'Take a look at this.' Hughes called over. 'I think we have an... unregistrated... magician.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgN7jAZUboX
The members of Floor Twelve Minus looked over at the computer screen.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHIC8hGYRJ6
...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...707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaIku0UC8Nv
'I don't know how I survived. It must have been a miracle.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7AsQnC2xY
'You don't think that - '707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt64U3Rrg38
'I do think.' Hughes rested his chin on a curled hand.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPbyYCdMoq
'But telekinesis on a human? At that height? Magic is hardly possible just three floors up, and this must have happened higher than that.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4uhEPcGdd
'You're right. It's quite an amazing feat. For a normal magician, that is.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhOVYZPBLHv
'You mean...?'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ78WXYc8LJW
'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?707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcEobMtr9jY
She could do magic, that much was certain. She could make fire, she could move things without touching them.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyFye4r5V8C
But how? Why her?707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCjGS1SmYFb
rrring, rrring, rrring... She picked up the phone. 'Hello?'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoqxpLKgyVZ
'We'd like to speak to you.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6T05h0Ebr0
'I'm sorry, who is this?'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnHUEHLgHG4
'Floor Twelve Minus. We want to ask you about what happened yesterday.' Was this some kind of joke?707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX9Ptq79yA3
'Look, I don't really have the time right now...' She hung up.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEFUOK3cxRy
'We said, we wanted to talk to you.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rA27AEQRC
Christine shrieked and turned around. A middle-aged, roughly shaven man was standing in her living room. He held out his hand.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5woS4h3kQ
'My name is Hughes.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRS6xchI8Ov
'How did you get in here?' Christine thought through the possibilities. She didn't have anything to arm herself with, apart from...707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NQS4owN5O
'I unlocked the front door.' He smiled.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJu8Znak6z
'...How did you get my house keys?'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV2qE7iaNWI
Hughes laughed, a barking roar. 'Who said anything about needing keys?'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrsm44tv2Ll
'HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?' Christine yelled, backing into the kitchen.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP45XTwtWoL
'I don't know, Christine. Magic?'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8sE33f94id
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.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV05rV4iKWL
'So you know about your abilities, then?' He asked, mildly surprised.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJbk0xKKZc
'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.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQJnuPkmigj
He deflected it easily. 'You obviously do.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPiipUqKss
The steel pan came flinging back at Christine, and, unprepared, she was knocked unconscious.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIX7zfJ1iPI
707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw1s12LFqih
'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.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQueh3kta5D
'The pressing question is, of course, who her parents are. If there's another family of magicians out there...'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFBIUFvYmfN
Hughes turned on the intercom, and watched Christine through the camera in the antechamber. 'I see you're awake now.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjlH5EhQj4
'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.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ03Dh2rf7Np
'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.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLbQud483Tz
'Who are you?'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy9IUCw67C1
'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.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4nh4hwZ2Sv
'Yeah? Is this what you do? Kidnap people and tie them up in metal cables?'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAXEdKjxobF
'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.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRji4ocu7QL
'...So what. You guys are the magic experts or something?'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzISeFOXGDC
'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?'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQfr4hSMn9
'Why do you want to know?'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfM6Cw9hfbb
'Just cooperate, please. We don't want to make you any more uncomfortable than you are now. Who are they?'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZfhOWWpqI
'They died in a fire when I was young.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4pi3Yv1suI
'By your hands? Interesting. But that doesn't answer my question.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlHHhWUrDbH
'Brian. Brian and Rebecca.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXX1RE0SPS6
'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...707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzX9qfYAbD
He turned the intercom back on. 'How old are you, Christine?'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIKYdmYZlYO
'I turned 27 yesterday. Or the day before, I don't know how long you've kept me down here.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiJqQiNz2HP
Shit, Hughes thinks. She really is Xavier's twin... how does that even work?707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrnqVzGJxa
'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.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1x1dhZ7K6i
'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.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa9V8hFdZoi
'Mostly corporate things. Helping out businesses, taking down others. That's where the market is.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡld6Ykn9MV1
Come on... The fiber system in the cables was far too complex. She couldn't unravel it. 'Espionage?'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5SIwA4GYP9
'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.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRP9bbv7FQw
'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.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBYn2234UZ
'Nothing. They're a fabulous company. Which is why they need to go, for Knight Finances to be successful.'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVxVIMkJVY
'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.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT0mPFqErq0
'A hundredfold of your job at WestGo.' Hughes paused for the effect. 'Are you in?'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBdjOTaY3eX
'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.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtyz6QNJvz5
'Shit, shit, SHIT!' Hughes yelled, as the rest of Floor Twelve Minus sprung into action. 'Don't let her escape!'707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2uAp39Po0
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.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZU2GbPBXC
Despite it all, she smiled. I'm powerful. They're scared.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVuPgn2IYS1
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.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95rnqcLn68
There's the elevator. My way out.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApxS59v6ap
Christine ran across the room, deflecting any flames, chairs, or tables thrown her way.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLYi71NFi0B
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.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMkPd8JuyBW
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.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnjaAWXjjV
Christine sent the disguised magician flying to the back of the store, and shattered the panes of glass to run out onto the street.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZWULBUwWYO
I've got to alert people to these madmen.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7FHXAy4PBU
The nearest police station was only a few streets away.
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