Page 210 of Cerulean Truth
What the hell was happening? Why were they here? What could they possibly want?
I forced my gaze back to the kids, their small faces pale with fear. Godsfuckingdammit. My energy surged violently at their helplessness, pushing me into action.
“Over here!” I roared at the teachers, trying to get their attention and herd them in the right direction as I forced my wall higher, thicker, stronger. “Get these children behind me!” It wasn’t that they weren’t listening—it was just the sheer chaos,the panic, swallowing everyone whole. People were moving in every direction, half-crazed with fear.
Then I spotted Jackson, sprinting through the hallway of the Second Hour. Relief hit me like a punch to the gut, so strong I nearly buckled.
"Jackson!" I shouted, nearly on the brink of tears at the sight of someone familiar.
"Emma, are you okay?" he yelled back, translating his way through the Radicals toward me. He was fast, his interface (almost) rivalled James's, and in just a few seconds, he was at my side.
"I'm fine but I need help!" I replied, despair coloring my voice. My concentration wavered for a second, and the wall-growth abruptly ceased its ascent. I clenched my jaw and redirected my focus, determined to shield all the children from these deranged assholes.
"With killing Radicals?" he hollered over the commotion.
"No! Get these kids out of the hallways and classrooms and take them to the back," I ordered, my voice trembling with urgency. "And do you know where James…" My words were cut short as a Radical, unnoticed in the chaos, lunged at Jackson from behind. Instinct kicked in, and without a second thought, I jumped between them to intercept the attack—just in the nick of time, as Jackson had to fend off another one approaching from ahead.
The first Radical, momentarily startled by my sudden intervention, swiftly regained his composure, squaring his stance and fixing me with a fierce glare. I matched his readiness, adopting a defensive posture. Then, I lunged.
Jackson and I fought back-to-back, and as the Radical charged, I plunged my knife into his gut. Without hesitation, I leaped in front of Jackson, swiftly dispatching his attacker in the same ruthless manner.
Jackson stepped back, eyes wide with awe and relief. "Emma, that was amazing!" he exclaimed, his voice filled with gratitude. I gave a nod in acknowledgment, my senses staying sharp to the dangers surrounding us.
"We need to keep moving," I urged, redirecting my focus to the task at hand. The Radicals were shutting us in, and there was no time to revel in a small victory. Jackson and I swiftly retreated behind my now fully erected wall, grabbing all the kids we could find in the Epicenter, motioning the other teachers to grab those still racing and screaming through the hallways.
With each surge of power, I wove protective barriers around the wall to shield us in even more, in awe of what my power was suddenly capable of doing. I homed in, focused on my will, just like James had taught me.
But the Radicals were unrelenting. Panic clawed at me as their numbers swelled.
"Portal them out! Take their hands, get them to safety," I commanded every nearby adult, trying to hide the anxiety in my tone.
Jackson nodded, but as he began to portal the remaining children out two at a time, one of the Radical’ssomehow managed to breach my shield and portaled himself in inches from my face. I quickly sidestepped his attack, but his weapon cut into my side.
I cursed, and watched as he curled his lip, baring his teeth.
Translation ripped through me, and while I fervently tried to keep the man at bay, I kept an eye on the back of the wall from the corner of my eye.
"You killed my wife," he hissed. I had no idea who his wife was, but considering I hadn't taken out that many people in my life, it was a safe bet she was among the casualties back at Coastal.
"Well, she did want to use me to do experiments on, so I kind of feel my actions were justified," I reasoned. He moved into my space again, and as he nearly nicked me with his knife, my dark red haze shot out in front of me.
Like a cloud of poisonous air, it enveloped him completely. His body started shaking, white foam bursting from his mouth, and his eyes popped out. Within seconds, my haze had "choked" the Radical to death.Huh. That was new. Good timing though!
"Have fun joining her in hell," I mumbled, shifting my attention back to the other.
As more Radicals approached the wall, I attempted to extend my new choking haze to strangle them, but it only moved out a couple of inches away from me.Crap. Clearly, if I wanted to utilize my newfound ability against the Radicals, I needed to get closer to them. Without second-guessing myself, I left the "safe" side of the wall and threw myself into the battle with everything I had.
A few teachers joined me who were surprisingly adequate, but we were still no match for the hundreds of Radicals pouncing on us. My haze emerged, and I shot it out as forcefully as I could, choking every Radical who dared approach me. I fought fiercely, buying us precious time, but the portaling process was agonizingly slow.
I needed assistance quickly; there was no way I could handle this alone. Where was James? Where was Julian? Where was everyone?
"Hurry up!" I shouted at Jackson, desperately yearning for backup in the face of overwhelming odds. The Radicals pressed forward, and I couldn't take out enough of them at once to truly make a difference. To make matters worse, my protective wall began to slowly but steadily crumble under their relentless assault. Gritting my teeth, I pushed my abilities to the absolutelimit. The number of children behind it dwindled, but with at least fifty of them still in danger, time was not on our side.
"Emma, it's falling apart!" Jackson's voice cut through the chaos, echoing the grim reality.
"I’ll hold them off as long as I can," I shouted back, my voice strained with determination, though despair threatened to creep in. "Get them out, now!"
The Radicals kept violently attacking us in a relentless tide, and with each passing moment, the wall and all its shields weakened. I retreated and quickly jumped onto the wall itself, trying to enforce it from its highest point.
