Chapter 29: Falling
That night, I turned off the lights in my apartment and looked out of the window, my silhouette hidden by darkness. The city was quiet, covered in the white blanket of snow. The Orange electrical light of the street lamps was beautifully intimate. There wasn't a soul outside for miles around.
I spent almost an hour standing there, looking, until I finally noticed a small red dot inside one of the cars parked outside. It floated in the darkness, slightly shifting, and then was gone.
Someone was smoking inside the dark car. My Ability allowed me to manipulate light to a certain degree, but I couldn't see in the dark, so there was no way of knowing who it was. I knew, though, that it was one of the Protectors. They were watching my building, too.
I got dressed, locked the doors behind me, and came to the stairs. Instead of going down, though, I went up, and up, until I reached a small hatch leading to the roof. It was chained shut, with a heavy padlock guarding the way, but I managed to twist its mechanism with the Ability and hear a click.
It was cold outside, icy wind hitting me in the face with a silent threat, as though demanding to go back, into the warmth of human dwellings. But I wasn't human, not really. So what was the point?
Light pollution has robbed city people of stars a long time ago, but here, sixty or so meters above the ground, I could see a few, shining in the dark sky. It was a moonless night, perfect for the kind of thing I was about to do.
Stupid, really.
I walked to the side of the building opposite to where the smoking Protector was, struggling through the piles of snow, and stopped near the edge. One look down, and my head spun, making me take a step back. Oh God, it was so far. What was I thinking?
Focus. Breathe. You have a mission.
I awakened my Ability, slowly uncoiling it in my mind. Then I spread it through my body, enveloping it. It felt like water streaming down my skin. Finally, I created the first Affect, making myself a little bit lighter, less possessed by the pool of Earth. Then I repeated that Affect fifteen times, becoming lighter, and lighter, and lighter, until I had to grab the railing, afraid that the wind will throw me off the roof, and then lighter and lighter still.
When I reached my limit, the familiar pressure of sixteen Affects boiling in my mind, I climbed other that railing, turned around, and fell.