"so what did she say?" I asked as soon as Hiroshi had finished talking with Ray.
"she wants us to be the decoy so she can erase their abilities and then we hand them over to old man Sakiu for owning firearms or whatever" he shrugged.
"so she can do it, did she happen to mention how it works exactly?" I inquired, but only got an un-amused look from the man.
"focuses" he said voice stern "do you have any suggestions regarding this diversion of ours?" he asked raising his voice a few pitches showing his irritation. I always manage to draw that side out of him. It's like my mere existence is enough to get him annoyed at times. Wait, my existence…
"so regarding the decoy I might have an idea" I started, but was interrupted by Xav, who said "weren't we just discussing that, you were nodding and everything" he sounded puzzled and by the way he held his hands I could tell that he had been in the middle of explaining his own plan. Had I interrupted him? Damn.
"he wasn't listening," Hiroshi said bluntly and continued "don't take it personally, he's constantly blocking people out in order to get a better understanding of the situation." He finished.
"That's because reading people is easy. All you do is take into consideration…" I was once again interrupted by my partner this time "you had a plan?" he said looking over my shoulder.
I smiled, mimicking the smile on my sister's face. I remember that Terrance once told me that if he had to paint mine and Ravens souls he would have painted cats, only so he could paint us grinning at the world.
"what if you let them see me?" I went back to the idea I had had before "seeing a dead person is sure to make anyone second-guess their vision, even if they don't believe in ghosts they will still need time to figure out what is going on, and by who's hand. That should be enough time for Raven to finish her thing." I finished explaining my thoughts on the madder.
Hiroshi nodded while thinking about the wave patterns he would have to create in order to make my plan work.
"It would also be helpful if you could keep me hidden from Ray, if possible" I added "just in case, we need her concentrated on her own part of the plan"
"you really like to bush the edges of my power don't you" He asked after a few more nods.
"I only do it because I know you are capable of it" I smiled.
"and when did you pick up on that ability?" he inquired.
I rolled my eyes "you want the hole story? Because it could get embarrassing for you, and I know how much you like making good first impressions"
"so you to remember that we are here" came a sarcastic note from Xav.
"of course I remembered, you are kind of hard to miss nowadays," I looked him over once again "197 cm I'd say, if you don't count the additional 2 cm that your hair gives you"
"it's not that puffy" he pouted.
"yes it is" that was Crystal, who didn't even bother to hide her amusement at her solfinders dismay. She has a good personality, I decided.
"getting back to the moment at hand pleas" Hiroshi coughed.
"but of course, I figured it would take you about 6 minutes to figure out how you need to direct the light and sound waves" he gave me a look that asked how I knew he had calculated both. I just raised my brow.
Raven's povA blue light flashed in my eye - the signal we had used as kids. Alright let's move then. I took off in Andrew's direction. When I saw his eyes widen I jumped into Brain's head. I could feel the shields he had put up but whatever Hiroshi was doing had him bewildered enough to grant me easy access to his mind. Sense I already knew what to look for I found the soul of his power quickly. Half a second latter and I had it in my hands and then it was gone, the heat that had spread from it now contained unable to move. I didn't even look at him as I jumped to Andrews head and repeated the process.
I could distantly hear screams as I slipped into Caiden's head.
And his power was different.
Crap.
The soulfinder.
It was as if their powers had intervened like tow balls of yarn that a cat had played with. Alright, it should be fine I can still see the ends of their power I'll just latch onto that.
I was just about to erase the connections when I felt a piercing pain near my heart. Looking at my body trough Caiden's eyes, I saw it falling. Then everything went black and I was roped back to my own head. The second I was there I wanted out again, because the pain was agonizing.
Genevieve? I asked, looking for her in my head.
She wasn't there.
Feeling hands on me I tried to concentrate o the outside world, but it was hard, because it wasn't just my body that was broken my heart was breaking to. Did I just lose my sister?
"Raven?" I heard a voice – Xav's voice "stay with me. Ok." He was panicking wasn't he?
"I'll fix you up right away" he said as he ripped my shirt in order to get a better view of the injury.
I tried looking at it but he shifted my head to look at him. "don't, it's not pretty" he said as if I cared about that. I was about to say so when I saw her.
Genevieve was standing there right over Xav's head, her face grave and her eyes pleading.
What happened? I asked hopping she wasn't an illusion.
We got shot. She answered drily.
Right, you can't use my powers when I'm out. But how are you not here? Are you free? I could hear Crystal and Xav talking to me but this was more important.
I tried to use my powers to shield us, but it looks like I didn't have enough left in me, so I ended up shattering my soul, releasing it from you in the process. She elaborated.
And will you be fine now? Was my next question.
I'm not the one bleeding to death. She pointed out.
I'll be fine…
Don't lie. She cut me off.
We won't meet again will we? I asked after a moment.
No. she said. I'm going to start acting like a proper dead person now but before I do, you will promise me that you absolutely will not die here. Got it. Her voice was soft and she was crying, but her eyes were full of determination and sadness.
Because if you die here then it will be my fault, and I know I'm being selfish here but I don't want that on my conscious. I don't want the death of my best friend and sister to be on my conscious.
Fine. I said. If it really means that much do you.
She was fading as she said, it's a promise then, and I don't want to see you before you have turned ninety got it.
We will have to see about that, maybe I'll miss you too much. I shot back, but she was gone even before I could finish the sentence. With nothing to concentrate on, the pain was too much for me so I let myself pass out.