"How are we going to get out?" Panic gripped my heart. I reached out to find Drake, but he existed as a black hole in the universe—invisible to me and my powers. Instead, I hunted for Lucy's mental signature.
'Fire! Must run. Sam... Sam? Help us. Our powers don't work. The guards will kill us.'
"You have to release your hold on my friends. They'll be killed by your guards if you don't. Do you really want to sacrifice our kind on the altar of... what? Your father's vision? The man who abused you, killed the only woman you loved, and then wiped your mind clean? We don't have time for you to digest all of these new memories. Now's the time to choose, Seeker. Whose side are you on?"
A single tear fell down his perfect, pale cheek. "You do not understand. I am dying."
"I know."
"And this hold, it is a double edged sword. The use of my powers is killing me, but the exchange of power, of energy, is also keeping me alive. If I let go completely, I will die much sooner. My power will drain from me. I will be gone."
I wiped the tear from his face and linked with his mind. "I'm so sorry, for everything you've been through. Sorry you had to endure such brutalities from the man who should have protected you. Sorry your powers have been abused. Sorry we couldn't be the happy family you wanted. And sorry you are dying. But many more are dying out there. My friends. My family. I need your help."
Blood dripped from his nose and ears, just like Mary. His eyes squinted in pain, and he fell to his knees in front of me.
"I have released them all. Guards, students... everyone. My mind has not been my own in so long. I had grown accustomed to the myriad of thoughts, emotions and voices that created a symphony inside of me. Now I am so alone. So empty. A void comes for me, to devour me. Even now, I feel my power flowing out and dissipating into nothing."
He looked up with eyes that reminded me of a hurt puppy. "What do I do now, Sam? Who am I if not the Seeker? Who will I be when I am no longer here? The darkness. I have walked in the dark for so long, but always it was filled with the bright stars of others like us. Now, nothing."
He chose this moment to have an existential crisis? I grabbed his hand with my good one and pulled him to his feet. "You're not dead yet. We'll worry about that later. First, we need to get Drake and get out of here. Is there an emergency exit to the library? Or a fire extinguisher? A huge room full of paper must have at least an extinguisher."
I let the Seeker's hand go and ran from wall to wall, and found what I needed by the checkout desk. In the movies, they always bashed out the glass window of a fire extinguisher case with their elbow. That didn't sound fun to me, or my elbow. I looked around and grabbed the biggest, heaviest book I could find. I shielded my eyes while I smashed the glass and freed the fire extinguisher from its case.
Our emergency medical training course had covered the use of these, but my hand throbbed so much I couldn't get a grip on it. "Hey, you know how to use one of these things? I can't manage it one handed."
The Seeker took it and moments later a stream of white suds coated the door. He used his robe as a glove and turned the handle, then sprayed more suds into the hall. "Follow me."
He turned left. We needed to be going right, towards the room Drake and I had been held. "You're going the wrong way. Drake!"
"He will get out on his own. We will get caught up in the fire if we go that way."
He tried to pull me towards him, but I broke free. "I'm not leaving him."
I turned and ran down the hall.
The Seeker sighed and followed behind me. "You are a very stubborn girl, but, very well. We will try to get to Drake."
Guards ran past us, towards the exit. They glanced at us but didn't stop.
We turned a corner, almost to Drake's room, and faced a hallway full of flames. The heat hit my face in a gust of smoke and fire. The Seeker sprayed enough white foam to clear a path for us to run through. Well, I ran. He stumbled and nearly pulled me to the floor. I grabbed him and helped him through. My jacket caught fire, and I pulled it off and threw it to the floor before it burnt through my clothes and skin.
Tears sizzled down my face. The door to Drake's room slumped to the side, the hinges almost completely torn off.
My voice cracked from smoke inhalation. "Drake!"
The room was empty save for the candles that still burned in the haze. "He's not here. We need to find him."
"He is probably already outside. Let us go."
This time I let him lead me away. If only I could have connected telepathically to Drake. I hated the emptiness I felt without his presence. For months, we'd been joined in the most intimate of ways, and now he was gone, leaving not only a void in my mind but a hole in my chest.
Flames chased us from both sides of the hall as we searched for an escape route. The extinguisher sputtered out its last white stream.
We rushed to the nearest office and closed the door. The room boiled with the rage of the fire, and filled with smoke so thick we both gagged.
I took a chair and threw it at the window, and glass shattered outward. We were on the second floor, but we could climb down the fire escape.
The room cooked and simmered, full of energy about to erupt. The Seeker's white robe had turned gray with ash, and his pristine skin looked sallow. The walls crackled as the heat blistered paint.
"Come on, we need to climb through the window." I reached for the Seeker just as the ceiling above me crashed down.
The weight of his body, slight though it was, propelled me out of harm's way. I stood and brushed myself off. "Wow, that was close. Thanks for—"
Only a fraction of life remained in his eyes. A beam from the ceiling pinned him to the ground, and a metal disk impaled his abdomen.
I reached for his hand. Tears streamed down my face.
