Chapter 34
Screaming, Sam catapulted herself over the hood of the car. Two steps took her towards Lane, and she was reaching out, trying to push every ounce of power back into him, praying it would give him the ability to cushion his fall. She didn’t reach him in time. He landed on the hood of the station wagon with a sickening smack.
“Lane,” Sam gasped as she reached him, “Please be OK.”
He was still, totally still.
And then he took in a great big breath.
“God that hurts,” Lane grunted. Turning his head, he blinked at Sam, “Why are you out here? Hide, damnit!”
“Ah, predictable,” a voice said over their shoulders, “Mutual martyrdom leads to disaster yet again.” Stone stood a few feet away. His blonde ponytail blew softly in the wind, making him look like some sort of Euro-trash terrorist. He held his hands out placatingly.
“You’re outnumbered, Miss Gibson. Now would be the time to surrender. I might consider letting your friends live.”
The world felt deadly calm and still, but inside Sam roiled. He was right. That’s what got her. These people came around screwing with her life, with her family, with her friends, and they succeeded. Continuously. How much had she suffered for someone else’s greed? How screwed over was her life because of these people?
Forget them. She was done with this whole schtick, every part of it. In this world it was clear—he who has the most power wins.
This time, she was going to win.
Steeling herself, Samantha reached deep and took control.
The world stopped.
But this time, Samantha was there as it happened.
Samantha made it happen.
Different than everything she had experienced, this was above. Beyond. Samantha didn’t feel the power coursing through her; she was the power. Bright, burning, and deep, she controlled the flow because she was the flow. She was energy. She was a force of nature.
She turned her gaze towards the enemy.
Stone reached for power, but Sam took it away as easily as a parent took a toy from a child. He shrugged, laughing, “Oh yeah, what are you going to do? You can’t use it.”
“I can’t,” Samantha snarled, “But he can.” Reaching backwards, she grabbed Lane’s hand.
With her power fueling his telepathy, their minds met instantaneously. In a second, Lane knew Samantha’s plan, what she wanted to do. And for once, he didn’t argue.
Renée’s power was almost a cheap parlor trick compared to what Sam and Lane could do right now. Because with her power and his skill, what they could do is so much better. After all, what was the rearrangement of a few paltry molecules?
Suddenly, a very different type of screaming filled the air as Stone realized that he was sinking—right into the asphalt. He yelled in protest, struggling to pull his legs free of the sticky mass of pavement.
“Your first mistake,” Sam growled, “was messing with my friends. Your second was not making sure you were out of range when you did it.”
Stone schooled his face, stilled his features. “Think you’re the only one who can do that?”
A force reached out, grabbed her power. Her father. Sam couldn’t see him, but she could sense him out there, trying to take back what she’d stolen.
#
Lane didn’t have the slightest idea how this was working. He did know it scared the hell out of him. He’d never felt this much power in his life. Voices crowded into his skull, thoughts he was picking up now that his abilities had been multiplied by a factor of 10, turning his empathy into full-scale telepathy and his telekinesis into some sort of monster. And the awareness, the physical awareness of the world he felt right now. It was stunning. Sam felt it too. He knew because she was in his mind, too. But while the others were voices, she was a presence. Physical, real. The pain kept him from moving his own body, but he could sense every movement she made with hers, like he had after the Cherry Inn. He thought her thoughts and saw through her own eyes. It would be freaking him out if they weren’t busy, communicating, planning, acting. Sam let go of his hand, but the connection remained. It had always been there, Lane realized, he’d sensed it before. But now it was stronger than ever—Samantha wasn’t fighting it anymore, she was allowing it to happen. She was strengthening it. She began to move forward.
One by one, Stone’s friends threw everything they had at her. Projectiles, lightning bolts, and mental blasts mostly bounced harmlessly away from her. Most of the time, the offender found his or her self on the receiving end of their weapon of choice. But every now and then, something got through her shell. She was too distracted, Lane could tell, to continue to block and if they continued chipping away at her defenses, she’d be wiped out soon.
