A Diamond in My Pocket

At some point, I must have drifted into a dreamless sleep. For that, I’m thankful, because I was exhausted. I awake to Chris shaking my shoulder.

  “Calli, wake up.”

  My eyes try to adjust to the darkness of the cave. The fires have nearly died out, but the faint light of dawn illuminates the waterfall at the front of the cave. I sit up, stretch my arms, and take Chris’s offered hand.

  “What time is it?” I ask.

  “Five-thirty. Can you come tell us if the Demons are gone yet?”

  Justin sits right near the edge of the cave opening and he moves out of my way as I stumble toward the entrance.

  I don’t need to look. I can tell they are gone because the air smells peaceful. “They’re gone now. You can wake the others.”

  Everyone is ready to go in less than two minutes. I remember I haven’t spoken to Chris yet about giving the diamond to Justin. I also haven’t noticed if the fake diamond has an odor like the real one. I don’t remember detecting a smell when we received the diamond from Mr. Bates—not like the scent of the real diamond anyway.

  “Chris, will you come here for a second?”

  He leaves the others and comes over to me. I focus on the diamond in his pocket. Even before he gets to me, the intriguing odor hits my nose-buds with an enthralling, invigorating, icy smell. I can’t determine if the odor is from the diamond or the metal box, but it doesn’t matter which. What matters is Justin needs to carry the package to attract the Hunters in his direction.

  “Chris, the package has a scent. I can smell it, and if I can, I’m sure the Hunters can too. I think—”

  “—Justin should carry the package,” he finishes for me.

  I nod.

  He hesitates a moment before he leaves me to give Justin the stone. Justin tries to refuse, but Chris’s lips tell him he’s responsible for the mess we are all in and he should man up and try to help us out.

  Justin takes the small box and puts it in his pocket, zipping it shut. He scowls in my direction. Happy now, muck?

  Yes, as a matter of fact, I am.

  Justin leads his half of the group out of the cave and down the trail, backtracking a little before cutting off to the right and running into the dense forest.

  The plan is that the rest of us will stay in the cave and wait for the Hunters to start following Justin’s group. They will run for twenty minutes and then turn back. Hopefully by then we’ll be coming up on the rear of the Hunters, and Justin’s group will be coming back to close them in. I hope the Hunters will simply give up and not try to fight. That would be the easiest way to resolve the problem.

  Chris sits down next to me near the cave’s opening. We both make sure our bodies and heads are hidden as we keep our eyes peeled for the Hunters.

  I ask, “Do you think they might explore the cave before following the scent on Justin?”

  “I hope not.” The fear in his voice does not go unnoticed.

  “I don’t think I should watch for them.” I begin to move away from the opening.

  “What? Why not?”

  “My mind-reading ability kicks in whether I want it to or not. If I accidentally go into one of their minds and they sense it, it might alert them to our presence. I’ll sit over here, and you can communicate with me through your mind.” I move over to the wall of the cave and sit down. “Can you tell me more about Justin?”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “He’s faster than you are, yet he lets you win? Why?”

  “Going right for the big questions, huh?” he mutters, then answers with his thoughts. I’ve been the fastest for a while now, until recently when Justin challenged me to a private race. Before that happened, I discovered he’d been associating with the Death Clan. When he beat me in the race, I threatened to expose him, but he begged me not to. So I ordered him to tell everyone I won. He did.

  “Why is it so important to be the fastest?” I know Chris isn’t telling me everything, but I decide not to press the issue.

  He speaks his answer this time. “At my age, once I fall behind, I become washed up. I’m the oldest of the group.”

  “So, at what point do you accept others are faster than you?”

  “When I’m ready to move on, or someone decides to make a scene.”

  “What will you move on to?”

  “Well, there are things I want to do. I’d like to settle down somewhere and get a job. Eventually I’d like to get married and have a family.” He looks at me.

  I don’t want to hurt his feelings. I can’t even wrap my mind around his emotions. How do I begin to tell him his vision of us won’t come true? “Chris, I’m only sixteen and—”

  “Who said anything about marrying you?” He smiles and turns his head away, then tenses. His mind hits me with, There they are.

  I turn to the group of Runners huddled in the far corner of the cave and put my finger to my lips. They are already quiet, but this is the signal the Hunters are near. I focus back on Chris, and he opens his mind to me.

  I find that by looking into his head I can see the present as it unfolds through his eyes. Incredible! I see our pursuers walking around the spot where Justin took his group into the forest, looking for footprints and sniffing the air. One Hunter has a long rifle with a scope over his shoulder and enough ammunition around his belt to take down a pack of wolves. The other Hunter holds a handgun at the ready.

  The two Runner slaves are recognizable due to their typical body structure and good looks. One looks like a lean, muscular Viking, the other looks like an African marathon runner. The two Hunters, on the other hand, look like they haven’t shaved . . . ever . . . or taken a bath. I can smell their putrid aroma. They both have a lot of what looks like dried mud in their overgrown beards. Gross. Bushy mustaches cover their mouths, and large, protruding noses identify them—as if the other physical attributes didn’t—as Hunters.

  One of the Hunters must have picked up on our scent because he looks up toward the cave. He takes a step toward us, then another. He sniffs the air and takes yet another step.

  The other Hunter calls him, “What is it, Lachlan?”

  Lachlan smells the air again. “The scent is stronger this way.” He points in our direction.

