by J. A. Giunta
“There,” he said and pointed at a silver sedan in the distance. Her fear felt like his own, shaking his chest so hard he thought it might break. “She’s scared, hiding in the backseat.” To Ember, he asked, “Can you use magic to stop her?”
Ember shook her head.
“Not in here,” Will said for her and unbuckled his seatbelt. Emily did the same and drew her gun. The two opened their doors, but before Will closed his, he said, “Stay here.”
Whoever it was, she knew they were here for her. Lee sensed the rising panic driving her into action. It didn’t feel like she wanted to hurt anyone, but he knew she’d defend herself. Even with guns, what chance did they stand against her?
“She’s going to kill them,” Lee said, not really expecting Ember to listen. Not unless he drove the point home. His sister still wouldn’t look at him. “Probably make a mess of it, too.”
“Fine,” she snarled and got out of the car, “but you better have a better plan than me touching her while you shoot her.”
“I don’t even have a gun,” he muttered and got out.
Will and Emily stopped and frowned back at them in unison. The Deputy Director looked as if he considered coming back to yell at them but then pointed at the two, directed them toward the silver car. He made a motion to Agent Taylor, and they went around the other side a safe distance away, to cut off any escape.
“So what can you do?” Lee asked in a whisper.
“To people?” she replied quietly. “Not much yet. And not in here. Mostly lights and distractions.” She flexed her fingers, as if preparing for a spell. “But I can tear a spirit a new one, if I can access a source.”
A source of what? Lee thought, annoyed he didn’t know anything about magic. How the hell am I supposed to make a plan?
“Great,” Lee said as they approached the car. “Let me know if you see any.”
At least she’s talking to me again.
He walked up to the back window and was a little surprised to see the car empty. He knew she was in there, could feel each breath, the blood flowing through her, her thoughts racing. He just couldn’t see her.
Some kind of light power? he guessed. If she can make herself invisible, what else can she do?
“Well?” Ember pressed.
If she’s hiding, she might be too afraid to fight. Lee sent cells into her, hoping to buy time to influence her emotions. I just need to get her talking.
Lee knocked on the window.
He felt flight become fight an instant before seeing a white light spark to life. It was like a lightbulb in air, growing in sudden intensity and glare. He ducked as the window exploded, and hard light poured out from the car.
Ember screamed and clutched her eyes, dropped to both knees. Her face and eyes had been burned, the skin blackened and smoking. Lee heard the back door on the other side open and shoved with all his strength. He sent the car forward with enough force to pin the girl between it and the truck two spaces away. There was a grunt and the sense of pain before the vehicle came flying back.
Lee’s only thought was to protect Ember. He dropped into a crouch in front of her and shouldered the blow. Metal buckled around him with a low whine and painful crunch. More glass flew overhead, showered the area in a glittering half-circle.
He pulled free of the mangled car without a scratch or an ache. Ember’s hands were trembling over her eyes, both in pain and fear of permanent damage.
Lee reached out a hand to heal her but hesitated. He’d lose his power if he touched her. He could send in cells, let them duplicate and start to heal her. The sharp sense of alarm from Will and Emily came over him. A quick look over the wreckage showed the girl walking toward them. She paused when they pointed guns at her, but he felt the adrenaline building inside her, working to override fear. With clenched fists, she screamed and ran at them, both hands glowing with a spreading light. She stumbled as bullets struck but didn’t slow in the least.
Damn it!
He had to abandon his sister, let her suffer for the moment, or others would die. He focused all his will and intention on the girl, used both hands to direct his sensory bubble like a swarm. The air blazed with the electric blue of a million motes. Like angry fireflies, they buzzed and converged. They struck her in the back with the crackle of a live wire. Her body arched forward and convulsed through a jerky fall.
Despite the hard landing, she tried to climb to all fours. Lee sent shocks through her spine, overloaded her nervous system and left her twitching on the floor. Will and Taylor were on her without delay, securing arms and legs with multiple restraints.
Lee let go the breath he’d been holding and turned his attention back to Ember. He directed cells toward her eyes but found they were already healing. She blinked away tears, as the halo burns began to fade.
“What was that?” she asked, blinking rapidly and wiping away tears with the back of her hands.
“I shocked her nervous system.”
He was a little out of breath and tired from the ordeal. It wasn’t any more difficult to use his power that way, but all the excitement and exertion was taking its toll.
“Why the hell,” Ember said angrily, “didn’t you do that to the guy at the station?”
I didn’t know I could, he wanted to say. Not that it would’ve mattered.
He waved a hand in front of her eyes.
“Can you see?” he asked.
“Yeah. Thanks.” She blinked some more and looked at what remained of the cars. “She do that?”
“More or less,” Lee replied. He nodded toward where Emily was helping the girl to her feet. Will was talking to someone on the end of his earbud. “We got her, though.” Whatever injuries his sister had suffered were all gone. “I didn’t heal you, by the way. You regenerated on your own, like that guy at the station.”
“I could tell,” she said and got to her feet. He’d moved to help her stand but pulled back at the last moment, like overriding instinct. “A little heads up would’ve been nice.”
