“Don’t let him go!” Darius shouted.
Alexander lunged for the Bulgarian, but he was already out. No one followed through the portal. They had seen too many operatives leave and disappear. With the reentry function down, going through a portal was a one-way ticket out. With the darkening world, it may well be a death sentence.
Darius walked up to Jack and loomed over him, furious. “You fool! You’ve cost us our last chance to stop Wyeth.”
As the sun settled below the horizon, Team Thirteen made their way to the Dome. It was a full three days after Jack had encountered the Bulgarian. Darius had delayed sending Team Thirteen out after Jack’s stunt of letting the Bulgarian escape. But now it was time. The Dome summoned Thirteen for their final simulation.
Maggie padded along next to them as they left the Watchtower. But when they approached the fork in the path, she took the path away from the Dome, toward the Office of the Superior. She turned and barked at them.
Voss stopped. “She wants us to follow her.”
“We gotta get to the Dome.” Claire held up her band, glowing yellow.
“Yeah, I know. But has this dog ever taken us the wrong way?”
They looked at each other. Claire nodded. “Okay, but let’s hurry.”
They followed Maggie around a bend. The steel tree marked the edge of the East Clearing. From the other side of the field, Superior Blue and Alexander walked quickly toward them from the Office of the Superior. They met in the middle of the field.
“Thank you for coming, Thirteen. I apologize for the lack of notice.” Blue greeted them. “But tomorrow you will be sent out the portals. We are in an unpredictable time, and this may be the last moment we have together. I wanted to be the one to present these to you.”
The ground beneath them shook. A wide circle in the field slid open, revealing a rising platform carrying a stone monolith. The Forge locked into place. Five panels scraped open in the stone.
“Today the five of you become operatives,” Blue told them.
Thirteen looked at each other with a mix of bewilderment and excitement. The moment had arrived, three years early—now.
They followed Blue up to the Forge. He reached into the far-left panel and took the hilt of the first blade. “Ice.” He held out her rune blade. The hilt was marked by the gray symbol of the Expathic. Asha took it carefully and rubbed her thumb over the rune. “One Life for Many, Ice.” She looked up at him and nodded. “One Life for Many, sir.”
Superior Blue handed Voss his rune blade, marked with the green Systemic symbol. Voss raised his eyebrows. “The Spade Threshold identified me as a Kinetic.”
“And so you are,” Blue said. “But the AI in your rune blade has studied you from the moment you came through the portal. It knows you. To your blade, you are Torque the Systemic. One Life for Many, Torque.”
Voss took the blade. “One Life for Many.”
Freddy was next, claiming his Theoric rune blade from Superior Blue. Claire took her rune blade after him, repeating the mantra.
“And finally you, Jack Carlson.” Superior Blue took the last hilt from the Forge and turned back to face Jack. “You must be wondering what symbol is on your rune blade.”
Jack’s heart pounded. “Yes, sir.”
“I had my ideas, but I never expected to see this.” Blue held out the hilt to Jack. The blade didn’t look like any of the others. It was ancient, like a relic you might find in a museum of medieval swords.
Jack took the blade gingerly. The leather was somehow still soft, easy to grip. It was as if it was molding to his closed fist. Jack looked up at Blue. “Where did this come from?”
Blue shook his head. “That was my question as well. The Forge didn’t create this. There is only one in existence, and it was located in the vault,” Blue told him. “You are holding the first Hadley blade ever made.”
Jack felt the weight of it in his hand. At the base of the ancient hilt was an engraving. Jack had to turn it over to recognize the image: a silo.
“The Silo Blade, they called it: the blade of the Guardian,” Blue said. “The alchemists of the Order of the Grays created that blade. Every blade in the last thousand years was modeled on this. It should fit you perfectly. One Life for Many, Jack.”
Jack gulped. He let the blade magnetize to his hip, then looked back up at Blue. “One Life for Many, sir.”
Freddy was staring at Jack’s blade. “So lucky, man.”
