Rifts (14 page)

"You probably met Georgie, my older sister. I'm Alex. I'm a telepath like her and we’ve been coordinating tactical placements."

"Gotcha. Sorry for interrupting." Uncharitably I wondered if their parents had really wanted sons. "Oh, hey," I stopped her again. "I can't teleport. How do I get down there?"

I could see that she was forcing herself not to roll her eyes at me. "Follow me to the Sit Room and I'll assign you to someone who can ‘port and who can help guide you to where you need to be.”

I nodded my thanks and followed her to the Sit Room where fifty Hunters were currently gathered. The mood was tense and wariness rose from the bodies like an exotic perfume. Nobody knew where this threat was coming from, and this many attacks in such a short time had everyone's nerves standing on edge.

Georgie started calling out teams and assignments. In pairs Hunters blinked out until I was standing by myself. I raised an eyebrow at her and she gave me an apologetic grimace. "Grace and Adonis, you'll be hitting the shores of Casablanca. Grace, you’ll be creating levees off along the shoreline to prevent further flooding. Adonis will help glamour you to prevent unwanted attraction."

Inside I was giggling madly. 'Unwanted attraction.' There was a phrase for you. I shook my head at the madness and gave her a 'Really?' look. She mouthed her apology and waved before we blinked out.

We appeared under what felt like a thousand tons of salt-water. I shot Drew an incredulous look and swam for the surface. My arms and legs worked to propel me upwards, but I hadn't taken a deep breath before we'd ported out. My lungs felt like they were going to burst. Black spots formed in my vision and I hoped that this wasn't going to be the way I was going to die.

How deliciously ironic it would be to die by accidental drowning - especially after having survived everything else over the last six months. My arms felt heavy from the lack of oxygen fueling my blood. Honestly, I couldn't tell how close I was. I hoped it was close. It was night here so there were no spots of sunlight to guide me up. I was just hoping for the best and following instinct.

Granted, with my instincts lately, I could be swimming for the bottom. Something brushed against my back and I struggled not to shriek. It's hard not screaming when you're in a dark place filled with unknown bodies.

Did I mention that I'm terrified of sharks? It was probably a shark. A big fucking shark was going to eat me before I got to the surface. I wanted to blame Drew for being an idiot, but if a huge tsunami had hit the coast, his placement being off was entirely not his fault.

Man, I was so tired. Fighting with Hope, fighting with Drew, fighting with myself – it was all draining. It never occurred to me to use the one power that could have helped me. All I could think about was that Zeus would be super sorry he hadn't taught me teleportation when my limp, bloated body washed ashore.

I stopped swimming and started drifting. Maybe if I relaxed my body, I would simply float to the surface. Maybe I'd get eaten by that shark. Stupid sharks.

Solid limbs wrapped around my waist and jerked me backwards. 'This is it,' I thought. 'Shark bait.’

Instead of being mangled by razor sharp teeth, I was sputtering and gasping for air on top of what looked to be a submerged building. Well, that’s one question answered. I
did
need to breathe to survive. Water streamed from my mouth and nose, my arms and legs felt like they were on fire, and not the good kind. I rolled over onto my back and drug as much air into my lungs as I could.

Drew leaned over me and peered into my eyes. "Grace, can you hear me?" He was yelling.

I wasn't deaf.
Of course
I could hear him. My voice didn't want to work, though. I don't know if I could have spoken to save my life. My throat burned as much as my lungs did. My stomach chose that moment to expel the salt water that I'd swallowed and I started throwing up. My vomit shot upward like a geyser, spraying him in the face.

I winced and then threw up again. I couldn't help myself. He drew back with a surprised, "What the fuck!"

I didn't blame him. I couldn’t stop puking up saltwater. My poor abused body heaved again and he gently turned me on my side so I couldn't drown. I appreciated that and projected the thought so he'd grasp not only my gratitude, but my horror that he was now covered in my vomit.

"I'm so sorry Grace. I had no idea that the water had come in so far." As he spoke, he rubbed my back, massaging the rigidity out of my muscles. It helped. It helped a lot to hear the sound of his voice, even though I couldn't make out half of what he was saying over the sound of my own retching.

Misery, thy name is throwing up.

Sooner rather than later, my body stopped and I was breathing normally again. "Total failure," I croaked.

"No, you're not. Nobody could have predicted that. I'm just glad that I found you before you drowned. You wouldn't have died for good, I don't think. But yeah, sucky way to die."

I rolled over and shot him a baleful look. "I wasn't talking about me." I took in a new deep breath and said, "I need to get those levees built. Just give me a few seconds and I think I have a plan. If I can build a rolling wall, maybe I can push some of the water back. Can you ask Posy to pull it out?"

He nodded. "Yeah that sounds like a great idea. Give me a few seconds to send a message up to Georgie and ask."

"Great." I sighed and rolled back onto my side, just breathing and concentrating on making a connection with the earth beneath us. It occurred to me that I could have simply made a shelf to push me up out of the water. Stupid, Grace. You need to stop forgetting that you have these powers. It's going to get you killed for good.

