Channeler's Choice Read online

  Moonlight spilled across the floor. The roof hatch that led down into her room was slightly agape. Power surged up from her core. She remembered forgetting to lock the hatch but she knew for certain she had closed it. The same strange energy signature was in her room. Her room! Some of her things had been moved, her books and college pamphlets. Nothing was missing but that didn’t take away the horrible feeling of intrusion. Pouring power into her legs, she shot up the ladder, pulled the hatch closed and locked it.

  She crept around her room looking for intruders. It didn’t feel like anyone was still in here. Regardless, she searched everywhere, even under the bed and in the shower in her bathroom. No one. Fists glowing with the blue light of her power, she searched the rest of the house and then the bookstore. Whoever it was had left a while ago.

  Grabbing the keys to her car, Eren ran for the garage. There was no way she was walking back to Aunt Sylvia’s now.

  “A Rector’s power and that of their

  Society members is intricately linked.

  They are each part of each other.”

  ~from Life In A Society

  Chapter 24

  Aiden woke to the refreshing scent of a forest damp with dew. Dawn was starting to color the sky pink. He was the first one awake and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get back to sleep. Finally, he grew bored of staring at the sky and got up. After packing all his things, he started to scramble the eggs he and Fane had gathered yesterday. The smell soon awoke the others.

  Alin and Zolin exchanged a knowing look and smiled as they approached.

  “Ah breakfast! My boy, you must come hunting with us every year,” Zolin insisted.

  That made Aiden smile. Little would make him happier. They pushed and shoved one another playfully aside to take their plates of food, laughing and joking.

  After a quick breakfast they packed their things and cleaned up the campsite. They’d be going straight home once they caught and cleaned the deer. Zolin explained that the sooner they cut it up and put it in the freezer, the better. Aiden wasn’t about to argue. As much fun as he was having, he couldn’t wait to get back and see Eren. Being away from her this long was torture.

  When all their belongings were piled next to the smoldering fire, they began to gather their weapons. Aiden took off his coat and added it to the pile, undaunted by the chilly morning air against his bare arms. He’d be channeling to enhance his speed and didn’t want to ruin he shirt in the process. While Zolin hefted a long spear with a wicked looking tip, the rest of them shouldered their bows.

  Picking up a brisk walk, they started into the forest. Alin and Zolin let Aiden and Fane walk alongside them. The respect they showed him—a new, young Rector—was humbling and he felt tremendously honored. His adopted father never would have allowed him to walk alongside him, let alone taken him hunting. Being among them felt so completely right that thoughts of Virgil soon faded away.

  Concentrating on all they’d taught him, Aiden opened his senses and immersed himself in the hunt. They moved so quietly, the birds singing in the trees above didn’t even go silent as they walked beneath them. The forest came alive with the color of living things, both animals and plants, as Aiden called up his power and saw through it. Soon they came upon several trails of orange and yellow energy. The deer.

  Alin and Zolin stopped at the top of a hill that overlooked a mist-filled valley. The mist was so thick it obscured all but the tips of a few antlers here and there. Aiden hadn’t had time to become proficient with the bow. Shooting a deer with a clear shot would be hard enough, let alone through this gray veil. He looked over to find Alin and Zolin smiling.

  A flick of Alin’s head in his direction was all the signal he needed. He and Fane started down into the valley, slinking low so the tall grass rose above their shoulders. The mist would do a lot to conceal them, but Aiden decided extra precautions couldn’t hurt. He really didn’t want to screw this up. Pulling in a deep breath, he forced himself to focus and search for the crippled buck’s energy trail. There it was, down about a hundred feet and slightly to the left.

  Pushing the tall, damp grass aside with one hand and clutching the bow tight in the other, he made his way toward the buck. Every sound was so loud and every scent was so strong he feared the deer would flee long before he got there. But Fane had warned him about this. It was his body kicking into predator mode, preparing for the hunt. He was vibrating all over, but not from the need to channel or anything like the Rector’s exchange of power. This was something totally different, a readiness that had him balanced on the edge of action.

