Van Terra [MOVING JUNE 30]

Chapter Fourteen ~ How I Got Caught Shoplifting At Mota Mart (Gone Wrong)...

"Dragging this out won't help you—"

It was easy for Jasper to put more of her strength into the shelf without letting on. She gave the Blade a casual eyebrow lift as she leaned back. One moment, everything was calm.

The next, the shelf was toppling.

"Hey!" The Blade shouted.

"Oops." Jasper grabbed Grace's arm. "Sorry 'bout that." She delivered a swift kick to the shelf in front of her, sending it falling in the opposite direction. "Let's go, Angel!"

Jasper flipped through her vision modes as they ran. Heat. X-ray. Her arm shot out to the right. She knocked a display to the ground, sending fruits rolling across the floor.

"What was that for?" Grace asked, eyes wild, chest heaving, hands shaking.

"Heat of the moment, baby!" Grace didn't need to know about the squad of Blades approaching from that direction, just out of view. She was scared enough as it was.

The machinery and computer chips they'd jammed into Jasper's brain all those years ago hummed as they kicked into overdrive. The world slowed down, and Jasper's limbs slowed with it. The sound of shelves crashing to her left became distant. She focused on other sounds: a glass bottle dropping and shattering on the floor, a smartsphere buzzing, a gun going off.

Jasper's hand tightened around Grace's arm as her head turned in the direction of the gunshot. The timing had to be perfect. Three, two, one—she shoved Grace forward. The bullet zipped between them. She pulled Grace back. The world sped up.

They caught up with the wave of toppling shelves. Two security guards—more undercover Blades—emerged from an aisle on their right to block their path.

Jasper pulled Grace to the left, into a toy aisle. "Faster!" she shouted. The shelf next to them began its fall. The patch of light on the other end, their exit, shrank. Jasper blindly grabbed at the items tumbling from the falling shelf, hoping for anything that could do some damage.

The shelf was mere inches from the top of her head when she and Grace burst out on the other side of the aisle. They were greeted by three Blades.

"Stay back," Jasper warned. "Or face my—" She held up her hand and found she'd grabbed a yo-yo.

The Blades laughed and lifted their blasters. Jasper pushed Grace down as they fired. The yo-yo string looped around her finger. She swung.

The closest Blade yelped in pain as the toy smacked into his fingers with surprising speed. His blaster clattered to the ground. Grace started to get back up.

The other two Blades fired again, each taking a different target. In a panic, Jasper shoved a dazed Grace back to the floor. The blast meant for her grazed Jasper's arm. She staggered back and sucked in a sharp breath. Her skin burned.

Jasper smacked the first Blade in the head with the yo-yo before he could pick his weapon back up. Then she hit a second Blade, sending the woman staggering backward and knocking her blaster out of her hands.

The third Blade fired at Jasper. While she dodged, he aimed at Grace, who was making another attempt at pushing herself up off the floor. The yo-yo wrapped around his wrist. Jasper yanked hard, and he stumbled toward her. One punch to the jaw sent him to the ground. Jasper kicked his blaster away from him, tossed the yo-yo aside, and pulled Grace up into another sprint.

An exit sign glowed up ahead. Jasper slammed into the metal door with more force than she'd intended. "Mia, summon the car!" she yelled as she flung it open.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" Mia responded.

"Summon! The! Car!" Jasper pushed Grace through the doorway.