Ascension by Laura Hall (accelerated reader books .TXT) 📕

Awareness returned slowly. I had to work for it, trudging up a subconscious stairwell with leaden limbs. My eyelids opened with effort, parting sticky eyelashes to present me with a coffered ceiling of pale taupe.

Directly above the bed in which I lay hung a tiered chandelier, its many bulbs radiating soft light through an ornate hotel bedroom. Heavy curtains blocked windows opposite the bed, but I had an indefinable sense that I was high up, closer than usual to the clouds.

My skin was itchy, uncomfortable. My arms felt numb. I clenched my fingers, which felt like limp noodles.

Something was seriously wrong. With the level of anxiety and gut-liquefying fear I felt, I should be throwing sparks like a firecracker.

“You’re awake.”

I jerked, whipping my head around on the pillow to see the Omega seated in a chair beside the bed. He watched me with narrowed eyes. They were currently brown, though the sight didn’t comfort. Not when, like all Opals, he could kill with a thought.

Luckily for everyone on the planet, when it came to Opals, Nature made an effort to balance the scales. There were so few of them because they tended to kill themselves within a year of transition, sometimes taking small populations with them.

Another lesson hammered home by Ascension: too much power made people crazy. Especially power over life and death.

I ran a thick tongue along the back of my teeth. My mouth tasted like firewood. “Where am I?” I asked hoarsely. “Where’s Mal?”

“He’s with the Prime. I’m Adam Gibbs, by the way.”

God, he looked young. Early twenties, maybe, at Ascension. Despite intellectually knowing he was pushing toward his forties, the baby face was throwing me for a loop.

“Don’t hurt him,” I said. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

The Omega blinked, lips pinching. “Why would we hurt Malcolm?”

I frowned, nonplussed, and finally shook my head. “Can I see my uncle? I won’t do anything, I swear.”

A small, tired smile lifted his mouth. “You’ve already done plenty.” I tried to sit up, but found myself unable to move. Again. “Don’t struggle. It will only agitate you.”

I dropped my head back to the pillow. Squeezing my eyes shut, I asked, “What did I do? Did I hurt Mal?” Then I remembered who else had touched me mid-surge. “Oh God, is Prime Thorne okay?”

“He’s fine,” said a new voice, low and lightly ironic.

I opened my eyes to see the man himself standing behind Adam’s chair and looking completely at ease, even humored. His eyes met mine and I glanced away before I could be sucked back into them.

Maybe, if I asked nicely, they’d let me see my dad and uncle a final time.

“You’re not going to die,” said the Prime, still in that vaguely amused tone. “Not by my hand, at least. And you certainly aren’t going to be shipped off to a prison cell.” He paused. “Really, Adam, we need to do something about those rumors. It was only the one facility years ago, and we shut it down.”

Adam sighed, robes rustling as he stood. “We can’t blame her for being afraid. Our nation doesn’t have the strongest track record of tolerance.”

The Prime made a noncommittal noise.

I tried to think of nothing, which only opened the door for a confusing jumble of images. Witches burning at the stake. Lab rats and the furry, mutilated body in that photograph.

The fact that the Prime had access to my every thought made me twitch with discomfort. Especially when the damned image of him in gladiator finery popped up. My mortification was complete when I heard his low chuckle.

Steeling myself, I dragged my gaze back to him. He’d taken the Omega’s seat. The mage now paced near the bedroom doorway, fingers tapping on his cell phone.

“Hello, Fiona. I’m Connor.”

My name in his mouth was unsettlingly intimate. Ignoring the reactionary heat in my face, I stared at his nose, which looked like it had been broken once or twice in his human years.

“Nice to meet you, Prime Thorne. How long are you going to keep me like this?”

He ignored my question, instead leaning forward to brace elbows on his knees. His gaze trailed down my arms, exposed without the light jacket I’d been wearing earlier.

“Fascinating,” he murmured, a banked glow flashing in his eyes. He glanced up, focusing on the white streak in my otherwise dark hair. “Tell me of your Ascension.”

There was no point in lying.

“I was struck by lightning.”

He sat back, sending a quick glance across the room. Adam looked up from his phone and said, “There were several hundred reported cases of lightning striking people at midnight. None in which the affected survived, though.”

The thought of Michael was instinctive. I couldn’t stop it any more than I could will myself to stop breathing. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the Prime’s expression as I thought of my dead fiancé.

There was a heavy moment of silence, then cool fingertips grazed my forehead.

“Sleep,” said the Prime.

I did.