Much Heroes love to all readers and especially to those who read and review. You are my heroes. :)
Previously on Heroes (Storm Clouds Gathering): Phoebe begins to get strange feelings of anxiety about Peter. Claire tries to reassure her, and yet she continues to have dark dreams about Peter. Meanwhile, John Shoe is beginning to be suspicious of the group he is with. The leader of the group sends out a man named Will to snatch someone's will... Back on the train, Sasha touches Peter and realizes that he is sick, despite this, he insists on going with Nathan to find out what is happening to the train. The brothers volunteer their services to the conductor and step out onto a platform. They are instantly attacked by a man who controls the weather. It is his storm that has been bombarding the train. The brothers fight the weather man, but he manages to get away--after showing them that he has sent a tornado right into the path of the train. Nathan tells Peter to stop the tornado using the weather man's power...
CHAPTER EIGHT
Peter flew closer to the tornado, positioning himself between it and the train. Concentrating, he reached inside himself for the weather man's power, which he knew was now his as well. Using it, he stretched out his senses toward the tornado and pushed against it. The whirling mass of air and cloud shuddered for a moment, but continued plowing a path toward the train. "Come on. Come on," Peter muttered to himself, throwing the weather power harder at the tornado.
This time, the twister backed off. However, this time, Peter's power of flight flickered out for a few seconds, dropping him several feet closer to the top of the train.
"Peter!" Nathan called worriedly.
"I'm fine, Nathan," Peter called back. He took a deep breath and drew himself up. He had to stop that tornado! It was coming back again, roaring as loud as the train and the wind put together. By this time, the crew and passengers aboard the train had noticed. Peter could hear their cries of terror. Again, he cast a surge of weather control toward the tornado, willing it to cease. Again, it weakened, slowed, and again, he started to plummet downward.
"I can't do it!" he cried hoarsely, panic shortening his breath. "I'll have to land."
"Careful, Pete," Nathan called to him. "I'll be right behind you."
Quickly, Peter landed himself on top of one of the train cars. He was suddenly overcome with weariness. His knees weakened, and he staggered.
Strong arms came around Peter from behind, supporting him. "You can do this, Peter."
Peter took a deep breath and nodded. He would not let Nathan down. Concentrating all of his strength, he willed the tornado to dissipate. With a high-pitched roar that hurt Peter's ears, the powerful, twisting funnel of wind shrank and began to slip upward, back toward the clouds.
"You've got it, Peter! Keep going!" Nathan encouraged.
Smiling, suddenly elated with this new power, Peter pushed his will even harder against the tornado. The roaring faded, and the twister itself began to do the same, shrinking steadily back into the clouds. Finally, the tornado was no more.
Cheers and laughter burst from the train cars below the Petrelli brothers, cheers of people who had no idea how they had just been rescued or by whom.
Peter's grin broadened. "I did it. Did you see that, Nathan?"
"Pete, I'm standing right behind you," Nathan remarked dryly.
"I know, but… Wow!" Peter exclaimed. "I just wish I--I just wish I felt--" He frowned. "Nathan?"
"What's the matter, Peter?" Nathan asked, quickly alert.
"I can't--I can't… hang on…" And suddenly, Peter slumped into his brother's arms, eyes closed, breath leaving him in a heavy sigh.
"Peter!" Nathan cried, tightening his grip on his little brother. "Not again!"
In Phoebe's dream, Peter was standing under a shadow, the long, slender shadow of a man. Peter was also standing on the other side of a great canyon, and she could not reach him.
She stood on the edge of her side and screamed his name, but the wind ripped the cries away before they could reach Peter's ears. The wind also ripped at her breath, making it hard to breathe. Phoebe felt her body weaken. She dropped to her knees and hugged herself against the chill and the darkness.
God, please… Let me wake up. Please let me wake up!
"Phoebe! Wake up!"
She sat up with a gasp.
"Bad dream?" asked a voice from beside her.
She turned to Claire, hoping she did not look half as frightened as she felt. "Yeah. Pretty bad." Sighing, she laid back down. Childishly, she was glad to be sharing the room with Claire. Not being alone was comforting after such a nightmare. "Claire… I'm worried."
"What's the matter?" Claire asked, frowning.
"I… I miss Peter." She smiled wryly. "Gosh, I'm such a baby."
"No you're not," Claire replied. "I miss him, too. And both of my dads and my mom and Sasha…" She smiled, too. "I even miss Lyle… Well, sort of."
