Sleight of Hand

Chapter 35

Trebor waited until Hali had closed the door to move. He could hardly think clearly with his pounding heart and his quivering hands. The plan he was creating in his head was a dumb one, but it was going to have to work. It was all he had. There was no hope for any of them if it didn't.

"Stay here," he demanded with a voice that wasn't as strong as he'd have liked it to be. He released Aivilo and marched to the door. He whisked his eyes around, deter­mining the best place to Shadow from. He hurried into the living room to look out the window. Hali was walking casually away, out into the field where she'd first appeared three days before, the box of Superhumans under her arm. The Elite's cards were clutched in her hand.

She'd fooled them all into thinking she was good, that she'd been the victim instead of the offender. Even Trebor had believed her, and he didn't trust hardly anyone. He'd beat himself up for it later. Now, he had to focus.

"What are you doing, Tre?" Kurtis asked from behind him.

"I'm getting our cards back," he replied, his eyes darting around, taking in everything.

There.

She would pass by a shadow along the tree line before she disappeared. She was going to leave in the same way she'd arrived. Trebor was sure of it.

Bacon, as if reading his mind, asked, "How is she even able to travel like that? It's not part of her abilities."

"The Mage," Trebor said. "Hali is feeding him power. That much is part of her abilities. We can only assume the Mage is transforming that power into whatever he wants. Because that's what Hali does. She can only give power to others in terms of energy. She can't give him specific pow­ers. He gets to choose what he can do with the power once he has it."

Bacon cursed. "This isn't good," he muttered.

Trebor stood from where he'd kneeled on the sofa to look out the window and planted his bare feet in the shadow that he'd found on the ground. He was in his pajamas; black sweatpants and a white t-shirt. He was barefoot. He didn't have time to change... there wasn't time for anything until he got those cards back. He had all he needed: his gloves and earring and power and desperation.

"Tre, I don't think this is a good idea," Kurtis argued, glancing out the window. "If she gets a whiff of what you're trying to do, she'll kill you."

"I know," Trebor replied, watching Hali intently. He had to time this right. He didn't want to think about what could happen to him if he messed up, so he said, "When she passes that shadow, I'm going to appear and take only our cards. If we don't at least have ours, there's nothing we can do to stop her. We need to figure out how to detach ourselves from them. If I don't get them, we're done."

Kurtis seemed unconvinced that it was worth it, but he nodded. "Be careful," he said.

"What if we distract her?" Bacon asked, glaring out the window at Hali.

"No," Trebor commanded. "She'll know what we're up to. Besides, she'll just kill you if you get too close to her. I'm the only one who can get to her without alerting her I'm coming."

"Won't she expect that?" Bacon demanded in response.

"I don't know," Trebor replied. It was almost time. "But this is our best shot."

"Aiv could do it, too," Bacon argued. Trebor clenched his hands into fists.

"No," he said again, trying not to get angry and lose his focus. Aivilo could probably summon them right into her hands... if she wasn't still so weak. Though she'd woken up that morning—much to Trebor's relief—she had told him she could feel she had barely enough energy to be con­scious, much less use her power.

"I'm not risking that—not risking her. I can deal with it if something happens to me. But not you all. I'm not going to allow that to happen. Not again."

Bacon was finally silent. Trebor took a deep breath, summoning his power. It felt like violent roiling in his gut, but he pushed it down and willed it to obey him.

"Tre—" he heard Aivilo say, but he didn't have a chance to look back. He melted into the Shadows, let the cold wash over him, and he ran. He ran and didn't stop until he knew he was where he was supposed to be.

Pausing, he listened intently, training his hypersensitive ears to pick up even the slightest sound. Soft, light footsteps were coming toward him. Trebor wanted to take another deep breath to calm the wild beating of his heart. But he couldn't, not in the shadows. Nothing mattered right now but getting those cards.

When the footsteps passed by him, Trebor left the shadows and entered into the blinding sunlight. He was a step behind Hali, and she didn't notice him right away. Trebor squinted up at the sky and found that the unnatural purple lightning they'd witnessed her arriving with was starting to flicker in the atmosphere above them.

This was his only chance.

His hand shot out and snatched the handful of cards from Hali. She gasped in surprise and whipped around, but it was too late. Purple lightning streaked down and envel­oped her, making her body arch as pure power surged through her. Trebor shielded his eyes, the stack of cards gripped tightly in one hand. With a final surge of light and a BOOM, Hali was gone. The force of the strike sent Trebor sprawling onto his back, knocking the air from his lungs.

He lay in the grass, stunned, for a long moment. It must've been longer than he thought, because he heard the pound­ing of running feet, and then people's faces were floating above him, their worried expressions apparent even in his blurred vision.

"Tre?" Aivilo asked, alarmed. Her face was the closest.

"I'm fine. Just... gimme a minute," he gasped, waving a hand dismissively.

"We couldn't see what happened... your back was to us," Bacon said beside Aivilo. "Are you okay?"

Trebor nodded, grunting as he pushed himself into a sitting position. He looked around. No one seemed hope­ful. They didn't think he'd gotten the cards.

To ease their worries, Trebor held up his hand, where the cards were clenched tightly in his glove. Everyone col­lectively gasped, and Trebor was almost knocked on his back again as Aivilo threw her arms around his neck.

"You did it!" Bacon exclaimed, excitement and relief evident in his tone. He clapped Trebor on the back. Trebor chuckled as everyone started to talk animatedly at once.

"Come on, everyone, let's get back inside," Kurtis said above the din. He helped Trebor to his feet, then embraced him.

"Well done, Tre," he said, though his tone was more subdued than everyone else's. Like he still didn't approve of what Trebor had done. Trebor decided to let it drop. He could finally breathe easy again now that they had their cards, and that meant they still had a chance of taking down the Mage... and Hali.

Trebor's elation was short-lived as he thought about all they still had to accomplish. It wouldn't be easy. What they were up against was not what they'd expected... and not what they'd prepared for.

But they would not give up. Trebor knew that much. His team was relentless. They'd survived this long. They'd worked hard to do what's right.

And now, with Hali's sleight of hand out of the way...

They had a lot more work to do.