Kiki could feel them in her head.
Like insects crawling behind her eyes. This was another ‘gift’ that had awakened as she lay there. The ability to ‘see’ people and things, sometimes before they happened. She had to be careful because she ‘sensed’ others who had similar giftslike hers.
There was one behind the glass. He was powerful and wanted to know what she could do.
He wanted to use her.
“Focus on the man in the corner,” Diana instructed.
Kiki looked up again, turning to look at the man.
He sat in the far corner, his hands cuffed behind his back, his eyes wild. The smell hit her before she saw the puddle spreading beneath the chair. His lips moved soundlessly, muttering prayers in a language she didn’t understand.
“No,” Kiki whispered, shaking her head, already knowing what they wanted her to do. “I told you, I won’t do it.”
“You know the rules,” Diana said, her tone still light but her eyes hard. “You don’t want me to press that pretty little button, do you?”
The bandage there itched constantly, a reminder of the device buried under her skin. The stitches were ready to be removed, but Diana hadn’t done so yet.
Kiki wanted to rip them out—to claw the device buried in her neck free—but she was too afraid. She had seen what they did when the others disobeyed. One a day for the past six days.
Behind the glass, someone shifted. The pressure in her mind grew sharper, invasive. She knew they were there. Testing her limits. Probing her thoughts.
Tears burned the corners of her eyes.
“Do it,” Diana ordered.
“I don’t want to,” Kiki mumbled.
“Do it!”
Her power flickered before she could stop it. The man gasped, jerking as an invisible force rippled under his skin. His scream tore through the sterile air.
“Good girl,” Diana cooed. “Again.”
Kiki’s body trembled. “No. Please. I can’t?—”
“Again!”
Something inside her snapped.
“I said no!”
Her voice cracked like thunder. The lights overhead flickered and shattered. The machine on the cart sparked. The air thickened—alive with static, with fury.
Diana’s smile faltered.
Kiki rose to her feet, her tiny frame shaking with anger and fear. “You can’t make me! I don’t care what you do—I won’t hurt him anymore! My gifts weren’t meant for this!”
Diana’s expression twisted. She raised her hand. “You ungrateful little?—”
“Enough.”
The voice cut through the room, deep and calm, so commanding that it stopped everything.
Even the air seemed to still.
The walls seemed to expand as the door hissed open. A man stepped through—a silhouette first, then a face Kiki didn’t recognize. His uniform was immaculate. His eyes, cold and unreadable.
