Embolden

by Syrie James

Claire’s gut tensed with anxiety as the elevator sped downward. “They’ll be after us in minutes.”

  “What’s the plan?” Tom asked, his tone expressing far more calm than Claire felt.

  “Your mother is waiting in a van on B-3,” Alec answered.

  Tom’s eyes widened. “My mother?”

  But no one had time to fill him in further. Instead Lynn asked, worried, “What about Neil and Erica? If we were seen, are they going to get hurt?”

  “There’s no way the guards could know Neil and Erica were in on this,” Alec insisted.

  “They’ll stick to the plan,” Brian reassured everyone. “We just need to reach the van before those assholes find us.”

  Everyone’s phones vibrated simultaneously. Claire gasped anxiously at Helena’s message:

  They’re taking the stairs. Quickly!

  The second the elevator touched down, they all burst out and ran like hell toward the van, which was waiting with the engine running about twenty feet away. The minute Claire slid open the windowless side door, Helena looked back from her spot in the driver’s seat, and said urgently, “Shots will be fired any second.”

  Claire ushered Lynn and Tom into the van, and saw her father clutch hands with his mother for the first time in sixteen years.

  Unfortunately, that joy lasted only a second. Alec drew a concealed pistol from beneath his jacket. “I’m ready.”

  “No you aren’t,” Helena warned him.

  As Brian was climbing into the van, Claire heard two loud barks from behind them. Alec staggered backward. At the same moment, the passenger-door window, just inches from Claire’s head, shattered in a blast of glass. Claire screamed.

  Then a third shot rang out.

  Brian toppled forward, his shoes dangling over the edge of the seat.

  “Brian!” Lynn exclaimed from inside the van.

  Claire heard Brian moaning in pain. She saw a hole in the sleeve of Alec’s jacket, and it looked wet with blood. More gunshots rang out. Where were they coming from? Helena said their pursuers had taken the stairs.

  “Claire! Get in the van!” Alec cried, shoving Claire toward the waiting vehicle, then crouching.

  Instead, she ducked down beside him. Her mind reeled in terror. The garage exit was at the opposite end of the building, seemingly miles away. They’d never make it with the Fallen at their heels. Somehow, they had to take them out.

  Inside the van, Claire saw her mother putting pressure on Brian’s bleeding shoulder while her father wrapped gauze from Alec’s emergency kit on the wound. What kind of nightmare had she gotten everyone into?

  The Fallen guards suddenly appeared between the parked cars. They were almost on them. Alec leapt to his feet and telekinetically yanked the guns out of the guards’ hands. Their weapons flew off and over a railing, clattering to the concrete below.

  Alec fired his pistol. The guards scattered, the man clutching his thigh before dropping behind a car. The female guard was nowhere to be seen.

  Suddenly, the male Fallen rose up in a flash, an identical man beside him. Then another appeared. And another. To Claire’s horror, the guard was splitting into multiple versions of himself right before her eyes, until there were at least a dozen of him. All exactly the same, except they were missing their creator’s leg wound.

  Duplicates, Claire thought in dismay. Of all the powers in creation, why did they have to be battling this one right now? She recognized the dull gleam of earbuds in all their ears. And I can’t brainwash them.

  In unison, the duplicates began charging toward the van. Alec emptied his pistol trying to fend them off, but he only took out four of them. Incredibly, the injured clones fell and melted away into puddles of what looked like water.

  Before Alec could reload, Claire saw the female Fallen barrel out from behind a column and shove Alec to the ground. His gun flew from his hand and skittered across the pavement, disappearing beneath a row of parked cars.

  “I said get in!” Alec yelled at Claire again, pulling himself back up. He drew the long knife she’d seen him regularly hide in his boot.

  No way. Claire knew that Alec could handle two Fallen at a time, but she doubted he could juggle this many single-handedly. She couldn’t just hide in the van and wait.

  Jumping to her feet, Claire removed the collapsible baton she’d concealed in her own jacket and snapped it open.

  She heard her mother cry out, “Claire, what are you—?”

