Disclaimer: I do not own the Darkest Powers series or any of the characters used in this story. It all belongs to the stellar Kelley Armstrong.
"Now you see, the night is so clear, and you feel the spirits are here, running free, running free without fear, you'll always find a way to the brightest light."
(Here I Am - Shaman)
Liz's Point Of View
It was just the average day at Lyle House. Classes all day with short useless breaks in between. Besides the latest addition to the place, Chloe Saunders, everything was…normal.
Or was it?
My father was a demon, but he didn't stick around, so I never really knew him. There has always been some weirdness in my family, especially with myself or my raped and doped mother, thrown repeatedly into a mental hospital.
And the same thing…
…happened to me.
Long story short, I get mad. And when I get mad, my volatile side breaks through. Things start crashing all around me, even though I had nothing to do with it. I always felt as if I were hallucinating.
You want the truth? I suck at math. I can hardly do basic algebra. And the group home tutor, Ms. Wang, was really starting to piss me off. Not the woman herself, but more like her attitude, snapping at me, forcing me to get something I just don't know. I took a few stress relieving breaths before dropping my pencil onto my notebook to crack my knuckles. My hands were sore from all the erasing and trying again. The old hag shot me dirty look after nasty scowl and my mind began to race, heat coursing through my veins. I will admit it, I have a bit of a temper. A part of all the individual therapy at this place I was learning to cope with it. I'd lie and go along like a good girl for them, if only it'll get me out of here faster…but I guess my emotions got the best of me.
It was something I couldn't control, couldn't see and it always came directly without any warning. Sometimes I would get so angry I would yell, slam, cry. But when it really kicks in, things start flying involuntarily.
The pencil I'd set down a few seconds earlier rose up and flew like a slingshot right at Ms. Wang's face. Hit her right below her eye on her cheek, snapping her hard like a whip. She let out a piercing scream, as if the pencil was on fire or something. Nobody can throw a pencil with such force to make someone scream. I thought to myself. Frig! Frig! Frig!
"Elizabeth Delaney!" her voice boomed through the classroom through the dining room. I sprang from my seat, rolling out of the room as fast as a bowling ball. I started crying, realizing this whole temper thing was taking over my life. "Get back here!"
I lurched up the stairs, taking two steps at a time until I reached the confines of my bedroom. More like my cell! I screamed the words repeatedly through my mind, hearing Ms. Wang's voice once again. I cracked the door open and listened out. I'm getting transferred, transferred, transferred…this is the end, the end of my sanity…
"I have had it! I expect some behavioral problems tutoring in a place like this, but that girl needs professional help."
Maybe they were right. Maybe I did need professional help.
All I know is this, whatever this temper thing is, isn't human.
Then I heard Miss Van Dop chime in. "Ms. Wang, please. Not in front of--"
"She threw a pencil at me. Whipped it. Like a weapon." Ms. Wang cut her off. I absolutely did not throw it. She could clearly see it was sitting on my desk! "Another half inch and she'd have taken my eye out. She broke the skin. Blood. From a pencil!"
I was also pretty damn sure there was no blood. "All because I dared to suggest that a tenth grade student should be able to understand basic algebra."
I scoffed at her petty little lies.
"Where's the director's number? I'm quitting. That girl is a menace…" she trailed off.
I slammed my body hard against the bed, my face buried into the pillow, tears spilling over. I did not throw that pencil. There was no blood.
Then what happened?
People with tempers can't just magically make things start flying, unless you are ripping stunts like that straight out of a Harry Potter movie. This is something unnatural, demonic, paranormal…
Paranormal.
I remembered lunch so very clearly…
"Art school." Tori breathed. "Isn't that just fascinating. Tell me, Chloe. What do you study there? Ghost photography? Ghost writing?"
Tori was my best friend. Sure, I had pretty good friends outside of these crazy walls, but she understands me. Despite her snaky attitude, she would never in any way betray me.
"Oh." she said in an innocent voice, ruined by her sarcasm. She looked at Simon with doe eyes. "Didn't Chloe tell you why she's here? She sees dead people."
"Really? Cool." Peter commented.
"It's not like that." Chloe tried to defend herself. "I-I-I-"
"There she goes." Tori sighed. "Liz, slap her back and see if you can restart her."
