Chapter V

SPRINGING UPWARD WITH A shout, Joey dug her nails into the soft material underneath her. Beads of sweat dripped from her brow and her body violently shook. Frantically glancing around, she tried to keep her swimming vision steady long enough to get her bearings.

Panting heavily, she jumped as someone knelt down beside her, but her brain was too disoriented to register who they were. She raised a hand, intending to defend herself, when her wrist was grabbed and she cried out as it burned. The pain in her palm, along with a rippling sting in her right bicep, swiftly brought her back to reality and she gawked at the person detaining her.

"David?" she breathed out softly, her voice weak and strained.

"Did you hear me? You need to calm down before you make this gash in your arm any wider." He roughly let her wrist go, and she cradled her arm.

She stared up into the pair of ocean-blue eyes that towered over her and drew in a few deep, shaky breaths, but her pulse remained elevated. Slowly scanning her surroundings from left to right, she found herself in the comforts of her own home. Her fingertips brushed against the fabric beneath her and recognized it as the spotted brown sofa in the middle of the living room. She blinked and her eyes wandered towards the bowl of red water, gauze, and bandages lying on the cracked wooden coffee table behind David's thighs.

Gulping, she slowly lifted her head back towards David. He stood with his arms folded across his chest and a mix of anger, fear, and worry swirled within those azure irises. "How did we get here?" she asked.

David uncrossed his arms as he bent down and slid a keycard off the coffee table and waved it in her face. "You should probably find a better place to keep this. Anyone could pick your pocket." He slapped the keycard back on the table, and gripped her shoulder twisting her away from him. He then rewrapped the red splotched bandage that had begun to slip down her arm. She grimaced at the sting as he pulled the fabric into a tight knot around her bicep.

When he finished, she swiveled on the couch and placed her feet on the floor as David reached for a new bandage and a small pair of tweezers he must've found in the medical bag under the bathroom sink. She stared at him as he knelt and gently grabbed her left hand. He flipped it over, resting the back of her hand against her knee, to reveal a nasty glass covered wound along the heel of her palm. Nauseous instantly churned her stomach as she stared at the oozing wound and she quickly averted her gaze, bracing herself for the pricks that would come as the glass was wiggled free. She winced, sometimes biting her lip, with each tug of her skin. She kept her eyes clench shut afraid that looking down at the progress would cause her to vomit her dinner.

She blinked back a few tears and stared at the filthy stained gray carpet, her brow furrowing, as her mind replayed the events in her head. The soldier, her ability against his gun, the metal claw—that memory brought an instant pang to her ribs—, the electric shock, her...killing the soldier, and the shadowy fig—

She stiffened.

It was only then that she realized how quiet...how agitated David had been, and her suspicions grew when he didn't ask a single question about how she ended up in this predicament. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes and she understood. She squeezed her knee with her free hand as her stomach pinched and her heart rate quickened—if that was even possible. "You saw," she said blankly, keeping her eyes on the floor.

A few agonizing seconds passed before a whispered reply came in a short, "Yeah."

Her hand flinched as another piece of glass slid from her under her skin. She peeked at him from the corner of her eye, and he cleared his throat.

"So, uh, all those times you moved..." He paused after yanking out another shard. "It's because you're hiding, isn't it?" He balled a hand around the tweezers and let out a snort. "It all makes sense now. What you said on the way to Marietta's... I'm so stupid for not having recognized it sooner."

Finally making eye contact, her shoulders slumped. "David, I—"

"You don't have to explain," he interrupted, raising a hand to stop her from further speaking.

Her heart shattered hearing the hurt in his voice, and a tear escaped and trickled down her cheek. She sniffed trying to keep her tears, and words, from spilling over. "How long was I out?"

David shrugged. "About fifteen minutes." He dabbed her wrist with a wet cloth from the bowl and she cringed with a hiss, trying to keep from withdrawing her hand. He finished wiping away the blood and dirt and tied another roll of bandages around her wrist. He then changed positions, plopping down on the sofa beside her with a loud sigh.

She wiped her nose with her shoulder sleeve. "Guess I passed out from the adrenaline." She chuckled uneasily, trying to brush everything off, and she stood to face him. "Thanks for the help, but...you can go now." She rubbed her arm with her uninjured hand.

