Archer Warrick March 21st,20XX

Time slowed down so perceptively that it became was painful to register, but we finally made it to the primary building. Eva’s class was on the fourth floor, so getting there took even more time, and by then my body felt too heavy to move. Thelma and Ember had initially worked together to support me over, but our height difference had been too wide to make that an efficient way to get around. Thelma had finally snapped that Ember should just put me on his back and carry me over. It had been embarrassing…. no, it was still humiliating to be carried around the campus like a child, but I couldn’t let my pride interfere with our efficiency.

I was so worried that I felt myself sweat and my heart raced at a thousand miles per hour. My powers only really affected me, so i had a bit more leeway in conditions like these, when our powers were going haywire. Tillo and Kaja’s powers also manifested themselves by causing their bodies to morph uncontrollably; uncomfortable, but not harmful to others. Even Destia’s powers only affected her visibility and how quickly she moved. As long as she took care to avoid others, she wouldn’t hurt anyone else.

Eva’s powers were dangerous because they were inherently outward directed. If I didn’t get there in time, all the other people in the building were at risk of getting seriously hurt.

An old memory of a grown man walking around the neighborhood, dazed and confident that he lived in a ditch, surfaced in my mind and made me pressure Ember to move faster.

As much as I’d tried to keep her away from my uncle and aunt, I knew they would often force her to use her powers to mess with the people that were after them.

When Joyce and the scientists had asked us how we usually used our powers, I’d lied and said that we barely got the chance to. It had been embarrassing back then, and it had become harder and harder to correct my instinctual lie over time, but now I realized why it had been an issue.

Aside from talking to all of us and sending the occasional mental image, Eva only knew how to use her powers in one way.

To attack.

On one hand, I’d been glad that she knew how to defend herself, but thinking about it properly; If she panicked and used her powers like how she was used to using them…

I stopped theorizing. After all, there wasn’t much I could really do except what I was already doing.

My head hurt so much, and an invisibly pressure threatened to flatten my brain the longer I tried to resist using my powers.

It was so hard to resist the urge to just give myself to the sea of thoughts, but I could only do my best to resist it. I’d successfully severed the connection between Thelma and Ember’s minds, but I knew the second I let up on myself, not only would the connection restore, but it would expand to the people around us.

I didn’t know what type of impact that would have on their brains, or their consciousness, but I got the feeling that it wouldn’t be anything good.

“Warrick? What are you doing here? And dear god, what’s wrong with you?”

A teacher recognized me from the many times I visited Eva during her breaks, and asked after me in a worried tone. Well, aside from the sweat on my face and the fact that I struggled to keep my eyes open, I supposed seeing someone completely rag-doll on someone’s back was enough of a sight to cause worry.

Thelma thought fast and came up with a reasonable excuse.

“He suddenly got sick and became like this. We came to get his little sister to see if she was okay before taking them to the office. It doesn’t look super infectious, but we thought it would be best to separate her from the rest of the class before it spread any more than it has.”

The teacher subconsciously took three steps back when she heard it was some type of illness, but then she tightened her spine and stepped forward.

“If he’s that sick, then you should have taken him to the office to be isolated first. Although it is good that you all are such great friends. Just wait here, I’ll go get your little sister… was it Eva? What class is she in?”

“Primary 3. The first classroom to the left. But she likely won’t go with you… I should be there.”

Of course, that was complete bull, but I couldn’t just sit here and expose the teacher to potential danger. Even now, I could feel something was off. It wasn’t in the usual anxiety driven way that plagued my days, but it was a sickening pressure that attacked the barrier of my mind.

… Eva was using her powers.

But I couldn’t tell how, and I couldn’t tell who she was using them on. The feeling was different, and I couldn’t extend my powers to her for fear of drawing others in.

“Ember, let me down. It’s right down the hall… I can walk. Thelma, could you please get my headphones from my bag?”

Ember hesitated to let me down, but finally agreed after a few moments. I tried to move, but his hand didn’t leave my arm. I looked back and tried to pull myself out of his grip, but never mind my current weakened state, I doubted I would have been able to do so at my best. Thelma brought out my headphones and kindly helped me turn them on and connect them to my phone.

