Joss the Seven

by J. Philip Horne

  Everything was spinning out of control. The guys at the house who tried to grab Janey and me. Mara wanting me to fail. Janey holding information over me. And now yet another Seven, this Thief, waiting for me.

  It felt like I was underwater breathing air from an overturned bucket. Time was running out, and I had no clue what was going on. I was not going to stand around and watch anymore. Tomorrow, I was going to sort out the biggest puzzle—Mara.

  Chapter 16

  MASKS

  I’VE HEARD OF this thing called insomnia. I don’t have it. I can stay up thinking, but not when I’m dead tired. My mind was on fire with questions, adrenaline pumped through my veins, and three minutes after my head hit the pillow I was asleep. I woke to my alarm five hours later.

  My stretchy black work clothes and shoes from the previous night were scattered on the floor. I took a moment to fold them up and tuck them in the back of my bottom dresser drawer. I put on a slim fitting T-shirt and my tightest pair of athletic shorts.

  I’d seen some weirdness from Mara starting the very first time I’d met her. I was convinced she’d been frustrated when she’d heard I was a ghost. And I’d swear she’d been happy when she’d thought I had failed test five. Ghost and blender. The two talents I most needed for that mission last night. The talents that made me a Thief.

  And then there was that smile last night in the car. I’d told her about the trap, and for just one moment, she’d smiled.

  I grabbed my phone and messaged Thomas.

  Can you talk?

  I waited. My phone rang.

  “Thomas,” I said. “I need some cover this afternoon.”

  “Okay. What sort of cover?” Thomas asked.

  “Can you make sure your mom knows I’m coming over? I’ll tell my parents I’m going to your house after Battlehoop. And I will. Just not immediately.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I had another mission last night,” I said.

  “Okay. And…”

  “Well, I did it. And it went bad. Another Seven tried to take me down.”

  “What?” Thomas said.

  “Exactly. The whole thing was a trap. I need to find out what’s going on. What Mara is up to.”

  “Mara? Why Mara?”

  “I’ve seen things.” I started pacing my room. “Like she wasn’t happy when I ended up being a ghosty blender. And last night, I swear she smiled when my mission failed.”

  “And you’re going to…?”

  “I’m going to follow her. See what there is to see. I’ll give it a couple hours, then snag a bus back to our neighborhood. Shouldn’t be a problem for the Seventy-Seven.”

  “Traps. Sevens. What the heck.” There was a long pause. “I’ll talk to Mom. Set things up.”

  “Thanks, Thomas,” I said. “I’ll catch you up at your place this afternoon. There’s a lot more to it. Oh. Can you get my bike to your house?”

  “Dude, now you’re asking a lot. Yeah, I can manage it.”

  “Thanks. I’m out.”

  I headed downstairs and grabbed some breakfast. Both Mom and Dad had left early. I pulled my phone out and texted Mom to let her know I wanted to hang out at Thomas’ house that afternoon. Janey sat across from me eating her cereal and giving me the eye.

  “What?” I said, after being stared at for like three minutes.

  “What did you do last night?”

  My jaw froze mid-chew. A fist clenched around my heart.

  “What do you mean?” I got my mouth moving again. “What did you do last night?”

  “I had to go to the bathroom last night. A little after 2:00 a.m.”

  I froze.

  “I heard you banging around in your room.” Janey pointed her spoon at me as she spoke.

  Not good. I would have been changing out of my work clothes.

  “I waited a couple minutes,” she said, “and it got quiet.”

  “Yeah, cause I was asleep.”

  “Oh, I know.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked.

  “I snuck in your room to see what you were doing.” Janey whipped a hand from under the table. She was holding my mask. “Look what I found.”

  I was stunned. My jaw dropped open and some milk dribbled out. How had I missed the mask when I’d put up the outfit this morning? I just wasn’t used to masks being part of my clothing.

  “One more time. What were you doing last night? What’s going on? Does this have to do with the men who tried to grab us?”

