The Ethereal Vision

  ***

  When Marc Thomas heard the door that separated the ethereals from the employee section explode outward, he looked into the hallway and saw its thick metallic bulk fly past the offices, turning end over end and destroying anything it came into contact with. It impacted one of the large windows at the front of a nearby office, sending a barrage of glass flying in his direction. At that moment, instinct took control of his body and overcame all sense of rationality as he leapt to his feet and ran for the entrance. He stepped over the thick door that had now come to a stop near the end of the hallway and swiped his wrist over the security device.

  Marc had a history of severe post-traumatic stress disorder that he had managed—only by pulling some very large strings—to erase from his record. He was able to hide the remnants of his condition quite well with medication. Now, though, nothing could stop the fully expected reactions of someone with his trauma from reaching the surface.

  As the door opened, he ran out towards the main entrance, ignoring Wayne, who he could see was crouched behind the main security desk, holding up his weapon.

  Marc ran straight towards the long stretch of glass doors, completely oblivious to the bright lights of the faction that were facing him just over a hundred feet across the green. He burst through the doors, nearly tearing one off its hinges. Despite being athletic, he gasped for breath. He ran straight towards the men and women who now trained more than one hundred advanced weapons on him, but he could hardly see them at this point. He had no idea where he was going; shock had completely overcome him.

  As he reached the flank of men and women, a tall man in black fatigues stepped in front and grabbed him by the arms. Marc stopped moving and jerked his head around, looking directly into the man’s face. He opened his mouth to speak—to ask him a question, the most obvious of questions—but no words came out.

  “Get over here,” the man yelled after a moment.

  Marc was pushed into a space between two large, cavernous vehicles behind the row of men and women who faced the facility. As he slouched next to one of the large, slick tires, his awareness slowly began to return. He remembered now where he was. He gasped as he realised what he had done, and shame immediately overcame him, but he ignored this. What difference could it possibly make at this point?

  Marc looked around for the man who had grabbed him. He saw the man just ten feet away, standing next to a young lady. She was holding a tablet and seemed to be explaining something to him. As Marc’s strength and awareness returned, he stood slowly and stepped forward a few more feet to hear what was being said.

  “Any activity?” he heard the man say to the woman.

  “Not much,” she replied as she touched the screen with her hand, swiping what appeared to be a map of the local terrain. As far as Marc could tell, it included the facility, which was positioned at the centre of the map.

  “Will we be able to detect psionic activity?”

  “Yes. If they so much as lift a small stone we’ll be able to detect it.”

  “Good. I don’t want any of them getting by us.”

  Marc stepped up behind them more closely. Through the gap between them, his attention was distracted by the presence of something highly unusual: a man standing on the far left of the green space next to the wall. He was wearing a black coat. Marc immediately knew that the man did not belong there. Somehow, it seemed as though none of the others could see him. His breath caught in his throat then as the man slowly turned and looked at him. Marc gasped and jumped backward, sinking behind the truck and out of sight. The woman turned and looked at him, glaring with violence in her eyes. Then she turned back around.

  After a few moments, the demeanour of the woman changed as Marc continued to watch her. She was staring at the tablet in her hands, but something was causing a serious problem for her. She tapped the device delicately, but it seemed to Marc that she wanted to smack it hard against her palm, hoping to fix whatever readout it was displaying.

  “What is it?” the man asked her. It was clear he was in command of the outfit.

  “Just something…strange,” she replied.

  “Elaborate, please.”

  “A massive spike…”

  “Where?”

  “Uh…one hundred fifty feet ahead.”

  “How big are we talking?”

  She looked up at him, her eyes wide. “Big, sir,” she said in a barely audible tone.

  He turned to walk back over to her to check the display when a loud crashing sound filled the area. Everyone ducked in shock. Marc looked to the source of the sound and saw that all the windows at the building’s front entrance had exploded outward, sending large shards of glass flying in all directions. The contingent in front of him was stunned and momentarily too shocked to react.

  He watched as the woman in front of him slammed her hand uselessly against the side of the device. She seemed to be trembling just slightly.

  “What the…?” she said, her voice quivering now.

  “What is it?” the man next to her yelled.

  “Massive psionic activity, sir.”

  “Where?”

  “Right in front of us, one hundred feet.”

  Marc looked in front of them, as did the other man, but nobody was there. The frames on the glass doors didn’t move, and he couldn’t hear a sound except a very faint crunching in the distance.

  “There’s nobody there,” the man said gruffly.

  The woman hesitated and continued to stare at the screen. “Eighty feet now, sir,” she said in a trembling voice.

