Battle of the ULTRAs by Matt Blake Read Free Book Online

me.
    “It’s over,” I shouted.
    The guy tilted his head. Smiled. “Really? I thought we were just getting started.”
    He shot up into the sky and vanished into the clouds.
    But not for long.
    I teleported in front of him, as much as it weakened me. I grabbed him. Held him there, in the middle of the clouds. Underneath us, I could hear the mass of controlled ULTRAs from the Resistance closing in.
    I squeezed this guy’s shoulders and looked deeper into his eyes. “Your party trick. Controlling minds. It’s good, but it’s not all there just yet.”
    I tried to teleport the pair of us away, but the resistance to teleportation was so strong that I almost lost my grip on this guy.
    He smiled. Laughed. His teeth were bright white. “That’s why they call me Controlla.”
    “Controlla?” I said. “Seriously? Like the—”
    “Drake song. Yeah. Why, is that a bad thing?”
    “No. No, I kind of liked that song. It’s just… I dunno. What next? ‘Hotline Bling’?”
    “You haven’t met ‘Hotline Bling’ yet?”
    “You serious?”
    Controlla shook his head. “No. I’m just kidding. Anyway. Where were we?”
    He punched me in the back so hard that I went flying face flat down into the water below.
    I lashed free of it. Memories of a blurry past crowded my mind. I’d been underwater. Someone had held me under there. I felt like that was the day where my powers sparked, but I still couldn’t totally explain what had happened.
    The weird thing about the memory?
    I had a funny feeling, now more than ever, that there were two more people being dunked in the water beside me.
    Their little fingertips touching mine.
    I dragged myself out of the water. Wiped the water from my eyes and gasped for breath. I had to catch Controlla. Stop his grip on my friends. Stop him—
    “Don’t move a muscle, Kyle.”
    My stomach sank.
    I turned around and saw Stone standing right opposite me.
    Even though his eyes told me he wanted to do anything but fight, his arms were totally covered in rock.
    He was ready to fight.

12
    I looked at Stone as he tensed his solid rock fists and really, really hoped I didn’t have to fight someone so close to me.
    He walked to me. The sounds of the falling waterfall filled the silence. My head ached, hard, and I couldn’t shake the taste of blood from my lips. I was exhausted. Completely out of breath, completely beaten down. I wasn’t sure how much further I could go.
    “Stone, please—”
    “You’ve seen what’s happening to this island. So now it’s time to join us. Or die.”
    I shook my head as Stone walked closer. I knew I could fight him if I had to. Sure, he was strong, but I was stronger. Then again, that scared me. I didn’t want to have to use my strength against Stone. He was a part of the inner circle. He’d accepted me into the Resistance despite so much of my bullshit in the early days. “Stone, this isn’t you. You can fight this. You’re strong enough to fight this.”
    Stone stepped right up to me. He stopped. Looked me in the eye. For a split second, as the flames appeared all around us in the burning forest, I saw life in Stone’s eyes. I saw a spark of realization. Of him remembering who he was.
    I reached out a hand to him. Put it on his arm. “It’s me. It’s Kyle. Glacies. And you’re a part of the Resistance. You’re being controlled by some little douchebag called Controlla. That’s right. Someone who names himself after Drake songs. But you don’t have to be. Not—”
    Stone’s fist cracked into my face.
    I felt my jaw dislodge. More blood filled my mouth. I fell back and hit the ground, more stunned that Stone had actually punched me than anything. I felt specks of warm rain drizzling down as the weather made another turn. My head spun. I wasn’t sure how much fight I had in me.
    “Please,” I said, regretting it right away as my dangling jaw wobbled out of place. “Don’t—”
    Stone kicked me back.
    I went flying into the waterfall.