“I’m sorry,” she whispered before their bodies lifted, their eyes wide as they were forced out of the park. Emily moved them. Holy shit.
“I love them, but Bella needs them alive. Their powers won’t help here.” She exhaled loudly, as a body blurred past, then stopped in front of us.
“I got everyone out. I’ll stand by. Might be able to stop it or get you all out of the way.” His strength and speed might come in handy.
“We’ve got sixty seconds!” Gwen hollered from the other side of the stage. Arthur pushed his glasses up his nose as he walked over to our group with her. The little metal dragon curled around Gwen’s legs, and I knew from future Gwen that meant she was nervous. Me too. Hell, we all were.
“You and me. Let’s do this.” Emily stepped forward with her eyes on the sky. With tight fists at her side, she stepped into the shadow the satellite caused in the grassy area. Gwen raised her hands, then joined my woman. Arthur grabbed the robots and took them to safety outside the park.
A beam of yellow light shot down fifty feet to our right, and the trees were incinerated instantly. Arthur sprinted from the exit to put out the growing fires with his water power. My heart raced, but there wasn’t anything I could do besides believe in Emily. In us. Jumping time wouldn’t work until I knew what happened. More beams shot into the sky, the bay, the top of a building across the park.
“V,” Emily whimpered, and I was there, at her side.
“I’m here, I’m with you. Always.”
“I feel it shifting. It’s working.” Gwen grit her teeth as a tan form weaved around fire ahead.
“Amari.” Emily wobbled as her lion crossed the distance in no time. He’d felt Emily’s distress and came. I liked the big guy even more.
“I feel stronger with you all here.” She exhaled and my hands warmed. A feeling deep inside me called to her, to touch her. No time to waste as the satellite broke free of the clouds and stopped spinning. I placed my hands on her shoulders. My brave Emily. New to her powers, she stood ready to save the city. I loved this woman from the depths of my being.
Suddenly, a yellow hue glowed from my hands and spread over Emily and Amari. I gasped as the satellite slowed, the metal warping as it descended. Emily and Gwen were so close, and everyone’s heart still beat.
I heard a crack behind us but was too focused on giving Emily whatever power I could.
“Watch it!” a male yelled, and I saw a blur before Gwen’s body was snatched away and a large branch fell where she stood, knocking Emily and me to the ground. Shit. Leon stood on the other side of the park with Gwen in his arms, eyes wide. I shook my head. He wouldn’t make it, not even with his speed.
Amari stood in front of us and roared at the once again full-speed satellite. Seconds, we had mere seconds before it crashed into us.
“Amari,” I called the lion, and he came over. I pulled Emily into me and grabbed hold of her cat companion. My power was already shared between us somehow, so the orange glittering flecks coated our bodies as the heat from the hot metal brushed against us.
“I love you,” Emily whispered as I closed my eyes. We’d either jump time or die together. Either way, I wasn’t living in a future without her. Maybe that made me a horrible human for condemning the world to more of Terratrex’s terrorizing projects in place of her. I didn’t care. It’s an impossible task to take on every single problem of the world. More heroes would rise to save the day. There would always be those who stood against the darkness of our world. Whatever came, I’d have Emily by my side. Like she said, together, we are timeless.
Heat blasted us and all sound ceased.
“Oh no, I’m dead. I’m dead.” Emily’s frantic voice had me opening my eyes to see where we were. My grip tightened as a huge chunk of red hot metal floated in the air, inches from my face. Sweat coated my forehead, and I gulped, afraid to move.
“We’re not dead, but we didn’t jump time either,” I whispered, and Emily’s head shot away from my chest.
“Cheese and fucking crackers. Fucking hell,” she cursed and gripped me tighter.
“No, Amari, I don’t think your roar stopped it,” Emily scoffed as I leaned back an inch to peer around the satellite.
“Holy shit.” I had no words, no thoughts to what I saw. Fire, frozen in patches around the park. Leon’s body showed he’d been in the middle of running, but he was still like a statue. Emily glanced around and stilled when she saw it too.
“Did we just stop time?” She breathed.
“Yeah, I think we did.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Emily
I did not have “time manipulating with my boyfriend” on my life’s bingo card. Granted, I didn’t have “almost get squished by a satellite” or “have a lion friend” on my life card either. Just one of the many surprises, I guess.
“How long do you think it’ll stay like that?” I asked, my whole body scared as shit to move.
“I don’t know. I didn’t know this was possible.”
