Because, if Nero had suddenly forgotten Angor’s Affinity…and if he was in frequent contact with the two people who wanted to keep Angor in jail…and if Angor wasn’t using his Affinity, which should have been able to easily free him from his predicament, then perhaps Angor truly wasn’t the one with the mind controlling Affinity.
Perhaps Artemis truly was.
15
Another Fiery Stromer
Avner had never experimented with drugs, and now he knew why it had been a smart choice: whatever chemicals the Reggs pumped through the air vents hurt. Invisible hands squeezed his brain, draining his energy, and with the periodic experimentations on his body, he’d fallen into a state of decay.
Days had passed—or maybe weeks or months. His Affinity had curled into a distant corner of his mind, unwilling to emerge even when he begged it to. Never had he felt so disconnected to the charge of energy. Based on what he’d gathered from the researchers’ conversations, his ability, at an atomic level, allowed him to separate negative and positive ions in the air and spark electricity between them. He hadn’t thought his Affinity was so technically rooted in science, nor did he think he would have the opportunity to use this knowledge to improve. It seemed unlikely he would ever be able to summon electricity again.
As the man with the magnetic Affinity, Charlie, had said on their first day, the researchers always drugged their subjects beyond the point of comprehension; the experimentation room was a cold, metallic blur to Avner. He vaguely remembered them shaving his head, but he might have thought it a dream if his other three companions weren’t bald, as well.
There were two scientists, as the magenta-eyed girl, Meredith, had claimed, and they spent the most time on Jamad, trying to discern how he caused water to freeze. Naretha had an untreated incision in her arm, through which they attempted to determine if there was an abnormal amount of salt in her blood, muscles, and bones. The cut looked as infected as the one on Meredith’s stomach, which had yet to heal. Sloppy and merciless, the experimenters seemed not to think other humans could feel pain.
This fact had been solidified on the first day, when Zeela returned from her first bout of experimentation, head haphazardly shaven and white eyes oozing blood. Avner had wept at the sight of her, and though she’d been dazed and mostly unconscious, he’d attempted to comfort her despite the restraints. He’d been unable to cry or even produce a sound when she returned from her second experimentation with one of her eyes carved clean out of its socket. Naretha and Jamad had both screamed in rage. Avner had simply crumbled into a pile of sorrow.
None of the other prisoners had been touched since their arrival. Currently, Jamad was absent, likely being cut up in the research room. The emotional numbness prevented Avner from caring. Charlie had been right: This was hell. Was this punishment for breaking Naretha out of jail—for breaking the law? Avner had convinced himself that it was—that he deserved this for being so undeniably stupid. His friends, though…they didn’t deserve this. He wasn’t even sure Naretha deserved this.
She seemed to have accepted her fate; gone were her snarky remarks and dry humor. Her dull, pink eyes stared lifelessly at the stone walls, as if the researchers had extracted her brain. The only time she showed a hint of emotion was when Zeela returned from experimentation, her appearance even more grotesque than before; then there was fury in the Wacko’s eyes.
Now, when the moldy wooden door flew open, none of the prisoners moved. They had probably forgotten about life outside this pit—Avner nearly had. When Jamad made a lame attempt to wrench out of the guard’s grasp, however, anyone conscious snapped up in attention, only to be disappointed when the guard tightened his hold on the boy’s arms and launched him across the room.
Meredith shrieked when he slammed into the wall beside her, crumbling into the spot soiled by his own excrement. There was a pause during which only his muffled groans were audible, but the guard grunted and retreated from the room without further incident.
Leaving Jamad unshackled.
“Are you okay?” Meredith asked as he unfurled and stared up at the ceiling.
“I’m lying in my own piss and shit—of course I’m not okay.” When he noticed her still staring at him with concerned eyes, he added, “Sorry. I’ll live. No open wounds—”
“J,” Avner interrupted, “do you not know what just happened?”
“Of course I know what just happened.” He sat upright and spat into the dirt. A large bruise bulged on his forehead just beneath the light blue hair beginning to regrow. “I just got thrown against a freakin’ wall, and I think Meredith’s the only one who cares!”
