Psychic Chapter Thirteen: Escape
			In the point of view of William

	I stared at the scene in horror. Nana was lying on the carpeted floor
of the living room, her arm bleeding. There was a group of people I didn't 
recognize. They were all standing in the other side of the room. There was a
taller man, with dark hair and a soulpatch. He was grinning at me devilishly.
He had April in his arms, holding a knife to her throat. She had a cloth tied
around her mouth, silencing her, save for the frightened whimpering she made.
Tears streamed down her face. She looked down at Nana in fear, then up at me.
	I. Was. Mad. I stood before the group of psychic killers, proudly
showing off their tatoos, decorating their arms. I pointed at the man holding
April.
	"Marlow." I said. The man smiled.
	"I see that my reputation proceeds me." he said. "That's good. That 
means we're doing our job rather well." he laughed, showing his white teeth. I
glared at him.
	"Give her back. Now." I demanded. I took a step forward. April gasped
loudly.
	"Oh, just a moment!" Marlow said smoothly. "Every step you take 
towards us means the closer this girl is to death. I woudn't do that if I
were you." I stopped. I held my lighter in my hands. I was livid. If I flicked
the switch, the whole house would go up in flames. I heard a telepathic 
message from Drake.
	<Don't do it, William. You'll burn April.> I stopped. He was right. I
needed to calm down. Marlow's eyes flicked to Chad.
	"Somehow, I knew you'd try and save her, even after everything I told
you." he shook his head slowly. "Of course, you know this means you've 
switched sides. You're just as much an enemy to us as these psychics are."
Chad stirred uncomfortably. Suddenly, Marlow tightened his grip on April.
	"I swear! If you try to use your powers to steal my knife again, I 
will kill you!" he barked at her. Then he smiled.
	"Quite a fiesty little one, she is. And quite attractive." He said. He
leaned his head on her and smelled her hair. I almost blew up again. Suddenly,
one of the psychic killers doubled over in pain, grabbing his leg. Marlow 
turned to him.
	"What's wrong with you, Thatcher? Get up!" he shouted.
	"My leg! It's burning!" Thatcher screamed. It was a horrible scream.
It made me shudder. Drake was using his powers to make Thatcher think he was 
in pain. Just then, the knife flew out of Marlow's hand and into April's. She 
ran straight to me. I wrapped my arms around her, turned, and headed outside. 
I could hear a commotion inside. April was gasping and crying. I untied the 
cloth from her face and she sobbed.
	"Nana! They've got Nana in there! He stabbed her with the knife and 
tied me up! They came so fast! I thought we were safe here!" I held April 
close.
	"April." I whispered in her ear. "April it's okay. She'll be fine. 
Just relax." I rubbed her back. Just then, Drake and Sonya exploded out the 
door, followed by Chad. I turned around just as Marlow and his group came out
as well. I put myself between April and the action, flicking the switch on my
lighter. Now that we were outside, I was free.
	I exploded. Using my anger as my energy, I targeted Marlow. I hadn't
predicted on how fast he was. He dodged everything I threw at him. He looked
stressed. Drake roared in frustration.
	"He has a strong will!" he grunted. "He can still move even when I'm 
inflicting pain on him!" Suddenly, I saw a flash of brown hair. April ran past
me. I tried grabbing her and holding her back, but she was already gone. The
knife was no longer in her hand. It followed her closely and lashed out at 
anyone nearby. 
	Suddenly, one of the men was lifted off the ground, shouting in agony, 
and was thrown into two other men. April whipped around and her knife sliced 
through the side of Marlow's face, leaving a thin stripe of blood on his cheek. 
I was impressed at April's skill at fighting a crowd. I hand't expected this 
of her.
	Marlow angrily lunged at her, grabbing the knife as it flew past his 
head. We were back on square one. Marlow had April hostage. 
	"April! I shouted. "No!"
