13

Genevieve

This tower was… it was like it was a trip, not just through time, but through my past, too. Either something was happening to my mind, or this tower could directly reach into my psyche and access my memories. As I ran down a long dark corridor, there were branching rooms at either side. They showed moments from my past. I saw myself as a kid having a fit on the floor. I saw myself in a hospital bed. Then I saw my parents abandoning me. Everything – all of the darkest moments of my life – they were all around me.

I couldn’t tell if they were trying to make me afraid or sad – or if they just wanted me to get the hell over the past once and for all.

Tears streamed down my cheeks. I didn’t sob, though. I couldn’t afford to. I now ran as fast as I could.

I didn’t know how much more time I had. But I could feel some process accelerating within the tower. Perhaps it was a coincidence, or it had begun as soon as I had set foot inside it.

I tried to run with my eyes closed, but I couldn’t. The curiosity would always get the better of me, and I’d snap them open to see some new horror waiting for me.

I reached the end of the corridor. Right there in a branching room to my side I saw Doctor Trevelyan.

I froze. I forgot all about getting to the infinity drive as quickly as I could.

I hesitated, then walked into the room.

It no longer felt like it was a room in the castle – it was as if I’d gone back in time.

I could see the cryogenic lab. My grandpa was there – as was the doctor. And there I was, on a medical bed, ready to be sedated.

“They will find a cure for her condition within the next ten years,” the doctor promised.

My grandfather closed his eyes. I could see hope rushing through him. I had no clue why. He’d been with me there, every step of the way when every doctor had lied to my face and told me that I’d be cured within several months. How on earth could he trust Trevelyan now?

“It’s a lie, grandpa. I’m never cured… because I guess I was never really sick.”

I could speak, but I could not interact with this memory, whatever it was.

“Your granddaughter will wake up to a grand future,” Trevelyan said, his voice dipping low with poignancy. “It will be one that will be ready for her.”

My back arched. I stopped right in front of the doctor. He was a middle-aged man, slightly balding and with a sharp gaze. I stared at his face, trying to find any indication that he was an alien. Maybe it was in his eyes – deep in his pupils. Perhaps it was in the attention he used to stare at my grandfather.

“In the future,” the doctor continued, “your granddaughter will be able to flourish. Her true talents will be revealed.”

I laughed. It was bitter. I pressed a hand over my lips and pushed all the way in. “I don’t know if you can call what I have talents, but I guess it is revealed.” I looked down at my hands.

That ordered light was still there. It was the first time I’d faced it for a while. I’d just been taking it for granted.

But the spots… remained. They were over both of my arms. I pulled my sleeves all the way back and trailed my thumbs over them. It did not ignite them, and I did not suddenly convulse. They were just….

Maybe Scott was right. Perhaps they were a sign my energy was finally aligning.

Though I couldn’t appreciate it, the compulsion that had been pushing me through the castle had stopped. Now I was reconnecting to my past, it was washing away. I still knew the importance of getting to the infinity drive, but I no longer felt as if someone had hooked me around the stomach and was dragging me forward.

I stopped right in front of my grandfather and stared at him. I let my gaze trace up and down his sad, wrinkled frown. I stared into his eyes. I leaned in. I couldn’t exactly grab him. I couldn’t fully interact with this memory, but I still embraced what I could. I hugged him tightly. “Thank you for delivering me here, grandfather. Thank you for being the only person who believed in me. But I’ve found another now,” I whispered. “You always wanted me to have a loving, fulfilling life. I’ve got it. But there’s something I’ve got to do first.”

Either the memory stopped because the me in this version was finally fully anesthetized, or I interacted somehow and caused it. It didn’t matter. Trevelyan stopped speaking, and my grandfather froze. It enabled me to lean backward. I let my fingers trail down his face. I couldn’t touch him, but I could feel a slight energetic field. I caressed that. “You always told me I could do anything. As soon as I was healed, the world would be my oyster. No one would be ready for me. I’d be unstoppable. Was that true? Did you honestly believe in me that much?”

He couldn’t move. I caressed the side of his still face once more. I pressed my lips into a smile. “I was born in the wrong time,” I admitted. “I’m sorry to have put you through my illness. But it had a point.” I stared down at my spots, and for the first time ever, I smiled and caressed them as if they were part of me – as if they didn’t just belong, but I wanted them there. “And I’m going to show the galaxy what that is.”

I leaned forward and locked a kiss on his cheek. Maybe my lips were different, or I just pumped more energy into the move, but I actually felt tactile resistance pushing back as if I was honestly kissing him.

It didn’t last. The memory dissolved. I took a step back. I turned. I walked out of the door. This time I curled my hands into tight fists, I half closed my eyes, and I concentrated. I pulled back that memory and others. I settled them in my heart and used them to focus myself so that I didn’t lose it once more.

Now I’d find my mind again, I could feel the compulsion forces swirling around me. They were pernicious. They were everywhere, too. If I lost hold of my guard even for a second, they threatened to spill in and start to control me again.

I closed my eyes fully this time. I reminded myself that I still didn’t know how those Banidans had reached in and controlled my mind. I had promised myself that when I’d gotten somewhere quiet, I would figure it all out, but I hadn’t. At some point along my history, someone had downloaded memories into my mind. That didn’t mean I couldn’t trust everything. I knew who I was for the first time ever. And I knew my feelings. But I had to stay ever vigilant.

I pushed into a run. I didn’t allow myself to be distracted by the rooms around me. I soon reached a T-intersection. My gut wanted to take me in one direction, but my heart longed to take me in another. I clapped a hand over my eyes, rubbed them, then dropped my fingers. I stared at the intersection with a new gaze. “Where do I go?”

It was hard to separate out where I was being compelled to go and where my instincts wanted me to go.

I paused there for God knows how long. I knew I couldn’t get this wrong. I didn’t really know where this intersection led to, but I understood this was one of the most important decisions I would make.

I closed my eyes. I thought of Scott. He was still back there, and who knew what was happening. He would have to fight his brother, but would he be able to control his energy long enough to do it?

I wanted to return to him more than ever. But at the same time, something was reaching out to me. At first I thought it was more of that compulsion, but it was less controlling. It didn’t have this edge of total domination.

Maybe I was making this up, but perhaps the good side of my people – the last true joy of the Atlanteans – was reaching out to me.

I went with it. Perhaps it would be the worst decision of my life. Perhaps it would save everyone. I would just have to wait and see.