And more followed. For every student who stood fighting, another lay dead at their feet.
Lucy screamed as bullets that had been held by Luke's force field now shot through the air and hit their targets. "Luke! Get out of the way!"
She pulled her gun away from Mr. Black long enough to take aim at a guard firing at them. Her bullet found its target, eliminating one threat but leaving so many others. She pressed the gun back into Mr. Black before he tried to get away, and repressed the fact that she had just killed a man. She didn't have time to let the horror of it all hit her.
Mr. Black sneered. "Still think you're going to escape, bitch?"
Lucy may have underestimated the Seeker's powers, but she refused to give up.
She forced Mr. Black to walk the last few feet to the gate. Guards lay beaten on the ground or had already fled their post.
"The party's not over yet, you bastard. We're still getting out of here, and I still have a loaded gun to your head."
Chapter 55 – Sam
The distance between us had never been so vast. Oceans and countries could settle in the space and we'd still have room to move.
And to cry.
What felt like hours had passed, and the tears kept coming. Blame the hormones or the whole being captured thing, but none of that mattered anymore. Every few minutes, with the tenacity of an OCD victim, I tested my mental link with Drake.
Nothing.
He breathed with a steady rhythm on the floor. I couldn't move him, and he wouldn't move himself. He didn't sleep, he didn't talk, he didn't do anything except lie there. No amount of coercion could get him to so much as look at me.
But I couldn't give up. "Drake, it might not be permanent. I mean, everyone's powers are spurting on and off. It could be temporary. Please, just say something."
Finally, he moved into a sitting position. "Don't you think I can tell the difference? It's like you tore a limb from my body or removed a vital organ. It's not inactive. It's gone. Completely gone, Sam. It's not coming back."
His once loving eyes had hardened over with anger. His features no longer resembled the man I loved.
I kicked the wall in frustration. I was so done with this. The Seeker will tell me what I want to know—no more nice Sam.
The Seeker's mental signature blared forth like a beacon of light to ships lost at sea. I used my most commanding internal voice. "We need to talk."
His mental voice sounded amused. 'We are talking, little sister.'
"In person."
The silence lingered beyond what was comfortable, but I waited.
'I shall send someone to escort you.'
On the last syllable of his thought, the door to our room opened and revealed a guard. 'Please do not harm him. You will not be able to reach his mind, but trying would only do to him what was done to poor Mary.'
Guilt sloshed inside my gut like sickness, but I ignored it, or tried to, until I saw her.
Mary lay crumpled by the door, blood oozing from her nose and ears.
What had we done? I had destroyed Drake to save her, and still I had failed.
I stumbled at the sight, and the guard caught my arm and led me through the building and into the library. This room, too, had only candlelight for illumination. With so many books lining the walls, I would've thought they'd avoid the whole fire thing.
My eyes adjusted in increments to the low lighting, until I could see the Seeker sitting in an overstuffed chair with his feet propped up on an ottoman. I took the seat across from him, my spine rigid with fear.
His voice had an ethereal quality to it. "You have been crying. Are you hurt?"
He closed his eyes. A presence, like a ghost or a cold wind, swept through my mind and was gone before I could block it.
"No, not hurt. Not physically, at any rate. You have had a falling out with my brother. Let it not worry you, my dear. Time heals all wounds, even those of the heart."
I held his pale gaze. His face betrayed his illness; I would've seen it even if I hadn't felt it in him. Sunken cheeks and dark circles around his eyes—death stalked him.
"I want to know everything. Tell me about our... father." The word stuck in my throat, but I forced past it. "And about this organization. Why are you doing this? Why are you hurting so many kids?"
"Hurting? My dear Sam, we are saving these kids from a life of testing and scorn, from a society that does not appreciate the genetic advances of our kind. As I told your friend Lucy—"
"You talked to Lucy? What did you do to her? Is she okay?"
"I did nothing but speak with her. She is a remarkable girl with amazing gifts of her own. I can see why she is your best friend. I explained this all to her, or the parts she needed to know, at least. She is not family, so I could not tell her everything. But you, my dear, you are primed to help our father run the next generation of this Organization. We are the next evolution of humans. That baby you carry is key."