“What’re you doing?” Silas screamed, pain twisting his face. He dropped the book.
“Shaney!” Caleb appeared beside him, just outside of the circle. “Stop! You’ll be killed!”
Hudson raised his head upon hearing Caleb’s words. Panic etched into his face as he struggled against the ropes and moved his mouth. Even though Shaney couldn’t hear him, he read the words ‘stop’ and ‘no’ on Hudson’s lips. Shaney wanted to comfort him, assure him everything would be okay, let him know Todd and Caleb would take care of him, but there was something even more meaningful that Shaney wanted to say.
“I love you,” he whispered. Hudson understood and then he screamed, tears coursing down his cheeks. If Shaney continued to watch him or Caleb, who yelled beside him, he wouldn’t be able to do what needed to be done.
With one last look at Hudson, Shaney closed his eyes, as a tear escaped from beneath his lid. He thought of his mom and his sisters and Todd and Hudson, and was comforted knowing they would be safe. He thought of the sacrifice his Dad had made and knew he’d be proud of him. He had to finish this.
The sound was deafening as Shaney raised his hands, concentrating, and absorbing the energy that flowed around him as if he were a dried up sponge. Even when he was sure he couldn’t handle any more, kept going until his bones and nerves burned and his brain screamed from pain. Soon, this would all be over. Just had to hold on until...
Shaney’s eyes popped open to the sight of Silas writhing, trying to collect his own energy, but he was too late. Using the energy at his core like a reactor, Shaney willed the explosion forward, pushing the excess energy outward. With a blinding flash of blue light, the energy detonated like a million pounds of C4 and pushed through muscle and bone and skin and for one agonizing moment, the white-hot heat filled him with the agony of death. Before he lost his vision, Shaney watched as the blue energy wrapped around Silas, tearing at his flesh, until there was only bone and then he was gone. Shaney had done what he’d needed. He could go. With a final explosion within the circle, everything went black.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Dying hurt like a bitch, but after that, there wasn’t much of anything. He floated in a pool of warmth, swaddled in the darkness, without sense of self or space. There was no wondering who or where he was. Nothing but floating and being whatever he was or wasn’t. He was alone but didn’t know the difference. He continued as nothing, weightless, and bodiless, and content to float for an eternity.
Energy nudged at whatever form he was in, but he resisted the disturbance, content with his peaceful existence. Another nudge and then a zap, and he still resisted. Something blue zipped through the darkness. Restlessness inundated his form, pulling him from his slumber. Like a petulant child, he did what was akin to rolling over and returning to sleep. Another nudge and another zap and another streak of blue, and the restlessness increased. Another streak, but this one hung within the darkness. One became two and then three, and the multiplying continued until the darkness became a writhing mass of blue streams, merging and unifying, coalescing into an amalgamation of complex shapes.
A genesis. Ladders of DNA orchestrating the creation of cells, fusing and building. The knitting of bones and growth of muscle and construction of organs and nerves and blood. Speeding along at a lightning pace, surpassing gestational needs, surpassing years of growth. The vibrating beat of a heart. Eyes beneath lids, ears hearing sound, skin with hair. And then pain, morphing into agony—the pains of growing. Expanding awareness of time and space and thoughts. Memories flashed. His mother smiling into his crib, wobbling on shaky legs, running, Dad chasing and laughing, climbing trees, school buses and desks and learning, birthdays, sisters, and Todd and boys and sex and ponds and mountains and woods, and Hudson all flashed like a slideshow at hyper speed. They whirled about, rising to dizzying heights and falling rapidly within the confines of a reconstructed mind, rousing and waking, living once again. Pain receded, replaced with visceral sensations and the blue flashing—a new beginning and then silence.
The steady, sure beat of a heart...awareness of self and the need to leave the amniotic sleep. Eyes opened and there was light.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Bright and clear and beautiful, the blue sky appeared above. Shaney sighed in contentment, and then grew puzzled at the view, trying to recall where he was. A stifling heat surrounded his skin. He wanted to get up, but his limbs twitched and flailed when he tried to move. His mind swirled with racing thoughts and the haziness of just waking.
A spray of cold water landed on his skin and his muscles contracted with the shock. His skin cooled and a shiver wracked his body. Turning his head, his vision filled with the charred, steaming remnants of wood. More water landed and sizzled on the hot wood and steam filled the air. He frowned and shook his head to clear the cobwebs. Where was he? Was he in an accident? He tried to remember where he’d been, what he’d been doing, but he could only recall Hudson.