SHADOW || The Catalysts Series, #2

XXI || Psyche

"Jay?" Celeste whispers urgently into the air. Her voice is soft, and but a hush in the dead silence underground, but they do not need to be loud for Jae-sung to hear them.

Lena feels as if she's been whipped by a hollow void, a silence. Then a voice that chills their bones is carried down from somewhere beyond: "I do not have the power to sense your presences, nor do you have the power to conceal yourselves, but I certainly know for a fact that I would be finding you here from that interference in the mind."

He steps out of the shadows, a man in dark robes, a hood over his head. Everett immediately used his arm to block the rest, standing in front of them. The moment the man moves the tiniest bit of movement, Everett wastes no time and doesn't risk it. He pulls the gravel around them and obscures the path beyond them, completely making a block between the man and the rest of them.

While the debris settles, an empty silence follows.

"... Are you sure that's a good idea, blocking out our only path?" Celeste asks in a low voice.

"We'll find another way through," Everett says. "Jay did mention that it's a network of underground tunnels..."

A sonic-like burst of sound wave travels through the air—no, it pierces through their very minds. The earth crumble does not shake or budge, but Lena feels her entire world tilting. Her head throbs, and she starts seeing stars; this nauseating feeling is far worse than any vertigo she'a experienced with her abilities by a large scale.

The bone-chilling, nerve rattling voice from the hooded man directly echoes and bounces within Lena's mind: "I apologise for the scare, but I bring no harm. I come in peace."

Even if he says that, the raspy tone that freezes the mind and soul does the opposite effect on its listeners. The destruction Everett caused in that moment blocks him from view, but it doesn't help when his voice is within their minds, just like Jay's.

A realisation hits Lena, even as Everett and Celeste are arguing the best option out of this. She looks around in the dark in panic, and when her eyes meet Reyes', she finds herself taking a deep breath to calm down. Ironically, the quirky boy isn't at all disturbed by the predicament and is probably sharing the same question as she is.

"Celeste," Lena interrupts in a soft voice. "I'm afraid we have something more pressing. Our supposed guide—Jay—I can no longer hear him. Can you?"

Celeste hurries to confirm this. "Jay, you there?"

No response. In fact, their minds are blank now, the opposite of what previously felt like an intrusion. With a void now, Lena feels empty and incomplete after having Jay speaking directly in their minds for quite a while.

And yet, they aren't truly alone, for the man who'd just intercepted them reached out to their souls, even without direct contact.

"Reyes, do you think you can imitate Jay's power and get in contact with him somehow?" Everett suggests.

"I can't, or I would've tried it already," Reyes answers. "I can't access someone's abilities without directly coming into contact—as in physically touching them—first."

"As I have said, I bring no harm," the voice rings once again in their heads. "The other one in your head, I merely... set him aside for a bit."

Celeste clenches her fists, taking a step back. Her voice is as soft a whisper, the distance between the students and the man wide, but she knows for a fact this stranger in their minds will hear her all the same. "What have you done to Jay?"

"He is an interference," the voice says, "that led me to you. And please, these rocks will only get in your way. Do you not want to retrieve your friends?"