Chapter 217\u00a0<\/p>\n
Through the haze of the power\u2019s control, I can hear voices around me. Panicked voices getting louder and more desperate by the second.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHis pulse is getting weaker, Derek says, and there\u2019s terror in his voice that I\u2019ve never heard before. Derek who\u2019s always so calm and collected, who always knows what to do, sounds like he\u2019s about to fall apart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s happening to her? Sarah asks, and I can hear her crying. Her hands are glowing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t know my hands were glowing, but now that she\u2019s mentioned it, I can feel the heat radiating from them. It\u2019s not a good heat, not the warmth of healing. It\u2019s the heat of something being burned away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, no, no,\u201d Orion is saying, and his voice is getting more panicked with each repetition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAthena, you have to stop,\u201d he shouts, but his voice sounds like it\u2019s coming from miles away instead of just a few feet. \u201cYou\u2019re killing him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I can\u2019t stop. The power has me completely, and it\u2019s using my hands as conduits to drain every last bit of life from the person I love most in the\u00a0<\/p>\n
world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I can feel Tristan\u2019s life force flowing into me, and each second that passes makes him weaker while making the thing inside me stronger. It\u2019s feeding off\u00a0<\/p>\n
him, growing fat and satisfied while he dies beneath my hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The worst part is that I can feel how good it feels to the power. How satisfied and content it is to finally be doing what it was designed to do. This is what it\u2019s wanted all along, and now it has the perfect opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018His breathing is stopping,\u201cDerek says, and his voice cracks completely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
*Get away from her Derek\u201d Orion shouts. \u201cAthena, I need you to listen to me.\u201d He says gently now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s dead,\u201d Derek says cutting whatever Orion was about saying, and the words hit the room. \u201cAthena, he\u2019s dead.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dead. The word cuts through the power\u2019s control for just a moment, hitting me like a slap to the face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d killed him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d killed Tristan, instead of saving him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to try to make you shift, I need you to listen to my command\u201d Orion says, and I can hear the pain in his voice, through the command.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No. No. I shook my head.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1 can save him, I\u2019d save him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018No, I manage to say, and my voice is hoarse and desperate and barely recognizable. \u201cNo, he\u2019s not dead. I can save him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAth?\u201d I heard Orion voice, full of surprise. Surprise that I could talk, the last time I couldn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I close my eyes tighter and push back against the thing that\u2019s controlling me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I can save him,\u2018 I repeat, louder this time, putting every ounce of determination I have into the words. \u201cHe\u2019s not dead.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
52 Tue, Jan\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 217\u00a0<\/p>\n
*Athena,\u2018\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah\u2019s\u00a0<\/p>\n
mize is\u00a0<\/p>\n
gentle bat\u00a0<\/p>\n
firm,\u00a0<\/p>\n
and I can\u00a0<\/p>\n
feel her kneeling\u00a0<\/p>\n
beside me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You have to let\u00a0<\/p>\n
YOUL\u00a0<\/p>\n
have to stop\u00a0<\/p>\n
before\u00a0<\/p>\n
You drain\u00a0<\/p>\n
yourself\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay. I trust\u00a0<\/p>\n
you\u00a0<\/p>\n
t\u00a0<\/p>\n
hear Orion say and it\u00a0<\/p>\n
8 everything I need.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\u00a0<\/p>\n
won\u2019t let\u00a0<\/p>\n
Never.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because somewhere\u00a0<\/p>\n
in the\u00a0<\/p>\n
of back\u00a0<\/p>\n
my\u00a0<\/p>\n
1 mind,\u00a0<\/p>\n
can hear\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan\u2019s\u00a0<\/p>\n
voice\u00a0<\/p>\n
too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
full of\u00a0<\/p>\n
love and\u00a0<\/p>\n
trust\u00a0<\/p>\n
and\u00a0<\/p>\n
absolute\u00a0<\/p>\n
faith in\u00a0<\/p>\n
trust\u00a0<\/p>\n
you. Ath. 1 trust you with\u00a0<\/p>\n
my life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
They\u00a0<\/p>\n
trusted\u00a0<\/p>\n
me,\u00a0<\/p>\n
and I\u2019m not\u00a0<\/p>\n
going to let\u00a0<\/p>\n
that trust\u00a0<\/p>\n
be for\u00a0<\/p>\n
nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m\u00a0<\/p>\n
not\u00a0<\/p>\n
going to\u00a0<\/p>\n
let him\u00a0<\/p>\n
die\u00a0<\/p>\n
couldn\u2019t\u00a0<\/p>\n
this \u2018t control\u00a0<\/p>\n
thing\u00a0<\/p>\n
inside\u00a0<\/p>\n
me\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0<\/p>\n
power\u00a0<\/p>\n
is\u00a0<\/p>\n
still\u00a0<\/p>\n
flowing through\u00a0<\/p>\n
me, still\u00a0<\/p>\n
trying\u00a0<\/p>\n
to take\u00a0<\/p>\n
more even\u00a0<\/p>\n
though\u00a0<\/p>\n
there\u00a0<\/p>\n
might\u00a0<\/p>\n
not\u00a0<\/p>\n
be\u00a0<\/p>\n
anything\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jeft\u00a0<\/p>\n
to take.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But\u00a0<\/p>\n
underneath\u00a0<\/p>\n
its hunger, underneath desperate need to\u00a0<\/p>\n
its\u00a0<\/p>\n
consume,\u00a0<\/p>\n
sense\u00a0<\/p>\n
something\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0<\/p>\n
power is\u00a0<\/p>\n
afraid,\u00a0<\/p>\n
and that\u2019s\u00a0<\/p>\n
why\u00a0<\/p>\n
it\u2019s\u00a0<\/p>\n
lashing out. That\u2019s\u00a0<\/p>\n
why\u00a0<\/p>\n
it\u2019s\u00a0<\/p>\n
trying to\u00a0<\/p>\n
take instead\u00a0<\/p>\n
of\u00a0<\/p>\n
give.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I remember what\u00a0<\/p>\n
Derek said about\u00a0<\/p>\n
the\u00a0<\/p>\n
power\u00a0<\/p>\n
only hurting people\u00a0<\/p>\n
when it\u00a0<\/p>\n
feels\u00a0<\/p>\n
cornered\u00a0<\/p>\n
Or\u00a0<\/p>\n
threatened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Right\u00a0<\/p>\n
now, it feels\u00a0<\/p>\n
both of\u00a0<\/p>\n
those things, surrounded by people who\u00a0<\/p>\n
terrified are\u00a0<\/p>\n
of it,\u00a0<\/p>\n
trapped\u00a0<\/p>\n
in\u00a0<\/p>\n
a\u00a0<\/p>\n
situation\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 217 Chapter 217\u00a0 Through the haze of the power\u2019s control, I can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26374\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}