Power (Book 1)

Chapter 29

Turn the face piece the other way to put it back in the watch," Jake said.

I retracted the suit back. "Thanks, I said.

"No problem," he said. "So what do you need this for again?"

"I have to-" I stopped. I couldn't tell Jake what I was doing. He would want to come along. And with nothing protecting him from the Master's control, he would only be a liability- one more person I would have to fight if I was going to get to him.

"Nothing," I decided to say. "Just wanted to have it, just in case, you know?"

"No. That's not it." He rubbed his chin.

He turned away from me. "It's the Master, isn't it?"

"You know about him?" I asked him. How did he...

Jake sighed. "I've always known about him, Jay. He's the main reason why Afterlight was created in the first place."

"If you know about him, then why haven't you taken him down yet?"

"Because we can't. We simply don't have the manpower to take him on. The only metas who operate here are me, you, Blink, and Adam. Sage killed Mckenzie, and she's only one of the Master's lackeys. Your trainers can't fight. None of us are powerful enough to beat him."

"Don't say that," I said. "The combination of all four of us should be enough. We could do it."

"Look, there's a special material we have," Jake said. "It blocks the Master's powers from being able to take hold on you.  We had some, but we only had enough to weave it into five suits- the four of us, plus an extra one." He pointed to himself. "And if you're trying to fight the Master, you'll need a lot more than your own powers. I'll go with you, but we won't come back out."

"Then let's get Adam and Blink's help." I tried to persuade him. "I'm going with or without you guys, but if we're going, we need them helping us."

Jake turned around and blew out of his mouth. He looked up into the air, probably praying. I heard him mutter, "Please help me."

"Alright, here's what we're gonna do," he said. "Grab Blink's watch. They're in alphabetical order, so it shouldn't be too hard to find it..."

I ran to find Blink's watch and was back with it before he had finished talking. I had gone ahead and tried to get Jake's too, but his wasn't there. He must have already gotten it.

"Great," Jake said. He held a button hidden in the wall next to my watch's alcove. "Adam and Blink, report to the Watch Room immediately." He let it go.

"Why didn't you want me to get Adam's, too?" I asked him.

"Adam isn't coming with us. He's unstable. He thinks it's your fault Mckenzie's dead," he told me.

"I heard," I said. "But why is he coming down here if he's not going with us?"

"Because he needs to put his watch on. We don't need the Master taking over him- he's our most powerful asset."

That made sense. There was just one problem with that.

"There's still another issue. What about all the kids at Skyview? Can't the Master control them too?"

"Now you see why we don't want to fight him," Jake said.

"We can do it," I said defiantly. We would. Getting this city back to where it was before was the only way to defeat the Master and get to my mother.

We waited in silence until Adam (still sulking) and Blink (as cheery as ever) emerged from the swirling portal.

"You called us down here?" Blink said.

I tossed Blink's watch to him. He caught it and put it on, quickly activating and deactivating it.

I got a quick glimpse at his suit. His was black, too, but with some red and yellow highlights running through the torso, legs, and arms.

"Where's mine?" Adam said gruffly.

"You're not coming on this one, Adam," Jake said authoritatively. He knew Adam might try to argue.

Adam opened his mouth to try to convince Jake otherwise but seemed to think that it wasn't worth it. He turned briskly and walked out of the room.

"Adam, hold on. I still need you to-" Jake outstretched his hand. It didn't do anything to stop him from leaving, though.

"So it's just the three of us? What's the mission?" Blink asked. "It can't be that bad if Adam isn't coming.

"We're going to take down the Master," Jake said.

Blink stared at Jake, expecting him to say "just kidding," but it never came. Eventually, he realized that he was serious. "This is a suicide mission," he said suddenly. "We're all gonna die. The three of us? A guy who can make snow cones, another who can barely control his powers, and an awesome man who can move through stuff? Are you crazy?"

"No," he said.

"And we won't even have backup, will we?" Blink threw up his hands into the air. "I can't believe this. And you expect me to come with you."

"We can do it." Jake tried to channel some of my optimism.

"Look, we can't just sit here and try to live our lives while he could be controlling everything and anything we do." That didn't apply to me, but they didn't need to know that. "He's been in power long enough."

"Jay, no offense, but you're the least qualified person for this mission," he said.

"Really? Then who's going to handle Sage, then, huh? I'm the only one fast enough to catch her."

Blink couldn't argue with that.

Quiet settled over the room like a thick fog. Blink watched me intently, while Jake was staring off into space. He was trying to come up with a plan of action. I was too.

"Jake," I said. I had an idea. "The material you were telling me about. The one that blocks the Master's powers. Have you made it into a suit yet?"

"Yes, but we can still change it if need be. What do you have in mind?"

"Cassie can use it. I think I have a plan." I grinned as it all came together in my mind. "And it's going to be epic."