Shine: Season One (Shine Season Book 1)

by William Bernhardt

  This is the data that appears most probable:

  1) The ability of Shines to control their own powers is limited and erratic.

  2) Some sources have attributed the Shine outbreak to various religious events, such as a Second Coming or Rapture. Some have suggested that it is a disease. Some have even suggested that the Shine genome is of extraterrestrial origin. Regardless of the source, Shines appear to represent a distinct variety of our species, a homo superior. Studies have been proposed to determine whether Shines are capable of creating viable offspring with the progenitor species, or whether they indeed constitute a variant speciation.

  3) Although most female teens exhibiting Shine had relatively normal childhoods, increasing evidence indicates that once the Shine manifests, typically around the time of puberty or shortly thereafter, the resulting hormonal changes have a negative effect on mental processing and personality, causing severe mental and/or psychological damage, often exhibiting itself in the form of erratic, dangerous, and bizarre behavior…

  42

  “Aura! What did they do to you?”

  Aura tried to cover her face, but her hands weren’t quick enough. She stumbled through the door and fell into the center of the room, twisting her arm in a way that sent shock waves up and down an already damaged body.

  Twinge rushed to her side, Harriet close behind her. “Oh my God, we were so worried.”

  “What did they do to you?” Harriet asked. Her voice dropped a notch. “This time.”

  She tried to answer, but she didn’t know where to begin. And she didn’t want to relive it, not even in words. “They worked me over a little,” she said, and left it at that. “No biggie. Good to be back.”

  “Thank Gandhi you’re here,” Dream said. “These two have been completely ape since Dr. Cootie’s henchmen hauled you away. I think they blame themselves.”

  “You shouldn’t.”

  “Believe me, I didn’t. But those two are another matter.”

  Twinge looked her over carefully. The torn clothing didn’t hide much. “I think more happened than you’re telling us.”

  “I’m sorry,” Harriet cut in. “I should’ve known Coutant was waiting on the other side of the wall. I should’ve heard something.”

  That was the longest speech she’d heard Harriet make since she’d met her. And unless she imagined it, her voice seemed to be normalizing, too. “Coutant knows your Shine, Harriet. I’m sure they maintained scrupulous radio silence and stayed off their cell phones.”

  “I should’ve done something,” Twinge said. “Given Coutant and her guards massive heartburn maybe.”

  “You couldn’t get them all at once. You would’ve just gotten punished for using your Shine.”

  “But that’s the thing. We haven’t been punished at all.”

  “Which has made them feel all the more guilty,” Dream added.

  “Coutant doesn’t hold you responsible.” Because I’m the troublemaker.

  Dream cleared her throat. “Uh, loan you some clothes maybe?”

  “Thanks. I’ll get my own.” She tried to push up off the floor, but it hurt too much. “Later.”

  “Let’s get you to bed.”

  “Stop. How many times have you carried me to my bed? I’ll do it myself.” She strained and masked how much it hurt till she got to her bunk and collapsed.

  “You should take a nap.”

  “They expect me to attend my full therapy schedule today.”

  “That’s totally twisted. Like, they just got done torturing you so now they want to torture you worse.”

  “Whatever.”

  Harriet leaned in close. For a moment, she thought the girl was going to kiss her. “What’s next?”

  She tried to focus. “Huh?”

  Harriet looked both ways, then dropped her voice even more. “What are we going to do next? What’s the plan?”

  “Nothing. No plan.”

  “They haven’t repaired the hole we blew in the wall yet,” Twinge said. “They had to hire extra security to handle all the SSS protesters trying to sneak in. They finally stretched a tarp over the gap, but that would be a cinch for Tank to get through.”

  “No.”

  “But—”

  She wondered if they should be using Harrietspeak. Didn’t matter. She was only going to say what Coutant wanted to hear. “What reason do we have to believe we’d be more successful this time? No.”

  All three peered at her. She felt as if they were her children and she’d just told them they couldn’t have a puppy.

  “Look, we tried. We failed. I’m not…” She started her sentence, then stopped—because she didn’t think she could finish it without breaking into tears. “I can’t go through this again.”

  “So we’re giving up?”

  She thought long and hard. Had she resisted Coutant for so long, only to quit now?

  If she thought she was the only one to consider, it would be different. But Beverly was in danger, too. And next time Coutant might not be so merciful to the other Shines. No, it was too risky. Unthinkable.

  And then she heard that damned nagging voice in her head again.

  Sometimes one person’s needs outweigh those of civilization itself.

  Coutant and the others wanted to take her brain apart. They claimed it had to be voluntary. But it would only be a matter of time before they came up with a way to coerce her cooperation. Maybe they’d use Beverly. Or Taj. Her roommates. Anyone she knew could be used against her. Even people she didn’t know could become weapons.

  As long as they had access to her, no one was safe.

  “Just—give me some time, okay? I need to rest. And…clear my head.”

  “Okay. Yeah. Sure.” Harriet withdrew to her side of the room.

  “Anything I can get you?” Twinge asked. “You’ve got about ten minutes. Are you hungry?”

