by K. J. McPike
Elliot’s features tightened even more, suddenly making me nervous. Why was he looking at me like that?
I know you’re lying, and I don’t take kindly to liars.
I gasped. The voice sounded just like Elliot’s, but his mouth didn’t move. His eyes stayed fixed on mine. I looked around the rest of the group, and, again, they seemed oblivious. Why weren’t any of them hearing this?
Say anything to them, and you’ll regret it.
My mouth fell open, but I quickly closed it. No wonder Paris had to write up a rule about not using abilities against one another. Elliot’s power must have been projecting his thoughts into people’s heads. But why was he targeting me? I straightened up, unsure if it was better to look him dead in the eye or ignore him.
Watch your back.
That time, my eyes shot to his of their own accord. I started to speak, but then his scowl shifted into something worse: a smile.
“So, what can you guys do?” Truman stuffed a bite of casserole into his mouth, his question an obvious attempt to change the subject. Paris had just finished sharing the stories of how he and the rest of the group had ended up at The Hill, and the mood at the dinner table had dampened.
Truman and Caleb had similar histories—both had been abducted after the Eyes and Ears “found” their parents, which I realized Paris had used as a code word for murdered. The boys had been taken to Alea and had their powers awakened, but whoever oversaw them decided that their abilities weren’t useful. Why, I didn’t understand; they sounded fascinating to me. Truman could project into dreams and Caleb could project his emotions to make others feel what he felt, like a reverse empath. When the Eyes and Ears put Kole in charge of getting rid of the boys, he brought them here instead of killing them.
Apparently, Kole was one of the original founders of The Hill, and he’d been working as a double agent for years. I couldn’t help but notice that Kai sat up straighter after learning the details about his dad being a secret hero. If no other positive thing came from our getting stuck in the past, at least Kai would have the opportunity to get to know his father a little better.
“Yeah, you guys.” Macy bounced on one of the stools we’d borrowed from the infirmary for extra seating. “Spill. We told you all our powers.”
“Macy.” Paris gave her a warning look from the head of the table. “They don’t have to answer anything they don’t want to answer.” She glanced at me, and I could almost hear her pleading with me not to mention what we’d done with our abilities. Well, with Dixon’s anyway.
“Sorry,” Macy mumbled. “I’m just curious.”
“Me, too.” Elliot’s smile sent a chill through me. “I’d love to know more about all of you.” As much as he’d creeped me out with his evil side, I had to say his fake nice side was even more disturbing. He hadn’t injected any more thoughts into my head since Paris got back, but that was probably because I’d been in the kitchen helping her with dinner. He’d switched to this sugary sweet tone, but it wasn’t hard to pick up on the underlying hostility he sent my way.
I debated about confronting him, but it wasn’t something I wanted to do in front of everyone. Besides, Paris had known Elliot a lot longer than me. Surely, she wasn’t going to kick him out, which meant I would have to deal with him being angry about my ratting on him on top of whatever other problems he had with me. And the last thing any of us needed was more conflict.
“I can project my body to different places,” Kai said, setting down his fork in favor of his water. “Places and people.”
“You mean you can teleport?” Macy squealed.
Kai shrugged. “More or less, yeah.”
“That’s so cool.” Bianca flashed Kai a megawatt smile. Naturally, her teeth were perfect. I tried not to roll my eyes.
“So you can appear wherever you want?” Truman’s face lit up in a grin that made his cheekbones stand out even more. “Awesome!” He turned his eager gaze to Kala. “How ’bout you?”
“I can project images to create illusions,” Kala shared, reminding me of when I’d seen her transform the beach to look like a forest in Alea after Kai had first taken her out of the lab. That was the only time I’d seen her use her ability, but I had to admit, it was pretty neat.
“What about you, Lali?” Elliot asked, still feigning innocent curiosity. “What can you do?”
