Two

by LeighAnn Kopans

  Please send me to the Funnel. Please send me to the Funnel.

  I have to help my sisters, too, I know, but I made Merrin a promise. And I can’t do anything without her anyway. I can’t help Nora and Lia, who at least have each other, before I help Merrin, who is all alone.

  Especially after all Merrin wanted to do at Biotech was find a way she could help herself, and I blasted her for it. I should have known that CSH would use her. That’s what these Hubs do — use people with their own desperation to make them do things no one would ever agree to do otherwise.

  And now Merrin’s anger at being a One infects me, too. Mostly because she’s right. She is completely useless without me, and I’m useless without her. There’s no way I can leave her, not now when she needs me — the other half of that Super — the most.

  “We’ll need you down in the Funnel. We’re only working on theories at the moment because of that incredible brain of yours. What I’m hoping is that, if you can manage to see the Funnel’s output from floors away, you may be at a point where you can actually anticipate the disturbances before they happen.”

  Great. I’m going to need every advantage I can get. Especially because Nora and Lia moving so fast — one-tenth of a second intervals — that by the time the Funnel registers the disturbance, they’re probably already gone.

  “Those events that you thought your sisters might be causing — it turns out you were right about all of them. We need to intercept them before they cause any more damage, or we’ll only expedite the administration of the Cure. Two girls tearing up businesses and causing car wrecks are going to make the officials anxious to start taking care of the problem. And since they’re already prepared to administer the Cure on a large scale, the Biotech Hub won’t hesitate to begin. Time is something we just can’t afford to lose right now.”

  That, at least, is one thing we agree on.

  TWENTY

  Masters stands beside me in the stark, white Funnel dome. It feels like I’m in control. If I’m really seeing the output of the Funnel inside my head…then I am. In control.

  For the first time in my whole life, I feel powerful. It’s a crazy feeling.

  The way Masters looks between me and the screen, it’s like he’s watching my every move. He wants to know how my brain is working.

  I’m intensely aware that a big part of the reason is that he wants to figure out how he can use me in one of his missions, just like he used Merrin. I believe she wanted to go, but I also don’t believe she knew the whole story. And I’m trying desperately to believe that, if she did, she wouldn’t have gone.

  It’s not working that well.

  “Let’s power this up. Try to focus in on your sisters.”

  I try not to laugh at the irony of Masters finally focusing on finding my sisters just as I manage to move my stubborn brain to a new goal. Masters types some information into the computer, but I’m focusing all my energy on Merrin. Her smile, her float. The way she disturbs the air in the room whenever she walks in.

  A fear sets in and twists my stomach. If she’s not using her One, will I be able to find her? Do Ones cause a disturbance at all?

  Then, an odd rippling sensation tugs at the space underneath my skull. I want to fall to my knees, shake my head like a wet dog until the feeling stops. While it’s not painful, the odd flowing pressure is absolutely maddening. A split-second after the feeling begins, a vision accompanies it, and I see the reason for the ripples.

  Pixels waterfall in to form a picture in a second, maybe two. A circle of duplicates of Biotech Hub President Fisk stand in the huge white room that I know to be Biotech’s testing arena. One of them moves into the middle of the circle, a huge syringe in his hand. The substance inside is a horrific, glowing yellow-green.

  I know exactly what it is. It’s the same stuff Vera was destroying Super genetics with this morning. The same stuff that Daniel and Merrin stole from the Biotech Hub.

  “I have to admit, the perfection of this particular bit of serendipity is not lost on me, Miss Grey.” Fisk’s voice has always had a whiny, nasal quality to it, and the echo it takes on as part of my Funnel visions makes it creepy, authoritative in a way I’m sure would completely delight him.

  I’m never giving the bastard the satisfaction of knowing it.

  “I knew you were special, Merrin.”

