Unaltered #2_A Diamond in my Heart (18 page)

“I don’t see a telephone.”

“Hans, your excessive telephone use is
what gave your location away. If you are right about the blood
samples and the individuals are government experiments then you are
the only scientist to know that T19 was actually successful and the
results are potentially catastrophic for mankind. Your telephone
communications were being listened to and your Internet searches
were being followed. The government knows that you know about these
top secret projects but they do not know you’ve identified the
blood samples of living, breathing government modified DNA
recipients. Calli and I removed you not two minutes before your
office was raided, Hans. You are safe here in my room, but I’m
afraid Calli and I need to leave now. There’s some clothing in the
box by the computer and plenty of reading material to keep you busy
until your research arrives.”

“How exactly will my research arrive?
I sent it to New York.”

Maetha smiled and said, “Yes, I know;
your package will be intercepted and redirected here and one of my
associates will deliver it to you. I’ll get back to you as soon as
I can.” Maetha shook his hand and turned to me. “Let’s
go.”

We left the building the way we’d
entered and ran out into the trees by the lake and stopped. Maetha
promptly sat on the ground with her legs crossed and instructed me
to join her.

“Calli, do you understand why I
brought you with me?”

“I’m not sure now. At first I thought
it was because you were rounding up the amulet wearers… I figured
you were the one behind the disappearances.”

“Calli, as I told you, once a
splintering takes place no one can alter the destiny of the
diamond. I am not responsible for the missing amulet wearers. I am
also not concerned with them for this is all part of the reuniting.
This cycle repeats itself every time a diamond is extracted and
reborn and I am not worried about it… and neither should you. It
must play out as nature intends.”

“Did you bring me along so I could
learn about Brand?”

“Yes. I wanted you to learn with me. I
didn’t know what Hans had discovered, I only knew he’d stumbled
into a pit of vipers. I also brought you along with me in case I
needed help.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. Maetha
thought she might need help, and she thought I’d be able to give it
to her?

“Calli, I’m not all-powerful. I’m a
human being with increased abilities and that is all. So much of
what I do and decide is done by following my gut instinct and often
it is decided on the fly. My wisdom and experience from living as
long as I have guides my decisions as well. However, times are
changing. Freedom is changing the times around us and where you’ve
had personal interaction with him I figured you could shed some
light on the situation. Your mind holds many clues to this big
puzzle and I needed it near when Hans divulged his
findings.”

“What do you think about Brand’s
father fathering all the Repeaters?”

“I’m not concerned with it. Brand’s
emotional rollercoaster is inconsequential in the big picture. I am
challenged with why unaltereds are being bred and what type of
weapon is being made. Calli, I must alert the others and I need you
to be my protector while I do so; wake me if there’s
danger.”

I watched as she closed her eyes and
relaxed. She appeared so serene and beautiful and I marveled at how
peaceful she was even with the disturbing news we’d just received.
Brand was not an authentic person of powers, he was created, and
yet the Shadow Demons were drawn to him. Interesting. She’d said
the people following us at the airport were government men and just
the thought made my hair stand on end. By far, the information that
I couldn’t clear from my mind was that Chris’s father was working
with Freedom on some kind of weaponry.

I took in my surroundings watching two
swans out on the lake gracefully glide through the water, the sound
of chirping crickets brought my attention to the position of the
sun and the realization that nightfall was only a couple of hours
away. We wouldn’t be able to get back to Brand for several hours
and his safety worried me.

Maetha pulled out of her trance and
said, “Calli, someday your mind won’t be hampered by such details.
Brand is being moved to a secure location in Fort Wayne.” She stood
and I followed. “Let’s go.”

*****

We arrived at a hotel in Fort Wayne
and approached the designated room but even before we reached it I
could hear Brand yelling at someone.

“Where is she? You said she’d be
here!”

Maetha knocked on the door. Footsteps
could be heard and the door opened revealing a tall man dressed in
a policeman uniform, but I could tell right away he was a Hunter.
My experience with Hunters in the past wasn’t one I liked to
remember and this guy seemed to not be any different. He
immediately struck me as a shady character. Maetha told my mind
that he was a mercenary; a hired thug.

We entered the room and Brand rushed
to my side. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine, Brand.” I glanced over at
Maetha and the Hunter who were speaking quietly in the corner. The
Hunter handed Brand’s broken Demon device to Maetha.

Brand abruptly yelled and pointed his
finger at the Hunter. “That bastard lied to me and brought me here;
he took my Mp3 away. He knew how to do it, Calli, he tricked me by
stalling long enough that I couldn’t fix it.” Then Brand turned his
anger to Maetha. “You told him, didn’t you? Why would you do
that?”

Maetha calmly walked to Brand and
said, “Your life was in danger, Brand. I did what I had to do to
ensure your safety.”

Maetha’s voice filled my
mind.
“Calli, tell him that government
agents were present when he fought by the river and were about to
seize him. Tell him that this officer did as ordered but has no
idea Brand has powers and if he wants it to remain that way he
better repeat back and shut his mouth.”

I turned to Brand and stated exactly
what Maetha told me to say and Brand actually listened to me. He
repeated back to the moment he asked me if I was alright. I
presented my thoughts to Maetha and told her he understands the
situation a little better.

The Hunter handed Maetha the broken
Demon device as I’d seen before but this time Brand was silent.
Maetha pulled a small amount of cash from her zipped pocket and
handed it to him and the man departed from the room.

After the door closed and the three of
us were alone, Maetha sat on the bed and turned to face us. “Brand,
you will be coming with me for the next while until it’s safe for
you to return.”

“What? No, I’m not. I can handle
myself just fine.”