  Marc felt his heart thud in his chest as the same tremendous panic that had caused him to flee began to creep into his mind again. He continued to stare forward, but still, nothing was there.

  “Where is it? What is happening?” the man yelled.

  The woman looked up slowly from the screen in her hands. “It’s everywhere. I’m reading psionic activity everywhere.” The tone of helplessness in her voice was ominous.

  Marc watched in awe, moving closer to the front of the line as the first ethereal revealed herself. He looked down the field of grass and saw her appear. There was a brief flash in her location, then she was there, in a place that had been entirely vacant only a second before. Worse, she was not retreating; she was walking towards them with a look of terrible malice. Her name came to mind immediately: Jane Connor. He knew everything about her, but nothing had prepared him for this eventuality. His lips began to tremble as he watched her walk towards them, seemingly unafraid. Her white gown trailed behind her and she was slightly silhouetted against the lights of the facility. In that moment, which spanned only a few seconds, she appeared like a ghost to him.

  He noticed that the men and women of the faction were not responding to this new threat in any real way. He had the bizarre urge to laugh at this fact, but he suppressed it and took a tentative step backward. Just two seconds later there was another flash to the girl’s left; he saw it more clearly this time. There was a ripple around the air in the space that had been empty, then a brief flash of light and then somebody appeared. It was a male this time. Marc recognised him, too; his name was Morris. His expression was equally vitriolic. As Jane had, Morris walked towards them, flanking the girl.

  Marc was stepping back now. A couple of seconds later, others appeared around them—a girl, then another male. Marc squinted as the rippling flashes of light came rapidly until all eight captives were walking towards them on the grass, only fifty feet away. They were staring straight at them.

  It was only then that Marc really began to panic as the worst thought of all entered his mind: they were outside the facility. That meant their powers were not restrained, and they were now moving far beyond the reach of the dampening signal. Finally, the faction responded.

  “OPEN FIRE!” the man in front of him yelled. Marc turned and ran towards the destroyed section of the gate behind him. The sound of weapon fire filled the area, its terrible cacophony muting the sound of his own scream
ing. He turned to the left around the side of the destroyed gate and entered the forest, disappearing into its inviting darkness.

  Jane walked confidently across the grass; she felt her body begin to tremble with anger. She saw the flash in front of her and knew that Michael was starting to drop the visual barriers she had instructed him to place in front of them. She hadn’t thought the idea would work, but he assured her that, with her there, enhancing his ability, he would be able to conceal them for a few moments. That was all they would need to gain an advantage.

  She saw a flash next to her and knew that Morris was now visible to the contingent. The ethereals had caught their attention; every member of the faction standing across the grass had turned to face them. She didn’t turn to look at Morris or the others as they appeared beside and around her. She felt their minds grow closer together as a singular focus overcame them. Her gaze focused completely on the man standing at the centre of their ranks—the one she instinctively knew had sent the message.

  She glanced briefly to her right and saw Max standing there. She didn’t know if he was visible to anyone else. He nodded at her and she did the same before returning her gaze to the contingent. The ethereals were all visible now and only fifty feet from the faction. Jane could see that they were holding various weapons: Tasers, tranquiliser guns. Some had more expansive, more dangerous weaponry. One man on the far right, she noticed, was kneeling and appeared to be holding some kind of long launching device in a non-offensive position, with the end pointing towards the ground.

  You’re going to need a shield now, Jane. Do you know how to create one? Max asked.

  Yes, Max. I’ve got this, she replied.

  She heard the man who was standing in front of the line yell, “Open fire!” As he said this, she spoke loudly to her friends in the telepathic voice she had become used to.

  EVERYONE, NOW!

  They raised their hands in unison. A thin filament, like the watery matter of a bubble, appeared before them, first in front of Jane, then spreading quickly, rapidly covering all of them just as the first bullets impacted it. Jane winced as she felt the bullets strike their shield. She could feel the bullets go through her body like tiny shockwaves, each one carving a small scratch on her soul. She didn’t care; in fact, she relished it. The shield around them grew rapidly metre by metre until it stretched across the entire field in front of them. It moved forward towards the contingent as the ethereals walked ahead.

  The bullets and darts continued to come at them, but they bounced harmlessly off the protective bubble. Each created large ripples that cast multi-coloured cascading lights all around them. The beautiful lights reached the contingent and echoed back the growing fear from their faces.

  We can’t hold this thing up for much longer, Jane, Michael said.

