by Aella Black
Cathy stood straighter, her face pale. “Just… make it quick. I trust you.”
Dagger. To. The. Heart.
I couldn’t do it. I’d never be able to look at myself in the mirror if I did.
“Alexander Aldrich and Catherine Hughes, thank you for your participation in today’s sparring match. As a reminder, the aim is only to immobilize your opponent, not to kill. Thank you. You may begin.”
Were they kidding? Cathy was in no way my match. What information could they possibly glean by pairing us together?
I turned and looked directly at the black mirror. “You’re joking, right?”
“You may begin,” the warden’s voice repeated.
Just do what they say and don’t think about it.
Do what you gotta do.
I shook my head. “No.”
An endless silence stretched. “Chief…”
I turned to see Cathy shifting uncomfortably. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
The disembodied voice returned. “Please begin, Mr. Aldrich, or there will be consequences.”
I planted my feet and crossed my arms. “She’s telepathic. I’m strong. This isn’t even the least bit fair.”
“Catherine needs a little… incentive.”
Incentive? For what? This didn’t feel like they were testing Cathy, more like they were testing me.
“Then get someone else. I’m not laying a hand on her.”
More silence. Then, “Very well, Alexander.”
The steel door opened, and I turned to find that no one had entered. For a brief moment, relief filled my chest. They were going to let us go. “Come on, Cath—”
Warrick walked into the room. Cathy sucked in a terrified gasp, and I moved to stand in front of her.
“You’ve got no poker face, Chief.” The guard grinned, stretching that ugly mug of his.
“I didn’t realize this was a game,” I said, staring him down.
“Oh, it’s a game all right. One where you play, or you pay. Now move aside!”
I looked at the glass again. “Really? You’re forcing me to either let her be tortured or hurt her myself? What is wrong with you people?”
“Are you saying you’ll take her place, Mr. Aldrich?” the warden asked. Even through the intercom, I could hear her deathly calm tone.
“Xander, don’t,” Cathy whispered behind me.
I’d already shown my cards, so the choice was obvious. There wasn’t one. I wasn’t about to watch Cathy suffer. Not by my hands… or anyone else’s.
“Yes,” I said, my eyes not wavering from the black glass. Let them see I wasn’t afraid of them. Let them do what they wanted with me.
“Warrick.”
Phoebe’s mother’s voice was the last thing I heard before the excruciating pain seared through me, and I crumpled to the floor. I didn’t think it was possible to experience more agony than the last time, but I was wrong. Oh so wrong.
Screams ripped from my throat. My entire body felt like it’d caught fire. I convulsed, every muscle clenching tight. Through the pain, I heard Cathy yelling, begging Warrick to stop.
But I knew no relief would come. Not anytime soon. They were teaching me a lesson. Or trying to, anyway.
I still had no intention of hurting my friends.
Suddenly, the torture stopped. Now someone else was screaming. And, to my surprise, it wasn’t Cathy.
I had just enough energy to lift my head and see Warrick, hands over his ears, eyes squeezed shut, hollering like someone was driving a pick-axe into his skull.
Looking over at Cathy, I saw her face was a mask of pure hatred. Was she doing that? Impossible. But if not her, then who?
I couldn’t think through my pain-addled brain.
Warrick rushed for the door and began banging on it. A trickle of blood oozed from one ear.
And that’s when I remembered.
One of our strategies when plotting to escape Leavenworth involved Cathy yelling in the guards’ heads. It distracted them enough that we had a shot to get away.
Well, until we didn’t.
Because I’d never personally experienced it, I didn’t realize Cathy could scream at a high enough frequency to cause a burst eardrum. Warrick was going to be pissed.
Bursting into the room, Nash stopped and stared directly at Cathy. Warrick’s screaming cut off and he slid to the floor. It appeared Nash really could freeze powers. I wondered how that would work with mine.
