CHAPTER THREE: A LEGEND IS BORN
DANI'S POV
SIX MONTHS PRIOR
Leap?
The amateur frog wannabe hero?
"Abby," Dani shouted over the thundering cries, "close your eyes and do not open them until I tell you to!"
The young girl obediently followed her commands and threw her palms over her eyes as hot tears streamed down her cheeks. Dani ripped her cap off her head and placed it on the girl's as she pushed against thick cinders that began falling like December snow. There, she spotted a hand waving in the distance and the remaining group of scathed strangers begging others to reside in the depths of a dainty bookstore.
Oh God, please keep the door open. We're almost there.
The wheels spin as Dani jerks the seat forward. Clumps of fire hurl past their heads as more bodies drop into the streets thrashing in agony.
Almost there.
"Keep them closed!" A man's voice echoes among the mass hysteria.
No, no! They're closing the doors.
A surge of panic overwhelmed Dani as her thoughts ringed in her head; We'll be safe if we could get past the swarms of fleeing people, burning bodies, and balls of fire. Right?
Without thinking, Dani released the handlebars and began to slap the windows of Meryl's Thrift Bookstore. She screamed through the rise of cinders as her throat felt heavy as if she swallowed handfuls of ash and burning metal, "come on, at least let her in! She has paraplegia."
Using her sleeve, Dani wipes a cluster of ashes from the window to meet eye to eye with a middle-aged man.
"We're full!"
A swarm of people was hiding behind the rows of bookshelves that lined the store like a jigsaw puzzle. Not nearly enough, Dani studied. Bastards.
"Please," she begs, "take her. She's only eight! Her name is Abby, and-"
"I don't want to go without you!" Abby shrieked, removing her hands as she sobbed.
"Abby, I'll be fine, so please-"
The sound of grinding metal blisters their ears as Dani glances over her shoulder. She looks in horror as a large gray man drops from the sky. His skin began to warp into stone as he hurled abandoned cars into door frames.
A sloping mound of stone ruptured the ground as his laughter resonated throughout the streets. With each step the beast took, he led a path of destruction.
Talus. The earth element-wielding mutant. He's going to gut the city inside and out.
Tears filled Dani's eyes as she turned to the man in fear, barely hearing a muffled command from the bookstore clerk. The attack began minutes ago, yet citizens fled in every direction. There wasn't enough time for a mutant alert to evacuate, and there was no telling how high the death toll was already.
"Hurry!"
Dani whips her head towards the shop's entrance. She stood paralyzed as the hair on her neck rises. Residing on the silver bell of the door was another blue butterfly. Peacefully resting as havoc echoed throughout the streets of New York. Again, the gentle voice traveled in her head, faintly blooming.
Transform.
What fresh hell-
The toll of a small bell ringed as the shop door opened briefly. The winged creature dispersed into the thick smoke. The man from the window began to usher those closest to take shelter. With an outstretched arm, he signals for the girls to take shelter along with the nearby crowd.
The smell of iron and burning flesh floods Dani's senses. The man's forearm was soaked in blood as he slumped against the door with a large gash across his torso.
"Hold on, Abby, we're going to be okay!"
Dani twists Abby's chair back to avoid burning metal as they reach the door. A band of strangers slipped inside just as her wheels thumped against the metal door frame.
The whistling of crackling metal rang through the crisp hot air as a boulder of stone was hurled directly at Meryl's Thrift Bookstore.
"Dani!"
And then, everything went black.