Molly

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“Scratch the hour,” I backpedal. “We have about five minutes.”

“You need to go hide,” Matthew barks at Sheyla.

Everyone unanimously agrees.

“No,” she argues.

“Sheyla, you have bigger battles to face than this one,” Matthew asserts.

She glowers at him. I roll my eyes at her. The girl seriously has no clue how to fight. I reckon my position is poor, sans wolf-bear, but I’m experienced in hand to hand combat at least. She has no training to back up all the hot air she’s spewing.

“I didn’t tell them,” he defends himself.

Oh, that’s the conversation we interrupted earlier when Connor arrived. Matthew was speaking with Sheyla about invading Sheelin. They were making plans of their own. Fuckers never learn their skeleton lessons, no matter how hard the lessons are.

“We already know,” Ryan says quietly. “We were waiting to hear it from you, but we’ve known for a while.”

“We understand,” Declan adds, “and you need to understand how important it is for you to sit this one out.”

Bitch won’t listen. She’s too stubborn. She won’t want anyone fighting her fights for her, even if it means being the only battle she ever fights. Categorically stupid, as always.

“I’m not hiding,” she states resolutely. “If I’m not fighting, no one’s fighting.”

“We don’t have time to argue with her,” I whisper to my team.

I feel the coming blood in the air. It’s second nature to me, flooding my senses like a warm welcome home.

“I have an idea,” she announces.

“What’s the plan?” Connor probes.

“You have to trust me,” she petitions. “You need to give me a bit of breathing room.”

I shoot a warning glance to my team, in case she’s being literal. They give me their best it-wasn’t-me look.

“I don’t like it,” Connor objects sternly.

“You don’t even know what it is.”

“That makes me like it even less.”

“I need Akantha with me,” she orders.

Akantha’s at her side in an instant. She motions everyone away, standing in the middle of an open area roughly forty metres from the Amazon treehouse with Akantha directly next to her.

“We need to get them all together,” she calls to Connor. “Close enough they’re in range.”

“Okay.”

“Then we’re taking them all down at once.”

“How?” Connor isn’t convinced. “We can’t all attack at once. Not if they’re that close together. People will get caught in the crossfire.”

“Move your team back as far as possible,” she instructs.

He baulks. “You’ll be sitting ducks.”

“I know,” she agrees. “That’s the point, but you won’t be. Barry, wrap them in a Giant Bear Hug.” Barry’s been working on controlling the expanse of his shield. He can successfully wrap it around people. He calls them Giant Bear Hugs.

“Strategy isn’t your thing,” Connor reminds her.

“I’m trying something new,” she offers.

“I trust you,” he murmurs.

“I’m glad one of us does,” she remarks.

Fuck, I’m surrounded by idiots.

“Fall back,” he advises everyone.

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Akantha takes hold of Sheyla’s hand. “What can I do to help?” She’s ready to stand right at her side regardless of what it means for her safety. Also an idiot.

“Give me all the juice you’ve got,” she urges.

“On it,” Akantha reports.

The Rebels circle around them, a rabid pack of dogs hoping for a little playtime before mealtime. They’re trying to intimidate Sheyla. She’s too stupid to fear them.

“Well, look at this,” Alexandria chirps. “I didn’t expect you to make it so easy.”

Same, Alexandria. Same.

“Who said anything about making it easy?” Sheyla quips.

Alexandria’s one of Tayte’s science experiment daughters. He has two of them. Matthew convinced Dreyna to convert his father, using guilt as a means to control her. Then his father turned mad scientist, trying to replicate Matthew’s water elemental ability in a more contented being, since Matthew only excelled at self-loathing and he needed someone capable of self-service. Tayte’s experiments failed miserably. He ended up creating daughters of destruction.

Cathain has an offensive ability offered by the water element to force truth, by washing away the impurity of lies. She’s also resistant to mind control. Alexandria’s a giant box of chocolates, as Sir Forrest would state, so no one knows what they’re getting. She has multiple abilities. Those abilities tie into whatever personality makes itself present at the time. They’re constantly combatting each other for dominance. Alexis, the angsty dark personality, can do something similar to what Randy can do. Asphyxiation. Andrea, the business professional, has no magical powers. Andi, the immature and fun-loving personality, manipulates the temperature of someone’s blood. Dria, the sentimental personality, is only ever used as a last resort. She constricts the liquid moving to someone’s heart, causing an immediate and fatal blockage. The Lexy personality, otherwise known as Sexy Lexy, induces sexual desires.

