Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Friendship Runs Thicker than Blood ❯ Panic ( Chapter 4 )

CHAPTER FOUR: PANIC

Sunday afternoon, the voice was proved right. Sira got a call from Seda on her cell phone.

“What's—” Sira began, but Seda cut her off.

“Sira, the FBI are at my house,” Seda said. She sounded terrified. “The hospital sent them my brain scans. They're downstairs, talking to my parents. I made my parents think I'm not at home to buy me some time. What should I do?”

“Calm down, calm down,” Sira soothed her. “Why don't you come over here to my house? You can hide out here until the Feds leave your house.”

“Okay,” Seda agreed shakily. “I'll be right there. Thank you.”

“Any time,” said Sira. They hung up.

A minute later, Seda showed up in Sira's room, hugging her purse, looking exceedingly scared. Her black hair, usually braided, hung loose and knotted around her shoulders; she looked very rumpled, as though she had gotten dressed in a hurry. Her sling was gone, but the bruises on her face were still there. Sira had thought about the problem while she waited for Seda and had come up with a solution.

“I have two questions for you,” she said. “First, can you manipulate anyone's mind?” Seda nodded. “Second, can you teleport with other people?”

“I don't know,” Seda moaned. “I haven't tried.” Sira could see that her friend was losing focus in her fear.

“Well, try now,” she said. Seda closed her eyes. Nothing happened.

“Give me your hand,” she ordered. Sira looked at her oddly. “Just do it! I have to be in contact with you, I think.” Sira held out her hand. Seda grabbed it, and suddenly they were on the other side of the room. “Yes, I can.” She dropped her friend's hand and looked at her with wide eyes, still shaking.

“Well, how about if you make my mom think that she took us to the mall, then we'll teleport there and catch a movie, or something,” Sira suggested. “The mall's a good place to hide; there're lots of people, and it's easy to get lost in a crowd.”

“Okay,” said Seda. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes again. After about a minute, she opened them.

“Your mom thinks we're at the mall. Let's go.” She grabbed Sira's wrist again, and made them both invisible. Sira cried out in alarm. “Shush. We're invisible,” Seda said tersely. In the blink of an eye, they were in the mall. She dragged Sira to a place where no one would see them, then made them visible again. Once Sira could see Seda again, it was plain that she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

“Come on,” said Sira, pulling the other girl by the arm. They were near the food court, which wasn't very crowded. Sira forced her friend to sit at the most out-of-the-way table she could find. Seda slumped forward and put her head in her arms. She was visible shaking. Sira patted her on the back.

“You're safe,” she said. “The Feds can't find you here.” Seda gave no indication of having heard. Sira got an idea and pulled out her cell phone. She called Leo.

“Leo, get over to the mall right now,” she ordered when he answered. “I don't care what you're doing now or who you have to kill to get here, just get your ass over here now.”

“Why—?” Leo began.

“Seda,” said Sira shortly. “I'll explain when you get here. We're at the food court, all the way over by Borders.”

“I'll be there soon,” he promised, worry coloring his voice.

He was as good as his word. Ten minutes later, he found them. Seda still had her head in her arms; her shaking had not stopped.

“What happened?” Leo asked, his fears for Seda confirmed.

“Feds showed up at her house,” Sira told him. “She called me, all panicked, and I told her to come get me and bring us here. It's as good a place as any to hide.”

“Good idea,” said Leo. “Now we just need to calm her down.” He sat in the chair next to Seda, while Sira took the one across from her. Leo rubbed Seda's shoulder very gently.

“Hey, you're okay,” he told her softly. “You're safe here. They can't find you now, and they're not getting through me and Sira.” Seda raised her head and looked at him, her eyes damp and full of terror. Leo didn't wait for her to speak; he wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back. Gradually, her shaking lessened, then stopped altogether. Suddenly, she pulled away.

“Shit! What was I thinking?” she burst out. “Go home, both of you! I shouldn't be putting you in danger like this!” Her distress was back.

“Calm down!” said Sira. “You did the right thing. Like Leo said, the Feds won't get through us. Now, we're going to go see a movie or something, just like three normal teenagers on a weekend.”

“You guys rock,” said Seda. “Let me just get money and I'll treat.”

“No,” protested Sira.

“I'll treat,” Seda repeated, and something in her voice made her friends decide not to argue.

