Chapter Ten

"Esa, do you suddenly feel a little weird?" Audrina's eyes narrowed. Her face had started to contort into an odd look. The excitement from only seconds ago had quickly worn off.

"What do you mean? Are you asking if I feel weird because I'm sitting in the middle of a field of flowers with you?" I responded, unsure of exactly what was going on right now, but suddenly scared Audrina might disappear on me again.

Too many things had happened recently. Of course I felt weird. Everything seemed off right now.

She shook her head. "I know what you're thinking, but what I'm feeling is different. I suddenly don't feel right. I can't explain it. It's like all of the electricity has left my body. I can't feel it anymore." She held out her hand and turned her palm upward. It was empty. There was nothing inside. Her eyes widened as she turned back to me. "Oh my God. Did you see that? What's happening, Esa?"

Flashes of the scene from when I was in the massive room came rushing back. Audrina had disappeared in front of my eyes. She hadn't been real. Was that about to happen again? Was her body going to dissolve into tiny speckles?

Things are not always as they seem.

Those words echoed through my thoughts.

"Esa, that scene you were just thinking about...where was it?"

My gaze snapped over to her and my eyes narrowed. "What do you mean? What scene?"

"I saw what you were thinking about just now. I saw Samuel and then me. I disappeared in front of you. Oh my God. Oh my God, Esa. What's going on?" She clenched her fists. "This is all too much. I swear, I just want to hurt someone right now. I hate all of these games."

Flashes of Audrina running through OnyxFive with a loaded weapon and firing the gun at Paul and his guards filled my mind.

Oh my God, now I was reading her thoughts. The idea stopped me cold. How was it possible for us to suddenly read each other's minds?

"Audrina, I think the medicine Paul gave us has altered our systems. He's changing us."

"What? Why?!" she shrieked. "Why would he want to change us? I like the way we are, and I never consented to being altered." Audrina's frown deepened into a full scowl. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted him. I told Samuel so that day he brought him to Mary's cabin. Over the years, I have told your brother repeatedly not to get too close to Paul, but he never listens. Samuel wants so badly to have his family back, that he compromised the entire team."

I raised my hands. "Stop. This isn't about Samuel."

We were still in the middle of the field. Everything seemed so calm and peaceful, except for what was happening in our thoughts. We both were thinking back to the scene in the hallway, and the way Paul had looked.

A flock of large white birds flew overhead. This is how the world should be, I thought. It should be full of color and life, not darkness.

"I like the birds too," Audrina meekly replied. "I'm sorry, Esa. I'm trying to figure out all of the emotions I'm currently feeling. I'm angry and for one of the first times in my life, I'm scared. I also miss Samuel right now. We need him and the rest of the team."

"I know," I responded, thinking about Theo and Gave. "We also need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves. The boys would not be happy if they knew we were sitting in a meadow crying."

A soft smile pulled at the corners of Audrina's lips. "You're right. Sorry. I just had an off moment."

"I know, but now we've got to start thinking about our next move."

"Esa, hold out your palm," she said, holding out her own again. I knew she was probably secretly hoping to see some sign of electricity.

I held out my hand, but there was nothing. I shook my head. "I can't feel anything either. The electricity is gone. You were right."

The last sentence hung in the air.

She grabbed my wrist. "So neither of us have any electricity? Esa, we are easy targets if we don't have any way to fight off our attackers. We need to get our hands on some weapons. I know where we can get some."

"Okay." I said, pulling my hand away from hers. Audrina's nails had left little indentions on my wrist.

The thought that our bodies were changing was fully setting in for me. I may have lost my memory prior to three years ago, but the one thing I had always been sure about was that I had a way to protect myself.

"This doesn't seem possible. How are we suddenly so different? Are you sure it's not something about this place?"

"We jumped to thirty years before our primary year. There's nothing unusual about this year. Trust me, I've made this jump many times. That's why we landed here. This is the place I come to when I need to get away and think. Samuel also comes here often."

I bit down on my lip. "It's beautiful. I can see why you both like it."

There was little doubt as to why Audrina had chosen this spot in this time. It was peaceful and full of color—a nice escape from the darkness of our current world.

"Esa, I was in this spot when that thing found me and took me under the water," she said, pointing off into the distance. Usually I stay right here, but that day I'd realized there is a large lake on the other side of that ridge. I didn't have a chance to get a good look because I was being pushed down into the darkness."

I could suddenly see Audrina standing in the middle of the meadow, and her body being lifted by something, moved over to the cliff, and thrown into the dark water. I could feel her fear as her body was pushed farther and farther toward the bottom. It was dark and cold. She tried to scream, but the water filled her mouth. The Hunter had a tight grip on her and wasn't going to let her go. Then an image of Gave came out of nowhere. He was swimming frantically toward Audrina. When he finally got close enough, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back toward the surface. The Hunter was gone.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "Gave had said he was able to see you."

"That's just what I was thinking about. Gave found me in the water."

"I don't know what's happening, but we need to be on our guard. I don't know how we would feel the Hunter if it came back. We're too vulnerable right now."

"What's the 'Hunter'?"

"It's the thing you were just talking about. I call it the Hunter, since obviously it is hunting us."

"But I thought it was Luther." Her eyes searched mine, waiting for my answer.

"It is. At least, that's who I think it is," I responded, lost in my own thoughts.

"We should just call it Luther instead of the Hunter. That makes me hate him more." Anger ignited in her eyes.

"Okay." I thought about the last time I had come face to face with Luther. His eyes had seemed so cold and distant.

"Esa!" Audrina hit my shoulder. "Stop thinking about him. I don't want to see his face."

I couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle. "Hmm. Then why don't you stop reading my mind?"

"Trust me. Right now, I wish I could, but for some reason I can't seem to turn it off."

She also began to laugh. "Crap. What are we going to do?"

"I'm not quite sure yet, but we'll figure it out. I think we first need to find the others."

She wrapped her arm around the back of my shoulders. "We do need them. They annoy me, but right now I wish they were here with us."

"Me too." It was true. I wished that all three of them were with me and Audrina in the field. Maybe one of them would know what to do.

That's when it hit me.

"Audrina, where else did you and Samuel visit? Think about spots you might not have mentioned to anyone else. Maybe he's hidden something for us—some sort of clue so that we can find him without having to go back to OnyxFive. He did that for me once before."

A smile danced across her face and she softly bit down on one side of her lip. "Good point. Samuel is too smart not to have planned ahead."

"Let's go find him."

"Yes, let's go find him. It will be like a scavenger hunt."

"Sure," I said. "Hopefully, that's what it will be."