Chapter 25. Olivia

There was no reason to worry. Arriz had been very careful: he wasn't visiting Norman anymore and he barely talked to the rest of them. No-one witnessed his night encounter with Olivia. Iutah wasn't a telepath, he had to believe that everything was over and he didn't have to "eliminate the threats" any longer. Arriz was playing by the rules. Olivia's life was out of danger.

But no matter how many times he repeated that, the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach only grew stronger.

He couldn't figure the scheme which the computer used to match opponents. How could it put Iutah against Olivia?! Even without knowing who he truly was, it was a hopeless combination!

Arriz tried asking Alex about it, but the hybrid just shrugged.

"I guess it was the only option left. Sometimes the computer pairs the best rivals first, and then just puts two remaining ones against each other. It was a coincidence."

The telepath wanted to believe it. Norman and Alex spent a lot of time by his side, so their friendship was well-known to everyone on Ceres. But Olivia wasn't too close to him, she was rather shy and even her sister probably didn't know about her feelings.

That's why Iutah couldn't figure out she was important to Arriz too. Their duel was a coincidence, it had to be. But what an untimely coincidence it was!

"Why are you so antsy?" Alex asked in surprise.

"Sleepless night."

"You sound like you never have normal nights!"

"Pretty much so."

"You sure you don't wanna tell me something?"

"No. The duel is about to start."

"So what?" the hybrid waved him off. "We all know how it'll be: Iutah will throw Olivia around a bit and that's it. I'm looking forward to Cuyo's battle today, now that should be entertaining!"

"You think Olivia won't last long?"

"Let's be realistic about it: five minutes is the most she can do."

It was hard to deny that, even though Olivia seemed determined to prove them wrong. She walked into the hall confidently, not a hint of fear to be sensed in her soul. Her sister and Arriz were more worried than her at the moment.

Today's arena was styled like a low slope of a green hill covered in short grass. Maneuvering on its bumpy surface was an additional challenge for the competitors, and the soil looked as solid as a rock. Falling on it had to hurt…

Arriz still hoped she'd say no – half of the audience was expecting that! But he felt that she wouldn't take a step back from that arena.

Iutah was self-assured, but too smart to openly mock her. Arriz was studying him carefully, trying to find a sign, to notice a secret smirk that would allow him to stop this fight and warn Olivia about the danger she was in. But there was no warning, Iutah was acting like he was supposed to, demonstrating there was no trick up his sleeve.

When their names were announced, Olivia got her final chance to deny. Arriz turned to look at Rita who was sitting in the first row. She wouldn't admit that, but she wanted her sister to reject this… it just contradicted her previous claims too much for her to voice it.

The teachers didn't like this situation too, but they couldn't interfere. They just made the traditional pause longer, while Olivia remained adamant. Finally, Damian had to announce:

"Begin!"

Iutah bowed to his opponent ironically, demonstrating that there was no reason to fear him. That didn't fool Olivia, but she wasn't going to go after him either. She was collected and ready for anything – as much as she could be.

He couldn't stand there waiting, against such a rival it would look ridiculous. Iutah attacked first, though normally he preferred not to do it. Olivia avoided his blow – and the ones that followed it. She caught his hand and hit him, pulling back immediately after. She wasn't too successful at that, but her opponent failed to block it.

That was an actual mistake, not playing to impress the audience. Iutah's irritation that flashed through his aura gave him away.

"The girl is good!" Alex noted. "I didn't expect that from her!"

"She's been practicing a lot."

She lasted more than the five minutes most hybrids expected. And more than ten minutes. Olivia didn't stay on one spot longer than five seconds, swirling in the air all the time like a petal caught by wind. Iutah was fast – but she was faster. She used the slope masterfully too, her moves were better than her rival's.

Attacks were her main weakness. She could hit him using her speed advantage, but she wasn't strong enough to even bruise him. Olivia was perfect at defense, and yet she couldn't balance speed and strength, so her attacks didn't mean more to Iutah than mosquito bites.

She had to fail. It was a matter of time, not chance. Iutah used the moment when she started to get tired to grab her wrist with one hand while striking her shoulder with the other. Olivia screamed, and Arriz though he heard her bones break, though hearing that was impossible.

Iutah let her go, and she jumped away, but her right arm hanged lifelessly from her shoulder.

"Broken," Alex commented. "Why the hell would he do that?!"

"What do you mean – why?" asked Dark, who was sitting in front of them. "He's fighting her!"

"But she's just a girl…"

"So what?" Rita turned to him sharply. "She's his equal!"

"I didn't mean it like that…"

"Then shut up and keep watching! It's not over yet."

Olivia was truly a warrior at that moment. She didn't let her broken arm stop her and didn't use her right to finish the fight. She tore a sleeve from her green jacket and used it to tie her damaged hand to her body. Then she charged at him again.

She didn't slow down at once, for some time she was able to maintain her maximum speed and even hit Iutah a couple of times. But then Olivia's luck ran out.

When he was confident she was sufficiently exhausted, he attacked. It was as if he'd been building up his energy to use it all at once. He was beating her fast and confidently, aiming for her legs, stomach, chest and even face. At some point she became too traumatized to counter, but he only intensified his assault.

Arriz couldn't handle it for too long. He stood up and went to Damian, who was on the same platform as the students.

"This must be stopped!"

"Only she can stop it," the teacher replied. He clearly didn't like what he was seeing.

"But she can get hurt!"

"She's already hurt. But she's conscious and she can say she surrenders, we can't interfere without it. So far, she demonstrated excellent technique, and we can't qualify her as too weak to fight."

