Coming Together (Tèarmann Chronicles book 6): A Christian Urban Fantasy

by TR Moore Ede

  Flare sniffed. “She’s coming.” She stepped forward and caught Visible as she fell into sight.

  She let out a few deep breaths as Flare lay her on the ground. “I-I’m done. They keep tracking me, I can’t get her out.” She rested her head against the pavement, breathing hard.

  “Tired are we?” the enforcer called out.

  I pushed myself to my feet and got in front of those more injured, along with Flare, Flame, Wave, and Bolt.

  The enforcer had a smirk, seeming amused by what he saw before him. “You can’t win, just give up. Fighting us is just going to make it worse.” His eyes roamed us all before settling on Julie. “Perhaps if you hand over that girl, we’ll cut down on your punishment.”

  Bolt scowled. “As if! If you want her, you’ll have to go through us!”

  The enforcer snickered. “That’s the idea. And it’s not like we need her alive,” he said, pulling out a gun and aiming it at her.

  Bolt got in front. “Oh you did not.”

  The enforcer’s smirk grew and he fired.

  He cried out as the bullet sliced through his shoulder, causing him to stumble back.

  Julie tried to catch him but they both ended up falling. “Zack!” she whispered, tears forming.

  “She knew it was Zack? Does that mean-” Wave started.

  “That will happen more if you don’t listen,” the enforcer said, reloading his gun. “None of them will die if you listen.”

  Julie looked at Bolt then back at the enforcer. “Please don’t hurt them.”

  “We won’t do as much if you listen.”

  Julie bit her lip, then nodded.

  Bolt grabbed her arm before she could move an inch. “What are you doing?” He sat up, refusing to let her arm go.

  Julie struggled to pull away. “I’m not letting you die! They could kill you!”

  “Julie!” Bolt snapped, grabbing her shoulders. “You don’t know these people! You can’t trust them to keep their promises! I can’t let you! We might be able to get you out of here-”

  The enforcer laughed. “None of you are getting out of this. You had your chance. You will all wish that you came willingly.” He turned and headed back to the others.

  “Wha-what did they mean by that?” Julie whispered as Wave knelt next to Bolt.

  Wave squeezed her shoulder. “We’ll do our best to protect you, I promise.”

  I squinted, then swallowed as a machine was brought out. It had the resemblance of a cannon but aimed at the ground and shaped slightly differently. I couldn’t see much else as it was dark. “We’re not going to be able to fight our way out of this one. If that’s what I think it is, it will knock us all out … unless they put it at full power, then we won’t make it.” I let out a shaky breath. The cannon was the one stolen from the Agency, the one deemed too dangerous to use.

  We all looked at each other.

  “Do we use our other form?” Flame asked his sister.

  “But what if we can’t melt it in time? Then they will have you in your dragon form,” Flare said, not taking her eyes off the cannon as it was aimed at us. “And I don’t think we have time. With wounds it’ll make it harder. Neither of us even know if we can melt it. I don’t think there’s anything we can do.”

  Jessica. Even through thoughts, Seer whimpered, I could hear the fear. She reached forward and squeezed my hand.

  I took in a shaky, deep breath and let it out slowly. Jessie, if your god exists, tell him he has one last chance to get us out of this.

  I already told you, it doesn’t always work like that!

  I squeezed her hand. I-I don’t care. I don’t want … I shut my eyes and swallowed, then offered up my own prayers to the unknown being. I opened them and looked over to see Julie moving forward.

  The enforcer noticed and held up his hand. “Yes?”

  Wave caught her shoulder. “There’s no point, I’m sorry.”

  Julie looked at her, then back at the cannon. She wiped away the tears that had escaped her eyes.

  … It doesn’t look like her left arm is damaged. It’s moving perfectly well, Seer said.

  I glanced over, then frowned. Was her arm changing shape?

  “Nothing? Proceed?” the enforcer said.

  The cannon quickly began to boot up.

