Little Spark

55 - From a Little Spark

For a good few minutes, I stand there in shock with my eyes fixed on the calendar in the center of the wall straight in front of me. Just like Reign described and like I've seen in my nightmares, December 6th—tomorrow—is circled in red.

And then I'm shocked by how many of the faces I recognize. The victims are all marked with a little "x" in the center of their foreheads. The man who owns the Super-Save is an initiate; his red yarn connects him to a little old lady that was sitting one person over from me at the church the Sunday I went with Candis. I also see an "x"-marked picture of Officer Milligan. I've never seen the initiate in the photo linked to him, but he's also in a police uniform, which is appalling on a number of levels.

Our school's librarian—initiate—is linked to Charlie from Common Grounds—victim. And there's Cary whose photo is actually linked to a newspaper article; it's a short piece about Odin Raymond, tennis whiz kid, who, based on the featured photo, is quite obviously Von's older brother. I also see my grandmother—victim—who is supposed to be taken out by a man I recognize from the deli counter at the grocery store.

As I continue my tour of the room, my panic increases. There are senators and congress-people, and powerful businessmen and women featured in either photos or newspaper articles; some of them are initiates, and some of them are victims. And there are maps of different cities with numbers written in the margins.

I get to a wall with very few pictures and discover that here, there are names written on scraps of paper. Some include personal info, like addresses and phone numbers, and some sheets have the initiate and the victim written on the same page.

There's even a sheet that has a family of initiates connected to three victims that stops me in my tracks:

Apollo Brighton (I) -- Candis Cornwell (V)

Yuri Brighton (I) -- Jonathan Dean (V)

Trace Brighton (I) -- Bonnie Dean (V)

And that's when I realize that not only is there a good chance that none of these assignments have been released; there's also a good chance that some of these initiates don't even know they're being recruited. I highly doubt Apollo's parents have received word that they have to kill Luca's parents so they can become Shades, and the idea of Apollo being assigned to kill his soul mate is ludicrous—if he was aware of this, he would've definitely told me.

This means two things: 1. The Brightons are doing a fantastic job in their undercover positions because the Shadows obviously have no clue they're Sparks, and 2. There's still a chance to stop this whole thing. I'm sure it took Oskur a fairly significant amount of time to create these connections; if few to none have gone out, destroying his handiwork in here will at least buy some time. For what, I don't know because I obviously can't beat them completely now, but at least all these people will get to live a bit longer.

But then I look at my hands, and I remember I have no powers, and that panicky feeling from my nightmare kicks in. I don't actually hear my loved ones screaming inside my head, but I remember what it sounds like in the nightmare, and that's enough to bring me to my knees.

I can't do anything to stop this.

I can't light.

I can't heat.

I can't shoot orbs.

I gave it all up for Reign. And then he chose someone else.

I need to get out of here, but I can't seem to find a door. Actually, how did I even get in here? Where is here? I look all around the room... the walls are covered in corkboard, but beneath is solid wood. I can't find a door because there isn't one. There's a square air vent the size of my palm in each of the four corners of the ceiling, but that's it.