'Take a look at this.' Hughes called over. 'I think we have an... unregistrated... magician.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhNFBbQmJdt
The members of Floor Twelve Minus looked over at the computer screen.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYV9Mydkk6
...And on the eight o clock news, we have a shocking case involving Eclipse Equipment where a harness used for highrise cleaning broke. The man involved, Winston Jones, was not injured, but is filing a lawsuit against the company. Eyewitness accounts say he was extremely lucky to have landed in the crane, saying that it was as if he was launched upward to safety...620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0E3iXz1loG
'I don't know how I survived. It must have been a miracle.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkIqZ6wIWjn
'You don't think that - '620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnSTrrGndQq
'I do think.' Hughes rested his chin on a curled hand.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsdAM6R5IKj
'But telekinesis on a human? At that height? Magic is hardly possible just three floors up, and this must have happened higher than that.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqDBm909xsE
'You're right. It's quite an amazing feat. For a normal magician, that is.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzUbg7XeQom
'You mean...?'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpufeTfLRk
'That's right.' Hughes rose from his chair and clapped his hands. 'I think we found our lost High Priestess.'
Christine sunk back into the sofa. What did this all mean?620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtE9aEYxYAr
She could do magic, that much was certain. She could make fire, she could move things without touching them.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVUaiEs0q7G
But how? Why her?620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzmPT1qWL7y
rrring, rrring, rrring... She picked up the phone. 'Hello?'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5WfXcpFkeb
'We'd like to speak to you.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQ0uKtY5mZ
'I'm sorry, who is this?'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjFdCiFr2H
'Floor Twelve Minus. We want to ask you about what happened yesterday.' Was this some kind of joke?620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ndRgPgNAg
'Look, I don't really have the time right now...' She hung up.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMt4TQwIbWE
'We said, we wanted to talk to you.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqwA6UE4A04
Christine shrieked and turned around. A middle-aged, roughly shaven man was standing in her living room. He held out his hand.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTlkFTnLzIl
'My name is Hughes.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKR8ZMWxK0b
'How did you get in here?' Christine thought through the possibilities. She didn't have anything to arm herself with, apart from...620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJnb614RNc
'I unlocked the front door.' He smiled.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBWqgZPK4r
'...How did you get my house keys?'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOGPjz2WSDc
Hughes laughed, a barking roar. 'Who said anything about needing keys?'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAcXt74emAG
'HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?' Christine yelled, backing into the kitchen.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB6G9x1a4Rw
'I don't know, Christine. Magic?'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0qiDsygQGa
Her face went white. She had lost the only advantage - no doubt this man was more skilled at her at - at whatever it was they could do.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsPezFooLyv
'So you know about your abilities, then?' He asked, mildly surprised.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ46iTsm0kW5
'I don't know what you're talking about.' She was trapped in the corner of the room by the sinks. Desperately, she opened the cupboard on the other side of the room with her telekinesis and flung a saucepan at the man.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxeh7KyFMk6
He deflected it easily. 'You obviously do.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡltMQm9WC8q
The steel pan came flinging back at Christine, and, unprepared, she was knocked unconscious.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pXmYVcM2r
620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡay1YqrbcTk
'She doesn't understand the extent of her abilities.' Hughes knew that they couldn't keep Christine captive for long. Whether she knew it or not, she was more powerful than all of Floor Twelve Minus combined. And now that she was physically confined, she would be experimenting with her powers even more.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbkl0xuaUsk
'The pressing question is, of course, who her parents are. If there's another family of magicians out there...'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEVcU5scQPi
Hughes turned on the intercom, and watched Christine through the camera in the antechamber. 'I see you're awake now.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX6kAszrKbS
'Where am I? Why are you doing this to me? Let me out! Let me out!' She screamed, but her voice cracked at Hughes' laughter.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbEjcBeFu2V
'Christine, we don't want to hurt you. We just need to keep you restrained until you calm down - because we don't want you to hurt us, either.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcplBQLEUSp
'Who are you?'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdi4YleBqq6
'I already told you. My name is Hughes. I work for an institution called Floor Twelve Minus. We'd like to recruit you. You'd be in a very respectable position.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbeIReETrsw
'Yeah? Is this what you do? Kidnap people and tie them up in metal cables?'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL0WwG97MJL
