I couldn't move. I just stood there gaping at High Trainer Globe. In less than a moment he was just...gone.
I looked around at the rest of the group.
Lila was openly crying. Chris was looking everywhere except at High Trainer Globe. Alex kept whispering "This is messed up" and Luke just seemed really confused.
I didn't know High Trainer Globe for that long but his death really hit me hard, I can only imagine what Caleb...
Caleb
I turned to Caleb, ready to comfort him in any way I could, but what I saw stopped me in my tracks. Caleb wasn't crying, breaking down or moving. He wasn't freaking out at all. Heck, the guy was barely blinking. He was just staring at his father with a blank expression on his face.
I reached out to touch him, hoping to snap him out of it, but just as I made contact Caleb jerked up.
"We have to keep moving. We need to get as far away as we possibly can before the Hunters are able to establish their perimeters," he said mechanically.
So that was what he was going to do. He was planning to pretend like nothing happened. That wasn't healthy and I wasn't going to let him do it.
"Caleb, stop it," I said softly.
Caleb looked at me briefly before continuing to speak.
"Once we get to the tunnels, you have to be quiet because they run directly through HQ. Any sound you make will probably be heard by those outside. I am hoping the gunfire masks the sound of our steps."
"Caleb, I am serious. You can't ignore what just happened, " I insisted.
Caleb didn't even spare me a look this time before carrying on. The others were standing quietly watching the exchange.
"The tunnel is about five miles long. Once we get out we will then have to-"
"Caleb, your father is dead. You cannot shut down and act like nothing happened because that will destroy you!" I shouted.
Caleb turned to me, finally showing some emotion. His eyes were filled with pain, sorrow and a hint of anger.
"Sephora, I am well aware that my father is dead. A part of me died the very second he passed away but this is not the time nor the place for me to lose it. I need to honour his last wish first before I can really grieve him. That wish was to get you all to safety. Please just allow me to deal with this in the only way I know how right now. Please," he whispered.
I went up to him and pulled him close. I had to go on my tiptoes in order to reach him.
"I am sorry Caleb. I was just worried about you. I know how it feels to lock things up inside," I whispered to him.
"I know Sephora. Thank you for caring but I need to do this for my father. I need to do this for me," he whispered back. Then he let go and turned to the others.
"We need to get going," he said moving to wooden panel on the group.
He reached down to the panel just like High Trainer Globe did. But this time instead of pressing it down once he pushed it twice quickly.
The floor dropped just like before but this time we were prepared. Once the floor stopped moving, we found ourselves in a dark, damp tunnel.
I created a small ball of light and saw Caleb moving down the tunnel. The rest of us quickly followed him.
I knew the very minute we had entered the heart of HQ. Inside the tunnel you could hear everything so clearly. The battle was still going strong. Every shot and scream seemed to be right next to you. I flinched when a shot sounded particularly close to the tunnel. It was a truly horrifying experience.
When we finally got out of the tunnel, I was surprised to see the sun still up in the sky. I looked down at my watch and saw it was only about four in the afternoon. I guess with all that had happened today I thought it would be really late.
At this realization, I became more aware of my surroundings. We were right in the middle of a forest. All I could see were trees spanning in every direction.
"Caleb, where are we? And where are we going?" I asked.
"Yeah, what's the plan?" Alex added.
"We are in a secluded area of the Galloway Forest. It's the biggest forest in Scotland, which made it the perfect place for HQ to disappear," Caleb replied.
"Apparently, it didn't disappear well enough," Chris muttered.
Everyone turned and glared at him. Chris held up his hands in surrender.
"Anyway, my father and I always had this contingency plan just in case anything like this ever happened. My uncle lives about fifty miles away from here in the town of Knowe. He can give us a place to stay for a bit until we can find a way out of Scotland. He has connections around that could help us," Caleb said pulling out a compass.
He walked around for a bit until he found the right direction.
"It will be about twelve and a half hours on foot so we better get moving," he said, walking at a brisk pace.