The closer we got to the classroom, the heavier my head got, and at a point I resumed completely relying on Ember to walk in a straight line.

The teacher reached the door of the classroom first, but I panicked, knowing that there was something in there that I didn’t want her to see.

I used my telekinesis to knock down a fire hydrant down the hallway and messed with its cap to set it off. She looked between the doors a few steps away from her and the hydrant before thankfully deciding to deal with the hydrant first.

“Ember, Thelma… thanks, but could you two please go help that teacher? I’ll just call her out from here.”

They hesitated long enough for me to set off two more hydrants down the hall. The two looked freaked out, and I could tell they suspected I was behind all of it, but they had no proof, and as long as things ended here, then it would be fine.

The two went down the hall to help the bewildered teacher deal with the malfunctioning hydrants while I pushed the door open with all the strength that I had left.

The plan was to head right to Eva and slam my headphones over her hears so she could calm down by focusing on the music, but this… I didn’t know how to deal with any of it.

The teacher was in the corner, sitting in a daze as she looked over at the classroom that had, at some point, become a jungle. Unlike the usual illusions Eva used, I didn’t even have to use my powers to look into her victim’s minds and find out what it was… this.

This was bad.

It all looked so corporal and material that I couldn't believe that it was all an illusion. But it was. I could tell by how the children huddled together and tried their best to touch the monsters that wandered around the room.

Somehow, the alligators were bright pink and there were small, pink and grey whales that bounced around the room.

This much wasn’t great, but from how increasingly aggressive the whales became, I could tell that Eva had long lost control.

First things first.

“Eva!”

She looked at me with teary eyes as she frantically tried to put the illusions away. I didn’t bother asking her to try harder and instead put the headphones over her head.

She ran into my arms for a hug, but I could barely keep myself up, never mind support a whole other human being.

“Just go to sleep Eva. It’ll all be over when you wake up. I promise.”

Of course, I had no clue how to fix anything, but I knew that Aaron and Joyce would be here soon, and they would fix everything. They had to.

This was hardly the most stressful situation that I had forced Eva to put herself to sleep in, but I was still worried that she would struggle. Thankfully, between the familiar music I’d played for her and her pre-existing stress, she fell asleep in seconds.

I looked around the room and made eye contact with the stressed-out students and the incredulous teacher, who had finally gotten up out of her corner. I needed to think fast.

“Sorry Ms. Ryba. It looks like Eva got her hands on a projector from home… Joyce- I mean, Ms. Knightly will probably call the school to assess the damages.”

It was a weak excuse since Eva clearly hadn’t been holding anything and didn’t have a projector at all, but it was the best I could come up with right now. Even if it didn’t work on the adults, it would be a win if I could convince most of the kids to return home under the impression that their classmate had shown them some cool new technology.

I fought to get my powers to calm down enough to scan her mind, and see if my excuse had landed. Even though I tried my best to stay at a surface level, my panic plunged me directly into her innermost thoughts and memories. I instinctually pulled back, but resisted the urge and plunged inwards.

I waded past the old memories that had nothing to do with the situation and pushed my way up to the instance Eva had first used her powers on the class.

The scene was vivid and too bright to ignore, and I could feel each instance of horror as my younger sister added a new monster into the mix. I wished I could just delete the memories instead of watching them, but just being a viewer was the extent my powers could reach.

… or was it?

Before today, Eva couldn’t manifest illusions in the real world, and I hadn’t been able to link people’s thoughts together. Maybe…

I mentally reached out toward the memory and imagined it fading. It resisted at first, and it fought against me, but I was more invested in it disappearing than the teacher was in remembering it.

Then, like a string snapping, or a soft bubble pop. The memory was gone, and no matter how strongly I looked, I couldn’t find it in her mind’s eye.

The teacher fainted as well, but thankfully she didn’t sustain any injuries on the way down.

I wanted to go around and do the same for the rest of the kids, but I knew I couldn’t last any longer than I already had.

I pushed on the pager once more, crawled over to Eva on the floor and went to sleep beside her. Hopefully, Ember and Thelma would get us back to the office. But even if they didn’t, I was sure Aaron and Joyce would find us.