by Lanie Jordan
Moving again, I listened for the hum of the CMs so I didn’t get kicked/punched again. They weren’t on full attack mode, so they pulled their punches and kicks a little. Unfortunately, they still made sounds when they moved. Pausing again, I brought up the image of the floor in my head, trying to figure out what I’d run into next and where I had to go. I needed to go straight and to my far left to get to the victim. As I made my way in that direction, I heard the hum again, this time coming from multiple directions. I calculated the CMs distance from one another, their distance from me, and, keeping my hands down at my sides, maneuvered around them. I had to zig, then zag, so by the time I was clear of that round of CMs, I was pretty sure I wasn’t where I needed to be.
The hum was a constant sound in my ears now, but the closest CM was probably at least five feet away. I could smell the demon scent stronger now, closer. And if I listened really closely, I thought I could hear…breathing?
Quietly, I kept moving to my left, ducking or dodging more CMs, trash, and other objects. After another twenty feet, I realized the humming from the CMs was off in the distance.
The air around me shifted. Though I had no idea why, I ducked, and heard Eric swear under his breath. I jumped back, heard him swear again as his feet shuffled on the ground. The hair on my right arm stood on end, so I raised it up in a blocking motion. Half a beat later, I felt Eric’s arm hit mine. I lifted my left arm, then my right leg, as Eric punched and kicked at me. Each time I managed to block a hit.
“How the hell are you doing that?” His breathing was rapid, but I had a feeling it was out of frustration more than from being winded.
“I can…feel you moving,” I answered, though I had no idea if his question had been serious or not. What I’d said hadn’t exactly been the truth, either. At first, I could feel his movement, but the longer I focused, the more I could…see him, like a strange shadow of him, though I had no idea how.
He circled around me now, so I did the same, holding up my arms in defense. The demon scent was really strong now, close by. When he didn’t try for another attack, I moved to my left three feet. I could almost see the scent in my head, like a glowing spot of purple on a black canvas.
I shuffled to the left, then the right, avoiding more attacks from Eric. Stepping forward again, I laid my hand on the mannequin.
“What the hell are you?” His voice was nearly a whisper, like he was asking himself and not me, so this time I didn’t bother responding.
I was used to him saying crap to me, about being part demon or being a freak, but this was different. His tone sounded confused more than angry or mocking, and that wasn’t normal for him. He sounded scared. He’d tell whoever was listening (as long as there were no teachers or agents around usually) that I was a freak, that I was more demon than human. But this quietness worried me.
Another set of footsteps approached. “What’s going on?” Agent Burk asked.
“She’s doing something weird!”
“I’m not doing anything! You’re trying to hit me! I’m just avoiding it.”
“She’s—I don’t know! Just watch!”
When I felt him move, I dodged to the side, ducked, then jumped up.
“See!” Eric’s voice was almost shrilly now.
“Oh, for crying out loud. I’m sorry if I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing by avoiding being hit!” Though it was more than that—a lot more. “Are we finished? I found the mannequin, so can I take off this blindfold now?” I wanted out of here. Away from Agent Burke and Eric. Away from the looks I knew Eric would be giving me, the looks I wasn’t in the mood to see.
There was a click. “Sure,” Agent Burk said.
I untied the blindfold and held it in my hand as I opened my eyes slowly. Eric and Agent Burk were both looking in my direction, though Eric was the only one gaping, his eyes wide as saucers.
Agent Burk cleared his throat and hurriedly glanced at his watch, like he didn’t want to look at me. “Course completed in… thirteen minutes, twenty-three seconds.”
Eric, still watching me cautiously, flicked a glance at the agent. “What now?”
“Follow me. And stay quiet.”
We did as he asked and followed him back down. Eric may not have said anything verbally, but his looks said plenty without words. I slowed my pace, trying to get behind them to avoid Eric’s stares. It might have worked, but Eric just stared at me over his shoulders, nearly walking into a wall.
We waited away from the others who’d yet to run the course. When Mrs. Fletcher made her way back down with her team, she shot me and Eric both angry stares. She marched up to us. “Problem?”
Agent Burk shook his head. “They completed the course.” But then he pulled her aside and they started talking.
I would have listened in, but now everyone was staring at me. Sighing, I shoved my hands in my pockets and tried not looking guilty of…anything. I was pretty sure I failed when Tasha and Linc marched over.
“What’s going on?” Linc asked.
I shrugged helplessly. I had no idea myself. “Don’t know, but I’m pretty sure I just made things worse.”
“Worse? Between you and Eric, you mean?” Tasha shot me a raised-eyebrow you’ve-got-to-be-kidding look. “He’s already a jerk—how much worse can he get?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced in Eric’s direction. Almost immediately, he turned to face me, like he’d sensed we were talking about him or something. He didn’t glare like I expected. Just eyed me weird, which made me feel worse.
“You were saying?” I murmured.
She and Linc both looked his way. “Okay,” Tasha said, nodding, “that is kind of weird.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “What’d you do?”
