Sins 38
"About seven and a half hours why?" said Tyler. "Just wondering," said Max. She looked at her watch again. Reid was watching her. "Did you set it back to California time or is it still on Boston time?" said Reid "Boston I think" said Max Reid looked around the airport for a clock. He spotted one on the flight list screens. "What time does it say?" said Reid. "Six o clock, why?" said Max.
"Then its on Boston time" said Reid. Max mentally subtracted four hours from the time on her watch. She sighed in relief, she had enough time. "Why, do you need to know the time?" said Tyler. Max looked at him funny. "Because I need to know when my birthday is" said Max. Tyler was giving her a blank look, until she clarified it.
"Oh" said Tyler he looked like he was deep in thought. Max was about to ask him what he was thinking when the flight attendant announced their flight was boarding. They got inline with the other passengers and handed their passes to the attendant.
She waved them through and they walked down the ramp to the plane. Climbed on board and took seats in the middle of the plane. Max sat in the middle between them. She strapped herself in quickly. She wasn't fond of flying but she would do it for her brothers.
Reid noticed her tense up when the attendant closed the doors. "Are you all right?" he asked, "yeah just don't like to fly," said Max. He rested his hand on top of her. "Don't worry babe I'm right here" said Reid ironically she found that reassuring.
They were still holding hands when the plane took off. The flight attendant was explaining the safety features and what the in flight movie was. She really didn't think 'black hawk down' was a good choice for an in flight movie.
Tyler was worried about Caleb and Pogue and even though he knew in his heart he couldn't have done anything he still felt like a coward for running to get Reid and Max. Max was calmer now and she noticed that Tyler had an unusually tense look on his face for someone watching movie previews.
"You ok?" said Max Reid looked around her at Tyler. "Yeah I'm fine," said Tyler. "That's not true out with it" said Max. "I'm just worried let it rest ok" Tyler said. Only he more or less snapped it at her. "Whoa down there tiger, we're friends remember" said Max "yeah what's gotten into you?" said Reid. Tyler clenched his jaw and looked away.
"He would have killed you," said Max softly
Tyler looked at her with a mixture of fear and pain in his eyes. "Then at least I would have done something useful, instead of being a damn coward," said Tyler. "Hey man, your useful, without you we would have never known what was happening and you aren't a coward" said Reid "yeah fat bit of good that did, its going to take us almost eight hours to get there, they could be.." Tyler let the last words hang because he couldn't bring himself to say them.
"Tyler its ok were all upset and were all scared, no one is upset with you," said Max "you don't have to be I'm upset enough with myself" said Tyler. Max leaned over and hugged the younger boy. "Its ok, you did the right thing, stop feeling guilty for it" said Max. He mumbled something into her shoulder. Reid just watched her hug Tyler. "No your not" said Max softly. Max seemed to know what to say to the boy. Comforting someone was never Reid's strong point.
They were about halfway through the flight when Max started to feel ill. She stopped eating the peanuts and wondered if it was the soda she was drinking. The nauseous feeling began to get steadily worse as the flight wore on.
By the time they were landing in Boston she was having cramps as well as nausea. She was moving slowly when they started to grab their stuff to get off the flight. "Max are you all right," said Tyler. "I don't know, I don't feel so good," said Max. "Lets hurry up and get out of here," said Max. They finally exited the tunnel for the plane and headed strait for the luggage carousel.
Fortunately her bags were one of the first ones off the plane. Reid grabbed her bag and headed for the car. Tyler was helping her to walk. Fortunately no one stopped them on the way out of the building.
They made a quick jog to Tyler's truck and Reid threw the bags in the back.
Max was too nauseous to stand and was getting dizzy now on top of it. Tyler helped get her in the truck and strapped her in. Reid climbed in the back and Tyler started the car. He was already backing out before Reid had his seatbelt on.
Max pulled her feet up on the seat and tried to curl into a ball. It hurt so much she wanted to cry. "Max honey are you all right?" said Reid "don't know everything hurts," said Max. Reid leaned over the seat and looked at her closely.
Her skin was sweat covered and pale. She was crunched up on the seat in a ball like she was in great pain. "Max baby look at me" said Reid. Max groaned but did as he asked. Her eyes were solid black. "Ah shit Tyler she's ascending find someplace secluded quick," said Reid. "Ah crap, what time was her birthday?" said Tyler "I don't know," Reid, said "can't see it hurts too bad" she said in a whisper. "Shush, I'm right here," said Reid. "Hurry baby boy" said Reid
"Ah shit, ah shit!" said Tyler. He pulled off the freeway and headed for sign that said campgrounds. It read closed for the season Tyler parked off the side of the road and used to conceal the vehicle. Then they both helped a pain racked and spasming Max from the car. They half carried her up the hiking trail before the sky suddenly went dark.
Tyler grabbed Reid just in the nick of time. Lightning touched down where he had been standing and Max was levitating off the floor. The ground beneath her caught fire and the flames changed color to a bright blue green. They swirled around her in a vortex of color and heat. Tyler and Reid stood back and watched.
Lighting and energy were traveling up and down Max's body. She was jerking and screaming with the impact. The flames wrapped around her like snakes but didn't burn her. She opened her mouth to scream and energy jumped down her throat. She was jerking and dancing in the air. Then as suddenly as it began it was over.
Max sank back down to the floor and Reid cautiously approached her."Max?" he said in a whisper. The ground beneath him was hot, and burned. Some of the sand beneath her was now glass. He reached out to touch her and got a small shock. "Is she all right?" asked Tyler "I don't know I've never seen anyone ascend before" said Reid
Max moaned and rolled over on her stomach. Reid tried to touch her again and this time didn't get shocked."Max baby are you ok?" said Reid. "Wow!" they heard her whisper. Max put her head up slowly "ouch that hurt like hell, why didn't anyone warn me?" said Max. Both boys sighed in relief. Max slowly climbed to her feet with their assistance.
They walked slowly back to the car and climbed back in. Tyler started it and drove back to the freeway. "Any idea where they are?" said Reid. He was asking Tyler but Max answered "at Caleb's house" said Max "how do you know that?" said Tyler
"I can feel him use and we might want to hurry," said Max
She didn't want to mention that both Caleb and Pogue were getting weaker by the minute. If they were going to save them they had to hurry. She could feel both their terror and pain through the power. "We need a plan" said Max "I figured we'd just attack him and see how that goes" said Reid "doubt very well he's expecting you remember?" said Max "yes but he isn't expecting you Max" said Tyler
"No, baby boy are you crazy, he'll kill her," said Reid.
"He's planning on killing us all, we need to take advantage of every thing we have" said Max."Baby no, I know you just ascended and believe me I know you feel invincible right now but you aren't" said Reid "Reid she's right, we need her and she is a serious tactical advantage" said Tyler
"Listen to me baby boy I'm not sending her up against Chase, he's too powerful" said Reid. Max turned around to face him. "Reid listen to me we have to be together on this, I love you you know I do, you have to trust me on this" said Max. Reid was watching her eyes and pleading with his own for her to reconsider.
"I do trust you, I just don't want to lose you" said Reid "I don't want to lose you either but if we go into this fighting each other he's going to win" said Max "I take it you have a plan?" said Tyler "yeah I just need your help to implement it" said Max "go ahead lets hear it first" said Reid. So Max laid out her plan and what she wanted them to do. Reid didn't like it but in the end he gave in to her demands.