“This is traditionally a day of celebration for new operatives,” Blue announced. “It is a moment for the Hadley community to come together to celebrate your achievement. I regret that you will not have that experience. So you’ll have to settle for some old friends congratulating you.” Blue looked past them and nodded. “Okay, Bond. Let them come.”
Before Thirteen could turn around, they were pounced on by a few dozen dogs. Voss’s Rottweiler knocked him to the grass and licked his face. It was the happiest Jack had ever seen Voss. Sushila Patel sat with Maggie off to the side, watching with a broad smile on her face.
Claire scratched behind the ears of a charcoal mastiff who was nuzzling closer to her. She looked up at Jack. “I’m glad I got to celebrate this moment with you, Jack.”
Jack felt his cheeks burn. “Yeah. Me too.”
After only a few minutes, Alexander clapped loudly. “Team Thirteen. Make sure you have your rune blades, and follow me. We need to get to the Dome immediately.”
The Death Simulation would be twenty minutes of mental torture, Alexander told them on their jog to the Dome. If they didn’t complete it, they would have to start the torture all over again. At any other time, the idea of a virtual death would have terrified them. Now they had the additional prospect of actually going out through the one-way portals the next day. They walked down the amphitheater steps and stood before the Dome.
Asha rubbed her hands on the pants of her uniform, then clapped nervously. “Okay. Are we ready for this, operatives?”
Voss grinned at her. “Nice ring to that.”
The team lined up behind Asha. One by one, they ran into the ink-black emptiness of the Dome.
CHAPTER 29
DEATH SIMULATION
Jack peered into the darkness inside the Dome. The ground moved beneath him, causing him to stumble. Voss caught him. “We’re on a boat.” Freddy’s voice sounded in stereo, over the monitor and from two feet away. Jack stared up into a sky full of stars.
“We’re on a boat,” Asha confirmed.
“Sharks again,” Voss mumbled.
“We can do this, Voss.” Freddy encouraged him. “We just have to focus. Let’s try to think about something . . . that’s not sharks.”
“Not helpful, man,” Voss said, irritated. “I don’t like sharks, okay? Which means I don’t like the ocean. Which means I hate boats.”
“Good,” said Asha. “Focus on that boat-hatred. Because our mission right now is to sink it.”
Voss’s balance wavered. This time Jack steadied him.
“Our mission is to die,” Asha reminded them. “If we just jump off, one of us might try to climb back on the boat. We have to sink this thing.”
Jack glanced around at the wooden yacht. It was maybe forty feet long with a full sail catching the wind and carrying them through the dark water.
“So we’re just gonna drown?” Voss looked queasy. “I can’t get eaten by sharks. I can’t.”
Asha took him by the arm. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s freaky, but it’s okay. This is a simulation. It’ll be over in a few minutes.”
“I don’t want to get torn apart in a simulation either.”
Asha rubbed her ear. “Everyone take out your monitors. I’m getting a bad echo with everyone right next to each other.”
“I’m serious, Asha,” Voss said, his breathing shallow. “I almost lost it in the Focus Atrium. I can’t do this again.”
Claire took out her monitor. “I don’t like sharks either, Voss. But we have to do it together, okay?”
Asha took Voss by the shoulders. “You are strong, Torque. And you are going to crush this.”
Voss stared at her, and she stared back at him. He nodded. “Claire, you and I will get that sail down,” Asha said, pivoting to Claire. “We don’t want it keeping the boat afloat. We want to get this over with quickly.”
“Freddy, Jack, there’s a small cabin door there. Get down there and find axes, guns, anything that will help us sink this thing. We have a time limit, remember. Boats are not meant to sink.”
Voss was looking at her apprehensively.
“Voss, you sit up at the bow and keep an eye out. Make sure there are no surprises.”
Voss seemed grateful. He crawled to the front of the boat.
Asha turned to the rest of Team Thirteen and lowered her voice. “There’s a chance Voss isn’t going to be able to do this.”
Freddy craned his neck to see past her at the formidable Voss, curled up at the front of the boat. “We can probably do this alone.”
