by Dee Benson
Axel stopped breathing. Her heartbeat accelerated, breaking all kinds of records.
She couldn't think. Her mind seemed to have frozen. Then, suddenly, rage filled her. She glared at Zanda, no longer desiring to get anywhere close to her and hug her like she'd been about to do. "This isn't happening."
Zanda just looked back at her from across the room.
Axel looked around. The Firemaster was watching her intently. Nigel, no longer looking crazed, was watching too. As were Desmond and Serloyd.
Behind Axel, the door to the drawing room was open.
Axel looked at Zanda, defeat smashing down on her like a sledgehammer. She'd come to the Super Land because she was told that if she didn't, Zanda would be amputated.
She'd obeyed the orders of The Firemaster because she didn't want Zanda to come to any harm.
She'd resigned herself to staying here for the rest of her life, serving The Firemaster, if The Firemaster would agree to release Zanda.
And all along, Zanda was one of them.
She wanted to know how it had happened. Then, she decided that it'd be too painful. Zanda must have switched sides back in Honolulu. Before her parents' death.
Axel didn't want to cry, but she couldn't help it. She was completely broken. "Why would you do this, Zanda?"
Zanda looked unmoved.
"I'm here, living a nightmare, because of you." Axel's voice was hoarse. "I risked everything for you. I didn't come here because my parents died. I came here so that you wouldn't die."
Zanda raked a hand through her hair.
"I love you, Zanda." The pain Axel felt now was worse than the burning torture from Desmond's device. "My parents loved you and treated you no differently than the way they treated me. In fact, you often received preferential treatment. Why would you take their powers and leave them to die?"
The Firemaster stepped forward. "You have seen your cousin. I have fulfilled my part of the bargain. You will now fulfil yours."
Axel laughed shortly. The Firemaster was probably hoping that this would disillusion her and make her pledge her allegiance. Make her decide that the memory of her family wasn't worth holding onto. "I will never pledge allegiance to you. You took my parents, and you have taken my cousin. You've taken everything I held dear. I want nothing to do with you and your delusions of grandeur."
Serloyd stepped forward. "Kill her. She has done enough. You must kill her."
Axel didn't care. She had nothing left to live for. Death was welcome.
The Firemaster looked at Axel.
"Kill her," Prince Drake said. "She's been useless to us anyway."
The Firemaster nodded at Nigel.
Axel looked at Nigel.
She could tell he hadn't drugged himself. Would he do it?
He has to.
Nigel dug his hands into his pockets and then frowned. "I don't have my gun."
"Then fetch it with your mental powers," The Firemaster snapped.
He so rarely snapped. He must really be at the end of his rope with her.
Nigel looked torn. Then his cool mask settled back into place.
A gun appeared in his hands.
"Give it to Zanda," The Firemaster said. A hint of a smile played on his lips.
Zanda walked across the room to take the gun from Nigel.
Axel couldn't believe it. What had they done to Zanda to make her like this?
Zanda pointed the gun at Axel.
Axel's heart jumped. "You would never kill me, Zanda."
The casual look in Zanda's eyes made Axel doubt her own words.
"Why are you doing this?" Axel cried.
Zanda looked unmoved.
"I've always told you that you're beautiful, and that you don't need superpowers in order to get respect. You definitely don't need to steal other people's powers and…kill." Axel could hardly believe she was having to say this. To Zanda. The cousin who was more like a sister to her than a cousin.
Zanda cocked the gun.
"You want to kill me?" Axel asked. "Fine. Kill me. I have nothing left to live for now. I can't believe you've become like this. Great, you're a Super now. But what does that matter? What does it make you?"
"I'll tell you what it makes me," Zanda said. "Powerful."
There was a loud pop as Zanda pulled the trigger.
A micro second later, pain exploded in Axel's chest.
Darkness rushed in.
Chapter 26
WHITE NOISE ROARED IN Axel's ears, just as it did when she used to be able to heal. Her whole body tingled the way her arm used to tingle when she was healing.
She watched, as though hovering above the room, as Desmond checked her vital signs and then said something Axel couldn't hear. A woman entered the room and covered her with a sheet.
The Firemaster was saying something to Zanda. Axel couldn't hear, but Zanda looked proud.
The tingling sensation intensified in her chest, where the bullet had hit her.
Then the darkness lifted.
She coughed and sat up, removing the sheet covering her.
Everyone in the room jumped. Someone screamed.
Axel looked at Zanda. There was terror in her eyes.
"Is it her spirit?" someone whispered.
The only person who didn't look afraid was The Firemaster. "If it was her spirit," he said, "her body would still be on the floor."
"What's going on?" Prince Drake demanded. His eyes were haunted. "Desmond just pronounced her dead—"
The Firemaster raised a hand, silencing him. "It seems Axel has the power to resurrect."
"She can't die?" Serloyd asked. "We can't kill her?"
Zanda's eyes were haunted. She pointed the gun at Axel again.
Nigel was standing before the gun in a flash. "The Firemaster didn't say try to kill her again."
