Back at Square One (BEN Drowned)

30

"Are you done?"

I stopped. Excuse me?

"Because I feel like this is going to go on for some time, and I was really looking forward to destroying this building and everyone inside of it."

Without another word, Ben's entire being glowed and I felt the floor shaking underneath my feet. It was as if the entire structure was about to be undone; just deconstructed like that.

No, no. That's impossible. He can't just break down a whole building with his mind...can he?

I turned back to Jason, to make sure he hadn't ran away, and to my surprise he hadn't. He was still stuck there, still pointing, still in disbelief.

"You're the one they told me—"

He was cut off by a loud rumbling sound coming from inside the walls. When I looked at Ben again, he was holding his head and glitching violently, almost like he was about to die.

"Stop it! Get out! Get out of my head!"

He's trying to fight back.

I wanted more than anything to help him, but I couldn't think of anything that would. Instead, I stepped back, unable to do anything but watch as wooden planks started falling from the ceiling. Beams holding the place up began to shake, and I was certain the building would collapse soon. I could hear shuffling and yells from the upper level, as people started trying to escape.

But the door was locked.

It's going to come down with everyone inside.

I started breathing heavily, not sure what to do or where to go. I'd never be able to save everyone up there; even if I tried, Ben would probably find a way to stop me. The only thing I could do was grab Jason and get out of there. Somehow, right now Ben was distracted enough so that he couldn't hear the door to the church opening as I bolted outside with the Moon Child in tow, eventually letting go once we got far away enough.

I couldn't look as the base started to collapse with the rest of them stuck inside.

—

Jason shuffled along in dismay after me, searching desperately for something to cling to. It seemed to him that my arm would do, apparently. He was beyond shaken as he stared at the collapsing house. In a strange way, I understood why.

I should have listened.

"Oh, god. Oh, Luna, my everlasting queen!" He muttered, choking up. "What do we do? Where am I supposed to go every full moon at 2:00 sharp now?" I got the feeling he still wasn't exactly talking to me; "we" clearly wasn't referring to Avery and Jason. I sighed.

"We have to go. Who knows how long that'll keep him entertained for?"

When he didn't move, I groaned and pulled him along by the arm and started marching back home.

Home...

"Precisely how much do your parents know about this?"

"My parents co-founded the Children."

"Right," I sighed again, reaching my limit with all this cult shit for the fifth time this year. "Yeah. Okay, you're not going home tonight. Something tells me that wouldn't be the best idea. Follow me."

I really had no reason to say that, as I was already dragging him pretty abrasively to god-knows-where. I didn't even have a good idea of where I was supposed to take this poor guy. Everything he'd known for a solid chunk of his life was now in a wreck on the ground, Ben could find us no matter where we went, and he didn't even have a safe home.