Maverick was dragged into the same room as us with little resistance. His face was expressionless, yet his posture was confident, telling me he had some sort of plan. His gaze briefly turned to me and Lumi. I wasn’t sure where Aidan had been taken—probably back to his room. I mouthed the word “glass” to him, and he instantly smirked.

  They placed him in the testing room—a new dummy was there to take the old one’s place. His expression had gone back to blank at that point, before being replaced by the craziest smirk I’d ever seen. He rushed towards the windows, his hands burning with fire similar to what I had done before. Except I’d looked a lot less crazy and more graceful, I’d hope! Hmph!

  Maverick immediately went for Greg just as I had, and Lumi and I had to immediately pull him back and tell him to aim for the other glass. Greg may have been their leader, but I somehow got the feeling the experiments wouldn’t stop with Greg dead.

  “Other glass?” Maverick narrowed his eyebrows at me. “You just said glass! You have to be more specific!”

  “Over there, you idiot!” I pointed back into the testing room where a glass sectioned off the room with the techs. One tech was frantically pressing buttons before stopping to check on their coworker who was clutching their head. Was that Lumi’s doing? A person behind them tried to push the two out of the way to get to the computer, but Maverick had already launched himself towards the glass. He summoned his sword, which immediately disappeared, signaling his magic was restrained again.

  I could see from where I was standing that several guards had rushed into the tech room, meaning that without magic, Maverick was outnumbered. I heard a clank of metal and some cursing from the techs near Maverick, who jumped down from the room to reach me and Lumi. He had a smirk on his face, telling me Lumi had successfully destroyed their computer. Or at least damaged it enough to make the techs wish they were stuck on a blue update screen instead.

  “There are other computers that control our magic. We have to find one now,” Maverick said seriously.

  “How are we going to find one? This facility is huge!” I exclaimed.

  “Well, it’s a good thing we have a mindreader, now isn’t it?” He gently patted my back in a teasing way before brushing past me.

  I struggled to keep up with Maverick, considering he was a good six inches or so taller than me and was walking pretty fast. I could hear Lumi panting behind us, indicating she was struggling just as much as—if not more than me.

  A few guards ran toward us. Either Maverick punched them out of the way, or giant cuts would appear across their stomachs and chests, indicating Lumi had used her weapon. I wondered if Maverick had done anything like this before. Two hundred years was a long time, after all. Had he fought in wars before? Surely Meridia had had a war at some point. Or maybe in another world? I wondered if he had ever fought without magic before.

  I felt useless as each guard hit the ground. If I hadn’t had these restraints, then maybe I would have been able to freeze them over, at the very least. Or Lumi could use her magic to amplify mine…but that would mean she couldn’t fight.

  We reached the room where the boys were being kept. Maverick had swiped a keycard from one of the guards guarding the door, which allowed us access in. Finn looked even worse, as if he were struggling to stay awake. Zephyr was holding him up, but it wasn’t much use. Aidan had been shaking in place on a bed until he saw us.

  “Y-you’re here!” Aidan exclaimed, jumping out of the bed and running over to us. I didn’t miss the limp or the near-silent curses. I was surprised he still had the strength to run… Zephyr pulled Finn’s arm around his neck and helped him over.

  “We need Finn’s help to find the computer that’s controlling our restraints,” Maverick explained.

  Finn began mouthing something, but the words never came out. His eyes were bloodshot with bags underneath, like he hadn’t slept in days, despite us only having been here for a few hours.

  “If you can’t talk, then lead the way. We’ll follow,” Zephyr instructed.

  Finn’s head dropped in a way I assumed was supposed to be a nod. He weakly held up his arm, using a finger to point to the right.

  “I’m going to find Zuri and Rosalie.” Lumi turned in the opposite direction Finn was pointing to.

  “By yourself?” Maverick asked. “I think Rosalie and Zuri are strong enough to help themselves. You’d be safer sticking with us—”

  “I’m not abandoning Zuri,” Lumi interrupted. “I don’t care how strong she is. She would never abandon me, so I can’t do the same to her.”

  “Wouldn’t it be easier to find them once we have our magic back?” Zephyr asked.

  Lumi paused. “Fine. I’ll go with you. But as soon as we have our magic back, I’m leaving.”

  “I doubt that will be necessary, considering they can both teleport,” Maverick explained.

  We walked out into the hall, Zephyr and Aidan both supporting Finn as Maverick and Lumi pushed ahead.

  “Mind magic still seems to work despite the restraints. If anyone comes—and they will—can you set up an illusion for us?” Maverick asked, turning his head back to Zephyr.

  Zephyr's lips formed a straight line. “I can try.”

  “How are you feeling?” I asked. “You didn’t look too good after the last time you used illusions.”

