The Last Elementalist

Chapter 32

Connor toed the line as he instinctively rushed forward to help, but Evie pulled him back at exactly the right moment, leaving animal instincts to take over and shift into a giant eagle with Evie on his back as the wind underneath them gave away. They raced toward the ground in a nosedive, both desperate not to lose another friend that day. Though Connor began to feel dizzy in his new form with absolutely no time to adjust and major blood loss, adrenaline pumped through his body and kept him moving, if only barely clinging to his human half.

A screech of rage and pain escaped him, causing many to jump as he felt the impact of a body falling into him from a hundred feet up. The force of the fall sent him the last couple of yards down, becoming a human crash pad with feathers and a beak.

Evie hauled him out from under them and he morphed back with at least three more broken bones than before. Looking around, they came to realize how many of the Agents had been killed and how many more Thrillers, but now the remaining Agents had retreated and the Thrillers were dangerously small in numbers. The next thing that he realized was the shattered bricks and shrapnel on the ground under his feet which looked like tiny colored shards of glass. Except the texture was not glass, but concrete and steel, two materials that should not have shattered like that. This was the historical rubble of the White House.

He glanced up at his used-to-be home to find half of the West Wing blown apart. If concrete and steel could be broken like that, he did not think he would ever feel safe again. So in all of the chaos and shock, he collapsed, right next to Lielle.

* * * * *

Paramedics rushed around trying to assess the damage of some Thrillers, still shaken by what they had just witnessed, but Healers pushed them away. Connor woke to this commotion of fighting doctors of all types, local scientists rushing in to study, and the entire population of Washington DC by the gate of the site. Eric and two normal doctors crouched over Lielle with Evie in between her two friends. She silently turned her head away from the sight of the girl and noticed her closest friend sitting up.

Tears rushed down her cheeks as she threw herself into his arms crying. "Connor, thank God! They said it would only take a short time for you to wake up, but I think we have different definitions of short."

He laughed. "I'm fine, Eve. I would never leave you. How's the rest of my family? Are they around or were they kicked out like always?"

"Uh, well, maybe we should talk about it later," she faltered.

"What happened?" he asked remorsefully.

"I don't know how much of it is true, but I overheard someone saying that your mother and Callie only inhaled smoke, but they'll survive. They said that your father is in a coma," she sniffed. "He might not wake up. He took some brain damage, but maybe a Healer can help him, Connor maybe he's not gone. It's wishful thinking, I know, but just maybe-"

"And Finn?" he asked sullenly.

She clamped her hands over her mouth and let out a small sob. "He's dead. He saved your father from the fire but he didn't make it. He died a hero, like so few. He was special and he had his whole life ahead of him, but it was taken too soon."

He turned away. "This is all wrong," he mumbled. "I thought that Dad would teleport out. I even looked for Mom, but I should have looked for the others. It should have been me-"

"No, Connor, don't say that," she sobbed.

"But it's true. I could have saved him. He was too young. What will Callie say? They were so close and now her life has been taken from her. He was my brother, Evie, this is so wrong."