“There wasn’t time,” he said in way of apology, as they headed back toward the car. “I just reacted.”
Ember gave him a withering look.
“That’s not what I would call an improvement.” She rubbed her eyes one last time and winced at the ceiling lights. “And why the hell did you knock on the window if you knew she was in there? Did you think she was hanging out, waiting to have a nice chat?”
I needed more time, he thought, and I didn’t think she’d attack.
“Sort of,” Lee tried to explain. “I thought if we talked to her, explained things, she’d come out without a fight. She’s not like that other guy. She didn’t kill anyone at the station.”
“Bullshit,” Ember said and stopped, her voice like a whip. “She’s exactly like him! I saw her. What she did. She killed people, too.”
Exasperated, Lee asked, “Well, how was I supposed to know that?”
“This kind of crap,” she said and pointed back at the destroyed cars. “This is what comes from acting without having all the information.”
Lee had kept walking but wheeled on her.
“Oh, really?” he fumed. “Like knowing my sister’s a witch? Or that my entire family’s a coven that works for the government?”
He could already hear the lame excuses, how that was different, how none of that mattered here, in this situation. He didn’t even care if she was right. He’d known enough to make a plan, and everything worked out.
“Seriously,” she said instead, her anger no longer focused directly at him, “you had plenty of information in this case.”
Something in her had changed at that moment, but he couldn’t say what.
“How do you figure that?”
“Didn’t you get the memo?” she asked and stormed past him toward the car. “All us Supers are dangerous. Better ge
t used to it.”
- Ember -
Ember hurried over to the black car, where Deputy Director Bailey stood by the open door waiting for her to get in. She slid into the seat beside Lee and started to buckle the seatbelt, then let go. The spring-loaded mechanism pulled the belt back into place with a shushing sound.
On the porch, their mother stared at the car, her mouth a stiff line. For an instant, Ember wished her mother would run after them, shout their names, call on the coven to kill the car’s engine, but she did none of those things. She merely stood and watched as Agent Taylor put the vehicle into drive and pulled away from the curb.
Ember resolutely refused to look back, clenching the edge of the smooth leather seat in her hands till Lee nudged her foot with his. She jerked her foot away but refused to look at him. This was his fault. If not for him, she’d still be a part of the strongest coven in the country.
She let out a sigh. She had to admit, that a part of her had always wanted this. She’d contemplated leaving the coven, running away from home so many times, but had never acted on it. Told herself it would have been foolish. But, now that they were actually leaving, she realized the real reason she’d never left hadn’t been for fear of the imagined repercussions, after all. And that pissed her off even more.
“So, I guess we’re headed to the CDC’s containment tents,” Lee said.
“No.” The Deputy Director busily tapped information into a computer tablet. Ember leaned forward and focused in on the tablet’s screen, but he swiped and tapped, opening and closing files so fast, that even with her enhanced focus, she couldn’t read enough to figure out what he was doing. “The CDC Containment Camp is only for non-super Affected, those without powers. You two will be housed in a special facility outside of the city.”
“Facility? Don’t you mean prison?” Ember sat back and ground the toes of her boots into the carpeting and felt it tear in satisfaction. She gazed out the window to where houses gave way to industrial buildings as they headed toward the outskirts of the city. Some of the buildings they passed were damaged, fresh scorch marks marring bricks and mortar, and roofs burned or blasted away. “Special Facility. Sounds exactly like code for prison.”
Agent Taylor concentrated on driving, but Deputy Director Bailey put down his tablet and spoke over his shoulder at them. “I realize the idea of quarantine isn’t appealing, not like spending time at the spa.” He adjusted his jacket and tie as he spoke. “But, when certain people can toss school buses around like toys or shoot lasers just by blinking, some separation from the general population is called for.”
“We wouldn’t hurt anyone.” Lee’s voice held a sliver of steely anger.
“I believe Jim Tompkins would disagree.” The Deputy Director tapped and swiped, then held up a picture of the guy Lee had shot—with her help—sprawled on the police station floor.
Ember wanted to look away, but her guilt at her part in Lee’s shooting of Tompkins wouldn’t allow her the luxury. The picture before her caused the entire event to replay in her head, over and over. The end result held up before her in full color. She could still smell the blood when she thought about it, the warmth as it spattered...
“That was different,” Lee shot back. “He was killing people. He needed to be stopped. Not to mention, I didn’t throw a bus at him. I didn’t use my power on him at all.”
“No, but you shot him pointblank. Some people believe that act itself is grounds for concern at the very least.”
“That’s not fair!” Ember countered, shutting her eyes to stop from staring at the photo. “We saved people, when no else could. Lee did what needed to be done. If one of those cops, or one of your agents, had been able to do it, they would have. And we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
“I can’t argue with you there.” Deputy Director Bailey turned off his tablet and set it on the seat beside him. “And I’m sure there are families out there who are grateful for your actions. But there are also people mourning the loss of loved ones killed by Affected. Those people are not in a forgiving mood. Nor are they feeling much gratitude.”
“There’s a fabulous plan,” Ember said. “Punish people for what they may or may not do. Hmmm. I think I saw that movie. As I recall, it didn’t end well.”