  “I’m managing.” Well, that wasn’t very promising…

  Sure enough, more guards rounded the corner. They suddenly stopped a foot in front of us, their eyes widening in confusion as they looked around. Maverick socked them in the jaw, knocking the two of them out.

  The hall ended, splitting into two paths: left and right. In front of us was a wall with a picture hanging. It depicted Greg dressed as a king with the woman in the lab coat we saw earlier as a, uh, scantily dressed maid. I wondered what their relationship was.

  “Which way?” Maverick asked, turning to Finn. Finn slowly raised his arm again, pointing to the right once again.

  “Right is the right way,” I mumbled to myself.

  I couldn’t help but notice Lumi was growing weaker. She put up a strong front, but she was slowing down, and bags were appearing under her eyes, just as they had under Finn’s.

  We turned the corner and walked down the hall as two more guards ran toward us. Zephyr put up an illusion that stopped one of the guards, but the other continued charging at us. “Stop!” Her voice was familiar.

  Maverick punched, his hand getting caught by the guard’s. “Rosalie?” He blinked.

  The guard released his hand and pulled off her helmet as the other one did the same.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Zuri!” Lumi ran to the other girl and hugged her as tightly as she could manage. Zuri breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled the shorter girl just as close.

  “Stealing the guards’ clothing. Clever.” Zephyr smiled.

  “We were on our way to rescue you, but it seems you don’t need rescuing.” Rosalie crossed her arms. Her expression was difficult to read; she was either incredibly proud of us or annoyed. I didn’t know why those two expressions looked the same on her.

  “We’re looking for the computer that controls the devices on our wrists. Finn seems to know where that is.” Maverick cocked his head at the person in question.

  “Great. Let’s not waste any more time, then.”

  We continued down the hall for several minutes. It was strangely quiet. Too quiet.

  Finn made a disgruntled noise, his finger pointing everywhere. From Rosalie’s nose to Lumi’s shoes, we couldn’t tell what he was trying to tell us.

  “Do you want us to turn around?” Maverick asked.

  Finn continued to point at the door.

  “I think he wants us to go in,” I answered.

  “Zephyr, you’re an empath—tell us what he’s feeling.” Maverick crossed his arms.

  “I-I’m a fake empath,” Zephyr stammered. “I-it’s just what Sylvis picked for me when she didn’t want people to know my actual Talent.”

  “Well, you faked it good enough to be the real deal the past decade.”

  “You do know I just made up answers from educated guesses, right?”

  “What’s Finn feeling?” Maverick demanded, his voice serious and irritated.

  Zephyr paused. A long pause. “I think he’s feeling hungry.”

  “We’re all hungry!” Maverick shouted.

  “I-I could sure go for pizza right about now…” Aidan added.

  “Can we shut up about food and feelings and open this door?!” I threw my hands up in the air, exasperated and impatient. If the guards didn’t know where we were before, they sure did now!

  “Fine. But if Finn’s not hungry, it’s your fault.” Maverick proceeded to the door, swiping the previous guard’s keycard. A beep. “Dammit.”

  Rosalie kicked the keypad and lock, resulting in a glitched-out “ding” sound.

  “That was quite the kick.” Zephyr noted.

  “Thank you. I’ve had over five hundred years of practice.” Rosalie tilted her chin up slightly, showing her confidence.

  We entered a large room that reminded me of the gym at my school back home. Except it was completely empty.

  “Finn, are you sure this is where the computer is?” Maverick turned around to the person in question.

  Finn weakly shook his head no. I knew he wasn’t hungry.

  “Then… Where are we?” Zuri asked.

  The worst pain I had ever felt in my life surged through my body. It felt as if a bullet shot from the restraints on my wrists, up my arms, and then down the rest of my body, leaving a trail of fire and electricity where it had traveled. I screamed as loud as I was able to—yet struggled to hear my own screams as pain and ringing resounded in my ears. My vision blurred and tunneled as my body submitted to the pain. I could barely register that guards had entered from the door we had, as well as a door on the other side of the room.

  “C-cam…eras…” Zuri muttered through the pain.

  So they had been watching us this entire time. They were just waiting for the best opportunity to trap us.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa! What do you think you’re doing?” Greg’s muffled voice came through, but it didn’t seem to be directed at any of us. Instead, his gaze was behind us. “Any more and you’ll kill them!” Not gonna lie, death sounded pretty nice right now…

  My body had started tuning out the pain to where I almost didn’t notice the pain had suddenly stopped.

  The lady in the lab coat from before walked in—a gun in her hand. She stopped mere inches away from Greg before pointing it at his head.

