Embers & Ice (Rouge) Read online

  “It…” she began hesitantly, “it says…”

  “Liz, you can tell me. I’m here for you, remember?”

  “Fine. It says… ‘Take me back to the lake of fire’.”

  Joshua slammed his foot on the brakes and they both went lurching forward.

  “Joshua! Give me whiplash-”

  “You heard a voice tell you that, and you didn’t think it was important enough to tell me? What, so next time you start breathing fire just bring it up over coffee a month later, sound good?”

  “You’re freaking out,” she muttered. Her hand clasped over her belly as she eyed him cautiously. Those dark eyes always made his temper calmer and Joshua told himself to relax, but inside his head was screaming. Should he listen to this? Did it mean anything, or was it just the distorted mind of a pregnant woman whispering psycho things to herself? He decided to remain calm – for Liz’s sake, mostly – and investigate later. Whatever it was, it made him feel nervous.

  “I’m sure it’s nothing,” he said and pulled back onto the road. “I think we should just forget it and concentrate on the checkup.”

  Liz’s smile widened. “Thank you Joshua.”

  “I’m here for you Lizzie,” he replied gently.

  He gripped the steering wheel and made a mental note to himself: Postpone testing with the formula until further research on side effects has been complete.

  Don’t want any creepy voices in my head, he thought and dropped his visor to block out the sun.

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  Alfie exploded. And expanded. And transformed before every eye in the breakfast hall into a gigantic, twenty-foot beast with a mammoth mouth opening and closing in slow motion. Slivers of rope-thick saliva stretched from one deadly tooth to the other. He had russet brown scales and crazy black eyes the size of tennis balls. His tiny hands hung limply from his body, and his tail swung back and forth, knocking over tables with a loud crash.

  The Men in White were slow to react, because they weren’t sure what was going on. Alfie had had a restraint around his neck like Chantal’s that stopped him using his powers. How could he have changed?

  One of the guards was stupid enough to take a shot at Alfie with the taser, but his skin was too thick for it to do any damage. The dinosaur turned his head and spotted the guard who stood frozen in fear. He stretched his mouth wide open and let out a terrific roar that caused the thick glass across the canteen windows to shatter.

  “It’s Jurassic Park, people!” Zac shrieked. As he did, the ten-ton tail of a T-rex slammed down on a table just feet away from him. He leapt out of the way, rolled twice across the floor, and scrambled to his feet just in time to yell with incredible calm, “Seriously, does anyone have a tranquilizer gun?”

  The breakfast hall was in utter chaos. Half the room had emptied, but Alfie the dinosaur was blocking the way out and there was nowhere else to run to. The canteen was jammed with tables that had been thrown against the kitchen glass. An alarm like an alien ringtone was blaring. The Men in White couldn’t contain him because the tasers didn’t have any effect on Alfie’s skin. The more they tried to take him down, the angrier he became. And there was nothing worse than a pissed off, twenty-foot dinosaur.

  “Zac, get down!” Hunter shrieked, and in a matter of seconds they had scattered like petrified rabbits to their rabbit holes.

  “We have to do something!” Marcus screamed at the others.

  They were all cowering behind upturned tables. A few of the younger kids were holding tight to Hunter’s jumpsuit, and if she weren’t so preoccupied by the stomping dinosaur, her heart would have broken for them.

  “Okay,” said Zac, “you grab a rope and lasso him around the neck while I run around and pretend to be a nice juicy cow or something.”

  Hunter didn’t have the time to roll her eyes.

  “This is all your fault Hunter!” hissed Jet from behind the next table. “You shouldn’t have interrupted our conversation, now he’s confused!”

  “How can you even be that stupid?” she snarled back. “It’s because you called him gay!”

  “Uh, he is gay!”

  “Shut up you two!” Marcus waved frantically at them.

  A crash and a scream caused them to peer over the rim of the table. Alfie was stomping towards two of the guards who were cowering in the corner. As she watched, her heart beat faster. Alfie’s giant tail wagged back and forth and he let out an almighty roar that shook the room. One of the guards pulled out a knife from his belt and managed to run forward and drive it into Alfie’s leg. The dinosaur roared it pain before opening wide his mouth and snapping it around the guard’s body. His scream was cut off and blood sprayed across the white walls of the breakfast hall. The other guard scrambled away and ducked behind some chairs.

