assumed had been dusk: the walls blocked her view of the horizon), she heard a distant chanting in the city beyond. It rose up over the wall, into her mind and haunted her dreams in that first restless night.
Thirty-six
Elra lay in bed, thinking. Images spun through her mind, relentless, pulling her back to consciousness every time she felt herself slipping down into sleep. She dared not check the time: that would just agitate her more.
After a while she was sure she heard a scuffling outside the door, as if someone was standing out in the corridor, weighing up whether to enter or not. Was that... Kai? She felt herself tense up with embarrassment. Should she pretend to be asleep? What was he doing?
She thought of the way he sat with Rania. She was a very attractive woman, no doubt about it. Had that been a budding romance she'd seen earlier? One with its roots in childhood, in a shared past, with all the drama and excitement that comes with taking friendship to the next level? Insidious jealousy rose within her once again, but she suppressed it. Why should she care who Kai fancied? Good on him. He was the type of guy who deserved a nice partner.
Rania. Elra's blood ran cold as she remembered her words. Don't worry about tonight, they'll save you.
So what was that outside her door?
The scuffling got louder. She thought about getting up and confronting whatever it was, getting it over with. Instead she stayed in bed, waiting. Perhaps it'll go away.
It didn’t go away. The door blasted open, thrown off its hinges. Zhen raged in, her eyes blazing like hateful fires making straight for Elra's bed. She held her palms out in front of her, crisscrossed with marks.
Quick on her feet, Elra jumped up and tried to cover herself.
'You unmarked whore!' Zhen bellowed, taking a swing at Elra with an open hand. It missed its target as Elra ducked, instead hitting one of the posts of the bed, splintering it in half.
Elra found room to wriggle out of the tight spot she was in and quickly turned to take stock of her opponent. Given the situation she'd no time to put clothes on, so she squared up to Zhen in her tank top and panties.
Zhen was looking worse for wear. Her eyes were red and blotchy, her movements slurred. Elra didn't know whether to feel concerned or relieved. If she had to fight, Zhen would present an easier opponent if drunk. On the other hand, she might be more violent and less prone to just sitting down and talking about whatever was troubling her.
Which was quite a lot, it seemed. She turned and faced Elra, snorting.
'Zhen,' Elra attempted, 'let's talk about all this.'
'You people don't deserve pleasantries,' she snarled. 'After everything you've done. Millennia of fear, persecution...'
She swung. Elra stepped back.
'And now you think you can just join the club and ignore the past?'
It took Elra a moment to figure out what she meant. When she did, a sickly feeling rose in her stomach and she felt blood rush to her cheeks. 'I don't know why you're blaming me for the actions of other people. I've done nothing to hurt the Marked community.'
'Nothing! You little bitch, you're pulling us apart! But don't think just because you can pull holes out of thin air means you'll ever, ever be one of us. The Wise may like you, for whatever stupid reason, but you have no place amongst the real Marked. You never grew up hearing stories about the Church's inquisition, how we fled from Europe, the exodus to America. How the ones that stayed behind buried themselves deep in the dung of the world to avoid suspicion, cutting ourselves off from our brothers and sisters, Marking our children ourselves without the help of the Wise, clinging on to our traditions and stories like sinking driftwood in a shipwreck.'
She snarled gutturally. 'Back then the Wise had backbone. They lived up to their name. They would have never kowtowed after some unmarked bitch just because she had a slight talent for Knowledge. Community before all else. They've lost sight of that.'
There came the sound of commotion from the corridor. Kai dashed into view, standing in doorway. 'Mother! Why are you doing this?'
'Because someone needs to,' she replied. With that, she leaped at Elra, screaming, hands outstretched and marks livid.
She was caught by a barrage of lightning that lifted her off her feet and dashed her against the far wall.
'KAI!' screamed Harland, coming into view. He grabbed Kai's neck and seemed to lock him in place purely by touch. Kai spasmed, a look of agony etched on his frozen features. Harland's gaze met Elra's: there was murder in his eyes. Zhen was coming back to her senses, moaning and writhing. Elra had to do something quickly.
'You're going to regret this,' Harland muttered darkly. 'Give up now, or I'll kill him.'
