The Beholder by Ivan Amberlake Page A

front door, considering his friends. They would want to know what was going on, but he didn’t want to get them into trouble. On impulse he scooped his car keys off the coffee table and tiptoed out of the house. He needed to get to Evelyn & Laurens as soon as possible.
    He reversed down the drive and shifted gears, anticipation making his palms slick with sweat. This would be his first real opportunity to find out exactly what was going on. Jason slammed his foot on the accelerator and sped through the night towards the blazing lights of New York City.
    The girl’s face hovered stubbornly in his mind. Ten or fifteen minutes max, he thought. Then I’ll be there with her. But what if that isn’t fast enough?
    He had no idea what he was getting himself into. Not really. What if her image was bait and the Shadows were tricking him into coming to his death?
    No. The pain was real. She needed him.
    Jason pushed the car to its limit, reaching the city in record time. Once he arrived, he found that because of the late hour, traffic was unusually quiet. The E&L building was straight ahead. Not too long now.
    He drew closer to the building, but he was forced to brake hard as several cars in front made a sudden U-turn. He glanced in his rearview mirror when screeching sounds came from behind, and he saw the cars behind him were turning as well. In fact, every vehicle but his was headed in the opposite direction to the one in which he was going.
    Jason squeezed his steering wheel hard, as if it could help him grasp what was going on. He stopped at a red light and rolled down his window so he could watch the passersby. From what he could see, it seemed everyone had decided to launch an exodus from New York. In an eerie, synchronized motion, people trudged silently along the sidewalk, their expressions smoothed into apathy, their eyes lackluster.
    The way was suddenly clear of traffic, the empty streets silent, colored only by the blink of changing traffic lights. The entire situation gave Jason the creeps. Before long the imposing E&L building loomed over him, and he braked sharply, leaving a smeared line of rubber behind. When he turned the key and shut down the engine, the silence around him was terrifying. A pressure all on its own. Jason climbed out of the car and looked around, confused. The slam of his car door was sharp as a gunshot. In front of him, the black windows of Evelyn & Laurens stared like blind eyes. Not a single light shone in the whole place. Not a single sound, other than his own footfalls.
    It is too still. Too silent.
    As Jason was about to take another step, he reconsidered, one leg in mid-air. A humming noise had started in the distance, conspicuous against the rest of the silence, and it grew steadily, reminding Jason of a supersonic train getting closer and closer. And it was coming in his direction.
    Within seconds the humming reached its peak, working its way to a painful screech, and Jason braced himself. It was a sound that could only end with something big. When the explosion went off, illuminating the E&L building, there was nothing he could do. A violent blast wave whisked him away like a moth in the wind, and he dropped to the ground with a grunt. Cowering in a fetal position, Jason stared up at the inferno, incredulous. White blue flames enveloped the middle section of the skyscraper, and while he stared in disbelief, the fire sliced the structure in half.
    Though he’d been blown safely away from the building, he still needed some kind of shelter. He struggled to his feet and raced to his car, battling dizziness from his recent flight. It seemed the whole world was on fire, raging with flames.
    Despite the ravenous heat reaching for him, a cold certainty gripped Jason, making goosebumps rise along his arms. The dream was true. The girl was there, in the flames.
    The searing light burned his vision, but Jason stared up at the blazing building, wondering what to do. Fire reflected in his eyes as the