Clearing my throat, I sat up a little straighter in hopes of showing him I wasn’t going to let him intimidate me. “I can project to people or places, too. Except my astral form is invisible like Macy’s.” I felt lame comparing my ability to hers when she had the best power of all—at least in my opinion. When Macy projected, her physical body turned into her astral form, and she could switch back whenever she wanted. She was basically her own transposer. As if that weren’t enough, she could manipulate objects in her astral form, too. Paris lovingly called her Casper because she was like a little poltergeist.
The funny thing was, she didn’t have any Astralis blood in her. She had been abducted from the hospital when she was a baby and used as an experiment to see if they could recreate semmie abilities in an infant. After she’d turned invisible one too many times as a toddler, they put Kole in charge of getting rid of her. Apparently, she was one of the first semmies he’d brought to The Hill.
“That’s a cool power.” Truman looked at me with interest. “That’s way better than projecting into dreams.”
“Your power is cool, too, Truman,” Amber-Ann said. “You’re the only reason I can see my parents.” She caught my confused expression and sighed. “Sometimes Truman projects me into Elliot’s dreams, and Elliot makes our parents show up.”
My heart constricted. Elliot and Amber-Ann had lived in the community with their non-Astralis mother until a year and a half ago when the Eyes and Ears caught her with their dad. Both were killed, though they had refused to give up the location of their children. Looking at Amber-Ann, I would never have guessed she’d lost her parents less than two years ago. I told myself that had to be why Elliot was acting out. On some level, I felt bad for him, even if I had become the target of his misdirected anger.
“Elliot has gotten really good at lucid dreaming,” Paris explained. “He’s gotten me pretty curious about how to do it, too.” She winked at him, solidifying my decision not to say anything to her about his earlier obnoxious mental commentary. If the worst he was going to do was throw vague threatening thoughts at me, I could handle it.
“You’d think Caleb would be the lucid dreaming master.” Bianca nudged the little boy next to her, whose face was practically buried in his food. “He loves sleep more than anyone, and he can fall asleep anywhere. It’s kind of impressive.”
A few laughs went around the table, and Oxanna, Dixon, and Ulyxses took turns explaining their abilities. Amber-Ann listened with her chin propped up on her hand and a longing look in her eyes.
“I can’t wait until I have my power,” she said when they’d finished. I offered her an understanding smile. She and Elliot had grown up at The Hill, so they hadn’t had their abilities awakened like the other kids. Elliot had only developed his ability within the last year.
“Only nine and a half years to go,” Truman chimed in.
“That’s forever!” Amber-Ann huffed.
A silver form burst into the room then, and I jolted so hard my knees hit the bottom of the table.
“Mom!” Dixon cried. Everyone shifted to look at him, and he quickly corrected himself. “I-I mean, Mara.” I couldn’t help but glance at Elliot, and he twisted his face into a scowl.
Great. Now he was going to be even more suspicious.
“Thank the heavens.” Mom’s astral form floated over to the table as Kole’s drifted into the room after her. “Are you all okay?” she asked.
“Yeah.” I studied her transparent face, finding comfort in it even though she wasn’t the version of my mother that I’d grown up with. “We’re fine.” Other than the whole psycho Elliot thing.
“N
ow do you believe me?” Kole floated up beside Mom. “I tried to tell her it was all an act, but she still attacked me.”
Kai snorted and gave me a pointed look. I was sure he was thinking about how I’d lashed out at him when he first came into my life. But what had he expected after abducting me from my school bathroom?
“How could I believe you took them somewhere safe after that display at my house?” Mom challenged.
Kole threw back his astral head. “I told you I had to make it look convincing for your mother.”
“Would you like to discuss this in another room?” Paris gave Kole a pointed look and inclined her head toward the other kids at the table.
“Oh, no, that is not necessary,” Mom said. “I just wanted to make sure everyone made it here okay. And let them know that Delta woke up today.”
I sucked in a breath. “Really?” Maybe we could get out of here sooner than I thought.
