Page 18 of Remnants
“…spatial tethering,” he corrects, and I put a pin in asking that question of him later as well. “Sleep inducement. Frequency manipulation. Telekinetic fields and bursts are his favorite. And he used Kellan’s regeneration, which is the worst news we could have.”
Well.
That makes at least six.
“Is that all?” I free the last bullet from Kellan’s hand.
“We can’t go,” Reid repeats.
“Hurry up,” Jack says to me, his gaze flipping from Kellan to me, back to Reid.
“I’m telling you—”
Jackson hauls Reid up by his hair, his knife pointed at Reid’s neck. His voice is a deadly calm when he says, “I’m tellingyouthat we’re going. We should already be there.”
Kellan groans as he comes to.
I turn to face Reid. “If your father is as dangerous as you say, then even more reason we can’t leave Raegan and Dane alone with him this long. Are you okay leaving your sister with him?”
“Half-sister,” Reid replies automatically, then hesitates. His eyes close, and he sighs heavily. “No. We’ll get her.” He opens his eyes and shoots a pointed look at Jack. “But we’re only going to grab the two of them and then leave. We can’t fight. I’m not even sure if I’ll last for the second jump, so it has to be quick.”
“Son of a—” Kellan pushes himself up and rubs at his chest. He sees me, then Jackson and Reid’s standoff. He scans more of the room, and his expression darkens. “Where are they?”
“Gone. With Charles. But we’re getting them back,” I tell him, and he nods, standing.
“Let’s fucking go, then,” Kellan growls.
We join Jackson and hold Reid’s other arm. He mutters something under his breath, and we’re gone.
We land in a hallway before two large doors.
“Where the hell is she?” Kellan demands, fisting Reid’s shirt.
Reid glares at him, tugging fruitlessly. “Just because the tracker showed her in this building doesn’t mean I know which room she’sin. Behind here is his office. But maybe we should check the rest of the building first—”
Jackson and I smash the doors open in unison.
We aren’t wasting anymore time.
Dane’s hovering over Raegan’s still body on the floor. Charles looks up sharply at our entrance, and Dane falls on top of her.
“Now!” I yell, breaking into a run toward them before Charles can act. Kellan lifts and carries Reid with him while Jackson sends a burst of wind at Charles to knock him back. We all reach Dane and Raegan in seconds, grabbing them and then Reid.
“How unfortunate,” Charles comments mildly, his voice echoing in my ears even after Reid teleports us away and we escape.
“…six fractured ribs, which have led to a chest infection. We’ve put him on antibiotics and pain medicine,” the doctor reports. His eyes trail to Kellan, who’s leaning back in the stiff chair beside Dane’s bed, his legs thrown out for comfort while his tattooed muscular arms are tense where they cross his chest. He’s glaring at the doctor, his jaw working in frustration to keep his mouth shut.
Obviously, none of this is the doctor’s fault. He’s merely the messenger delivering the news of what Dane went through with Charles. It’s the worst news of the group, all of whom we’d been forced to bring to the hospital once we discovered Cassandra and her injury.
Raegan suffers similar injuries to Dane, although not as many broken ribs and without the infection or bullet graze. Reid and Cassandra are also here, getting the emergency treatment they need.
There is a long list of reasons why I actively avoid medical facilities: being in the public eye, cameras, potentially dangerous medical tests and gifted reactions, having a gifted person’s blood in others’ hands, law enforcement and investigations, stacks of medical bills we’ll have to pay out of pocket for. And so on. But this time, we had no choice.
“How long until he’s recovered?” I ask, standing at the foot of Dane’s bed in what should be a comforting wall between Kellan and the doctor.
The doctor clears his throat, uneasiness still radiating from the man since he saw Jack in Raegan's room and only getting worse. He’d been better when we’d visited the others to review their statuses, but not completely free from it. I’m sure it has something to do with the group of people we brought in with such injuries. It won’t be long before the police arrive after someone reports it.
“Once his chest infection is clear, he should be able to return home. He’ll need to be on bedrest or very limited activity for six weeks while it heals. Broken ribs are a painful and slow thing to heal, but there’s nothing more we can do for them other than trying to keep the patient comfortable.”
