A/N: Here's a new chapter! Review please!
Chapter Six: The Weapon
Melissa stared out the window, holding her arms against her chest, her cheek pressed against the cold glass. She could taste the minds of the city. It was lunchtime at the nearby high school, and their petty teen dramas bounced through her mind, a jumble or melodramatic noise that set her teeth on edge. She could control it, push it out, but it never went entirely away.
Jonathan slept in the upstairs guestroom, their little pupils sitting in their classes or wandering the lunchroom. She was completely alone, and the feeling sent shivers along her spine. She didn't scare easily, she'd certainly faced worse, but there was something unsettling in the air, something intense and completely, horribly still. Something was coming, the world was on the verge of changing, and she didn't know what to do.
She was suddenly struck by an intense desire to call Dess. No, she corrected, she wanted to talk to Rex. He would know what to say, what was coming, what part she was supposed to play in it, but he couldn't handle phones anymore, the electric buzz of the device was torture to his Darkling side.
She knocked her head lightly against the window, her whole body aching with the desire to return, but knowing that she couldn't abandon Madison and the rest of her friends. The Darklings were coming back, they had proven it when they'd attacked James, when they'd killed that Seer-boy they'd met along the road. And there was still that old mindcaster. What he wanted with Madison was beyond her, but she knew that it couldn't be good.
She shifted uncomfortably. Midnight used to be so simple, so private, now that it had exploded, nothing was the same. They weren't a team anymore, Rex, Dess, herself; even Jonathan and Jessica had had a place, but this? The whole world was open to them, and that held more dangers than any psychokitty or giant spider. Something precious had vanished forever.
She stewed over the expansion of Midnight for nearly an hour, when the worry and anxiety suddenly became too much to handle. She had to talk to Rex. He would understand, even if no one else did.
She grabbed the phone and dialed without thinking, without pausing to second-guess herself. She fought the urge to hang up when the dull, monotone ring began, and breathed a sigh of relief when the click of the receiver echoed along the line.
"Hello?" Dess' voice was tenser than normal.
"Dess, I need --"
"Melissa?!" Dess interrupted, her tone exploding with emotion. Even over the phone Melissa had to step back in shock. "Melissa, if we get you a phone, answer it!"
"What's going on?" Melissa questioned, gripping the receiver hard.
"Melissa, it's Rex…"
"What is it?" Melissa demanded, feeling her heart catch within her chest, her breathing still.
"Melissa, he might be dying."
"Jonathan!" Melissa shouted, slamming the guestroom door open, turning the light on, and pulling him out of bed. He grunted in annoyance, stumbling to his feet.
"What?" he questioned.
"We're going back."
"Back where?"
"Back to Bixby! Rex was attacked!"
"What?" Jonathan gasped, fully awake.
"Someone broke into Madeline's house while he was there. He was stabbed. With a knife made of fresh, alloyed metal."
Jonathan's eyes grew wide. "But that would mean -"
"Whoever did it knows what he is. Jonathan, they think he's dying."
She turned away, furious as tears began to form in her eyes. She didn't cry. She hadn't in years. She wasn't going to do it now, but the mere thought of losing Rex, not just while she was out helping other Midnighters but for good, she couldn't help it.
"But what about Madison and Carrie? James and Christian? Everyone?"
"Didn't you hear me?!" she shrieked, rounding on him violently. He took a step back in surprise. "Rex might die! For real this time! All these little new Midnighters can deal with it. We had to! I'm not staying here!"
"Melissa, we can't just leave. Rex is strong, he can't just--"
She couldn't listen to him anymore, he made too much sense. She spun away from him, rooting through his jacket, the bedside table, anywhere he might have hidden car keys.
"Fine, you stay with them, I'm going back. Where did you put the keys?"
"You think I'm going to let you drive? After what happened last time Rex was in danger?"
"Then come with me!" She cringed at the anguished tone in her voice. Why couldn't she sound determined, controlled? Why did she have to sound like she was about to weep?
Jonathan watched her in shock. He had never seen her like this, so upset, so terrified. He felt a clench of pain in his stomach at the thought of Rex, but he knew that it was a sign that something terrible was going on, and he couldn't help but link Rex's attack to the strange problems happening here. As the original Midnighters, the ones with the experience, they needed to be on both fronts. They couldn't go back. He couldn't explain that to Melissa, though. She seemed ready to rip him apart just for car keys, what would she do if he tried to stop her?
