by Liv Curtis
“He said that they need to see us all immediately in the Circle. He said it was about our parents.” Eliza’s eyes shifted between Sage and River as she spoke. Nobody said a word as they left the house and made their way through the tree line and into the Circle. Standing near the fountain in the middle of the ring of shops were Blythe and Cade. Their faces were drained but empathetic when they saw Sage.
“Sage I am glad to see you walking. You took quite a fall yesterday we weren’t sure if you would be awake this soon,” Blythe said with a soft voice as she acknowledged Sage.
“What do you know about our parents?” River stood behind Sage his hand protectively placed on her shoulder.
“We need to speak of this in private but first there is something we must do. Follow me.” Blythe turned and walked towards the large white-bricked building that functioned as the hospital. She led them through the front doors and down a long hall that had an elevator at the end.
Once in the elevator Blythe pressed the button labeled ‘B’ for basement, and they began their descent. The doors opened and Cade stepped off. He spoke to a man who stood in front of locked door.
After a moment, the man nodded and stepped aside. He placed his hand on a small scanner and the door slid open. Blythe ushered Sage and the others into the room where Kennedy stood and waited. There was a small table with surgical equipment next to a single chair.
“Alright, so, who’s first?” Kennedy smiled as she slipped on her rubber gloves with a snap.
“Kennedy, would you stop, you’re going to scare them.” Cade laughed as he spoke, but Sage couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.
“We are going to tell you what we know, but we need to ensure that they are not listening first.” Cade spoke calmly and pointed towards the ceiling.
“What the hell are you talking about? And who is listening?” Emery burst forward. Despite only being tall enough to reach Cade’s chest, she proceeded to push closer and rise onto her toes. It would have been a funny sight if Sage didn’t know what Emery was capable of.
“Since you are escapees, you still have your chips. Those implants in your back send direct messages to the Frame. It is very advanced technology, so to prevent any listening, we need to ensure the signal is lost before we can share anything important.” Cade pointed to the upper part of his back, between the shoulder blades, where the chips were embedded under the skin.
“Now, which of you would like to be the first.” Kennedy smiled and patted the chair directly in front of her. Sage felt nervous about the removal, but she wanted to know about her parents so she stepped forward. Before she could speak, River pushed past her and volunteered.
“Excellent. The rest of you, please have a seat while I begin.” Kennedy nodded towards the row of chairs at the back wall of the room.
“Now, River, you might feel a slight pinch, but the pain will only last for a moment.” Kennedy retrieved a small vile of brown liquid and applied it to a cotton ball. Then she located the chip by hovering a large magnet over his back.
Once she found the chip, she wiped the area with the brown liquid and made a small incision in the skin. She hovered the magnet over the cut, and there was a metallic click as the chip connected with the magnet. River barely flinched but his eyes were a deep blue, telling Sage that it hurt more than he was letting on. Kennedy applied a thicker ointment to the incision and covered it with a bandage. She turned off the magnet and the bloody chip fell into a small metal bowl.
“All done! See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Kennedy laughed as she fixed River’s shirt and washed her blade.
“Who’s next?” Kennedy asked as she dried the knife and sat it on the table. Sage’s stomach flipped, but she knew it had to be done. She was taking off her jacket when Kennedy caught her arm. She turned Sage towards her, and the smile dropped from her face.
“Your chest, it’s all healed up?” Kennedy examined the scar where the wound had healed.
“I guess that medicine you gave me worked better than you thought it would.” Sage shrugged and sat in the chair.
“That medicine was only for pain, not to help regenerate skin growth. You must really be something special if you can…” Kennedy was cut off by Blythe before she could finish.
“Kennedy, we must wait until they are all removed.” Blythe hissed and shook her head back and forth, her eyes wide with fear.