The warden’s voice came over the intercom. “Very interesting. Nash, please escort Catherine to her cell. Warrick, you are dismissed. Xander… stay. You will fight today.”
Nash strode over and took Cathy by the arm. Tears tracked down her cheeks as he tugged her toward the door. “I’m sorry, Xander,” she choked out.
She had no reason to be sorry. In fact, I needed to thank her. But before I had the chance, she was dragged out of the room. Warrick trailed behind them, giving me a nasty glare on his way out.
Besides the people on the other side of the glass, I was alone. The silence was deafening.
Who would they send to fight me now? I prayed it wasn’t another one of my friends. I didn’t want to have to go through this again.
Besides, Warrick was temporarily out of commission. How could they make me fight without him around? Fact was, they couldn’t.
I paced around the room. It was so hot in here. After five or more minutes passed, I leaned against the wall that faced the door and sat down on the cold, hard tile floor.
That’s when the ‘what ifs’ started swirling through my mind. What if they sent in Phoebe? I wanted to see her so badly, but not this way. What if they threatened to torture her? Obviously, they followed through with threats around here.
And they knew what she was capable of. What if they said they were going to kill her? Or if they made me choose between my life or hers. She could come back, but I couldn’t. What would I do then?
Warrick had been right about the games being played. Forcing kids to fight in hurt-or-be-hurt situations was the cruelest mind game of all. I didn’t even want to imagine kill-or-be-killed.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
For the millionth time, I cursed myself for not making more of an effort to let my parents know how bad things were. It could have been the only opportunity any of us had, and I blew it.
Unless we managed to get out of here ourselves.
But how would we? The crazy amount of security plus guards with superpowers equaled no chance whatsoever. Even if attempted to escape, we couldn’t do it alone. Our little band of “superfreaks” was already split between the two rotations. Not even Cathy’s ability could overcome that.
And the Lansing supernaturals didn’t seem likely to help. I wondered why they were so docile. Didn’t they want to leave this house of horrors?
The door opened, and I scrambled to my feet. Fortunately, the time spent waiting helped me to regain some strength.
A girl walked in. I didn’t recognize her, so she must have been from the other rotation. Her hair was short, stick-straight, and impossibly shiny. When she saw me, her face split into a smile that could only be described as sadistic.
“Alexander Aldrich and Mei Wang, thank you for your participation in today’s sparring match.” I resisted rolling my eyes. This spiel again? “Normally, the aim is only to immobilize your opponent, not to kill. However, this time, you won’t be punished if you do. Thank you. You may begin.”
Mei didn’t even look surprised. In fact, her grin widened.
So that’s how it’s going to be.
They’d obviously spent enough time with Mei to know she would jump at this chance, and after what happened with Cathy, they knew I wouldn’t. If Mei succeeded, it’d be a lesson to all inmates that disobeying orders could cost them their lives.
But what if I won? This girl did nothing wrong. She didn’t deserve to die.
As I stood watching her, waiting to see what she would do, another thought
struck me. Was this why Phoebe had engaged in her fight? If the rules could be adapted to kill-or-be-killed, she would have been the prime candidate to test it out.
Mei cocked her head to the side. “What are you thinking about?”
“I’m thinking we don’t to have to do this.” It wasn’t a total lie.
“Oh, but we do,” she said solemnly.
I braced myself for an attack, but no amount of preparation would have been enough.
Liquid began to fill my mouth and throat. “Mei, stop—” The words caught in my throat. I tried to swallow, but it wouldn’t go away. I coughed, and a good amount of spit—or was this just water?—splashed onto the floor.
No sooner was it expelled than it was replaced by more. Now it was in my nasal passage too. What kind of sorcery was this?
I opened my mouth to cough again, but I couldn’t even inhale. Water dribbled past my lips.
Mei was trying to suffocate me… with water.
Her dark eyes lit with glee. “Not so strong now, huh?”
