DOVE (Sequel to VIRUS)

Chapter Twelve: Shaded From View

Lilian and Shade would probably think I was nuts but I knew that what I would propose to them would be the only way of keeping them alive. It was sort of a crazy idea but I knew it would work.

We were stopped by some men asking to see our identification as we approached the doors to the building. Lilian made the men think they were receiving legitimate papers and we were waved on by. It was a surprisingly easy task to find Kryztov. All we had to do was go to the front desk and ask the lady if we could interview him for a local news station. She said that he was busy but did go and check with him when he might be free. Little did she know that we followed her into his office, now invisible.

Kryztov's office was rather boring. A large desk and a bunch of filing cabinets lining the wall were the only furniture. Kryztov himself was busy looking through one of the cabinets. Lilian made her way over to his desk and picked up the candlestick on its surface.

"Wait!" I hissed.

Kryztov turned startled by the noise and looked around, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. I realized that our illusion wasn't meant to block out our voices as we weren't expected to speak. He slowly walked over to his desk unaware that we were standing right next to it. Lilian looked curiously at me.

"We can't kill him," I said.

"We have to," Shade threw his hands up in the air in frustration.

Kryztov jerked his desk drawer open and pulled out a gun. He pointed it shakily around the room.

"Who's there?" he demanded.

I gestured my hand toward him and felt something cold well up within me. It traveled up my chest and through my arm. A wave of white snow burst from my hand and flew toward the man. The snow hit him and he was instantly encased in a prison of clear ice. He looked around in astonishment and fainted. I almost laughed at his weak mind. Lilian waved her arm and the illusion holding us fell away revealing our true forms.

"What do you then propose we do with him? We can't just rewrite history!" Shade shook his head as if the very idea was just too wild to even think about.

"We take him back to the future with us," I stated simply.

Lilian's mouth dropped open and Shade sat right down on the floor and started rocking back and forth muttering something about kids and time travel.

"You're not serious," Lilian stated rather than asked.

"Why not? I mean, think about it, you can just make an illusion that looks like he's been murdered just like the history books said and I'll just keep him in this ice prison and we'll take him with us. I can easily teleport him back to the shack and leave him there in the ice and then come back here and we can get the rest of them."

Shade stopped rocking and looked up.

"You know..." he said slowly, "that might actually work."

Lilian groaned, "what are we gonna do with them after we get back to the fortress? Aren't there like time travel laws or anything against brining people from the past into the future?"

"Don't ask me, it's not like there's a bunch of time travelers around. I'm the only one and I have no idea what will happen. All I know is that it's a lot better of an option than just killing them."

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I think he's right," Shade stood up.

"Well, okay, I'm gonna trust you two but if all hell breaks loose when we get back I'm gonna blame you guys."

I nodded to her and put one hand on Kryztov's icy prison. In a flash I was back by the shack. I added some more ice around the edges just for extra protection and then teleported back to the office. Lilian waved her arms around slowly forming the powerful illusion making sure that it would last for a long time. Invisible once more we made our way down and out of the building.