“Who are you?” they said, a chorus of highs and lows, a mix of children and adults. “You are not part of the One. You don’t belong!”
I shivered as we broke into a run, and the students behind us screamed—except there was no variation in their shriek, but rather it was a single note, a single effort. Turning back, I saw two columns rushing forwards in a line along the walls, leaving a lane down the center of the hallway as they accelerated. At the end of the lane, a single man watched, his hands raised in the air, his long, tangled beard jutting out and down. He flicked his wrists like a conductor and the columns of students broke, washing over each other like two colliding waves to angle at us like a spear tip.
But the students still stepped in time, their pace dragged down by the slowest among them. Ahead, several blocked the door, trapping us between them and the approaching horde. I readied a force point to pry them apart at the last instant, but the door slammed open, throwing their bodies against the wall, where even their struggling seemed to match some unheard beat. Beyond, Slugger’s silhouette was marked through the outside light.
“Hurry!” he shouted, motioning his hands in a circle, “Lads, I need time, hurry! Hup hup!”
We darted through the opening, the floor shaking beneath us in time with their steps, and Slugger slammed the door shut while rolling two garbage cans in front of them, hooking their edge under the door clasp. He grunted as he placed a palm upon each until the concrete underneath them cracked, then slightly paled as he repeated the motion with the doors.
“That’s about a loaded train car of mass each,” he gasped, stumbling away. “Should last a few minutes. Some expert backup ye got here, lads. You should be paying top dollar.”
Behind us, as we sprinted for the gate, hammering started on the door. Pounding that occurred together instead of random, coordinated to a beat, and faces that peered out through the narrow glass with narrowed eyes.
“Your work isn’t done yet,” answered Darian as he pointed ahead to where sirens had started in the distance. “Damn, this feels just like last time I escaped. Except this time, we’re not supposed to get caught. Might prove more difficult this way.“
Chapter 23
“No bubble shield here!” Lucio laughed as he half ran and half danced ahead of us, “Say what you want about Siri, but she had her security tight. Looks like this facility is second rate!”
He leapt as he reached the side gate, one intended for walking through rather than driving, crossing the boundary in a single bound and landing outside the school. His feet connected with the concrete sidewalk, his momentum carrying him forwards, but then stopped as if they had been latched to the ground. With a startled shout, he pinwheeled his arms and fell sideways into the grass, his shoes still locked into place, his ankles twisting in place. The remaining three of us froze as he raised a hand, dragging strands of grass with it as they stuck to his skin, and the sleeve of his shirt that had made contact with the earth remained glued down.
“Agh, I’m stuck!” he shouted, trying to wiggle and succeeding in only ripping his collar. He struggled and soon his cheek made contact, adhering instantly, followed by more and more of his body’s surface area, like he was a fly on sticky paper.
“Stop moving, you idiot,” commanded Darian, picking up a rock and skipping it across the ground towards Lucio. It bounced twice, then held fast just outside the gate, caught in the same invisible trap. Darian threw a second rock, which stuck several paces out, then a third. At fifteen feet, it kept skipping, having passed the sticky zone, but that was farther than we could jump. Ahead, the flashing blue lights grew brighter.
Towards the school, I heard a laugh and turned to see the guard we had met earlier with his hands extended towards the gate. Immediately, I formed two dark orbs in my hands and I hurled them his way. Without mass for stabilization, they exploded directly outside my range, a full ten steps short of him. But to a guard expecting a low-powered Sandblaster, and having the generally laughed at power of being a Stickler that was used primarily in pest extermination teams, two unexpected explosions were enough to send him running.
“Still stluck,” Lucio managed to say, his words mangled from the concrete as the guard disappeared around the corner. "That didn't fix it."
“Probably like my power, it’ll wear away slow,” muttered Slugger. “SC, clear us a path. If we’re lucky, the stick is just on the surface.”
I sent two more dark orbs directly along the ground, carving ruts along the concrete for us to walk, the orbs rocketing away after they cleared fifteen feet. Darian tossed a rock and we held our breath as it bounced, then bounced again, clearing the entire gap through the rubble. Meaning that the guard's power did not seep underground, and so long as we walked in the ruts, we could pass safely.
“Quick, before the guard gets back, or they break down the door!” I said, the first to run through and stop by Lucio’s side, bending over to inspect the sticky surface. To the eye, nothing appeared different than regular concrete, but the scores of dead bugs that were only visible now that we were close to the surface told a different story. “Lucio, we’re going to have to cut you out. It might hurt.”
“Hell no, you wlon’t,” he attempted to say, his mouth now barely able to move as more of his skin became trapped. “Leave me here. I’ll get unstluck eventlually.”
I hesitated, but Slugger spoke up behind me.
“Not an option, lad. Hold on—heh, that shouldn’t be hard for you, should it now?”
Slugger reached down, grabbing the sidewalk by its edge. Concentrating as his muscles bulged, he pulled upwards, tilting the entire square section as he was able to gain a better grip. Dirt drizzled down under the gap as the concrete slab rose, and Lucio squawked from the sudden movement.
