by Alexa Dare
“Since then, you helped us catch Vincent and kept him from hurting someone or himself.” Her smile looked brittle, like cake frosting left too long in the bowl.
“Your son, he’s, uh, not quite right in the head, is he?”
Anger then sadness flitted over Nora’s face. Finally, as he cringed, she sighed. “No, Junior, he isn’t. Instead of hurting in his joints or coughing, every time he uses his ability, his mind grows more unstable.”
“He draws pictures, people die, then he gets sort of out of it, right?” The more Junior asked, the greater chance she might rethink making him wear the suit.
“It depends on what he draws, but yes.” Nora crossed her arms. Her foot tap, tap, tapped.
“What will happen to Vincent, if he keeps on using his gift?”
“I truly don’t know.” Nora’s low mutter dipped sadder.
“If the collars make us not be able to use our powers, why couldn’t they help Vincent to be okay?”
“I have no idea how well my son is capable of becoming.” Nora’s face flushed rose red and her cheeks toward purple.
“Ma’am?”
Nora hiked one of her eyebrows.
Junior wagged his brows up and down. One wouldn’t lift by itself. “What did you do to Darcy Lynn when you took her from the mountains and to Oak Ridge?”
Nora’s frown headed toward her chin. Finally, after a stretched silence, she shoved a desk chair over, sat, and studied Junior. A flower scent, a lot more real smelling than Aunt Pearl’s go-to-town powder, poured from the woman. She crossed her legs and sat back. “I did nothing to your fair-haired friend. I told her to tell me if she became ill. Not to push herself too far. The girl foolishly chose to stay quiet.”
“Just like her not to say a word. She pushed so hard she made herself sick.” Junior curled his toes inside the boots. The sweat squishing between his toes was more real than what the Nora lady said. “I heard the lie in your voice so I know you’re not telling the truth.”
Nora’s hands twitched, and she rubbed each finger in turn, as if her gloves suddenly fit too tight.
“You’re no different than we are, but you lie and let them use you, when you and your son could’ve used your powers and left here a long time ago.” Junior, all sixty-some pounds of him, trembled inside the hateful suit.
Nora smacked the palms of her gloved hands onto the desktop.
“What kept you from sneaking up on someone and touching them so you could escape?” The words plunged like a mudslide from his mouth. “Why didn’t you let him draw a path of death out of this hole in the ground?”
Eyes narrowed and mouth a grim line, Nora shook all over. “Shut up!”
“The answer is simple enough, ma’am. You never truly wanted to leave.”
She pulled something from her desk drawer and dropped a control box like the one he’d seen Brody use for the collars on the desk. With a curl of her finger, she jabbed her thumb on the button. “You will learn to be quiet and do as you are told.”
A jolt of electricity blasted through his skull. Pounding banged the top of his head. Warm wetness, must be slobber, slid over his chin. A shock zapped his neck. An electric tang charged his tongue. He fell to his knees.
“You’ll do as I say, or I’ll make you pay.” With a finger stab, she zapped him again.
“Nnn. Nnn.” His tears, snot, and bladder let go.
For once, the boss lady told the truth.
Chapter 16
Nora brought the Children of the Elements together for the first time. She, Ross, and all five of the children met in the tactical room below the ground.
Despite the activated EMF dampening device, the room hummed from their combined power.
Decked in ill-fitting camo or scrubs, except for the two youngest, who kept their washed original clothing, each child wore a silver collar. All sat in chairs at long tables and stared sullenly and defiantly at Nora.
Still draped in woodsy smells, Ross joined her at the room’s front. “The device will stop them from using their abilities?” Fitz stood near, though not as close as Nora might have liked.
Though nervous twitches jogged through her legs, the memory of the shared berries sweetened Nora’s mood. She scuffed the soft leather of her fingers against the thumbs of her gloves. “It will inhibit the brainwaves that gives them their power. Their abilities will at least be lessened, if not completely curtailed.”
Nearby, water seeped from the female teenager’s pores to film her young, smooth skin. A widening puddle pooled around the dark-haired thirteen-year-old’s feet.
