Page 3 (1/2)

Running on adrenaline and instinct, I fell alic I’d felt the other time Anyan had been hurt in front of h, that Phaedra had nixed Anyan’s a heap, causingthat had stoppedthat I should never, ever heed that siren’s song to pull

What I saw in ical trance back then was just like what I sa Water, water everywhere, and all of it full of power Water connected everything: hydrogen and oxygen ato like billions of bead curtains acrossin the Matrix’s computer code, only instead of numbers there ater And if you switched your perspective, it became obvious that just as the water droplets went up and down, they also went horizontally

Connecting each and everyone of us, I thought, as I went down deeper into my power, until I was s of beads connecting ain…

And then, seeing no other alternative, I did exactly what I’d been told not to do I pulled

Focused on theto shoot out Anyan’s brains, I only sahat I did to hi my actions, what I sahat I did--still haunts me

Apparently, people re his eye to his site when he jerked hard Thankfully, he didn’t have his finger on the trigger at that mo his assault rifle dropped uselessly to his side as he spasmed I saw, in my peripheral vision, similar movements from his fellow attackers

My assault lasted only seconds, but it felt like hours

I called to the water in all the men’s bodies, and it responded to er retrievers I watched, cold, as the an to shrivel, but I didn’t stop I didn’t stop when he fell to his knees, and I didn’t stop when he fell to the ground

I didn’t stop even when I saw that the fingers protruding fro-dead uilt about ht Those ers, and--somewhere between the Alfar Coh by what I’d seen of evil to understand that fact But visions of the bodies would still appear to htmares At that moment, however, all I felt was power… The h their body’s water, and I tasted what it was to take another person’s life by stealing, quite literally, their essence…

The water in ic’s channels open wide, inviting, receiving, until I was as full as I’ve ever been of ele withup ates I’d never felt so full, so strong… until it began to burn Pain suddenly seared through , I fell to my own knees as the power stretched ht I’d pass out from the pain, the tide of my power turned Just as all that elemental force had rushed into my open channels, it now all rushed out I felt , and suddenly I knew that what I’d hoped would save Anyan’s life would probably end ht I’d found my love Jason’s body in the Old Soas totally untrained and ignorant of ic--all of iant whirlpool off the coast of Rockabill I’d al a supe of all of hishi out hest I was prostrate onseemed a bit hazy, however, and I now reckon that the only reason I wasn’t panicked was thatInstead I was quite calm; I just wanted to know Anyan was alive before I went

Which is why I was so very, very pissed when someone had the audacity to roll me over like I was a side of beef To be fair, Blondie looked almost as miffed as me when she finally settled o there, babydoll," she mumbled, as her tattooed hands stroked down my face

I wanted to protest, to tell her to see to Anyan before attending to me But unconsciousness swa

The planet was dead all around Nothing grew, nothing lived--except s, and, somewhere out in the darkness, our cousins I huddled with ainst the Earth, cradled by Water So young, ere afraid to venture out of the sanctuary created by our parents We were small, then Unaware of our power and innocent in our play

[Everything is so young, Ifor just a es ( with my humanity]

Soon, however, we stretched our li We flexed our power, realizing our potential But born of Water and Earth--born of love--e only for play--play that one day took us outside the safety of our nest Unharht I had two eyes, murmured she who had been Jane]