A Diamond in My Pocket

The next day starts early with a lot of commotion out in the parking lot as the only two motels in the one-stoplight town begin to fill to capacity. Vehicles and buses arrive throughout the day, as do other Runners from our compound. Our instructions are to remain in our rooms until Clara arrives later in the morning.

  Clara pulls in shortly after ten and takes charge. Clara’s job is damage control and she’s definitely good in that role. Family members of the deceased will be flying in to pick up the bodies later in the day, she tells us. She tells the news reporters that hover nearby, intrigued by the influx of people to their small town, we are all part of a family reunion, and more of us will be arriving.

  I distance myself from the whole ordeal as much as possible, which is not an easy task. Clara assigns two female bodyguards to shadow me. Chris and Justin have male guards following them around for safety too.

  I need some fresh air, so I convince my guards to escort me to the observation deck on the roof. They stay at a distance, but not out of sight. From the elevated vantage point, I can see the parking lot, swimming pool, and a flurry of assorted people with powers in the near vicinity. The canyon we will be running through to get to the clearing looms ominously in the distance. An uneasy flutter in my stomach makes me nauseous and I walk to one of the tables with umbrellas and sit down.

  I hear my bodyguards talking and glance over to see Beth asking them to let her come talk to me. I nod to my bodyguards and Beth walks over and sits at my table.

  “Everyone’s wondering where you went,” she says. “I thought to myself, if I wanted to get away from the world, but couldn’t leave, where would I go? I was right. What’s up?”

  “Just trying to listen to the wind,” I say.

  “Does it bother you to have two escorts following you around everywhere?”

  “It’s annoying, but no more so than having to sleep in Clara’s room tonight. It’s like I’m grounded or something.”

  “Well, you do kind of take off at night like it’s nobody’s business.”

  “Hey, whose side are you on?”

  “Yours, of course,” she grins. “I envy your freedom.”

  Her comment makes me remember the vision I saw at Cave Falls of Beth in prison. I can’t help but wonder. “Beth, what do you plan to do with your life?”

  “I don’t know.” She scratches at her chipped black nail polish.

  “You don’t have a plan?”

  “Like what?”

  “Like something not involving incarceration.”

  “What? Do I go to jail?”

  The astounded expression on her face amazes me. “Do you mind if I look?”

  “Didn’t you already?”

  “Sometimes things change.”

  She closes her eyes, letting me take over her brain. I find what I’m searching for and withdraw from her mind.

  She opens her eyes. “What’s the verdict?”

  “Can I ask you a couple of questions first?”

  She nods.

  “Can you tell when I’m in your mind?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you see the future at the same time I do?”

  “No, I was wondering what you were finding.”

  “Would you block me from your mind so I can test something?”

  “Sure.”

  Her walls go up, and I focus my attention away from Beth and to the parking lot to reorganize my thoughts. I see Chris talking with Jonas and Tyler. They seem to have lost something. Tyler nudges Chris’s shoulder and points up to me. I don’t want to analyze him at the moment. I turn my head back to Beth. I find her future the same as when she let me into her mind. I try to break through her walls to read what she’s presently thinking, but can’t, until . . . until I think about specific things, such as her relationship with Justin. Then I get right through. She opens her eyes in astonishment.

  “You busted in. I need to practice harder on my blocking.”

  “Beth, I’m going to tell you something I’m sure you won’t like. Justin is trouble. If you follow him you might end up in prison. That was the future I saw for you at Cave Falls. It’s different now, though.”

  “Different? How?” Her eyes light up.

  “You’ll be on some type of committee, one that seeks out and annihilates evil amongst the clans. No prison.”

  “I broke up with Justin. He’s a jerk.”

  “I agree. I’m glad you came to that conclusion.”

  “Why did you save him when you could have saved the others . . . when you could have saved Jessica,” she adds, her voice lowering.

  “Justin is part of the leadership trio and must be present when the diamond is presented to the Death Clan. If he’s absent . . . well, he simply can’t be absent. Jessica and Michael were already gone, and I couldn’t help them.”

  Beth stares toward the distant mountains. She clears her throat and says, “What will happen tomorrow?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Is the meeting going to go wrong?”

  “Define ‘wrong.’ ”

  She looks at me, one eyebrow raised.

  “Things will go as they need to go, as nature intends them to go,” I say, trying to reassure her.

  “Oh.” She studies her fingernails, then looks in the direction of the parking lot. “Chris is watching you from the lot. He cares for you. A lot.”

  “I’m aware.”

  “Of course you would be. You can read his mind. Is it cool to be able to read other people’s minds?”

  “Well, not too long ago I thought it would be cool to be able to read minds, especially a guy’s mind. But not anymore. I always thought it would be awesome to predict the future, but I can tell you: no, it’s not. The only cosmic power I like using is the healing power. I only wish I would have been able to save our friends.”

  A silence falls between us for a few seconds.

  “Does your future hold anything with Chris?”

  “I can’t view my own future.” Which isn’t true. I visualize my future through the future of others.

  “When the two of you saved each other on the riverbank, I cried at the passion of it. I was confused when he pushed you aside afterward. What happened?”

  “I don’t know for sure.”

