The Powerless Series: Complete 5-Book Set

by Jason Letts

  Shivering and looking awfully fragile, Clara nodded her head. As she turned around, Vern slapped at the back of his neck and pulled his hand around to find a dead mosquito in it. Meek and trembling, Clara turned to the Warlord, who struggled to get to his feet.

  “My name’s Clara and I’m a sister now. So I ain’t gonna hurt ’em,” she said, managing only a whisper.

  “You should not have done that,” he seethed, pointing a finger at her. “I know where you are.”

  Clara instantly rocked to the left after an invisible blow came to her right side. Terrified, she looked around at the empty air that seemed to threaten her. Reeling from a blow to her face, she spun around to face Mira and fell to the ground. Wherever she was, someone was beating her. Blood trickled down her lip as she shook from the thrashings to her real body. Hysterical, Mira screamed and fell to her sister’s side, trying desperately to touch her though her fingers always passed through.

  “Clara!” she screeched, her fingers grasping at the air.

  “Mira,” Clara mumbled, her eyes losing focus. The color and the lines faded from her and she disappeared completely.

  “What have I done?” Mira sobbed, as Chucky grabbed her and pulled her back.

  The Warlord had gotten to his feet, and his uncouth visage stared down at them. His burned hair, shredded and dirty skin, and unflinching eyes appeared menacing and crazed. Fire rained from the skies behind him, and warriors from the battle would be upon them at any moment.

  “No matter what he says, just remember that person you would give your life for!” Mira called.

  Their adversary took a step forward, and flies began zipping around his head. Bolts of electrical current surged between his hands. They dropped back, lost for a way to fight against him. Once he stood just a few paces away, they noticed his most gruesome feature of all. Since the top of his shirt was burned away, a round shard of something both shiny and dull lay exposed in his chest. The commotion sounded so close, and they staggered back, oblivious to what was behind them.

  His mouth dropped open and the blunted drawl of his voice accosted them.

  “All hope is gone. Those you love are mine and they will stay with me for the rest of time. You can have them back, if you join us too!”

  “Don’t listen to him. It’s a trick!” Mira screamed at her friends, even as the look on their faces took on an entranced quality. She was afraid he would coerce them, feeling so thwarted that all of her efforts to make them immune only drove them to him. After Mira told them all to fight to get their families back, he somehow knew to offer it in exchange for their minds.

  “Let them go! It’s the hardest thing ever, but you have to accept that for right now they are gone,” Mira shouted at her friends. Taking them by the hands, she forced them to give her their attention. “But we have each other, and that’s got to be enough.” Her words helped them fight off his charms before they took hold. One by one, the lucidity came back to their eyes.

  Rebuffed and irate, the Warlord reached out for them, energy shooting between his fingers. He plodded forward, and the threat of his touch repelled them. Shuffling back, the group gritted their teeth, wanting to fight him but lost for how. The last thing Mira wanted was to give him another chance to coerce them, so she had to come up with something to say.

  “Maybe those rockets will inspire you to get some new clothes!” Mira yelled, trying to find something else for her friends’ minds to focus on.

  “You’d think out of a whole army he could get someone to give him a haircut,” Roselyn mocked.

  “He must be cheap. No wonder he can’t get a girlfriend,” Mary sighed, rolling her eyes.

  “Yeah, Mary, his spending habits are such a deal breaker,” Aoi giggled.

  “I’ve seen manlier things clogged in a drainpipe,” Vern ragged.

  They heard dark laughter behind them amongst an insistent buzzing they’d been too busy to notice.

  “Talk all you want, but you’re getting down to your last words.”

  Jerking around, they discovered Jeremy looming behind them, wreathed in a mass of swirling insects that blotted out the sky. Gasps of shock and utter disbelief met the sight of the black uniform covering his body.

  “We thought you were dead!” Mira shouted to him.

  “Hardly. I’m more alive than ever,” he gloated.

  “What? What are you doing?” Vern stammered.

  “Paying you back!” he shouted above the buzzing.