  We don’t need to, she replied quickly as they continued walking across the green space towards the fearful men and women who had come to capture them. The shield rose in intensity. Working as one, the ethereals channelled their emotion into it. Jane could feel a crackling building around them, like a supercell threatening the most powerful lightning the world had ever known. She spoke to her friends again.

  PUSH! she yelled. Together, they extended their arms outward. The shield flew forward across the grass. Jane could see the terror grow on the faces of the men and women as the translucent, rippling wall of energy flew towards them. It slammed into them, lifting them off their feet as though gravity had suddenly been switched off. They flew backward through the air and landed twenty feet away. Some landed on top of trucks, some crashed onto car windshields and some fell onto the grass, rolling backward.

  The wall of energy continued onward, tearing through the vehicles and creating thick bolts of electricity. Multiple explosions ensued around the various vehicles, destroying much of the electrical equipment. It rapidly passed outward towards the gate, still with enough power to lift large chunks of broken rock from the entrance and propel them backward through the gate.

  Jane and her friends powered down the shield and focussed on the men and women, who were rising to their feet and reaching for their weapons. The ethereals broke into their various groups; the ones who had stayed close in the facility naturally worked better together. Jane looked ahead and to her right; she saw that the man who she presumed was their leader was rising to his feet in front of the main vehicle. The wall of energy had slammed him into the front of a truck, but he had recovered and was standing up. Jane, Michael and Morris walked towards him. The small contingent of five men drew close and surrounded him.

  Jane looked at the guns they were holding and grasped them easily. She grabbed the cold steel of the weapons and ripped them away, hurling them backward into the air and launching them a considerable distance away, beyond their reach, outside the walls of the facility. Three men backed away rapidly and disappeared behind the large truck. There were two men remaining with tranquiliser guns; upon the departure of their comrades, they opened fire.

  Morris raised his hand and deflected the darts easily. Their three minds automatically came into alignment as they focussed on the two remaining men and raised them into the air. They held them there for a moment, then slammed them into the side of the vehicle. Their muffled groans came back to the ethereals as the men fell to the ground in a heap, unconscious.

  Only the leader remained now, standing by himself, unarmed and alone. He ran towards Michael, who remained motionless as he watched him coming. The man swung his fist rapidly, meaning to take out Michael with one punch. Jane grimaced as she saw a brief flicker of light form around Michael’s face. She heard an audible crack as the man’s fist impacted the barrier that Michael had raised to protect himself. His face didn’t move an inch; Jane could actually see the dim outline of the protective shield flash as the man’s fist hit it.

  Jane felt sorry for him as she watched his eyes grow wide. Saliva dripped from his open mouth as he screamed in pain. He glanced up at the three of them and began to retreat slowly across the grass, cradling his broken hand. Tears formed in his eyes.

  When he was ten feet away from them, Jane said, “Just get out of here.”

  He hesitated before turning and running towards the gate of the facility. She didn’t know who he answered to—who he would be returning to—but she knew he was taking solid evidence with him that she and her friends were a threat not to be taken lightly. This was something she suspected they would need.

  She looked around now at the groups into which her other friends had formed. Ciara, Joel and Carl were standing together, and the large group of men and women they were facing advanced upon them, aiming weapons directly at them. Joel acted first. Jane watched as he looked to his left towards the top of the wall. His expression was fierce.

  Thick power cables lined the upper surface in concave arcs. A blaze of white light illuminated the area for a second as Joel ripped the cables free from their housing. Jane saw the faces of her friends and the contingent briefly light up as the flare of electrical energy exploded from the top of the wall, sending showers of sparks shimmering into the area below.

  The cables fell to the ground and began to dance around on the grass, as though alive and bursting with dangerous surges of electricity. Then the cables snapped flat to the grass and, still live, snaked across the surface towards the men and women of the faction, who were now totally distracted and staring at them in awe. The cables began to slither from side to side; Jane knew that Joel was doing this on purpose to scare the faction. Then, the cables rose off the surface of the grass. Still arcing with electricity, they moved farther towards the men and women, snapping at them in the lifelike manner of snakes.

  The faction slowly backed away towards the exit. When they reached the point where their escape route was about to be blocked by the jerking, sparking cables, they turned and ran for the exit. One of them screamed as he ran. They left through the gate and disappeared into the woods at the other side of the road. The cables dropped to the ground, l
ifeless, as though they were puppets cut loose from their strings.

