The War of the Supers (The First Superhero Book 3) (14 page)

I reached down and grabbed Selena’s right wrist. I pulled her up, grabbed her torso, and threw her over my shoulder. I still had some powers, so her weight didn’t feel like much. Still, I could feel it pressing down on my shoulder.

I walked over to the office door and opened it slowly. There were no lights, so I focused on transforming my eyes. They cast a very dim blue light. Even so, I had to give them a second to adjust.

I looked up and down the hallway, finding no sign of any guards, just doors that led to other offices. To my left, the hallway hooked right and seemed to continue on, leading to another corridor of offices. To my right, the hallway led into a large opening. I decided that would be my best bet for an exit.

I walked down the hallway, which led to what looked like a reception area. Next to a pair of frosted doors was a sign with an arrow pointing to the left and a cartoon character running into a stairwell while fire gave chase behind him.

I followed the direction of the arrow and entered another hallway that I assumed would meet up eventually with the one I had started out in. The first door on my right had a sign that said
In Case of Emergency, Use Stairs.

Bingo.

I swung the door open, the creaking of its hinges echoing throughout the empty stairwell. The smell of stale air wafted up to my nose, and I fought the urge to sneeze from the dust. I stepped inside and let the door swing shut behind me.

Total darkness surrounded me, the only light coming from the weak blue beams of my eyes. I stepped off the landing, making my way down the first of many stairs.

I took each step with care, so I wouldn’t drop Selena. I looked over the edge of the stairwell, my beams only penetrating the darkness for a few feet. Had I fully had my powers, I could’ve just jumped over the edge and stopped myself before I hit the ground. While I still had a small fraction of my powers, I didn’t know the full extent of my situation, and didn’t want to risk me or Selena splatting to the floor.

Still, I thought that maybe I could make my situation a bit easier. I stopped my descent and concentrated a bit harder than usual. I felt my feet leave the ground, and although I did waver for a moment and it took intense concentration, I was able to stabilize myself a couple inches off the floor. With a small smile of satisfaction at such a minor victory, I floated down the stairwell into the darkness.

After a few flights, I felt a movement on my shoulder. “Selena?” I whispered.

She moaned.

I set my feet on the floor and crouched down. I slid her off my shoulder, settling her on one of the stairs with her back up against the wall.

Her eyes were slits, but I could see her pupils moving around. “Kane?” she moaned.

“It’s me, Selena,” I said. Exhilaration grew within me, and I fought off the urge to celebrate. “How are you feeling? You okay?”

“I feel sick.” She interrupted herself with a dry heave. She almost fell over, but I was able to keep her upright. Her head fell back against the wall, and her hands began to shake. “I feel so dizzy,” she mumbled. “I’m so lightheaded. My arm…my arm…”

“You broke it on your way in,” I explained.

Her eyes were open a bit wider now, and when I looked into her pupils, the light from my eyes created no movement from them. “Your eyes are dilated,” I said, more thinking out loud than talking to her. “I think you have a concussion. You took a pretty hard tumble. Thankfully, I took out that window for you, or else things would’ve been a lot worse.”

“I saw…I was losing control…aimed for broken window,” she said, her hard breaths interrupting her. “Concussion? Why…can not…heal?” she asked, circling back to what I’d just told her.

“I don’t know. Something’s happening to us. I don’t know if it’s this tower or what, but I’ve lost almost all my powers. I’m weak, but there’s still a little bit there. You, on the other hand, seem to have lost your powers completely,” I explained.

It took a second for Selena to react. Her eyes opened wide, and somehow she was able to speak without interruption. “ Will I get them back?” Panic flooded her eyes. “Kane, what’s happening to me?”

I shook my head, scooting forward on the stair to place my hands on her shoulders. “I don’t know, but believe me, Selena. We’re going to figure out what’s going on. I promise you, you’ll get your powers back. As soon as we’re out of here, we’re going to bring Holocene back, okay?”

Selena sealed her lips tight and nodded. “Okay,” she said. “Okay.”

I lifted my hands from her shoulders and stood up. “I’m going to pick you up and put you over my shoulder now, okay? I’ll carry you down the stairs.”

