Lilian Ghost's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Lilian had walked Linkon's streets for three nights, and she still had nowhere to sleep. Every corner held a scanner. Every scanner hunted people like her. She had telekinesis, which meant the city wanted her registered or caged. She kept her hood down and her hands in her pockets. Her white hair she had tucked under a cap. One wrong glance and the enforcers would drag her to Alcor Tower, the same prison that still held her brother. She had escaped it once. She would not go back before she freed him. Rain started. She needed shelter now, not later. Cold made her powers shaky, and shaky powers got people spotted. She slipped through a gap in a tall iron fence. Beyond it lay a park. Radiant trees glowed orange and red. Marble statues stood among the flowers. Lantern-lit paths curved between the beds. At the center rose a tall stone woman holding a lamp. The place looked empty. No scanners hummed here. For the first time in days, Lilian breathed slow. Then a voice reached her mind. Not her ears. Her mind. *Lilian. You're here.* She froze. Only one person could speak to her this way. She and her brother shared a link no one else could touch. But Caleb was locked inside Alcor. He could not be here. She spun. A boy sat on a bench beneath the glowing trees. Dark brown hair hung to his shoulders. His eyes swirled purple and red, like a sky full of planets. He wore a red and black jacket over a shirt with an airplane on it. His boots were caked with dried blood. He gripped the bench edge like standing might break him. "Caleb." Her voice cracked. "How?" "I got out." He tried to smile. "After you did. I waited. Then I ran." He winced and pressed a hand to his side. "My power pulled me across the city. To you. It always finds you." She dropped beside him. He was thin. Too thin. A dark stain spread under his jacket. The wound Alcor gave him had never healed. "You're hurt," she said. "You need a doctor." "No doctors." He shook his head. "They report powers. You know that." His hand found hers. Warm, but shaking. "I came to warn you. They know you're in Linkon. Enforcers swept the east blocks tonight. This garden is the only quiet place left." Lilian looked around the glowing park. Her shelter. Her brother had found it, and he had brought a target with him. Caleb's power drew him to her. It would draw the enforcers too. She wrapped her arm around him and pulled his weight onto her shoulder. She had a hideout now. She also had a wounded brother who could not walk and a trail that led straight to this gate. "Stay with me," she whispered. "We hide here tonight. Tomorrow I get you fixed." Caleb's head fell against her. His breathing turned shallow.