Gabe, Silas, Greg, Lucy, Sara, Wes, Addy, Sally, Olyvia, Nate, Hannah and Jacob all stood and gawked at me. I got to my feet and glanced around awkwardly. I wasn’t sure what had happened and I had no idea what to say. They all looked kind of annoyed and pissed off at me.
“Hi,” I said weakly.
“Hi?” Hannah mocked.
She looked really pissed.
“Layla! What the hell did you do?” Hannah bellowed.
I took a step back unsure what to say. I was a bit frightened by the pure angry vibes I was being hit with.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. I swear. I don’t know,” I rushed out.
Silas stepped closer to me.
“We all felt you calling out for help. You were in distress and each of us could feel it. You took all of our gifts and left us feeling your pain. It was awful Layla, you can’t do that ever again. Are you okay? What the hell happened to you?” He said with concern in his voice but under that concern was fear.
Silas feared me and when I glanced around I felt not anger but fear coming off from each and everyone of the gifted. I felt my emotions starting to stir around inside me again but I quickly contained the raw emotions and pushed them deep inside.
“Do you have any idea what you have done?” Addy said, walking right up to me. She was inches from my face. I knew she didn’t like me.
“No! I have no idea what I have done,” I yelled back. She was making me so angry and I don’t know why. “I’m sorry you had to have Gabe teleport you here. I know you all have better things to do then come and check on me. I’m fine and you can go back to the warehouse. I’ll try and figure out what I did and not do it again,” I hissed.
“Layla, I didn’t teleport anyone. You teleported all of us here,” Gabe said coolly.
“What? No. I wasn’t even thinking about any of you. I was…”
“You called out to us and here we are. I suggest instead of everyone being ass holes and pissed off at the situation maybe we should figure out what happened,” Gabe ordered.
“All I know is I had a moment and I became a bit emotional. I’m sorry,” I explained.
“It’s alright Layla, we are all learning and everyone should take a breath and reset,” Lucy remarked.
For the first time I was happy Lucy was here. Gabe and Lucy’s words seemed to ease the tension that circled around us.
“I believe you are very powerful Layla and have only peeled off a layer or two of what you are capable of. Until you fully understand your ability I believe we are all in for a roller coaster ride. You were able to connect with all twelve of us at once and even more bring us to you. The scary part of this is you don’t know how you did it,” Greg spoke calmly.
“I know this is really important but I’m worried if we don’t get back soon there may be real trouble at the warehouse. I had the screamers sleeping and without me there I’m worried what could be happening. There are two screamers restrained and Gabe brought the new girl back shortly before all this went down. If the screamers are awake the humans are probably keved over in pain. We should get back and help,” Hannah said.
“Why should we help the nongifted anymore? They hate us and want us to leave. They are probably jumping for joy with us gone,” Gabe said, with anger in his voice.
“Not all of them hate us,” Hannah snapped.
“Oh right, because your daddy is one of them so it’s all good for you Hannah,” Gabe barked.
“Send me back now,” Hannah roared.
Gabe looked at me for a long moment.
“I can’t send you all back at once. I can send three of you, maybe four but it will drain me. I’ll need time. The warehouse is far and there are too many of you. Some of you will have to spend the night in the bunker. I can take three tonight, three tomorrow and the rest will have to drive back tomorrow.”
Clear disappointment spread across the faces around me, even Silas looked upset by this news. The group decided Hannah, Greg, Addy and Silas would go back first. I was sad that Silas was in such a hurry to get back. I had wanted him to stay with me for the night but clearly he had moved past wanting to be around me. I guess I was toxic to everyone these days. I watched Gabe take Hannah’s hand and Hannah take Greg’s hand and then Addy and finally Silas. Silas barely smiled in my direction before he was gone.
I brought the remaining crew to my house and escorted them into the bunker. Lucy was fascinated and explored the place top to bottom. She quickly made herself at home and scavenged through old photo albums. The rest found their corners, chairs or beds and drifted into small chat or silence for the remainder of the day. I stayed in my room upstairs until the stars were the only thing to be seen outside.
“You don’t have to shut yourself away from the rest of us. Maybe they would connect with you if you would open up a little,” Jacob said. He walked into my room and sat by the window I was sitting by.
“Once everyone found out I could take their gifts they feared me. It’s best if I keep my distance. I don’t even know what I can do, not really,” I stated.
Jacob had brown hair cut into a military style that fit his head nicely. He had dull blue eyes and he always seemed a bit distant to me. We hadn’t spoken much at the warehouse. He had a nice smile and his face was beyond his years. I guessed he was eighteen maybe nineteen but it didn’t seem to matter anymore.
“You teleported all twelve of us to you and you didn’t need to hydrate. You weren't weak or tired. I haven’t seen you take a sip of water since I got here,” he said.
I hadn’t felt thirsty until he brought it to my attention. My throat suddenly felt dry. Great, I thought now I’m parched. I stood up and was about to go down into the bunker when a light caught my eye out the window. I glanced out and sure enough I saw a light coming from down the road. Jacob must have seen it too because he stood up and without thinking grabbed the flashlight off my windowsill and turned it on. As if that wasn’t bad enough he accidentally hit the power button on the remote to my stereo. Never had the sound of music filled me with such utter fear. I reached for the remote and shut it off but it was too late. The screams that were distant echoes in the night moments before now approached with unnatural speed. The closer they got the louder the screams.
All too late he realized he had made a grave mistake. I pulled him to his feet and we raced downstairs. The screams moved in around us from every direction. We were going to be attacked and it was going to be bad. We made it to the basement door when the sound of glass being smashed made me pull the basement door closed. I locked it and pulled Jacob into the basement. The screamers shook the upstairs of the house as we retreated into the bunker. I went to pull the bunker door closed when the basement door was smashed to pieces. The screamers sensed us and they were coming. Lucy pulled us into the bunked and slammed the door shut as the screamers entered the basement.
“What happened?” Lucy asked shaking with fear.
The screamers tore the basement apart searching for us. We could hear the commotion on the other side of the steal door.
“They must have sensed us,” I lied.
I didn't want to throw Jacob under the bus.
“Can they get through the door?” Olyvia asked.
I turned and saw everyone was standing and alarm was evident on their faces.