Evanescent Read Free Page B

away. Totally submerged in the darkness of the dungeon once more, I inhaled intensely. The blue glow from the tubes ebbed out. I bit back the hate, and shook off the grief I was feeling for the beings in those tubes. To ruin him, I had to be less human. Closing my mind off from Enoch’s threats, the anger came blazing back into one solid, purple, flame erupting through my core, so hard, fierce and so bright, my restraints melted from my wrists and burned away from my hips. My chest rose and fell rapidly with deep breaths as I tried to steady my pulse, keep my instincts focused, hone in on my mind-shift so it did not take me down with it, hoping I had what it took to stop it before it triggered the blood-shift. His metallic arm penetrated through my flames quickly and he grabbed me by my throat once again, his tight grip threatening to break my windpipe. He chuckled, and a light flickered on behind him. The tubed beings were illuminated by yellow lights, melding with the liquid’s blue haze, and I was drowning in a green hole of bodies. His laughter grew until it sounded like a single shrill tearing me apart. He knew the sight of those beings would affect me; he was in my mind once more. I pushed him out. I searched for a guard against his tricks within, changing my thoughts into my native language once again. I locked him out, and was able to think clearly.
    But, he smiled. “I don’t need your thoughts, Ava, I can feel your intentions, I can feel… you. We are the same now.”
    I narrowed my eyes, my flames slowly subsiding once again, heavy emotion crippling my powers, fear, doubt. Get a grip, Ava, I willed myself . He is manipulating you, testing your boundaries, learning how to work you.
    “Perhaps I should thank you for killing me,” he said with tangible cruelty.
    I dangled from his grip as it tightened around my throat, feeling him holding on to my life. I tried to numb myself against him, his touch, because him being near me would always affect me in some way. He would always represent my fall. He pulled my face to his, our lips almost touching. I drew him in with my stare. I waited until his lips were so close, his smell repulsing me, our breaths melting into one. I went in for the kill. Thankful for my petite body and gymnastic abilities, I was able to raise my legs between the tiny gap of his chest and mine, and kicked into his metal plate as hard as I ever imagined I could, using all the confusion and anger he was inflicting upon me to propel myself the other way. I screamed as his grip around my throat almost ripped it right out. But my instinct was quick, and a shockwave exploded throughout my entire body, temporarily stunning both him and me. A low buzz, and then he was at me again. His golden chestplate crushed me into the wall, and for a moment I lost all strength. I regained myself, stuck between the cold stone and Enoch’s unrecognizable face. His body threatened to drive me right through the wall. Once again, instinct was quick. My flame raged out alongside a huge, electrical, shockwave – bigger, brighter and with more wrath than before. I had to get away from him. He couldn’t know that he still had an effect on me, and I couldn’t allow it; he was a threat to my entire being. The shockwave penetrated everything in the room. I hit the floor, watching his body slide across the room with a scream of metal against sand and stone. My body adjusted quickly, healing the fine tears in my veins after the bolt had ripped through my flesh. The room spun before me, and then it was only me and those creatures in that chamber. Their pods cracked and slowly leaked from my released shockwave. I imagined those things coming for me. Slowly, it all faded; my flame, my pulse, my fire dying out with a soft sizzle to my skin. I smelled it, my burned hair and singed skin. I knew the smell of scorched flesh. One single memory flashed with recognition. Human bodies dressed in rags, burning in the black ash of a dozen