Shine: Season One (Shine Season Book 1)

by William Bernhardt

  From: Scout

  To: Boo

  Would J be dead if I hadn't let you in? I'll never forgive you or myself for our roles in her death. Why did you have to be part of the SSS? Don't bother answering, I wouldn't trust your answer nor would I receive the reply anyway. You played me so well. Are you proud of yourself? Do you sit around with your SSS buddies and laugh at the naive woman who fell for your game? The statement you made at the end plagues me. I hate you for messing with my head, but mostly, I hate myself for being weak and believing you were any different from your brother.

  The words blurred as tears filled her eyes. She blinked, refusing to let them fall, then hit send. Her time was up. She deleted the emails from the inbox and the trash. Then she quickly logged off. After paying for her copies, she left the cafe. She collected Rachel from a clothing boutique in the shopping center across the street and they made the twenty-minute drive back to Amarillo. When they arrived back at the house, the other three girls were huddled in the living room around the television.

  PA2, amending our nation’s Constitution, was passed by Congress twenty-four hours earlier than expected in a coordinated effort to gather as many Shines as possible before efforts to elude police could be made. As soon as the Amendment went into effect, federal agents were dispatched around the country to the homes of known Shines.

  A video of Feds in black fatigues pulling girls in their late teens and early twenties from their homes filled the screen. Devastated parents, some putting up a struggle, were forced to watch as their daughters were taken from them. Camille glanced around the living room. These, at least, were safe. For now. The video was replaced by a woman at a podium, the United States Seal in the background.

  Tricia Morrows, spokesperson for the Director of Homeland Security, had this to say. "Shines have proven to be an unknown danger to the innocent citizens of this country. Until we know more about them and the abilities they possess, it is prudent that we control their access to our children. We understand that some see this move as morally wrong, but we ask that you consider our defenseless children. Don't they deserve to be protected? The fact is that Shines are unpredictable. We don't know when they'll lose control of their abilities. It's in their best interests to get them into a facility where they can learn to control themselves until they are safe to be around our children. If you know of a Shine not currently safe in a facility, call your local police. The safety of our children and even the Shines themselves depend on you."

  The news station began to replay video from the Seattle event that had started the Anti-Shine movement. Brenna muted the TV and all eyes turned toward Camille.

  "This makes our mission that much more important. The holding building where Annie Graham was taken will most likely be full of Shines waiting to be taken to the West Texas Facility." Camille pulled the copy of the holding building's layout she'd received from Mr. Graham and laid it on the coffee table. Brenna added a printout of the airport's layout, the holding building circled in orange highlighter. "Mr. Graham doesn't want us to take Annie with us. So we'll need to take that into consideration."

  The other girls gathered around the table and studied the plans in silence.

  "It looks impenetrable," Karen whispered.

  Camille smiled grimly at the other woman. "Maybe for normal folks." She pointed to the airports maintenance hangar located a short distance away from the holding building. "Rachel, you'll cause a diversion here. Something big. Lord knows there'll be enough magnetic material for you to play with. Just make sure it happens outside the building. We want the guards distracted."

  Rachel smiled. "Oh goody, this is going to be fun."

  Brenna rolled her eyes. "Just make sure you don't screw up."

  Rachel's brows lowered and Camille cut in before the two of them started trading insults again. "Enough." Both girls glared at each other, but remained quiet. Camille sighed. Sometimes she felt more like group mom than the leader of a band of rebel Shines. She turned to Karen and Sophia. "Karen will drive my car, while Brenna mans our communications. Sophia, you're going in with me."

  The Russian-born Shine sucked her top lip between her teeth and nodded. The gesture forced her bottom lip to stick out. She looked so young. Camille frowned. The other girl should've been getting ready for her high school graduation, not helping break Shines from a government holding facility. Shaking her head, Camille shoved the useless thoughts from her mind. This was their life now. They'd just have to make the best of it.

  "Everyone needs to be sure to go over their respective roles. We have to get in and out as quickly as possible. We leave at sunset."

