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“Lift your arms,” Rawson coached. I was about to fall on my butt, tired of punching and blocking.
“I don’t think I can feel them anymore,” I grumbled. A week later, and I still felt like I’d run a marathon whenever the end of my training drew close. Rawson shot me a patient look.
“One more time, and you can stop for the day,” he said. I raised my hands, prepared to jab at my trainer, when an arrow of pain slammed into my forehead.
***
Jade rested on a lab table, a tube in her arm. Her head was shaved bald, and she was missing one of her eyes. Emperor Tulda walked in, pushing a cart full of vials. He eyed Jade with a hopeful expression.
“This better work,” he said. “Drink up, Jade.” She obediently sat up and sluggishly reached for the vial. She chugged it down, then began convulsing. The emperor shook his head, disappointed in Jade’s bad reaction. He didn’t lift a finger as Jade continued to flop around on the table. When her body stopped moving, blood oozed out of her nose and mouth.
“That was annoying. Now I have to find another specimen,” the mad emperor muttered in English. He rubbed his forehead, clearly stressed that his experiment failed to yield positive results.
***
I was lying on the mat, a concerned Rawson sitting beside me. My headache was so intense that I swore my fingernails were sore. My entire body was sensitive, my skin feeling like it had been scrubbed too vigorously by a loofah. I tried to talk, but my dry mouth wouldn’t let me produce any sound.
“What happened, Sheena?”
“Water,” I croaked out. This was my first time having a vision of the future, and it was taking a toll on my body. I sure hoped that I could do something to change that horrid outcome. Jade was the queen of castors, the figure that would finally unite the covens. I couldn’t afford for anything to happen to her. Maybe she could change the stifling rules so I could be with Deric. I didn’t want to give him up.
Mandy walked over to us, followed by an annoyed Amber. Torman wasn’t able to spar with Amber, so she was subjected to Mandy’s constant chatter and bossy nature.
“I told you, Rawson. Sheena is only a human. She can’t handle our training regiment,” Mandy scolded.
“Vision,” I rasped out. Amber thankfully ran to the water station and came back with a glass of water. Rawson and Amber helped me sit up, and Amber held the glass to my mouth. I took a sip of the refreshing liquid, my throat grateful for the hydration. As soon as the glass was drained, I eyed Amber.
“I had a vision of the future. Jade ends up in a lab with Emperor Tulda experimenting on her. It was horrible. She lost an eye and—” Two strangers, Deric, and the king and queen suddenly teleported into the training center. The couple was dressed in what looked like bearskin clothing. They were clearly exhausted and barely able to hold themselves up. Deric ran to me, his eyes widening when he got a whiff of what was in my mind.
“In Sheena’s vision, Emperor Tulda has milky eyes. Tia and Luke reported the same thing” Deric said.
King Rayon let out a curse. “Clones? I thought we eradicated them five hundred years ago,” the king protested.
“Clearly, you didn’t. Angelo is no liar, and Sheena’s visions are accurate,” Deric defended.
The male stranger rubbed his face, clearly stressed out. “I get that none of you know us, but I can honestly say that Emperor Tulda has gone off the rails. Before we left, he was about to kill the crowned princess and the rest of us. He called Jade a specimen,” the man I assumed was named Luke explained.
“Jade? You know Jade?” I cried, my heart doing flips in my chest.
“Unfortunately,” the female stranger grumbled. Oh, hell no! Did this broad want to get backhanded across the room? I would fight her if I had to. I would—
“Sheena, focus,” Deric softly told me. His beautiful eyes drew me in, discouraging me from speaking violence against that cranky witch. Instead, I gently caressed his cheek.
“Right, I’ll fight her later. How are we going to help Jade?” I asked.
King Rayon rubbed his eyes. “We need to get King Relex involved. Earth is too far away from Janton for us to do anything,” the coward said. I shot a hostile expression at the king.
“If you hadn’t interfered, I would be on Janton right now, protecting my best friend. Now, I’m stuck in this stupid compound, unable to help,” I shouted. The horrified gasps didn’t stop my mouth from moving. “From day one you have been a coward. You’re nothing more than a weak-minded king who won’t do anything because you can’t. You’re going to let Janton burn. What about your people that live there? Can’t they fight?” I demanded.
The female covered her mouth while the blond looked like he would have a heart attack.
“And you thought that Jade was bad, Tia. At least she’s nice,” Luke quipped.
