Origin (Book 2)

Chapter 34

This time, it seemed as if I was in a slightly more difficult predicament than before. When I broke the glass, I found metal bars blocking my escape.

When I came back to reality, I returned with my memories of the fake world I was living in, too. I cringed when I realized that I told Cassie I loved her. Then I felt warmth as that memory came with her reply saying she felt the same way.

But now wasn't time for me to think about that. I needed to get out of here.

Now that I wasn't so intent on getting away, I clearly saw the six other tubes in the room. Two of them were empty, but the other four were occupied. I could make out Sage and Cassie in two of them, but the third and fourth ones were too foggy for me to determine if I knew who was inside.

Luckily, it only took me a moment to realize that whoever put the bars in place hadn't taken my size into consideration. Unlike in the dream world, where my body was bigger because I worked out, I was skinny as a bean, much to my chagrin. I could slip through them, and only my head got stuck for a moment on the way through.

When my feet touched the bare ground, I had a sensory overload. I could feel the coldness of the floor on my feet, the siren wailing loudly overhead, the lights flashing red on the gray, metallic walls. I needed to get out of here.

I was wearing clothes this time- the same clothes I wore when I was stabbed.

I felt my bare skin where the hole in my shirt didn't cover it up. It felt a little odd, but I was completely healed.

Add that to my list of weird things that needed figuring out. I knew I didn't have healing powers, so someone else must have fixed me up. But who would do that? Who would even have such an opportunity with where I was?

Pushing this to the back of my mind, I decided to find a heavy object to break the others' glass with. Both of my fists were now bloody due to repeatedly punching my own.

Avoiding the razor-sharp shards sticking up out of the ground, I hopped over to the side of the room where a valve was located.

I knocked it loose with a small bolt of lightning (glad my powers didn't disappear again). Then, taking into consideration the warm air that spilled out from the opening, awkwardly grabbed the piece of metal and moving over to Cassie's case.

Without hesitation, I smashed the curved metal edge against the glass and it shattered instantly. When her eyes shot open, I was satisfied enough to move on to the next capsule.

We weren't working with a lot of time, here. I needed to speed things up.

Utilizing my superspeed, I broke the next three containers without pausing to see who was inside.

As each person climbed out, two unexpected figures emerged from their capsules.

"Dad?" I asked.

"Thanks for letting me out, kid," he said.

That's when I understood. Dad was a meta. He may have been on the team, working for the government to keep them from taking us, but if they didn't need him anymore, then things would change...

They broke their promise to him and Mom and trapped him in one of those things anyway. And when they put him in, they also took me and Sage because Dad wasn't there to protect us.