Reincarnated Poet: Hey guys, sorry. I know its been a bit of a while, but I have good news. I am moved into my new apartment and have purchased a new charger that hopefully will not melt. A huge thank you to writersword, amp2013, and LovingBlackParadise. Here goes!
Push and Pull - Chapter Seven of The Conduit
Alex ran. She wasn't sure why yet, but she knew she couldn't stand in there any longer. The memory kept replaying in the back of her head. Hell, was it a memory? It was too vague, too fuzzy around the edges. A dream? Too planned out. Too controlled. Her feet tore at the ground, aching slightly as the rough uneven ground of the surrounding forest ripped at her calluses. One heavy step sent her down hard on her knees, tears prickling behind eye lids shut tight. She rotated onto her butt and pulled her foot up onto one knee, wincing as she prodded the slate rock sticking out from the fleshy pad of skin just under her toes.
She tested it once, pulling gently, but the pain had her jerking her foot away involuntarily. A whimper made into her ears, but she froze when she realized it hadn't come from her own lips. Her eyes jerked up and locked with the yellowed eyes of a large wolf, laying on its belly in the dirt. Her feet flew back into the dirt and pushed her backwards, but the pain radiating from her foot stopped her short with her own whine. The wolf jumped up quickly when she moved and took a couple quick steps forward, but stopped when she did.
Eyes locking with the animal's she reached for her foot one more time, survival instincts blocking out the pain as she ripped the stone from her foot and threw it toward the wolf. It slapped the animal heavily in the chest and fell harmlessly to the ground. The wolf looked down at it, tongue lolling out the side of its mouth, teeth showing in a grin. It studied the rock and looked up again, but Alex was on her feet, running away as quickly as her body would let her.
The large grey animal lurched to its feet and let out a growl as a blonde headed boy crashed through the forest past him and after the girl. Snorting it loped after the pair, quickly passing the boy and letting out a deep growl as they met eyes. The blonde stopped dead in his tracks, chest heaving slightly as the wolf ran past.
~R.P.~
Pogue Parry was not a person who shocked easily. Neither was Caleb Danvers. Both boys, however, were sitting in the living room of the Danvers mansion, eyes locked with those of Pogue's girlfriend, blank looks on their faces.
"Kate, baby." Pogue started but when Kate's eyes darted to his, blacker than the eight ball sitting on the pool table in the next room, his breath caught. He swallowed heavily and tried again, "Kate, honey, you okay?" Pogue's hand shook as he set it on her knee, carefully.
"You were right, baby, she's just like Chase was." Kate cried, and for the first time since she'd left the car, moved on her own accord, throwing herself onto Pogue's lap and burying her head in his shoulder.
"Who is Katey?" Caleb asked, hesitant to interrupt the moment between the two.
"She's talking about Alex." Tyler said from the doorway. "She bolted. Reid went to get her."
"You can't let him go alone!" Kate yelled, fumbling to her feet, arms wrapped protectively in front of her. "She's kill him, Tyler!" Caleb chuckled from the couch and Pogue stood quickly, wrapping his larger arms around hers. Kate relaxed into the cage of muscle and sinew.
"She's in the Book, Kate, she doesn't have the power like we do. It's different." Pogue pulled her backward to the fireplace. "Baby I need you to do something for me, and stay calm alright? We'll fix this." He turned Kate around and let her look at her reflection in the mirror above the mantel. For a moment she stared carefully into the reflective glass, then as a rubber band does when stretched to far, she snapped.
"Pogue?" She asked quietly, one hand going to her own eyes, and the other to the mirror. Her fingers rubbed the glass as if it were paint she was trying to rub away. "Pogue." She repeated when her fingers came away clean. Her knees buckled and Kate Tunney's world went as black as her eyes.
~R.P.~
Reid stood shocked into place. The large wolf that had stared him down a moment before was long gone, loping after the girl he'd been chasing. He wasn't sure what, but something glued him to the spot. His eyes, already black from use, darkened further as he fought the invisible hold. Panic ran up his spine and he fought harder, power flaring wildly against the invisible hands that held him gently but firmly in place. A cry broke the silence that had previously only been interrupted by his erratic breathing and mumbled curses.
