Fractured (Josie) novel Chapter 301

Chapter 301 

**Josie’s POV ** 

I can’t think of my daughter living in this place for weeks, and the thought of other kids living here even longer is breaking my heart. Children need warmth and a clean living space. They need a safe place to sleep that is not a thin mat on a filthy floor underground. All these teens should have been at the academy, where they could be free 

to roam with the sun on their faces. Their biggest worry should be what’s on the menu in the academy dining hall. 

I doubt any of the kids are here by choice. I just can’t imagine any of them choosing to live this way, and I’m not going to stop until we have saved every one of them. 

Luke ports out with another two teen boys as we move into the next tunnel. I pull open a curtain and find the small cut–out space empty. 

“Clear,” I say to my guys as I move to the next one. 

I reach out for the next curtain and as I pull it back, something lands on the top of my head, my knees buckle under the weight and it takes me a moment before I realise what is happening. The tunnels are collapsing and burying us alive inside. I open my mouth to shout a warning, which is a huge mistake because I end up silenced by a mouth full of soil. 

I try to move, but quickly realise I can’t. I am completely engulfed in the earth. Even breathing is difficult. Panic floods the bond and everyone talks at once in a chaotic blur of noise. 

“Everyone calm down, we are going to get out of this, but we need to work together,” Deacon shouts into the mind link. 

“Easy for you to say, you can port out,” Theo snaps back. 

“I’m not going to do that, not yet at least. If I do, I’ll not be able to come back, and I’m not leaving anyone behind. Mason, Josie, start moving the earth. Go slowly in a horizontal path. I’m going to go vertically. If I can get to the surface, I can see where we are and bring in more molecular manipulators to open up this whole area. We have no idea how much of the underground system has collapsed or if there are still teens trapped down here,” Deacon explains. 

“Okay,” I say, fighting off the panic attack that is trying to claw at me. 

Axel and Theo need me. They can’t get out of this without us. They never mastered the porting and manipulation skills. 

“Axe, are you good?” Mason asks. 

“Yeah, I was right behind you,” he responds. 

“I’m not sure if I got turned around. I’m going to start slowly moving the earth out in a circular pattern around me. Tell me if you feel any movement, so I can work out which direction you are in,” Mace says. 

“I’ll do the same,” I tell them. 

“No rush, Babe, I’ll just be here chilling in the dirt right next to the huge pile of mud, you can’t miss me,” Theo 

huffs. 

I flare my eyes, so I can see and begin moving the earth, slowly opening up a circular cavern around me. I am not as skilled at this as Mason, but I have a stronger gift for it than he does, he just wields it better than me. I have a tendency to overdo it. My gift is too powerful for my limited experience of using it. There is not really a place I can 

practice this level of gift without causing mass destruction 

“I feel movement,” Axel says, and I stop what I’m doing, waiting to see if it’s me or Mason that is moving the surrounding dirt. 

“Do you still feel it?” Mason asks. 

“No.” 

“Okay, let me go back… how about now?” Mace asks. 

“Yes, I feel it,” Axe says, and I let out a relieved breath, this is progress. 

A few moments later Mason has Axel free, and I’m more determined than ever to get to Theo. We can do this, we aren’t going to give up until we are all safe. 

I continue moving, making the cavern larger. I find one of the makeshift beds, and as I open up more space, movement in the dirt catches my eye. 

At first, I think it’s some kind of underground creature like a mole, but as the dirt falls away, I realise it’s a hand. I step back with a gasp, startled at what looks like it should be in a scene of a horror movie. 

“Theo, is that you?” I ask into the mind link as I reach for the hand. 

“Is what me?” He responds, but I already know it’s not him as soon as I touch the hand that grips me in desperation. 

“I’ve found someone,” I say as I frantically start moving the earth around the hand to reveal an arm and then a body, then the blue glow of their eyes. 

When I completely free the person from the dirt, I have no idea if it’s someone I know or not, but when they throw/ their arms around me in a desperate hug, I return their embrace. They’re so filthy, and it’s so dark that I can’t make out any of their features. I think it’s a teen boy by their stature, but I can’t be sure. 

“Thank you,” they say in a raspy voice before breaking down in floods of tears. “I thought… I thought… I was going to die like that, buried and abandoned.”