Epsilon

by Dezirae Bates

  The anticipation was intense and she didn’t think that her heart could take any more waiting as she ran through the streets, trying to get back to the visitor entrance to the League. Unlike a true member, she had no ability to access it by herself which took that much longer to get back to their base headquarters. Even running all the way there, she managed to shave three minutes off of her best time, allowing her body to will itself to the finish line. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was going to tell them to convince them to plead their cases to the Elders but she knew whatever she did say, she would win their hearts over. She had to.

  Her fingers reached out towards the door handle, twisting the knob as quickly as she could and pushing herself forward through the door frame. She waited in the hallway, using her Origin to seep into the walls which switched her to the actual League headquarters. Someone would have to escort her in further if she planned on getting down to the Cove but since they were expecting her, she anticipated someone waiting at the entrance to help her through.

  Except, no one was there.

  Not only was no one there, the hallway was rather silent. A pang of worry rolled through her, glancing around trying to figure out what in the world was going on. Cassidy bit on the inside of her lip, wondering if she should try Sebastian’s entrance code further into the headquarters. She wasn’t supposed to know how to get in by herself but she was simply an observant and resourceful woman who didn’t like the fact that she couldn’t go and come how she pleased. Her hands moved quickly, setting things into place to verify that it was Sebastian who was entering deeper into their home base and it was in that moment that she wished she would’ve never came back to the League HQ. When she expected to see people greeting her, she smelled burning flesh. Cries and screams echoed down the halls, a haze of various origins in the air as if recently used. She didn’t know what had happened but one thing was clear.

  The League as she knew it, was no more.

  Chapter 20

  Cassidy ran to the first body on the ground that she saw. It was Jane, her long strands of black hair matted to the blood that was gushing from the side of her neck. From what she could tell, the blood was coming from some sort of animal bite.

  Her fingers clamoured along her body, trying to put pressure against the wound to keep her from bleeding out. Jane took in a sharp breath when Cassidy’s fingers pressed against her wound, Cassidy letting out a shaky, hollowed gaspe.

  “What happened?” she asked, the tremble in her voice clear as day. Cassidy kept her voice low enough so that she couldn’t be heard in case whoever or whatever attack happened to still be nearby. Jane swallowed which caused another gush of liquid to come out of her throat, her hand moving to clasp over Cassidy’s as she tried to speak.

  “-dus, breached the cove, I—” she gasped, squeezing Cassidy’s hand as tight as she could, the green siphoning from Cassidy and into Jane as a hope that it would do anything to keep her alive. “You -ust stop -em” she said, her voice cracking at each word and it was hard for Cassidy to understand her at all.

  “Jane? Jane, no no, please, I’ll get Flora or someone, please, just hold on for me, please,” she begged, leaning her head down to rest her forehead against Jane’s, letting out a broken cry, tears cascading down her cheeks and hitting Jane’s.

  She could easily feel when Jane’s life left her body, the pulse of their Origin subsiding and Cassidy simply felt alone again. A pit rose up in her stomach as she pulled her hands back, every inch of her palms covered in her blood. It took her a moment to push herself to her feet, willing herself to push back whatever she was feeling and to take on what was threatening those she’d grown to care about.

  From what she could understand from Jane, it seemed as if the Exodus was to blame for such an attack which sent shock waves through her system. If it was, if it wasn’t just some side group or someone wanting revenge then that meant that Chase was distracting her from the truth. He was playing her.

  Cassidy looked down at Jane’s body, swallowing back the sobs that begged to come to the surface as she willed herself down the hallway, one foot after the other. The green energy surged over her hands, Cassidy watching as the red blood mixed with the green color that sparked through her and there was a fire inside her that could no longer be quelled. She wasn’t sure what the answers actually were anymore but she knew that the Exodus was not what they seemed to be. And, she’d deal with that after she dealt with whoever was trying to kill them.

  Cassidy spied a Delta, an Exodus Delta, coming down the hallway from the Cove, a tiger on his heels with a silver glow around it. The man stopped instantly at the sight of her, taking in a sharp breath.

  “You weren’t supposed to be here,” he said, slinking back to attack when Cassidy rose her hand in the air, the green intensifying and conjuring a large tree branch in thin air, instantly calling the branch to grow and she watched as it plunged into the chest of the man, his scream filling her ears. No emotion crossed her face as she killed the Delta. It was as if her body was operating on autopilot.

  “She was my friend,” she said , her voice monotone as her eyes finally landed on the man who was crumpled to the ground, deceased. If others thought that she was changed before with what she’d been through, things were about to change in ways that not even Cassidy understood.

  By the time her legs took her to the end of the hallway and into the Cove, she saw that the rooms had been ransacked. Books and files were ripped apart, blood was smeared across the walls and the sigils for each Origin were scorched in the walls—which Cassidy assumed must’ve been connected in how they managed to breach their security. Besides Jane and the Delta, it was clear that no one else was in the Cove which only left her a few possibilities. There were survivors. They were in hiding. Or, they were captured.

  “Caleb? Sebastian? Gen?” Cassidy called out, running down the hallway at this point, eager to find some semblance of life still within the walls of the League. Even hearing Gen’s voice would be better than nothing.

