And watched.
And watched.
I relaxed into the icy water. My fingers traced the lightning scars on my skin, and my blood began to heat again, my skin to burn, until the bathtub water was no longer cold, and I was hotter than ever, but it was the good kind of hot.
A good burn.
14
BY THE TIME I dried off and dressed in clean clothes, it was after seven o’clock. I should have been ravenous since I’d barely picked at lunch, but my stomach was too full of worry to leave room for hunger. Still, I knew I needed to eat, and make sure Mom and Parker did, too. Mom wasn’t the only one who’d lost weight since the quake. Parker and I could both count our ribs.
In the kitchen, I found that Parker had unloaded our box of meager rations. Our food supply now consisted of two cans each of vegetables, beans, and soup; two loaves of generic bread; four packets of instant oatmeal; one can of powdered milk. Apparently this was all we really needed to survive.
I went in search of Parker to ask him what he preferred for dinner, soup and toast or beans on toast (we could pretend we were in jolly old England instead of post-apocalyptic Los Angeles).
But Parker wasn’t in his room.
I stood still, listening, realizing how quiet the house was. How way too quiet it was.
I found Mom’s room empty, too. It looked strange without her in it, like an essential piece of furniture had been removed.
Mom’s car wasn’t in the garage, but I had a pretty good idea where it was, and where Mom was, and where Parker was. And I had a very good idea what I was going to do to Parker when I caught up with him.
The sun was busy setting as I drove along Ocean Avenue back toward Skyline. I didn’t like going out after dark these days—that was when most of the looting went on—and I hoped to have Mom and Parker on their way back home before dusk.
Apparently whoever was in charge at Skyline was also worried about looting. There were sentries armed with Tasers standing guard at every entrance.
“I’m here for the earthquake survivors’ group,” I told the sentry barring the main door.
He recoiled when I spoke to him, like I’d snuck up and surprised him, though he’d definitely seen me coming from across the street. He looked me over with eyes that were open a bit too wide. “You’re her, aren’t you?” he asked in a breathy whisper.
“Huh?”
He shook his head, seeming flustered. “Nothing. Never mind. I thought … you know where to go, right? Room—”
“Three seventeen, I got it.” I felt him watching me until the door swung closed at my back.
The main corridor was dim and deserted, but felt crowded with the faces of the dead and missing papering the walls. Their eyes followed me as I walked faster.
I’d never been inside Skyline after-hours. I wasn’t a member of any clubs or teams or groups of any kind, so I never had reason to be at school one second longer than was necessary. It was creepy here when the halls weren’t full of students, when the only thing I could hear were my own footsteps echoing back at me. I kept sneaking glances behind me, thinking I still felt eyes watching my every move.
“I had a feeling you’d be back.”
My head snapped forward and I froze.
Katrina lounged against the staircase balustrade.
The muscles in my neck and shoulders, already so tight it felt like they might fray like old rope, tensed a little more. I really didn’t think it was possible for this day to get any worse, but apparently my powers of pessimism had fallen short for once.
“I’m not here for you,” I told her.
“Oh, I know,” she said. “Parker and your mom are with Uncle Kale now. He knows Parker went behind your back to bring her here. And you know how he knows, don’t you?” She tapped her temple with one red-painted fingernail.
My spine went rigid and my teeth came together like I was trying to bite through something tough. “You need to stay away from my family.”
She held up her hands to show her innocence. “Your brother came to us. Parker isn’t like you, Mia.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“He’s not selfish.”
The heat in my chest flared to life. I found myself in Katrina’s face. I’d never been a confrontational person, but this girl brought it out in me big-time. “Whatever you think you know about me, you don’t.”
Katrina pressed herself flatter against the wall, shrinking from me. She swallowed hard. “I know you have power,” she said. “I know you could use it to do some good in this world, but instead you hide in the shadows, pretend to be a helpless bystander. But that’s not who you are. Your brother doesn’t have power, but he’s still man enough to stand for something. He’s not afraid to fight for what he believes in.”
What exactly did Parker believe in? The Seekers’ cause? Prophet’s ability to cure our mom? That the end of the world was coming? I couldn’t pin him down.
I stepped back. Katrina tried to hide her relief, but I saw it. I knew what it looked like when people were afraid of me.
“What’s it going to take to get you to leave us alone?” I asked.
“How about a trade,” Katrina said. “We’ll forget about your brother, never bother him again, if you’ll join our side and stand against Prophet and his Followers when the storm comes.”
“And what if I refuse?” I asked.
Katrina smiled. “You won’t.”
“Can I have some time to think it over?”
“This is a one-time offer, and it expires in ten seconds. Ten … nine … eight …”
“Give me a day.”
“Seven … six … five …”
“I need more time!”
“Sorry, not much time left. Four … three … two …”
“Fine!” I wanted to strangle her, but my shoulders went slack, the fight going out of me. If this was the only way I could protect Parker from the Seekers, protect him from himself, then this is what I had to do.
“I’ll join you,” I said, “if you—all of you—swear to stay away from my family, even if they don’t want you to. Parker is off-limits from this point on, got it?”
“Done.” She held out her right hand, showing the knotted brand on her palm. “Shake on it?”
