Station 2-14: Chapter Twenty-Two
Tessa and Voss rush to save Ley
Previous Chapter - Station 2-14
Chapter Twenty-Two: Tessa
The elevator doors of the penthouse open onto an abandoned scene. The wind howls through broken windows, stirring the shattered glass that covers the floor. And through the carnage is the view of the Stadium, shining like a beacon down below.
‘Power’s back,’ says Voss, and Tessa knows there’s no denying it. The penthouse is shrouded in darkness but the stadium is sending pillars of red and blue light into the air, as hoards of people made their way inside.
She would have called it a miracle that the city recovered so quickly, but a wave of dread washes over her,
‘She’s fighting tonight.’
‘Should we go?’ Asks Jin.
‘Not yet - we have to check that she’s not here,’ says Tessa, as she leads the way to Ley’s room. They come to the hall, the firelight of the library glows down one end and a light bleeds under the door of Ley’s room down the other. Tessa hesitates, she assumes that Ley will be in her room but she’ll have to pass her mother’s room to get there and she’s afraid of what she might find.
It was enough to see the wreckage that surrounds it. The doorframe’s in pieces that stretch out like a scream. She can see the exact spot where Ley was when she found out. A clear path amongst the mess; the centre of the storm.
In the hall, Avery’s countless cabinets of antiques haven’t survived but Tessa knows that Avery would be pleased to see that the weapons that line the walls above are unscathed.
They’re our history, she’d say, but Tessa had never known it as one that belonged to the Station. They were relics from beyond the desert where deadlier practices took place.
Those weapons had lined the walls for as long as Tessa had known Avery. She usually paid them no attention but now it was hard to turn her eyes away. It was easier to consider the illusion of danger that came with the blades than the damage on the ground around her. She knew that for Ley to have broken so much, it meant that she had been broken herself.
She pushes forward and steps into the hall but Jin catches her shoulder.
‘Wait,’ he says. ‘Someone’s here.’ Then she feels it too, something pulling at her sides. Testing her reflexes. But she can’t see anyone in the hall. No one’s around that could be using their minds against them.
Tessa starts to relax, they’re safe.
And then Jin is wrenched into the air. He flies for less than a second before he smacks into the wall, knocking himself unconscious.
‘Shit,’ says Voss. His eyes go wide and his arms wrap around him like a vice. Tessa lunges towards him but something pulls him from her grasp and throws him onto the wall next to Jin.
‘Get me down!’ Shouts Voss. Tessa rushes to help him but he was impossible to move. Someone was holding him in place in the air and there’s nothing she could do about it.
It was like some twisted game. And there’s only one person that she could think of who would be playing it.
‘I thought you said that Derek left the penthouse,’ says Tessa.
‘He did,’ says Voss.
‘He must have come back for Ley.’ The words have barely left her mouth when two swords jump down from their mounts on the wall and fly towards them. Tessa drops to the ground on instinct and Voss wails.
‘Are you hit?’ Cries Tessa, jumping back to her feet.
‘Obviously!’ She checks the wall where the swords have landed but they’ve only pierced his clothes, holding him in place.
‘You’re okay,’ she says, which is when the hall begins to rattle.
The sound builds around them as the weapons threaten to break free. Every single one of them, sharp enough to kill.
‘Do something!’ Shouts Voss, and as if turning her attention to them was their trigger, the weapons jump from the wall and fly towards them - four swords leading the charge.
One after the other, Tessa sends them into the walls around her. As she moves, they fly faster, but that has never stopped her before.
She sends her hands up in a battle cry, directing her power up along with it and catches them all in her mental grip before she brings them crashing down.
As their movement settles she turns, breathing hard, to find Voss and Jin still pinned to the wall.
‘Never doubted you for a second,’ says Voss. Tessa checks that Jin is okay. ‘He’ll walk it off - I’m the one that needs help. Get me down.’
‘I’m surprised you brought him with you,’ says Tessa as she pulls Jin from the wall, settling him down on the ground.
‘He followed me, more like.’
Tessa reaches for the blade pinning Voss to the wall when she feels something tugging at her sides, desperate for her attention.
‘Uh, oh,’ says Voss, and her arms snap to her sides by a force that’s not her own.
Tessa fights against the hold but the power is too strong and the force pulls her to the ground and drags her down the hall. The library doors fly open as she arrives and she comes to a stop in the centre of the room where Avery Pangere waits for her.
