of the shelves to stay out of sight. I heard my mother’s voice pleading to be released. The shelves of books were lined like those in a public library. I peeked through the row of books in front of me.
“Let her go,” Felix was saying. A man standing in front of him punched him hard in the face. Felix doubled over in pain while blood seeped from his broken nose. There were six strange men in the room. Four of them held Ben and Felix. Another one held my mother, and the sixth man stood by, watching.
Okay, I could take them. I had a fire extinguisher. I could totally take… Oh, my God, I was going to die.
I was about to think up a better plan than rushing in, pointing my extinguisher at them, and shouting, “Hey, let them go!” when a bullet whizzed by my head before being embedded in a book. I turned around to some more strange men running toward me. I dodged another bullet, and then I removed the pin from the extinguisher. I depressed the lever, releasing the dry chemicals into the air and blocking the men’s focus.
I sprayed the powder all over the room before tossing the extinguisher aside and stepping into the gas myself. The first man who came into contact with me didn’t even have time to swing his arm before my fist met his face. He angrily swung both hands. I was too slow to move out of his reach. One hand knocked me straight in the jaw, and I groaned as blood filled my mouth. I kneed him hard in the stomach and punched him under his jaw, making him wheeze. He cursed.
I dodged another blow swung my way and elbowed the nearest man. Someone punched me in my ribs. I looked up, gasping for air, and then smashed my forearm under his chin and my fist into his jaw.
I turned away from the man just as another came into view from beside us, pointing his gun at me. I had only a second to move before he fired his gun, and then the oddest thing happened.
I watched the bullet coming toward me, but it never reached me: it stopped somewhere inches from hitting me, and then it fell straight to the ground.
What the… I had no time to freak out or thank whatever guardian angel was looking after me, or curse myself for seeing things in times like this. Suddenly, the guy who fired at me fell at my feet—dead.
Okay, now I was panicking.
“I want her alive!” I heard a cold voice shouting, and then more footsteps. I banished all thoughts of whatever weirdness was going on and reached down to take the dead man’s weapon. The moment I had the gun, I furrowed deeper into the smoke.
I darted behind one of the bookshelves. I couldn’t really see through all the powder that clung to the books, but I knew the library by heart, so I knew where to step. Gunshots fired into the books, and I took cover as I moved expertly through the room. At every opportunity, I aimed and fired my own gun, hoping it didn’t run out on me.
I peeked around the shelves in search of the intruders. Seeing no movement, I moved from behind the shelves. I took each step carefully, ready to fire at the sight of an intruder. A bullet rang out, and I screamed as it tore through the flesh in my left arm. The pain ripped through my body. I felt like my arm was slowly tearing itself into pieces. I fired in the direction of the gunman. The bullet lodged itself in a man’s arm, and he fell back with a scream. The others came into view, and I turned and raced for cover as they started firing.
I whipped around a corner and stopped. A man rushed toward me, pointing his gun at my head. I was trapped.
“Hands up!” he shouted. He had a foreign accent. “Gun on the floor. Hands up!” I did as he ordered.
“Do not shoot her. Andrei wants her alive,” said a man who rushed in from behind me and pinned my hands behind my back. I winced. Pain radiated from my bullet wound. The man’s grip on my hands was strong, and no matter how I twisted, even though my hands weren’t tied, I couldn’t break away from his grip.
The man dragged me to where the others held my mother and bodyguards hostage.
“Abigail!” my