AS I WALKED up the stairs toward the top of the Center, I couldn’t help but notice that my head was beginning to swim again. The symptoms were coming in waves and they came much faster each time Christopher tried to help me. I was sure it was because I was nearing the twenty-four hour mark. As far as I knew, no one had ever gone past twenty-four hours. If Christopher hadn’t been around, I would have been a vegetable long before this. There was no way I would be walking up the stairwell of the Center.
As I continued to climb, I couldn’t help but wonder what Jeremiah was planning. He was upstairs, expecting to face me with stolen Starborn powers that he didn’t even know if he could control. And if he were to defeat me, he would still have to escape the explosion and then get his hands on Christopher. And if he managed that, how did he plan to force Christopher to heal him?
Reaching the top of the stairwell hadn’t been easy. On several stories, I encountered a handful of Screven guards, all of which I had to take down quickly so they wouldn’t call out on their radios. I wanted this to be quick and silent. I was in luck, however, when I reached the top. I opened the door and walked into a large, seemingly empty room. I tiptoed through until I came to an opened window. I looked out and could see that I wasn’t actually on the top floor of the building. But the stairwell ended there. That meant that Evelyn and Jeremiah must be in a room further up and accessed by another staircase.
My attention snapped to the left when I saw a group of guards run through a door on the other side of the room.
“They’re here!” I heard one of the guards say.
Bullets flew in my direction the second they noticed me. I swung my hand through the air and swatted them away, then picked up one of the guards and smashed him through a window. Two more guards saw what I had just done and started to run away. I yanked them up from their feet and they fell face-first into the floor. Just to make sure they were out, I banged their heads against the wall.
Not entirely deserted, I thought to myself.
A loud ringing blared out over the speaker system and for a second, I had to hold my palms over my ears.
“Attention,” the voice said over the speakers. “This is your leader, Jeremiah. As you have seen, greyskins are loose throughout the city. I, and the Screven soldiers are doing everything we can to contain the situation. Please stay in your homes and lock your doors. This is an attack on us by the Starborns and their leader, Mora. Her reign of terror began in the colony of Salem and she has brought her fury here. Be careful and, again, stay in your homes until this is contained.”
I cursed at him under my breath. Surely the people of Screven didn’t believe him. I shook my head. It didn’t matter. Once he was gone, they would see how everything could be better. They would forget his words because they would be happy. They would be safe.
I ducked behind a table and shut my eyes. Evelyn appeared in front of me. Jeremiah seemed to be talking to someone on his radio. He nodded and said something I couldn’t hear. When he was finished, he set it down and walked back to Evelyn.
“Looks like you have some friends busy in the basement level,” he said, smiling. “They will be stopped soon enough, but just in case, I’ve called a helicopter. Should be here in a few minutes.”
Evelyn laughed. “Worried?”
Jeremiah stuck out his lip and shook his head. “Cautious.”
I opened my eyes, terrified. Jeffrey and the others had been discovered. The others had probably discovered that Aaron was gone from his cell. I closed them again and sought Jeffrey out. Jeffrey was frantically setting the charges while Christopher and Allison were shooting their guns at guards running through the door. I was relieved to see Danny and Heather down there, using their gifts to protect Jeffrey as he worked.
My thoughts shifted to Connor. For a moment, I stopped breathing. He stood in a dark, empty hallway, staring down the sight of a pistol pointed at Aaron’s face a few feet away.
“So, it’s ending like this, huh?” Aaron said.
“You’ve got to believe me,” Connor said. “I’ve been on your side the whole time!”
Aaron winced at the pain shooting through his bullet wound from the day before. Sweat dripped down his face. “But I saw you shoot Allison. She was surrendering.”
“I had to!” Connor yelled. “Trace would have killed me if I didn’t. I let the others go. I let you go.”
“Yeah, I see that,” Aaron said. “But I don’t know what to think. You’ve always been on Screven’s side. It’s only since Mora came into the picture, that you’ve been with us. Is that how fickle your views are?”
“Is that what this is about? Mora?”
“It’s about a lot of things. I can’t trust you.”
