The Soul Devourer

IX:

Time seemed to turn to a viscous liquid, and move slowly as the events in front of me unfolded. One moment, the chandelier fell and I heard the chair beside me scrap as the dark skinned boy stood up. He cast his arms outward, his palms up. I glimpsed tattoos covering his entire arm, except for his hands. The tattoos glowed and the chandelier seemed to hover in the air for a moment. I regained my senses enough for a moment to scramble out of my seat.

"Now Marina!", the dark skinned boy shouted. Marina, the pink haired girl clutched her pendant with one hand and thrust the other out. A force flung me back and I heard the sound of chair legs scraping against the floor as all the chairs were pushed back from the table to a few feet away with an invisible force. Then, the chandelier fell. The sound of metal and glass crunching erupted through the air as the chandelier crashed on the table, shards of glass flying in every direction. Screams followed. I shielded my head with my arm before I scrambled to my feet.

"Dad!" I shouted. The previously lush velvets draped on the table were caught on fire and the entire length of the table was a wall of flames, making it almost impossible to see on the other side. For a moment, I was reminded of my situation back at the mall when the explosion had occurred and I was frozen momentarily, the tongues of the flames lapping at me. A hand yanked me backwards and I saw that it was the dark skinned boy, his mouth turned into a scowl. "Do you have a death wish?"

I pulled away, trying to look past the flames. I couldn't see much on the other side but smoke and the hustle of people as they came to their senses and began running towards their only escape: the other entrance. "My dad..." I said, looking for him.
"They're all evacuating. We should as well. Maybe he's already outside", the boy said, the scowl a little gentler.

"Zack...", a voice rasped out and we both turned to see Marina on the floor, the opal stone in her pendant now non-glowing. The dark skinned boy-Zack, moved in an instant at her side and then looked up back at me.

"She hadn't used it in days and now suddenly, pushing away so many masses has drained her energy. We'll help her out",he said, already hooking one of Marina's arm over his neck. The rest of the our side of the table had already left, and it was just the three of us near the fire that was spreading rapidly.

I moved to assist on the other side of Marina. I was bewildered but asking about how all the impossibles that had occurred tonight shouldn't have been my top priority right now. Still I asked as we helped her out, "How did she do that? How did you do that? The chandelier..."

He spared a glance at me, his mouth forming an oh shape. "So you're one of the ones who doesn't know. Great. They never learn, do they? Thinking keeping secrets will help in keeping everyone safe."

At the same time we reached the entrance of the building, four security guards charged in.

"Any more in the hall?", one of them stopped to ask us. Zack and I shook our heads.

"Ambulance will arrive very soon. Medical assistance will be provided to you shortly. But you can't leave the premises. We require your accounts of what happened", he said before moving in the direction of his comrades.

We emerged in the early evening air and onto the crowded pavement. The sun had yet to set. Some people were stunned in shock, some sobbed, some were on their phones already-making anxious calls while others looked for the faces of their loved ones in the crowd and grasped them in a tight hug when they found them. I was looking for my dad when Xavier, Cara and Dean ran up to us.

"Are you guys alright?", Xavier said, his eyes scanning each of us before stopping at me.

"Where's my dad?", I asked, as Marina groaned and took her arm off my shoulder.