Simon turned his friendly expression into a glare, shooting daggers right at Tori. "Stop being such a bitch, Tori."
"I didn't mean it that way." she said all to quickly, trying to redeem herself. "Like Peter said, it's kinda cool. If she does see ghosts, maybe she could help Liz with her, you know, poltergeist."
I cried even more at the memory of Tori's betrayal. Poltergeist…
That's it! I swear if I was in a cartoon right now there would be a light bulb shining above my head. Chloe was the answer to all my problems. Sure, I only knew her for a while, barely a few hours, but maybe I could convince her to rid my poltergeist through a séance. I read about séances a while back when I first heard the word poltergeist and practically convinced myself I possess one. Ridding the dead, freeing the ghosts…
Just then my door flew open. I half expected to see two men holding syringes wearing oxygen masks and gloves, decked all in white tumbling toward me wheeling a stretcher behind them. But instead of that fear, was Tori. I turned onto my side and she sat behind me, rubbing my back in soothing circles, telling me that everything was going to be okay…
An hour or two later of moping in my bedroom and gibbering to Tori, it was time for dinner. I honestly didn't want to freak the new girl out too much, so I joined them. Everyone else was basically used to my strange behavior, but if I wanted her to perform the séance with me, I had to pull myself together. I appreciated the fact that Simon snuck me a juice box, despite the fact we were required to drink milk. I sat next to Tori while she hovered over me, coaxing me to eat. I tried my best to swallow something…but dinner was quiet, and it didn't seem to freak Chloe out. She just sat and ate, making small talk with Simon.
Tonight was movie night, and that meant we were allowed to get a DVD delivered. The others were trying to cheer me up by letting me pick the film, but I was way too distracted to think straight. I just wanted night to fall so I could get Chloe's help…
Simon tried making suggestions, but he wasn't going to be watching it. I actually can't remember a time him and Derek stuck around to watch a movie with us. So I guess they just weren't into that kind of thing. I finally settled on a romantic comedy, I think it was The Notebook or something like that. But I really wasn't paying much attention. I sat huddled with Tori on the love seat in the media room. Of course Tori seemed to like the movie, and I guess Chloe did too. I heard she had a thing for movies, and that seemed pretty interesting. Normally I'd love a good romance, but tonight I was just distracted. A little too anxious, as Dr. Gill would put it. I ate some popcorn and tried my best to pay attention to the film, even though we were halfway through it by now and I had no idea what was going on.
It was finally nine, time for bed, even though lights didn't go out until ten. I relaxed on my bed, across the room from my new roommate, Chloe. I tried piecing through my mind how to ask her, fearing the worst that she would say no and keep her unusual supernatural powers all to herself. I am pretty sure you need candles to do a séance, but the house was cleaned out of them and all matches were locked away, to keep them out of Rae's reach. But I did have a candle I brought with me on my way over here. She has a little something for fire, which is kind of why she is here at Lyle House. A few hours later after rehearsing my lines sleeplessly I leapt out of bed and trotted over to Chloe's in a hurry. My gray socks my brother got me a while back slid across the hardwood floor as if the sky was going to cave in if I didn't get over to her bed in a matter of three seconds.
I finally kneeled on her bed, hovering over her. My matted long blonde hair draped over her cheek. I clutched her arm with my trembling hand, trying to get her to wake up. She finally opened her eyes. I slid back a bit when she rubbed her eyes absently and sat up on her elbows. I was trembling with fear and nerves when we finally spoke.
"What's wrong?" she asked, concern wavering around her sleepy voice.
"I've been lying here for hours, trying to think of some way to ask you, some way that won't sound weird." I blurted. I cursed myself for forgetting my long rehearsed lines, all those wasted hours that bore into the night. "But I can't. I just can't."
I backed away a little more, tugging at my Minnie Mouse nightshirt anxiously. Chloe scrambled up onto her knees to stare into my eyes, that were probably wide with fear at the moment. "Liz?"
"They're going to send me away. Everyone knows they are, and that's why they're being so nice to me. I don't want to go, Chloe." I admitted. "They'll lock me up and…" I then started getting the hiccups, trying to take deep breaths to calm myself, to help her understand what I'm going through. I looked at her, trying to put a pleading look upon my face. "I know you haven't been here long, but I really need your help."
