Chapter XI

JOEY EYES DAVID, HER heart now beating wildly against her ribs, before springing into the tunnel. She trailed closely behind Michelle, her eyes closed as dirt was kicked into he face, and she did her best to ignore the claustrophobia that threatened to seep in and freeze her in place. She gritted her teeth and moved one arm at a time as she swiftly army crawled her way through the pitch black tunnel.

The smell of water hit her nostrils and she emerged into the pink, orange, and purple clouds that had been stroked from a artists brush across the sky. She had to squint to find Michelle, but there she was skidding down the hill in an attempt to hurry. Moving to her rear, cringe at the aching pull in her side, Joey quickly scurried down the slope after Michelle, nearly falling about six times in the process.

She neared the rocky terrain, but in a rushed attempt to catch up with Michelle, her boot slipped on wet moss and she tumbled the rest of the way down the steep side. Her knee sliced across a jagged rock on the way down, and as her palms slapped stone, she grimaced feeling an eruption of pain throughout her entire body.

"Joey, you alright?"

Someone gripped her under the arm and helped her to her feet. She knew instantly it was David from the chilled touch against her skin, and she yelped from the tug on her abdomen. Before acknowledging him, she peered down at her knee as red gushed from a large gash.

She cringed but nodded. "Just a scratch. I'll be fine."

"Joey, I—"

She raised a hand and turned towards the forest to locate Michelle. She swept her head from left to right, squinting to adjust her eyes in the failing light, until to she found Michelle leap over a log several feet ahead and vanished out of sight behind the thick brush.

"Come on." Joey gripped David's shoulder. "We can't lose her." She limped a couple steps, but searing pain rippled through her joint from the pressure in her leg. She gritted her teeth as she halted and bent over, gripping her thigh just above the wound. Running wasn't going to be possible, and she growled in anger knowing she wouldn't keep up.

"You go," she hissed. "Catch up to her. I need to find out where she's going. Alex could be in trouble."

"Alex?" David questioned, his eyebrows rising.

"He's the only one who's unaccounted for." She shoved his shoulder, trying to get him to find Michelle before she was unreachable. "Hurry! I'll catch up eventually."

"Joey, stop!" David gripped her bicep. "Just let me help so we can both go after her." He bent over and hovered his palm a couple inches away from her wound. His brown hair turned blonde, starting at the roots, and blue trailed his veins and surged in a circle at the top of his hand. Within a matter of seconds, ice crystals flowed from his palm and a thin patch of frost froze over the gash.

She winced from the slight sting the cold brought, but it quickly went away and was replaced by a cooling sensation.

Standing up straight, David's ice form melted. "That should help some."

Joey bent her knee back and forth, no longer feeling the laceration, and she looked at him puzzled. "Isn't ice bad for a cut?"

He placed a hand on his chest and gave a settle look of offense. "I'm offended you'd think I'd put any ol' ice on there. My powers just so happen to come with a specific layer of healing gel."

She glanced down at her knee to notice specks of neon blue sprinkled amidst the frosty patch.

"It doesn't last forever, but it'll last long enough to catch up with Michelle and find Alex."

A small grin tugged at one corner of her mouth and she gave a nod of appreciation. Not wanting to waste anymore time, she took off running in the same direction Michelle had gone a minute ago. She sprinted through the forest leaping over logs, spinning around boulders, pushing back brush, and ducking under low-hanging branches. The bandage over her knee felt great, but the aches in her side she learned to push away if she wanted to reach Michelle in time.

Joey didn't even know what she was running towards or if Alex was even in danger. It was the look in Michelle's eyes that had really stirred her into action.

Michelle was barely visible as she raced ahead, but Joey couldn't slow her pace if she wanted to keep Michelle in view.

A sudden fear of danger sprung in the back of Joey's mind and she slowed her pace. This could all be a trap; just a ruse Michelle had put together to eliminate the newcomers. After all, she didn't know anything about Michelle. That whole speech about keeping your friends close could've just been a means to trick Joey. Joey knew Alex was here in the Dome, she had seen him on the airship, but what if Michelle had already sent someone to do away with him? The thought made her pale and churned her stomach. Mr. Magnus had warned her to trust her friends, but he had never mentioned anything about the others in the Domes.

She wanted to turn back, warn her friends and escape while they could, but when Michelle disappeared from sight once again, Joey shook away the thought and continued her chase.

Summoning a jolt of energy to her palms, her daggers burst to life. If this was a trap, she would be ready for it. Feeling a cold chill against her back, she figured David had gotten the memo.

