'Take a look at this.' Hughes called over. 'I think we have an... unregistrated... magician.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIeXju0n4CQ
The members of Floor Twelve Minus looked over at the computer screen.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6l1O6wxJqr
...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...906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSSCV8P8w1p
'I don't know how I survived. It must have been a miracle.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzOk1kmmclU
'You don't think that - '906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5sHSUGd4s6
'I do think.' Hughes rested his chin on a curled hand.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg0wVO0l9Fe
'But telekinesis on a human? At that height? Magic is hardly possible just three floors up, and this must have happened higher than that.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOXU0hxj9Ao
'You're right. It's quite an amazing feat. For a normal magician, that is.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaapnPhblmv
'You mean...?'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzRudT1qfZ4
'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?906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTS5NYIZBZ
She could do magic, that much was certain. She could make fire, she could move things without touching them.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQZWo6tsSe
But how? Why her?906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOrSCgHBCWR
rrring, rrring, rrring... She picked up the phone. 'Hello?'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcVAT0n8QaJ
'We'd like to speak to you.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5k0Se81ZvV
'I'm sorry, who is this?'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtpKYUY6cYo
'Floor Twelve Minus. We want to ask you about what happened yesterday.' Was this some kind of joke?906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnoMxuoxznB
'Look, I don't really have the time right now...' She hung up.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkpwcOP3F8J
'We said, we wanted to talk to you.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPfwvYkD2fl
Christine shrieked and turned around. A middle-aged, roughly shaven man was standing in her living room. He held out his hand.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡraSUwhuV1N
'My name is Hughes.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcW9GUWrvLq
'How did you get in here?' Christine thought through the possibilities. She didn't have anything to arm herself with, apart from...906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB8aQq3FXN0
'I unlocked the front door.' He smiled.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlChiHcFvGb
'...How did you get my house keys?'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiJUipaTiBF
Hughes laughed, a barking roar. 'Who said anything about needing keys?'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsuDAKY5c4v
'HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?' Christine yelled, backing into the kitchen.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8j8r90Sjuw
'I don't know, Christine. Magic?'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnTJEmeMtXF
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.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3mx9En2Ea0
'So you know about your abilities, then?' He asked, mildly surprised.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzqcwc06kgE
'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.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEcLh8wBnNt
He deflected it easily. 'You obviously do.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVF2wyrjdBY
The steel pan came flinging back at Christine, and, unprepared, she was knocked unconscious.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVCRZ0Yy1Xl
906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHm5JBYZfMs
'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.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCSnB3RP9u
'The pressing question is, of course, who her parents are. If there's another family of magicians out there...'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxcXbNUg38t
Hughes turned on the intercom, and watched Christine through the camera in the antechamber. 'I see you're awake now.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn0BFBTAkaR
'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.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPJxdWAlUo
'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.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX8Ug50DU92
'Who are you?'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU9ZNY2nUTG
'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.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAS3ePjeOPK
'Yeah? Is this what you do? Kidnap people and tie them up in metal cables?'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1uaFliRxIS
'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.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUh9WWtgpo
'...So what. You guys are the magic experts or something?'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4YvRxxFLVg
'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?'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡya5C4VP2F7
'Why do you want to know?'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2FEHTwmn8v
'Just cooperate, please. We don't want to make you any more uncomfortable than you are now. Who are they?'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEPz7SSH8U
'They died in a fire when I was young.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvuigOoRAtP
'By your hands? Interesting. But that doesn't answer my question.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7wNhV02EKH
'Brian. Brian and Rebecca.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW06FxO99ZF
'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...906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoDUXEpl1Sz
He turned the intercom back on. 'How old are you, Christine?'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4NSoJgFbTJ
'I turned 27 yesterday. Or the day before, I don't know how long you've kept me down here.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4IHvMJ4vU9
Shit, Hughes thinks. She really is Xavier's twin... how does that even work?906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8g9QYTo354
'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.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Iy5oWazhf
'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.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmSERlIQUZt
'Mostly corporate things. Helping out businesses, taking down others. That's where the market is.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH0OTny8N50
Come on... The fiber system in the cables was far too complex. She couldn't unravel it. 'Espionage?'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaXvSwP2VAU
'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.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz8Cpnvksfv
'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.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ99XJnZIclY
'Nothing. They're a fabulous company. Which is why they need to go, for Knight Finances to be successful.'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKE3G6IRNu
'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.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNDdmlXIlvF
'A hundredfold of your job at WestGo.' Hughes paused for the effect. 'Are you in?'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNtESXtlOT
'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.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh575sZ1pME
'Shit, shit, SHIT!' Hughes yelled, as the rest of Floor Twelve Minus sprung into action. 'Don't let her escape!'906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJgQRia1hyb
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.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66itmNggSu
Despite it all, she smiled. I'm powerful. They're scared.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLpR8hjB37Y
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.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE9BGwLg2xx
There's the elevator. My way out.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2v8YcRwLif
Christine ran across the room, deflecting any flames, chairs, or tables thrown her way.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPjtjZK4WI
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.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXeW6K8EU9j
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.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ThEhrwKPT
Christine sent the disguised magician flying to the back of the store, and shattered the panes of glass to run out onto the street.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2I9yMOBow
I've got to alert people to these madmen.906Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡappf4V4k47
The nearest police station was only a few streets away.
and then Add to home screen.