She knew coming in here what I could do. It didn’t seem fair. Then again, nothing about this place was fair.
More water filled my air passage, and my lungs screamed for oxygen. Suddenly, it became clear I would have to fight back, or else I’d drown.
“Told off a girl who tried to drown me.”
This was the girl who attacked Phoebe.
Oh, it was on.
I rushed at Mei, and she screamed, leaping back. When I grabbed her arm, the water in my nose and throat let up a bit, and I was able to choke down a breath. But it didn’t last long.
More water filled my mouth, blocking my ability to breathe. I wasn’t sure how much of this I could take.
I really didn’t want to hit a girl. No matter who she was or what she’d done, that wasn’t who I was.
Instead, I grabbed her other arm and twisted it. Mei yelped in pain, and the water stopped again. I coughed and spluttered, expelling as much liquid as I could.
I didn’t want to keep hurting her, but the distraction seemed to help. And I had to be able to breathe. To keep her from drowning me, I’d just have to continue distracting her. But how?
What I did next baffled both of us.
I untwisted Mae’s arm and gave her a twirl. Angry eyes flashed at me. “What are you doing?” she hissed.
I was breathing, and that was all that mattered. I dipped her down, then brought her back up again. Grabbing both of her hands, I then spun her around the room.
“Let go of me, you idiot!” she screamed.
I did and she went flying into a wall. She stared at me in shock. “Are you crazy?”
“Maybe. That’s what happens when your brain is deprived of oxygen.” I saw a split-second flash of guilt cross her face, and it was all I needed. “We seemed to have skipped formalities.” I did an exaggerated bow. “My name is Xander. Would you like to dance?”
“No!” she yelled, and the water creeped up to choke me again.
I lunged and picked her up, lifting her into the air as I spun. I was still taking on too much water. “Sorry,” I gasped, water spewing everywhere. “I wasn’t asking.”
“Put me down!”
I did as she said, but I couldn’t let up. I gave her another twirl, then spun us in dizzying circles.
Honestly, I didn’t know the first thing about dancing. I made it up as I went, but it was enough to distract her from drowning me.
And I seemed to finally be getting through. Her furious face softened—just a little. “There’s no music.”
“You want me to sing?”
She barked out a laugh. “No, I want you to let go of me.”
Coughing, I said, “I can’t do that, Mei.”
I could only imagine what the adults behind the mirror were thinking. Doubtful this was what they had in mind.
I smiled. Then I spun Mei again, lifting her as I swung her around. Only this time, I slipped in a pool of water and my feet flew out from underneath me.
We both went down. Mei’s head slammed against the wall, and she went limp in my arms.
I panicked. “Mei? Are you okay?”
Leaning over, I could see her chest was still moving. But she was knocked out cold.
“Congratulations, Mr. Aldrich. You have won this match. Mei will be escorted to the medical wing.”
10
Phoebe
I was popular, and I still had no idea how it happened.
Maybe it’s because I defeated Raven in my first match. Or maybe because Dane tried to apologize for beating Xander by hyping me up to everyone else. Or maybe I was just so darn likable. Ha!
Whatever the reason, the Lansing supernaturals had basically accepted me as one of their own. Not that I’d abandoned my “superfreak” family. But it was nice to get along with both sides, and both sides respected me. I’d never really had that before.
And somehow I’d managed to win my second match.
To be fair, I didn’t really do anything. The boy’s power involved growing horns on his head, and he seemed adamant on impaling me with them after my mother announced we could fight to the death. Lucky for me, he was slow. Not that I was fast or anything, but the kid was slow.
I ducked out of the way every time. One too many head butts against the wall and he knocked himself out.
Regardless, the victory only seemed to boost my popularity here.
And Dane… well, I forgave him. Mostly.
Having experienced two sparring matches for myself, I understood that he didn’t have a choice in the matter. Or did he?
After Cathy’s “match” with Xander, she tearfully told us all about what he did to protect her. I was in tears just hearing about it. That sounded so like him. Even Dane had been impressed.
