You stagger forward for a few paces but then you feel your legs give way beneath you. You fall to the ground holding your head but as you fall your eyes fix on the number plate of the car speeding Kevin away. Whoever he was, he didn't deserve to have that happen to him. The number plate burns itself into your memory: X536 ENO and then you're sight is fading, your mind burning with pain.
[Hey?] The voice is cool, soothing and so is the hand on your forehead. You rouse, aware that no more than a few minutes have passed since you fainted. You lie in the grass, unwilling to open your eyes, reveling in the fact that once again the pain has faded to a distant throbbing.
[Jay, please wake up.] The voice forces you to open your eyes and you look into the eyes of a tall young man perhaps five years older than yourself. He looks worried and you realise that while part of his anxiety is for you, he is also anxious for someone else.
"Adam." You don't need to be told his name and you don't need to be told that this is the man to whom Kevin was speaking without speaking. These things you just know as instinctively as knowing that your heart is still beating. Someone else moves on the edge of your vision and you realise that another young man is leaning over Adam's shoulder. Megabyte is younger, still older than you or Kevin but not as old as Adam. His red hair, sunlit from behind, fills your still sensitive vision with a blaze of colour and you're forced to squint to see his features. He too looks anxious, as somehow you knew he would. "What's happening to me?" You ask timidly, no longer brave enough to push these two away as you did Kevin. "Kevin?" You blurt the name suddenly, needing to know what had happened.
"We were hoping you knew what had happened to Kevin." Megabyte runs a long fingered hand through disordered hair and turns away in frustration.
"He was taken." You tell them. "Men in cars took him by surprise."
"Can you describe the car?" Adam asks urgently. "Colour, size, anything? I know you're not well, Jay but anything you remember..."
You smile a half smile. It's nice to be able to surprise someone. You reel off the number and Adam grants you a smile that lights up the world. But then he frowns anxiously.
"An X-reg," He murmurs. "That's a government plate of some kind." He exchanges a look with Megabyte and the younger man nods. Both had been squatting beside you in the grass but now Megabyte stands.
[I'll check with my Dad.] He says without moving his lips and he vanishes in a blaze of light.
You lie there, stunned, with Adam leaning over you. You try to explain to yourself what you've just seen but there's no rational explanation for it. Adam is studying your face anxiously. He helps you to sit up and when you've done so you become aware that Adam's hand is on your shoulder. Realisation dawns. At no time since you woke has Adam been out of physical contact with you. His eyes follow yours to his hand and he sighs.
"Perhaps I'd better explain."
You nod. You're still afraid but something about this earnest young man is making you trust him.
"Jay, you're breaking out. That's what we call it when a person becomes everything they can be, becomes one of us. We have gifts, Jay, you, me, Megabyte, Kevin. We can speak telepathically, we can teleport, some of us have other gifts. You're going to be one of us, to be able to do these things, but something's gone wrong. For some reason you're not breaking out like the rest of us. We all teleported out of one kind of trouble or another and that triggered our powers and released them. You've not done that - you've not had your powers released and now they're building up inside you and...."
"Killing me?" You ask calmly. What Adam is saying sounds impossible, mad even, but you know that despite that he's telling the truth. You can feel it.
"Yes." Adam admits, his shoulders slumping. "Jay, we've been feeling your pain. Even Lisa's felt it and she rarely talks to us about anything these days. That's why we came looking for you. We can help, a little. That's what I'm doing now - letting your powers pass out through me, releasing the pressure a little. That's why I have to keep touching you. But Jay, this is only a temporary thing. Something is stopping you from breaking out. We need to find out what it is and stop it."
"How?" You ask simply. With Adam in your mind you can think clearly again but even so you can see that this will only be temporary. But then a heavy hand strikes the back of Adam's neck and once again agony washes away all thought.
"That, boy," You hear a voice saying, "is something we'd all like to know.
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