Hunting Lila

by Sarah Alderson

  Jack’s face suddenly transformed from its nirvana-like expression into stone-cold hate.

  ‘I’m going to unfreeze you but remember there’s a gun at your back so you need to behave.’

  With that Jack fell forward, stumbling to standing. The tendons on his neck were taut as wires and you could have struck a light off his eyes.

  ‘Alex and I were just discussing details. He’s trying to work out how you’ll break Alicia out. And I was saying that I had no doubt you two would manage it somehow. Though it’s a shame and rather surprising that you don’t have a special talent like your sister. You do know it’s genetic, don’t you?’

  Jack made no response.

  Demos laughed suddenly. ‘It’s ironic, isn’t it? Your sister being a psy. Being one of us. You gotta find that funny.’

  Jack continued to ignore him, staring right through him.

  ‘No? Not funny?’ He glanced at Suki and sighed. ‘What’s he thinking?’

  She didn’t take her eyes off Jack. ‘He’s thinking that no matter what his sister is, she’ll never be like us. That she’s not a killer – oh, that’s interesting.’

  Her head tipped up like a dog hearing a sound and trying to figure out where it was coming from.

  ‘What?’ Demos asked.

  ‘Not him. Her.’ She pointed at me. ‘She’s worrying that she is just like us. Something about an eyeball?’

  Everyone shifted to stare at me and I shuffled my feet and tried to make my mind go blank. God, she was so annoying.

  Demos considered me for a moment before turning back to Jack. ‘You know we’ve known all along about Lila? We’ve been watching her. We had Harvey here disable the alarm system at your house so Lila didn’t trigger it accidentally. We didn’t think it would be helpful for any of us if you contained your own sister. We’d be without collateral, you’d be without a sister, and probably without a job.’

  Jack’s jaw looked like it might be about to dislocate. I shook my head. At least I knew now why I’d had luck on my side.

  ‘Well, Jack, Alex,’ Demos sighed, ‘time you were on your way. I’ll give you twelve hours. Here,’ he threw a phone towards Alex who caught it in his left hand, his eyes not leaving Demos’s face, ‘take this. Call the last number dialled when you have her. Then I’ll tell you where to come.’

  Alex barely nodded at him.

  Demos turned back to Jack. ‘It’s a shame we can’t have more time together. But at least I’ll have the pleasure of your sister’s company for the foreseeable future, if not yours.’

  Amber hopped a few steps back and away. ‘Demos, seriously, stop it right now, you’re going to give him an aneurysm or something. All I can see is red, red, red. It’s giving me a headache. I don’t like it.’

  ‘You don’t much like him chasing you either, darling.’ He turned to Jack. ‘You’d better hurry, the clock’s ticking.’

  My legs started to shake. I looked at Alex, but his eyes were already on me.

  ‘I’ll come back, I promise you. I won’t let them hurt you,’ he whispered to me, as though no one else was around to hear.

  Then Jack was blocking my view, his arms wrapped tight around me. ‘I love you,’ he whispered into my ear. ‘I’m sorry. I’ll fix this.’

  A hand tugged him away. It was Ryder.

  ‘We’ll be sending someone with you.’ Demos twisted around and beckoned someone over who I hadn’t noticed until now. He was just a kid wearing a Metallica T-shirt and a pair of beaten-up Converse. He was even younger than me. It had to be Nate. I wondered if Key was around.

  ‘How do you know his name? Who’s Key?’ It was Suki asking. She was looking at me curiously.

  The others all turned to stare again. The boy Nate was suddenly alert.

  I tried to make my mind go blank. La la la la la la la la.

  ‘You can’t keep that up forever,’ Suki said, with a touch of menace.

  La la la la la la la.

  ‘Oh, Demos, make her stop.’

  La—

  Suki was looking at me with relief on her face. Why was she looking at me like that?

  ‘Key’s my father.’ A boy was speaking up from behind Demos’s back. It had to be Nate. ‘He can project. He’s probably here right now.’

  As one, we all scanned the clearing from left to right, our eyes peering up into the branches and amongst the trees, looking for a ghost.

  ‘And why would he do that?’ asked Demos.

