Hullo there Sparks!
So… What do you think will happen next? A fight? A battle? A showdown?
Did Friday’s post whet your appetite for more? Are you salivating yet? 😏😉😉
I know how I get when I get stuck into a good story. If your reading list is looking a bit skimpy, I can add a few distractions for you.
Here’s one, by
that got me out of the now, immersed in another world. Really makes you wonder what thing fell from the sky and if Blackpaw and White-eye will survive finding out.Another one, by
that’s a lot of fun. The short transcripts rarely fail to generate a chuckle, also I love cats almost as much as the Aliens.And because I like round numbers, to round out the trio - here’s another good one by
and highly praised by no less.According to some, I don’t spend nearly enough time reading to be a good writer, so I tried out a few new stories. I find them all very distracting, which is a good thing. I like to think my story is distracting to all of you. A pleasant distraction from the hustle and bustle of life and all its pleasures and pressures.
As for said story…
I’ve been wondering:
INDEX | Chapter 6 | Scenes 1 & 2 | Scene 3 | Next Scene →
Previously: Left without any other option, Luke has to find a way into Elle’s head to dig out the answers he needs, and Logan, the dutiful son, has no choice but to help him while a drugged-up and delirious Elle waits at their mercy.
I knew what he meant, of course, I knew what he meant. I had known all along that, this is why he wanted me here, but I didn't want to believe it. Londaleite has been proven ineffective against Elle, and any kind of neural interference drug, like the energy blocker in the cocktail he gave her, diminishes the efficacy of Luke’s abilities, and if there was ever a time he needed to be at full power, it’s now. It’s not like he could do it himself.
Humans are able to tap into their inner energy, to a certain extent, but they can't manipulate it the way certain other races can. For instance, Luke can conjure the low-frequency energy pulse to trigger the phase mechanism in the vault wall but he can’t fly. To be fair, with the right training Luke could theoretically create an energy field, to separate his body from the planet's gravity, and then push himself around using the air pressure. Flight is one of the most basic applications of raw energy but that’s pretty much the extent of any human’s power. It would be impossible for Luke to manifest the glowing ball that we can, never mind manipulate that into a restraint. But even though he can't use energy the way we do, his abilities extend far beyond simple telepathy. I know very well what he meant.
I take a step back and clear my mind. The friction in my hands feels like pins and needles until I touch each of Elle’s wrists. The discharge feels like water being drawn out of my fingertips, as a double golden band of energy springs up around each of her limbs. I put one across her small flat chest, and another, slightly thicker, across her forehead, affixing it to the table. Her breathing becomes heavy. I tighten my grip a little and after a few seconds, I feel her heart beating hard and fast.
Luke pulls his stool closer and presses his palms against Elle’s sweat-damp temples. I can’t sense a shred of emotion off of him. He’s like a machine now. Cold, direct, it’s almost enough to make me believe all the stories I’ve heard about his younger days. In the years before he found his conscience, before he developed the strict code of ethics he so rigidly adheres to. Luke was a monster after his parents were killed by terrorists. He did unspeakable things to find out who did it, and once he did… The things people say about him frighten me.
I trust the Luke I know. He’s always been there, the constant guiding light in my life, an unshakeable moral compass. Even though it’s hard to see that now, I believe he is still in there. He would never break Elle’s mind the way they say he used to break people in his youth.
Outwardly, she looks calm, inside, Elle is frantic. She seems to understand well enough what is happening. I wish I could make her trust him the way I do. I wish I could make her understand that he won’t hurt her, make her see why this is so important, and offer her some comfort to help her through it, but anything I say or do now could break Luke’s concentration, and that would only make it harder, make it take longer.
Luke closes his eyes and bows his head right over hers. I’ve seen him do this before, use touch to strengthen a connection. I wonder what kind of mental battle is going on between them already.
Elle stares up at the ceiling, she isn’t struggling, but her heart rate and breathing have increased even more. I watch closely. Two minutes pass. A part of me wishes I could see what Luke sees, witness the process and the exchange, so I could understand what is going on but another, much larger part, is grateful I can’t. So that afterward, I can still face her and say that I had no part in it, I was only following orders. Coward. Three minutes, four, five, still, nothing seems to be happening.
I watch with morbid fascination, as if she were an offering to some pagan god, awaiting the ritual sacrifice. I can almost imagine the ornate blade suspended above her, and I’m the one holding it as Luke performs his incantation.