  How could I play this? Sure, we had issues, but I wasn’t going to put her in danger. She was family. And we had sort of bonded the previous day. I couldn’t tell her what was going on. It didn’t feel safe. At least, not more than Dad knew.

  “Janey, please, I can’t tell you. Let me have that back.”

  “Oh, you can tell me.” She waved the mask back and forth just out of reach. “Or I show this to Mom and Dad.” Janey stood and waved the mask closer to me. “Someone tried to kidnap us yesterday. You’re sneaking around at night or something. What’s going on?”

  I slammed my fist on the table. “I’m trying to keep you safe!”

  “Liar.”

  Stupid, stupid girl. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and kinneyed. My eyes snapped open. I leaned forward and snatched the mask out of Janey’s hand as she slowly pulled away from me. I tried to move slowly so that I was just fast enough to get the mask. The last thing I needed was Janey wondering about my Seven talents. I released the kinney and slumped back into my chair. Boy, that was tiring.

  “How did you do that?” Janey looked from her empty hand to me. “I’m faster than you!”

  “I guess I got lucky.” I stood and headed for the stairs.

  “This isn’t over, Joss,” Janey called to me. “I’m going to find out what’s going on. And I’m going to talk to Dad. Today!”

  I went upstairs and got my work clothes out of the drawer. I stuffed them with the mask under my mattress. I’d need a safer place to store them, but for now I had to get to Battlehoop. I was running out of time. I had to find answers fast.

  After a quick trip through the bathroom, I headed downstairs and went out back to get my bike. Janey was just getting on her bike and heading down the alley toward the meet up at Deion’s house. I ran back and locked the door, then got on my bike and gave chase. When I got within a hundred feet, she heard me.

  “It’s not over!” she said, looking back over her shoulder, and started pedaling hard.

  We raced. She won. But I had easily gained ten feet on her. Not bad, if you ignored the fact that she was two years younger than me and a girl. We rode as a group over to Battlehoop. Thomas still looked ridiculous on his bike. Frankie was still weird, but I was getting used to him. Arjeet was talkative. Deion had gotten leaner, and talked about music less. If we kept this up, we’d end up being a gang or something.

  “Today,” Arjeet said, “is the day Janey falls to my masculine prowess.”

  Janey laughed and steered her bike over to him. “Did you just say I’d fall for your masculine princess?”

  I looked down and kept pedaling, tuning out the laughter. Too much to figure out. And I was out of time. Once Janey talked to Dad, I knew the whole thing would just blow up and slip out of my control. Not that I felt in control now, but it would get worse. And after yesterday, and last night, I feared for my family’s safety. What could I do?

  I needed to know who I could trust, other than Thomas. I had to pin down what Mara was up to. Mara. It all centered on her. Was she even a good guy? And were Luc and that guy really working for the Mockers? Did I really even know who the Mockers were, or the Guild?

  We arrived at Battlehoop. We trained. When I went to take my turn with Mara one on one, she came out of the room and stopped me. “I’ve got to take care of a couple errands today, so I’ll need to skip your lesson. Sorry.”

  My eyes narrowed as I watched her walk out of the dojo. Jordan jerked my attention away from her with a sharp
word. I climbed back onto the platform and continued training. Jordan put Janey and me in a hoop together to spar a short time later. It struck me that in all the weeks we’d been coming to the dojo, I’d never been in a hoop with her.

  “Gonna kick your tail,” she said as we pulled on the safety gear. “We’ll see who’s faster.”

  Mara had a strict rule for me. I was never to use my talents when training with the other students. She had told me it would both put my identity at risk and hinder my ability to learn fighting skills.

  In the ring with Janey, I was tempted to break that rule. Janey was just so fast. I had a longer reach and a lot more weight, but Janey had taken to fighting like a fish to water. She knew she weighed less. She knew we all had longer reaches. So she fought within her limits, letting her speed make the difference.

  Every time I closed with her to beat her out of the hoop, she’d just disappear and I’d hit air. I knew one good hit would do it, but I couldn’t land anything solid. In the meantime, she peppered me with punches and kicks. I felt like I was being tenderized.

