The Sway

by Ruby Knight

  I climbed in the back of the truck and leaned my head against the cold window. Since regaining the emotions of my body, so many feelings of regret washed over me. I remembered when I first arrived at the Eisenhower academy, how scared I’d been. I’d stayed homesick for all of twenty-four hours, until I got my first round of the juice. The same one that could have turned me into an emotionless killing machine for the government via the Eisenhower protocol. That was, if they’d ever seen fit to use me in that way.

  If The Sway had never kidnapped me, I would currently be a killer zombie, compliments of the United States government. The thought sent a shiver racing through my body.

  “You okay?” Cole asked.

  He noticed everything; stupid emotion-detecting ability.

  “Fine. Just trying to think if I would even know myself if I was still involved with Eisenhower. It’s all a little much, you know?”

  He climbed to the backseat and swung his arm around my shoulders, tucking me into his massive frame. “I got you now. We have each other’s backs. No matter what.”

  He kissed the top of my head, effectively making me swoon. I closed my eyes, trying to count sheep. For me, it was more like one sheep, two sheep, the cow jumped over the moon, the moon is pretty, where is my brother—oh, yeah, three sheep … I failed epically at relaxing.

  “I’m going to give you some calm, okay?”

  I pulled away from him, shaking my head vigorously. “No, not now. I am just beginning to feel these things, and I can’t handle anything else that isn’t mine. Just, not now, okay?”

  Cole squeezed me tighter and I relaxed by about one tenth. At this rate, I would have a heart attack at thirty. I blew out my breath audibly as I attempted to relieve my tension.

  The truck swerved suddenly. The driver attempted to over-correct his action but it proved too much. The tires screeched against the pavement, trying to regain traction. The car lifted on two wheels; we were going to roll.

  Everything slowed down and my mind clicked into overdrive. In that same second, I reached across Cole, grabbing the seat belt and locking it in place at a speed that wasn’t natural to a regular human.

  I braced my hands on the seat in front of me as the truck caught air. The metal crunched on the first impact. A chorus of curse words rang out from the driver. I bit down hard on my tongue, tasting bitter metal as I tried to hang on when the car flipped again. We rolled one more time before the truck righted itself in the ditch of trees.

  The only sound was the hiss coming from the engine. Glass was everywhere; something hot streamed down the side of my face. I dragged a finger across my cheek and looked at the sticky, warm liquid on my hands. Blood, oh … I was bleeding. I tried to look at Cole, but my neck refused to cooperate. I rasped out a garbled version of his name. No response. I undid my seat belt and moved my entire body in Cole’s direction.

  His head hung down lifelessly, bearing a scary resemblance to a rag doll. He only had minor cuts from the glass that I could see. It was dark, though. I remembered my phone in my bag. I folded forward and patted the ground trying to feel for the straps. Ah, success. I opened my flashlight app and slowly sat back as I scanned the car.

  The driver was dead, his head halfway out the front window. I aimed the light back at Cole, holding my breath that I was still fighting to inhale. His head lopped to the side. The pulse on his neck beat and I let out a yelp.

  “Help! Please, someone!”

  I yelled to no one. I scanned the contacts on my phone and dialed Hank. He picked up in one ring.

  “Julia?”

  A question lingered in his voice. I cleared my throat.

  “Hank, something happened. We crashed. The driver is dead. Cole isn’t moving, but he’s breathing. You have to hurry! Please.”

  It was getting harder to breath. My lungs felt heavy as I struggled to suck in oxygen.

  “Julia, I need you to stay on the line. We are tracking your phone. Can you do that for me?”

  The idea of allowing myself to relax in the darkness consumed me. It was all so much; a break would be nice, even just for a minute.

  “Julia. You there?

  I nodded and whispered out. “Yes, I’m here.”

  “Tell me about your brother.”

  My lips tugged upward in a smirk as James’ face appeared in my mind.