“No, look.” Avner nodded to his friend’s untethered wrists while yanking on his own chains. “They didn’t lock you up, man. You’re free.”
Naretha banged her head back against the wall. “Dammit! Why did you have to be the first one free? You’re gonna leave me here.”
“If you stop being such a pessimist, maybe we’ll consider bringing your Wacko-ass along.” With a taunting smirk, Jamad jumped to his feet—and then wobbled. They hadn’t been fed much, and after whatever experimentation he’d just endured, the adrenaline pumping through his veins was probably all that kept him upright. “How do I get everyone out of these restraints? Anyone know?”
“You’ll need the key,” Charlie groaned as he shifted forward. “Which none of us have.”
“We won’t be able to break out without our Affinities,” Avner said, struggling to kick his feet out of the ropes. “Can you cover the vent?”
Jamad’s gaze flew to the vent high in the corner. “Yeah…I’ve got an idea. Sorry,” he added again to Meredith.
She winced at the address. “What…are you doing?”
“Taking off my clothes,” he said as he began to do just that. “My abs are so hot, they’re probably gonna debilitate you.”
“Not the time for cocky jokes, Snowman,” Naretha droned, her sardonic demeanor more indicative of enthusiasm than displeasure.
“Sue me, Salty. I’m amped,” he countered while shimmying out of his sweatpants. Once he wore only snowflake boxer shorts, Meredith did blush, but he didn’t make another quip before hurrying to the vent. The duct jutted out enough that, when he stood on his toes, he was able to drape the sweatshirt over the air holes and seal it by wrapping the legs of his sweatpants around the metal.
Without a direct source for the noxious gas to escape through, it lingered in the air, gradually seeping through the cracks in the stone walls. Half-naked but giddy, Jamad used this time to crouch beside Avner and fiddle with the knot binding his legs.
“You smell like sewer, dude.”
“I think we all do,” Avner muttered, liberating his legs from the rope when Jamad finished untying it. His muscles were sore and stiff from disuse, but as static began to crackle around him, he felt ready to run miles. Jamad shivered in delight, and Naretha grinned like a fiend when she snorted salt from her nose.
Many of the other Affinities stirred throughout the room, awoken by the rebirth of their powers, but Zeela remained motionless, her one eye closed as if she were asleep. Avner knew she wasn’t—her breathing was too quick. Given that she’d barely spoken since their arrival, it seemed unlikely she would speak now, even though their freedom inched closer by the second.
“I can probably pull the chains out of the wall,” Charlie said as Jamad untied his legs.
“Me first,” an old lady croaked. Positioned in the corner, her pale face was inlaid with wrinkles and scars, and her baby yellow hair was a wisp atop her head. When the others glanced her way, she wiggled her frail fingers, which morphed shape as they moved. “I’m excellent at picking locks.”
“You can…morph your fingers into keys?” Avner asked.
“I was a bit of a thief in my youth,” she admitted, though there was no remorse in her manic grin.
“Free her then,” Jamad commanded Charlie once his legs were untied. Grimacing, the man scrunched his face and clenched his
fists, bowing the lady’s metallic chains toward him. After another grunt of exertion, the shackles ruptured from the wall, showering debris on the woman before her entire body lurched toward Charlie. She landed face-first on his legs, her arms awkwardly suspended above her as the metal connected with his fists.
“Agh, I think I’m broken,” she griped. Charlie released his hands and she flopped fully on the ground. When Jamad gingerly began to turn her over, she swatted him away with the chains. “Give me a minute, will ya?”
“Hurry it up, canker sore, we need to get out of here,” Naretha barked as the woman lay limply on her belly.
“That sounds like a point for the ‘let’s not bring the Wacko’ category,” Jamad crooned, receiving a snarl from Naretha in response. Her mood mollified substantially when, a few minutes later, the old lady finally mustered the strength to trudge around the room and unlock each pair of shackles with a key-shaped finger.
