Chapter 6: Power Revealed
"Ten seconds. I can stop the time during ten seconds." The words fell from my lips.
I watched Emily’s face carefully, searching for any sign of what she was thinking as silence stretched between us like a taut wire.
Her green eyes, usually so expressive, had gone completely blank. She stared at me without blinking, her lips slightly parted as if she’d been about to speak but the words had simply evaporated.
"Do you think I’m some kind of monster?" The question burst out of me before I could stop it, my voice cracking slightly. I ran a hand through my disheveled hair, feeling the grease and grime that had accumulated over the past hours days. "Yeah, I know it’s weird that I obtained this... this weird power right when this pandemic hit us."
The timing felt too convenient, too suspicious. What were the odds that I’d develop some supernatural ability just as the world was ending? Sometimes I wondered if I was losing my mind, if the stress and horror of everything had finally snapped something inside my brain.
"N—No, no, sorry!" Emily’s voice came out in a rush as she shook her head so vigorously that her ponytail whipped back and forth. Her cheeks flushed pink, and she pressed her hands together in her lap. "I—I’m just a bit overwhelmed. This is... Ryan, this is incredible."
She looked down at her hands, then back up at me, and I could see her trying to process what I’d told her.
"Yeah, same..." I let out a shaky breath, feeling some of the tension leave my shoulders. At least she didn’t think I was completely insane. "But that means we have a chance to get away from this place, Emily. We’re not trapped here anymore."
For the first time in hours, I felt something that might have been hope stirring in my chest. We’d been holed up in this storage room for what felt like an eternity. The idea that we might actually escape seemed almost too good to be true.
Emily leaned forward, her brow furrowing. "But there must be some drawbacks, right? I mean, nothing this powerful comes without a cost."
I held up my left hand. "Yeah, look. It’s not as dark as it was before."
The tattoo, which had been a deep, almost black color when I’d first discovered it, now appeared faded and grey. The sand within the hourglass design seemed to shimmer weakly, like the last embers of a dying fire.