"Claire… Sometimes my dreams come true," Phoebe said quietly. "Remember how I met Peter? In a dream?"
"Yeah…" Claire sat up on one elbow and narrowed her eyes on her aunt. "How is that you have dreams like that? I mean… You're not like Peter. You're like the rest of us. You only get one power, and you already have telekinesis."
Phoebe shrugged. "I don't know. But now I'm worried. That nightmare… It was pretty bad. And it was about Peter."
"I gathered," said Claire dryly, raising one eyebrow. "You were yelling at him in your sleep."
"Sorry." Phoebe grimaced.
"There has to be some way we can get in touch with him, just so you can know he's okay," Claire said, lying back down. "Maybe tomorrow you can call him."
"No cell phone service," said Phoebe with a sigh.
"Oh yeah. That's right." Claire frowned. "Well maybe Hiro can teleport you to where Peter is."
"That's an idea," said Phoebe quietly. She yawned. "I guess it'll have to wait until morning." She rolled over on her side and curled up with one of the pillows. "Good-night, Claire."
"Good-night, Phoebe."
"Move! Out of the way!" Nathan shouted, pushing through the crowded hall of the train car, holding Peter tightly.
"What's wrong with him?" someone called.
"Maybe he passed out when he saw the tornado," said another stranger. "I nearly did."
Nathan clenched his teeth, set his jaw, and moved onward, closer to the bunk room he shared with Peter, thinking all the while, He saved your lives, people. Can't you at least get out of the way for him?
Heidi and Sasha came rushing out of their berth. Heidi's eye widened. "Nathan, what happened? Is Peter--?"
"He'll be fine. I just need somewhere to set him down, and I can't reach the key to our berth while I'm holding him like this."
"Where is it?" Heidi asked, moving to his side and drawing Sasha along behind her.
"Jacket pocket. Left side." Nathan waited, forcing himself to be patient, as his wife fished around in his pocket for the key.
"Here it is." She quickly inserted it into the door of the berth, then turned it and opened the door.
"Thanks," said Nathan, quickly slipping past her with his brother, his burden. He moved across the small room to the bunks, setting Peter down on the bottom one, then swiftly kneeling beside him. "Peter! Peter! Wake up! Don't do this to me again," he ordered, shaking his brother gently.
"What happened?" Heidi asked, rushing into the room with Sasha in tow. She quickly closed the door behind her and flipped on the light.
"He stopped the tornado, and I think we scared the weather man away, but…" Nathan frowned and touched his brother's pale face. "I think it was too much for him."
"Wait, wait. Slow down." Heidi stood akimbo. "The weather man?"
"He was sent to attack us, to stop this train from arriving in Maine," Nathan explained. He ran a hand down his face, sighing heavily.
"What's going on with Peter?" Heidi asked, frowning with concern.
"I don't know," said Nathan raggedly, looking back at his little brother. "I don't know…"
"I can find out," Sasha spoke up softly.
"Please," said Nathan, reaching toward her. "Please try."
Heidi guided Sasha to where Nathan knelt by Peter, and Nathan reached out and took the blind girl's hand.
"I'm sorry all this is happening, Nathan," Sasha told him sincerely. "You carry a lot on your shoulders."
"Someone has to," said Nathan wryly. He gently placed Sasha's fine-boned hand on Peter's shoulder. "There. Now tell me what's happening to my brother."
Sasha closed her blind eyes and set her other hand on Peter's shoulder, as well. Her delicate brows lowered. "He's weakened inside. You're right. Saving the train was too much for him. He's sick. His powers are fading. There are connections. He's connected to people, and those connections give him strength. You give him strength, Nathan."
"Well obviously, I'm not enough," said Nathan wryly.
"He's worried for someone. I think he's dreaming." Sasha turned toward the direction of Nathan's voice. "I think he's dreaming about--"
"Phoebe…" Peter muttered, frowning in his unconsciousness.
Nathan and Heidi glanced at each other over Sasha's head.
Sasha drew her hands back from Peter's shoulder. "I think Phoebe might be in trouble," she said with a frown.
Phoebe opened her eyes. The sun had not yet risen. She sat up quietly and slipped out from under the covers, shivering as her feet hit the cold hardwood floor. For some reason, she was overcome by a craving to be alone.