Eight minutes in Elle closes her eyes with a whimper, and Luke slowly raises his head. His eyes are still tightly shut. Without warning, Elle starts to move with a will. I put another band of energy across her heaving chest and another across her hips. Between Luke’s grip and mine, her head doesn't move a millimeter. She bites her lower lip, as tears start collecting on her eyelashes. One slips down into her hair, and another and another soon follow it. A drop of blood dribbles out the side of her mouth.
I tighten my grip just a little more. Her skin is starting to bruise. This is wrong, so wrong.
“Elle, please just hold still.” I plead quietly, hoping that it won’t be enough to break Luke’s concentration. It doesn’t seem like she hears me. He shouldn’t be hurting her. She shouldn’t be fighting this hard. Keeping her in place is getting more and more difficult. I hold a little harder, wondering if I should make my restraints denser, wonder if I could do it without burning her purple and blue skin.
Then suddenly she goes limp. If I wasn’t paying attention, I might have crushed her. Seconds pass, four, five, six, Luke breaks the connection with a sharp cry as his hands fly to his own head. My bonds blink out in an instant. Elle struggles up weakly, while Luke digs his nails into his scalp, staring at the ceiling with clenched teeth, almost falling out of his precarious seat.
“Luke?” I call, my voice cracking a little with uncertainty. No response. “Elle?” Nothing. What should I do? Who do I help? Elle is obviously in pain, but Luke seems to be worse off.
I take a hard look at both of them. Luke is catatonic, he isn’t going anywhere on his own. Elle still hasn’t made a sound. She is sitting on the table, hugging her knees and rocking like some kind of crazy person. She flinches when I move, even before I get close.
“Please let me help you, Elle, I’ll take you back to your room,” I say moving closer, but when I reach out a hand she scrambles away, just like she did in the cage on the blasted plain. She reaches the end of the table and falls hard. I grimace, hearing the thud and start going around to see if I can help her up but she scrambles into the far corner, peeking up at me from between her disheveled bangs, with sheer terror in her eyes.
For a moment I am frozen with indecision. Okay, focus, Logan, priorities. They can’t stay here. She can’t get out without help, you can come back.
I go over and help Luke to his feet. It takes him a moment to respond but once he realizes what I’m about, he comes along. I can’t help but wonder how much of his state is trauma from the break, and how much is intoxication from the whisky and whatever was in that ‘fire’ stuff.
Luke stumbles beside me with his weight on my left shoulder, cradling his head with his free hand and groaning with each step as I stagger over to the phasing wall and trigger the mechanism with an energy pulse at the frequency he demonstrated earlier.
It only takes a few seconds for the wall to start shimmering. I drag Luke through as quickly as I can. As soon as we are on the other side, I turn and am surprised to see Tom sitting on the landing. The Room was designed to completely seal, not even an energy signal can be read through the walls, and he isn’t supposed to be home. He said he had a class this morning and left an hour ago for the club. I wonder if he knew what Luke was planning, what he’s doing here, how he found us. Out of all the questions and arguments about how he might feel about what we just did, the one thought that settles in my mind is; Thank the Deity he’s here.
“We can talk all you want about this later, but for now I leave Elle to you.”
Next Time: It’s over? I can’t believe it! What happened? What did Luke find out? How is Luke the one who came out damaged? What will Elle do now that the guys have betrayed her? Tom wasn’t supposed to know what was going on, so how did he find his way up to the tower?
Thanks so much for reading! If you liked it and want more, please:
Or, know of someone who would, better yet:
and as always, I love hearing what you think so, feel free to:
Sorry it has taken so long to get back to this, but I love what you have done here.
First of all, your survey... Of course the here and now, hanging off the cliff, dying for a line to get another peek, is the most intense and therefore most interesting. But other than that, I enjoyed a great deal the scene at the birthday party when Elle (Misty) was toying with the PG braggarts. I was delighted!
Now here we are, still with (Elle) restrained and terrified. The mind bending conditioning that makes any thought of revealing the secrets about her history and purpose impossible, and the seemingly equally powerful mental jackhammer that Luke is applying is crushing her mentally and physically! Until, I believe, Luke touched a taste of the mental prison and it's defences. Now, can she recover from the knowing that he could probably break her and cause her self destruction? Can he recover from the knowledge and fear that she has been manipulated by someone... something that is far beyond his skills? That's my theory at this moment of reconning. We are also left with, if they both survive, can a way be found to disarm that mental prison and its defenses? Can Tom be of any help here?
How am I doing Jenny? Just a little hint...