The fear in that cry set him fighting anew, but the ground seemed to hold his feet like a magnet. Helplessly, he stood there, power fighting every second.
~R.P.~
Alex stopped running as a startled shout left her mouth, chest heaving and leaning heavily to one side, favoring her injured foot. The wolf had circled her, and was now standing in front of her, tail tucked submissively between its legs and it slowly walked forward, dragging its belly along the ground, eyes looking up carefully to Alex's face. She froze, feeling the familiar pull in the back of her mind from behind her. Ignoring the insistent call, she watched the animal with a fascination that was allotted to prey that knew they had been caught. Slowly it inched closer and as it did, she felt her knees grow weak.
She was sitting on the ground, hands balled into fists at her sides, feet trying to push her backward, but as a tree met her hand behind her, she knew she had nowhere else to go. The call flared desperately at her back, and she almost felt as though she were reaching out to it, but the wolf held her attention. Its large grey muzzle made contact with the toes of her injured foot gently, almost lovingly. To her surprise, she found herself tilting her foot up and baring the soft, bleeding flesh to the large animal's gaze.
~R.P.~
Reid Garwin had never once in his life given up, but as he stood there, trying to break free of the invisible hold, something in his mind just quit. The power flooded away, and as it did, the invisible hands left as well. He stumbled forward, one, two steps before catching himself and taking off through the trees after the girl and wolf. He'd gone maybe forty feet before he saw Alex, back against a tree, sitting on the ground, with a large grey wolf at her feet.
~R.P.~
A Velcro like tongue darted out and licked from her heel to her toes twice before looking up at her. The wolf backed away a step or two, but stood taller, its head above Alex's as she sat in the dirt. Her heart raced, but the something from the dream—for that was what she had decided it was—seemed to remind her to stay calm and that the creature before her was no threat. The aged wolf sat down heavily on its hind legs and howled into the air, calling and then listening. When no response came he called again. From the shadows of the forest echoed to calls almost at once one, the deep guttural growl of a large hunter, and the other the piercing cry of a bird of prey.
The wolf cocked its head to the side, listening to yet another distant cry from both animals before glancing over Alex's shoulder with a growl. Alex followed its gaze and there stood the blonde headed boy that she'd seen only briefly a couple times before. She turned her head back around and the wolf was gone. In its wake it left a trail of paw prints, one a rusty red against the dirt. She stared down at those tracks for a moment before taking her own foot between her hands and turning it so she could see the smooth bottom where a shiny pink scar stood out in sharp contrast to the tanned calluses.
She ignored the heavy footfalls of Reid as he picked his way toward the girl slowly, eyes scanning the trees for the large animal that had disappeared so quickly. He dropped down onto his knees next to her, pale blue eyes scanning the ground and finally her hands, still slick and red with her own blood.
"You're hurt." He said it quickly, a statement, not a question, pulling her hands from her lap, searching for some bite or gash left by the creature.
"No." She said it almost as if she didn't believe it herself. Her eyes fell again to the bloody paw print in the dirt. "He is now." Reid caught the statement and followed her eyes. The red tracks unnerved him. The wolf had run past him easily before, and as it had disappeared into the shadows around them it had limped. Shaking the comparison form his mind he stood up again, pulling a phone from his pocket and running a hand over his pale face tiredly.
The phone went to his ear and Alex could hear it ringing. Odd, she thought. Three rings and a voice came on the other side. I can hear them. Her mind took the information in and processed the voice of Tyler on the other side. It was weird but she could almost swear she heard Pogue and Caleb talking in the background. The conversation ended and Alex quickly realized she hadn't actually put meaning to the words that either side had said. Instead she had wrapped herself up in the fact that she could hear both sides: their distinct voices and tones.