"Melissa, you remember that funeral we went to before we got here? And then once we got here, the darklings went after James, they targeted him. Someone, something, is trying to kill seers. We can't leave James behind, he would die."
"Then we take him with us," she argued.
"Away from his family? His school? And what about Madison? She was almost kidnapped!"
"I don't care!" she finally screeched, her hands balled into fists, her eyes red with unshed tears, her face a twisted mix of desperation and anger, guilt and fear. She turned around and punched the wall hard, blood lashing out at the white paint, her knuckles cracked. She sank to the ground, shaking, small trickles of blood running down her fist. Jonathan knew in that instant that he had won the argument, she would stay, but it didn't make him particularly happy.
"Why can't I use the flashlight?"
"You can, but it's mine," Jessica argued.
"That's so not fair! You're not the flamebringer here, you're from Bixby," Christian sulked, a hint of a smile in his eyes.
"Well, you're just going to have to find your own gimmick," Jessica chuckled.
Melissa watched them all prattle on together through the faint haze of the Blue Time. No one really needed her anymore, they knew what they were, they just needed practice. Madison had left again just before Midnight, and with her mind completely on Rex, Melissa didn't much care.
She sat in the corner of the living room, melding into the shadow. She closed her eyes, trying to reach for Rex with her mind. Surely their connection was strong enough to at least give her a hint, a whisper of his mind. She didn't feel anything, even after she gave herself a headache, straining to just sense him. The loss felt like a hole in her stomach, she didn't feel complete. She couldn't even comprehend how it would feel if Dess called with the news that he had died.
"What's up?"
Melissa looked up with a sharp glare. James sat back in surprise.
"Sorry," he mumbled, the word escaping his lips involuntarily.
"What?' she demanded softly.
"You just seem… upset," he muttered, the words sounding lame even to his own ears. Melissa grunted sarcastically, running her fingers over the stubble of her hair.
"Get back to reading the Lore. You need to learn it if you're going to take over here when Jonathan and I leave."
James huffed. "You know, I don't really know how much of it is relevant anymore. Everything's changed. The Blue Time is everywhere now."
"Not really. It used to be everywhere a long time ago, and to be frank, James, the Darklings haven't disappeared and we may need the Lore before too long. You just need to go deeper than older Seers."
He sighed. "I don't even know where to start."
Melissa felt annoyance and anger itch beneath her skin. This was the future of the Seers? Rex would be delving into the Lore, he'd know exactly what to do. He wouldn't be draped across some chair whining.
Even as she thought it she knew she wasn't being entirely fair. James had been studying. She'd seen him. But he was no Rex.
"You're going to wish you knew more when you need that information," she warned, trying hard to control her tone.
"How will I know when I know enough?" he muttered.
"You will never know enough. Ever. And there will come a time when you have no idea what to do. It's all about delaying that day, and knowing as much as you can to dig yourself out of that mess when it comes."
"You really think the Darklings are back? I mean, we haven't seen any of them since the night you all arrived. Maybe that was the last one?"
"There's always more Darklings," she grumbled. "They never go away. They've spent too long surviving to just disappear."
"But where are they coming from? You wiped most of them out at Halloween, and now that Midnight has spread everywhere, they're spread too thin. There are too many Midnighters. Any half-baked seer could figure out how to fight them sooner or later, they'll be wiped out."
"Then you better get to studying why they are here, when reason says they shouldn't."
She glanced up at him, ignoring the mock sigh of frustration that escaped his lips more because he thought it should than anything else. She could see it there, in his eyes. She didn't even have to use mindcasting to know that she had sparked an interest within him. It was the same look Rex got when something about the Lore grabbed his interest. James would be spending a lot more time studying from now on. Somehow, that look in his eyes as he walked away made the pain in her heart worse. The world was moving on. What would happen if Rex was no longer needed?
Madison returned just as everyone was preparing to return home. She looked smug, Melissa thought. What was her little pupil up to?
The girl strolled through the house, ignoring everyone, and stopped, patting her friend, Carrie, on the shoulder. Carrie's head suddenly snapped up and she glanced at Madison. Melissa's eyes narrowed as the two girls ran up the stairs. She had tasted it, just for an instant. A spark of mindcasting, and a hint of vanilla. That wasn't Madison's presence. She had passed information to Carrie, and she'd been in contact with a different mindcaster. Melissa had never taught Madison to pass information through touch. That was a practice of the old Mindcasters, one of their skills that had evolved into their giant, elitist egos that had been the plague of Bixby for generations. Where had Madison learned that, and who would teach it to her?
