Ebony’s legs kept folding. Alfredo had to move, but not too fast in order to keep them straight. Azoria’s image prattled on in this camp vent shaft. Alfredo resisted the urge to glance at her animated cleavage. Her voice, the blur of her motions, gave him a headache. He couldn’t even straighten his aching back. Neck ached when he tried to tilt his head to the right. Alfredo tumbled forward a bit too fast.

  Knees bent against the ceiling. Kunchen held the back of her head. It rested between his wiry arms as he raised her back with his hands to keep it from dragging on the vent floor. The vent rumbled as Kunchen’s knees struck against the metal floor.

  The others where already through, except for the old lady behind them who kept up with their stilted pace. Alfredo kept Ebony’s legs lifted and straight. The metal nubs running laterally along the center floor of the vent that didn’t bother anyone crawling through, but the moment someone slid across them they were getting sliced.

  “What if the passage closes?” Alfredo asked, “What if it’s a trap boss?”

  Kunchen grunted. His back slid along the top of the passage. Parallel nubs on sliced his robes and then into his skin. Kunchen kept letting them slice him one after the other. His wounds closed before they even bled. He continued walking hunched over backwards on his knees with extended arms supporting Ebony.

  “It won’t close so long as we make it in time. Keep moving!”

  Azoria’s voice continued, “Up ahead, you’ll find individual teleportation chambers for the…”

  “Ugh, this lady likes the sound of her own voice.”

  “Why shouldn’t she? It’s a beautiful voice.”

  Alfredo grunted, “Really, yuh on her side now?”

  “I’m merely acknowledging the beauty of her voice, that doesn’t make her righteous.”

  “Righhht, well, yuh gotta point, yuh know. When she first walked up to me with those tatas tucked in that leather vest, I bout thought I hit the lottery.”

  Kunchen paused suddenly, Ebony’s legs folded and her knees hit the top of the vent. A stub in the center of the shaft ripped Alfredo’s pants and skinned his left knee. Eyes clenched as he froze.

  “Shhhhhh!”

  “Are you okay young man?”

  Alfredo looked back at the old woman, “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m fine.”

  Without a word, Kunchen began pulling Ebony with a bit more urgency. Alfredo struggled to keep up without skinning his knees again. That skill the old man had for a healing factor wasn’t part of his perk package.

  “Woah, woah, hold up there. I can’t keep up. An I can’t just heal myself.”

  “We’re short on time. Keep moving!”

  They clattered through the vent and finally popped out the other side. Ebony was set on the floor. They slid her by single person platform with a glowing sigil. The new room resembled a warehouse breakroom, except there were no tables, water fountains, or snack machines. A bunch of platforms that looked like exercise steps, each with a small sigil glowing purple in the center, were arranged in circles around the center of the room. A white light radiated from circular tubes stuck to the ceiling. The corners of the room remained slightly shaded. Alfredo stood over Ebony and tilted his head until his neck cracked loudly.

  This new place proved a bit more crowded. A groan. The old lady struggled out of the vent on her hands and knees, then sat on the floor. Sliding stone panels slammed shut. Alfredo extended his hand.

  For the first time, he noticed the thin old woman wore a flower print dress and sandals. Hard to tell how she died. Her gray hair had shimmers of black. Her hands were wrinkly, her skin loose. What was the deal with bringing a helpless old lady to this nightmare? What was her name? What was her power?

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  When Alfredo looked around, he realized he probably should have paid better attention when the cop had been cataloguing everyone. Sure, he could summon that screen thingy and look at the list, but that was almost 500 names long. No way he could keep track of that many people? Most of them were probably gonna die before he got the chance to need their info anyway.

  A shiver went up his spine. Did he really feel that way just because he didn’t know them? He got to know Circe, then Ebony, and even Kunchen a bit. It wasn’t much, but the thought of anything happening to Ebony or Circe worried him, made him sad. But he only felt that way because he knew them? So, if he didn’t know them, he wouldn’t give a rat’s butt?