David jumped up to meet her eye to eye as he was only about an inch taller. "Are you seriously going to try to deny what I just saw?" His brow bent with his rising anger. "You can't just hide this under the rug and move on!"

"I just killed a man," she stated sternly with no emotion. But after a few long seconds, the words finally began to sink in. "Did you see that?" Swallowing the lump in her throat, she held onto the courage to continue. "Or maybe once you saw what I was you were rooting for me to be the one to die."

David's brow furrowed. "I would never think that!"

"Why not?" She struggled to hold back the tears. "You've turned someone in before. What makes me any different?"

"I was lying," he said deadpan. Her words caught in her throat. "What you couldn't see from your seat was the glances we were drawing from the others in the diner. I was trying to protect you." He threw a hand towards the door. "I didn't want you to be picked up by some soldier because you got too chatty."

Her face softened. "But you knew I'd be angry because you know I don't agree with what Agcorp's doing." He nodded, and her shoulders slumped. "You'd rather me hate you then put suspicion on myself." She snorted, crossing her arms against her chest, and whispered, "I'm such a jerk."

A smirk titled his mouth. "Well, I wasn't going to say anything."

His response made his grin contagious. She shot a quick glance to her dirt covered sneakers before back at him. "So...why'd you come back?"

He shrugged. "We got to our apartment and Ella went inside, but...I couldn't. I just had this..." he hovered a hand over his chest, "feeling that something was wrong. I wanted to make sure you were alright so I came to check on you." His voice lowered. "I just couldn't process what I was seeing until it was too late."

Her gaze returned to the floor, but this time she spotted his black and white sneakers, and asked the question that had been weighing on her chest. "Do you..." her legs wiggled anxiously, "hate me now?"

She felt his soft hands on both her shoulder and she raised her chin. "Of course not, Joey, it's just..." He sighed through his nose, but kept his gaze focused on hers. "Is there a reason you didn't trust me enough to tell me? I mean, we're best friends...right? We tell each other everything."

Her mouth opened as she tried to form words, but she couldn't think of anything to say other then, "I...didn't want to die."

His grip tightened on her shoulders. "I never would have turned you in." Lowering his hands, his palms slapping his thighs, he continued, "I'm just sorry you couldn't trust me."

"You heard Mr. Magnus today." She drew her arms even tighter across her chest, and lowered her voice to a whisper, "I'm dangerous, David. And if you knew my past you'd understand."

He snorted with a smirk. "We're all dangerous to some degree."

"Is this some kinda joke to you?" she asked, anger heightened her tone.

"I'm sorry," David said softly, slipping his hands into hers and lowering them to her sides, their fingers intertwined. "So...you can create daggers from nothing..." He trailed off and her expression relaxed with the sudden subject changed. He withdrew his hands from hers and raked a hand through his messy brown hair. "Were you...born with the ability?"

Feeling a strange calm settle in her chest, she shook her head, and peered down at her raised fists. "It just came out of nowhere one day," she whispered, scrunching her brow and nose. "I was young, but I just got so...angry. Then these bad boys popped up out of nowhere." Through her closed fists, she felt the surge of energy race to her palms, and her daggers instantly formed lighting up the room with their orange glow.

David stared at her with eyes wider than what she thought should've been possible.

Her cheeks flushed and she lowered her fists relaxing her grip to let the daggers vanish. "Dad tried teaching me how to control it—I wasn't allowed to leave the house until I did; except for school. Sad to say, he was taken before I ever really figured it out."

David's brow lifted as a grin tugged the corner of his mouth. "I saw a few of those sweet moves before I could reach you. How'd you learn to fight like that?"

She returned the grin, shoved her hands into her pockets and circled the coffee table to lean against the kitchens half wall. "Dad didn't want to leave me defenseless in case Agcorp ever found out about me so...he taught me how to fight." A low chuckle escaped from her throat. "Mom never liked it. I often heard them arguing through these thin walls." She tapped the wall beneath her with a knuckle. "Every Slum's the same. Mom wanted me to forget I even had an ability in hopes that it would fade from lock of use, and after Dad was taken..." She shrugged, her smile slipping. "That's what I did. I stopped using them, and started telling her the ability was gone."

"And she actually believed that?" he interrupted, disbelief twisting his face. He threw a thumb over his shoulder. "Doesn't your mom work in Agcorp's lab?"