  Chapter 19

  Julie stared at her arm as it slowly changed shape. It was obvious she knew what was going on. Her face said that she didn’t think it would do anything, but for whatever reason, she held up her arm and pointed straight at the cannon. Her arm no longer looked like an arm, instead its shape reminded me of guns from sci fi movies and comic books. The next moment, something bright flashed from Julie’s arm, and a blast shot out. She cried out and fell back onto Wave. It lasted for a few seconds before it abruptly stopped, and Julie went limp.

  “Julie!” Wave exclaimed, helping her to the ground.

  Seer flinched; her eyes fixed on Julie. Is-is she dead?

  I-I don’t know. I looked out. The cannon was busted, possibly fixable, but it certainly wasn’t doing anything anytime soon. I let go of Seer’s hand and readied myself to fight before I realized the UIC wasn’t advancing. In fact, it looked like they were busy fighting someone else. I frowned before my eyes bulged, relief flooding in. “The police! They’ve broken through their lines!”

  “Oh, thank you, Lord,” Seer whispered.

  “We’re not safe yet. She only destroyed the gun. Some of them can and will come after us,” Flame said, then glanced at Bolt, who was struggling to get up. “Bolt, stay down.”

  “You want me to do what?” Bolt muttered. He went over to Julie and knelt next to her. “Julie, you did it. Julie?” He ran his fingers along her left arm, which was still in the transformed shape. “Fla-Flame? She’s just shaking. Julie, what’s with your arm?”

  Julie’s arm flickered a few times before it morphed back to an actual arm, although her arm still didn’t look fully right. Her body continued to shake as she stared blankly at the sky.

  Flame glanced at her, then knelt down.

  Flare took Flame’s place, a barrier between us and the enemy, mostly keeping her eyes forward.

  “Is she going to be all right?” Wave whispered, then placed her on Julie’s arm.

  I jerked back when Julie cried out.

  She rolled off of Wave’s lap, holding her left arm to her chest. It looked normal again. A part of her arm was glowing blue with a 3D shape of a mermaid overtop it, seeming to be made out of blue glitter or sparkles.

  My jaw dropped.

  The tiny mermaid looked at Wave, then dove into Julie’s arm. The glow disappeared.

  “What just happened?” I whispered to Flare.

  “That’s mermaid magic. Each magic has its own color,” she whispered, glancing backward, then back at the enemy. She had a stun gun in her hands and used it to keep back those who dared to come close.

  I did my best to focus on the UICers in front of me, but the conversation behind me was distracting.

  “How … how did you get that magic in you? It’s impossible,” Wave said.

  “Is this why you disappeared? Because you’re a different species?” Julie whispered.

  “She didn’t have a choice. It was for her safety,” Bolt said.

  “And what about you and your speed! And you! You two already knew about Malissa!”

  I peeked back to see Julie pointing at Visible. Hey Jessie, could you see if you could help Vic or Eve.

  Sure. She still sounded slightly out of breath.

  “Powers I understand but Malissa! You could have said something!” Julie said.

  Bolt caught her wrist. “It’s not as simple as that!”

  Flame, seeing that Julie was clearly fine, joined Flare and I. “Have they gotten close?”

  Flare shook her head.

  “We wanted to tell you but couldn’t,” Bolt said. “There was too much of a risk-”

  “Said the boy who can see them both!” Julie snapped, pulling a
way. She opened her mouth to say something else but stopped, her gaze fixing on Bolt’s shoulder.

  He followed her gaze before sighing. He covered it with one hand. “Stop it.”

  “You are bleeding out! And- and that was meant for me-”

  Bolt grabbed Julie’s shoulder and looked her straight in the eyes. “Julie, I know it’s a lot to process, but you need to calm down. Just breathe. We’re all going to be all right. The police are here. Whatever you did helped; a lot. This isn’t the time to talk about this, okay? Later.”

  Wave hugged her.

  Julie melted into her arms. “Later.”

  Bolt smiled.

  I quickly turned forward just as a figure approached.

  “There you are!” Mr. Quinn said, running up. He held up his walkie talkie. “I found them; I need an ambulance.”

  “Hey Officer Rasper,” Bolt whispered. “Sapphire really needs an ambulance. This building half fell on her.”

  Mr. Quinn nodded, moving closer to attend to her.

