Fall of the ULTRAs (The Last Hero Book 6) Read online

  But I just had to get back home. I had to know Damon, Ellicia, Avi, Cassie, and Dad were okay. I had to know.

  Especially Ellicia.

  I couldn’t accept that she’d suffered the fate I thought she’d suffered when Catalyst triggered the Failsafe.

  The closer I got to home, I smelled food coming from the takeaways. My stomach churned, and I turned my head to look at the curry houses and fried chicken places that I was so eager to indulge in. No. There’ll be time for that. You’ve got other things to do right now.

  I reached the front door of my home. I stood outside it, feeling somewhat nervous, preparing myself for what to say.

  I walked over to the bell and went to press it.

  The door opened before I could reach it.

  Standing there, Ellicia.

  I felt warmth cover me right away. Instinctively, my invisibility dropped. “El… Ellicia?”

  I saw her dark hair shining in the glow of the hallway light. She looked… well, she looked older than she was when I’d last seen her. Not that much older, like she was suddenly forty-five or something, but she’d definitely aged.

  But she was here.

  She was alive.

  Her eyes widened. Her jaw dropped. Her cheeks lost their color. “Kyle?”

  My heart raced. I couldn’t hold myself back anymore.

  I stepped up toward her and wrapped my arms around her.

  “Kyle,” she said. I could hear she was crying now. “It is you. It really is you.”

  I pulled her closer. To be honest, she was doing a good job of warming me up, but I didn’t tell her that. Didn’t exactly want to ruin the moment. “Of course it’s me. I’m here. I’m here.”

  We held each other for a while. I kept my eyes closed. In that darkness, I saw the dreams replaying like they were biting at the outskirts of my consciousness.

  But nothing could ruin this moment. Nothing.

  “Kyle? Holy sh…”

  I heard the voice, and I knew who it was right away.

  When I lifted my head, I saw three people standing inside my house, right behind Ellicia.

  Damon.

  Avi.

  Cassie.

  “Jesus Christ, man,” Damon said. “You’re still here!”

  The three of them piled around me, tightening their grip. As they did, I felt at ease in their embrace, just for a few seconds. But then the memories—the dreams—of having the life squeezed from me kicked in again, and I felt myself pushing them away. “Okay,” I said. “It’s cool. I’m fine. I just… I just need a little space to breathe. Please.”

  Damon had a wide grin on his face, which was even chubbier than I remembered. “Sure, man. Sure. Sorry. It’s just… shit. You came back. You actually came back.”

  It seemed weird, standing here. Absurd, in fact. Something seemed weird about the way they were greeting me, almost as if they’d never been expecting to see me again. I scratched the back of my neck. “So, um… where’s—”

  “Come inside,” Avi said. He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. “I mean, I don’t really have to say that, seeing as it’s your place and all. But seriously. Come in, boss. Welcome home.”

  I felt that weirdness all over again as I looked at each and every one of them.

  The only person who hadn’t said a word was my sister, Cassie.

  She just looked at me with bloodshot, watery eyes, like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

  I took a deep breath and swallowed a lump in my throat. “Alright. Alright.”

  We sat around the table in my old kitchen. The kitchen had changed—a lot. There were whole new work surfaces fitted, a new fridge-freezer, and the table was long and rectangular now instead of flimsy and round. I realized right then that there clearly had been something weird going on for things to have changed so much. Just how long had I been in Antarctica?

  “Dad moved out,” Cassie said.

  I narrowed my eyes. “He… he what?”

  “He moved upstate. I still see him from time to time. But he likes his peace and quiet. He likes his fishing.”

  “And I don’t blame him, man,” Damon interrupted. “Should see the size of the fish that dude catches.”

  I heard more chatter and more laughs, but I couldn’t get involved. It all seemed too much like everything was buzzing on around me at a million miles an hour.

