The Vanishing

Chapter 23

"Arden, Gemma, Evie and I are doing recon today." Morghan said.
Morghan did an advanced version of the spell that made Evie visible to me, making her visible to all of us for good.
"Morghan and I have gotten really good at the invisibility spell." I said with a mischievous grin.
"Great. We'll come up with a plan for infiltration after you get back and we talk about what you've learned." Patrick said with a determined look on his face.
Talking about infiltration of a clandestine medical facility makes me feel like a spy. I stifled a smile, despite the seriousness of the situation, 12 year old me would have loved this.
I took a deep breath. We're actually doing this. We're going to Artemis today.
--
The cold damp tunnel seemed even more endless than the last time we'd been inside it. Running my fingers across the damp walls made me shiver. We walked for what felt like ages, each of us trailing our hands against the wall.
Finally, Morghan's hand went through the wall where she was feeling around.
"Are we ready?" Gemma asked.
"You kidding? I was born ready. I've always wanted to be a spy." I said excitedly.
Evie giggled as Morghan and I turned ourselves invisible. Morghan grabbed Gemma's hand and she disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel along with us.
"Ready." Gemma said, slowly letting out the breath she'd been holding.
We went through what I have been calling "the portal" in my head.
The harsh fluorescent lights stung my eyes as we walked silently through halls, peeking in rooms as we passed. Evie split off from the group to find other exits, while Morghan Gemma and I searched for the main office and security center. We had a plan to meet in the tunnel in an hour.
Voices drifted towards us from around the corner ahead of us. We froze as two women in lab coats rounded the corner. We moved to plaster ourselves against the wall so they wouldn't run into us. One of the women had fair hair and a kind face, her brow was a wrinkle of concern as she read what looked like a patient's chart as she walked. Gemma reached out and lightly tapped her shoulder once with her index finger. The woman shook her shoulder slightly but was otherwise unbothered. As the two women entered a room at the end of the hallway, Gemma said "How strange..."
"What is it?" Morghan asked.
"That woman. She's supernatural." Gemma said.
"You can't shift into her?" I asked.
She shook her head. "We'll have to try someone else."
We kept walking, taking a peek at each room. The rooms looked like hospital rooms, each identical to each other. The difference being that they were locked, needing a key card to enter.
"Guys" I said quietly as I looked into the next room that we came across.
"Is that-" Morghan gasped.
"Mason." I finished for her. I only knew Mason as the headmistress' receptionist, I hadn't known he was supernatural.
This recon mission just became a rescue mission. We hurried through the corridor, only seeing more patients' rooms. Thankfully, the ones we saw were empty. A man walked around the corner, headed in our direction. As he walked by, Gemma lightly tapped his hand.
The man scratched his hand as if it itched, but was otherwise unbothered. As he exited at the end of the hallway, Gemma nodded once at us and changed. It happened in an instant, I blinked and suddenly we were no longer holding Gemma's hand to keep her invisible but a stranger's. She grinned as she held up a key card. She gave it to me.
"You should go get Mason. We'll find the main office." Morghan said.
I nodded and set off in the direction the man came from.
When I entered the room, Mason wouldn't look at me.
"If you're here to put another needle in me, I wouldn't." He said in a grisly voice that didn't sound like him at all.
"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" I asked, hesitating.
His head snapped in my direction.
"You. I know you." He said groggily.
"Yeah, I'm Arden. We met once." I hastily went over to his bed. He had numerous IVs in his arms and he was handcuffed and strapped down to the bed.
"I'm going to try something, but don't freak out. Can you do that?" I asked, searching his eyes.
For a second a crazed look flashed across his face but he quickly hid it. "I can try."
First, I undid the straps then I carefully took out his IVs. I probably didn't do it right, but people yank out their IVs all the time right? Well at least they do in movies..
Then I took a cup that was next to the sink and filled it with water before returning to his bedside. I gave him one last stay calm look before I snapped my finger and a little flame appeared. A proud smirk took over my face but I quelled my pride in my little parlor trick and went to work. I heated the middle of the cuffs until the chain melted away. Mason let out a relieved sigh when he was free.
"We'll figure out how to get the bracelet part off later, okay?" He nodded as I put his arm across my shoulders and we limped out of the room together. I put us both under the invisibility spell and we hobbled all the way out into the tunnels. I stopped walking and he looked pained. "Why did we stop?" He asked.
"Morgan and Gemma aren't back yet." And Evie.. I checked my phone, they were cutting it close to the hour mark.
We waited for several minutes before Mason's bodyweight started to be too much, and I started to worry. Just as I started to sag under his weight, they came rushing through the portal.
Morgan was hyperventilating. "We know what they're doing with the stolen powers." Gemma said with a panicked look on her face.
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Wow its been so long time since I posted! I promise not to go so long between posting next time!
For some reason I just had no urge to write recently.
Hope you liked it!
Jess