The Centerpoint Trilogy (5 page)

              Anna could not find him at first. The instinctive knowledge of where Ethan was existed as fuzziness at best. When she opened her mind, however, she just knew. It filled up her mind. She knew exactly where Ethan was. She drove. She pushed the gas and sped as fast as she could. She just drove  until her mind screamed at her that she was at the exactly right place. A smile crossed her face, even though she was scared to death. She wasn’t sure what she was going to find. She didn’t know if she could handle what she did find. She pulled up in front of a building and stopped her car. This was the place that she was looking for. It was an old, run-down apartment building. It reminded her of the place that she had been held when she was a young child. Unimpressive, it was the kind of place that people ignored, but this was it.

              She rushed to the door. The apartment had a large lobby. Velvety looking chairs in magenta and ivory lined the room, as well as several similarly colored sofas and tables. It was small, but had an elegant feel to it, despite the building not looking elegant from the outside. Looking around the main unit, she felt her instincts creep back in. She opened the door and tiptoed into the lobby. It was empty, except for a doorman who was looking around, bored out of his mind. He didn’t even notice as she slipped by and to the staircase. She took a breath and ran upstairs. She followed her instinct to the third floor and then to a door at the end of the hallway. She knew immediately that this was the exact location. This was where Ethan was being held. Her heart raced at the thought. Her stomach twisted and her fear overtook her.

              The door was locked. She pressed a hand to the handle of the door and took a deep breath. She knew that she had to do this. Tapping into a place of herself that she once ignored, she raised a hand. The doorknob twisted with unnatural strength and broke past the lock. She heard wood and metal click and clack and then break.  It turned and the door opened. She rushed inside as fast as she could possibly manage. Her heart was racing.

              The door shut behind her. It slammed, leaving her standing in the middle of an empty apartment building, looking around her. “Hello Anna,” a voice said. She knew the voice well. It was the voice that had haunted her nightmares. It was the voice that scared her to death and made her a frightened, confused child. It was the voice that had altered her, as much as she denied that voice the right.

              “You,” she said, in a total awe. The man was a nightmare. He was a ghost, an apparition of the past. There was no way that he could be real. It was surreal, surreal in the same way that nightmares were surreal. There was no way that the figure that had haunted her for so long was now a flesh and blood man, staring at her with a devious look on his face. He looked like he was going to laugh. His face was flushed and his cheeks tinted and a smile curled his lips up.

              “Amazing, isn’t it?” the man asked, finally laughing. It burst from his chest like a blast, a jovial, loud blast. He was a large, overwhelming man with a beard and glasses. He was portly, almost fat, but the fat somehow looked solid on him. He wore a simple button down shirt and slacks. He looked like someone’s grandfather, but the look in his eyes was one of pure evil. The darkness swirled in them  “You should probably thank Ethan, though. He was the one who called you to me.”

              Anna looked to Ethan. The man was bound to the wall with heavy chains. They were manacled around his wrists. Ethan pulled and twisted against the bonds.  “I’m sorry,” he gasped out and pulled against his bindings yet again. Anna looked around. She saw two other people bound in the opposite side of the room. They were the same age as Ethan and Anna and fear swelled in their eyes.  Anna looked back. All of her life she had denied the power, but there it was deep inside of her. Power swelled within her, welling up and swirling inside of her body. She wanted nothing more than to let it loose, let it burst free.

              It did burst free. It came from within her and she latched onto several loose beams in the walls of the apartments. They, along with a considerable amount of dust and debris, swirled around her. She held them up and flung them towards the man. They clattered together and then soared like eagles intent on striking their prey.  The man’s eyes widened in surprise, but soon that surprise became knowing. He moved himself out of the way and then shook his head. A beam caught him in the shoulder. He scrunched up his face and looked at her in pain. “You’ll want to stop that now,” he stated very clearly. She wasn’t even sure why, but she stopped. The man laughed and called out. “Lilly! Bring her!”

