doctor’s thoughts were cut off from Ellyssa as Xaver’s shield rose in place.
Safely inside Xaver’s bubble, Dr. Hirch said, “You realize you will not make it out alive.” He had his hand held out in a silent command as he spoke.
“You give me too little credit,” she sneered, jabbing her gun into the air. “You and your precious ‘superior’ children. All of you think I’m so inferior. But it was I who found where your daughter ran to. It was I who uncovered an operation that’d been going on for decades.”
The detective glanced down at Micah. “I bet you never imagined, Doctor, how fragile your children are. They succumb to bullets, just like everyone else,” she said, cocking her head to the side. “You too, Ellyssa. Join your family.”
Ellyssa shook her head and stepped between Detective Petersen and Rein.
“Fine. You can be first. Ever since that day in the park, I’ve imagined this moment. Watching the life seeping from your ‘superior’ flesh.”
The detective took aim at Ellyssa as her father gave the signal. Xaver’s shield lowered. It seemed Aalexis gift couldn’t work within the protective safeguard. Thoughts rushed toward Ellyssa, but the one she was concerned with was the command to squeeze the trigger given by the detective’s brain. Ellyssa ducked. The air displacement lifted her hair as the bullet whizzed by. Her ears rang with the crack of the gunfire.
By the time Ellyssa righted herself, the detective was writhing on the floor as Rein had before. Detective Petersen screamed and screamed.
Within all the activity, red lights started to flash, and a bell rang loudly throughout the corridors. Fire alarms. Woody’s signal to Ellyssa that also served to save uninvolved workers. The countdown had begun.
Everything happened at once. The screams stopped, but the detective remained on the floor. Dr. Hirch appeared confused and unsure, human emotions shining through his usually-calm facade. Her sister glared at the detective, her forehead smooth. Xaver stood to the side, watching the doctor as if awaiting orders. The red lights continued to flash, and the piercing alarm reverberated through Ellyssa’s bones.
Reacting, Ellyssa grabbed the forgotten P229. She spun around and squeezed the trigger. The sound was lost within the racket, but a red teardrop spread down the white of her father’s lab coat. He looked down, then gazed at Ellyssa in surprise before he toppled to the ground.
A shrieking “
The intense agony, the loud whooping alarm, and through it all, Ellyssa heard Rein.
She focused on him. Her memories drifted to his smile, his touch, his warm embrace. All of her concentration centered on him, and his mind.
Through Rein’s eyes, she saw herself wrapped up like a ball, her face pinched. His hand reached for her. Slowly, everything except Rein faded as Ellyssa’s mental barricade slid into place. The pain subsided, and her muscles unclenched. The aftereffects of the assault, though, still warmed her insides, like embers that were just starting to cool.
Shielded from her sister’s gift, Ellyssa rose to her feet just as the last fire alarms faded away.
Flashing red tinted Aalexis’ porcelain face as she bunched her forehead tighter.
Unaffected, Ellyssa advanced on her. “It is no use,” she said. “Your gift can not affect me anymore.”
Aalexis’ eyes narrowed as her mental focus shifted. Ellyssa saw what she had planned. Chairs scratched across the floor as an invisible force pushed them.
Ellyssa jumped out of the way before two of the chairs crashed into the wall behind the spot where she’d just stood. The desk lurched forward, and its legs screeched as they were dragged across the linoleum. Ellyssa sidestepped the assault and bolted toward her sister, knocking Aalexis into the wall. Air gushed from Aalexis’ lungs and, for the first time ever, surprise crossed her sister’s face before her pale lids closed.
Ellyssa spun around, intent on grabbing Rein and escaping. Before she knew what was happening, she was on the ground, pressure crushing her chest, large fingers stretched around her neck.
Xaver looked down at her, lips pulled into a snarl.
Ellyssa tried to break his hold with a swipe of her arm, but his fingers dug into her flesh, squeezing off her air. Clutching his hand, she tried to pry his fingers loose. He squeezed harder while smacking her head against the ground.
The flashing red light, so bright against the white walls, hurt Rein’s eyes. Warmth still flowed inside him, but the fire was extinguished. His face hurt, as did every inch of his body.
He glanced around.
There were still people in the room. The clashing and thumping of furniture. Struggling. Someone was wheezing, gasping. Foreign, guttural words were being said.
A blurry, shadowy figure undulated strangely next to the door. The body was distorted and bent in a way no human could bend. Limbs whipped around under the red flashing. He blinked, and the blur of the edges came together into two distinct people. The one on top, he recognized as the boy who’d been with the witch and the madman. He held down a blond girl. She kicked frantically, trying to dislodge him.
Like pieces of a puzzle, everything clicked.
Never taking his eyes off the struggle, he rolled over to his hands and knees. His muscles quaked under the strain and threatened to hurl him back to the ground. He crawled to a chair, and used it for support while he staggered to his feet. Bile rose in his throat. He worked it back down.
Even if this was the very last thing he did, he would save her. He grasped the chair in one hand, and his foot slid forward.
Ellyssa’s arms flailed wildly, trying to gain purchase on Xaver, scratching at his face, his eyes, but he eluded her attempts, his fingers forever digging deeper. Dots of light swam at the corners of her vision.
On the verge of passing out, blackness closed around her vision, her struggle weakening, her oxygen gone. Dimly, she heard a loud crack, and chunks of debris rained down on her. Xaver’s fingers relaxed, and he collapsed on his side.
Sweet air rushed into Ellyssa’s lungs. Wheezing, she readied herself for another attack.
Rein stood over her, two pieces of a chair back clutched in his hands. He wavered, then stumbled, dropping the remains of the chair. Red light flickered across his face, darkening his bruises.
She scrambled to her feet and caught Rein in her arms, supporting him. He leaned against her.
“Can you make it?”
Rein nodded.
“One second,” Ellyssa said as she pulled Rein over to where her father lay. Careful to avoid the blood that had spread across the doctor’s chest, Ellyssa reached into his side pocket and pulled out the access card to the elevators.
“Let’s go.”
“Okay,” Rein mumbled, his voice drawn and weak.
Ellyssa pulled Rein along, half-jogging, half-walking, out the door and toward where the elevator loomed at the south end, an unreachable goal. She glanced at her watch. The face was broken, the LED display black. She wondered how much time they had left.
She quickened her pace, dragging Rein beside her. She knew pain slowed his movements, and when they reached safety she’d kiss every inch of him. Right now, though, she had to keep him going. Gripping his hand tighter, Ellyssa jerked him along behind her and took off in a light sprint, hoping the elevator car waited on this floor.
The signature from a familiar mind touched hers.
Ellyssa slipped into the hall closest to the exit as the elevator doors slid open. Ahron sprinted out. As he passed her, she swung out her arm and clotheslined him. His head whipped back and he landed on his backside.
