“I hear each and every thought.”
“Your burden to bear,” Conthan said with a devilish smile.
She took his hand and pulled him to his feet. He had no idea where they were. The street seemed to be vacant, but unlike their residence in Boston, it appeared to be perfectly preserved. He wiped his eyes to shake away the last of the fuzzy edges. “We’re not in Boston, are we?”
“He’s not the sharpest amongst you, is he?”
Conthan turned, expecting to find Jasmine, but was surprised when the space in front of him was empty. Jasmine emerged from a veil of shadows next to a decrepit building, almost as if by magic.
“Somebody has to be our Class Zero.”
Dwayne appeared from nowhere along with Skits, smirking. “I’m going to start having power envy.”
“As the only Class III here…” Alyssa’s voice echoed from nowhere. One moment the space was empty and next the Middle Eastern girl was in front of him, taking a bow. “Can we just agree everybody has their place?”
Dav5d appeared behind them. “Ahem.” He cleared his throat. “Two Class IIIs.”
Conthan turned to see Vanessa standing there, her wings flared out wide. He was amazed by how massive she seemed, the appendages spanning twenty feet. He touched his own face. The sensation was different, like moving his foot while it was asleep.
“We’re not in Boston?”
“We’re not even in the same room,” Dav5d confessed.
“Telepath voodoo,” Jasmine said.
Skits punched Conthan in the arm. “That’s for getting villain blood on me.”
“Sorry,” he said. “I was kind of raging there.”
“I hadn’t noticed.”
Dwayne patted him on the shoulder. “Feel better?”
Conthan thought of Sarah, her beautiful smile and her carefree laugh. It came to him in waves. He would never see her again. He looked at Dwayne and shook his head. With a whisper he replied, “No.”
He could feel the warmth of Vanessa standing next to him. She rested one of her hands on his other shoulder and gave a concerned smile.
“That is why you were worth saving.”
“What now?” asked Jasmine.
Conthan jumped in. “The Warden wasn’t the person in charge of the project.”
“Who was?” asked Jasmine.
“The president,” said Dav5d.
“What?” they mumbled.
“He was put into place by Cecilia Joyce, the president. If you ever asked if Eleanor was a precog with good intentions or bad, we have confirmation. Eleanor wasn’t a killer, she was trying to prevent the future we were born into.”
“But we’ve had several presidents since.”
“What if the president had been replaced by a shapeshifter all those years ago and Eleanor found out? What if she knew exactly how things would pan out?”
Vanessa nodded as each of the eyes turned toward her. Conthan finally asked what they were all thinking. “What if the darkness she spoke about has yet to happen?”
There was a pause before Dwayne gave Conthan a nudge with his elbow. “Nighthawks for life.”
Vanessa looked off into the distance, behind her newfound teammates. Conthan followed her eyes and could see the dark clouds just on the edge of where the city street vanished. He suspected the rumbling storm was a reaction to Vanessa’s state of mind. He watched as a cloud lit up. He knew the darkness had yet to descend upon them.
Acknowledgments
I must acknowledge the many people involved in bringing this book to fruition. Thank you to the Metrowest Writers, Amelia, Chris, Cristina, and Ken for your feedback, support, and guidance. I always need people to kick me in the pants and chug coffee with me. Thank you to Catie Joyce and Jessi Robinson for being faithful beta readers and giving me the feedback I needed to hear even when I wasn’t ready. And thank you to the New England Horror Writers and Chris Philbrook for answering a thousand questions and helping me get one step closer to my dream.
About the Author
I’m high school graphic design and marketing teacher, at a large suburban high school in Massachusetts. Working as a high school educator and observing the outlandish world of adolescence was the inspiration for my first young adult novel, “Suburban Zombie High.”
My inspiration for writing stems from being a youth who struggled with reading in school. While I found school assigned novels incredibly difficult to digest, I devoured comics and later fantasy novels. Their influences can be seen in the tall tales I spin.
I took the long route to becoming a writer. For a brief time, I majored in Creative Writing but exchanged one passion for another as I switched to Art and Design. My passion for reading about superheroes, fantastical worlds, and panic-stricken situations would become the foundation of my writing career.
I participated in my first NaNoWriMo in 2006 and continue to write an entire novel every November. Now I am the NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison to the Massachusetts Metrowest Region. I also belong to a weekly writing group, the Metrowest Writers.
Facebook:
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Website:
http://www.remyflagg.com/
Nighthawks (Children of Nostradamus Book 1) Page 28
