“Let’s go!” Remy stated. “Darren,” he said in the com. “We need directions to the next red room.”
Darren started to rattle off the directions to the next location but not before I decided that our faux hostages should play tag. After all, I was already told duck duck goose got boring after a while.
At precisely thirteen minutes and twenty-two second, we had all our hostages and were making our way back towards the exit. We were almost to the lobby when the lights cut out. I frantically looked up, but the whole area was black. Pitch black. I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face.
I suddenly got a flashback of Bradford advancing towards me. I could smell him. I could feel the evil that emanated from him. I felt paralyzed once more. I felt helpless and incapable of movement.
I felt a hand reach out for me and let out a keening cry of panic.
“Troy,” I heard Remy command.
Suddenly there was light. I vaguely registered that Troy had a bright ball of blue light illuminating the area that we were standing in.
“Five hostiles are coming our way, let’s go.” Jace’s voice sounded like it was coming from the distance.
“Come on, mon trésor,” Lincoln reached down for me. His voice was garbled and sounded like he was underwater.
I wasn’t able to comprehend that it was his hand that reached for me, and I shirked away from him and held my hands out, trying to ward him off.
When did I end up on the floor with my back up against the wall? I felt my chest constricting. It was hard to breathe. My hands were shaking as they clasped my knees. In fact, my whole body was trembling. Mentally I was at war with myself. I knew my reaction was unfounded, but I was powerless to stop it. I was well aware that Bradford wasn’t here, and I wasn’t in the laundry room. Unfortunately, I couldn’t pull myself out of the dark hole I had fallen in.
Jace knelt beside me. “Blake?” he asked.
I nodded, desperately trying to get my breath back, knowing what he was asking. I never wanted to use him as a crutch. I never wanted to come to rely on him to rescue me every time I felt the panic set in.
Slowly I felt the feelings of peace and calm envelope me.
“How are you feeling?” Jace asked, although I knew he didn’t really have to ask.
I took a deep breath in. “Better, thank you.”
The rest of my senses slowly came back, and I looked up in surprise. “What happened to the goons?” I asked.
“Lincoln has them occupied,” Remy replied gruffly as he placed a hand on my lower back.
“Let’s go,” Lydia stated as she looked at me with a strange expression.
I nodded. “Let’s go,” I agreed.
We began running once more, and the moment we exited the training arena’s doors, the lights came back on. The large black clock that was timing us flashed fifteen minutes thirty-six seconds. I frowned, I had caused our team to lose time.
Chapter 22
“That was really amazing and fun,” Kade stated as he picked up his chopsticks and picked up some noodles with it.
“Thank you for letting us train with you today,” Micah added.
We decided to go out to a local Hibachi restaurant for dinner tonight. The children were restless, and we still hadn’t treated them for their excellent grades last semester. We asked them what they wanted to do, and they asked to go out to eat.
All of our plans to leave base this weekend were dashed away. As predicted, there were too many things that needed to be done on the compound, and they couldn’t in good conscience give us a pass. We would have to plan another weekend with the kids soon.
“Honestly, after your performance today, I think if…” Will said, looking at us hesitantly. “If It’s alright by your guardians, I think you guys are ready for training with the adults.”
Kade and Micah looked at us hopefully. I looked over at the guys.
I knew we had told the boys that they could start training with us. I hadn’t realized until today that Will had decided to utilize them in our exercise, not until I saw Micah during our run. Kade was used on his team and was able to successfully stop two teams from rescuing their hostages.
They had done little but talk about the fun they had today. That was honestly what frightened me with allowing them to participate. I fully supported them learning how to utilize their gifts to their full potentials. What I worried about, however, was if they were going to be allowed to go on missions as intense as some of the ones I had been on. It was no longer fun and games, then; people could lose their lives.