Eden's Gate

Chapter 26: Goodbye

It had taken Taylor and Richard a minute each to reach the ground, but five had already passed and Kaitlyn was already panicking at the halfway point. She could feel phantom pain in her stomach, and her mind kept flashing back to that fall two years ago.

She had to focus on the here and now. She had to focus on how they had gotten here. That would clear her mind.

They had realized very early on that with her ability to observe whenever she wanted, the number of people who may be involved and their ability to read their minds that no matter what they did she'd know they were up to something. So Richard had the brilliant idea to not hide the plan at all - the "plan" would be the distraction. After that they noticed real quick that Sasha was spying on them. At first they weren't sure if she knew what was going on or was just following orders, but in time that was answered, and it was irrelevant anyway. What mattered was that they could use Sasha as a drop to get information about the distraction plan to Eliza.

That night she found them in the workshop had been a close call. Had she noticed the bed sheet rope they were tying together she might have spoiled the whole plan. But she hadn't, and the rest went off without a hitch.

Kaitlyn was the first to make a move. She was the only one with telekinesis precise enough and strong enough to break the deadbolt blocking off the teacher's wing - a task she accomplished discreetly just before curfew this night. She had broken it so that the lock would still twist, but the deadbolt wouldn't actually move. It would take a very keen eye or a good deal of time to notice, and certainly couldn't be replaced in the middle of the night. Taylor was next. Using the access she had created, they'd sneak in and plant the device Richard had built. They couldn't cover up all three of them perfectly and with confidence but they could definitely hide themself without issue. They snuck in, and when the watch man took a break to get a snack they set it and their watch. 2 hours to the second. Richard's device would be the lynchpin of the plan. Kaitlyn hadn't been sure how it worked or how something so powerful could be condensed into a palm-sized package, but apparently when it's timer was done it would overload any electronic device it was attached to - in this case, the computer running the cameras. Then, 15 minutes before everything went down, Richard would sneak out so he could be in place for the biggest projection show of his life. The real Mr. Lepus would be joining him to cover let Richard make a projection of the three of them instead.

Richard stood at the bottom, his eyes glowing red and trembling with the effort. She was running him to his limit. She took in a breath and slid down a little further, whimpering the entire time her weight was not fully under her control. Her ears were ringing from the blood pounding through them. She just wanted to be on the ground, she wanted to levitate so badly, but she knew they were right - the minute she used telepathy she'd be putting a big red - or in her case, purple - dot on their location. Her eyes twisted her up to the sky as she let herself go down again. Was the rope tearing? No, they had tested the weight, and Richard weighed more then her, it he made it down she could too.

"That's it, one step at a time," Taylor encouraged.

"Please hurry," Richard pleaded.

Kaitlyn could see the window of the second floor now. She took in a breath and let herself down. Her shaking hand lost its grip on the rope and she screamed as she slid down the rest of the way. Instinctively, she caught herself with telekinesis and lowered herself to the ground safely. She was blushing.

"I'm...I'm so sorry."

"...no, it's fine," Richard said. "I'm...sorry too."

Taylor raised an eyebrow. "Sorry for what?"

Richard's eyes suddenly stopped glowing red, and his whole body suddenly flickered to be nothing but a red hued version of himself, much to Kaitlyn and Taylor's horror.