SPARK // Enoch O'Connor

chapter 29: Illusion

"Not you."

The room of peculiars snapped their heads up to stare at me, my face contorting. I turned back around to face the man, but my eyes met the back of Enoch's head as he stepped in front of me. Widening his footing, Enoch raised his chin towards the man, balling up his fists and plummeting eyes of daggers into the opponent's direction. My heart raced like it was the tsunami all over again.

The intruder chuckled deeply, taking heavy steps towards Enoch. As he got closer, Enoch raised his chin higher and higher, keeping his ground right in front of me.

"We meet again," he smiled evilly at Enoch.

My stomach dropped. Enoch's jaw clenched so hard I thought his teeth would crack.

"You don't scare me," the dead-riser growled.

"You should be scared," the man whispered into Enoch's ear.

With a strong shove, Enoch was sent back into the room of peculiars. Seeing him land hard on the floor, I stumbled backwards with a shriek. Enoch hopped up from the ground and bolted towards the man without hesitation. His eyes were aflame and deadly, unlike anything I'd ever seen from him. The intruder was quick, though, and slammed the door right in Enoch's face. Holding the door closed, the man locked it shut with a key pulled from his pocket. Before I could ask myself how he got that key or what was happening, the man pulled a table in front of the door. Staring at him wide-eyed, my mouth gaped open and closed. What do I do?

The intruder leaned towards me and grabbed my arm, dragging me towards another room. He held onto my arm lightly, like he didn't want to physically hurt me. I took the opportunity to shoot my arm back to my side. The man jumped back in surprise as I conjured a lightning bolt, sending it flying in his direction. The large man easily dodged though, and the string of energy collided with the desk behind him. The desk was obliterated. Shrapnel exploded in every direction, luckily only ripping open the side of my shirt.

The shrouded man grabbed my wrists and I let out a yelp. His large hands encircled my wrists the whole way around, squeezing them tightly.

"Stop!" he yelled in my face, his breath ragged and foul.

Closing my eyes, I focused my energy to every inch of my skin, electrocuting him. The man stumbled backwards, releasing my hands and causing me to fall to the ground. Over the commotion, loud screams echoed from the locked room across the hall.

"I'm going to kill you!" Enoch's muffled voice yelled, distracting me from my opponent.

In that short moment, the shrouded man clamped cuffs around my hands. The wooden restraints surrounded both of my hands from wrists to fingertips, making it impossible to form a lightning strike. Since the cuffs weren't made of conductive material, shocking the attacker from the inside of the restraints also displayed impossibility. This man was a planner. He seemed to know exactly what was to happen and what to do about it. This thought made me shudder.

"If you stop disobeying me, then I'll free you," the man stated with an annoyed sigh.

I kicked him in the shin from my sitting position. The tough man only groaned from disapproval and tugged me off the ground. I thrashed in his arms, shocking him with the exposed skin on my arms, but he didn't budge.

Sitting me in a chair, he held me down with one hand while the other tied my hands to the seat. Moving to my feet, he restrained them as well, shaking his head.