  I look past him. No enemy coming closer, good. I moved back and plopped next to Seer.

  She hugged me tightly.

  Visible lay next to Sapphire, no longer having her on her back, the rope messily to one side. Visible was feeling for a pulse. “Her breathing’s shallow, and her pulse is weak.”

  “I think she’ll be okay,” Seer whispered. “I don’t think anything major was hurt.”

  I let out a sigh of relief. “If this happens again, I don’t want you here.”

  Seer sent me a look.

  I sent one back. “There’s nothing wrong with it, but fighting isn’t you. You can help the police but maybe with small amounts of people or helping them figure out stuff. You stick to reading minds.”

  Seer looked at her lap. “What about Bolt? He’s gone through so little, and he’s fine.”

  I reached over and squeezed her hand. “Bolt is Bolt. He’s just weird, and yeah. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. Everyone is different, all right?”

  She nodded and hit her head against my shoulder. “I do recall you being a tad upset with how calm he was.”

  I put my arm around her. “I’ll get over it.” I looked over at Julie just as she got up.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw paramedics dealing with Sapphire.

  I glanced back at Julie.

  She seemed unwilling to let Wave go.

  “You should head home. We’ll make sure they’re all right,” Mr. Quinn said. “Officer Kegan! Can you please drive Julie home?”

  “Yes sir,” she said, stepping forward. She gently took Julie’s arm. “Come on, sweetheart.”

  “But. Mmm …” Julie bit her lip, keeping her eyes focused on Wave.

  Wave squeezed her hand. “It’ll be all right, just go.”

  “But-”

  “We’ll talk later, go on,” Bolt said.

  Julie bit her lip and obeyed.

  Wave watched as Julie left with a sad look.

  “It’s okay,” Bolt said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll keep an eye on her when possible.”

  “You better,” she muttered.

  “I hope Sapphire’s going to be all right,” Seer whispered, sounding ready to fall asleep then and there. “I still can’t believe we made it.”

  “Me neither. I thought we were goners when they pulled out that cannon thing.”

  “I heard someone can’t really walk,” Mr. Quinn said, coming over to us.

  “Seer. Flame thinks she fractured her foot,” I said

  Mr. Quinn nodded and picked her up.

  “I can take it from here,” a familiar voice said.

  My eyes bulged. It was Mr. Mason! I bit my tongue as I got to my feet.

  “Excuse me? Take over what? The enemy is not here,” said Mr. Quinn.

  “I think you know what I’m talking about,” he said as other agents walked up, eyeing my teammates.

  Fantastic, right after finding out we’re not going to die at the hands of the UIC thanks to the police force, my boss walked up. Where was he not ten minutes earlier?! And now he was here for us. We just fought to stop people from taking us!

  We all gathered around Mr. Quinn.

  “And what if I say I don’t?” he asked as Flame took Seer from him.

  “Those kids behind you. It wouldn’t be wise to continue to let these underage children run around doing your job. Besides, what they can do is unnatural.”

  Oh, I wanna give him a piece of my mind! I thought, my hands rolling into fists. I bet he would have run some sort of test on us if Mom and Dad hadn’t stopped him.

  Just control yourself. He’s going to flip if he finds out who we are.

  Mr. Quinn scowled. “In your opinion. For some of them, it's an everyday aspect of life they’ve had to hide because it’s something the world isn’t ready to accept.”

  Mr. Mason sighed. “Let’s make this easier. Please hand them over, they will not be harmed.”

  But will we?

  Jessica!

  “What reason do you have for bringing the police in? I won’t, they haven’t done anything wrong,” said Mr. Quinn.

  Mr. Mason frowned. “Do you know who I am? And I’m not after the police, just the kids that are cowering behind you.”

  “They have just gone through the trouble of fighting an enormous amount of people and are wounded. They’re done fighting. And for your information, they are with us.” Mr. Quinn turned to us. “May I see one of your badges?”

  “Sure,” I said, pulling it out of my belt.

  Mr. Mason ripped it out of my hand and examined it. “You have to be joking. You’re replacing the police force with underage children with party tricks?”

