The four of them sit in a waiting area…waiting. And fuming. Chris looks at the clock for the hundredth time. It’s now eleven twenty-one. The detective had taken their names and home addresses half an hour ago. How many calls does it take to realize that no one is home.Chris watches the policemen mill about the offices through the window. Elle has been quite silent since they arrived. Only talking to give her name. He feels she might snap soon, especially if we don’t get going soon. They were careful not to give out any information about why they were out here in the first pce. They’d all be taken away or something. The detective from earlier comes in holding a file. “Hello. I’m Detective Rachel Lynis.”No kidding.Her voice is calm, sweet and caring. Chris wants to throw up…on her. “I’d like to ask you all a few questions then we can have you back home in no time.” She shuts the blinds. “We don’t want to go home. We wanna go to Rochester.” Elle tells her ft out, frustration in her voice.Detective Lynis sits down and opens the file. “And why do you want to go to Rochester?”Elle starts to say something, but backs off. No police involvement, the note said. Chris can’t think of a good way to answer without getting them involved. And keeping their parents safe. “Are your parents in Rochester. We couldn’t reach them at home. Tailorton? Isn’t it?” She reads one of her file papers.Again they all just stare off into nothing. Chris feels Elle’s hand shaking. Her power was fluctuating randomly, he could tell she just wanted to let loose with something.“It’s our aunt.” Jackson blurts out. “Or aunt is sick…and we were going there to see her.” Sounds good to him. “Yeah, she’s a good friend. That’s why I’m going too.”Elle and Jerry going in the ruse with nods.“And what is your aunts name and address?” She poises ready with her pen.“Uh…” Crap. Now what? After a moments silence. Too long of a silence. The detective gives them the, ‘come on, tell me the truth’, look. His mom gave enough for him to know it. He’s sure the others know it too.“Okay, kids. Listen, I know it’s hard. You’re young, you think nothing’s gonna hurt you. Not even those you trust. Or even your parents. But this man is sick. Okay?” What the hell is she talking about?“This…Seth Lockwood? Is a sick, sick man.”“Sick?” Jerry asks, as confused as all of them.She sighs. “Molestation? Child pornography? You kids were in serious danger.” Chris’ eyes go wide. He stands up to protest, but Elle let’s go of Chris’ hand and stands up first.“That’s bullshit!” Elle yells.Whoa! Is about all that Chris can think of saying. Chris goes to her and tries to hold her back, but she shrugs him off. He can feel her power starting to rise. Not good. The detective recoils back into her chair. “Mr. Lockwood is not a child molester! He doesn’t do anything like that! My parents have known him for years. We‘ve known him for years.”Jackson stands up. “That’s right. He moved into town to help with our parents in setting up the new company.”Detective Lynis stands up and tries to get the gang to calm down. Chris has to grab Elle, she was about to jump over the desk at the detective. She fights him yelling for him to let her go. Jackson and Jerry both help. Elle screams for them to let them go. The detective leaves calling for help.Elle breaks down in tears. “I wanna see my dad!” She sinks to her knees in surrender. The boys follow her down.“Elle. It’s gonna be all right.” Chris whispers in her ear. “We’ll get out of here. Get Seth out of here, and we’ll be back on the road in no time.”“Yeah, it’ll be all right.” Jerry says, she looks at him. Then shrugs him off.Elle shoots a look at Chris. “This is all your fault.” She spits out.Huh? “My fault?” Not good, Chris remembers Seth’s question.“You just had to go and use your power against Rex. You knew what would happen.” The look she gives him stops his heart.“Elle?” He doesn’t know what else to say. “Come on, Elle. We don’t know that?” Jackson tells her.“Yeah, they could have been stalking us for a while now. Since California even.” Jerry adds. “Remember Jason? We could have been targeted for a while now.”Elle just backs away from him. “This all started when he beat up Rex. So, what else am I supposed to think?”She backs away from him wrapping her arms around herself. Then turns away from him. He’s completely lost. This did all begin when he tossed Rex and his buddies into the trash can. But they were in an alleyway. No one else was around. Paul and Ivy wouldn’t have said anything. Rex’s dad was supposed to be a nobody.“Elle, please. It had to have been…” Chris doesn’t even finish. Elle just turns away from him. His heart sinks. Seeing her shy away from him like this makes him feel horrible. He starts to regret ever involving them in this. This was just between him and Rex. He sits down in a chair and stares at the floor. * * * * * Elle was beside herself. She didn’t mean to say those things, but she was sure that Chris using his powers on Rex started all of this. Maybe she overreacted. Or maybe it’s just the fact that this whole day has been simply horrible. First the suit guys, then finding out their parents have been abducted, now this.The detective comes in. “All right, if everyone has calmed down now, we can get going. We talking you all to a safe house for the night. Tomorrow, we’ll have you driven home.” That’s not good.“Safe house? Where?” Chris says.