The Survivors: Body & Blood (book 3)

Training, pt. 2

LATE ONE NIGHT I WAS FEELING PARTICULARLY FRUSTRATED WITH MY TASK. I felt how Sadie felt when her goal was to find the rogue Survivors, and it was the one thing she couldn't do. I admitted this to her, and it resulted in Sadie, Ben, Sarah, and me working into the night, after the Red Bloods had gone home and Adelaide was making dinner.

"Come on, Ev. We'll worry about separating them later. You need to imagine merging the new invisibility power with Ben's water power. You can do it," Sadie said. She had become a real leader in our prepa rations for a war we didn't even know how we were going to fight. Her attitude changed from dejected to persistent. From willowy to fierce.

If she could make the change, so could I. I could become someone who would fight. With strength. With power.

I focused as hard as I could, summoning the strength at my core, where my acquired powers — now Lizzie's, once also the invisibility — lived. I imagined my newest power, a fire power, consuming Ben's water power. I imagined connecting with his core. I imagined the two coming together. I visualized anything I could think of, grasping at straws.

But nothing happened.

"It's okay," Sadie said, pacing back and forth.

"Maybe we should rest for the night," Sarah suggested.

"No!" I said, harsher than I meant to. "We're running out of nights. I know I can get this."

"I know you can too," Sadie said, squeezing my hand.

"Where does it fall apart?" Ben asked.

"I'm not sure. Acquiring Lizzie's power was much more intense than acquiring the invisibility and fire powers Mark brought me. The merging power was a part of Lizzie, a real part. The other powers were just a thing in my head, like my bulwark, and they seem to exist separately. I just wish I could feel you at the level I felt Lizzie. Then I think I could do it," I explained.

"You need to be able to do what Sadie can do," Ben suggested. I had-n't thought of it that way, but it was true. If I could sense him and read him on every level like she could, then I could sense out the parts of him I wanted to take.

Sadie said, "I think I can handle that." Sadie put her fingertips to her scalp and closed her eyes. Then she pulled her fingers away and long blue-violet wisps trailed after them. She pressed them against my head. "Now," she said.

I was overwhelmed with her senses. The hum and buzz, the thoughts and metallic red cloud that surrounded Ben's body knocked me off balance.

"Now focus," she said. "Find a place inside yourself that feels like that place inside of Ben?"

Ben's instinct had been right. It did take the ability to feel him in that way to realize his power lived in the same place in his soul that my most defining part lived: my vampirism. The way Ben's body housed a power, mine created a need for the life force of another.

I had an idea. "Princess, get Mark, would you?" She ran into the house and came back with him. "I think acquiring from him may be a bit more physical than I expected. I might need your help . . . after, okay?"

Mark nodded, I hoped following my vague train of thought. "I've got your back, brother."

Focusing on something inside Ben's soul and inside my own, I stepped toward him, and said, "Trust me." He nodded slowly but didn't say a word. I put one hand on his shoulder and the other on his jaw, and I sank my teeth into his neck.

Instantly, I felt connected to the part of him — where his power, his soul, his Survival lived — and the rest was easy. I was able to rifle through these ethereal parts of him, feeling inside of him, and pulled the powers to the surface in a sip. I pulled away quickly, and we watched as red mercury wrapped in white smoke with a solid obsidian center materialized out of his wound, coated in venom. I willed my powers — Lizzie's a string of red mercury and the fire power a trail of green smoke in their physical forms — out of me and toward the mixture from Ben, and they swirled together impossible to see where one color ended and the other began. It hovered in the air between us.

Mark was already at work on Ben's neck, sucking out any venom I'd left behind and healing the wound with care. Sadie looked to Sarah. "You're up," she said. It was Sarah's turn to work her magic. It took a few tries, but the powerful concoction finally made its way toward my body, dissipating into my lungs as I inhaled in.

Ben looked woozy but okay. The four of them were fervently anticipating what they wanted from me. I reached one hand to the ground and pulled droplets of water out of the grass, utilizing Ben's control of elements. Suspending them in midair, I conjured fire with my other hand. Merging the two together, I made a steam cloud. And then, I became invisible.

Sadie started laughing riotously, a sound I had never heard come from her lips. Sarah clapped her hands together in joy and Ben, now powerless, hugged Mark in excitement.

"We did it!" Sadie cried, hugging me around the neck. "You did it," she said again softly, her eyes glassy with emotion I didn't expect. "You know what this means, don't you?" she asked, not letting go of me.

"What?"

"You just became the only one among us who can acquire without killing. You can have all the powers you want, and no one has to die for them." I knew she'd be crying if she could. I hadn't dreamed that acquisition caused her this much heartbreak, but I understood it. The thought of acquisition had plagued me all my life.

Behind us, Ben cleared his throat to get our attention. "Um, hi, Anthony."

My father walked up to us. "I overheard the good news," he said. I demonstrated my new powers again, and he reached out to shake my hand. I took it. "I'm proud of you, son."

"Really?" I asked. He had never said those words to me before.

"I wanted my family to acquire as much power as possible to defend themselves and our charges in the war. I didn't relish the thought of harming all those we have along the way. You have found us a solution with that Gold Heart of yours. And so I am proud."

"Thanks, Dad," I said. Then he hugged me. "Come on, your mother has worked very hard on dinner, and you all deserve a celebration."

We followed him inside, where he shared the news with the rest of my family. I piled a plate high with greenery while the three Survivors partook in Adelaide's more delectable creations. Even Sadie was eating lately. It was as if she were more alive all the time.

As we sat around the table as a family, Survivor and Winter, I felt that we would find a way to make it through the obstacles that awaited us. We ate and drank, listened to music, told stories, and enjoyed each other's company. And I realized then that this was when immortality was okay: When it felt like normality.

The dinner wound down until only Sadie, Mark, Ben, Ginny, and I were left.

"With all that's happening, we need more nights like this," Ginny said.

"Agreed," Mark said, raising a glass.

"I've never had a night like this," Ben said. "I never thought I wanted to. But being here with all of you is more enticing than I imagined. I'm grateful to you for that."

Mark put a hand on Ben's shoulder. "Yeah, we like you too kid. But I'm surprised you feel that way after Evvy here robbed you of your powers. Sure you won't miss them?"

"The water power was the least of my powers. As long as I can still track I—" Ben froze. His eyes stared out in front of him, and he held his breath. Sadie stiffened alongside him.

"Guys?" I asked.

Sadie looked at Ben. "It . . . couldn't be . . ."

Ben's eyes filled with tears, a foreign excitement on his face as he scrambled to his feet. "It's Noah!"