              A woman came out from a door near him. She shut it behind her. She had light blonde hair and was wearing a black mask that covered most of her features. Anna realized that she had not even realized the door was there in the dark. She had someone with her, whose wrists were bound and was looking at Anna with wide eyes. She was gagged too and cried out under the gag. Low and desperate, her cries struck Anna right in the heart.

              The prisoner was Anna’s mother. Anna’s heart started pounding intensely. He had to let her mom go and he had to let go now. “What do you want?” Anna begged instantly. She knew that he had found her number one weakness and she accepted it. She would do literally anything if this man let go of her mother. Her mom meant more to her than anything in the whole world.  Her mother was her whole life and she needed her. They did everything together. It was definitely an ‘us against the world’ situation with Anna and her mother.

His eyes moved over her body, assessing her, taking in her form. He smiled as his eyes moved all around her. She felt like she was being eaten up.. He then snorted. The girl who was holding her mom laughed, snickering. “Can you believe that my people apprehended her en route to the police?” he asked derisively. “As if the police were any issue to me the first time. Now, stop, Anna.”

The debris she had held hung mid air before clattering to the ground. She was not going to risk anything when her mom was in their hands. She looked over at Ethan. The man’s eyes were full of respect for her. He nodded at what she had done. He understood and agreed, even though she was giving up.

              “To be safe,” the man began, “Lilly, love, show her your abilities.”

              The woman nodded and simply raised her hand. Her eyes were a color of blue that reminded Anna of ice. They were ice, really. Anna’s mother contorted in pain. Her eyes went wide and through the gag she screamed as hard as she could. Her entire body twisted and contorted in absolute agony. She screamed and screamed and it seemed that she could not stop. Tears slipped past her eyes and she cried desperately. Anna could feel her pain. She needed to stop it.

“Stop!” Anna screamed. She looked at the man desperately, preparing to offer him anything he wanted. She would let him kill her without a fight if he only let her mother go. “Please stop!”

To her surprise, the man nodded and the woman who was torturing her mother let her hand back down.

              “Now, do as I say or Lilly begins again,” he ordered. “Come here.”

              Anna nodded at his words. She held out her hands, stepped forward, and the man grabbed her wrists. He had a firm grasp, one that she could not break, even if she was willing to. Her mother shook her head, still crying. He walked Anna over to the wall and bound her with a set of chains that attached her to the wall in a manner identical to Ethan and the two absolutely silent others. They were all quiet with fear.  Had the man and his crazy woman tortured them in the same way that she had Anna’s mother? Once she was as bound as the others were, the man smiled. “Now, we can have a great time,” he gushed. “Sadly, however, my associates and I must consult outside beforehand. We’ll be back soon.”

              The man and woman left and with her, the blonde dragged Anna’s mother. Her mother, as she was being dragged out, nonverbally told Anna that she was fine now and was trying to think of what to do. Anna understood entirely. She did not struggle. They left the room and the four young captives were all alone. Anna tried her best to stay calm, but panic welled up inside of her. They had her mother and that woman had incredible abilities. What could she do? She tried to tap into her ability, but found that in the chains, she could not tap into her raw power.  Her heart started pounding and she couldn’t breathe. It felt like she was inhaling raw ice into her lungs.

              She ignored the other three victims, until Ethan’s voice filled the room. They might have been talking to her before, but she did not hear until he spoke. “Anna,” he said softly, struggling in his bindings to get a little bit closer to her. He shifted his hips and moved himself so that he was as close to her as possible.

“Uh...what...what?” she stammered.

              “Are you okay?” he asked.

              Was he insane? Her mother had been tortured and was now somewhere that Anna herself had no access to. She screamed and struggled against the bonds. “No!” she screamed out loud, stretching and moving. “I’m not okay! My mother has been tortured, kidnapped and I have no way of saving her. If he hurts my mother I don’t know what I’ll do, Ethan. She’s all I have, please…”

              Ethan twisted in his bonds more so that he could just barely touch her. She looked into his eyes and saw sympathy run through the soft brown orbs. “It’s going to be okay,” he assured, “but you have to breathe. I’m here and I’m so, so sorry.”