Lee agreed with her.
“It’s not just for their protection,” Agent Taylor eyed Lee in the rearview mirror.
“Hold on.” Deputy Director Bailey gestured for quiet and stuck a finger in his ear. “Go ahead.” Ember opened her mouth to say something and realized he was actually talking to someone else. Someone who wasn’t in the car with them. Someone who was probably listening in on everything they’d been saying. What the hell? Bailey should have told them other people might be listening. He was about to get a piece of her mind.
“Copy that,” he said before she could spit out the accusation. “Taylor, we’ve got a lead on an Affected. Female runner from the police station. Parking structure on Willow and Fourth.” He tapped on his tablet and swiped the image up and out, sending it onto the car’s dashboard display. “Looks like we’re taking a little detour,” he told Lee and Ember.
Agent Taylor stepped on the gas and tires squealed as they took the next corner at high speed. The smell of burnt rubber wafted in through the vents as they rounded another corner.
“When we get there, you two stay in the car.” Bailey unholstered his weapon.
“I saw that girl in action,” Ember said. “You’re going to need our help.”
He shook his head. “Not happening. Too dangerous.”
“For you, maybe.” Lee snorted, eyeing the weapon. “Bullets won’t hurt her.”
“Up close and personal they will. You solved that.”
Lee grimaced.
Agent Taylor made another hard right, then slowed the car as she pulled into a parking structure. They did a slow crawl, searching the rows of parked vehicles. Ember tensed, focusing in on every detail, looking for anything that moved or looked out of place. Years of car exhaust stained the walls, and the place reeked of oil and gasoline. Ember wondered why she’d never noticed before how bad these places looked and smelled.
Once they cleared the first level, Taylor turned up the ramp to the second.
“There,” Lee pointed at a silver-colored car. “She’s hiding in the back. Scared. I think she knows we’re looking for her. Ember, can you use that energy orb thingy to stop her?”
Ember reached out, but there were too many layers of concrete and metal between her and the source. The nearest ley line was a thin, far-off trickle of energy. She shook her head. She might be able to gather enough power to manage something, but it would take time.
“Not now,” Bailey said, like he knew. Of course, he did. He was Cerberus. Agent Taylor put the car in park and drew her gun, and the two agents opened their doors. “Stay here,” Deputy Director Bailey ordered, shutting the door behind him with a quiet snick.
“She’s gonna kill them,” Lee said. “Probably make a mess of it, too.”
“Fine,” Ember growled. She opened the car door and slid out. “But you better have a better plan than ‘Hey, Ember, touch this guy so I can shoot him in the head.’”
Lee gave her a dirty look and stepped out of the car, shutting the door with too much force.
Both agents glanced back at them. Taylor quickly turned to train her weapon back on the silver car. Bailey hesitated. Ember expected him to yell at them to get back in the car. Instead, he signaled them toward the car.
He and Taylor circled around to the other side a short distance away. They were giving them room, Ember thought, recalling their run-in at the police station.
“So what can you do?” Lee asked, frustration tinting his words.
“To people?” she replied. “Not much. Not here.” She waved at the concrete structure that surrounded them. “Mostly lights and distractions
.” She opened her hands and flexed her fingers, reaching out for power. “But I can sure as hell tear a spirit a new one, if I can access enough source.”
“Great,” Lee said as they drew closer to the silver four-door. “Let me know if you see any. I’d like a ticket for that show.”
Ember was surprised by the mild edge of humor in his voice. She felt herself almost smile, just as he stepped up to the back of the car, peered in the rear window and froze. “Well?” she finally whispered.
Lee reached out toward the car.
“What the hell?” Ember hissed, as he rapped on the window with a knuckle. A moment later, he dropped down into a crouch as the car window exploded outward in a blaze of light and energy.
“Sonofabitch!” Ember screamed, clutching at her eyes. She fell to her knees, striking the pavement hard enough to crack it.
A car door opened, but Ember couldn’t see anything. She heard the slam of metal hitting something solid and crumpling around it. An instant later, she felt an odd sensation and realized it must be Lee trying to heal her, but he needn’t have bothered. She blinked back tears as the searing halos faded and the garage started to come back into view. Nearby, the crushed remains of the silver car lay in a heap.
Lee held up his hands toward the girl, who was striding toward Agent Taylor. Ember blinked again, her eyes burning anew as the air blazed a bright electric blue, millions of tiny spots of colored light coalesced and slammed into the girl, striking her between her shoulder blades. She fell, collapsing and jerking like someone hit by a battalion of tasers and maybe an electric fence or two.
As soon as she stopped twitching, the agents ran over and cuffed her.
“What the hell was that?” Ember asked, wiping the teary streaks from her face.
“Nervous system overload.” Lee panted and leaned forward, placing his hands on his knees while he caught his breath.
“Well, why the hell didn’t you do that to the guy in the police station?”
Lee shook his head. “Couldn’t.” He stood up slowly. “Ember.” His face was dead serious. “What I did to that guy was the only option. You have to believe me.” He kneeled in front of her and wiggled his fingers. “Can you see?”