“Mora is dying,” Connor said. “She told me just a few minutes ago.”
“What do you mean she’s dying?”
“She’s infected.”
“You’re lying!” Aaron said. “You’re just playing me. You freed me and the others so you could keep playing both sides.”
“I’m through playing both sides! I’ve always been on your side. Sure, I needed some convincing in the beginning, but I’m here now!”
Aaron shook his head slowly. In a flash, electric bolts shot into his chest from various lights and sockets throughout the hallway and he blasted it toward Connor. Connor screamed out in pain as the bolts tunneled through his body.
I froze in horror at what I was witnessing. If only I had gotten the chance to tell Aaron the truth. Now he didn’t believe Connor and he was going to kill him!
“Get out of there!” I screamed out.
But Connor couldn’t hear me. His pain was too great. Aaron let up on the electricity to stare at his brother on the floor. Connor felt the break, and with every bit of strength he had in him, he jumped for his gun, swung around and took three shots at Aaron. Aaron was barely able to dive out of the way as the bullets ricocheted all around him.
I knew I couldn’t just sit there and watch. I had to do something. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the radio. “Jeffrey, can you hear me?”
“What’s up?”
“How long before you can blow the place?”
“The fighting is getting pretty hot down here! I’m setting the timer for five minutes.”
“Set the timer now and wait as long as you can before you leave,” I said. “Make sure they can’t move the bombs or anything.”
“Sounds good.”
“Jeffrey, you know you’ll have to teleport out of there with the others, right?”
“I know. I’ve already thought about that. Where’s Aaron?”
“Hopefully Aaron and Connor will be down there soon!” I slipped the radio back into my pocket. Looking out the window, I could hear the thumping of helicopter blades in the distance. It was coming to pick Jeremiah up. I swore, knowing I had a crucial decision to make. If I let Jeremiah go, I wouldn’t have another chance to fight him. If I went after Jeremiah, Connor and Aaron would die.
I shut my eyes. Connor slipped behind a desk and fired the rest of his bullets at Aaron blindly. Aaron was running out of electricity too. Most of the sockets had blown out. He used what was left to fry the desk in front of Connor. Connor knew he was spent, too. He stood, tossing the gun to the side, staring his brother in the eyes.
“Why do I get the feeling that you don’t even care if I was on your side the whole time?”
Aaron didn’t say anything. Instead, he ran forward, tackling Connor to the ground. His fist smashed into the side of Connor’s head and Connor lifted his leg, flipping Aaron over him. Then, Connor was the one doing the tackling.
“Connor,” I yelled out. “The Center will blow in less than five minutes! Go!”
He couldn’t hear me. Either he or Aaron was going to die. That was all he could hear inside his own head.
I paused when I saw a figure standing behind the two fighting brothers. Connor gave Aaron a swift punch to the jaw and saw the figure as well. In the corner of the room stood Anthony.
Connor scrambled to his feet. Aaron was about to try and tackle him, but Connor pointed. Aaron looked behind him and saw the hunter too. In a flash, Aaron tried to call whatever electricity was left, but little came to him. Anthony charged at them, ramming the two into the wall behind them. Connor could feel the wall give a little as part of it crumbled to the floor.
Aaron shot whatever electricity he had left at Anthony, but there wasn’t enough to even knock him over. Aaron swung a fist at him, but Anthony dodged it without effort. A punch, a kick, another punch. Aaron had no chance of hitting the Starborn that seemed to have super-fast reflexes. Finally, Aaron swung again, but Anthony nailed him in the chin, sending him to the ground.
Aaron reached out, seeking a power source, finally finding it in a nearby elevator. The electricity started to flow into him again, but Anthony rushed to him and kicked him in the side of the head.
Connor tried his hand at Anthony too, but just ended up back on the floor after a swift punch to the jaw.
Was there any chance for me to stop Anthony and still make it to Jeremiah? I had to try.
They were on the ninth level. I had a ways to go, but I could make it. I stood quickly and all I could see was black for a moment. My head started pounding. I could feel my heart beating faster and it wasn’t from running. My limbs ached and my eyes were getting heavy. It was almost time for me to die. But I couldn’t let that happen yet.