Seda got money from a nearby ATM, and the three of them walked from the mall to the cinema. Seda was still jumpy, looking all around her for FBI agents to come storming out and arrest her. She didn't settle down until they were safely established in the front row of a theater with popcorn, candy, and soda.

None of them watched much of the actual movie. Seda's eyes kept darting to the exits, and her friends kept glancing at her. She was seated between them by tacit consent.

After the movie was over, they wandered back to the mall. They had been inside just long enough to reach the very middle when Seda froze. There were men in suits walking towards them, stopping passersby and showing them a paper.

“Shit,” Seda whispered. Leo and Sira saw the men, too. They echoed Seda. All three whirled around and started walking in the opposite direction.

“How the hell did they find us?” Sira asked, looking over her shoulder.

“Damn it!” Seda cursed. “My ATM card! Shit!” She'd spotted another pair of agents, a man and a woman. “What's the fastest way out of here?”

“The exit by the carousel,” Leo said. They picked up the pace.

“Hey! You three!” came a shout. Seda turned. It was the female Fed.

“Run!” she shouted, breaking into a sprint. Without thinking, she grabbed her friends' wrists. They raced along the lower level of the mall, pursued by the four agents. Confused, scared, and indignant shoppers got out of the way of the fleeing threesome. Leo stumbled; Seda screamed his name and renewed her grip on his hand. They had reached the stairs; a look ahead showed them that more agents blocked the top of the stairwell. Fortunately, there were only two of them. Leo punched one; Sira tackled the other and rolled to her feet. The three burst out of the doors.

“Parking lot!” Seda gasped. “Take my hands!” Leo and Sira each grasped one of her outstretched hands. Suddenly, there was a gunshot; Leo stumbled, blood blossoming on the back of his shirt. The agents were shouting, but neither girl could hear what the words were, nor did they particularly care. “Pull him!” Seda ordered. “Leo, keep going!” She led them to the rows of cars, diving behind an SUV in the second or third row. With one arm around Leo's torso and one hand grasping Sira's wrist, Seda got them the heck out of there.

 

“Where the hell are we?” demanded Sira. They were on a stone jetty with sand on one side and ocean on the other. She pushed herself away from the other two and leaned against a rock, panting.

Leo moaned. He was leaning back against Seda, who had her arms around him. She was crying.

“I'm so sorry, Leo, I'm so sorry,” she chanted.

“Heal him, you idiot!” Sira snapped at her, out of patience from their flight.

“Help me turn him over, then,” Seda snapped back as fiercely as her tears would allow. Between them they got Leo turned over on his front. Seda touched his back over the hole in his shirt. Nothing happened for a moment, and then the bullet came out of the wound and hit one of the stones with a clink. Leo rolled over and sat up.

“I never want to be shot again,” he said with vigor. Seda whimpered and turned away. All of a sudden, she leapt to her feet and ran away across the rocks. Leo and Sira exchanged a glance before following her. She tripped and fell with a cry, then curled up in a little ball to sob.

“Hey, I'm sorry,” said Leo, kneeling next to her. “I didn't mean to hurt you.”

“No, I'm sorry,” she said wetly. “Sorry for dragging you two into this. Sorry you had to get hurt. Sorry I got these powers in the first place.” She punched an upright stone, achieving nothing but a bruised and scratched hand.

“Stop that,” ordered Sira. “I ask again, where are we?”

“We're on a jetty in Brigantine, New Jersey, near Atlantic City,” Seda said.

“And what, precisely, made you bring us here?” Sira pressed.

“It was the first place I thought of, and the best I could do on short notice, okay?” Seda retorted. “God. Okay, I need to calm down and think.” She took a deep breath and was quiet for a moment.

“Can you think me up some clothes that don't have blood all over them?” Leo asked. Seda shot a look at him.

“Yeah. Matter of fact, I should take both of you home. The Feds won't know who either of you are, and won't connect you to me yet. You guys won't have to be dragged into anything,” Seda said.

“What about you?” Leo asked. “You can't go home. They're probably all over your house. What will you do?”

“I'll run away,” Seda told him. “With my powers, I can live in secret for a long time.”

“Then we'll come with you,” said Leo at once. Sira nodded.