“But your powers…you said you’re…weak…” she said, her labored breathing returning.

“Don’t worry, I can still carry you.”

She nodded and lifted up her good arm. I picked her up, once again laying her over my shoulder. I considered putting her on my back, but I wasn’t sure she’d have the strength to hold on.

“You ready?” I asked.

I felt her nod up and down.

“Okay, let’s get out of here.”

24

ASTHENÉS

I lost count of how many floors I’d gone down. I took it slow and steady, trying my best to keep Selena comfortable. Thankfully I was able to float the whole time, making the descent smooth and easy on her and her broken arm.

I stopped to look over the edge, feeling a sense of euphoria when I saw that my beams of light were hitting solid ground instead of infinite blackness. “We’re almost there, Selena!” I said, excited. “I can see the floor.”

“Thank goodness,” she said, her voice a little bit clearer than it had been earlier.

“Are you feeling better?” I asked.

“The lower we get…” She stopped for a breath. “The better I feel. I still don’t feel…good.”

“Well, any improvement is good,” I said. “Let me know if your arm starts—”

A sudden cry of pain erupted from Selena. She clamped her mouth shut with her good hand. “Ah, ah, shit,” she said under her breath. “Oh my god, Kane, I feel—” Another cry of pain was quickly silenced.

I stopped, throwing a fleeting glance to the next landing as I turned and set Selena down. She grasped her broken arm with her good one, whimpering in pain.

“I can feel—ah—moving,” she said through gritted teeth.

“It’s healing,” I breathed, smiling. “Selena, your arm is healing! Your powers are coming back.”

“They could come back a little faster,” she said, leaning her head against the wall, her breathing picking up speed.

I racked my mind, trying to figure out where this new development fit in with the whole mystery. “You said you were feeling better the lower we went, right?”

She nodded, not opening her mouth so she could keep another shout of pain from escaping.

I turned and looked behind me at the stairs below. I turned back to Selena with a plan in mind. “Okay, listen. I’m going to pick you up and take you down to the bottom as fast as I can. Hopefully your arm will heal faster when you’re down there, and the pain will go away.”

She shook her head.

“Selena, I know you’re in pain, but if we do this, it’ll stop quicker.”

“No. They could hear us if I’m down there. I’ll stay here—” She stopped herself, tensing up her good left arm, then struck it on the stair next to her. She breathed hard through her nose, trying to process the agony. The pain seemed to subside for a moment, and she continued. “Do it—I—I can’t…just do it.”

I picked Selena up without hesitation, holding her across my arms. I took the risk I hadn’t taken earlier, and jumped over the edge of the stairwell. I fell rapidly, Selena clutching my shirt, her mouth open but no sound coming out. The remaining stairs whooshed
past me, and after just a few seconds I was inches from the floor.

I put all my concentration into stopping my rapid descent. I slowed down fast, like somebody slamming on their brakes to keep from hitting an animal in the middle of the road. I stopped less than an inch from the floor.

I quit flying, and my feet hit the ground with a quiet tap. I set Selena down, and her whole body tensed up in pain. She obviously wanted to scream in agony, but couldn’t. I looked down at her arm, and could see the broken bones slowly moving into place beneath her skin.

I wanted to do something to help, but there was nothing left to do. I just sat there on the floor, breathing heavily, watching someone I cared about writhe in pain.

After a few more moments, Selena no longer had the energy to move. She lay on the floor, her eyes vacant, letting out sharp gasps of pain every couple of seconds. It was almost unbearable to watch, but I didn’t have the energy to look away. Using all that power had taken a lot out of me, and I found myself breathing heavily.

After another minute, Selena let out a final sigh of pain, and then her breathing returned to a more normal pace.

“Is it over?” I asked.

A few seconds passed, then she nodded. “I think so,” she said through her heavy breaths.

“Can you move your arm?” I asked.

She lifted it a couple of inches before letting out a sharp gasp of pain. “It’s sore as hell.”

I sat up and crouched over her. “Here, let me help you sit up.” I hooked my arms through hers and pulled her up to a sitting position. She slouched up against the wall, finally able to get some rest.