  They were close now, less than thirty feet. Suddenly he understood the others need to draw this out and track the herd for days to make it more challenging. By pouring power into his legs, he could cover thirty feet in a heartbeat; this would be far too easy. One hand tightened around the bow as he notched an arrow. His hands shook and the arrow bounced against the bow.

  Alin made a whistling sound and all hell broke loose. The mist swirled violently and chunks of grass and dirt flew. Furry bodies jostled Aiden back and forth, squealing and scattering when they came across him. He lost sight of the crippled one.

  Recalling that calm center he’d found in the sweat lodge, Aiden slowed his rapidly beating heart and concentrated. There the deer was, falling behind the others just like Alin had said it would. He couldn’t see the creature through the thick mist but he didn’t have to, its bright energy trail painted a clear picture of exactly where it was. He saw Fane’s energy trail running alongside it, turning it back toward him.

  Aiden shadowed its every move until Fane turned it at the right angle. Settling into a wide stance, he raised the bow and drew the string back. Before he could let the arrow go, something slammed into him from behind. A cry escaped him as something pierced his back and sent pain shooting through him. A heavy weight propelled him forward as he watched his arrow sink deep into the startled buck. For a moment he was pinned between the crippled buck and the weight on his back.

  It hurt like hell, but all he could afford to think about were the twitching legs beneath him. The arrow had pierced the crippled buck in the right place; it just hadn’t gone in deep enough. His right arm wouldn’t work so he reached around with his left and drew the knife from his belt. He tried to get off the deer but his legs refused to obey him. Waiting for help wasn’t a luxury he could afford. With one kick this thing could injure him worse, and in places he really didn’t want to be injured. Tucking his head away from the sweeping horns, he leaned down and drew the knife across the buck’s throat.

  Fire exploded all through him as if something was tearing itself free of his back, then the weight was gone.

  It was over in moments. The crippled buck went still. With his good arm, he managed to push himself off of it and roll away. Pain seared through him at the movement, tearing a cry from him. Suddenly Fane was kneeling beside him, dark eyes filled with concern.

  “Father, grandfather! Aiden’s hurt!”

  Hearing the soft patter of Alin and Zolin’s feet, Aiden tried to lift his head and couldn’t. He’d never been hurt this bad before. He didn’t even know it was possible.

  “Ah, Aiden. That second buck got you good. Don’t try to move, it will just make it worse,” Zolin warned him in a tone that made Aiden nervous.

  The moment Zolin said it he wanted to, but he fought the impulse. The last thing he wanted to do was make this worse. He felt hands gently moving his shirt aside, hands too small to be Alin’s or Zolin’s. The touch felt good, almost like a cooling salve.

  “Father, please help him,” Fane begged.

  “I can’t son, but you already are. He’s your Rector, you can lend him your energy so he can heal himself,” Alin said.

  “Tell me how,” Fane demanded.

  It was the only time Aiden had ever heard Fane talk to his father that way. The wound must be pretty bad for him to sound so desperate. He wanted to tell Fane not to worry, that he’d heal in a while, bu
t the words wouldn’t come out. Though he called to the healing power within himself it refused to answer. He was too weak.

  “Focus on healing the wounds and push your power into him,” Alin explained.

  A warm tingling sensation washed over Aiden’s wounds, seeping slowly into them. His power reared up to meet the sensation and pulled at it, drawing it in. The power cooled the fire caused by the pain and then slowly started to dull it until he couldn’t feel it at all anymore. The muscle and tissue grew back, he could feel it pulling and moving, repairing itself. The pain faded and he was able to focus. In only seconds it was gone completely. Fane’s hands fell away.

  “You can get up now if you’d like, Aiden,” Zolin said.

  Aiden sat up and reached around to gently touch his back. It was tender and sticky with blood, but the wounds were healed. Channelers were hard to wound and healed fast, but this was unreal. He’d never been able to heal like that even by using his power.

