by Aella Black
“I lived about ten miles away. Went to Northern High.”
Cooper cracked a smile. “That’s where I’m supposed to go,” he said, his smile fading as quickly as it appeared. “I’m in eighth grade right now.”
“No kidding? What a small world.”
Dane was so great with the kid, it made me wonder if he had any siblings of his own. I hadn’t really asked personal questions, and other than stories about the land where he used to hunt and rivers where he used to fish, he hadn’t offered.
Cathy and I introduced ourselves. As we continued to move forward in the line, Cooper inched closer to Dane with every minute that passed. Looked like we had a new buddy.
Lucky for Cooper that he connected with Dane so quickly. I remembered how shell-shocked I was when I found myself in prison. Then finding out everyone around me was from everywhere but here? It was scary and disorienting.
Xander’s arrival was the first time I’d felt a sense of peace. Part of that was him being a calm, cool, and collected guy whose unfailing optimism would have lifted anyone’s spirits. But the other part was him being a piece of home in what was so drastically different from my old life that I may as well have been in a different country.
Without him nearby once again, I was back to feeling unmoored. So yeah, I could empathize with Cooper.
Dane’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “So, Cooper, what got you tossed in this joint?”
The kid looked around as if afraid someone was listening. Then he looked down at his feet.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell us.” Dane threw an arm around Cooper’s shoulders. “Want to sit with us? We promise we don’t bite.”
Cooper smiled. “Okay.”
I was tempted to warn him which of the inmates actually did bite, but I held my tongue. No need to traumatize the poor boy more than he already was.
We grabbed our food and settled ourselves at a table. I caught sight of Lucy, whose popularity took a nosedive once the gossip died down about The-Witch-formerly-known-as-my-mother. She sat at a table in the corner with some other girls… or rather near them. It was obvious by their distance Lucy wasn’t part of their group.
I tried to feel some sympathy for her, but I just couldn’t. We hadn’t known one another long—she was right about that, at least—but the feeling of betrayal hit an already exposed nerve.
Sighing, I reached robotically for my sandwich. Again, it would have been nice if Xander were around to talk to. If anyone understood issues with parents, it was him.
“Hello, earth to Phoenix.” I tuned back in to see a hand waving in front of my face. Dane’s hand.
“Phoenix?” I turned to look at Cooper, who looked perplexed. “I thought your name was Phoebe.”
I finished my sip of tea before saying, “You’re right, it is. Phoenix is a nickname.”
“We gave it to her when she got to Leavenworth,” Cathy said proudly.
“Leavenworth?” Cooper asked.
We were confusing the poor kid. “There’s another prison—or there was—and Cathy and I were there before we came here,” I explained.
“There’s two of these places?” Cooper appeared understandably horrified.
Dane chimed in. “Yeah, but no worries, buddy. That one closed down when the river flooded. You’ll be here with us. Right, girls?”
Cathy and I both nodded. Dane was so good with him.
“I like mythology,” Cooper shared, at what appeared to be out of the blue. “Like, a lot.” Then, even more strangely, he blushed.
Dane looked at me, a question in his eyes, and I shrugged in response. Then he shifted his focus back to Cooper and said, “That’s great, Coop, glad to hear it.”
I bit back a smile. It sounded as if someone else had received a nickname.
“The Phoenix is a bird that has to do with fire and sun,” Cooper said. Oh man, I knew where he was going with this. Except that I didn’t. “Did you get the name because of your yellow hair?” He was obviously talking to me but wouldn’t look me in the eye. It was cute how bashful he was being.
My gaze darted to Cathy, who froze mid-bite. I didn’t need telepathy to communicate that I did not want her to tell Cooper about the fire. Talk about traumatizing the boy.
But I had to tell him something. Hard to go wrong with the truth, my Dad always said.
“You know how the Phoenix bird is also known to rise from the ashes and be born again?” I asked Cooper. He nodded, his eyes widening.
“Well, that’s my superpower,” I stated. “I die, and then I, um, I come back.”