  “I think I’m going to see him on Friday,” Cassie said. Then she looked down at her drink, which was half finished. “Or at least, I was.”

  I looked at her. Then I looked at Ellicia, Damon, and Avi. “What’s happened? What’s… what’s changed?”

  They knew what I meant. The things that had changed, and in such a short space of time.

  “Kyle,” Ellicia said. “The world. The whole world out there. They think you’re dead.”

  I felt a tightness right in the middle of my chest. I reached for my glass of water, but I didn’t sip any of it. “How… how do they—”

  “The battle with Catalyst,” Damon continued. “Which we won, by the way. The Resistance are still out there, but they’ve gone quiet, mostly because there’s not been anything worth fighting lately. But the truth stands. The whole world thinks you sacrificed yourself to save the world.”

  I felt a bit queasy and lightheaded, so I stood up. I walked over to the window, looked outside.

  “Maybe don’t get too close, boss,” Avi said. “Just in case, you know.”

  I heard him, but I couldn’t act on what he’d said. All I could do was keep on looking outside. The world thought I was dead. So it didn’t matter how much I wanted to return to life as normal—whatever normal was now. The world had changed, so I had to change with it.

  “How long have I been out?” I asked.

  There was no response. Just silence.

  I turned around. “How long?”

  Ellicia looked at me. “You’ve been away over a year, Kyle. And as far as the world’s concerned, you’ve been dead for over a year.”

  I felt sick, right to the pit of my stomach. My face started to burn up. “I think I need to use the bathroom.” I rushed across the room, toward the hallway.

  On the way out, Avi stood. He patted me on the back, a sheepish grin on his face. “Happy nineteenth birthday, bruv.”

  I didn’t feel much in the mood for celebrating.

  4

  I stared at myself in the mirror and wished myself a happy goddamned birthday.

  It was night, and it was late. The bathroom was dark, illuminated only by the light I’d sparked in my palm. Outside, I could hear a couple shouting loudly at one another, fighting over whether he’d cheated on her first or the other way around, and how they were going to have to go on one of those TV talk shows to find out. I could still smell the takeaways, but they weren’t even nearly alluring anymore, not after the discoveries I’d made. If anything, they brought a bitter taste to my mouth.

  I’d missed a whole year of my life. Over a year, in fact. Eighteen months, as it turned out.

  And now I was back and the world was getting on just fine, safe in the knowledge that I was dead.

  I looked at the lines on my forehead, which I’d always had because I always had a look of surprise on my face, or so Mom used to tell me. Real great thing to tell a kid with self-esteem issues.

  My hair was still the same length as it had been a year and a half ago. I didn’t have any facial hair, dammit. In fact, I didn’t look different at all.

  It was as if I’d been in one of the cryogenic chambers or something, and now I’d woken up, while the world had continued around me.

  I heard footsteps outside the bathroom, getting closer to the door. I didn’t want to get caught or to speak to anyone, so I covered the light from my hand, closed my eyes and teleported myself back into bed. I didn’t get into bed, though. I just sat there, listened to the bathroom door open, heard the footsteps creak along, heard the toilet flush. When everything had gone silent, I thought about going back to
the bathroom, but instead, I stayed in my room. There was nothing else I had to see.

  To be honest, I didn’t so much want the company of anyone. I told them it was because I was tired. Really, it was because I was scared. I was trying to figure out and comprehend what I was dealing with, and still I couldn’t be sure.

  I walked over to my window and looked outside. The streets were quiet. The arguing couple wasn’t arguing anymore. In fact, they were making out. I could hear the faint buzz from the nightclubs over on Manhattan, and I wished they’d go away so I could just stand in total silence for a while.

  The thing that was bothering me more than anything?

  I didn’t want to go to sleep, because going to sleep meant facing the dreams.

  I didn’t want to face the dreams.

  I walked over to my bed regardless, and sat on the end of it. I was exhausted, yawning uncontrollably. Whenever my eyes went to close, I jolted them right back open, my heart racing as I neared sleep.