“Dude, need help?” Al’s head popped up by the side-view mirror. A second later, Harry appeared next to him.
“Not me,” Lane panted, “You’ve got to help Sam.”
Al looked over at Sam. Her hair seemed to be a living entity of its own as she stepped through Armani’s crowd, swinging her head from side to side almost like a snake.
“Uh...” Al said, “You sure about that?”
“Yes,” Lane grunted. Then he got an idea.
“Samantha!” he called out. He didn’t know if he did it out loud or not.
Those swirling blue eyes turned towards him.
Yes? That was definitely not out loud. Sam’s voice rang like a bell inside his mind.
“We need help!”
#
We need help? What was that supposed to mean? Help? Ridiculous. What could anyone else do? She was the one with the power, coursing into her from the Talents, from the bystanders, from the plants, everywhere. It was all she could do to maintain control, and continue wrestling it from her father. She could feel his presence. He pulled power from her like a surgeon, cool and precise. Every bit he took was thrown right back at her in the form of an attack from one of Stone’s men, and it took Sam so much energy to dodge the blows that she could barely return the favor. He was hiding nearby, like the snake he was, weakening his prey before coming out to strike. Sam searched for him, but even Lane’s telepathy met its match in her father’s shield. People appeared like glowing balls of energy, but it was impossible to tell which was which.
Samantha! Lane’s voice again, insistent.
She already had their powers, what more could she need?
But that was just it—her father had the same power she had. More of it. And he was better at using it than she was.
Share the responsibility, Lane thought at her.
Share.
That was it.
Lane was holding on to Harry and Al, holding their hands. He was doing to them what she had done before. Dipping into Lane’s, Harry’s, and Al’s heads, Sam gave a few quick instructions.
And then she let go. She released most of the power, funneling it back to her friends—all of her friends.
She fell back to the world with a crash of consciousness. Aware of her body again, Sam suddenly realized how dizzy she was from blood loss, and how her side ached and her legs wobbled. But she had no time for those concerns. Reaching into her belt, Sam pulled out the collar and remote and tossed it to Al, who caught it neatly in mid-air.
“Go!” she yelled. Al and Harry took off.
What are you doing? a voice asked. A cool, slick voice she recognized. She ignored it. Instead, she concentrated on protecting her friends, protecting their power and blocking the cool hand that reached for it. Backing towards Lane, she took his hands once more, letting their minds merge again. Now, through Lane, through the power, she could feel not just him, but Al and Harry as well. This connection wasn’t as strong or immersive as her connection with Lane, but it allowed the two of them to follow along with Al and Harry as the two embarked on their mission.
#
Tess had remained hidden throughout the beginning of the ordeal. Some people, she knew, were suited for conflict situations. She, however, was not
.
Unfortunately, Al and Harry refused to see that.
“You need to come with us, now!” Al insisted, crouched next to the VW she hid under, “We need you to find someone!”
Tess shook her head rapidly, “Nuhn uhn. You can’t make me!”
Al looked at Harry helplessly. Harry frowned and smiled, “That’s all right. We’ll ask Sam. Though she’s kind of busy, seeing as she just saved Lane’s life and is now fighting twenty of Stone’s TK’s and elementals on her own.”
Hissing, Tess rolled out from under the car, “I’ll show that bitch shallow.”
#
You’re sending your friends after me?
Sam refused to answer. Sharing the power without a physical connection, it turned out, was much trickier than taking power. It required energy just to maintain the flow, not to mention keeping her father’s grubby hands away from what she had.
Sam noticed two of Armani’s men slip away from the group.
I’m gonna kill them, too. He said.
#
“There,” Tess whispered, “I’m sure of it.”
Harry looked at the white van Tess pointed to and thought that the Corp—or anti-Corp, rather—could have put more into finding an original vehicle.
“OK,” Al said, “Let’s go.”