Cooper looked shocked—that was nothing new—but oddly enough, a look of relief washed over his face. I had no idea why.
Until he spoke again.
With the same drawl as Dane, he told us his story. “I was taking a test at school, and this girl named Miranda kept kicking my seat. I told her over and over to stop but she wouldn’t and I knew I was getting all the answers to the test wrong and I got stressed out and…”
Cooper inhaled a deep breath, as if he had to calm himself just thinking about what happened. I noticed he’d also started twisting his hands together again. Somehow I knew how this story would end.
“Everyone’s pencils flew out of their hands. Except mine.” He didn’t meet any of our eyes when he said, “And I accidentally stabbed some kids with them.” Then he quickly added, “But I told the people I didn’t mean to! They said I could have killed someone. That I almost did.” I had no doubt who they were. The SCC had struck again. “So yeah, that’s why I’m here,” he finished, his face filled with resignation and sorrow.
Now I understood why Cooper looked relieved when I told him about my power. It wasn’t because someone besides him was different. We all were. It was because he’s afraid of unintentionally killing someone. With me, it wouldn’t matter.
“Did anyone know it was you?” Cathy asked, fully invested in Cooper’s tale of woe.
He shook his head. “I don’t think so. I think they blamed it on an earthquake or something. We’ve had a bunch lately.” A pause, and then, “But the teacher looked straight at me, and he knew. I was taken away yesterday and brought here. Do you know when they’re gonna let me see my mom?”
My heart fractured. Dane and Cathy and I traded glances. I didn’t want to be the one to tell him…
Dane cleared his throat. “Look, bud. This is going to be hard to hear.” Dane put his fist over his mouth and cleared his throat again, obviously stalling because he didn’t want to break the news either.
Then he dropped the inevitable bomb. “Coop, this is your home now.” He ruffled the kid’s hair. “And we’re you’re new family.”
Cooper’s face went slack in horror. “But, but… I don’t want a new family.” His eyes grew wide. “No offense,” he said, looking around at each of us.
Cathy spoke for all of us when she said, “None taken.”
Dane raised his brows at me. My turn. “Just like you, Cooper, the kids here didn’t do anything wrong,” I said slowly. Carefully.
A few had killed me, and even more tried. Still, how many of them would have done that before being locked up in prison and told to? Though it might have been naïve, my guess was none.
“The people who took you—who took all of us—are just scared because we have powers and they don’t.” I wasn’t sure that was true, but something about it felt right. “So we have to stay here for now.”
Cooper’s lip quivered. “I want my mom.”
Even though I didn’t recall Birdie ever asking for her mother, I missed her right now more than ever.
Cathy and I both reached for Cooper’s hands at the same time. “You’ll see her again,” she assured him. I tried not to cringe, because there was no way she should promise something like that. Something she couldn’t deliver.
And then she made it worse.
“I bet our friend Xander is already working on a plan to bust— ”
“Cathy.” A little telepathy would have gone a long way
right about now.
“What? He probably is. Don’t you want to try to escape again?”
No, actually I didn’t. Did I want to be free? Of course. But try to escape? No.
I couldn’t imagine a single scenario where we pulled it off and all lived to tell about it. No way would I risk losing my friends again.
“Y’all tried to escape?” Dane looked stunned.
I didn’t want to get into details. The image of Oscar lying on the garage floor in a pool of his own blood was still too fresh in my mind. It would always be too fresh in my mind.
“Obviously it didn’t work or we wouldn’t be here right now.” My tone made it clear that subject was off-limits.
“Makes sense. There’s no escaping Lansing. It’s impossible,” Dane said as casually as if he were settled on a couch about to start a movie.
Something about that didn’t sit well with me.
Before I could pinpoint what it was, Dane continued. “Make the best of life here, and when you turn eighteen, you get to move on to better things.” He grinned at Cooper like he’d just offered him the world. “Promise.”
I’d rarely considered violence. Well, outside of fight-to-the-death matches where my opponent tried to torture me until my heart stopped beating. And well… outside of when Lucy spilled all my secrets to anyone at Lansing who would listen.