“From our testing, she taps her emotions to use her ability. Which, of course, are ragged at the moment,” Nora said. Emotions must never get the better of me. “Also, she’s only just been fitted with a collar as well so it may take time for the collar to auto-program the adjustments.”
“She’s thirteen. All teenage angst.” Fitz stared at the young girl. A faraway glaze slid across his gaze.
“You never had children?” Nora asked.
The man’s face snapped to stone in a blink. “The cause was the only family I needed.”
“I suppose the armed forces—”
Fitz spun on his heels. At a quick clip, he went to the guards near the door.
The soldiers held dart guns and had access to fobs that controlled the collars. A dozen men lined the entire side of the room. The guard nearest the exit relayed news to Fitz in a furtive whisper.
Six tables filled the room. A single child sat at each table, leaving one free.
Abe, dark-haired like his sister, wore wrap-around, specially treated sunglasses and sat at the left rear table. Vincent, minus paper and pen, slouched at the one to the right. For the mid tables, the weepy girl twin and a scowling Junior hunched. Darcy Lynn propped her chin on folded arms at one front table.
The other nearby table hosted a covered metal bowl.
Next to the bowl, an upgraded brainwave disrupter rested like a coiled snake.
In the onslaught of electronic device, Nora’s own collar sent a pulse of tingles that crept over her scalp. Her thoughts slogged. Of course, the gadget tamped down the waves of her brain as well.
Nora turned the setting down a couple of notches. Less, for the moment, was best so they could focus on the tasks at hand.
“As you may know, each of you has the ability to control an element.” Nora pasted on a wide smile.
“Wind, earth, fire, and water.” Eye-roll maiden Hannah jerked a thumb at Vincent. “So who’s he?”
Ire drilled Nora’s chest. “Vincent...”
“I am Master of the little known fifth element, the Void.” Her son’s blank eyes stared out at the room. His fingers worked as if he fought the need to draw.
“Master? Of nothing?” Hannah tossed her head. Water drop flicked from the tips of her hair. “Anyway, there are only four elements.”
From his sneer, the teen was lucky Vincent did not have paper and pencil.
Nora’s ears tipped hot. “My son—”
“Your son.” More eye rolls from the girl. “Figures.”
“Thus, I deal in death,” said Vincent. His grave tone closed the girl’s mouth with a snap and her complexion paled.
“Vincent creates disease through his art.” The hinges in Nora’s jaws tensed. “Each day, his power grows.” Each of them had a price to pay. “So much so, that he—”
“No need, Nora.” Vincent folded his arms.
She beamed at him. “Thanks to Vincent, the pox and another virus were stopped.”
“Didn’t he cause them in the first place?” Hannah’s upturned nose exposed her full face to the drips falling from the rock ceiling.
Nora inhaled sharply. “During our meeting, you may feel tired and your thoughts fuzzy. This device ensures you won’t use your skills. Be warned, the collars will be used if you act out.”
“Human shock collars.” Abe huffed a grunt.
“Woof,” Junior said with a snort and giggle.
Junior’s mouth knotted. “I didn’t.”
“You did,” Hannah said. “We’re here, aren’t we?”
“You left Darcy Lynn behind and alone.” Junior planted his boots with a smack and stood. His chair scooted back with a rake over the concrete floor.
“Junior is responsible for the watermelon here. He grew it to maturity in just the last few days.” Ross edged closer and offered up the bowl of red melon pieces to each of them. When none of the kids reacted, with a shrug, he set the metal bowl aside with a clunk against the top of the one vacant table.
Nora flashed a broad smile to mask her sigh. “Up front, know that you are here because I want you here.”
Silence spread out like an over-taut rubber band.
In the meantime, Nora scooped up a square of watermelon.
Hostile eyes, even her son’s, glared.
“If you do as you’re told, all will be well. If not—” In a curl of her glove, Nora crushed the juicy square. Juice spurted out of her fist. Stiff-fingered, she opened her hand and allowed the pink pulp to drop back into the bowl.
Since the start of the meeting, actual warmth spurred her smile.
