Gnotret (The Accidental Heroes Chronicles Book 1)

by S. E. Cyborski

  to the lounge. The chess game I’d been playing with Jane the day before was still sitting on the

  table. I sat down on my side while Billy took the other, studying the board.

  “Looks like you’re losing again,” Billy remarked to me.

  “As long as he doesn’t do anything novel, I should win,” Jane added, a touch smugly. I

  grimaced up at the ceiling and sighed.

  “I have a few ideas,” I told them, looking back down at the board. I moved one of my

  knights forward while telling Jane the move and sat back to wait while she decided what move

  she would make next. “Rook to G 2,” Jane said smoothly, her voice simply radiating satisfaction. “Check.”

  Billy moved her piece for her, a grin on his face. So far, I hadn’t won a game against

  either of them, but I had learned a lot from playing. I moved one of my pawns to take the rook,

  clearing my king from danger. We played a few more moves before Michael, Amy, and Dr.

  Carnesby came into the lounge. Abandoning the game, we took seats in the armchairs and

  waited for Dr. Carnesby to speak.

  “Thank you all for being here for this discussion,” Dr. Carnesby said.

  “Not like we had much choice,” Sandra interrupted sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

  “Yes, well, I still appreciate it,” Dr. Carnesby replied, hardly ruffled at the interruption. “I

  would like to take this opportunity to speak with you all about your powers now that the trial

  period is almost over.”

  “I think I’ve mastered mine and they will come in handy for me,” Michael said. “Being

  able to control gravity is a useful little thing.”

  “Yes, and I understand my powers as well,” Amy added, flicking her fingers and causing

  a wind to blow around us. “I think the only thing now is to think of ways to apply it and that

  doesn’t need to be done here. It’s all down to imagination.”

  “That is very true and I’m impressed with you all,” Dr. Carnesby admitted, nodding. “How

  about you, Sandra? How are your powers coming along?”

  “Very well,” Sandra replied, smiling smugly. “I have a good handle on them and it’s

  getting easier and easier to control my empathy.”

  “Excellent! George, how has your shapeshifting been coming?” Dr. Carnesby asked,

  turning to me.

  “All right. I’ve practiced enough that I can turn back to my own shape almost instantly,” I

  explained. “I haven’t really discovered any limits just yet, but I’ve kept my experimenting simple.”

  “Good, good,” Dr. Carnesby approved. “And you Billy?” “I’ve learned how to control my telepathy,” he hedged, not going into much detail at all.

  “I’ve also learned how to turn it off so I don’t hear other people’s thoughts all the time. I think

  that was the most important thing for me to learn.”

  We discussed our abilities further, a strange light in Sandra’s eyes as we let bits of

  information dribble out. Ididn’t know what she was thinking but her expression gave me chills.

  She looked like a shark eyeing a seal for a snack. After about an hour, Dr. Carnesby called a

  halt to the discussion and smiled at all of us.

  “Well, if things continue as well as they have been, you all will be walking out with your

  five thousand dollars each,” Dr. Carnesby explained, standing. “However, I’d like to ask all of

  you to consider participating in some more experiments to discover exactly why Gnotret

  changed you all.”

  We agreed to consider it then the group separated. Michael went to his room alone and I

  could hear music blasting through his door. Billy went to his own room with a notebook he’d

  gotten from Dr. Carnesby. I could only imagine he wanted to catalogue what he’d gotten from

  Sandra in the discussion. I went to my own room, strangely exhausted and saw Sandra and

  Amy sitting down together in the lounge before closing my door. Whatever they were doing

  could wait until the morning, I reasoned and fell into bed. Chapter 11

  Michael was sitting on his bed, using the music he was playing to mask what he was

  doing. Sandra had praised him effulgently on his use of gravity and he’d been thinking of ways

  to use the ability as a weapon. Staring at several small objects he’d secreted into his room over

  the past few days, including the little origami shuttles he’d made, Michael concentrated on

  changing the gravity around them. After he’d started practicing, Michael had learned that he

  could manipulate gravity fields around other objects not just himself.

  With a tinny crunch, the fork and spoon on the floor were crushed into flat pieces. He’d

  increased the gravity around them one hundred times and they were as flat as pancakes.

  Looking at the magazine and the DVD case, he lowered the gravity around them until they were

  floating around the ceiling, knocking gently into the light. With a grin, Michael reversed the

  gravity and the two objects slammed into the ground, leaving a small indent in the carpet. The

  shuttles, he continued to waft about the room, as if they were in orbit around him.

  “Looks like a weapon to me,” Michael murmured to himself, a smug smirk crossing his

  face. A warmth stole across his body as he thought of Sandra and her happiness at finding out

  what he could do with his power now. Though, it wasn’t as strong as it had been before. He was

  still attracted to Sandra but she was slowly becoming less consuming, less interesting to him.

  Deciding to reward himself a little bit, Michael lowered the gravity around himself so that

  he floated in the air. A couple days into their second week here, Michael had had a wild thought.

