by Tricia Barr
“Thank you!” he said, embracing her just as tightly. “You saved me. You saved all of us.”
“I’m just glad you’re okay,” she said. She wanted to hold him forever and never let go, but she pulled back, remembering their time constraints. “We have to go. We have to get Lily.”
“Where is she?” he asked.
“In the medical wing on the third floor, being sedated,” she said. “Skylar, you’ll have to guide us.”
“Alright, but you have to hurry up and get out of there,” Skylar said. “Other guards are getting suspicious that the one you knocked out isn’t responding to commands. They will come looking for him soon, there’s nothing we can do on our end to hold them back. We can only block communications, we can’t fake responses.”
Sebastian stashed the dagger in his jacket pocket, then Phoenyx helped him to his feet and they exited the treasury and closed the door behind them.
“What should we do with him?” Sebastian asked, referring to the unconscious guard on the floor outside the door of the treasury. “We can’t just leave him here. If they find him and wake him up, he’ll tell them about us.”
Phoenyx thought for a moment, then said, “Skylar, open the door to the treasury again. We can put him inside. At least if he’s in there, he can’t alert anyone else to our intrusion while we’re still looking for Lily.”
After a moment or two, the door clicked open and Sebastian helped Phoenyx drag the guard inside. Then Phoenyx checked the guard’s head and pulled the small microphone transmitter from inside his ear, then incinerated it between her fingertips.
They pushed the door closed again once more, the unconscious guard now locked behind it.
Phoenyx took hold of Sebastian’s hand and said, “Let’s go save Lily.”
Sebastian and Phoenyx donned their illusory disguises once again and Skylar began guiding them through the building. They zipped through the tunnels back the way they had come. When they heard footsteps approaching, they slowed their pace. Two more security guards emerged around the corner.
“Ah, Gustavo, there you are,” one of them said with a Russian accent. “Why weren’t you answering communication?”
“I tripped down the hall earlier and my earpiece must have fallen out,” Sebastian answered, his voice a perfect mimic for the guard they had left inside the treasury. “It took me a while to realize I had lost it.”
The guards eyed him for a moment, and Phoenyx began to get nervous that they suspected something.
“Just don’t let it happen again,” the Russian guard warned. “We are on red alert with the Bound Ones’ expected arrival tomorrow. The Four Corners cannot afford incompetence, or laziness.”
The two guards continued down the tunnel, the Russian aggressively bumping into Sebastian’s shoulder as he passed.
“That was close,” Phoenyx whispered as they picked up the pace to the end of the tunnels.
“Alright, Skylar,” Sebastian whispered when they had ascended the stairs and landed on the ground floor. “Where do we go from here?”
Skylar gave them telepathic directions to turn right or left, go through doors, go up stairs, or to hold back and wait because potentially difficult guards were passing by.
They made it up the stairs to the third floor and came out into a forked hallway with three options. Phoenyx waited for instructions on which route to take, but the only voice in her head were her own.
“Skylar?” Sebastian whispered.
They waited a moment, but no response came.
“Skylar?” Phoenyx asked this time, but again, no answer.
Phoenyx and Sebastian shared a concerned look.
“What do you think this means?” Phoenyx asked Sebastian.
Sebastian frowned. “I’m not sure. If there was a problem, Skylar would have at least warned us, that they had been found out or something. But radio silence? That’s somehow worse. Either way, it means we’re continuing blind up here.”
“If they know we’re here, then we have to get to Lily now,” Phoenyx said. “Just because she’s immortal now doesn’t mean she’s safe. They can still hurt her.”
Sebastian nodded. “Alright, but we have to be even more careful now. If Skylar and Ayanna have been compromised, then that means we are no longer safe from the cameras. We can’t do anything to arouse any suspicion, we have to walk and act as true guards would.”
“Okay, you’re right,” Phoenyx agreed. “Now, which way should we try?”