  Finally, I see her. It’s a strange feeling, wanting so badly to see someone and wanting her not to be there at the same time. The pixels fall into place so I see her feet first, just lying there, wearing the same clothes she had on last night when we fought. She’s strapped down to a table just like I was when the Hub had me just over a week ago. Hell, with Fisk and his damn penchant for poetic justice, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same table.

  She’s fully conscious, with her eyes full of hate and fixed right on Fisk. Her thin arms strain against the straps holding her to the bed, and veins bulge out from her forearms, which end in fists. She’s gagged, which I hate so much I couldn’t find the words if I tried, but it’s also probably for the best. For me and for her. The words she would spew at Fisk right now would not help her at all. That doesn’t make her struggling, muffled shouts any easier to listen to.

  “You’re not special because of your One, you know. That’s never why I wanted you.”

  The straps groan, the leather stretching and straining the metal bars of the table. Merrin growls.

  “I wanted you because of how badly you wanted this.” He waves the syringe and steps closer to her. “I knew that you would do anything. Anything. I was a little surprised at how that turned against me. Against Biotech. But the research on Ones has always been a bit more of a personal consideration anyway. You destroyed my lab, but with the money I’ll make from this cure, I can build a new one. Do new experiments. And I won’t even have to keep it under wraps from the other Hubs. There won’t be anything they can do.”

  My heart sinks into my stomach and rolls into a heavy ball there, lodging itself into a pit. My breaths speed up. There’s a special agony to watching something terrible about to happen and having no way to stop it.

  “You wanted to be a Super so badly you would risk everything to come back here? Well, I have news for you, Merrin Grey. You’ll never be a Super. But you can still go down in history as the first ever recipient of the Cure.”

  Fisk lowers the syringe to her arm, and instead of struggling now, she’s deadly still, her eyes wide and disbelieving. A whimper breaks forth from her throat, the most horrible sound I’ve ever heard from her. It’s weak and helpless. It’s recognizing defeat.

  A sick smile curls at the corners of Fisk’s lips, and he plunges the needle into Merrin’s arm, depressing the syringe.

  Her screams echo through my skull, down my spine, and throughout my whole being.

  My eyes snap open to the white room and Masters looking down at me with a mixture of discomfort and pity on his face.

  The end of Merrin’s scream echoes through my head, as if it’s reverberating off the walls of the Funnel.

  My breaths rasp in and out, quick and ragged, and every muscle strains against nothing, wanting to do something to help her and knowing it can’t. My body aches, inside and out.

  God only knows what hers feels like.

  I squeeze my eyes shut, and when I open them, Masters is staring at me. Waiting. After a few painful breaths, I manage, “They gave it to her. The Cure. She…she didn’t know…she — ”

  Masters presses his lips into a thin line, then says, “Well, it’s not exactly what I hoped you would see, but at least we know one thing for sure now. They have the Cure formula finalized. At least, they’re relatively sure they do.”

  It’s like that noise she made when they took away the last bit of power she had left is a part of me. I can feel it instead of hearing it. A tremor, running through the ground and up into my legs. I groan.

  A rumbling sensation rattles through my head, so powerful that I shout and buckle to my knees. T
he whole world goes black. The pixels rip themselves into place — on the horizon, I see the rolling, misty hills of Virginia. Surrounding me is the same little town Merrin and I landed in two days ago. And then a whole chorus of screams rip through the air as the pixels shake themselves apart again.

  I open my eyes again, and for a split-second, the whole room is still and Masters looks at me expectantly. And then, the Funnel’s entire ceiling shudders.

  Chapter Masters bolts for the door.

  I pry my aching muscles off the ground and force my rumbling head to sit straight on my shoulders. Anguish causes my voice to come out in a choked, gasping whisper. “It was an earthquake. My sisters caused it.”

  Masters nods curtly. “You’d better come with me.”

  Hub officials surround Masters as soon as he steps off the elevator on the main level. Amanda, his secretary, is waiting there right next to him and keeps pace as he plows through the hallways back toward his office. The crowd bumps against each other, shouting questions as Masters leads. I fall behind — no way I’m getting mixed up in that. My body couldn’t take it. I can barely walk without wincing as it is.

