11/6/13

Twelve

He had not found her yet.  He had scoured the campus, infiltrated every dorm, every back room, but she was not to be seen. 

He sat in the dorm room he had been assigned to, staring at the computer screen in front of him.  His roommate had decided to go out of town suddenly, leaving him the entire space to himself.  He was glad since he had not actually been in a dorm room in many years.  He just barely looked young enough to still be on a college campus.  A dorm room was pushing it.  But they had thought that he would have better luck finding her if he was in a dorm.

The computer rang, signaling a call from headquarters. The screen illuminated and he could see a conference room with several people in it.

“John, reporting in.” He said.

“Have you found her?” The General’s voice was stern and coming from behind the camera.

“I have not.” He heard firsts slam onto the table and the camera shook causing all the people that he could see to go temporarily out of focus.

“What do you mean?”

“I have not found her.  I have searched the entire campus, multiple times, I have looked in places that are off limits to students, just in case she has a hiding spot, but I have not found her.”

“You have seen her trace though?”

“No sir.  Not even a trace of where she might be.  I thought I might have picked up something in the library, but when I went inside there was nothing.  It must have been someone else, not as strong.”

The General heaved a sigh of disgust.  One of the others took over the questioning.

“Are there many on campus?”

“There seems to be a small faction.  I’ve got most of them spotted, but none of them are powerful enough to cause what we saw on their own.”

“Did you find the one she worked on?”

“Yes, he was easy to spot.  A professor.”

“Stake out his classes.”

“I’m already signed up for all of the courses that he offers, Sir.  I will be in every one.  There are some, though, that only meet once a week and have already met this week.”

“Then you will be there for more than a week.”

“Yes Sir.”

“In fact, you will be there until you find her.  I will not allow another one to slip by us, we will capture her and will ensure that she develops no further.”

“Yes Sir.” Before he finished what he was saying the connection was broken.

He heaved a sigh and lay back on the twin bed that would be his for the next week.  He hoped that he found her quickly.  If nothing else, he could get back to his king sized bed.  And his own personal bathroom. 

Thirteen

Keith sat with the council, silent for the moment.  They had just intercepted the call that the informant had gotten.  He was right, they were searching for Larissa.  He was even more correct in thinking that she was something very special.  They wanted to shut her down. 

He had an idea of what that might entail.

“Keith, we’ve got to take this information to the others.”

“I know George.  I won’t stop you.  All I ask is that we do everything we can to protect Larissa.”

“Of course we will.  You have got to talk to her about shielding and let her know that she is being watched.”

“I know.  She’s already pulled her energies back, she’s already shielding herself. “

“You have to tell her everyone Keith.”

“I know.  I just don’t want to. I don’t want her to give up on her gifts altogether because someone is out to get her for some unknown reason.”

“We can’t take the chance that we may lose her altogether.  It’s better for her to pull back for a period of time, or for us to not be able to work with her in any capacity than to have her talents fall into the wrong hands.”

“Agreed.”

“Then we all know what we have to do.  What our next steps are.”

The meeting disbanded.  Keith remained in the room, alone, letting the energies from the cave where they met seep into his system.  It was a very secluded spot, not one that was easily accessible to anyone if they did not know the secret paths.  Of course, knowing wasn’t enough.  You had to want to find the place as well.  As with many things, this place could be hidden with nothing more than the intention to hide it.

Finally he stood and made his way out of the hill side.  He drove himself back to campus, noticing the energetic bubble that had appeared when the man had appeared.  Keith knew they were tracking the comings and goings of everyone through the bubble.  He knew that Larissa would not be able to leave campus while the bubble was in place or they would instantly know who she was. 

Yet another thing he had to tell her about.  He hoped that she would not think he was crazy, or that she would explode in anger when she found out.  He needed her to stay calm and guarded.  If she did not, she might be easily spotted and then… he could do nothing to save her if they found her.  They were too strong.