"Okay." she agreed, before I could tell her what I even needed help doing. I bet I was going to shock her, but I took her answer as a sign of encouragement and continued.
"Really?"
Chloe sat up. "If there is anything I can do--"
"There is. Thank you. Thank you." I cute her off, feeling very relieved. I got up, tip-toed across the room, and pulled a bag out from under my bed. "I don't know what all you need, but I did one at a sleepover last year, so I gathered up everything we used. "There's a glass, some spices, a candle…"
I gasped and my hands flew over my mouth. "Matches! Oh, no. We don't have any matches. They keep them locked up because of Rae. Can we do it without lighting the candle?"
"Do what?" She rubbed her hands over her face, and I just mentally kicked myself for forgetting to tell her what the hell we were doing in the first place! God, I am such an idiot…
"What exactly are we doing, Liz?"
"A séance, of course." I answered her.
She looked at me like I was pulling a prank, and I put on a mismatched stern look to let her know by my expression that this was no teenage joke at all.
"The…poltergeist?" she stated carefully, and I took that as sarcasm, snark, bitchiness, rudeness, smart, who knows what I took it for! I just started getting all heated again and I flew at her so fast that she smacked backward into the wall. Her hands flew up in fear as if to ward me off. I pounced down beside her.
"Yes!" I snapped in a shrill squeak at her. "I have a poltergeist. It's so obvious, but they won't see it. They keep saying it's me doing all this stuff. But how would I throw a pencil that hard?" I knew the whole house heard what happened, no doubt about that. I assumed Chloe did, too. "Did anyone see me throw it? No. I get mad at Ms. Wang and the pencil flies and hits her and everyone says 'Oh, Liz threw it,' but I didn't. I never do."
"It's the…" she trailed off, searching for the word I just oh-so-recently told her. "Poltergeist."
"Right! I think it's trying to protect me because every time I get mad, things start flying. I've tried to talk to it, to make it stop. But it can't hear me because I can't talk to ghosts. That's why I need you." I admitted.
She gave me a "what the fuck" look. "You don't believe me." I said softly, staring right into her eyes.
"No, I didn't say--"
"You don't believe me!" I rose to my knees, giving her a blazing glare. "Nobody believes me!"
"Liz, I--"
I felt the heat coming once again, masked in obvious outrage. The hair gel bottles on my dresser rocked behind me and the empty hangers in the closet chattered. Chloe dug her hands into the mattress.
"O-o-okay Liz. I s-s-see--" she stuttered.
"No, you don't!" I barked. I slammed my hands down and the rocking bottles jetted into the air, smashing against the ceiling so hard that the plastic exploded. Hair gel rained down the walls, the window…
"Do you see?" I asked. I haven't meant to freak her out, but I did. I always do. I'm a freak, nothing more than a freak. I can't meet someone new without them having to see this horrible, horrible side of me. And now the time comes that I am asking some innocent girl for help, and I am ruining my chance…
My chance to be normal.
"Y-y-yes." she answered weakly.
My hands flew up again, not out of anger but more out of dolefulness. A picture, my favorite picture, leaped from the wall. It was a picture of my little brother, one of the closest people I ever had in my life. It smashed to the hardwood floor emphatically. One of my Nana fell, then one of my poor mother. Glass shot everywhere, and a deep shard shot into Chloe's knee. A button of blood welled up and streamed down her leg.
Another picture, one above Chloe's bed quavered, springing from the wall.
"No!" I cried as Chloe dove for it, but I hit her side, shoving her out of the picture's path. Unlike "hurting" Ms. Wang, I didn't want Chloe to be the first one I got into danger with my poltergeist thing. It struck my shoulder solid. Twisting, we both rolled from the bed and crashed to the floor. Chloe lay on her side, trying to catch her breath.
"I am so sorry." I gasped, managing to squeak the words out. I was so mad and upset with myself, that all I thought to do was apologize for it. "I didn't mean…do you see what happens? I can't control it. I get mad and everything…"
"You think it's a poltergeist." she stated firmly.
I nodded, my lip quavering.
"Okay. Get the candle and we'll--"
Before Chloe could finish, the door shot open. Mrs. Talbot stood in the doorway and flicked on the light, glancing around the trashed room, taking in all the damage. Before I knew it, she looked over at me, as if she knew right away without question that I caused this to happen. "Oh my god." she breathed. "Elizabeth. What have you done?"
