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TWENTY-ONE

Jason

I felt drained. Emotionally and physically drained. That's the only reason I had blurted out the truth I had worked to keep hidden. It was safer for Sam if no one knew he was my brother, and he had played along since I’d taken him from that monster’s house. I had rescued him before the monster had turned his nastier appetites to him, but he had suffered through several beatings before I had the ability to go back and get him.

I could feel Alice’s curious gaze on my back as we walked to the car, but I didn’t want to tell her. Right now we should both be more concerned with the unknown force that had knocked me out at the warehouse. I couldn’t shake the feeling that it had something to do with how Mason had escaped, but I couldn’t figure out how. The more I thought about it, the more confused I was. I allowed the fresh air to cleanse my lungs and clear my head as I forced myself to relax. Maybe an answer would present itself if I stopped actively thinking about it.

Alice and I got into the car and drove back to the house in silence. I hadn’t intended to go back, but for some reason it felt like the right call. Alice was right. I needed some sleep before I went hunting for Mason. I needed to be at the top of my game, or as close to it as possible under the circumstances. My brother needed me. That fact had me wanting to run out without any thought of the consequences. I should be willing to trade myself for my brother, but Mason had no way of knowing that Sam was so important to me. The only person aside from the kids—and now Alice—who knew was my father. As far as I knew, he had no idea I was behind Sam’s sudden exit from his house.

I had gone in for Sam after watching the house for days. I had seen Sam limping his way to school after our father had gotten drunk the previous night, and I knew I needed to get him out. The man had already left for work, so I grabbed Sam and took him back to the house to gather some belongings. He had greeted me with a huge smile and a hug. Somehow he didn’t hate me for deserting him when I’d run away. My little brother had followed me without question, trusting that I’d take him somewhere better. He had been young enough when I’d left that he didn’t know everything that had led to my departure, but the fact that I had left him with that monster had eaten me up for years until I finally went back for him.

I wouldn’t leave him this time. I would find him and pull him from the new monster that held him hostage, even if it cost me my soul. If Mason had hurt my brother, there wasn’t a rock he could hide under where I wouldn’t find him and squash him like the bug he was.

“Jason, settle down,” Alice said, her voice shaky as she drove the car. I wondered at the fear until I noticed the louder than normal vibrations as we drove.

“Stop the car,” I said hoarsely. The ground was shaking under the car; it wasn’t safe to keep driving until I managed to calm down. Alice obeyed, pulling over carefully and parking next to the curb. My breaths were coming in short pants and I felt like I was losing control of everything. These abilities that I thought I had at least some kind of handle on were taking over more and more frequently, and frankly, it was scaring me.

“Jason, you need to breathe,” Alice said calmly as she turned to me and took one of my hands in hers. “Deep breaths; in and out.” She demonstrated with several slow deep breaths of her own. I copied her, my breaths slightly more ragged but coming a little more easily. Deep down I wondered at how she could stay so calm about my loss of control, when I was petrified that I would accidentally hurt someone. I continued copying her steady breathing until I was more controlled and the ground stopped shaking around us. There were a couple new cracks in the street and I cringed at the unintended damage.

Alice shrugged. “On this street, no one will even notice,” she said with a small grin. “You might have even done them the favor of moving it up on the construction priority list. Everyone on this street should be thanking you for that.”

Despite her carefree tone and joking words, Alice’s face was pale, and a trace of fear was left in the slight tenseness around her eyes. Obviously she’d hidden her fear from me as she calmed me down, but I had to wonder: was it fear of me, what I was capable of? If so, she wasn’t alone in that.

“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “I lost control again.”

“It's okay, Jason,” she said, putting her hand on my shoulder. “Just do what you need to do to get control back. I know it’s hard under the circumstances. Just do your best.”

“I’m good for now,” I assured her. My face was hot with embarrassment at the sudden lack of control. She had helped me this time; what would happen when there was no one around to calm me down? “We should get back to your house.”

