I slowly crawled to Kyle and tried find his pulse. It was there but barely, I reached into his pocket and take out his phone to call 911.
"911, what's your emergency?"
"Help. My friend was shot. We got robbed and he's bleeding," my vission blured again and I dropped the phone before I fell on the ground.
The operator in the phone, I can still hear her but I suddenly feel to tired to pick up the phone again. My vision is all blur and there's ringing in my ears. When Ican see again, I look into the alley a man walked into the light wearing an all dark suit. I tried to whisper "help" but I don't think he will hear it. All I'm feeling right now is as if I just drink a bottle of a very strong vodka. I wan't to sleep so badly.
He was closer now and when he kneel beside me I feel something strange about him. His skin is too fair but not pale, and his pale blue eyes is too bright. Something about him feel off. He didn't say anything when he reached my hand and kiss it. Then, I feel a jolt of electricity that's so painful I can't help but scream. I tried to hit him and push him back but the pain is too much that my scream slowly turned into whimpers.
My vision blurred around the edges, darkening like a lens closing. I wanted to shove him away, to scream at him, to demand who he was and what he thought he was doing. But my body wouldn't cooperate.
His grip loosened only when I went limp. The pain stopped instantly. My breath came out in sharp, shaky gasps. I blinked hard, trying to focus. "W…who—"
Footsteps pounded somewhere behind us. My heart lurched.
"Emily?!" That was Oscar's voice. Relief hit so hard it hurt.
His pale blue eyes softened. Almost kind. "We will make a deal," he whispered. "Soon."
Then without movement, without steps he was gone. Completely. As if he'd never been there. Except my hand still tingled where he touched me.
"Emily!"
Oscar stumbled into view, breathless and terrified. He skidded to his knees beside me, hands shaking as he cupped my face.
"Oh my God, Em—hey—hey, look at me. Stay with me." His voice cracked. "Can you hear me?"
I nodded or maybe I imagined nodding. My head felt underwater. Oscar looked around wildly. "Who did this to you? Where did they go? Who did this? Did someone—"
But he only see my robbers with a gun lying beside him and Kyle bleeding on the pavement. He didn't see the stranger. He doesn't even know the man was here. But my brain screamed everything was real.
That's when panic finally hit.
"Oscar," I rasped, voice hoarse. "He—Kyle—th-they—"
Oscar shook his head. "Emily, sweetheart. I'm so sorry."
My breath hitched.
"Is okay," I whispered. "They were here… there were three and then—then Kyle he—he—"
My vision swayed and the alley tilted sideways. Somewhere far away I could hear sirens screamed. Tires screeched. Doors slammed. Voices rose.
Oscar held onto me as if letting go would break something permanent.
"You're okay," he repeated softly. "I've got you."
Hands lifted me onto a stretcher. Someone asked questions I couldn't answer. Someone placed an oxygen mask over my face. Cold air filled my lungs.
Streetlights blurred into streaks of white.
I tried to keep my eyes open. I tried to hold on but exhaustion dragged me under like deep water. Just before consciousness slipped completely, I saw him again. Standing at the far end of the street. Hands clasped behind his back. Watching. No one else noticed him. No one turned his way.
Only me.
And everything finally went dark.
*~*
The first thing I became aware of was the smell. Sterile, cold, sharp disinfectant and metal and something faintly chemical. Not the warm sting of a hospital. Cleaner. Controlled.
The second thing I noticed was the hum. It was Low. Constant. Like electricity running through thick walls. Then, the third thing is a reflection. My reflection.
I bolted upright and quickly realising I wasn't in a hospital bed. I was sitting on gurney inside a glass room. Not a wall of windows. It almost look like a cage. My heart slammed against my ribs.
"What—what the hell—"
I pressed my hand against the glass. It didn't feel normal. It buzzed faintly beneath my fingertips, like static trying to escape.
Outside the clear barrier, the room resembled a medical lab with white walls, polished equipment, large monitors, two tall metal doors that looked reinforced with something that look like far stronger than steel and had no windows.
Panic rose fast and sharp. I forced myself to breathe.
One.
Two.
Three.
Then I saw him.
Jake.
Sitting in a chair facing the glass, elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped together. He looked exhausted, eyes bloodshot, hair a mess, jaw clenched like he'd been grinding his teeth for hours.
"Jake," I breathed, relief flooding through me.
