'Take a look at this.' Hughes called over. 'I think we have an... unregistrated... magician.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnYZiFtbOjx
The members of Floor Twelve Minus looked over at the computer screen.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlrNdCvfR8c
...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...646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLZAHlqkDh
'I don't know how I survived. It must have been a miracle.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5xrBFN0PB
'You don't think that - '646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWtVn1hR0ui
'I do think.' Hughes rested his chin on a curled hand.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQry5erRXc
'But telekinesis on a human? At that height? Magic is hardly possible just three floors up, and this must have happened higher than that.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT9Ytro4cnJ
'You're right. It's quite an amazing feat. For a normal magician, that is.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPCYeQAmhp
'You mean...?'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgUQh2doSzw
'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?646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJfy0UwqS3E
She could do magic, that much was certain. She could make fire, she could move things without touching them.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgMybsTapw2
But how? Why her?646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9tJh2ot9f0
rrring, rrring, rrring... She picked up the phone. 'Hello?'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcro7qdceRT
'We'd like to speak to you.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFUm5t33aPb
'I'm sorry, who is this?'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT5BDp2yo25
'Floor Twelve Minus. We want to ask you about what happened yesterday.' Was this some kind of joke?646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmRgGOzsn6D
'Look, I don't really have the time right now...' She hung up.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL1RmUgRDw4
'We said, we wanted to talk to you.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6x1sDmLy9I
Christine shrieked and turned around. A middle-aged, roughly shaven man was standing in her living room. He held out his hand.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBOLskHQcdB
'My name is Hughes.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM4PGrxnfIK
'How did you get in here?' Christine thought through the possibilities. She didn't have anything to arm herself with, apart from...646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDkdqsPQxC
'I unlocked the front door.' He smiled.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3skIaPN0I
'...How did you get my house keys?'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7HQ4gTxc54
Hughes laughed, a barking roar. 'Who said anything about needing keys?'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvi52EL0tgm
'HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?' Christine yelled, backing into the kitchen.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZccybJo4N
'I don't know, Christine. Magic?'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhKsn0wsPL3
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.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqhvJoGvHk
'So you know about your abilities, then?' He asked, mildly surprised.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSDpTQCxRab
'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.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa76Y9wInLg
He deflected it easily. 'You obviously do.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtQJkjjW80S
The steel pan came flinging back at Christine, and, unprepared, she was knocked unconscious.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUllLuHyeNY
646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwinwZhVqN2
'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.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4k1kcCJ1dg
'The pressing question is, of course, who her parents are. If there's another family of magicians out there...'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvAYscF1kd4
Hughes turned on the intercom, and watched Christine through the camera in the antechamber. 'I see you're awake now.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhFK7QcnN0G
'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.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJcIWPjgC1t
'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.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ2FTcVl9Cw
'Who are you?'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq31Ekx5t4Q
'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.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWjboPnKyiy
'Yeah? Is this what you do? Kidnap people and tie them up in metal cables?'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjduse8VTgC
'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.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP2JKWPn0bc
'...So what. You guys are the magic experts or something?'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5EdiYVH8yz
'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?'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw4Wm7FOxas
'Why do you want to know?'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2vcdhe8mVw
'Just cooperate, please. We don't want to make you any more uncomfortable than you are now. Who are they?'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy82l9PUXaz
'They died in a fire when I was young.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡulsB2uSScV
'By your hands? Interesting. But that doesn't answer my question.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm30m2jzO8v
'Brian. Brian and Rebecca.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwhuWmZyNm
'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...646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4pQbwvqcDB
He turned the intercom back on. 'How old are you, Christine?'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQLWu79sQeu
'I turned 27 yesterday. Or the day before, I don't know how long you've kept me down here.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqTDiJOEAX8
Shit, Hughes thinks. She really is Xavier's twin... how does that even work?646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLZBGsPAIID
'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.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXufB4DjKA
'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.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfph06Y3zXf
'Mostly corporate things. Helping out businesses, taking down others. That's where the market is.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVB98VlzN85
Come on... The fiber system in the cables was far too complex. She couldn't unravel it. 'Espionage?'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO9QgyKnN5P
'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.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWOk58kdjUb
'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.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXjZtN0Gnl8
'Nothing. They're a fabulous company. Which is why they need to go, for Knight Finances to be successful.'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuqJVuKuqnE
'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.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQoiM6Ax0lY
'A hundredfold of your job at WestGo.' Hughes paused for the effect. 'Are you in?'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGVnoC5xTL1
'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.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvH6Gkb6dQE
'Shit, shit, SHIT!' Hughes yelled, as the rest of Floor Twelve Minus sprung into action. 'Don't let her escape!'646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUVeMtEWhUg
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.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4GRtjxgMjE
Despite it all, she smiled. I'm powerful. They're scared.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgqJar4ocrG
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.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdRRxncuem
There's the elevator. My way out.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhZ3CasImOW
Christine ran across the room, deflecting any flames, chairs, or tables thrown her way.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWOauCZIz9
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.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJyT2g8xZhH
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.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIG583oCV0w
Christine sent the disguised magician flying to the back of the store, and shattered the panes of glass to run out onto the street.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkad3U5IYfP
I've got to alert people to these madmen.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkrZMQKHkIT
The nearest police station was only a few streets away.