‘Oh good,’ she says. ‘You made it.’ Avery sits in her usual seat by the fire with a drink in hand while Tessa struggles on the ground at her feet.
‘Let me go,’ says Tessa. ‘Who’s doing this? Is it Derek? Is he helping you?’ Pangere laughs, and Tessa scans the room in a wild craze trying to find him. But the harder she searches the room, the more she realises that they’re alone.
‘You could have been amazing, you know,’ says Avery. ‘But you never had the guts. You trained to become a champion. I trained to be a God.’ Pangere pulls up one of her sleeves and passes a UV light over her skin revealing four bands on her arm.
Tessa freezes at the sight of them. She watches in a daze as Avery slowly rolls up her other sleeve to reveal two more. Tessa stares at the bands in disbelief.
‘You actually didn’t know,’ says Avery. ‘I wondered for a long time whether you did, but of course to find out I’d have to reveal myself which… defeats the purpose really.’
Tessa’s thoughts spiral at the sight of them, her whole life she’s known Avery to be powerless. Avery always said that she surrounds herself with people who had TK to help her, because she didn’t have any ability herself. She swore that she created the Games to champion their abilities. But now here she was staring at the lie, and Tessa’s new reality crashes into place.
Avery has TK.
Avery has a lot of TK.
In fact, the only one who has more power is…
‘Ley,’ she breathes.
‘Pathetic,’ sneers Pangere. ‘I built everything I have. But I knew that all it would take was someone to see me as a chance to prove their power. So I created the Games. You all fight over money but it’s nothing more than a diversion. None of you win. I do. You thought I didn’t know about her? I made those tagging centers. I keep track of everything. I’m the one in control. When people like Ley are found, I’m the first to know.’
Voss was right, Ley was in trouble but it wasn’t because of some bad bet. Ley was in trouble because she was a threat to Avery.
‘Don’t hurt her.’
‘I won’t have to. She’ll die in her match tonight; poor thing barely made it to the stadium. And yes, it will be a shame. The crowd will mourn and we’ll make a special remembrance next year but everyone will forget soon enough and the fun will start all over again.’
‘Is it all a lie?’ Asks Tessa. ‘Does Voss know?’
‘Voss?’ She scoffs. ‘You are joking. The only reason I kept him around was because you listened to him for some reason. No. He’s not part of this. Not that he hasn’t been fun. It was my club he gambled at - did you know? It was also my men that broke his knee last year. I have it on tape … would you like to see?’
She couldn’t take it anymore.
All at once, Tessa pulls the books from their shelves in a surge of power pushing against her restraints to send them straight at Pangere. But they never reach their mark.
Avery stops them mid-air without flinching. Her casual show of power makes Tessa want to scream. How could she be so stupid? How could she not realise what Avery was capable of?
‘How —’ Her words fall into nothing and she curses herself for not having the strength to say what she wants. She could never stand up to her. Even now when Avery laughs in her face, she can’t bring herself to say a thing.
‘I think this is my favourite part. You people think that big shows of strength prove something. Ley would move the whole stadium to win but it’s not about that. It’s about this…’
‘What — ’ but she can’t finish her sentence, only this time Tessa feels it. She feels the air escaping her. She feels the tightening of her throat as Avery takes her breath away.
‘Have you thought back yet? To all the times you wanted to say something to me but the words were all sucked out? And if I tighten it just a little…’ Pangere twists her grip and Tessa starts to choke. ‘It would only be a few minutes before you die.’ She releases her with a thought and Tessa gasps for air.
Pangere waits until she has her full attention,
‘I had such high hopes for you. You imagined ways of using your power that were impressive considering your abilities, it’s why I’ve kept you around so long. But you’re a dog in a cage, and I’m bored of you.’ Pangere gets to her feet, towering over Tessa to look her straight in the eyes while she chokes her once more.
Her chest burns and her vision starts to blur but Pangere’s grip is as unrelenting as her stare.
‘HEY!’ Pangere looks up to find Voss at the door. She’s distracted for barely a second but it’s long enough for Jin to send her flying. He slams her into the wall and she falls to the ground in a heap as Tessa gasps for air,
‘Are you okay?’ Asks Voss, and she manages to nod in reply but there was no time to recover. They had to save Ley before it was too late.
‘Ley’s already at the stadium,’ she rasps. ‘We need to go.’