It seemed a miracle that she could walk at all. Many of the others, even those significantly younger than her, struggled to stand upright on shaky limbs. Meredith was so weak that she could barely roll onto her knees. Jamad stooped down to help her, but she recoiled.
“I can try to carry you, if you want,” he offered as she curled into the wall.
“I…can’t leave,” she whispered, eyes darting around frantically as the other Affinities rose. “They will know.”
He studied her stomach wound and her undergarments, too tight for her body. “Did they…put some kind of tracking device in you?” She shook her head, but he continued eyeing her with suspicion. “Well, I’m not leaving you here. We’re all escaping and so are you. I don’t know how long you’ve been here, but life above this place is good—you’ll see.”
Her head continued to shake in earnest, but he ignored her and spun toward Avner. “Can Z walk?”
Biting his lip, he tenderly nudged his girlfriend’s shoulder. She still wore Jamad’s old t-shirt and flannel pants, but the deadness in her expression when her one white eye flew open was far from cozy. “Z…are you okay to move?”
With an absent nod, Zeela pushed to her feet and Avner followed, watching her warily. She touched her head, coated with barely a centimeter of white stubble, and her lips twisted. “How do I look?”
A smile cracked across Avner’s face as he brought his fingers to her jaw, stroking dirt- and blood-crusted skin. “Beautiful. How do I look?”
Her one eye roved in its socket, but she didn’t return his affable attitude. “Different,” was all she said. Avner wasn’t sure he wanted to know what that meant.
As the Affinities congealed near the entrance, Naretha positioned herself at the head of the crowd to survey the moldy wooden door with distaste. “Should I ram my shoulder into this piece of junk, or…”
“I thought we were going for stealth,” Jamad grunted as he hoisted Meredith into his arms. Panic characterized her demeanor, but she seemed too paralyzed to fight him.
“You think they aren’t gonna notice all of their prisoners leave?” Naretha raised an eyebrow. “I say we bust out of here full force—kill ’em all.”
“Great idea, except we don’t know if our Affinities will work outside this room,” Avner said, weaving through the group to confront the Wacko. “They could be pumping the gas into the halls.”
“Not the halls,” Meredith said, trembling in Jamad’s grasp. “Just the rooms.”
Naretha’s saccharine smirk radiated. “Good. I have some threats to uphold. The real issue will be removing the guards’ masks into order to shove salt down their throats… You up for a little death by electrocution, kiddo?”
Avner inhaled through his nose. “We’re not killing anyone.”
“Oh? We should let them live so they can find more Affinities to torture? That’s noble.”
“We only resort to violence if it becomes necessary. If we can sneak out of here unnoticed, that’s our best shot of ensuring there aren’t any casualties on our—”
“Get ready to resort,” Zeela interjected, her eye focused beyond the door. “They’re coming.”
Jamad swore so profoundly that Meredith hiccupped. “Do you think the guard remembered he didn’t shackle me?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Naretha droned as she cracked her knuckles. “Drop the dead weight and get ready to fight.”
“I’m not leaving her—”
“I can walk,” Meredith assured him, though her voice quavered. He looked like he was ready to protest, but then the door’s lock clicked, signaling that the guards had indeed returned.
Hastily, Avner planted himself between Zeela and the door while Jamad placed Meredith on her feet. Hands rubbed together to spark lightning, and icicles formed in the air, glittering with the promise of carnage. Meredith gawked in awe at the suspended shards of ice, but the others were too busy readying their own defenses to be impressed. Naretha’s skin budded with salt crystals while Charlie summoned all of the shackles to his body, morphing him into a metallic monster. Even the old lady prepared to fight, converting her fingers into mini drills.
The problem was that, when the two guards did burst through the door, they wore their typical Affinity-proof suits—and wielded dart guns with tranquilizers. Two prisoners fell before any of them could attempt to employ their powers.
Screams filled the dungeon as more darts zipped through the air, but no one else was shot before Avner’s blinding bolt of electricity tore across the room, colliding with the masked men. Though he was skilled enough not to electrocute anyone else in the process, the other Affinities still shrieked with as much fear as they had for the dart guns.
