Bloom (26 page)

“Check the guards,” she said. “There will be a badge or an access card.”

Colton knelt next to the nearest security guard and unclipped a black plastic card from one of his vest pockets. He waved it in front of the panel next to the elevator and the doors slid open silently.

“Which floor is the machine on?” asked Corva. She hopped into the elevator and studied the metal panel lined with buttons next to the door.

“I don’t know,” said Colton as he stood next to her. “First floor is offices, the gym is on five, training on nine—”

“Right,” interrupted Corva. She reached out and pressed the button for the second floor. “We’ll start at the bottom and work our way up.”

“This is usually my plan,” said Marius. “Especially with peanut butter and ice cream.”

“Stop, man,” said Colton. “I haven’t had anything to eat all day.”

“We find you something,” said Marius. “After we find Marius something.”

“You two knock it off,” said Corva. “Focus.”

As the elevator doors slid shut, Colton closed his eyes and tried once again to capture anything he could from the world around him—but he failed. He would be useless if the others needed to rely on him for help.

“Corva,” he said. “I don’t know if I can—”

“You’ll be fine,” she interrupted. She fixed him with a calm, confident stare. “Trust me.”

Colton nodded and took a deep breath.

The elevator slowed to a stop and the doors opened. A long hallway extended away from the elevator, each side lined with open doors. In every doorway stood a security guard, fully dressed in thick Kevlar body armor. Each guard carried a heavy rifle and had it trained on the elevator.

“Oh, goody,” said Marius. “More toys.” He reached out for Corva. “Take my hand, my love. And cover your eyes.”

She grabbed his hand tightly.

Colton closed his eyes as the world around him turned to orange flame. He crouched in the back of the elevator as the light grew so bright through his closed eyelids that it was like staring directly into the sun.

The elevator shook on its cable and the entire building seemed to quake. The sound of gunfire quickly faded into the background as a steady roar of churning energy filled the air.

Colton covered his face with his arms and waited.

27

H
aven rode in silence as Dormer sped down the dark tunnel.

The black sedan’s headlights cast two bright circles of white light on the concrete walls. Every few hundred feet, they passed a hand-painted sign with a number—some kind of distance marker that started at ten and steadily counted down.

When they passed a sign with the number one on it, Dormer slowed the car and stopped. He turned in his seat to face Haven.

“Tell me the truth. How much control do you have over your abilities?”

Haven shifted in her seat uncomfortably.

“Look,” said Dormer. “It’s okay. You’re young and this is all new to you. I get that. It’s just better for me to know before we walk in there and I rely on you for something that you can’t do.”

“I can’t project it more than a few feet,” Haven conceded. “Or focus it to a beam, or whatever.” She looked away.

“Don’t be ashamed,” said Dormer. “
Never
be ashamed of your talents.”

“But the others are so much stronger.”

“Don’t compare yourself to them. You are different, and that is not a bad thing. We all have our strengths, Haven. Do you understand me?”

She looked at him and nodded slightly.

“Good,” he said. “We’ll play to those strengths, but we have to be smart about it. Do you know how to drive?”

“What?”

“Can you drive?”

“Yeah, but I’m not very good.”

“That’s fine, you can go slow. Take the car and go on ahead. If there are any guards, I don’t think they’ll realize who you are until you walk right up to them. Light them up if you can, then find some cover.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be right behind you,” said Dormer.

He shifted the car into park, got out of the car, and walked down the tunnel toward the medical facility. Haven climbed over the center console and sat in the driver’s seat. She shifted the car into gear and rolled slowly behind him.

He motioned for her to go on ahead, so she pressed down on the accelerator and the rumble of the engine grew louder as she drove past him.

A short while later, the tunnel ended in a small, cavernous space that had been cut out of solid rock. Lights bolted to the jagged ceiling dimly lit the area. The glowing fluorescent lights inside the entrance to the medical center shone through glass windows off to one side of the parking lot. A few cars were parked in front of the entrance next to an ambulance with the words “Bozeman Regional Hospital” printed on the side.