  And then it was over. I had her near the edge of the hoop, faked a left punch, and kicked hard with my right foot. I’d thought she’d dodge my fist and go right into my kick. Instead, she dropped, caught my foot in both her hands as I kicked, and yanked me forward. She hit my butt with a vicious kick of her own as I stumbled over her, sending me out of the hoop.

  I’d been beaten by a twelve-year-old girl. And my backside was on fire. The indignity was almost too much for me.

  “Way to go, Janey.” Thomas strode over and offered her a hand. He effortlessly pulled her up from the mat. “I’ve told you over and over, Joss. You don’t mess with Janey.”

  Janey walked over to where I was rubbing my butt. She looked me in the eye, her eyebrows raised. “And the faster Morgan is…?”

  I looked away and dropped my hand after one last massage. “You are.”

  She nodded. “This isn’t over. The ‘masks’ are coming off.”

  I grimaced. Now she was threatening me with puns. The rest of the day was hard, but didn’t involve any new humiliations. Mara returned in about an hour. I edged over to Thomas when I saw her. “Got me covered?”

  He nodded, avoiding eye contact. It was just as well that he didn’t speak, because Mara stepped onto the platform and trained with us for the remaining hour. She seemed determined to avoid eye contact with me. Something was definitely up. At the end of the session, we all headed out on our bikes.

  As we rounded the first corner, I stopped. “Hey, Thomas, can you hang back. I, uh, forgot something. Need to head back.”

  “You want us to wait?” Arjeet called back.

  “No, I’ll just be a few minutes. I’ll see you guys tomorrow, okay?”

  Arjeet nodded. Deion waved. Janey glared at me. Frankie looked at Janey. Then they all rode out of sight. Wait a second. What was Frankie doing looking at my sister? I’d have to deal with that later.

  “Here,” I said and handed my bike to Thomas. “Get going so Mara doesn’t see you with my bike.”

  “You sure about all this?” Thomas asked.

  “Yeah. I need answers. Need to see what’s behind Mara’s mask. I’ll see you this afternoon.”

  “Mara’s mask?”

  “She’s got secrets. I need to uncover them.”

  “Ah,” Thomas said. “You gonna be okay?”

  I gave him a firm nod, and he nodded in return.

  “I’m out of here,” Thomas said. He grabbed my bike by the handlebar grip and slowly started riding away, holding my bike next to his.

  I watched for a moment longer to make sure he wasn’t going to crash, then glanced around. No one was in sight. I blended and jogged toward Mara’s car. There’d have to be a way to deal with my mask and Janey. And my parents. And the Mocker. But for now, Mara.

  Chapter 17

  ISABELLA

  MARA CAME OUT of Battlehoop a few minutes later and headed to her car. As she got in, I ghosted into the back seats. Maybe I should have checked out the car while I’d waited for her. The rear seats were folded down, making the back of the car one big trunk.

  I scrunched myself toward the hatchback at the rear. It made sense to keep ghosting so I would make less noise, but I had this crazy vision of Mara accelerating and me popping out the back of the car, so I released it. She started the car and dropped it into gear.

  Insanely loud, bouncy Latin music crashed into me. I jerked in surprise and suppressed a yell, and we were off. Mara drove for about fifteen minutes. I tried to keep track of where we were going, but I didn’t recognize any of the neighborhoods. Mara added little head and shoulder dances with the music while driving, and busted out with loud singing here and there. She had a solid voice.

  She turned off a two-lane road into a neighborhood. The whole place looked tired. Like the houses had given up. Gutters hung loose. Shutters were crooked or missing. The yards were overgrown. Most of them were big and symmetric, and had two front doors. Duplexes or something.

  About ten houses into the neighborhood, Mara turned into a driveway. It led behind one of the larger buildings. In the back was a mini-parking lot with several other cars. They were all new and high-end. Very different from the ones that had been parked along the street as we drove in.

  Mara pulled into a parking spot and got out of the car. I ghosted out and followed her to a door in the back of the building. She pulled out a key and went in. The door had one of those metal arms at the top that made it close automatically, but I was still ghosting and followed her in as the door closed behind her.

