My Sister, Skylar

Nineteen

At first, Leigh thought the heat was coming from Ash. Thankfully, she was wrong. Why would Ash attack them? 

"Oh my gosh, Leigh?!" Ash exclaimed, crouching down next to her.

"Ash!" Leigh reached up one soaked hand and brush Ash's curls. They were real alright. 

Ash caught her hand, heaving her out of the pond. 

"Why the hell are you swimming with this boy?" She asked, eyeing Twelve up with a level of suspicion that could not have been legal. 

"Relax, sweetheart. It wasn't exactly my intention," Twelve retorted. 

Leigh didn't answer. Instead, she ran towards Six, careful not to end up in the hotspot again. She skirted around it, Twelve following at her heels. Once they far enough away, Leigh made it towards a small worn down shed at the edge of the park. The heat seemed to emanate from there, but it wasn't as hot as it had been where the two had jumped into the pond. It was more like you could just tell this is where the heat was coming from - even if it wasn't very hot - kind of like you know that the light comes from the sun. Leigh pushed her way inside. There was a hard-faced woman on the inside, radiating heat and sending blasts of it towards Six. 

At first, she didn't notice the two kids approach behind her, but their cover was blown pretty soon. Leigh cursed herself for not being more discreet. The woman whipped around, this time sending something ice cold. It was like all the life had been sucked out of them. Leigh had never felt so cold in her life. She felt tired and frozen like she would never be warm again. Then the auburn-haired woman sent a blast of heat. It was like an oven, and suddenly Leigh longed for the cold. Twelve groaned, rolling over on his side and whimpering. Luckily for them, Ollie came to the rescue. Hefting his newfound club (probably picked up from a nearby forest - it was nothing more than a mere branch) he whacked the woman over the head. 

She grunted and fell, the temperature quickly returning to normal. Madelaine charged in, holding a silver kitchen knife and pure fire burning in her eyes. Another guy came up behind her, using telekinesis to throw the two down. Twelve grunted, heaving himself up and striking out his hand. The man stumbled forwards awkwardly, tripping over the other lady already laying on the ground. They must have been guards from the Facility. Leigh could see their uniforms clearly now that her vision wasn't swimming anymore. Twelve twitched his fingers, and the man started walking backwards. Then to the side. All the way towards Six, where he then collapsed from the heat the woman had sent that way. 

"What the hell?!" Demanded Madelaine, staring wide-eyed at Twelve. 

"How'd you do that?" 

"It's my Twist, darlin'. I can make people go away or come towards me. Very useful when you see a pretty girl. How do you think you ended up here?" Twelve replied, helping Leigh up. Madelaine ignored him, and instead bowled into Leigh, nearly knocking her over again. 

Leigh enjoyed the reunion, but she pushed her best friend off anyway. 

"Six." Was her only explanation as she dashed out the door. 

The other kids followed her. Six was fighting more guards. They had him surrounded, and it looked like a losing battle. When one of the guards stepped forward, Six did nothing. He struck out his hand, but nothing happened. No matter how hard he tried, no fire came bubbling out of him.   

Suppressant. Leigh thought. 

It must be. All the guard had to do was wiggle his fingers, and Six suddenly couldn't use his powers anymore.  Leigh could feel it too, but it didn't seem be taking effect on her. Maybe the guard could only suppress one person at a time? That would give Leigh's group an advantage. Without thinking, she thrust out one arm at the guard. Vines burst up from the ground, wrapping themselves around him tightly. A sickening sizzling noise followed, and the guy was writhing on the ground. She dropped her arm, terrified. Six didn't miss a beat though. Not held back by the suppressant anymore, he turned around and blasted about three guys with fire. Leigh could tell he was wearing out. 

Twelve charged into battle as well, despite still feeling sick from all the temperature changes. Leigh herself could still feel the effects. 

"Stay back," she told her three friends. Ash whipped her orange head around, glaring. 

"Are you kidding me? Just because we don't have powers doesn't mean we can't fight too," she said, looking at Madelaine and Oliver with a nod. "Guys, battle formation two!" 

Leigh watched in wonder as the three charged forwards, doing a couple fancy twists, turns, movements and feigns. When did they start working together so well? She ignored the random spark of jealousy, and instead focused on everyone else. Twelve was using his Twist to make people run in circles, climb up trees or just walk away. It was weird to look at. Twelve must have thought so too, as he turned around and gave them a weird look. 

"These are your friends? They look like they just jumped out of a sword-play movie," he remarked. Leigh ignored him. 

Using newfound lightning powers, Leigh shocked the water where Twelve had just sent a few people swimming. He looked back with raised eyebrows and a slight smile, like he was impressed. She turned red and threw up the middle finger, before building up an invisible wall between two guards. First they couldn't get through it, then she let them slide through, until they were stuck in an invisible box. From there, she made it smaller and smaller...

"Leigh!" 

She turned around, her sick experiment momentarily forgotten. Six! He was being dragged away by some guards, unconscious! 

"Come on! I don't want your dad to die he'll probably blame me!" Twelve cried, charging after them. She followed closely, trying hard to keep up with his long strides. 

"Can't you use your Twist to bring them back?!" Leigh cried over the sound of a loud explosion. 

"No! I might accidentally hook Six!" 

"What does that matter?! We're trying to get him back, moron!" 

"You think I don't know that?! It's dangerous using my Twist on a dying person, and the last time I did it - never mind."

Was Six dying? "What happened?" They were still running, the blood pounding in her skull and making things hard to understand. She couldn't read Twelve's expression.

"My friend ended up dead."

After that, they ran in silence, or as silent as it could be with the battle still going on. Eventually, the two followed the guards into a large abandoned building. 

"Number Twelve and Leigh Harper. Give up now, or Number Six dies."