• Family Ties
    Jamie


    I kept running even though I wanted to go back and get Tory. She had told me to run and took off in the opposite direction. NightDust wanted her but I didn’t have a clue as to why, she was a non-power and if it was because she was Noah’s girlfriend, they were out of luck there. As soon as I got to the Drake building, I would tell them that we needed to search for her or I would start it myself. I hated leaving her alone out there but this was her plan and I was going to stick to it.
    The park trees started to thin and I could see bright lights at the end of the path. I pushed my legs to run faster. I could see the building now; it was an old historic building that had vines climbing all over it. It looked old on the outside but the inside. It was new and decked out with new kinds of technology.
    I came out of the trees at a dead run and almost bowled someone over. Mumbling sorry, I ran up the steps and burst into the main foyer. The girl at the desk looked up at my entrance, she looked annoyed.
    “May I help you?” she asked. I was right, she was annoyed.
    I put my hand up for her to wait a minute while I caught my breath. “Yeah, I need to talk to Seth Bryce.”
    Her eyes widened, she forgot her annoyance to do what I asked without any comments. I only had to wait a few minutes for him to come down. I saw him walking down the corridor, tall at six’ four with jet black hair and cold grey eyes; he looked a hell of a lot scarier than he was. Maybe.
    “Seth–” I started to say.
    “Walk.” Was all he said as he grabbed my arm and led me down the other hallway. People watch on in interest, horror and humour.
    “Seth, I–”
    “No talking, you’re in so much trouble,” he said, voice sombre.
    “But–”
    “No! You went out without a partner and came back late, do you know–”
    “LISTEN!” I all but shouted at him as I pulled my arm out of his grasp.
    He stared at me with a startled expression, I had never yelled at him before or anyone for that matter. I was always the calm one, where Tory was outgoing.
    I looked at the ground and took a deep breath, remembering Tory hurt. “I didn’t go out alone. I took Tory with me.”
    “YOU DID WHAT?!” he yelled. People at the end of the hallway turned to look with startled expressions and moved away.
    I cringed. “I know, it was a bad idea but she needed–”
    “Where is she now?” he asked.
    I looked up from the ground to his face, it was calm and expressionless. “I don’t know, that’s what–”
    “What do you mean ‘I don’t know’?” he asked, voice going from angry to enraged in a second.
    “We were attacked and she used herself as a distraction. I lost her,” I said with a small hitch.
    “You… You lost her?” he said. He had to swallow to stay it.
    “I’m so sorry, I never should have taken her out, but right now we need to get a search party out to find her,” I said desperately.
    “Yeah… yes, we need to find her. I’ll go talk to Landen,” he said. Landen Drake was the head of the agency and only officers could directly speak to him.
    “Okay, I’ll round up some people,” I said as I started off in the other direction.
    A hand landed on my shoulder, I looked at Seth. His expression had change, now he was worried.
    “I don’t want you going out there, stay inside the building,” he said and then he walked off.
    I stood there with my mouth gaping. Fat chance I was going to stay here. I was going out to help whether he liked it or not.
    •

    Hours later I sat in the training room, practically bouncing off the walls. The other officers had gone out to look for Tory; they said ‘you are to stay here, Seth’s orders.’ I hated that Seth was telepathic, it meant he could send messages to anyone he wanted, in a certain range of course.
    I hadn’t heard from Seth or the other officers about Tory yet, I was really hoping that they would find her soon. But I had my doubts; she was being chased by three highly skilled NightDust agents. I wasn’t sure she was still alive.
    I was startled when the door opened wide and Seth walked in. I got to my feet ready to ask if he had found Tory yet but he stopped me.
    “We’re having a meeting about the situation; I think you should be there,” he said. His face had a slight sadness to it.
    I knew than that he hadn’t found Tory and that they were calling off the search. At the meetings we weren’t meant to talk but I was going to voice my opinion and didn’t care how much trouble I got in.
    I followed Seth out and down to the meeting room. As we got closer the louder it became, there must have been an argument going on.
    Seth stopped at a door and opened it, inside were people standing or sitting, yelling at each other from across the room. I only got snippets of the conversation.
    “…We should attack….”
    “…Who cares, it’s just a girl…”
    “…Her father has done so much for us…”
    “…She’s no use to us anyway, she has no power…”
    “Silence!” A loud voice boomed.
    I looked towards the voice; Landen Drake the director of the Drake Agency and the famous foresighter at level ten. To his left was Noah; he looked as sombre as ever.
    Why didn’t he go out and help? I thought, he cared for Tory but yesterday…
    Landen looked around at his officers, men and women, decision set in the lines of his face.
    “We all have an opinion of the girl but now is not the time to voice it,” he said with a glare at some people. “Amelia, what did you find?”
    Amelia Castle stepped forward. She was short with midnight black hair and a level five cloaker. She was one of the most trusted officers here and one of the best.
    “Sir, I…” Amelia started. She looked down at the ground. Amelia was the one that had trained Tory in combat; they had formed a very close bond.
    “Speak up, Amelia,” Landen said.
    “I have to regret that… that we did not find anything, Sir,” she finally said.
    “Nothing? Not even a trace?” Landen asked, but from his facial expression I could tell that he’d heard it before.
    “No, Sir, nothing but a burnt out vehicle,” she said again with a scuff of her boot.
    I blinked, this was news to me. When had the car been burnt? Wait, what about the bodies of the two dead NightDust people? Where were they?
    Landen looked around, his eyes stopped on Seth and me. “Seth, is this the boy that reported it?”
    Seth showed no fear like Amelia did. “Yes, Sir, this is Jamie.”
    “Step forward, boy,” Landen said.
    I swallowed and took a step forward. “Yes, Sir.”
    “You said you were the one out on patrol last night with the girl, a girl that wasn’t rostered on, and that you were attacked,” he said like he was stating something. “Is this right?”
    “Yes, Sir, it is,” I answered back.
    “And that she ran to protect you. Now may I ask why you were out with a girl that wasn’t rostered on and doesn’t have any defence abilities?” He asked in a mocking tone. People around us snickered, thinking the worst.
    “Sir, with all due respect, what you are thinking is wrong. If you knew anything about us juniors then you’d know that Tory is like a sister to me and your son is seeing her.” There were a few gasps of surprise, for what, I don’t know.
    Landen glared at me, I had spoken out of context but I didn’t care. “That still doesn’t explain why you took her out.”
    I took a breath. “I took her out because she had a hard time today and she needed to get out.”
    “Right…” I could hear the disbelief dripping from that one word. “In any case, I think that this search shall be called off.”
    My head snapped up to look at him. “You can’t do that!”
    He looked back at me. “I’m the director, and I can do anything I want.”
    “You can’t! We have to find her. She’s smart; she’ll stay close to home. We can find her,” I said desperately.
    “Enough!” Landen said as he got out of his chair.
    I snapped my mouth shut, I didn’t think arguing with him was such a good idea. But there was one person that could.
    I turned to Noah, who was now in arms reach. “Noah, do something. She’s your girlfriend!”
    He just stared at me. “She’s gone, Jamie, and it’s time to face it.”
    My mouth dropped. How could he think like that? “Noah, you don’t mean that! Think of all the things she’s done for you!” I said, advancing a step.
    “What things? She hasn’t done jack–”
    My fist collided with his face making his jaw turn red and causing him to stumble. Collective gasps sounded again.
    “Tory was right… You can go get AIDS from some bimbo down the street!” I said. I turned and walked out, ignoring the people that called my name.