“King Rayon, I’m sorry for her disrespect,” Deric said as he got to his feet. “Sheena’s latest vision has clouded her judgement.” That idiot. I wasn’t going to apologize to that coward. He needed to hear what I had to say. A distant part of me knew that he was kissing the King’s butt to keep me safe. Deric was kind, thoughtful, and supportive of me. He would help me if he could. Suddenly, emotions slammed into my gut, making it overwhelming to keep my eyes open. I forced myself to concentrate on the problem that made me so angry. I reached out to Deric, my intention on stopping him, when I heard a loud gasp, followed by agony.
It was like my entire body was splitting apart. I tried to breathe, but I couldn’t get in any air. My vision was covered by a blindfold of darkness. I couldn’t even feel my fingers. If I could, maybe I could rub at my eyes. My entire body was nothing more than a block of pain.
My sense of smell was the first thing that seemed to work. I smelled pumpkin-scented candles. My hearing picked up a battle cry. Frigid air hit my skin, then my feet landed on a hard surface. The blindfold vanished from my face, and I was suddenly in an unfamiliar room, surrounded by enemy soldiers. Jade threw a ball of light at Emperor Tulda, and he lifted his arm and absorbed it.
“Eleron taught us a lesson when that half-breed sister of yours killed him. Chaos learns, adapts, and destroys,” he shouted.
“Sheena, where did you go?” Deric mentally asked me.
“Janton. I’m in the middle of a battle, and I can’t even move. I’m screwed,” I mentally told Deric. I was just lucky that no one had noticed me yet. A seven-foot-tall woman wearing a black uniform charged me, a long rod in her hands. I dropped to the hard ground and rolled, my body nearly crashing into...Cordell?
“Cordell,” I cried. “Help me.” The assassin roared and lumbered to his feet, a choker connected to a chain wrapped around his neck. He jumped in front of me and punched the female soldier in the head before stealing the rod from her. Then he pressed a button on the side and the female became nothing but ashes.
“Cordell, steal one of those weapons for me,” I pleaded. He did my bidding without hesitation, knocking out another soldier, stealing me a weapon, and killing her with one blast.
“Cordell, protect Princess Shala,” Jade cried. I frowned, not happy that my besty just stole my bodyguard. But then a rod landed at my feet. Hell yeah!
I ran to Jade, whose back was to me. A soldier charged me, her unfocused eyes giving me the creeps. I lifted the rod and pressed one of the buttons on the side. There were three, so I supposed that I needed to use this Janton as practice. She also lifted her weapon, and I dove to the side, the week of training making me quicker. The beam meant for me ended up slamming against the floor. Okay then, button number one does nothing. I pressed button number two and nothing happened.
“Button number one turned off your blaster,” Deric mentally told me. You need to press it again. I pressed button number one then button number two and a blast slammed against the woman’s calf, causing her to bellow. Jade spun around and shot a bolt of light into the woman’s chest and she exploded into ash. I got myself to my feet and smiled at my exhausted-looking friend.
“Wicked. What’s the plan for getting us out of here?” I wondered.
Jade shook her head. “You always get yourself into these messes, Sheena.” I wanted to hug her, but then Cordell let out a roar and killed the last of the army guys. The emperor took off, obviously knowing that he was outgunned.
“The clone is getting away,” I cried, my attentions on following the psycho.
“If you follow him, it will probably lead to his brainwashed army,” Deric sternly told me.
“Why didn’t you come after me?” I demanded.
“I’m trying. The king you insulted won’t remove the block he put on me,” he mentally told me.
“Tell the king I had a vision. Tell him that if Winston, Amber, and you don’t go to Janton, his people will fall.” This was a lie, and oracles should always speak nothing but the truth. But I needed my friends here with me. I felt guilty, but knew it needed to be done. I was too weak to teleport again, and Angelo was our only hope of getting out of this stupid mess.
I eyed Jade, who looked like she would fall apart. Cordell hovered around the princess, his blank eyes making alarm bells ring in my mind.
“What’s wrong with Cordell?” I asked Jade.
“Princess Shala made him test out a serum that Tia stole from the emperor. I think it makes Janton more pliable to suggestion. I can’t be sure.”
“If she did all that, why are we protecting her?” I asked, hungry to punch that psycho in the face.
“Because she’s the only ruler that Janton has, and Prince Eleron knows it,” she replied.