  Ten minutes. Ten precious minutes before she had to be on again. She was so tired. Mark had said she had PTSD before. What did she have after these past few days? “No. Just let me rest. Can you do that?”

  Twinge’s face fell a notch. “Sure. Whatever you want.”

  All three wandered back to their corners.

  She knew she’d disappointed them. But she couldn’t help it. She didn’t want to be the leader. She couldn’t face the possibility of another failure or being locked up in that dark cell again. She just couldn’t face it. She—

  Would that flicking voice never shut up?

  Sometimes one person’s needs outweigh those of civilization itself.

  43

  Agent Coal peered into the virtual face. “Extraction? Seriously?”

  The Chief stared back at her. “Is there a problem?”

  “Yes. I don’t understand your instructions. Because they make no sense.” She tried to control the anger swelling up within her. No point in getting angry at a virtual image. It wouldn’t faze him. If he reacted at all, it would just be to turn down the volume. “Do you think you could explain it to me?”

  “Are you suggesting that I’m required to explain myself to you? Or anyone?”

  God save her from demagogues. Before long they all acquired this quaint chimerical notion that they were actually in control. “Of course not, O great and powerful Oz. But it would help me obtain the mission objective if I understood what the hell it was.”

  “What’s so complicated?” The rounded wall behind gave each movement a three-dimensional effect. The minute pixilation found in any virtual image, especially one transmitted over so great a distance, made the Chief more than a little unnerving. “Just do it.”

  “Aren’t you in control of TYL?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then why do you need a covert mission? Just take her.”

  “Alas, that might disturb some of the other players in this drama.”

  She squinted, while her brain went into overdrive trying to decode his elliptical references. “You’re talking about Estes, aren’t you?”

/>   “Go to the head of the class, Coal.”

  She knew the program had been accelerated. But she thought that action was based on the Chief’s orders. Why would the same puppet master have the little marionettes working at cross-purposes? “You want to curtail Estes’s research. But without doing anything that might cause him to blame you.”

  The Chief motioned to someone off-screen, telling them to close the door and stay out. “He does have more insight into the Shine phenomenon than anyone else alive. As it turns out, he had a head start. But his attachment to Aura has made him a liability.”

  “So you’re playing both ends against the middle.”

  “There’s more to it than that. He’s engaged in clandestine conversations with Algernon Trent. The SSS.”

  “Who are also none too fond of Shines. So isn’t that a good thing?”

  “No, it most decidedly is not. Those hooligans cannot be trusted. Trent even less so. He has his own agenda, but unfortunately, I don’t know what it is. That makes him an unacceptable risk. And I’m beginning to believe that Estes has a hidden agenda as well.”

  “But you need him.”

  “True. But I’m unconvinced that there’s more to be obtained from our troublesome girl with the blue bangs. In fact, I’m beginning to suspect that this request may just be an excuse to keep her alive. Even after she has proved how potentially dangerous she is.”

  “Is there a diagram I could use to keep track of all the malevolent forces plotting against one another in this psychodrama?”

  She congratulated herself. That actually got a tiny wry smile out of him. “There is. But it’s classified. Way above your security clearance.”

  Nice to know. “So far, we’ve managed to contain Aura.”

  “The key words there, Coal, are ‘so far.’ Against all odds, that girl damn near escaped.”

  “Coutant knew about the plan in advance.”

  “But did nothing to stop it until the last possible moment. Which is not the first action she’s taken that has made me question her priorities.”

  The Chief suspected everyone. Completely paranoid, though perhaps with good cause. “Our spy managed to thwart the attempt.”

  “This time. But that very act must have made it clear to Aura that there is in fact a spy. She’ll be more careful next time.”

  “Unless she understands derma-sensory technology, she’s not going to figure it out. And she doesn’t.”

  “Yet. That girl is damned smart.”

  “And that’s a bad thing?”

  “I don’t like smart people. Don’t trust them. They’re always…thinking.”

  “I know. I hate that.”

  “So can I count on you, Agent Coal?”

  “Have I failed you yet?”

  “No. You bitch and moan, but you always come through in the clinch.”

  “And this mission will be no different.”

  “Good. Make sure it isn’t. We’re depending upon you, you know. Every single one of us.”

  “I won’t let you down.”

  “See that you don’t.” And he severed the connection, without so much as a casual goodbye. Much less, heaven forbid, a thank you. Those words did not appear to be in the Chief’s operational vocabulary.

  She heard a ping in her left glasses stem. Another incoming message. She brought it up for virtual display. Probably the Chief again, remembering some other kill order he wanted to give her. She pressed the button.

  “Oh!” The image so startled her she jumped, then cursed herself for being so amateurish. She shouldn’t behave so foolishly in front of her boss. Her real boss.

  “Is this safe?” she asked.

  “It’s a secure line,” the person in the floating image replied. This image came farther than the Chief’s, but the resolution was not so jittery she couldn’t see the furrowed brow. “Triple-encrypted. My experts tell me it can’t be cracked.”

  “Until someone does.”

  “No matter. Everything is about to change. The game is getting new players. I need to talk to you.”

  “Why? Our usual means of communication has—”

  “You’ve spent an inordinate amount of time chatting with the Chief.”

