Status: Complete
Just a Feeling
11
Luke pulled over to the side of the street once Polly’s was in view. He didn’t want to get too close. He wanted this to be a surprise attack. He glanced at Evan.
“Right,” Evan said. “Braden, wait here. If we don’t come back, someone has to go back to the Academy for more back-up. Since you’re not a fighter, and you can help lead people to her, it’s best that you’re that person. Lane, you’d better start working on this one. We need a storm, fog, anything that will make them unable to see us. Not too thick, though. We need to be able to find Rowan. And no lightning. If she gets struck…” They all shuddered.
That would be bad. Unspeakably disastrous. They couldn’t let it happen.
“Alright, let’s go,” Luke said, getting out of the van.
The three of them slinked their way down the street and, by some miracle, got to the side of Penny’s without having been seen. Delaney looked up at the sky and stared at it. Before their eyes, a heavy storm broke out and a creeping fog descended. Evan grinned at her.
“Phase one, complete,” he whispered. He shut his eyes and suddenly, there were three Evans standing there. The two copies went separate ways around the building. Within a minute, they were back.
“At the front entrance, there’s one guard,” clone one reported. The other nodded.
“There’s one guard on the other side, too. The back is bolted shut.”
The three Evans and Lane looked to Luke. He considered, and decided, “Evan, take down the guard at the front entrance. Lane will keep up the storm. Add a little thunder, would you? Just in case this gets loud. I’m going through the side.”
“Divide and conquer?” Evan snorted. “Like that hasn’t been done before.
Luke silenced him with a look. “It’s been done before because it works. Let’s go.”
If she’d known that rescue was so near, maybe she wouldn’t have tried to escape on her own. But she did. Keeping careful tabs on the emotions, and therefore, the locations, of the two guards, Rowan stood as silently as she could, suddenly glad for her years spent blending into the shadows. She used to live her life trying to be silent, to move in ways that wouldn’t draw attention. She’d gotten good at it.
This was where things would be more difficult. She walked backwards, so that she could have her hands leading her, hopefully preventing any falls. If she tripped now, or ran into something too loudly, the guards would hear and she would have no way to get out. They’d start actually paying attention to her.
She found something that was like a counter, and moved past it. She couldn’t feel anyone in this area, so she got on her knees, which would hopefully put her out of the guards’ line of vision. She inched forward, creeping slowly because she knew that if and when she ran into something, it would be with her face.
She hit a few corners, but managed to navigate to the back wall. Standing again, Rowan turned around and awkwardly used her hands to slowly feel her way down the wall. She found something that felt like a door.
That was what she’d been hoping for, but why was the door unguarded? Deciding not to question it, she felt for a doorknob. There was a bar you were supposed to push, but it was locked.
How to unlock it?
Once, Rowan had worked in a diner, where there was a door much like this. It was called Penny’s, and there was a knob a little higher than the bar, with a latch you had to twist in order to make the door open. Most people couldn’t figure out how to open the door unless they’d been taught, and it was completely inaccessible from the outside.
Rowan felt her way up, flexing the muscles in her shoulders impossibly in an effort to find the knob and the latch. There were tears in her eyes when she finally managed to twist the latch and turn the knob. Rowan held back a laugh of relief and threw her body against the door, wrenching her shoulder further. Her arms were impossibly high behind her, and she had just made them go higher.
She would be feeling that for a while.
But the door opened.
“Right,” Evan said. “Braden, wait here. If we don’t come back, someone has to go back to the Academy for more back-up. Since you’re not a fighter, and you can help lead people to her, it’s best that you’re that person. Lane, you’d better start working on this one. We need a storm, fog, anything that will make them unable to see us. Not too thick, though. We need to be able to find Rowan. And no lightning. If she gets struck…” They all shuddered.
That would be bad. Unspeakably disastrous. They couldn’t let it happen.
“Alright, let’s go,” Luke said, getting out of the van.
The three of them slinked their way down the street and, by some miracle, got to the side of Penny’s without having been seen. Delaney looked up at the sky and stared at it. Before their eyes, a heavy storm broke out and a creeping fog descended. Evan grinned at her.
“Phase one, complete,” he whispered. He shut his eyes and suddenly, there were three Evans standing there. The two copies went separate ways around the building. Within a minute, they were back.
“At the front entrance, there’s one guard,” clone one reported. The other nodded.
“There’s one guard on the other side, too. The back is bolted shut.”
The three Evans and Lane looked to Luke. He considered, and decided, “Evan, take down the guard at the front entrance. Lane will keep up the storm. Add a little thunder, would you? Just in case this gets loud. I’m going through the side.”
“Divide and conquer?” Evan snorted. “Like that hasn’t been done before.
Luke silenced him with a look. “It’s been done before because it works. Let’s go.”
If she’d known that rescue was so near, maybe she wouldn’t have tried to escape on her own. But she did. Keeping careful tabs on the emotions, and therefore, the locations, of the two guards, Rowan stood as silently as she could, suddenly glad for her years spent blending into the shadows. She used to live her life trying to be silent, to move in ways that wouldn’t draw attention. She’d gotten good at it.
This was where things would be more difficult. She walked backwards, so that she could have her hands leading her, hopefully preventing any falls. If she tripped now, or ran into something too loudly, the guards would hear and she would have no way to get out. They’d start actually paying attention to her.
She found something that was like a counter, and moved past it. She couldn’t feel anyone in this area, so she got on her knees, which would hopefully put her out of the guards’ line of vision. She inched forward, creeping slowly because she knew that if and when she ran into something, it would be with her face.
She hit a few corners, but managed to navigate to the back wall. Standing again, Rowan turned around and awkwardly used her hands to slowly feel her way down the wall. She found something that felt like a door.
That was what she’d been hoping for, but why was the door unguarded? Deciding not to question it, she felt for a doorknob. There was a bar you were supposed to push, but it was locked.
How to unlock it?
Once, Rowan had worked in a diner, where there was a door much like this. It was called Penny’s, and there was a knob a little higher than the bar, with a latch you had to twist in order to make the door open. Most people couldn’t figure out how to open the door unless they’d been taught, and it was completely inaccessible from the outside.
Rowan felt her way up, flexing the muscles in her shoulders impossibly in an effort to find the knob and the latch. There were tears in her eyes when she finally managed to twist the latch and turn the knob. Rowan held back a laugh of relief and threw her body against the door, wrenching her shoulder further. Her arms were impossibly high behind her, and she had just made them go higher.
She would be feeling that for a while.
But the door opened.