  The massive swarm lurched forward, causing Mira and her friends to cower. There were enough flies in the black cloud to bite them on every spec of their skin one hundred times over. They had nowhere to run, and Mary screamed at the incoming insects.

  “Mira!” someone called amidst a strong gust of air blowing against their clothing. Twisting her head to the side, Mira saw Cybil, Will’s old mentor, finishing a lighting-fast cut across her chest. The wave of air pressure had blown the swarm away and even Jeremy had been pushed clean off his feet. He rocked against the ground while the swarm regrouped.

  “We have to get out of here!” Cybil shouted, grabbing Mira and pulling her away.

  “No, he’s so close!” Mira protested, struggling as she felt Cybil’s arms. But straining her head, she could see the Warlord wasn’t close at all. The battle had closed in around him, and he held out his malevolent arms above them to revel in it all. Though black uniforms were mixed in amongst those wearing all colors, it became obvious the vast majority were among the Warlord’s followers.

  Mira realized those fighting civilians were the corrupted, and the forces of Darmen had still failed to puncture the assaulting force. For a second, she thought she recognized a face from Corey Outpost within the tumult of blurring faces. As Cybil dragged her away and her friends held off those who challenged them, she looked for her parents within that hive of malice.

  “This way! Run for it!” Cybil ordered, pointing to a path that swept around the east end of Darmen near the river. Aoi drilled an elbow into one attacker and Chucky throttled another. Mira felt the last of her hope escape her and she turned to seek refuge. Running, they skirted the edge of the battle, weaving through enemies and trying to outpace those that chased them.

  In the battle raging around the grasslands to their left, fierce hand-to-hand fighters protected the city from the interminable onslaught. Others from Darmen and the defeated Shade army thrashed through the field. Soapy bubbles of a massive size spewed over them from the city, floating and drifting beyond the last line of defense. When a meteorite or thrown stone caused them to burst, the release of pressure flattened anyone nearby.

  Still, the city’s defenders could barely hold back the sheer volume of bizarre tricks that assailed them. Those in one area had to fight against a crippling hunger in addition to the invaders. Elsewhere, ghostly figments came to the Sunfighters’ aid.

  Cybil led them onward while arrows and meteors struck down around them. The ground shook, and pursuers closed in behind, but they followed the river to the bottomless pit of Darmen Underside.

  Perilously taking their eyes from the rough terrain, they spotted Westley near the entrance to the wide gaping hole in the Earth. Just as they approached, he fired off a number of flaming meteorites that had been orbiting around him. They sailed around Mira’s group and struck down the last of those that chased them. Bringing their run to a jog, they caught their breath in relative safety. Alongside Westley, the rancher crossed his arms and struck a thoughtful pose. Aoi didn’t stop until she had jumped into his arms, almost knocking him over.

  “Glad to have you back,” Westley said when Vern came to a halt, putting his arm around his old shadow and managing a grin.

  “Wish I could say I’m happy to be here,” Vern replied. The others settled in behind them.

  “Looks like things didn’t go so well at the warfront,” Westley surmised.

  “How’d you guess?” Mary shot back.

  “The important thing’s that you’re alright. Now let�
�s try and keep it that way while we hold our city together,” Westley proposed.

  “Where’s Will?” Cybil blurted, on the verge of tears.

  “He’s coming from further out, but he’s posing as one of them. He’s got the uniform you found on,” Mira explained.

  “That sounds dangerous,” Cybil said, kicking herself. “I should’ve never given him that thing. He’s going to get himself killed.”

  “So what do we do now?” Chucky asked.

  “We get you underground in the tunnels with the rest of the townsfolk. You can wait this thing out there,” Westley dictated.

  “No! My parents are out there, and we have to get the Warlord. He must be weakened,” Mira protested.

  “They’re not your parents anymore,” Cybil warned. “They’ll be trying to kill you. We’ve already seen how people we thought we knew suddenly brought their vengeance against us.”

  “That doesn’t matter!” Mira argued. “They’re all I have left to save, and I’ll gladly do it even if it’s to save them from themselves.”