"Well, it wasn't a total lie," she defended. "After what happened to Dad, I stopped training and never summoned them again." Her ribs squeezed her tight like a vise. "Until today." Her voice trailed off. "But I still can't control them. I find them trying to force their way out every time I get angry."

David's eyes shifted from her, to the carpet, back to her.

"Please don't tell anyone why I left," she said before giving him a chance to speak up. "I don't want our friends to know the truth about me."

He gaze her a confused look. "Well, it'll be heard to tell someone I'll probably never see again."

Her eyes widened and her lips fell apart. "What do you—" She stopped at the realization and jumped up from her leaning position against the wall. "David, no."

"Why not?" he asked, giving her a perplexed look.

Joey's tongue fumbled for words, taken back by his. "Why not?" she repeated, stunned. "Well, for one, you have a family that needs you, and two, it's way too dangerous. I won't let you risk your life just for me. Plus—" She cut herself off.

"Plus?" David repeated, aggravation lacing his tone as he crossed his arms against his chest.

She swallowed and lowered her voice to a mere whisper. "Plus, I told you already how easily I lose control. I don't want to..." She couldn't finish her thought.

"What? Accidentally stab me or something?" he asked with a snicker, but she wasn't as amused. He stepped around the coffee table to stand in front of her. "There's nothing to worry about, Joey. Plus..." He gave a subtle shrug. "I think people with abilities are kinda cool actually."

She rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Wish you'd tell Heather that."

"I'm serious!" He playfully punched her good arm.

She couldn't contain her smiled, and she peered into David's blue eyes feeling his warm gaze. The thought of never seeing him again brought tears to her eyes and a lump lodged in her throat. She was going to miss this, miss him. She hadn't had a friend like him since Vincent. It was unfathomable to think of losing him.

David let out a long sigh through his nose and bobbed his head. "Joey..." He paused and averted his gaze causing her brow to furrow. "There's something I need to show you."

Her heart stopped and her face paled. With a blink, the color of his irises beamed with a neon blue. Shocked, she gasped and took a step backwards, bumping her thighs against the half wall. Speechless, she continued to watch as his appearance slowly changed from head to toe. Blonde replaced his brown hair while his peachy skin tone paled. The neutral olive of his lips darkened into a light blue, and a vapor rolled off his shoulders like you'd see when opening a freezer door.

"You're not the only one keeping secrets." He raised a hand and in his palm formed a solid ball of ice. "I would say you have no idea how lonely it's been, but...I think you do."

She closed her mouth, realizing it was still open, as her expression changed from shock to compassion. All along, David had been hiding just the same as she had.

Lowering his hand, the ball of ice melted and the water raced up his arm to his elbow before evaporating. "At least your ability doesn't change your appearance. Yours is a little easier to conceal. Losing control..." He shook his head. "Not an option for me."

"But...but you..." Her tongue struggled to find the words as her eyes traced his body. "You thought—or acted—like you thought I was crazy at Marietta's."

He crossed his arms and smirked. "Because that's exactly what I was doing. Acting."

Her brow knitted in anger as she balled her fists at her side. "Well, your acting hurt."

"I'm sorry," he responded, thrusting his hands on his hip. "I mean, you saw what happened to Thorn, right?"

"But you said... The way you acted with Heather—"

"I already told you that was all a lie," he explained, aggravation filling his tone. "Heather and I have been friends since birth. We practically share a birthday. She just has deep feelings towards people with abilities."

"Dark feelings!" Joey corrected.

"She just thinks they should turn themselves in to help save the rest of us."

"We should turn ourselves in!" Joey folded her arms across her chest.

He shrugged. "I've always sided with her. I can't risk her thinking something's up so I just pretend to be like her."

Joey arched a brow as a sickening feeling filled her stomach. "You think she would have turned you in?"

The blank stare he gave her felt colder than the vapor pouring off his body. "I don't know what she would've done, okay?"

She quickly scanned him from head to toe. "You look so different," she almost whispered. "How do you change your appearance like that?"

David raised his hands, flipping them from front to back. "I... don't know. Guess it just came with the ability." He lowered his hands. "Thank goodness. Could you imagine being stuck like this around here?" He looked away and his voice softened, "Some people aren't as lucky."