She pulled herself out of the corner, creeping up the stairs, carefully shielding her mind from her little student.
"Another one? Maddie, are you sure it's safe to listen to him? Remember what happened before? You were almost kidnapped!"
"Was I really? Or where they trying to rescue me? Carrie, who are we really supposed to be trusting? Jason's taught me so much more than Melissa, she tried to keep it from me. What else are they keeping from us? There's a whole world of people like us, why do we have to trust Melissa and her friends? What's so special about them?"
"I don't know, Madison, this all sounds a bit too confusing…"
"They treat us like they're the only ones who know anything. So what if they grew up with this? Jason's mentor is even older than Melissa, he knows so much more. We aren't supposed to be huddled here, hiding, why should we? We're special, Carrie. We're superheroes! Why should we let them tell us what to do?"
Melissa felt her anger boil in her veins. Someone had gotten to her, and now she was pulling them all away. The little traitor. This was who she was staying for? Why she might miss her chance to say goodbye to Rex?
She threw Madison's door open. Carrie gasped and ran out the door, passing Melissa, her head bowed. Madison just smirked.
"Who's Jason," Melissa demanded.
"Spying on me now?"
"Who is Jason?" Melissa's voice was cold, sharp. Her glare like ice.
"A real mindcaster."
"An egomaniac with a power complex and a moral vaccum?" Melissa hissed.
Madison chuckled. "You haven't sensed him yet, have you?"
"He taught you how to pass thoughts through touch. Did he also tell you that you're messing with people's minds when you do it? Not much, but a bit here and there. Soon you'll be tempted to use that power to get what you want. You'll hurt someone, could even kill them."
"Oh cut the self-righteous bull, will you? I know what you've done, Melissa, Jason told me about it."
"What does he know about me?" Melissa demanded.
"Oh, tons. You didn't tell me about that man in Bixby, did you, Rex's dad? Or Jessica's parents? How many other people have you hurt, Melissa? How many other brains have you played around with?"
"Shut up," Melissa demanded.
"What? Scared of the truth? Scared I found out that you heroes of Midnight are nothing but a bunch of selfish kids playing around?"
"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Melissa growled, all her frustration and anger growing. Her suppressed grief and fears for Rex, her frustration with Madison and her old pain of what she had done to Rex's father, they all mingled together, infusing her thoughts, her blood, burning just beneath her skin.
"I don't? Then why do I see fear in your eyes? You're not so powerful, are you?" she demanded.
With a single step, Melissa reached out and grabbed Madison's throat, forcing through to her mind. Madison protested, blocked her, she was far stronger than before, but still Melissa shoved her barriers aside. She sent all her emotions, her memories, the fear she'd felt when she and Rex learned what had happened to his father, the chaos and torture of not being able to control her powers, the years she had spent trying to drown out the sounds of every mind within reach.
Madison began to shake, her eyes wide, her face pale as big tears rolled down her cheeks, but still Melissa continued, venting all her anger and fear into Madison, letting her feel just what it had been like to be truly untrained, lost; and that small moment was enough to bring the girl to her knees.
"Stop, please!" she gasped. Melissa didn't know if the voice was in her mind or if Madison had actually spoken, but she felt the girl's pain.
She let go and Madison collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath, shaking. Melissa knelt down next to her, angling so that Madison had to look at her.
"You think this is all a game, don't you? Superheroes, isn't that what you said? Well I'll tell you something, Madison. Of all those little 'superheroes' down there, you're the one that has to be the most together, the most controlled, because if you're not, you're the greatest weapon. Midnight or not, Darklings or not, you have the power to do real harm. You think you're just playing around and then someone ends up hurt, damaged for life. You're a weapon, Madison, and unless you learn control, you're going to go through everything I did and worse. So you tell this Jason boy that he better wise up to the real world and get over himself before the two of you do something you'll really regret for the rest of your miserable life, do you understand me?"
Madison looked truly broken as she nodded, her face red with tears, her shoulders still shaking, but Melissa had gotten through to her.
She nodded harshly in return and walked out of the room, shutting the door with deliberate, painful control. If she was going to lose Rex to this, that girl had better turn into the best mindcaster that had ever existed.