Quickly and quietly, she dressed in a dark pair of jeans, a green turtleneck, and a long pink jacket, tossing a multi-colored scarf haphazardly around her neck. She slipped out of the bedroom and tiptoed to the front door of the cabin, where she put on her soft brown boots. For a moment, she hesitated in the doorway, a sense of foreboding tingling in her blood. Then she shook it off and stepped outside, closing the door softly behind her. For some reason, she had to be alone. The presence of other living beings had somehow become too much for her. She needed solitude so that she could think about Peter…
The train arrived safely at the station in Portland, Maine just as the sun was rising. The heroes disembarked quietly, trying to be inconspicuous. Nathan supported a groggy Peter as they stepped from the train onto the platform of the station. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the conductor watching them in curiosity. Fortunately, no one else seemed to be paying much attention to them.
"Where do we go now?" Heidi whispered to Nathan as the four heroes stood clustered around a wrought-iron bench.
Nathan lowered Peter to the bench and turned to face his wife. "We'll get a hotel and see if we can find this Bottletree place."
Heidi crossed her arms and nodded, lips pressed closely together, not looking at him.
"We need to get in touch with the others… Somehow," Peter spoke up wearily from where he sat slumped on the bench.
"We will, Peter," said Sasha fervently. She stood beside Heidi, lightly touching the other woman's arm for guidance.
"I suppose no one thought to get a phone number for the cabin?" Nathan remarked somewhat sarcastically.
"There probably is no phone," Heidi replied, frowning at his flippance. "If she's trying to disappear, why would she have a phone?"
"She has a point," came a voice from behind the small party. "If she had a phone, it would be easier for the Company to track her."
Peter lifted his head and turned to look over his shoulder. "Noah?"
Noah Bennet was standing on the platform of the train station. He looked up at the cloudy sky. "Looks like rain."
Noah Bennet had already rented an eight-passenger van and booked four rooms in a local motel. This arrangement both pleased Nathan Petrelli and rankled on his nerves. He had to admit, the former Company agent had done well in choosing both van and motel, but… He sighed and crossed his arms in the front passenger seat of the van. He, Nathan Petrelli, congressman, was supposed to be the man with the plan.
"So, Claire, Phoebe, and Hiro are still in Canada?" Noah asked lightly. It was obvious that he was trying to appear nonchalant, but Nathan, as a fellow father, recognized the glint of worry in the other man's eyes.
Before Nathan could reply, Sasha spoke up in her quiet, soothing voice. "Yes. We're a bit worried about Phoebe, but Claire and Hiro should be fine."
Noah glanced at her over his shoulder. "Why are you worried about Phoebe?" he asked.
Peter spoke up from where he sat in the middle seat next to Heidi. "My dreams." He coughed into his fist, then cleared his throat and continued. "I think she's in trouble. As soon as we get to this motel, I'm going to after her."
"No you're not," Nathan replied quickly. "You're in no condition to--"
"Nathan, I have to find her," said Peter, frowning. "She's in trouble. She needs me."
"And you need to rest," said Nathan, also wearing the Petrelli scowl.
"You know what? I'm going after her right now," said Peter, lifting his chin stubbornly.
Nathan met his brother's eyes steadily. "Peter."
"Just try and stop me." Peter closed his eyes, concentrating on one of his powers.
"If you try to teleport, you might end up in Zimbabwe for all you know," Nathan told him sharply. "And you being in Zimbabwe will do nothing for Phoebe."
Peter opened his eyes and tried to glare at his brother. His composure cracked, and he dropped his eyes. "You're right, Nathan." He hung his head with a shaky sigh.
"Well what are we going to do about Phoebe?" Heidi asked quietly. "Peter's dreams mean something, don't they? And now they're saying she's in trouble. We can't just leave her."
"We won't," said Nathan firmly. "I'll go after her." He turned around to face forward. "And that's final."
Heidi frowned and looked down at her lap, where she was subconsciously twisting her wedding ring around and around her finger. She turned to look at Peter. He was staring vaguely out the window with feverishly shiny eyes, tracing the paths of raindrops on the glass with his finger. He glanced at her, then, perhaps reading her mind, and shook his head.
Heidi looked quickly away. Maybe he trusts them. But I don't. Not yet.
Will the Snatcher, the snatcher of wills, smiled up at the beautiful pine trees. Like him, they were ambitious, stretching toward the windy, cloudy sky, ever rising. They smelled good, too. He breathed deeply of the piny air as he walked through the forest.
Ah. There it was. The cabin. Smoke drifted sideways from the chimney, and Will could hear the pleasant ringing of chimes on the wind.
He leaned casually against one of the pines, confident that, very soon, his quarry would be in sight. And he would snatch her will.