“Oi, Darian,” Slugger said, teeth gritted, “get on the other end. I can make the concrete lighter, but it doesn’t work well on people. Lucio needs to start laying off the bacon.”
They heaved, and the entire slab came free, trailing dirt as it rose into the air, Lucio riding the top like a mattress between them. Ahead, I surveyed the lights, determining their general direction before announcing a quick plan.
“Alright, we meet back in the subway. But you three aren’t going to be able to outrun the cops like that—you’ll be easy prey. You go left, and I’ll cut them off on the right with a distraction.”
“And if you don’t come back?” asked Darian, shifting under the reduced weight of the slab. “Then what?”
“Well, that would make two of us that have been caught by the cops, right? If you can escape, so can I. I’ll be back. Now go!”
I pushed them as I started sprinting, aiming to cut the cars off before they rounded the corner to be within sight of the others. My dark orb streaked ahead of me as I spotted a fire hydrant, cutting the bolt clean off as water started to spray into the street, the mist from the jet obscuring the view. With my other hand, I created a force point in front of a store window, shattering the glass and casting the shards into the street to pop the police's tires. I smiled as they screeched to a stop in front of the glittering pavement, rubber paused just before the glass.
Then I realized that the glass had not stopped them.
Rather, they had spotted me.
Chapter 24
“Stop,” came the voice over the loudspeaker as the doors opened and police jumped out. “Rehabilitation Facility 1C has deemed you a top threat, and we will not hesitate to use deadly force.”
Two officers stepped forwards around the edges of an empty squad car, advancing with shields that appeared to be made from solidified light. In retaliation, I launched a dark orb between them, aimed at the windshield, the orb cutting through it as if it were butter. The car crumpled inward like a soda can as I released my hold, then the explosion threw the officers forwards to skid on their shields, shredding the light against asphalt to leave a luminescent snail trail behind them. In the momentary distraction, I launched myself left, aiming at an alleyw
ay just as I caught sight of someone exiting a car in the back, her short hair jogging my memory.
Larissa, the policewoman who had caught me at the gas station when I first entered the academy, back when I pretended to be a telekinetic. And who could run several times faster than any human should.
Her steel eyes met mine as I darted into the alleyway, and just before I lost sight of her, she blurred, moving too fast to recognize. But this time, now that I would actually use my powers instead of concealing, catching me would not be so easy. Raising a hand, I threw a black orb into position at the alleyway's mouth, using it as a shield to prevent her from entering. It would have worked—though not many people seemed to understand how my orbs worked, they certainly feared them. Avoided them. Or at least respected them.
But Larissa was moving too fast to stop.
It didn’t matter that Larissa had insulted my mother the last time we had met. It didn’t matter that she had purposely ground her knees into my back to scrape my cheek on the gravel while she arrested me, or that she had handcuffed me so tight it cut off my circulation. Her scream cut through any resentment that I still harbored for her.
The orb caught her just below the shoulder as she tried to dodge by running up the actual alley wall, her momentum just enough to escape its full grasp. Blood splattered in an arc around the orb, creating a spiral as it whipped around the darkness and was absorbed. She crashed to the ground a few feet away from me, her face contorted in horror as she stared at the stump, her mouth working but finding no words. Where her arm had been, there was only a tattered sleeve.
And mottled red.
I stared, my heart forgetting to pound, for a moment everything frozen. The alleyway eerily quiet with only the sound of sirens in the background. My eyes widening. My mind shutting.
But then a second officer appeared behind the orb, taking in the situation in an instant, raising his hand and cursing as he launched a ball of fire at me. Red flames licked the side of the alleyway as the inferno grew, the center white hot, the strike intended to kill. Only instinct saved me as another one of my black orbs absorbed the attack, replacing the bright center with darkness and allowing a few exterior flames to wash over the sides of me with little more damage than singed hair. Then my legs were moving, pumping to put as much ground as possible between me and the officers, my breaths coming in shallow gasps though I had barely exerted myself. A second fireball came for me but fizzled away before it could reach. I heard my orb explode far behind before there could be a third.
I ducked left, zigzagging through small side streets and catching glimpses of uniform around each corner. I cursed as I rounded a bend and was cut off, two officers already blocking the exit, scrambling to turn back upon myself and narrowly missing an electric shock that charred the wall behind me, the blue light leaving stars stained into my vision. I darted right as two more officers materialized, then leapt over a small fence that barely slowed my sprint. But my chest tightened as I saw more officers, and a dark feeling descended on my shoulders as I realized what they were doing.
They weren’t trying to stop me.
They were trying to herd me.
And ten seconds later, as I burst out into a deserted street, I discovered why.
Five officers stood in an arc in front of me, while more filled the alleyway behind me, all keeping their distance. Just within earshot, I could hear their radios in unison as a crisp voice cut across the channel, the words coming quick.
“Target has stopped and is surrounded. Two spotters maintaining eyes on the target, from the air and through the buildings. Waiting for orders.”
