I sat in my room. There was noise from downstairs, all my brothers thundering around, but I didn't join in. I lay on my bed, eyes closed, my mind wide open, waiting for anything to come to me, probing the black space for Sky's light. The absence of her presence was horrific, leaving me feeling empty and cold, like a rock spinning in mid air, directionless and lost. Like my soul had been torn from my body. I shuddered, fighting off the nausea of the feeling.
A group of lights, burning brightly, moved not far from me – my family – but none of them had Sky's particular glow. It had been hours, and Sky's parents were getting impatient; they had called several times to speak with Victor. They had asked for me every time as well, but I had refused to talk. I couldn't lose concentration, not for a second – what if that was the second Sky got a message through? She could still be close enough to contact me. What if I had missed something vital? No, I wasn't stopping for anything. Weariness tugged at my mind, blurring the sharp edges, but all I needed to do was remember Sky's frantic voice as she screamed for me, see the blackness that she saw, and all hope for sleep flew out the window and I launched into my struggle again. It was late when I started to see a glimmer, and felt a weak, halting flow of energy. I stretched my mind further, making my head throb, but it was worth it; the connection got stronger. A bridge formed.
"Zed?" Sky's faint voice drifted forwards.
"Sky?" I replied hopefully.
"I'm in Vegas." She said immediately, faintly, and I paused with shock. Vegas?
"You can't. . . How can you speak to me from Vegas?" I felt the connection falter and gripped onto it tighter, desperate for every second of communication.
"You. . . me. . . the savant, remember?" even with the gaps, I could sense her dark humour; I felt like kissing her right there and then.
"It's a miracle." I replied wonderingly.
". . . OK. They've. . . on the. . . floor of the. . . Teller."
"Can't hear you, Sky. You're breaking up." My head was screaming in pain, but I still clung on.
". . . Teller. Top. . ." she repeated.
"I love you." I said. I could feel the connection begin to snap from both sides.
". . . Teller. . . floor." She repeated.
"I love you, Sky. I swear I'll come for you."
"No!"
"Easier when we're closer."
"No. . . it's. . . . . . love. . . come. . . what they. . ." the link fractured, but I tried desperately to hold on.
"Sky!" I yelled as the link shattered and she faded away. I was shaking, and quickly turned to throw up over the side of my bed; but what had she said? Was she going to say she knew I loved her, or that she loved me? I didn't know, but I was determined to find out, to save her.
"Zed!" Xav burst into my room – I must have shouted Sky's name out loud – and flinched back when he saw me, sweaty and shaking "Are you OK? What happened, we heard you cry Sky's name?"
"Zed?" Yves came in behind him "Jesus, did you throw up in here?"
"I know where she is." I said shakily, trying to stand, but my legs were shaking "Sky. She's in Vegas."
"Vegas?" Victor sounded sceptical, coming up a beat behind everyone else "No way – that's impossible. No savant can contact a normal human over that distance."
"She's in Vegas!" I repeated angrily, stumbling to grab Yves' shoulder "I couldn't get an exact location; the link was breaking. We need to go now!"
"I said that's impossible!" yelled Victor
"And I said she's in Vegas!" I yelled back, feeling the walls would break down with the volume of my voice "What's there to lose? So, it might be a false lead, but it might be true! It's the best we've got." Silence, then Victor nodded slowly.
We were going to Vegas.
The trip to Vegas was a blur of stress and concentration. I tried to link again with Sky at Victor's orders, and my family left me to myself - Yves guided me by my elbow as I walked around with sightless eyes, my mind somewhere between home and Nevada. Around me, a plan was being deducted, but I hardly paid attention to that either. I just had one contribution.
"I'm going in there to get her." I said adamantly "You can't stop me."
Dad looked at Vick, and together they nodded. That was all I needed to know; I could handle and obey any plan, so long as I was centrally involved. I retreated back into my mind, and didn't come back out again until I was surrounded by the bright neon lights of The Strip.
