Free Emerge: The Awakening by Melissa A. Craven Page A

but you gotta let me help you.”
    She reluctantly obeyed his distant plea. A sense of calm swept through her, but only for a moment.
    She wandered in the tempest, lost in the burning ache shattering her skull. It felt like everything that made her Allie was changing. She could literally feel her mind expanding.
    “We should have prepared her for this somehow,” Naeemah murmured. “We train our children for this moment all their lives. How can we expect her to succeed in ignorance?”
    “The shock would have done more harm, but she isn’t completely ignorant. Allie has strong instincts and she’s a fighter. She’ll figure it out.” He stroked Allie’s palm and she felt his calm reassurance, but struggled to define reality from her nightmare. 
    “I suppose your way was best, but it seems monstrous to let her suffer. She is resisting when she needs to submit to it. You have to convince her, Aidan. Soon.”
    “I will, Mom. Just let us do this alone. Please.”
    As the door closed behind Naeemah, Allie screamed. Her eyes flew open wide and she caught his worried gaze. It was a raw moment of stark reality. She was back in his bed, but she was sweaty. The sheets twisted around her body as if she’d thrashed around for hours. Her mind worked rapidly, attempting to take in everything at once. It was too much. The jackhammer reverberating through her brain made it impossible to focus.
    “Take a deep breath.” He reached for her hand. It was a fleeting comfort. Her body seized violently, consumed with convulsions that left her incoherent.
    “You have to stop resisting. It will only—”
    It has to be a nightmare! Please…just let me wake up! But deep down, she knew it wasn’t a dream. Whatever was happening, she’d known it was coming; had anticipated it for weeks. She clawed through the cloud of confusion, determined to hear Aidan. 
    “W-what’s happening?” she gasped.
    “Shhh. Look in my eyes, Lex. Stay with me.”
    Her eyes were wild with fright, but she was finally lucid.
    “You know we’re different, Allie. At sixteen, everything extraordinary about us begins to emerge. It’s called an Awakening. You are in the throes of it right now—a trance-like state. Not quite awake, but definitely not asleep, and you are resisting it.”
    She bolted upright, her stomach roiling with dry heaves.
    “An Awakening is a traumatic rite of passage, but I need you to trust me. I know exactly how much this hurts. But please don’t be scared. It will end, but you must allow it to happen. Only then will you have the strength to fight for control when you need it most. I’ll be right here with you, I promise—look at me!”
    She focused on him for an instant. But it was long enough to help ease her fear.
    “I won’t leave you, and I will not let you fail.” His words gave her hope, but still she struggled.
    “Let go. Trust me. Submit to it. Then, when it’s time, you’ll have the strength you need.”
    With a deep breath, she stopped fighting. Trusting him at his word, she knew she had nothing to fear. It felt like drowning, struggling in that last moment before succumbing to the inevitable. It was almost a relief.
    She spiraled into the trance again. The pain was still there, but it was subdued for the moment.
    “That’s my girl. You’ve got this!”
    Her mind whirled with confusion and pain until that blinding light burst and she was back in her nightmare. Aidan was still by her side, but she was no longer aware. Long forgotten memories flashed before her eyes, leaving her nauseated and dizzy. A stifling concussive force gripped her now. Allie’s head exploded with scorching hot light, like the brightest sunlight. The pressure built, settling around her ears with a shrill high-pitched wail. Then the visions came.
    She saw her mother and father, chasing a giggling child with blazing red hair as they walked along the beaches of South Africa. The memory was not one Allie recalled, but the little girl had to be