Fourteen

Larissa woke with a start.  She had been dreaming something so strange, she had to blink several times to make sure she was finally awake.  She sat up in bed, grabbed her journal to write what she had been dreaming about.  She held the pen in her hand and hesitated. 

She couldn’t do it.  She couldn’t write what had just been shown to her.  It seemed all at once too dangerous and too fantastic.  She thought back on the dream, trying to pin down what bothered her so much.

It had felt like a movie scene.  She was sure she had seen something like it somewhere.  She was in a room, only the room had no walls or floor or ceiling.  It seemed the whole place was made of clouds.  There were risers of people on three sides of her.  Only they weren’t really people.  They were spirits, aliens, angels.  They took all shapes and sizes.  She had never really seen anything like what some of them appeared to be.  The risers all sat above her, so that the beings were looking down on her.  She had felt at first that they were judging her, and she had been afraid.

Then it seemed that the very air that surrounded her changed.  She felt as though she was surrounded by a warm breeze that was at once loving and comforting.  Her body, which had felt cold at first, warmed until she felt like she glowed.  She looked again at the bodies in the risers and saw that they were not strangers, but they seemed to be beings that she knew well.  Their energies all felt like, well they felt like home.

She wondered at them, she wondered what she was doing there.  Just as the thoughts came into her head, other thoughts came as well.  But the other thoughts did not seem to be her own.

They whispered words such as ‘we love you’, ‘you are one with us’, ‘we are here to guide you’, ‘we see you, we love you, you are amazing.’

Such words of love and praise Larissa had never heard before.  But she felt that what they said was true, that they did love her, that she was part of them and that she was amazing.

‘What am I doing here?’

‘We are here to protect us.  We have a different perspective than the human us.’

The tone confused her.  She shook her head in denial, how could they be her and she be them? Suddenly energy shot through her body, her mind was full of images from lifetimes, other worlds, and meetings where she sat in the risers looking down at another part of herself.  She understood.  They were all connected, every one of them.  It didn’t matter which one was having the experience, they were all having it. 

‘What do I need to know?’ The beings smiled at her, their energies lifting in appreciation for her ability to grasp what was happening so quickly.

‘There are some that would do us harm.  They are looking for us.  We must be careful.’

‘Someone we know?’

‘Someone we know here, but not there.’

‘What do they want?’

‘They want to disconnect you from us.  They want to connect to us without you.’

‘Is that even possible?’

‘It is.  It is unfortunate, but it is possible.’

Larissa’s mind filled with a picture.  A young man, surrounded by what looked to be soldiers.  The young man was crying in pain, but the soldiers never touched him.  She watched as they energetically severed him from himself, she watched as they connected the energy to some sort of machine.  The young man was then left, alone in the room, truly alone for the first time.  He had no light, no connection to himself.  The connection he had was being used for other purposes. 

They showed her what happened as the man aged, and he did so quickly.  Without his connection to the rest of himself, he was an empty shell.  He did not live life, he brought no light into anything that he did.  No energy, for he had none. 

‘What happens when he dies in that world?’ Larissa asked the question, though she was terrified of the answer.

‘He is lost forever.’

‘A ghost.’

‘Yes, that is what they are called there.’

‘Can he ever be reunited with the rest of himself?’

‘Only if the connection they have established is also severed.  Then he can be brought home.’

‘And this is what they want for me?  They want to steal me from myself?’

‘This is only part of what they want.  They want a lot more, for you have more to offer.  This is only the beginning.’

‘So I hide, I can do that.’

‘You must do more.’

‘What more must I do?’

‘It is no longer time for hiding.  Now it is time for releasing those that have been severed.  We must bring the severed ones home.’

Just as she was going to ask what they meant, she woke.  Sitting on her bed, pen in hand, she knew she could not write what had happened.  She knew that if she wrote it down she was risking too much.  She had to, instead, speak this information to trusted partners.  She wondered who those partners would be.