Rising Power (#1 of the Canton Chronicles Series)

Overkill

Val opened her eyes, for real this time. She was slightly elevated from the ground, drugging Amy's body along with her, who had managed to slightly raise her head and was now looking at her, mumbling confused. She let Amy fall to the ground gently, as she continued her elevation, until her head touched the ceiling.

The pile of flying debris begun to circle around Val's body, spinning faster and faster, like a vicious magnetic ring. She looked straight ahead, at her greatest and most fearsome enemy, who was now looking at her with eyes and mouth wide open. Val just had enough time to look her mirror image in the elevator doors, before her Power made her lose all control. It was ridiculous, but she had this crazy idea that she was blue.

Val charged against Alice, as the latter frantically tried to escape, banging desperately the elevator walls. Val smiled. The first oversized cement pile left her Power circle, missing Alice's head by centimetres. More followed, covered in a blue flowing energy, flying indiscriminately, hurting Alice's back, arms and legs, breaking her bones in a few places.

Her nemesis was crawling to the ground now, crying and begging for mercy, as Val continued her attack with a serious of inanimate objects, creating holes in her surrounding environment, with a strength she could not entirely control. A Power not entirely hers.

Get out of my head, whoever you are.

"Valentine."

A voice she didn't recognise was talking inside her head, trying to be in charge.

Who the fuck are you?

"Don't you want to kill her? Look at her. Pathetic. And she will try again Valentine, of course she will. You know it. You want this."

Like hell she did. Her mind was already making the surrounding debris fly closer and closer in Alice's head, as she lay down crying, having abandoned all hope. But she would do it on her terms, not because some strange, malicious voice told her too.

"GET OUT!"

Val screamed and the voice hissed in anger and slowly, unwillingly, disappeared from her brain. But so did the incredible amount of Power.

Val fell on her knees again, Amy's body squirming against her own. And at that second, the elevator doors opened and Mike, Sebastian and John stumbled upon the almost unconscious Alice.

John carried Alice's wounded body on his back, as Mike and Sebastian walked up front, carrying Amy on their arms.

"I can walk, it's alright, Mike" Val said and she meant it.

Her legs were shaking but she made it to the elevator, where they all descended to the main hall.

They made their way to the light of day, as a couple of ambulances, as well as all of the Instructors, were waiting for them outside. Vanessa was standing right at the door, looking at her with sadness and disappointment. And then Val knew, deep in her heart, that her new life was over.

***

Val was sitting once again in the Instructor's office, in less than a month. Vanessa entered her office through her back door, plainly, unprofessionally dressed and obviously really tired. Many hours had passed since the Exam, in which Alice and Amy had been transported to the hospital, all of their friends had given their statements and Aldus Green had burst in the Academy demanding justice.

Val had to stay for hours hidden in the Instructor's chamber, in order to be spared from Aldus' rage. Or so he could be spared from my own.

She felt no rage though, as Vanessa sat opposite her and looked her deep in the eyes. Just stupidity. And guilt. Guilt about Amy who laid in a hospital bed in a comatose situation. Guilty about the guys who had to spend hours being interrogated. Guilty about all the people who were now in danger because of her stupid childhood vendetta. She looked back at Vanessa, without speaking.

"Anything more to add, Valentine?"

No. She didn't have anything more to add.

"So, you confirm what the boys said? You wanted to check the floors once more, accidentally got lost, and then got ambushed?"

Val nodded her head in agreement. "I didn't want any more trouble with Alice, Mrs Rehberg. I swear to the Deities, God and everything holy in Canton. But she came up to us. She had been keeping tags on us all along, probably from that very night of the Atrium incident."

Vanessa looked at her, being at the verge of tears.

"I believe you, Valentine. I really do. But Aldus Green is a very powerful man. He is breathing down our necks, ignoring the facts, showing us messages on Alice's PA that say that you invited her there for the final show-off."

"That's a lie and you know it."

"I do. I believe you, Val, but you have to understand. Two people are in hospital and the only person who is alive and well is you. Do you understand how that makes you look?"

"Isn't there any footage from the Exam?"

"No. The cameras were cut off the moment you got lost on the wrong corridor. No mistakes there."

"And that proves it. That proves Alice cut out the signal. She is the one with the electrical manipulation."

"And you are a telekinetic. Alice's friends, they are willing to testify that things with you and Amy Wyatt were rough the last few days. That they saw you fight over the Exam. Don't you see what they are trying to do?"

Val opened her eyes wide.

Of course I know what they want to do.

"They are going to use your past against you, Val. They are trying to build a case where you lured two poor girls in an empty building and tried to give them a lesson."

Val looked at her hands ashamed. Will I ever be free of my past?

"Do you believe them?"

"No, I don't. But it doesn't even matter what I do or don't believe. Aldus has gone to Tom... The High Counsellor, Val. He demands a trial in two days, when his daughter will be out from the hospital. At least that's what he says. What he really wants is your head on a stake."

"I am not afraid. I can face him."

She knew that her Power was much more than telekinesis.

"Val, that's exactly what he wants. He wants you to show your Power, to lose control once again. So he can put you to the Underground once and for all, or even worse have an excuse to kill you. I won't allow that."

Vanessa stood up, fearless.

"I have a plan, but you are not going to like it. It's essential for your survival. You are going to sleep for a while, and a good friend is going to take care of you. A special friend. And that will give us time, time until Amy wakes up and testifies what really happened in that building."

Val mustered all the courage she could find in her broken heart.

"Anything it takes, I'll do it."

A.N. Song: Get Up- KoRn ft. Skrillex