Nightfire Warriors (Remastered)

19.

The sound of water dripping eventually wakes me. When I struggle to open my eyes, the first thing I see is a heavy, rusty pipe leaking from the ceiling. Barefoot, my feet feel icy, and I'm still wearing my pajamas for bed from before. I'm captured. A squeal escapes my throat as I absorb the situation. The cement, muscular walls around me are solid enough to be impassable. A blast from my fingers will indeed not send them crumbling down. I'm able to stand up, luckily not in chains or shackles.

The door outside my cell slams open and then closes with a louder thump. Boots pound against the cement floor and float in my direction. His shadow from the small candles enlarges when he approaches. It's a boy, pressing his face against the bars of the gate that separate us.

"I see you're awake." His age surprises me. I think he's only fourteen, although I shouldn't underestimate warriors who are children. Still, he has a perfect look for an innocent teenager: black hair, perfect teeth, stylish, and somehow charming with his villainous smile.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"Don't worry about me," the boy sneers. "The Covenant Leader is very interested in meeting you."

"Why would he want to meet me?"

"Don't be scared of him," the boy assures me. "If Kor wanted you dead, you wouldn't be alive right now. He wants to ask you a few questions about your father. Noah Devlin. He was the last one to see the Orichalcum. Care to explain where he is?"

The question sets me aback. Jace was correct this entire time. My dad's kidnappers are not the Cluster.

"You're not going to talk," he realizes. "That's okay. We were expecting this. I'll take you to see Kor in a few minutes." His back turns to face me as he proceeds to leave the dungeons. "Oh, one more thing," he adds as an afterthought. "Make sure you don't lie to him. He doesn't like that." The door slams shut behind him, and I'm left alone.

My haunting thoughts start wandering towards my dad's guilt of stealing the Orichalcum. I'm beginning to believe it now. There can be a million reasons why he did it, and none of them don't necessarily need to be taking over the universe. Still, that doesn't give others the right to kidnap, capture, and torture him for it. Regardless, I'm not involved.

I have an advantage here. As Palmer said, the Cluster isn't tuned in with A'Dimsyte's media. If they were, they would know I have no idea where my dad is. Although this creates another number of mysterious questions—like how they know about me— I quickly dismiss them. There must be a way out of here.

In the best-case scenario, they have no idea what my genetic abilities are. I did use them in front of one reptilian. The one who put the syringe in me. Maybe he's smart enough to tell the others what I'm capable of and makes sure everything in this room is immune to my powers. I don't know. I'm making too many assumptions here. I'm not carrying any weapons or gadgets. Only my molecular manipulation can get me out of this one. My freezing feet tiptoe to the cell door. I have a stupid moment trying to jerk it open. It's fragile, but the blast aftershock will be shrill enough to send every Cluster member coming my way. And the boy is going to come back any second. It's now or never.

I use two blasts to get the job done. The first blast is loud and snaps the locks off. I pause to make sure no one overhears. Cautiously but quickly, my hands gradually flick again. The explosion hurls the concrete, and rubble piles up in the cell. Through the dust, I see a gap large enough to escape through. I'm free.

I start moving. The dungeons are dark, with countless occupied cells. Everyone rushes to the bars and watches me closely. They're gasping, making a commotion while pointing fingers at me. Children included are poignant without a single hint of joy behind their eyes. Are these other prisoners? All sorts of species, some I don't recognize, fit the role of a hostage because they look starving. You can see it in their bones, the filth on their tattered clothes. Jesus Christ. Where am I? This place is terrible...