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uncurled her body, until she was hanging upside down. She reached out for Tad.
    “Rori!” he screamed again as he lost his grip.

Chapter Four
 
    Rori felt the jerk as she caught him under his arms. “It’s all right, I have you,” she assured and then gasped as the pipe her feet were locked under shifted. Her heart jumped and breath held as she feared it would give out.
    “Tad, I’m going to lift you up against me. When you can, I want you to wrap your arms around me. All right?” she said quietly, trying to keep the boy calm, while pushing out with her talent.
    “Yes,” the boy’s voice quivered.
    “You’re doing well. Up you go.” Rori strained to lift his weight toward her. Arms curls were never what she considered something she was good at. The odd thought passed through her mind, but she shoved it away as she felt the pipe give again. She glanced toward the building debating if she could toss Tad to safety but knew she was too far out and at the wrong angle to make the attempt.
    Across her senses she felt power tingle and the pipe became steady. She didn’t know what to think of it and didn’t have time to contemplate when Tad’s little arms reached out, locking around her chest.
    “That’s it.” She shifted her hold so her arms were locked around his legs. “Now, I want you to climb up my body to the beam. Slow and easy. I still have hold of you.” Tad’s little body squirmed against her. Rori felt her nightshirt slide down her body, catching at her waist.
    Tad reached toward the beam and Rori felt him lifted from her. “I have him.” The baritone voice showed no signs of strain. Rori tried to look up but only managed to catch a brief look of the man moving back along the beam with Tad locked in his arms.
    Tightening her stomach muscles, she curled up until she could get a grip on the beam. After a moment of tricky maneuvering, she squirmed around until she was lying along the beam. She gulped several deep breaths of air, then looked at the ground far below and gulped once more. Closing her eyes, she steadied herself a second before opening them again.
    On her hands and knees she moved back toward the building, aware now of the rough metal against her skin and the pain in her foot. With relief she made it to the ruined side of the building. More cautiously than before, she searched for a handhold to pull herself up when a hand appeared in front of her face.
    “Here.” The same voice of the man who had taken Tad called to her. Rori raised her gaze to the form standing on a section of flooring just above her. Extending her hand up, his hand locked around hers, pulling her up as easily as he had Tad until she was standing next to him.
    Forced to tilt her head up as he towered over her by at least a head, she felt oddly lightheaded, and it had nothing to do with shock or fear of what she’d just experienced, but from the man who still held her hand caught securely in his. All her senses jumped and for a moment she was afraid she really was going to burn out, but instead of dampening, her talent surged with energy wiping away the fatigue she’d felt seconds earlier.
    She felt a loss when he abruptly released her hand almost like it had burned him. When he rubbed his palm against his pant leg, she wondered if maybe she was running hot and had singed him. The scope of her talent was too new to her to be sure.
    “I ought to yell at you for being incredibly foolish, but since there was no way a rescue could have gotten to Tad, well done. That was amazingly brave.”
    Rori followed his gaze to where Tad was locked in his mother’s arms as she cried and kissed him. For a brief instant, Dena lifted her head meeting Rori’s gaze. “Thank you.” The mother mouthed the words before pressing her face into the boy’s hair with more kisses. Rori took a moment of pleasure in the warmth of love and gratitude she felt flowing off the pair to steady her nerves before she turned back to the man.
    Taking