Power (Book 1)

Chapter 42

I pushed the toppled stone above off of me. After turning back into a human, I waved the dust away from my eyes.

I remembered Sage and Dad and started searching through the mess for them. I couldn't find any evidence of them even being here.

I looked up. Since the rest of the mansion had come down, I saw the afternoon sun hanging in the air, baking the town's inhabitants with waves of heat. That's right. The darkness of the night had been replaced by the noon sun. Weird day.

There was no way of knowing whether or not my plan had worked. Were we in the other dimension? Besides the obvious change of night to day, I couldn't tell.

I continued my search for the two. After some time searching through the remains, I gave up. They must have gotten away.

I stopped looking and sat down in a patch of grass near the rubble, getting lost in my thoughts. I didn't want to go home just yet.

Should I go start looking for my mom, or check in with the others first? They must have had a scare after I snapped Sage's and Metagor's necks. But was it worth it? Plus, I probably had to explain to Jake what happened earlier.

Speaking of, where was Metagor? Just like before, he was nowhere to be found. Was he alive? Could he have repaired his body just like Cassie's house did under the Master's- Dad's- control?

All of these questions were swirling around in my head, so I didn't notice until much later that a voice was calling my name.

"Jay," it said, very faint. I thought I was imagining it.

"Jay," it said, much louder this time. I go up, looking the origin of the voice.

"Jay!" it shouted. I followed it to a large mound of scattered stone. I tossed some of it away.

A hand fell out onto the dirt. I grabbed it with both of my own and pulled at it. An arm emerged, then a shoulder, then a head. Soon, her whole body was out.

Sage coughed out the dust in her throat. She lay on the ground, sucking in mouthfuls of air. I let her, but I didn't take my eyes off of her.

"Thank you for saving me," she said after gathering enough air to talk.

"You're welcome," I said coldly. "I guess the Master left you behind to rot in prison while he got away."

"He did. But I'm not under his control anymore," she said.

"How do I know you're not lying?" I asked.

"Just ask your girlfriend over there." Sage pointed behind me.

I turned around. Approaching us were Cassie, Jake, and Blink. "She's not my girlfriend," I said.

They stood awkwardly a few feet away, not sure if it was safe to come closer.

"I'm alright, guys," I called out. "Sage isn't even dead. I'm pretty sure Metagor isn't, either-"

"He's not," Sage said.

"I haven't killed anyone yet," I finished.

After being pushed over by Cassie's telekinesis, Jake and Blink slowly followed her over to us.

"I'm glad you're alright," Cassie said.

"Yeah, well, it takes a lot more than a mind-controlling psycho to kill me." I decided then that I wouldn't tell them who the Master was. It would be better for all of us if I didn't tell. Sage seemed to pick up on what I was doing and kept quiet.

"Are we in the other dimension now?" Jake asked me.

"I think so," I guessed. I hoped we were.

"Then that's half of the war won," Jake replied with a smile. "One thing Afterlight knows is that he can't control reality here. His mind control isn't as strong either, so he would've had to let a lot of people go to keep the rest."