The MORE Trilogy (100 page)

Talia walked in, along with two Race doctors and Evan.

The sensor had agreed to help and have what remained of his block removed as well. Ava was banking on the power of the Twelve working together. She hoped that the simple presence of a sibling helping ground and strengthen a gift, along with Talia’s treatments, would be enough to hold off the worst of the symptoms Borré had planted in them.

The three of them—Evan, Isaiah, and Ava—joined hands with Sophie, and immediately, Ava felt the surge of power, of electricity, running through them like a completed circuit.

Talia took a position behind Sophie and laid her hands gently on the sides of her head.

One of the Race doctors monitored a scanner, while the other approached her, holding some kind of tool. “This will help us locate the weak spots of the block,” he explained. “We’ll focus our efforts there.”

Sophie nodded, casting a quick and nervous glance at Ava.

Ava squeezed her sister’s hand and focused on keeping herself calm and sending peaceful thoughts Sophie’s way as the doctor touched the tool to her head in several places.

“All right,” the doctor said. “I think we’ve got it. Ready?”

“You can help them,” Ava said quietly. “Close your eyes and try to feel what they’re doing. Your instinct will be to fight them off, but try and stay calm. I’ll help if I can.”

Sophie’s eyes fluttered shut, and Talia’s fingers tightened, flexing in her hair. “I can see it, I think,” Talia murmured. “I’ve never—”

Sophie tensed.

“What is it?” Isaiah’s hand tightened on Sophie’s, his knuckles turning white as he leaned closer. “Is she okay? Sophie?”

“It’s okay,” Ava said quietly. She felt them all—Sophie, Talia, the doctor, and the muffling force of the block. “It’s okay,” she whispered, lending her gift to the rest, feeling the block resist and cling to Sophie like remnants of sticky taffy.

“Little bit more,” the doctor said, half to himself.

Then, with a silent
whoosh
, it gave, pulling away and disintegrating.

Sophie gasped, and her gift flashed through her, the echo tingling through them all.

Ava remembered that feeling—the first time, the warmth, the fullness—the feeling of
finally
when her power seemed ready to burst out of her skin.

The temperature in the room dropped as frost crept up the walls.

“Try to pull it back,” Ava said, shivering as snowflakes started to fall. “You’re not fighting it. It’s part of you, like a hand or a foot.”

Icy wind began to swirl in the room, a twisting cyclone centered on Sophie.

Her head fell back as the snow whirled around, stinging Ava’s cheeks. “It wants to do what you want,” Ava shouted over the increasing wind. “It’s like letting a rock drop out of your hand or stepping back from the edge of a cliff. You can control it.” She leaned closer. “Sophie!”

Sophie’s eyes flew open and locked on Ava’s. Her nose started to bleed, a ruby-red drop caught on her upper lip.

“Sophie?” Isaiah’s worried plea was lost on the wind.

“I know you want to let it go,” Ava said. “I know it’s overwhelming. But you need to take control. You can do it.”

Sophie sniffed, the blood dripping down her chin, and closed her eyes. She shuddered and the wind slowed, then stopped altogether.

Gradually, the temperature rose until the only sound in the room was the quiet drip of melting ice and their own harsh breaths.

Sophie opened her eyes, and the doctor handed her a clump of tissues. She pressed them to her nose.

One by one, they let go until only Isaiah was holding her hand.

“Well, that was weird,” she mumbled, her voice muffled by the tissues.

Ava stared at her sister for a minute, stunned, then burst out laughing.

It took another hour before they were able to lift the blocks on Evan and Isaiah. No more indoor snow storms, thankfully, but they had all been treated to a stream of intense emotions as Isaiah worked his way through controlling his gift.

Ava finally understood why Madeleine had been so concerned about him. Fear really was a powerful weapon.

Talia and the Race doctors worked together and dosed them with enough painkillers, along with Talia’s mojo, to ward off the headaches. Although nobody said it out loud, everyone knew when the Rogue attack came the four of them would not be enough—even unblocked.

They wandered out of the medical wing, exhausted but also exhilarated, but Ava hung back, dialing Caleb’s number to check in.

“Hey.” He sounded tired.

“How’s everything going?”

Caleb yawned. “We’ve set up a rotating patrol. Finally. Took some doing. Protectors aren’t used to pulling guard duty.”

“You coming back soon?”

“I have another couple of hours. I’m on ’til dawn.” She heard him adjust his phone, saying something in a muffled voice. “Sorry,” he said. “How’d it go on your end? Any problems lifting the blocks?”

“About what we expected,” she replied, following the group down a hall to the temporary quarters. She waved to Sophie as she walked into one of the rooms and closed the door quietly behind her. “Everyone’s tired, though. Heading to bed.”

“I know the feeling.” He yawned again. “They get you all set up with somewhere to sleep?”

“Yeah, Madeleine didn’t want us to leave the Council Arena until this is all over.”

“I know. It’s safer having you all together. It’s the most protected—”

Ava heard a shout on his end. “Caleb?” Her heart stopped as he cursed under his breath. “What’s happening?”

