Aaron Cyrus February 29th,20XX

The wind whipped at the few exposed patches of my skin as I soared through the sky, but I wasn’t in the state of mind to pay it much mind.

The tension split my attention between worrying about the kids and worrying that I was going to fall out of the sky and end up creating a crater on the ground. I devoted a small part of that half to worrying if anyone would see me, but I was currently completely covered from head to toe. Even if anyone saw me, I doubted they could identify me.

I’d flown higher than was necessary to avoid the crowd of police and reporters outside, so descending was difficult and scary. The air was thin where I’d stalled in the air and added to the stress of the situation.

The glasses were slightly foggy as I worked to find a decent landing spot, but that was just one of the many minor inconveniences of the get-up I was wearing.

While I wasn’t as bad as I had been in the past, I didn’t think I could calm down enough to not cause any damage to wherever I landed.

I brought out my phone and checked for service, but it looked like the criminal had reactivated the signal blocker after he’d put out his demands. I wondered how he planned on receiving the things he’d asked for if no one could contact him from the outside, but then again. I didn’t really care about the feasibility of his cock headed plan.

The video he’d airdropped to every compatible device showed me a scene and surroundings I could try to identify, but I’d graduated over three years ago and had a hard time remembering the exact layout of the school.

They had been in the main hallway; I recognized the paintings on the wall. And the amount of natural light that streamed into the frame showed me they were close to the glass wall. The school had a lot of clear walls that faced the outside so that hadn’t been too much help on its own, but it narrowed down the possible places they could be.

For now, I gave up on trying to find an exact location and made my descent. I started by going feet first and went at a steady pace, but the more time passed the more anxious I got.

I tilted into the same position I’d used during that skydiving incident Joyce didn’t let me talk about anymore and let my body essentially free-fall through the air. While I could make myself move through the air, free-falling would allow me to move at a fast enough pace to offset my anxiety and take a proper look around the campus.

The goggles dug into my face as I fell, and the mask clung to my skin. It wasn’t comfortable, and it was a little hard to breathe in, but it was still better than the mass-produced material I’d gotten at the skydiving place. And after seeing Destia’s injuries a few days ago and realizing how risky our powers could be, I wouldn’t dare take them off.

I made it about two stories above the top of the main building when I saw two figures scamper across the otherwise empty campus. There were a few kids and adults that had hidden in bushes or corners of the building, but they stayed stock still and didn’t even dare to poke out their heads and see what was going on.

My stomach flip-flopped as I adjusted my body upright and exited the free-falling state. I was still nauseous, and it didn’t feel any better than ever, but I wouldn’t let myself think about it too much.

A closer look at the dark head of hair and the familiarity between the two running kids helped me identify them. The whale-themed dress and stuffed animal under the smaller one’s arm solidified my guess.

At first, I was happy they weren’t in the main building, but once I oriented myself and remembered the overall layout of the place; I got mad again. I was still scared on their behalf, but I finally got to feel how Joyce and my parents did when I did stupid stuff like that.

I could have seen Kaja doing something as silly as switching places with a hostage, or even Archer if Eva’s safety was at stake, but Tillo? I hadn’t known him for long, but I’d gotten enough of a handle on his personality to know he wasn’t the type to volunteer himself into such a dangerous position.

“ARCHER”

My voice ripped out of my throat in an alien roar, and I saw his figure stiffen. Eva tried to pull him along at first, but quickly gave up and let go of his hand.

She took off in a sprint toward the main building and veered left toward a set of clear walls. Archer looked around for a few seconds before giving up on locating me and chasing after his little sister.

I dove off the side of the building and hit the floor in a run. I wasn’t necessarily any faster at flying than running, but I was confident in my ability to outrun an underweight fifteen- and eight-year-old. There was the option of using my powers to stop them, but I didn’t have any sort of confidence in not hurting them.

A painful sense of relief flooded through me as I identified two out of the four kids I’d come for, but the other two still worried me.

Just as I predicted, I caught up quickly and grabbed Eva in one arm and Archer in the other. Eva fought capture as viciously as she could, but she slightly calmed down when she realized it was me.

“A-AARON?”

Archer uncharacteristically yelled out my name and his face was twisted into a vivid expression I had never seen him use before.

My eyes automatically flipped over to his left ear, and sure enough, a bright gold stud sparkled in the mass of dark hair.

“Kaja, what are you doing? And Eva calm down. Where are Archer and Tillo? What the hell were you guys thinking coming up with a plan like this? Are you two okay?”

A million and two questions flew out of my mouth as I looked them over and made sure they weren’t hurt in any way.

“Y-yeah we’re fine. No time to explain. Tillo is in there! Archer is in the bathroom a few feet away.”

She pointed through a glass wall a few feet away. Her face, or well, Archer’s face, suddenly paled and her lips parted into a scream.

“Tillo!”

I whipped around with the two still in my arms and saw a sight that made my heart drop. There, a mere few feet away from us, was Tillo, still in the visage of another kid’s image, crumpled onto the floor. Archer stood at the opposite side of the decently long hallway and angrily glared at the assailant. He held a fire extinguisher in his thin arms and his chest heaved heavily enough for me to see at the distance I was at.

The older man held the knife threateningly towards Archer and screamed something intelligible before he took off in a sprint towards the kid.

My mind went blank, and I didn’t have much time to think.

I unwrapped my arms from the two girls and looked around for the closest thing I could throw.

A rock.

“Eva, tell Archer and Tillo to get on the ground, NOW”

At this point, I was moving completely on autopilot, but I wasn’t all that interested in seizing control.

I gathered as much of whatever I needed to make it useful into the rock, and with as much accuracy as I could in those few milliseconds; I threw it.