  7

  Camille, Rachel, and Sophia jogged up the airport's dimly lit service road toward the maintenance hangar, the loud whistle of a plane coming into land as the pilot engaged the speed brakes over the nearby runway. A choppercar's lights lit the sky above as it flew in to land on a helipad near the terminal. Separated from the terminal by an empty field, a small well-lit building appeared in the distance.

  Camille led Sophia off the road into the field toward the holding facility while Rachel continued straight to the maintenance hangar. Extending her Shine as far as it would go, Camille pushed her worry for the headstrong Shine aside. Rachel knew that the she couldn't count on Camille's Shine. They'd tested her range to ascertain that Camille could keep them all invisible over the distance of the entire airport, but anything could happen. If Camille were incapacitated for any reason, then Rachel and the others would be on their own.

  The memory of the thick syrup feel of electricity pumping through her veins and nearly stopping her heart made her shudder. Jeremy's brother, Gary, had placed a torture device on both her and Jenni's heads that had sent electricity through them each time they'd so much as blinked their eyes. Because of the experience, she now knew that electricity incapacitated her Shine ability and apparently, so did the enemy. She shuddered. She patted the metal cutters wrapped in rubber gloves in her pocket. She'd come prepared this time. She wouldn't allow anyone to put one of those torture devices on her head or any of the women in her team.

  She led the way through the dusty field, toward the building located off by itself. They slowed to a walk as a black SUV pulled up to the building. Men in black fatigues climbed out and pulled two blonde women out of the vehicle. The men nodded at the two guards to either side of the door before they disappeared into the building with the women. After only a few minutes, the two men came back out alone, climbed back into the SUV and drove away. Sophia and Camille walked up to the building, careful not to scuff their feet and alert the guards to their presence.

  They'd just taken their places on either side of the door a couple of feet from the two guards when the loud screech of metal crunching sounded from across the field where the maintenance hangar stood. The guards looked up and took a step forward. A large plane busted through the back of the hanger that faced the holding building as if the pilot had pulled in and forgotten to hit the brakes. Sophia stepped up to the door and tried the handle. She shook her head, then leaned up to look through the door's small window. Camille willed the guards to step further away, but they stood frozen as emergency lights flashed, a horn blared, and maintenance workers spilled out of the hangar to surround the plane.

  Sophia's hand on her shoulder pulled Camille's attention back to the door. She nodded and stepped into the taller Shine's embrace, then squeezed her eyes shut. The feeling of weightlessness washed over her. She held her breath, willing the unsettling experience to be over. Her skin and muscles settled back onto her bones and she released a relieved sigh. Opening her eyes, she saw that they now stood on the inside of the door to the holding building, while the guards continued to watch the commotion at the maintenance hangar. She stood in a long white hallway lined with closed doors. A woman sat behind a glass window on one side of the hall, typing on a computer. They moved past her to the first door across the hall. Looking into the small window, they saw two men in black fatigues in front
of a bank of video screens holding images of both the inside and outside of the facility. Both men were focused on the screen facing the maintenance hangar.

  They moved down the hall and froze as the door they approached opened. A man and woman in blue scrubs struggled under the weight of a half-unconscious plus-sized Shine. A dark-haired man in a white thigh length medical coat followed behind. Sophia stepped back so as not to brush them, but Camille remained where she was. The female nurse lifted her badge where it hung from her neck and unlocked the door across the hall. As the male nurse moved past her, Camille reached out and unclipped his ID badge from the lanyard around his neck. The door clicked shut behind them. Sophia rushed to look into the door's tiny window.

  "We have to help her before they do something to hurt her more than they have already," the Russian Shine whispered harshly.

  Camille looked into the room the scrubs had just left. It was no bigger than her parents’ walk-in closet, with two cots pushed up against opposite walls. One empty; the other held an unconscious Annie Graham.

  "She's still here," Camille sighed in relief.

  Sophia checked the last two doors. "There are two more in here, both unconscious." She gestured to the last door at the end of the hall. "That's a supply closet."

