Page 57 of Captured Immune

Trey shakes his head at me as he says in a low voice, “Don’t ever do that again. Ever.”

Victor taps his chin. “Maybe testing with elementals is rushing things a little. Let’s go back to internal powers, shall we? Immune, your next goal is to project onto Trey without touching him and to do it before Ruby has a chance to bite him with her powers. Let her know when you’re ready.”

A part of me wants to tell Victor he can go shove a stick up his ass. The other part of me is realistic and knows I don’t have a choice. So I close my eyes and concentrate. The auditorium remains quiet for almost a minute. No one dares to interrupt my process. Finally, I keep my eyes shut as I raise up a thumb.

No one says anything for a moment.

Victor is the first to break the silence. “Are you attacking him?”

“I am,” Ruby says through hisses. “She’s blocking it.”

“Excellent! What an improvement!”

I reopen my eyes, then Trey falls to his knees, shrieking.Oh no!I rush to cup his face. At an instant, he stops screaming.

In the corner of my eye, I see Ruby lower her hand. “She must have stopped projecting while I was still biting him.”

“Interesting,” Victor says. “Let’s try this. Immune, come to me.”

I don’t. Not that I can anyway, because Trey rushes off the floor and stands in front of me.

“No,” Trey says.

“What?” Victor snarls.

“I said no! Arella doesn’t want to be a part of this. She never did. We’re done.”

“We’ll be done when I say so.” Victor strides over and takes me by the hand, tearing me away from the only person here who cares about my well-being. “Pixie, Ruby, Craig, you three hit Trey with your mind powers at the same time. Derek, I’ll hold her down while you throw ice balls at her.”

“What?” Trey shouts. “Hell no! You’ve gotta be crazy if?—”

“Go!”

Trey drops to the floor as he covers his ears and screams. Slowly, his body shrinks until he’s the size of a cat.

“Stop!” I rush toward him, but Victor yanks me back by my hair. An ice ball zooms at me and hits my arm. I cry out as the pain shoots up my shoulder.

“Project your immunity onto him,” Victor orders.

Another ice ball soars toward my face. I duck while Trey’s high-pitched wails echo throughout the auditorium. Victor sidesteps to dodge the ball, and it shatters against the floor.

“Stop!” I shout, but another ice ball is already whizzing through the air. It hits my stomach. I clutch my front as I fall to my knees and burst into a sob. “I can’t save him! Not while I’m being attacked!”

“That’s the point. You need to learn how to project your immunity, even when you’re distracted and under pressure. Derek will stop hurting you once Trey stops screaming.”

I punch at Victor’s hands that are still gripping my hair. “Let me go!”

A spiky ice ball rockets straight at me. I duck to the side. The spikes glisten under the light as it flies past my arm so close, it tears the sleeve of my shirt. Victor releases my hair to dodge the ball.

Free now, I race to save Trey. I’m halfway across the boxing ring when my feet are lifted off the ground in a tornado. The air leaves my lungs as I spin in circles. Then I collapse to the ground, back at Victor’s feet.

He jerks me up by my arm and pins my back against the ropes. “That worthless piece of shit is going to die if you don’t help him.”

Trey’s screams echo from across the boxing ring.

“Project your immunity onto him. Focus. Picture yourself projecting a shield around him. What color is it? What shape is it? What is it made out of? Center your mind around those concepts.” Victor steps aside and gives Derek a nod.

Derek doesn’t waste a second producing another spiky ice ball in his hand and chucking it at me.

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