  Jane heard the screech of a vehicle. On her right, she saw a truck fly out from behind another vehicle, skidding in the grass. She turned with it and watched as it circled around them on the grass in front of the facility, then headed straight for the area where Joel, Carl and Ciara were standing. It was only ten feet away when Joel raised his hand towards Ciara reflexively. The air around his hand rippled and Ciara was violently lifted off her feet and pushed to the side. She fell on the grass and tumbled out of the path of the vehicle.

  Carl raised his hands in front of him. The outline of the barrier that rose in front of him was barely visible—a reflective sheen. The truck turned directly towards him and careened in the grass, leaving muddy tire tracks as it went. Jane saw the shocked expression on the driver’s face as he realised that Carl wasn’t going to move and that he had made the wrong decision.

  The truck smashed into the invisible barrier and Jane watched—as though in slow motion—as the vehicle’s entire front section was destroyed. Bits of glass and metal exploded and scattered in an omnidirectional way. The man who was driving the truck flew through the windshield. Joel reacted rapidly, reaching his hands through the air to catch him. The man froze ten feet from the truck, unconscious and suspended in mid-air. Joel lowered the man safely to the ground. Jane could hear the telepathic communication between him and Carl as Joel knelt next to the driver.

  Is he okay? Carl asked. He still had his hands outstretched towards the vehicle, even though it had already stopped completely. He appeared to be having trouble detaching himself from it. Gradually, he pulled his hands away, his face contorting with the struggle. The vehicle fell from his grasp, collapsing onto the ground as a smouldering wreck. Carl turned to Joel.

  Joel placed a hand on the man’s forehead. He’s fine. Concussion, I think, but I can feel his mind. I think he’s okay.

  There were very few of the contingent left now as it began to rain. Colin and Sophia were fending off several of the remaining combatants, but they seemed reluctant now. As Sophia projected a shield in front of them, the combatants began to retreat towards the gates. They fired tranquiliser darts at the ethereals, but their shots bounced harmlessly off Sophia’s shield. Colin reached out his hand and gave them one final push. The faction members jerked backward. Looking at each other, they turned and ran back towards the gate, dropping their weapons haphazardly on the ground.

  Several members of the contingent were lying injured on the grass in front of them; others were limping towards the exit. The only others remaining in the area were the unconscious soldiers on the ground in front of them. Jane instinctively reached out with her mind, trying to feel for their vital signs. She felt the dim emissions, the gentle hum of their unconscious minds as she reached out with her thoughts. They were all okay; just unconscious. She was glad of this.

  She saw Max approach from the darkness on her left. Instinctively, she ran towards him. He smiled, but held up a hand gently.

  “Non-corporeal, Jane, remember?” he said as she prepared to hug him.

  She stopped in front of him. “Oh…yes, of course” she said. Just seeing him was wonderful.

  He smiled at her.

  “How did we do?” she asked.

  He looked around. “Not bad,” he replied after a moment.

  Jane turned around. She saw that, beyond her friends, who were gathering around her, the facilities’ employees were slowly spilling out of the building and onto the ground in front of the broken doors. They looked in astonishment at the scene of destruction in front of them. Jane glanced at her friends and saw that they were perplexed at Max’s appearance.

  Hello, she heard him say to them clearly—a collective communication they all took part in.

  Hello, she heard some of them respond. She could hear the questions bubbling up in their minds, but decided that introductions would have to wait. She turned to Max.

  What’s the best way to get out of here? she asked.

  He simply looked at the large, abandoned truck next to them. Then he looked back at her. She saw that the vehicle extended back to a length of twenty feet—enough carriage space for all of them. Jane turned to Charlotte, who was now approaching, having walked from the front entrance of the facility.

  “Thanks for your help. I mean, really—thank you,” Jane said.

  “Don’t mention it.”

  “Do you have somewhere safe to go?”

  “I do know a place. I have a friend I can stay with for now. Her house is a few hours’ drive,” Charlotte replied, already stepping away from them. “I’ll take one of the cars and ditch it and then…well, I’ll figure something out.” Smiling, she added, “They won’t be able to find me, Jane. Don’t worry.”

  “You’re sure?” But Charlotte was ten feet away now and turning as Jane saw just a splash of doubt in her expression.

  “Yes, I’ll be fine, Jane. Go. Get out of here before something else happens.” Charlotte took one last look at Max. It was a look that Jane could tell was filled with desperate, sad longing, and she understood it completely. Then, before Jane could protest, Charlotte quickly turned and jogged across the path towards the parking area.

  All eight of the ethereals faced the destroyed section of the gate and turned their power on the debris. They lifted the largest pieces of rock and metal to the side, then let them fall with giant thuds, clearing their way to the exit.

