Selene's New Moon

Our Heart

 

Our Heart

The strengthened connection between us all did not fade away after our little group support session. It almost seemed that it had always been this strong, and had just been waiting for us to truly acknowledge it to show its true strength. All evening we tested our new ability to sense each other. We all seemed to have a slightly different way of feeling the energy and a different range in which we could feel each other's presence. We only experimented on the property, so we didn't get to try huge areas yet . We haven't found a range yet where I 'lost' the boys. Owen was the same. Aiden seemed to have the shortest range. As soon as I left the house, he lost me. Kenji, Felix, Owen, and I could all tell who was who just by energy signature alone. Dwyer and Aiden could tell when we were near, but not who it was specifically. Owen figured it had something to do with what kind of abilities we each had, but it was all just conjecture. We could find nothing in any of Owen's books about what was actually happening, and he had everything The Academy did about gifts. If it has happened before, nobody wrote about it...

We all got to bed pretty late. Once in bed with Felix and Dwyer though, it had not taken me long to fall asleep. It was a restless sleep. My dreams were haunted by images of Mr. Williams and Mr. Edwards. The dreams became even more disturbing when their faces morphed into those of the demons we had most recently clashed with.

That is when I find myself waking. There is a fine sheen of sweat all over my body. Yuck.

"What's wrong dear?" Felix mumbles as his hand pats mine.

"Nothing," I whisper back. "Go back to sleep. Just going to the bathroom," I assure him. I carefully extract myself from the bed so that I don't wake Dwyer as well. By the time I am free, it seems Felix is back to sleep, as his breathing is slow and even. Dwyer didn't stir- success!

I pad silently to the bathroom and manage to open and close the door again with no squeaks. Using just the little bit of light from the nightlight in the small room, I rinse my face and then cup some water in my hands to drink. I look in the mirror. The limited light casts an eerie glow on my features. My upper body is warm in my long sleeve t shirt, but since I am only wearing shorts under it, my legs and feet are a little chilled. I lean on the sink and then close my eyes, dipping my head. I try to think of nothing for a few moments. I manage to slip into a casual meditative state of nothingness.

It is in this silence that I 'hear' something. Something calling... I focus on it. It's calling me. What is that? My eyes open in surprise and I lose the 'voice'. My reflection frowns back at me. I close my eyes again and search. There it is! Stronger this time. No words, but still, I can tell it's a request. For what? The tone changes a little- becomes more desperate. It knows now that it has my attention. I open my eyes slowly this time and I can still hear it. Like someone in a trance, I walk quietly out of the bathroom, then the bedroom and then down the hall. My eyes are still open, but I barely see my surroundings since I am concentrating on the 'voice'. I pause at the front door to pull on my already tied tennis shoes. The voice tugs at me impatiently. "Hurry!" it seems to say. I turn the locks on the door and without a sound, make my way outside. I shiver a little in the cold night air. It is dark out, but the moon helps a little to see.

An unease starts to fill the back part of my mind as I walk away from the door. It's very confusing to feel some of your brain begin to panic and the rest of the brain staying perfectly calm. How is that even possible. The calm part of my brain remains in control and I continue to follow the call. Time becomes fuzzy, but the panicky part of my brain does start to get louder as I continue to walk. What I am going to call my sane brain, finally seems to gather enough strength to scream at me "Go Back!" It is enough to make my physical body stumble. The call yanks at me strongly. Gone is the fake desperation. In its place is a steely anger. I flinch. What an idiot I am! I have fallen in a trap and I am now to entangled to break free. I try to gain control over my body again, but it is hopeless. I must be too close to the trickster by now. I do manage to keep my body from walking any more though- now I am just stuck in one place. I am breathing heavy and my head is pounding.

I smell blood from somewhere close. My eyes squint in the darkness. There- a large dead animal in a heap. Probably a deer. Something moves in the shadows not far from the dead body. I hear the rustle of leaves and then a couple of twigs snapping.

"You put up a fight," sneers a somewhat familiar voice. "It wasn't enough though poppet." The man steps closer.

Edwards! Well, this is a pretty good indication that he is truly the traitor.

"We must be on our way now. I fear we are late for an appointment," he says as he continues to approach me.

I have to try to reach one of the guys. I know I am farther away than any of the distances we have tried, not to mention that we have never tried to speak to each other with the use of our connections. .. I am desperate though and will try anything. I quickly decide to try just Owen. I will put all my energy towards one target in hopes it will have a better chance of making its mark. I choose Owen because his range seemed as large as mine. I gather all my fear into myself and use it to help me.

"Oh no you don't you bitch!"

*Owen!!* is all I am able to shout towards his weak energy signature before Edwards hits me on the side of the head and I crumble.

Owen's POV:

*Owen!!*

The shout in my head wakes me up, but it is the terror behind it that has me jumping out of bed in shock.

Selene! I have never heard her voice, or anyone else's for that matter, in my head- but I know it is her. There is no doubt. Not bothering to even pull pants on over my boxers, I run out of my room and down the hall. I fling the door open to Selene's room. The sound of the door crashing into the wall is followed by surprised curses from Dywer and Felix.

"Where is she!?" I shout. My voice sounds strange to me- full of panic.

"In the bathroom..." answers Felix uncertainly.

I wrench the bathroom door open but I already know she won't be in there. I feel Kenji and Aiden rush into the bedroom and now Dwyer and Felix are behind me. A feeling of dread fills the room as everyone realizes she is not in the room.

"Kenji..", I start but he is answering the question before I can finish.

"There was no alarm. I don't know why. They all appear to be working... but something should have sounded somewhere if she left the house..."

There is a sudden flurry of action as everyone throws on clothes and arms themselves. Mere minutes later everyone is in the living room waiting for instructions.

"She is terrified, " My usually strong voice shakes a little. "I can't reach her now and I don't know how far she was when she tried to reach me..."

"There are no signs of a struggle in the house," Aiden supplies.

Kenji's eyes go to the front door. "The locks have been turned. She left on her own..." he says as he walks to the front door. He places his hand around the door knob. Everyone stills as he tries to get a reading. I know the odds of him getting something is pretty low- after all, Selene has no emotional attachment to the knob- she wouldn't have left any impressions on it....

"She was calm. Too calm...In a trance of some sort..." he says to all of our surprise. This must be a side affect of our closer connections.

Even though he has picked up more than I expected, I still feel my anger rise. Not enough information! I try to gain control over my anger. It will not help us now. My emotions have been all over the place recently though.. Since we met Selene really. I had thought myself above these annoying emotions of anger, jealousy, ... affection. But that was a lie. My earlier display with Dwyer was just ridiculous. I am sure she thinks me a fool now.

That isn't important now though. What is important is finding Selene. She has been with us for such a short period of time, but already she is a vital part of our family. Our family would break apart if we are not able to find her. We are all very attached to her- even me.

"Gentlemen, we need to bring our Heart home, safe and sound."

Ugh- not sure how I feel about this chapter- but at least it is something.  Feels kind of clunky- sorry about that..