  Claire slammed the van door shut before Lynn could finish her sentence.

  Alec heard the van door slam, meaning Claire was safely inside.

  Now I can take care of these idiots without worrying about anyone else getting hurt.

  The duplicates were heading for the van like a horde of zombies. He had to stop them. But first, he had to take out the female Fallen, who was in his way. Hopefully, the talent she possessed wouldn’t be as much of a pain as Duplication Guy’s. He’d only encountered that ability once before. It had proven extremely difficult to beat.

  It would be even tougher now, given the searing pain from the bullet lodged in his left arm.

  Alec moved in sync with the Fallen woman as they paced in a circle, sizing each other up. The woman snapped a kick at his hand, trying to disarm him. Alec swept his dagger under her foot, then slashed at his attacker’s ankle.

  As the woman cursed and backed off, Alec’s attention was momentarily diverted by grunts across the way. He flicked a glance in that direction and, to his annoyance, saw Claire, baton in hand, attacking a pair of the duplicates. Damn it. She seemed to be holding her own, but that couldn’t last long.

  Wrap this up, Alec thought. What’s this lady’s ability? Seconds later, he found out. The woman ripped off her gloves and touched the hood of a nearby red sports car. The color and texture of the vehicle flowed up her fingertips and along her arm, until all her exposed flesh became the same red metal.

  Shite. She’s one of those. Substance Mimics could temporarily replicate any material they touched across their entire outer shell. The plus side: the heavier the material, the slower this lady would be. But the downside …

  When the woman attacked again, Alec’s blade clanged against her metallic arms, sending sparks flying.

  A stray swing tagged Alec in the side and all but knocked the wind out of him. He staggered backward onto the hood of a BMW. As she slowly stalked toward Alec, the Material Girl took the time to actually speak.

  “Shame,” she chided in a Nigerian accent. “Old reports made you sound a lot tougher.” She swung her heavy metallic arms down toward Alec.

  Rolling sideways off the vehicle, Alec narrowly avoided the blow, which deeply dented the hood. He backed up into the gap between the BMW and the SUV beside it, only to find himself trapped, a wide concrete pillar behind him.

  Material Girl took another lumbering step forward, scowling as if annoyed by the weight of her new form. Bending down, she placed her fingers against the SUV’s tires. In seconds, her skin transformed into solid black rubber.

  Without hesitation, Alec closed the distance between them and plunged his knife into her rubbery chest. She didn’t blink an eye, just swung a free arm into Alec’s stomach, doubling him over.

  “Too bad the higher-ups won’t let me kill you,” Material Girl leered. “But they won’t mind a few bruises.”

  Before Alec could react, she began pummeling him mercilessly.

  It took every ounce of Claire’s energy to fend off the clones. No sooner had she shoved one to the side with her baton than another took his place. One grabbed her so fiercely by the wrist, she cried out in agony before striking his hand away. She managed to kick and smash several fatally in the head, causing them to liquefy. But the remaining hoard still kept coming at her in an endless, exhausting succession.

  Behind her, Claire heard a heavy cracking sound. To her h
orror, three clones were pounding on the windshield of the van. It was starting to break.

  Suddenly, the van moved. Through the window, Claire saw Helena’s face set with resolve as she rammed the trio of duplicates into the wall, where they splashed and vanished.

  With a squeal of tires, the van now moved backward, aiming for a pair of duplicates who were charging at Claire. She jumped out of the way as the van rolled over them, leaving nothing but glistening tire tracks.

  Claire paused to catch her breath, worried that she hadn’t seen the last of the clones. She spotted the original Duplication Guy still positioned behind a car, soaked in sweat. He looked like he could barely stand, as if he’d personally taken every one of his copies’ hits.

  As she watched, he grabbed a glass vial out of his pocket and drank its contents. Even from this distance, Claire could see the guy’s body respond with renewed energy, his posture straightening as his expression turned to rage.

  Claire realized what the substance was. Alec had described it often enough. Turbo—the enhancement drug that had almost gotten him killed.

  Seconds later, the guy split into another version of himself, equally beefed up and angry.