“How long do you think it will be before she gets her ability under control?” Ulyxses asked.
“It depends on how well she recuperates,” Mom said. “And how hard they push her. Plus, there is the chance that her human body will reject the astral energy.”
“It won’t,” Oxanna said. “We’ve seen how her ability turns out.”
Paris cleared her throat, and Mom frowned.
“We will be on our way.” Kole took the hint and gestured for Mom to lead the way back out to the hall.
“Sorry to interrupt.” Mom looked around the table, her eyes fixing on mine for an extra beat. “I am glad you have somewhere safe to stay.”
She and Kole drifted out of the room, and I fought the urge to sigh. Waiting for Delta to get a grip on her power and awaken Trace’s astral energy would feel like forever. I briefly considered having Ulyxses travel to the future to see how long it would be before Sariah came into the picture, but I wasn’t sure if time had caught up yet. Even if it had, he didn’t have a way of getting past the block around the lab, and he would have to know exactly where Sariah and Delta would cross paths so he could project to that location. It would be easier just to wait and see.
I just hoped we wouldn’t have to wait long.
Chapter 17
Dreams
“Hello, Lali.” Elliot’s voice penetrated the swirling kaleidoscope of color before me. I blinked, searching for the sound’s source in the shifting hues until they merged into an image. A room. I was in a small room with bold, patterned wallpaper and no furniture. Elliot and Truman stood in front of me, both frowning.
“What’s going on?” I scanned the otherwise empty space, gasping as the walls wiggled like they were made of jelly.
“You’re dreaming,” Elliot said. “And we thought we’d pay you a little visit.”
“We?” I looked at Truman, whose face carried more fear than anger, and I knew where this was going. I just couldn’t believe Elliot had dragged Truman into it.
“Yes, we.” Elliot sneered. “Truman and I want to know why you’re lying to us.”
My fists balled. “Get out of my dream, you psycho.”
“Not until you explain yourself,” Elliot said, his tone smooth. “I’m not going to let you put everyone I care about in danger.”
“We’re not putting anyone in danger,” I snapped. “And shame on you for trying to scare Truman with your stupid theories.”
Truman gave me a bashful look. “I’m not scared. I just wanted to know what was going on. I told Elliot you guys seemed nice and he was probably just being weird or whatever.”
“I’m not being weird,” Elliot shot back. “She didn’t even deny that she’s lying. That’s basically an admission of guilt.”
I scoffed. “I’m done with this conversation.”
Wake up, I willed myself. Closing my eyes, I snapped them open again, hoping my body would follow suit. No such luck. Wake up!
“If you’re trying to wake yourself up, you can’t as long as we’re in your dream.” Elliot’s lip curled into a taunting smirk, and I glared at him. If he could control his dreams, maybe I could control my own to involve me beating that condescending look right off his face. Not that it would make a difference in whatever limbo state we were in. He probably wouldn’t even feel it. But there had to be a way to get out of this dream even with them here.
I tried again, mentally shouting at myself to snap out of sleep. Still no luck.
“Look,” I huffed, growing tired of his game. “Paris is the one who told us not to tell you everything. If you have a problem, take it up with her.”
Truman’s brow bunched. “Why would Paris ask you not to tell us something?”
“She didn’t.” Elliot jumped in before I could answer. “Lali’s lying again, this time about the woman who took both of us in. Some nerve. I knew you were bad news.”
I let out a shocked laugh. Who did Elliot think he was? “You don’t know anything about me. I’ve spent my whole life trying to be a good person, and it’s just come back to bite me in the butt.” The words tumbled out faster and faster, my voice rising with each one. “And where do you get off judging me when all you’ve done since you met me is try to bully me? Maybe when you talk to Paris about why she asked me not to tell you guys everything, you should make sure to mention how you guys teamed up to use Truman’s ability against me. I’m sure she’ll love that.”