  “To fight and lose together is greater than a solitary victory,” Aoi said to the rancher, whose determined face hung underneath his large hat. He scratched the stubble on his neck and looked to the clouds that peacefully hung above the violence and bloodshed. The sound of another explosion stung their ears.

  “When everything is slipping away, let’s hold the ideals we live by even tighter,” he agreed.

  The rancher’s words settled the debate, and only the question of how they would reengage the battle remained. Legions canvassed the grassland, so getting to their loved ones seemed more than impossible. Despite all of their strengths and wits, there could be no guarantee that something strange wouldn’t happen by chance to wipe them all out.

  “If we go out there, we won’t all make it back,” Westley lamented.

  “Every second we waste is another one that might be their last,” Mira said. “If that happens, I won’t want to make it back.”

  Without waiting for them, Mira raced toward the fight, love for her parents drawing her forward. Her friends watched her go even though she was by far the weakest among them and had nothing to defend herself. After those remaining shared a few solemn nods, they took off after her.

  They all made their charge, except for the rancher, who didn’t move a muscle. Noticing they were leaving him behind, Aoi turned back to him.

  “Won’t you help us?” she asked.

  “Run along, youngster. I’m way ahead of you,” he said, his words both cryptic and foreboding.

  Up ahead, the others were nearing the battlefront, and Mira would break through any second. Casting a worried glance at her stoic mentor, Aoi sprinted to catch up.

  Mira, swerving and ducking, worked through the battle’s chaotic perimeter in hopes of finding her parents. The meteorites stopped falling, signaling the battle’s latest casualty, but there was more than enough sudden movement all around to make each step a dance with death. Jumping, twisting, and driving through other fighters, she scanned the vicious-looking faces.

  Avoiding a swinging blade, she came up against a woman who was half elephant. Stomping her gargantuan gray limbs, she stomped about, crushing anything nearby. The legs attached to the woman’s body, holding her high in the air. The earth shook, alerting Mira just in time to dive out of the way. Stopping and starting, the legs traipsed around her, somehow failing to crush her.

  Though Mira ran on unhindered, the beast-like woman proved a greater obstacle for those trailing behind. As Vern, Roselyn, and the rest reentered the teeming battlefield, the rampaging elephant legs forced them to scatter. Chucky kept his eyes on Mira for as long as he could, but she soon disappeared within the writhing mass.

  Mary screamed as the gray trunks got closer, and Vern lifted her out of the way just in time. On his shoulder, Mary watched Aoi catching up to them. Wrinkling her nose, Mary tapped Vern’s back so he would let her down. Allies and enemies ran in every direction, engaging, fighting, and then leaving the loser behind.

  “She went that way,” Mary informed Vern, but they had already lost half of their group.

  Though Mira ran harder than ever, a hand grabbed her that made it seem like the air had turned to water. She struggled to push herself through the thick air and brush away the hand, but already its owner was upon her. Taking a sharp blow to the back, Mira fell to the ground only for someone to collapse onto her and smother her from behind.

  She struggled and kicked, looking about frantically for her friends, but she couldn’t break free. Her arm twisted painfully under intense pressure. Among the thrashing crowd, Mira spotted a short, red-haired girl wearing the same tan Shade uniform. Squirming, Mira managed to bite the finger that held her face.

  “Gloria, help!” Mira garbled.

  Gloria, her glowing green hands wrapped around a ragged looking girl, jerked her head around at the sound of her name. She dropped the lifeless body and let it slink onto the ground. Finally glancing at Mira through the confusion and commotion, she started to work her way closer. Catching another unfortunate fighter in the face, he dropped out of the way and left nothing between the two girls.

  “Quickly!” Mira yelled, the pressure on her shoulder joint threatening to tear it right out of her body. Gloria smiled, and Mira sighed her relief.

  “Let me get this straight. You want me to help you? It’s always all about you, isn’t it? Well, I’ll give you all the help I can!”