  Alfie chewed on the guard, his bones cracking. The terrible sound of blood and entrails falling to the floor with a splat echoed throughout the room. Hunter dropped back behind the table and little Sammy cried and wriggled closer to her.

  “Block your ears,” said Hunter and she held him tight against her.

  Will placed a hand on her shoulder. Hunter turned her eyes to his fear-filled face and furrowed brow. He really had no idea what to do.

  “We have to get them out of here,” she whispered.

  “Yes, but how do you knock out a dinosaur the size of a crane when tasers aren’t powerful enough?”

  An idea hit her. “They’re not powerful enough. But I know someone who is.” She nodded to the opposite table where Marcus was crouched down, staring at them both. He frowned as if to say ‘what are you looking at me like that for?’

  “Hunter,” said Will. “He’s useless. We all are without powers.”

  “Then we get one of the guards to disarm our bracelets.”

  “But they don’t-”

  Alfie roared again, cutting Will off, and Hunter started searching for someone who could help. Almost instantly, she spotted a man in the white guard uniform lying flat under a bench with his hands over his head. He was too far away to reach. She’d have to run to him. She looked again at Will and ignored the doubt in his eyes.

  “You got a better plan?”

  For a moment he struggled, knowing there was a chance the guard might not even have the authority to disarm their bracelets, but it wasn’t in Will’s nature to back out if there was still hope.

  “Well then you’ll need a distraction.”

  “No,” Hunter said firmly. She knew exactly what he was thinking, and she didn’t like it one bit. “No way in-”

  Will jumped up, removing himself from the protection of their fort.

  “Will, don’t–”

  But he was running, his back bent low and his footsteps gliding along the floor. He ducked around the table while Alfie nuzzled the ground on the other side of the hall for food, and ran in the opposite direction.

  Her stomach curdling, Hunter sprinted as fast as she could and slid down beside Marcus.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “You need to put this dino down,” she said firmly. Before he could argue, she grabbed his wrist and gripped the bracelet. “I’m going over to that guard to get him to unlock your bracelet. Once you’re free, you have to electrocute it.”

  “Are you outta your mind? I haven’t generated that much power in my entire life! To put down a dinosaur it’s gonna take more than just a zap, Hunter!”

  “Just… I dunno, draw it from somewhere! A power hub or something!”

  There was a shout from the opposite side of the room and Hunter and Marcus peered up and over the table at Will. He was standing on a bench, waving his arms at Alfie and throwing trays at his body that wouldn’t have been more effective than hitting a building with a pencil, but the shouting drew his attention. He turned and roared at Will so savagely, Hunter’s ears rung.

  “Do it!” Will screamed, and Alfie started to charge.

  “Can you do this Marcus?”

  “Do I have a choice?”<
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  Hunter kicked off from the table and sprinted to the guard lying under the bench. She slid along the scuffed floor and knocked into the man, who turned over and nearly screamed in fright.

  “What the hell-”

  “Where’s the key?”

  “The what?”

  “The key, you know, to unlock this thing!” She tapped her bracelet.

  Alfie chomped down on the bench where Will had been standing and threw it across the room like it weighed nothing but air. Will scrambled away and Hunter started shaking the guard.

  “I don’t have it!” he whimpered. Hunter moaned, thinking these guys were such hardasses when their stupid tasers worked, and now they’re hiding here like wimps while us kids take care of the raging dinosaur!

  “Listen, we can take this thing down, but we need your help! Give me the key. I know you have it!”

  She was bluffing, because she had no idea what they used to unlock the restraints. It could be a machine sealed in the lab for all she knew. She was unconscious when they deactivated her bracelet and put her in the Orb. But it was her best bet, and if it didn’t work they had nothing else. Jeez, where’s Dr. Wolfe when you need him?