“She’s not worried about that,” Claire interrupted. “She’s worried Voss might try to stop us.”
Jack felt an odd surge of hope that Voss would stop them. He realized how much he didn’t want to drown, even in a simulation. “You’re okay, right, buddy?” Freddy asked.
Jack nodded, but his heart wasn’t in it. Still, he followed Freddy down the short flight of steps into the cabin.
There were no working lights on the boat. Below deck was pitch black. Freddy pulled a flashlight from his pack. They discovered a larger room than Jack had expected. It was a pilot room and living space in one. The boat creaked in the water. Jack’s stomach turned as the boat lolled.
Freddy shone the light around. “Whoa,” Freddy whispered. “Bingo!” Freddy’s light illuminated a small wooden crate, piled high with hand grenades. “That makes it easier,” he said with a grim smile.
Jack picked up the heavy crate. But Freddy had moved away and was mumbling over a narrow table. Jack eased the crate back down to see what his friend was looking at.
The table was covered in large, unrolled papers. There was a map of the East Coast and the Atlantic Ocean, with positions plotted up the coastline in the northeast. There were also maps of the entire North American continent. Every state of the nation was shaded in a deep navy blue, and the color extended north into Canada and south into Mexico.
Freddy pulled another map toward him. Arrows and lines and X’s marked out what seemed like troop movements. Jack picked up a folder containing mug shots of various people he didn’t recognize.
Jack’s gaze returned to the map of the United States covered in blue. A legend in the lower right-hand corner had two boxes of color. White represented the United States. Blue represented Pacifica. There were no white states.
Freddy looked at Jack. “What is all this?”
A shadow fell over Freddy’s head, and Jack’s heart leapt into his throat. From behind Freddy, a towering figure rose in the dark.
Jack shouted and dodged as the man roared and lunged for them. The flashlight was knocked from Freddy’s hand, and everything went black. Jack grabbed a metal bar and swung, connecting with something. A cry filled the cabin. A body hit the ground.
The flashlight clicked on. Freddy stood, wide-eyed, looking down at the figure that had collapsed in a heap. The man lay with his face against the floor and the hood of a sweatshirt over his head.
“Nice swing,” he panted.
Asha and Claire came running downstairs. “What’s happening?” Asha pointed at the huge guy in the corner, unconscious. “Who’s that supposed to be?”
“Just one last heart attack, care of the Dome,” Freddy said, twirling his flashlight casually, which slipped out of his hand and bounced on the floor. He fumbled to pick it up. “A madman attempting to stop us from completing the simulation. Nice touch, I guess.”
“More like freaky.” Asha picked up the crate of grenades. “This should work well.”
They followed her up to the deck, calling Voss back over. He groaned when he saw the crate of grenades.
Jack’s heart pounded harder than ever. Would he be able to pull the pin? Simulation or not, this felt real. How had all the other teams done it?
Asha gave them all a quick look, then turned to Voss. She whispered something in his ear.
Jack tried to think about anything else. About the sail, about the cabin, about the maps they had found, anything. He caught Freddy staring back down into the cabin. “What?” Jack asked him.
“I’m thinking,” Freddy said.
“Well stop. Let’s just get this over with.”
Freddy kept staring down into the cabin. He looked up at Jack. “I have to go back downstairs for a second.”
“Freddy!” Jack grabbed him. “You’re not going down there. That’s a rabbit hole. We need you now, completing the simulation.”
“I need two seconds.” Freddy pulled away and ran down into the cabin. The team trailed him. Jack felt everyone’s frustration and fear. None of them wanted to die, but they all wanted this to be over—quickly.
Freddy knelt next to the unconscious man in the corner. He glanced back to make sure everyone was watching. Then he pulled back the man’s hood. It was the Bulgarian.
“The Dome is messing with us, and it’s working,” Asha said, biting her nails and fighting to keep her patience.
“Or maybe it’s trying to tell us something,” Freddy said.
“Yeah, that we’re on a schedule,” Jack told him. “We have to hurry, remember?”