	"Well done, all of you!" Marlow said, grinning. "Now if you'll excuse 
us." Marlow reached into his pocket and pulled out a small vial. It took me a 
second to recognize what the pale colored liquid in it was. Marlow and his
group were backing up. I jumped.
	"Everyone run!" I shouted. "That's nitro!" Then Marlow threw the vial 
in our direction. We jumped behind my pickup just as an impossibly large 
explosion took place. As soon as the blast was over, I was back. I wasn't 
going to let Marlow escape with April. I quickly put out the fire so that 
hopefully no one would notice what happened. But it was too late. April, 
Marlow, and everyone else was gone.
	I fell to my knees, at a loss. Why did she have to do it? Why did she
run out and fight? Who knew what Marlow would do to her now? Where did they
even go? I bowed my head. I had failed. April was gone. 
	"She did it to stop the fighting." Drake said. "That was very brave of
her." Sonya put a hand on my back. I quickly wiped away my tears and turned to 
Chad.
	"Where did they go?" I asked. Chad was very pale.
	"I know where the psychic killer headquarters is. They might be going
there." he said. I stood, but Drake stopped me.
	"Marlow is expecting you to go there." he said. "You'll be walking 
into your own death."
	"I have to try!" I protested.
	"Yes! I know!" Drake said. "But Let's go about it more strategically,
shall we?" he invited. I looked at him.
	"You have a plan?" I asked. 
	"An idea, yes." Drake answered. "A crazy, hair-brained idea, but it
just might work."

	"No."
	"Come on! It would only be for a while! By the time they realized what
happened, you would be gone!" I pleaded. Ben shook his head.
	"They'd never let me back!" he said.
	"Just tell them you got lost!" I said. Ben struggled to come up with a
suitable argument. I put a hand on his shoulder.
	"Ben, listen. I would go myself, but I'll set off that little machine
thing they have. You already have an in with them, they'll trust you. Just 
find April and help her escape. She's the most important thing in the world to
me. Please?" I asked. Ben groaned.
	"Ugh! Alright, alright. I'll do it." he said. "But you owe me bigtime,
Will!" I smiled.
	"Great!" I said. Drake approached us.
	"Ben. You'll need this." He said. Handing him something metal and 
heavy. "It's a chainmaille shirt. Wear it under your clothes, just in case. 
And when you find April, give her these." he handed him a small black box.
	"What's in here?" Ben asked.
	"Throwing stars. April will be able to protect herself better with 
them." Drake answered. "And take this." he handed Ben a small disc with a 
little red button indented in it. "That's an alert disc. If you need help, 
push that button. It will set off an alarm on my alert disc, and we'll get to
your location as fast as we can." Ben nodded.
	"Thank you." he said humbly. He wasn't expecting any help from Drake.
Drake turned to me. 
	"You alright, William? You look tired." he asked me. I lifted my head
to look at him. He was beginning to look blurry. What was going on? Was I 
seeing double? 
	"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine." I muttered. "I'm just... dizzy." I could feel
myself falling, but I couldn't keep my balance. I fell to the floor. I saw 
Drake and Ben standing over me, but I couldn't hear or feel anymore. Finally, 
I blacked out.
		*		*		*		*
	"Are you sure he'll be alright?" Ben asked. Drake nodded. 
	"I put him in his bed." he answered. "Sonya will see what she can do 
to help him. You need to focus on getting in the psychic headquarters safely. 
Good luck." Ben nodded and left. He used the directions Chad had given him to
find the abandoned warehouses the psychic killers were using as their 
temporary headquarters. It was almost noon when he finally found it. Ben 
gathered up all his courage, and knocked on the door. The pannell slid open,
and Ben could recognize Alonzo's eyes.
	"Benjamin? Is that you?" he asked. Ben nodded.
	"It's me, Lonno. Let me in." he said. The door opened. 
	"What happened to you, boy? When your group came without you, I 
thought you might have gotten cold feet and ran off!" Alonzo said. Ben shook
his head.