  The officials press closer and closer, but one look from Amanda sends them backing up and giving Masters space again. Except for the guy closest to her. He’s walking way too close, and he trips over his own feet, right into her, nearly knocking her down. It takes her a fraction of a second to spin around, clamp her hand on his shoulder. He falls away, his body jerking a bit on the floor as I walk past him.

  Holy shit. She’s electric.

  I shake off my surprise and keep up. Masters makes it to the relatively spacious breathing room behind his desk, while the officials, Amanda, and I all crowd into his office. There is shouting and arguing both at Masters and among the officials.

  Amanda raises her hands above her head, and a white-blue jagged line dances between her palms. It cracks as she claps them back together.

  “Let’s not forget the last time I had to ask Amanda to shut you all up,” Masters’ voice intones through the crowd. Amanda looks smug. “Can I have an update on the situation before I make any preliminary moves?”

  “There’s been an earthquake in the area, registering at a 4.8 on the Richter scale, President Masters. Three buildings collapsed, a lot of car alarms going off, no one dead.”

  “News outlets?”

  “Everyone is reporting on it.”

  “Did anyone see the girls?”

  The official’s lips press into a thin, pale line. “They teleported to the middle of a shopping mall and stayed there for a few seconds. At least a hundred folks saw them, sir.”

  The entire room falls silent.

  Masters slams his palms against his desk, growls, and then stands back up, his jaw clenched and his head shaking.

  “Fine. Get a report from facial recognition surveillance of whoever you can that was near them when they ripped in and out. Do a memory wipe on them. PR?”

  A woman with a long, blonde ponytail steps forward. “Yes, sir?”

  “We’re going to need a full team managing this.” He dismisses her with a wave and turns back to everyone else. “Nothing I’m about to say leaves this room, are we clear?”

  A dozen faces stare back at Masters, nodding.

  “Our time is short, and these VanDyne girls aren’t making things any easier. We’ve discovered that Biotech has a handle on the Cure, or at least, they think they do.”

  Heads nod and there’s one shocked gasp from the back of the room, but Masters continues, turning to me. “I hate to say this, Elias, but if they’re testing it on human subjects — on Merrin — they are most likely in the final stages of development. Incidents like two out-of-control Super girls causing an earthquake are one of the things that would prompt widespread Cure distribution, with the help of the government. Perhaps that was even Biotech’s goal when they experimented on them. We’re going to contain said incidents and make them disappear until mission control can get another team back in. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Contain them. Make them disappear. The words make sense, if he’s talking about incidents.

  But my sisters aren’t unfortunate accidents. And I’m going to make damn sure nobody treats them like they are.

  TWENTY-ONE

  The officials filter out of Masters’ office, but I can’t leave. Not until I talk to him. Not until I see what we’re going to do next. Because there has to be something we do next, more than containment of information and memory wipes. There has to be a way Masters is planning on helping the girls I love.

  Masters looks at me with a steely gaze. “For now, the only thing I know about you, Mr. VanDyne, is that your senses are better than the Funnel’s. I want that to be all you do from now on — stay calm and safe and wait for images to come to you.”

  “I should wait inside the Funnel. I can see things clearest, quickest there — ”

  Masters holds up a hand to stop me. “I’m worried about the physical toll that will take on you. From what I’ve seen, if you’re inside, your…visions…are stronger, am I right?”

  “Yes, sir. Painful. But I can handle it.”

  He nods, like he knows what he’s about to tell me to do is against his better judgment, but he really doesn’t have a choice. “Hand me your cuff, Elias.”

  I pull it off and place it in his waiting hand, not because I trust him or even think this is the right thing to do, but because at this point I simply have no other choice.

  “I’m going to connect this directly to mine — you’ll be able to comm me directly. When you see anything — anything — about your sisters or about the Cure, I am the first to know. Stopping Cure distribution is the greatest of our concerns right now. I’m shutting down the Funnel from automatic updates and making you the first line of information, do you understand? I don’t want any more floods of officials in my office.”