Olivia could say it, but she remained silent. Arriz couldn't figure what she was hoping for. And Iutah was playing with her: he never hit her strongly enough to knock her out. He wanted her to feel everything.

The telepath didn't like it, but he couldn't do anything about it. Even Rita wasn't allowed to interfere! She sat on her seat, pale, tense, clenching her fists in helpless fury.

Suddenly Arriz felt a shift in Iutah's aura. It was as if clear water was suddenly mixed with black paint – and it all became black. His confidence was replaced by cruelty.

In one precise and powerful strike he sent Olivia high into the air, turned her there and made her fall down onto the solid ground head first. He used his weight to press her down, robbing her of a slightest chance to move.

It looked a lot like the final of Karajo's battle with Dark Silver. But Karajo gave her opponent a chance to stop the duel, and Iutah wasn't going to do that. He hit Olivia's back without hesitation – twice. The small of her back, then her neck, close to her skull. Arriz saw a momentary shimmer of a syringe in his hand, but it all happened too fast to be certain.

A second later Lady Laura's voice sounded across the hall.

"The fight is over, opponents, move aside!"

But she was late. Arriz sensed it not just through his telepathy, but through his soul. Iutah moved away, a perfect picture of diligent student. And Olivia remained lying on a blood-stained ground. Her body was trembling slightly, and her aura was a mess. Arriz had never seen anything like that, not even in Norman's case, though it was very similar… her condition was worse though.

"No…" he whispered. Then he repeated it louder, nearly screaming. "No!"

He and Rita left the platform simultaneously. The hybrid just jumped over the railing, while the telepath had to use the stairs. When he reached the battlefield, there were already humans standing there. Olivia was turned onto her back, and Dr. Deshanti and Rita were leaning over her.

Iutah remained there as well. He was looking at Arriz, smiling smugly. He wasn't deceived by the telepath's following the rules, he knew the truth. He didn't care about the risk in his decision to destroy everyone Arriz cared about. The pain and sorrow Arriz couldn't hide now were the proof Iutah needed to continue.

But at this very instant Arriz couldn't care less about him or his plans. His whole world right now depended on a fragile body that stayed on the grass.

Dr. Deshanti took Olivia's jacket off and was studying the hybrid's body through her uniform.

"Multiple fractures," she diagnosed. "Nothing too serious, and I don't know what's happening to her… She should be stable!"

Olivia was anything but stable so far. She couldn't talk, her lips were covered in scarlet foam and her eyes were clouded with pain. But she managed to find Arriz among the crowd and smile at him.

Rita noticed that. She stepped aside and pushed the telepath to her sister.

"Stay with her," she whispered. "Make sure she doesn't faint, talk to her! You mean more to her than me now…"

Deshanti went for the stretcher, and they had to win some time. Arriz was the only one who was touching Olivia now; all the others surrounded them, but didn't dare to come too close. Neither he nor she needed them. Olivia lifted her left hand with visible effort, and the telepath held it gently.

He knew what was coming, but couldn't believe that. Iutah learned his lesson and injected her with a doubled doze of the venom, she didn't have a single chance to survive left. But that was so wrong! They were among the technologies innovative enough to support life on a tiny planet – but not enough to save one little girl.

The worst part was that Olivia knew what was happening to her. She didn't entertain herself with empty illusions, unlike her sister, the doctor and her classmates. But her aura didn't have any fear in it, it was dominated by weird desperate obedience.

She tried to say something, but her beaten body didn't let her. And then Arriz did something he had no right to do… But he couldn't think about restrictions or being careful in these circumstances.

In the book about telepathy he took from the library he read that his gift could stabilize the condition of a person stuck between life and death. Naturally, a trick like that demanded years, even decades of special training, otherwise it was too dangerous for the telepath. But Arriz didn't have those years. He connected his mind to her fading brain, driven by the pure desire to help.

It worked. Her body stopped trembling, and the pain in her eyes was gone. Olivia was looking only at him, ignoring the others completely.

"Don't go…" she whispered. "It won't last long…"

"I'm not going anywhere, and you're acting silly. You'll be fine!"

"Nothing… nothing bad happened…" Olivia squeezed his hand slightly. "I made a mistake…"

"You didn't."

"No, let me say… I made a mistake… and took my own chance to change the world away… But please, don't let my mistake make this world a worse place…"

"What do you mean?" Arriz asked in confusion.

"Don't let my death affect you… Don't leave the project… Become a curator. What I told you this night… It stays real. I believe in that with all my heart. You must become a curator to make us better…"

Yeah, right! Arriz was happy she didn't know the truth. What would she say if she learned that her "hero curator" was actually a terrorist? But she wouldn't know…

He knew he had to break the connection to her mind, his self-preservation instinct was reminding him about it over and over again. But Arriz couldn't do it, because he knew that this connection was the only thing saving her from pain.

"Don't leave them…" she smiled that horrible bloody smile at him. "My sister… Keep an eye on her… It'll be tough for her to accept this…"

"Olivia!"

"I don't want to die, but… it just happened so. It doesn't hurt… I'm happy you're here… It's better this way… if you stay and I go… You have a special power, different from ours…"

"I failed you," he had to confess that.

"No… You made my life better. And I'm not scared to die, you know… Because I lived long enough to meet you… And falling in love with you was a reason enough to come to Ceres…"

She had a fit of cough and couldn't talk anymore. The delicate fingers holding his hand were losing strength rapidly…

"Olivia…"

Though she couldn't say anything, she kept watching him. Her green eyes were slowly becoming glossy, but Arriz continued to support the life in her stubbornly, using the connection he could barely control.

He paid for it dearly. The darkness that came for Olivia enveloped both of them.