HERO

53 / Up

Thomas couldn't hold back his tears.

Bren had released him from her protective embrace once they'd been pulled through the mirror. It was a strange sensation for the pair, very different to that of teleportation. They felt they were being turned into water, spinning down a plug hole to the dark abyss beyond. Except, the darkness had somehow become light. Bright and warm and welcoming.

Then that, too, was gone, and they were... somewhere. Thomas was too shaken to look around, his body trembling and his face wet from crying. Bren, though also unnerved, held her emotions together. She didn't look at her friend as weak, however. He was just a kid. Only ten years old. He shouldn't have to face Spotters and potential death.

She knew she, too, was a child, but she had leapt across the intervening years and become an adult in a child's body. An onslaught of new powers had given her a sense of responsibility she had otherwise been ignorant of. And, also, she had faced impending death.

She let Thomas have his moment of release. He needed to let it out, in tears if he must, to be able to move on and do what had to be done. He would need strength. He'd have to show resolve. He'd not been lacking up to that point, but greater challenges were on the horizon.

She just couldn't tell him what they were.

Not yet.

It would destroy him.

"Where are we?" Thomas said, his words splintered by stifled sobs.

Bren surveyed the area they had appeared in. There were no mirrors, broken or otherwise. No sign of Oscar, real or, again, otherwise. She did, however, recognise the place.

It was far away from the city. Far from Oscar's hideout and the challenges of the Spot. It was so removed from anywhere they'd been for the past few days, the silence had settled around them like a blanket. It was war and safe, but whispered softly of ominous intent. The silence wasn't absolute, though. Apart from their breathing, other noises were apparent. The wind through undergrowth. The rustle of leaves on the sparse trees that seemed to be there only to see who this strange pair that had just appeared. Bren could image them to have hurried from their long rooted locations to see who these interlopers were.

Bren had been there earlier that day, before going to find Thomas and discovering him almost at the mercy of David. She'd found it thanks to her burgeoning powers, ones she didn't know fully how to control or contain. From the supposed one ability, powers had erupted within her to the point she wasn't sure how her young body was preventing their escape.

Or why they were there.

"We're close," she said quietly.

She could feel her stomach churning. Bile rising. She could have been sick at the thought of what might, and probably would, happen, but managed to gulp air to force the vomit back down.

"Close to where? We're miles away from anywhere. At least we can't be tracked here. How did you teleport without a marker?"

"I didn't," Bren said quietly. Her head wasn't in the conversation. It was further ahead. Further into the journey they were about to take. "Didn't you see Oscar?"

"Oscar?" Thomas paused for a moment. He couldn't remember. Had he? In one of the broken pieces of mirror? Or had he imagined it? "I don't think so."

"It doesn't matter," Bren said. It didn't really. How they got there wasn't the issue. Where they were going was. "At least we got away."

Thomas's tear streaked face lit up briefly in a relieved smile.

"Thanks to you," he said, hugging her.