Chapter 22: The Awakening of Space

The man in the gray suit drops from the roof. He does not fall; he simply appears on the ground in front of us. There is no sound of impact. He is manipulating space, folding it to his will.

Hitane steps in front of Minaki. "Get behind me!"

She raises her hands. The air around the Cleaner shimmers. She is trying to trap him in a time loop.

The Cleaner twitches. He seems to freeze for a split second, stuttering like a bad video feed, but then he shakes his head and steps forward.

"Temporal distortion detected," the mechanical voice says. "Compensating."

He pushes his hand forward. A wave of force, invisible but undeniable, slams into Hitane. She flies backward, crashing into the wooden wall of the inn. She slides down, gasping for breath.

"Hitane!" Minaki screams.

Minaki thrusts her hands out. "Stop! Leave us alone!"

A wave of pure, concentrated fear rolls off her. It is so powerful I almost drop to my knees. It is the terror of a child in a fire, magnified a thousand times.

The Cleaner pauses. He takes a half-step back. The fear is affecting him.

"Empathic projection," the voice says, sounding strained. "Filtering."

He taps the side of his mask. A blue light glows on the temple. He straightens up. The fear washes over him like water off a rock. He is shielded.

"Ineffective," he says. He raises a weapon-a sleek, silver pistol that looks like it belongs in a sci-fi movie. He aims it at Minaki.

"No!" I shout.

I do not think. I do not visualize an anchor. I do not try to ground myself.

I feel the space between the gun and Minaki. I feel the distance. And I grab it.

I scream, a raw, guttural sound, and I pull.

The air between them cracks. It sounds like a whip breaking the sound barrier. A fissure of black nothingness opens in the air, a jagged tear in reality.

The Cleaner fires.

The beam of energy hits the fissure and is swallowed. It vanishes into the void.

The Cleaner looks at the tear, then at me. For the first time, he looks surprised.

"Spatial rending," he says. "Unexpected."

I am on my knees, my nose bleeding, my head splitting open with pain. But I hold onto the tear. I widen it. I make it a wall between him and my family.

"Go!" I yell at them. "Get out of here!"

"We are not leaving you!" Minaki cries, running to Hitane and helping her up.

"You cannot fight him!" I scream. "I can hold him! Go!"

The Cleaner turns his attention to me. He holsters the pistol. He holds out both hands.

"The Anchor," he says. "The priority target."

He claps his hands together.

The space around me constricts. It feels like a giant hand has wrapped around my body and is squeezing. My ribs groan. I cannot breathe.

"You are unstable," the Cleaner says, walking towards me. The tear in the air flickers and dies as my concentration breaks. "You are raw energy. You will be contained."

He reaches for me.

Suddenly, Hitane is there. She is moving faster than should be possible. She is a blur. She tackles the Cleaner, not with force, but with time.

She touches his chest. "Freeze," she whispers.

The Cleaner stops. He is suspended in mid-step, his coat flapping in a wind that is not blowing. He is a statue.

Hitane collapses next to me, coughing blood. "I... I paused his personal timeline. It will not hold for long. Maybe ten seconds."

"It is enough," I gasp.

I grab Hitane's hand. I grab Minaki's hand.

I close my eyes. I do not look for a place. I do not look for a destination. I just look for away.

I feel the static. I feel the hum of the universe. And for the first time, I do not let it drag me. I steer it.

Anywhere but here.

I pull.

The garden dissolves. The inn dissolves. The frozen Cleaner dissolves.

We are falling. We are flying.

And then, we are gone.