He fumbled for it, pushing aside dirty clothes and dishes until he pulled the small rectangle from the pile. It flashed and buzzed, on silent. His Mindmind?felt foggy, but he answered it. "Yeah?"
"Bumble! Have you heard from your sister? It's been hours since she said she was coming home, and I haven't heard anything! Please tell me she's with you!"
"Wait, wait, Mom, slow down," Felix saidFelix? He rubbed the bridge of his nose. Everything felt...hazy. Had he fallen asleep on the couch again? "Where's Gabby?"
"Where'sshe went to that party. The one you were supposed to go to!"
"What? Oh," he blinked and suddenly remembered. The party. The yacht. That had been hours ago. "I didn't go. I uh, I just didn't"
"Have you gotten any phone calls from her?" His mom sounded at the edge of panic.
"Lemme check." He pulled his phone from his ear and thumbed through his messages. He'd had exactly forty seven messages from his sister, mostly texts, and a few voicemails. They were all about getting him out with her, to the party. To get over his ex. They turned berating after a while, but the last few were concerning.
Gabby: C'mon! My friend wanted to meet you! It'll be fun and if you don't show up I'll disown you!
Gabby: Hey. Where are you? Things are weird.
Gabby: Come soon. Please. I need help.
Gabby: Help. She's hurt! They took her!
After that, the messages were garbled, like the text itself was glitching.
His heart was racing, trying to beat out of his chest. Images of a woman, drugged unconscious, of smug idiots standing over her. The girl. Her friend. Iwhat is this? How could he know what she looked like, or what had happened? He shook his head. He was still groggy from sleep.
"Bumble! Did you? Hear from her?" her tinny voice sounded on edge. She had always been convinced the worst could happen at any time...and maybe it had. That vision felt so real.
"Mom, yeah, I've got some messages from her. Don't worry, I'll take care of this, you just get some sleep and I'll call you with an update in a little bit. Okay?" He put on his calmest voice, hoping he could talk her down a bit. Thunder crashed outside. "It's storming outside right now, but I can make some calls at least."
"Don't go out into it, Bumble. Its a tropical storm that came out of nowhere. I don't want to lose track of you too."
"I won't, Mom." He peered out his windows. The sky was black but flashed with sheets of blue-white illumination. "But I don't" Something shifted out there, in the rain. It had the shape of an immense figure, wreathed in...but that was impossible. "I can't wait for it to pass, Mom. Gabby she's in danger."
How did he know that? Lightning flashed, again and again, and the certainty remained. She was in danger. She was taken, instead of me.
Where had that thought come from?
Lightning. Something about lightning. Thunder hit, so hard the world felt like it was rocking. He felt his apartment twist, going askew, as something other ripped across his consciousness. A force. A Will that could not be denied.
"Bumble? Bumble are you there?"
A connection to the lightning. A door.
This isn't me! This isn't what happened!
He reached out. He had to find her! He reached out!
Lightning came, and the wall exploded.
The Tower.
Weather The Storm, 'Ware The Lightning.
The Path Continues.
The streets were dark with night, slick with rain. The world was rain, all of it falling, surrounding him. He panted, out of shape with a stitch in his side, but still he ran. He couldn't stop. He couldn't.
They took her. They took her instead of me. He knew that, was certain of it. But who had taken her? Where? I have to get to the marina.
His car hadn't worked when he'd tried it. Had he tried it? There was a fog in his mindhisMind?but he knew he had to run. Water poured from the sky, sluicing down the streets like imitation rivers. Yet not imitations for long, as waist high waves crested the corner ahead. 4th Street and St Paul converged, waves crashing in fifteen foot high swells, and all of it was coming at him.
He turned down an alley, one still dry enough. The roads were flooding, but he had to make it to the docks. To the yacht. He had to stop it. To stop what? Lightning burst in sheets above him, too close, vibrant and blue-white.
His lightning. Something pressed against the backs of his eyes, against his spine.
How could he forget!
His sister was gone, but that's not what happened!
The Path! I walk the Path!
Water roared ahead, splashing through the darkness, and among the cresting waves ran undulating creatures. Too many legs, too many eyes, of smoke and shadow and fire. They shrieked!
Giant icicles ripped from the sky, stabbing down into them all and freezing the waves. Felix skidded to a stop, just shy of a brutalized monstrosity, its flesh half-frozen even as it dissolved into light-streaked smoke. Another shriek, this one of furious victory, sounded from above.
"Pit!" he shouted, the words out of his mouth before he could think them.
FELIX!
"Felix?" he asked, shuddering from the contact of...of whatever that was. "Who is?"
Behind you!
He spun in time to see more of the nightmares crawling down the buildings to either side of him. Giant icicles came down and skewered many, but more rose from the dark and the water with every heartbeat.
RUN!
He ran. Questions swirled in his brain, so many questions, least of all was the name of that winged thing that saved him. He ran, and the monsters gave chase.
Thunder rocked the city, the streets trembling with every strike, and lightning flashed far above. It was growing, the storm. How far would it grow? He stared up as he ran, unable to tear his eyes away, as clouds the size of mountains were wreathed in brilliant lightning and shattered. Yet more clouds always came, all of them of ill Intent and foul Affinity.
He almost fell, the unfamiliar words burning in his Mind. His Body ached, but not as much as he'd feared, his muscles burned but it was a faint sensation. Stronger was the fear. The monsters were right behind him!
Fight, Felix! Fight!
"Fight?" he gasped breathlessly. He couldn't fight! He had never!
Lightning flashed and thunder crashed. The street buckled, rippled beneath him. He was thrown. Nightmare creatures swirled beneath him as he arced into the air, maws open, claws and mandibles and burning eyes ready. Eager.