Mr. Black stared at her chest and opened his mouth to answer, then snapped it closed. His head jerked, and he pushed Mary off his lap and onto the floor.
Lucy's earpiece came to life. "Sis, you ready for the fire?"
Lucy saw Mr. Blacks' eyes clear and knew something had happened.
Mary's panicked crawl across the room confirmed it. "Lucy, my powers, they're gone." She huddled in a corner and shivered.
Lucy whispered into her mouthpiece. "Luke, stand down. Something's wrong."
Mr. Black stretched himself to full height and laughed. "Do you really think I'm that stupid, that I didn't know your plan? I knew you'd try something, which is why I had the Seeker implant part of his consciousness in my mind. Disgusting, I know, but necessary to make sure you couldn't use me for your scheme."
Was that even possible? Could the Seeker really do that? Sam had said he was powerful, but—
Lucy couldn't tell if he'd lied.
In that moment, she knew they'd all lost their powers. Things were about to fall apart quickly.
Outside, soldiers issued orders to those in their command. Lucy could hear the groups fanning out across campus. She remembered all the students with guns and imagined what would happen if they used them. "Gary, stand down. Abort plan. We screwed up. It's too late. You need to get everyone back to the dorms."
Through the window, Lucy saw a man dressed in a white robe lead a group of soldiers towards the control room. The man seemed more god or angel than human. His long white hair touched his waist and he had pale, nearly translucent skin. He wore dark glasses, though it was night, but had no trouble navigating the path.
Gary's voice crackled in Lucy's ear, rousing her from the reverie that had settled over her. "It doesn't matter. We have to attack now. If we die, we die, but we can't give up and let them win."
"Gary, please, don't start shooting. Our powers are gone. We will all die—and it does matter. If we live, we have tomorrow to fight. If we die, it's over for good."
Soldiers crashed into the control room brandishing guns. They parted like the Red Sea when the man in white moved through them.
He spoke with a voice of honey and wine—sweet and intoxicating—and Lucy knew he was the Seeker.
"Please, lay down your weapon and surrender peacefully. There's no need for this kind of uprising amongst friends."
Tension filled the room. Lucy prayed to any god who would listen that none of her team tried to play hero and take out a guard or the Seeker.
Then, the last person in the world Lucy expected to take up the hero role walked up behind the Seeker. Mary grabbed a chair....
...and swung it at his head.
The Seeker didn't turn to face his attacker, or even move at all, but Mary screamed.
She dropped the chair and clutched at her head as if someone were frying her brain. She collapsed to the floor in a heap, and stayed there, motionless.
Neil screamed and ran out of the building.
Without a command, the guards fired on them.
Lucy ran to the window with the intention of breaking it and jumping out. Have to get to Luke. Have to regroup.
Luke's voice called out in her earpiece. "Lucy! What's happening?"
She opened her mouth to answer him, but something bit her shoulder. She reached her hand around to swat at it and discovered blood. A lot of it. All hers.
The room collapsed in on her, and then darkness took her.
Chapter 22 – Sam
The dingy motel room had two double beds with cheap, ugly comforters on them, two dressers, a television, and a desk with internet hookup. As uncomfortable as it looked, the promise of sleep enticed me. My baby kicked against my ribs and pressed down on my bladder.
"This is your stop, Dude," Drake told Brad.
We were about an hour from the Rent-A-Kid site. Drake and I would leave in the morning to take down the Seeker and help my friends escape. Brad would work with Father Patrick and anyone else he could find, to help us once we got the kids out.
Brad nodded and pulled out his computer. "What if you don't make it? Then what?"
"There's no Plan B. If we fail, get the hell out of here and stay off the radar, got it?"
Despite the non-smoking request, the room smelled of stale cigarettes, booze and sex. Maybe a shower with a lot of fruity shampoo would get the stench out of my nostrils.