  “I don’t know him anymore. What if I don’t get to know him? He was just a kid when I left. So cute.” I smiled. “He had floppy hair that hung in his eyes. He wanted to be a surfer. Which wasn’t really an option in Utah, but that didn’t stop him. He was only eight when I left. What grade would he have been in?”

  I tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together. What grade was someone in at eight? Too hard to concentrate … I opened my eyes in an attempt to keep consciousness. When I did, a flash of light passed by the truck.

  “You’re here. Thank goodness,” I breathed out.

  “Julia, we are still a few miles out,” Hank shouted.

  I whispered even lower. “Someone is here. Don’t talk.”

  I locked the phone and dropped it face down on the seat and hung myself forward in an effort to look lifeless. Light shined through the windows and against my face. Two fingers pressed against my throat. I managed not to flinch while desperately wanting to open my eyes to see who was here.

  “They both still have a pulse, but it’s slow. I doubt they will last the night.”

  A radio crackled.

  Who used radios? There were way more efficient ways to communicate. But radios couldn’t be traced. Oh, the Letum had shut off cell service. How come mine still worked?

  Heavy footsteps waded through the grass before a light flashed again and a crushing silence took over.

  I picked up my phone. “He’s gone. I don’t know who it was.”

  The phone dropped out of my hand as the world went black.

  I wasn’t sure if the next images of my life were in a dream or if I was having some messed-up vision of the things going on around me. I would open my eyes and it felt like a flash went off. The images of people were blurred. Flash, someone cutting the seat belt off of Cole. Flash, someone popping open my eyes only to point a light in it. Flash, I was strapped to a gurney, the ride not particularly smooth.

  By the time I regained the ability to keep my eyes open for longer than five seconds, I was being rushed through the cement halls of The Sway, watching the florescent lights shine on the ceiling.

  “Julia, can you hear me?”

  I tried to nod, but my neck was in a brace. I croaked out the word yes.

  “Don’t move, okay? We need to check you over,” the doctor said.

  I was fine. I was conscious after the accident, regardless of the fact that I was too tired to try to move.

  “Julia, I know you can’t feel it, but you have some glass in your face. I’m going to put you under. When you wake up, you will feel much better,” the doctor said.

  Fire pushed through my veins. Someone had somehow snuck an IV in my arm. I wanted to ask about Cole and where he was, but the world slipped away into a peaceful darkness.

  Drip, drip, drip…

  What an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. I opened one eye to see the IV, the white walls, the grey scrubs. Almost like I could pretend the last few days hadn’t happened. That there wasn’t a hostile psychotic group of people trying to demolish our world. That I wasn’t in an army of people with abilities, the type that only showed up in comic books.

  I opened my other eye.

  No.

  It had all definitely happened.

  “Julia. How are you feeling?”

  I scanned the room. Really? They couldn’t send in an actual person to check on me?

  “I want to see James. Is Cole okay?”

  My voice came out hoarse. I clumsily grabbed for the plastic cup on the standard hospital side table.

  “Cole is fine. He actually fared better than you. James is in training. When we break for dinner, I will send hi
m your way,” the voice said.

  Dinner.

  So it had been twelve hours since I went out. The door to the room slid open, and Hank stepped into the room with Cole. Cole looked like he’d gotten into a fight with a window. He had stitches along his cheekbone. Hank smiled tightly at me; Cole looked like he was going to lose it. What was going on?

  “Are you feeling okay?” Cole asked.

  I nodded.

  “Fine. What’s wrong? You—” I pointed to Hank, “—look like you are hiding something. And you—” I pointed to Cole, “—look like someone ran over your dog.” I folded my arms across my chest.

  “Julia. You have been unconscious for three days. It’s Monday,” Hank said.

  Three days. Three bloody days?

  “Why?”

  Cole walked over to my bed and reached for my hand. “Remember how the doctor told you that you had some glass in your face?”

  I nodded, not exactly thrilled with being spoken to like I was three.

