Everything connected, yet everything apart. I knew Kaden’s energy had been disbursed. It no longer resided in this one human form. In a way, I didn’t think it was ever meant to. Kaden was an anomaly.
At that moment, I realized it was equally true for me. Balance must exist, even in the dark universe. There must be Yin with Yang.
Kaden was the very essence of energy, and I was his vessel by which that energy could be distributed. I wasn’t a battery, that was wrong. I had been his conduit.
As if going to sleep, darkness seeped into my consciousness, and then I was no more.
Chapter forty
Kaden
Iregainedconsciousnesslyingin a hospital bed. Every ounce of hope and happiness had been ripped from me. Even years ago, when things were at their worst, lying on hard, dirty, broken concrete, waiting for the next man to come in and do unspeakable things to me, I’d never felt this hopeless.
Dr. Fagan, Elana, and even Dr. Aynesworth came to see me. They explained what I already knew. Lysander was gone.
I remembered watching as my powers engulfed him, and he struggled with where to store them. I thought he was going to die, so I came to him and placed my hand on his shoulder.
I knew he’d felt it because he lay back, and I could see the powers around my body begin to fade, then slowly disappear altogether.
My mind was drawn back to my body as I saw his disintegrate. I knew then Lysander was no more, not just no more a part of the universe, but he had been fully and utterly absorbed.
I didn’t try to use my powers since I knew they weren’t there. I was empty in that way too. I’d hated those powers, convinced they were the bane of my existence, but now they were gone… I was empty.
The months I was held and questioned seemed to flow together into endless darkness and depression. At some point, a nurse asked me if I’d like to speak to someone, and I shook my head. There was nothing left to speak about. There was nothing left to live for… but there was also nothing to die for.
They gave me drugs I recognized from my childhood when tranquilizers were used to subdue me when I was angry or upset. Drugs had never worked on me before, not even when I was really young.
Now, they made me drowsy and caused me to fall asleep. I guessed the powers I’d always had prevented the drugs from working. At least now, I might be able to use them to die if that was what I ultimately decided to do.
Once the doctor assigned to me deemed me healthy enough to stand trial, I found myself sitting in front of a panel of three ancient people. Mostly, I sat there listening to them debate my life and fate as if I weren’t there.
“He is powerless. He’s the same as any Nosupe at this point,” one of the women said.
“Which,” the man pointed out, “…puts into debate whether we even have the power to pass judgment on him.”
“Hank, that was proven in Reliance versus DeMond University. Even if a Supe’s powers have been removed or, in this case, expended, we have jurisdiction if the incident occurred when the individual had their powers.”
The older man nodded, clearly satisfied with the answer.
The woman who responded, with crimson dyed hair that stood up on her head as if she’d just been struck by lightning, continued. “Whether or not he has his powers now is not relevant. It’s possible, if not probable, that he will regain them at any moment. The boy Lysander’s powers never kept the recipient from getting their powers back. The debate we should be having is whether we should take advantage of this opportunity and dispatch the boy now while we can.”
The woman who’d started the hearing, the one with grey hair, shook her head. “Russian intelligence tells us they once dispatched three young men. They were trying to prevent them from growing up with three different connections to the elements and each time, the three were born again. Not once, but twice. Even if we become evil enough to kill an innocent man for something he had no control over,” the grey-haired woman looked the red-haired woman in the eye, “…he will simply be born in a different body and form. That puts us at even greater risk.”
The woman pointed at me. “At least we know Mr. Pierce has made an effort each time he’s been confronted with his powers to do the right thing. The ethics he has shown indicate we are better off accepting him as who and what he is.”
I’d been interested in the debate when they discussed situations like the Russians. So, was that reincarnation, or were they talking about the powers showing back up? I would never find out, at least not from these three. They droned on and on for weeks.
Often they debated the very same arguments they had just a few days before. If I’d had my powers, I would’ve assumed they were trying to drive me insane to see if I’d blow them and myself up.
Finally, after a long time listening to them debate, I was shocked to hear them ask that I rise to face them. The red-haired woman stood, and said, “Kaden Pierce, you’ve been found without fault for the incidents regarding the collapse of the Hoover Facility and the deaths of Dr. Grace Bisbee and Lysander Phillips. You are free to go.”
The three judges literally disappeared like magic. Two large doors opened in the back of the building, and just like that, I was free. I was also homeless, penniless, and had no one and nothing to go home to.
I thought it might have been better for them to have killed me. I strode down the busy street, trying to figure out where I was. When I’d walked no more than a block, I saw two familiar figures step around the corner. “Kaden!” Elana yelled and ran toward me, grabbing me into a hug. When Dr. Fagan caught up to me, he embraced me as well.
“I’m so sorry about all that. The ethical panel and judges have a very strict way of handling cases like this. You’re lucky, though. Yours only lasted five weeks. I’ve known some that lasted years.”
I groaned. “At least if they’d decided to kill me, that would’ve felt like a relief.”
