kris didn't talk much after that.
although it wasn't as if she'd been very chatty before.
the pit in her stomach only grew. on the way to town, they passed the lake again. everywhere she could look she did so, but she couldn't find any sign of their surviving. jacob seemed relatively unaffected by the incident, and probably was. he'd never thought hurting, or, at this point, maybe killing, as a very serious issue. it terrified her, now more than before.
eventually, back in the city again, kris calmed herself down. 'they're fine,' she told herself, 'everyone is going to be pissed beyond belief, but we'll make it work and they'll be okay '. the anxiety level in her continued to fluctuate, but never rising to panic levels. as long as she could keep herself calm, things would work themselves out.
several minutes later, the car slowed to a stop. kris uncertainly clenched the door handle. her nerves began to get the better of her. she didn't know what the plan was anymore, or if this whole thing had been planned since the beginning.
jacob glanced at her and grinned in light-hearted amusement. "loosen up, we're almost done here. i just need to finish some unfinished business."
with that, he left the car, and left kris inside. that gave her some sense of isolated comfort, but she wondered what there was left for him to do.
--
jacob could move very quickly when he wanted to.
nothing like super speed- of course he wasn't that lucky- but in a matter of three minutes he'd crossed through four neighbourhoods by jumping the fences. he kept track of every second; if something here went awry, he'd need to book it back.
he hadn't planned on being tailed, and that had killed more time than they had had available. it was a serious time crunch, and they could miss their golden time slot. if he hurried, though, they could slide through just in time.
there was a weight on his side, and he pushed the side of his pea-coat aside.
getting the gun had been a piece of complex business. he'd handed the job over to eli and joseph some time ago. thus far, it'd been a very simple detail. and no doubt someone would end up catching them for the theft if by the end of the day there was even a chance of that happening.
five minutes and seventeen seconds away from the car, jacob knocked on the front door of the house. he thanked his lucky stars the information had been logged in the archive. otherwise finding the residence would've taken considerably longer. and would've certainly begun to raise suspicion. after a few seconds, the door started to open and jacob readied himself. an older woman with red-brown hair came out, jacob thus putting on a business-like smile.
"good morning," he said, "you're the mother of kris, correct?"
slowly, she nodded. "yes..?"
"do you, um, mind if i come inside?"
after some hesitation, she nodded again and held the door for him to walk in.
"so you know about my daughter?" her mother asked once she'd shut the door.
jacob let her pass him. "yes, i'm a telekinetic myself. i've been living in the same establishment as her for some time. if ever needed, i could be of some assistance if you ever wanted to find her."
she looked at him, her expression shifting from confused to intrigued. her eyes were wide and made her look a quarter insane. it was almost startling to jacob.
"what's it like?" she asked.
it took him a moment to realize what she'd meant. "oh, it's, uh, it's fine. we've got plenty of food, water, clean rooms, everything's up to standards. but," he shrugged and smiled sympathetically. "there's no place like home."
she smiled in agreement. "exactly right. can i interest you in anything to drink?"
"coffee, please?"
he reached under his jacket and fiddled around with the grip of the gun. it wouldn't take long to eliminate her, although there was still a sister to deal with. the gun had been loaded since he had arrived on the property; it was a considerable miracle it hadn't gone off and shot him in the leg.
with her head turned and preoccupied in the next room, he decided to take the chance. he moved the cocked gun into his hand, exhaled softly and quietly out his mouth, and held the weapon up in plain view. a slight bit of telekinesis was needed on his part to steady the consistent shaking that a normal human arm seemed to be victim of.
a sudden movement up to his right caught his eye. he spun his head to look. a girl stood on the landing of the stairs, staring wide-eyed at jacob in terror. he exhaled- the way someone might as a mildly inconveniencing event unfolded. in a split few seconds, he turned the gun on her and fired twice. both shots hit her directly. in another fluid movement, jacob turned the gun back to the mother- who was also turning in a panic- and it only took one shot.
ringing silence ensued.
jacob exhaled, dropping his arm. uncertainly, he pivoted and took to up the stairs to make sure the job was done. there ended up being no pulse from either of them. the investigation left a bit of blood on his fingertips, staining them. but three gunshots were bound to have caught someone's attention, and now was the time to bolt. he put the gun back under the cover of his coat and hurried out the back door.
as he back-tracked to the car, jacob kept his head occupied. the deaths of kris' family was really only security. kris herself was a powerful being; and her abilities were genetically passed. the less of a chance there was that more like her would exist, the safer he'd be. he was smart enough to realize he wouldn't be able to fight kris once she was aware of that. cutting down her and her subspecies was a personal side mission, he being the sole executor.
jacob slowed his pace to a fast walk as he neared to where the car was parked and the others were waiting. his face betrayed nothing, as was typical.
"let's go, final prep." he said once he'd seated himself down in the backseat with kris.
eli and joseph both nodded, eli pulling them back onto the road. by this point, a fair amount of early morning traffic had begun to trickle in. jacob let himself smile a little. they were exactly on time.
