By: Anne Olsen and Michele Bumbarger
Chapter Eleven
Ami shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs inside, as she, Adam and Megabyte materialised inside the ship. She felt as though she was waking from some sort of sleep almost, yet she couldn’t remember ever slipping into that sleep. No, she corrected to herself, it was almost as though she had been caught in between, aware of what was happening to herself but at the same time unaware. She frowned and felt a shiver go down the back of her neck. Did that thought even make sense?
“Are you okay, Ami?” Kevin looked worried as he came up to her, as did Jade. Jade, she noticed though, hung back a bit, almost as though she wasn’t sure how she should react.
“It’s okay Jade, I won’t bite.” Ami tried to reassure the younger girl, though she noticed a horrified look on her face as soon as the words were out of her mouth.
“Lighten up Jade,” commented Megabyte. “She didn’t mean it literally.”
“But the dreams…” started Jade.
The dreams? Ami looked around her fellow Tomorrow People. “You mean you’re having them too, Jade?” she asked. “Kevin, what about you?”
Kevin nodded. “Did you and Megabyte find out anything?” His question was directed at Adam.
“We got there in time to find Ami trying to finish Angel off with a stake,” Megabyte interrupted.
Ami sat down on one of the cushions on the floor of the ship, and leaned against the wall. “I did what?” she asked, her mind racing as she remembered the stake in Angel’s shoulder. Me stake Angel? I couldn’t have, I wouldn’t have, would I? She felt her stomach heave at the thought. I’ve got to get out of here. Ami tried to fight the panic rising up within her, as she rose to her feet. She noticed the look on the faces of her friends and it suddenly hit her what they must be feeling. What must they be thinking about her at the moment? If she teleported with no explanation, it would only increase the feelings of worry she was picking up from them. “Be back in a minute, guys,” she explained as she disappeared in a flash of white light.
******
Ami reached inside her pocket, pulled out a piece of tissue paper and wiped her mouth. She’d just spent the last five minutes sitting hunched at the water’s edge, watching her last meal disappear out to sea, carried out to the ocean depths by the white crested waves.
“Does that feel better?”
Ami jumped. She’d been so wound up with the way she was feeling and trying to get her head to grips with the thought that she might have killed Angel, that she hadn’t even heard Adam teleport in beside her.
“Not really,” she admitted. “Adam, I’m scared. What’s happening to me? I feel as though I’m watching a bad movie or something and any minute I’ll wake up and find out it was all a bad dream.” She shuddered. “The last day is just a blur. I remember some things but not others. How could parts of my memory just disappear?”
Adam reached out and put his arm around her. “I’m not sure Ami. All I know is that we’ll do everything we can to help…That is, if you’ll let us.”
Ami noticed the hesitation in his last words. A vague memory flashed into her mind, then out again before she had a chance to grasp and hang onto it. “I seem to remember Megabyte…” She paused, a look of horror running across her face. “I threw things at him, didn’t I? How could I have done that?”
“That’s what we need to find out,” confirmed Adam, his face grim. “Ami, do you feel up to trying a mind-merge?”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Megabyte teleported in behind them. “Kevin is waiting back at the ship, he seems to think it’s the way to go too.”
“How’s Jade?” asked Adam.
“She’s really shook up and kinda freaked by the dreams.” Megabyte looked guilty as he continued. “I suppose me asking about her Jedi mind control powers didn’t exactly help either.”
“Megabyte, you didn’t?”
Megabyte shrugged. “Not my fault. She kept going on and on about Angel, and in the end I couldn’t take it any longer, I had to know. Turns out she did meet him at that club like he said, but didn’t want to tell us. She’s not sure how we’ll take the fact she’s been using these new powers that she sort of forget to tell us about.” He brightened. “Cool powers though, just imagine the possibilities…”
Adam shot him a look. “We’ll discuss Jade later, okay? I think we need to get to the bottom of what’s been happening to Ami first, don’t you?”
“Yeah, sure. Ami, you gonna do this mind-merge?”
Ami had been listening to the interplay between the two boys. “I think I remember Angel saying he’d met Jade. Now why didn’t I tell you guys about that?” She spoke quietly, thinking aloud, and not quite knowing that she was. She tried to focus again as she heard Megabyte’s question. “Yes I will, though I must admit I’m not sure how many of those memories I really want to know about.” Hearing that she had almost staked Angel had been one thing, actually experiencing it, that was something else again. Ami was torn in two directions, part of her wanted to fill the gaps and know what had been happening to her. The other part was scared that she might not like what she saw.
“You’ll be fine, Ami.” Megabyte laid a hand on her shoulder, showing his support.
Ami looked up at him, noticing the concern shining in his eyes. Even though he liked to come across with all the smart banter, she knew she could still count on Megabyte when needed. Ami thought back to the last time he’d shown this type of insight and frowned as an unbidden image flashed across her mind.
“Ami what is it?”
“Nothing, Adam. It’s nothing.” As they headed back to the ship and the other Tomorrow People, Ami tried to forget the image that had gone as quickly as it had appeared. For some reason she couldn’t get out of her mind the last time she’d felt like this. It was right before she and her friends had been plunged into Angel’s world, a world of vampires, magic and darkness. Right before…Ami shook her head, no she wasn’t going there, not now. She needed to concentrate on the here and now, find out what was causing her memory gaps. Ami took a deep breath and followed Adam and Megabyte back into the ship.