  Claire’s spirits plummeted. No way could she fend off an army of Turboed Fallen on her own. A few car lengths away, Claire saw Alec deep in a battle with the female. A knife handle sprouted from the woman’s chest, and her skin looked like a rubber tire. How the hell did that happen? Alec seemed to be getting the shit beat out of him.

  Ignoring the newly minted clone, Claire ran to Alec and swung her baton with a crack across the Fallen woman’s shoulder, forcing her aside, where she collided with a car. Alec took advantage of the reprieve to tug Claire backward, just as the woman retaliated with a rubbery swing.

  Alec extended his arm, fingers outstretched. The Fallen woman flew backward into a concrete pillar between two parked cars, bounced off, and landed atop the roof of a nearby SUV.

  A few yards away, Claire saw that Duplication Guy had nearly finished making eight more copies of himself. They didn’t have much time. “What’s her deal?” she quickly gasped, gesturing to the woman they’d just bested.

  “She can mimic any material she touches,” Alec replied, equally winded.

  “Great,” Claire wheezed. “Did you pull their earbuds?”

  “No.” Alec squinted in the Fallen woman’s direction, twitching in apparent frustration. “Damn it. I should have done Material Girl’s earlier. Now she’s too far away.”

  “Well, Duplication Guy’s just gone Turbo.”

  Alec’s expression was hard. “Get in the van.”

  “Not until you do!”

  “They’ll never let us just drive out of here.”

  Material Girl rose to her feet atop a car, yanking Alec’s dagger from her torso. The duplicates were stalking their way. Claire could see Helena and her mom inside the van, watching with stricken looks on their faces. Dear God, was Brian okay? Were they all going to die?

  At least, Claire thought, I’m going to go down fighting.

  “We can do this,” Claire said forcefully. “I’ll take care of her. Just get Duplication Guy’s earbuds.”

  “Aye aye.” Alec kissed Claire’s forehead roughly before turning and rushing the oncoming clones.

  Heart in her throat, Claire readied her baton. Just as Material Girl landed in front of her with the knife, Claire struck the woman across one ear. The baton bounced back, but the woman clutched her ear in pain, plucking out a crushed earbud and throwing it to the ground.

  Claire suppressed a grim smile. One ear is better than nothing. “Back off,” she cried, anger and fear fueling her voice and thoughts. “End this fight now. Let me and my friends go.”

  She repeated the words out loud, focusing all her energy on Material Girl’s brain. But her powers had no effect. Oh no. I must not be strong enough to overcome the remaining earbud.

  “Nice try,” the rubbery woman smirked as she closed in, twirling Alec’s blade in one hand.

  Do something, fast! Claire thought.

  As the Fallen woman lunged at her, the blade aimed for Claire’s throat, Claire pivoted and swung again with her baton, knocking the woman off balance. As Claire hoped, Material Girl stumbled and reached out to break her fall. The instant her hands came into contact with the concrete floor, her skin began to change. Into concrete.

  Score! Claire thought. Now the woman would be too heavy to move. Wouldn’t she?

  Apparently not. Her opponent rose to her feet, moving more slowly than before, but now stone-faced and furious.

  Claire gasped in horror. She’d only made things worse. One swipe from Material Girl’s concrete hand hit Claire’s baton full on, snapping the metal in half and wrenching it from her grasp. If the next hit connected with Claire’s chest or head, she knew she’d be dead.

  Out of options, she turned and ran toward the van.

  I’m sorry, Alec, she thought, tears welling. I’m so sorry.

  It was chaos. Eight duplicates were throwing punches, kicks, and grabs at Alec from all directions. So far, nothing had connected, but evading them was exhausting.

  Alec ducked the next wave of attacks, trying to figure out how to get to the original guy, who still stood out of the line of fire. If Alec could take down the master, the slaves should all disappear.

  One of the clones grabbed Alec’s legs, toppling him to the ground. Alec spun before they could lock a grip on him, kicking upward with both his legs and his mind. The duplicates scattered backward like they’d been hit by a shock wave.