A few more feet of running brought a whitish-grey smoke to the atmosphere, and Joey immediately felt the burn in her eyes. She squinted and blinking, frantically searching for Michelle in the rapidly growing fog, but her eyes teared and beg for relief. She took a second to wipe her eyes, but that only made matters worse. She needed to get out of here!

Her vision blurred under her tears, and she swiped an arm to the side as brush filled her view; the sleeve of her shirt snagged a few thorns as she ran past.

She burst through the layers of branches and leaves to find herself in a small clearing. A clearing that had been engulfed in fire and was rapidly spreading through the trees. Spinning in a circle, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped at the plume of smoke billowing towards the clouds.

"Look out!"

Joey yelped as she was tackled to the ground. A ball of fire soared above her head, and exploded in a loud boom lighting some of the last remaining greenery aflame. She looked up as a boy with shaggy brown hair caged her between his extended arms.

"You're going to burn down our food!"

Joey knew that voice. As the boy jumped off of her, she rolled her head to the side and found Michelle slowly stalking towards someone in the middle of the clearing.

Someone who's skin cracked and glowed in variations of bright oranges, reds, and yellows along his flesh in a slow stream of lava.

Lifting her head off the ground, Joey was astound to find that the boy—apart from his fiery appearance—looked like Alex's doppelgänger, and he was screaming into the air, "I know you're there! Show yourself and fight me, you coward!" A ball of fire filled his hand and he chucked it through the air. It slammed into a tree and engulfed the leaves in an eruption of orange.

"Whoa!"

Joey looked up as David ran up beside her, and she sprang to her feet. A hand rested on her side giving it a slight relief from her sprint. "It's Alex!" she shouted, unsure if David could hear her over the roaring fire.

"Can you calm him down?" They both turned towards the shaggy-haired boy, and he extended his hand. Joey felt awkward accepting a hand shake at a time like this. The boy didn't look very old. Joey had to guess between thirteen and fourteen. "Timothy," he greeted. "Now..." He gestured towards Alex. "Can you guys do something about this? He's your friend, right?"

"How are we supposed to do that?" David asked. They all jumped as another explosion happened a few feet behind David.

Joey turned to face her fiery friend and cupped her hands around her mouth. She shouted, "Alex!" but the crackling from the burning bark overtook any chance of silence.

"It's no use!" Michelle screamed back. She stepped back as a branch fell in front of her, raising her arm to protect her face as embers erupted from the wood. Now standing beside Joey, she was easier to hear, "He can't hear us, and it'll be too dangerous to get any closer." In the blink of an eye, Michelle yanked and arrow from her quiver and knocked it against her bow, pulling back on the string.

Joey gasped and quickly shoved Michelle's shoulder. She stumbled and the arrow released, disappearing above the trees into the smoke. "What are you doing?" Joey shouted aggressively. "You can't just kill him!"

Unexpectedly, Michelle shoved back and Joey would've lost her balance if David and Timothy hadn't each caught an arm. "He's destroying all our food!" Michelle fired. "He has zero control over his ability right now!" She took a step forward, and Joey clenched her jaw as Michelle stood closely in front of her. "You can't get closer unless you want to burn. He's got to go unless you want to die of starvation!" She jabbed a finger in Joey's chest.

"Not if I go."

Joey swung her head towards David and she gave him a look that told him there was no chance she was letting him get closer. He must have been able to read her expression because he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder that sizzled on her rising body heat. "I can freeze my body, use it like a barrier, and maybe get close enough. Once he knows who I am, that should calm him down."

"Do it," Michelle said hurriedly, without even seeming to contemplate what he was saying. "Before we lose what little source of food we have left."

"What?" Joey glanced from Michelle to David. "No, that can't be safe."

"I agree with her." Timothy thrust a thumb at her. "I'm sorry, but fire trumps ice any day."

( David rolled his eyes. "I'm glad you have confidence in me." Joey slapped his shoulder. Now wasn't the time for jokes. "What? It's nothing to worry about. My body will freeze into a crystalized form—"

"And it'll protect you?" she interrupted.

An uneasy grin tugged at his lips. "Well," his voice heightened, "I'll admit there's just one tiny problem." He raised a hand and stared at it. "I've learned that being in this form drains me pretty fast. I haven't been able to master it yet." He returned his gaze. "I can't stay in it for more than a minute, and with all this heat, maybe only a few seconds before it'll completely melt. After that, my powers will wear down and I'll—"

"Be dangerously close to the flames," Timothy interrupted, placing a hand on his hip.

If Alex didn't recognize him in enough time, David could be seriously injured.