“Bad guys, zero o’clock!” Tess whispered, and pointed. Sure enough, two suits were jogging towards them, no doubt filled with evil intentions.
“Hold ‘em off, will you Harry?” Al said, and disappeared.
“Al!” Harry hissed. Right. Hold them off. He could do that. Digging deep, he felt his mind go into that other place. The world was alive with currents. You just had to tap into the right one, send it in the right direction, feed it back into itself and...
BOOM!
A bolt of white light slammed into the closest suit. The man crumpled to the pavement. Harry stared, wide-eyed. He felt dizzy.
Before this week, he’d never, ever even dreamed of using his talent to hurt someone. Now he was zapping people left and right. What had happened to him?
“Harry!” Tess said, “Rock!”
Tess pushed Harry aside as a piece of concrete the size of his fist sped by their heads at sixty plus miles per hour. The rock slammed into the car next to them, leaving a dent.
“Stop him, stop him!” Tess said. The man bent to pick up another rock and hefted it in his hand. Harry slipped back into the currents. This time they felt slicker, harder to pull, and direct. He was getting tired. Another jolt sent him sprawling—Tess had shoved him out of the way of another projectile and was pulling him down, “Hurry!” she said.
Harry let loose.
This bolt was more scattered, less focused. It struck not the TK coming towards them, but the car he stood next to. Harry cursed in frustration, but the resulting shock was still enough to send the suited TK sprawling. Even now, however, he was starting to struggle back to his feet.
“I don’t think so.” Winding up, Tess hurled the small shard of concrete back towards the TK, hitting him squarely on the side of his head. The man fell to the ground, out cold. Harry stared at Tess, mouth open.
“Girl’s fast pitch state champions,” she said.
#
Al crept up to the white van, keeping low. Dark tinted windows kept the inhabitant from view, but Tess was insistent that the man behind the current power-struggle was hiding in there. The only time he’d seen Sam’s father was through the window at the crazy farm, as he’d gone ballistic and attacked her. It seemed strange that that lunatic was now here and their biggest threat. He reached for the sliding door.
#
Sam felt the jolt as her father’s attention as its focus slipped from her to something—or someone—much closer: Al and Harry. No! She thought, ignore them! Focus on me! Yanking all the power she could from him and funneling it back into her friends, she succeeded in redirecting his attention back to her. That’s right, jerkwad. I’m more of a threat than anyone else.
#
Whatever crazy-ass vacant stare Sam had, this man’s was ten times freakier. When those eyes had focused on him, Al felt, straight to the core of his being, that he was about to be dead. But then they unfocused again, and Al didn’t hesitate. Scrambling into the van, he snapped the collar around the man’s neck and reached for the remote that would activate it—oh crap. Where was the remote?
It wasn’t in his pocket. It wasn’t in any pocket. It hadn’t dropped on the floor of the car. And oh god, oh god, the crazy man was starting to stir, starting to realize something was wrong—
“Don’t you need this?” Harry leaned against the open door of the van, chest heaving, and held out the remote.
“Yes!” Al grabbed the remote.
The man sat up, looked at them, “Who the hell are you?”
Al pressed the button.
#
You bitch! You want it? You can have it!
That was the last thing Sam heard before a tidal wave of energy hit her. With his last gasp, he’d just played the same exact trick on her that she had pulled on the Corp enforcer at the van—he’d reversed his resistance. Everything her father had, thrown at her in one huge blow.
It was like being hit by a tornado. Everyone’s power combined in a twisting, pulling, mass of pure, unadulterated force. For a split second, Sam felt herself being blown away, the energy chipping at her consciousness, her core being. In a few seconds, everything that was her would be gone, obliterated, overrun, and absorbed. She knew this, in the way that someone plucked from the ground by a tidal wave knew that they were about to be swept to the sea. It was helpless to fight back.
Samantha. The voice was distant, hard to hear.
Remember our first lesson?
She did.