	"When we made it to Salt Lake City, I got seperated from my group. I
tried looking for them, but I couldn't find them anywhere! So I came up here
to Rexburg by myself to find you guys!" Ben explained. Living with his father
had made Ben an excellent liar. He didn't like doing it, but in this case, it
was for the better. Alonzo smiled.
	"It's good to see you again, boy! I'll have to teach your group leader
a thing or two about leaving group members behind!" he said. Ben smiled.
	"So what's happened here? I've missed out on quite a bit, I think." he
asked. Alonzo grinned.
	"We caught one." he said. "A girl, too. We're holding her hostage to
get more psychics to come right to us! Then we'll end them all." he rubbed his
hands together. "Marlow is a smart one, that's for sure!" he said. Ben nodded
with a smile.
	"Can I see her?" he asked. Alonzo smiled slyly. 
	"I suppose I can let you take a peek." he said. "It's time to feed her
anyways. We don't want her dying on us."
	Alonzo led the way down a hallway. There was a metal door, with a 
metal bar blocking the way. The only way to open the door was to slide the 
metal bar upwards. Alonzo lifted the bar off and opened the door, while Ben 
held the food. When the door opened, Ben could see April behind a wall of 
metal bars, pulling at the chains that held her wrists together and connected
to the wall. She had a cloth tied around her mouth. She looked up at the two
men fearfully. Then she recognised Ben. Ben winked at her. April looked down
at the floor. 
	"Why hello there, girlie!" Alonzo said. "It's lunchtime!" He looked
over at Ben. "You go ahead and let her eat, Benji. I'll tell Marlow you've 
returned. Lock up when you're done." 
	"Yes, Sir." Ben replied. Once Alonzo had closed the door behind him,
Ben untied the cloth from April's face.
	"Benjamin!" April whispered. "What are you doing here?" She asked.
	"I'm here to get you out. Here." Ben handed her a piece of bred. April
took it and bit into it.
	"Where's Will?" she asked. 
	"Will couldn't come. The machine would go off if he was here."
	"Right." April remembered. 
	"Here, Drake wanted me to give you this." Ben pulled the little box of
throwing stars out of his pocket. April's eyes grew wide.
	"Drake's throwing stars! Can you put them in my pocket? I can't reach
that far." she said. Ben slipped them into her pocket. 
	"What does the door look like on the outside?" April asked. "I've been
trying to break it down all day, but I can't focus on it very well." 
	"There's a metal rod you have to slide upwards." Ben answered. April's
face lit up.
	"Oh! I see! I could tell the door was shaped funny. I just couldn't 
tell what it was!" she said. Ben handed April more food. 
	"You see if you can free yourself using those throwing stars. I'll
come back later tonight and we'll bust out of here." he said. April nodded.
Using her powers, the throwing stars shot out of her pocket and burst out of
the case. They began striking the chains one by one, piecing away at the 
chains. Ben picked up the empty food plate and locked the door behind him, but
left the rod as loose as possible.
	Marlow greeted him back like an old friend. Ben was relieved. He was
afraid Marlow would be suspicious. That night, Ben snuck back down the hallway
after everyone else had gone to bed. He lifted the rod and opened the door.
Suddenly, he fell backwards, and noticed that his forehead hurt.
	"Ah!" Ben gasped. 
	"Oh no! Ben! I thought you were one of the guards! I'm sorry! Are you 
okay?" April ran out of the room and knelt down next to him. His face was wet
and hot, probably from his own blood.
	"No, no! This is good! I just got an idea. Follow this hallway to the
main entrance and get out of here. I'll distract them." Ben said. 
	"But what about you?" April asked.
	"Listen, April. I might be stuck here for a while. I'll act as a 
double agent. I'll keep an eye around here and let Drake know when things 
start to get bad. You go back home. I'll be fine." I said. April looked
perplexed. Then she nodded. She got up and ran as quietly as she could to the
entrance. Using a throwing star, she cut a hole where the door handle was, and
escaped. Ben got up and stagered to the entrance, watching April leave to make
sure she got away safely. Then Ben layed down next to the door, nursing his
throbbing head, and went to sleep.