"Come on." Reid looked uncomfortably down at the girl at his feet and extended his hand. Alex looked from it to his face and finally took it, remembering why she'd fled the house and this boy along with his friends. Reid stared at her uncomfortably, and for an instant her mind contemplated running again. She shook the feeling off and followed the bleached white head of hair back through the trees. As she walked closer to the house, the call pulled roughly against her chest as though it were trying to rip something from her very soul. She cringed slightly and took a half step forward before crumpling as it called out to her more harshly.
"Alex." Reid was at her side in a moment, gripping her upper arms and pulling her back to her feet. She waved him off, and as soon as she stopped swaying, let her feet lead her forward again, faster with each step until she was running. Finally she broke the plain of the forest and walked out onto the rough uneven lawn of the Danvers mansion.
~R.P.~
Pogue laid Kate gently down on the couch, mind racing over what they'd read from the book and back to what Tyler had told them happened. They had quickly conveyed to the youngest boy the words they'd seen there.
A Conduit. A living, breathing passage way Curse of the Power to flow through and away from the bodies of the User. Usually in the form of a child of unknown origins, possessing incredible physical abilities in its own right, the Conduit is a gift sent down by the Cursers as penance with the ability to draw both the power from a User and give it to another. The Conduit cannot hold the Power itself, but rather is a temporary outlet.
Tyler had sat down hard in the armchair Kate had once occupied. "But what does it mean?" Tyler asked after Caleb recited the text from memory for the third time. "I mean, she Used through me, I get that. The curse is the ageing, but to take it away? She can do that?" Tyler asked, eyes traveling hopefully from Caleb to Pogue. "And who are the Cursers? Who sent her here, and what does it mean by 'sent down'?" Tyler's head might as well have been spinning in place.
"We don't know Tyler." Pogue said finally, drawing his eyes from Kate's face. "This didn't make me as uncomfortable until it affected Kate." A heavy hand passed over his face and when it left, Tyler was standing up and walked toward the door. "Ty?" Pogue asked as Caleb and he both followed the boy.
"Where you going, Tyler?" Caleb called as the boy slowly pushed the door open and scanned the forest, waiting for something.
"I don't know. I can feel my power. It's pulling at something, but it's not like I'm Using." Tyler rubbed his chest uncomfortable and scowled.
"You okay, Baby Boy?" Caleb asked, setting a hand lightly on his shoulder.
"It almost hurts. It feels like it should hurt, like it's a phantom pain." Tyler walked down the stairs and the pain lessened and Alex came running onto the lawn, chest heaving with Reid in her shadow. She took a few more steps forward and reached toward the source of the pull. Tyler stood in front of her, eyes wide and forehead creased as if in pain. She gripped his hand shoulder with her outstretched hand and Tyler's eyes flooded black. Caleb and Pogue were down the stairs in three steps and pulling Tyler away from Alex's grip.
"No." Tyler pulled his shoulders away from the boys gently as if to tell them he was fine. "She gave it back." Tyler said in wonder, eyes returning to a pale blue. "That's why your eyes were still black." He stared at Alex, who had collapsed into the grass, Reid squatting beside her. The blonde reached out and pushed her chin up and glanced at her brown eyes before looking up to Tyler and the others.
"I told you it was her." Reid gloated for a moment before yelping as the girl next to him fell forward across one of his knees, knocking him off balance. He pushed her easily off him and Tyler crouched down next to her as well. "She passed out." Reid said, shocked. "Our immortal gift from the heavens, and she passes out." The blonde griped as Tyler, Pogue, and Caleb laughed at him.
"Well, if we're to believe Tyler, she did save two lives today, and from the looks of you, you out of shape sissy, she decided on a brisk run. I might pass out too." Pogue laughed and hauled the girl easily over his shoulder. She had made him uneasy before, when he though she might have hurt Kate in some way, but now, she was just the girl with odd earrings and bare feet that he had found odd but slightly entertaining. The four boys walked back up the steps to the mansion and disappeared inside its walls, Tyler glancing down at his shoulder where she'd touched him and calling on the power briefly from time to time just to make sure.