  Fane lay beside him in the grass, breathing easy but eyes closed and face slack.

  “Is he alright? What happened?” Aiden demanded.

  With an incredulous look, Alin smiled and patted Aiden on the shoulder as he told him, “Not to worry, he’ll be fine. He’s only exhausted. He lent you his power and helped heal you.”

  Aiden inspected Fane’s face. His curly black hair clung to his sweat slickened brow, but he looked as though he was resting easily.

  “I didn’t know that was possible, he’s not a healer channeler,” Aiden muttered.

  “He didn’t heal you, he helped you. Only Society members who have bonded can lend their power to their Rectors. I wasn’t sure he could, but I was really hoping because Eren would have tanned my hide along with the deer’s if I had taken you home with a wound like that,” Alin said.

  Aiden smiled. He was right. Eren would have been furious at them for letting him get hurt, especially since it was so hard to hurt a channeler.

  “How did I get hurt? That shouldn’t have happened so easily,” he asked.

  Alin pointed. Following his finger, Aiden saw Zolin kneeling beside another dead buck only a few feet away. It looked like he was praying over it. It was huge for a mule deer, close to five hundred pounds maybe.

  “Nothing easy about it. That buck rammed you in the back so hard it broke its own neck. You must be more careful,” Alin insisted.

  Embarrassment burned Aiden’s cheeks. Of course Alin was right. He had been careless. A channeler’s skin wasn’t impenetrable until they were around twenty years old. And even then, lack of focus could still cause them to get hurt.

  “How could its neck be broken? I felt it pull itself free,” Aiden asked.

  “That was Fane pulling it off you,” Alin said.

  “Oh. What’s he doing?” Aiden asked as he watched Zolin’s hands move in the air above the buck.

  “He’s thanking it for its sacrifice and wishing its spirit a smooth journey. Another Mayan tradition.”

  The ritual fascinated Aiden and made him realize he didn’t know enough about Mayan traditions. Eren was half-Maya after all and he wanted to know all about her there was to know. This had first occurred to him when he’d heard her and her grandfather having a conversation in Maya. Now he was finding out it wasn’t just her language, but an entire set of traditions that he knew nothing about. From now on he planned on learning everything he could about her culture, including the language.

  While Fane slept, Aiden helped Alin and Zolin prepare the three deer.

  “To make carrying them home considerably less messy, we won’t skin them,” Alin explained.

  The gutting process was kind of disgusting, but Aiden found that if he looked at it as food for those he loved, it wasn’t so bad.

  By the time they were ready to go down to the river and clean up, Fane awoke.

  “You stay and protect the deer from predators while we run down and clean up,” Zolin told him as they prepared to leave.

  Aiden clasped hands with Fane. “Thanks, Bro,” he said.

  Shrugging, Fane gave him a humble smile. “You would have done it for me.”

  “Definitely,” Aiden said before jogging off to catch up with Alin and Zolin.

  Immersing himself completely in the cold river, Aiden scrubbed until all traces of blood were gone and his skin and hair shone in the sunlight. Tonight he would see Eren for the first time in nearly a week and he didn’t want her cringing from his stench. He was worried enough about how she was going to react knowing he had killed something. Had she been raised a channeler it likely wouldn’t have bothered her. But she hadn’t been, and that coupled with her reaction toward the idea of being a Rector, worried him a bit.

  There was very little he didn’t confide in her, but he couldn’t imagine telling her about the hunt. She was so gentle and sensitive, how could he possibly tell her how he had thrilled at the chase and danger? He feared she would think him a monster. If he had to for her sake, he would keep that to himself.

  “Bonded members of a Society can sense

  when each other are in danger, and can feel

  one another’s strong emotions.

  Pay attention to such things.”

  ~from Life In A Society

  Chapter 25

  Her eyes were starting to lose focus on the words so Eren laid her book, Life In A Society, on her lap. She’d already read the whole thing. She was going back to reread the sections that held a particular interest for her.