“Right. Let’s continue.” Kennedy began the removal process on Sage. When she hovered the magnet over the chip there was a slight tugging under Sage’s skin that made the hair on her neck and arms stand on end. She felt the cold liquid run over the area as Kennedy prepared to make the cut. There was pressure as she made the incision but there was no pain. Sage exhaled in relief that the liquid had numbed the skin. Suddenly, there was a sharp pain deep in Sage’s spine, and she heard the chip adhere to the magnet.
“Okay. Two down, only six left to go.” Kennedy smiled as she bandaged Sage and sent her to sit with River.
One by one, Kennedy removed the chips each one as quick as the other. Audrey let out a small squeak when the chip was removed and quickly moved out of the chair to sit with River.
Lastly it was Jax’s turn and as he sat in the chair Sage felt her stomach twist and knot. She wasn’t sure why she was nervous, but she couldn’t help herself from fidgeting. As Kennedy lifted the magnet over Jax’s back her brow furrowed, and she moved the magnet closer.
“Blythe, could you hold this for me?” Kennedy passed Blythe the magnet and retrieved her blade. She cleaned the area and made the incision. Then she moved her hands and made another cut, then another, and two more after that. She took the magnet and hovered it over the areas.
Suddenly, several small pieces of metal connected to the magnet. Jax cursed under his breath and flinched.
“I have never seen anything like this before. Blythe, Cade, have either of you?” Kennedy inspected the magnet under the overhead light as Cade and Blythe joined her. Sage stood and moved closer to get a better view. The chip that had been inside Jax was broken into five pieces in a way that only an electrical engineer could do.
“I can’t say that I have, it must have been some sort of a malfunction.” Cade took the magnet and tossed the broken chip in the bowl with the others. He turned and grabbed a beaker out of the cabinet and poured the clear liquid into the bowl, within seconds the chips had dissolved.
“There. Now, we can talk.” Cade sat in one of the empty chairs and took a slow breath.
“We have reason to believe that your parents are still alive,” he spoke softly as if there was still a chance someone could hear them.
“What?” Eliza held her stomach as if she were going to be sick. Her face was white and drained of all color.
“Why do you think that?” River asked. His eyes swirled with fear and hope.
“We cannot say why, but what is important is that they are okay,” Blythe said in a tone meant to sooth, but Sage felt rigid.
“What aren’t you telling us? Do you have someone on the inside? Or is it something else?” Emery stood as she spoke. Clearly, she wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“Em, don’t waste your time. They know because of the Ingenium, isn’t that right?” Sage stood and joined Emery.
“What… I… You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Blythe tried to appear calm, but Sage could see that she had clearly struck a nerve. Cade had his head down and was refusing to make eye contact with anyone in the room.
“Actually, we do. Those wearing white last night at dinner. They were telepaths, correct?” Eliza said, and she didn’t wait for an answer.
“You might have planned on telling us but since you found out that our parents were alive you thought it might be safer to keep that to yourselves. It was one of your telepaths who managed to get inside the mind of someone inside the Frame, and they just happened to be connected to our parents. So, if you don’t mind, I think we deserve to know the truth this time.” Eliza stood and took
Sage’s hand.
“Your parents are being held captive inside the main building in the center of the city. They are keeping them alive but just barely, and there is some other lady there who seems to be in command. She is trying to get information about you, all of you, and she doesn’t care who she has to hurt or kill to get it. That is all we know so far, and yes, it is coming from one of our telepaths, but I am not sure who.” Cade stood with sad eyes as he explained the situation.
“Cade, you were not authorized to share that information,” Blythe said with a cold tone.
“They deserve to know the truth. Look at them, haven’t they been through enough?” Cade gestured towards Sage and her family.
“So, how do we get them out of there?” Sage spoke, her throat tight with fear.
“No, there will be no getting them back. We cannot risk opening the entrance to the Frame it is far too dangerous.” Blythe shook her head as she started to walk towards the door. Suddenly, the door slammed shut and Blythe took a step back. She glared towards Sage, and Sage realized she was looking at Emery.
Emery’s head was bent down, and when she lifted her eyes, they were glowing a low amber gold.
