MORTALS

/02: Old Faces

I backed out the door and took off down the hall, my footsteps pounding in the quiet.

The hallway was dark, eerily quiet. I guess that's expected, what with it being night and all that. The only light source was the moon, shining in through the covered windows. All the doors were closed, and the hallway lights were off. Every few steps, I heard the floorboards creaking. My apartment's not the most recent, and they haven't had enough money to renovate in a long time. But it was cheap, so I took it.

I reached the stairwell. Instead of going down, I went up to the roof. The balcony's not the most visited place, but it is the most serene and quiet. No one disturbs you up there. It's kinda earned a rep for being the I-wanna-be-alone-and-brood place. The people that frequent the place the most are those emo teenagers going through what their parents call the Phase. I'm already fourteen. I still don't know if I'm going to hit the Phase.

Looking over the railing, I got a sense of vertigo. The fall down would be paralyzing, maybe even lethal. I shuddered, looking at the roads below. No wailing sirens or flashing light. No cop cars pulling up the building. No FBI's pulling out their guns and aiming for the roof. Social services haven't been called yet, so there's that.

I took a deep breath and ran. Just before I reached the edge of the rooftop, I jumped.

My feet touched the rooftop of the next building over. My ankles stung a little, but I shook off the feeling. My only thoughts were get out get out get out get out. The second jump came up. I ran slightly faster and made the jump. I landed on the next building. And then the next. And the next. And the next.

Using this strategy, I was about two blocks away in a matter of minutes.

On one of the more secluded rooftops, away from the streets, I stopped to take a rest.

Panting and out of breath, I drop to one knee, heaving breaths. My ears perked up and I hear someone... wait, no multiple someones. People, that's the word.

For some reason, I have enhanced senses. I'm talking, like, forty-forty vision, if that's even a thing. I also have natural night vision. My ears can pick up on things miles away, and I could smell out food poisoning. These... enhancements started happening on my eleventh birthday.

I perked up, drawn out of my thoughts by a sound. The people were closing in. Squinting a little, I saw that there were three people standing on the next rooftop over; Two guys and a girl, all dressed in normal civilian clothes.

The first guy had curly, dark brown hair. Not black, just dark brown. The guy beside him had light hair, like a dark blond-ish. The girl stood slightly apart from them. She had blonde hair that came to a stop around her shoulders. All three of them were dressed in black from head to toe.

I squinted some more, sure that whatever I was seeing couldn't be right.

I stood up to run to them. I took two steps forward and a wave of nausea rolled over me. I groaned and sank to my knees again, just as the three arrived.

The blond guy knelt down beside me and slung my arm over her shoulder. Slowly, he helped me to my feet. "Ev? You okay?" He asked.

Suddenly, the full impact of sprinting from home hit me, and I felt my lungs gasping for oxygen that couldn't come fast enough. Through my disorientation, I could make out only a few clear thoughts.

"Leo?" I croaked.

"Well, she's still alive." The other guy said. I looked up at him. It was the brunette. He smiled at me. "Hey, Everly."

"Daniel?"

"Okay, come on. We don't have long." The girl said.

I looked up at her, her features going blurry. "Addy?"

"Are you sure she's the right one?" Leo asked.

"Drezza's instructions were clear; She's the right one, now we have to go." Addy said exasperatedly.

"Okay, fine. Let's get out of here." Daniel said.

"What?" I mumbled. Leo half carried, half dragged me a few steps before we stopped. He took a deep breath and broke into a run. I stumbled over myself trying to keep up.

Oh, crap crap crap crap crap.

And then the pavement disappeared from under my feet. The ground was stories below us. I was weightless, tumbling through the air in slow motion like a scene in an action movie. I would be the 'star', of course. Wink.

The wind was knocked out of my lungs as my feet with the pavement with a thud. I suddenly gasped and felt my knees give out once more as a sharp pain shot up my ankle, making its way up my leg. Blinding, red-hot pain filled my foot and I heard a distinct crack.

"Oh, sh—"

"Daniel!" Addy half yelled.

"—oot. Oh, shoot, her foot is broken." I heard Daniel finish hastily. There was an exasperated sigh.

"Almost there, Ev, just a few more minutes." I heard Leo say.

"Mm-hm?" I groaned. Then the headache came on. It was a high-pitched whine, giving me vertigo and nausea. My lungs weren't doing any better, and I could feel the blisters swelling on my feet. "Where are we going?" I slurred. "What the heck is going on?"

"Everly, we'll tell you when you wake up." Daniel said, as someone me down on the rooftop.

"What do you mean, when I wake up?" I asked, suddenly alarmed.

"Um, nothing." Leo said quickly, shooting Daniel a look. "Daniel meant nothing. Didn't you?"

"Uh, yeah." Daniel said nonchalantly. "Yeah, yeah. Of course."

I narrowed my eyes. "Is that a sedative?"

"Noooooo..." Leo said, hastily hiding the needle.

"Sorry." Addy said, dropping to my side. "Protocol and everything."

"What?"

"Addy, make her comfortable, will you?" Leo asked, also dropping down beside me. He leveled the needle.