I walked into the empty warehouse behind Xav. It had been hard work, tracking her down, but I had no doubt we were meant to find her; the Kellys didn't normally leave a crumb trail. I could feel her getting closer every step of the way, and it was all I could do to stop from running. Xav stopped before a door and nodded. This is it. I shuffled forwards to help and inched the door open. Through the crack, I could see Sky in her ski suit, her hair wild and bedraggled around her shadowed face, her arms and legs tied to a chair. She was bent-backed, bowed over her knees, her face hidden. She was shaking heavily.
"It's us." Xav called "We've come alone like you demanded."
"What have you done with Sky?" I butted in "Is she all right?" Sky looked up sharply; she was confused, and close to tears. Didn't she recognise my voice? Maybe she had a concussion? Rage exploded in my mind – if they had even touched her, they would seriously regret it. You meddle with Sky, you meddle with me - you meddle with me, prepare to have an army of Benedicts raining down on you. She drew her knees up to her chest, quivering into a tiny ball, eyes wide.
"Sky?" I sent to her "Please answer! I'm going crazy here. Tell me you're OK." I heard a scared whimper, and all thoughts of doubt evaporated from my mind.
"Xav, that's her! She's hurt." I moved forwards, but Xav grabbed my arm.
"It's a trap, Zed. We do this as we agreed. I know you wanna save her, but it'll be better this way. Be patient." We stayed in the shadows.
"Tell us what you want in exchange for Sky and it's yours." I called, hating the quaver in my voice.
"Just step out here where I can see you and I'll tell you," the man beside Sky said.
"The thing is, we're not stupid. You can tell us while we stay where we are."
"If you don't came out with your hands us, I'll put a bullet in your little girlfriend." Sky shook her head to herself, her eyes full of confusion, doubt, fear. Her head was a mess of chaos.
"Zed?" a vulnerable voice called weakly.
"Sky? Hold on, baby, we're going to get you out of this." I called back gently; I heard desperation in my voice, but hopefully it sounded calm to Sky. God knows I wasn't fooling Xav. Sky's head started shaking harder.
"Go a. . . way!" she choked out, and I couldn't help it; I stepped into the open and had my first clear look at her. She looked terrible, like she had been ill for months. Dark hollows were under her eyes and her lips were deathly pale. But her eyes, I had never seen her eyes so blue. It was like before, they had contained a hint of grey, and now it was gone, showing a pure, clear colour like I had never seen before, not in the most expensive sapphires, deepest oceans or most perfect of flowers. She was staring at me with a strange expression. I felt like I could read her from that look: Why weren't you here before? What took you so long?
"Don't look at me like that, baby." I begged "I'm here now. Just let me talk to the man who's got you and we'll get you free." I reassured, as if talking to a child; but even that she didn't seem to understand. This was more than a concussion. I stepped closer.
"How many of them are there?" I asked in her mind "Has he got a gun on me?" I was shown strange images she couldn't seem to control; a gun in pale hands, blood, the gun in a set of hands again, Sky's hands. But the images were dark, the details were fuzzy; the image half-remembered, like when you try to remember a face in a dream after waking up.
"What's wrong with you, Sky? I can see what you're seeing. Your mind feels different towards me." what had happened to her?
"He has a gun." Sky said, but she didn't sound the same "Gator, don't shoot anyone. We mustn't. I've killed them already but they don't die – they just come back." She was speaking nonsense; how could she have killed us? It didn't make sense.
"Quiet, Sky," the man – Gator – snapped "And you, come where I can see you. I'm sure you'd prefer me to have you in my sights than your girlfriend." He teased. I complied, ignoring Xav's mental warnings, and stepped into full sight. Sky's eyes scanned my body frantically, but her eyes were still confused, and half-glazed over.
"Now your brother. I want both of you where I can see you. Come a bit closer to Sky. Don't you want to see what we've done to her?" Gator taunted.