“If you think sacrificing yourself will save your friends, you’re wrong,” Cathain informs her. “We haven’t come all this way just to rid the world of the dumpster fire that’s you.”

“I sort of figured,” Sheyla replies saucily.

Alexandria points in her direction. Sheyla flinches. Fuck, did Andi or Dria come out to play? Pick-the-Personality is kind of a fun game.

“Now,” Sheyla orders Akantha. “I need as much as you have. Now!”

We all watch Sheyla, curious what level of clusterfuck she’s about to cause now. We don’t have to wait long. Her skin starts smoking, as it often does when she invites the fire to roam freely. It starts to bubble before it blisters. Finally, the flames ignite. As they do, they fuck right off her skin, blowing out in a perfect circle. They target the channels she was busy creating while Cathain was busy running her suck. The ability is new to Sheyla, something she learned from Tayte prior to toastercaking his ass. The fire funnel connects with a power, then decides whether to extract or eradicate it.

The biggest difference between the use of her power with the Rebels, and having used the power with Tayte, is the Rebels aren’t destroyed. She manages to direct her efforts to the elemental energy, not the wielder. With one calculated cut, she immobilizes their powers permanently, just like Mel.

“What did you do?!” Cathain shrieks, running toward Sheyla and throat hugging her.

Of course, the mass reversion won’t stop them from wanting to kill her. Same as killing her won’t stop them from trying to kill us. They’re too enveloped in the cause to let a little humanity deter them.

Akantha reaches over and takes hold of Cathain’s hands, separating them from her throat. “No more of this.”

Alexandria isn’t in any condition to help her sister. She’s mumbling something, walking around in a circle like she’s completely and totally lost. In truth, they’re all a little lost. They don’t know how to react or what to do. Being human is almost worse than dying. Almost.

“You could’ve used those powers,” Cathain seethes. “You wasted them.”

“I never wanted the powers,” Sheyla points out. “I’ve only ever wanted to be free from all this.”

“This isn’t freedom,” she spits. “You’ve left us defenseless.”

“You’re not defenseless,” Sheyla counters, “but you’ll have to find something new to fight for, if fighting’s that important to you.”

We come out from behind the trees. Sheyla looks at Connor, as if to check that we’re unharmed. He gives her a chin lift to confirm we’re all good. Fuck, maybe I haven’t been giving this bitch enough credit.

It doesn’t take long for the mob to disperse. Self-preservation wasn’t a primary concern when they had the ability to back up their efforts, but now they’re fucked. They fuck off as quickly as they arrived, with Cathain and Alexandria lagging behind them.

Word of the day: disappointing. This horseshit is utterly disappointing. No blood. No guts. No death. No gore. Worst. Battle. Ever.

“Are you okay?” Connor presses.

“No,” Sheyla admits.

“They didn’t give you a choice,” he offers.

“We always have a choice,” she contends.

She’s referring to having obliterated their powers. It weighs heavily on her conscience. I’ve never witnessed that type of thoughtful reserve from the Tribunal. They give zero fucks about people. Their fucks are restricted to whether people are a benefit or threat to them. Single trajectory fucks.

Sheyla turns to Tally, who’s standing next to Barry. She’s holding his hand. Guess she finally forgave him for lying about being a Sumair. Idiot.

“Ready to cash in your rain check?” Sheyla prompts.

Tally shakes her head.

“You’ve changed your mind?”

“No,” Tally contends. “I just don’t think I should be the one to go first.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you’re leaving, we don’t have anyone to protect,” Tally notes. “There are quite a few of us who are ready for a change in scenery.”

“Like who?”

“Can we start with me?” Ryan requests quietly.

Oh, fuck no. The healer? The fuck is wrong with these people? Sure, it’s great what she can do. Sheyla can revert Sumairs. Now she’s planning to try her hand at inverting Solathairs too. Honestly, he might’ve just volunteered himself to be the first to die. Sheyla’s history of flame-induced misfortune indicates that’s a strong ass possibility.

“Well, let’s get started!”

Like I said, repeatedly, fucking idiots. I’m surrounded by fucking idiots. Connor would argue there’s a light at the end of my seemingly endless tunnel of darkness. That light is Sheyla. Her train is barrelling forward, and for a conductor, we couldn’t have made a better choice. Guess what? My brother’s an idiot too.