I hugged her, hard. After a moment, I felt her hug me back, clumsy but fierce.

It was only a moment later that she started to convulse, whole-body. I moved to try to seize her head and keep it from moving—a second too late. One wrenching, forced movement of her head and upper body, and the nail ripped through a good share of the material in its vicinity.

I caught her as she fell, and laid her out on the ground, placing her on her side.

“We need to help others, Victoria.”

“Yeah.”

Spooky, to take to the air again. I’d seen the numbers of people affected double, roughly, and this was another doubling, to look at it. More artificial sources of light had broken, as space folded in areas, as things grew to obscure them, or as tendrils of energy lashed out like living things, distorting geography with each impact.

Matter creation, matter manipulation, matter distortion.

Over fifty people, if I had to guess. It could well have been sixty-four. They were too spread out for me to effectively ballpark. Many might well have died from their power expression or the ‘nailing down’ of the brain.

There was no being polite, now. One person hesitating at what could have been the edge of the affected area. I didn’t even pause as I grabbed him by the wrist, picking him up off the ground, dragging him with me, me barely six feet above the ground, him with toes and shoes scraping the road’s surface. I didn’t want the fall to be too rough if I was knocked out of the air again.

I half-deposited, half-threw him toward the crowd that still lingered. I pointed at the largest guy present. “You. Make sure these people get away! Keep an eye on this one!”

He looked spooked, and I wasn’t even using my aura. He gave me a singular nod.

Another two, two men together. One of them fought me as I held him, trying to pry my hand free.

“Assholes!” he screamed, twisting my fingers, trying to get leverage to bend one backward. “Keeping powers to yourselves!”

I didn’t reply. I tightened my grip to keep him from getting any one of my fingers, and I saved my breath and my focus.

If this was turning out as badly as it looked like it was, the aftermath would be answer enough.

The guy who’d fought me was deposited beside the first vehicle with flashing lights that was waiting at the edges. A fire truck.

“Don’t let him go back! And try to get further away, in case it expands!”

I was already leaving before they could answer me. I heard the shouts, though. The answers.

Crystal wasn’t using lasers or forcefields much anymore. Only flight, only manhandling.