Joey opened her mouth to reply but her heart rate spiked and she ducked, her wounded arm covering her face, as glass shattered from the only window in the wall to her left. Shards flew towards them, and David stepped in front of her, wrapping his arms around her torso with his back to the window. When the flying glass settled, he twirled around, and Joey's stomach hit the floor as her eyes landed on the soldier standing in front of the broken window holding a thick piece of rope in his gloved hands.

She flinched and yelped as the door was kicked in and another window breaking sounded from what had to be her moms bedroom. Her heart hammered against her ribcage as her eyes darted between the two soldiers before them, the breath in her lungs abandoning her completely.

Joey placed a soft hand on David's back. "David—"

He held out his arms in front of her in means of silently communicating she should stay behind him. He spread the fingers of his right hand apart and an electric blue liquid raced through his veins to his palm where a sword made entirely from ice filled his grip...and he aimed it at the two soldiers who advanced from the broken window and busted door.

Feeling like her heart would explode, Joey ignored the half of her brain that told her to cower behind David. She swallowed her fear, and forced a surge of energy into her palms. Her daggers appeared, their orange glow illuminating David's back, and the pulse in her hands felt warm and welcoming.

Another door smashed to her right, startling her once again, but she resisted the urge to vomit her dinner that slowly crept up her throat as the other soldier stormed down the hallway, and another filed in through the front door. Four soldier's now stood in front of them, and in sync they cocked their guns and pointed them at the duo.

Joey gulped. She barely survived one of these guys.

"There will be no escaping," the four said in unison through the grainy robotic voiceover which caused Joey's face to pale.

"Okay," David drew out the word. "Not creepy at all."

"David," she whispered, tugging on his bicep. "What are we going to do? You saw what one of these guys can do. We're outnumbered."

Twisted his next over his shoulder, she could see the smallest hint of a smirk and he winked. "Fight or die, right?"

She raised a brow, shocked by his courage as he advanced on the two men at the door. "David!" Joey outstretched her hand to pull him back but missed, her eyes widening at his stupidity.

David thrust his free hand forward, and ice covered his fingertips an instant before they shot towards the soldier's. One fired his gun missing David by inches, while the other pulled the dagger from its sheath at his hip—like the solder who had greeted her at the door—to deflect the blades of ice.

Joey watched, her knees wobbling, as he swung his sword skillfully at the two soldier's by the door, each brandishing their own daggers and dodging his swings. Her attention was drawn to the third soldier who flawlessly swung through her window as he aimed his gun towards the three in combat.

"No!" she screamed, and without thinking, she flipped her dagger in her hand, pinched the tip of the blade, and hurled it towards the soldier. Her jaw dropped in shock as the soldier screamed out, falling against the back wall and slid down.

She grimaced to find her dagger protruding from his bicep. Her aim needed a little more work because that was definitely not his thigh, but...that worked too. Releasing her clenched fist, the dagger in his bicep disappeared, and the soldier gripped his arm as his red suit turned a deep maroon around the wound.

Her gaze found its way back to David where she watched the two soldier's moving swiftly with their blades, but to her amazement, David diverted every blow. His dad must have been a martial arts teacher with the kind of moves he portrayed. He kicked one of the soldier's in the chest and sent him flying into the wall, jiggling some pictures that barely hung on their nail. He avoided a stab by jumping backwards, but wasn't quick enough to miss the nick to his abdomen. He hissed and slapped a hand over the small slice at his ribs.

"David!"

Dodging another swing from behind, David ducked and rolled out of the way, hovering a hand over the carpet. Instantly, blue raced through his veins and a bright pulse shot into the floor creating a patch of ice under the soldier's feet. The men tumbled backwards as they lost their footing. One slid backwards and crashed into the coatrack by the door while the other soldier's feet darted sideways out from under him nearly forcing him into a split.

The click of a gun drew Joey's attention. She tightened the grip on her dagger, prepared to enter her second battle, but was met with the electrifying pain of another metal claw. The force of the blow threw her to the ground, and she screamed at the jolt coursing through her body as it boiled the blood in her veins. She clenched her eyes shut, gritted her teeth so hard she felt they would chip, and dug her fingernails into the carpet as she road the wave of never ending pain.

"Joey!"

David! She prayed he wasn't enduring the same kind of pain.

