Fragments - Book One of the Missing

Chapter 38 - Rowan

The throbbing in her head radiated like a beacon throughout her entire body. It was too much. She squeezed her eyes tighter in a futile attempt to hide from the pain.

Rowan rolled on her side, her face nuzzled into the sheets. She breathed in their musty smell, reminding her of her new home. She had no recollection of getting home or what had happened back in the Underground. Well parts of it anyway. She groaned. Taniel must have carried her back.

No matter how much she tried to distance herself from him, she kept getting pulled back. The scenes from her dreams came swimming back to her. They seemed to be so connected, so intertwined. He was always the one picking up her pieces when she fell apart. As she almost lost control yesterday. She winced at the memory of her hands on Kat, of the burning of skin and her pleasure in making Kat cry out in pain. What was happening to her?

She rolled up to stare at the ceiling when she spotted Taniel asleep in a chair next to her bed. His feet were propped up on the bed, and his hands folded in his lap. His unruly brown hair fell over his eyes. He fidgeted once, twice in his sleep. She knew his dreams were not peaceful.

The pain throbbed again, bringing her thoughts away from Taniel and back to the previous night. Energy had poured from her hands; she had never felt so powerful. She could barely control the torrent of power rushing out of her, but the pull for the machine's knowledge and Kat's pain was too strong. She felt herself threading through the wires and brains of the operation, but so advanced and complex that she did not have the slightest hope of understanding it all. At least not yet. She was almost lost, but one thought kept her anchored. Olive.

Like pushing a rubber band to its breaking point, the energy rushed back into her and all she saw was black.

So far, what she learned hadn't yielded anything about Olive. Or where the Underground may have sent her. But she did learn something valuable, something dangerous.

She sat up in bed, and bit her lip against the pain. The sudden movement knocked Taniel's feet off the bed. His eyes snapped open.

Taniel looked completely panicked. "The fire..." he started, then shook off the thought, composing himself. His eyes on her lips. "How are you feeling?"

Rowan's mind was already elsewhere, forgetting his outburst and hanging on to the tendrils of her thoughts. She had to get this down before her head exploded. Pushing her sheets away, she swung her legs to the floor. Almost too shaky to hold her.

"I need paper."

Taniel led her to the table and laid out with pencils and paper. She felt him rather than saw him put the pencil in her hand. The memories of last night came pouring back to her, through her and out through the pencil.