Emblems

Chapter 3: Safe Haven

In a flash, she was off the bed, sprinting out of the room, breath heaving. She had to run and run and run. There was no destination; her only goal was to get out, get away. She needed to escape herself, the terrible realization that she had done something unforgivable.

There was an open door ahead. She couldn’t see anything but darkness beyond the doorway.

Something hit the back of her knees. She tripped and fell, splayed out on the floor. Her fingers were only hair’s breadth away from the light. Then the door slammed shut.

Amber’s fingers curled into a fist and her nails scratched against the floor. At the sound of approaching footsteps, she whipped around, almost snarling. They stopped a few feet away from her. Amber backed into the door – cornered animal.

“We’re not going to hurt you.”

She remained silent, knees drawn up into a chest, eyes narrowed.

“My name is Christopher. This is my brother Kurt. We run this camp for the Adept. All we want to know is what happened to you and your aunt. Do you know what happened to her?” His eyes were a warm brown and his voice was low and calming.

“Go away.” Her voice was low too. Low and dangerous.

“We can’t help you if you don’t tell us what happened.”

“Who said I wanted your help?” she retorted, curling into herself. There were shadows gathering at the door, surrounding her, and the corridor was becoming dimmer by the second.

“Can you tell us what your—”

“Leave me alone!” Her form flickered in the dim light.

The twins shared a look; it was just a glance, but one full of meaning. “All right,” Christopher started. “Just let us say something first. We know you have powers; we can sense them on you. We can do this because we have powers too. I guess you can call it magic.”

Amber looked at the other man. Kurt’s face was impassive, but she saw nothing that made her doubt his brother’s words. “Prove it then.”

There was a stool that was lying on its side. It had been the thing that hit her in the back of the knees just minutes before. Under Christopher’s gaze, it lifted into the air and righted itself before lowering to the floor, landing with barely a sound. Her eyes flicked from stool to him and back again.

“I see.” Her voice was small. “So there really are people like me.” She widened her eyes and half-stood, reaching for the door behind her for support. Her idea was half-formed, nothing concrete, and she fought the wish that the mind reader wouldn’t pick up on it, because wouldn’t that hope alert him too?

But Kurt met her gaze and his eyes narrowed. Understanding was already flashing in the brownness of his irises. He was too late, though. The cool metal of the doorknob was under her fingers. She hadn’t heard the snick of the lock, so Christopher had only slammed them closed in his haste. Just a twist of the knob, and she was barreling out the door.