arms and shoulders relaxed, and as he exhaled both women were lifted from the ground. He held them there using the talent he'd first seen in Puppeteer, and he felt the potential thrumming through his arms—he could throw, squeeze, crush them. They thrashed and squirmed, and one grasped hold of the sculpture. Her tentacles flexed and curled around the concrete, pulling hard, but Jack only felt the slightest tension. His power was not muscular.
“What now?” Rhali asked.
“Ice cream van,” Jack said. “Doors.”
Sparky, Jenna and Breezer rushed to the van and tugged open the driver's door. Jenna winced back at whatever was inside, but Sparky turned and gestured to Jack.
Jack started walking, still pointing, and the two strange women drifted through the air before him.
“Stand back,” he said, and he guided them in through the door.
Breezer slammed it shut.
“Stay in the van,” Guy said, and Jack felt an intimate, sickening sensation inside his head. If I was in the van, I'd stay inside , he thought.He knew at that moment that he could bear that talent as well, given time. Its star was open to him.
But as well as their bodies, these women's minds were sufficiently altered from human to apparently make them immune to the man's words. They kicked and banged at the door as Sparky shoved it closed. Thin tentacles squirmed through the lock and around the door's edge, and Jack had only moments to reach out with his mind and snap the locks closed. He did the same for the other door, and also the wide hatch that led from the cabin back into the ice cream van's rear area. He didn't think it would hold the women for long. He caught a brief glimpse of one of their inhuman faces at the window, and he thought perhaps they wanted to feed.
It did not bear thinking about, and they all ran as one from that place of sculptures and danger, sprinting across the wide paved walkway and towards the Thames.
“Which way?” Jenna asked Breezer. He pointed left. There was an iron fence lining the river, but five hundred feet away Jack could see a break in the fence and a walkway leading across to several pontoons. Two of them sat unevenly in the water, the large boat moored to one resting on a slant on the river's bed. But another pontoon floated upright, and he thought he could see the two boats Breezer had mentioned.
From behind them they heard glass smashing. The trapped things would be out in moments. Jack was not afraid of being caught by them, because he would not let that happen.
He was afraid of killing them.
“Jack!” someone shouted. He looked around, wondering who they'd left behind, but they were all there. As he caught Sparky's eyes, his friend's mouth fell open in shock.
“Jack!” the voice called again, and then he recognised it. Lucy-Anne.
She was along the path from them, running and waving frantically. There was someone with her…or was there?
“Lucy-Anne!” he shouted. He forgot the danger they were in, the people he had killed, the weight of danger crushing them from all angles. For that brief instant all was delight, and he wanted to greet his dear friend with a hug. He waved at her to come with them, and heard Jenna's and Sparky's delighted laughter.
And then Lucy-Anne shouted again. “ Get down! ”
Between them, several Choppers stood from behind a fallen wall and three heavy benches. Without warning, the shooting began.
Lucy-Anne shouted one more time, and then a Chopper turned and started shooting at her and she fell and rolled, pressing herself flat against a kerb, the gutter barely deep enough to protect her. Bullets impacted the sidewalk about her and plucked at her clothing, her hair, and kissed the back of one leg with icy pain that quickly turned lava-hot. Oh no oh no! she thought, again and again, because she had not dreamed the end of this. Whatever fate had in store for her and her friends today had yet to be played out.
“Andrew!” she yelled, but his wraith was no longer with
“What now?” Rhali asked.
“Ice cream van,” Jack said. “Doors.”
Sparky, Jenna and Breezer rushed to the van and tugged open the driver's door. Jenna winced back at whatever was inside, but Sparky turned and gestured to Jack.
Jack started walking, still pointing, and the two strange women drifted through the air before him.
“Stand back,” he said, and he guided them in through the door.
Breezer slammed it shut.
“Stay in the van,” Guy said, and Jack felt an intimate, sickening sensation inside his head. If I was in the van, I'd stay inside , he thought.He knew at that moment that he could bear that talent as well, given time. Its star was open to him.
But as well as their bodies, these women's minds were sufficiently altered from human to apparently make them immune to the man's words. They kicked and banged at the door as Sparky shoved it closed. Thin tentacles squirmed through the lock and around the door's edge, and Jack had only moments to reach out with his mind and snap the locks closed. He did the same for the other door, and also the wide hatch that led from the cabin back into the ice cream van's rear area. He didn't think it would hold the women for long. He caught a brief glimpse of one of their inhuman faces at the window, and he thought perhaps they wanted to feed.
It did not bear thinking about, and they all ran as one from that place of sculptures and danger, sprinting across the wide paved walkway and towards the Thames.
“Which way?” Jenna asked Breezer. He pointed left. There was an iron fence lining the river, but five hundred feet away Jack could see a break in the fence and a walkway leading across to several pontoons. Two of them sat unevenly in the water, the large boat moored to one resting on a slant on the river's bed. But another pontoon floated upright, and he thought he could see the two boats Breezer had mentioned.
From behind them they heard glass smashing. The trapped things would be out in moments. Jack was not afraid of being caught by them, because he would not let that happen.
He was afraid of killing them.
“Jack!” someone shouted. He looked around, wondering who they'd left behind, but they were all there. As he caught Sparky's eyes, his friend's mouth fell open in shock.
“Jack!” the voice called again, and then he recognised it. Lucy-Anne.
She was along the path from them, running and waving frantically. There was someone with her…or was there?
“Lucy-Anne!” he shouted. He forgot the danger they were in, the people he had killed, the weight of danger crushing them from all angles. For that brief instant all was delight, and he wanted to greet his dear friend with a hug. He waved at her to come with them, and heard Jenna's and Sparky's delighted laughter.
And then Lucy-Anne shouted again. “ Get down! ”
Between them, several Choppers stood from behind a fallen wall and three heavy benches. Without warning, the shooting began.
Lucy-Anne shouted one more time, and then a Chopper turned and started shooting at her and she fell and rolled, pressing herself flat against a kerb, the gutter barely deep enough to protect her. Bullets impacted the sidewalk about her and plucked at her clothing, her hair, and kissed the back of one leg with icy pain that quickly turned lava-hot. Oh no oh no! she thought, again and again, because she had not dreamed the end of this. Whatever fate had in store for her and her friends today had yet to be played out.
“Andrew!” she yelled, but his wraith was no longer with
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