This was the underlying problem. Nobody knew what would happen to me. I was too new. Since Diana hadn't been around to completely activate my genetic code, it was a crap shoot on whether or not I'd survive anything that was thrown at me.

Oh sure, I'd lived through a knife through the heart and lung, electrocution and some pretty heinous torture, but where was the line?

Finally, I could feel the Earth's sluggish response. The area wasn't used to being covered with this much water and it didn't want to awaken to my call. Or possibly, I just wasn't good enough to get this done. My powers had a tendency to activate when I was in fight or flight mode. The box was the primary example of that.

I called it forward, envisioning a rolling hill rising up out of the ocean, and pushing it back. All around me, Hunters were pulling bodies out of the water. Some of them were alive. Most were not. I aimed for the line of buildings and the earth trembled before concrete, mud and rock rose from the waves.

"That's it, Grace. It needs to be a little longer…curve it just a bit and you're good to go."

I nodded at Drew and closed my eyes, envisioning a half-moon. The earth responded, lengthening and curving to my will. Exhaustion threatened to overtake me but if I could just give the earth another small push of power, it would do the rest for me.

I wavered as I climbed to my feet. Drew caught me and held me steady as I looked at what had risen from the depths. I didn't know what to do about the water on my side of the wall, but I could push most of what was here out and ensure that nothing else got in.

My hands pushed forward as I thought ‘move.’ What surprised me was the water pushing back. Someone was on the other side of that wall pushing the water in against me.

"Hey, isn't Posy out there pulling the water back, Drew?"

"Yeah, she's supposed to be. What are you feeling?"

"Someone's pushing it in. I'm meeting a ton of resistance and it's not just the natural wave coming at me. Check it out."

I looked at him, willing him to see what was going on in there and his brows knitted together in response. "Shit. That's not good. Let me check in with Georgie. Posy should have the juice to pull it back out, so something's wrong."

"I'm starting to get really, really tired. I don't know how much longer I can keep it up. The wall won't move - it's there for good - but I'm not going to be able to push the water out if this keeps up. So, hurry."

For having absolutely no idea of what I was doing, I guess I wasn't so bad at it. I did wish, though, that we had a couple of other Earth Movers down here. It would have made things go that much easier.

Drew popped back in looking grim. "Nobody can reach Posy. She's just disappeared."

"How can that happen? Where did she go?"

He shook his head and started pacing. "I don't know. When Georgie has you tagged, you're tagged for good until she lets go of your presence. The only way Posy could have disappeared off that radar is if she's no longer on the planet…or if she's dead."

"That doesn't sound good." I frowned. "Listen, I know this sounds like an asshole question, especially with a Hunter missing, but is there anyone available to help out here? I don't know if I have the juice to do it on my own."

"No, I understand. Posy is one life compared to all of these. Poseidon is stuck out in the middle of the Ocean somewhere trying to ensure that the waves don't hit any of the other continents. Sinnan was helping put out the fires in Tangier. Let me see if I can get Poly out here. "

"Hey," I reached out and touched his arm. "Thanks. Not just for this, but for pulling me out of the water. I appreciate it."

He nodded and popped out again.

The pushing presence dissipated and I took that as a good sign. I started moving tons of earth forward and was relieved to see the water falling back down to normal levels as the wall crept forward. A sigh of relief escaped and I sagged. Thank God. As the water pushed back, the destruction that had been wrought here became more visible.

Cars and boats were upside down, piled on top of each other. Market carts - washed away by the flood - littered the streets like broken toys. The bodies were the worst. People didn't have enough warning or time to escape before being plunged into watery darkness. Tears flooded my eyes as I spied small broken bodies amid the wreckage. Whoever had done this was a monster.

"Who is doing this Drew?" He hadn't been gone long and I was grateful. Being here left me feeling vulnerable.

"I don't know. I don't know of anyone powerful enough to cause this much destruction at once. Well, I know powerful people, but they couldn't – no, they wouldn't do this."

The smell of ozone surrounded me as Zeus materialized beside me. He put his hand on my shoulder and nodded at the wall. "Good job, kid."

"Thanks. Is there anything else we can do for these people?" I couldn't take my eyes off of a small, mangled body in the courtyard below my position.

"Grace, people die by the hundreds and thousands every day. We save the ones we can and mourn the ones we cannot."

"Nobody seems to know who or what is causing this." I turned to him and stared into his eyes, searching for an answer. "Do you? Do you know who could do this?"

He shrugged. "I don't know any one single person who could cause a tsunami
and
a raging fire at the same time. Whoever is doing this has help. We'll find them, though." His face was a grim mask of anger as he said those last words and I almost felt sorry for our culprit. "I need to find Posy. You're doing a good job here. Keep it up."

I wanted to respond but it was too late. Zeus was already gone.

"How are you holding up?" The question was quiet and tentative as though he was afraid that any moment, I'd turn into a raving lunatic.