“Of course,” Hunter stepped in. “You keep saying he.”
She hesitated and turned to Stefan. “I don’t know who the boss was, much else the others. Do you?”
He shook his head. “No. I never did find out. And I assumed that you hadn’t survived the last set of testing.”
She stared at him for a long moment, the shudders working through her. “I almost didn’t,” she said. “One of those sets of testing, much later of course, turned me into the person I am now.”
“And what does that mean?” Hunter asked, leaning forward. “We’re tiptoeing around this concept, but what exactly are your abilities?”
“Maybe I don’t have any,” she said, giving him a flat stare.
“You evaded capture all this time,” he said, “and whatever we saw with that electricity outside was pretty damn scary.”
She frowned. “What was scary about it?”
“You should have seen it,” Celina said. “The whole place lit up, like in the center of a large electrical storm.”
“Well, that’s not a bad thing,” Beth said quietly.
“Maybe not, but we saw a holographic image of you flash time and time and time again, all in different places.”
At that, Beth frowned. “In different places?”
“Yes, very much different places,” Stefan said, looking at her curiously. “You didn’t know?”
“I kept calling the energy back,” she said, “but, when I’m tired, I don’t have the energy to pull it all in as I need it.”
“The fact that you can even separate it off like that is amazing,” he said quietly.
She gave a half smile. “Not really,” she said, “it’s basically a failure on my part.”
“A failure, how?” he asked.
“My body cannot handle the lack of energy, the lack of focus. I was hurt and basically crying out, looking for answers, looking for help. And, when I did that, instead of a thought going out into the ethers, a piece of me went as well.”
“But you can call it back?” Hunter asked in amazement.
She looked at him and said, “When I’m strong enough, yes.” She was reluctant to tell him any more because she still held that inability to truly trust that he was who he said he was or that he was doing anything good for her. And how sad was it that her world had come down to that.
“So you were surprised to hear that we saw various slices of you?” Stefan asked. He was always the observer, always the one figuring this out.
She shrugged. “I don’t know what I expected or what I thought exactly. I was dying and struggling to reach you. Nothing worked as intended.” She released a heavy sigh, as she slowly rotated her neck. “It’s hard to understand just how bad things can get,” she said quietly.
“Not necessarily, we’ve all been there,” Stefan said. “It’s just that, in your mind, you’re always alone.”
“Because I always have been,” she said, with a start.
“And I get that,” he said. “I really do. But you have to remember that you’re not alone anymore.”
“Sure, I am,” she said. “I’ll leave here, and, although you’ll remember me after I’m gone,” she said, “it won’t be long before you’ll go on about your life as before. You may wonder, but you’ll carry on as if it doesn’t matter because, to you, it really doesn’t.”
Stefan stared at her in shock. “Yes, it does matter.”
She gave him a mocking smile. “Of course it does,” she said, with a long and drawn-out tone.
Hunter studied Stefan, then stared at his guest with a worried look. “Stefan cares a lot.”
“That’s because he feels guilty because he tried to help me. I’m the one he never could save.”
“All the more reason that he wants the chance to help you now.”
“Nothing he can do.” She hopped to her feet, gave her body a quick shake.
“And what makes you think it’s safe now?” Hunter asked.
“Well, it’s probably not, but I think I’m okay to deal with it now.” She walked to the front door, turned at the entranceway to stare at Stefan. “Thanks for not telling me to stay.”
He gazed at her steadily. “I meant what I said,” he said. “You were a captive for long enough. I won’t cage you again.”
She smiled. “And that is appreciated.”
“However, I would still prefer that you stay.”
“Well, I can’t,” she said. “Staying here won’t help either of us. It won’t get me someplace safe and free and clear of all this.”
“What will?”
“Walking out that door and disappearing into the night again,” she murmured. “This time I guess I’ll have to go a little bit farther away.”
“Is that feasible?”
“It has to be,” she said, studying him carefully. “Only so much anyone can do, Stefan. You’ve done what you can for me, and I appreciate it.”
Celina patted Stefan, then nodded at Beth, sadness in her eyes. “I put together a small bag of clothing for you at the door. Be safe.”
With that, Beth smiled, turned, grabbed the bag, opened the door, and stepped out.
*
Hunter immediately swore and got up to go after her. He couldn’t believe that she just smiled and left. “Stefan, we can’t just let her go back out there again.” No immediate shots were fired, but, as he hit the front door, he saw that she was gone, as in gone-gone. He raced around the vehicles outside, looking high and low for her. When he came back to the front door, he studied Stefan, standing there, with his hands on his hips and a frown on his face. “Did you expect her to leave?”
Stefan shook his head. “No,” he said, “not at all. I had a field up. She shouldn’t have escaped.” Stefan stared at the field and said, “That’s never happened before. Have you ever seen anybody cross the field?”
Hunter shook his head. “I didn’t think that possible. How could she?”
“Probably because she’s electricity,” Celina said. “She’s obviously dealing with a lot of electrical currents, so this either energized her or possibly was something that she didn’t even notice.”
“Energizing her wouldn’t have been bad, but then why wouldn’t she have gone out earlier?”
“She wasn’t strong enough,” Celina said, staring at him. “Did you see how she moved just now? Smooth, light?”
“I know. I know. I know,” Hunter said, raising both hands. “I’m just frustrated.”
“Can’t you get through the shield?” Stefan asked, a tiny smile at the corner of his lips.
“I can,” Hunter said, already reaching for his jacket. He turned, looked at Stefan, and said, “I don’t know how long it’ll take me.”
Stefan looked at him, nodded. “It won’t be as easy as you’re thinking. Her defenses have kept her alive. She won’t lower them anytime soon.”
“So we do nothing?” he asked, shoving his fists into his pockets, as he waited for Stefan to answer him.