Chloe jumped to her feet in my defense. "It wasn't her. I-I-I-"
Looking around the room, glass everywhere and hair gel dripping from the ceiling, there really was no reasonable explanation. Mrs. Talbot's gaze fell to Chloe's leg and she let out a mouse-like squeak.
"It's okay." Chloe lied to her. She drew her arm up her leg, swiping up her leg to clear some of the blood. "I cut myself. Shaving. Earlier."
Mrs. Talbot ignored Chloe. I did appreciate the fact that she was trying to defend me, to keep me from getting sent away. She picked her way past her and fixed her eyes on the glass covered floor.
"No." I whispered. "Please no. I didn't mean it."
"It's okay, hon." Mrs. Talbot tried to reassure me, even though I was totally clueless about what was going to happen to me. "We're going to get you help."
Just then Miss Van Dop came in, carrying a needle. I started screaming at the top of my lungs, fearing the worst…they were putting me to rest. Mrs. Talbot came over and tried to calm me, but I kept kicking, kicking glass everywhere, wishing they'd back off and let me have another chance…
Chloe just stood there staring, staring with fear, guilt, worry, concern, an unreadable expression.
Just then Miss Van Dop sedated me, jamming the needle abnormally rough through the skin of my arm.
"We're only transferring you to a better hospital." Mrs. Talbot growled over my screams, trying to be patient and calm me down. "One more suitable, so they can get you well faster…"
They just kept yapping and I just kept kicking. They shooed me from the room, leaving me unconscious, laying bare legs on the glass…
* * *
I was pretty sure I was dead.
I couldn't move.
But in that misty little dreamland of uncertainty of life and death, I was swaying. I was surrounded by fluffy white that I couldn't see, couldn't touch. Like a sunny but cloudy day. I imagined birds tweeting in my head, bees buzzing, the smell of pine and flowers…
But everything was black.
I was definitely hallucinating now.
Or was I?
I was dead, dead and gone from this world. Never had a chance to say goodbye to my Nana, my brother, apologize to that poor girl…
Then the life crashed back into me with such force that I sprang to sit up, but something…something was holding me down. And it wasn't loose at all, not comfortable…
I struggled to open my mouth, but it wouldn't budge. I couldn't speak or breathe.
I was suffocating.
Sure, I could breathe through my nose, but my panic just caused me more suffering.
My eyes didn't seem to be on my side, either. They seemed glued shut, but after a few seconds I managed to open them a crack.
Just a crack, but a crack vast enough to see skin. Then I heard a high pitched scream and the skin disappeared, letting a blast of light show in. I slammed my eyes shut and began squirming like a snake who had it's tail stepped on, trying to break free, struggling to get away.
Then a weight on my chest and that cut off all my oxygen intake. I started heaving, hiccupping, gasping.
I wonder why it took me so long to realize how much pain I was currently in. My ankles and wrists were strapped down. My spine was trembling and my stomach was throbbing, as with my shoulder. My backside and legs were against a cool metal surface.
I let out a high pitched scream, blocked by whatever was covering my mouth. My eyes fluttered open completely this time. I squinted at the blast of light from a heat lamp shining right above my face, managing to illuminate my whole body.
And everyone around me.
I saw Dr. Davidoff and Dr. Gill standing at the foot of this icy metal pedestal I was strapped to. Two men and one women stood around me dressed all in white wearing oxygen masks holding scalpels and needles.
Just like surgeons.
It took me a second to realize that the thing blocking my mouth was duct tape. I would rip it off right away but my hands were useless right now.
My inner arm was bleeding, the scarlet line trickling down my side to my stomach. Looking down at me body, I could see that I was naked. There were incisions everywhere.
And I did mean everywhere.
The "surgeons" jumped back like I had some kind of disease they didn't want to catch. Then I heard the whispering.
"She wasn't supposed to wake up!"
"Why are her eyes open?"
"Why is she scrambling like that?"
Dr. Davidoff held up a hand to cut the chatter off. "Liz, I want you to close your eyes so we can give you anesthesia. We don't want to make this more painful for you than it already is."
My eyes got wide, wide with wet tears as Dr. Gill approached with a needle. I wiggled and kicked, trying to pry them off me, but it was no use.
