiest. I tried to focus on times that I remembered with my parents but the memories kept slipping away. The pain grew and I thought I heard Ash asking Cassidy to make it stop. I didn't hear her reply but it couldn't have been good because my agony didn't end. When I had nothing else I could think of, my mind drifted off into a place I've only been to once before.

The red-orange flames around me were familiar and comforting. They almost felt like a part of me, one I hadn't gained control over yet. I couldn't wait to change that. My eyes scanned the area again, looking for a long-awaited figure. It was like I had been waiting for this all along. Even without knowing, some unconscious part me had hope that this would happen again. My mind was trying to tell me something, but the unnerving feeling of the uncontrollable power surging through my body came back and the I couldn't focus anymore because of the pain. The flames began to flicker, their warmth starting to fade away. Just when I thought I was a goner and had actually managed to teleport myself to hell, definitely not my intended destination, a hand enclosed around my wrist, pulling me back. Back to the heat and the fire. This time though it was different. It hurt. A lot. I could swear that the flames were actually burning my skin but at the same time the pain felt good. I stopped struggling and let myself burn. I embraced the pain. I embraced my power.

Then I blew up. I could feel every part of me travelling through a portal in time and space itself. I just hoped that when I got there, there would be no change in my anatomy. Or in any of my friends'. I knew they were with me, their presence was hard to miss as it burdened my strength but I was just getting started. If there was another, better feeling than this, then I knew it not. I felt free. Literally.

Somewhere inside my instincts, I knew that this was when I had to make my choice of destination. I had never been to the Institute before but I had seen pictures of it in drills when they discussed all our strongholds in case any of needed a sanctuary. I focused on all that I could remember about the place, a high hill station with wild greenery and the Victorian styled building that resembled an ancient palace. At the end, it depended more on my mental desire to get there. That wasn't a problem. I really wanted to get there.

I felt a brush of wind across my face as it swept a fringe away from my forehead. We were here. I mean I was, I could only hope the rest tagged alone. In one piece.

"I think my stomach fell out somewhere on the way here." Lucas moaned in pain. I thought I felt a pang somewhere too, but the rush and the adrenaline of my first teleport was mitigating every ache in my body. A breath escaped me when I was sure all my friends and my sister were intact and breathing.