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Chapter Thirty Eight
“I've tried calling her twenty times but her phone keeps going right to voice mail!" Jenna sounded near tears and Anna related the info to the guys as a feeling of panic rose in her chest, and they exchanged looks that said “One hell of a coincidence.”
They checked to see how close they were to Holly's college and found it was in the next town over. They then proceeded to get the locations of every shopping mall in their vicinity.
"Tell her to ask her aunt if there's anything about the mall that we can use as an identifier. We've got a total of six possibilities in the surrounding areas, so see if she can narrow it down." Will instructed.
She relayed this to Jenna and waited impatiently.
"She says there's a Golden Torch restaurant in the parking lot. She's trying to recall something else but nothing's coming."
They found two that fit the description, one in Ashlyn where they currently were and one a couple of towns over.
"We have to split up." Anna stood.
"Does she know when it's supposed to happen?" Will said throwing money on the table.
"Today, but not sure of exact time."
"All right, I'll take the one closest, you and Josh grab a cab and head to the other."
They hailed a taxi and she sent a picture of Holly to Will’s phone. Josh turned to Will as they got in. "It's gotta be our guy."
"No shit."
Anna called Holly’s phone continuously but it was either off or dead. When they reached their destination Anna suggested they call in the threat.
"Too risky," Josh said shaking his head, "If he sees the place start to evacuate he might decide to do it right then. If we can just find the fucker we might be able to take him out and prevent it from happening."
"Assuming he's the bomber."
"He is."
They decided to take opposite entrances and work their way towards each other.
Twenty minutes later Anna spotted Holly walking into a shoe store. She was instantly flooded with relief followed by a jolt of fear as she realized this was definitely the place and they had no idea of the when. She ran towards her friend, surprising the hell out of her as they collided.
"Anna?!"
"No time, we have to go now!" She grabbed Holly's hand and started running for an exit, fumbling with her phone and calling Josh. "Holly's here, this is the place!"
"Okay, get her out and I'll call security with a description of the fuck and get them to evacuate."
"You get out too!" The line went dead.
She started yelling as they ran, "There's a bomb in the mall, you need to get out! Get out now, the place is going to blow!!"
People sprang into action and Anna pushed through the doors with a group of others in tow.
A few steps into the parking lot she heard the explosions and grabbed Holly around the waist. She leapt covering fifty yards before landing. She tucked her terrified friend between two cars at the far side of the parking lot and called Josh. No answer. "I'll be back," she told her stunned friend, then took off across the parking lot, leaping over cars and attracting serious attention.
Her phone chirped. "Josh!"
"Yeah, I'm all right! I couldn't find the bastard…oh shit I see you, and Anna people are staring, stop the leaping thing!"
She spotted him and ran into his arms, her heart racing.
"Will's on his way, let's get your friend and bail."
They raced back to where Holly was still crouched and wide eyed.
Anna grabbed her hand, “Come on, you need to come with us.”
She blinked a couple of times but let Anna pull her up and the three of them ran up to the road just as Will was rolling to a stop. They barely had time for a glance at the rubble in the center of the parking lot before they jumped in.
"Get us out of here, Anna was practicing Spiderman acrobatics and she was definitely noticed."
They drove until they saw signs for a beach and decided to pull in there. Holly was in a state of shock, shaking and not responding to them.
"Holly look at me!" Anna commanded once they were parked.
Her friend slowly focused. "Wh...whu...what happened?"
Anna bit her lip wondering where exactly to begin. Holly didn't know anything, she hadn't gone to Europe and she was already in North Carolina when Anna had returned. She didn't even know about the shadow men, let alone what Anna was.
Will turned the radio to the local station and it was reporting the bombing.
"We're on sight at the Crawfield Shopping Center and it's a nightmare. Rescue teams are pulling people out of the rubble and we just learned that the threat was reported mere minutes before the bombs went off. An anonymous source gave a description of a man in his seventies, officials have nothing else to go on at this time. There's some sketchy reports of a teenage girl who apparently started screaming about the bomb right before the explosions started. And this is strange folks, but a number of people are insisting that they saw this same girl flying through the air carrying someone to safety."
Anna cringed, "Whoops."
The reporter continued, saying the death toll was likely in the hundreds, and Will and Josh both swore a blue streak.