  “This has gone on for long enough,” she spoke. “I’m taking over Project ALIEN,” she spelled the letters out. “We already have enough proof to prove magic is real. I’ve observed their charts myself to know that any further research would put us in danger and jeopardize everything we’ve found so far. But more than anything, I’m sick of you.”

  “W-what?! B-but Jess, I thought you loved me!” Greg sputtered.

  “It was your twin brother I loved. Not you.” She pulled the trigger in the soap opera of a plot twist. Too bad I wasn’t invested in their love story. “Kill the subjects,” she ordered.

  The pain surged through me again just as it had before.

  I couldn’t take it. The fear, the sadness, the anger… It all surged within me. We couldn’t die, we just couldn’t! Yet Maverick and Rosalie—the two strongest people I knew—were powerless to stop our fates. If they couldn’t do anything, how could I?

  But I couldn’t give up. I might die, but not before I tried everything I could to live.

  I let the anger and fear burn within me. Please, magic! I didn’t care if I never properly learned to use magic, or if it disappeared entirely after this, but I needed it now. Just this once. Please!

  A small, tiny crack formed along the metal clasp around my right wrist. Then along the left one. Rather than a crack from the pressure I was applying, I recognized it to be Lumi’s magic. She was trying to save me…

  To save all of us.

  I wouldn’t let her effort be in vain. Fire surged in my hands—Lumi must have damaged the devices enough for me to gain control of my magic. Part of me felt guilty that she’d chosen me over Maverick or Rosalie, who had much more control over their powers—or even Zuri, whom she looked up to. It didn’t matter. I had enough anger and rage to save us all.

  Fire surrounded me, creating something of a shield. The lady in the lab coat—Jess—shot at me, but the fire morphed around me to melt the bullet before it could even hit me.

  “Let my friends go or I’ll burn you, your guards, and your facility… But I’ll let your cat live,” I threatened.

  “How do you know about my cat?” Jess blinked at me.

  “You’re wearing a shirt that says “I love cats” under your jacket.” I shrugged.

  I realized while I had been talking, the guards had made the decision for her, and my friends’ pain had stopped.

  I ran towards them, hoping to undo Lumi’s restraints first so that she could help the others.

  “Elaina!” Zuri’s voice called out to me—panicked, distraught. My stomach sank, not knowing what to expect, but the sound of a gunshot brought me to a halt as my feet struggled to slow me down. To my surprise, there was no pain—only a metallic clank.

  I turned to find Lumi and Zuri’s master standing before me, her whip outstretched. “This has gone on long enough.” Her voice was strict and confident, a tone I imagined she used with her own members.

  Purple lightning rained from the…ceiling, striking the computers and anyone within their radius. Maverick ran forward and punched Jess with a fist of fire, knocking her into a wall she subsequently burned through.

  An alarm sounded throughout the facility, forcing me to momentarily cover my ears from how loud it was. Realizing that was stupid and it wasn’t going away any time soon, I uncovered them.

  “Maverick, get them out of here. I’ll handle the rest,” the master ordered without turning.

  “If you mean by teleporting, there’s no way I could teleport a group this size in a world without ether.” Maverick clasped the metal wristlet on his left wrist before burning it. I guess now that it wasn’t fueled with electricity, magic could destroy it.

  “I don’t care how you do it. Just get them out of here.”

  Maverick nodded even if she couldn’t see. He beckoned the rest of us to follow him out of the room.

  A light from the ceiling fell in the hallway, its glass crashing against the ground and startling Lumi enough for her to scream. The picture of Greg we had seen earlier now had a hole through his face. Clearly, he had many haters.

  Several people in lab coats frantically ran past us, seemingly not caring whether or not we had magic. Well, most of them didn’t. A couple of them had ordered reluctant guards to fight us off. A meaningless effort when Maverick, Rosalie, and Zuri could easily fight back now.

  Another strike of lightning. This time, the ceiling caved in, the furniture above it and all, trapping me, Zephyr, and Finn. Finn had become unconscious at this point, relying on Zephyr to carry him around. I frantically looked to Zephyr for how we’d get around. He placed Finn down and was about to help when the ceiling directly above us began to crumble. At the last second, Zephyr managed to use wind to hold it up. We were near the back of the room with nowhere to send the rumble, meaning Zephyr had to indefinitely hold it up until someone realized we were trapped. I turned back to the rubble in front of us. Placing my hand directly in front of it, I thought about fire.

  And fire came.

  I didn’t have time to celebrate as Maverick quickly pulled me out, before retrieving Finn so Zephyr could escape.

  But I couldn’t stop thinking about it. My magic… It worked now?

  There wasn’t any time to discuss it. The building was growing more unstable. If we didn’t hurry, the facility would eat us alive.