Claire browsed the maps with her flashlight, ignoring the unconscious operative.
Asha was getting agitated. “We have seven minutes. We have to get upstairs and sink this boat. Now come on!”
On the deck the wind had picked up and the first drops of rain were falling. Asha was back with Voss, propping him up.
“You okay?” Claire shouted at him over the wind, which seemed to be building.
Voss gave a single nod. He glanced back at the hatch. “We’re just going to blow up the Bulgarian?”
“It’s not really the Bulgarian.” Asha used her sleeve to wipe the rain out of her face. “It’s a simulation.”
They gathered together in the middle of the boat with the crate of grenades. Asha looked at each one of them. “Okay!” she shouted. The collapsed sail slapped against the wood deck with a bang. Asha shivered from cold and fear. “Put everything else out of your mind. Everything is about this moment. This is where we learn what sacrifice is. You ready?”
They nodded and blinked the rain out of their eyes. No one moved to pick up a grenade.
“Asha’s right.” Voss’s voice shook. He reached down and snatched a grenade. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Wait!” Freddy shouted. His fingers pressed the side of his head, as if he was losing his mind. “Just wait. We can’t do this!”
Jack looked at Claire and back at Freddy. “Hey, Freddy . . .”
But Freddy was scrambling around, patting the deck as if he had dropped his car keys. He stood straight back up, then charged down the steps, back into the cabin.
Voss glared at Jack. “What’s he doing?”
Jack ran back, again, into the dark cabin. Freddy had his flashlight and was tossing the papers around, searching for something. Before Jack could say anything, Freddy snatched one and pushed past Jack, back up onto the deck. Jack sprinted after him to find his friend shoving the paper in Voss’s face.
“What is this?” he shouted at Voss.
“How should I know?” Voss squinted at the rapidly dampening paper.
“Just look at it, Voss!”
Voss snatched it, checking his watch in the process.
“Freddy—” Jack started.
“Just let him answer,” Freddy snapped.
Voss studied the paper for a moment. “It looks like the architecture for a power grid.” He held the waterlogged plans back toward Freddy.
“Yo
u remember the night the Bulgarian attacked us in the Workshop? When you had to hack into that super-secure power grid to shut it off?” Freddy asked urgently.
“The missile defense thing,” Voss said. “Yeah. So what?”
“Jack said the Bulgarian knew about that. He knew you had done that. How would he know?”
“He must have sent that fake message to Alexander,” Voss answered.
“The Bulgarian didn’t send that message,” Freddy insisted. “Somebody else did. Somebody else got you to shut down the power grid. But why? And,” he shoved a finger at the power grid schematic, “why would the Bulgarian have the plans to it? Why does he have military maps of Pacifica? Why does he have any of this?”
“He doesn’t have any of this. The Dome does,” Asha insisted.
“The Bulgarian said he never stopped working for Hadley,” Freddy said. “Jack believed him. Don’t you see? He has all this because he’s going after Thayer. He said that she’s the threat.”
“He tried to kill us!” Asha reminded them.
“That doesn’t mean he was working for Wyeth. He thought Jack invented the Rogue Team!”
“What’s your point, Freddy?” Jack demanded.
“Why couldn’t anyone ever identify the Rogue Team? There are only so many operatives, but nobody could figure it out.”
Asha took Freddy by the arm. “We’ll figure it out, Freddy. But our time is running out, and we have to complete this simulation. Now everybody take a grenade.” The grenades were slippery in their hands in the pouring rain. “Fingers locked in the pin!”
Asha shouted over the wind. “On three, pull the pin and drop the grenades in the box.”
“Wait!” Freddy squatted down, covering his ears, trying to shut out the wind, the noise. “Just wait!”
“Freddy.” Voss leaned over and pulled him to his feet. Freddy still held his head in his hands. “Bro, if we’re going to sink, let’s just sink.”
“On my mark,” Asha called out. “One! Two—”
“What if this isn’t a simulation?” Freddy shouted.
The Hadley Academy for the Improbably Gifted Page 25