“Why is it that anytime something goes wrong, someone thinks I’m to blame? I didn’t do anything except what I was supposed to do, which was capture the flag. Or the mannequin. Whatever.” Now they both eyed me with we’re-waiting looks, like they knew there was more to the story. “Oh, fine! He tried to hit me, I ducked. He tried to kick me, I jumped. That’s it.”
Tasha blinked. “Blindfolded? You avoided being hit blindfolded?”
“Yeah, so?” Okay, I knew the so in question was probably…bigger than I was making it out to be. But whatever.
“Were you peeking or something?” she asked.
“No!” I said it a little louder than I meant to. I lowered my voice. “No.” And then I told them about the seeing-sounds thing.
By the time I finished, Linc was shaking his head and Tasha looked like she wanted to strangle me.
“That’s a neat trick,” was Linc’s response. “Feeling someone move, or seeing them when you can’t see them.”
“You better have saved some of the good abilities for us,” Tasha warned. “That’s all I’m saying.”
I wanted to warn her that it took being bitten by a vampire to get these abilities, because I hadn’t had them before. It was definitely new and strange. It might’ve helped me in class, but I was pretty sure it wouldn’t help me with anything else. As soon as everyone else found out—and they would, soon—they’d think I was even more of a freak.
And after today, I’d have to agree.
CHAPTER 10
For the next week, I locked myself in my room at night, turned off all the lights, blindfolded myself, and tried the seeing-in-the-dark thing. It didn’t work the few first nights. And then, the first time I managed it, Eric’s question of What are you? popped into my head and I didn’t try again.
I’d never liked his questions, but it’d been a fair one. It was one that I was constantly asking myself now. Rather, it was one I was asking myself more, because I’d been wondering the same thing since Dr. Cherry had called me my own species.
And to add to the weird and general bad feelings I had, Eric hadn’t said a word to me since Tracking class. In fact, if I even came into his line of sight, he twisted away from me as fast as he could. And, even weirder, no one else was saying an
ything. Either he hadn’t told anyone about what happened during class that day, or they were plotting against me somehow.
While I wouldn’t necessarily put the plotting-against-me thing passed any of them, I had a feeling that wasn’t the case. For whatever reason, Eric hadn’t told anyone about what I’d done. Instead, he’d been quiet. Too quiet. I didn’t know why exactly, but that worried me more than anything else. When noisy people were quiet, it wasn’t a good sign, and when that noisy person was Eric, one of my biggest adversaries, that meant double the trouble.
My only bright side was I didn’t have time to worry about what Eric might or might not do because I was too busy. Classes were faster paced, the mentor program was a weekly deal, and weekend training was harder and an hour longer. (Greene did offer to let me have Sundays off from training if I wanted it, but I said no—and I didn’t tell Linc or Tasha that.)
Trips to the facility were the same. Demons were brought in and their reactions were recorded and analyzed, and then my beady-eyed counterpart (aka Jade 2.0) was tested after me. It was pretty much a repeat of the first day with the rat. The demons sniffed at it, and then promptly ignored it—if they even bothered taking a whiff of it, which most didn’t. One demon had stared at it for a full minute, but Dr. Cherry was pretty sure the demon had just been hungry since rats were its normal choice of food.
Of the new demons she tested, it seemed like there was a three-way split between the demons that liked me, the demons that hated me because of my DNA, and the demons that hated me because I was human. If she was adding any to the Friend or Foe list, she wasn’t telling me about it. Mostly, she just nodded and moved on to the next demon with little to no comment.
The biggest change was that she started “tweaking” the rat’s DNA on a weekly basis, hoping for a change. I didn’t want to know what exactly had been tweaked, so I never asked. When Linc was about to, I kicked him in the shin to keep him quiet. And because she tweaked the rat’s DNA so often, she spent a lot of time going over the same demons that’d been tested before. It made things…slow. And to be honest, it felt like she’d moved on from testing me and focused most of her attention on the rat. I wasn’t even sure why me and Linc needed to be there anymore.
We’d been back from our most recent trip for a little over an hour, and as much as I liked Dr. Cherry, I was thankful to be away. She was nice, but the longer I was around her, the more wary I got. Her insistence that she just knew she was close to figuring out something drove me batty after the first hour.
After the trip, I hadn’t wanted to go inside, so Linc and I were on the bleachers. The weather was warm for January (even by Florida standards) and it had stormed while we were gone, so the smell of rain hung in the air. After hours at the facility, it was a nice change.
“You’re quiet,” Linc murmured.
“Just thinking.”
“Are you still pissed because I’m calling the rat Jade 2.0?”
I groaned. “No. Well, that annoys me, but it’s not what I’m thinking about.”
“Then what is it?”
I shrugged. “The tests, Dr. Cherry. The fact that I feel like I’m coming in second with her.” I frowned. “Everything. If you name it, it’s on my mind.”
Since summer—and especially in the last month or so—things were weird. I’d been weird. Getting ridiculously angry for no reason, that weird non-dizzy dizzy spell back in November, and now the Tracking class thing. Things weren’t normal.
What are you? That’s what Eric had asked me. And for once, it’d sounded like a genuine question and not him being a jerk toward me. Sure, he’d always mouthed off about me being part demon, but it’d been worse that day, because he’d meant it. There hadn’t been any malice in his voice, only curiosity and fear. Worse, it was a question I found myself wondering. What was I?
