FOUR
Leo and Prue orbed into the first tower of the World Trade Center. They were standing in the middle of a hallway. Several people were moving through the hallway heading toward open doors. Through a door to their left they saw several people at the large windows looking out. The entire building seemed to be rumbling.
"It's time," said Leo. "No one will be able to see you except me."
"I'll do my best," said Prue.
She closed her eyes and concentrated. The building continued to rumble for several seconds and then stopped. Leo looked around. He could smell smoke in the distance and out the window in the office he could see smoke from the plane that had just struck the tower.
"I think we should get out of here," said Leo to the people gathered there.
"What happened?" asked a woman. "The entire building just suddenly shook like it was in an earthquake but I've never heard of an earthquake in New York City. I've lived here my entire life."
"It wasn't an earthquake," said Leo. "I think a plane just struck the tower. It's not safe in here any more."
"A plane?" questioned a man. "That's just crazy. What pilot would be so incompetent to fly into one of these buildings?"
"It may not have been an accident," said Leo. "We can try to figure it out later. Right now I think it's best if we get out of here."
"He might be right," said a young woman. "I saw a plan fly past just a minute ago. Maybe it didn't fly past. It might have been the one that hit the building."
"That's insane," said the man again. "No plane would deliberately fly into the tower. It's just ridiculous that anyone would. . ."
Suddenly the building lurched several feet to one side. As it did several of the windows shattered. The smoke from the building floors above began to float into the room.
"We can argue about it later," said Leo. "Right now we need to get out of here."
No one argued with him. They followed him into the hallway. As they moved through the hallway they passed Prue. Several of the people passed through her as if she wasn't there. Leo glanced at her and saw her concentrating extremely hard. They reached the end of the hallway and one of the women pressed the button to the elevator.
"No, not the elevators," said Leo. "They aren't safe. The stairway will be safer."
"Are you crazy?" asked one of the men. "It's nearly sixty floors to the street. You expect us to walk down sixty flights of stairs?"
"Would you rather be in the elevator when the cable snaps?" Leo asked. "Personally I wouldn't want to be in an elevator if that happens."
"I once read that in an emergency you weren't supposed to use the elevators," said the young woman. "Something about being trapped inside when the power goes out or something."
"Okay," said Leo. "You all start down the stairs. I'm going to try and help others get out of here."
"You need to come with us," said an older woman. "If this building was hit by a plane it could come down on top of us. You need to get out of here with the rest of us."
"That isn't going to happen," said the man. "These buildings are designed to handle just about anything."
"I doubt the designers considered a plane striking one of them," said an older man. "There's no telling what's going to happen. We need to get out of here now."
"There are other people still in the building," said Leo. "Some of them may not know what to do. I'll make sure they get to the exits and I'll be right behind you."
"God bless you," said an older woman, kissing him on the cheek.
Leo turned and headed back down the hallway as the small group began to descend the stairs. For nearly forty minutes Leo helped people find the exits. It didn't take long before virtually everyone knew that the building had been struck by a jet airliner.
As Leo was helping another group of people to the stairs he looked out a window just in time to see another airliner fly into the second tower. The fireball from the impact produced heat that Leo could feel even from the first tower. Once again the first tower lurched to one side.
Leo continued to help people find the exits to the building. He had long ago lost track of time. All that concerned him was getting as many people to the exits as he could. Suddenly he felt the building begin to rumble. This was unlike any rumble before. Some instinct told him that Prue had reached the extent of her power. Within seconds the tremendous weight of the building would cause it to collapse in on itself.
Leo moved into an office and found a young woman lying unconscious on the floor. A portion of the ceiling had collapsed and the woman had been caught underneath it. She was not badly injured but being unconscious she would most certainly die when the building collapsed. Leo scooped the woman up in his arms and orbed out of the building just as the floors above it began to collapse.