Except for those times.
But right now I wanted to knock some sense into Dane, who could be incredibly sweet yet devastatingly dense. Watching Cooper fight back tears only intensified that feeling.
Cathy looked at me quizzically. “Do you think Dane is serious? Now that I think about it, he’s never mentioned trying to escape. Think he would help if we came up with a plan?”
As I watched Dane try to console Cooper by explaining all the “great” things about this place, I realized the answer was probably ‘no.’
Dane was comfortable here. Sure, he seemed to miss his home when he talked about his former life in Oklahoma. But he didn’t exactly strike me as a risk-taker. Then I realized how unfair that was, considering he’d stuck his neck out for me on almost a daily basis.
Still, I didn’t think he’d be on board with the idea. I shrugged, not wanting to burst Cathy’s bubble completely.
“So, what’s going on out there?” I heard Dane ask, and my ears perked up.
Cooper sniffled. “What do you mean?”
“I mean out there. Any new crazy disasters? Riots? Has Florida finally sunk?”
Cooper swiped at his eyes. A few nearby kids quieted and waited, still as statues, for the answer. They were as hungry for news of the outside world as we were.
“Um…” Cooper chewed his bottom lip. “There was a really big hurricane in the south. Most of the crops in the Midwest were destroyed by a disease. Food prices are still going up—way up.”
“Dang,” Dane said with a low whistle.
“They were predicting that last time I watched the news,” Cathy remarked.
“When was the that?” Dane asked.
“Um, maybe a few days before we came to Lansing.”
“You guys had TV at Leavenworth?” Dane asked, incredulous.
Cathy nodded, looking uncharacteristically unsure of herself. One of the kids sitting nearby called out, “Spoiled superfreaks.”
“You don’t have TV here?” Cooper asked, a crease forming between his brows. “How do you know what’s going on?”
“We don’t.” Then, Dane’s signature grin emerged. “But the less we know, the better, right? We’re safe here. No need to worry.”
I frowned. Safe? Nothing about this place was safe. I suspected Cooper sensed that too. He was young, but he wasn’t stupid.
“Where did you all come from?” he asked, looking around. “There are so many of you. Does everyone have powers?”
“Yup.” Dane shot me a wink. My heart skipped a beat and Cathy entered my head. “Why is he always winking at you? So jealous!”
It was easy to ignore that question when Cooper asked, “But why? I mean… how did we all get like this?”
Great question. I used to lie awake at night asking myself the very same question. Lately, between the matches, worrying about the matches, and wondering how Xander and my friends were doing, my mind had been too preoccupied.
“We don’t know,” I said when Dane and Cathy didn’t answer. “But I guess they’re trying to figure it out.”
“Hey, kid.” An inmate sitting at an adjacent table stared at me, and I stiffened. “Don’t trust her. She’s the warden’s daughter. Looking for dirt to report to The Witch.”
Cooper’s eyes darted to me. Dane came to my defense before I could think of one. “Lay off, Jack. So what if Phoebe’s mom is the warden? She’s still locked up with us, isn’t she?”
“Yeah. To spy.”
“Mind your own business and eat your lunch,” Dane growled. He turned back to Cooper. “Sorry about that. Kids here can be a little… suspicious.”
But Cooper was looking at me like I’d crawled out of the sewer. “Is the warden really your mom?” he whispered.
I sighed. “Biologically, yes. But she left me when I was a little younger than you. Trust me, she hates me just as much as she hates everyone else here.”
“And Phoebe is no spy,” Cathy said. “I’ve known her since Leavenworth. She’s just like you and me. She didn’t even know her mom was here until we arrived.”
Dane’s gaze snapped to me. “Really? I didn’t know that.”
“Yup. Made for a fun first day, let me tell you,” I said.
Cooper still regarded my warily, but he didn’t press matters.
When lunch was over, we all stood but Dane grabbed my hand and sat me back down. Cathy’s eyes widened, and she took Cooper’s arm and led him away.