  ‘Apparently he thinks his son is here under duress,’ said Suki, laughing.

  ‘Well, you tell this Key when you see him that I’m taking good care of his son. He’s happy – as you can see.’ Demos looked at Alex and gestured at Nate, who was hanging his head at the sudden attention. ‘Come out come out wherever you are.’ Demos laughed. ‘I know you can’t show yourself. But if you can hear me Mr Johnson I’m taking good care of your son. He’s happy – you can see. And not here under duress.’

  ‘Oh really?’ I spoke up. ‘Because you aren’t physically touching him, just controlling his mind, he’s not under duress?’

  Demos turned to me angrily, and I heard a growling noise that I thought came from Alex’s direction. ‘No – I’m not controlling him. That would be too much effort. He’s here because he wants to be.’ He turned back to the clearing, calling out to the emptiness between the sky and the trees. ‘Hang around, Key, maybe you’ll discover something that’ll make you change your mind. Maybe you would be happy joining us, too, and Lila – I could always use another projector’ – he looked at me – ‘and someone with telekinetic ability.’

  ‘Over my dead body,’ I replied.

  Demos frowned and then turned to Alex and Jack once more. ‘I think it’s time you two were on your way. Take Alex’s bike – it’ll be faster. Remember, Nate’ll project and follow you, so don’t try anything, OK? See you in twelve hours.’

  He walked to me and put his hand on my shoulder, his fingers as heavy as slabs of lead. My whole body turned rigid and I thought he was doing something to me again, until I realised it was just my natural reaction to his touch. I fought down every instinct to shrug him off and mouthed the word ‘go’ at Alex.

  He hesitated, his lips parted, and for a split second it looked like he was about to say something, but then he grabbed Jack by the elbow. ‘Let’s go,’ he said, and tugged him backwards out of the clearing.

  They gave me one last glance before twisting around and starting to jog towards the cable car. I swallowed hard several times, feeling the violent stretch of the invisible elastic tying me to Alex and then the sudden whiplash against my insides as it snapped in two.

  I stood there watching after them, in the middle of a circle made up of my mother’s killers, and wondered if it was the last time I would ever see them.

  Out of nowhere, Suki suddenly appeared at my side and put her arm around my shoulders. ‘Don’t be sad,’ she whispered in my ear. ‘He loves you. He’s sorry that he never told you.’

  24

  I’d seen eyes like his on a dead shark carcass once. That was all I could think of as we sat opposite each other at the picnic table. It was an unlikely location for a head-to-head with a murderer. Too light. Too peaceful. Like a scene from Bambi.

  I shifted uncomfortably on the wooden planks of my seat and looked around. I wondered where Jack and Alex were by now. Probably just getting to the bottom in the cable car, or possibly already on the road. It was pointless I knew, but I glanced over my shoulder to look for them, half hoping they were still up the mountain and were about to launch a rescue mission. But the pain I was feeling inside and the ache between my ribs told me loud and clear that Alex was really gone.

  I scanned the clearing again anyway. Amber and Ryder were taking a stroll arm in arm down one of the many paths that led off the picnic area. Harvey and Bill were rolling cigarettes at a table twenty metres away to our right. Nate’s body was slumped over the table between them. He looked like he was sleeping off a hangover. As I watched,
Bill took a sweater, rolled it up and placed it under Nate’s head.

  Suki was sitting next to Demos, eyeing me through those spider-leg lashes of hers. I could feel her rooting around inside my head, making my scalp tingle. Or maybe I was just imagining it. I looked away from her, trying to block her out, if that was even possible.

  After half a minute more of absolute silence, she turned to Demos, shaking her head. ‘They’ve told her all sorts. Something about you wanting to steal nuclear weapons? It’s like an L. Ron Hubbard story in there.’

  I stared at her, my lips parting.

  ‘I’m going to get something to eat. Leave you two to it,’ she said, leaping up from the bench and skipping off towards the café. I watched her go.

  ‘I’m guilty of maybe half of what they say.’

  I swivelled my head back to Demos. He had his hands clasped in front of him on the table. I considered his words for a few seconds. ‘Which half?’ I asked.