"Maybe I didn't do it properly the first time," Zanda snapped. "Get out of my way."
Everyone seemed distracted either by Zanda's and Nigel's little showdown, or by the fact that Axel had resurrected. In her peripheral vision, Axel could see the door to the room. It was open.
She turned and ran out.
There were shouts behind her.
She heard rapid steps, following her.
She gritted her teeth and ran, pushing her legs as hard as they would go, ignoring the weakness she felt from being tortured at the pledging, and the lethargy that could only be a result of having just died.
As she neared the front door, it opened by itself.
Nigel?
She ran out, thankful for the darkness. She ran towards the gates surrounding the house. On the other side, the poor Supers began to yell and scream. The crowd was even bigger now.
The gate, also, opened of its own accord.
Axel ran through and lost herself in the crowd. Neither The Firemaster nor Prince Drake would come out and risk getting mobbed by this crowd. Nigel wouldn't want to catch her. Desmond probably couldn't be bothered.
But Serloyd would come.
Maybe even Zanda. The thought caused a stab in Axel's heart.
What had happened to Zanda? Was she in her right mind?
Axel didn't have time to consider that right now because the crack of a gun sounded behind her.
The poor Supers began to scream. Some ran away, but a good crowd remained, and the uproar increased.
She grabbed an elderly man by the arm. "Please, sir. What powers do you have? I need help."
"I can teleport," he replied, revealing blackened teeth.
"Can you teleport me away from here?"
"What are you going to give me in return?"
Axel had to strain her ears to hear him above the chaos. "I have no money. I'm sorry. I would pay anything if I had the money. Someone is trying to kill me."
"Then you want to be invisible," said an elderly lady that Axel hadn't noticed listening to their conversation. "I can make you invisible until sunrise if you give me your necklace."
The necklace that Axel had r
efused to burn out of loyalty to her family. Futile loyalty. All that was left of her family was Zanda. And Zanda had betrayed her. More than betrayed her.
Axel removed the necklace. The locket clicked open. Axel quickly shut it, not wanting to see the picture.
"I don't want the locket," the old woman said, raising her voice above the ongoing commotion around them. "I want the chain."
Axel removed the locket and handed her the chain.
She looked delighted, as did the man. Maybe they were a couple.
"I still need to teleport," she told the man.
"Have you got another necklace?" he asked.
Axel dug into her pocket and found the amulet Nigel had given her.
The man flinched, as did the woman. "Where did you get a leosh amulet?"
Axel shoved it back into her pocket. "Look, I really need to escape from here immediately. I'm desperate. Please help me." It was all well and good to be invisible until dawn, but dawn was probably just a few hours away.
Either the Super had a very kind heart, or Axel sounded pathetically desperate because he rolled his eyes. "Where do you want to go?"
"Outside of Merspool."
Immediately, the world became a blur and Axel felt weightless.
A second later, she was in the middle of nowhere. And she was alone. No chaos or screaming or gunshots.
She turned around.
She was standing in the middle of a freeway.
There was a large wall of fire surrounding the city for as far as Axel's eyes could see.
Axel was at least a mile away from it, but she could feel the blazing warmth emanating from it.
She remembered something The Firemaster had said after the battle with the government Supers: I have been able to create a wall of fire around the city to keep the government Supers out.
That meant there were government Supers on the other side. Probably seeking a way to get past the wall of fire and reclaim the city from The Firemaster.
She was beginning to get sick of the sight of fire.
The Super hadn't teleported her outside Merspool. He'd only sent her to the outskirts of the city.
A section of the fire disappeared momentarily and Axel got a glimpse of a host of police cars with flashing blue lights. The area outside the wall of fire was lit by floodlights, illuminating scores of police officers.
Axel briefly considered running over and asking them for help, but Nigel's claim that things might be worse for her at the hands of the government stopped her.
The gap in the fire closed up just then anyway. So even if she wanted to go the police for help, she no longer could.
Besides, I'm invisible. I hope.
She began to walk towards the barrier that sectioned the freeway off from what look like a woodland area. The freeway was empty of traffic, thanks to the wall of fire.
Axel wondered how the fire was being sustained. How the fire features all over Merspool City were being sustained. It must be by The Firemaster's power. Maybe that was why he talked so softly. The bulk of his faculties were focused elsewhere.
He must be immensely powerful to be able to keep all the fire features in the city going. Using Superpowers for a long time was supposed to be tiring. Most Supers felt the strain after even just a few seconds. The Firemaster, being of the royal family, wouldn't. Axel, being aristocracy, hadn't when she had healing power.
I now have resurrection power.
As she stepped over the barrier and entered the woods, Axel touched her chest where the bullet had gone in. Her shirt was stained with dried blood. She lifted her shirt and touched her chest. Her skin felt normal. No wound.
How did I get the power to resurrect?
When had it activated? Unfortunately, there was no way for her to know. She only knew now because Zanda had tried to kill her.
Zanda tried to kill me.