  Jumping to his feet, Alec spied Claire in the distance, running for the van, with Material Girl—her skin now gray like concrete—in hot pursuit. She’s not going to make it, he thought. Alec stretched out both arms, willing another burst of telekinetic force outward. It caught Material Girl in the knees, sending her sprawling to the pavement in a clatter of stone on stone.

  Drained, Alec almost wished he had a vial of Turbo to even the odds. How else would he ever win this fight? He caught his breath and readied himself for the next move, when two arms, tight as steel, wrapped him in a choke hold.

  “It’s over,” hissed Duplication Guy in Alec’s ear. His voice dripped with a Slovakian accent, and his breath stank of cigarettes.

  He might be right, Alec thought. Struggling to stay conscious, Alec reached up with both hands and felt for the guy’s ears, dug his fingers in, and tore loose his earbuds.

  Alec tried to call out to Claire, but he could barely breathe. And then he felt blackness closing in.

  Claire made it to the van and slid open the side door. Her mom and dad sat cradling Brian, their hands and shirtsleeves laced with blood.

  “Claire! Alec did it!” Helena called out urgently from the front seat.

  Claire spun around to see Material Girl rising from the pavement, and Alec being choked, surrounded by clones. If Duplication Guy’s earbuds were out, they had one last chance.

  But this was it. If she couldn’t persuade the asshole to let Alec go, he was going to die. They were all going to die.

  Claire dug deep into her body to gather all the strength she had left and projected her thoughts and voice at their two main opponents: “It’s over. Back off. Leave us. Go!”

  Material Girl stood. Duplication Guy kept his hold on Alec. No thought-lances were hitting home. No glassy-eyed stares anywhere. Instead, the new band of duplicates started heading toward the van like another onslaught of zombies.

  It wasn’t working. It really was over. But not in the way she’d hoped. They were all lost.

  Just then, a steady voice behind her declared: “She said it’s over.”

  Tom slipped from the van and stood beside Claire, a look of grim determination on his face. “Do you hear me, assholes?” he commanded quietly. “Everything stops. Now.”

  Claire held
her breath. She knew her dad’s abilities were way stronger than hers, but he’d been strung out on drugs when they’d first found him. Had he recovered enough to actually control the Fallen?

  It certainly looked like it.

  All at once, the duplicates just … stopped. So did their master—although Alec was still in his grip.

  “Let the boy go,” Tom demanded. “And call off your dogs.”

  Duplication Guy complied. Alec fell to the ground, gasping and coughing. Instantly, all the clones melted, splashing into puddles on the concrete.

  Tom strode up to Material Girl, who wasn’t moving a muscle. “I think that’s enough mimicry for one day.” His eyes were like ice.

  Immediately, the woman’s flesh resumed its original appearance.

  Tom took the knife from her hand, glaring at both bodyguards, his tone authoritative. “We’re leaving. Stay here until the authorities arrive. You will have no memory of this incident.”

  Material Girl and Duplication Guy nodded, their eyes glazed. Claire watched this exchange in awe. Would she ever be able to command others so easily?

  Alec, massaging his throat, walked up to Tom. “Thanks. That was …”

  “Better than they deserve,” Tom finished, gesturing to Alec and Claire to get in the van. “Let’s go.”

  Alec sank down wearily on the rear seat of the van beside Claire and Lynn, a bit stunned by the demonstration of power he’d just witnessed.

  “That was amazing, Dad,” Claire said.

  “It was,” Lynn agreed, eyes filled with relief. “You were all amazing.”

  As Helena sped out of the garage, they passed several uniformed security guards bursting out of a stairwell in confusion. Tom glanced back at the group from the front seat, as if he couldn’t believe he was really here. “If we succeeded, it’s due to all of you. I can’t thank you enough for getting me out of there.”

  “You’re welcome, son,” Helena replied, darting an affectionate glance at Tom. It was the most emotion Alec had ever seen on her face.

  Sometime during the fight, Claire had gotten a split lip and only now seemed aware of it. “You okay?” Alec asked.