“Absolutely not!” Seda exclaimed. “I'm not about to drag you two away from your families for what could be a very long time!”

“And we're not going to leave you to run away alone!” Sira said hotly. “What kind of friends would we be if we let you do that?”

“What kind of friend would I be if I let you two disappear without a trace?” Seda retorted. “Think of your parents. What will they think when you don't come home?”

“I don't care!” Sira insisted.

“Me either,” said Leo. “You need us, Seda.”

Seda looked from Leo's face to Sira's. Both were set and determined; Seda could tell that neither of her friends was going to relent. All the fight suddenly went out of her.

“Fine,” she said. “I'll take you home so you can pack.”

“What are you going to do?” Leo wanted to know. “The Feds'll catch you if you go home to pack.”

“You forget I can turn invisible,” Seda reminded him. “Give me your hands.” Leo and Sira obeyed. Seda took them first to Leo's house, leaving him outside his bedroom door.

“Call me when you're ready,” Seda told him. Before he could say anything, Seda whisked Sira off to her room. “Same for you,” Seda ordered, and was gone.

She went to her own room last, invisible. It was but the work of a moment to get the biggest suitcase from the guest room and take it to her own. She packed whatever she could as fast as possible, not really caring what clothes went into the suitcase. She used her telekinesis to fold everything as small as possible and put it in the case, which considerably sped up the process.

The thing that took her the longest was her books. In her room were three shelves that touched the ceiling, all stuffed full of books. Most of them were in her memory permanently thanks to her powers, and she could read them by going into a trance, but the actual books were important to her. She painfully selected a few to go in the suitcase, which she then closed. A few more went into a backpack.

Her phone buzzed. It was Leo. She registered the caller ID and put her hands on her stuff. Instantly she was in Leo's room, and visible. He started, his phone still at his ear.

“Teleportation, remember?” she said. She noticed that his bloodstained clothes were on the floor. “I'm going to destroy those,” she said, indicating the heap of cloth. He nodded. She pointed at the clothes, and they were gone.

“Do you know where we're gonna go?” Leo asked. Seda wearily sat on her suitcase and put her head in her hands.

“I don't know,” she moaned, a catch in her voice. “I can't think. My brain functions at almost full capacity and I can't think.” Her shoulders shook. Leo wanted badly to comfort her. She looked so vulnerable like this. “I'm sorry for getting you involved,” she cried suddenly, sliding to the floor. “I'm so sorry. You don't have to come with me, you know. You could stay here.” She was really sobbing now. Leo knelt next to her and this time he folded her into his arms. She sagged against him, crying her heart out. He stroked her hair, not knowing what else to do.

“I'll stick by you, Seda,” he murmured. “I'm coming with you, wherever we end up.” She looked up into his face, her tear-filled brown eyes very grateful. Leo's heart pounded painfully. He wanted so badly to kiss her… He slowly bent his neck, bringing his face closer to hers. Seda's phone buzzed again, breaking the moment. Leo pulled back at once. Hastily, Seda rubbed her eyes and tried to control her breathing. She answered the call this time.

“You okay?” Sira asked when she heard Seda's voice.

“Yeah. I'm fine,” said Seda shortly. “We'll be right there.” She dried her face on her sleeve. Leo hugged her tightly before standing up and pulling her to her feet.

“It wasn't you who got me involved,” Leo reminded her. “It was Sira.”

“I know,” whispered Seda. She looked right into Leo's eyes. “Thank you,” she said. He nodded, not trusting his voice, hoping that she wouldn't be able to read in his eyes what he had almost done. “Got your stuff?” she asked, suddenly businesslike. He picked up a bulging duffle bag and slung it over his shoulder, relieved by her change in mood. She put a hand on her suitcase and grabbed Leo's wrist with the other.

They were in Sira's room in a second. Sira did a double take when she saw Seda's blotchy face.

“You okay?” she asked again. Seda nodded.

“I'm going to take us to my beach house, where it's safe,” she announced. “No one will look for us there, because it's all the way in New Jersey, and I can think where to go next and establish a more permanent residence.” Her friends nodded. She held out her hands, her legs leaning against her stuff. Leo and Sira knew the drill and took her hands. She took them to a small, bottom-floor duplex apartment.

“You wait here,” she said, indicating the sofa and chairs. She went into the nearest room and closed the door.