So … it’s there. Even if it’s faint, but god that was scary. I lay my head on the wall for a second while I steady my breathing. It takes a few a minute, but I push away and head back to Dax. I’m already running short on time.
I come to the door and open it. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t him sitting up and reading a book. I take a step in and smile. “Hey, you. You seem to be doing a lot better.”
He looks up and smiles, then shuts the book. “Thanks to you. May I say, your fighting skills are very impressive.”
“Oh, you mean the part where I got scratched?” I snort. I’m sure he’s being polite.
“No, really. You’re an incredible fighter.” His eyes scan me over from head to toe.
Yeah, I’m not sure what to do with that. An awkward silence descends around us. I can't take this much longer. "Well, Luke is taking me somewhere, so I better get going. Get better. We have to head back down there soon.” I turn and open the door, stepping out.
“Hey, Christina.”
I pause. What does he want? This turned weird and I’m not sure how or why. “Yeah.” I don’t turn around.
“Thanks for checking on me.”
“Yeah, sure.” I shrug and continue through the door. “See you soon.”
Using the wall as support, I walk down the hallway heading back to the front door. My hand rubs along the cool, smooth slab while I lean in. I sure hope Luke is telling the truth and whatever is off with me can be fixed and soon.
When I reach the front door, Luke is standing there tapping his foot. He opens the door and motions for me. “Come on. Let’s go.”
If I weren’t feeling so bad, I’d laugh. Heaven forbid if one of the elders have to wait. I take a deep breath and let go of the wall and head outside. I take each step slow and one at a time. My energy is depleting even more, and I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to stand.
“We don’t have much farther to go.” He takes my arm and helps me to the car.
As soon as we’re settled, the car takes off and I close my eyes.
I turn my head and the smell of new car and leather hits me all at one time. This is probably the softest leather I’ve ever touched, and I doze off.
“Hey, Christina. Wake up.” An arm gently shakes me. “We’re here. You’re just going to get worse.”
My eyes don’t want to open, but I force them. I sit up, rub them, then look around. We’re in the middle of nowhere. I close my eyes trying to get a sense of where we are, but I come up blank. What the hell? That’s not normal.
“Let’s get going. You should feel better within the hour.” He gets out of the car and waves the driver off. “I’ll take it from here.” He opens my door and waits.
A wind blows along with the smell of sun and grass. I put my feet on the ground to stand, but sway. I grab the door with one hand the car with the other and try again. I’m able to get on both feet, but it’s as if I’m on boat floating on rocky water. “I’m off balance.”
“You’re fine. I promise.” He holds out his arm and grabs my hand, looping it through. “I know you’re not a touchy-feely person, but let’s make an exception for a minute.”
I want to argue with him, but if he releases me, I’ll fall flat on my face. I tighten my hold on his arm and walk with him toward an empty field. Each step I take, the dizzier I become. "I ... I don't feel so well."
"It's normal." He clasps his other hand on mine and continues to walk at a slow steady pace to the middle of the open field. "It's because you're so close to the time stone." I pause for a second and he drops my hand and takes one step further and disappears.
What just happened? He didn't transport, he just freaking vanished. That's not possible. I take a shaky step forward and a buzzing glosses my skin and the open field suddenly has a huge five story brick building right before my eyes. It's so out of place out here, but what bothers me the most is that I didn't see it. "What the..."
Luke watches my reaction and looks up at the building. "It's magnificent isn't it?"
Yeah, I'm not sure if I would use those words. He's appears to be proud of it while I find it modern and obtrusive. "It's something all right." The ground still seems to be shaky under my feet, but I'm trying my best to stand on my own.
His eyes narrow and he grabs my arm. "Come on. Let's get you taken care of."
We walk down to the front of the building, and there is a keypad. He punches in various numbers and soon the door opens. "Come on, we have a few more security measures to go through."
Why in the world are we going through all this rigamaroo? This seems counterintuitive. "Why don't you just transport us to the ... time stone?" I think that's what he called it.
"Well, for one, we have preventative measures so people can't transport in here." He wraps his arm around my waist and helps me inside. "Secondly, one reason you feel so awful right now isn't because of your powers, but this place. We have to strengthen your powers up so you're stronger for when you come here."
Great, so now I'm weak again. Granted, I think it's more that I don’t know how to use my power in the right way. My parents had me hide it most of