Clever
, thought Haven.
A perfect way to transport abductees without being noticed.

On either side of the main door, two uniformed security guards stood up from their chairs and warily gripped their rifles as Haven pulled the sedan to a stop in one of the empty parking spaces.

She got out of the car and wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans as she walked toward the guards. She looked behind her at the entrance to the tunnel but could not see Dormer.

“Identify yourself,” said one of the guards. He stepped forward and raised his rifle a little higher. He wasn’t fully aiming at Haven yet, but she bet he could snap it up and pull the trigger faster than she could run for cover.

She swallowed nervously.

“Bernam said that he’s all done with the boy—the patient. He wants to see him personally.”

The guards exchanged a glance.

“We weren’t told about any transfer,” said one of the guards. He reached up to touch an earpiece. He opened his mouth to speak and all of the lights on the ceiling dimmed and went out.

The guards snapped up their rifles and spun in place, searching the room.

“It’s okay,” said Haven. She stepped forward and grabbed the closest guard by the shoulders. Blue light flooded her eyes. “You can take a break.”

Blue energy erupted from her hands and burst like a bubble of lava. The guard screamed and slammed backward into his partner. Both men tumbled across the parking lot like ragdolls until they crashed into the far wall and slumped to the ground, unconscious.

The lights in the ceiling slowly flickered back on. Dormer stepped out of the shadows and walked over to Haven.

“Not bad,” he said.

“It was sloppy,” she admitted.

“It did the job. Did you use it all up?”

Haven shook her head. “There’s still some left.”

She didn’t know why she hesitated to tell him the truth—that it felt like she had barely scratched the surface of the energy that was welling up inside of her. She wasn’t sure if it was sorrow from missing her parents or anger at the fact that Bernam had taken her little brother, but the blue sphere of molten energy that she pictured in her mind’s eye was growing larger with each passing moment. It was getting so strong that it felt as if it would burn her up from the inside if she didn’t release it soon.

Dormer nodded. “Good,” he said. “I’ll go first this time.”

He strode to the facility entrance and walked inside. A woman wearing nurse’s scrubs cowered behind a desk, her face lit with the soft green glow of a computer monitor.

“Excuse me,” said Dormer. “I’m here to visit my brother.”

The woman opened her mouth to speak but Dormer moved in quickly and squeezed her forehead. There was a slight concussive
whumph
sound and the woman’s eyes rolled up into the back of her head as she collapsed to the ground.

“Is she dead?” asked Haven.

“No, but she should be,” said Dormer. “Everyone here knows what they are doing—the harm they have caused. There are no selfless members of the medical profession in this building. These people don’t help anyone but themselves.”

He moved quickly past the unconscious woman and down a long hallway that led away from the receptionist’s area. The ceiling lights dimmed considerably as Dormer passed below them, then glowed to full brightness in his wake.

Haven checked the side rooms of the hallway. All of them were empty—examination rooms with shiny new monitoring equipment on rolling tables that rested next to reclining leather exam chairs. The whole place smelled like lemons.

Dormer held up a warning finger and pressed it to his lips, then nodded toward the end of the hallway.

Haven stepped forward as quietly as she could and stood next to him, peeking around his arm.

A large room was lined with metal tables. On each table lay a patient—some were very young, others extremely old. Thick plastic tubes ran into the unconscious patients’ arms and legs. The tubes were attached to clear bags of white liquid that fed slow drips into their pale bodies.

Haven started forward but Dormer pulled her back. She was about to argue with him when she heard laughter from the room.

One of the twins with short, spiky blond hair walked into view and clapped his hands happily. He spoke to someone out of sight as he pulled himself up and sat down on a long table that was lined with all sorts of medical instruments, from scalpels to bone saws. He picked up a malicious-looking silver tool and admired it with an impressed grin.

The other twin walked over and picked up a bone saw. He twirled it in the air and red flame danced over its chrome blade. The first twin laughed and grabbed up the flame, then blew it out of his open palm and into the air as if he were blowing away dust. Then he walked over to the nearest patient and rattled the bed violently, screaming into the patient’s face as the table screeched across the floor. He shrugged and walked back to his brother.

