Page 80 of Revenge of the Forgotten

“Okay,” Halo said, exhaling.

Bridger turned around and pointed to two soldiers. “With us.” He hoped Halo could get all of them there in one piece. He took a deep breath. “Steady yourselves and get ready. Do not close your eyes. It helps.” Though he didn’t promise they wouldn’t absolutely hate what it felt like to slip through time and space. “The rest of you wait here. We’ll bring the fight to you if one unfolds.” Bridger turned back to Halo, happy to see the look of panic he’d worn before was disappearing now that a structured plan was formed.

His confidence would grow later—everything came with time.

“Ready?” Halo asked, his voice even. He looked around the circle. “Keep your hand on me at all times.”

“Or what?” one of the soldiers asked.

“You’ll die.” His smile told Bridger he was no longer nervous—put the boy in his traveling element, and he was strong. It was battle and spying he wasn’t ready for. That Bridger could work with.

Bridger returned his smile with a soft, grounding one of his own. “Take us to a location close by so we have a moment to regroup.” And just like that, Bridger felt like he was falling, shredding into nothing and reforming into a new location.

Bridger and the small group stood outside of a house in the middle of the woods. He sank down, forcing the rest of them behind a row of bushes to allow them enough time to fight the nausea of traveling. Junie’s eyes looked as though they might bug out of her head, and Jak was lying on his back, eyes shut tightly.

Junie and her twin brother were both from Imber. They were children when their land was destroyed, having no memories of their lives before Marlena’s rule. Jak was a water-wielder able to pull his power from the moisture in the air. He made quick work of drowning someone with a single drop of water.

Junie took after their mother’s line—the people of Littera bred two types of powers. The power of infinite knowledge, complete know-it-alls… and then there were the powers like Junie had, rare and now outlawed under Marlena’s rule—another group of people who’d been killed if they didn’t pledge their allegiance to the new governing system and turn themselves into a weapon for the military to use.

Mind control. Junie could slip into someone’s mind if she got her hands on them—Bridger had seen her make men do terrible things for putting their hands where they didn't belong.

“Ground yourself,” Bridger barked, reaching out to steady Junie as she swayed. “It’s over. Connect to your core, feel your power, and don’t let his linger too long.” Junie turned her head and puked, retching on her boots.

The air around the clearing felt colder than it had been outside of town. The front lawn was a mess with branches and shingles. A downed tree leaned against a shed behind the house. Vega had lost control.

When Bridger looked back from the shed, the house was gone. Arlet. It had been years since he’d seen her power in action. She could hide buildings now… Bridger didn’t know his jaw was agape.

“It’s Arlet. She can manipulate what you see,” Halo said.

“Magnificent,” he marveled.

The boy kept his voice low, pointing straight ahead. “Do you see that large branch?” he asked Bridger.

“Yes.”

“Look at the glimmer behind that.” The second Bridger caught the change in what he thought he saw, it was gone. He focused on the big picture, catching another shimmer at the top of the tree line. “The door is right behind that branch.”

“Fucking Arlet,” Bridger said with a smile on his face. An old part of him felt a swell of pride for the girl who used to feel so inconsiderable compared to her friends and their abilities. The feeling was gone before he could register what it was. Bridger turned his attention to Halo. “Stay here. We will come to you when it’s time to go. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

Bridger nodded to Junie and Jak, who were finally coming down from their first traveling experience, signaling them to get ready.

“How many bodies?” Bridger asked Halo.

“Five. Khort, Arlet, Vega, and two guards. I don’t know who or what they have waiting on the outskirts.”

Five. It was five against three, but Bridger wasn’t worried about that. Khort was strong, but he’d never beaten Bridger in hand-to-hand combat. Vega didn’t have her memories back, which made her immensely weaker than she would be—but never weak. Bridger knew better than to underestimate her in any life. Proof of her power lay around the clearing. Arlet was one hell of a fighter now, and if she could manipulate visions as well as she could now, Bridger considered her their biggest threat.

The two from Solum Bridger didn’t know about—but he knew what he and the twins could do when on a team. They would be nearly unstoppable if Meyer were thrown in the mix.

“Perfect. Jak, drown the guards. Junie, grab Vega. I’ll take care of the others.”

The twins nodded in unison.

“Let’s go.” Bridger moved them across the lawn, head held high as he eerily glided to the front door of the old, cobbled cottage.

The door opened as they approached, one guard stepping through the doorway. Jak used the water from a birdfeeder to drown him before the man even had a moment to realize he was going to die.

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