'Take a look at this.' Hughes called over. 'I think we have an... unregistrated... magician.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7EHS3m6iNC
The members of Floor Twelve Minus looked over at the computer screen.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDMEwk7mGif
...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...877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgONIGFPHsC
'I don't know how I survived. It must have been a miracle.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWn1wTxKzPJ
'You don't think that - '877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBD39Qmzaya
'I do think.' Hughes rested his chin on a curled hand.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnG3UQaXGj
'But telekinesis on a human? At that height? Magic is hardly possible just three floors up, and this must have happened higher than that.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBEeT25Y7C
'You're right. It's quite an amazing feat. For a normal magician, that is.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhDPNZIRBJ
'You mean...?'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ38RHSQkztz
'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?877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl3AyNcEpki
She could do magic, that much was certain. She could make fire, she could move things without touching them.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyLtw8Gvw8K
But how? Why her?877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmO4Bc55BBE
rrring, rrring, rrring... She picked up the phone. 'Hello?'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUS6CEL9tdf
'We'd like to speak to you.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbRI6RKkhjU
'I'm sorry, who is this?'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh27DXX7Lcm
'Floor Twelve Minus. We want to ask you about what happened yesterday.' Was this some kind of joke?877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGJpd3M17gB
'Look, I don't really have the time right now...' She hung up.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgbp9gmqWgC
'We said, we wanted to talk to you.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeSYT34pJBM
Christine shrieked and turned around. A middle-aged, roughly shaven man was standing in her living room. He held out his hand.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnVMQMeERFa
'My name is Hughes.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHaeOWrAEIa
'How did you get in here?' Christine thought through the possibilities. She didn't have anything to arm herself with, apart from...877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3pHT0cBv2
'I unlocked the front door.' He smiled.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjSfQqDC7YA
'...How did you get my house keys?'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwuWbuKUP7V
Hughes laughed, a barking roar. 'Who said anything about needing keys?'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZb1GsSrHy5
'HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?' Christine yelled, backing into the kitchen.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4JlFECuD9H
'I don't know, Christine. Magic?'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWA2v9zjE0U
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.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJjqnVguy0
'So you know about your abilities, then?' He asked, mildly surprised.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrLWtihPG0W
'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.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ63NE6MH7nf
He deflected it easily. 'You obviously do.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6mdvTfxHzX
The steel pan came flinging back at Christine, and, unprepared, she was knocked unconscious.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtEo72FxnKB
877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcH338CeHHE
'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.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOZuD5bkgXy
'The pressing question is, of course, who her parents are. If there's another family of magicians out there...'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7g431avZWB
Hughes turned on the intercom, and watched Christine through the camera in the antechamber. 'I see you're awake now.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKpYwibfw3
'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.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0s2zZM3Lo4
'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.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcMsy23Jl4
'Who are you?'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBj5q4Ufsr
'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.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcMhVNgDI6R
'Yeah? Is this what you do? Kidnap people and tie them up in metal cables?'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvaLUA5Xsxe
'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.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBYW3vezVzR
'...So what. You guys are the magic experts or something?'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGbszImxFQf
'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?'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6zWW0aZUL5
'Why do you want to know?'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuo2lnK7KnA
'Just cooperate, please. We don't want to make you any more uncomfortable than you are now. Who are they?'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI9QfErCh7V
'They died in a fire when I was young.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCtI3wqrzoI
'By your hands? Interesting. But that doesn't answer my question.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRm7frdK4NN
'Brian. Brian and Rebecca.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtbgPc2DWDC
'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...877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfe75pc0T6E
He turned the intercom back on. 'How old are you, Christine?'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBp0M3hMrkR
'I turned 27 yesterday. Or the day before, I don't know how long you've kept me down here.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFiaSaxqw2n
Shit, Hughes thinks. She really is Xavier's twin... how does that even work?877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOwXykVbTLn
'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.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ681O7CblIY
'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.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5Ytv94Qwc
'Mostly corporate things. Helping out businesses, taking down others. That's where the market is.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiroFyjYkPB
Come on... The fiber system in the cables was far too complex. She couldn't unravel it. 'Espionage?'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyGQn0jzNex
'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.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4YFva7D9X
'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.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIwGFh70qyP
'Nothing. They're a fabulous company. Which is why they need to go, for Knight Finances to be successful.'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4DJ53Fs0qa
'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.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZwwKWkdKXZ
'A hundredfold of your job at WestGo.' Hughes paused for the effect. 'Are you in?'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13RCfMJHC6
'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.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvSWpv9jJaX
'Shit, shit, SHIT!' Hughes yelled, as the rest of Floor Twelve Minus sprung into action. 'Don't let her escape!'877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMK7m5fiC8
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.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa9ukmFOOxg
Despite it all, she smiled. I'm powerful. They're scared.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡups0PtTxtD
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.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQG4rvh2Sc
There's the elevator. My way out.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbzQaFFEno2
Christine ran across the room, deflecting any flames, chairs, or tables thrown her way.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcS1Io9Ary3
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.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hAVgER3oB
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.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3VtLdbDJEU
Christine sent the disguised magician flying to the back of the store, and shattered the panes of glass to run out onto the street.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHCaRgJjwL
I've got to alert people to these madmen.877Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzlUBV8KQwO
The nearest police station was only a few streets away.
and then Add to home screen.