******
“Where’s Jade?” Adam looked around the ship, but couldn’t see or sense the British girl anywhere.
“She went home,” explained Kevin, looking accusingly at Megabyte. “I think you upset her a bit the way you went on about Angel.”
“Who me?” Megabyte tried hard to look innocent but unfortunately didn’t succeed very well.
“Megabyte, what did you say to her exactly?” asked Adam.
“Well she was the one who started to talk about Angel…” Megabyte defended himself.
“Yeah, after you asked her all about her visit to Club Indigo.” Kevin interrupted the older boys.
“Guys.” Ami had obviously decided it was time to get the conversation back on track. “You can work out this whole thing with Jade later, after she’s gotten over feeling upset by whatever it was that Megabyte said to her.”
“I haven’t upset her,” protested the redhead. “It’s not my fault if she didn’t tell us about her cool new power.”
“I agree with Ami,” said Adam. “I think we need to initiate this mind-merge and find out as soon as possible what or who is responsible for…” Adam’s voice tailed off as he noticed the look in Ami’s eyes.
“You mean who is responsible for me trying to stake Angel?” Ami finished his sentence for him.
“Don’t forget I was ducking flying plants earlier in the day too,” Megabyte pointed out. “I don’t know about you guys but that’s not exactly normal behaviour from where I’m standing either.”
“I think Ami knows she’s not exactly herself at the moment, Megabyte,” chided Kevin.
Adam stepped in before Megabyte could reply. He knew his friend had been upset by the earlier events in Ami’s dorm room. After all he’d heard all about it in detail when he’d got back to the ship from his visit to Angel’s office in LA.
“All this talk is getting us nowhere.” The Australian held out his hands towards his fellow Tomorrow People, motioning that they should initiate the mind-merge. “Ami, try and remember back to last night, when you were sleeping and the rest of us will try and remember the last dream. Maybe it will help to jog your memories.”
“Adam, I’m scared. If this dream is as bad as I think it’s going to be, I’m not sure I really want to remember. What if…”
Kevin reached out to her telepathically. [Don’t worry Ami, you won’t be alone. We’ll be with you every step of the way.]
Adam closed his eyes, concentrating on reaching out to the others with his mind. A blue glow began to form as he felt Kevin, Megabyte and lastly Ami join him in the merge. He could also feel the ship adding its power to theirs, boosting their abilities as they remembered back to the events they had experienced during their shared dream of the previous night. There was also a sense of fear coming from Ami as Adam sensed her trying to bring herself under control. This was going to be hard for her, he realised, especially if she really had no idea what the dream entailed.
Adam could feel the coldness crawling up his spine as he tried to remember the dream that he, Megabyte and obviously Kevin too, judging from the images coming from the younger boy, had shared the previous night. Within the power of the mind-merge he could feel himself back on the roof of the building watching Ami straddling Angel’s chest as she plunged the stake into him. The dream Ami turned her face towards him and he waited in anticipating dread for her features to start changing.
Suddenly he felt another presence, something or someone he hadn’t noticed in the original dream. Adam turned and saw a pair of piercing green eyes probing into him, almost trying to invade his thoughts. He instinctively raised his mental shields and reached for Ami, Kevin and Megabyte, ready to protect them if needed.
[Adam!] Ami’s mental voice was filled with terror. [Adam, I can’t do this.]
Suddenly Adam found himself back at the ship, the blue glow of the merge seeming to fade back into the recesses of the strange symbols etched into the walls around him. Ami broke the mind-merge and stood there shaking, leaning against him for support.
“Who the hell was that?” asked Megabyte. “I’ve seen her before I think, just can’t remember.” He frowned as he tried to reach back into his memories.
“Not your memories, Megabyte,” pointed out Kevin. “I think we’ve seen her before alright, but in Ami’s mind. Whoever she is, it’s Ami who has had the direct contact with her, not the rest of us.”
“Giselle,” whispered Ami, as though worried the woman might actually hear her. “The woman is Giselle.” Ami seemed shaken, close to tears. She buried her head on Adam’s shoulder, almost as though she was seeking some sort of sanctuary from him.
“Ami are you okay?” asked Kevin, concern showing in his voice.
“I think so.” She gave them a small smile. “After all it’s not everyday that you see yourself start to change into a vampire after you’ve killed one of your friends is it?”
Adam put his arms around her, to comfort her but she suddenly pulled away. “Ami?” he asked, sensing a sudden change of mood within her.
Ami looked around her, suddenly seeming to realise what she’d just done. “Sorry Adam,” she apologised. “I think the whole thing’s just been a bit of shock, that’s all. I’m suddenly not feeling very well. Do you guys mind if I head home? I need to go and lie down for a bit.”
Adam pushed the little warning voice to the back of his mind. Ami looked tired, he realised. All that she’d been through over the last few weeks, maybe she was still feeling the effects of the soul bonding to Angel too.
He opened his mouth to say something to her, but before he could speak there was a flash of white light and the three boys found themselves looking at the empty space where Ami had just been.
******
Entangled
[Back to Chapter Ten]