On a whim, Sebastian motioned toward the one to their right. They tried to keep a slow, lazy pace, as if they were patrolling. They glanced into the rooms whose doors were cracked or had windows, searching for any sign of Lily.
They followed the hallway for a few minutes before realizing it was a dead end, then turned back and tried the next hallway. Half way down the hall, they saw a lit sign hung from the ceiling that read “Hospital Wing.” Finally, we’re close!
They picked up their pace with hope as they entered the wing. It was mostly empty, save for a passing nurse here and there. They stopped in the main lobby, wondering which set of rooms they might best find Lily.
“What are you two doing up here?” a male voice asked.
They turned in the direction of the voice to see another guard rushing toward them down the hall.
Phoenyx was about to offer an excuse but then closed her mouth, remembering that Sebastian couldn’t alter her voice to sound like the guard she was impersonating because he hadn’t heard it yet.
“You’re supposed to be down in the holding cells with the intruders,” the guard said in a softer tone once he reached them.
“Intruders?” Sebastian asked.
“Ugh, Gustavo, you really need to stop napping,” the guard growled with frustration. “You think that just because your uncle is on the Council you can work half as hard as the rest of us, but this is not the time for your uselessness. One of the Bound Ones and a woman were found in the security office. They are being held in the containment cells, and you were one of the guards ordered to stand watch over them and keep on the lookout for the other two Bound Ones.”
Phoenyx looked at Sebastian, trying to keep her expression calm and not betray the resounding alarm this news had brought.
“Well, what the hell are you waiting for?” the guard snapped. “Get down there!”
Sebastian nodded and made a military-style about-face away from the hospital. Phoenyx followed him, trying with extreme difficulty not to either break into a run to rescue her friends. It pained her to leave when she was so close to Lily, but she had no choice. If they didn’t go down to the dungeon, the Four Corners would know something was up with them, and she couldn’t risk exposing herself and Sebastian, especially when Skylar and Ayanna were being held prisoner.
It seemed to take them over an hour to get back down to the bottom level; Phoenyx just couldn’t move fast enough. There were a lot more guards roaming the tunnels, and though it made her more cautious of watching eyes, following the guards took them right to where Skylar and Ayanna were being kept. Hang on, guys. We’re coming for you.
The containment cells really were a dungeon. The same gray blocks lined the floor, ceiling and walls as in the tunnels that lead there, with the same tube light bulbs overhead. The room was lined all around with small cells behind iron bars, and in two of the cells directly in the middle were Skylar and Ayanna, who appeared to have been knocked out.
That explains why Skylar didn’t warn us, Phoenyx thought. They must have caught him off guard and drugged him before he could.
She wanted to rush to the bars and figure out how to get them out, but there was the small problem of the dungeon being filled with guards, who were now all armed. How were they going to get around all these guards?
Sebastian clandestinely gestured for her to join him in standing against the wall at the entrance of the room, seemingly taking their post. Then he leaned in close and whispered so softly she had to strain to make out his words.
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“Go get Skylar and Ayanna out. I’ll make you invisible to the guards and put up the illusion that you’re still standing here.”
She kept her eyes on the other guards, making sure they hadn’t noticed this little exchange before she replied in as low a whisper as she could manage.
“I thought you said invisibility wouldn’t work, senses and all that.”
“There are enough bodies in here they should accept what they’re seeing. Just go.”
As if physically pushed by his last words, she stepped away from the wall. She watched the other guards for any sort of response to her movement, but they appeared oblivious. She tiptoed slowly toward the cell in which Skylar lay awkwardly against the wall. It looked like he had just been tossed in here. Phoenyx tensed with anger at the negligence given to her friend.
She reached the cell and examined the bars for their means of release. Just as she expected, it was card activated. Not that she felt confident in her ability to pick a lock, but it would have been less of a long shot than this technical stuff.