Yet the little rebels laughed as if she were a joke.
“I need your attention.” Face heated, she fisted her one sticky gloved hand. Stifling the urge to kill, she banged the melon bowl atop the table. Pink pulp swished out. Squares bounced along the tabletop. A few hopped onto the ground.
Laughs spread, even among the guards, like a virus.
Nora hefted the container and flung it across the room. Once in the air, the metal bowl spun and flung melon out. As the soldiers ducked and cleared the way, the bowl banged, dented, then bounced off the wall. Melon pelted the guards and splatted over the floor.
With a clunk, the bowl hit then flipped, coming down rim first on the concrete. The clang of metal as the bowl rolled to a stop chased all humor from the room.
Silence fell, and every gaze rested on Nora. She was no circus clown, jesting for their amusement. “That’s better. And let me assure you I intend to keep your interest.” Nora gritted her teeth. Her hands shook as she raised the damper levels on the device.
The black case of the device so innocuous, but inside…
Raw throbs slammed her temples as the level of her brain’s EMFs dropped. She swayed and gripped a chair back. “That’s enough of your antics.” A wave of nausea lurched. She gulped and cleared her throat against the choking sensation. “You. Will. Listen. To me.”
Nora gauged their expressions.
They ranged from a sleepy-eyed Darcy Lynn, a sullen-yet-curious Abe, and an angry and pouting Hannah, to a down-in-the-dumps Junior. Despite Vincent’s smirk and don’t-care cross of his ankles, pride filled her chest at her son being part of the greatness to come.
“We are going to use the approaching storm front as cover so the public doesn’t suspect anything out of the ordinary. The group to blame for making us this way and for the deaths of your parents and other family members must know we mean business.”
“We?” Hannah’s silvery violet gaze glinted. “As in you too?”
“What they did changed me as well.” Nora shrugged. “My skill doesn’t measure up to the talents of you five. Up against yours, mine rates low on the list, so let’s move on.”
“My mother kills people.” Vincent sprang into a forward lean.
“Vincent, don’t.” The throb in Nora’s temples pounded harder.
“She makes one’s heartrate slow until it stops or speed up until the heart explodes. My mother is quite the efficient killer by touch.” Vincent grinned. “That’s why she wears her leather gloves.”
“Wait. Is that why you’re covered from head to toe?” Hannah’s eyes bulged. “Should someone brush against you, the person would die?”
“What I can or cannot do isn’t valid,” Nora said. “We have work to do.”
“Nora didn’t ask for her ability any more than you asked for yours.” Ross stepped close. “This was done to each one of you. No doubt, you would want to do your parents proud.”
“I don’t want to stay.” Junior’s stare slid over her with even more reach than the damper.
“We all want to leave.” Hannah’s face clouded. As if the girl drew ground water to her, the rock ceiling above the girl twin’s head leaked in a greater amount. Drops plopped onto her table.
A soldier burst through the hallway door. The man spoke to Ross in more low murmurs. Finally, as the buzzing of whispers stabbed Nora’s hearing, Ross stood and tugged at his long sleeves. “I’m afraid none of us will be leaving. At least not in the short term.”
“What’s going on?” Abe asked.
Her limbs and spine stiff, Nora faced them. “We must remain focused.” She clapped the palms of her gloves together. “Quiet.”
“We are part of this,” Hannah said. “We have a right to know.”
“Fair enough.” Ross put his hands behind his back. “There’s a camp of armed locals near Devil’s Ridge. One of their members is in our custody.”
Nora shot a harsh glare at Ross.
“O-M-G. You snatched someone else.” Hannah rolled her eyes. “Don’t you people ever stop?”
“Stay seated and remain silent.” Nora kept her focus on Ross. What’s going on? Are Ross and his men plotting against me? “Children, prepare to be taken to your rooms or risk punishment.”
All at once, they erupted into protests.
“Enough.” Beneath an indoor rain, Nora turned up the device’s range once again. A dizzy swirl looped behind her eyes. Like a jolt, an acidic unease rolled in her belly, but she managed to follow Fitz out of the meeting room.
