Shine: Season One (Shine Season Book 1)

by William Bernhardt

  The second Patrolman blinked and shook his head. She knew she’d succeeded in calming them, if only a bit. Maybe that would be enough to give her a way out.

  She started on the last Patrolman, the hardest of all. He was confused by his partners’ behavior, adding an additional layer of fear to sift through.

  The lead Patrolman rubbed his temples. “What’s wrong with me?”

  His scowl told her the effects were wearing off. Or perhaps the mix of emotions was too much for him.

  Before she could subdue the third Patrolman, the leader regained his senses enough to take charge again.

  He aimed his weapon at Derrick.

  “I don’t know what’s going on here, but if you don’t step aside and hand over that Shine, we will use force.”

  No. She couldn’t let anything happen to Derrick, the only person to show her any kindness since she was dragged from home.

  “It’s the Shine. She controls people,” Nathan said.

  “Quiet!” The second Patrolman tuned his weapon on the boy.

  “Gandhi, no! Please. Just take her.”

  The lead Patrolman approached.

  She couldn’t calm them all at once. In fact, introducing good feelings when they were so highly agitated seemed only to confuse and frustrate them. Her Shine could not help her out of this.

  Nero growled and hissed, launching himself at the Patrolman. The man yelled as the cat dug in his claws.

  “Nero, no!” Derrick cried.

  The Patrolmen fired their weapons.

  She ducked.

  Nathan shouted, but she couldn’t understand what he said.

  The living room window shattered, hit by a stray blast.

  Glass shards sprayed everywhere. Someone outside screamed.

  She needed to do something but she was helpless, pinned down by the blasts.

  A flash of light caught her attention. One of the Patrolmen knocked over a table throwing a lit candle onto the couch. Hot wax and flame ignited the frayed fabric. Smoke rapidly filled the room.

  The billowing cloud screened them from the view of the Patrolmen.

  She felt a hand on her arm.

  “Come on,” Derrick choked, pulling her into his bedroom.

  He locked the door and pushed her to the far wall, yanking a sheet from his bed.

  “I have a balcony,” he said, sliding open the glass door and motioning her outside.

  She filled her lungs with great gulps of fresh air. Derrick knelt beside the balcony railing. He tied the sheet to one of the slats.

  She heard yelling and knew the Patrol wouldn’t be far behind them.

  “I’ll help you over. You can use the sheet as a rope.”

  She leaned over the railing and peered at her intended destination. Three floors was a long way down.

  “I know you’ll have to drop to the ground, but I don’t think it will be too far. You’ll be okay.”

  She eyed the makeshift rope. The sheet looked flimsy and way too short. The idea of tumbling to the ground so far below scared her.

  But Ms. Klein and her Shine therapies scared her more.

  Derrick must have seen the fear on her face. “It’ll hold. My years as a Boy Scout at least taught me to tie knots.” He flashed a grin, sending another wave of butterflies dancing through her stomach. If only things were different…

  Pounding on the bedroom door brought her back to reality. Things weren’t different.

  “Your apartment is destroyed,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”

  “The Patrol destroyed it, not you. Don’t worry, I’ll get a new one. And a new roommate. Never really liked him. Now come on. Let’s get you out of here.” With a grunt, he yanked the sheet between his hands, tightening the knot holding it to the balcony rail.

  More pounding.

  “No time for goodbyes.” He put the sheet in her hands, grabbed her waist, and boosted her over the railing. She gasped, forcing herself to look forward, not down. He held onto her until she found stable footing, clinging to the wrong side of the balcony.

  They faced each other on opposite sides of the rail.

  “Thank you for everything—”

  “I said no goodbyes. Come find me someday. Now go!”

  She gripped the sheet and slowly lowered one foot from the balcony. She wished she’d tried harder to learn to climb a rope in gym class. Who knew she’d need the skill?

  Someone crashed into the bedroom door. She heard wood splinter.