She nodded and restarted the car. We continued to her home, and I suddenly felt the need to open up to her and Hannah. Whatever happened, I wanted them to know my reasons for everything: why I had destroyed the house when I’d rescued the children, why I had escaped from my father’s house, and why I had left my only sibling in the hands of a monster.

I kept my thoughts to myself as we drove, but I saw Alice stealing looks over at me when she thought I wasn’t paying attention. She had a small frown on her face and looked like she wanted to say something, but she stayed silent. A fact I was extremely grateful for. I needed the time to organize my thoughts and steel my resolve to tell Alice and Hannah everything… or at least more than they already knew. There were some things I wasn’t comfortable sharing with anybody. My thoughts drifted and I shuddered, trying to get my mind back to Sam and the current situation.

This trip back to Alice’s house seemed like a waste of time, but I had to admit that the physical jolt from the warehouse had wiped me out. My body and abilities were almost as wiped out as I had been when I’d torn up the warehouse. It needed to recharge before I’d be able to do my brother any good. I could only hope that the delay wouldn’t be a costly one. I knew Dan and several other detectives were working to find him, using their own contacts and detecting skills to figure out where Mason might take a child. Based on past cases, however, I held out little hope that they would be the ones to find him.

As we pulled up to the house I wiped my hand over my face wearily. “Tell me we’ll find him,” I said quietly, not looking at Alice as I spoke. “Tell me I’m not killing him by staying hidden for another night.”

She looked at me, her eyes wide and mouth slightly open, “Jason…” she gasped in shock. “No matter what happens, it isn’t your fault. You’ll do him more good by getting some sleep before going after this monster. The only thing you’d accomplish by going after him tonight is to get yourself captured too.”

I nodded, still not meeting her eyes. “I just… I can’t lose him.” My voice was soft and I felt a lump in my throat as I spoke.

“Dan and the others are out looking right now. They’ll do their best for tonight and you’ll be here preparing yourself to face him. I can’t promise you we’ll find him…” She hesitated at this, as if she wasn’t sure how I’d react. I sat quietly and she continued. “All I can promise is that we will do our very best to do so.”

“Are you going back to the station tonight?” I asked, accepting her words as truth.

“Tonight I’m on guard duty. I’m going to stay home and keep an eye on things there so nothing happens with the others.”

“We should go in. Sitting in the car all night won’t do us any good, and I need to… I need to explain some things to you and Hannah. I don’t know if they’re relevant, but it’s something I want you to know.”

“Okay. We’ll talk once we get inside. You should also eat something. You’ve been burning a lot of energy lately, and haven’t been eating much.”

We left the car and walked up the driveway to the house. Alice gave a small wave to the cop car across the street. It was too dark to see much, but we saw the silhouette of one of the officers return the wave. Alice walked into the house, and I took a deep breath of fresh air before following her.

TWENTY-TWO

Alice

As I entered the house I was thinking over my conversation with Jason. When he’d lost control in the car, he had seemed so frightened. It had been easy to keep my calm mask in place to allow him the time to get himself under control. Obviously his inability to keep a hold on his powers was something that made him feel like a failure. After he’d regained control, he had refused to look at me. And for the few moments it took to get my own fear off my face, I was thankful. The last thing he needed right now was to think his few friends were afraid of him in any way.

He had seemed so lost and broken at the thought of losing his little brother that my fear had been short-lived. I couldn’t be afraid of someone who was that sad. But I hadn’t been able to do anything to comfort him. I tried to think of more that we could do to find Sam, but I was coming up blank. We already had people working every angle that we could think of and were coming up empty. I was so lost in my thoughts that the noise behind me didn’t register until I was grabbed from behind, a knife blade across my throat stopping any thoughts of fighting back before they could even form.

“Shh,” a voice hissed quietly. “Let’s wait for your friend.”

They were here for Jason, who hadn’t yet entered the house. I started tapping my foot, hoping he’d be able to feel something even through the floorboards, but my hopes were dashed as I heard the door open and he walked in.