"Sam, you must get out. I was dead before we met. Do not mourn me. Save your friends. Save your baby." He coughed and blood wet his lips. "I... I am sorry for what I have done to you, for what our father has done to you. He has plans, Sam, big plans, and dangerous weapons. You must stop him before it is too late."
His hand went limp in mine. His eyelids flickered closed.
"No. Please, I can't lose anyone else. Stay alive and help us. We'll find a cure for you. Just don't die. What are his plans? What is our father going to do? I need your help."
"Too late. One last gift for you. Come... closer."
I leaned into him. He pressed his lips against my brow and a powerful jolt electrified my mind and body. Blackness swirled around me and the world faded out for a moment.
His voice brought me back. "Sam, you now have what you need, and my powers have not all been lost. It is time... for me... to go. Did I make it right? My whole life I tried to do what was right, but right became so wrong. Was this the right thing, Sam?"
Sobs shook my chest. How could life flip on its axis so dramatically that I would mourn the man I considered my most deadly enemy just a day ago?
I knew so little of life and love and truth.
"Yes, you did it right."
His lips turned upward. "Good... bye... Sister. I am glad... I did not die... alone."
Chapter 33 – Lucy
Mr. Black squinted at her. Lucy could tell he expected her to run through the gates and never look back. Instead, she lowered her weapon and dragged him towards the hospital.
Fire had spread throughout campus, carried on the winds and trees. Every few minutes, an explosion ripped through the air.
Three guards approached. "Sir, step aside, and we'll eliminate the girl."
"That won't be necessary, men. I have control, and she's my prisoner now." Lucy felt his finger poke into her back as a mock gun. "You go on ahead and I'll catch up to you later."
Another explosion shook the ground, and the guards ran towards it.
The clinic had also caught fire. Patients were evacuated through the front, some in wheelchairs and others on beds. Medical personnel bustled about, trying to keep the patients calm.
/> Mr. Black approached the nurse Lucy had seen him speaking to when they'd admitted his daughter. "Where is she? Where is Sarah?"
The nurse clutched at her clipboard. She didn't seem to notice her soot-covered clothes and disheveled hair, only the needs of the patients. "Please, calm down. We're trying to get all the patients out."
Mr. Black brushed her aside and lunged for the front door. Lucy followed him in.
"Sir, you're not allowed in— That's off limits. Sir!" They both ignored the shrill voice of the nurse.
Patients clogged the passageways as they made their way through the halls.
They found her in a bed outside her room, where she'd been abandoned in the hallway. Poor girl. Lucy couldn't imagine how anyone could leave a terrified child alone like that in the middle of a fire.
Mr. Black lifted his daughter out of bed. Her eyes fluttered open, and her face lit up in the biggest smile Lucy had ever seen.
Sarah threw her arms around Mr. Black's neck. "Daddy, you came for me! I told them you would, and you did."
"I will always come for you, Sweetheart, but right now we have to get out of here."
Lucy grabbed a blanket and covered the slender child.
Mr. Black nodded in thanks.
They turned to leave the way they had come, but found the hallway blocked by a hungry inferno of flames.
Lucy thought back to her sneaking around when Sam had been kept here against her will.
"Follow me, I think I know another way out." She led them down one hallway and found a door to the outside.
The three of them crashed through it just as the building collapsed around them. They ran for the campus gate Mr. Black had opened earlier.
Lucy tried to ignore the bodies littering the walkways. She couldn't help them all—not now, not this way. But one body stopped her abruptly and she let out a choked cry.
Mr. Black shifted the weight of his daughter in his arms. "What the hell? We've got to go, now!"
"It's Higgins." She ran to him and dropped to her knees to check his pulse. Still alive but barely. "Headmaster Higgins, are you okay? Can you hear me?"
His eyes flickered open. "Ah, Lucy, you must leave. All of you must leave. Terrible things are happening."
"Yes, I know. Here, I'll help you. Come with us." She went to lift him but he moaned and pushed her away.
"It's too late for me. I tried to help, tried to do what I could. I'm sorry. I failed you all." He grabbed her hand and pushed something into it. "Get what you need and leave. End this."
His breathing slowed. Then stopped.
"Mr. Higgins! No!" Her cries ricocheted around her and inside her.
Mr. Black kicked the back of her feet. "He's dead, we're not. But we will be if you don't move your ass."
She looked in her hands, a key ring and a note with passcodes written on it. She shoved them into her pocket next to her sphere, and ran with Mr. Black towards the gate.
Staff and students all struggled to get through and out of harm's way. Mr. Lancaster seemed to be in charge, organizing the students and teachers, getting them out safely, or as safe as he could.
When they arrived, Luke was there waiting for her. "Sis, what the hell? I've been worried sick. And why the hell is he not dead?" He pointed to Mr. Black.
"Long story. Let's get out of here."
Before they could escape, a dozen guards surrounded their small group.
One guard held up a megaphone. "Everybody freeze."
Lucy looked to Mr. Black, still carrying his child. He stepped forward. "Stand down, men. I have this under control."
"With all due respect, sir, we no longer take orders from you. You have been compromised."
Sam, where are you. We need you. We're in trouble.