“Well,” said Dormer. “I’ve seen all I need to see.” He turned to Haven. “Get ready to act, because I’ll likely be finished after this one.”

He cleared his throat and stepped out of the hallway.

The twins laughed when they saw him and clapped their hands.

“Dane,” said Dormer, nodding to the Source twin. “Lee,” he said to the other.

“What are you doing here?” said Dane. The arrogance in his tone was unmistakable. “You gotta be the dumbest person alive.”

“Are you alone?” said Lee. He hopped down off the table and peered down the hallway.

Haven ducked farther from view.

“Of course I am,” said Dormer. “I’m here for my brother.”

“Oh yeah,” said Dane. “I heard about him. Pretty high up there on the scale, according to Bernam.”

“Stronger than me,” said Dormer.

“Not anymore,” said Lee. He stood next to Dane. “Bernam drained him just enough to keep him from dying. Pathetic to watch, really.”

“Disgusting,” said Dane. His face scrunched up as if he smelled a foul odor.

Haven was growing impatient. Her skin burned with heat and sweat dripped down her back. She shook with anger as she thought about the red flames licking up the sides of her home—of her parents lying in bed together as they died.

She was about to step out of the hallway when all of the lights in the room dimmed to half-brightness and Dormer spoke again.

“Enough.”

The twins backed up warily. Dane’s eyes glowed with red flame and he quickly put his hand on Lee’s shoulder.

“Don’t even try it, old man!” he shouted.

“Oh,” said Dormer, “I think I will.”

All of the lights went completely dark just as Lee raised his fists and a thick beam of red energy cut the air. Dormer held his arms out to the side and the beam hit him in the center of his chest. The energy swirled around him but he was untouched by the fire. Black smoke flowed out of his hands and mixed with the red flames. The smoke swirled quickly through the energy, consuming it and drawing it into Dormer’s body. His eyes flooded with black shadow; tiny sparks of red glowed like burning embers in his pupils.

The beam of energy from the twins died and they breathed out in unison, exhausted.

The last of the red flames spiraled around Dormer like a tornado and quickly disappeared into his chest. His entire body seemed to vibrate so quickly that his silhouette became a blur. He raised his arm toward Dane and opened his fist.

“No…” Lee whispered.

Black and red energy burst from Dormer’s palm—a giant tube of swirling, crackling plasma that melted everything around it in a five-foot radius.

Lee dove out of the path but Dane stood there with his mouth open as the tunnel of chaotic energy consumed him from head to toe. He didn’t have time to scream.

The energy faded and Dormer collapsed to the ground. All that remained of Dane were two black, charred marks where his feet had been.

Haven ran into the room and helped Dormer sit up.

A few feet away, Lee stared at the empty spot where his brother had been, his shock turning into rage.

He shook with anger and his face twisted into a scream as he ran at Dormer. Haven held up her hand and blue fire exploded from her palm. The bubble burst against Lee’s chest and sent him crashing backward into the table full of medical instruments. He lay on the ground, unconscious, a smoking hole in his shirt over a ring of sizzling flesh.

Dormer’s outburst had burned a tunnel straight across the room. A cylinder ringed with melted plastic and burnt wood extended down the hallway that continued away from the entrance.

“Are you okay?” asked Haven.

A thin sheen of sweat covered Dormer’s body. His eyes rolled in their sockets as he tried to focus.

“I’ll be—I’ll be fine,” he said weakly. “Need to lie down. You go on.”

Haven helped him down to the floor. She wondered how much more powerful he could be if he ever found his Source. Looking at the melted walls of the hallway, Haven found it hard to believe that he was capable of doing even more damage. She grabbed a pillow from a nearby table and placed it under his head.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

“How do I wake them up?” asked Haven.

Dormer tried to lift his arms but barely moved. “The white tubes,” he said. “Pull the tubes.”

Haven nodded and stood. She walked quickly around the room, pulling out all of the intravenous feeds that were running into the patients’ arms and legs. When she finished, she went back to Dormer.