“I’ve gotta go,” he said. It sounded like he was running. “Stay with the others.”

“Caleb?”

“Tell them someone’s gotten through the cloak. Watch out!”

The phone went dead in her hand. She stared at the picture of Caleb smiling at her before it switched to her home screen. “Caleb?” She redialed, holding her breath and exhaling in a panicked whine as it went straight to voice mail.

She crossed the hallway to Sophie’s room and pounded on the door.

It flew open a second later. “Ava? What’s wrong?”

“Something’s happening. Get everyone and meet me in the surveillance room,” she called out over her shoulder, already running and dialing again, even though she knew she wouldn’t get through.

She burst through the doors to a flurry of activity, a tall man she’d never seen before nearly knocking her over as he raced through the door. A group stood clustered around the central screen, others shouting into phones or across the room.

“How many?”

“At least a dozen, I can’t get a clear read!”

“Dispatch everyone we’ve got—”

“—reports of gunfire—”

“Why aren’t the cameras working? I need to see what’s happening!” Madeleine’s voice rang out above the others, and Ava zeroed in on her, pushing her way through the crowd.

“I have Tiernan Ross on the phone.”

Madeleine whirled. “Put it on speaker.” Her jaw tensed. “Ross. Report.”

“We need reinforcements,” Tiernan said through gasping breaths. “They keep coming.”

“Divert the rest of the Protectors to their location,” Andreas ordered. “Sensors, monitor the rest of the perimeter. I want to know if there’s another breach!”

“What about Caleb?” Ava’s heart pounded in her chest, her gift yearning to be let loose, to get to Caleb.

“I . . . I don’t know,” Tiernan ground out. “I haven’t seen him since—”

More shouts, and the phone went dead.

Sophie and Isaiah hurried into the room followed closely by Evan.

The sensor took a spot near the central screen, nodding as Andreas started firing questions and commands at him.

Ava fought down her panic, fought to think clearly, fought against her intuition screaming for her to take action because something was wrong, so
wrong
. “We should go, too,” she said finally. “We need to help them.”

Madeleine stared at her for a moment, and Ava wondered what she was thinking.

Does she think this is exactly what Borré wanted, too? That we don’t have any other choice but to play his game by his rules?

The Council leader finally nodded. “The sensors will monitor you from here,” she said, grabbing Ava’s arm when she turned to leave. “If we can’t reestablish communications, it will be up to you,” she said quietly. “If you can’t fight them off, retreat and regroup until you can come up with a plan of attack. I’m afraid you . . . you may be our only hope.”

Ava pulled away, but the words echoed in her ears as she, Sophie, and Isaiah took off running.

Caleb chomped on an R-cube angrily as he huddled behind a tree next to Tiernan.

“Did you have any idea they had so many?” Tiernan asked, reloading his gun.

“No.” Caleb cursed under his breath as another wave headed toward them.

The Rogues kept coming. Darting in for an attack then withdrawing before they took any casualties, only to hit again from another direction. None of the Twelve, though, and still no sign of Elias Borré. It was as if he was taunting them, making them exhaust their resources before the real attack.

Tiernan wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, frowned, and wiped blood on his fatigues.

“You okay?” Caleb asked.

“It’s nothing. Already healing.” Tiernan snuck a look around the tree and cocked his gun. “Ready?”

Without another word, they came out from their hiding place, Caleb shifting to cause a distraction as Tiernan attacked from the other side. Grunts, punches, and sporadic gunfire filled the air, although the presence of a telekinetic on each side made the bullets all but useless. They were forced to resort to hand-to-hand combat, and Caleb had to admit he was exhausted.

“Watch out!” Tiernan shouted, and Caleb whirled, diving to avoid a large rock flying at his head.

“Where are the damned reinforcements?” Caleb shouted back, but nobody answered.

They were all asking the same question. Fifteen Protectors holding off wave after wave of Rogue attacks, coordinated to wear them out, distract them—

Caleb’s head snapped up, his body reacting before he could fully process the impact on his gift. He sensed Ava’s approach, her power reaching for his.

No. She can’t be here
.

He ducked a punch, spun, and shifted to avoid another when all the air in his lungs left him in a rush. The weight that had tackled him to the ground rolled off, and Caleb grunted, trying to regain his breath as well as his footing.

Before he could shift again, the Rogue floated into the air and flew through a gap in the trees with a surprised shout, arms and legs flailing.

Ava ran to Caleb’s side and reached down to help him up.

“What are you doing here?” he growled, pulling her behind the cover of a large tree.

She rolled her eyes. “You’re welcome.”

“Ava, I’m serious. I thought you were staying back at Bureau headquarters.” He heard a scream and peeked around the tree to see a group of Rogues diving for cover to avoid a couple of Sophie’s more impressive ice balls.

Isaiah was staring straight at another Rogue, who finally turned tail and ran off.

“Look,” Ava said, knocking a Rogue away from Tiernan, and then another trying to sneak up behind Sophie. “We can argue the point later, okay? We’re here to help, so let’s make the best of it.”