  He snorted. I guessed it was laughter. ‘I like you. You’re feisty,’ he said. ‘Just like your mother.’

  I gripped the edge of the table until I felt a splinter dig under the skin of my thumb. ‘Do not talk to me about my mother.’ My voice came out as a hiss.

  ‘I’m sorry.’ A deep furrow formed between his brows. ‘You’re just so like her – I mean the way you look, your mannerisms. It’s . . .’ He shook his head and stared at me in what I took to be amazement.

  I sat for a few seconds in a state of total shock. ‘How do you know what my mother was like? You only knew her long enough to kill her.’

  The furrow in his brow had become a trough. He looked down at the table, then back up at me. ‘Lila, I did not kill your mother.’

  I stared at him unmoving, unblinking, unbelieving.

  ‘I admit I am guilty of some of the crimes they accuse me of. The breaking and entering, probably the treason, certainly one murder.’

  I inhaled sharply

  ‘But I’m definitely not interested in stealing nuclear weapons,’ he said, raising his eyebrows in obvious amusement. ‘And I did not kill your mother.’

  I wasn’t sure if Demos was stilling my voice or whether my brain just didn’t know how to function anymore. I could still hear myself thinking though, turning circles, running after questions, so he couldn’t be. And my feelings were still there. I tried to decipher them. There was definitely anger. But mostly pain. And a whole lot of confusion. I didn’t think he could be doing anything to me.

  ‘I knew your mother.’

  I looked up, startled. ‘How?’

  ‘She was a friend of mine.’

  ‘Of course she was. And Nate’s not here under duress and you’re not holding me hostage. And really you’re a nice guy – I bet you like puppies and teach Sunday School. When you’re not killing people on your day off.’

  His fists hit the table, making me jump, but he was laughing, his body shaking.

  ‘Wow, Suki was right, they really have done a number on you.’

  I ignored him. I knew what I’d read. But Alex had told Jack not to believe everything he read. Damn, I didn’t know what to believe anymore. But then I looked at Demos and I knew for sure there was no way my mother would have been friends with him.

  ‘My mother would never, in a million years, have been friends with you,’ I said, but my power of conviction was already starting to waver.

  He stopped laughing. ‘She was, Lila.’

  ‘You’re lying. Why are you lying to me?’

  ‘For a time she was more than just a friend.’

  I shook my head and laughed.

  ‘I loved her very much.’

  My laughter died as abruptly as his had. My hands automatically moved to cover my ears. ‘Stop it!’ I shouted. ‘Why are you doing this?’

  ‘I’m telling the truth, Lila. I loved your mother and for a time she loved me back.’ He pressed his hands against his forehead and closed his eyes. ‘Then I did something stupid and she wouldn’t forgive me – not that I blame her.’ He opened his eyes again. ‘She met your father and . . .’ he took a deep breath, ‘not long after that she was expecting your brother. It was too late.’

  ‘You – and my mother? You expect me to believe that?’ I pushed back from the table to standing. I had to get away from him.

  Before I could go anywhere he reached into his back pocket and I fell back onto the seat, suddenly afraid. But he was just taking out his wallet. He slipped a square of paper out from inside and handed it across the table to me. I took it from him slowly.

  It was a photograph. Black-and-white, taken in a photo booth. A tiny square holding two familiar faces. Only I couldn’t quite make sense of it. I stared at the person smiling at the camera, long hair cascading down her back, her eyes just like mine. It was my mum, no doubt about it. And she looked so happy. The other person wasn’t my dad, though. It was Demos. No question about it, albeit a lot younger. He had his arms wrapped around my mum and he was nuzzling – there was no other word for it – nuzzling her neck.

  I put it down on the table and pushed it back towards him with my index finger. I noticed my hand was trembling. A splash of rain plopped onto the table in front of me and I looked at it in surprise before realising I was crying.

  Demos started speaking softly now, almost fervently. ‘I loved her. I loved how she was passionate and idealistic and impulsive. I loved how she always wanted to do the right thing, no matter what it cost. How she always knew the right thing to say. I loved the way she used to push her hair back out her face, just like you’re doing now, and the way she would smile and her whole face would light up.’

  I took several breaths before I could get the words out: ‘You didn’t kill her?’

