His eyes widened. "You have your powers back? But how—"
"No, I don't. But as someone once told me, humans can tell right from wrong, even without powers. I assume a false code will trip some kind of security shut-down? Nice try, but you need to give me the correct code, or things are going to get ugly here. I'm not going to let all of these students die for you."
Mr. Black nodded and typed in the correct code. "I underestimated you."
Lucy laughed as the gates rolled open.
Chapter 57 – Sam
Time ticked by in my head with each heartbeat. Save myself or save Drake?
That would have been easy to answer. The real question was much harder. Save Drake or save our child?
I jumped for the door. "I can't leave him to die. We have to go find him." My mind could only hold one thought: Drake is in trouble.
I should have made room for a few more thoughts—like doorknobs hot enough to brand a human's skin.
A scream tore out of my throat, and I pulled back my blistered hand. The Seeker tsk-tsked and tore a piece of cloth from his white robe, but his hands fumbled and shook. He tried again, though the pained expression on his face showed that the effort cost him. "Here, use this as a bandage."
"How are we going to get out?" Panic gripped my heart. I reached out to find Drake, but he existed as a black hole in the universe—invisible to me and my powers. Instead, I hunted for Lucy's mental signature.
'Fire! Must run. Sam... Sam? Help us. Our powers don't work. The guards will kill us.'
"You have to release your hold on my friends. They'll be killed by your guards if you don't. Do you really want to sacrifice our kind on the altar of... what? Your father's vision? The man who abused you, killed the only woman you loved, and then wiped your mind clean? We don't have time for you to digest all of these new memories. Now's the time to choose, Seeker. Whose side are you on?"
A single tear fell down his perfect, pale cheek. "You do not understand. I am dying."
"I know."
"And this hold, it is a double edged sword. The use of my powers is killing me, but the exchange of power, of energy, is also keeping me alive. If I let go completely, I will die much sooner. My power will drain from me. I will be gone."
I wiped the tear from his face and linked with his mind. "I'm so sorry, for everything you've been through. Sorry you had to endure such brutalities from the man who should have protected you. Sorry your powers have been abused. Sorry we couldn't be the happy family you wanted. And sorry you are dying. But many more are dying out there. My friends. My family. I need your help."
Blood dripped from his nose and ears, just like Mary. His eyes squinted in pain, and he fell to his knees in front of me.
"I have released them all. Guards, students... everyone. My mind has not been my own in so long. I had grown accustomed to the myriad of thoughts, emotions and voices that created a symphony inside of me. Now I am so alone. So empty. A void comes for me, to devour me. Even now, I feel my power flowing out and dissipating into nothing."
He looked up with eyes that reminded me of a hurt puppy. "What do I do now, Sam? Who am I if not the Seeker? Who will I be when I am no longer here? The darkness. I have walked in the dark for so long, but always it was filled with the bright stars of others like us. Now, nothing."
He chose this moment to have an existential crisis? I grabbed his hand with my good one and pulled him to his feet. "You're not dead yet. We'll worry about that later. First, we need to get Drake and get out of here. Is there an emergency exit to the library? Or a fire extinguisher? A huge room full of paper must have at least an extinguisher."
I let the Seeker's hand go and ran from wall to wall, and found what I needed by the checkout desk. In the movies, they always bashed out the glass window of a fire extinguisher case with their elbow. That didn't sound fun to me, or my elbow. I looked around and grabbed the biggest, heaviest book I could find. I shielded my eyes while I smashed the glass and freed the fire extinguisher from its case.
Our emergency medical training course had covered the use of these, but my hand throbbed so much I couldn't get a grip on it. "Hey, you know how to use one of these things? I can't manage it one handed."
The Seeker took it and moments later a stream of white suds coated the door. He used his robe as a glove and turned the handle, then sprayed more suds into the hall. "Follow me."
He turned left. We needed to be going right, toward the room Drake and I had been held. "You're going the wrong way. Drake!"
"He will get out on his own. We will get caught up in the fire if we go that way."
He tried to pull me toward him, but I broke free. "I'm not leaving him."
I turned and ran down the hall.
The Seeker sighed and followed behind me. "You are a very stubborn girl, but, very well. We will try to get to Drake."