  A dim hallway with peeling wall paper and a musty smell led straight through the middle of the building to the front door. Two pairs of doors faced each other, spaced evenly along the hallway. An opening immediately to my right led to a flight of stairs. I glanced up them. The stairs ran parallel to the hallway I was in up to a second level.

  A small camera sat near the ceiling by the front door facing down the hall toward me, and another one was about ten feet closer facing the front door. I glanced up. The same arrangement was at the back door. A camera just above where I stood, and one about ten feet down the hall facing the door I’d just entered.

  Mara headed down the hall to the second door on the right and raised her hand to knock. The door opened before she could rap it. A large, blond-haired man stepped forward and stood in the doorway. He was wearing a black, long sleeved shirt with one of those collars that goes up really high.

  “Checking in,” Mara said. “Back from Battlehoop.”

  The man made a show of looking her over and nodded.

  “Hey,” Mara said as the man stepped back and started to close the door. “Isabella and I are going out this afternoon, right? Jordan promised.”

  I heard a grunt, which Mara seemed to think was a yes, because she nodded in response. She turned back toward me as the door closed. I stepped partially into the wall to my left to get out of the way as she hurried by me and turned into the stairwell. By the time I got to the stairs, she was almost to the top. Cameras were mounted near the ceiling at the top and bottom of the stairs. I followed as quickly as I dared while remaining silent.

  At the top was a short hallway with a door on either side. Another camera was mounted at the dead end of the hallway looking back toward where I stood at the top of the stairs. I realized these must be apartments or something. Smaller ones on the first floor, and two larger ones up here. Mara inserted a key into the door on the left and went in. I let the door close behind her before stepping forward.

  I needed to be careful. I ghosted and sunk a couple inches into the floor so I could drift and ensure absolute silence. Then I entered the apartment. I skipped the door and went through the wall by the head of the stairs.

  The living room I entered was cheerful, in sharp contrast to what I’d seen of the rest of the building, not to mention the neighborhood. Bright cushions decorated a cloth couch, and patterned curtains were pulled aside to l
et sunlight in through a couple windows. Mara stood near the front door hugging a girl who looked like her though a lot younger. Maybe my age. Was this Isabella?

  They parted, and I got a better look at the girl. Yeah, she was definitely around my age, and looked an awful lot like Mara, including the part where Mara was really hot. The girl was wearing jeans and a plaid, button-down short-sleeved shirt. She spoke.

  It was Spanish, and I didn’t understand any of it. She and Mara started talking, and Mara headed past me to a little kitchen. The girl flopped down onto the couch while they continued talking.

  I looked from Mara to the girl and back. They had to be sisters. If not for the age difference, they could have been twins. Mara was talking, and I heard something like, “Blah blah blah, Isabella, blah blah blah.” Mara had said something closer to Ees-ah-bay-lah, but I recognized it. Isabella. This girl was Isabella, and she had to be Mara’s younger sister.

  That’s when I noticed the cameras. It was the same type that I’d seen in the halls and stairs. From where I stood, I could see three of them positioned to give views of every angle in the apartment. This whole setup was unexpected and frightening.

  There was just too much security, and the conversation with that blond-haired guy had been odd. Why was Mara checking in with him? And why had Jordan promised she could go out with Isabella?

  Mara came back into the living room carrying a sandwich on a small paper plate and a glass of water. She sat down cross-legged on an overstuffed chair next to the couch, took a bite, and set her stuff down on the coffee table. Still talking in Spanish and chewing, Mara picked up a small notepad and pen from the table and started writing.

  I drifted over behind the chair to see what she wrote. Maybe it would offer some clues. As I got closer, I saw a couple words. Eggs. Bread. That was helpful, but odd. It was written in English.

  I got close enough to take a good look. It was a grocery list. That wasn’t going to help. And then, right below 3 tomatoes, Mara wrote, Joss, tap my shoulder when you read this. She didn’t stop there. No, she went right on to 6 apples and 1 banana bunch, but at that moment my eyes were locked onto my name.