“I think something’s wrong with my eyes,” Dane said, squinting.
I frowned. “Really? Is your vision blurry or something?”
Dane squinted harder, then dramatically widened them again, blinking rapidly. “No. I just can’t take them off you.” He gave me a cheesy grin.
When what he’d said sunk in, I laughed out loud. “Um, okay.” My heart was beating unusually fast.
“Seriously. I’m no photographer, but I can picture us together.” He brushed a strand of hair from my face. “Okay, that one was bad.”
I could barely breathe. “Yeah. Really bad.”
His lips quirked. “One more. Feel my shirt.”
I hesitated, then laughed awkwardly as I rubbed my fingers across the shoulder of his jumpsuit.
“Know what it’s made of?” He took my hand and squeezed it in both of his. “Boyfriend material.”
My face felt flushed. “You know pick-up lines don’t actually work, right?”
“And yet, you’re blushing.” He looked satisfied with himself. “Corny jokes aside, I just wanted you to know that if we weren’t locked up in prison, I would ask you out on a date.”
I didn’t have the first clue how to react to this information. I’d never been asked out on a date in my life.
On the one hand, I was flattered. Dane was incredibly good-looking, and I couldn’t deny being attracted to him. But it was more than his looks. We’d become friends pretty quickly, even after my initial negative feelings toward him.
How long had I known Xander before he noticed I existed? Years.
In fact, if we hadn’t both ended up at Leavenworth, where would we be right now?
He’d still be the star football player, most likely dating a cheerleader. And I would still be invisible to him.
Dane had picked me out of the crowd, and all it’d taken was one day. It sure did a lot for a girl’s self-esteem to be noticed like that. Still…
“Too bad we’re in prison.”
“Think we could make it work?” he asked. Like someone who had zero plans of leaving.
And was Dane asking me to be his girlfriend? I didn’t know how I felt about that.
I’d liked Xan
der for as long as I could remember. It seemed like he reciprocated those feelings—I mean, he did kiss me—but we hadn’t discussed it since then. And it wasn’t like he was around to talk to now.
Maybe I could be open to liking someone new. And Dane was right, he definitely was boyfriend material.
But what if The Witch-formerly-known-as-my-mother caught on? I could put Dane in a lot danger.
“I don’t know…” I hedged. “Let’s get out of here first. Then we can see about that date.”
He laughed. “We’re not getting out of here.”
“You don’t know that—”
“Look, I’ve had a lot of disappointments in my life. Sometimes you’ve just got to make the best out of a bad situation. After meeting you, Phoebe… well, it’s no longer a bad situation. You can think more about it if you want. But know where I stand.”
He pulled my hand to his mouth and gently kissed the inside of my wrist. His lips were warm and soft and left a tingling sensation behind when he dropped my hand.
“Get out of here,” a guard barked. I shot out of my chair like it was burning beneath me.
Dane stood. “Promise you’ll think about it?”
“I promise.”
His dazzling smile could have lit the cloudiest Kansas City day.
15
Xander
Waiting for sleep was one of the worst things about this place.
I stared blankly at the ceiling, willing my brain to shut off. It would have been easier without the bright fluorescent lights flooding every corner of the room.
Venom shifted in his bed. Evidently, he was having a tough time getting to sleep too. Not surprising since we weren’t allowed anything to occupy ourselves in the cells. Talking to one another was about the only thing we could do, and I’d been avoiding conversation with Venom lately. He’d grown moodier since I arrived, and I had no use for another Woody in my life.
Thinking of Woody made me consider the possibilities of escape again. Everywhere I went, I kept my eyes out for possible weak spots in security. But this place was sealed tight. If there were cracks in the system, I hadn’t discovered them.
Footsteps sounded from down the hall. Then a pause. Footsteps again. Another pause. More footsteps. This continued for several minutes until someone stopped outside our cell. A rustling sound on the floor caught my attention, and I looked down to see that two pieces of paper had been left.