Chapter Twenty-Three: Aspen

Chapter Twenty-Three
~ Aspen ~

Despite my attempts at arguing, the boys insisted that we leave right now. I was exhausted after my little adventure with Grey. Using my powers always took a lot out of me, probably because I didn’t do it often. If there was one thing most people could agree on, it was that everyone has the right to make their own choices. My power takes that away. That’s why I hate it. I wasn’t beating myself up too much, because I knew those men were going to hurt us, but I still didn’t like it. We could’ve found a different solution, but I panicked and that was the easiest way to get us out.
I had the urge to pack a bag. It’s what I've done each time I left the house recently. I’d bring my backpack with me everywhere, stocked with supplies. Now, I had no idea where it went, and I didn’t have anything to put in it either. Just then, Jax poked his head into Grey’s tent, where I was waiting.
“Come on.” Leave it to Jax to get straight to the point. He turned and walked out before I could say anything.
I sighed, half happy to be leaving this place and half terrified we wouldn’t make it to our destination. A lot of people were counting on me to make this work. I knew where the building was, but what if it wasn’t in good shape anymore? What if I led Jax and Will there for nothing? This could all be a massive waste of time and that made me nervous. They had put way too much trust in me.
I found them waiting by one of the entrance holes. I assumed they’d already said their goodbyes. We began the journey up to the ground level, making quick work of navigating the tunnels. They were almost going too fast for me to keep up, but I didn’t mind much. We had a long distance to travel.
“Alright,” Will stopped and turned to us before making the final move to reach the ground. “You got us covered?”
The question was directed at Jax. I didn’t have to wonder what he meant for too long as he nodded and waved one of his hands in a large circle around the three of us. I watched, my eyes wide with amazement, as a thin, glimmering bubble formed. When he lowered his hand, it remained in place. I poked it with a finger, transfixed as it rippled under the pressure.
“You look like a kid who’s just seen candy for the first time.” Jax snorted from beside me.
I looked at him in surprise. I’d never seen him smile before. Aside from the one time he yelled at Grey, I hadn’t seen him express much of anything. Most of the time, he was pretty apathetic to the world around him.
“What is it?” I couldn’t stop my eyes from moving back to it. It seemed to have a life of its own as it shimmered and twisted around us.
“It will make us invisible.” Will answered as if that sentence were normal and turned to move above ground.
Jax shook his head at me with an amused smile and followed as I realized all this magic around me would take some getting used to. I had always thought that I was different, but it wasn’t until we learned about the sick in school that I knew. I had never met another person who was also sick until I snuck into the holding facility to see Will, so I had almost no experience with other people's powers.
“Where to?” Will asked as he brushed some dirt off his pants.
I almost laughed. They were completely filthy, and that small gesture wasn’t going to do much. I looked around for a moment, trying to orient myself before I answered. Once I was sure which direction my house was, I gestured the opposite way. He nodded and I took that as my cue to lead them from this point on.


The sun was beginning to rise, and my exhaustion was right behind it. We’d already walked around five miles, and it had taken close to three hours. This was all guessing on my part, but judging by the height of the sun it was roughly 5 A.M. Will and Jax didn’t seem fazed at all, driving home my suspicion that I am incredibly out of shape.
“Dude, that is definitely at least a hundred years old.” Will argued, waving a hand dramatically at a tree in the distance.
“Wrong.” Jax shook his head in mock disappointment. “Look at the bark. No way that’s past eighty.”
“That’s just ridiculous. You can’t tell a tree’s age by the bark alone. It’s got to be fifty feet tall.”
Yes, they had been fighting about this tree’s age for the last twenty minutes and yes, I was losing my mind. At first, it had been far enough away that neither of them could tell much about it. But now that we were closer, they were coming up with examples to prove themselves right. Either way, I was staying out of it.
We didn’t have much further to go. Truthfully, I’d always thought that tree was old too. I remembered seeing it each time we took a trip to this building. It had been the main office for everything involving the sick and we routinely went on field trips to see it. When they built dad's current office, which was just a pile of burnt rubble now, everything important was moved there. It hadn’t been used in at least ten years.
Finally, after clearing a steep hill, the building came into view. It was actually much bigger than I remembered. It was tall and narrow, standing five stories high. The whole thing was made of brick and steel, and it was in perfect condition. At least on the outside.
“Holy shit.” Jax sounded surprised from behind me. “That’s it?”
“That’s it.” I confirmed, stopping for a moment to let them assess it.
After a moment I continued on my way, the boys following closely. Once we reached the entrance my nerves threatened to get the better of me. If the inside wasn’t livable, this was all for nothing. I pushed against the large metal double doors, and they opened with surprising ease. I peered inside as I moved into the space.
I let out a sigh of contentment as warmth enveloped my body. They hadn’t shut the heat off. I couldn’t help but chuckle at their negligence. In front of me was the reception area. The waiting chairs were still sitting in the spots they’d been in years ago, covered in a thick layer of dust. Everything was covered in dust, come to think of it.
I moved forward to test a theory. I walked past the front desk, which still had a computer sitting in front of it and entered the staff lounge. After practically running to the sink, I flipped the hot water handle. It sputtered for a few seconds but to my delight water started flowing from it. It was brown, but it was water. Once the pipes were clear, it would be perfectly filtered.
“They didn’t turn anything off.” I turned to the boys with a proud smile. I couldn’t help it.
I felt my nerves melt away as they mirrored my expression. We would be okay here. There was plenty of space, and they hadn’t even seen the best of it yet.
“This building was state of the art when it was built.” I began to explain excitedly. “There’s a rooftop deck with a lap pool and bar that they used for parties. There’s a gym in the basement, and I wouldn’t be surprised if all the equipment was still there. All the offices are huge and will hold everyone easily. You think it’ll work?”
“Hell yeah.” Jax said, his eyes dancing around the room quickly. Now he’s the one that looked like an excited child.
“Good work, Aspen.” Will gave me a warm smile and turned to Jax. “You should go get the others. We’ll stay here and start cleaning up.”
He gave a nod of approval and jogged out of sight. We started by searching the cabinets for anything we could use to help clear away the grime. Surprisingly, they were stocked with supplies. I was starting to wonder why so much was left here, but I didn’t have time to think about it now. We had a huge job ahead.