Did he say TWELVE AND A HALF hours?
*****
We had been walking really fast for about thirty minutes straight. On a usual day this kind of pace would have been killing me, but I wasn't even out of breath. I was just about to ask Caleb about it when I heard the sound of engines speeding towards us.
I immediately drew my power to the surface, ready to fend off the latest threat.
"Lila, run over there and check out how many there are. Alex, follow her for backup. The rest of us will stay here just in case they are planning to draw us out," Caleb ordered, getting ready.
He is going to be a great High Trainer.
Lila and Alex went off towards the sound of the engines while the rest of us waited.
And waited.
And still waited.
By now even Caleb was looking quite worried. Just when we were getting ready to go and search for them, Lila and Alex burst through the trees holding two people. The people looked really rough, with bruises and wounds all over them.
"Sorry guys. We ran into a problem, " Lila said, huffing breathlessly.
"When we got to the source of the noise, we found these two being chased by a group of Hunters on motorcycles," Alex explained.
"We had to help them, so we let out all the air in the Hunters tyres and grabbed them, l" Lila continued.
"But we knew it wouldn't hold them back for long and we wanted to make sure we didn't lead them back to you guys," Alex said.
"So we ran in the opposite direction to you for a while to lay some false tracks before coming here. Don't worry about them following us back Caleb, we made sure to cover our steps." Lila said.
Alex and Lila were both smiling wide now, obviously feeling quite proud. One look at Caleb wiped the smiles straight from their faces.
"Do you know how much you risked doing that? You could have been captured and all of us would have had to go back looking for you. You have not been trained to handle that kind of situation. Plus, you exposed at least one of your powers to them. Sephora's father thought that she was the only one with powers in this group. That is why he was willing to kill us. When those Hunters report back to him, he is going to realise that you all have powers and he will be even more determined to get you back. I appreciate what you were trying to do but it would have been better if you had just left them," Caleb said.
Then the person who Alex was holding spoke.
"Wow Caleb, I have known you since you were a kid and this is how you treat me. I am totally feeling the love right now," said the person.
Wait, I know that voice. More specifically, I know that sarcasm.
"Des." I said.
Des lifted her dirty, but still beautiful, face from Alex's shirt and glared at me.
Yep. That's Des.
"I am alive too. Thanks for asking, " piped the other person.
"Jaydel." I said, running to her. I couldn't even think about being angry with her right now.
"Hey Cash," she said softly.
"Don't get me wrong guys, I am happy you made it out and all, but how did you escape?" Caleb asked.
"No thanks to you, obviously, Caleb." said Des snidely.
Des turned to Alex who was still holding her.
"Hey, pretty boy, we aren't surgically attached you know," she said. Alex quickly dropped her to her feet. Lila did the same for Jaydel.
"To answer your question Caleb, we used the tunnels." Des said.
When Caleb started to argue, Des held up her hand and continued.
"Not the same tunnels you used Caleb. We used the old escape tunnels," she said.
"Those tunnels were abandoned for a reason Des. They are highly unstable and could have collapsed on you," Caleb reprimanded.
"Well, it's better to die there than to be tortured to death by my enemy," Des said bitterly.
Everyone got really quiet after that.
"So," Caleb said, breaking the silence, "did you find out how they knew the whereabouts of HQ?"
Des brightened at this, smiling widely.
"Why yes Caleb, I did," she said still smiling.
We all waited for her to continue but Des just started messing about with her nails.
"Well, would you like to tell us then?" Caleb said rolling his eyes.
"Oh fine then." Des said dramatically, turning and pointing right at me.
"It was all princess' fault."
A/N: So that was Chapter 16. It was one of the calmer chapters of this book but I hope you all still enjoyed it. If you did please vote for it. You can also comment if you like. Here's my question for this chapter. Why do you think it is Sephora's fault that the Hunters found HQ? (Keep in mind the person who is saying this.)