Star Gods, стр. 52

Maliki shoots electricity upward and it travels across the ceiling, down the wall, and suddenly stops. I hear a cry of pain and turn in time to see multiple throwing knives imbedded in his chest. Two Assassins each grab one of his arms, grin at me, and disappear in a cloud of black.

“No!” I crash through a throng of teenagers only to find the spot where I last saw Maliki empty and no lingering ability for me to latch onto. I close my eyes, think of Maliki, and travel. I’m grabbed before I fully appear and am thrown face first into lockers, the side of my face striking against something sharp—I growl and throw a barrier blindly, it hits something solid, but not my intentioned target. I drop into a crouch only to find a bench in my way and a lingering smell of chlorine surrounding me. Something crashes above my head, flinging open and emptying the locker at my back.

“Nice of you to join us,” Levi says, grinning. The son of a bitch set me up! “I received some interesting information. You can’t take my abilities unless you touch me.” He crouches on the other side of the bench. “Luckily, I have some help with me, and we can beat the hell out of you without even a touch.” He taps the bench with both hands before he stands.

I feel three separate abilities before the Assassins step around the lockers in front of me, each close to the same size and build of Levi—one with blood staining the front of his shirt. I’ve got a good idea whose blood it is.

Levi’s already unpleasant expression sneers. “Get up.”

I glare at him, bringing abilities close to the surface, when the bench suddenly comes loose shoving me backward.

“I said, get up!” Levi’s deep baritone voice echoes off the cement walls of the swimming pool locker room.

The bench suddenly lifts, catching my chin before being thrown clear. This isn’t Levi’s ability. It’s Levia’s or one of the others. Maybe I should feel proud it takes so many to fight one younger and smaller in stature. I get to my feet, honing in on the abilities filling the air while I draw on my own. The one on my right suddenly grows in strength, something to do with the Earth, and without flinching; I grasp onto it and hold it.

The Assassin tries to draw his ability back; when he can’t I feel his surprise coming off him in waves.

“Why’d you stop?” Levi demands.

“I didn’t.” He indicates toward me with a tip of his head. “He did.”

“Then do it again,” Levi mocks.

“I can’t. He has a hold of it.”

Levi’s head slowly turns my way. “That isn’t possible.”

I grin and clamp stronger onto the ability I hold and the Assassin yelps. “Where’s Maliki.”

“He’s not your concern anymore,” Levi responds.

The one with the blood on his shirt snickers.

I reach out with my mind and send him flying into the cement wall. I don’t even bother to react at the sound of breaking bones. I yank the one with the Earth ability to me, grasp his ability tightly, and force it out of him to pour into me, filling my senses with the taste and smell of Earth.

Levi’s rage filled eyes lock onto me, and the whispering inside my mind returns.

With my heart racing, I bring my newly acquired ability to the surface and send it toward Levi. The floor lifts and tunnels toward him and he apporates.

“Wuss!” I shout, and travel, smacking into a shield at the ceiling preventing me from leaving. I fall to the floor and quickly get into a crouch against the wall. I should’ve known; Levi has to have all the control.

“You really think I would make it that easy?” he yells. “You really think I would bring you here only to allow you to leave?” His deep laughter rumbles through the locker room. “You’ll never leave, half-breed, you will die here.”

The hell I will. I silently skirt against the wall, making my way to Coach’s office where there’s a secondary exit to the hallway.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Levi taunts.

I swipe at the blood running down my face and chin when something pierces me in my side and slams me hard into the wall. I cry out, grab a hold, and yank the tiny knife out of me. Blood instantly soaks through my shirt and Levi’s red haze suddenly fills my sight.

“What’s the matter?” Levi jeers. “Can’t see?”

I fight it, pushing at Levi’s annoying red haze, trying to clear my sight while quickly ducking behind the wall of the shower. He’s really pissing me off.

“Can’t fight what you can’t see,” Levi taunts closer to me than I expect.

I attempt to travel again, hoping for that one small opening in whoever’s shield it is, but Levi latches onto the tail bringing me to an abrupt halt. He roughly yanks me and throws me—I feel and hear the lockers rip from their bolts as I smash into them, my breath ripped from me.

Dammit, that hurt. If I don’t do something soon he will kill me. I am not dying in a locker room.

“Levi, he’s no good to us dead,” a female voice says sternly.

“Levia, he’s an abomination!” Levi snarls back. “He doesn’t deserve to live!”

Great, I get both of them. I attempt to crawl, but an ability latches onto my shirt, lifting me from off the floor and tightening at my chin. I instantly know what Maliki must’ve felt like when I did this to him.

“Levi!”

“Levia,” he warns, his already deep voice dropping another octave. “Get out!”

“Let go of my ability, Levi! You kill him, we can’t use him!”

The grip tightens, lifting me higher still, and just when I think I’ve lost, I’m suddenly falling, and I take the opportunity to travel.

“Dammit, Levia, I had him!”

“You need to stop hurting him, Levi, we agreed. We need his abilities.”

“He has