“Keep quiet or I’ll slit your throat, bitch,” the voice hissed; the breath warm in my ear. I watched helplessly as Jason walked into the hallway and to the kitchen where he was grabbed as I had been, but instead of a knife blade, a cloth was pressed over his mouth and nose.

I started struggling at that. I might be at knife-point, but I couldn’t just let them take my consultant… my friend, without a fight. “JASON!” I screamed, hoping someone would hear the yell and call for help; the small nick I received in response would be worth it if help would arrive.

Jason collapsed to the floor, unable to continue fighting as the chloroform took effect. The man who’d knocked him out quickly cuffed his hands behind his back, squeezing the cuffs so hard that I winced in sympathy for the pain Jason would be in when he woke.

“What do you want? Where’s my sister?” I asked desperately.

“We have what we came for,” the man behind me whispered as he led me to the bathroom and forced me to sit with my hands around the base of our toilet. He proceeded to place handcuffs around my wrists, trapping me in place, sitting awkwardly on the bathroom floor.

“As for your sister… I guess it won’t hurt to tell you. There was no one in the house when we got here. I have no idea where your sister is.”

The guy seemed chatty, but his voice was smooth and quiet enough to hide any accent. He was also wearing a ski mask, hiding his features. All I could tell is that he had brown eyes and a slightly larger than average nose. I didn’t recognize him so I decided to see what kind of information I could gather from him. “What do you want Jason for? Where’s Sam?”

“Who? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said so seriously that I almost believed him.

“The boy your boss kidnapped. Where is he?” I demanded.

The man simply shrugged. “I’m just here for what belongs to me. James needs to come home,” he said. “Whatever else is going on has nothing to do with me.”

It was my turn to look confused. “Who’s James? I don’t know any James,” I said.

“Him.” The man indicated the hall where his accomplice was waiting with the unconscious Jason.

My eyes widened in realization, Jason was James. He’d given a fake name when he’d run away. The fact that this man knew him by a different name… “You’re his father,” I said in shock.

“You won’t get far,” I said, pulling angrily at my cuffed hands. “I’m a cop and help will be here soon.” I spoke with confidence, realizing that if Hannah and the others were not here, then they knew something was up and would have called for help.

From what I could see of his face, the creep looked worried once I mentioned that I was a cop, and he glanced nervously into the hallway. “Time to go,” he called standing and leaving me struggling in the bathroom.

“JASON!” I screamed, trying to get him to wake up, to slow them down as they dragged him out of the house. “
JASON!
”

TWENTY-THREE

Jason

I was floating… flying. Everything was dark but suddenly there was pain. Something cold and hard snapped around my wrists and it interrupted the peaceful floating. I remembered what happened; I had dropped to the ground as the drugged rag was held mercilessly against my face. I had enough presence of mind to pretend the drug had affected me faster than it actually had, but some effects were still there. I heard Alice yell for me once, and tried to respond, but my body wasn’t working yet.

Sometime later I felt myself being part lifted part dragged, and my mind screamed at me to fight back, to help Alice, to do something! I heard Alice’s scream of terror from inside the house as I breathed in the cool night air, clearing my lungs of the drug that kept me subdued. When my body hit the ground again I was ready. My anger at being so helpless was unleashed and the ground erupted. I heard a vehicle approaching the house from the front, but we were hidden from view around the back, so I held out little hope for rescue. I heard yells of fear from the two men who were trying to take me, and they dropped my still mostly unresponsive body to the ground and ran. Unsure of my safety I gathered the earth around me, covering myself completely and hardening the dirt into the best shield that I could, making it nearly rock hard. Then I concentrated on breathing and trying to throw off the effects of the drug.

As I finished my barrier, I felt footsteps approaching hesitantly. They felt familiar, but through the haze of the drug I couldn’t be sure if they belonged to friend or foe, so I stayed hidden, hoping to remain protected within my earth-shell.

“Jason?”

A man’s voice—also familiar.
Dangerous. Monster.
Adrenaline poured through my body and before I sent the power of my fear and anxiety at the perceived threat, I realized who it was and crumbled my shield.

“Dan,” I mumbled looking up at him blearily. “Alice is in trouble.”

