Skyfall (The Flash) (Book Two) (Vera Pyra Series)

Chapter 15__Escape From Earth-2

Barry and I were still trapped in the glass cages, next to each other, wearing our suits without our masks on.

The man in the metallic mask was still tapping against the glass wall of his cell.

I looked at the girl in the cage nearby. "Jessie? I'm Vera. This is Barry. We're here with your dad. We're gonna get you out of here. I promise."

Barry was trying to feel his way out of his cell. I was trying to burn my way out of my cell, but the glass repelled the flame.

"You're wasting your time," Jessie told us. "I used to think I could escape, too, when I first got here. But there's no way out."

I looked at the man in the metallic mask. "Who is that?"

"I don't know," Jessie told us. "He's been here since Zoom and Phoenix brought me to this place." The man knocked on his cell. "Look, stop, okay? Just please stop."

"I think he might be trying to help us," Barry told us.

"Nothing is going to help us," Jessie told us.

"That's not true," Barry told her. "We're gonna get out of here. Your dad's gonna find us. I promise."

"You sure have a lot of faith in a man who only cares about himself," Jessie told us.

I chuckled barely. "You know, I actually thought that at first, too. But it's not true. Every decision that he's made, every action he's taken since we've met, it's been to save you."

"Your dad hasn't given up on you, Jessie," Barry told her. "Don't give up on him."

Phoenix used fire to fly inside, scaring Jessie, making her gasp. "Believe what you want, but the only reason that you're still alive is so I can kill you in front of your father. Zoom is out there, looking for him right now."

"Why do you need us, then, huh?" I asked. "You took Jay and Quinn's power by burning them. You used fire to siphon their power out of them. Why haven't you done that to us?"

Phoenix walked closer. "Because I want Quinn Tate to watch as I burn her friends alive."

"Why?" Barry asked. "Why do you hate Quinn so much?"

"No concern for dead heroes walking," Phoenix told us, walking away.

Barry and I watched her go, glaring after her.

~

We were all sitting down.

The masked man was tapping again.

"That's not Morse code," Barry told us. "I know he's trying to tell us something. We just have to find the pattern."

"There's no pattern," Jessie told us.

"You know, your dad, who I'm pretty sure is one of the smartest people to live on either of our Earths, told us the only person smarter than him, was you," Barry told her.

"He said that?" Jessie asked.

I nodded.

"If that's true, we work together, I know we can figure this out," Barry told us.

"Worth a shot," I told them. We listened to the tapping. "He never goes past five."

"What?" Jessie asked.

I stood. "He never goes past five knocks without pausing, right? Listen."

Barry stood. "Yeah, you're right."