He looked up immediately like he'd been waiting for any sign of movement. "Em." His voice was rough. "You're awake."
I stood and pressed my hands harder to the glass.
"Where am I? Why am I in here? Is Kyle okay? What—what is happening?"
Jake didn't answer right away. And that silence was worse than any nightmare.
Before I could spiral, another figure stepped into view behind him tall, broad-shouldered, wearing a fitted black suit. I release a breath of relieve knowing he is Damien.
He said nothing now. Just observed. Jake stood slowly and approached the glass, stopping inches from me. He placed his palm against it. Instinctively, I placed mine over his. A thin layer of glass separated us.
It hurt.
I didn't know why they put me in here.
"Emily," he began carefully, voice low, like talking to someone standing on the edge of a cliff. "We brought you here because after the attack… something happened."
I swallowed hard. Images flickered in my mind. Shadows, gunshots, blood, the stranger's impossible eyes, a body collapsing.
"No," I whispered. "I—I just defended myself."
Jake's expression twisted, grief, fear, guilt all tangled together.
"I know you did, monkey." He lifted his other hand, fingers trembling slightly. "But the men who attacked you. He's dead."
My stomach dropped. I kinda have a feeling that I killed him too.
"And Kyle?" I choked.
Jake hesitated. My breath caught.
"Alive," he finally said. "Critical. But alive."
Relief hit so hard I had to brace myself against the wall.
Jake continued, slower now, each word careful. "Em… we put you in here because you can be dangerous to others. Your powers right now is dangerous. I know how it feels right now, but I need you to stay with me on this all right? We are not imprisoning you or anything, just until you calmed down, okay?"
I shook my head. "What do you mean? I'm not going to hurt anybody. What are you talking about? Get me out of here."
"I know it sounds impossible, but I think we have magic. I don't know how we get it from, but we can figure it out okay? Please, stay calm,"
"Jake—magic isn't—"
"Real?" he finished softly.
I froze.
His eyes painful, vulnerable held mine. "Emily… I've had these abilities for almost five years."
My world stuttered to a stop.
Jake.
My brother.
My sane, grounded, normal brother.
He continued, voice barely above a whisper "And I didn't tell you because I didn't know how. I didn't think you'll get it too,"
"Prove it?" Because some part in can't believe him. Is this some kind of prank? But why would he pranked me in time like this.
Jake looked at me, his eyes searching for something in me before he turned to look at the glass of water on the desk beside his chair. He lifted his hand and suddenly the water jump out of it, defying gravity and all, floating from the glass, following Jake's hand motion until it stops right in front of me.
I instinctively took a step back. Some part of me wanted to slap myself awake from whatever nightmare is this. I look at Jake and suddenly didn't recognize this man. Then, the water suddenly froze solid before it dropped to the ground in a muffled thud.
"Emily," Jake placed his hand in the glass again.
I stared at him for a while. Didn't know what to say or do. But then anger surged, hot and wild when I subtly pinched myself and feeling the pain.
"You lied to me."
He flinched.
"I protected you."
"No," I snapped, stepping back, breathing uneven. "You hid something from me and now you want me to just believe I'm… what? Some witch?"
The silence stretched so long I could hear my own pulse beating fast, unsteady, wrong. Jake didn't look away. Didn't blink. Just waited. Like he knew this moment would destroy something. Like he'd been dreading it for years.
My chest tightened.
"Start talking," I said hoarsely. "And it better make sense."
Jake swallowed, nodding once. His voice was careful, steady in the way someone sounds when they practiced a truth they never wanted to say out loud.
"When I was deployed in Russia… something happened."
He took a breath, eyes distant like he was seeing something I couldn't.
" We were ambushed and I was injured. Badly. I shouldn't have survived. When they threw bomb at us I told everyone to leave me behind so they got a better chance at surviving. But that day, I walked out of that fire just fine."
A cold shiver crawled up my spine.
He kept going.
"First I thought I was hallucinating. Then I thought I was dead and roaming like a ghost. Then, to be honest I was terrified I couldn't see you or Ethan ever again." His jaw tightened.
My throat went dry. That fear, heavy one beneath his words felt familiar. Like something in my bones understood it. Jake exhaled shakily.
"Damien helped me. He was the one who found me when it first happened. He helped me control it, hide it. Gave me a place to train. A cover. A life."
