Chapter 4: Mistakes
Evelyn awoke with a start to the sound of police sirens. Every time she heard them, she had to be on guard. But then she realized that she was in the hotel room with Delsin and Reggie. There was no way the cops knew she was here. She was safe for now.
Turning over, she took note of the time. Half-past six. Early for her, but she didn't feel tired in the slightest.
The boys were still asleep. It was funny to see the way they both were on opposite sides of the bed as far away from each other as they could be. She never knew what it was like to have a sibling, but she always observed that many of them tended to bicker a lot like the two of them. They seemed to take it to the next level, but it made sense with the way both of them were. On one hand, Reggie was extremely stiff and unmoving. He played by the rules and did things the proper way. On the other hand, Delsin was free and flexible. He broke all of the rules and did things whether they were proper or not.
It was interesting how different they could be and still be related. Their dynamic made her curious about their home life and family, but at this point she wasn't really planning on befriending and getting to know them. They offered to help her and she was going to accept that help until she could get along on her own. She'd grown up quite independent and reserved.
Pressing her lips together, she got out of bed, figuring it might be a good time to slip across town and get her things from the abandoned apartment she and Elijah were staying in. She needed some new clothes, as she couldn't stay in Delsin's forever, no matter how warm his flannel was.
Quietly, she slipped her shoes on and headed toward the window. She made sure they were still sleeping before she slipped out the window and disappeared onto the roof. It was easier for her to travel across the rooftops since the D.U.P.s usually traveled on the ground in cars or by foot. Occasionally, she would come across them on roofs, but it was mostly on buildings really close to the city center where the main station stood.
The air was warm and she basked in it as she jumped from roof to roof, sometimes using her abilities to get across larger gaps when she was sure no one was looking.
In the rattier part of the city, she slowed and let herself slide down the fire escape of the abandoned apartment complex she and Elijah had been staying in recently. The window to their little abode was still open so she jumped inside and landed quietly on the peeling wood floor.
Everything was where she left it last and she slowly wandered toward her room, sighing gently as she took a glance across the hall at Elijah's room. The door was closed and she didn't think she had the strength to go inside and look through his things. So instead, she headed to her room and stopped in the doorway.
It felt so weird to be back here after everything that happened. It was quieter than she was used to, even with the usual noises outside.
Taking a step forward, she grabbed her backpack from beside the mattress plopped down on the floor. She usually kept about half of her things in the backpack and the other half in the closet across the room, just in case she had to get out of here in a hurry. Since she had a bit of time, she pulled the rest of her clothes and belongings out of the closet and stuffed them as best as she could into the bag. Her move would only be temporary. Soon enough, she would be back here with Elijah, laughing and complaining about his most recent tattoo or piercing that he didn't have the money for.
Evelyn picked up her final belonging, which was a picture of her and Elijah. Both of them were smiling at the camera and leaning against each other. He was the closest thing she had to a brother. In fact, he probably was her brother, even if they weren't related. She had been so lucky to find him and befriend him.
A creak behind her made her jump and she spun, eyes wide as she honed in on the figure in the doorway behind her. It was Delsin.
Her body relaxed slightly, but she was still a bit jumpy and she stared at him in bewilderment, realizing he must have been awake when she left and followed her here. She never wanted him to figure out this place where she stayed.
"You followed me here?" she asked, eyebrows creasing.
"I thought you were trying to bail," he answered, adjusting the burgandy beanie on his head.
"I just wanted to get my stuff..."
"Yeah I see that. So this was your place? A bit uh...but not bad." He started to walk around her room, stopping to examine some other photos she had taped to the wall.
"This Eric?" he asked, pointing to one of the photos.
"Elijah," she corrected. "And yes. Thank you for being nosy."
"Not being nosy if it's all over the wall." He smirked and folded his arms. "So, he your boyfriend? Is that why you need him back so badly?"
His nonchalant and cocky demeanor was getting her a bit irritated. "No. He was practically my brother, if you must know. Not everyone has the perfect life and luxury of family."
"No, they don't," he replied sharply.
It made her realize that she didn't really know as much about him as she thought she might. She only knew his name, his relation to Reggie, and his abilities. And that he was an arrogant rule-breaker. Maybe he only had Reggie and no one else. She didn't know his family situation.
Pressing her lips together, she stuffed some of the pictures into her bag and then turned, drawing in a heavy breath.
"Hey, there's something I should show you. If we're going to take on Augustine and her cronies, we could use it," he said suddenly, gesturing for her to follow.
