6
Thankfully, the interior included three sets of seats, which allowed enough room for all of us. Lin sat in the back, Brydon lying across her, and I climbed into the middle, while Aiden took the driver's seat. He took a deep breath, put the key in the ignition, and started the car. It hummed to life, as the dashboard turned on, glowing a soft blue. Aiden put it in reverse, and kept a careful eye on the back cam, making sure he didn't hit anything.
Once we got out of the parking space, he turned to face the exit, and put it into acceleration, driving a little more quickly as he got used to it. He was about to turn out of the parking lot, when we saw a group of figures running toward two at the front were instantly recognizable; Ryan and Alex. Aiden let out a soft gasp, and unlocked the doors, Shifting himself into the seat next to me. Not much later, Ryan and Alex took the seats up front, slammed the doors, and locked them.
"What happened?" I asked as they strapped on their seatbelts.
"No time to explain," Ryan said curtly, hitting the gas, causing my head to fly back into the headrest.
It was pandemonium outside. All the Shifters, the people who wanted to destroy us, were out on the lawn, trying to catch up to us. But, Ryan simply sped up, narrowly avoiding them. Then, the school exploded again, pieces of the walls and ceiling falling to the ground. It was now on fire, the flames standing out in the dark of night. At this point, it would be demolished by morning. Then the first of the police cars arrived, sirens blaring, lights flashing. My heart pounded as we approached them, but they passed us as if we weren't there. I breathed a sigh of relief as I looked back, but then saw something that made me want to take it back.
Another car was driving behind us on the otherwise fairly empty road. A quick burst of Particles gathered on the hood, and a second later, Kaitlyn was crouching on the top, gripping the sides as hard as she could. The look on her face was ice cold, and I knew we were going to have a hard time escaping.
"Ryan, they're behind us," I said nervously.
He looked in the rearview mirror, and saw it was true. He continued to speed up until we were going around 60 miles per hour, and took a sharp right that almost sent me crashing into the window. I'd forgotten the route we'd taken from the subway, so all my trust was placed in Ryan to get us there. I knew for a fact that it wasn't that far away, but the car following us made it feel longer. And it was gradually getting closer as it sped up. After another hairpin turn to the left, a loud bump was heard from above our car.
Ryan couldn't take his eyes off the road, so the rest of us became alert, not sure what would happen next. Then, without warning, an axe came through the roof, beginning to cut a large hole in the center. This time, Ryan noticed and started to slow down.
"No, keep going," I said, watching as the weapon traced around in a circle. "We can handle this."
At that moment, the piece of the roof fell in, causing a sharp wind to enter the car, slapping us in the face. To my surprise, Kaitlyn was looking back down at us. She must've jumped from the other vehicle, which was pretty dangerous, if it was driving at 100 miles per hour. She couldn't reach Brydon from her position, however, so she probably had another objective. Aiden had already unbuckled his seat belt, and, in a flash, went for the axe in her hand. But she was too quick. She flung it into the distance, then grabbed his wrist.
Alex and I tried to go for her next, trying to pry him from her grip. She glared at us, then changed her position and kicked me in the head while Shifting a headband, from a few spare coins, around Alex's eyes. I fell back, stopping myself from banging into the window. But the distraction was all Kaitlyn needed. By the time I looked back up, she and Aiden had disappeared in a cloud of Particles.
"Aiden!" Lin cried, turning around, only to find out the car had disappeared. In fact, Kaitlyn and Aiden were gone as well.
Ryan managed to pull over and stop the car. "Wait here, guys. We'll be back in a minute." He turned off the car, and stepped out. Alex followed, and he locked the doors.
They didn't say where they were going, but they didn't have to. I knew they were trying to get Aiden back. But, I knew it was pointless, that they were nowhere in sight. This rang true when they returned shortly, reporting that there was no trace of them. All of a sudden, I felt numb inside. I'd only known Aiden for five months at most, but, in that time, we'd become as close as brothers. The fact that he'd been taken so quickly and unexpectedly made it seem as if a piece of myself was also missing. I didn't say anything on the way back to the subway. Not when we found out the roof of the train had mysteriously caved in and wrecked it. Not when Ryan and Alex decided to drive all the way back to the mall where we were hiding out. And not even when we arrived there two hours later. While Ryan and Alex went to go talk to the rest of our Shifter army, and Lin went to go find Jam, I trudged away to get ready for bed.
When I finally got to my room, I didn't even bother turning on the light. I just flopped down on my bed and tried to fall asleep.