Truman backed up a step. “Let’s go, Elliot. Maybe Paris really did say that. We can just ask her.”
Elliot shot another scowl my way, and Truman gave me one last apologetic glance before the pair vanished. The instant they were gone, I jolted awake. Blinking in the darkness, I sat up on the sofa and caught sight of both boys. They stood less than a foot away, their forms highlighted in green from the nightlight plugged into the wall near the TV.
The next second, they were gone.
I blinked twice. Had that entire exchange been my imagination? Maybe my subconscious had created the scenario because of Elliot’s thought-threats. I wanted to believe it, but I knew in my gut that wasn’t the case.
And how dare he come into my dream to challenge my character? He had no idea what I’d been through, no idea that I’d done my best to do the right thing my whole life—even at my own expense. If I’d been the awful person he’d convinced himself I was, I wouldn’t be grieving the loss of my sister.
Salaxia’s face flashed into my mind, and I bit down on my tongue. Why did trying to do the right thing have to hurt so much? I glanced at Kai’s sleeping form on the opposite side of the couch. His shock of dark hair was all that poked out from the quilt wrapped around him, the unruly locks tinged green from the nightlight. As much as I wanted to tell myself that he didn’t deserve my forgiveness, I couldn’t deny understanding the pull to throw caution to the wind for the sake of getting my baby sister back.
Who was I to say if it was braver to resist it or to act on it? And how could I hold it against Kai for letting that pull win when I now knew how much it hurt? If anything, maybe I could learn something from him.
When I woke next, it was to the hiss of whispered laughter. Expecting to see Elliot and Truman waiting to invade my subconscious again, I sat bolt upright—and immediately regretted it. In the glow of the nightlight, I could see Kai and Bianca on the opposite stretch of sofa where Kai had been sleeping. She was practically sitting on top of him, but she made no effort to move now that I was awake.
“Sorry,” she giggled. “We didn’t mean to wake you. It’s just—your friend Kai is so funny. It’s hard not to laugh.”
“Yeah,” I muttered, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. “He’s a regular comedian.” I didn’t quite manage to keep the bitterness out of my tone. I’d only gotten glimpses of the funny, sort-of-nice Kai during the weeks I was learning to control my ability. He’d been pushy and rude when I first met him, and he lied to me even during the times I thought I might like him.
But that didn’t matter anymore. If Bianca wanted him, she could have him. And it was obvious she did want him. If she batte
d her eyelashes any harder, she was going to damage her corneas. And I knew she used the word friend to gauge our relationship—or lack thereof.
“Did you sleep okay?” Kai asked. As if he cared.
I nodded. “Yeah, thanks. You?”
“Of course. This couch is like a luxury mattress.”
Bianca giggled again, and I held in a groan. That joke wasn’t even funny.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“Just after six o’clock,” Bianca replied.
Seriously? If it was six now, when had she gotten up? Even in the dim light, I could see she had put time into her makeup, and her hair was woven into a complicated updo that must have taken a while. Couldn’t she at least wait until after sunrise to start stalking Kai?
“Everyone should be up soon,” she said. “Breakfast is usually around six-thirty, and we leave for school just after seven.”
Great. Now I wished I hadn’t offered to sleep in the common area so the others could have beds. I didn’t want to be stuck here for half an hour feeling like the third wheel in the little flirt-fest happening on the other side of the sofa.
I tossed aside my quilt and hopped to my feet. “Well, I guess I’ll start getting ready. Sorry to interrupt your conversation.”
“Lali, wait.” Bianca peeled herself off Kai and trotted over to hit the light switch above the table. The brightness made me squint, and I could hardly see her as she grabbed something from one of the chairs. “I thought you might want to borrow some of my clothes. I know there isn’t much to choose from in the hand-me-down bins.” She held out an overstuffed cloth bag with a smile.
“Oh. Um, thanks.” I took the bag from her, and even though it was a kind gesture, it irritated me. Did she have to be gorgeous and charitable?