“This cannot be allowed to go on!” a small, shrouded figure hissed. His body was hidden beneath a thick black cloak, glowing yellow eyes the only part visible. He dipped low in a bow before his master. “They will destroy us.”

` The Master stirred, grumbling. Twice his size of the other guards, his silver cloak shone with energy currents running across his misshapen face. Red tattoos traced his skin. His golden eyes glowed with an otherworldly light.

“Synoya,” the Master said, voice like hissing snakes, “there is nothing to be done.”

“War. We must raise a war with the Earth!” Synoya growled. He glared around the blackened room. No one dared oppose him.

“And we shall die just the same,” the Master replied, calm but heavy with authority.

“Then we can take the humans with us!” Synoya snapped.

“No!” The Master’s voice boomed, shaking the chamber. “This fate is not in our hands! I see much.”

Synoya shook his head. “But yet you are blind. If this matter is not settled in five jecho, I will personally lead our brethren into battle.”

The Master’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded once. “So be it. But it will not be me who kills you. It will be another…a should-be enemy, yet blessed by the mighty Kepofus. Understand this, or your time will be short.”

Synoya laughed, mockingly bowing. “As you wish, sire.”

 

***

 

“Hey, Alicia!” Skyler’s voice cracked, yanking Alicia out of her foggy dream. She blinked, still dizzy, her mind trying to piece together what had just happened.

Paige lay in her cell, shivering and mumbling nonsense. Samuel was scouring the floor for anything to help them escape. Skyler stood frozen.

Alicia’s heart slammed. She didn’t think, couldn’t think. She acted.

Body surging with sudden strength. She stood, legs wobbling, eyes locked on Paige. The force field was all that stood in her way.

Closing her eyes, Alicia ran.

She expected an impact. A crash. Shock as the forefield crushed her. But none of that happened.

She pushed harder.

Another surge, and suddenly…that was it. The barrier gave way. She fell through, landing hard and gasping. She was free.

Alicia froze. Thirty seconds passed. Nothing moved. Then she heard Skyler’s gasp, and Paige’s whine.

Alicia’s hand started glowing faintly, blue and purple streaks running along her scar. Pain lingered, but there was…power. She felt both stronger and more fragile all at once.

Skyler whispered, “Alicia…”

“How…how did you—?” Samuel’s voice trembled from across the room. All he could do was stand there in shock.

Alicia would’ve just loved to lay there, staring at her hand and trying to solve the mysteries of the world. But as Paige made another groaning sound, she knew there were way more important things happening around her to worry about herself.

An alarm suddenly blared overhead, and she scrambled to Paige’s cell. There was a little keypad on the side, and she typed in a code she had no idea how she knew.

1698

The numbers slid into place with a soft beep. The force field shimmered, and dropped.

Alicia didn’t wait.

She hauled Paige out, breath quick and shallow, while Skyler and Samuel backed away from the forcefield as if it was still alive.

“Where…?” Paige whimpered, voice thin, eyes distant and focusing on an unknown place. She obviously wasn’t sane by any means.

Before Alicia could answer, steel doors flung open across the hallway. Red lights sliced through the shadows.

Guards.

They weren’t like the ones from Alicia’s dream. They were lean and fit, with glowing eyes and limbs that moved perfectly in sync with each other. They moved in silence.

Alicia flinched, freezing for a split second. Her mind spun with a thousand possibilities, and she bolted to Skyler’s cell and punched in the same code. As the cell disappeared, Skyler gave her a brief nod before running over to Paige and picking her up. Samuel’s cell was next, the guards getting dangerously close. They drew their swords, inches away by now.

“Run!” Alicia hissed.

Skyler’s jaw went tense. Samuel swallowed hard, eyes flicking between Alicia and the encroaching guards.

They sprinted.

The hallway wasn’t long, but it twisted like a maze. Lights flared above them, then died, then flared again. The guards were still chasing them, and fast.

Alicia’s leg burned with the effort, but she didn’t stop. Behind her, Skyler also seemed to be struggling, since Paige was still slung over her shoulder.

A guard rounded the corner, towering over them. Alicia skidded to a stop, fear taking control of her body, when something came alive in her chest. Like a spark, then a storm.

She reached out, not with her hand, but with her mind.

A wave of energy shot forward, and the guard suddenly convulsed, blue sparks crackling across its frame. In another flash of light, the guard was gone, disappearing into the air.

Skyler and Samuel froze.

Alicia stared at her trembling hand, then the hallway.

“Did you just…?” Skyler’s voice was quiet, shocked. The footsteps of the other guards dimmed behind them as they just stood there, completely frozen.

“I…I didn’t think,” Alicia whispered, breath shaking.

Samuel looked conflicted, eyes bright with fear and something else. Hope?

“Come on,” He said hesitantly, “We have to go.”