Page 38 of Emergence
Chapter twenty-eight
Kaden
LysanderstayedonCraterIsland as I was flown back to the volcanic one. Once the airship was safely out of range, I was told to begin the experiments again. But it was a bust. Lysander was too far away. So, they all regrouped on the smaller Orag Island, on the opposite side of this island from Crater.
This time when I began the experiment, I immediately felt Lysander’s pull. Although not as powerful as the feeling of losing control was in school, when he was right next to me, the surge still hit me hard.
I’d worked so hard for so long to hold in that surge, it was virtually impossible for me to let go. Finally, after sweating bullets for five minutes trying to let go but unable to, I gave up.
“I’m sorry, I’m just too afraid I’ll hurt someone.”
Elana and Dr. Fagan tried to talk me down, and I tried again after each of their pep talks, but the fear was still too great.
“Kaden, listen to me,” Lysander said, and just hearing his voice helped soothe me and calm the fear building inside me. “You need to try again, but this time I’ll stay on the intercom with you. Okay?”
“Okay,” I said, feeling very small suddenly.
“So, focus on the task, then when you feel the surge coming, go ahead and let me know.”
I did as he asked. This time when the surge began to press against me, I panicked. “Okay!” I said nervously.
“Listen to me, baby. It’s okay. You can let the power come out. You’re far enough away from us that we’ll be safe. Just let it go.”
As Lysander soothed me, I released my control on the surge. The power began to seep out, slowly at first, but the more I opened, the faster it flowed, reminding me of a volcano, not unlike the one I was standing on.
The power erupted out of me, and I naturally leaned back and let it flow up and out of my mouth and hands. I couldn’t scream. The power was overtaking me. My body was literally disintegrating around me. It was too much, I was destroying myself, but now that the pressure was being released, nothing I could do would stop it.
Tears streaked down my face as I realized I couldn’t hear Lysander’s voice. I must’ve destroyed the radio. I knew that would be the last time I heard his voice. I’d never see him again.
As the power overtook me, and my body disappeared around the intensity of the powers coming out of me, my mind ceased to worry. I became the very powers I’d held so tightly inside. I was no longer me. I was the elementsaroundme. I was life and death, creation and destruction. I was the universe itself.
Chapter twenty-nine
Lysander
Wewatchedasapulsar of light shot up from Hector Island. The radio went dead just before we saw the beam, and I knew Kaden’s power had been released. Within seconds of seeing the pulsar, a sound wave hit us, knocking us all to the ground.
The noise rendered us all deaf, and a strange loud sound echoed in my head. I struggled to my feet just in time to see Hector Island burst apart and disappear below the waves. “Kaden!” I screamed although I couldn’t hear my voice.
“Kaden!” I yelled again and again! “No, no, I can’t lose you!” I cried and fell to my knees on the beach facing where the island once stood. Someone put their arms around me. Then quickly, they were removed, and I looked up just in time to see a wave at least twenty feet high barreling toward us.
I turned to see Dr. Fagan and two other men working to control the wave, but it was too much for them. We were all going to drown. Nevertheless, part of me didn’t mind. If Kaden was gone because I’d encouraged him to let go and destroy himself, I didn’t deserve to live. I deserved to go out the same way he had.
“Forgive me, Kaden,” I said, and closed my eyes before the wave overtook me.
Nothing happened. The wave should’ve hit us, but when I opened my eyes, it was gone. I looked around and saw the shock on everyone’s faces. They were just as surprised as I was that the tsunami hadn’t washed us away.
Seconds later, we felt rather than heard another sound wave. This one was followed by an explosion that burst from the sea where Hector Island once stood. The volcano was erupting again. If it wasn’t bad enough that the explosion had swept Kaden away, now his fate was truly sealed by a subsequent eruption just like the one that had created the island.
It only took moments to realize something was wrong. It wasn’t a natural phenomenon. The island was growing too quickly. It was already twice the size it had been before it exploded. Fire and ash bellowed into the air, making it impossible to see.
My hearing had still not improved, but I felt someone’s hand on my shoulder. Dr. Fagan was behind me and pushing me toward one of the huts that sat back from the beach. The island was more a knoll than an island, with sand all around it and a small forest in the middle. The huts sat next to the forest.
At first, I didn’t know why they wanted me to move, but when I turned back, I saw a distinct ash cloud coming toward us. So, if we weren’t going to be killed by the wave, the pyroclastic flow would get us. The huts wouldn’t keep us from dying. I’d watched too many shows about Pompei to know that. I shook my head. No, I would stay here and take whatever was coming. I’d rather be out in the open anyway.
This time I didn’t close my eyes as the cloud reached the shore. I would die facing it. But just as the cloud reached us, it turned to dust and fell into the ocean. Still, a hot blast of air hit me, but it wasn’t dangerous, just a remnant of what had been there.
It was the first time I'd considered that what was happening was being controlled by Kaden. I looked up at the sky, where ash and fire burst into the stratosphere. The island was growing at incredible speed.