  “It was a six-inch shard that sliced an inch into your brain. We weren’t sure if you would recover.”

  I reached with my right hand to feel along my head. Stitches ran from the top of my cheekbone to the base of my skull. Ouch. I couldn’t imagine that feeling great. Everything was fuzzy and confusing, like when taking nighttime cough medicine.

  “How am I alive? I don’t understand.”

  Cole squeezed my hand a little tighter.

  “You remember Kiya?” Hank asked.

  I shook my head. “Who’s Kiya?”

  “The nurse, the girl that bandaged your IV…” Cole said.

  “Little Miss Too Innocent?”

  Cole barked out a laugh.

  “Kiya can heal people. She had never done anything as extreme as your injury, but between her and Dr. Lynthcope’s expert skills, here you are,” Hank finished.

  I felt along the stitches again.

  “Julia.”

  I looked up at Hank.

  “Can you still calculate things?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t really have anything to analyze right now.” I tried to focus on the emotions playing across Hank’s face, so that I could get an idea on his thoughts. A sharp pain ripped through my head, and white flashes popped in my field of vision. Oh, that did not feel good.

  “I don’t know. I’m sorry. I don’t know.” It felt like I had been out for ten minutes, not three days. The fact that my brain might not work the same made me panic. The monitor next to my bed indicated my rising heart rate, and my breaths came quicker.

  “Dad, enough. She just woke up. Let her recover, please.”

  Hank nodded. “Let’s go. Let her rest.”

  I squeezed Cole’s hand.

  “I’m going to stay with her. Come find me if you have any more information on her parents.”

  Hank narrowed his eyes on us, but shook it off, slipping on a happy mask. He was hiding something, I knew it. I didn’t know what, but it was something big.

  “Right. Let her rest, though.”

  Cole nodded and Hank pressed a button to make the door slide away. He looked at our linked hands one more time before walking out.

  “Who caused the car accident?” I asked.

  Cole shook his head. “We aren’t sure yet. You’re the only person who heard a voice, and we haven’t been able to track anyone in the area.”

  My shoulders slumped forward with the weight of that situation. Cole lifted my chin slightly and kissed me slowly. He pulled away.

  “I thought I lost you.”

  “What aren’t you telling me?”

  He sighed and rubbed his thumb over my cheek.

  Chapter Ten

  “Your dad thinks I lost my ability, right? That’s why he was being all freaky about my head?” I sat up in the bed and pulled my legs up to meet my chin. Cole pulled on a strand of hair, and I looked in his eyes.

  “He thinks that, but I don’t. Considering you should be dead right now, I would go with your brain just needs some time to remember how it likes to work.”

  His fingers slowly tickled up and down my arm, causing me to tense up and relax in the same moment. I was way too ticklish for that. I stopped his hand and entwined my fingers through his. Cole’s eyes lit and a knowing smile played at his lips as he leaned in to kiss me. Gently, he pushed me with his emotions. Fear, anger, frustration, and love came through.

  “Love?” I whispered against his lips.

  He leaned his forehead against mine. “I was so scared. I didn’t think you were going to make it. God, I’ve never been that scared.” He breathed it out like a prayer. “But you’re here and all I can think about is kissing you.”

  I smiled against his lips, and he closed his mouth over mine again. I allowed myself to give in to the emotions bubbling out of me. Cole moved his hand up my rib cage, stopping just below my chest. He brushed a thumb along the bottom of my bra.

  “Jules!” The door slipped into the wall. “Gross, Jules! What are you doing? You almost died and now you’re macking on this dude?” James yelled out.

  Cole pushed off of the bed. My face must’ve been beet red.

  “James. Get your butt over here.”

  My not-so-little brother walked over and pulled me into a hug.

  “I’ve missed you so much.” I pulled him back to arms length to look him over. “Jeeze, how tall are you?”

