[ Location: Mirkwood - The Chase ][ Time: 9:00 AM ]
"Left! Go left!" I screamed, skidding in the mud.
"That's a thorn bush!" Dustin yelled back, his poncho flapping like a yellow garbage bag in the wind.
"It's better than a federal prison!" I retorted.
We crashed through the underbrush, thorns tearing at my sweatpants (sorry, El's sweatpants). My lungs were burning. My heart was doing a drum solo against my ribs.
'Cardio. Why is it always cardio? If I ever get god-like powers, the first thing I'm doing is inventing teleportation.'
'Or maybe I should start working out.'
Behind us, the roar of engines grew louder. Branches snapped. Men were shouting.
"Target acquired! South sector!"
El was running beside me, gripping my hand so tight my fingers were going numb. She wasn't looking back. She was just looking at me, trusting me to lead her.
'No pressure, Vivan. Just the weight of the main character's life in your hand.'
"Where are we going?!" Lucas shouted, struggling to push his bike through the mud.
"My house is cut off!" I yelled, seeing the helicopter hovering near the Frostwell estate. "We have to go to the Wheelers'!"
"My house?" Mike panted. "My mom is home!"
"Does your mom notice anything that happens in her basement?" I asked.
Mike paused. "...No."
"Then we go to the basement!"
Suddenly, tires screeched on the road parallel to us. A white van smashed through a wooden fence, cutting off our path to the residential streets.
Two men in suits jumped out, guns drawn.
"FREEZE! HAWKINS POWER AND LIGHT!"
We skidded to a halt. We were trapped. Van in front. Woods behind. Helicopter above.
Lucas dropped his bike. "We're dead. We're actually dead."
Dustin whimpered.
I looked at the agents. Then I looked at El. She was trembling, breathing hard.
'She's scared. She's drained from the radio thing. She can't take them all.'
I looked at my points.
[ Current Points: 55 ]
'Disarm them. Right. With my Level 1 wobble-power.'
I stepped forward, putting myself between the guns and El.
"Hey!" I shouted, holding up my hands. "Don't shoot! We're just kids playing... uh... extreme hide and seek!"
"Step away from the girl," the lead agent barked, aiming his pistol at El.
El flinched, burying her face in my back.
"She's my cousin!" I lied. "She has... Swedish flu! It's very contagious!"
The agent cocked his gun. "Last warning."
'Okay. Diplomatic immunity failed.'
"El," I whispered, not moving my lips. "Can you handle the big one?"
She peeked out. She nodded.
"Okay," I took a deep breath. "On three. One. Two..."
"THREE!"
I thrust my hand forward, focusing every ounce of my will on the second agent's shoelaces.
'TRIP!'
It wasn't a Force Push. It was a petty tug. But it was timed perfectly. As the agent stepped forward, his left lace yanked tight against his right ankle.
He stumbled, flailing, his gun discharging into the dirt. BANG!
"Whoa!" Dustin screamed.
At the same exact moment, El screamed.
"AAAAAAAAHH!"
It wasn't a scream of fear. It was a scream of power.
She jerked her head to the side.
The lead agent—the one aiming at us—didn't just trip. He flew.
He was lifted off his feet as if a giant invisible hand had slapped him. He slammed backward into the side of the white van with a sickening CRUNCH, leaving a dent in the metal. He slid down, unconscious.
The second agent (the one I tripped) scrambled backward, eyes wide.
"What the—"
El glared at him. He dropped his gun and ran. Actually ran. Back into the woods.
Silence descended on the clearing.
Mike, Lucas, and Dustin stood there, mouths hanging open.
"Did..." Dustin pointed at El. "Did she just... using her mind?"
"Yeah," I exhaled, wiping a fresh trickle of blood from my nose. "She did."
El swayed. I caught her before she hit the ground.
"I got you," I whispered. She leaned heavily against me, burying her face in my chest.
"Friends don't lie," she mumbled into my shirt.
"We need to move," I said to the stunned boys. "Before his friends come back."
"How?" Lucas asked, eyeing the dented van. "We can't outrun a helicopter."
I looked at the bikes. Three bikes. Five people.
"We double up," I ordered. "Mike, you take El. She's light. Dustin, you take the front."
"What about you?" Lucas asked suspiciously.
I looked at Lucas. I looked at his bike.
"I'm riding on your pegs, Sinclair. Mush."
"I am not carrying you!" Lucas protested.
"I just saved your life with my Swedish mind powers!" (I didn't, but he didn't know that). "Drive!"
[ Location: The Wheelers' Basement ][ Time: 10:15 AM ]
We crashed into the basement, locking the door behind us. We were wet, muddy, and shaking.
I collapsed onto the beanbag chair. My headache was now a full-blown migraine.
[ Mission Complete: Evade Capture. ][ Reward: 100 Points. ][ Current Balance: 155 Points. ]
'Rich again. Sort of.'