Tears blinded her as she stumbled through the woods mindlessly. She had no clue where she was going or how she was going to stay hidden.
After a while, she came to a small stream, running through the wood. It was shallow enough in parts for her to cross, but she flopped down on the bank, exhausted.
I need a plan.
She couldn't stay here. She was all alone. She was an easy target. A sitting duck. She needed to be around other people. Maybe she would find a bunch of poor Supers to stay with so that she could use their powers if The Firemaster and his cronies came after her.
If? More like when.
Hopefully, they wouldn't find her tonight. She didn't have the strength to look for a pack of poor Supers tonight. And she didn't know where to go looking for them with it so dark. She'd do it in the morning.
Once she found some poor Supers, she would see if any of them could help her contact her aunt and uncle in Netherium. They might know how to do it since they were likely to be law breakers, if their willingness to loan their powers for a fee, despite that being against the law, was anything to go by.
Once she was able to contact her aunt and uncle, they would send her a portal within seconds and she'd be out of here.
Simple plan.
But Axel had a feeling it wasn't going to be that simple at all.
A LOUD CLANG ROUSED Axel from sleep. Her eyes were so heavy that it took a few attempts to force them open.
A small squeak escaped her lips at the sight of Nigel less than three feet away from her. A large, glowing light orb hovered above his head.
Axel scrambled to her feet. Her head swam and she crashed back down to the ground.
She heard a thud. And then another.
The walls were spinning around her.
Walls?
Where the hell was she?
There was another soft thud.
She realized it was footsteps.
Why was he here?
If he was here, Serloyd must be here too. Maybe even Zanda.
Where had they taken her? And why hadn't she awakened when they moved her?
"Axel?"
She couldn't speak.
Was he high? Had he taken the drugs that enabled him to detach himself from any evil task The Firemaster asked him to carry out?
Nigel's face hovered over. There were three of him.
"No!" Axel whispered hoarsely. "Please."
Chapter 27
"CALM DOWN!" NIGEL GROWLED as Axel kicked feebly.
Calm down? Axel kicked harder and swung her arms, attempting to punch him. But her limbs were heavy with fatigue.
Nigel placed a hand on her forehead. His hand felt cool against her skin.
Axel tried to bat his hand away, but he was too strong. And right now, she was too weak.
Seconds ticked by and his hand remained on her head. Slowly, Axel's vision began to clear, and Nigel came into focus.
His hard, angular features were shadowed in darkness of…wherever they were. The light orb above his head illuminated the area behind him. There were boats, canoes, and paddles everywhere.
She stared into Nigel's eyes, trying to see them clearly. They didn't look crazed. "Did The Firemaster send you?" she asked. "Are you supposed to kill me?"
"The Firemaster did not send me."
"Is Serloyd here?" she asked. "And…Z-Zan…"
Just trying to say Zanda's name caused a spark of pain in her heart.
"Nobody is here except me," Nigel told her.
Axel began to relax.
"However, you may find it interesting to know that The Firemaster wants you to return."
"Of course he does. He wants to know why I didn't die. And he wants to kill me for real this time."
"Yes and no."
Axel frowned. "Yes and no?"
"Yes, he wants to know why you didn't die. But not so that he can kill you again—although he very well may kill you. It's so that he can study you and figure out he also may never die."
Never die?
Axel didn't know about that. Just because that had happened once didn't mean that, if they tried to kill her
again, they wouldn't succeed. It didn't mean she was never going to die. Did it?
Nigel was watching her face.
Awkward silence dragged out between them.
The pressure of Nigel's hand on her head increased. "Feeling better?"
"Yes," Axel whispered, her throat scratchy. "Are you doing something to me?"
"I'm giving you some of my energy. People with mind powers ought to be able to heal minor injuries, but I have never learned as healing with mind powers is especially taxing."
"Is there anything that people with mind powers can't do?" Axel asked. Talking about his mind powers was much easier than talking about her failure to die. She couldn't think about what that meant right now.
Nigel removed his hand from her forehead. "There are many things that people with mind powers cannot do. Mind powers depend on the discipline and focus of those possessing them."
"Mind powers seem to be the most versatile of all powers."
Nigel said nothing. The light orb above his head brightened, illuminating the large shed they were in.
"Where are we?" Axel asked.
"A boat house a little distance away from where I found you at the side of the stream."
So she hadn't been invisible? She wasn't invisible now?
Of course I'm not since Nigel can obviously see me.
Axel sighed. She'd had her doubts about that old lady keeping her promise.
"You were invisible. Clever."
"I was invisible?"
"Yup."
"Then how did you find me?"
A sheepish look entered his eyes. Axel was surprised. His face was always so guarded. This was probably the most emotion she'd ever seen from him.
"Tell me," she prodded.
"There's a tracking device in the amulet I gave you."
Axel stared at him.
He stared back.
"Explain."
"The Firemaster asked me to keep you on my radar but I didn't want to use up my mental energy monitoring you with my mind powers, so I decided to just give you a tracking device."
Axel rose to her feet.
Nigel stood too.