  But it turned out they didn’t need him. The guard finally saw reason and reached into his pocket for a set of keys. On the chain, there was a single card used as his ID, a couple of average keys and a black square with a silver button in the center. He forced the chain into her shaking hands and said, “The black one scans the restraint and deactivates it. That’s the best I can do.”

  Hunter didn’t need telling twice. She scrambled out from under the bench just in time to see Will take a running leap over a fallen table. The dinosaur ducked its head and knocked the table out of the way just seconds after Will cleared it. The table flew through the air and collided with Will, throwing him against the wall with a thump. Hunter’s heart leapt. The table had crushed him.

  “Hunter!” he shouted. “Hurry!”

  Adrenaline pumped through her as she sprinted back to Marcus and slid into him. Her hands fumbled with the key as she gripped the black square and pressed hard on the button. A bright, silver laser shot out of the tip. She pointed it at Marcus’ outstretched wrist. The bracelet lit up like a firecracker and then became loose.

  A split second of wonder passed between them before Marcus shook his wrist and they jumped to their feet.

  The sight before her eyes knocked the air out of Hunter. The dinosaur’s jaws were clamped around a table that was flung aside, leaving Will to army crawl as fast as he could away from reach. But he was right beneath Alfie, and his legs were crushed. He couldn’t move. He was about to be chomped by an extinct predator.

  But Marcus was quick. He ran as close to the dinosaur as time allowed before throwing out his wrist and aiming it at the nearest power outlet. It sparked angrily. Marcus started twitching. Just as Alfie’s jaws opened wide, a bolt of electricity shot like lightning from the power outlet directly into Marcus’s outstretched hand. He seized up and went bright blue like an electric fly trap. Hunter would have shielded her eyes had she not been frozen in fear and amazement.

  Marcus extended his other hand towards Alfie. The electricity that shot from the power outlet bolted at Alfie and hit him hard in the neck.

  The scream that came from Alfie’s gaping jaw was deafening. He jerked backwards, stumbled and twitched just as Marcus had. The power that zapped into him was enough to bring him to an almighty crash on the floor. Marcus let out a sound between a scream and a growl from the effort it took him before he released the electricity and collapsed. A few sparks jumped off his body – and Alfie’s huge dinosaur form – and then, there was silence.

  Hunter didn’t wait another second before she sprinted across the wrecked room to Will’s body. She rolled him over, gasping at the blood that stained his legs from where the table had crushed him and the deep cut across his forehead. Why did he do this to himself again?

  “Will! Will, wake up!” She shook his shoulders.

  A groan escaped his lips and his eyes fluttered open. Hunter resisted the urge to wrap her arms around him and squeeze him half to death, especially when his mouth stretched into an exhausted smile.

  “Hello,” he said.

  “You’re the stupidest person I’ve ever met, you know that?” For some reason, there were tears in her eyes as she shook her head harshly. “Do you always go sprinting off towards danger without caring for your own safety?”

  “I think it’s my hero tendency.” His brown eyes sparkled up at her, his hand clutching hers without either of them realizing it.

  “Yeah… well I’m starting to wonder if you even have other tendencies.” She brushed the hair away from his eyes. The simple touch felt almost natural to her, and she was so filled with relief to notice that Will did not flinch at all.

  Someone tugged on her shoulder, and Hunter turned where little Sammy was staring fearfully down at her, his bottom lip shaking. He didn’t want to look over at the giant form of the dinosaur that was slowly morphing back into Alfie.

  “Is it over?”

  Hunter reached up and curled her arm around him, bringing him close against her in a tight hug.

  “Yeah Sammy,” she sighed in relief. “It’s-”

  “What the hell are you doing?!”

  Hunter and Sammy whipped around at Ryo’s shriek. Instantly, Hunter’s stomach fell at the sight of Alfie’s limp, naked body floating in the air just meters from her, dangling like a puppet on strings. His eyes were closed.

  And there stood Jet, with his hand raised, his black eyes sparkling and his power restraint gone. The guard’s keys were nowhere to be found.

  “I’m trying to wake him up again!” Jet yelled. “Oh, come on! It was getting kind of interesting there, you gotta admit!”

  “Put him down Jet,” said Hunter. “Now.”

