Moments later, she felt herself being shaken awake.
"Mom, wake up!"
It was Liam's voice and he sounded scared.
Elisa struggled to open her eyes.
"Mom, please…" came a teary sounding Nayeli. "Please wake up."
Elisa opened her eyes, and found her children beside the bed, Liam's hand on her shoulder. "What…"
Before she could ask, a rumble sounded and a terrible quaking began that felt as if it would shake the castle loose from its perch atop the building.
Elisa shot up, fully awake thanks to years of training and demanded, "What's happening?"
"It's Apate," Nayeli said, her hands clasped in front of her chest. "She's here, and the clan's not awake yet."
"What?" Elisa gasped, looking to the small window where the barest hint of daylight shone around the room darkening curtains. "What time is it?" she demanded, reaching for her clothing. She pulled her jeans on over the thin sleep shorts and didn't bother changing her shirt. She grabbed the shoulder rig and while she struggled to get it on with her hands trembling from worry and the sudden rush of adrenaline, she jammed her feet into her shoes without bothering with socks.
"A little after noon," Liam said grimly. "We were just having lunch when it all started."
There was another big boom, another shudder that Elisa swore she felt through the soles of her shoes.
"Stay here," Elisa ordered her children as she hurried out the door. She slowed at the end of the hall, nearing the turn that would take her nearer to the common areas and drew her weapon. She put her back to the wall, and as quietly as possible, she approached the bend in the hall.
Cautiously, she knelt to one knee and peeked around the corner. At first, she didn't see anything, but then her brain began filling in the information. She spotted an arm laying still, hand extended as if reaching for something yet so still.
Seeing no one else, she eased towards that hand and had to stifle a gasp when she found an unconscious Alexander. Elisa shoved her gun into the holster, and hurried forward to check for a pulse. She gave a silent sigh as she found one. It was weak, but it was there. She hurried to do an assessment of injuries but found none.
She hurriedly tucked the visible arm to the fallen young man's side and moved back into the doorway. Once more, she crouched and peered out into the hall. Finding it still empty, Elisa walked out and silently closed the door behind her to help keep Alexander safe from… whatever was happening.
Elisa retrieved her weapon, and slowly continued towards the sounds. She came to the great hall, and though she found nothing, she heard the sounds of a fight already in progress.
Holding her weapon, barrel pointing to the ceiling, she hurried through the great hall and peered out into the courtyard.
It was hazy out, she thought with a frown. Had the storm rolled in sooner than expected? A cloud bank might explain it but…
She took a cautious sniff, then fought back a cough.
It wasn't fog, smog, or smoke… it was dust.
A lot of dust.
Elisa took a careful step out and felt a crunch under her foot. She immediately froze, not wanting to make noise and lifted her foot back up. She looked down to see… was that gravel?
No…
Elisa's gaze swung up to where the clan roosted for the day to find their spots empty. A gut churning sound of something striking stone carried from above as a shower of small stone pieces began striking the ground around her.
Elisa choked back the urge to scream. To vomit. To cry. All of the above.
She turned and hurried through the halls, making her way to the top of Goliath's tower. Some were already gone, and she'd mourn later. Right now, she meant to save who she could.
Forgetting for a moment to be quiet, to be cautious, Elisa all but burst through the door at the top, her weapon in hand.
She caught sight of Goliath's beloved form a moment before something moving caught her attention.
"Ahh," came the smooth and taunting voice from the elevator, "Here comes the hero now." A black form slowly lowered to the ground, and Elisa felt a sense of unreality as she looked at the figure. It was black, obsidian black, from head to toe. It was almost as if she were looking at Peter Pan's shadow if it had been female, psycho, and evil.
That was probably the shock and anger, Elisa told herself. She had to keep it together.
She carefully took aim at the figure.
"You really think I would have lived this long, if puny human toys could hurt me?" The shadow woman snarled, and with a flick of her wrist, the gun sailed over the edge of the building.
"What do you want?" Elisa called out. Yes, it was a stupid question, but one that would hopefully buy her some time for others… please let there BE others… to come and help.
The shadow figure sighed heavily, like that of a disappointed parent.
"We've already been through this," she said, tossing the almost comically oversized sledgehammer from hand to hand as if it weighed nothing. "I want the box. I tried to warn you what would happen if you didn't hand it over, and now you're seeing the consequences of your choice."
"This is a dream," Elisa ground out. "That's all you're capable of, isn't it? Dreams and lies?"
There was a brief flash of color to the form, a gleam in the eyes…or where the eyes would have been on the figure.
"Let's test your theory, shall we?" the voice sneered. "If you can touch your beloved's form before me, I will leave him alone. If not, well," the figure gestured wide, "I guess he'll be seeing his clan sooner than expected. I'll even give you a three second head start to make it fair."
Elisa, seeing no other way out of this, rolled her shoulders to loosen them up from the tightness that she'd been holding on to since her children woke her up. She was fast, thanks to the continuous weekly and bi-weekly training with the incoming GTF members, but could she beat this thing?
She'd have to, Elisa realized. She didn't have any other choice.
Elisa gave one sharp nod.
"Good," the form said, and Elisa could hear the confidence in the voice. "Then let's get it started, shall we?" The form finally landed on the ground, the hammer vanishing as if it had never been there, and the form moved to the far wall opposite Goliath and placed a hand on the wall. "On count of three," she said mockingly.
Elisa put her hand on the wall as well, and gathered herself to run for her life.
"One," the voice said.
Elisa bent slightly at the knees to help with her push off.
"Two," the voice called.
Elisa took a deep breath and let it out…
"Three," the voice said, and Elisa was already running before the word had fully come from the figure's lips.
Elisa pushed herself off like a racer on the blocks.
It would not end like this, she swore. She would fight, damn it. She fought for her, for Goliath. For their children and the life they had made and the life yet to be lived.
She didn't dare look back. She knew that Apate was behind her so, with a final burst of energy, she threw herself forward…
And a strong arm wrapped around her, pulling her back from Goliath's form.
The dark figure let out a gleeful laugh.
"No!" Elisa cried and fought the hold.
There were voices now, surrounding her like a swarm of insects, and still the figure's laugh sounded in her ears.
There was a sharp pain in her arm, and the world simply went black.