Though the scream consumed most of my mind, enough was free to notice the splatter of blood and brains and know that that it could be me next.
Despite what I might have hoped, that knowledge did not give me the strength to pull my mind together and concentrate enough to resist it.
Whatever shields Daniel and his parents put in and maintained in my mind weren’t helping either. They were designed to prevent someone from breaking in. The orange man’s scream was more of a psychic electrocution. Continue reading Before Midnight: Part 9→
Urin dropped it into my hand. The outside felt as smooth as it looked and I felt a prickle of energy.
I considered trying to interact with it more, but I wasn’t skilled enough with anything Artificer-related to do it casually.
Looking up from it, I asked, “What is it? Do you know who made it?”
Glancing up from my hand with a frown, he said, “I was hoping for more of a reaction from it. Very well. I don’t know anything for sure, but my assumption when I got it was that either the Abominators made it or that it had been made by the Artificers and found by the Abominators. It was supposed to help find the Artificers’ creations.” Continue reading Before Midnight: Part 8→
We, and this we meant not just Uri and me, but also the rest of the team, now stood in a room with the same marble, the same forest on one side, and the same beach and ocean on the other.
In addition, new people were also in the room—guards who dressed in suits and wore guns, guards whose armor and weapons would have been at home on the cover of a Dungeons and Dragons rule book, and people with a mixture of the two styles—plate mail, a sword, and an automatic rifle for example.
I said, “I assume you’re talking about Magnus, but are you saying there are even more than that? Oh, and who are you?”
He laughed, “I’ve had many names dating back farther than I care to explain. For now, call me Uri. It’s nice to meet you finally, Nick, but let’s skip the rest of the introductions. We don’t want to waste time.
“Your friends are talking to other people right now. They’ll cover the same topics, but I wanted to meet you.”
Of course, I wasn’t dumb enough to ask that question of the actual, for real, wizards when I met them—which was immediately.
I fell through the tear (or at least it felt that way), appearing in a space filled with marble. While I didn’t see the kind of pillars you’d see in a Greek temple, it felt like a place that should have them. I saw white, gray, and black marble for both the ceiling and the floor. Continue reading Before Midnight: Part 5→
Rachel gave a quick grin, “I hope you’re not blaming it on me, but that’s about right. I still can’t navigate hyperspace on my own. The Cosmic Ghosts dropped me off over Earth and disappeared. I floated down from orbit on my own and as I floated down, I felt something. It wasn’t a hum. It felt more like gathering energy. Then I felt a pulse. That’s when the hum started.”
Joe restrained his response, hoping that he wasn’t grinding his teeth. The group didn’t need more right now. Something was off about Giles. He couldn’t put his finger on what. If that wasn’t enough, new people with powers were appearing.
Man-machine, of all people, had visited by his office to tell him about it. Wearing a cheap suit, the kid claimed to be starting a business that made auto parts. He couldn’t hide his nervousness, constantly checking out the window. Continue reading Before Midnight: Part 3→
“Right,” Amy said. “They’re going to set something up for the end of the week. I asked why it couldn’t be sooner and it’s what you’d think. They all live in fear of Magnus. They don’t want it to be obvious that they’re going anywhere and don’t want it to be obvious that they returned. It takes time to set it all up.”
“Huh,” I remembered how far Ruthie Shaw had been from anywhere. “I knew they were on the run, but it makes me wonder how much of a risk it is to get them together.”
Amy met my eyes, “One that they’re willing to take because they’re afraid that not doing it will be worse.” Continue reading Courtesy: Part 65→
I thought back to the fight in the playground with the initial version of the mushroom zombies, trying to remember what Hunter had said that he’d done.
In that same moment, I had a flashback to talking to my grandfather in this space, gathering my thoughts to explain the logic of the design decisions I’d made. Knowing that Guardian had interned with the Heroes’ League at one point, he’d probably had the same sort of conversations except about tactics instead of design decisions.