"You should've listened to us, Joey." He clicked a button on the gun at his chest, and the burning sting throughout her pulse lessened.

Sucking in breath after breath, sweat beaded her brow and she withered on the floor. Through her grimace, her eyes opened a crack to meet the soldier's black, meshed helmet as he crouched beside her. "Now..." He pointed the gun directly at her face. "We'll have to kill them all."

Anger burned her skin, keeping her from freezing in place. She willed herself to ball her hands and a prickly sensation surged through her veins to as she dug her nails into the palms of her hands. Gritting her teeth, she grasped the unseen, but very real, leather hilts of her daggers. She summoned a burst of energy and, in a desperate attempt, swung her right arm towards the soldier's armor.

Either she wasn't fast enough, or he was smarter than his co-worker.

The soldier easily pushed her arm aside with a swipe, her daggers vanishing as her hands relaxed, and twisted her arm behind her back. She cried out as he drove her hand further up her shoulder blades.

Straddling her back, the soldier leaned in and whispered,"Look at him, Joey! He will die right here, right now if you don't surrender."

Her eyes found David as he threw himself into the torso of the solider on his right and they both crashed to the floor in a heap of tangled limbs. David quickly hopped up, but a fist met his face in the other direction; the blow was heavy enough to knock him from his feet and his back collided with the wall.

Her stomach dropped as she was yanked off her feet, spun towards the soldier who held her captive, and he planted his gigantic boot in her chest. Launching forward, she crashed into the rickety coffee table, and shattered it into thousands of pieces below her weight. The metal claws prongs—still around her chest—dug deeper into the sides of her ribs as it squeezed even tighter. Her eyes slammed shut, expecting the rush of white-hot electricity through her veins, but when seconds passed she opened her eyes and winced, barely able to push herself up on her elbows. She gave her arms the once over. Good. There was nothing stabbing her that she could see.

The solder stalked her way, and this time instead of raising her daggers to defend herself, she raised her arms in a silent plea to stop. He gripped her ponytail in his gloved fist and tugged. She screamed and clawed at his hand, struggling to regain her footing amongst the wood, and so she settled for her knees. Her nails dug into the glove that clasped her hair but he didn't flinch.

"Joey!"

The voice caught her attention, and she glanced up to find David on his back with his own sword lying against both palms. They were iced over to keep the blade from cutting him as he pushed against the soldier trying to decapitate him.

"Time to watch him die," the soldier holding her by the hair hissed.

No! Her whole world felt like it would implode. This was her fault. It was her fault David was involved. She couldn't sit by and watch him die. Not like this.

"Okay, okay, please!" Joey begged, keeping her frail fingers wrapped around his fist trying to break loose. "I'll go with you. I promise! Just let him live!"

David grunted as the solider overpowered him, and the blade nicked his throat enough to draw a thin trickle of blood that raced down the side of his neck.

"Please!" She yanked on her hair trying to slip free. Right now, she would even settle for cutting it off if it meant getting free in time to save him. "Please, don't kill him! I did what you wanted!"

The soldier snarled. "You're fond of him, aren't you?" He released a grumbling laugh. "Well...that changes things."

Her eyes met the solider standing by David's head as he gave one firm nod and fished something out of a pocket at his chest. It was a slick, black fabric kit no bigger than five inches. He unzipped it, flipped it open, and yanked out a syringe with a light blue liquid contained in its glass vial. He knelt down and jabbed the needle into David's neck, pushing down on the syringe and releasing the liquid into his body.

David hissed with a cringe, but his hands remained steady against the blade. After a few short seconds, his eyelids grew heavy, his breathing eased, and to Joey's horror, his hands dropped from the sword but as they lowered, the sword dispersing into water. His head rolled limp to the side and the ice boy now in Agcorp's grasp, too, melted revealing David's olive skin tone and dark brown hair.

"David!" Joey squealed. Grabbing a piece of her hair directly above her scalp, she continued to tug. "What did you do to him?"

"You should've come peacefully when you had the chance, Joey," the soldier holding her said. Through gritted teeth, he spat in a lowered voice, "After this fiasco...everyone you know is going to pay."

A sharp jab met her neck along with the cold sting of liquid being forced into her veins. Her body grew limp fast, unable to fight back and stay awake as the world around her blackened.