	
	"Ben! Ben! Wake up! What happened?!" Alonzo, Thatcher, Dominique, 
Gretchen, and Marlow were all crowded around him. It was still nighttime. Ben
looked up at everyone blearily.
	"Wh-where am I?" he mumbled. Marlow croutched down next to him.
	"Alonzo said he heard something, so he came and got us. What happened
here, Benjamin?" 
	"The girl! She escaped!" Ben groaned, holding his bleeding forehead.
"I heard her move the bar on the door and came out to see what was happeneing!
I tried to stop her from leaving, but she was armed! Throwing stars flying all
around!" Ben pretended to be dizzy. In truth, he was a little light headed, 
but he made it more convincing. Marlow nodded.
	"The devious little wretch. What did I tell you about psychics? 
Nothing but trouble! He needs medical help. Get the doctor in here. Good work, 
Benjamin. You did your best." Marlow patted him on the shoulder. Benjamin 
smiled. April had gotten away safely.
	
	April ran home. She didn't know how long she would be able to stay. 
The psychic killers knew where she lived. Her whole family was in danger. She
ran up the steps and opened the front door. 
	"April! You're here! But how?" Chad said. He ran up and hugged her. 
April was stunned. Chad was never the touchy-feely type, but she was happy to
hug him anyways. Then she noticed that the rest of her family was in the 
living room. Mother was crying. Father had his back to everyone, staring out
the window. Kim was trying to comfort Mother. Caleb was wondering what was 
going on.
	"I'm so... I'm so sorry, April!" Chad said. April hugged him back. She
could guess what was going on. Chad was a psychic killer. He told the family.
	"April, sweetie, come here!" Mother said. April ran to her and hugged
her. 
	"Mother! I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I'm psychic! I didn't think
you would believe me!" April gasped. 
	"April, honey. We already knew. Nana is my mother. My family grew up
with a psychic mother. We could never keep secrets from her. And she didn't 
keep secrets from us. When you turned ten years old, Nana noticed that she 
couldn't read your mind anymore. She told me that you had inherited her power.
We decided not to tell you because it might keep you safer." She wiped the
tears from her face. "And now look! Your arms have so many scratches! You 
could have been killed!" April looked at her arms. She remembered that 
breaking free from the chains with the throwing stars proved to be harder than
she thought.
	"Mother, my psychic powers saved me twice today! If I didn't know I
was a psychic, the killers would have kidnaped me anyways. Will was right to
tell me. He saved me, Mother!" Mother smiled a little.
	"At least we know that you'll be well taken care of." she said.
	"What do you mean?" April asked.
	"Drake Watkins visited us earlier today. He said that the psychic 
killers know where we live, and that we're your family. He said he can get
'The Society' to relocate us until things are better here." Mother answered.
April was stunned. Her family was moving without her? How would she get by?
Will and his family would be there, but April wanted her family to be there 
for her too.
	"Where will you go?" April asked sadly. Mother shook her head with a
shrug.
	"I don't know, but we'll keep in touch. I promise! You will move into
the summer home. It's the little cabin in the forest we used to visit when you
were all very young. It's near the Duncan household so that you'll be under
the protection of Drake's protectors." Kim jumped up and hugged April, crying.
	"I don't want to leave you, little sister! This sounds so dangerous,
and you'll be all alone!" April hugged Kim back.
	"I won't be alone. I'll have the Duncans, and the squadron. I'll be 
fine. This will all be over before you know it, and you'll all come back!"
April said. Kim nodded.
	"Apwil?" Caleb asked, growing nervous at seeing the faces of his older
sister and mother crying. April bent down and picked up her little brother.
	"I'll miss you, Caleb." she said. Caleb was confused, but hugged her
around the neck. Mother then took Caleb from her.