  He must see the hesitation in my face because he leans forward and speaks more softly. “I hope I don’t have to spell this out. But our resources and abilities could mean life or death for any of those girls. I’m counting on you, VanDyne.”

  I attempt to swallow, and my parched throat is raw. “You can count on me, President Masters.” I don’t know if I’m serious or putting on a front anymore. I can’t keep my panic separate from my confusion. I don’t know what’s right or wrong. What I do know is that I have to do something, so I accept my cuff back from him and strap it into place so that the edge of it bites into my skin.

  I turn and leave his office, waving off Amanda when she tries to ask me if I’d like an escort. I’m not sure whether Masters trusts me. I don’t even know whether I can trust myself. At this point in time, I don’t really care. I’m too worked up, too terrified for Merrin and my sisters.

  I barely even notice when I finally reach my room, twisting through the hallways, but Leni, Daniel, Vera, and Hayley are all waiting outside the door for me.

  “What the hell just happened, Elias? We don’t see you for hours, there’s a freaking earthquake, and then your sisters show up on the news?” Hayley’s eyes burn with anger, and Leni’s face looks like it’s been permanently twisted by worry.

  I groan as I press my palm against the ID pad. “I don’t know. They have this thing here — the Funnel. It detects all Super activity, worldwide. Ever since Masters took me down there to show me, I can see things, I can see people, I….”

  An overwhelming weariness washes over me. There’s too much to say, too many pieces to connect, and my own brain is barely keeping them together. “They have a machine for seeing Super activity. I can… I’m really good at it.” That’s all they need to know. For now.

  Leni’s eyebrows knit together, drawing vertical lines through the freckles on her forehead. I turn to go into my room. Getting to the Funnel won’t help Merrin now anyway. I don’t invite Leni in, but of course she’s on my heels anyway. Daniel, Hayley and Vera file in after her.

  “Is there anything
we can do? I mean, Elias, you’re really freaking me out. Are you going to be okay?”

  “If you’re going to worry about anyone, Len, it’s not me. Merrin, Nora, and Lia are all in trouble.”

  She gasps a little bit, and Daniel’s hand grips her shoulder.

  Housekeeping’s been in here since last night. Since Merrin and I… God, I can’t even think about that. I already ache with missing her, and my mind is running wild with panic. I can’t think about how things could have been if she’d just stayed. Here.

  I mutter something about being exhausted and fall back on one of the beds. The other one. Leni stands over me, hands on hips, and she’s soon joined by Hayley and Daniel — Vera’s still keeping her distance. “Where is Merrin, Elias? You can do better than that. You have to.”

  “She was on a CSH mission with Gallagher. She didn’t tell me she was going. And she didn’t come back.”

  After two silent beats, Hayley asks the question again. “Elias, where is Merrin?”

  At the mention of her name, everything goes black again, and my body seizes up from the bed as an image fills my mind.

  I see Merrin, back at the Biotech Hub, surrounded by five duplicate Fisks, all smirking at her. One of them steps up to her, holds a mask to her face, and strokes his hand over her hair as it fills with gray-green gas. “I can see your Super fading from the injection, my dear, but it’s too slow. Time to test the gas, to see just how potent it is.” My skin crawls at seeing how happy he is that she’s suffering.

  Then the Fisk steps back, and Merrin starts convulsing. Her body jerks against the straps holding her to a metal table as a long keening whine comes from somewhere deep inside her. Then, as quickly as it started, her body shudders, and she’s still.

  The closest Fisk walks over to Merrin and undoes the straps. Her arms flop down — now helpless where they were once strong. The duplicate pulls a tiny tube off the polished silver table beside her, uncorks it, and waves it under her nose. Within seconds, she takes a sharp breath in. When she inhales, I exhale for the first time since the vision started. She sits up straight, propping her own weight on the heels of her hands.