She stood there and reviewed her options. She could approach one of the guards and try to pick pocket them for a card, but the risks of getting caught were too great. She could apply heat to the bars and try to pull them apart by hand, but she suspected that no matter how hot she could make the bars, she wouldn’t be strong enough to manipulate metal this thick. She could melt the bars completely, but the resulting heat would be enough to severely burn Skylar, and everyone in this room for that matter.
When they were trapped in the dungeon at the Salt Lake City lodge, Skylar had been able to spread the bars with his mind. And he had learned so much more about his abilities since then. If she could wake him up, he could get himself and Ayanna out, and hopefully Sebastian would follow their lead and put up the illusion that both were still unconscious.
Phoenyx knelt down and reached for Skylar through the bars between them. She grabbed his shoulder and shook him experimentally. He didn’t so much as groan. She lifted one of his eyelids with her thumb, exposing eyes that were rolled up in his head, and the lids fell right back down when she let go. Whatever they gave him must have been really potent.
Suddenly, she had an idea, one that she wasn’t sure would work but that she had to try.
She placed her hand on his should and let her will flow through her arm and forcefully into him, and whispered the command, “Wake up.”
In a few seconds, his eyelids fluttered and sluggishly opened. He seemed to still be under the influence of whatever they used to knock him out. She put her hand over his mouth before he could say anything, and she put her finger to her lips to further gesture for silence. She pointed behind her at the room full of guards.
She targeted her thoughts at him. “Sebastian is putting up an illusion so that the guards can’t see me helping you. They found you and Ayanna in the security room and drugged you, then brought you down here and put you two in cells. Now I need you to use your telekinesis to open the bars so you can get out. Then we have to get Ayanna out.”
Skylar sat up and took a moment to assess the situation and regain his senses, then he rubbed his eyes and nodded. He focused on the bars in front of him, and very slowly the bars began to spread apart, farther and farther until there was enough room for Skylar to squeeze through. As the bars moved, Phoenyx looked behind her at the guards to make sure that Sebastian’s illusion now included Skylar. The guard who stood directly across from them stared in their direction blankly and scratched his nose. Reassured, Phoenyx helped Skylar slide through.
Once he was free, they moved silently and cautiously to Ayanna’s cell next-door. Phoenyx knelt down and repeated what she had done to Skylar. When Ayanna’s eyes opened, this time it was Skylar who communicated a silent explanation to her, allowing Phoenyx to also hear the message so that she was aware of the exchange. Then Skylar focused on the bars once more and separated them just enough for Ayanna to get through.
As she stepped out of the cell in her slightly drugged state, her back foot caught on the bent bar and she tripped right into the guard that was standing next to her cell. The guard stumbled backward in confusion, then his eyes landed on Ayanna and it was clear that the illusion had broken.
“How the hell did…” he began to mumble, and another guard shouted, “They’re escaping!” and an all out fight broke out.
The dungeon erupted with gunfire, every guard shooting their large black guns at the three of them. Phoenyx and Ayanna curled up on the floor in an attempt to shield themselves, and when Phoenyx saw that she wasn’t getting hit, she looked up to see the bullets being stopped by an invisible spherical barrier around them—Skylar’s doing.
Meanwhile, Sebastian had discarded his illusion and was working to disarm the guards closest to him. Punches were thrown and kicks landed. Phoenyx wanted to go to his aid, but she knew she couldn’t leave the protection of the sphere.
Finally, seeing that their bullets were useless, the guards abandoned their guns and charged at the three of them. Those who came close to Skylar were thrown back by an invisible force against the wall. The two guards that reached Ayanna were met with quick and able combat, every hit deflected and returned them.
But Phoenyx barely had time to notice what was going on around her, for she had three large men coming at her. Hand-to-hand fighting had never been her strong suit, not in any of the lives she had lived. Her strengths were in manipulation and plotting, the kind of fighting that goes on behind the scenes. But being in the action always terrified her. She was petite and not very strong, so attempting to fend off three attackers was an utter failure.