  She made it down the hall, away from the Cove and towards the room that she was living in for the past month. The first room she passed was Jane’s, a sinking pull of regret swallowing her up but she pushed forward. Caleb’s room as well as Joseph’s and Flora’s were all emptied, seemingly untouched.

  It wasn’t until she got to Sebastian’s that she noticed any sort of distress at all. There was blood on the floor and the room was an entire disarray. The night table was overturned, the door nearly blown off its hinges.

  It was apparent that he or whoever was in his room, put up one hell of a fight.

  “No,” she said, touching the door for a moment before her legs carried her to her room. Inside her room, her trunk and other various items were torn apart. Pictures were ripped in half, her bed was upside down. It was as if they were looking for something but couldn’t seem to find it. Despite what her head was trying to wrap around, she knew there was only one thing to do at this point; Return home to the Exodus and make someone pay for what they’d done.

  Chapter 21

  Moments like these, Cassidy hated that she couldn’t just teleport to where she wanted to go. She was, however, thankful that she was at least able to use one of the League cars, driving as fast as she could to the entrance of the Exodus. It was such a different feeling, returning now like she was. The first time she came to the Exodus, she was coming for answers and guidance and for a family. And now, she was coming for answers, for revenge and for her family. It was such a twisted world that she found herself in, even after only a month’s time. The Exodus had their rules for a reason and she understood that but there was no way the people she worked with and got to know over the past month did the deplorable things they were accused of and now that she nearly had proof that someone was framing them—like she had with Yvette—and the fact that someone within the organization managed to attack those she’d grown to love, that was enough of answers for her to act. This was far beyond just her anymore. The l
eaders, her father and the other elders, were allowing someone to disgust the name they worked so hard for and while she prayed that her father was oblivious to the entire thing, as Chase hopefully was, she was starting to have to accept the evidence presented in front of her. If only she’d listened to Sebastian when he told her not to go in the first place.

  The car fought through the downpour of rain which was strange for the time of year and seeing as it wasn’t raining earlier in the day. When Cassidy reached out to try and clear it up, her abilities couldn’t override it which meant that it was another Epsilon pushing the change. Despite her adrenaline pumping, the rain seemed to soothe her nerves more than she had ever anticipated. It was as if her own Origin was trying to prepare her for what she was going to experience in the coming hours, or even days. It was a future that was full of uncertainty.

  Minutes seemed like hours, finally arriving on the outskirts of the Exodus conclave. It wouldn’t surprise her if she was met with an entire army, ready to take her on and dismantle whatever coup she was considering throwing. It was obvious that the Exodus didn’t want her harmed, since the Delta was surprised that she was even back in time. Was Chase supposed to distract her longer than he had? Cassidy had a million questions in her mind as she parked the car and headed to the back entrance. Seeing that it was left unguarded caused the pit in her stomach to grow. It was extremely unlike them to leave their outside forces defenseless, especially if they had anything to do with the League attack. This would’ve been the point that she assumed they’d be more apt to protect than ever before.

  She pushed past the initial barriers, letting herself into the headquarters and heading towards the main hallways. The entire place was far too calm and quiet for her liking and it set her even more on edge than she ever thought possible. Something was out of place and it was taking her far too long to figure it all out.

  The autopilot she had before was carrying her now, weaving around the corners to the middle hub of the Exodus. Who was it that she needed to find first? If she went to her father and he was somehow apart of it all, she’d have no way of getting out. If she went to find Chase first, it was almost guaranteed that he’d find a way to sink his teeth back into her or change her mind all together. But, if she managed to find out what happened to the League members who should’ve been in the Cove when it was attacked, she would have the edge. And, at this point, that was the only thing she had in her favor.

  Standing in the center of the complex, she took in a few breaths to try and center herself. She needed all the help she could get at this point.

  “Deep breaths, baby. You can do this. I know you can.” A voice rang over her ears, Cassidy snapping her head around to try and pinpoint the direction it was coming from. Remembering the voice was easy, it was her mother. But, regardless of how the day’s events played out, her mother was dead and would always be dead and that was clear so the voice she was hearing, she worried, was trying to trick her.

  “Mom? How- you’re not real,” she said, shaking her head as she tried to push the thought out enough to focus.

  “Cassie,” she said, Cassidy’s face falling when she heard the nickname that hardly anyone even bothered to call her anymore. It was apparent that the voice she was listening to was familiar but a part of her refused to accept that her mother could be speaking to her. “I’m gone, you’re right. But, that doesn’t mean I’m gone forever. This beautiful world, even you should be able to believe that I’m still watching, still keeping track of you growing up,” she said softly, her words were warm even if they were only filling her head.

  “Mom, I don’t know what to believe anymore,” she said, standing in the middle of the room a broken woman who simply wanted her mother to make everything right again; to patch the holes in her life that had just grown larger over the past half of a year.

  “Oh, sweetheart, you do. You just need to think it through. Take a breath. You are so much more powerful than you can even imagine. I believe in you, Cassidy. I love you. I’ll always be here.” Her mother’s voice was as soothing as it could be and she felt her heart rate start to slow, focusing on the breaths that she was taking. She needed to stay as focused on finding the left over League members and the only way she could do that was to use her abilities.