'Please. We didn't want you burning your way out, and the fiber circuit is complex enough that you shouldn't be able to undo it. It's temporary, just to keep everyone safe while you consider our proposal.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQOpGeyoTW8
'...So what. You guys are the magic experts or something?'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3cQ3XETAWH
'You could call us that, yes. In fact, we thought we were the only people gifted with such abilities until we found out about you. Which brings me to an important question: who are your parents?'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy6geLzIf67
'Why do you want to know?'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyIDrq67BH0
'Just cooperate, please. We don't want to make you any more uncomfortable than you are now. Who are they?'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXEeTJx2Ni3
'They died in a fire when I was young.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJUriQgWW6c
'By your hands? Interesting. But that doesn't answer my question.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9z13dpLNJ
'Brian. Brian and Rebecca.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDrF7UnoFsw
'Rebecca?' Hughes turned off the intercom for a moment. Rebecca? But he had taken their child. He had taken the child, the one he called Xavier. What was it that she said again? You have a child. He had a child. But what if she had more? Surely magic couldn't be passed down that way...620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDKosIo0MX
He turned the intercom back on. 'How old are you, Christine?'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTsOi8EGDG0
'I turned 27 yesterday. Or the day before, I don't know how long you've kept me down here.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWavFDZhZ1M
Shit, Hughes thinks. She really is Xavier's twin... how does that even work?620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx0zG6d44rU
'That's enough. Let's get down to business now. We, Floor Twelve Minus, are interested in people like you... that have abilities. And we perform jobs for people - highly paid jobs, I might add.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpUG40aIMi
'What kind of jobs?' Christine closed her eyes. She could feel herself getting smaller, fingers prying through the individual metal cables surrounding her body, twisting and untwisting, responding to the feedback in the tautness of her confinement. She just needed a few more minutes.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkhtA05Aqc
'Mostly corporate things. Helping out businesses, taking down others. That's where the market is.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlHKeF5cyqS
Come on... The fiber system in the cables was far too complex. She couldn't unravel it. 'Espionage?'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRGYfiSy3r5
'That's right. Our next target was actually going to be the very building you work in. Lucky that we found you before we burnt it down.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe7hjAW7WgH
'WestGo? What's wrong with them?' She isolated a single metal fiber. A tiny, tiny flame, with highly concentrated heat, formed inside the cable, every ounce of energy focused on that fiber.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJjIcwadD3Y
'Nothing. They're a fabulous company. Which is why they need to go, for Knight Finances to be successful.'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZ8nzGWu6g
'Okay, I get it. How high is the pay?' A weak point in the fiber melted, breaking the circuit, and she smothered the fire with the rest of the cable. Now it was just a knot - she had made two loose ends. All she needed to do was tug and it would start to unravel.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50CgRwydGz
'A hundredfold of your job at WestGo.' Hughes paused for the effect. 'Are you in?'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBA5NPDxSgf
'No.' Christine said. 'I'm out of here.' At a shocking speed, she navigated the system in the fiber cables and unraveled the metal rope. Feeling it loosen upon her chest, she shook it off and rose from the chair.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMu5sHdEMbo
'Shit, shit, SHIT!' Hughes yelled, as the rest of Floor Twelve Minus sprung into action. 'Don't let her escape!'620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4sANzNsBYI
Christine blew the fuse in the camera with a quick flame, then focused on the lock on the steel door. She could sense the lock cylinders gyrating, trying to feel the position that would let the locking pin slide away - click.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1l1NxncJaK
Despite it all, she smiled. I'm powerful. They're scared.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMaJ1iGZT6P
The door flung open to the hall of Floor Twelve Minus, where the magicians scrambled around in a panic, setting things on fire and throwing burning objects around the room.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpEt2Mk2WYn
There's the elevator. My way out.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWR2p8rEdlL
Christine ran across the room, deflecting any flames, chairs, or tables thrown her way.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqrzfNb8C2X
She felt her feet land on the metal floor of the lift, and she closed the doors with a swipe of her hands, before sending the elevation cables into a spinning frenzy. The sheer velocity of the elevator made her dizzy, but Christine didn't care - she just wanted to get out.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfsOKsSqXmh
With a jolt, the elevator stopped at the ground floor of a small, unassuming arts and crafts store. The cashier, fully aware of what was going on, flung the glass doors of the shop shut with a glance.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEBRTkyklVU
Christine sent the disguised magician flying to the back of the store, and shattered the panes of glass to run out onto the street.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5bTbc2i24a
I've got to alert people to these madmen.620Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFJb1Lb8Y3
The nearest police station was only a few streets away.
