Chapter 14

Rhuyin

"We need to get out of here," Rhu said. "Take my hand."

I reached out for the Mageia, ignoring the shock that ran through my hand as they touched. Even though I was expecting it this time, the strength of it was still surprising. Luke gripped my hand tightly and I helped him pick his way through the shambles of the office building. I reached back and gave the other man a hand as he stepped across a hole in the floor.

"—find Elex. He's going to be shitting bricks."

I froze, looking down at our joined hands.

"Wait," I said. Luke froze.

I slowly released Luke's hand and stepped back. Luke had been taking in the destruction of the building but dragged his gaze back to me when I spoke.

"Say something," I said.

Luke looked at me curiously. I saw his lips move, but heard nothing, though I could read his lips and knew he had said the word "something". Slowly I reached out and took Luke's hand in his.

"Say something again," I said, deliberately looking away from the Mageia.

"Something again," the Mageia said.

My gaze shot back to the younger man's face.

"You said ‘something again'," I said.

Luke started to nod, then said, "How did you know that?"

It was his turn to raise an eyebrow at the me and I couldn't keep the grin from his face.

"I heard you," I said.

"You heard me?" Luke echoed, obviously confused.

I paused then shook my head. No, that wasn't right, not exactly.

"Not with my ears," I said, struggling to find the words to describe what I was experiencing. "It's not that I can actually hear what you're saying. It's like… I can feel the vibrations on my skin as you're talking. When we touch, it's really amplified."

"Can you hear the sirens?"

"No, seems to just be—you? Which… is really weird." I shook his head. What the hell was going on? Luke looked at me in confusion.

"But—how?" Luke asked. "Some kind of weird aftereffect of the explosion?"

"I don't know, but we'll have to figure it out later. We need to find out what happened."

And wasn't that the understatement of the day? We picked our way through the ruins of the administrative wing.

"Could the explosion have been the result of a gas leak?" Luke asked when we paused for a moment. "I'm trying to figure out what else could have caused an explosion this size."

I shook his head.

"I don't think it was gas. There're no major fires burning anywhere. I don't smell smoke or anything, so I doubt it was gas. I'm not sure what could have done this, though. Whatever caused the explosion, we're lucky it happened during a Touchpoint, or these offices would have been filled with people," I explained.

"Do they normally empty out that way?" Luke asked.

"Touchpoints take a lot of organization. There's a lot of prep work, a lot of last-minute communication that has to go out," I said. "It's an all-hands-on-deck kind of situation, and everyone normally reports to the auditorium for them."

"So… if someone wanted to cause a lot of destruction, but not necessarily bloodshed, it would be the ideal time to strike."

I looked at him strangely.

"Why would someone want to do that?" I asked. "Do you think it was the Alexandrians?"

"I don't know. Maybe? Why would they want to destroy your infrastructure but spare your people?"

I didn't have an answer to that question, so we continued making our way out of the wreckage.

We picked our way cautiously through the broken hall, finally coming to a four-way intersection that was still mostly standing. Luckily, we both were wearing boots, so we were able to ignore the shattered glass, but there were still lots of metal and precariously balanced bits of building that threatened to come down at any moment.

"Which way?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. None of this looks familiar," I said, looking around at the tangle of debris that surrounded us.

Luke's gaze when distant, as though he were looking through the walls and earth. He stood unmoving for long minutes until I couldn't stand it anymore.

"Luke? Luke!" I called sharply.

He blinked slowly, then looked up at me, his expression more than a little dazed.

"What?"

"You've been standing there for almost five minutes just staring off into space," I said, trying to keep the worry out of my voice.

"Sorry, I—I was trying to figure out which way to go, and I kinda got distracted," he said, smiling embarrassedly. "It's a bit overwhelming some—"

A slight breeze swirled through the room, and I held up a finger.

"Do you… Do you smell that?" I asked.

He sniffed, but shook his head.

"What is it?"

I inhaled deeply.

"Blood. This is the Administrative Pavilion, there shouldn't have been anyone in this area during the Touchpoint," I said. "But I smell blood, lots of it. In that direction," I said, nodding toward one the opposite hall.

"Let's go then," he said.

I paused for a moment, looking at him.

"What?" he asked. "If someone is bleeding, we need to get to them as soon as possible."

"That's it? No questions? Just ‘let's go'?" I demanded. "What if I'm wrong?"

"You know your job, Rhu. Your senses are a thousand times more sensitive than mine. Why wouldn't I trust them?"

I shook my head at him in disbelief. Other than Dagan I had never experienced that kind of instant acceptance or trust.

"Let's just say that not everyone has trusted me like you do," I said.

"Well, they're idiots, then. I have no reason not to trust you."

I started to the left and Luke followed me, using his powers to help ease the way as much as he could. I watched in amazement as I saw him smoothing the jagged metal, making openings where there had been none, and shoring up the unstable building.

A tiny movement below us caught my attention.

"There!" I said, pointing down and to the side.

It was hard to see it at first, but I aimed the flashlight down a gaping hole and saw movement: a small, pale white hand sticking out of the rubble. I felt a moment of disorientation as I noticed the nails on the hand were painted a soft pink. A girl, and fairly young if the size of her hand was any indication. What was a young girl doing in the administration wing?

I moved forward, levering myself down through the hole to the girl's side.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" I asked, trusting Luke to point me in the right direction if he heard anything.