  She stood centered, letting her breath come in and out of her lungs, trying to take what her mother said and use it in a way that could help her in this scenario. The green pulsed over her skin, spreading up her arms and over the rest of her body, eagerly trying to reach out through her Origin and solve the issue she found herself in. Turning to those inside the Exodus wasn’t an option so asking another Epsilon wouldn’t be useful to her and she was trying to desperately to avoid using her bond to pinpoint Chase’s location. It was too dangerous to tap into it, only for him to turn it against her not only moments later. Sadly, this was a time that wasn’t going to be solved using magic. It was going to be solved through simply working through the situation.

  Cassidy walked down the hall to her right, spotting a few Chi security detail which caused her to hide back behind the wall she was pressed against. For her, she had already killed enough to last her a lifetime and if anyone else managed to see her, she knew that they’d want blood or to report her to her father. As she waited for the men to pass by, she managed to use her ability to distract them down another hallway, sneaking behind them and making her way towards the channeling rooms. The easiest way to weaken a captive person was to stick them in a channeling room for a different Origin and while she was still operating with the idea that they were still alive, that was the first place she was going to look.

  It took a few more timely placed distractions to manage to get close to the channeling rooms, hoping that they’d pick one opposite of Chi and Epsilon and settle on Sigma, knowing full well how emptying and deadening the Sigma room could be for anyone who wasn’t Sigma. She had already assumed that she wasn’t going to be able to find everyone all at once but she had to start somewhere.

  She rounded the corner towards the Sigma room, nearly pummeling a Chi, the one that Jon had attacked over a month ago. It’d been some time since she’d seen him but it was clear that the two remembered each other.

  “You shouldn’t be out here, everyone is looking for you,” he said, reaching out to grab her and she sent a strong wind gust, knocking him back about twenty feet or so and making him unable to snatch her up.

  “Yeah? Well, they’re gonna have to get in line. I’m looking for some people myself,” she snapped, walking over towards him but he teleported before she had a chance to grab ahold of him. Before she knew it, he was behind her and his forearm was pressed against her trachea, trying to make her subdued long enough to take her in. Cassidy clawed at his arm, snapping her head back against his own which caused him to let go of her and before she knew it, she was sending electric shocks and then fireballs his way to get him to back off attacking her. Before she knew it, she caused the floor of the building to come up and capture his feet into cement and just as he was about to teleport out, Cassidy clocked him hard with her right hook, knocking him unconscious.

  “Oh no you don’t,” she exclaimed, shaking the pain away from her hand as she finally stumbled upon the Sigma room. Her earlier distractions were enough to pull the sentry guards away except for two of them. The two men stood straighter when Cassidy made her entrance, trying a different approach than with the others before them.

  “My father wants to see the two of you, I can look after the prisoners for now,” she said, the two men Chis who seemed hesitant to accept what she was saying. It was then that Cassidy tapped into her bond with Chase, trying to see where he was and hoped that he’d be with her father. It took her a moment to recognize where he was but once she did and saw that he was on the right side of her father, she couldn’t be happier about the fact that they shared a bond.

  “What? Come on! They’re up in the main choosing ceremony hall and it seems like they’re pissed about something. So
, get your asses up there and I’ll be here when you get back. If, you get back,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest, ready to strike if need be but the two glanced at each other long enough and moved out of the doorway and towards the main hall.

  Cassidy let out a shaky breath, stepping to the door before glancing down the hall towards the Epsilon channeling room. She wouldn’t have time to do both, sadly. It was either save the hostages—if they were still alive—or strengthen herself to survive what she assumed would be her last stand. Without another second, she opened the Sigma channeling room door, her feet carrying her forward enough to push her past the barrier and the instant sinking feeling revolted through her stomach. It was far more intense than she remembered previously but she swallowed back the subtle rumblings through her hands, focusing on whoever was inside the room. There were two people buckled and shackled to the floor, the smell of their flesh burning had managed to fill the room and was just as sickening as the feeling ripping through her stomach. Whoever designed the purpose of the channeling room was exceptionally brilliant. It’d strengthen one and weaken the other. The only person ever to be able to benefit from the rooms completely would be the person who could wield all five origins and despite what others spouted off to her, Cassidy wasn’t that person.

  It took her a moment to focus on the task in front of her, noticing the two men who were shackled to the ground. The first was Bryan, the Delta who also happened to be Cassidy’s cousin. She was surprised that he of all people wouldn’t be spared almost instantaneously seeing as he was related to the Chancellor but there was little that truly surprised her anymore. Everything she’d been fed over the past few months had culminated into one very large lie.

  The second man who was imprisoned and chained to the ground was Sebastian. She’d be lying to everyone if she said that he hadn’t found a special place in her heart. Of course, she’d argue until she was blue in the face that it was nothing more than a connection but many said otherwise. Regardless of who he had become, he was still Chase’s brother and if Chase was enough of a monster to go to these lengths to get his way, the sickness in her stomach just continued to grow.