“She’s fine. I just need to get her out of her cuffs,” he said, obviously making an effort to stay calm in the face of what he’d just witnessed. It would have had to be obvious for me to notice it in my current state. “She told me to get you first, so let’s get those off,” he said indicating the cuffs.

Even knowing who it was, I tensed as he approached and my muscles were shaking when he grabbed the cuffs and unlocked them, allowing blood flow back in. “Not again,” I groaned as my hands began to tingle and burn. “What happened?” I asked. The first thing I’d been aware of was a man grabbing me from behind. After that I hadn’t been able to tell anything about them due to the chloroform. “Was it Mason?”

Dan shrugged. “Haven’t had a chance to check with Alice yet. You okay to walk, kid?”

“Dunno, haven’t tried moving yet.” Dan’s hesitation to leave me out in the yard was obvious and I sighed, reminding myself once again that Dan was a good guy. If nothing else his refusal to leave me alone and helpless in the yard was proof of that. “Help me up,” I said, raising my arm.

The older man’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me up. I surprised myself by staying up. I was shaking and had to lean heavily on Dan to get into the house, but I stayed up. My movements got steadier as we reached the house and, to my great relief, I was able to pull away slightly as we walked through the kitchen into the living room. Dan left me sitting on the couch and went to unlock Alice.

“Jason! Are you okay?” she asked as she rushed into the room, the cuffs still dangling off one wrist—either too impatient or too worried to wait for Dan to finish removing them.

“I’m fine. Just a little groggy. It’s wearing off.” I avoided looking at Dan, not sure what I would see. He’d helped me out of my cuffs and into the house, but he had seen what I could do; at least I thought he had. Yet he hadn’t said anything about it.

“What happened?” she seemed concerned while looking between me and her partner. As a detective, she’d be able to tell that something had occurred that had changed things between the two of us. As my friend, and Dan’s, she would worry about the consequences of that occurrence.

Dan answered, avoiding what had happened in the back yard to say how he’d ended up here to begin with. “Paul saw them coming and they went to hide in the neighbor’s shed. Hannah grabbed her cell as they left and called me. By the way,” he said, “we should call her and tell her it’s okay to come back.”

“What about the cops across the street?” Alice asked as she grabbed the phone to call her sister. It was a good question. We’d seen them in the car when we got here earlier. Why hadn’t they seen anything?

“Who did this?” I asked, still shaking off the last effects of the drug and not paying close attention to the conversation between the partners. “Who came after me this time?”

“Hannah said they came in a side window. She and the others got out through the basement door. They didn’t know how many people were there or if the police across the street had been hit or not, so they ran.” He paused as Alice made her call. She sounded relieved to hear her sister’s voice, even with Dan’s assurance that she was fine.

“They’ll be back in a minute,” she reported. “Jason, the man who grabbed you tonight was your father. He wanted to take you with him, but he didn’t seem to know anything about Sam.”

I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. My father had found me? Alice nodded to Dan to continue telling what had happened while I figured out how to handle the fact that my father now knew where I was hiding.

“I got here, went in the front door, and found you in the bathroom,” he indicated Alice with a wave. “I went after Jason when you asked, and saw…” He hesitated and if I had energy I would have been upset by the idea that he had just discovered my secret.

“He saw me using my powers to pull the earth up and protect me from the men who tried to take me. Oh, and he saw my new trick,” I said with a lightness I wasn’t feeling. “I made a full body shield out of rock hard dirt to protect me.”

Alice’s eyes widened and her mouth was opened in surprise. “You saw that?” she asked her partner as Dan sat in a rocking chair.

“Yeah, I guess I did,” he said. “How in the world were you able to pull that off? Explosives? Some kind of illusion?”

I sighed, realizing that after seeing what I could do, it would be better if he didn’t think I was using explosives in the city. He would be duty-bound to arrest me for that. Hopefully he wouldn’t feel that obligation after hearing the truth. So I took a deep breath and prepared to tell a secret that I’d only ever told a few people. “No. I have… uh… special abilities.”