Persistence of Vision

  Chapter 31: The Eyes of a Drone

  Nat was trying to peel back the layers of pain and find reality again when he felt Maggie pull the energy to her.

  The woman called Borna was evil in the extreme. It all happened too quickly for Nat to process what she’d done, and he knew he’d have to think about it more later.

  Nat sat up as Colin and Borna backed away. Nat had never seen anyone wield the kind of energy Maggie was handling. She still wore her conduit stone, but she’d been given the neurological sedative, which should have prevented her from using her abilities. Nat reached for his own abilities, wondering if the sedative had been burned off somehow, but the wave of nausea that washed over him meant the sedative was still potent, so how was Maggie doing it?

  He was sure Colin and Borna’s fear was mirrored in his own face. With that magnitude of energy, Maggie could blow this entire compound off the planet. All that would be left was an oozing volcano within a raw crater.

  Then the lava broke the surface. A pillar of liquid fire came from directly under Borna, encasing her in its roaring destruction. It vaporized her in a matter of seconds, evaporating flesh, muscle, and then bone like sand before the desert wind. As her liquid ashes dissipated, Nat felt the imprisonment barriers disintegrate as well.

  Movement to the left brought Colin to Nat’s attention. He turned and fled through the door. Nat knew he ought to follow the man, but there were more pressing things at hand. He had to stop Maggie before she killed them all.

  Staggering to his feet, he lurched toward her. Marcus raised his head as Nat went by. Nat pulled him to his feet, but they were both still so weak that it was like two drunks trying to keep each other upright. Eventually they made it to Maggie’s side, collapsing to their knees on either side of her.

  Marcus shook Maggie, trying to get her to focus on him. Her eyes were glazed over, glowing with the reflected light from the pillar of fire she had summoned. It was spouting up through the roof and out the top of the building.

  “Maggie. Maggie, look at me. Maggie, stop this. You must stop!” Marcus pulled the conduit stone off her hand, but it did no good. He looked as confused as Nat felt. How was she doing this?

  A sound brought Nat’s head toward the door. A man was entering, striding aggressively toward them. Colin, no doubt, returned with reinforcements. They were defenseless. He and Marcus were still feeling the effects of the neurological sedative, and while Maggie wasn’t, she was so drunk with electromagnetic power that she was barely conscious.

  He cast his eyes around, looking for something he could use as a weapon, though he doubted any physical weapon would be a match for the neurological weapons of the collective. Then he heard Marcus’s voice, and his head whipped around in surprise.

  “David?”

  The man striding toward them wasn’t Colin.

  “David, what are you—” Marcus began, but David had already reached them. He fell to his knees and slid the last few inches toward Maggie. Grabbing her left hand, he held it up.

  Nat and Marcus gaped when their eyes fell on the delicate gold band rattling around on Maggie’s index finger. Where had she gotten that?

  David grasped the ring and yanked it off her finger.

  Maggie slumped to the side, and Marcus pulled her into his arms. Immediately the lava spray ceased. Mostly it fell straight back down into the chasm it had come from, but some of it hit the sides of the hole at odd angles and sprayed outward. Marcus threw his body up to protect Maggie, but it was unnecessary. The instant he had the ring, David threw up a wall of protection. The lava spatter seemed to hang in the air as it hit the invisible wall of energy. Then David lowered it safely to the ground.

  The three of them knelt, chests heaving and staring at one another. Nat put his hands on either side of Maggie’s head. Her life signs were not faint but distant somehow. Nat was not a Healer, so he didn’t understand what he was sensing, but she was alive.

  Marcus was grasping for words. “David, how did you…? Where did she…? What are you doing here?”

  “Rescuing you,” David said. “We have to go.”

  “Go where?”

  “The team is under attack.” David looked to where the pillar of lava had been a moment ago. “If I’m not mistaken, Maggie just killed the Traveler. We’ve accomplished our principal aim. Now we have to retreat. I’ll carry her.”

  Marcus recoiled protectively, and Nat suppressed a sigh. He understood. He’d experienced this kind of sibling rivalry himself as a young man, but now was not the time for it.

  “Marcus,” David said, “you’re hurt. You can barely walk. You have two options: either drag her or try to carry her and hope you don’t drop her.”

  Marcus looked sullenly at the ground.

  “Let me carry her. I’ll make sure no harm comes to her.”

  Reluctantly, Marcus nodded.

  David wriggled one arm under Maggie’s shoulders. The other cupped her knees. He hoisted her up and turned toward the door while Nat and Marcus got to their feet.

  “Follow me. We have to hurry.”