He did the easiest thing he could think of. Since everything is made up of tiny energy particles, and he could manipulate energy, he placed his left hand on the guard-rail that went up the stairwell. Everyone held onto it when either going up or down. It gave them peace of mind, balance, and prevented falls.
He squeezed his hand, closed his eyes and concentrated, which started moving the steel molecules faster and faster, faster and faster, whipping them into a frenzy. Of course, the outcome of all the frantic movement generated lots of heat, almost as if the railing had been subjected to fire. And, indeed, he could see the effect of his psychic manipulation. The stairwell banister was changing color, becoming a glowing red. He snatched his hand away so he wouldn’t be burned.
He could see the color changing, gradually moving all the way up to the top of the building. It started out slowly, and then gained speed. The steel handrail was also becoming softer. Soon it would sag.
The banister was placed on the stairs to prevent people from falling off the steps to their death, down the middle of the stairwell.
Even knowing that he couldn’t touch the railing any more, Omar almost felt compelled to do so, since it was so dark. The candle that Julie reluctantly gave him didn’t produce a lot of light.
Omar was strong and agile. He started hurrying, taking two and three steps at a time, rushing to get to Michelle.
He heard a shout and a scream echoing from somewhere behind him and smiled.
Chapter 18
“Stop!” Vincent shouted. He was climbing laboriously behind the others, panting with exertion. He was the first to be startled by the sizzling heat from the bannister.
Heather turned around to see what Vincent was warning them about and her sleeve brushed the handrail. The material started to burn and she screamed.
Almost at the same time, Rod yelled, “Ouch! What the fuck?”
Mike, who was holding the rail shouted, “Damn,” when it burned his hand. He glanced at Heather as she screamed and started patting out the flames that were beginning to eat a hole in her blouse.
“Don’t touch the railing,” Vincent admonished. Then he whispered, “Omar’s starting an attack.”
“Wait a minute,” Rod said. When everyone stopped, he said. “I need to call Sammy; find out where he parked the car. Make plans to get Michelle out of here when we find her.”
He used his cell. “Hi Sammy. There must be other exits besides the front door to the clinic. This place is huge. If we find Michelle we’ll have to devise an exit plan.”
The others could only hear Rod’s side of the conversation, but they understood that Sammy had parked on a side street. He said there was an Emergency entrance for trauma patients on the other side of the hospital. Only the fertility clinic was in electrical black-out. The other parts of the hospital were lit up.
“Wait for us there, by the Emergency entrance. We’ll try to get Michelle out that way,” Rod said.
As they resumed the climb, Vincent said, “They serve meals to the patients, so they must have a kitchen, and maybe even a laundry room. There’s probably a service bay too, where the hospital gets their supplies delivered. We’ll have to sneak through the ‘employee only’ areas if we find Michelle, and hustle her out of here fast. Maybe it’s a good thing the lights are out. We can always say we’re lost, if we get caught.”
“We need to avoid Omar at all costs,” Heather said. “Too bad we don’t have a map of this place.”
“Maybe we should split up,” Mike suggested. “I could go to the top floor right now, try to steal Michelle’s eggs. They’re usually stored in some kind of glass and metal container, and they’re labeled with the patient’s name. I saw some examples when I researched on line about how the eggs are frozen and stored. They might die if I remove them from the cooling unit, but at least Omar won’t have control of them.”
Rod nodded. “I think she’d rather have them die than let Omar use them.”
“I agree,” Heather said. “Michelle sure wouldn’t want Omar and his witches, to raise her...ah...biological babies.”
“I’ll hurry on ahead,” Mike said, and started running up the stairs.
“Call me if you run into any problems,” Rod shouted.
“Sure thing,” floated back from Mike, who was already up to the next landing.
***
Lucifer had been chewing on Michelle’s hair. Then he bit her ear hard, and started a low growl.
“Ouch, Luce,” Michelle said. “That hurt!”
In the next second, the cat bite was like nothing compared to the pain in her hand. Somehow the stair rail had become like molten hot lava.
Lucifer was now making a sound that wasn’t a growl anymore; it had gone up several octaves, and decibels, so that he was howling right in her ear. That hurt too, but Michelle realized the cat was warning her. She felt her heart do an alarmed summersault. She had to hide. Omar was coming.
She stumbled down the stairs as fast as she could, careful not to get near the burning hot railing, and reached the next floor. The door said Eight.
She quickly opened the door and slipped inside a hallway. She found herself on a patient floor just like the one her room was on. There were hospital rooms and a nursing station. She noticed that the elevator doors were open. When she peeked inside she couldn’t see anything except yawning blackness. Man, that’s a potential lethal hazard, she thought. She knew she should warn someone, but didn’t want to get caught, roaming around the hospital.
Michelle put her ear to the stairwell door. Someone was running up the stairs, past this floor. She was sure it was Omar. How she knew it? Well, it was one of her abilities. It was like a wave of cold darkness
