Would Nicki and Felix succeed in reprogramming The Storm... Lauren Kirk-Cohen concludes the series as she only could do...

 ...Continues from The Unforgettable Storm III

I look around, screwing up my eyes against the brightness. Finally, the white light seems to dim a bit and I can see around me. I seem to be standing in some sort of sphere – a sphere made up of people’s faces.

I turn in a slow circle, staring in amazement. I see my mum’s face. I reach out to touch it, but my hand passes through it like smoke. I glance outside the sphere. There are more faces, resting on the floor. I recognise a few as Rensos. Looking up at the sphere again, I see that they are all Andias.

“Ok,” I mutter to myself, thinking. Clearly, the people in the sphere are in danger from the storm. I try to touch my mum’s face again, but my hand just goes through it again.

I bite my lip, thinking. I somehow need to get all the innocent faces out. I look around, but see that the Andia rulers are mixed in with the rest. I’ll have to do it person by person. I cup my hands and, instead of trying to touch the face, I circle them around my mum’s head. As I move my hands, the image moves with them. Holding my breath for fear I will blow it away, I cast her head out of the sphere. She lands safely with the Rensos.

I take a deep breath. One down. Only a couple of hundred to go.

I reach for faces randomly, casting all the innocents out of the sphere. I don’t know how long I go on for before something changes. I stiffen at the sudden sense of danger, looking around with wide eyes.

The one of the Rensos moves into the Sphere.

“No,” I growl, rushing over and casting it out. Felix warned me this would happen – the Andias have started trying to take control of the storm and set it against the Rensos.

I try to move quicker, casting out as many innocent Andias as I can while throwing back the Rensos that join them in the sphere. As fast as I am moving, I can’t keep up. The Rensos are being added to the sphere faster than I can eliminate them and the Andias. Tears of frustration run down my cheeks. I can’t do it, I’m not fast enough.

Still, I keep trying. The white light around me is quivering, as though restless, eager to start the storm it was made for.

My limbs are aching with exhaustion; I must have been at this for hours. Every time I lift my arms, I fear it will be the last time, but then I force my shaking limbs to do it again.

The sphere is starting to rotate, making it harder to get the correct people out. Something bangs into me and I fall to the ground with a cry of pain.

Suddenly, an arm is lifting me up. “Hurry,” says Felix.

His hands are a blur of motion as he casts faces out of the sphere. Relief rushes through me as I stagger up to help. Felix seems possessed with some manic energy; faces are flying out of the sphere at his hands.

Finally, I look around and see no innocents in the sphere. “Come on, let’s go!” I shout to Felix. The sphere is rotating so fast that I fear we won’t be able to get out. I lift my hands to cast one last Renso out as the Andias add her. Then Felix is grabbing my arm and leaping out of the sphere.

We fall sprawling on the floor. I just have time to glance up at the device before it explodes.

It is so fast I can do nothing but close my eyes before it is upon us. I brace myself for shocking pain, but it passes right through me. Outside, I hear wind, hail and thunder, louder than I have ever heard it before.

“Felix?” I whisper.

“I’m alright.”

He lifts his head, staring around. “Come on, let’s see what’s going on.”

The two of us exit the building at a run. What we see before us is chaos. The storm rages wildly, but not out of control, it seems. No one seems to be hurt by it – it just passes through everyone we can see, just like it did for Felix and me.

“We did it,” I whisper.

Felix puts his arm around me, “Yes, we did it...”

It will be hours before reports from the Andias start coming in – that all the leaders are dead, that our people are free for the first time in generations. For now, Felix and I just rest, exhausted but relieved. The future has never looked brighter.

#The End#

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