Damien stood perfectly still behind him, hands clasped on his shoulder like a consoling gesture that he always did to everyone.
"So all this time," I whispered, "you've been… what? Magic?"
Jake huffed something close to a laugh but it's sad and tired.
"I don't know what to call it, Emily. I don't know where it comes from. Nobody ever explained anything to me."
His hand pressed to the glass again.
"And I didn't tell you because I didn't want you living afraid of something that might never happen to you."
Something hot and sharp flared in my chest.
"Guess what?" My voice cracked. "It happened."
Jake flinched. "I know."
I backed up until my shoulders hit the far wall. "You could've told me the truth."
"I know, Em."
"I almost lost you and I didn't even know it." That one looked like it hit him physically.
Jake's voice dropped to a whisper. "I am sorry."
I squeezed my eyes shut, breathing uneven. The memory of the alley flickered behind my eyelids. The fear, the weird sensation, the dead man. The stranger.
I forced my eyes open.
"Jake… what happened to that robber exactly?"
His silence answered before he spoke. "He didn't suffer."
My stomach twisted. "That's not an answer."
"He didn't have wounds. He didn't bleed. His body just… shut down. The official report is heart attack. I don't know what actually caused him to die."
My breath caught. "No. No— that wasn't me—"
"It was," Jake said gently, not accusing, not afraid. "And you didn't mean to. You're just defending yourself."
I shook my head hard. "I'm not a killer."
"You're not," he said firmly.
Tears stung, but I refused to let them fall. "Then why am I in a cage?"
Jake's jaw tightened as he lifted a hand and pointed to a monitor mounted near the ceiling. At first, I didn't understand what I was looking at. Just numbers fluctuating.
Then my stomach twisted when I read the title.
Radiation levels.
The screen displayed measurements in microsieverts per hour (µSv/h). The same unit I'd seen on documentaries about nuclear fallout in Chernobyl. Jake spoke quietly, voice steady but strained.
"A normal background level is around 0.1 to 0.2 µSv per hour. That's safe. Completely harmless."
He paused.
"When you woke up here… the level around you was reading 47 µSv/h."
Something cold slid down my spine.
"That's—" I swallowed.
Jake nodded slowly. "I'm sorry, Mily,"
"It's lower now," he continued, lifting the tablet beside him so I could see more clearly. "You're fluctuating quiet high, but the glass barrier absorbs and disperses most of it."
He tapped the glass gently.
"This isn't here to punish you. It's here so the others can be near you safely."
My throat tightened.
"How long has it been?" I whispered.
Jake hesitated, just long enough to tell me the truth would sting. "Sixteen hours."
I stopped breathing. I was unconscious not in my bed, in a glass cage, for sixteen hours.
My voice barely came out. "Did I… is anyone hurt because of this?"
Jake's eyes softened, a flicker of relief.
"No. Oscar is safe. We got you contained before exposure became dangerous."
Dangerous. That word didn't fit with me. I blinked hard, forcing the world into something that made sense.
"But radiation isn't magic," I rasped. "It's science. It comes from nuclear material or cosmic rays or—not from—" I gestured at myself helplessly. "People."
Jake rubbed the back of his neck.
"I don't fully understand it either. But Damien brought in people. Some experts to help me before. That's why I need you to be calm."
"Emily… you didn't do anything wrong." Damien said. His voice sound lighter from the glass.
My hands curled into fists. "I killed a man today."
"You defended yourself," he corrected firmly. "And something inside you responded to danger before you understood what was happening."
"That doesn't make it okay."
"No," Jake whispered. "It makes it human."
Then Damien stepped closer. "The barrier is temporary. Once your levels drop below 1 µSv/h, you can get out without risking the others."
"One," I echoed. "From twenty."
He nodded.
My voice broke. "I don't want this."
Jake's face softened with helplessness. "I know."
I pressed my forehead to the glass, the hum vibrating faintly against my skin.
"Jake?" My voice trembled. "What if it never goes down? What if I stay like this?"
He turned to Damian and without a word he left us alone after Jake nodded at him. Then Jake pressed a button and the glass slide and closed again when he's inside. His hand slid to mine.
"Wait, you can't,"
"I'll be fine. If I can do it, then you can too," he whispered.
"I'm scared," I admitted.
Jake closed his eyes.
"Me too," he murmured. He pulled me into a hug, and for the first time, I didn't know what to believe anymore.