Argent Eye II

33

"Thanks." I said to Irina, knowing it was her doing.

"Now." David said. "You were saying?"

And so I told them everything, starting from Ellie, to the party, to Ronan investigating and then to the doctor managing to extract my powers.

"So... they're gone?" Irina asked, clearly not quite certain that such a thing was possible.

I nodded slowly. "I can't feel them anymore."

"Not even the ice?" David asked.

I shook my head.

Irina held up her hand, and it started glowing a pale white-blue. She then took hold of my hand with it. It felt soft and warm, and I was pretty sure I could feel the air in some strange, supernatural way, but I wasn't sure if that was just because I remembered how the air felt within myself when I had it. I felt no connection now, though. Nothing that would indicate it still being present in my body.

"You don't feel that at all?" Irina asked.

"Not in the sense that you mean." I said solemnly. A tear fell down my face then.

"Hey, it's okay." Irina rubbed my arm. "We'll get through this. There might be a way to get your powers back."

I looked up at her through tear-blurred eyes. "I really don't think there is. But even if there was, how are we going to find it in time? Ronan is locked up as we speak. Possibly being tortured. And the doctor is doing god knows what with my powers. What use am I in all this?"

"Can you still summon your Black Prometheum?" David said, with perhaps a spark of hope in his eyes.

I wiped my face. "I'm not sure. I haven't tried." I took a couple of deep breaths and pried my hands apart as if summoning the Black Prometheum. I had to say, I wasn't expecting it to work, so when nothing happened, I wasn't surprised- I was a little disappointed, though. My thoughts kept drifting to Ronan, though. "We have to go and help Ronan." I said, and went to stand up, but as soon as I did, my head started swimming and the room tilted.

"Woah." Irina said, as I practically fell onto her. She caught me, and helped me back down to the sofa. "You're in no fit state to go anywhere, even if you still had your powers."

I sighed, then looked at her. "How did you say I got here again?" I asked. I couldn't remember anything past that machine.

Irina exchanged another look with David.

"What?" I asked.

"Kate told us about you." She began. At the mention of Kate, my blood started to boil, but then I remembered the conversation I'd overheard when I'd been half asleep. There was another girl's voice I'd heard, and I realised then that it was Kate's. "She came to David's office yesterday and was looking for you, but she wouldn't tell us why. Next thing, she's emailing David saying that the doctor was holding this party and he knew that you were going to turn up. By that time, it seemed you and Ronan had already gone."

"But that doesn't explain how I'm here." I said.

"Again, it was Kate." David said. "The doctor didn't see any further use for you once he got what he wanted. He left you in an alley, unconscious."

Well, shit. I thought perhaps the doctor would want me dead, seeing as I knew a lot about him and what he was doing. But then again, what was I gonna do? Maybe he wanted to punish me further by having me live without my powers. It was laughable, really. When I first discovered what being an Argent meant, I would have given him my powers voluntarily, no questions asked. But now, I felt empty. Like I'd lost a part of myself that couldn't be replaced. Not to mention the fact that Ronan was missing and there wasn't much I could do about it. Instead, I'd have to watch everyone else do everything.

Then there was Kate. She'd done some pretty awful shit, but now it seemed that she'd saved my life. But then again, it might not have needed saving had she not put me in that position. Would it have happened anyway, even without Kate? Would the doctor have found me eventually?

"You need to rest." David said. "You look like death."

I wanted to protest. I wanted to get up and go running after the doctor, to help Ronan, but the fact that I didn't even have the energy to stay on my feet unaided only confirmed that David was right.

"I'll take you home." Irina said.

"You don't have to do that." I said, waving a hand and getting up. I did manage to stay on my feet this time, although did begin to wonder whether I'd even make it home.

"I insist." Irina said. "You definitely won't make it on foot."

I just nodded. As it turned out, Irina had a car- a red Astra, in fact. I hopped in the front, and struggled to keep my eyes open as we drove, but I had to direct her to my house.

"You will get your powers back." Irina said, sounding way more confident than I felt.

I looked at her. "How do you know that?"

She shrugged. "You can't just lose your powers. You can't reverse being an Argent." She paused. "It just doesn't make any sense."

"Well, I seemed to have been reversed." I said, and just to prove my point, I held my palm out and envisioned the flames making their way through the veins of my wrist, to my hand. "See." I said. "No fire."

"They might come back." She said, hopeful. "Maybe your body just needs time to recover."

I admired her optimism, but sadly it wasn't rubbing off on me. "Somehow I don't think so." I sighed, as we pulled up outside my house.

"Are you okay? Do you need a hand?" Irina asked.

I stepped out of the car. "I think I'm okay." I said. "Thank you."

I could tell she didn't really know what to say to me- nothing would make me feel particularly happy right now. "Well, okay." She said. "Rest up. We can decide what to do tomorrow."

"Keep me updated." I said. I may not have powers, and may not be very useful, but I still wanted to know everything that was going on.

"Of course." Irina said. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." I said, and shut the car door. I then walked into my house, crept up the stairs, and went to bed.

Sleep didn't hesitate to take me.

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