𝚊𝚋𝚜𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎 ➪ 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚢𝚎𝚛𝚜

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Tʜʀᴇᴇ

𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎
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𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚞𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗
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The next day was another long one. Genie was taken back to the testing room and told to read the minds of people across the globe. Of course, her response was, "Are you serious?"

Training grew gradually more difficult and Genie hated it. She knew it was only helping her, though. It was making her stronger.

She didn't know what she was helping Brenner do with all these weird training sessions, something bad she assumed.

One morning while the large men carried her to the training room, Genie started up a casual conversation with Brenner. "Y'know, it's pretty ironic that I'm twelve and my number is twelve."

Brenner was taken aback. Genie never talked normally or even relatively friendly to him. It was usually insults involving plenty of cuss words. "I suppose it is." He mumbled.

They reached the training room and sat in their respective spots. "Now, Genevieve, I want you to just listen today. Listen to anyone you want and report back to me when you're finished."

Genie nodded and closed her eyes. She was actually looking forward to this.  With her eyes shut tightly, Genie instinctively drummed her fingers against the table and exhaled slowly.

"The Vale Of Shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world." Dustin said, "It is a place of decay and death. A plane out of phase. A place of monsters."

Excitement bubbled up in Genie's chest. They were doing it, they were finding Will.

She opened her eyes just a crack and found Brenner staring at her, well glaring at her really. She shut her eyes again and focused.

"I'm sorry if I'm not the most focused on school when my sister is missing!" Steve's voice yelled and Genie could only assume he was yelling at their father. This brought the excitement down ever so slightly, her heart sinking. Steve was worried sick about her. It killed her to hurt him like this but she had to stay. She had to learn more about these weird powers.

And learn she did.  Most days were relatively the same. Training, sleeping, searching, e.t.c.

One night, Genie was curled up on the floor in her room with her fingers tapping the floor rhythmically.  She had her eyes screwed shut and her breathing was slow and steady.

The first thing she heard was, "Should I stay or should I go now..." his voice was quiet and shaky but Genie knew she had found Will again.  It was more difficult to find him for reasons she wasn't aware of yet.  When his voice ran through her head, a chill ran down her spine.  She was suddenly unnaturally cold and scared.

This was what Will had been feeling since the day he went missing and that thought made Genie tremble.  This feeling was awful.  It was like being dunked in a bucket of ice water so cold that it felt hot, and having a cactus pushed down her throat.  Death would seem like a spa day compared to a week feeling like this.

She couldn't handle any more of it so she forced her eyes open and gasped.  Will's condition had gotten worse and she wasn't there to help him.  Not that she'd be any good to him away since she would probably be just as sick.