A Touch Of Lightning (COMPLETED!)

Chapter 34 Ahleena's Revenge

"Everybody back to the kitchen. Carmen needs it quiet, with no distractions, while she helps Callin." Ahleena unsteadily stood up, hating the weakness in her limbs.

A deep facet of her consciousness redoubled its efforts to accelerate her healing, sending more of her telepathy into the core of her being, where healing energies originated. She winced as the lights overhead seemed to quadruple in intensity, their light a piercing blade that seemed to dig deep into her eyes and set fire to the nerves behind them. It was a consequence of using too much of her power, too fast.

Once all of the students had turned and begun heading back to the kitchen, she gritted her teeth and stood straight. She didn't have time for weakness.

"You're pushing too hard, Ahleena. You really should lay back down." Jacob said quietly.

Ahleena narrowed her eyes at him, disliking anybody pointing out her weakness.

"I'm fine. It's Callin and Carmen you should be worried about."

Jacob glanced down at them, then back at her, worry creasing his features.

"You're not fine. The only reason you're standing is because you're over-taxing your telekinesis. Ahleena, you can't keep that level of energy up indefinitely. And if you collapse, if you exhaust yourself, how will you heal? I don't think Callin will be able to send his bone armor around you again..."

Ahleena stared at him for a long moment, deciding exactly how to answer him. She was truly exhausted. And the mental effort required to block the raw, screaming pain covering her body entirely had short-circuited her patience. In the end, she simply walked away, the faint nimbus of white light glowing around her seeming to flicker uneasily with her every movement.

Jacob watched her walk away, his heart heavy. She had withdrawn from him. From them all. She was The Ninja only. Not for the first time, he wondered what it cost her humanity to hold herself to that level. On an impulse, he reached for her mind with his own.

"Ahleena. At least let me help." He said, offering a link in their minds to his well of power. She could draw from it as she saw fit, use it where she needed it. It was an intimate link, tied to the very essence of Jacob. Tied to his memories, his emotions. Tied to his core.

Ahleena stopped, standing perfectly still for a moment. Her fists clenched slowly, incredible tension radiating throughout her body, reminding Jacob of the danger in the eyes of the cobra moments before it struck. He found himself holding his breath, holding himself as still as possible, almost afraid to attract any more of her attention.

"You never let on..." Her mind was torn into so many directions that it was hard for her to form a complete thought. But he understood her clearly. She was stunned at the depth of power he held.

"I don't allow myself to truly tap into that well. I suggest you only use what you need, Ahleena. We aren't ready to try to control that...that infinity." Here his mind struggled to form an accurate description for the incomprehensible well of raw power he held access to.

Ahleena spun abruptly, liquid quick, making Jacob gasp. Her eyes were glittering brightly, almost completely lit from within by the white light of her power. It was not the warm, soft light that surrounded her body, helping with healing her. It was the cold, focused light of telepathy wielded as a weapon. Of power to such extreme it was visible to the naked eye.

She smiled at him, a lethal curving of her lips, reminding him of an angel and a demon at the same instant. Then she closed her eyes and sank down to the floor in a cross-legged pose of meditation. It was so unexpected that he found himself blinking at her stupidly for a long moment. Then he realized that she wasn't just meditating. She was barely alive, just the barest amount of life force left in her body. She was spirit-walking!

Jacob had heard of this ability, but had never met anyone who could do it. He had never known Ahleena possessed the ability. He suspected she hadn't the strength to really spirit walk on her own, and was now using his power to enhance her ability.

As his mind whirled with the implications, of what she might be doing, he felt the depth of her touch. She was drawing on that link he had offered. Drawing deep, a torrent, a tidal wave, a falling ocean of power. All at once. He felt chills racing up and down his body.

He couldn't imagine what she was doing with that much power, but he knew she was using it as a weapon. Using it like an extension of her inner self. She was The Ninja, given access to the most powerful weapon the world had ever seen. His telepathic power. And she wanted revenge.

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Ahleena saw the world far below. She moved at great speed, the world rushing by, an entire continent speeding by in less than an eye-blink. Her lantern gaze was keyed to one specific thing. It couldn't escape her. And in moments, she saw the psychic signature of the underground lab radiating up into the Alaskan sky, and her mind arrowed in on it.

She allowed her mind to form a visible image of herself as she floated down the access tunnel, floating through absolute darkness but able to see every detail of everything around her perfectly.

Her spirit-self settled into a gliding, stalking rhythm, her feet not touching the floor. The massive, armored steel door, designed to withstand a nuclear blast, meant nothing to her. She stood in front of it, a small smile on her lips, and reached out one hand. The door shuddered, as if struck by something far more massive than it. Then, as she slowly closed her hand and began to twist, the steel began to crumple.

The underground tunnel was filled with the shrieking of tortured metal, as incomprehensible force simply twisted and lifted the huge door out of the way. Like a giant with invisible hands had reached down and crushed it in its grip.

The spirit image of Ahleena threw back her head and laughed silently. The sheer power coursing through her was beyond intoxicating. She felt as if she had transcended all limitations of reality. As if the rules of the physical world meant less than nothing to her. She step-glided into the underground lab, allowing the many sensors within to detect her. She wanted them to know Death was walking their halls.