Channel. Reach for me. Let me be your anchor.
No, she couldn’t, he would die, washed away with her.
Trust me.
Chapter 35
Harry’d never run so fast in his life. He could only vaguely sense the change and turmoil that had been unleashed right before Al pressed that button, but something told him it was trouble. They left Sam’s father locked in the car—Al jammed the locks and windows so they wouldn’t open—and ran like hell back to their friends.
They arrived in time to see Sam rise up from behind the station wagon. Literally, rise up as she floated in air to face Stone and his men. She smiled and suddenly Stone’s men started screaming as they, too, started sliding into the pavement.
“These are your options,” Samantha said, “You can die, you can spend the rest of your life suspended neck deep in concrete wishing you were dead, or, you can surrender.”
As one, they surrendered.
#
She didn’t want to take their word for it, but Sam was going to have to accept their surrender.
OK, Lane, Sam thought, let them go. Mostly.
Lane responded. The enemies emerged from the asphalt, leaving them stunned and unhappy. Except for one, Armani. Buried for several minutes, it was too late for him, so they left him there, deep in the earth. Lane wasn’t happy about that, but Sam pointed out that Armani had started a war knowing full well there would be casualties.
That done, Sam released the power.
She’d intended to let it go gradually, so she could float gently back to the ground. Instead, the moment she let go, the energy rushed out from her, sending her crashing back to earth with a bang.
“Are you OK?” Harry asked anxiously.
Sam blinked. Yes, she supposed she was. She felt light, but in a good way. Like the weight and responsibility of the world had left her. “I don’t think I want to do that again anytime soon.”
Lane, with a grunt, pushed himself off the car, sliding shakily to his feet only to lean against the hood, “It sure does burn you up.”
“Did you do anything else to them?” Al asked.
Lane nodded, “Yes, I made them all really want to go home and go to bed. And I, uh, may have fudged the me
mory of all the civilians hiding around here.”
“Sure,” Sam said, “Wouldn’t want these people to actually know what’s going on around them.” That only came out half as sarcastic as she’d intended it. Boy, she really was tired.
Lane shrugged, “It’s a problem for another day. Unless you have a burning desire to be on the news again?”
Sam shuddered, “No thank you.” She staggered forward to sit on the hood next to him. With a sigh, she leaned into him.
“I have one more problem, Sam,” Lane whispered.
“Ugggh, what is it?” she groaned, burying her head in his shoulder. He laughed, turning his head to her ear:
“I really want to kiss you right now,” he said softly, “Would you let me?”
“Depends,” Sam sighed, “Is it a factor of the emotions in this moment, or do you actually, y’know...”
Reaching out, Lane took Sam by the hips, pulling her into his arms. “Let me put it this way. You don’t drive cross-country and face down telepathic psychopaths for a person you just like.”
“In that case,” Sam smiled, “Go ahead.”
Lane leaned forward...
“Oh, gross. Cliché much, you two?”
Lane and Sam pulled apart. Lane glared at his best friend, but Sam couldn’t seem to stop giggling as Al ranted about the unoriginality in Lane’s technique. Harry just shook his head, plopping down next to the two of them.
“Guys, the ambulance is here.” Tess appeared. The lightning had singed off most of her perfect hair and even some of her eyebrows. Covering her mouth, Sam hoped that Tess wouldn’t see her massive grin. Oh, how she hoped it would grow back a different color.
“Who wants to go to the hospital first?” Tess asked, glaring at Sam, “You look like you’re bleeding a lot.” She said unsympathetically, “But Lane might have internal injuries.”
Sam shook her head, “Not just yet, there are some other things I have to take care of. For example, where, exactly, did that Renée woman go off to? She’s got to still be in range.”
Tess pointed to a black SUV, parked a short distance away from the mess, “Over there.”
“Thanks.” Holding her arm, Sam staggered over to the SUV, Al and Harry trailing behind like ducklings.
Chasing Power (Hidden Talents) Page 29