  I didn’t want to see what I’d seen before I’d woken up in Antarctica. I didn’t want to face that force that I knew was approaching Earth, because that force just felt too… well, real.

  Yet how could it be?

  How could it possibly be real?

  I leaned back and stared up at the ceiling. I could see the little glowing stars that Dad had put there for me, as a throwback to my old room. The glow had faded on them, so I lifted my hand and sent a silvery light up toward them, restoring them to as good as new.

  The things I’d seen and felt in the dreams couldn’t be real, no. But neither could I have survived in Antarctica’s freezing conditions, not a trace of me, for eighteen months, and then just return without so much as a scratch or a bit of stubble to show for it. Ellicia told me they’d been out to Antarctica, right to the scene of the fight, searching for me. They’d found Catalyst’s body, frozen, and destroyed him for good. But they hadn’t found me.

  I lay still on my bed and listened to my churning stomach. As I lay there, I weighed up where I was at, and what I was going to do about it. I could believe what I saw in those dreams, and try to recreate them—try to figure out where Orion, Saint, and Daniel were, and stand by their side.

  Or, I could close my eyes and believe they were just dreams, maybe even witnessing them all over again.

  I swallowed a lump in my throat.

  Believing they were reality was just too dangerous, as absurd a situation as this was.

  I knew it was impossible that I was here and alive—and that I even had powers in the first place.

  But I couldn’t believe there was some alien force heading toward Earth. And that Orion, Saint, and Daniel were teaming up, let alone alive at all.

  It was too far-fetched, in a world of farfetchedness.

  I opened my eyes once more and looked up at those glowing stars. They should’ve comforted me. Instead, they made my toes curl.

  I lifted my hand and put out their glow.

  And then I closed my eyes.

  I was going to adapt to this new world in whatever way I could.

  I was going to find a way to live a normal life, all over again.

  Sleep crept up on me. I tried to keep my eyes wedged open, but it was too difficult.

  In the end, I felt sleep wrapping its long, peaceful arms around me, and before I knew it, I was surrounded by the darkness, with nothing I could do about it…

  5

  It didn’t take long for me to see death all around me.

  The night was black and foreboding, but there was something different about it. It had a reddish glow to it. Either the glow of explosions or the glow of… something else. Something worse.

  Large, heavy clumps of ash fell from above. Ahead of me, there were cities in ruin. Buildings burning. Skyscrapers collapsed. I saw it all playing out in front of me like I was moving from place to place. The Eiffel Tower collapsing. London Bridge snapped in two. Then closer to home, Central Park, up in flames, everyone running for their lives, the piercing screams making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

  I knew that everything around me was falling apart. I could see that everything was collapsing. And even though I couldn’t identify or explain it, I knew why it was happening.

  But more than that.

  I knew my friends and my family were in danger.

  I needed to help them.

  I held my breath and flew across town, heading right for my house, where I hoped I’d find Cassie.

  As I approached, I saw a massive chunk of debris falling from the sky, hurtling right toward me.

  I didn’t have time to think. I just swung to my right, hoping I could avoid its course before it could swat me out of the sky like a fly.

  But the chunk of debris followed my turn and kept on pounding at me.

  A surge of adrenaline shot through my body. I froze, caught in two minds: left or right, left or right?

  In the end, I knew that left or right wasn’t going to be enough.

  I lifted my hands and fired a blast of ice at the debris.

  The debris didn’t break. In fact, it seemed like the collision with the ice only reinforced it, making it stronger, faster, more powerful.

  My stomach sank. I did the only thing I could possibly do.

  I flew away as fast as I could.

  I looked down and saw my home. I knew Cassie would be in there. But I couldn’t go inside. If I did, I’d be luring the debris to her. Yet I couldn’t just fly away either, knowing what I knew, seeing the devastation all around.

