'Take a look at this.' Hughes called over. 'I think we have an... unregistrated... magician.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEiDUsohU6A
The members of Floor Twelve Minus looked over at the computer screen.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFjGXUI8T3f
...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...708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM80Te9clwz
'I don't know how I survived. It must have been a miracle.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFDpN11aN1V
'You don't think that - '708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6T6jafOOml
'I do think.' Hughes rested his chin on a curled hand.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjf6gIVWEY8
'But telekinesis on a human? At that height? Magic is hardly possible just three floors up, and this must have happened higher than that.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRD2FTO5p6B
'You're right. It's quite an amazing feat. For a normal magician, that is.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxZ6hrTuX1M
'You mean...?'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwB91DC2wCJ
'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?708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3W7tOaFCVI
She could do magic, that much was certain. She could make fire, she could move things without touching them.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUkINJv5eUi
But how? Why her?708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSg8Kp5NI0T
rrring, rrring, rrring... She picked up the phone. 'Hello?'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRrT9af2ZoJ
'We'd like to speak to you.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡozAwq0BABS
'I'm sorry, who is this?'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8ebK90pQU
'Floor Twelve Minus. We want to ask you about what happened yesterday.' Was this some kind of joke?708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmG7aB4ZOS
'Look, I don't really have the time right now...' She hung up.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegy7mHF9Ep
'We said, we wanted to talk to you.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1JVe5Ts3CR
Christine shrieked and turned around. A middle-aged, roughly shaven man was standing in her living room. He held out his hand.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzLWXXHFlYC
'My name is Hughes.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlNCVhsJu8N
'How did you get in here?' Christine thought through the possibilities. She didn't have anything to arm herself with, apart from...708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO2jQyogySD
'I unlocked the front door.' He smiled.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSVbULVJu0G
'...How did you get my house keys?'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu47CfHzDyT
Hughes laughed, a barking roar. 'Who said anything about needing keys?'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvdTmp7QxW
'HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?' Christine yelled, backing into the kitchen.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCOdb9MoVz1
'I don't know, Christine. Magic?'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmSqDSYceZO
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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCQttCeGmf
'So you know about your abilities, then?' He asked, mildly surprised.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4U0fMlQTBU
'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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡecJU8UodQ5
He deflected it easily. 'You obviously do.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1zPAyYCsXn
The steel pan came flinging back at Christine, and, unprepared, she was knocked unconscious.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQkcdpGHfBG
708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHd1E8E1Lph
'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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjlyzMnQC5q
'The pressing question is, of course, who her parents are. If there's another family of magicians out there...'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4nu7qGftn
Hughes turned on the intercom, and watched Christine through the camera in the antechamber. 'I see you're awake now.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7FIR0d4AY
'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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3sCpmpaSi
'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.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQ8MpjH5Cp
'Who are you?'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡodfho3gqyz
'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.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3yYQLIu2tN
'Yeah? Is this what you do? Kidnap people and tie them up in metal cables?'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq1wRH8GnvI
'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.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡri0I1LWcsH
'...So what. You guys are the magic experts or something?'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsctoPp38Fm
'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?'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGff6Gcjeiv
'Why do you want to know?'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn36yB3nqSX
'Just cooperate, please. We don't want to make you any more uncomfortable than you are now. Who are they?'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4uBg74j6F
'They died in a fire when I was young.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8TU1BnuaYt
'By your hands? Interesting. But that doesn't answer my question.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNFUqJKo78F
'Brian. Brian and Rebecca.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc32pffhLxN
'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...708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeFdGlAMn1A
He turned the intercom back on. 'How old are you, Christine?'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbBE9kr1IAZ
'I turned 27 yesterday. Or the day before, I don't know how long you've kept me down here.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtO3bNqNHdt
Shit, Hughes thinks. She really is Xavier's twin... how does that even work?708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBdn9jno6Y
'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.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRcmAZS38IW
'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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUMkxLMmwhd
'Mostly corporate things. Helping out businesses, taking down others. That's where the market is.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGhHUo4wu71
Come on... The fiber system in the cables was far too complex. She couldn't unravel it. 'Espionage?'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY2yhDl4Rom
'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.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDpwG7PZuzD
'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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4THQzGtEX
'Nothing. They're a fabulous company. Which is why they need to go, for Knight Finances to be successful.'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjquC0iEIHx
'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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFX1PR7S4tr
'A hundredfold of your job at WestGo.' Hughes paused for the effect. 'Are you in?'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbyItYFzIst
'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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCrBzkMFGHJ
'Shit, shit, SHIT!' Hughes yelled, as the rest of Floor Twelve Minus sprung into action. 'Don't let her escape!'708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBgbMgHuSK
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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa54HzrdJtj
Despite it all, she smiled. I'm powerful. They're scared.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN8L6VHOzUK
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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYfMVcDwkbv
There's the elevator. My way out.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAqrUgzPGLn
Christine ran across the room, deflecting any flames, chairs, or tables thrown her way.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcuh799FnnP
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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7cfUWHtRXO
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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM2k7PoOFRp
Christine sent the disguised magician flying to the back of the store, and shattered the panes of glass to run out onto the street.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXsuuK8duil
I've got to alert people to these madmen.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrI0L4iBI0D
The nearest police station was only a few streets away.