  After a few moments, Jane watched as a car approached with Charlotte in the driver’s seat. It drove past them over the remaining debris and out through the gate. As the car passed, Jane caught Charlotte’s glance for one brief second and smiled before she went out of view. The car’s taillights disappeared around the corner and into the night.

  Morris jumped into the driver’s seat of the truck that Max had pointed out to Jane. The rest of them filed into the back section. Only Max and Jane remained on the grass in front of the truck. She turned and looked at him. He nodded at her, then teleported away from the scene and into the truck. Jane walked to the front of the vehicle and turned one last time to face the facility's employees. They were all standing in front of the main entrance, spread out in a line.

  She saw one of them thoughtlessly reach towards his concealed weapon. She looked in his eyes as he returned her gaze. She shook her head slowly from side to side. He pulled his hand away immediately, as though it had touched hot coals, and let it drape to his side. She could feel what was almost relief coming from his body.

  “We’re leaving now. Stay exactly where you are and don’t try to stop us,” she yelled across the lawn. She kept her gaze on them as she walked to the passenger side of the vehicle. She opened the door and climbed into the seat beside Morris. She scanned the cavernous interior. “Do you know how to drive this?” she asked.

  “Well, it’s not exactly a Toyota, but I’m going to have to learn, aren’t I?” After a few moments during which he familiarized himself with the vehicle’s controls, Morris drove it forward across the green. Then he turned it around and headed back towards the main entrance. He drove through it, past men and women who still littered the ground beside them. They were unconscious, but would survive. The truck bounced upward as they drove over the remaining rocks and sections of destroyed gate. Jane was lifted off her seat a few times, but after some seconds the road below them was clear.

  They turned right around the corner of the gate and reached the main road. Then they were gliding along the slick surface beneath them. Jane saw nothing ahead except the starry dark and the moon suspended between giant fir trees that lined either side of the road.

  The cold night air rushed at her through the open window; the wind was filled with the scent of pine. She thought she had never felt so free. She let her head fall back against the headrest and closed her eyes before looking at Morris. He glanced over at her and smiled. He took her hand and held it for a moment before returning his attention to driving.

  Every cell
in Jane’s body seemed to be singing. She took one last look in the side mirror at the destroyed gate and the remaining light from the facility as it dimmed in the distance behind them. After a few more seconds, it was no longer visible. Jane finally closed her eyes.

  In the aft section of the vehicle, Ciara stared at the strange man who had appeared on the green after the altercation. She knew it was the man named Max whom Jane had described to her before. He was sitting at the end of the opposite bench, closest to the edge and the road, where the tarp that separated them from the flying tarmac below flew about in the wind. He was staring into the night, but then he turned back and looked at her. She gasped for having been caught staring.

  Who are you? she found herself asking telepathically, without planning to.

  I’m Max.

  My name’s Ciara. It’s nice to meet you, Max.

  It’s wonderful to meet you, Ciara. You all did a great job protecting yourselves—and the facilities’ employees—back there. Nobody came away from that altercation with any serious injuries. It was impressive.

  Thank you. She found that she couldn’t pull her eyes away and felt embarrassed. He smiled at her, and she found herself blushing. She turned away and looked at the grey metal of the wall on the other side of the carriage, trying her best to conceal her thoughts. Through her peripheral vision, she noticed him looking at her. It seemed he was still smiling, so she tried to censor her thoughts even though she found his presence very comical.

  They continued driving into the night. Initially, Morris had no idea where he was going. However, he was not afraid of being pulled over; he knew they could produce enough tricks to get past any kind of block that might be placed in front of them. From time to time, Max appeared in the driver’s section to guide them. He told them that he had selected a location with an abandoned warehouse that he had located while they were in the facility anticipating their escape. Based on his instructions, they drove on through the night.

  Jane drew her knees underneath her and peered at the stars and the moon above. The heating system in the truck was good and she was kept warm despite the cool air blowing through the small opening in the window. She thought about all that had happened to her and all that had brought her to this moment. She felt, most of all, an enormous wealth of thanks for both Morris and Max.

  She thought of Max most, though. Ever since she had seen him appear once again outside the facility, she had felt as though she could see a new danger in his face. She wondered what he had been through while she had spent time in that place. What trials of his own had he faced? Was there some new threat looming on the horizon?

  She drifted in and out of sleep, wanting to stay awake and unwilling to admit how exhausted she was. Morris had encouraged her to sleep, but she refused. Eventually, her tiredness got the better of her and her head fell to one side as she drifted off.