“It’s actually at a hotel here in Rochester. Don’t worry, no one will know you’re there.” The detective tells them.Elle was starting to get angry. They had to get out of there. They had to go to the address on the note they found. “Come on guys.” The detective makes them get up and walk with her. Two other policemen walk behind them, making sure they don’t make a break for it or something.As they walk they notice Seth off in another room being questioned. His face twisted in frustration. He turns and his eyes catch Elle’s. She can see him mouth the words, ‘go on without me’. She didn’t like leaving him, but if he could handle himself, then it would probably be for the best.The gang are escorted to a garage and to a rge van. Any other time she would expect Jerry to make some rude comment about van’s with no windows, but now was not the time. The kids are loaded up and the driver pulls out of the station. No one said a word, they didn’t have to. She could tell the boys were thinking up some scheme to get them out of there. Elle was doing the same, her focus was the address and her parents. Her heart was set in stone, determination her drive. But with all that she could manage to keep watch of the road outside the front windshield, making note of the route they were taking…just in case. * * * * *The hotel rooms they got for them were rather nice considering. Two rooms connected with a door in the middle. The detective orders them pizza and drinks. She instructs them to eat up then get some sleep. Though Elle didn’t feel like eating, she was tired though. That nap she took earlier helped but that boost of energy was wearing off. On top of that, her heart was broken. And at the same time, she felt stupid. Stupid and sorry for getting all emotional. Sorry for making Chris sad. She was sure Chris was felling horrible for the way she burst out with what she said. With time to think on it, what if it really wasn’t his fault. Did it matter anymore? How could she apologize? Would he accept? Elle ys in bed and curls up into a ball. She’s so confused and just wants to go home and act like none of this ever happened. She manages to doze off for…who knows how long before she hears a knock on the door. She wipes her eyes of some stray tears and answers it. It’s her brothers and…Chris.“Come on, Elle. We’re gonna go break Seth out and get out of here.” Jackson says in a hurry. Elle looks behind them and spots the officer set to guard the rooms, lying on the floor, unconscious. She didn’t feel like asking how they did that.“Okay, how are we gonna break Seth out?”She walks with them to the stairwell as they discuss their pn. “Chris came up with it.” Jerry tells her. She just gives him a quick gnce. “Him and Jackson are gonna melt through the wall into his cell and break him out.”“We’re gonna use something like we used on the suit guys in the limo. Chris is gonna feed a stream of oxygen at the wall and I’m gonna ignite it to burn through the wall.” Jackson expins. “We remembered seeing it on one of those PBS shows. They called it an oxygen torch I think.” Jerry says.That did sound awesome. “Cool.”“Yeah, and we’ll need you to cool down the edges for Seth to make it out.” Jackson tells her.“But how do we get to the address our parents are at without a vehicle.” Elle asks. “Seth will probably know.” Jerry says.Downstairs they use a service exit and make for the station.“Ninja time.” Jerry says as they sneak away.Elle manages a snicker. She'll let that one go. They arrive a block from the police station and sneak the rest of the way via the shadows. Chris flies up through some of the trees to get a better vantage point. When he comes back down he tells them that Seth is being held on ground level. Which will make breaking him out even better. But the holding cells are beyond a chain link fence. No problem. Jerry takes this one. He simply uses his powers to dig a tunnel underneath the fence. Elle crawls under, feeling like a dog, or gopher. Elle didn’t mind getting a little dirty at the moment. She needed a nice hot bath now anyway. Chris leads them to the proper window.“Okay. “Ready, Jackson?”“Ready.” Chris starts a small steady stream of pure oxygen at the wall, followed by Jackson’s fme. A bright fsh of white light bursts out from the meeting of the two elements. But the wall begins to melt away, just like they said it would. They both move the ‘oxygen torch’, as they called it, around in a wide circle. Jerry uses his earth power to pull away the loose stone and concrete out and away to the sides. The sound of concrete breaking apart and the of the torch fills the air. Elle looks around, keeping an eye out for anyone coming up from behind them. The torch wasn’t too loud, but still. A few moments ter they finish. The edges of the chunk and wall glowing bright red. Jerry calls in for Seth to turn on the water for the sink. Seth was standing away from the wall, his eyes wide, a bit of a smile on his face.“Whoa…” He turns to the sink and turns the knob. Elle uses that chance to pull the water out to cool the edges so Seth can get out without burning himself. A huge cloud of steam coming off. Chris clears it with a gust of wind.“Come on! We need to hurry.” Jerry calls in.Seth is shocked but relieved as he climbs out. “We need to high tail it out of here…now!” Seth excims.Behind him several cops shout for them to freeze and struggle to unlock the cell door. Chris sms them with a powerful air bst. Giving them a few seconds head start at least. Elle forces herself not to let that ‘air dispy’ bother her. Seth and Chris hop over the fence, while the others climb under Jerry’s dug out hole. Once out they run fast, sticking to the shadows. “Uh, guys.” Seth. “Just so you know. My wallet and ID are still in the station. Not to mention, my SUV is in the impound yard…wherever that is. So unless you can go back and kindly ask for both them back. How’re we gonna get to the address?”“We still got some money. We’ll just call a taxi.” Jackson says, optimistic.“Yeah…sure.” They run for a few blocks until they find a pay phone down in a buildings alcove. Seth makes the call and asks if they can drive to the address on the note. He gives the thumbs up. He thanks them and says they’ll be here in a few minutes.That few minutes was stressful. Elle expected the cops to show up before hand. They had to be out looking for them by now. If they caught them again, it would be over. Detective Lynis would lock them all up. Luckily, the taxi shows up with no sign of the cops. Which was weird. Surely they would have several cruisers out looking for them. Chris gives the driver the address and they head out.“Boy, I bet doctor Synis has her panties in a huge bunch right about now.” Jerry whispers to them.“What?” Jackson asks. “You mean Detective Lynis?” “Yeah, that’s it.”Elle ughs a little and shakes her head. At least Jerry’s keeping high spirits. She was just too tired and anxious for witty banter at the moment.