Power (Book 1)

Chapter 36

"Burn, baby, burn," I muttered. I set the telephone pole down across the road, and the sparks flew from the wires onto the ice.

Jake realized what I was doing too late. "No, Jay, I'm your best friend! Don't do this-"

Fire erupted on the ice. It melted instantly, and Jake dropped to the ground. The fire sucked at him, making him weak.

I briefly turned into my diamond form to walk through the fire. Jake was gasping inside the ring. His eyes were pleading for me to stop, but I couldn't trust him. Not now. He would have to deal with the pain.

I walked closer to him. After one last look, I punched him in the face. He was knocked unconscious. I calmly walked back out and transformed back.

I picked up Cassie and started running. I didn't even look back.

I just felt...cold. I didn't want to think about how I had just treated my best friend, who didn't ask to have his mind taken over by a psychopath. But it had to be done.

At least, that's what I kept telling myself.

I stopped when I drew near to the hospital doors. I chose to go to the emergency room. I had no idea what was wrong with Cassie.

"Hey, this girl needs medical attention," I said to the woman behind the counter.

"What's wrong with her?" the woman asked. She stared at me with a look that told me I wasn't a priority right now.

"She overused her powers. Then she went unconscious," I said. "She woke up, but...something happened. Now, I think there's something seriously wrong with her." I looked at Cassie's face, sweat starting to build on her brow.

"Are you joking?" the woman asked incredulously. "You can't overuse your powers. They don't work like that."

"Just check her out!" I yelled at her. My patience was paper thin right now.

"Sir. Calm down," she said. "Sit and wait your turn."

"I-" I took a deep breath to settle my nerves. "Look, this girl needs help. All I'm asking is for you to do your job."

"I will. Thanks for the reminder." The sarcasm made me want to reach across and strangle the woman's neck.

I sat down. After a second of thought, I propped Cassie up in the chair next to me.

There was no one else in the room. After a moment, I figured out what this was. You don't tell someone to wait in the emergency room. You go here so that you don't have to wait. Plus, you don't sit down while your friend could be possibly dying; you get help.

The Master. This was him again. He was probably stalling because there really was something wrong with Cassie.

"Ma'am?" I said as politely as I could. "Shouldn't you be doing something to help my friend?"

"We have a healer, but she hadn't come yet," the woman said.

"Well, don't you have precautions for that sort of thing?"

"Yes, but I'd much rather wait for her to arrive, wouldn't you?"

She had to duck to dodge the lamp I threw at her.