  As I watch the Hunter through Chris’s eyes my lungs seem to freeze with fear. I can’t breathe.

  Lachlan inhales our scent again.

  “Come on,” the other Hunter says, motioning with his hand. “They’ve already gone.”

  Lachlan turns away and takes a step in the other direction, then stops abruptly. He peers over his shoulder in the direction of the cave for a moment before he grabs the hand of the Viking Runner and disappears into the trees.

  Chris and I exhale simultaneously.

  “That was close!” I say.

  “Too close.”

  “Chris, I experienced the whole scene through your eyes. You didn’t even need to tell me what was going on, but I didn’t know how to tell you without making a sound.”

  Chris stares at me in amazement, then turns and motions for the others to come over. “Let’s go,” he says. “Stick with the plan. Lizbeth and Tyler, you two are the contingencies.”

  They nod.

  I catch Chris’s attention. “What’s a contingency?”

  With his mind, he tells me, If anything happens to either Justin or me, Lizbeth and/or Tyler are to take our places and deliver the package.

  “What about me?”

  You’ll be kept safe if a battle breaks out. You’re too valuable. Let’s go.

  “But the three of us have to be together for the delivery to be successful.”

  “Hey, I don’t plan on dying today.” He takes my hand, and we lead the others out of the cave.

  I consider the fact that no one ever plans on dying. It just happens. But then I realize that isn’t entirely true either.

  I immediately pick up on the Hunter’s scent, and we begin our pursuit. As we run through the trees and thick underbrush, I f
eel the warmth emanating from Chris’s hand. I’m tempted to try to view his future or extract more from his memories about what he saw in the vision about me, but I hold back. We need to get through the present situation first.

  We run for about five minutes until the scent of the Hunters intensifies, letting us know they are close by. I detect movement up ahead in the trees, and put my hand up to warn my group to slow down. A loud pop of gunfire causes a flock of birds near us to scatter and our team to hit the ground.

  I crawl a couple of feet to get a better vantage point of the gully we’ve entered. Justin’s group is positioned on the south slope, each Runner stands perfectly straight behind one of the narrow tree trunks in an effort to avoid being hit with a bullet. Which means the Hunters are somewhere to the north. I can’t locate them. The bigger question is whether or not the Hunters have figured out we are pursuing them.

  Another shot splits the air. An agonizing scream from one of the female teammates lets us know someone has been hit.

  I cast a concerned glance at Chris and whisper, “Come on, let’s go.”

  “No, you stay here. Tyler, Jonas, Yang, and I will take care of this. We’ll double back, circle around, and try to come up behind them.”

  “No! They may discover you coming and turn on you. The wind is working against you. They’ll smell you coming.”

  “We’ll run faster than our scent travels. Besides, Hunters don’t have eyes in the back of their heads.” He winks and takes off with the three other boys and speeds down the trail the way we’ve come.

  I watch helplessly as more shots ring out in the woods. Another yelp of pain hits my ears, this time from a boy. I need to get closer to the Hunters. I have a bad hunch about how this could all turn out. If only I can get some information from them before the situation turns sour. I start to crawl north.

  “Stay here,” Lizbeth says. She has a hand on my ankle.

  “I have to try to read their minds,” I say. “I won’t get too close.”

  Surprisingly, she lets go.

  I crawl forward, staying in the bushes as much as possible, until I find a clear view. I try looking into the mind of the Hunter closest to me. Nothing. I try for the other one. Nothing. I try for the Runner’s mind, who looks to be African, and enter immediately.

  On the immediate edge of his mind I sense fear and entrapment. His name is Azeel, and he’s originally from Nigeria. His family had moved to New York right before his running ability surfaced. The day his power emerged, four men arrived to take him away. The highly emotional moment viewed through Azeel’s memories humbles me. I witness the death threats, the pleading, and the tears as he is ushered away and forced to be a slave. Definitely a stark contrast to what I experienced when my pseudo-running powers emerged. The Hunters control his rebellion with the threat his family will be hurt if he doesn’t obey. His memories fill my mind, showing a council meeting of several Hunters planning this particular hunt, planning to go after the Sanguine Diamond to harness its powers.

  I pull out of his head and enter the mind of the other Runner. His thoughts tell me his name is Stefan and he’s from Sweden. His family was murdered by the Hunters when his power surfaced. He’d been taken captive as well, and forced to be their slave. He’s been beaten horribly for attempting escape. I experience the hatred in his heart for the Hunters, especially the ones right in front of him.

  Another shot rings out, and chaos ensues.

  Chris and his group assault the Hunters from behind. Chris leads the charge with a running punch to the back of a Hunter’s head, knocking him out and sending his rifle flying. One Hunter drops his handgun, but quickly retrieves a knife from his ankle. Chris effortlessly ducks and dodges the Hunter’s attempts to maim or harm. Jonas and Yang fight with the last Hunter, while Tyler joins Chris.

  No one is aware Stefan has picked up the handgun, except me, because I experience it in his mind. I feel his intent to kill, and the exact moment his finger begins to squeeze the trigger of the gun.

  The Hunter Chris and Tyler are fighting takes a bullet to the head and drops to the ground. The second Hunter that Jonas and Yang are fighting falls just as fast from a dead-on shot to the chest. Then, I become aware Stefan is raising the gun to his own temple.

  “No! Stop him!” I yell too late. As the bullet enters his head, it seems to enter mine too.