"You don't want her." I said, stepping closer and clenching my fists – there were scratches on her face "The Kellys' quarrel is with the Benedicts – not her. She's nothing to do with this." Sky's eyes were fixed on my face now. They didn't blink, they didn't waver, but they didn't see; she was thinking hard. Did she see something I didn't see? Then she closed her eyes, and when she opened them, her eyes were an explosion of blue, an icy fire in her pale face. I felt something shift in her body. A change, and I felt like my senses were put on hyperactivity mode. Something had changed within her. Guilt twisted in my gut – why wasn't I in her place? Why did she have to suffer on my account?
"Zed!" she suddenly screamed frantically "Get down." I started moving a second before the bullet was released with a loud crack. A second crack. Has one hit Sky? Xav ran for cover, but I shot towards Sky. Sky screamed in terror when she saw me running towards her and I ran faster.
"Victor. Code Red! Code Red!" Xav shot the message out in all directions with a strength fuelled by fear and adrenaline. I threw myself over Sky as she curled into a tiny ball, her hands holding her knees tightly to her chest.
"Don't shoot" Sky pleaded "Please, no!" I wasn't sure who she was talking to, and I turned to protect her with my back. I would take a bullet for her; but what if the bullet took us both?
"No!" Sky yelled and pushed me away with a strength I didn't know she had. A bullet shot between us and ricocheted wildly away. Sky saved my life. Then the world started to melt around us. Gunshots rang out, FBI surrounded the area, bursting through invisible doors. Sky yelped and started sobbing, tears streaking her face, and I saw red bloom on her right arm; I swore and covered her wound with my hand, tears streaming down my face too. Suddenly, all the shooting stopped.
"Get me a medic over here!" I yelled frantically "Sky's been hit." She lay quietly before me, but pain was etched onto every line in her face. She bit down on her lip to stop from making any noise. A police paramedic rushed over, a woman.
"I've got her." She told me sternly with well-practised calm. I released my grip on her arm, but her blood on my hands seemed far too symbolic "From the looks of it, just a graze." The medic continued "Possibly she caught a ricochet."
"They're dead." Sky murmured. I stroked her hair gently.
"Yeah."
"What happened to me?"
"You hit your head too?" the medic said, taking note of the blood in her hair "When did this happen?"
"I don't know." She replied vaguely, then her eyes slid to me "You locked me in the boot of your car. Why did you do that?" I just gaped at her, shocked. What was she talking about?
"No, I didn't, Sky." I said slowly, clearly "Is that what they did to you? Oh God, baby, I'm sorry."
"We'd best get her checked for concussion." The medic said "Keep talking to her." With a flick of her fingers, a stretcher was headed our way. I untied her legs with shaky fingers.
"I shot you." She said.
"No, you didn't, Sky." I repeated calmly "The men were shooting at us, remember?"
"I don't know what to think." She muttered.
"Just think that you are safe now." I told her tightly. Two medics lifted her onto the stretcher and I clung onto her uninjured arm. My family was approaching.
"I'm sorry I shot you," she said "but you were attacking me."
My family circled her stretcher, and I wiped the blood from her cheek.
"I wasn't attacking you and you haven't shot me." I told her. My emotions were leaking out of the bottle I had wax-sealed them in. It had been a long couple of hours. Sky was loaded onto the ambulance. I moved to follow her, but Sky shook her head.
"I shot him." She told the woman seriously, her eyes begging the woman to understand – they had lost the strange magical glow they had taken on before and had settled back into a normal blue-grey "He can't come with me; he hates me."
"I'm sorry," the woman told me, not looking the least bit sorry "your presence is upsetting her. Where are her parents?"
"They're booked into a hotel off the Strip," Dad filled in for me – he knew I couldn't be bothered to talk anymore, I didn't want to talk anymore; not if it wasn't to Sky "I'll let them know. Which hospital are you taking her to?"
"The Cedars." The woman replied, anxious to be gone.
"OK, I'll stay away, let her calm down if you think that's best," I said, releasing her hand, but I looked at Sky when I spoke "Sally and Simon will be there. You hear that, Sky?" she didn't reply; instead, her eyes closed and she passed out just as the doors closed, leaving me staring after her with tears in my eyes.