--
kris had gone into an exhausted haze. her adrenaline was drained, leaving her to fight against the desire to close her eyes. the moving scene around became a blur of dull colors.
her attention was caught when the car slowed to what would be the final stop. kris lifted her head off her hand, blinking away the sleepy haze. she glanced out the window. they were a while away from where they'd begun, maybe fifteen or twenty minutes. the area was fairly condensed. few buildings were housing less than one business or housing complex.
jacob exhaled, stretching his shoulders. "alright then," he paused, then glanced up at joseph. "you remembered, right?"
joseph nodded.
"okay; last thing we need is to have to backtrack at this point." he laughed slightly, then cleared his throat. "how're you feeling, kris?"
kris shrugged. "nervous, i guess, mostly."
he smiled. "yeah, i would be too. but i am going to help get rid of that."
he nodded at eli, who reached into the center console pocket and handed a small cardboard box back.
"thank you." he put the box on his leg, then glanced up at kris. "are you squeamish with needles?"
kris glanced at the box, then shrugged. "i'll be fine."
he nodded, then opened the box. sure enough, a needle an an inch and a half long vial of a dull blue liquid.
"we've been perfecting this for a little over a year. there should be no side effects; none were shown at least. in short, it'll work it's way up into your head and trigger the frontal lobe to emote positively. you'll be calm and all that anxiety is going to be gone in a matter of minutes."
kris looked at the needle, then at jacob again. "what if something does go wrong?"
jacob shrugged it off. "you'll be fine, and we'll be close. now, arm?"
her breath caught in her throat. she didn't want to continue with this. even though she knew that option was long out of her reach. unsure, kris held out her left arm, the other's hand gripping into her thigh. jacob held her arm in place- his hands were cold, but not as chilled as others she'd held- almost tenderly.
" 's probably going to sting a bit." he warned.
kris closed her eyes a bit. there was pressure, then a dull burn came. she almost flinched back, but held herself still until it was over. which wasn't long at all. the pressure of the needle and his hand left, and kris pulled back probably too quick. jacob smiled a little.
"ready?" he asked.
kris took a deep breath. "i think so."
jacob gestured to the door. " 's all yours.
she would've been lying if she'd said she was even somewhat confident enough to do this. pushing down the still-rising panic, kris opened the door and stepped outside. the chilly air wasn't bad, but it was enough to get goosebumps forming on her arms. there was a lot of people; in the stores, the sidewalk, some even flooding onto the street- which itself was mostly free of vehicles. the centre was bursting.
kris waited. she didn't feel any difference at first. the anxiety and fear still made her tremble in her spot. the car had since driven off to who knows where, although she hadn't moved herself.
kris closed her eyes. she tried to focus on anything at all, hoping simultaneously that what had been injected into her would start working. how long had passed? was it working at all?
she started to become almost angry. she knew she had to do something, but her overwhelming fears were hampering her so easily. a bit of frost began to coat over her hands with her drastic spike in emotion. kris glanced down at her hands. why this power seemed to be overtaking her others she was unsure of. but kris wiped them away and tried to reason with herself in order to calm her swelling emotions.
a woman with a young boy beside her walked past kris across the road. she glanced at kris, looking her up and down. a little more self-consciously, kris slowed the fast urgency of which she was wiping her hands of the ice. the woman pulled the child a little bit closer to her and continued to walk. after a second of stunned thoughtlessness, kris felt her toes curl.
her amount of exposure to people was slim to none, despite rising incredibly so in recent months. but her experience with her powers and people were dozens. and what about her friends? louis? god knows they'd had many more terrible moments in their life than her. disowned, unwanted. it infuriated her.
kris gave a slow look around the centre. they had no idea of any of this, any of the special people who could really honestly help. everyone was ignorant. a knot in her stomach formed and began to tug and pull at her until it felt like it was going to tear her to shreds. she swallowed, then sat on the curb and let her hands grip whit-knuckled to the edge sidewalk.
there was almost no doubt now that whatever jacob had injected her with was working now. but that inkling of a revelation was soon devoured and lost by the now constant and raging anger. it channeled into a roaring wave and she had no idea how it was going to force it's way out.
after a minute, kris glanced up. at the buildings, specifically. and before she knew it, she was standing up again. the tips of her fingers were buzzing; it felt like they were on fire (side note- they thankfully were not). she realized she was capable of it. her heart was pounding now. she was capable of a lot; snapping these people into the reality of things was one.
kris opened her hand and placed it so it was held over one of the taller buildings. she could feel it's weight in her hand; could feel it's fragility in her wake. more anger continued to bubble over inside of her. she felt so sick of hiding. it was a wonder she hadn't combusted into flames.
no one was paying any mind to her; there was no reason for anyone to pay any attention to a normal-looking girl. ' they have no idea '.
kris closed her hand.
--
VAGUELY IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE
okay, this is the last normal chapter of the book. it's not over yet, but the updating schedule for the fic is going to change a bit. the next few updates will all come EVERY SINGLE DAY AFTER THE OTHER until the final chapter is eventually published. if that makes sense.
hopefully from there you'll all be somewhat excited for the sequel! :) and thank you to my readers, regardless if you've read all the chapters or just a few.
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date- december 2nd, 2014
words- 2,278
reads- 4,023
comments- 40
votes- 69