“Well, that sure didn’t take long for you.” Blythe smiled sharply at Emery and stepped back into the room.
“Let’s try this again. How do we save our parents and get them out of the Frame?” Eliza had moved to stand in front of Blythe, her hands clenched at her sides.
“The only way back into the Frame is to reopen the mine gates and get yourselves taken. But you have to realize this is self-sacrifice, and I don’t think that it is worth it.” Blythe had moved to stand in front of a cabinet on the wall, and Sage couldn’t help but feel as if Blythe was trying to cover it.
“What’s in that cabinet?” Sage stepped closer to Blythe whose eyes were darting between Sage and Eliza.
“Nothing. Just medical equipment.” Blythe swallowed hard and stepped back farther.
“Move.” Eliza’s eyes were harsh and locked on Blythe as she spoke.
“What, do you know who I am? You don’t get to make demands like that.” Blythe refused, but Sage had grown tired of waiting and shoved her to the side. She stumbled and scoffed, but Sage already had her hand on the cabinet handle when Blythe shouted for her to stop.
When the cabinet opened Sage went cold. Inside were her daggers, River’s crossbows, and Emery’s bo-staff. She tossed Emery her staff and River his crossbows before sliding her harness over her head and taking out her daggers. She flipped the daggers between her fingers and felt comfort in the familiarity of their weight.
Also, in the cabinet were her throwing knives that she gave to Eliza and the twin falcon pistols still holstered she tossed those to Jax, who gave one to Andrea.
“Why did you take these?” Sage asked as she stood and slipped her daggers back into her holster.
“We have a strict no weapons policy here, and we needed to know if you all could be trusted first.” Cade spoke as he took a step towards Sage.
“Look all we want is to find our parents. If you know where they are and you can get us back into the Frame, we can do the hard part.” Eliza’s tone had softened as she spoke.
“We can help, but it will take time to prepare for something like this and I can’t promise the others will be on board with it.” Cade’s eyes were dark and kind and, for some reason, Sage trusted him.
“You are asking our people to start a war, that’s not exactly an easy pitch to sell,” Blythe said as she fixed her hair.
“Before we can go any farther, we need to ensure that each of you are truly an Ingenium.” Cade smiled and his eyes changed from a dark brown to a red brown. He lifted his hand and snapped his fingers and they burst into flames. Dancing on the tips of his fingers were small flames that moved across his hand and gathered in his palm where they formed a ring.
“He’s a Pyro,” River said as he took a step forward and examined the ring.
“There are test that can help you all determine your abilities, but we are going to have to ask the Telekinetic here to open the door.” Cade laughed as he nodded towards Emery. She blinked and looked confused, but she shut her eyes and suddenly the door slid open. When she opened her eyes again, they were the same amber gold color as they had been moments before.
“Thank you. Now, as for the rest of you, follow me.” Cade led the way back towards the elevator and out of the hospital, back into the circle. He stopped in front of the fountain and turned to face Sage and the others. He grinned before he spoke, and Sage couldn’t help but feel somewhat nervous.
“Since Sage shattered the sphere, we are going to have to do this the old fashioned way. Now, who wants to go first?” Cade laughed and extended a hand towards the group.
Chapter 17
“I’ll go.”
Sage almost didn’t recognize Wesley’s voice when he spoke. For the most part, he had only spoken to Audrey and Jax since they had left the Frame so Sage was shocked when he stepped forward towards Cade.
“Alright, Wesley, first things first, remove your shoes.” Cade pointed to the boys’ shoes and Wesley followed his command.
“Now, step into the center of the fountain here.” Cade steadied Wesley as he stepped over the edge of the fountain, cautiously avoiding the water that was jutting up around him.
“Do you see the circle in the center?” Cade spoke louder so that Wesley could hear him over the sound of the fountain. Wesley nodded as he looked down at his legs, which were knee deep in water.