Hot water had a soothing effect on my body, but did nothing to wash the gore and blood from my mind. Drake had killed a man. He'd done it right in front of me. How could I ever look at him the same again?
By the time I had finished my shower, my body had nothing left to give. I collapsed on the bed next to Drake.
"Feeling any better?"
"I feel cleaner, which is a step up from being covered in blood."
His face fell. The pain in his eyes compelled me to reach for his hand, but my heart kept a distance I didn't know how to bridge.
"Hey, guys, you're not going to believe this." Brad held up his laptop and flinched in pain from the movement. He had showered after me, and now all of his bruises were at least clean. "Someone donated $500,000 through my website to help us rescue the kids. And I've got emails from large scale media outlets who want in on the story."
He smiled like a kid at Christmas. "There are thousands of responses. This is amazing."
Drake sat up. "Maybe we should wait to attack. We could muster up some backup, go in with guns blazing?"
My forehead wrinkled in worry. "Maybe. I don't know. We should check in with Luke and Lucy before we cancel our plans." Postponing our assault would give me and my baby time to recover. It would be safer, smarter, and likely more successful.
But a shadow of doubt nagged at me.
Drake massaged the tension out of my shoulders. I tried not to pull away at his touch. His bloodied knuckles had already started healing, but the memory of fists pounding into bone and flesh would haunt my dreams for a long time to come.
"Why don't we connect with them in the morning before we leave? It's late, and you're exhausted. Expending that kind of energy right now is probably not the best idea."
He had a point. "Okay. Set the alarm. First thing tomorrow we move forward with our plan."
Brad shut down his computer and unpacked his clothes for sleep. "What plan would that be? Do we have a real plan?"
"Sure we do," I said. "We go to the Rent-A-Kid center, and... improvise based on what we discover when we get there. What could go wrong?"
My attempt at humor was met with frowns from both men.
"I'm going to bed now. See you guys in the morning."
Drake tucked the covers around me and kissed my cheek. "I've got to make a call to Father Patrick and let him know what's going on. I'll be back in a minute."
He took his cell phone and left the room.
My body screamed at me to sleep, but too much had happened. I needed to know what Drake would say to his confessor, and his mind was so familiar I could easily slip in without him knowing.
I pushed aside the guilt with memories of the hamburger meat Drake had made of the man who attacked us. I had to know if I could trust him.
The conversation played out in my head as clearly as if I too were a part of the call.
'Father, forgive me for I have sinned.' Drake's voice sounded broken, lost.
'What is it, Son? What's happened?'
'I killed a man today. He was a bad man who would have killed Sam and our child, but still... I beat him until he couldn't even be recognized as human. Am I going to hell?'
'You don't believe in hell.'
'But you do. Father, I'm losing Sam. I can see it in her eyes. That's the worst kind of hell there is for me. What do I do?'
'You keep loving and keep fighting for what's right. You give her the honesty and intimacy that has always been denied to you—and you let her make her own choices.'
Silence stretched on and I had to fight my own emotions so they wouldn't bleed into Drake's awarenes
s. He hurt so much. I wanted to reach out to him and comfort him, but I didn't know how.
'Unless I can talk Sam out of it, we will be attacking tomorrow. We need your help.'
My concentration faded. I couldn't hold onto the conversation. Exhaustion claimed my body and blissful nothingness claimed my mind.
***
I float outside myself, through the door and into the world beyond. Darkness claims me like a lover, each star a song for my soul.
A girl meets me under the light of the moon. She too hovers in between realities. Her long brown hair flows around her as if she were a mermaid swimming in the sea.
Her kind, brown eyes spark recognition. "I know you, don't I? From somewhere? Another life, perhaps?"
She smiles with heart-shaped lips and takes my phantom hand. I'm surprised that I can feel her skin, her touch, as if she were real. As if any of us were real.
"Yes. I am Desirai. We went to school together, before you left. I'm a Dream Walker. Lucy has been captured and I need to tell you what's happening at the school."