“Do you think you could walk?” I asked.

A weak laugh escaped her lips. “I highly doubt that. I feel so weak, Kane.” Her eyes met mine when she said my name. Fear and sadness flowed from them. “What’s happening to me?”

I had no answer. “I’m so sorry,” I said.

“What for?”

“I shouldn’t have been so cocky. We flew in here thinking this was going to be as easy as the pub in London. We should’ve been more careful,” I said. Regret washed through me, accented with guilt. I looked away, unable to look her in the eyes. I couldn’t believe I’d been so foolish.

“We had no reason to think it wasn’t
going to be that easy,” Selena said, trying to comfort me. “This isn’t—” She swallowed hard. “It isn’t your fault.”

Her expression told me she believed every word she’d said. “You’re right,” I agreed. “We had no idea.” I chuckled to myself. “We really have no idea what’s going on.”

Selena tried to laugh too, but it turned into a whimper and a cough. “We really don’t,” she finally said with a wide smile. “We’ve really gotten into it now.”

“That’s the truth,” I said. I turned and sat down next to her, placing my head back against the cold concrete wall.

“So, what’s the plan, Tempest?” she asked with a slight nudge.

I sorted through all the options in my head, checking and double-checking them to try to figure out which would be the best course of action. My main focus was getting Selena out of there. I was feeling better, and had more of my powers than she did. She, on the other hand, wasn’t good at all. That meant that I could get out on my own if I had to, but Selena wasn’t going to be able to without my help.

I knew what that all meant, and it only took a split-second after the plan had come to mind before I decided it was best. “I have an idea,” I said. I pushed myself up off the wall and stood. “But if it’s going to work, we’re going to need some guns.”

25

BACKSEAT DRIVER

I opened the door to the stairwell, my eyes no longer glowing. A wall of cool, fresh air slammed into me. It was one of the most refreshing things I had ever experienced. Once I’d gotten used to it, I realized just how stale the air in the stairway had been.

I looked around, the first thing catching my eye being the campsite on the other side of the large windows before me. Out in the parking lot of the Carlton Centre, Raven’s men had their accommodations set up. There were campfires spread throughout the lot, and lots of tents of various colors and sizes. The sounds of people talking and laughed echoed through the entryway of the Carlton Centre. I looked up and down the wall of windows and saw that a couple of them had been shattered, which explained how the sounds from outside were coming in.

Either they’re getting in through there, or my powers are getting even stronger,
I thought. While that was definitely a possibility, I didn’t want to rely on it. That was probably the thing I hated most about this place: it made me question my powers. It made me question Tempest. It made me question myself. In this situation, I was going to have to let Kane Andrews do all the work, while Tempest had to take the back seat, only offering help where he could.

Footsteps echoed to my right. In the distance, a guard was walking my way, an assault rifle slung across his shoulder, his hand wrapped around the butt, finger near the trigger. I dashed from my spot half in the stairwell, half out, and ran behind one of the many pallets of supplies Raven’s men had left on the first floor of the Carlton Centre.

I peeked around the pallet and watched the guard as he approached. He shivered as a fresh gust of wind blew through the room and pulled up the collar on his t-shirt, trying to get it to cover more of his neck. He walked closer and closer, his footsteps loud and dragging.

I turned and snuck over to the opposite edge of the pallet, then went around the edge to hide against the back side as the guard passed. Then I walked down the other side, staying low to the ground, trying to be as quiet as possible. When I looked around and saw that the guard was now past the pallets behind which I was hiding, I made my move. I stood, and in just a couple of strides was right behind him. I delivered a single hard punch to his back, and the guard fell to the floor. He tried to move, but I grabbed him by his military vest, picked him up and tossed him into the pallet of supplies I had hidden behind. He hit them and fell to the floor again, this time unconscious.

I ran to him and grabbed him by the vest, then walked backwards, dragging the guard with me towards the stairwell. I stopped to open the door, then pulled him through. The door shut behind me, and I set the man down in the middle of the floor.

My eyes shone their blue beams of light, and Selena shielded her eyes from the sudden brightness.

“So, this is your plan?” she asked in a facetious tone.