“Step into the center of the circle and close your eyes. Allow yourself to feel a tugging in your stomach and imagine the water moving around you in any formation. You can control the water just by simply thinking about it.” Cade’s voice was calm as he spoke.
Wesley followed Cade’s directions but nothing changed. He opened his eyes and his shoulders dropped.
“Nothing is happening.” Wesley shrugged, and Cade motioned for him to step out of the water.
“Alright so you’re not a Hydro, who would like to try next?” Cade smiled as Wesley joined Sage and the others.
One by one, each of them stepped into the fountain, unable to make the water move. When it was River’s turn, he slipped off his shoes and rolled up his pant legs. He stepped into the fountain and closed his eyes.
Suddenly, the water spraying into the air stopped and fell. The water became calm immediately, as if it had never been touched, and Sage realized that it was frozen everywhere except for where River stood.
“Figures a guy named River would be a Hydro.” Cade smiled, and River opened his eyes.
As quickly as the water froze, it melted, and River stepped out of the fountain. He looked confused but there was something in his eyes that Sage hadn’t seen in a long time, excitement.
“Alright, for the next test we are going to have to go on a little trip.” Cade smiled as he led the group through a small path in the forest.
The trees were tall and strong and their leaves were brighter than any green Sage had seen before as they walked along the canopied trail. As they continued down the path Sage could see a clearing up ahead that was glowing in the sunlight. As they got closer, she could see that the clearing was full of different flowers. They walked towards the clearing and the scent of honeysuckle hung heavily in the breeze.
“This is where we will determine which of you are Plantaé-Kinetics. For the most part we just call them Plantaé’s.” Cade smiled and gestured towards the center of the clearing. Just then they heard a laugh from above them.
“Violet! What are you doing up there?” Cade laughed as a young girl with the same red hair as Blythe slid down the tree. When she landed she was giggling, and Sage could finally see who she was. Her skin was pale and her eyes were bright green. She was a foot shorter than Sage and very thin as she bounced around the group looking at each person with intense eyes.
“This one!” She pointed to Wesley who drew back from her.
“He’s
one of us, I can tell!” She smiled as she knelt down and picked up a flower, weaving it into the small braid that hung next to her face.
“We will see about that.” Cade smiled and placed his hand on Wesley’s shoulder.
“Would you like to go first again?” Cade asked and extended his arm towards the clearing. Wesley nodded slowly and made his way into the center of the clearing.
“Just close your eyes and feel the earth below your feet,” Cade said, and Wesley once again followed direction.
There was a low rumble under Sage’s feet, and the roots from a nearby tree burst out of the ground and made their way towards Wesley. Once they reached Wesley, they shot into the air along with several other roots until they created a cage around him.
“I told you so!” Violet exclaimed as she bounced into the clearing only stopping once she reached the cage. She waved her hand as if to disregard something and the roots retracted back into the ground. She knelt down and collected several green vines of ivy, twisting them together into a circle with three triangles in the center. Then she fastened it to a small root, creating a necklace and handed it to Wesley.
“We haven’t gotten a new member in a while! This is going to be so much fun!” She smiled as she shook Wesley’s hand.
“I’m Violet by the way, I represent the Plantaé’s,” she said as she knelt down and retrieved another flower, fastening it into the braid on the other side of her face.
Wesley looked around with shock as he made his way back to Sage and the others. When he passed Sage, she noticed that his eyes had changed from their usual dark brown to a deep forest green. He blinked, and they were brown again as he looked away and took his place next to Audrey.
“Well, it was lovely to meet you all, but I must get back to my duties.” Violet smiled as she made her way out of the clearing and back into the thick tree line behind it.
“What did she mean by her duties?” Wesley’s voice was slightly shaky as he spoke.
“Violet is the leader of the Plantaé Tribe. It is her job to ensure that our food supply is well maintained as well as keeping an eye on the growth patterns of the plants to ensure that the radiation from the ground doesn’t become harmful,” Cade said as he led the group back through the trees.