Albert felt the recoil of the fall but Valentina held on tightly. She held him by the waist like an oversize puppy which felt a bit degrading, but he didn’t complain when he saw her serious expression. Her hand on his body felt uncomfortably warm too, as if a hot piece of coal was touching his skin.

After the jump, she let him and Linus go and they watched the kids take the jump with ease. Their eyes, glowed in the dark like an army of colorful fireflies.

The weather was cold outside and the silence was filled with the distant cries of battle. Valentina did not look back once, but her shoulders were tense as a violin chord, like she was fighting the urge to run back to the fight.

Once the whole group reunited Valentina gave the command.

“Alright, let’s go. Quietly. We don’t want to alert anyone.”

They moved west through the back of the house making a beeline towards the woods. Under the cover of the trees we should be fine… thought Valentina as they steered away from the mansion’s shadow and into the open garden.

From there they could see a huge dust cloud over the battlefield. Occasionally, flashes of color would light up the night, only to plunge it into darkness again. There were sonicbooms and impact sounds all over, but from that distance they could not see what the enemy looked like.

Valentina sped up the pace, and soon they were all sprinting to the trees. But as they reached the edge of the woods a loud, monotone voice cut the air.

“Found others” it said, speaking to no one in particular. The voice belonged to a skinny, dark haired man who watched them from 100 meters away. He seemed normal, except for the glazed look on his eyes.

“Everyone! Into the woods!” screamed Valentina and the chaos ensued. Albert and Linus had to give their all to keep up with the enhanced speed of the Descendants, and their parkour training was put to good use.

But behind them a loud shriek caught their attention. The skinny man had somehow caught up to a young blonde girl who was at the back of the pack. She seemed to be around 8 or 10. He grabbed her by her hair, his hand glowed with reddish-yellow Ruach. He clenched his fist and aimed for her face.

Albert did not hesitate. He changed direction to run back, despite knowing it would be futile. Once again, as he turned around, his foot didn’t touch the ground and instead powerfully pushed the air below it, launching him at the screaming girl.

He tackled her through the floor, feeling the air pressure of the attacker’s fist as it just missed his head. Still worried that it was not over, Albert quickly rose to his feet, standing between the mysterious man and the girl.

But that man was no longer there.

Valentina had already caught up to him throwing a barrage of blows to his head and body. The attacker tried to block her combos, but she was too fast for him and eventually a kick landed on his stomach throwing him to the ground. Without hesitation, Valentina put her foot on his head, all of her Ruach concentrating on her sole.

That was the first time Albert heard the sound of a skull being crushed. The bones snapping, the blood splatter. The muffled and brief noise of a life being taken. He watched, terrified, Valentina’s lifeless expression as she turned away and ran up to them.

“Everyone, alright?” she asked. The blonde girl simply nodded and went to join the others. But Albert gave her a somber stare.

Valentina noticed the look on his face, but she cut him off before he could say anything.

“Later” she said curtly.

Valentina turned to the group of kids who waited for their leader and shouted “Keep going. Continue north, use the stars as a compass. We’ll watch the back.”

Linus ran up to his friend.

“Are you alright?”

Albert just nodded. Valentina put her hands on both their shoulders.

“Stick close to me you two. You’re not as easy to find as the others.”

Albert didn’t understand what she meant until 5 minutes later.

When their group ventured deeper into the forest, where the treetops were closer together, you could barely see where you were walking. But they could easily see the kids because of their eyes, who colorfully shone in the dark.

Everyone kept their ears open, but it seems they were not being followed. Eventually they reduced the pace and walked together so no one would get lost. Valentina had her hands on Albert and Linus’ shoulder to keep track of them.

Once again, the burning sensation returned.

“Can you please not do that?” asked Albert.

“Do what?” said Valentina.

“Use your powers while touching me, this shit hurts, you know?”

Valentina stopped dead in her tracks.

“It hurts?” she asked.

“Yeah. It feels like your hand is on fire.”

She looked at Linus with curiosity. He just shook his head and said:

“I don’t feel anything.”

They both stared at Albert confused.

“Is this the first time you felt this?” asked Valentina

“No, I felt it when you grabbed my waist for the jump too.”

Valentina thought about it for a moment and said.

“Let’s get to the cabin first, I want to try something.”

A few minutes of walk later, they arrived to a seemingly abandoned log house in the middle of the woods. The windows were closed off with boards and some parts of the porch were a bit rotten. But it was not dusty, and the door opened with ease.

There was no lighting inside, only a few candles that were spread around the room. Valentina took one of them and lit it up by snapping her finger next to the wick. Add that to the list of weird shit she can do… thought Albert.

The room was almost empty, with the exception of a sofa and an armchair. When everyone entered Valentina closed the door behind them.

“Alright, Roan, come here” she called a boy that seemed older than most of the kids “There’s a kitchen on the next room. You’ll notice the floor is hollow. Break it. The passage is underneath.”

After he left she turned to Albert. “Now, you. Get up on this sofa and give me your hands”

He stepped up on the couch. Valentina extended her two hands and he took them. Her eyes blazed yellow and the Ruach flowed through her arms. Albert, scared of the pain, tried to pull his hand away, but she held him firmly.

“Relax. I have an idea” Valentina continued “Close your eyes. Try to direct this heat to a point right below your stomach.”

Albert concentrated on the energy, and he felt a strong pull from the point Valentina described. The pain started to alleviate and suddenly his whole body felt warmer.