I looked around. Mike was pacing. Dustin was staring at El like she was a shiny Pokémon. Lucas was pacing in the opposite direction of Mike.
El was sitting in "Castle"—the blanket fort under the table. She was shivering.
I walked over to the table. I grabbed the walkie-talkie.
"Here," I slid it into the fort.
She looked at me, then took it. She held it to her ear like a comfort object.
"Okay," Mike slammed his hands on the table. "Explain. Now. Who is she? What was that van thing? And why does your nose bleed when she does magic?"
I sighed. I grabbed a Kleenex from the side table and plugged my nostril.
"She," I pointed at the fort, "is Eleven. She escaped from that lab. The bad men want her back."
"And the powers?" Dustin asked, leaning in. "Is she a wizard?"
"Like... X-Men," I said, using a reference they would get. "She has powers. Telekinesis. Telepathy."
"And you?" Lucas narrowed his eyes at me. "You did something too. That guy tripped. And your nose bled."
I froze.
'Do I tell them? If I tell them, I change the dynamic. But if I lie, they won't trust me.'
"I don't have powers like her," I lied. "I... I just have a connection. Since the accident. Since I hit my head."
"The rock?" Dustin asked.
"Sure. Let's go with the rock. It... opened something up. I can do small things. But she..." I pointed at El. "She's the superhero."
El peeked out of the fort. She looked at Mike, then at me.
"Super... hero?" she asked.
"Yeah," Mike smiled softly. "Like a hero. But super."
El smiled. Then she looked at me. She crawled out of the fort and sat next to my legs, leaning her head on my knee.
Mike's smile faltered a bit.
'Sorry, Wheeler. I think I accidentally stole your romance plot.'
"Okay," Lucas said, crossing his arms. "So we have a fugitive superhero and a rich kid with brain damage. How does this help us find Will?"
"She found him on the radio," I said. "She can find him again. But she needs energy."
"Energy?" Dustin asked.
"Food," I said. "Real food. Not frozen waffles."
"I'm on it!" Dustin ran up the stairs. "Mrs. Wheeler just went grocery shopping!"
"I'll get dry clothes," Mike said, running after him.
That left me, Lucas, and El.
Lucas glared at El. "I don't trust her."
"You don't have to," I said, resting my hand on El's head (she purred, which was weird, but I rolled with it). "But she's our best shot at finding Will."
Lucas scoffed and turned away.
I opened the chat.
Ryomen Sukuna: I should have crushed their skulls.
Lloyd Frontera (Admin): Restraint doesn't pay the bills. But fine. You have points. Want to buy something? I have a "Used Chainsaw" in stock.
Vivan Frostwell: :.....:
Vivan Frostwell: No thanks. I want to buy an upgrade.
Lloyd Frontera (Admin): Hah! You think this is a pay-to-win game? You can't buy mastery, kid. You have to grind for it. The Shop only sells the seed; you have to grow the tree.
[ System Notice: Skills purchased in the Shop start at Level 1. Mastery increases through usage and strain. ][ Current Telekinesis Mastery: Level 1 (4%) ]
'Great. So I have to bleed to get stronger. Typical. At this rate, I'll be Level 2 by the time I'm thirty.'
Suddenly, the TV upstairs turned on. We could hear the news anchor's voice drifting down.
"...breaking news coming out of the Sattler Quarry..."
My blood ran cold.
'The Quarry. The fake body.'
"Guys!" Mike shouted from the top of the stairs. "Come up here! Hurry!"
I grabbed El's hand. We ran up the stairs into the living room.
Mrs. Wheeler was sitting on the couch, hand over her mouth. Dustin and Mike were staring at the screen.
On the TV, a news helicopter was circling the quarry. Police lights flashed everywhere.
"...state police have discovered a body in the water..."
The camera zoomed in. A small body being pulled onto a stretcher. Wearing a red vest.
Mike made a sound like a dying animal.
"No," he whispered. "No!"
Lucas dropped the bowl of snacks he was holding.
El looked at the screen, confused. "Will?"
"It's not him," I whispered fiercely, gripping El's shoulder. "El, look at me. That's not him."
She looked at me, fear in her eyes.
"Mike!" I shouted. "Mike, listen to me! It's a fake!"
Mike spun around, tears streaming down his face. "SHUT UP! Just shut up, Vivan! You saw it! He's dead!"
He ran out the front door.
"Mike!" Lucas ran after him.
Mrs. Wheeler was sobbing.
I stood there, chaos erupting around me. The Chat Group was silent.
'This is it. The low point. The breaking point.'
I looked at El. She looked terrified, sensing the grief in the room.
"It's not Will," she whispered to me.
"I know," I said, my voice shaking. "But we have to prove it."
I looked at my inventory. 155 Points.
'Remote Viewing. Just a high tolerance for pain. My head is already throbbing, but if I can project my mind to the quarry... if I can see that body up close... I can prove it's a fake.'
"El," I said. "We have work to do."
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