After two months with Dr. Cherry, she was no closer to figuring it out. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if she was trying to.
For a minute, Linc didn’t say anything, just sat, watching me closely. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, what?”
“Why didn’t you tell Dr. Cherry about the Tracking class thing?”
I sighed. “I don’t know. I guess I was afraid she wouldn’t know what to say or how to explain it. And maybe, on some stupid level, I was afraid she would.” What if it was a bad thing? What if I really was part demon? Not in the we-share-DNA way, but in the we’re-the-same-thing kind of way? I didn’t know how that could be the case, but when there so much else about me and my DNA that no one understood, anything was possible, wasn’t it?
“Jade, you should—” He broke off as every spotlight and security light flashed on around us, lighting every inch of the property.
Linc and I spun in our seats in time to see Greene and three CGE agents run out of the North Tower and round the building.
“Wonder what’s going on,” Linc said, already rising from his seat.
I shrugged. “No idea.”
At the front doors of the North Tower, a dozen Prospects stood, watching, trying to see whatever Linc and I were now trying to see. A few of them came outside and looked around, as if trying to find Greene.
A few minutes passed, then Greene and only two of the agents returned. I squinted to get a better look. It wasn’t two agents but one. The second person— “That’s Chris,” I whispered to Linc.
“Shit. You sure?”
I glanced at him and nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure. And none of them seem happy.” I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I could see Chris’s lips moving rapidly. Greene looked…beyond furious.
The second we’d all gotten back from the facility, Tasha and Chris had vanished from sight. I didn’t see Tasha now, though. I’d just assumed they’d gone back to one of their rooms.
“Come on. Let’s go see what’s going on.”
We hurried down the bleachers and ran. We were only about twenty feet behind them when I heard Chris saying ,”I didn’t do it!” over and over again.
The Prospects who’d been waiting at the doors scrambled as Greene marched through with Chris and the agent right behind him. Linc and I raced inside as they all headed toward Greene’s office. I could still hear Chris muttering the same thing, in the same frantic voice.
A door slammed and Linc shot me a worried glance. “Can you hear what they’re saying?”
I tried listening but could only hear a few words. I shook my head. “Not enough to figure out what’s going on, but whatever it is, Chris is in serious trouble.”
“Should we get Tasha?”
I shook my head. “Let’s find out more first.”
Chris had done some stupid stuff since I’d met him. Fireworks, smoke bombs, fireworks again. Considering the speech Greene had given at the beginning of the Phase, the seriousness of it, I hadn’t really expected any trouble from him again. At least nothing that could get him suspended or expelled. But since Greene himself had gone after him…it wasn’t looking good.
What the heck could he have done? No more fireworks, no more smoke bombs—we would have seen or heard about those.
If he did get himself kicked out, I wasn’t sure what Tasha would do. Would they be able to date? Would they be able to meet up? Would Chris be banned from the property? Could they keep Tasha from seeing him entirely?
So many questions with no answers and no way to get them, at least not until Greene gave us some.
Everyone around us whispered their theories and stared at the wall, like they were hoping to see through it into Greene’s office. A few Prospects—ones a heck of a lot braver than me—actually headed toward the hallway between us and his office to try to listen. A few seconds later, they ran back out and went to the nearest staircase or elevator. Peter followed behind them, looking just as angry as Greene had.
“You all better find something better to do,” he said, both his tone and eyes dark, “before I find something for you.”
Most of the others scrammed. I started to fo
llow, thinking it was best not to push him when he looked so angry, but then Tasha darted over.
“What’s going on?” she demanded. “Someone told me Chris is in trouble.”
Peter shook his head. “It’s not my place to say. He’ll have to tell you himself.”
My first thought was optimistic. That meant he’d be around to tell us.
But my second thought was more grim. Unless he only gets time to say goodbye.
The only person who’d been kicked out since I’d joined had been Felecia. Since I’d been practically comatose during that time, I’d missed it and had no way of knowing what she’d been allowed to do.
Either way, I was really hoping my optimistic side won this round.
“What’d he do? How much trouble is he in? What—”
“Tasha,” he said, ending her tirade. “I don’t have the answers you’re looking for. I’m out here with you, remember? But what I do know is when Director Greene comes back out, you don’t want to hound him with questions.”
She closed her eyes. “Just tell me if it’s bad.”
“It’s not good. Now I suggest you three make yourselves scarce.”
He walked away as Tasha shot more questions at him. “Damnit!” she half-shouted when he’d disappeared around the corner, back toward Greene’s office.
“Come on,” Linc said, pulling her away. “We’ll wait in the cafe court for a little while. Maybe we’ll catch him as he comes out.”
We waited for over an hour, but he never came out. The only person we saw was Peter, and he sent us to our rooms with the threat of making us write ten-page essays if he caught us waiting again. (It could’ve been due to the fact that Tasha barreled more questions at him as soon as she saw him.)
“He’ll be okay,” I told her as we walked up to the fourth floor. She didn’t believe me, and honestly, I couldn’t blame her. I didn’t know what Chris had done, but it wasn’t looking good for him.