  Gloria’s smile turned to a nasty grimace, and her eyes betrayed the evil in her mind. Mira shook her head and struggled as Gloria reached back and whipped her arm to sling the toxic green goop.

  Mira spun around, and the flying globule struck the man who held her. Though he shrieked horrendously and collapsed, Mira still had to worry about Gloria, who now charged at her with unfathomable rage. Her aggrieved persistence made it clear she’d been the victim of the Warlord. Having only seconds to react, Mira turned to run.

  Unfortunately, another furious scuffle gave Mira little room to maneuver. Running dead on into trouble and Gloria closing in behind, Mira dropped suddenly and let Gloria trip over her. She sprinted the opposite way while Gloria spilled onto the ground.

  Turning her head to see if she’d lost Gloria, Mira tripped over another body. Glancing to see what it was, it seemed like a corpse until she heard a throaty snore. Only Mira’s mother could make someone sleep through something like this, and her jaw dropped at the possibility of it.

  Putting her hand on the man’s green Darmen Guard uniform, she shook him vigorously and waited for him to rouse. Nothing could wake him though, and Mira put her fingers to his throat to check his pulse. There was no doubt that Jeana Ipswich had to be somewhere nearby.

  Mira dodged careening warriors and dove away from a dangerous looking bubble. Jogging onward, she spotted another body on the ground that looked a little too comfortable to be dead. Hoping for a trail, she pressed on through the vicious hordes.

  As soon as she saw her mother, Mira realized she was completely unprepared for her. Looking the same as Gloria in both expression and pose, Jeana had her hands on another victim who would wait for his fate asleep. Her depraved demeanor looked as monstrous to Mira as any her imagination could create. It startled her wholly, robbing her of even the illusion of pleasure she’d promised herself when she met her parents again.

  “Mom, I’ve found you!” Mira cried, having nothing else to say but the obvious.

  For a second, Mira wondered if calling her “mom” would register, and the woman did look up and display a glimmer of recognition. However she felt about their meeting, Jeana held onto her hardened and sour expression.

  “What are you doing here, sweetheart?” she growled.

  Her attempt to sneak forward seemed pathetic and obvious to Mira, who had no choice but to inch back. Her mother’s fingers, which had sent her to a peaceful sleep countless times, had a cold and hostile air to them that sickened Mira.

  “I’m here to r
escue you,” she pleaded. “Do you know where Clara is? You can have your two daughters back!”

  Curiosity struck Jeana, and she scratched her head with a finger, but it was all a cheap ploy.

  “I have one daughter,” she paused, “and I have a science project. Which one are you?”

  Mira shivered at her mother’s cruel meaning. Squeezing her eyes shut and cringing, she tried to pretend she didn’t just hear those words come from her own mother. It tore at the image of her happy family that she wanted to restore. Her mother behaved so much like she used to, and it terrified her. To what lengths would she indulge her grudge?

  “That’s so mean, mom. How could you say that to me?” Mira said, trying to regain control.

  “I guess it runs in the family,” Jeana sniped.

  Her emotions made Mira lose track of how close her mother was, and she barely raised her covered forearms when the lunge finally came. Struggling to hold her back, Mira pushed and shoved, unable to repel her completely. Snide laughter wafted into her ear, signaling Gloria’s disheartening return.

  Straining her eyes to the corners, she watched Gloria slink toward her, a malicious smirk on her face. She held her hands out, and they dripped with bright green filth. Mira struggled against her mother and the fingers that wiggled in front of her face like spider legs, but she couldn’t generate enough force to push her away.

  Gloria crouched down to pounce when she tripped and fell on her face right in front of Mira. Mary stood just where Gloria had after delivering a push. She brought her arms to her hips and looked down at their adversary.

  “Have a nice trip. See you next fall! I haven’t said that since I was like six,” Mary laughed.

  Behind Mary, Vern and the others were coming. She felt her mother press, and that forced her to look back just in time to see something else skittering past the corner of her eye. Amongst the fighting to her left, a smoky haze swept through the air. Understanding what it meant, her eyes grew big and her mother started to cackle.