  "How are we supposed to get four unconscious Shines out of here?" Camille muttered.

  "One at a time?"

  "Not helping," Camille said in a sing song voice.

  Sophia rolled her eyes. "I can teleport one to the car and come back. I'm sure I can get three out, but then I'll be wiped. You'll have to get yourself and the other one out."

  Camille rubbed her bottom lip with a finger. "How do you know you can't teleport more than one person?" she asked, continuing a conversation she'd started the night before.

  Sophia cringed. "When I was fourteen, a momma dog and her two puppies tried to cross a road one evening just as the sun went down. They were hit by a car just as I rode by on my bike. None of them were dead when I reached them, but they weren't moving without assistance. Before I could drag them out of the street, another car roared toward us. Desperate, I gathered them into my arms and teleported us to my house down the street. When I reappeared in my backyard, they were all dead. I can't teleport more than one living being at one time."

  "How long had you been a Shine at that point?"

  "Two years."

  "Could the deaths have been due to a combination of your inexperience and their injuries?"

  Sophia shook her head. "I won't risk killing another living being to find out. I just can't, Camille. I'm sorry."

  Disappointed, but understanding Sophia's reluctance, Camille thought of and discarded other ideas. They couldn't just take one and then come back. A missing Shine would alert the guards and getting back in would be much more dangerous. She looked up and down the hallway. A shriek came from the room where the brown haired Shine had been taken. Sophia's face paled. Time was up.

  "I'll make these three invisible all at once. If we can't wake them, then we'll drag them into the storage closet. And you can do your thing." Camille turned toward the room where the fourth Shine had been taken. "I'll get the other Shine and meet you at the car."

  8

  Camille waited until Sophia vanished with the first of the three unconscious Shines they'd pulled into the supply closet, then turned and slipped out the door into the hallway. She knew the security guards would notice the empty beds soon. She went to the door of the room the scrubs had dragged the other Shine to. The Shine, dressed in wrinkled jeans and a ripped purple tank top, reclined in a chair that reminded her of those used by her dentist. Straps held her wrists, ankles and head in place. Her eyes were wide open, broadcasting her fear and anger. The man in the white coat stood with his back to Camille, while one of the scrubs filled a syringe with a clear liquid.

  The girl's eyes flicked to the needle, then back to the doctor. She pressed her lips together, then glanced back to the needle as the scrub tapped out any air bubbles. The doctor waited for the girl to answer whatever he'd asked. When the girl's lips didn't move, he gestured to the other scrub who was holding a long silver rod with a rubber handle. The scrub jabbed the rod into the girl's neck. Her eyes rolled up into her head and her body jerked in the restraints. The doctor gestured again and the scrub pulled the rod away. Camille pressed her forehead to the window as memories flooded her. Electroshock torture. Razor. The girl opened her eyes as tears trailed down her plump cheeks. The doctor asked her another question. The girl narrowed her eyes and shook her head. He gestured to the scrub with the needle.

  A high-pitched alarm shattered the silence and a red light flashed from both ends of the hallway.

  The scrubs dropped the needle and silver rod onto a nearby metal tray and followed the white coat out of the door. Down the hall, one of the security guards pushed from the room with monitors. Camille moved back so that she didn't brush against the emerging doctor.

  "What's going on?"

  The security guard rushed past the doctor. Camille flattened herself against the wall as he swept by.

  "They're all gone."

  The doctor rushed down the hall followed by both scrubs. Camille slipped into the room and wrapped her Shine around the girl, but realized they'd still know she was there because of the straps. She ignored the girl's startled inhale and began to loosen the straps.

  "I've made it so they can't see us, but they can hear or feel us, so we have to be quiet." She realized that the camera in the corner would be able to see the straps floating in the air, then loosen themselves and fall open. There was nothing she could do about that though. She released the last strap and the larger woman surged up and out of the chair.