I managed to break free one of my legs to kick Dr. Gill right in the stomach, sending her tumbling backwards.
Then the room started spinning, my brain all woozy, drifting into that black cloudy dreamland…
I struggled to snap out of it but it was no use. The "surgeons" already have four or five needles sticking out of my arm…
Drugging me.
A sharp pain at the back of my head. I let out another duct tape blocked scream. They seemed to ignore me, and Dr. Davidoff started rambling about "genetic modification" and the process of opening my skull…
They were performing some kind of experiment on me. Some kind of…modification?
Dr. Gill came back over with not a needle but now a large syringe. "Hold her ankle down." she barked the order at Dr. Davidoff. "Flip her over."
I was so woozy and stoned feeling that my arms and legs gave out, and I let them flip me over.
Whatever they're doing, just let them perform their little experiment on me, stitch me back up and everything will be over. I will be shipped to a real mental hospital. At least it's much better than being poked and prodded. The more I would budge, the worse it would probably get.
Another sharp blocked cry as the needle drew into my back, and I was out.
Everything went black.
* * *
I shot up in bed. It was surely morning, sunlight streaming through the blinds on the window. Last night was very clear, the way I "attacked" Chloe with my poltergeist. I had the strangest, scariest dream, I was being poked and prodded and cut open and tied to a table…it all felt so real.
I felt a little cool and hollow inside. "Must be hungry." I mumbled to myself with a little giggle. Glancing over at the clock, it was an hour before breakfast. I wasn't one to get out of bed early and tick off the nurses.
But that dream still felt real.
Shrugging, I turned to my side, letting my legs dangle to the side of my bed. It smelled fruity, like cotton candy. Looking around the room, I noticed the nurses hadn't done a very good job at cleaning up the hair gel mess.
Chloe woke up. I was so happy to see her after all that craziness, and also a tad nervous of what she would think of me. Would she be mad? Ignore me? Hate me forever and ever? Huh. I guess the best way to go was to play it cool, like last night was all a dream…
Like a dream that felt so real.
"Chloe?"
She blinked at the bright sunlight, rolling onto her side to look at me.
"Are you awake, Chloe?"
I caught her looking at my socks, the ones that were gray with purple and orange giraffes I was still wearing from last night. I wiggled my toes for her. "Funky, huh? My little brother got them for me last Christmas."
Chloe pushed up in bed, blinking harder at me. She looked like she was too tired, too tired to focus.
I looked down at my socks. "I had the weirdest dream last night."
When she didn't say anything, I continued. "I dreamed they took me away and I woke up in this hospital. Only I wasn't in a bed but on a table. A cold, metal table. And there was this woman there, like a nurse, wearing one of those masks. She was bending over me. When I opened my eyes, she jumped." I told her, turning my gaze onto her. I managed a tiny smile. "Kinda like you do sometimes. Like I startled her. She calls this guy over, and I try to ask where I am, but they just keep talking. They're mad because I wasn't supposed to wake up and now they don't know what to do. I try to sit, but I'm tied down." I bunched my night shirt in my hands, kneading it. "All of a sudden I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move, couldn't yell, and then…" I shuddered and wrapped my arms around myself. "I woke up here."
Chloe sat up more. "I'm going to help you, Liz. Okay?"
I scuttled back on the bed and pulled my knees up, hugging them to my chest. I was shaking. I opened my mouth but I was trembling too much to make words. Chloe stood up and crossed the room to sit beside me.
"Do you want me to try talking to your poltergeist?" she asked and I nodded, drumming my chin against my chest.
"Tell it to stop. Tell it I don't need it's help. I can look after myself." I said in a trembling voice.
Chloe reached out her hand to lay it on my arm. Her fingers made contact, but they kept moving. They passed right through my arm!
I had no clue what was going on, why the hell she could stick her hand through me. She stared down at her hand in horror.
I let out a scream.
Hey guys! I hope you liked it. To all my Vampire Kisses fans out there who like my story, I am still doing Love Kills, I just have major writer's block and on top of that, I am very stressed out, with school, the holidays coming up, so…I have two more Darkest Powers fanfics in the making, so stay tuned! I promise to write more as soon as I get on winter break. In the meantime, please check out my other stories and my Youtube Channel, the link posted on my page. Thanks, and please review! With much love and vampire and werewolf kisses…Brandy.