  James smiled, looking less boy and more man. “Tall and, I guess, growing all the time.”

  He reached his arm straight out to the side. And then continued to reach all the way to the wall five feet away. My mouth popped open. My brother was a human rubber band.

  “Oh, my. How did you…? When did you figure out you could do that?”

  James retracted his freakish arm and shrugged.

  “After that initiation and stuff, they ran all of these tests on me. Like at Eisenhower, they showed me my DNA.”

  I could catch flies in my mouth; I bit down. James continued with the cutest animated face I had ever seen. He was so stoked.

  “Then they gave me those shots. Then yesterday, my arms turned into taffy. I can be taller, too. Watch!” He stretched toward the ceiling and bonked his head, hard.

  James laughed. “Whoops.” He rubbed his head and shrunk down to size. “I’m still practicing.”

  I leaned back in the bed and shook my head in jealousy. “Dude, your trick is way cooler than my trick.”

  James was still rubbing his head. “Jules, you can make things happen in your favor. That is badass.”

  I smirked. “Don’t curse. Mom would wash your mouth out with soap.”

  James opened his mouth, closed it, and pointed to Cole. “And Dad would hang him from a tree in the backyard if he’d walked in on what I did. Who are you, anyway?”

  Cole hadn’t made a sound since James had made his entrance into the room. He smiled his award-winning smile at my brother and held out his hand. “I’m Cole.”

  James stretched his arm out to meet Cole without actually taking a step forward.

  James tensed slightly when his hand met Cole’s.

  “Cole, don’t push my little brother. What did you feed him, anyway?”

  Cole smiled sweetly at me. “Confusion.”

  James did look confused, to say the least.

  “That’s messed up. My blood, my brother, off limits. End of story.”

  Cole shrugged, but the look in his eyes let me know that he knew I was serious. “It will wear off. Kids going through puberty confuse easy.”

  James shook off Cole’s grip and snaked his arm around Cole’s shoulders, pulling him into a long-distance headlock. Actually, it looked more like Cole was wearing an arm scarf. I choked on a laugh. James and Cole looked at me at the same time, worry written on their faces. Frozen, I wish I had a camera. I laughed harder.

  “I’m fine. It just looks like you are wearing James’ arm as a scarf.”

  James unwound his arm from Cole’s neck and they both laughed.


  “Are you okay enough to go to dinner?” James asked.

  I nodded. “Sure, I guess. Can you guys give me a minute, though?”

  They both nodded like bobbleheads and made for the door. On the way, Cole playfully punched James in the arm. A smile pulled at my lips. I liked seeing how easily they got along with each other. An overwhelming dose of pride surged up in my chest. Cole looked back over his shoulder, his eyebrow raised in question. I mouthed the word “later” to him and he nodded once.

  When I stood out of bed, I was a little wobbly. The head rush proved way worse than my weak knees, and I gripped onto the side of the bed. “Whoa.”

  I lifted the tape off of my skin, pulled out the IV, and stopped the machine from beeping. “If you are watching, Camera Man, I need some privacy. Or if you could just pop open the clothes portion of the wall, I will change in the bathroom.”

  “Your wish is my command,” the voice said.

  The wall opened. I paused when I realized he had totally watched me and Cole make out. Weird. I shivered a little bit. We would have to be more cautious about making out in the future.

  I grabbed the black attire and slowly walked into the bathroom. Nice hair, Julia. My long blonde locks looked like something had died in them and were matted to one side of my head with crusty blood. A shower was definitely in order.

  The hot water felt glorious on my skin, and I enjoyed my few minutes of privacy as I watched the water in the base of the tub turn from red to brown to clear. Clean. When I turned off the faucet, I heard Hank yelling in my room.

  “You left her alone. She could be passed out on the shower floor! Her head was cut open and she practically died, and you just let her walk into the shower?”

  A muffled response came over the speakers in the room. I quickly dressed and combed through my hair, opened the door as I was braiding my hair.