The Acolytes of Crane (Theodore Crane, #1)(11)

‘Whoa,’ I said, caught off guard. ‘What’s gotten into your beehive now?’

Jason said, ‘Travis, you have been tough on him, though, picking on him and stuff.’

‘I don’t care,’ Travis said, and shoved me. Jason jumped in.

‘You don’t need to push him, Travis!’ Jason said.

I stood tall, realizing Jason had just stuck up for me.

Trying to calm Travis down, I desperately tried to figure out what set him off. ‘Is this about your dad beating you? Because...’

‘What!’ Jason turned to Travis, stunned.

Travis glowered with a dangerous look in his eyes. ‘No,’ he sneered, ‘it’s all about you.’ He grabbed my collar and read out loud the label on it. ‘Flyboy, it should say freak-boy.’

Jason leaned over and whispered, ‘Don’t take that crap from anyone, Theodore.”

Despite Jason’s gesture, I just lost my temper. I grabbed Travis’s shoulder, and as he swung out in defense, I received the point of his elbow cleanly on my nose. My nostrils were pouring blood, and once the blood hit my hands, my rage knew no limits. I charged Travis. I was fueled by the hatred of being belittled and battered for so long.

All my peripheral vision went black, and at the end of the tunnel was my nemesis. In the thick of the frenzy, I felt Jason’s presence as his hands split the two of us, trying desperately to break up the fight.

The storm delivered a thwack and boom of thunder. My necklace shone bright in the dark wild terror of the fight, and I feared they would see the amulet. The rain drenched our altercation in downpour. Drops of water dripped downward off the edge of my hood, creating a curtain of water that obstructed my sight. I took in water through my nostrils from my heavy breathing.

Travis lost his step near the edge of the cliff, and in reaction, grabbed onto Jason for safety. When Jason also started to stumble toward the precipice, Travis reached desperately for the tree next to him, grabbing a branch to safety. In contrast, Jason had nothing to hold on to.

Looking up from my burning amulet, I reached for Jason’s jacket. I had it in my hand for a second, but the downpour loosened my grip. Jason slipped from my grasp.

Travis and I watched in horror, kneeling over the edge, as our best friend fell down the side of the cliff. Jason’s last act of his life—his blood-curdling scream—struck terror into our hearts, creating an indelible memory of sheer horror. The sound of a lifeless body smacked the water, and all that remained was the rain pattering the stone of the cliffs. Aided by a flash of lightning, Travis and I see Jason’s body as he floated lifeless with the river’s current.

“Then, the rumble of the thunder came, and all was engulfed by blackness and eerie calm. Jason’s life was taken by the rocky sides of the cliff and the murky waters below it.”

I glance around at the equally foreboding gloominess of my prison cell. While shedding a tear at Jason’s memory, I figure I cannot afford to waste a drop more, because I am at point of severe dehydration. Mustering my courage, I wipe away the tear. My body sinks slowly to the mat on the hard floor as I am overcome with exhaustion.

Time goes by, as I drift in and out of consciousness.

“Roll him over,” one of the guards says. “You forgot to restrain him, you idiot. Fire up the cannon and keep it locked on eight-six-seven-five’s signature. Do you have any idea who this is?”

“He’s asleep, boss,” the rookie says.

Between blinks, I see the veteran guard does not look like he wants to be here today. He says to his colleague, “I will put you to sleep, if you screw up again, rookie. Grab him up under the armpits there. I will slip the temporalysis over his head.” As the device is placed behind my head, its bands magically wrap around my skull, and its nodes press hard at my temples. I stir somewhat.

“Hey, that temporalysis thing really works. He was as limp as a dead fish, now look at him! Who is he?”

“He is Theodore Crane.”

“No way! I should’ve known!”

“It’s okay, rookie. It’s your first day. Come, I will tell you a secret. He isn’t the toughest prisoner in here.”

The rookie asks, “Really?”

“We have the Ghost of Sephera here, as well,” the veteran guard says, and the rookie’s eyes light up. Strategic information about the prison is being blabbed away, because the two knuckleheads handling me believe I am still unconscious. The veteran guard sees me recover further, and he promptly shuts up, then says, “We will have the nurse check on him and then we’re out. Nurse! Get your ass in here.”


The nurse rushes in. She pierces my skin painlessly and hooks up a saline feeder tube. After she injects something into the line, I suddenly become jittery. My bladder is near explosion; my willpower is nil, and thus I am left with only the humiliation of unloading.

“Haha! He pissed himself,” the rookie says.

“Guns at the ready, rookie,” the guard says.

“Oops,” said the nurse, looking down at the ground next to me. She turned her head angrily at the turrets and shouted, “Look what you’ve done! You’ve scared me!”

“Sorry, missus,” the guard apologizes. Apparently his hardened persona could soften at the sight of a pretty nurse.

She kneels down into the ground, searching for an object. “Got it. I dropped a needle. Alright sirs, I am finished,” the nurse announces out loud. Before standing up, she leans in close next to my ear. Her lips are but a hair-width away, and she breathlessly whispers to me, “See you, Theo.” Aroused, I recognize her voice, but it would not be the first time my ears play a trick on me.