And then there was Xander’s sparring session with Mei, who was now apparently his biggest fan. I’d heard the story many times about how eager she’d been to “put him down like a dog.” The girl tried to drown him, and what did he do? He danced with her.
It didn’t matter that they’d slipped and she knocked herself unconscious. A boy had danced with her in the middle of what was supposed to be a vicious fight. It was just like Xander to take a tense situation and turn it around, and his actions made me miss him even more.
All in all, this place was still no picnic, but it had been more bearable than when we first arrived.
The best part was no one knew my secret yet. There had been rumors about it, especially when people heard about the different rules for my matches. Oddly enough, it made inmates think I was more powerful than I was, and the mystery of it all was intriguing to them. When someone speculated about it, I just laughed it off.
Lucy was thrilled at all the attention, and she often hung out with a bunch of Lansing kids that, according to her, wouldn’t give her the time of day before. I finally figured out why that was. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who didn’t like the idea of having someone with Lucy’s brand of power in close proximity.
Even Cathy was enjoying the praise she received when she showed off her power. Back at Leavenworth, we’d often acted annoyed when she talked inside our heads. Because, I mean, it was annoying. Especially when we were trying to sleep. But now people seemed to think it was fascinating, and she ate that up.
Still, with all the positives, it wasn’t the same without my friends from Leavenworth. I often found myself telling stories to Lucy about Rocky and Birdie, Cal and Tex. I thought about them a lot, and sometimes it felt like I was never going to see them again.
And Xander.
I finally understood how “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Boy, did it ever. It might have been my imagination, but sometimes I missed him so much that my stomach actually hurt. It was tough to tell with the terrible food though.
Mealtimes were the worst.
I remembered the first time Xander held my hand was in the cafeteria at Leavenworth. But now we were at Lansing, Xander nowhere in sight, and I was listening to Dane a
nd Cathy chat about summer vacations over dinner.
“There’s this dirty old river, filled with pollution. But really, what body of water isn’t these days? And we have a tire swing hanging from this giant oak that’s probably a hundred years old.” Dane spread his arms over his head, as if to demonstrate how tall the tree was. “And we’d get a bunch of friends and family together, have a cookout, and swing into that river. We’d even catch some crawdads and throw them on the grill with the fish.” He grinned at everyone at the table—me, Cathy, Lucy, and two other girls who regularly played dodgeball with us. “If we ever get out of here, you’re all invited.”
The table sobered at his words. I eyed him. “Do you think we’ll get out of here?” I asked him quietly.
Everyone turned to him. “Sure,” he said without hesitation. “Why keep us alive if they aren’t planning on letting us go one day?”
I thought about the theories that had been tossed around that kids who turned eighteen were killed. Clearly, that wasn’t always the case. Heath, Nash, Saul, and Warrick were all supernaturals over eighteen. But what about everyone else?
“I hope you’re right,” one of the girls said. “I miss my family.”
Cathy looked at her, incredulous. “If I get out of here, the last place I’m going is home.”
“True that.” Lucy gave her a high-five.
I nodded in solidarity.
Where would I go? Now knowing my mother was here at Lansing, I wanted to go as far from Kansas City as possible. I still liked the idea of Alaska, but Dane was making Oklahoma sound pretty nice and peaceful. Plus, it was a heck of lot closer than Alaska.
My gaze collided with Dane’s, and he gave me a quick wink. He’d been doing that lately, and I still couldn’t figure out why. Obviously he was back in my good graces.
After dinner, we returned to our cells to get ready for bed. “Why don’t you want to go home?” I found myself asking Lucy as we stripped down and switched into our nightclothes.
She shrugged. “I’m not on good terms with my family. And have you been to St. Louis? The place is a dumpster fire.” Pausing, she got a faraway look in her eyes, and this time I knew it wasn’t a hallucination.