'Take a look at this.' Hughes called over. 'I think we have an... unregistrated... magician.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbpYpJX8nek
The members of Floor Twelve Minus looked over at the computer screen.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmqoZg9yO0E
...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...693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOL1jmvMP8h
'I don't know how I survived. It must have been a miracle.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvVIaI5fL6X
'You don't think that - '693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfmUyg5Id93
'I do think.' Hughes rested his chin on a curled hand.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHA60XiH7WB
'But telekinesis on a human? At that height? Magic is hardly possible just three floors up, and this must have happened higher than that.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVE6LWlYmO
'You're right. It's quite an amazing feat. For a normal magician, that is.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ919qAD15mD
'You mean...?'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWh32NFVhb9
'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?693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLaHeZoFBxG
She could do magic, that much was certain. She could make fire, she could move things without touching them.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyymkR9JvRJ
But how? Why her?693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMXU3V8MSa8
rrring, rrring, rrring... She picked up the phone. 'Hello?'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBYBpGMFHBw
'We'd like to speak to you.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGDNZMTTz21
'I'm sorry, who is this?'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkCyI7FHEu8
'Floor Twelve Minus. We want to ask you about what happened yesterday.' Was this some kind of joke?693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1TEdQwiNCW
'Look, I don't really have the time right now...' She hung up.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWavGFZNpLd
'We said, we wanted to talk to you.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM4EO5NZFRu
Christine shrieked and turned around. A middle-aged, roughly shaven man was standing in her living room. He held out his hand.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VLWOVZFmF
'My name is Hughes.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdIbhLAGd1f
'How did you get in here?' Christine thought through the possibilities. She didn't have anything to arm herself with, apart from...693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmLIQAqzqXV
'I unlocked the front door.' He smiled.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwlfB5qnnUb
'...How did you get my house keys?'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2p5cBzVJfn
Hughes laughed, a barking roar. 'Who said anything about needing keys?'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1e3jPmrq1
'HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?' Christine yelled, backing into the kitchen.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Iq2UsJNm2
'I don't know, Christine. Magic?'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1QkhGx09iS
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.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlpwoHFhXUE
'So you know about your abilities, then?' He asked, mildly surprised.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKNHLh7meS
'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.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOg5zce63D
He deflected it easily. 'You obviously do.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXaccXOOeM6
The steel pan came flinging back at Christine, and, unprepared, she was knocked unconscious.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9pifGKWcX
693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbUqVFYw5E
'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.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXblJHjTsYb
'The pressing question is, of course, who her parents are. If there's another family of magicians out there...'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDjYlX4XrZ
Hughes turned on the intercom, and watched Christine through the camera in the antechamber. 'I see you're awake now.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqAShNUoRkL
'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.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOxdd7E7CXs
'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.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxOuZhrisfr
'Who are you?'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUKutaqE2wm
'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.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSmMr1dkM3V
'Yeah? Is this what you do? Kidnap people and tie them up in metal cables?'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg752iCgV4U
'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.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrm3Bwk7vW0
'...So what. You guys are the magic experts or something?'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2GPJDxx9t
'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?'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZDIr7Lwc9l
'Why do you want to know?'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7vnB2xy9L
'Just cooperate, please. We don't want to make you any more uncomfortable than you are now. Who are they?'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH9ViGoyOvG
'They died in a fire when I was young.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ85Z6uLNrID
'By your hands? Interesting. But that doesn't answer my question.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡznJax8bQlH
'Brian. Brian and Rebecca.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9mmfGraFKW
'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...693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIHZQ4XTTs4
He turned the intercom back on. 'How old are you, Christine?'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXLpxw4Z0Z
'I turned 27 yesterday. Or the day before, I don't know how long you've kept me down here.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3usdlsX78
Shit, Hughes thinks. She really is Xavier's twin... how does that even work?693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9dAdQKSUPA
'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.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhkvlFox9Gd
'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.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUAMhFO2FyV
'Mostly corporate things. Helping out businesses, taking down others. That's where the market is.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWngEpMXTmE
Come on... The fiber system in the cables was far too complex. She couldn't unravel it. 'Espionage?'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9IgDD5kKIY
'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.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUboyFYxqUn
'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.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtsrS9w95b
'Nothing. They're a fabulous company. Which is why they need to go, for Knight Finances to be successful.'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5UGXnVNYPf
'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.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfoHRVqTRqP
'A hundredfold of your job at WestGo.' Hughes paused for the effect. 'Are you in?'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLND16R5dI
'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.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5OrpJtSRTZ
'Shit, shit, SHIT!' Hughes yelled, as the rest of Floor Twelve Minus sprung into action. 'Don't let her escape!'693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9kD0xkOpT7
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.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxBjiFDrTN
Despite it all, she smiled. I'm powerful. They're scared.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlOMBPNQEeD
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.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk1a1tXI3RX
There's the elevator. My way out.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqfp8W9trj
Christine ran across the room, deflecting any flames, chairs, or tables thrown her way.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQGF8OJsApx
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.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSE3n0fx8Wa
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.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQirhSC19bw
Christine sent the disguised magician flying to the back of the store, and shattered the panes of glass to run out onto the street.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsj4X0JrUE
I've got to alert people to these madmen.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ofGYCqL30
The nearest police station was only a few streets away.