Lucy. My best friend in the whole world. How I've missed her. How I've longed for her presence through all this insanity.
"Is she hurt? Is Luke?" I am surprised by these feelings of panic in my ether body.
"They're fine, but not for long. Come, I must show you."
I let her lead me to the Rent-A-Kid center. What had once been home now looks like a prison. I'm saddened by the armed guards and reinforced fences, by the beauty they have destroyed. "What's happened here? This is worse than I thought."
"That's not all." She takes me to the center, and bodies appear. Kids I had gone to school with. I realize we are not in present time, whatever that might mean. We are in no time. She is showing me the past.
A new man, scary and big, with a gun at his side, takes a whip and.... How can this be? He tears the skin off the back of a young boy. "No!" I scream, but no one turns to look at me. He doesn't stop.
"They can't hear you. It's a memory, nothing more. Come."
We leave that horrible scene. The boy's tortured face will forever haunt me, I know.
We come to another place on campus, outside the Headmaster's office. Two boys prepare to duel. I smile. Duels had always been fun, though sometimes a little dangerous. What mischief are they causing now?
Fire and Ice. Robert Frost is recited. As is the tradition in our duels, there must be a recitation of poetry or literature to thematically inspire the duels. It's my favorite part. And this is one of my favorite poems.
But something goes wrong. They are interrupted by the tall, mean man. The gun is in his hand.
And....
No. Oh my God, no. The boy. The fire boy. He's dead. No! I knew him. I had class with him, and now his brains are splattered all over the sidewalk.
"Is this real? This can't be real."
"I'm sorry, but it is. We need your help. Can you come? The Seeker, he's killing us. He controls us and takes away our powers. We've already failed once at escape. We need you and Drake."
"We're coming. Hang on to hope. We'll be there."
***
Dawn lifted the veils of night from the sky and awakened me before the alarm. I shook Drake awake. "We have to go. No time to wait. Kids are dying."
I just hoped we wouldn't be next.
Chapter 23 – Lucy
The Seeker's voice drifted into Lucy's dreams. Why was she dreaming of the Seeker?
Consciousness played hide 'n seek with her mind until a dull, throbbing pain in her shoulder brought her back to reality.
"I trust you are comfortable enough? I knew you would want your wits about you, so I had the doctor give you a smaller dose of pain medication than normal. Please, let me know if it is not enough, and I shall have more brought to you. I apologize for the trigger-happy fools who shot you. They have been dealt with."
Lucy pulled herself into a sitting position on the bed. The Seeker sat in a chair next to her. "Where am I?"
"These are my personal chambers. I wanted to supervise your care personally."
A candle on the side table lit the room with a soft glow, but cast the Seeker in shadows. "Why's it so dark in here?"
"I exist in the shadows of the world." He offered just the hint of a grin. "I am delighted you have woken. Can I get you anything before we talk?"
Lucy swallowed and ran her tongue over her fuzzy teeth. "Water, please."
"Of course." The Seeker poured a cup from the dresser next to him and handed it to her.
The cold, pure liquid washed away the remnants of medication coating her mouth and fogging her brain.
"My brother, Luke, is he okay? Was he hurt?"
"Your brother is unharmed." He waved his long fingers in the air as if to shoo a fly or dismiss a thought. "So let's get down to business, shall we? It hurts me that the students I work so hard to protect are destroying everything we've built here. Tell me, Lucy, why are you and your friends rebelling?"
"You really think I'm going to give up our secrets to you?"
"I am not interested in your secrets, only your motives. I want to understand how this has happened. It was not in the plan, and it perplexes me." His eyes glowed an unnatural white, and he curved his lips into something that looked like a frown, but lacked any humanity.
Lucy couldn't tell if he was lying. Either her powers had been shut down again, or he could block her. She would have to assess him the old-fashioned way.