I eyed her hand, wishing I’d never shaken it in the ladies’ lounge earlier that day. What was I doing, making a deal with these people? Would they brand me, too? That would require me to remove my gloves, to reveal the lightning scars. I couldn’t do that. I wouldn’t.
Katrina’s hand waited. I ignored it.
“I have your promise,” I told her, and started up the stairs. I still had to retrieve my stray family members.
Katrina called after me. “We’ll see you here tomorrow morning then, bright and early.”
“For what?”
“Initiation. Be in Uncle Kale’s classroom at seven a.m. sharp. Don’t be late.”
I stopped outside Mr. Kale’s classroom door, which was ajar by a crack, wide enough so I could peer inside without being seen myself.
The desks had been arranged in a circle. There were maybe fifteen people seated. Mom and Parker were among them, along with Mr. Kale. I recognized a few Skyline students and a couple of teachers, one of them my history teacher, Ms. Markovic, who was standing, addressing the circle. That was a surprise. Ms. Markovic had been replaced on the schedule, so I’d assumed she’d left the city. But I could tell by the strain around her eyes and the new streaks of gray in her hair that she wasn’t ready to face a classroom again. She looked almost as haunted as Mom, and I wondered what she’d been through since the quake, whom she had lost.
My plan had been to briefly interrupt whatever was going on in Mr. Kale’s classroom, grab Parker and Mom, and get out of the school. But before I had the chance, Ms. Markovic muttered, “Thank you for listening,” and sat down.
“Thank you for sharing your experience,” Mr. Kale said in a softer version of his rumbling voice. “That was very
brave. Who would like to go next?”
He began to search the room. I should have backed away from the door, but it really was open just a crack and I didn’t think he would notice me.
His eye caught mine and paused.
I wanted to move away before he recognized me, but I hesitated a split second too long. A hum started in my brain, and everything in me grew still.
Stay, his voice spoke in my head. Listen.
His gaze unlocked from mine and moved on.
“We have time for one more person,” he said. “Someone new?” His eyes fell on my mom, and he offered his hand to her, as though to help her up. “Sarah Price, is it?”
I felt like someone was squeezing the blood out of my heart. “No,” I said, lips moving soundlessly. “Don’t touch her.”
Mr. Kale’s voice again, speaking where it didn’t belong.
I can’t make her do anything she doesn’t want to do. Your mother wants to tell her story. Listen, Mia …
I made a deal, I thought back at him. You have to leave my family alone!
But Mr. Kale didn’t know about the agreement Katrina and I had made. She hadn’t had a chance to tell him yet, and he hadn’t extracted that piece of information from my mind, probably because I hadn’t been thinking about it when I felt that humming in my brain. If he really could read minds, maybe his power was limited to surface thoughts.
My mom took Mr. Kale’s hand and stood. He released her, and she seemed unsteady on her feet as she glanced nervously around the room. Then she crossed her arms over her chest and her eyes focused on something behind Mr. Kale, like she was gazing at a movie screen no one else could see.
She won’t do it, I thought. She wouldn’t even tell Parker and me what happened to her during all those days she was buried. There was no way she’d tell a room full of strangers.
Mr. Kale touched her shoulder. “Speak, Sarah,” he said. “Tell us what happened.” And something changed. It was hard to say exactly what that something was, but I knew it had happened. Mom’s posture straightened, and her eyes fixed more determinedly on that invisible movie screen. She filled her lungs and began.
And I listened. There was nothing else for me to do.
“I was downtown during the earthquake,” she said. “In the Flower District with a client of mine. Owen. That’s … that was his name. He hired me to redecorate his office. That’s what I do … what I did. Before the—” Her voice dried up, and she had to pause for a moment. “I didn’t realize Owen wanted more than a professional relationship until that day. There were signs, but I didn’t notice them. I was always so wrapped up in my family, my work. We even went on a date, only I thought it was just dinner at the time.
“Owen wanted an extravagant flower arrangement in his office’s front lobby. He insisted on coming with me to the Flower District to show me what he liked, but once we got there he excused himself and went off on his own. He was gone so long I started to think he’d been called away on business. He wouldn’t answer his phone. Then he came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and he had this enormous bouquet of flowers. He said, ‘I didn’t know what your favorite flower was, and I didn’t want to ask, so I bought one of each.’ And then—” She covered her eyes with a trembling hand. “He kissed me. He had a hard time reaching me through the flowers. We sort of crushed them between us. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’ve never really liked flowers, not since my husband’s funeral. Doesn’t matter which kind. They all smell like death to me. But with Owen, for that moment, the smell of flowers didn’t bother me.”
She lowered her hand. Her eyes were glassy. “When everything started to shake, I actually thought, ‘Oh my God, this kiss must really mean something if it’s making the earth move.’ And then the shaking went on and on, and people started shouting. Owen held on to those flowers, though. When the building collapsed on top of us, he still had them.”
The tears Mom had held back began to pour down her cheeks. I didn’t even notice when the same thing began to happen to me.