"My fault," Josh said miserably, "If I hadn't lost him..."
"Don't do that bro," Will grabbed his arm, "Not your fault, some things can't be helped. Besides you called in the evac, lives were saved because of you."
The radio was still rattling on and they quieted when the newscaster announced "This just in, in addition to the teenage girl there was also a young man on the opposite end of the mall shouting warnings and witnesses say they saw the two of them running from the parking lot together."
The microphone was given to an excitable woman. "I saw the whole thing! The girl, she flew across the parking lot with someone in her arms and then she must have put them down because suddenly she was alone and leaping over cars, right into some guys arms! Then they both ran across the parking lot and I couldn't see them after that, but I'm telling you that girl was flying!"
There were several similar reports by other excitable witnesses before the newscaster took over. "Local authorities are currently searching for the young couple who are needed for questioning in today's events."
Will shut off the radio, and raised his brows, "Best put some distance between us and this place."
Josh still looked forlorn so Will shook his shoulder, "Knock it off bro, you know we win some and lose some. You heard the radio, between the shouting and the evac you did your best. Dwell on the lives you saved, feel me?"
Josh nodded still frowning.
Holly’s eyes darted between them, her expression more focused but still a bit wild. "Anna, you did fly, you were carrying me and we were in the air! Please tell me what is going on. How did you know about the bomb, and how did you know I was there, and how can you fly?"
"I didn't fly."
Holly stared at her.
"No really, I just jumped really far."
Holly's brows lifted waiting for further explanation.
"I better call Jenna and let her know you're all right." Anna dialed the number and briefly outlined what happened.
Apparently Jenna had felt things were okay, her intuition was getting stronger by the day. "So how is Holly?"
"Umm, well right now she's staring at me like I have two heads and getting pretty annoyed with my lack of explanation."
"So...what are you going to tell her?"
"Not sure yet, but I guess I better tell her something."
She hung up the phone and sighed, avoiding Holly’s questioning look.
"Hate to put a rush on things, but we really need to get on the highway in case they decide to throw up road blocks." Will met her eyes in the rearview and she nodded.
She looked at her friend. "Is there any way you can ditch classes for a day or two? If you want me to explain things you'll have to ride along. But don't worry I'll fly you back from where ever we end up."
Holly's brows shot through the ceiling and Anna realized what she'd said and laughed loudly. The boys were chuckling as well and Holly seemed to really notice them for the first time.
"Who are these guys?" she asked.
"Will and Josh, my partners in crime-fighting," she said still giggling.
"Okay. I don't understand any of this but if I have to go with you in order to understand then at least tell me how you knew I was at the mall."
"Have you ever heard of Jenna's crazy Aunt Harriet?"
Holly cocked her head to the side. "I don't think so, I mean Jenna's whole extended family is a little out there so maybe."
"No, this is different, the family disowned her saying she was deranged and possibly possessed."
Holly shook her head.
"Well it turns out the woman is not crazy, she just has some gifts. One of which is the ability to see future events. Long story short, she had a vision of the mall blowing up and you were in it."
Will pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards I 95.
Holly acknowledged they were on the move with a sigh of resignation. "Okay, when did you find out about the vision?"
"Let's see, probably thirty minutes before I found you."
Holly's eyes widened. "How did you get there so fast?"
"I was in Ashlyn when she called, and all they had to go on was a shopping mall with a Golden Torch at the edge of the parking lot. We found two malls fitting the description and Will went to the other one. I tried to call you but your phone was off."
"Yeah, the battery died...." she made a face and shook her head. "Why were you in Ashlyn in the first place?"
Now the questions would get harder to answer.
"We were following the guy we believe is responsible for the bombing."
Holly’s brows drew together. "I don't get it. You were in Ashlyn because you knew about the bombing?"
Anna shook her head and sighed. "Not exactly…look there's a whole lot of things that have happened over the past few months and I can't really answer your questions without explaining it from the beginning."
Holly sat back and folded her arms, one eyebrow raised. "I'm riding in the back of a muscle car after being rescued by my friend who has somehow transformed into Super Woman, from a bomb that otherwise would have blown me to bits…and apparently this occurred because Jenna's aunt is psychic. Anna, there is no way you are getting rid of me until you tell me everything."
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