  A fierce pull in her chest caused Hunter to lurch forward. Her feet left the ground and her stomach flipped over inside her. She saw Jet come closer to her and suddenly she was there, right in front of his face, her body immobile and hanging off the ground.

  “I can’t help but notice,” he growled, “that you’re a little lacking in power right now and I… well, I don’t think I need to paint you a picture of the kind of energy radiating through me. It tingles all the way down to my toes.”

  Hunter looked around with her eyes – because her head wouldn’t move – and saw that the guards were closing in on them, talking into their earpieces, warily approaching the threat. After the attack from the raging dinosaur, Hunter wondered if Jet was even worth the caution, but apparently there was nothing any of them could do but stay back and wait. Alfie lay on the floor, unconscious, and the only other person whose powers were useful was Marcus. He’d passed out after electrocuting Alfie.

  “So what are you gonna do?” she asked, trying to keep him distracted. “Now that you have your powers back? Will you escape?”

  His smile twisted to the side. “Oh baby, no way. You gotta plan things like that. And you know what they say: keep your friends close–” He grabbed the collar of her jumpsuit and yanked her to within an inch of his face. “–And your enemies closer.”

  One of the Men in White decided to take action. He took a running leap over a table and dove towards Jet, his arms stretched out as though he were flying. Hunter felt the return of gravity as Jet released her and her legs caved in. She caught sight of the guard just as Jet’s arm flew in a wide arc. The guard soared across the room, his back thumping against the wall where he slid to the floor and didn’t move.

  Jet smiled, but it was only the beginning. More Men in White started attacking, their tasers at the ready and their fists flying. Jet seemed to take it all as a game, ducking under their punches and flicking his wrist, sending them all spinning into furniture and cackling madly. Out of the corner of her eye Hunter saw the other kids start to whisper to each other. They pointed at something she couldn’t see from the ground. She hauled herself to h
er feet and saw Mosi stride forward – a dark shape amidst the white – with a little blond head walking before him.

  Hunter tried to call out, praying Sammy wasn’t about to attack Jet. But it was too late. A blinding light radiated from him, burning like a spotlight straight at Jet. He screamed and shielded his eyes and in a moment, Mosi had thrown himself against Jet and wrapped his strong arms around his neck. Jet tried to rip at Mosi’s skin with his power, but Mosi’s diamond-tough skin protected him. After a few seconds of struggling, Jet went limp in his arms.

  Hunter surveyed the havoc of the breakfast hall and the unconscious guards. The others were crawling out from behind the upturned tables, fearfully watching as Mosi threw Jet’s body to the floor and met eyes with Hunter. Now it’s over, they said. He looked down at his arms, flexed his wrists and smiled.

  Hunter understood that look. He wanted to escape. And now would be the perfect opportunity – at least six Men in White were down and, though there would be more, if they could all remove their restraints at once there might be a chance they could make it out.

  She opened her mouth to shout at Mosi when a blaring alarm sounded throughout the institution. It was not at all like the gong of the morning bell that woke her or the alarm that sounded as Alfie turned. Hunter covered her ears and dropped to the ground as everything flashed red. In an instant, she saw Will crawling towards her.

  “Hunter!”

  The room darkened. A strange smell filled her head and Hunter looked around. A hazy mist came from nowhere and forced her eyes to close.

  Stay awake! the fire begged her. Find a way out!

  The mist was making her sleepy. She felt her cheek press against the cold institution floor. A hand closed around hers and she lifted her head slightly to see a shape falling down beside her; a boy with doe eyes and brown hair. Her world disappeared but his hand did not, and she remembered that as she met darkness once more.

  TWENTY-NINE

  After the breakfast hall incident, things at DC went back to the way they were when Hunter first arrived: cold, tense and nasty. Dr. Wolfe ordered her locked up in Solitary for forty-eight hours, along with Marcus and Will and anyone else he thought was involved in the dinosaur attack. Hunter stewed over the injustice of it while she rocked back and forth in a strait jacket like some sort of lunatic. Jet deserved to be in Solitary – and he was, for a whole week – but Will did not deserve it, and neither did Mosi or little Sammy, who was only trying to be brave.