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“I will find out his name! And then he will forget!”

I didn't know exactly what it was, but it was as if emotions were coming back. The same fear I had felt in the temple.

My gaze fixed on her, and she lunged at me, taking away any chance I had of getting back up from the armchair.

“I'm going to break you, Julie,” she whispered sharply. “You're not part of this family.” With terror in her eyes, she shook her head. “You're not part of this society.” Her jaw shifted in an odd, uneven way. “You're like a nasty tumor.” And finally, she turned away from me. “…that needs to be removed before it spreads like a parasite.”

She stormed out of the study, leaving the double doors open, and two Custodes peered in, but immediately averted their gaze before they positioned themselves in the doorway.

I remained seated, motionless.

I didn't know how long I sat there, leaning back in the chair, empty and shattered like a mirror.

At some point, my hand slid down to my stomach, slipped beneath my robe, and gently caressed the curve.

“Thank you,” I whispered, believing I felt warmth, even if it was only for a moment, and promised myself I would never forget the day my own baby had saved me with its element.

Beware The Harbinger

David Julyan

“You killed her,” Rebecca said sternly. Yet it sounded more like a statement of fact.

“She touched me without my consent.”

I had already said this sentence three times. Once in front of Amara, when she hadn’t been able to stop staring at me during breakfast. Then in front of Margot, who had asked me if I wanted to talk – and no, I didn’t want to talk to her. There was nothing to talk about. And the third time when Grace had driven me to university in silence.

Buddy had sat in the footwell between my legs with his head resting on my stomach, probably because he didn't know I was a murderer.

“And it was her right,” Rebecca continued, pacing around her office. “Her duty.”

I looked up, studied the co-director of Vanderwood, and wondered if she also saw me as a murderer.

“It's yours to control yourself.” She stopped and pointed to her desk. “So focus on the object, for God's sake!”

I tried. But I still wasn't completely connected with my body.

“Every woman in this group has been prepared for the protection of the chosen one since their rite of passage,” Rebecca continued, walking on toward the huge tower window. “And you manage to scare these members so much at a ceremony that another one of them has already committed suicide.”

The news had come this morning. An Altrix Quatura from the group of nine women who were supposed to take care of my baby later had hanged herself from a bare oak tree in her garden in the Blair district.

It was my fault. I was a murderer.

“There are rumors circulating about you, girl,” Rebecca sighed, shaking her head without taking her eyes off the activity on campus, and I couldn't tell if her reaction was directed at the people outside or at me. “Rumors that will soon reach New York.”

She reached for the saucer with the white teacup on the windowsill and began to stir the tea with her bronze spoon.

“You’re damaging our reputation. Our plans. Without me, Gloria would have taken tougher measures long ago.” She turned to me. “So be grateful.”

I looked at her desk, raised my hand, and made a silent vow to myself that I would not obey anyone just because they wanted me to. I would only obey if it meant I could save my baby. And that would only work if I finally gained complete control over my powers.

The energy flowed through me, and it was still a strange feeling to have control over something, even though I didn't even have a crystal that could channel my energy.

The power within me was strong. I had realized that. But I didn't know how strong. I wondered how much I could do with it, where its limits lay, how many lives it would take before it eventually killed me too...

“Go on, just concentrate on the crystal ball.”

Her stern voice was enough to put pressure on me and remind me of my temple lessons with Gloria.