'Take a look at this.' Hughes called over. 'I think we have an... unregistrated... magician.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUOEvkmPu3
The members of Floor Twelve Minus looked over at the computer screen.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBGcKvssTch
...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...753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQvF5zJS3md
'I don't know how I survived. It must have been a miracle.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfx18pWZ0W0
'You don't think that - '753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm7p45VtPrq
'I do think.' Hughes rested his chin on a curled hand.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqbpVSAgn4V
'But telekinesis on a human? At that height? Magic is hardly possible just three floors up, and this must have happened higher than that.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ10e5VMByBy
'You're right. It's quite an amazing feat. For a normal magician, that is.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7UybU8YfJo
'You mean...?'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmSxLpu7x2I
'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?753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOX9u4Old2G
She could do magic, that much was certain. She could make fire, she could move things without touching them.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLlBB0TEH3r
But how? Why her?753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3x1FUhjEZ
rrring, rrring, rrring... She picked up the phone. 'Hello?'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7VRe7K9Ss1
'We'd like to speak to you.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ67Oav1Lr6Y
'I'm sorry, who is this?'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAo90tAUMN6
'Floor Twelve Minus. We want to ask you about what happened yesterday.' Was this some kind of joke?753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgDS2uijuNT
'Look, I don't really have the time right now...' She hung up.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRNZoBIXBK
'We said, we wanted to talk to you.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4QSMbunZfD
Christine shrieked and turned around. A middle-aged, roughly shaven man was standing in her living room. He held out his hand.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnHS4fcU3x
'My name is Hughes.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZtKaDrksQQ
'How did you get in here?' Christine thought through the possibilities. She didn't have anything to arm herself with, apart from...753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRA8EVkBXeE
'I unlocked the front door.' He smiled.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGOxtmvaVpH
'...How did you get my house keys?'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZQ1wS3gMRe
Hughes laughed, a barking roar. 'Who said anything about needing keys?'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2lIaZW1uFg
'HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?' Christine yelled, backing into the kitchen.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHFrixiZ6RX
'I don't know, Christine. Magic?'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVcEKSlVRA8
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.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlzznTxhDt6
'So you know about your abilities, then?' He asked, mildly surprised.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZWt6ET7lOb
'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.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxsghxoBT5N
He deflected it easily. 'You obviously do.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2uJIzqvnDR
The steel pan came flinging back at Christine, and, unprepared, she was knocked unconscious.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJnUa9etwM
753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8RGVTHqUjs
'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.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3lGJhAclIZ
'The pressing question is, of course, who her parents are. If there's another family of magicians out there...'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXTJsN1m7XS
Hughes turned on the intercom, and watched Christine through the camera in the antechamber. 'I see you're awake now.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8aqNDugZn
'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.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxtUDdOiCR
'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.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvTkHKOekWG
'Who are you?'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRzf4mGwqvK
'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.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgBbYF99iq
'Yeah? Is this what you do? Kidnap people and tie them up in metal cables?'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtsnWrIPKjG
'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.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwi9NWIgZv
'...So what. You guys are the magic experts or something?'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffafeP65xZ
'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?'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3qhqXEXVKZ
'Why do you want to know?'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4COkVdjUCO
'Just cooperate, please. We don't want to make you any more uncomfortable than you are now. Who are they?'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPXSpgDAcK
'They died in a fire when I was young.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaVdRT1incA
'By your hands? Interesting. But that doesn't answer my question.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz9tZNtpNSv
'Brian. Brian and Rebecca.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNRYmRbdHPO
'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...753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyi4glRxU1D
He turned the intercom back on. 'How old are you, Christine?'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ52yFcjYzjP
'I turned 27 yesterday. Or the day before, I don't know how long you've kept me down here.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTCH6NDeSy
Shit, Hughes thinks. She really is Xavier's twin... how does that even work?753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD3AHDWK2Vu
'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.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡabPdxGVYyV
'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.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡepcCvdAxxi
'Mostly corporate things. Helping out businesses, taking down others. That's where the market is.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0R4NWzaTxS
Come on... The fiber system in the cables was far too complex. She couldn't unravel it. 'Espionage?'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ19NlwgKZXf
'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.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYecIoMh3D
'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.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqDebnzZGDd
'Nothing. They're a fabulous company. Which is why they need to go, for Knight Finances to be successful.'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2uKgYcBNJi
'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.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXAUB1LR5ba
'A hundredfold of your job at WestGo.' Hughes paused for the effect. 'Are you in?'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6FZS8F7W1c
'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.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6hbW7vlsQA
'Shit, shit, SHIT!' Hughes yelled, as the rest of Floor Twelve Minus sprung into action. 'Don't let her escape!'753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2rrU8hOuhL
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.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt5ntNJFuXj
Despite it all, she smiled. I'm powerful. They're scared.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSby7jL9G1M
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.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaVXANPkmMN
There's the elevator. My way out.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv6ouCqSPpy
Christine ran across the room, deflecting any flames, chairs, or tables thrown her way.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqk1nPTWr6p
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.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSorqyxbgvO
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.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLYiOnAxCgo
Christine sent the disguised magician flying to the back of the store, and shattered the panes of glass to run out onto the street.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZ3yZ8Pi5q
I've got to alert people to these madmen.753Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMFpEAN3AGD
The nearest police station was only a few streets away.