Naretha, obviously unfazed by the deadly lightning, bombarded the guards with thick salt crystals. Jamad mimicked her actions by hurling icicles at the men, attempting to find a weak spot. As they pushed on through salt, ice, and electricity, it became clear there were no vulnerabilities in their suits—until Charlie swung the shackles over his head like a lasso and thwacked one of the guards in the face, shattering the black glass of his helmet.
“Fry him!” Naretha shouted to Avner, who immediately shook his head.
“I’ll stun him, but I won’t kill him!”
With a loud groan, the Wacko whipped a torrent of crystals at the guard, slamming into every pore and breaching every airway. Even as the man fell to his knees and choked violently on salt, though, his partner did not relent. He continued dispelling tranquilizers from his gun, most missing but a few hitting their mark—like the one that embedded in Naretha’s arm.
Her resounding swear was drowned out by the bang of Charlie’s metal slamming the back of that man’s head. Swaying, the guard wilted forward and landed on his face, glass helmet shattering from the blow. The clamor fizzled, leaving only Naretha’s plentiful profanities to fill the void.
“Dammit. Can someone cut off my arm?” she moaned, staring down at the dart jammed in her limp limb.
Zeela yanked out the dart. “We don’t need to cut off your arm. The sedatives in these are weak. They’ll drain your strength, but you won’t pass out like last time.”
“How do you know?” Naretha’s tone was skeptical, even as the other fallen Affinities slowly wobbled to their feet.
“I can see it flowing through your veins,” Zeela replied, her one white eye roving over the Wacko’s body. Avner had never cared much about his girlfriend’s appearance, but looking into her empty, blood-encased eye socket was…difficult.
“Right,” Naretha mumbled. “Well, let’s get moving then.”
“Is he dead?” Jamad nodded toward the second guard.
“No,” Meredith said, knees quaking as she stared down at the man. “Please kill him.”
Initially, Jamad’s eyebrows shot up, but then his lips slid into a feral grin as he extended his hands. “With pleasure.”
Before Avner could object, ice seeped from his friend’s fingers, slithering through the crevices in the man’s helmet to consume every inch of his flesh, freezing the life out of hi
m. There wasn’t a hint of remorse on Jamad’s face when the deed was complete; he simply wiped his hands and then extended his arm to Meredith. Though uncomfortable about his half-naked body, she looped her frail arm through his and allowed him to escort her toward the doorway.
“Don’t tell me—” Avner shook his head, running a hand over his nearly bald scalp. Jamad paused and glanced over his shoulder expectantly. “J…that was murder.”
“Not murder, Av. Justice. For all of us.”
“No,” Avner insisted, taking an aggressive step over the dead guards, “this is wrong!”
“This is wrong,” Naretha retorted, motioning around the dungeon they’d been holed up in for an immeasurable amount of time. “Let’s get the hell out of here. If you want to stick around and revive the demons, Sparky, that’s your choice.”
Though Avner’s jaw was clenched, he let the group of prisoners trickle out of the room without a fight. He was clearly outnumbered in this argument; none of the other Affinities seemed remotely miffed by the unnecessary murder. Even Zeela, though she did grant him a glance, was unsympathetic to his opinion. Her only response was a blank, unreadable stare before she headed to the narrow hallway.
Without the effects of the toxic gas, Avner now saw the dirt corridor with clear eyes. The door to their dungeon was the only wooden one; all the others were shiny silver metal with electronic locks.
“That’s the experimentation room,” Meredith whispered, motioning toward the next door down. “Samiya and Paul are probably in there.”
“The experimenters,” Jamad commented, and Avner remembered hazily hearing those two names while they prodded at him. Luckily, neither of them emerged before the group reached the end of the corridor, where a switchback staircase resided.
Zeela and Naretha led the pack upward, the former scanning for signs of life and the latter readying her left hand with salt to demolish that life. The stairwell only ascended one flight, and when they arrived at another metal door with a keypad lock, Naretha prepared to punch it.
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