I panted, considering my options as one of the five officers ahead stepped forwards. He was tall, his frame wiry, the muscles just visible to accent his uniform. Each of his steps were pronounced, commanding presence, and he moved as if he were far larger, far heavier than he should be. His eyebrows were sharp along with the rest of his facial features, the cheekbones pronounced, the nose pointed. On the left side of his face there was a thin scar, running from his ear over his lips, and coming to a halt just a hair short of the arteries on his neck.
“A pity,” he said, his eyes burning as they focused on me, and I instantly recognized Lacit's voice, “It was too much to hope we had found our prize. Instead, we are given the leftovers from yesterday’s mess to clean.”
Chapter 25
“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” I said, throwing out my chest and widening my stance, all too aware of the sheer firepower that was currently aimed at me from all directions. “Don’t make me attack.”
“Didn’t stop you back there, did it?” said Lacit, gesturing back the direction I had come, towards Larissa. “I could have you killed here, now, and there would be no questions asked. You struck an officer. You’re dangerous.”
“You’re right I am!” I shouted, letting two black orbs materialize above my palms, my ears listening for any movement. But Lacit held up a hand before any of the officers could react.
“And danger harnessed is power,” he said, his eyes gleaming. “What you have is a gift. A rare gift. But here on the streets it rots, unused. You spit into fate’s generosity. But we, we can put you to good use.”
“I’ve heard it before,” I snapped back, letting the orbs grow by absorbing asphalt, trying to think of an escape and knowing I’d want them to be fully powered. “And I’m not interested. Not in you, not in the rehabilitation facilities.”
“Ah, but you’ve already done your time there, haven’t you?” he asked, and he twisted a silver band on his finger. A ring, one that I had seen before, just after I had been separated from my mother. Worn by a crazed homeless man, who claimed it was given out at graduation. Rehabilitation facility graduation.
“But you would be accelerated,” Lacit continued, and the other four officers behind him touched matching rings on their fingers. “We could make an exception. An early graduation. You could change the world. I know what you did in the subway, and I know who finished off Siri and Peregrine. That’s impressive for any man, let alone a boy.”
“You’re complimenting me on defeating your friends? Your loyalty sounds thin for someone who wants my help.”
“Power is power. Yours was greater than theirs, and that is all that matters.” He shrugged then cracked his knuckles, looking over me. “But they were not my friends. They were necessary parts of a machine.”
He threw out a hand, and a pickup truck skidded between us, the tires leaving marks on the asphalt. I took the momentary distraction to glance to my left and right, searching for an escape route, though officers blocked me in every direction. But along the road, forty paces to my right and twenty to my left, were manhole covers. If I could just make it to them, I could disappear. Then my train of thought was interrupted as he continued speaking.
“Siri and Peregrine had their parts,” he said, as the truck hood popped open of its own accord, and metal screeched inside the car. The engine rose into the air, unfastened, and pieces began to disassemble themselves. Metal parted from metal, expanding outwards, exploding the engine so that each individual component was visible. And above the rest, he raised the grease-covered parts, those coated in sludge, holding them to the light as he spoke. “And not every part shines. Every machine has grime, the lubrication that allows it to work, the pieces hidden beneath the hood. Necessary pieces, however unsightly. Yet there are thousands more parts.”
He raised both hands, his face held in wonder as the truck leapt to obey his bidding. The lug nuts on the tires raced to unscrew themselves, the door hinges snapped apart, the wiring unraveled. Light bulbs shot from their sockets, and the seats popped out of the cabin. In moments, the entire truck floated in the air, completely torn apart, yet ordered.
“And we just have to find where you fit,” he said, the entire assembly shivering. “There are plenty of places far cleaner.”
“Never,” I hissed, thinking back to the academy. To how Siri had nearly killed Arial, and Peregrine had
tried to kill me. And what they had done to my mother. Despite what he said, this man supported those actions, those wrongs.
And I could never join that.
He sighed, dropping his hands to his sides.
“Then it’s time for you to meet a real telekinetic.”
The entire truck crashed down at once, and I knew I had a split second to act. Already the officers at his sides had raised their hands, and I saw that the car parts had not merely fallen but had angled themselves to face me. Anything sharp now gleamed in my direction, the point threatening and preparing to be loosed.
They sprang at me like arrows released from a bow, and I threw a dark orb in front of me, absorbing the majority of the mass. But more importantly, I aimed at Lacit, striking directly at his figure. And I threw a second orb downwards, remembering the manhole covers on my left and right, praying that the city’s planners ran their sewers in regular routes.
I fell as Lacit raised his hand once more, our eyes lingering on each other as I descended into darkness. Then I felt the orb break free beneath my feet, dislodging itself in air, its weight no longer rapidly accumulating. Above, the circle I had cut into the asphalt became a spotlight, brimming with colors as shards of metal and fire flew like angered hornets where I had been an instant before. Water rushed up to meet me, submerging me, providing just enough cushion as my back scraped against the concrete floor. I surfaced as it started carrying me away, creating a force point that dragged the stream behind upwards in a bulging wall, shielding me from projectiles and fire.
But what worried me most was not if they would follow me into the tunnel.
Rather, it was Lacit’s raised hand as I threw my dark orb his way.
And how he had halted it in midair.
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