Efferent

Chapter 16

I fell onto the ground, wheezing as panic gripped me. The concrete dug into my knees, the uneven ridges ripping into my skin and drawing blood. The last thing I remembered was screaming, before everything grew black.

"Is that her breathing?" A voice called out, and I huddled further down as it echoed in the small space. "She seems to be panicking."

I whimpered, clutching at my ears and trying to get as small as possible. "They are getting tighter, aren't they?" He gave a dry, vindictive chuckle. "The walls? It is suffocating, is it not?"

I sobbed, tears streaming down my face. How they welled past my shut eyes, I could not tell you. "You can control minds, so I am told." The voice continued. "I think that is a lie. You do not control minds. You can not even control your own."

Drawling on, he circled my body like a vulture, "But do you know what does control minds? People? Entire nations?" My body shook.

"Fear." He spat. "Unaltered and pure. And I control fear. You are not even close to matching my power."

He paced around my collapsed body, but I did not look up, too busy cowering, too afraid to see the walls continue to close in. "I do not know what you are feeling, like some people may," He continued, carelessly. "But I can warrant a guess."

I tightened my grip on my body, hugging myself, trying to get as small as possible. I felt his breath reach across my shoulder blades, as he leaned in to whisper in my ears. "Helpless," He drawled, "Feeble, weak. But that is not the worst of it, is it, Ardyn?"

He chuckled and straightened. "You are Efferent, the highest percentage we have seen. Yet you are unable to defend those that you care deeply about, because you can not even defend yourself." He scoffed audibly. "But worst of all, Ardyn Danvers, worst of all, you are afraid."

Footsteps echoed across the grounds as I curled up further, falling to my side, sobs wracking my body. "Stop it!" A familiar voice crackled out. "What are you doing to her?"

"C-Clark?" I whimpered out. "I-I can not breathe. I can not fit in here."

"Fit in where? Ardyn? Ardyn!" He shook my shoulders and I choked on my fear, air unable to pass through my lungs.

"Ardyn?" Two hands clamped softly around my forearms and pulled my huddled body into a warm chest. "Make it stop, Blaise!" He shouted.

"I did. I only initially placed the thought in her mind. Her subconscious took it and ran. It is all within her control now." The deep voice from earlier grit out.

"Amelia, do something," Clark pleaded, rocking me slightly. "Please! You can make it better."

I heard a soft sigh and someone moved the hair on the back of my neck, and a feminine voice hummed. "Blaise, leave us. I will take it from here. I suggest you exercise your powers in the training simulator and then have a conversation with Walter."

"She was trying to escape!" Blaise protested. "I was doing my job. Your job, Amelia."

"Leave, Blaise." The girl, Amelia, hardly changed her inflection from a comforting tone to exile him from the room. "Clark?" She inquired.

"Yeah?" Clark asked. "What is it?"

Amelia sighed. "You will have to let her go."

"I will not. I will never." He adjusted his grip, but he never tightened it. "Whatever you do to her, you can do to me."

Amelia sighed, and I hunched even further into Clark's body, shying away from the unfamiliar form yet unable to shake the paralyzing fear. "You will experience everything that she does. It will make you vulnerable."

I could feel him shake his head. "Does not matter. Ardyn needs me. She trusts me to take care of her in times like this. So, I will not let her go."

My skin felt tight around my bones, my eyelid shook with the force of keeping them glued shut, and a soft ache was building up in my jaw as I clenched my teeth. And it seemed, that nothing would stand in my fear's way.

I let out a whimper again, and Amelia hummed softly in response. "Shh, shh, Ardyn, darling. I can take it away. I will soothe it away," She offered, placing a warm palm on the small of my back. "I am Efferent, just as you are."

She began rubbing her hand in soothing circular motions, and a chill ran down my spine while simultaneously it heated my skin. The sensation of the sun's open rays warming my back while I dipped my feet in the cool waters of a pond overtook my body. I swung my feet in the water, creating turbulent waves and a frothing surface that distorted my reflection below.

I sank further into it, leaning heavily on Clark's grasp, as if the string that had held my body up taut had been cut, and my posture relaxed. "Open your eyes, Ardyn." Amelia cooed.

I lifted my head, and my neck swayed with the sudden weight I felt. My body was fatigued; my heart felt solid and heavy. I sighed, pressing my warm breath into the collar of Clark's shirt. I feel silent as I looked into his heavily lidded eyes, and saw the lethargy painted onto his face. "What did you do?" I whispered roughly, without turning to the source of our weariness.

"I stripped away you adrenaline. It was prolonging whatever Blaise incited. There was quite a bit too," The circular motions stilled, and I turned to face a girl with a softly upturned nose and raven black eyes. Her skin was pale, her hair contrasting it in straight, pitch colored locks. She cocked her head to the side, as if showing sympathy, but her expression never changed. "How long have you been running? You and Clark?"

I shook my head, and leaned back against Clark's slow rising chest. He breaths came in shallow and separate, his eyes drawn shut, clearly asleep. "Clark has been hiding much longer than I. Perhaps a few weeks together, perhaps a month or two for him."

We fell silent, and my limbs grew heavier, but one question penetrated through the cloudy haze. "Who stopped me?"

"Blaise. Blaise Simmons. He's been at the shelter for a while. I am Amelia, in case you didn't know. Anderson, Amelia Anderson." She restated.

"What did Blaise do? I have never been so terrified in my life."

"I know," Amelia nodded, and placed her hand over my heart. "I could feel it. Your pain, your fear, I mean. That's my power. I can feel and influence the emotions of others. But Blaise?" She sighed, withdrawing her hand. "He can project images, like mirages, and trick you into thinking that something is truth, solid, and factual. He can manipulate your mind's perceptions to control your reality."

"He could have killed me." I spat out.

Amelia shook her head. "No. But Blaise could have made you think that you were dead."