Revealed [UNDERGOING EDITING]

Chapter 13

At that moment everything seemed to pause. There was no sound , no movement. It was as if time itself had ceased to exist. 

Then it began again with a fury.

Alex's side of the shelter tore from its foundation with a groan and snapped away from the rest of the shelter. I moved without thinking, creating a rope of energy connecting all of us to Chris.

I mentally shoved the rest of the shelter deep into the ground, hoping it would hold. Then I enhanced Chris' power so that it would be enough to hold on to the structure. I prayed my energy would be strong enough to keep us all together.

I had done all that I could at that moment to keep us safe, the rest was up to fate.

It felt like we spent hours waiting for the hurricane to pass but in reality it was probably just a few minutes. I kept waiting for Chris to let go, the structure to collapse or for the rope to snap but none of it happened. When it finally passed, we all slammed into the ground.

"Ouch! You couldn't have lowered us down gently?" Chris groaned.

"Yeah, sorry about that," I said wincing as I got up.

I looked around at everyone, making sure they were okay. I stopped when I reached Alex. He was sitting down, looking across the water, with his arms wrapped around his knees. I walked up to him and sat down. I didn't know what I could say to make him feel better. I was just about to start when Alex spoke.

"I know what you did." 

"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied, feigning innocence.

"C'mon Sephora. I have seen some of the stuff you've done today. You could have made that shelter so strong that ten hurricanes could hit it and we wouldn't know a thing," he said, giving me a look.

"Erm, well, you see, I was just, erm..."

"Save it, Sephora. I just wanted to say thank you."

Say what?

Alex must have seen the shock on my face because he continued.

"The moment you said I had to hold down the shelter was the moment my worst nightmares came to pass. I did it because I didn't want to let the group down but I knew deep in me that I would never be strong enough to hold it down. So when I couldn't hold on anymore, I wasn't surprised. It felt like the inevitable to me."

"I'm sorry Alex, I really don't see how I helped. It actually sounds like I made it worse."

"I'm getting there, hold on. Okay, so after I let go, I mentally braced myself for the pain. What I didn't expect was a bright red rope to stop me from flying to my certain doom. That's when I realised that things had changed. I was no longer the little boy whose house crashed down on his mother," he paused momentarily in response to my gasp, "I was the man who let his team down because of a little wind. I vowed that I would never again let my fear stop me from doing what is right. You helped me see that, so thank you."

"Wait. My stupid test almost hurt you and everyone else, including myself, and you are thanking me?" I said incredulously.

Alex started laughing loudly.

"Erm, yeah. I guess so," he said.

"Huh, well you're welcome then. Now get up, the next path has appeared."

*****

The path we were walking on was very similar to the one we started on. It sparked a little hope in me that this day from hell might finally be over.