    Max

    “You let her get away?!” The boss screamed at my men and me.
    “Not on purpose, boss, she just vanished into thin air,” I mumbled at him. Not actually sure what had happened to her because she had vanished into thin air.
    The boss put a hand to the bridge of his nose and pinched it like he had a headache. He was sitting in his desk chair and leaning on the desk in front of him.
    “People just don’t vanish into thin air, Max,” he said quietly, almost to himself.
    “I don’t know what else to tell you, boss,” I mumbled again.
    He wanted this girl but he never told us why she was so important to him, not that he ever told us anything anyway. It was just orders and that was it. Nothing about the people, nothing about the place and nothing about how to get them.
    “Two juniors, two juniors and you couldn’t even come back with one of them.” He was getting angrier now.
    “I didn’t think juniors were allowed to carry weapons?” I crossed my arms in defence, knowing it wouldn't do me any good.
    “Looks like they have gotten a bit lax since I was last there, or Seth overlooks the rules,” he said, taking his hand anyway from his face.
    I could never get over seeing his face the first time, the Drake boys always looked similar. He could pass off for his brother if he didn’t the scar that crossed his face and his left eye. Other than that, they could be classified as twins.
    “Why is she so important anyway? Just seems like another snotty teenage girl,” I murmured more to myself than to him.
    But he heard me. “What's with all the questions, Max? Don’t you trust me?”
    I stopped and thought about it before I answered his question. “I’m not sure.”
    It was the wrong answer, his face turned dark and his hazel eyes turned red in a second. “I can’t have people around me that don’t trust me or I can’t trust them.”
    Before I could make sense of the words, he threw a spear of fire at me and I have no time to move. I choked as it went through the middle of my chest; the others scrambled to the side and watched on in horror.
    I felt blood start to soak my shirt and run down my stomach. I choked and coughed up more blood, I was finding it hard to breathe as my breath came out in short and short gasps. I tried to reach for the spear and take it out but that only succeed in getting my hands burnt.
    I cried out in agony and willed this to be some sort of nightmare. But as I looked up at the man that had brought around my death, I knew that that face was nothing a nightmare could come up with.
    “Dar–ren…Drake.” I coughed up more blood and fall forewords onto the ground.
    “Let this be a lesson to all of you, do not cross paths with me and you shall live a long happy life,” Darren Drake called out to the rest of the clan.
    “Stay hidden, Tory Jordan,” I mumbled the words that would never get to her.
    Blackness started to take me, and for once I felt sorry of the people at the Drake agency because they had to deal with him. I waited as darkness took me, hoping a better life than this one was somewhere waiting for me.

    Tory

    I shivered as a tingle pasted up my spine; it felt like someone was watching me and a tingle up the spine usually meant that. I looked around to see if someone was watching me, but nothing was there.
    Almost as soon as I turned back to head up the street a whisper caught my ear and echoed around me. “Stay hidden, Tory Jordan.”
    I spun around quickly, thinking that I might catch the person that was behind me and tell them to stop scaring me. But no one was there.
    “Why should I stay hidden?” I asked out loud, hoping someone or thing would answer me.
    “Because they are still looking for you…” the voice echoed around me again, the wind carried it away.
    “Who?” I shouted at the invisible voice.
    “NightDust…” it echoed once more.
    “Why?! Why are they after me?” I shouted again, taking a step up the side walk. But this time the voice didn’t reply.
    Stay hidden because NightDust are still looking for me but why? I didn’t get it; I had done nothing to them for them to be this persistent. Why couldn’t they just leave me alone?!
    Staying hidden meant that I could never let Jamie or Seth know that I was alive, like I had originally planned. I felt sad and heavy, almost like I was holding the world on my shoulders and it was pushing down on me.
    I looked at the street where the voice had come from and turned the walk I was heading. Leaving that voice meant I was leaving everything else behind and for the better as well.


    - I must have been crazy, but why did I listen to the voices then?