Warily, she fell in line behind him, heading through the apartment and then back to the window. He went out first and she followed. They climbed up to the roof to get a better vantage point and she remained behind him, silently watching as he took a moment to look through something on his phone.
"Yes, there you are," he muttered, grinning a bit and then looking over his shoulder at her. "Race you there!"
Evelyn didn't even know where "there" was, but she wasn't intending to race him. Maybe she was a stick in the mud, but she was only doing what she had to teaming up with them. People like him, she usually stayed away from. They were too cocky and arrogant for her liking, plus she was more on the shy side and his flirtatious remarks and confidence clashed with her reserved and quiet nature.
So as he darted ahead, she followed at a more leisurely pace, not using her powers unless she really had to get across a large gap. He was showing off for sure as he swirled around in smoke and catapulted himself through vents. His whoops and shouts of exhiliration created more noise than she was comfortable with, but no one noticed them because of the early hours of the morning.
Soon enough, they came upon the city center of Seattle and she looked down into an alleyway where a small group of D.U.P.s crowded around what looked like a generator. Delsin crouched down, scoping out the situation for a minute.
"They'll be easy for the two of us to handle. Come on," he said with a cocky smirk before lunging down to land on one of them.
She remained stationary, unsure about attacking them. For what reason where they doing this? She hung back, letting him do the work. A few times, he turned his attention up to her, making a few comments and irritated remarks that she was leaving him to do all the work. But she wasn't the greatest fighter. She was always much better at running away and sneaking in and out of places.
Once he had taken care of the five D.U.P.s, she slipped down to land beside him.
"What the hell? Thought this was supposed to be teamwork?" he questioned. "Not like I don't like the spotlight, but seriously?"
"I don't fight when I don't have to," she said with a shrug, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Yeah, you just run?" he mocked, rolling his eyes and then kicking the generator-thing. "Maybe this'll help you. Break it."
She raised an eyebrow, not intending to do anything without an explanation.
"Just do it. Live a little," he pushed.
Narrowing her eyes, she bent down to examine the thing, noticing that it had the D.U.P. written all over it. Whatever it was, it had to do with them. Maybe it had something to do with their communications? Breaking it could cause them to lose some power in this district. The less power and control they had over the area, the easier it would be to get where they needed to be with ease.
Taking a step back, she focused her attention on the humming around her and faint noises of conversation on the streets. She squeezed her eyes shut and drew in all of that noise, soaking it up into her body until it was practically buzzing with sound waves. Her eyes shot open, her irises beginning to glow bright white as she sent a burst of sound at the D.U.P. technology in front of her. It completely shattered, the metal bending and flying off in random directions to reveal a bright blue glowing core beneath.
Slowly, her eyes changed back to their normal green hue and she straightened up, shooting a glance over at Delsin.
"Okay...so?" She raised her eyebrows in questioning.
"Touch it. You should be grateful I'm letting you have this one," he quipped, crossing his arms.
Evelyn sighed, slowly nearing it. Her hand hovered over the core and she could feel the energy radiating off it in waves, which made her slightly wary about touching it. But she healed quickly so if anything happened, she was sure she would be fine.
As soon as she pressed her palm to it, intense burning shot up her arm and into her spine, causing her to shout and cry out in pain. What had he led her to? She couldn't pull away as the energy coursed through her veins like lightning, causing every vessel in her body to glow bright white with hot electricity. Her hand was glued to the core like a magnet and she writhed in pain as her vision began to glow white. He'd led her to her death, she just knew it. Elijah would forever be in the D.U.P.'s grasp and there was nothing she could do about it now.
Finally, her hand detached from the core and she fell to the pavement, black engulfing her vision as heavy throbbing racked her entire body. She could faintly hear Delsin shouting something as everything faded out.
Deep in the back of her brain, she thought she was dead. And it seemed like a bright light was coming to confirm it. But the light slowly change into scenery. She could see herself standing in front of her in the middle of a street with hundreds of D.U.P.s surrounding her.
Her first instinct was to be terrified, but she couldn't move, only watch. The figure of herself summoned up something in her hand. It looked to be a white orb of some sort and it pulsated slowly. She wasn't exactly sure of what it even was, but she couldn't ask questions so she continued to watch, feeling trapped in her own body.
