Okay, and it's Ivy now.
"Quiet. Let me think," I snapped. I'd just like to point out that you probably wouldn't be thinking straight if you had just a character out of a movie.
And unless that was Jeremy Renner or Jeremy Renner's identical twin dressed in costume, I guessed that was exactly what the man we had met was. Hawkeye, the world's greatest archer. S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and a member of the Avengers.
When the running footsteps sounded behind us, I knew we were in trouble. "Run!" I said to Miranda, and took off running. Branches clawed at my face. I panted for breath. My mind screamed for me to get away.
It wasn't until I reached the small path up to the main building that I remembered Miranda.
Miranda here.
I wasn't in nearly as good shape as Ivy and she took off ahead of me with ease.
Hawkeye grabbed me from behind, covering my mouth with one hand and pinning my arms against my sides with an arm.
The moment he grabbed me, I froze. Then I kicked back at his legs and squirmed, sinking my teeth into his hand. I knew I didn't have a chance of winning, but at least it would buy Ivy some time.
He pulled his arms away suddenly. I kicked him as I could and ran.
Something stabbed into my arm. My knees gave out and I collapsed face first into the dirt. Someone rolled me onto my back. I stared up at Hawkeye for a moment, then everything went black.
Ivy again.
I panicked. Should I run back to help her and almost definitely get caught? Or keep running?
Footsteps sounded behind me. Not Miranda's.
I was almost to the main building. Would he follow me in? I glanced over my shoulder to see that he had almost caught up with me. I was almost to there, just a few more yards then around the corner.
A hand seized a hold of my hair. Not good. He started to pull back, to take me to the ground, but I grabbed his hands and pressed them against my head, twisting around him and taking him to the ground.
To this day, I still can't believe I actually managed to do it. Maybe he wasn't expecting it and didn't quite manage to react in time. Or maybe he was trying harder to resist Loki's control and it slowed him down for a second. That's all I can come up with.
Before I could do anything else, he was climbing to his feet, and he didn't look too pleased with me. I decided now was as good a time as any to run for my life. I ran up to the door and through it, straight into two girls.
Carmen – one of the altos who had attended karate with me for a year or two, then decided she wanted to do other things with her time – and Ariel – one of the sopranos who took kickboxing and was always up for a sparring match – were pulling on their shoes at the front door. "We were just going out to find you – Ivy?" said Carmen. "What's wrong? What's going on?"
I told her what had happened, stumbling over my words, expecting Hawkeye to come through the door at any second. But he didn't. I suppose he must not have wanted to raise the attention that going inside to chase after me would have gotten him.
"So, what you're saying is that someone just attacked you and Miranda, and Miranda didn't get away," said Carmen. One of her gifts in her life – she's always calm. Always. It's kind of spooky, actually.
"Yeah." I hadn't told them about Hawkeye – they'd think I was insane.
Ariel ran off to get the director. Everyone else chattered excitedly.
"Ivy?" asked Carmen. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"
I shook my head. I was fine. Miranda wasn't.
I didn't cry. I never cry. Instead, I sank down next to the wall, burying my face in my hands.
I could describe everything that was running through my head. But really, there was too much going on in there to properly describe. But the foremost emotions were worry, frustration with myself, and shock. Complete and utter shock.