“Blake!” Alex called out in panic as the fat guy picked him up.
I pulled myself away from him and looked over at Troy and Remy. “They know we’re here.”
I started to run towards the house as the guys yelled my name. Remy caught up to me and hurled himself through the front door before I could warn him about the guns. I barely had time to set the forcefield around him to deflect the bullets. Troy came into the house. The man not holding Alex engulphed into flames. His terrified screams of pain pierced through the air. The guy who held Alex started to make a run for it, while the other man quickly dropped the teens and pushed him out of the way. I could see the fear in his eyes, and I knew he didn’t think the teens were worth the risk of his life.
“Stop,” I compelled the man who held Alex. “Gently put him down,” I insisted.
He put him down, as Jace, Jaxson, Noah, and Drake came running into the house. Alex quickly got up and launched his little body into my arms.
“Blake!” he cried in relief as he squeezed me. “I was waiting for you!”
“You promised to not get involved,” Noah gently admonished me.
“Did anyone get the other guy?” I asked, ignoring him. I felt somewhat comforted that Alex looked fed and clean.
“Pops, Gavin, and Collin are taking care of him,” Drake explained to me. It was the first time he had talked to me since the hospital.
I turned back to the fat man, who was bawling. “I didn’t know! I didn’t know!”
“Shut up,” I hissed. “Where are the restraints?” I asked the guys.
Jaxson pulled some out of his pocket as he knelt next to the guy. He restrained the guy as Jace placed a comforting hand on the two young teens. I could see their fear abate as he placed his hands on them.
“We’re the good guys,” he explained to them. “Will you go with us, so we can help you get back to your parents?”
“I don’t have any parents,” the beautiful black girl of about 11 or 12 stated. “They took me from my granny, and she hasn’t been right in the head for a while. She keeps calling me Tanya. Tanya was my mom. I’m Jasmine.”
“No worries,” Jace stated. “We have a wonderful place we can show you, and if you like it there, you can stay.”
Jasmine slowly nodded. “I don’t think Granny’s gonna miss me, and I don’t want to go with CPS.”
“I don’t want to go home,” the other young teen stated. “Mom and Dad are afraid of me,” he looked down at his feet. “Whenever I draw something, it happens in their dreams.” He looked at us levelly. “I don’t draw pleasant things.”
He was a teen a little on the thicker side, with peculiar features. His eyes, though, were stunning, and carried a haunted look. He was far too young to be carrying the weight he was carrying in them.
“It’s okay,” Jace stated. “We can try to help you both with your gifts.”
“It’s not a gift,” the boy scoffed. “More like a curse.”
“You won’t feel that way for long,” Jaxson said confidently as he pulled the fat man up on his feet with the help of Remy.
“Let’s go,” Jemmy stated as she came into the house. “The swipe teams on their way.”
“Are we going to get Micah?” Alex asked expectantly.
Since Baltimore wasn’t too far away from our location, we decided to head there by vehicle. Collin was using his blocking gifts on the prisoners we got, so he was accompanying Will back to Knightstown. Jemmy and Gavin were taking the two teens back with them. Will asked Rachel to return with them, so she can help interrogate the prisoners. That left me and the guys heading to Baltimore with Alex.
“He’s really tired,” Alex said with concern next to me. “He’s been running for weeks. He thinks they have a tracker with them, because every time he thinks he lost them, they find him again.”
“Can you tell him we’re on the way, and let him know when we get there, we’ll ask him to meet us somewhere?” I asked, barely stifling a yawn.
I hadn’t used my gifts for long, but I was still exhausted. My body was still recovering and wasn’t too pleased I hadn’t eaten yet.
“You need to eat,” Jaxson stated beside me. I looked at him with wide eyes, and he gave me a crooked smile. “I can hear your stomach.”
“We have no time,” I stated resolutely.
“We can stop at the McDonalds up here, next to the Bay Bridge,” Remy said from the front seat.