  “Well, he wants me to lead a team to—”

  “I know all about that.” The image blurred, then reconstituted itself. “Does the Chief suspect?”

  “No. Completely clueless about your plans. And me. The whole office is reacting, not planning. Has no idea what’s going on.”

  “Does the Chief know what you really are?”

  “Not a glimmer.”

  “You had better be right.”

  “I am.” She resisted the temptation to add: always. “They think they’re in control. They think they’re running this show.”

  “We’ve come to far and there’s too much at risk here, Coal. They cannot learn the truth.”

  “And they won’t.” She stretched out her legs and leaned back into her chair. “At least, not until it’s far too late to do anything about it.”

  44

  Aura managed to get permission to ditch afternoon group therapy for a private session with Mark. She hoped that Coutant would okay some PTSD counseling, on the theory that days of torture could be considered fairly traumatic. Coutant warned her not to mention what she’d been through—to Mark or anyone else. Which made her wonder how she could possibly get effective treatment for a trauma she couldn’t mention.

  “You’ve been scheduled for an extensive battery of tests,” Mark said, glancing down at his tablet. “Frankly, I don’t even know what some of these are. I’ve never seen this stuff before.”

  Acronyms and code words to disguise the fact that they’re planning to take her brain apart wrinkle by wrinkle, most likely. “Is there some way you can get me out of it? Certify me unfit for duty, or something like that?”

  Mark frowned, still staring at the tablet. “It’s not like Coutant has asked my opinion.”

  “But—you’re my primary.”

  “Yeah. And every time I report to Coutant, I sense she’s just measuring my words to see if they comport with what she already thinks. Or knows. The one time I tried to argue with her—well. It wasn’t a success.”

  She tried to listen to his words, but she was constantly distracted by those dazzling eyes. “She wouldn’t listen?”

  “That’s putting it mildly. She—” He averted his eyes. “She accused me of having…feelings for you. Can you imagine?”

  She laughed, much too loudly, then cut it off, much too quickly. “Seriously. Someone like you is gonna have feelings for—your patient? You’re chainmailing me.”

  His eyebrows merged. “Well—I didn’t mean it like that. It’s not…you know. Completely inconceivable.”

  The short hairs stood up on the back of her neck. The walls of his office seemed to close in on her. “It isn’t?”

  “Aura…surely you realize you’re an extremely attractive young woman.”

  “No one thought so in my high school.”

  “I know for a fact that isn’t so. Who’s that kid who visits you?”

  “Taj?” She waved a hand in the air and giggled. Her voice sounded strained and ridiculously high. “That’s just Taj. He’s…you know. Like the kid next door. A friend.”

  “But not a boyfriend.”

  “Oh no. Definitely not a boyfriend.”

  “I bet he’d like to be.”

  “No. We’re pals, that all. He thinks girls have cooties.”

  “Recently?”

  “Well, he did in grade school.”

  “He’s not in grade school any more. And neither are you.”

  “Guess not.” Again with the bizarro falsetto giggle. Stop already!

  Was it her overheated imagination, or was Mark moving closer to her?

  “You are attractive, Aura. You should have a positive self-image.”

  “What, with this stupid hair and the weirdo bangs?”

  “There’s nothing wrong
with being different. You march to the beat of a different drummer. Thoreau believed that was a good thing. And—I suppose I shouldn’t admit this, but I have to say I admire what you did. I mean—let me try again. I don’t admire the fact that you tried to escape. That was crazy bad. Stupid.” He paused, staring into her eyes. Did he have heat vision? That was what it felt like. “But I do admire the way you persuaded all those girls to work together. Before you arrived, they couldn’t agree on swim time. You got them to join hands and become renegades. That’s pretty impressive.”

  She felt her face burning. “Easy to organize an escape when everyone’s miserable.”

  “What I don’t get, Aura, is why you wanted to escape. What do you think is waiting for you on the outside? Especially with this PA2 law in the offing. I think you’re safer here. You know. With…us. Me.”

  She swallowed. As stupid and girly and cliché as that was, she swallowed. Hard. “I—I had my reasons.” A stupid answer. Elusive. Aren’t you supposed to tell your therapist everything? But telling him about the underground dungeon would only put him in danger.

  Unless he already knew. A horrifying thought.

  But a distinct possibility. He worked with Coutant, after all.

  “Would you care to explain your reasons for escaping?”

  She hesitated.

  “There have been some…odd things happening here at TYL,” Mark admitted. “This is not my first position, but it’s definitely my weirdest one. I’ve begun to wonder if…well.”

  “Yes?”

  “If there isn’t more going on here than I realize.”

  Then he didn’t know about the dungeon. Surely he wouldn’t say something like that if he did.

  Unless he was very clever. Which he was.

  His face seemed intensely close to hers.

  “Is that…some kind of ID around your neck?”

  “Oh this?” She scooped the chain out from under her blouse. “This used to be my dad’s. When he was a professor.”

  “And now you wear it?”

  “Yeah. Always. Stupid. I know. But—it’s the only thing of his I have.”

  “Then it’s not stupid. You honor your father.”

  “Well, someone’s got to.”