“He saved my life,” my mom went on. “He covered me with his body when everything around us was coming down, and his back was broken by falling debris. He survived the next twenty-four hours while we waited to be rescued. Then he died quietly, in his sleep, without saying goodbye. It took another two days for a rescue team to find us. Or … just me, by then. There were others buried with us. Trapped. They all died. They died, and the flowers died, and the smell of that rot … every time I think about it I want to scream.” She wiped her scarred cheeks with her sleeve and murmured, “I want to scream.”
Mom sat down. Beside her, Parker’s face was pale, his eyes stunned.
“Thank you for sharing, Sarah,” Mr. Kale said. “That was …” He faltered, and finished in a mumble. “Thank you.”
I walked silently down the hall, in the opposite direction of the staircase, and hid at the end of a row of lockers. I stayed there until I heard the earthquake survivors’ group let out. Voices and footsteps moved toward the stairs. I snuck a glance and saw Parker and my mom among them. Good. Parker was taking her home. He wasn’t lingering to talk to Mr. Kale about the Seekers.
I stayed where I was until they were gone. I didn’t want Mom to know I’d heard everything she said. She obviously didn’t want me to know. She’d let Parker in, but not me.
I was about to emerge from my hiding place when I heard more footsteps, a lot of them, coming up the stairs. I remembered the lightning strike survivors’ group that was scheduled to start right after the earthquake survivors’ group, and dove back into my hiding place.
When the footsteps ceased, I slid silently down the hall, praying that Mr. Kale’s door would be closed so he wouldn’t catch sight of me again. Thankfully, it was, but I could still hear the low murmur of voices. And if I crouched down by the crack at the bottom, I could probably make out what they were saying.
Go home now, Mia, I commanded myself. Go home and deal with your family.
I wanted to listen to my own voice of reason, but … this was a lightning survivors’ group, presumably organized for people who’d been struck during the electrical storm the day of the quake, not people like me. But still … I was curious. And more than that I was suspicious. What did Mr. Kale want with a bunch of people who’d been struck by lightning?
A bunch of people like me …
So I listened. And I immediately heard a voice I recognized. A voice that I’d be happy never to hear again.
Katrina.
“I don’t think anyone new is coming,” she said. “We might as well take that flyer down. Face it, Uncle Kale, we’re never going to recruit anyone this far from the Waste, not with Prophet to compete with. You know where the survivors who’d listen to us are going every night. We should be focusing every Seeker on the Rove.”
My brows drew together. The Waste seemed like the last place on earth a lightning survivor would want to go, back to the scene of the strike.
“Not every survivor in this city is drawn to the Rove, Katrina,” Mr. Kale said. “The ones who were struck before the quake don’t feel the same pull. Can you imagine Mia Price going there? She’s the one we should focus on.”
I covered my mouth to silence the choked sound my throat tried to make at the mention of my name.
I could hear Katrina’s smile in her voice. “Actually, Mia will be here tomorrow morning for initiation.”
“No way. You’re lying.” That was Schiz.
“She just needed the right motivation.”
Katrina told the room about the deal she had made. Everyone started talking at once, but Mr. Kale silenced the group.
“There’s a problem,” he said. “I spoke to Mia’s brother briefly, after the last meeting. He doesn’t care what his sister says. He wants to be a Seeker. I told him to be here in the morning for initiation.”
My teeth came together. Parker and I were so going to have words.
“We need her more than we need hi
m,” Katrina said. “It’s too bad. He’s so eager to be useful.”
“Maybe I could talk to him, tell him the situation,” Quentin said. “He’s a friend of mine. Sort of.”
“Don’t bother,” Katrina said. “I’m sure Mia will deliver the bad news for us.”
Mr. Kale sighed so loudly I could hear him through the door. “I don’t like this. No one should have to be blackmailed into our circle.”
“I did what I had to do.” Katrina sounded defensive. “She’s the Tower girl, I know it. Without her, this is pointless. You know what my ancestor, our founder, prophesied.”
“I’m not convinced she’s the Tower girl,” Schiz said.
“Are you kidding me? You can feel the Spark coming off her without even touching her. She’s like a freaking power plant. None of us have a fraction of her energy, not even you, Uncle. We need her on our side if we’re going to stand a chance against Prophet and his Followers. If she’s bonded to us and we can conduct for her, it’ll be like having another hundred sparked Seekers in our circle.”
“She’s powerful, yeah, but power is nothing if she won’t use it,” Schiz pointed out. “Besides, you know that’s not the real reason we need her.”
I leaned closer, waiting for him to elaborate on the “real reason,” but everyone went silent for a moment, as though digesting Schiz’s reminder.
“Maybe she’s the one prophesied and maybe she isn’t,” Mr. Kale said finally. “We’ll know soon enough. Either way, you still have work to do. If you’re new to the Rove, stay close to Katrina and do exactly what she tells you. You’re dismissed.”
The doorknob twisted and my heart jumped into my throat.
I bolted for the stairs and didn’t stop running until I reached my car.
Jeremy was right. Now that they know who you are, they’ll try to use you. That’s what he’d told me before he put his hands over my eyes and took me to the Waste. To the Tower.
The question was, what did the Seekers want to use me for? And how could I stop them from doing it now that I’d agreed to become one of them?
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