Clara was taken back from Cyra's sudden embrace but she allowed it. She imagined that he was probably thinking he was done for and how overwhelming that must have been for him.
She put her hand instinctively on his back for a moment before separating herself. When she pulled away, she met his dark gaze.
His eyes searched her face with quiet intensity.
"Are you hurt?" He asked, investigating Clara's body for injuries and gently lifting her arm to reveal a large but seemingly superficial scrape. She slowly pulled it away from him and wiped a crimson streak on her dress.
"I'm fine, it's just a scratch. But I don't think that diversion will last very long. We need to leave now." Clara directed.
"So that was you? — You set off that car alarm? Clever girl—"
He rubbed his wrist. "—I'm actually very impressed Princess. I take back what I said about you being you being boring."
"Boring? You never said I was boring. You said I was a "goodie good"… what's this about boring?—" Clara furrowed her brows but Cyra just shrugged.
"—You know what, we don't have time for this." Clara said quickly. "We'll have to go out the same way that the two idiots did since there's no way to reach the broken window from the ground."
Every sound bounced too far in the hollow dark. Clara's flip flops were almost silent against the concrete, but every step felt like a drum in her ear. She kept her shoulders low, eyes locked on the faint rectangle of moonlight spilling through the open loading bay.
Behind her, Cyra followed with the grace of someone strolling through a park instead of sneaking past his own kidnappers. His hands were in his pocket as he trailed behind her.
"I have to admit—" his voice came low, close to her ear, "—for someone who claims to hate me, you sure went through a lot of trouble to save me?"
Clara didn't look back. "You can thank the car alarm. Not me."
"Oh, I already did," he smirked. "But the car alarm isn't the one risking their life for me, is it?" Now that he was untied the two idiots outside were much less of a threat and Cyra's confidence poured through his tone.
"Keep talking and you'll be the diversion."
She seen a speck of light reflecting from the ground and hurried to pick it up. It was a large shard of glass, most likely from the window. She ripped a piece of her already torn hemline and wrapped it around the glass to protect her hand and grasped it firmly.
"I didn't realize you were so gangster, princess, where did you learn how to make a shank?"
Clara exhaled impatiently.
She slowed just enough to glance over her shoulder. Even in the gloom, his expression was infuriatingly amused, like they were sharing some private joke she didn't remember agreeing to.
"Step where I step," she said flatly and without patience. "Unless you want to announce us to the whole world."
"After you my fearless gang leader". He made a sweeping motion with his hand. He placed his foot exactly in her last footprint.
She didn't dignify that with a reply. The loading bay loomed closer, the chill night air brushing against her face.
Somewhere outside, the car alarm wailed like a desperate warning.
Clara's hand buzzed as she tightened her grip on the makeshift glass-knife. She took one careful breath and stepped into the moonlight. Cyra quickly and gracefully floated in front of her.
"I can't let you go first" he said seriously while he walking out in front, a protective arm hovered in the air behind him over Clara's front. It was the first time Cyra was serious since Clara had untied him and she obeyed without objection.
They couldn't see the two men but they could hear them arguing and shouting from around the side of the storm embankment where their SUV would be. They were both accusing the other of attempting to take off with the moon gem.
"Stay here", Cyra instructed as he slipped into the moonlight first, his mood darkened with the sight of the two men and it surprised Clara but she obediently stayed.
He could spot his black car, mostly invisible in the shadows and creeped towards it and waved Clara over when the coast was clear. She had never even noticed the car was there when she arrived.
The two of them crept quickly and carefully. their eyes never leaving the two men as they inched to Cyra's car and Clara's fingertips sparked softly and defensively.
When they were only a few feet away, Cyra made the mistake of grabbing Clara's buzzing hand.
If only they'd known what would happen next.
Maybe if Cyra had noticed his own hand buzzing with electrical currents, maybe then he wouldn't have touched his hand to Clara's.
If either one have known the consequences or what such a cosmological phenomenon that two magnetically charged palms would do when they touched… neither would have done so.
A magnitude of energy and light burst from their hands as they touched, lighting up the sky like a flare gun. The explosion terrified the two men and they stumbled onto their backside in terror, never blinking as their mouths gapped open while no words came out.
It rumbled the earth and was brighter than the high beam of a big rig truck. It blinded the four of them for a short time and when it subsided, everyone was equally confused.
"Ay they gotta bomb! One of those flash thingies. Mus' be. Are you crazy or what?" The gruff one yelped as he struggled to get back to his feet.
The big one who Cyra calls Jumbo, was already standing with something metallic in his hand that he had hidden, drawn and pointing right at Cyra, shaking and attempting to aim but failing with disorientation.
Clara who was shaking off her own puzzlement, seen this and stood offensively at her opponents. She looked over at Cyra who was staring at his hands and hadn't noticed.
He stopped and turned to her. He detected the fire that was ablaze in Clara's eyes, so intense it that he already knew what she wanted to do and he was ready. He nodded at her.
Without either one saying a single word, she grabbed Cyra's palms again but this time aimed the lightening glowing hands towards the two men.
Clara closed her eyes tightly while the electrical glow expanded and crackled in their hands.
And just like that, the energy current was leaving their bodies and being blasted like a giant taser from their enclosed hands and the light emitting from them turned the whole parking lot a brilliant white.