Fragments - Book One of the Missing

Chapter 40 - Rowan

The pencil hit the table with a thud as Rowan's hand fell to her side. Her head was so heavy. The darkness crept up on her. She sagged to the floor next to the table, leaning against one of the thick wooden legs for support.

Grey light filled the loft. A fog rolled over the buildings of Fenesmere, coming for her like a blanket. She ached for her bed, but it was too far. Maybe if she closed her eyes for just a moment she could find the strength.

A hand on her shoulder caused her eyes to flutter open.

"Rowan?" The words were a blur. She laid her head down on the floor. No cushion, but how nice it felt to put her head on something solid, taking the weight off her neck.

Again the hand on her shoulder shook her. She shrugged it off. "Bugger off," she mumbled.

Finally the fog had reached her, and she was wrapped tight in its warm blanket. Something soft was pushed under head. This place was safe, home. With this last thought, Rowan stopped fighting and relented to the darkness pulling her under.

****

"How long was I out?" Rowan croaked. Taniel pressed more water to her lips. Briefly the fire in her throat was dimmed.

"You've been out of it since last night." Rowan looked out the window's of the loft, remembering the fog rolling in with dusk. The sun had started to fall again. Almost a full day. A full day lost.

"But you were writing this," he gestured to a wild array of papers strewn across the table, "for a half day before that."

Rowan thumbed through the pages—scientific equations, formulas, computer code. She vaguely recalled the thoughts running through her mind, but she wasn't sure if she grasped the significance. Just looking at it all made her dizzy.

Scooter crossed the room to sit with Rowan and Taniel on the floor. "While you were out, I managed to hack into one of their computers using your notes. You pretty much laid out the brain of their system for us—or one of them at least. And I started transcribing some of this into my own system. Hopefully we get something useful out of it. But I don't know what else you have up there," he said as he tapped her temple.

That was it. She knew he meant it in jest, but it sparked something within her. What the formulas meant. What Scooter hadn't learned yet from her notes. She swallowed hard. "I know how to awaken someone's gift."

Taniel and Scooter stared at her, comprehension not dawning yet.

"That is what they did in that room. Behind the glass. The surgery and the monitoring."

"But what does the Underground do with them after?" Scooter asked. "I thought this was a war between the Officials and Darus's Army."

Taniel's face turns to stone. Rowan could practically see the thoughts on his face as he surmised the worst. The tracking, the spying. Wills was wakening some of the Missing before he shipped them off as players in his own game.

"To fight back. This is about power for all of them now. And survival."

She could feel the truth like a pit in her stomach. "Do you think they have already performed the surgery on Olive?" She searched Taniel's eyes for the answer she craved, for solace.

The warm chocolate in his eyes melt in pity. She could see the answer without having to hear it. "We'll get her back, Rowan. Maybe if we can awaken a gift, we can turn it off."

"Or, you can make another weapon." Scooter said, sitting up straighter. "Try it on me. It's kind of boring being the only normal person in the loft."