The Nightscape

Escaping The Clan

Lyra hurried out of the room, not sure when the hypnosis would wear off. Luckily, Anya appeared to have realised that they may be leaving in a hurry, and she could hear her talking loudly a few hallways away. She hurried over to the sound, popping her head around the corner and watching as Anya, talking loudly about nothing at all, suddenly turned around and started walking backwards a few paces. 

"Anyway, so I was in college studying chemistry, because I wanted to be a pharmacologist!" She said happily to the very bored siblings, catching Lyra's eyes and smiling before glancing to her lips. 

"We need to run." Lyra mouthed at her, getting a subtle nod from Anya. 

"When I got into college, my parents were so happy for me, took me for this great meal. Anyway, gotta dash." She said, and before the two siblings could even react, she dashed forward and shoved them both to the ground before sprinting at full kilter towards Lyra, who quickly turned around and began hurrying away. "Do you remember the way to the exit?" Anya asked as they ran, taking Lyra's lead because she hadn't bothered to keep track when they were going to Gabriel's quarters. 

"Yes, I know where to go." Lyra said, surging ahead and leading the way, skidding around a corner and almost knocking someone down. The two siblings were yelling behind them, taking chase, and Anya began to hit every alarm they ran past. Lyra winced at the loud noise, but knew that it was the best distraction. Glancing behind her, she saw Cassidy taking chase and Talura diverging to rush to Gabriel's room, and knew that the most dangerous one was on their tail. 

"Cousin or not, I'm going to cut your damn throat!" She roared, and then they were back in the great room and running for the ladder. Lyra shoved Anya ahead of her to go up the ladder first, turning around and looking at Cassidy barrelling towards her. Immediately, she pulled out a knife, and Lyra realised that she truly might get her throat cut. Quickly, she pulled her magic up and pushed it out, her aura rippling purple as everyone else got out of the way. 

"Stop!" She commanded, and Cassidy's eyes only rippled purple for half a second before she continued. Before Lyra could even realise how much trouble she was in, the young woman had slammed into her and taken her to the ground. All she could do was throw her hands up to shield her throat, feeling the tip of a very sharp knife biting into the tender flesh of her palm and quickly pushing through as she howled in pain.

"Lyra!" She heard Anya say, the sound of her powering up the ladder stopping abruptly. With a roar, Lyra shoved her off, bringing her feet between them and slamming them into her cousin's stomach to throw her away a few feet. The knife was half ripped out, opening her hand up and blinding her with the blood, but she shook it off. 

"Go, get the damn hatch open!" She roared over her shoulder, seconds before Cassidy was on her, waving the knife around again and slashing open her cheek. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out why her hypnotism hadn't worked, knowing she was running out of time. There would be more people coming to help Cassidy, and for Anya's sake as well as her own, she needed to be out of the bunker before they arrived here. Finally, as adrenaline began to burn through her veins, she realised her error. She pushed the knife away firmly, cutting her hand up even more, and locked her gaze with Cassidy's. 

"Aren't you tired? Don't you just want to take a little break?" She persuaded her softly, and she watched as Cassidy's eyes turned from a vibrant purple to the lilac of her own aura. The fight left her as the older sister rolled off, staring up at the ceiling of the bunker as Lyra quickly picked herself up and hurried to the ladder. She could feel the familiar stretching, burning sensation of her hand beginning to heal, but it didn't do much when she kept tearing it open again as she climbed the ladder. As quickly as she could, she scrambled up the ladder, gritting her teeth against the pain and the bright evening light that suddenly poured in. Below her, she could hear yelling, some at Cassidy, some calling to grab guns, others coming to the bottom of the ladder and beginning to climb.