  “Open the door! Or you’ll be charged with harboring a known Shine!”

  She pulled herself back up, face to face with Derrick. “Tell them I used my Shine to control you. I don’t want you to get in trouble. Tell them I forced you to help me. They’ll believe you. People believe anything about Shines these days.”

  “I’ll never lie. You better use it on me quickly.” His eyes laughed at his own joke. He didn’t fear her. At all. In fact, he seemed to mean it.

  She delved into his mind and gave him a brain hug, letting all her gratitude course into him.

  He gasped, eyes wide and startled.

  “Oh, Gandhi! Did I hurt you? I’m so sorry. I’ve never—”

  He grabbed her face with both hands and kissed her.

  She nearly let go of the sheet. No one had ever kissed her like that before. She longed to climb back over the railing and melt into this boy’s embrace.

  Another crash against the door reminded her why she couldn’t do that.

  Derrick stared into her eyes. “Never let anyone change you. Now go!”

  She dropped one foot from the balcony, wrapped her leg around the sheet, and gradually lowered herself. Her arms burned from the effort but she maintained a steady descent, hoping against hope she wouldn’t fall to her death. Or back into the clutches of the Patrol.

  CHAPTER 5

  Cassie forced herself to break eye contact and not look up or down. She focused only on her death-grip on the sheet and her descent that felt much too slow.

  She didn’t look up to see if Derrick still stood above her on the balcony. Even when another loud crash told her the Patrol would be through his door soon.

  No time left. She gave up on the slow hand-over-hand approach, eased her grip, and slid down the sheet like a firefighter on a pole.

  She hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of her.

  The sheet fluttered to the ground just as she heard Derrick’s voice. “Hide that! And hurry!”

  She wadded the sheet and scrambled into the shadows. No time to assess for injuries. Adrenaline would keep her going. Careful to remain in the dark, she dashed behind the pool house.

  Even from the ground floor, she heard the splintering wood that told her the Patrol had broken down the door. Unable to stop herself, she peered around the cabana corner.

  “She’s not here! She jumped,” she heard Derrick lie.

  She wasn’t certain what distance her Shine was effective, but she sent out another brain hug and hoped he would feel the thanks nestle in his mind. As she longed to nestle in his arms.

  The Patrol appeared on the balcony. For one heart-stopping instant, she was sure they’d spotted her. Then the leader issued orders.

  “Evacuate. If she’s hiding in here, she can burn with the apartment. We’ll wait below in case she follows us. And take him into custody.”

  The other two Patrolmen grabbed Derrick. He struggled against their hold.

  “Let me go. I didn’t do anything.”

  The lead Patrolman tapped his glasses stem. “Units two and three. Possible runaway. I need eyes in the sky.”

  He turned to leave. The other two dragged Derrick back into the apartment, into the billowing smoke.

  Fire trucks barreled toward the complex. The main entrance couldn’t be her escape route. It would be clogged with emergency responders and thrill seekers. Not to mention SSS members hoping to lay hands on a Shine for their own brand of justice.

  She needed to find another gate. Climbing the fence—even if
she could—would draw too much attention. She spotted a sidewalk and decided to follow it.

  Despite the Patrol’s bullhorn-issued instructions to remain inside, apartment residents drifted past her, straining to catch a glimpse of whatever caused the excitement. She kept her head down, shoulders slumped, jostled by the people streaming past.

  A hand grabbed her, bringing her to a sudden halt. She looked up. The hand belonged to a scowling boy.

  “Hey,” he said, his eyes searching her face. He lingered on her eyes.

  Oh, Gandhi. Did he recognize her? Or was he simply mesmerized by her bizarre eye color?

  “What the flick is all the fuss?” he asked, jerking a thumb toward the smoking apartment building and the firefighters hosing down the blaze.

  “I…I don’t know,” she answered.

  “Heard some Shine blew up the place. Think that’s true?”

  She fought the eye roll. “I haven’t heard that. I doubt it’s true.”

