She nodded.
"I'll go with her," I said.
"No, you stay," he said. "Matthew Obscura, please make yourself useful and accompany her to the hospital."
"I'm fine," Makayla protested.
"Just let him help," I said.
Matt squeezed my hand on his way past me to Makayla and the two of them walked away.
I turned my attention back to the pile of bodies that was pinning down the thief.
To my great surprise, she wasn't fighting back.
Several security guards circled the thief and Luka, Ben, and Zach stepped away.
"You think this is over, time mage?" The thief asked as one of the security guards snapped silver bracelets on her wrists.
"You've lost you sick bitch," I said.
"That's what you think," she said. "But I always win."
My pulse raced but I tried not to show her that I was afraid of her.
"Get her out of here," Dr. Green said. "And don't let her escape this time."
Ben wrapped his arm around me and pulled me next to him as we stood in silence watching the guards walk her to the doors.
Then the lights flickered.No. Not again.
I broke free of Ben's grip and ran toward the thief. "You are not getting away this time."
In a burst of blue light, I was knocked backward onto my ass. Quickly, I righted myself and blinked to clear my vision.
The guards were on the ground and the thief was bolting toward the door.
"No! Someone stop her!" I ran after her. I was not going to go through this all over again.
The thief ran right into Professor Halifax. In another burst of blue light, the thief was on the ground.
I stopped just short of the fallen female.
Professor Halifax glared down at her. "How dare you."
"You," the time thief gasped up at her. "You traitor."
Professor Halifax leaned down, sending another round of blue light through her hands onto the thief.
When she stood, the thief was no longer moving.
I stared at Professor Halifax in horror. I'd never seen anyone use that kind of magic before except for the time thief. "What are you?"
I backed away, terrified that I'd traded one monster for another. "What did you do?"
"She was never going to stop hunting you, and now we know how she kept evading them." She squatted down to the dead thief and brushed her hair away from her ears.
My eyes widened as I watched the thief transform right there. Her body seeming to melt away into another form.