Without further warning, the guards raised their guns to start firing into the crowd.
A surge of power pulsed through Lucy. Her sphere came alive, which meant.... "Luke, put up your field. Our powers are back."
He held up his hands and the air condensed around them. The bullets had stopped mid-air, just inches from their targets.
Lucy expelled her breath, and she and her brother led everyone towards the gate.
Lucy's mind opened to another presence. Sam.
"Lucy, I'm here. I'm coming."
Chapter 34 – Mr. Black
His daughter's form lightened, as if part of her were already leaving him. He refused to let her go so easily. "Someone, help! I need an ambulance. My daughter is dying."
He hated to use that word, that horrible, awful word that meant this world would lose its brightest star.
Two medics from the local hospital arrived to help him. "Please, bring her to our ambulance. We'll get her to the hospital."
At the ambulance, an EMT said, "Sir, your daughter's pulse is weak. We need to move her now. She might not even make the trip to the hospital."
Lucy touched his arm. "I hope your daughter gets better. You did the right thing, helping the students get out. I hope you know it."
He'd already forgotten about Lucy. He couldn't believe she'd actually followed him into a burning building to save his daughter. For a moment, guilt surfaced over how he'd treated her, but then his daughter coughed, and the moment passed. Nothing mattered but Sarah, and anything, or anyone, who interfered with his ability to care for her would suffer.
"If my daughter dies, someone will pay."
He stepped into the ambulance after his daughter. The EMT reached to close the door, but Mr. Black put his hand out to stop it. "Lucy."
She turned and looked up at him.
"The other kids, they're in a facility in Utah." He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. "Here's the address. Don't let these guys get too powerful. It won't be good for anyone. And... thank you for helping Sarah."
He pulled the door closed and sat next to his daughter.
Her labored breaths came at fewer intervals, despite the oxygen attached to her.
Yes, if she dies, someone will pay.
Chapter 35 – Sam
In the last moment of his life, a bright glow rose from his chest and out through the window. Was it his soul? A final burst of energy from his powers? I didn't know, but whatever he'd been, the Seeker died to protect someone else.
It was a noble deed, and that's how I'd remember him.
The climb down the fire escape tore at my burned hands until the pain threatened to overwhelm me. The view from the window showed me a school fallen into chaos. My dorm would be completely engulfed in flames soon. Bodies of students and guards littered the once peaceful walking paths, and para-powers sparked everywhere in conflict.
A group of students moved towards the front gates, which had miraculously remained untouched by the fire, but not for long. I needed to get down there and find Lucy and Luke... and Drake.
Just thinking his name carved another hole in my mangled gut.
The ground rose to meet me faster than expected, as I slid down the last ladder of the fire escape. I stumbled onto my knees, tearing my pants and leaving small marks of blood on the cement. I hobbled along through more than just a trace of blood smeared across the campus walkways.
I joined a swarm of students heading for the front gates. "Drake! Drake!"
Bodies pushed me forward, and I couldn't tell one person from another. No one looked familiar, and yet everyone looked the same. "Luke? Lucy?"
"Luce, where are you? I'm stuck and can't see anyone?"
'Sam, oh my God, we've been worried sick about you. Get to the gates. We're about to get out.'
I imagined a single file line as we all walked off campus and into the world. Leave it to Lucy to plan something far more dramatic.
The entire perimeter of the fence pulled itself out of the ground and flew into the forest. In another display of power, the brick fence beyond the metal fence crumbled to dust.
Teens of all ages screamed and cheered and ran from the school that had become worse than a prison.
But where
were they going? Brad should've been here by now with backup. I needed to get to Lucy and Luke and help organize the students.
I locked on to Lucy's mental signature and pushed through the crowd, following her link.
We reunited just outside the old fence line. All around us fires burned, things exploded, and people laughed and cried.
I wrapped my arms around my best friend and added my tears to the mourning. "You're safe. I'm so glad you're safe."
"You too, Chica. Where's Drake? We've got to get out of here."
My sobs came harder.
"What did I say? What's wrong?"
"I lost Drake. I can't find him."
"What do you mean, you lost him? He's not a puppy. Can't you use your link?"
I gave her the Reader's Digest condensed version of what happened.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Sam."
Luke came up and wrapped his arms around both of us. "We'll find him, but first we need a what-do-we-do-next plan. We have that, right?"
"Yes. Let me see what I can find."
With my two best friends both hugging me, I reached out my mind and scanned our area. Something had shifted in me since the Seeker had kissed my forehead. Some space I hadn't known existed now opened up, but I didn't know what it meant, and I didn't have time to explore it.
A mass of consciousness lumbered towards us, and one familiar signature. Brad had brought the cavalry.
"We're going to be okay. Brad's coming with help. I need to try and connect to all the students and create some order."
Normally I would have needed Drake for this kind of power, but I didn't have him anymore, at least not in that way. Maybe not in any way.
I sat down to steady myself, and let Luke and Lucy guard me as I reached out to every mind around me. Not all were students and teachers. Many of the guards survived. I could feel their confusion and fear, like zookeepers whose animals had escaped—that's how most of them saw us.
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