              “Sorry?” she asked, trying to slow her brain down.

              Ethan looked at her with guilt in his eyes. His eyes were so soft, so loving. “He hurt me,” Ethan said softly. He looked straight at her and struggled to explain himself. “That woman got to me like she got to your mother. I called by instinct when he demanded that I do so. I couldn’t stop myself.”

              The idea made sense, but she didn’t blame him for it. She had seen how much pain her mother was in. If they had done the same thing to Ethan, then they probably triggered something deep and primal in him. “That’s not your fault,” she whispered. “What do we do Ethan?”

              “Stop forgetting that there are two other people here!”

Anna looked to the girl who had spoken. She was a shorter girl, firm and athletic. She had dark skin and hair in braids. Her eyes were wide and she was glaring. Her face was set firmly and she was just staring them down. Anna felt idiotic for not noticing her and the extremely quiet boy.  Even though they were not speaking much, they were important. “I’m sorry…” she said, although the apology seemed way out of place.

“Why can’t we use our powers?” the woman asked. “He tortured handsome over there so that he’d call you up. I can’t make my mojo work though.”

Anna wasn’t sure of that. She tried to call up on her powers and found that they were also useless. There was a wall up between her powers and their escape. It was tall and prevented anything from permeating that tight hold. “I don’t know,” she told the woman. She was trying to figure out the answer, but it wasn’t coming to her. “What are your powers?”

The girl looked at her. Her eyes were wide and she blinked several times.  “I’m a pyrokinetic, I guess that’s what you’d call it,” she said, shrugging as much as the bindings would allow her to do. “I can control fire with my head, the same way that you can control well, random stuff.”

“I can make things explode,” muttered the quiet young man. He was a handsome dark skinned man with brown doe eyes and a strong jaw.  “I can’t make it happen now, though.”

“It’s gotta be the chains,” Anna said. It was the common factor. They were all bound with the same kind of chains. She struggled against them and then tried to use her power. She found that the ability was welling up inside of her, but it was blocked off. That wall was there and it was standing tall. Because of this, it failed. “Yeah…”

“What about him?” the young man asked, looking at Ethan. “After the crazy blonde used her powers on him, he was able to call you.”

“When she hurt me,” Ethan muttered, “I felt it burst through some kind of boundary. I think I was desperate.”

Anna thought about what the boy was saying. It made sense in a strange kind of way. Maybe the alloy that they were bound with had some kind of properties that blocked their abilities, but maybe when one was desperate enough then they could break the blockade, burst through the dam.  “Maybe you can call out again,” she murmured. It also could have had something to do with Ethan’s powers being more subtle than the rest. It was inside, where the rest of them had powers that were already on the inside, but burst out when they worked.

Ethan’s struggle to do just that was obvious. She could see the sweat that had beaded up on his face. He frowned heavily and grunted, like he was trying to physically force it out of him. His eyes were wet with tears. “I’m trying,” he admitted dully.

In an attempt at comfort, she reached out a bound hand and touched him. She could barely touch him, more than a brush of her fingers over his closest arm. She brushed her hand over the bare skin and tried her best to be of help.

I need help!

              All of the individuals in the room winced as Ethan screamed into their heads. They closed their eyes and cringed inward. “We heard you loud and clear, bro,” the man commented. “I sure hope that they didn’t.”

“It was a cry for help and hopefully directed only to those on our side…” Ethan whispered, looking sheepish and unsure. He was just as surprised as they were at his ability to cry out as loudly as he had. It seemed that the moment that Anna touched him, he had been able to break the walls down. The slight physical contact was the thing that had done it, wasn’t it? It had to be.