  Camille stumbled back into the metal tray holding the silver rod. Her body stiffened as electricity exploded through her veins like thick, molten hot syrup. It froze her lungs, each muscle in her body locked into place. The other Shine shoved her aside, breaking her contact with the tray. Camille dropped to her knees.

  The larger Shine crouched beside Camille. "Are you okay?"

  Camille sucked in a ragged breath as her muscles twitched. "No." Forcing her shaking legs under her, she stood.

  The door opened. She grabbed the other woman and shoved the power of her Shine out over herself and the other Shines who would've been temporarily revealed.

  Jeremy stepped into the room and shut the door. Like a thirsty person getting their first taste of water in days, Camille drank him in. His piercing blue eyes moved slowly across the room. He wore a dark suit, the tie loosened at his neck. His hair, a mass of messy curls that had grown over his ears and collar when she'd seen him last, was now cut neatly close to his head. He looked older, more mature. He no longer appeared the carefree young man she'd bumped into by accident in a bar. If it had been an accident. Who was this man? Had everything been a lie between them? He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. She sucked in a breath, feeling as though she'd just been punched. There was the man she'd fallen for.

  His voice, still as deep and warm as she remembered, broke the silence. "I know you're still here. I'm not going to turn you in," he said, his lips barely moving. Camille closed her eyes. Her heart pounded in her chest. His voice lowered to a whisper. "I got your e-mail."

  Her eyes popped open. The other Shine watched them, eyes wide in her round face. Camille ignored her and crossed her arms. She studied the blue eyes so like his grandfather's. He licked his lips and Camille couldn't help but remember how soft they were.

  Pulling her gaze from his lips, she spoke in a low voice. "If that's true, then you'll let us go."

  Jeremy closed his eyes and inhaled as though relieved. "I know where you're going, what you hope to find out west. I can help. Contact me. You have my number."

  "Because I trusted you, Jenni is dead," Camille cried in a harsh whisper.

  Jeremy shook his head, face pale, and opened his mouth to say more, but before he could speak the door opened behind him.

&nb
sp; Jeremy stepped aside. "She's gone."

  The doctor walked in and the other Shine stepped back. Camille squeezed her arm.

  The doctor glared at the loose straps on the chair. "They have one that can teleport. We opened the supply closet just as she picked up the Graham girl and vanished." He turned to the security guard. "I want copies of the video from this room, the supply closet, and the holding rooms sent to my tablet." The guard nodded and moved back toward the surveillance room. The doctor sneered at Jeremy. "Why are you and your team here?"

  "I came to warn you that Shines have been disappearing all over the area. I wanted to check security and make sure these Shine didn't disappear too." Jeremy's face was impassive as he met the doctor's eyes with an unblinking stare. "My boss isn't going to be happy with you, Dr. Adams."

  The other man lifted an eyebrow, his haughty gaze looking Jeremy up and down as he sneered. "Tell your boss that if he wants better security, then he'd better find me more money. I'm just supposed to keep them sedated and get them to tell me what their Shine can do before they can be shipped to El Paso. All of which I'm very good at, Agent Walker."

  Dr. Adams turned on his heel and disappeared toward the security room, the scrubs following close behind. Jeremy glanced behind him, then moved down the hall, leaving the door to the room open.

  Agent Walker? He was a Fed? Camille's stomach churned, ready to spew its contents across the floor. She felt as though she stood in the middle of a fun house while her distorted reflection looked back at her from a hundred mirrors, laughing hysterically. The other woman shifted beside her and Camille looked up, shoving her chaotic emotions aside. She definitely couldn't trust a Fed. They could hide until things calmed down, then escape on their own. A clammy hand squeezed her arm.

  She met the taller Shine's panicked gaze. He hadn't told the doctor they were in here. Her pulse pounded at her temple. She wavered between her mind's cry that he couldn't be trusted and her heart's plea to give him a chance to redeem himself. She wanted to give him another chance, she realized. The other Shine searched her conflicted gaze and pulled on her arm. Camille inhaled, shoved aside the jaded voice in her head, and prayed she wasn't about to cost another Shine her life.