As I ran down the stairs, everything within me said that I should be going up instead of down. I was supposed to take out Jeremiah as my last act, not save Connor and Aaron. What was I doing this for, anyway? Both of them knew we were running out of time. If they hadn’t started fighting, they would already be down in the lower level. I knew what Aaron saw - Connor had been forced to play the part of traitor again. There was no denying that he had shot Allison down, but I knew that he did his best not to kill her. Aaron had only seen Connor as an attempted assassin.
Word of our presence must have gotten around the building. There were more guards running through various levels, dashing to fulfill whatever orders they might have been given. When I stumbled down the stairs toward level twelve, an entire crowd of guards smashed through the doors. I wasn’t ready for them and fell to the ground as they barreled over me. Of course, they didn’t seem to know what was going on either. One of them was on top of me and his eyes went wide when he looked at my face. I reached out and grabbed his rifle with one hand, and with the other, I used all of my strength of mind to shove him off me and into the rest of the guards. They stumbled backward, but as they brought their guns up to fire, I let off at least ten rounds. Each bullet hit into the group of them and they clambered to get out of my way.
I got to my feet, still firing until the gun was completely out of ammunition and I hurtled down the stairs until I reached level nine. I ran through the door, but I didn’t see anyone. The floor seemed abandoned just like I had seen while watching Aaron and Connor, but the surroundings didn’t look the same at all. That’s when I realized they must have been on the other side of the building. I dreaded the thought of trying to get to the other side. I didn’t know if my legs would let me sprint.
I trudged forward until I finally found a hallway with scorch marks from Aaron’s electricity. Once I saw that, I then heard the sound of men fighting. I moved as fast as I could until I got to the room. I went in, just in time to see Connor miss a punch to Anthony’s head. He was met with an elbow to the forehead, which landed him on the ground. Aaron was still unconscious on the floor. Anthony stepped forward and reached to the wall and pushed a button. The elevator.
The large man moved toward me quickly, but slowed to a stoop just a few feet in front of me. He glowered at me, but I didn’t back down. “I really don’t have time for you right now,” I said.
“I saw Aaron and Connor on the security cameras,” Anthony said. “I was told to take one of them with me. Didn’t expect to see you in the Center.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a radio.
With barely a thought, I moved my hand through the air and smacked it out of his hands. I knew his ability. I knew his reflexes were unmatched, but my ability wasn’t one that he could see coming.
The elevator dinged.
He ducked at shards of glass and debris that I sent his way, but wasn’t able to sidestep everything I threw at him.
With the greyskin virus coursing through my veins, I knew I didn’t have the strength to let this fight last. I picked him up in the air and smashed him into the wall. He yelled out in pain. I then let him drop to the ground. Normally, I would have made sure he was finished, but I probably only had two minutes before the building came crashing down. I had to get two unconscious men out of here somehow.
That’s when I heard a bullet whiz past my head and I ducked low. Anthony was up and firing. I used everything within me to stop the bullets as they came toward me. Anthony rushed forward and grabbed Aaron by the shirt, pulling him off the ground, using him as a shield.
The bullets still spun in front of me and I wanted to send them back to Anthony, but there was a chance he would pull Aaron up in harm’s way. I stared at him in horror as the elevator doors closed. I knew that was probably the last time I would see Aaron. There was no way he would make it out of the building. There was no way I would make it out of the building.
Several floor-to-ceiling windows had been smashed, and Connor was struggling to pull himself off the floor. Blood was smeared across his face.
“We’ve got to go,” Connor said, barely loud enough for me to hear.
I reached down and pulled his arm around my neck as he walked beside me limply. There was no chance of getting out of here. I moved us toward one of the large broken windows, wishing there was something I could do.
The radio sounded through my pocket. “Mora, can you hear me? The Center is going to blow in forty-five seconds. I hope the others are on their way out. We’re already out of the building.”
“Forty-five seconds?” Connor said as he released my neck and limped to the wall next to the window. He looked from me to the floor in front of him. “I guess we’re both dying.”