"I think we'll stand a better chance if there's two of us out there." Joey looked at Timothy in surprise, as she was sure David was too.

"You can't control ice too?" David asked, curiosity thickening his tone.

Timothy smirked. "Not exactly." He hovered a hand over David's shoulder. "Don't worry. This won't hurt."

"Why does that make me uncomfortable?"

Timothy gripped David's shoulder, and Joey watched skeptically. She balled her hands and felt the pulse of energy in her palms in case Timothy turned out to be some murdering maniac who sucked the life out of people. But when he pulled his hand away from David, she relaxed her jaw, unaware that it had ever been clenched.

"What was that about?" David asked, glancing from his shoulder to Timothy's hand.

Joey's heart dropped to her stomach, and David paled. She stood amazed as Timothy's brown hair rapidly faded to blonde. His skin paled and his lips turned a light shade of blue. He glanced between Joey and David with a wide grin before answering with a shrug, "That's my ability. I can borrow any ability from any person with just the slightest touch."

"You're going to crystalize yourself like David to get to Alex," Joey stated, quickly catching on to what Timothy was getting at.

The only response she got was a wink.

David crossed his arms with a sneer. "Yeah right. It took me years to figure that out, and as I said, even I don't have full control over it."

"Well, no time like the present to figure it out."

"Go already!" Michelle blared. "None of us will have a chance without food, and I won't put my team in harms way for one guy." She flung a hand in Alex's direction as he threw another fire ball. "Hurry!"

Letting out a deep breath, David's skin paled and his hair blonde until he was a near-older-replica of Timothy. He closed his eyes and ice began to consume his body in a thick layer from head to toe until he looked resembled a walking, talking ice sculpture. Opening his now-solid-blue eyes, he stared at Timothy with a smirk. "No pressure if you can't figure out. It's a pretty rough technic—"

Timothy closed his eyes, and instantly his skin hardened into the same crystal that covered David's body leaving David with his jaw open.

"How did you figure that out so fast?" David shouted, throwing his hands in the air.

"There's no time for that!" Michelle gripped his glass arm and swung him in Alex's direction.

David huffed before he took off in a sprint—Timothy following right behind him—towards Alex hollering his name.

Alex swung around to face them, fire dancing in the palm of his hands. He reared his elbows back, the fire growing brighter, and David immediately stopped displaying his hands in a surrender. Joey gulped as a new fear took over. What if Alex didn't recognize him in time?

"Who are you?" Alex asked, his voice grumbling and almost unrecognizable. He snarled. "You're with Agcorp, aren't you? Just like the other guy."

"What are you doing? Take him down!" Timothy took a step around David, but David flung his arm to the side halting him. Just as he stopped, the two ducked as Alex chuckled a blast of fire directly over their heads.

Joey's eyes widened as the fire blazed in her direction. Frozen, she felt a firm hand around her forearm and she was yanked to the side barely missing the blast that sent the already lit tree into full combustion. She raised an arm to shield her eyes from the splintered wood chunks that sprinkled the air.

She looked back up at the two boys, horror widening her eyes seeing how David's crystalized body had already begun to crack under the heat waves. "Alex, it's me!" David tried to reason. "It's David!"

Joey craned her ears to listen over the roaring fire as she took a few steps forward.

Alex balled his hands into fists. "I'm not stupid!" He shook his head. "You look nothing like David." Throwing his hands forward, a stream of fire flowed from his fingertips with brutal force, and David threw himself in front of Timothy. He steady his feet and crossed his arms in front of him in an X as he fought against the flames.

Joey's pulse quickened as her heart jumped to her throat and her cheeks flushed. She jogged a few steps forward until Michelle gripped her bicep holding her back.

"Alex!" David yelled in a strain as the crystal on his arms chipped and reveal patches of his skin. "Stop! It's really me!"

Alex lowered his hands and the fire died down leaving just the glow of his body while David grabbed at a patch of skin that had been exposed. "I know the kinda tricks Agcorp plays on people in the Dome!" Alex shouted. "I won't fall for its tricks!" Pulling his hands in close to his chest, he jabbed them forward with a shout and fire blasted hotter and brighter from his palms.

Timothy raised a hand, condensation flowing from his palms to retaliate against the fire, but his reaction time wasn't quick enough. The fire slammed into his and David's chests. Their protective layers of ice shattered and evaporated almost immediately. Alex ceased his attack, and both the boys olive skin tone returned along with their brown hair. Simultaneously, they collapsed on their hands and knees gasping for air as the smoke engulfed their bodies.