Super Secret | Half Hero Book 2 [ON HOLD]

Chapter 26: Practically a Doctor

Despite hours of work and several jump-starts from Basem, I wasn't able to draw my powers out on my own. It was daunting as hell and exhausting as fuck. Basem's lively boosts ravaged my senses, sending shockwaves of powerful electricity through me that stung like a vigorous knifing.

"Again!" I yelled at the snow after being knocked on my ass a twelfth time and panting like I'd been wrestling an alligator.

"Why don't we take a break?" Nawell suggested, squatting down to take a look at me. "We've been at this all morning and afternoon."

"No, no," I insisted, wobbling to my feet and refusing the help that Basem offered. "It's almost there, I can feel it. Let's go!"

Basem exchanged a worried look with his sister while I tried to stretch like I was about going to go for a brisk run (which hurt more than I was willing to admit.)

"Ella, we don't know if this is good for you," Mac cautioned from the sidelines.

"I'll tell you if it hurts," I assured them, puffing out my cheeks defiantly. "Let's go!"

"One more time," Basem agreed reluctantly, planting his feet shoulder-width apart in the twinkling snow. "Then we break for lunch. You're not the only one working up a sweat here."

I closed my eyes to concentrate and drew in a deep breath through my nose.

The air rushed into my lungs to push against my aching ribs, taunting the exhausted muscles until they radiated with heat. The ions in my cells swirled with an exhilarating rush of activity that was already waning.

Raising my arm, Basem grasped my hand and a rancorous charge ransacked my veins, scorching the underside of my skin on its way around my body. 

Like the torture device that Hamm used while I was strapped to a table, I held the charge as long as my bones could stand the violent rattling. 

Beneath my lashes, I could see the sapphire glow becoming so intense, I was sure it would burn my retinas through my eyelids.

A scream ripped from my mouth, terrifying a whole flock of birds nesting in a tree nearby.

"Nawell!" Mac bellowed. "Now! She's gonna blow!"

Basem dropped my hand and a new sensation whooshed over my devastated limbs like my life force was being sucked out of my belly button with a silly straw.

My knees buckled and I fell into a shallow snowbank in time to see Nawell light up in a vivid cobalt blaze. However her powers worked, she was able to absorb the unruly energy like she was swallowing a spoonful of bitter medicine.

"Damn it!" I cried, slapping both my hands on the snow. "What the hell did Varun do to me?"

"Nothing that we can't fix, I'm sure," Nawell volunteered sympathetically as she shook off the shivers the mighty electrical transfer has cost her.

She couldn't fool me or hide the tremble in her voice.

"Are you sure?" I probed bitterly, locking on her worried expression with one of my own.

If I didn't have powers, how was I going to get to my mom and Aaron? Worse yet, what if the government tried to come for me? Without any way to defend myself, I was an easy target.

"It's only our first day," Basem reminded us, kneeling down. "Don't get discouraged, at least we know your powers are still in there, somewhere. Cyrus told us this might take some time."

"What the hell does Cyrus have anything to do with this?" I scoffed, wearily watching Mac approach out of the corner of my eye.

"He's practically a doctor," Nawell blinked with surprise as she pulled me up.