She dodged a few hits, but one guard landed a punch to her gut, and another a hit to her head that rocked her and made the world spin. She couldn’t move fast enough to grab anyone to influence them to help her, so that left her with her fire. She didn’t want to kill anyone, but she had to do something to defend herself.
Rather than inflicting any of the guards with her fire, she ignited herself, covering her entire body in flames so that anyone who made the mistake of getting close would get burned. This action was a controlled effort, and unlike in the forest with Ralph, she would not let it run away with her this time.
The pyre that engulfed her fueled her, gave her strength and stamina, and she was finally able to fight back. Her opponents kept their distance, flinching backward whenever she came close. She threw fire-wrapped punches, searing flesh wherever they made contact, and soon Sebastian came to her aid, taking down the guards who were distracted by her deadly light show.
The last guard went down and she looked around at all the knocked-out guards on the floor, fully expecting another one to come at her from any direction. As her chest heaved with the difficulty of catching her breath, she let her bodily flames dissipate and looked at her comrades to make sure they were all still standing.
“Enough,” said a commanding voice, a voice she recognized instantly this time.
She turned around to face the man from the phone. But what she saw wasn’t what she expected. The older man from her encounter in the bathroom stood at the entrance of the dungeon, and standing next to him was a large guard carrying a peacefully sleeping Lily in his burly arms. Lily was dressed in pale green scrubs, most likely the same clothes she had been wearing since they captured her, and for some reason it really pissed Phoenyx off that they hadn’t been at least grooming Lily while they kept her a drugged prisoner.
A beeline of guards filed into the room and surrounded them, pointing their guns at the foursome in the middle.
“First, allow me to properly introduce myself,” the man said. “My name is Vincent Mallick, I am the leader of this organization. It was very clever of you to come a day early and try to rescue your friend, but we anticipated something like this. As you can see, you are vastly outnumbered. I’ll make this simple.” He withdrew a knife from behind him and held it against Lily’s neck. His voice remaining calm, as if he were commenting on the weather, he
said, “Surrender now or I’ll slit your friend’s throat and make you watch her bleed to death before you die, too.”
Though Phoenyx wasn’t too keen on seeing any of Lily’s blood spilt, it was time for them to show their hand.
She stepped forward, confident and powerful. When she spoke, her tone carried the resilience and spite of thousands of years of being hunted. “We will never surrender to you.”
Vincent sighed, shaking his head in resignation. “Very well.” In one swift motion, he dragged the blade against the porcelain skin of Lily’s neck, and thick red poured out, soaking her clothes and the hands of the guard carrying her.
Phoenyx winced, but kept eye contact with Vincent, not wanting to witness what was happening to poor Lily. Vincent smiled as he held Phoenyx’s gaze, but his smile began to falter as he noticed that the four of them weren’t reacting. They all stood motionless, silent, as Vincent and the guards waited for the Bound Ones to die. Minutes passed, and as Vincent’s face hardened, Phoenyx’s own lips curled in a wry smirk.
He broke their staring contest and turned to Lily. The slice in her neck slowly closed, less and less blood spilling as it did. Soon the wound had sealed completely, leaving only drying blood as proof of any previous injury.
“How is this possible?” Vincent asked, shocked as he stared at Lily’s neck. “Could she have healed herself? Fine then, just shoot one of them!” he ordered.
A guard fired his gun at Phoenyx’s stomach. The pain was excruciating, and Phoenyx doubled over and groaned. But she swallowed back her pain and stood up straight. She lifted her shirt to look at the damage and attempt to remove the bullet.
“Allow me,” Skylar said in her head.
The bullet slid backwards out of her body and hovered in the air for effect, and the small bleeding hole slowly began to close. Phoenyx kept her shirt lifted so that Vincent could clearly see what was happening.
“Impossible!” Vincent gasped, snarling. “How are you healing?”
“It’s over,” Phoenyx said. “You can’t kill us. We have found a way to make the spell that bound us permanent. The elements can never leave our bodies. We are stronger than you, and you will never win.”