  The problem was this book didn’t say anything about channelers who could use both sides of their power. No one seemed to know much about that, which made her stomach turn. Being a freak who could kill people with her energy was one thing. Being able to heal them was altogether different. Some days—more often than she wanted to admit, even to herself—she just wished she was normal again.

  Her thoughts strayed to the bottle of pills tucked away in her closet. The contents of that bottle could grant that wish.

  The sun was starting to go down and the shadows of the trees behind her aunt’s house were reaching toward the deck. It made Eren recall another evening when she had waited for Aiden like this. That was the first night Luke tried attacking them both. As she kicked her feet up on the table in front of her, Eren shoved aside such thoughts. Nothing bad was going to happen tonight, she had to believe that.

  But she couldn’t. Hours ago she had been overwhelmed by a panicked feeling that something bad had happened to Aiden. It had taken Aunt Sylvia and Caitlin an hour to convince her everything was alright and not to worry. The feeling fading was all that had calmed her down. Still, she wondered, especially having noticed the worried look Aunt Sylvia tried to hide.

  The clinking of ice in a glass alerted her to Caitlin’s approach as she stepped out onto the deck. Make that several glasses. Caitlin shot her an encouraging smile as she set a tray packed with glasses of iced tea on the table. Today her lipstick was such a dark red that it almost matched the black eye-liner she wore. She’d taken a lot of time putting on her makeup and perfecting each long curl of hair. At first Eren tried to tell her Fane would be so happy to see her that he wouldn’t care what she looked like. But then she realized Caitlin was just doing it to kill time. She couldn’t blame her; every second that passed today was nerve wracking.

  Sitting up, Eren took one of the glasses and swallowed a huge drink. “Thanks, I needed that.”

  “I figured you did,” Caitlin said as she picked up a glass of her own.

  Nervous energy rolled off Caitlin. It was somewhat comforting to know she wasn’t the only one dying for this day to be over. She thought of trying to comfort Caitlin with her power, like she had that day at the tournament, but something distracted her. A power with enough force to rival the moon approached through the forest. It had to be Aiden.

  “Oh my God,” Caitlin murmured as her hand fell on Eren’s shoulder.

  Four figures stepped out of the trees, but Eren only had eyes for one of them. In a pair of khaki drawstring pan
ts, carrying a huge buck strung across his shoulders; was Aiden. The buck’s head alone, with its huge rack of antlers, had to weigh a hundred pounds. The sight made Eren’s stomach clench, both with guilt over what she’d just been considering, and with something wonderful. In that moment she knew, for him she would live life as a channeler, no matter how frightening her fate might be.

  She rose and went to him. Out of her peripheral vision, she saw Fane carrying a smaller buck and Uncle Alin carrying a doe. But her attention could not be diverted from Aiden. That familiar, magnetic pull seemed stronger since they’d been apart and she couldn’t fight it. She felt, more than saw, Caitlin approaching Fane. At least she wasn’t the only one who looked like a love stricken girlfriend who’d been left behind.

  Zolin moved to Aiden’s side. “I’ll take him from here, Aiden. He’ll be in good hands.”

  With a grunt of effort, Zolin took the buck and carried it into the house. A moment later, Aunt Sylvia squealed as she flew out the door and ran to embrace Uncle Alin and smother him in kisses.

  “Three deer, Darling? Really, what happened to just two?”

  “That’s Aiden’s story to tell,” Alin said when she let him come up for air.

  He grinned and winked at Aiden as he and Aunt Sylvia took the doe in the house. A moment later Zolin came back out and took the smaller buck from Fane. Sighing, Fane stretched and thanked him.

  “You two say hello to your ladies and come in when you’re ready,” Zolin said with a knowing grin.

  Red stained Aiden’s cheeks. It made Eren wonder what they had talked about during their hunting trip. But when the door eased closed behind Zolin, nothing mattered except that Aiden was back. Pressing her face to his chest, she hugged him tight, not caring that he was slick with sweat. She was surprised to find the scent of buck mingled with his own was almost enticing.