Page 58 of Captured Immune

“I’m imagining the shield,” I say through tears as I dodge the sharp sphere. “It’s not working.”

“Try something else. Bubble wrap. A brick wall. Couch cushions. A house. Pick something. Imagine every little detail of it and focus!”

I close my eyes and center all my energy in Trey’s direction. I imagine the bubble wrap. He keeps screaming. I imagine the brick wall. Then the couch cushions. Then the house. He’s still screaming as Victor continues shouting at me. I don’t know why he thinks that’s helpful. It’s making me lose all my concentration.

With deep breaths, I tune Victor out. Then I imagine a wave of ocean water rushing toward Trey, drowning him with my immunity. While he’s under that water, no one can touch him. No one can hurt him. The water circles around him, while still giving him pockets of air to breathe in. He’s safe under my water. He’s protected. They can’t hurt him.

Finally, the screaming stops. I open my eyes. The sound of a balloon being blown into resonates through the auditorium as Trey’s body expands back to normal size. Craig is still pointing at him, Ruby is still hissing, and Pixie is still puckering her lips, but the screaming has stopped.

Victor grins and claps. “Good job.”

I rush across the floor and drop to my knees. Trey’s body is limp as I cradle him against my chest. He pants heavily as tears stream down both our faces.

“How could you do this to him?” I shout at all of them because I don’t blame only Victor. He may be their leader, but the rest of them are all choosing to do this too. And for what? A stupid paycheck? Is torturing people really worth a few dollars?

Suddenly, Trey lurches upward. He raises an arm into the air with his fingers outstretched. A small garbage bin whizzes through the air from across the room. He catches it in midair and heaves into it. I stand and step back as the smell of vomit fills my nostrils.

Any other time, I’d be reeling over just witnessing Trey move an object by merely summoning it with his hand, but it’s the least weird thing I’ve seen all week.

“Anyone got a theory as to how this Ordi is immune to our powers?” Derek asks.

“She’s probably an alien,” Pixie says.

Funny, I’ve been thinking the same thing about them.

“She’s gotta have a gene defect,” Ruby says.

Trey’s coughs echo throughout the auditorium as he vomits into the garbage bin some more.

“We’ve done thorough DNA testing on her,” Victor says. “We’ve also cross-referenced her results with the other Immunes. There’s no DNA pattern to link them. Not a single one.”

“What’s your theory, Big V?” Derek asks.

“Oh, I dunno. I have a few. Everything from radioactive spiders to sorcery. No matter what we do, we can’t figure it out.”

They’re all having this conversation as if the man they just tortured isn’t puking his guts up right in front of them. Doesn’t anyone care about Trey?

“I’ve gotta give him some credit,” Ruby says, staring at Trey with anickface. “Most people throw up within the first minute.”

“Ladies,” Victor says, “why don’t you two take Trey up to the infirmary? Derek, you are dismissed.”

I feel helpless as Pixie and Ruby slump Trey’s arms over their shoulders and drag him out of the box. I’m about to follow them when Victor seizes my arm. He holds me tight and waits until the women have left with Trey before he speaks.

“What did you picture in your head?”

I yank my arm back and shoot him a nasty look. “Don’t touch me.”

Victor slaps me across the face, and my head snaps to the side. I’ve had worse, so I simply cup a palm against my burning cheek and continue glaring at him like he’s more disgusting than a maggot in my sandwich.

“Answer my question. What did you picture?”

“I’m not telling.”

I expect him to smack me again. I even brace myself for it. Instead, Victor narrows his eyes at me before turning to his security guard.

“Hey, Craig. Don’t you think Katie will look just as cute when she’s the size of a button?”

From the stands, Katie’s eyes go wide. The second Craig takes one giant step toward her, I blurt, “A brick wall.”

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