them make a sound, usually there’s at least a strangled scream or something as they go down but now that everyone is staring at them in both shock and absolute horror, there’s not a single sound in the tent.
"Oli, what the fuck was that? What the fuck did you do to them?” I glance over again to find Gabe struggling to sit up with his hand still bound behind his back, his eyes wide as he stares at me, but time is now working against us.
Anyone could walk in here and see what I’ve done.
I reach out until I get my hand around the leg of the guy and, bless her fucking soul, Sage immediately moves to help me pull him over. It’s freaking hard but we manage to frisk him through the bars until we find a set of keys.
“What the hell are you two doing?”
I startle but it’s only the guy in the far corner, finally come out of the stupor that seeing my Gift in action put him in. Instead of answering him, I lift a finger to my lips to signal to him that he needs to shut the fuck up before he gets us found out. He blinks at me like he’s never been told to shush before.
Fucking idiots.
I get my cage unlocked and then Sage’s, moving quickly over to Gabe while one of the other girls starts sobbing. I hope it’s relief and that she’ll get the fuck over it quickly because there’s a long way to go before we’re even close to safe.
Sage gets his cage open, moving on to the next person, while I slip in to get him freed and out of there. He blinks at me blearily, his eyes struggling to focus, and my heart clenches in my chest at the sight of whatever the fuck they’ve done to him.
When I crouch down to him he croaks, “How did you stop them from knocking you out? I’ve seen Zoey do it a hundred times.”
I fumble with the rope around his wrists as I struggle to get him free. “You saw Zoey knock gift-less me out. I’m a little more supercharged right now. I don’t have time to explain this, can you hulk out and get these off?”
His head sort of rolls around on his shoulders and I start to get properly worried that he’s concussed or taken too much damage to that pretty head of his. “One of them drugged me, I can’t access my shift. How the fuck are you still conscious, Oli?”
I huff at him and give the rope one last tug, almost whooping with joy when it finally comes undone, “You obviously haven’t paid enough attention in Gifted 101. I’m higher up the food chain than those little bitches, so far higher, that they’re nothing to me… the exact same way you are and they had to resort to drugging you. Can you stand? We need to move now.”
I help him up and out of the cage. Thankfully he can carry his own weight, he just needs some help staying steady on his feet. When I have to catch his arm to stop him from tipping over, his jaw locks up and I watch as he pulls himself together, blinking furiously and rubbing at his face like he can force the drugs out of his system through sheer will alone.
I clear my throat to grab the attention of the room, all ten of us now out of our cages, and then I mime out that we need to get out of here.
I’m slow, watching each of them to make sure they’re getting what I’m saying. Then I mime, who can still use your gifts?
Sage can, and three others. We have a Flame, a Shifter, and two others who can’t accurately mime for shit because I think they’re either mental abilities, or saying they’ve taken a hit to the head.
Great.
I shut my eyes and cast my gift out and let it create a map for me. This is dangerous, but only if I hit Carlin or another tester with her level of ability. Then, something fucking magical happens.
I find Gryphon.
I feel him startle when my gift hits him. I feel his disbelief and then the surge of adrenaline, relief that I’m alive and here. Wherever we’ve been taken, either it was close by or he also has a transporter. Kieran is with him and I can’t even be mad at that douchebag being here.
Then I find Nox.
Okay, I’m