(REWRITING) The Skylar Experiment : Coveting

2. Night Birds

November 2015

EMMA

I GAPED SO LONG at the nonexistent cut that I didn't immediately switch back to her face. I could have been struck by lightning, it wouldn't have changed a thing. Two bright pupils stared back, potent, dangerous, the same ones in Luc when he was so close to losing it. 

It had been faint with him, a mere glimmer. These were full-fledged suns, bearing down in pulses. My shoes squelched as I scrambled back against the tree, hysterics threatening to crush me. 

"I know, I know, it's always impressive the first time," Carmen muttered. She slipped a finger under the girl's chin, forcing them to look at each other. Lauren leveled her probing with unsettling calm. 

The finger turned into a firm grasp, and she slumped then flexed the same way someone would when touching live wire. Scarface released her arms, and they didn't really move. My heart rate picked up when he pulled out a case from a back pocket, then unzipped it. 

"You're done for the night." He unstrapped something small and cylindrical. She was unresponsive, but I had the urgent feeling that whatever Carmen was doing, it was painful. 

I reached into my own pocket. 

The man waved the tip of—a needle?—then swept her hair aside to expose her neck. There was no doubt in my mind when I popped the cap that, regardless if it would help, I was going to try. Whatever my friend had always been, these people were worse. I was not letting them kill her—or whatever the hell they claim they wanted. 

Everything hurt as I rushed to stand, but they were just a few seconds away. 

I aimed high and pressed on the pump. Air hissed out of the bottle right where I needed it to. The effect was as instant as his distressed scream, and he closed his eyes, hands cupping above them. 

Carmen broke her focus and seized me there. She whirled. A punch rang across the outermost reaches of my skull, then another one bent my head back, pepper spray missing. Scarface kept screaming, though I couldn't see anything other than loony fireflies. 

"Do you want to be killed?" A sweep took my balance. "Huh? Because if you insist, I'm just fine with that."

I blinked toward the spinning sky. I still couldn't find it in me to be sorry. But her eyes began to do the glowworm oddity, as did the palm of a hand raised over me. Static crackled. I felt the canopy shrink and descend, thinking this was my last moment. At least I tried saving someone. 

A shrill roar tore between the tree trunks. 

A body crashed into Carmen's, then quickly regained an upright posture. Grabbing both ankles, Lauren hurled her in the air. Something about her hummed and thrummed. Hairs were sticking up at the top of her head, and those eyes... I couldn't tell if she was fully present. They clicked with mine briefly before she turned, giving me a direct view on Scarface. 

His whole face was covered in rashes. He was wiping his eyes and sniffling at the ground. 

It rumbled at Lauren's feet. I tucked my arms and legs, feeling the power rock the surroundings, stretching the threads of this physical world. Her back was to me, but beyond her the man started floating off the earth, higher and higher. 

I rubbed my lids only to find Scarface still floating. Ho-ly ma-ca-ro-ni. 

The scene was straight out of an old science-fiction movie. Light beams shot from his arm, but his eyes were so swollen he couldn't hope to aim well. She hovered him there steadily almost like she took pleasure in it. Then he was sucked in.