THE SIGHT OF seeing your greatest work go up in flames was a truly heart crushing experience. One that could cause you to collapse to your knees and let your mind wander to those moments of pride that you felt from finally completing the last obstacle.
Yeah, well I wouldn't know what that felt like, but witnessing Aspen's horrified face didn't make me feel any better about myself.
Ms. Fai was the first to bolt to the building, screaming something to Mr. Wilkins and heaving the giant bluish wall apart. Mr. Gnome wasn't that far behind, slamming his hands against the magic wall, even though it did nothing to make the process go faster.
Once the wall was in sparkling pieces, Aspen rushed ahead of all the others and jumped right into the flaming building. The fire enlarged amongst the top of the roof, pieces of charred substances dropped to the floor of the first level. The hole in the building grew wider as more and more chunks of the structure fell.
Aspen moved her arms in a motion that resembled the waves of the ocean. The flames danced along with her movement, listening to the beat of the song she motioned with her hands. Slowly, the fire twirled and swirled in a lazy wave to Aspen's arms. The first flame rushing along her forearm like a river, and everything about her flowy gestures screamed 'hydrokinetic'.
She spun, her body facing the sky, and motioned her arms toward the open blue. The embers shot from her around her arms like a rocket, sparking out into the air like a dragon's breath. Aspen lowered her arms, then ran further into the building until I couldn't see her anymore. Now, the fire was entirely out.
More high school students flooded out of the second part of the academy, confusion and worry written on their faces while the teachers tried to console them. Most of the students rushed in the other side of the large building, helping the younger students get outside before anything else happened.
I sprinted forward to follow behind a group of teens. The damage of the building was massive, the roof split open about halfway, blackened remains of the restaurant bar littering the floor, marble chunks creating holes through the ground, and first level doors blocked by planks of damaged wood.
Jason stepped down the stairs of the second level, helping Kathy by tossing her arm over his shoulder. Once they reached the last step, I ran over to them and took Kathy's other arm.
"What happened to her?" I asked worriedly.
Jason shook his head, wincing in pain. "Nobody expected it. The bomb shook the whole building, Kathy managed to fall during the rush and sprain her ankle."
My gaze flickered to Kathy. "Well, at least somebody didn't smash my head into a desk," Kathy retorted.
I turned my attention back on Jason. "Wait, what?" I said.
"It's nothing much," Jason assured. "I just have a slight headache."
A large tremor caused us to fall, plaster raining down from the roof. The sound was deafening, like a click of a gun, then the shot bursting in our eardrums. It was like a clap of thunder before the lightning.
"Another bomb went off!" someone shouted. "High school needs to be evacuated!"
"We need to get out," I urged, helping Kathy up while Jason rubbed his head. He looked tired, exhausted even, with his blond hair ruffled resembling a bad bedhead and his eyes unfocused.
We hobbled out of the building awkwardly, I mostly supporting the weight now that Jason was completely out of it. Kathy was taken away by a high schooler, and Jason stayed by my side despite his head injury.
"How come you were out of class?" Jason questioned. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," I brushed off. "I was out here fighting the dogs."
"What? Aspen let you fight while we had to do a chapter in our workbooks? Not fair."
He pouted at me in a childish way and I laughed at him.
"It wasn't that fun," I claimed. "I didn't know what I was doing half the time."
"Sure," he scoffed, crossing his arms. "Like you aren't perfect enough."
He looked like he wanted to say something else, but decided against it.
I spotted Aspen and a balding older man walked steadily in our direction. They stopped before Jason as I, Aspen's expression mixed with disappointed and disbelief.
"It was her," the man accused. "That terrorist's DNA was covering the shell casing of the bomb we found in a first grade teacher's room."
Aspen closed her eyes, her lips pressed together tightly. She sighed heavily. "How dare-," she started.
"I didn't do anything!" I interrupted. I found myself looking at Jason briefly. "Whatever you guys think I did, I had nothing to do with it!"
"Ashley!" Aspen cried. Her fists clenched at her sides, shaking uncontrollably. "You can't dismiss everything you've done-this cannot be cast aside like last time. You... y-you blew it this time."
She was trying not to cry, I could see it, but I must have reached her breaking point.
"You can't say that you had nothing to do with this," my step-sister continued. "You did. Evidence has concluded-I can't-how dare you try to eliminate the place that welcomed you with open arms?"
"Mrs. Fuller, I don't understand, what did Ashley do?" Jason asked. His fingers fiddled with the hem of his shirt. "It couldn't have been that bad-"
"For Phoenix's sake, she blew up the school!" Aspen announced. "There, I can't believe I said it, she planted four bombs throughout the two sections and planned to send it up in flames."
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "That's not true, I don't even know how to build a bomb!" I laughed uneasily, but it did nothing to break the tension.
Aspen shook her head and the man took a step forward, his finger jabbing in my face.
"You've gone and done it girl," he hissed, spitting in my face. His hardened green eyes flared at me with such hatred that a shiver of fear ran down my back. "See you never, terrorist."
I felt my chest caving in, the weight of what I've done falling to my guilty heart. I knew I didn't do it, there was no way, I was just a kid. It was incredible how fast a moment could change.
The man stalked away, following Aspen back to the crowds of students on the field, some of them in shock as they gazed on at the destruction of the S.P.Y. HQ.
Jason shook his head, grabbing at his hair and staring at me intensely. "No, no, you couldn't have done it," he mumbled. "Did you do it? Shawn was right; never trust B.A.D. scum."