  What if he could manipulate the gravity around himself enough to be able to fly? Every night

  before going to bed, he’d experimented with the gravity fields around himself, trying to figure out

  how to propel himself across his room, stop himself, rise higher, and sink lower. Michael had

  gotten very good at moving himself around his room but couldn’t wait until they left the facility to

  try it out in the open sky. He hovered above his bed for a few moments, enjoying the sense of weightlessness

  he’d once hoped he’d eventually find working for NASA. Every once in a while, Michael would

  wonder what Sandra had planned for after the trial. He believed that his ability would be

  extremely useful at NASA but if Sandra had other plans, he’d follow her. Of course. The warmth

  intensified over his body as he thought of her. A flush rose on Michael’s cheeks and he allowed

  himself to float down to his bed. Sandra had wanted to keep their relationship quiet from the

  others and Michael had agreed. Even though it meant that they weren’t able to spend as much

  time together as he wanted. Smiling, he let the warmth take him over and his thoughts turned

  completely to Sandra. She was still fun to think about, even if his enthusiasm for her seemed to

  be waning. It wasn’t totally lonely without her here, he mused.

  -----------------------------------------------------------

  As she and Amy sat in the lounge talking, Sandra smiled to herself when she felt

  Michael start thinking about her. She’d created an emotional path connected to any thought of

  her that made Michael aroused and want her. It kept him wrapped firmly around her finger and

  the man would do anything she wanted. Brushing over his emotions, Sandra did notice that they

  weren’t nearly as strong as before. Perh
aps Michael was building up a tolerance without her

  there to lean on him. It was something to think about later. Turning her attention back to Amy,

  she made appropriately soothing noises as Amy complained about George.

  “And he had the gall to say it was you manipulating me,” Amy exclaimed, rolling her

  eyes. Sandra snapped her complete attention back to Amy at that, wondering how much

  George might have put together. “He said you were trying to separate me from everyone else.

  Build allies or some ridiculous thing like that.”

  “That is completely ridiculous,” Sandra agreed, laughing while inside she seethed.

  George seemed to have picked up a lot about her intentions, though not the whole of it. Oh well.

  It was time to step up her timetable then. Concentrating on Amy, Sandra slipped easily into her emotions and searched for the best way to draw Amy to her side. Then found it and almost

  laughed out loud at how easy it would be.

  “You know, Michael and I were thinking of starting a show of some sort after the trial,”

  Sandra stated calmly, eyeing Amy carefully. “With the abilities we have, we could make a lot of

  money and eventually be quite famous.”

  “Really?” Amy asked, sliding into the manipulation Sandra was doing easily. “I’ve always

  wanted to be comfortably off. Enough to travel and do whatever I wanted, you know?”

  “I do indeed,” Sandra replied. She carefully built up layers of greed and desire for

  recognition and fame, building them slowly so that Amy believed it was all her own doing. The

  greed felt like smooth, cool metal sliding over her skin and Sandra delighted in the sensation.

  Desire for recognition and fame felt like feather light touches over her whole body, almost

  ticklish.

  “That’s why I wanted to work for a huge company,” Amy continued, her voice taking on a

  dreamy quality as Sandra built her emotions up into a bonfire. She also attached the feeling that

  these things would only happen if Sandra was the architect ofthem. “I would be paid well for my

  advice and I would be important.”

  “Well, you could do that with us,” Sandra coaxed, releasing her hold on Amy’s emotions

  and letting them speak to her. “Come with us when we leave. You could be rich and famous and

  have people coming to see you from the world over. With your power over all the elements,

  you’d be huge.”

  “I would, wouldn’t I?” Amy asked, her voice still dreamy but sharpening with greed and

  desire. “George is a lost cause now. I doubt I’ll do anything other than empty my things out of

  our apartment. I think I will come with you. That sounds like a wonderful idea.”

  “Perfect,” Sandra murmured smugly, giving Amy a wide smile full of teeth. She could feel

  her manipulations taking hold of Amy and changing her without the other woman realizing it. This was the best part of being an empath: changing others to suit her needs so that they were

  happy to provide whatever she wanted.

  “When do you want to leave?” Amy asked, her eyes glassy.

  “Oh, I’ll let you know,” Sandra replied. “Now I think it’s time for bed. I’m exhausted, aren’t

  you?”

  Amy nodded, a yawn coming out of her mouth right on cue. Sandra let her get up first

  and head to bed, exulting in the welter of emotions that Amy was feeling right now. It had been

  easier than she’d thought to get Amy on her side, to take over her will so completely through her

  emotions. She followed Amy and headed into her own room, satisfied at a job well done. Now

  she just needed to decide when to leave. And if that five thousand dollars was worth staying the

  whole time for.

  ------------------------------------------------------------------

  The rest of the week was quiet and the fourth week of the trial rolled around without

  much fuss. We still practiced our abilities and Billy and Jane tried to figure out what Sandra was

  planning. I could see that Billy wasn’t having much success because he started walking around

  with an annoyed look on his face. Michael was still almost slavishly devoted to Sandra and I

  could see similar behavior in Amy. That actually hurt.

