The Summoner Series - Book One - DUALITY

Chapter 9: Cece - An Attempt Was Made

The lights started to flicker again. It was time. I was skeptical about this working, but I was hopeful to get out of here. I needed to keep hope for the rest of the team. It felt like there was a dark cloud descending on the four of us, but I wasn't sure if it was the anxiety, Nocturnus, or both.

Jack raised his hands above his head with his palms facing downwards. Nocturnus stuck his hand out and Summoned his scythe.

Jack started, "Alright, gents," Then he looked over to me, "And lady," He continued, "It's time. We get out of here or have someone die trying."

"Wait, die?" I wasn't aware that I was putting her life on the line for this.

"What?" Nocturnus asked, looking at me with an evil grin, "Are you afraid of a couple bullets?"

In fact, I was, but I couldn't let the guys I was with know that. "Of course not. I'm... just not that keen on killing people."

"Don't worry," Chimed Jack, "If all goes well, you won't have to kill anyone."

"But if it doesn't, we might have to get our hands dirty."

I didn't like the sound of that. But the lights were about to go out. If we didn't get it now, we didn't know how long we would have to wait until the next one.

As soon as the lights went out, Jack flipped his hands over so his palms faced up, Nocturnus slashed his scythe against the lock once, and I heard the door swing open in the complete darkness. I followed the sound of Nocturnus to the cell across the hall and heard him swing against the cell three times.

"Why isn't it working?" Bruce asked panicked.

"I don't know. I think it's tougher on the outside." Nocturnus replied. "We need you guys to get out of here or else we can't escape."

I heard Bruce yell somewhat loud. It sounded familiar to her. "That's exactly what we need right now. We start to get coordinated and start to escape, but we can't even get past the first obstacle! How the hell are we supposed to break out if we can't even get out of a cell!"

Then, out of the darkness, I saw two glowing embers appear in the the dark. They started to move frantically as I heard Bruce yell, "Aw, crap! It happened again!"

"No no, this is a good thing," Jack said smoothly, "Just hit the lock on the door and bust the door open."

"But I can't see where it is." There was a clear strand of worry in his voice. "What if I miss?"

"Then find it with you other hand." I heard Bruce shuffle around the cell. "Hurry up, man, I can't keep the mist over the lights for long." There wasn't a lot of moisture in the air, but he took enough liquid from the surrounding toilets in other cells and covers the lights in a thick fog, preventing any light to shine through. I saw one of the fist lift up and come down quickly with a firm crack and a squeaky hinge fly open.

"Hey! I got it!" Bruce cheered, with his left fist still on fire.

"Save it for when we actually get out of here." Replied Nocturnus. "Let's go, Jack."

"Wait, why is my hand still on fire?"

Nocturnus shot back, "Because you haven't used it. Can't you extinguish it yourself?"

"No, I learned how to Summon it today, I haven't gotten that far."

"Augh, fine. Just don't touch anything with your left hand, or it might explode."

Jack let his hands fall to his side and the fog from around the lights started to dissipate, but not before all four of us started sprinting down the hall to the door we saw guards come from. We left their cell doors closed and closed the door to the hallway outside of the cell hall before anyone was the wiser. The only others who saw could have seen them were the other inmates who already looked like they were dead, so I wasn't worried that they would say anything.