  “Man, I always wanted to see a real Shine. How diggin would that be?”

  “Yeah, diggin.”

  “Let’s go check it out. Bet this’ll be on the news later. Maybe we can get in front of the camera!” He grinned at her, eyes alight with the excitement she felt dancing across his brain in golden shimmers.

  Mob mentality and gossip was setting in. She had to get out.

  “The Patrol said to go back to our rooms. I think we should do as they say.” She gestured ahead as if she belonged in an apartment that direction.

  “Man, that’s salty. I wanna see.”

  His attention shifted back to what was now an inferno. She suspected the Patrol or the SSS fueled the flames even as the firefighters struggled to extinguish them. The larger the incident, the greater the hype, the more everyone could bash Shines.

  She pulled away and continued along the path until she reached a side gate. This part of the complex was deserted. No one saw her leave.

  Two choppercars droned above the apartment buildings. No telling how long she had before more were dispatched to search the city.

  She wanted to scream, “Just leave me alone!” but remained silent.

  She tried to scan a few drivers of passing vehicles, hoping to find someone kind enough to offer a ride. But she couldn’t get a read on them quickly enough. Besides, she realized, hitchhiking was out—her face was plastered all over the news. With no destination, she simply wandered the darkest streets, staying out of sight.

  When she saw a sign indicating the beach a mile away, she changed course. Was the beach a good idea? Exhausted and bone-weary, she didn’t know. But she needed a place to disappear until the situation calmed down.

  She smelled the ocean well before reaching it. The salty, fishy scent curled through her mind and dredged up memories of summer vacations with her parents. One of her earliest memories was of a vacation, Mom on one side and Dad on the other, each holding a hand, swinging her beside the lapping waves. She remembered piling up seashells and building sandcastles.

  She stepped from the concrete sidewalk onto the gritty sand, and for a moment she pictured the sun blazing, children running and laughing, surfers riding the waves, seagulls keening, and couples holding hands. Life. Which she no longer had. Hers was snatched away from her, leaving her an outcast. She existed, but this was no life.

  A shout dispelled her fantasies and brought her back to the present. Though the moonlit beach was deserted by summer-vacation standards, she was not completely alone.

  Several figures huddled around a fire. She wanted to find a bench to lie on, to rest a bit. That was impossible with these strangers here.

  She wasn’t close enough to scan them. But she did smell something cooking. Late-night revelers? Intoxicated college students might be willing to share their food. And probably would take no interest in her if she crashed on a bench for a couple hours.

  The sand scrunched under her feet as she walked toward the fire and the dark figures huddled around it. About the time she heard their voices, she also sensed their minds. These were not college kids. But they were intoxicated.

  She stopped in her tracks and sent out feelers into each mind. Three of them, all men. Her heart pounded at what her scans revealed.

  She turned, heading back the way she’d come.

  Too late. They must have seen her.

  “Hey, there! Where you goin’, hon?”

  “Don’t run off. Come here.”

  The two calling to her were excited by her presence. She felt their pleasure centers light up while dark threads ran through their thoughts. She shivered, glad she couldn’t perceive exactly what they were thinking. She didn’t want to know.

  Though those two worried her, the third mind made her blood run cold. She’d never encountered anything like this. Delving into his amygdala, she found a dark, cold place, like a black hole. How awful to think someone was incapable of feeling pleasure. There seemed to be nothing there. Winding through the space, however, she realized it wasn’t a blank nothing at all. Something was miswired in his brain, tying his pleasure center to pain and destruction.

  She walked faster, afraid to look back. Maybe they would return to whatever they were doing before. Why had she been so foolish as to go anywhere near total strangers, particularly before she'd scanned them?

  She heard laughter. Their voices came closer. Glancing back, she saw two of them following her. She picked up the pace.

  “Come on, sweetheart. Where you going?”

  “Come join us. You hungry? We could sure use some sweet company.”