  I looked back, over my shoulder, to see how much time I had to attempt to rescue Cassie and the rest of my friends, Ellicia, everyone.

  The debris wasn’t alone anymore.

  There were more chunks of debris. They were moving toward each other as if attracted by a magnetic force. And they were welding together, forming a huge, dagger-like object right above me.

  My chest tightened. I knew that I was the only thing between this dagger and my home.

  The dagger released, like an arrow, catapulting in my direction.

  I lifted my hands and held my breath.

  Then, I let out a cry.

  Ice left my hands in thick, powerful streams.

  I kept on pushing, kept on holding my breath, focusing all my attention on that oncoming dagger of debris.

  The dagger slowed down when the ice hit it. It was still moving at me, though, just not hurtling as rapidly. I felt nausea building up. It’s going to break through. It’s too strong for me. I pushed back even harder.

  The dagger of debris was so close to my face that I could almost feel it, now. And yet it wasn’t what I expected. It wasn’t sharp, heavy, painful.

  It was like a tight grip around my chest.

  Just like the dreams.

  Just like the…

  I blinked.

  The dagger of debris was gone.

  A shiver crept up my spine. I looked around. It had gone, completely.

  But not just that.

  The city, which had been under fire just seconds ago, was still. The buildings were destroyed. More ash clouds moved overhead, raining down. There was a total, echoey silence.

  Everything beneath me was gone. Destroyed.

  There was no trace of New York City. Just ash, dust, and bodies.

  I looked away from the bodies and flew off into the distance. I couldn’t look at the bodies. I couldn’t allow myself to accept that this had happened. I’d tried to fight, but I wasn’t strong enough. I knew it, and now the evidence of that truth was there for the world to see.

  “Ellicia!” I shouted. “Damon! Cassie! Avi!”

  All I got in response were echoes.

  A spark ignited in my mind, then. Dad. He was upstate. He had to be safe up there. Maybe Ellicia, Damon, Cassie, and Avi were there with him, too. I don’t know what made me think this. It might be nonsensical, but I was clinging to a nonsensical kind of hope now.

  I started to fly off in the direction of upst
ate New York when I saw something behind me.

  There was a darkness. A darkness so thick that it cut through everything else. It was moving slowly toward me, but fluidly. As it moved, it swallowed up everything around it—the shattered remains of cars, the broken up concrete, the fallen street lights.

  As I looked at this darkness, I felt total fear. I was transfixed. Part of me wanted to stay and face it because I felt like I knew what was hiding behind it. I felt like I’d seen this happening all before.

  But then I remembered Dad, and I knew I wasn’t strong enough to face the darkness.

  Instead, I had to run.

  I shot myself upstate and landed on a farm. There were crops all around. They were still intact. So too was the farmhouse.

  I hurried up the pathway, toward the steps. Everything was still very silent. Up above, the sky was turning a brown shade of gray. I swallowed a lump in my throat. I knew what it meant. The darkness was seeping in. I had to hurry.

  “Dad?” I called, as I staggered up the steps.

  The steps creaked under my feet. By the sides of the door, two plants, both totally withered.

  The front door was ajar.

  There were footsteps leading inside.

  I felt my stomach sink. I stopped, looking at those footsteps. Someone had got here before me. I had to hope it was someone good.

  “Dad?” I called again. I walked past the plants, inside his home. I knew I’d never been here before, and yet it felt so familiar to me. Like I’d been here a thousand times.

  The sofa was covered with a thick layer of dust. The television was smashed. The mirror had fallen and shattered everywhere, my jagged face reflected in the sharp shards.

  My fear grew even more intense. “Dad? Please. Please…”

  Then I stopped.

  Dad was lying on the floor.

  A shard of that mirror glass was poking out of his neck.

  I felt the same way I’d felt when I saw the flames at my old house the night I’d lost Mom. I stumbled either side and then rushed over toward him.

  “Dad. No. Ple—”