  I’d kept my word to Amy, staying away from her and not talking to her even though that

  was all I wanted to do. I wanted to convince her, somehow, that Sandra was just manipulating

  and using her. But I recognized the glassy look in her eyes whenever she saw Sandra, though it

  wasn’t quite the same as Michael’s. Whatever Sandra had done, Amy was hers just as much as

  Michael was.

  The second day of the fourth week, Billy found me watching a movie. I was really just

  watching the screen blankly, not taking in what was going on. He tapped me on the shoulder

  and I jumped, looking up at him with surprise. “I’ve got some news,” Billy murmured, looking around the room. “Come back to Adam’s

  office. We need to talk.”

  I nodded and shut the movie off. Following, I could hear conversation in Sandra’s room

  and recognized Amy’s and Michael’s voices. It sounded as if all three of them were in there

  discussing something. I couldn’t stay and listen, though, as Billy waved urgently at me. When

  we got to Dr. Carnesby’s office, Billy and I perched uncomfortably on the examination table after

  I closed the door.

  “I’ve found out some of Sandra’s plans,” Billy said without preamble. “She wants to turn

  their abilities into something like a traveling circus. She’d call them magicians and charge dearly

  for entrance to their shows. It speaks to her desire for money and fame. Plus, she would have

  power over all the people who came to her shows. She could instill in them the desire to do

  whatever she wanted.”

  “She could do anything, get anything done for her,” I breathed, shock and dismay

  etching my face. “Sandra would be difficult to catch because she would keep moving. Plus, she

  was going to become a lawyer; she’d know how to stay on the good side of the law while

  breaking it entirely.”

  “Yes, this is a problem,” Dr. Carnesby sighed, running a hand through his hair. “What do

  you intend to do about it? You two are the only ones who can resist her so far.”

  Before either Billy or I could answer, we heard pounding footsteps sprinting away from

  the door. There were only three options for who that could be and we looked at each other,

  aghast. Dr. Carnesby hurried to the door and opened it, seeing Michael disappear down the

  hallway and into Sandra’s room. A scream of rage ripped through the building a few seconds

  later; Sandra had found out we knew her plans.

  Billy and I ran down the hallway, half-formed plans being made and discarded in my

  head as we went. We were definitely outnumbered but hopefully our abilities were matched. As we drew even with the doorway, we saw Michael standing at the wall leading to the outside and

  glaring fiercely at it.

  “What...?” Billy started to say before a fireball zoomed at him. He managed to dodge it in

  time but the fireball smacked into the wall behind us, scorching a black mark on it. Amy

  appeared from the corner, a feral grin lighting her face. She conjured another fireball and threw

  it at me. I barely stepped aside in time, my limbs sluggish due to shock and dismay. I’d never

  seen that look onAmy’s face before and I prayed I never saw it again.

  “Take the wall down, Michael!” Sandr
a yelled, pointing at the wall. Michael nodded and

  raised his hand towards the wall. His other hand pointed off to the side, where I knew Billy was.

  A grinding sound permeated the room as plaster rained down from the wall. Zigzagging cracks

  appeared in the wall but I was distracted by another fireball as Amy kept doing her best to hurt

  or kill us.

  “Amy, don’t do this. Please!” I begged as I dodged yet another fireball. “Please, this isn’t

  really you.”

  “Yes it is!” Amy yelled, her voice wild. “Sandra has shown me a different way to get what

  I want and I follow her. If you stay out of our way, I won’t be forced to hurt you. But try to stop us

  and I will do my best to killyou.”

  I could see Billy pressed against the wall near the door, his limbs splayed out from the

  pressure exerted on him. I risked a look at Michael, seeing total concentration on his face as he

  held Billy in place and worked to take down the crumbling wall at the same time. I could feel a

  tickling at my mind, despair threatening to overwhelm me. Remembering what Billy had said

  about having a slippery mind, I concentrated on a pane of glass. The tickle went away and I saw

  Sandra scowling at me from the other corner.

  “Jane, the sedative,” Billy managed to say before his breath was seemingly stolen. His

  mouth gaped open widely, panic covering his face as he tried to speak. I heard an insane giggle and turned back to see Amy, a wild frenzy on her face, staring at Billy. She turned to me,

  giggling again, and raised a hand.

  Amy completed the gesture with another fireball thrown in my direction. I couldn’t dodge

  this one in time so I thought about one of my more familiar forms. Almost instantly, I dropped

  down into the form of the tiger Amy had first seen me in. The fireball flew harmlessly over my

  head, impacting on the wall. I growled at Amy and lunged, hoping to incapacitate her. A gust of

  wind caught me in mid-leap as the wall finally gave way and sunlight streamed into the room. I

  hit the other wall hard, my vision graying around the edges.

  “Amy, let’s go!” Sandra called as she and Michael darted through the hole. Amy threw

  one last contemptuous look my way before following. I heard Billy drop to the ground, one hand