  They closed in on her. She looked around for anyone that might offer help, anyone she could reach out to. But she’d sought seclusion, hoping to avoid people who might turn her in. The decision she’d made to protect herself left her vulnerable now.

  She broke out in a cold sweat. All she could do was try to make it back to a more populated area. She took a deep breath and bolted but couldn’t gain solid footing. The slippery sand inhibited progress no matter how she tried to dig in.

  Worse, the men cackled. And they still followed her.

  “She wants to play chase.”

  “We can start with chase. And move on to other games.”

  They caught up to her. She heard their ragged breath and the pounding of their feet. Maybe barefoot she could move faster, but she couldn’t stop to kick her shoes off. They were too close.

  If she screamed for help, would anyone hear her? Would anyone come to help if they did hear? Why were choppercars and Patrolmen scouring the city for a teenage girl who never hurt anyone while thugs wandered the streets uncontested, free to perpetrate any horror that crossed their warped minds?

  She turned toward the sidewalk, anxious for more solid footing. If she could just reach the concrete and put some distance between herself and them.

  “You never answered me. Where you think you’re going?” A hand closed over her arm.

  “I’m just—”

  The man whirled her around. “You’re not going anywhere.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Cassie screamed. She knew it wouldn’t help but couldn’t stop herself.

  The man clamped a hand over her mouth. He smelled terrible—the stench of alcohol, smoke, and filth oozed from his skin.

  “Shhhhh. You don’t want to do that,” he whispered in her ear.

  He dragged her down the beach to the fire crackling in a barrel drum. His brain glowed with a combination of intoxication and anticipation. Whatever these men planned to do with her, it wasn’t good. Dark thoughts fired through his synapses, while his brain released huge amounts of serotonin and dopamine. His stubbled face scratched her.

  She sensed this man probably wouldn’t behave this way if he wasn’t drunk. He wasn’t exactly a fine, upstanding citizen, but he didn’t appear to be a criminal either. Neither was the second one, who ran the back of his hand down her cheek. This one was actually clean cut and looked like he should be headed for the office in the morning.

  But th
e third one, the deviant, was another story altogether. His mind was a clouded brew of anticipation. He goaded the other two into doing what he wanted. And so far as she could tell, they had no idea who they were dealing with. They couldn’t see his brain glowing with delight at the thought of inflicting pain.

  “Well, now.” She saw that his eyes were mismatched—one green and one blue. “Here’s someone with weirder eyes than mine. What color is that? Silver?”

  They weren’t silver exactly, more an icy blue around the edges, paling to nearly white by the pupil. But she didn’t correct him, even when the reeking man holding her released his hand from her mouth and shoved her forward.

  “Hmmmmm.” He licked his lips. “Why would a girl be wandering around town all alone in the middle of the night?”

  He stepped closer. She instinctively stepped back but bumped into the blond, clean-cut man. He grabbed her arms and held her firmly.

  “I think she must be looking for trouble. What do you boys think?”

  The other two laughed.

  The blond leaned close to her ear, his breath warm against her cheek. “Or maybe she’s looking for a good time.”

  Her stomach clenched. She’d been so careful after escaping St. Augustine’s. Why had she been so foolish now? What could she do? These men were never going to be swayed by a stupid brain hug. They overpowered her without even trying. She was completely helpless in their control.

  “Or maybe,” the man with mismatched eyes said, “we caught ourselves a Shine.”

  Oh, Gandhi, why didn’t she have a real Shine like super strength or something? No telling how this messed-up man would respond if she stimulated his pleasure center. She might provoke a violent outburst.

  The blond man gasped, then dropped his hands and stepped away from her. “I don’t want anything to do with a Shine. No way!”

  The deviant thrust her into the arms of the stubbled man. Then he balled his fist and slammed it into the blond man’s face. The deviant’s pleasure center lit up like a fizzing sparkler.

  “What the flick?” the blond yelled, clutching his cheek. “Are you totally nuts?”

  You have no idea, she thought.