Power (Book 1)

Chapter 37

I dropped Cassie off at her house, leaving her on the front porch and ringing the doorbell. I didn't feel like dealing with her mother.

Something Dr. Snow- the young one- had said had really hit close to home. I was too afraid to face my father. He was dying, but...I didn't want my last image of him to be to see him weak and frail, barely hanging on to life. I would kill myself before doing that.

My thoughts turned back to Jake as I ran back to the hotel. I should check on him, I thought, but I didn't think I was up for it. Right now, I just wanted some rest.

Once in my room, I stripped down to get in the shower. It was then that I remembered the watch on my wrist. Jake said it would protect someone's mind from the effects of the Master, but it didn't work on him. Jake was under his full control, and I thought I saw it on his wrist when I knocked him out. So was it that the watch only protected the mind when the suit was on? Or did it even work at all?

I took off the watch and put it down on the bedside table. I would keep it. I liked the feel of the suit, the sense of protectiveness it gave me. Besides, there wasn't much harm in keeping it, even if the person who gave it to me was being controlled by an all-powerful psycho.

After taking a shower, I called room service and ordered a pizza. I wolfed the food down as if I hadn't eaten in days.

Next, I turned on the TV. After flipping through a few channels, something caught my eye. I pressed the button to go back.

"This is Kimberly Winchester, coming to you from Channel Nine. We are here at the site of a horrific accident at a local gym," a female reporter said. Looks like I turned this on just in time. "Where a black hole has appeared out of nowhere."

I turned the TV up so I could hear it better. If they found out it was me...

The camera panned out to reveal police and the straight black of FBI uniforms surrounding the facility. Police tape stretched around the area near where the suction took effect.

I speculated about how many of those FBI people were Afterlight agents. After all, this was their kind of situation.

The camera zoomed back in on the reporter. "There is no known cause of this black hole, but it is being investigated at the moment. There have been no reports of injured citizens, but officials don't know if anyone was sucked in. As we all know, only people with powerful speed abilities can cause these types of disasters. "

I snorted. Apparently, I didn't.

"There are no witnesses that saw the incident take place, and the camera seemed to have been sucked in already. All of this is a little convenient," she continued. "Do you have a word on this, Officer Park?"

The camera moved to the right to capture another woman in the feed.

I gasped. Sage smiled in the camera. She looked almost unrecognizable in the police uniform. Was she even old enough to be on the police force? How was she even alive?

"We'll find out who did this," Sage said to the reporter. Then she looked straight into the camera. "Whoever caused this, I know you're watching this right now. And I will find you, you can be sure of it. There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and no way for you to stop me. So say your goodbyes, because once I'm through with you, you're gonna wish you were dead."