Answer and I sit side by side, leaning against the wall separating us, racking our brains for ways we could escape. My eyes are trained on the cell door, the cold, steel bars almost mocking me. There's no visible indentations I can exploit, and no keys I can steal.
"Is Seeker the only one who can open the cells?" I ask.
"Yeah," Answer replies. "In other areas of the lab, some of the guards get clearance to open cells, but in this block, only my brothers are able to open them." }
"This is hopeless," I mutter, lying down on the cell floor. Nia breaks off her conversation with Zephyr and looks at me, frowning.
"Are you trying to think of an escape plan, Charlie?"
"Yeah, but I've come up with nothing so far. Only the Bengan brothers have clearance to open the cells... Wait a second." An idea comes to mind and I turn to Answer.
"You're a Bengan brother, right?"
"Yeah, but I don't have clearance to open the cells. Outer and Seeker locked me out of it months ago." He sighs. "If I could, I would have tried by now."
"Hold up," Nia says, confused. "This kid's a Bengan brother?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you guys." I move to the side so the two can see each other.
"Nia, this is Answer. He's one of the Bengan brothers, but he's on our side."
Nia smiles nervously, waving. Answer stares for a few seconds, then relaxes and smiles back.
"So if you're a Bengan brother, how come you're in here with us?" she asks, confused.
"My brothers are convinced I'm a traitor. They don't trust me, and Outer in particular takes great pleasure in my suffering." He shifts positions to show Nia his missing limb, and she gasps, horrified.
"They did that to you?"
Answer merely nods.
"I've put up with enough of this, so I'm willing to help you guys escape. It's time for someone to take my brothers down."
Nia nods and turns to me.
"Want me to pass this message onto the others?"
I nod, and Nia shuffles over to the wall separating her and Zephyr, whispering to him quietly. He nods and passes the message onto Fern, the new information spreading down the line of cells. I turn back to Answer, and he locks eyes with me, thinking hard.
"What kind of powers do you have?"
"Well... I'm hydrokinetic, which is kind of useless here, since there's no water present. I can shift into a crab hybrid, and have laser eyes, which I can't completely control yet," I explain. "There's also one ability I've got that hasn't shown itself yet."
Answer nods slowly, considering this.
"Any idea what the last one could be?"
"Nope. None of us know what our final abilities are, except for Zephyr, who found out his identity as Gemini long before any of us, and he can't exactly fly out of here."
Answer sighs.
"At this point, our best bets are either find out what that last power is, or wait until Seeker comes back and try and fight our way out."
I nod and sit back, staring at the guards outside the cells. One of them locks eyes with me, his expression cold and unnerving.
"Is there any way we can get the guards to leave?" I whisper to Answer, who thinks for a second.
"There is one thing I can try, though it does sap a lot of my strength, and I'm already weak enough as it is. But I'll give it a try."
He breathes deeply and closes his eyes. A minute passes, and suddenly one of the guards begin to twitch, then yawns, his eyes drooping. One by one, the line of guards grows drowsy, and soon they lie slumped on the floor, asleep. Answer opens his eyes and sways a little, collapsing onto the floor of the cell.
"Shoot, that took a lot more out of me than usual," he mutters, turning his head to face me. "You have about an hour or two until they wake up, but if Seeker catches them asleep on camera, we're in trouble. Do what you can, but do it fast."
I nod and stand up, walking over to the cell door and placing my hands on the bars. Gritting my teeth, I try to wrench them apart, but they barely budge, and I eventually give up, my arms aching.
There's got to be some way to get this open, I think, clenching and unclenching my fists slowly. Maybe if I was small enough to slip through...
A tingling feeling begins to build in my chest, and I breathe deeply. letting it spread to the rest of my body.
If only I was smaller... I repeat over and over in my head, and I feel my muscles tightening. The world begins to spin, and the walls of the cell grow bigger before my eyes as the floor rushes up to meet me. The tingling feeling subsides, and I look up. What had previously been a small, suffocating space has grown immensly, and the bars are now wide enough to walk through. I stand still for a second to orient myself, then dash forwards, jumping through the bars and landing in the corridor, my heart pounding. Answer stares at me in awe.
"That's amazing," he breathes, and I grin, a giddy feeling welling up inside me. The others quickly rush to the doors of their own cells, their mouths agape.
"Way to go, Charlie!" Fern cheers, but April's expression remains serious.
"What are you going to do now? You can't get us out, since there's no keys."
My excitement dies, and I rack my brains again, an idea coming to mind.
If I can shrink myself, maybe I can reverse that, I think, and the tingling feeling reappears, spreading throughout my entire body. The corridor slowly begins to return to its normal size, then almost seems to shrink as I grow taller.
"Looks like you've finally hit your growth spurt," Sergio comments, snickering. "Now bust us out of here."
YOU ARE READING
The New Zodiac: Arisen Anew
FantasyWe are not what we seem. We look like regular teenagers. We act like regular teenagers But we're not, We are the New Zodiac. And this is the story of how it all began. Cover by @shadowsleek