  “He’s still watching you, you know. I don’t mean, like, from the parking lot. I mean from his room. He asks us to watch you and report. He calls on the phone because apparently you can’t read his mind through the phone lines. He keeps tabs, like he’s doing now. He loves you.”

  “That’s not love, Beth. He loves the fact I possess all these powers. I’m handy to keep around . . . at arm’s length, at least,” I try to jest. Beth doesn’t know about the crazy future-vision Chris clings to.

  “Whatever, girl. I see it differently, and I’m pretty sure you do too.”

  Talking with Beth feels so natural, so much so that I find it hard to believe she ever hated me. The other Runners have changed their opinions of me as well. It’s only been a couple days since I arrived at the compound and was the slowest Runner. Now, everyone wants to be around me. I consider that what everyone is drawn to is my artificial self. The diamond I carry in my pocket makes me someone I’m not—someone with powers. Those powers make me seem more mature than I really am, but the whole thing’s a lie. I’m a fraud, a swindler they follow as if I have all the knowledge and solutions. Maybe I do, for now, but only because of a magical stone.

  I look down at Chris and enter his mind immediately, almost as if he opened the door and let me in. I feel his amazement that I’ve gained entry yet again, but he continues to remain in my eyesight when he could walk away.

  At the forefront is his shame for being a hypocrite on the bank of the river. He didn’t want to die, and he didn’t want to lose me. So he pleaded with me to help. After that, his guilt set in. He fully comprehends he encouraged me to go against nature. He believes I have ventured down the evil path because of him and feels responsible for the heart-attack guy and my torturi
ng of Justin. Misusing my healing powers is his fault . . . or at least that’s what he thinks.

  I also experience his dilemma about the age difference between us, mainly my younger age, which has him tied up in knots. Apparently I am older in the vision he’d had, and he essentially understands now is not the time for us to be together.

  Some of his own personal demons continue to haunt him, including dishonor and deception. He can’t figure out how to relinquish his position of fastest without Justin rising to the top and revealing his sensitive information—this is the damaging info that he feels puts all of us at risk.

  I look for Chris’s intentions. I get the message loud and clear: he needs to fix certain things in his life and find his own happiness before trying to make anyone else happy. He wants me to experience my youth and he knows I can’t do that if he’s in my life. He desperately clings to the romantic vision he’s been given, believing one day we will meet again. All because I currently possess the healing ability I had in his vision. For now, he wants to distance himself from me for my own good.

  At least he figures it’s for my own good.

  I wish with my entire being to be able to speak to his mind. If I could, I’d tell him to move on with his life, that I don’t hold any power, and certainly not the healing power. His vision is wrong. I’m nothing!

  An all too familiar swirl of mist swims around my body. Chris, the parking lot, and the entire surrounding area is replaced with four walls and a desk. I’m looking through Chris’s eyes at a man seated on the other side of the desk. His name plate says General Stanley Harding. I recognize him as Chris’s father. On the desktop calendar, I see the month is July of the same year.

  Chris says, “I’m done. I’m resigning.”

  “From what?” his father responds. “There is no such thing as resigning, Chris. This is who you are,”

  “Not anymore.”

  “I’ll march troops in and wipe out your little compound if you quit.”

  Chris doesn’t say anything. In his mind he’s sweating bullets.

  “I’ll hunt you down and charge you with abandoning your post.”

  He replies as calmly as possible, “I never signed up for this. I volunteered, so good luck with that.”

  “Maybe not, but you are signing death warrants for all your friends by quitting.”

  “I can’t protect them forever. Do what you must, but I’m done being your spy.”

  Daylight floods in, crowding out the vision of Chris’s future.

  Chris is a spy?

  Chris walks toward the motel and disappears from sight.

  I ponder the new information I’ve gathered. Justin knows Chris is a spy for the government, Chris knows Justin works for the Death Clan. Their mutual agreement to keep each other’s secrets is dependent on Justin continuing to allow Chris to hold the fastest position. How long the agreement has been in place remains unknown to me. Clara Winter obviously knows about Chris’s spying, but does Justin know Chris is a double agent? So many questions with no answers . . . yet. The knowledge of Chris having a future solidifies in my mind the diamond delivery will be successful. This brings tears to my eyes.

  Beth still sits next to me. She asks, “So, what’s going on?”

  I have to let my throat relax before I can speak. “I don’t understand a lot of what I’ve seen. I need to think for a little while.”

  “Do you want me to kick his ass?”

  I laugh and wipe my eyes. “No, I just can’t figure out why he feels the way he does.”

  “Well, if you ever need some advice or experienced female help, come and find me.” She smiles and I smile back.

  “Beth, you’ve become a good friend. I’m glad we’ve reached this level.”

  “Me too.”

  “Promise me you won’t be upset with me after the exchange?”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I only hope you will still be my friend afterward.”

  “Girl, you’re not making any sense.”

  “I guess not.” I smile at her again.

  She gets up and leaves me alone on the roof. I think about what I’ve seen in Chris’s mind and the fact that after the diamond exchange I will be dead. Chris’s intention to distance himself after the delivery will be for naught. He will be devastated because his “destined Healer” dies, no doubt. But with time he’ll recover.