  This was going nowhere. He didn’t want to think about it. He could only care about so many people and that was that. An as much as he wanted Circe to be alive, she was pretty much certainly a goner. Dead as a doornail by now. So much for protecting her, or anyone for that matter. He felt someone shake his shoulder by tugging on his sleeve.

  “Young man, young man, thank you for helping me up! You are quite the hero. You helped the sleeping beauty like that. But look at your knee. Let me help you. I have an alcohol wipe in here somewhere.”

  The old woman rummaged through her purse with a small figurine of a fat orange cat with black stripes in its fur clipped to the zipper. It smelt like butterscotch candy and butternut squash. A withered hand pulled out a small pack which she ripped open. The wrapping went back in her purse as she shook the wet napkin open. Without asking, she leaned down and pat the scrapes across his knee. It burned.

  “Shhhhhhh! Old lady, that ain’t necessary. And it’s not like you have a band-aid.”

  “Quiet, do you want to get lock jaw?”

  She finished her work and handed him the blood-stained wipe, “You keep it. It’s your blood.”

  “Thanks?”

  “Names Veronica, what’s your name you big oaf. It’s only right you tell me, considering you were so slow I almost got a leg chopped off.”

  “Ah, yeah, umm, the name’s-”

  Kunchen’s voice cut him off as he yelled across the room, “Listen here! I’m going to help you stay alive! Those of you who learned how to use mana should be able to concentrate water from your surroundings or perhaps even summon it outright. Extend your favored hand outward and picture a ball of water floating above it.”

  Alfredo put his hand in the air and held out his palm flat in imitation of Kunchen’s stance. He felt something. Like something internally was being strained and his stomach thrown into knots. Nothing happened above his hand, not a single drop. Yet, he felt absolutely drained for even trying. If he looked hard enough maybe there was a drop of vapor.

  “If you feel tired but have achieved little, it means you either need to train the ability or you can’t use it.”

  Alfredo gave up because he felt like he would dry up and pass out from the effort. A large ball of water rotated above Kunchen’s palm, swishing, and sloshing without a drop falling. Alfredo felt his parched throat constrict at the sight. Veronica watched, but didn’t participate.

  He remembered the guy who used the shields from the fight after that flying beef first arrived. The girl with him controlled a water orb but he struggled with what looked like a ball of dust and dirt. Some people were producing fire instead of water. One of the pretty Chinese girls had a nice water orb formed. The broken Chinese guy had a neatly formed orb. Who else, that middle eastern guy with the big bushy mustache wasn’t bothering with it. The Chinese guy in the baseball uniform sat on the floor sulking. A few other people he hadn’t bothered getting to know were showing a bit of promise summoning water.

  Alfredo waved his hand, “Hey, yuh know what, why don’t we do one of them team meetings where we all get in a circle and everyone talks about themselves, like their name, hobby, and where they’re from?”

  Somebody started laughing in the center of the room, one of them Asian guys. Kunchen completely ignored him, “Those who have the ability to summon water should go about and see that the others are hydrated. Hurry, we don’t have much time.”

  “Geez, I just wanted to get know everybody. Guess I’ll try an get water.”

  Veronica pulled on his shirt, “I thought it was a splendid idea. You’re a fine young man. You remind me of my grandson.”

  “Lady, I’m old enough to be your husband.”

  “Well, oh my, you don’t look it.”

  Alfredo ran his fingers through his hair, “Oh, this, it’s a dye job. I’m white as a sheet, or at least I used to be.”

  Veronica had a small empty plastic bottle in her purse. Kunchen was able to fill it up easily and top it off after they both had their fill. The water he produced tasted remarkably fresh. It flowed through the air as if in invisible pipes, directly to the mouths of the thirsty. Those who had containers were able to get them filled. The other people who could control water made more of a mess. The short girl soaked two guys and apologized profusely. It felt like Kunchen was doing all the work.

  Then Azoria’s voice returned from somewhere on the ceiling. Alfredo searched for a speaker but found nothing. The way she could project her voice as if she was speaking to everyone directly in a crowded room still sent shivers up his spine.

  “Hello losers! Did you just figure out something you should have ages ago? Well, you are the slow group, so it’s to be expected. Listen carefully, because I’m not going to explain this twice.”