	"Go and pack your things, Darling." she said as calmly as possible.
Father tured around.
	"And take this." he said in a low voice, handing April and envelope.
"There's about a thousand dollars in there. Use it to take care of yourself."
April was surprised.
	"Oh! But Dad! The Society will take care of things like that!" April
said.
	"Until then, you keep it." her father answered. April gave her father
a hug, and went upstairs to gather her things. April could hardly believe what
was happening. Her family was leaving. They would be safe, wherever they were,
but it was still sad. April wished there was no such thing as the psychic 
killers. She pulled a suitcase out from under her bed, and started putting her
clothes and personal belongings in it. 
	'It won't be forever.' She told herself. 'I'll see them again.'
	"April?" came a voice. April turned around and saw Chad, poking her
head in the doorway. He looked terrible. His sandy brown hair was messy, and
his eyes were red.
	"Chad! Come in!" April said. Chad knelt down on the carpeted floor 
next to her.
	"April, this is all my fault. I don't want to leave you here. I'm such
an idiot." Chad said. April shook her head and continued packing.
	"You had no idea. It's alright." April said.
	"Do you... do you hate me?" Chad asked, his voice tight. April looked
at her brother. He was crying. April felt sorry for him. She wrapped her arms
around her brother's neck and hugged him.
	"Of course I don't hate you." April said. "You're my only older 
brother. I love you." she said. Chad cried. April found herself crying too. 
After a while, she pulled away. 
	"I'd better pack." she said. 
	"Let me help you. I can at least do that." Chad offered. 
	Chad and April packed up her room and then helped their family pack 
all of their things. They weren't bringing much, The Society said they would
take care of most everything. The Palmer family gathered in the front yard 
with their suitcases and bags, as Father locked the front door behind them. It
was dark outside now. The moon hung low in the sky, lighting up the yard and
the street. April put her things into her car and then bid her family
farewell.
	"I'll call you every weekend." April promised. Mother nodded
tearfully. Nikki decided to stay with April and make sure Nana got better. 
After April said goodbye to her family, she drove to the cabin, using her
mother's directions. When she got there, Clarie and Sonya were waiting for
her. Clarie hugged April tightly.
	"We're coming to stay with you!" She said happily. "We didn't want you
to stay in this cabin all by yourself!"
	"Thank you!" April said gratefully. Clarie looked around, her smile
fell.
	"Where's Benjamin?" she asked. April bowed her head.
	"Benjamin... didn't make it. He stayed behind so that he could warn
Drake if Marlow began planning something again." she said. Clarie looked 
disappointed. Then she forced a smile.
	"He's brave." she said. "He's doing us all a great favor." April 
nodded. Something about the way Clarie talked about him made her smile. Clarie 
and Sonya helped her move in. 
	"How's Nana?" April asked Sonya as they unpacked her things.
	"Just fine. She's resting in the spare bedroom at the Duncan's place. 
She'll be up and about tomorrow." Sonya answered.
	"Good." April sighed with relief. "Where's Will?" 
	"Will is-"
	"Hello? Is anyone here?" came Will's voice from the kitchen. April
jumped up happily and went out to meet him.
	"Will! I missed you!" April said. Will hugged her tightly.
	"I missed you too." he said quietly. Sonya walked into the room.
	"Feeling better, Will?" she asked.
	"Much." Will answered, kissing April on the top of her head.
	"Was something wrong?" April asked. Will shrugged.
	"Just a fever. I'm better now." he said. April thought.
	"It wasn't your headaches again, was it?" she asked. 
	"Maybe. But it's alright." he responded. April sighed in defeat. Will
wasn't one to complain, or to have others worry about him. Best to just let
sleeping dogs lie.
	"I'm sorry about your family." Will said quietly. April smiled.
	"They'll be safe." she answered. "And they'll be back soon." she 
added. Will smiled.
	"That's the spirit." he said, hugging her tighter.