the butterfly effect | l. garmadon

thirty-six

  Axon stopped at the entrance of a dilapidated, run-down apartment building. It was surrounded by a tall wire fence covered with demolition signs warning passerbys to stay away. He glanced up and down the street before stepping through the gate, his body rippling and disappearing into thin air.

  Skylor held out a hand, and Neuro placed his in her grasp. Her own power pulled at his, tugging a duplication of it into her soul, where it bloomed and bled until it latched onto her. She winced upon the burst of false noise that entered her brain - people's thoughts and memories, a wall of images, laughing and crying and dreams and broken hearts.

  She forced her eyes open against the cacophony and found a neat building where the run-down one once stood.

  "Are you stable?" Neuro asked. He could read how much she struggled beneath his particular power. It was worse than most.

  Skylor stiffly nodded. "Peachy." She turned a determined smile towards the Master beside her. "Ready to kick your baby brother's ass and get that spellbook?"

  She stepped toward the apartment building, stopped only by Neuro's hand around her wrist. She looked back at him.

  "We were not told to take him out," he reminded. "We were told to locate him. This is espionage only."

  Skylor slumped in disappointment. "We never get to do the fun stuff."

🍃🍂🍁🍃🍂

  While Pixal explained to the ninja whose vehicle was whose and what button did what, Borg rolled his wheelchair to my side. I took the chance to duck beneath his umbrella. I didn't have Nya beside me to create a dome of dryness like the one over Cole.

  "Y/n, would you mind a quick chat?" he asked.

  Still starstruck (because this was Cyrus Borg - and he remembered my name!), I could only nod listlessly with glazed eyes. He turned his chair and headed toward the edge of the courtyard, where we could talk without being collateral damage of the donuts Jay was currently making on his new blue bike.

  Borg was surprised at seeing that Lloyd had followed, trailing after me with our hands entwined. It was like he was glued to my side.

  "Well?" Borg looked at Lloyd plainly. "Go play with your new toys like the others." When Lloyd hesitated, his hand tightening over mine, Borg raised his brows. He flicked at him with his fingers. "Go on. Shoo."

  Unhappily, Lloyd released my hand and trudged through the rain back to the others. I watched him go, faintly amused.

  "I see you have become that boy's safety net," Borg commented.

  I measly shrugged. "He's been through a lot."

  "And so have you, I see," he said. When I turned back to him with a confused look, he nodded at my necklace. "I've been receiving the readings from your pendant." The expression he sent me was full of sympathy. "You have had quite the week, my dear."

  I deflated a little. I forgot that it didn't just record my powers - it recorded my emotional state, too. He would've seen all the times I panicked and cried or jumped over the sides of ships. Awesome. Just the emotional bolster I needed.