"You have spies in every corner of this school. How can you not see why we'd rebel? We aren't safe here anymore. You had my best friend impregnated against her will and locked up. She escaped, and now you and your goons are torturing, whipping and killing students. Why would you do this to us and claim to want us safe and happy?"
All her frustration, all her fear, boiled over. She knew she should have stopped talking, forced herself to calm down, but the words poured out of her, louder and louder, until she was all but screaming. "You treat us like property, like a weapon to be used and discarded. We've made this organization millions of dollars, maybe more, with our talents, and now you do this to us. We're not weapons. We're human beings. Those are just kids out there, and now one is dead!"
The Seeker nodded. "I agree. This has all gotten out of hand. You have no idea how... valuable you all are. I wish we could all live free in the world, at peace and happy, but the people out there are not ready for what we can do."
His long fingers gripped the glass of water next to him as if it was a neck to be choked. He took a sip and set it back down. "I loved someone once, deeply. She too wanted a normal life in the world. There are groups whose sole purpose is to destroy us. They killed her, but only after torturing and raping her. People are afraid of us. They use our services, yes, but deep down they loathe us for our power. They will never allow us to be their equals, ever. If we hide in the shadows like nightmares, it is only until we can claim our rightful place in the world."
Lucy flinched from the pain and adjusted herself in the bed.
The Seeker stood up and fluffed her pillow for her. "This school was created as a haven for kids with para-powers. The assignments became necessary in order to fund all that you see here, and further research into our gifts. The breeding program, while controversial, is needed to keep our race alive. Without it, the world would run us into extinction. Besides, we don't want children born god-only–knows-where, with dangerous powers they can't control. Don't you see? None of this is meant to hurt you, Lucy, it's meant to help you, to help all of us."
The Seeker held Lucy's eyes during his speech. Everything about his body language suggested that he spoke the truth, but her judgment clouded with the rage at his justifications. "All this sounds so sweet coming from your lips, but you're talking about rape, essentially. Forced breeding, killing babies through accelerated growth treatments—how can you justify any of that?"
He face contorted into that of a monster, and his voice was so icy cold it could shatter windows. "A regrettable necessi
ty."
And just like that, like a demon transforming back to something akin to human, he was himself again. He brushed off his white garment, though nothing had stained it. "We are using safer methods now, and what we have learned will help us better protect you and our kind. Without these sacrifices, our enemies would even now be hunting us down one by one and exterminating us.
"I know Mr. Black slated you for the breeding program, and it will not happen. That was a mistake. You and Luke are needed in other ways. You are incredibly valuable to this organization. You could be great leaders among our kind, a Queen and King to the masses of paranormals looking for safety and guidance."
Lucy fought the fogginess of her brain, as his words lulled her like a dream. She allowed her anger to feed her clarity, to keep her alert despite his masterful manipulations. "So I'm too good for breeding, but it was okay for Sam? And Drake? And why aren't the students told? When they're old enough, why aren't they given at least the chance to live in the normal world? We've trained our whole lives to blend in and control our powers. Don't you think we could make it work if given a chance?"
"These anti-paranormal organizations are powerful. We need to stand together. We need to grow our strength, or they will destroy us. We'll be forgotten, wiped from history."
"But isn't that what you're doing to Drake and Sam? You're trying to kill them and erase their memory from our minds."
The Seeker cackled. "I would never kill Sam or Drake. I want only to help them—more than you could possibly understand."
The world toppled and turned once again at the Seeker's words. Lucy tried to rub her headache away, but it persisted, just behind her eyes. "Help them? Seriously? You have a very unfriendly way of helping people. You might want to work on the whole how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people thing. There's even a book on it. You should check it out, and stop getting advice from Hitler's diaries."
Nothing seemed to rile the Seeker. He smiled at her and offered her more water. "You have fire in you. Spunk. I like that. I am glad Sam picked you for her best friend. She is going to need both of us, in the coming months. Her baby's powers will increase. Without my guidance, those powers will drive her mad. That is why I seek her."
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