“Now concentrate on your foot.” she commanded, without letting him go. All the warmth instantly traveled to his foot, which made it quite painful again.

“Alright, step forward.”

He tried getting down from the sofa. But she pushed him back.

“Hey” complained Albert.

“Stay there.” she ordered. “Eyes closed, and step forward.”

He went back up and put his foot in the air.

“No, step on it. Put your weight in.” she insisted.

Albert lost his patience and just threw himself forward. If I fall on her that’s her problem… he thought.

But to his surprise he actually stepped on something.

“How are you doing that, bro?” asked Linus, dumbfounded. Under Albert’s foot was a little blue light, just like the God atop of the spire.

Albert opened his eyes to see what was going on, but the energy soon disappeared and he fell down on his face.

“As I thought.” said Valentina to an angry Albert who rubbed his bruised nose. “You might not be a Descendant. But you’re something else. You’ve been absorbing my Ruach into your body and using it. That’s how you’ve been making those jumps.”

“Wha… is that possible?” asked Linus.

“I’ve never heard of it. But it fits. Think about it, every time he used the Lightning Steps, he had just touched me.” answered Valentina.

“You’re something else too” said Albert suddenly. Valentina frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t know you that well before, and I certainly don’t know a thing about this whole, God & Descendant business. But I never pegged you as a cold-blooded killer.” he said coldly.

Albert was expecting her to get angry at the comment, but instead she lowered her gaze to her feet and with a sad expression, she said:

“Yeah… me neither.” for an awkward moment, no one spoke. Valentina seemed genuinely bothered by what she had done, and Albert seemed determined to see her squirm for it. So Linus stepped in.

“But didn’t that man look weird?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Weird how?” said both Albert and Valentina at the same time.

“Well, kinda robotic. Like, his eyes and his voice. It’s like he was in a trance. He even walked a little bit weird.”

“I remember his voice being like that, but I didn’t think much of it.” said Valentina. “And what would that mean anyway?”

But before they could finish the discussion, they heard some noises outside. A couple of hushed voices and some twigs snapping. The three of them fell silent, trying to listen to the it without alerting whoever it was.

“No way they found us that quick!” she whispered in disbelief.

All of a sudden Valentina’s eyes widened.

“Shit” she exclaimed while running towards the kitchen. But before she could take 3 steps a loud banging noise erupted from it. The kids, of course, had followed her instructions and smashed a hole on the floor, the only way they knew how.

Kicking it down with their powers.

The voices outside immediately turned into shouts and they knew they were in danger.

Valentina ran into the room and shouted.

“Everybody in! Someone’s here!”

The hole on the kitchen floor led to an underground rock tunnel. There was a lever right by the entrance, Valentina pulled it and emergency lights lit up ahead. A ladder led to the bottom, but everyone ignored it and just jumped into the 5 meter drop.

Linus and Albert, took the stairs.

The tunnel was very rudimentary with the lights being lazily bolted to the walls and simple wooden arches sustaining the structure. Other than that it just a very long hole.

“According to what director Amelia sent me, the safe house is right after this tunnel, so we should lose any tails before coming in.” Valentina said to the two boys.

“Well, that is out of question. So, what’s plan B?” asked Linus.

She answered him with a worried look.

“What we can do for now is gain time ahead of them. Roan!” she shouted, calling the older boy again. “You’re in charge now. These two are Linus and Albert. They’re regular people, we’re trying to get them out. Take them. Take the kids. And start running.”

Roan, despite being older, had a terrified look on his face and seemed eager to obey, but Linus protested.

“What? What’s this? You want to copy your Director and stay behind, so we can escape?”

“No. I just need to figure out a way for them to not follow us. I’ll be right after you guys” she said trying to reassure him.

“Come on, let’s go” said Roan, putting his hands on Linus’ shoulders and trying to shake some sense into him. His voice had such a pleading tone that Linus didn’t want to refuse him. If I leave this kid in charge, the others are as good as gone… he thought.

Albert, on the other hand, didn’t challenge her decision at all.

“Good luck then” he said nonchalantly putting his hand on her shoulder, and resting it there for a little too long.

The three boys left together joining the group of children ahead. They all watched them expectantly, and the one to speak was Linus.

“Ok everyone, Valentina is going to take care of the pursuers and then join us. The safe house is right up ahead so let’s get moving. We’re almost there!” he said in an enthusiastic tone.

He has that in him… thought Albert. That spirit of leadership, that reliable posture. Even though the kids did not know him before, he quickly took the position of leader from Roan.

As they all ran ahead, leaving Valentina behind, Linus couldn’t stop looking back at her figure standing there, bravely waiting for her opponents. She seemed so small and fragile, even though he knew better. Still, he relied on her, because he knew she could do what he couldn’t.

His powerlessness was haunting his conscience. But Albert interrupted his train of thought.

“You worry for her, don’t you?” asked Albert.

Linus was startled by how well his friend had read his mind. He tried looking back one more time, but they were already too far to see her.

“Yeah, I do. What kind of people are we? Leaving others behind to fight our battles. I can’t feel good about this”

“I feel ya. Well, be sure to take good care of the kids, that Roan over there is useless.” said Albert.

“Ain’t he? I think so too. Wait, what do you...” but before Linus could finish his sentence his friend had disappeared.

Meanwhile, Albert flew back up the tunnel like a missile using his newfound skill. Up ahead he saw a red-haired girl, with a shining yellow aura standing before her opponents like a fiery demon.

Albert shouted out from the top of his lungs.

“INCOMING!!”