By Sama Khwaja
‘You’re the one,’ Destiny murmured in shock. ‘The one with those eyes…’
The creature’s smile widened wickedly.
‘So you do remember me!’ he said gleefully, raising his stubby arms. ‘Well, this saves me the trouble of explaining! Come, come, I have a job for you! You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to finally get my hands on you!’
Destiny staggered back as he wheeled closer.
‘What do you mean you have a ‘job’ for me?’ she said sharply, her heart thrumming loudly against her ribcage. The man’s eyes narrowed.
‘Why, Destiny,’ he said softly. She shivered at his tone. ‘You have something that belongs to me and I’m just going to take it back now.’
Her eyes widened and she clutched her shirt right over her heart.
‘You mean…’
‘Do you know you are what you are because of me?’ he continued delicately. His wheelchair seemed to be moving towards her of its own accord as the rest of the GroundUnders surrounded them. ‘That it was I who had forced Alicia to experiment on you? I had threatened to kill you if she didn’t? Oh, she cried. She cried a lot. But it was worth it. I mean, look at you! I had feared that your body might have disintegrated and all my hard work had been for nothing! But you have turned out so healthy and strong! As might have Mage as he matured with your body!’
He giggled maniacally. Destiny wrinkled her nose in disgust and jumped to one side as a GroundUnder moved too close to her for her liking.
‘You’re sick,’ she sneered at him. ‘How could you do that to a mother and force her to experiment on her own child? You’re twisted; you’re heartless; you’re abominable!’
‘Ah, the price to pay for power,’ the man sighed. ‘I’m used to the ridicule; Shears Bucan was the butt of every joke at the Hova Project! But then I discovered Mage and realized the power I could wield once I owned it! But who should I use as my lab rats? And then along came little Destiny. You’re genes sparked my interest. Especially from your father’s side.’
‘My father? Who was he? Tell me!’ Destiny lurched forward but the GroundUnders moved to block her path. There were too many. She couldn’t fight them all off.
‘Patience, little Destiny!’ Shears trilled and waved his stub of an arm at her. ‘I haven’t finished my story! Now where was I? Oh yes, your genes! Very interesting! I just knew you would be able to contain Mage!
You couldn’t imagine my joy when the experiment was a success! But then…that dratted Samuel Templeton whisked you away and hid you from me! I was furious when I found out! But he paid. Oh, he paid dearly with his life. As did Alicia.’
Destiny’s heart plummeted and she tried not to collapse on her knees. A GroundUnder pushed her and she recoiled.
‘You’re a monster,’ she hissed.
‘But at least I finally got what I wanted,’ Shears murmured. ‘I knew if I was patient enough, that I would find you. I was an outcast at the Project for my failure. So I hid out here, keeping myself alive on these rejuvenating serums Alicia had made in case your body disfigured. Though I forgot that there were…side effects.’
He glanced down at his deformed body and sighed gravely. Then he smirked at Destiny.
‘When I saw your name on Healex’s wanted list I thought I was dreaming!’ he crowed and came forward until his chair was situated right in the middle of a weirdly marked circle on the floor. ‘I kept trying to lure you here by having my GroundUnders cause havoc at the government. They always knew where you were. Like they could smell you out. Must be the Hova blood in them.
‘Oh, by the way, dear, you are standing in a circle yourself which the GroundUnders had so graciously guided you to. The markings seem alien, don’t they? They’re from the Hova’s ship and are just the right formula for this final experiment. They react the minute they make contact with Hova. We had to remove them before we could extract Hova from her ship.’
‘What the-!?’ Destiny yelped as the circle suddenly glowed an eerie green while the patterns burned ebony black. Her legs felt like jelly as she tried to escape but green crackles of electricity shocked her back into her circular prison.
‘What are you trying to do?’ Destiny screamed over the sizzling electricity which seemed to be all she could hear. ‘Mage is inside me! You’re-!’
‘Mage was raw power when he was extracted from Hova,’ Shears said calmly, his voice growing stronger and deeper. ‘He needed to be encased in order to mature. Once that’s done, his power is up for grabs. The casualties of extracting that power were all recorded in the October files but since those aren’t available, we’ll just have to make do.’
He grinned maliciously as the patterns on the floor began to peel away and attach themselves to Destiny’s skin, burning her and making her hiss in pain.
‘Though I do remember Alicia telling me that death is one casualty,’ he said nonchalantly. Destiny could feel her vision blurring. ‘But it isn’t going to be me. So I suppose this is goodbye, little Destiny. Say hello to your family for me. I’m sure they’re dying to see you again.’
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