Freya sat against the edge of the house with her knees up, her hands grasping her head, barely keeping it together as her body trembled.
She knew Winter was on top of Nancy, her knee in her back, her hands secured in her powerful grasp, yet the two other women might as well be an entire lifetime away, as Freya found herself lost in the past.
Screaming.
The screaming of thousands of dying children – one of those children all too familiar.
I knew my imagination was just going into overdrive, but the image in my head just felt too real.
The trip back home was a nerve-wracking one. We were pretty much taking the fastest mode of transportation available to us, yet it still felt like every minute was an eternity. The whole time Lexi held tightly onto my arm, my clenched hand in her lap, since we were in a pair of seats side-by-side.
It wasn’t until the pilot spoke up again in the headset that I realized that we were close…
And that there was a problem.
“I can’t land in the field around the house. With the rain last night, it looks too muddy – skids could get stuck.”
“What about the road?” Jackie asked seriously.
“I may have to take us a mile up, because here’s not a good spot. And I can’t block the cruisers anyway.”
There were six cruisers down below, all of them on the road, since our gate wasn’t opened up all the way, as if someone had manually turned the system off. I could also see a beige car in our yard too, with the hood dented in like a boulder had smashed into it, as well as a group of officers surrounding Winter as she talked a mile-a-minute.
Focusing on her, I could almost just imagine what she was telling them.
“Look,” Winter said firmly, trying to ignore the nasty bite on her arm that would take at least a week to heal on its own without Heidi’s help. “I can’t give you more than that right now. Just take her in. You can’t even begin to imagine how many deaths she’s responsible for. She needs to be prosecuted for homicide, infanticide, pseudocide, insurance fraud, illegal cloning – the list just goes on and on. And she’s just the tip of the iceberg for a much bigger criminal organization.”
“It’s fine,” I snapped into the headset at the pilot. “Just get close to the house. I’ll jump.”
“Sam,” Lexi said in alarm.
“I’ll be fine,” I reassured her, reaching out with an astral limb and gently wrapping it around her wrist. “And not just because I can regenerate. Shouldn’t even have to.”
Her eyes widened in surprise, realizing the implications. “Then, can you take me with you?”
I thought about that. “Yeah, I can.”
“Wait,” Jackie said in alarm, as we both began undoing our harnesses. “You can’t be serious! Sam, you might be okay, but Lexi can’t survive a fall like that!” She then screamed when I grabbed her with an astral limb around the ankle, causing the other men to wince, only to realize it was me.
“We’ll be fine,” I reassured her, lifting Lexi up into the air without touching her, only to deposit her in my outstretched arms, while keeping one astral limb wrapped around her waist to ensure she remained tethered to me.
Needless to say, while Jackie had some clue of what I was capable of, she’d never really seen it in action. Her green eyes were wide as she tried to wrap her mind around this. Not to mention, the other guy who was sitting in the rear with us – he looked like he was about to shit his pants.
“You better keep her safe!” she finally snapped, even though it was obvious I wasn’t waiting for her permission.
No, I was just waiting until we were a little closer.
“Of course,” I agreed, not looking at her, with Lexi tightening her arms around my neck. “It’s what I’ve always done, since the first day I met her.”
And with that, I took off my headset with an invisible limb and leapt out of the cabin, rapidly picking up speed as I started freefalling straight down, my astral limbs shooting out as far as they could reach, just ready to find purchase on the ground the moment they made contact.
We were still hundreds of feet from the field below by the time I was rapidly slowing us down, having full control of our descent long before we were in any danger of hitting. The moment my feet touched down, I set Lexi on her own feet, and the two of us began running through the unfinished portion of the fence toward the house. It felt like I had tunnel vision, like I couldn’t seem to focus, looking at Winter for some sign the threat was truly dealt with.
Immediately, she met my gaze past an officer, only to point toward the house.
And that’s when I noticed exactly what I’d imagined only a handful of minutes ago – Freya, leaning against the house with her knees up, her head in her hands, her expression vacant, like she was shocked and traumatized.
“Go inside and check on everyone,” I urged Lexi, running straight for Freya now.
She obeyed without question, running up to the front door and rushing inside while I dropped down in front of Freya, reaching out to cover her hands with my own.
“Freya,” I tried to say calmly – my worry, concern, and panic still leaking into my tone a little.
Her crimson gaze looked up at me, her eyes seeming to focus. “Sam,” she replied simply, her voice trembling.
“What’s wrong? Who are they arresting? What happened?”
“N-Nancy,” she managed, glancing past me.
Completely shocked, yet somehow not surprised in a weird way, I strained my second-sight behind me, even while continuing to keep my physical eyes on Freya, looking for the person in question.
And