  “These ‘children’ just took out the cannon that you were in charge of protecting! And they are gifts, not party tricks.” Mr. Quinn took a deep breath. “If you read that properly they are just volunteers. I started the group. I felt like they could use their gifts for good instead of being forced to hide them. You will not interrogate any of them or take them anywhere unless they are convicted of a crime. Even then, I would insist you come speak to me first as they are my responsibility. If you have any concerns, you can talk to me about it. For now, they all need medical attention.”

  I took my badge back. I wondered how much of an earful we would get when he found out we were on the team and never told him.

  “Trust me, we will be in contact,” Mr. Mason said before leaving with the others.

  “We don’t mean to get you in trouble-” Flare started.

  “It’s no trouble, in fact it was expected. The chief and I put in safeguards in anticipation of this. Come, let’s get you all to the hospital,” he said, leading us toward the ambulance and police cars.

  At the hospital, we explained what happened but left out that Julie’s arm had changed shape, for her sake.

  Sapphire had to stay overnight, and Seer was on crutches.

  “But we all made it,” Bolt whispered.

  “Barely,” I muttered, enjoying being able to sit down on a comfortable chair. I felt as if I wanted to never get up.

  “It’s not exactly barely considering most of us can walk,” Flame said.

  “We had to be saved though. We wouldn’t have made it otherwise,” I said. I looked at Nurse Mary, Malissa’s adoptive mother, then pulled my mask off. She was the nurse that knew our identities so it was safe. “You want to explain how you were so calm?” I asked Bolt.

  “Zack has always been odd,” Nurse Mary said with a smile.

  I nodded. “I understand that, but at the fight … aside from maybe Sapphire, he has the least experience with this sort of stuff yet remained one of the calmest.”

  “I can look and sound calm, but it doesn’t mean I am,” Bolt said. He stretched then winced.

  “Be careful with your shoulder,” Nurse Mary mumbled.

  “Sorry,” he whispered, bringing his arms back down. He sighed and rubbed his shoulder. “And Aim, yes, I know, acting is
n’t everything. I’m not saying I was calm the entire time, but I just had this sense of peace.”

  Seer smiled. “The peace that passes all understanding.”

  Bolt smiled back. “Exactly.”

  “And you’re back to your god,” I mumbled before sighing. “Bolt, before you go and try and lighten the mood-”

  “Is there something wrong with that?” he asked with a playful frown.

  “Sometimes, maybe. I first want to tell you something,” I said.

  He blinked a few times, then nodded. “What is it?”

  “Oh yes, tell him,” Visible whispered with a smile, finally opening her eyes.

  “I’m getting worried,” Bolt said, looking between all of us.

  “It’s just one of my name ideas that I had,” I said with a smirk. “Knockout.”

  “That’s …” Bolt blinked a few times before it clicked.

  The look on his face got us all laughing, even Jason and Irene looked amused.

  “No! Come on! First mission together, and you’re all already picking on me!” Bolt said, then pouted.

  Mr. Quinn and Nurse Mary also seemed to be trying to not laugh.

  Although what had happened not an hour before was terrifying, that laugh helped some of us relax, even just a little bit.

  After we were all patched up, Mr. Quinn took us all home.

  Chapter 20

  When we got home, Mr. Quinn helped us indoors.

  My entire body ached as I hobbled inside. “Mom? Dad?” I called.

  “Oh my gosh! Jessie! Jessica!” Mom exclaimed, rushing over. She gently hugged us both, then looked up at Mr. Quinn. “Thank you for bringing them home.”

  He gave a nod. “You’re welcome. We can talk later; for now, I will leave you.”

  Mom nodded as Dad hurried in.

  Mr. Quinn gave a nod and quietly left.

  Dad led us to the couch.

  As soon as Jessie leaned against Dad, her eyes began to shut. Her head bobbed for a second before she was asleep.

  Dad smiled and rubbed her head. “I see we’re not going to get any explanations tonight,” he whispered.

  “Please, I’m so tired. But we’re going to be all right, Dad, promise. We’ve already been to the hospital,” I whispered as I leaned against Mom, struggling to keep my eyes open.