"Oh. Well, can I give y
ou a call sometime?"
Before I could answer him, there was a loud pop. I looked up to see that a single bulb had burst. I sighed in relief—short-lived relief.
Suddenly, a whole row started viciously shattering in unison. Trey squealed and dove under a vendor stand before screaming at me, "Get down!"
Every bulb around us was exploding now. Then the power line above me shot out and landed beside me as it whipped and jerked violently, threatening to strike me at any second.
I screamed, but before it hit me, Tallis had already scooped me up. He swung me far away from the rabid power line, keeping me in his arms until he knew I was safely out of its reach. His eyes ran over me, searching for any damage.
"Are you okay?" he asked absently, still inspecting me.
I could feel my hands trembling as the fire from his touch burned through my veins. I was relieved and disappointed as he put me back on my feet. "Yeah. I guess you were right."
"That's just the beginning. Call Henry and tell him to get Amelia out of here."
Trey came running up to us as a few other bulbs shattered. "Aria! Are you okay? I just saw that… and then you were… I was so worried."
Tallis rolled his eyes, his jaw tensing. "She's fine. You need to get out of here, and start getting everyone else out of here, too."
Trey nodded and started pulling my hand. Tallis quickly pulled me back to him. "Not Aria. She can stay here with me. I'll make sure she gets home safe."
Trey moved toward him. "I'll take her home. You just worry about yourself."
Tallis took a step toward him now. I stepped in between them, pushing a hand against Tallis's chest. "Trey, thanks, but I really do need to stay with Tallis. I appreciate the offer though. Just get everyone out of here that you can."
Trey just turned away and huffed off angrily. Tallis rolled his eyes again. "Like he could protect you better than I could. What's he going to do? Hide and scream again when some glass breaks?"
I tried not to laugh. I felt sorry for Trey. From the moment Tallis walked in, he never stood a chance. Truthfully, he never stood a chance regardless.
My thoughts were interrupted as a new wave of bulbs began bursting. This time, there were more. Power lines jerked around on the ground everywhere now—resembling an electric, headless snake's body. People were running and screaming in panic. Tallis grabbed me and threw me out of dodge.
Then he yelled to Jay, "Kill the power!"
Jay ran up and grabbed two of the power lines at the same time. His body seemed to almost be glowing from all of the electricity surging through him. With his teeth bared and clenched, he hummed with the electricity, owning it, consuming it, until there was blackness everywhere.
Did he really just absorb all the power? Could he do that?
His body had small electrical currents moving visibly across him. He shook slightly and dusted himself off while making a loud gasping sound.
"Oh, I hate that! It's like feeling bugs crawling all over you," he growled.
Fascinated, I walked up to him and started to touch his arm, but he jerked away from me rapidly, looking at me as though I was a lunatic.
"Uh-uh. You'd be as fried as an apple pie if you touched me right now."
I drew back quickly, but I was still mesmerized by all the flowing currents that were sliding around, seeming to be living on him. "That was incredible. Did it hurt?" I asked, transfixed on the slithers of blue climbing up and down him in quick succession.
"No, but it doesn't feel good either. I have to find somewhere to safely expel this crap before I go bat-shit crazy."
My head bobbed slightly with a bit of a laugh.
"I know of a place," Tallis said.
He walked up to me and put his hand on my back, a motion that felt so natural.
"Aria can ride with me just to be safe."