“Clearly you cannot.”

“Hey, he tricked me, plus he had
insider information.”

“Do you think those coming after you
wouldn’t try to trick you or use insider information? You’re lucky
he got to you first.” Maetha turned her attentions to me. “Calli,
you will return to your dormitory and continue on with your Spring
Break plans. Keep a vigilant eye out for danger.”

Brand strutted in the direction of the
door. “I’m leaving with her.” Before he reached the door, Maetha
was instantly blocking his way. “Whoa! How… I thought you were just
a Seer, Maetha.”

“Brand, your world is about to become
larger. Over the next few weeks I’ll teach you more about the world
of powers and introduce you to others like yourself. You need to
understand though; I am deadly serious when I said your life was in
danger.”

“What about school? What about my
family?”

“Don’t worry, it will all be taken
care of,” Maetha said.

I watched Brand’s body visibly relax
and I knew Maetha was using her diamond powers on him; like an
instant sedative.

“Calli,”
Maetha spoke to my mind,
“you need to go now before you’re missed. I will come to you
at a later time.”

I left the hotel room feeling a bit
more secure knowing that Brand had settled down and was in good
hands. Two hours later I arrived back at my dorm and grabbed my
already-packed bags and then drove my car home to my parents'
house; the time was two o’clock in the morning. After checking in
with my parents I snuggled into my comfortable bed and drifted off
to sleep.

The next day I began helping my mother
sort through boxes of memorabilia and old clothing. My mind,
however, was fixed on other pressing matters and I found it hard to
focus. The next few days played out the same, but the pile of boxes
was shrinking so I figured my mom was probably happy. She wondered
what was on my mind and she assumed correctly; a boy.

I returned to school following the
break prepared for negative remarks or speculations concerning
Brand only to find that no one really missed him. I scanned over
the minds in the cafeteria and couldn’t find a single mind that was
wondering about his absence and just as I was about to feel sorry
for Brand for not being missed, I realized this was Maetha’s doing.
She’d done the same thing when I returned from Montana.

The next few weeks leading up to
finals was uneventful, almost boring; well, except for receiving
the box of Demon devices that I didn’t even open. There really
wasn’t any point in it because I didn’t have anyone to test them
for me. No sign of Freedom or any unaltereds, Suz’s friends no
longer gave me the time of day, and the building’s entire occupants
seemed to have calmed down to the point of seriousness—which it was
really strange to see serious Freshmen. I didn’t even hear from
Beth, then again, I didn’t contact her either.

Just before college let out, I found a
job at the Public Library for the summer. The job was tedious and
boring but it paid me money and constituted my very first job. I
gave it my best effort and was a model employee.

In the middle of July, I took a week
off to go to Hawaii with my parents. I thoroughly enjoyed the
vacation even though it wasn’t the first time I’d been to Hawaii.
Two things to note while in Honolulu, one, I came across an older
female Seer who was a street vendor selling seashell jewelry. I
looked into her mind and found she was of Hawaiian descent and when
her powers emerged in her adolescent years, Curtis Schultz
personally taught her about the Demons. Her family embraced her
ability and praised her for it; they also helped protect her
through the years.

The second noteworthy occurrence
happened on the beach down from our condo. I saw a man who looked
exactly like Chris. Blonde hair, deep blue eyes, toned muscular
body and a smile to melt every nearby girl's heart. The guy was
with a poufy blonde haired, bikini-clad girl with unnaturally large
breasts which her tiny bikini top struggled to hold. When she
turned her backside my direction, I came to the conclusion that she
must be extremely proud of her buttocks because she wore a thong
bottom.

My mind recalled the vision I’d seen
of Chris on my last night at the Runner’s compound. Through his
eyes I saw myself enter his hospital room although at first I
didn’t recognize myself because of my matured appearance. I was
older looking, filled out, even dressed differently than I normally
dress… almost professionally dressed, like how one would dress for
their office job.

Looking back at the man and nearly
naked female, I understood better that my body still needed to
change dramatically before the events in the vision could take
place. I certainly didn’t own any dressy clothing, or thongs, not
that I’d have to own a thong for the vision to happen, I guess my
mind was a little preoccupied with thongs as I watched the busty
blonde readjust her ‘butt-floss’. Yeah—no, thongs were not for
me.

*****

Once we returned from Hawaii, my day
to day activities were quite limited and mundane. I worked, I ate,
I slept and lived on my laptop in the evenings researching DNA,
medical advancements and medications. This went on for three weeks,
until August 7th rolled around again; my birthday.

My parents were coming to take me to
dinner at a fancy restaurant and I knew I’d better go shopping
because nothing in my closet could even be remotely considered
fancy. I called Pamela; she met me at the mall to help me pick out
something special to wear.

“Calli, is that you?” Pamela said as
she approached me in the courtyard.

“Hey, Pamela.”

“Whoa! You’ve changed!”

“Huh?”

“Haven’t you looked in the mirror
lately? Sheez, how long has it been since I saw you last?” Pamela
walked a full circle around me which made me feel embarrassed. “We
need to dress that ‘bod’ of yours in something stunning. Come on,”
she grabbed my arm and dragged me to the most expensive store in
the mall, naturally.

Three hours and a maxed out
credit card later, I had a new wardrobe. The outfit I’d be wearing
for the birthday dinner was a green jewel-toned, belted-waist,
v-necked, short sleeved, silk dress that stopped just above my
knees. The dress was accentuated by green and brown heels. Pamela
referred to the heels as the
pièce de
résistance
and all I could say was, “They
better be the highlight of the outfit; they cost more than all my
shoes put together!”