Amazingly, the children’s power, with the help of their newly engineered collars, continued to build. And, each of them grew more adept by the minute.
Which is why I must control them at all costs.
Chapter 17
The tip of Yates’s nose hovered two inches from Brody’s face. Inside the vomit-infused, golden-brown cabin interior, no matter what he did, things got worse by the minute.
Yates raised bushy salt-and-pepper brows, a shock to the smoothness of his bald head. The mega-watt gleam in his eyes made up for the subdued sheen of his hairless scalp under the ceiling fanlights as he bent at the waist and leaned down another inch.
Hot sauce vapor from seasoned breakfast eggs blasted Brody’s nostrils and his belly churned.
“Scream,” said Yates.
Brody fought to speak past the nastiness covering his tongue. The stuffiness in the room... Couldn’t they open a window to let in the fresh morning mountain breeze or maybe turn on the overhead ceiling fan?
“Yell loud, then make a gagging noise, or else I get a spoon.” Yates’s mouth pulled into a feral grin. “Your choice.”
Brody worked his lips to find words and blinked.
What was this guy up to?
With a slow scowl that slanted his lip in a firm line diagonally across his lower face, Yates stomped on the toe of Brody’s boot and ground the thick work-boot sole. “Scream, you idiot.”
Relieved the man chose his uninjured foot, Brody yelped a, hopefully, semi-manly shriek of pain.
“Now gag like you mean it.” Yates stepped back. “Loud.”
“What the—?”
“Do it.”
Pretending to gag stretched Brody’s tongue and kicked in the real thing. He gagged so hard the urge to retch skewered his throat. His shoulders jerked toward his ears. “Urp. Urp.”
“A little too lifelike for my liking,” muttered Yates.
Brody slumped forward. He hung his head between his knees. Dry heaves churned low in his belly. Man, he didn’t think he had anything left to hurl. When a bottled water appeared in front of his nose, he twisted off the top and drank. Gulping mouthfuls, he drained the bottle. His last swallow gurgl
ed up past his tonsils. Out of air, he choked, gagged, and heaved again.
“Easy, son.” Yates grunted. “Don’t make me look for a straw.”
“Erk.” Brody clamped his mouth closed and water gushed out his nose. Cold going down. Too warm spewed out. Aw, heck, would his stomach ever settle?
A tossed dishtowel smacked him in the face.
Hands unsteady, he pressed the towel tight to capture the inane laughter bubbling from his chest. He laughed until water-up-the-nose tears squeezed from his tear ducts. Laugh-until-he-cried gunk dripped from his nostrils. Finally, he wiped his face, blew his nose, and wadded the cloth into a tight ball.
“Stomach steadier?” Yates loomed like a buzzard on a road-kill carcass.
“As long as you don’t try to spoon feed me.” Brody’s stomach lurched at the thought. He hunched his shoulders. Even holding his breath, a bad-milk burp belched a burn around his tonsils. “Yeah, I think my hurlfest is over.”
“Good, now that you realize I mean business, listen up.” Yates clicked the door lock in place and about-faced. His boot heels scrubbed the hardwood with each approaching menace-filled step. “After I tell you what’s what, there’s no getting out of this. For either you or your brother.”
“Then I don’t need to know. Bring the doctor for my brother. If you do, and I swear I’ll do whatever you need me to do. Hack into Briar Patch Mountain. A government server. Another country’s records. Then, we’ll be even.” No idea what to do with the towel, Brody shoved the soiled white-and-yellow-checked cloth beneath his thigh.
“Two choices.” Yates stood on the other side of the splatter. “Get the system going and get me into Briar Patch Mountain’s communications and electronics, or—”
“If you’ve got any heart at all, please don’t.” Brody’s aching chest knotted.
“In a few minutes, odds are you’ll grasp why I forced you to listen, so hear me out.”
“Don’t tell me. If you do, Cantrell’s and my odds of making it out of this mess drop big time.” His Adam’s apple washboarded up and down his throat below heated cheeks. “You put him up to turning me over to the facility again. Per your instructions, he betrayed me. For the cause. Whatever the heck that is.”