Elra couldn't believe her ears. 'Kill him? Are you mad?'
'If it’s the price that has to be paid for stopping you, so be it.'
'Stopping me... stopping me from doing what?' Elra quizzed, confused.
'You're unnatural. The Marked persist by looking after our own. I don't know what this trouble is that you've got wrapped up in, but you're not going to drag us down with you.'
Zhen was gradually pulling herself up. She was currently kneeling on the floor, head on the ground, like a devout worshiper enraptured in prayer. Kai was still locked in Harland's grip.
'If getting rid of the trouble you brought means getting rid of you, it's a step I'm willing to take,' he finished darkly.
Elra detuned from his rant and had a brief moment of clarification, as if her mind was finally coming to grips with the possibilities her new abilities afforded her.
She tore the air in front of her and was presented with the back of Harland's head. Beyond, she could see the room she was in, complete with herself looking through the very same rift.
Before Harland could register what was going on, Elra's fist connected with the back of his head. He cried out in surprise, just as Elra stepped through fully and planted her foot on the back of his knee.
As he fell, Kai came out from being under his thrall and grabbed Elra's arm for support. She let the rift evaporate.
'Run!'
Thirty-seven
They dashed through the narrow corridors of the hideout's upper level, Elra half dragging Kai as he gradually regained full control of his muscles.
'What did he do to you?' Elra asked as they ran.
'He's got marks on his palms that enable him to control others' muscles and nervous systems by touch. Something to do with electrochemical interfacing.'
'On a similar note, I can't believe you did that!'
'What?' he asked, finally getting into the rhythm of running.
'Electrocuting your mother!'
'Trust me, that was a long time in the coming.'
They could hear Harland and Zhen giving chase behind them, having finally come to their senses. They reached the stairs.
'Where do we go?' Elra asked, panicky.
'The elevator down to the undercity. Quick!'
They took the stairs five at a time. Elra discovered Knowledge was easier to use when adrenaline was running high. They burst into the common room, dimly lit by the dying coal embers in the stoves, and ran its length dodging the various pieces of furniture.
They made it to the big empty room where Elra had begun to get to grips with rift-making only a few days ago. Kai dashed over to the elevator and yanked back the grill. Elra could hear Harland and Zhen in the sitting room.
'Hurry up!'
Kai frowned, concerned. 'The power's out!'
Elra's blood stopped in her veins. 'What?!'
Kai put his palm to the controls and zapped them, to little effect: all his succeeded in doing was creating an acrid smell of burning paint. He looked around desperately, searching for the power breaker. The other two were getting closer.
Suddenly, his worried expression vanished. He threw his head back and laughed. 'We are such idiots. Just make a rift!'
Elra smiled, rolling her eyes. Perhaps her way of thinking wasn't that adjusted to her new abilities after all.
>
Just before she tore the rift open, a very odd thing happened. A beam of blazing white light, as intense and narrow as a laser, appeared across the middle of the room. It came from outside the window, Elra realized: and on closer inspection, seemed to be emanating from the direction of the full moon, serenely perched above the Thames, just a little higher in the sky than the City's skyscrapers.
Kai stepped out of the elevator just as Zhen and Harland entered. All four of them seemed taken aback by the presence of the white beam of light: for the moment at least, it formed a convenient barrier between them. Harland and Zhen looked livid and confused in equal measure.
The beam began moving, slowly at first, but quickly gathering pace. For a moment Elra didn't understand what was going on, until she saw the burn mark it was making on the far wall. Burn mark... or should she say, Knowledge mark. Was this the 'saving' Rania had told her about? She knew instinctively what she had to do, it was just a case of doing it before the other two got to her.
'Kai?'
'Yes?' he replied, never taking his gaze off Zhen and Harland.
'I'm going to need a hand in a minute. I want you to hold them off while I do something.'
'If you use your Knowledge on us once more, boy,' Harland started, ‘you’ll be outcast from the community for rest of your life.’
'What "community"?' Kai scoffed. 'You're a group of bitter middle-aged bigots trying to uphold Marked "integrity", whatever that entails.'
'Just like your father,' Zhen added. 'Call us bigoted all you want, but it doesn't change the truth. We need to stay together to