My gaze turned to the sky through one of the broken windows. I could hear the helicopter on the roof, loud and ready to go. I closed my eyes for a moment to see Evelyn being pulled by a guard. Jeremiah was already seated in the helicopter and the guard threw Evelyn to the floor. Anthony had made it to the top of the roof, carrying Aaron.
“What are you doing with him here?” Jeremiah called out. “He can sabotage the helicopter!”
Anthony shook his head. “He’s out.” He tossed Aaron to the floor next to Evelyn. His eyes were closed like he was asleep.
Jeremiah pointed at one of the guards and told him to make sure Aaron stayed unconscious. The guard nodded in affirmation.
Anthony started to get on the helicopter, but Jeremiah grabbed his shoulder and shook his head. “No more room.”
Anthony looked at the empty seats with a questioning stare, but Jeremiah just continued to shake his head.
“Pilot, get us out of here.”
Anthony stood with his mouth open as the helicopter pulled away. Jeremiah stared at the horizon with a smug look on his face, leaving his last hunter behind.
They had made their escape. I had lost my chance. My part in this was done. I had come down here to try and help Connor and Aaron escape, but now Aaron was a prisoner and Connor and I were going down with the Center. I really had thought there was enough time.
I looked up at Connor. “He’s in that helicopter,” I said. “Aaron was taken with Jeremiah.” Connor and I watched the helicopter as it flew away from the Center, unable to comprehend that both our lives would be finished in less than twenty seconds.
But maybe they didn’t have to be. Maybe I hadn’t come here in vain. I still had my gift alive within me. I may have felt weak, sick, and about to die, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t try one last effort to save Connor’s life.
“We can still make it,” I said. “You just have to trust me.”
Connor nodded and stood straighter. “What is it?” he asked.
“We jump together.”
“What?”
“No time!” I grabbed hold of his arm and stepped up to the edge of the broken glass.
He stared below us, his eyes wide as he swallowed.
“This might not work,” I said, “but we’re going to die anyway, so we might as well try.”
He looked at me. We knew that if there was a chance to survive, we had to take it. As I looked down into the streets below, I could see guns firing. Greyskins feeding. It was mayhem. War. Now the Center was coming down.
We felt the boom from down below long before we heard it and our knees buckled as the building began to shake. With one last look into Connor’s eyes, I pulled him over the edge with me. My stomach lurched at the sudden free fall. We were so high, landing would be more than enough to kill us. And that was what I hoped to avoid.
The base of the Center erupted in fire and the entire structure came tumbling down at the same rate as us. As it crumbled in on itself, there were several other large explosions, some from the charges below, others from gas lines and explosive material already in the building. As we fell, I could feel the searing heat come over us, and the force of the blast shoved us away from the building itself.
The ground rushed closer and closer. I knew I could move people and objects with my mind. I have made things float in mid air before. Why couldn’t it be the same now? I didn’t shut my eyes, but I could feel Connor tense up as he grabbed onto me tighter. I used everything I had in me to focus on Connor to keep him above the ground, to hold us both afloat. I could feel our bodies slowing down until we came to a complete stop. All I could hear was the tumbling building behind us, but I couldn’t help but smile, seeing that focusing on Connor had actually worked. We were still alive. For a brief second, we looked from side-to-side, finally able to see that we hovered just feet from the ground.
My thoughts of joy were quickly interrupted, however, when another series of explosions rocked the Center, this time sending the two of us flying in different directions. My body skidded and scraped against the rough asphalt. Fire and litter spread out in every direction. I kept tumbling. At one point I was sure that I heard a rib snap. I didn’t stop until I finally landed on my side and slid another ten feet, slowing to a rough and bloody stop.
I was finished. There was nothing left for me to do. Jeremiah was no longer my problem. The others were still alive. They would know what to do.
I opened my eyes, but I couldn’t see anything for a moment. The virus was taking over me more rapidly. It was coming close to the same hour when I had been scratched yesterday. My body was ready to give in to the virus.
I was about to die. Then, I would become a greyskin.