Mini her twirled the orb in her hand before tossing it into the large group of D.U.P.s. The orb shattered upon impact of the ground and then loud, screeching noises came blasting out of the shards, tearing through each of the D.U.P.s and knocking them unconscious to the ground. She summoned another and took care of the rest, but even after they were all down, more appeared. It was a repetitive motion - she summoned one of the orbs, threw it, the D.U.P.s went down, and then more appeared.
After several repetitions, the vision slowly began to fade into black and she became more aware of her surroundings. She could hear voices around her, arguing to be exact. The arguing seemed so familiar but it took a minute to hit her. Delsin and Reggie.
Her eyes flew open and she took in a breath, feeling extremely achy but also energetic at the same time. Whatever that thing that Delsin made her touch was, it had done something to her. She wasn't quite sure yet, but at least she was alive and not dead. If she was dead, she couldn't do what she had to do.
"Hey, she's awake. See, I told you she would be fine," Delsin said, gesturing toward her.
"You still put her at risk! Can you ever, for once, just stop and think about what you're doing before you do it?" Reggie snapped, turning to her. "Are you alright? How are you feeling?"
Evelyn slowly sat up, noticing that she was back in the hotel room. She passed out in the alley. Delsin must have carried her back or called Reggie to bring her. If they hadn't been there, she would have gotten picked up by the D.U.P.s for sure. But then again, if Delsin hadn't asked her to touch that glowing blue thing, she wouldn't have passed out in the first place.
It took her a moment to realize that they were both looking keenly toward her for an answer to the older brother's questions and she blinked, shaking her head and trying to focus. Her thoughts were still pretty jumbled and she kept thinking back to the weird vision she had while she was asleep. Did it even mean something? Why would she see herself tossing orbs of what seemed to be sound into a crowd of D.U.P.s? They were questions she needed to have answered.
"I'm...good. I think...," she trailed, her aching body pounding with the beat of her heart. "What was that...thing?"
"Core relay," Delsin explained, "Reggie's been sending me the locations. They help tap into your powers, make you stronger."
The whole thing suddenly clicked in her mind and she got to her feet, wobbling slightly only to be quickly caught by the eldest brother.
"Whoa, take it easy there," he instructed, holding onto her arm.
"I need to try something," she said with a shake of her head, pulling away from him and making her way to the window.
Without saying another word, she climbed through, stepping onto the fire escape and climbing up to the roof. She heard the other two following, but she ignored them, too focused on figuring out what she needed to know. Was this a new ability of hers? Was she even stronger than before? Only one way to find out...
She stopped at the edge, looking down on the streets below. There weren't any civilians right in front of the hotel, so she could test it out right here. So she closed her eyes and focused hard on the scarce amount of noises around her - mostly the whistling of the wind and the waves slapping against the rocks on the shore. Something about soaking up the noises made her feel stronger and more energized than before. The pounding in her head ceased and she didn't feel as achy and tired.
Using the noises, she closed her eyes and tried to envision exactly what happened in her dream. She could feel her body buzzing with noise as it traveled down her arms and when she opened her eyes, a white orb had formed in the palm of her hand. All of the noises of the waves and wind swirled around in the center of her palm and she stared at it in wonder for a brief second. It was amazing and something she hadn't seen before, but she was afraid she would lose it before she got to test it out. So she threw it right down to the sidewalk below.
Her eyes narrowed as it plummeted toward the earth and soon enough, it shattered on the ground, releasing ear-splitting noise that echoed on the whole strip of road in front of the hotel. This was new and definitely something she never thought she'd be able to do. She had no idea that she could advance her powers. She always wanted to get rid of them and while this was magnificent, she wasn't exactly sure how she felt about it.
On one hand, she continued to be amazed at how beautiful and strong sound waves really were. She always took sound and noises for granted until she gained her abilities. But there was always the linger doubt in her mind. As long as she could remember after her parents dying, she wanted to get rid of these powers. They were more like a curse than a blessing. It made her sought after to be a prisoner and experimented on. And they were the cause of her parents dying and Elijah being taken.
Her eyes flickered up to Delsin, who stood with a large grin on his face. Reggie seemed slightly nervous and shocked at what exactly had happened. Part of her wanted to embrace the magnificence of it, but a larger part wanted it to be undone.
"That's pretty sweet," he commented, fiddling with the chain on his wrist,
She shook her head, lips curling into a small frown as she caught his gaze. "What have you done to me?"
A/N: So Delsin helped strengthen the powers of the girl who desperately wants to get rid of them. So helpful, Del xD Thanks for reading and reviewing, you guys rock! Hope you liked this chapter!