  ‘That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.’

  ‘But if you didn’t, who did?’

  I could hear my heartbeat rushing in my ears like a waterfall.

  ‘The senator she was working for. He had her killed.’

  Several seconds expanded and contracted in front of me. Andrew Burns? But he’d been killed too. I’d seen the report. Demos had been tried and convicted of his murder. I wondered if he knew that there was an electric chair plumped and waiting for him at the base.

  I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. ‘Why would he have wanted her dead?’

  His brow furrowed again and his eyes became even more hooded under the weight. ‘Because, Lila, your mother was unique – like you. She had a very special gift.’

  I stood up again, struggling to unknot my legs from under the bench. Then I was stumbling and tripping over the packed earth. The next instant I was kneeling on the ground and Demos was by my side.

  ‘Stop doing that to me. Stop controlling me!’ It came out as a half-cry, half-growl.

  ‘I’m not, Lila. I’m not doing anything, I swear. Here . . .’ He held out a hand and I looked at it.

  Then I reached out slowly and let him pull me up to standing. Once on my feet, I tore my hand away and we stood there for a long while just watching each other.

  ‘What could she do?’ I asked finally.

  ‘She could read minds – like Suki.’

  My mouth fell open. Demos put a hand out to me. ‘I’m sorry. I realise that must be a shock.’

  A shock? He was king of understatement. I was getting fairly adept at handling the surprises, revelations, muggings and kidnappings that were occurring on an hourly basis, but this – this was straight out of left field. How could my mum have hidden a secret like that for so long? I had only been keeping my ability secret for four years and already it felt like half the world knew. Yet Jack and I had never known. I wondered if my dad had.

  ‘Now you know your mum was one of us, do you still believe that rubbish they’re feeding you about us being subhuman monsters?’ He rolled his eyes. ‘Seriously? Come on.’ He was looking at me like he was trying to assess exactly how gullible I was.

  I thought back to the conversation I’d had with Alex in the motel. He had said he did
n’t believe the Unit anymore. Because of me. A pain that seemed to strip the muscle from the bone peeled through me. I wanted him here with me so much right now. I wanted him to help me make sense of everything.

  I looked at Demos, struggling to find an answer. ‘I . . .’

  ‘I brought you two some food.’ Suki appeared suddenly by the picnic table. She was holding up a brown paper bag and beckoning us over.

  I looked at Demos. I wanted to finish the conversation, preferably not with her anywhere near me.

  ‘Come on, sit down. Have something to eat.’ He put his hand in the small of my back and started to lead me to the table.

  I knocked his hand away. ‘I don’t want to eat. I want you to tell me what happened to my mother.’

  ‘I will tell you, Lila. Just come and sit down.’

  I let him push me back towards the table and sat down in a huff. Suki sat opposite me, next to Demos. I gave her one of my best scowls. I didn’t need her reading my thoughts just now. Or ever, in fact. How did the others stand it? She handed me a sandwich silently, the smile gone from her face. When I ignored the offering, she placed it on the table in front of me.

  ‘Your mother was a remarkable woman, Lila.’ Demos was looking at me so lovingly that I was in no doubt that he was seeing my mother in front of him. At least I hoped he was. I arched an eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest.

  ‘I’m sorry – you know this. You don’t need me to tell you. It’s just uncanny seeing you right here in front of me.’ He shook his head. ‘It’s making it all seem so real again. Like it was just yesterday.’ He stopped and took a breath. ‘I met her when she was not much older than you are now. We were freshmen at Stanford. We met on campus in the first week – for me it was love at first sight. She was beautiful.’

  My nostrils flared. I did not want to listen to this.

  He noted my reaction with a smile and a nod, but carried on anyway. ‘She was really something special – and she saw through me straightaway . . .’ He laughed under his breath at the memory and it felt like a horse kick in my gut.

  ‘A talent like your mother’s is a difficult one to handle.’ I saw him throw a glance in Suki’s direction and registered her half-smile back at him. ‘I’ve seen it drive people mad. Usually listening to your own inner voice is enough to push you over the edge – imagine what it does to you when you’re able to tune into everyone else’s.’