by Liz Long
Was I really more talented than other Firestarters? Felix insisted so, but I thought part of his ploy to get me on his side was to trick me. Sheffield remained adamant about it as well, though, so perhaps there was some truth to it. What would I do with this information? Maybe I could defeat Felix on my own. I took another look at my friends as someone shrieked in laughter. They were so good to stay quiet, so trusting of Sheffield to protect them. What if he couldn’t?
I couldn’t let these people die for me. They hardly knew me, yet accepted me as one of their own. If I didn’t stop Felix, he might go after one of them. Hell, if I didn’t beat him, he would go after all of them. Not one of them would side with his opinions. I had to stop him. My friends had saved me once, had already been hurt rescuing me. Now I would save them. I made a split-second decision before I could change my mind.
Chapter 33
I crept away from them in hopes they wouldn’t see me. I successfully navigated to my car and hopped in, began my drive to the school Sheffield told me about; twenty minutes later, with one main road and a battered old sign that instructed me to take a right turn, it wasn’t hard to find.
On the way over, I contemplated different endings to this situation. My stomach churned and I ignored the little voice in my head that screamed obscenities at me. My hands stayed tight on the steering wheel as I considered the possibility that I was making a terrible choice. If this went badly, I could die. I hadn’t said goodbye to anyone…or Gabriel. I shook my head and pushed my foot on the gas pedal.
I had no plan other than to sneak in and see if I could find anything to help us. I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I couldn’t let Sheffield go in blind. Then there was the other option. I didn’t want to make it so easy for Felix, but I considered it anyway.
If I gave myself up, would Felix let my friends live? Would he let me live? Maybe, but probably not—I knew he would never let Sheffield survive, so why would I be any different? He would bottle up our gifts, kill those who opposed him, and expose us to the world. Whoever Felix didn’t experiment on would be attacked by humans or be tested on by the government. Humans would fear and hate us, or try to pull Felix’s move and be like us for their own greed.
I arrived at a building that despite being inactive for so long still had electricity. Some streetlights were lit up but the windows all remained dark. I parked as far back as I could while still giving myself an exit strategy and snuck up to the front doors. I tugged at them, but they were locked. How did Felix get in and out of this place?
I crept around back; still no lights or sound from any of the rooms. I tried every door I found and still nothing. What the hell? Did Felix also steal the gift of walking through walls, if such a gift existed? So Felix wouldn’t enter through a main door…would he stay underground? Surely he’d be able to hide any lights downstairs. I finally found a walkway that led to a red basement door. I tested the knob and sure enough, it opened without any problems. Well, okay then.
I shut the door behind me, careful not to make any noise. I found myself in a storage room, surrounded by desks, fans, and other school furniture. The door to the hallway had been left open. I slid between the open space to prevent any creaks. It was so dark I lit a small flame in my palm to see a few feet in front of me. The storage room was at the end of a hallway, so I went left and crept down the hall.
Assuming I came to the right place, and I couldn’t imagine I hadn’t, Felix’s space lay ahead of me. Darkness filled the empty hallway; one lone door at the end was ajar, with a sliver of light peeking through. I closed my palm and put out my light, then snuck towards the door and heard voices float out behind it. I ceased breathing for a moment to listen.
“I couldn’t just let you walk out of there, with or without her,” Felix said. “I’m only sorry Sheffield got in the way. I almost had her off the grounds.”
“I think she got the point. You didn’t tell me you’d already acquired a Firestarter power, though,” a voice replied.
“Can’t share all my plans with you. You might accidentally say something to her or Sheffield. I wanted to surprise everyone.”
“You sure as hell succeeded. But if you already have that gift, you don’t need Lucy anymore, right?”
“I thought we’d been over this. She has no idea how much she is capable of; she is the most powerful one of her kind. Other gifted who might challenge me will never do so if I have her gift. No other Firestarters will be able to win against me, not when I could kill even them.” Felix sniggered and I could picture him pushing up his glasses in his nerdy way.
“I’ve never heard of anything like that. Is that even possible?”
“Lenny Sullivan killed another Firestarter, one I’d recruited. I watched it happen. His rage was…insurmountable. Lenny hit him with a flame so powerful it killed him. I’ve never seen anything like it and by the look on Sheffield’s face, neither had he. It takes power for something like that to happen. And Lucy, she is twice the Firestarter Lenny was, he used to say it all the time.”
“She does pretty well now.” My heart caught in my throat as my mind forced me to recognize the owner of that skeptical tone of voice.
“I learned a trick or two from Lenny. He taught her how to rein it in, to keep herself on an emotional lockdown. She doesn’t seem to have any idea that if she were to truly tap into her emotions and use them to her advantage, she could do anything she wanted with her gift. That’s what happened with that stupid bar fight. She panicked and couldn’t control it. She holds herself back and I can use that. I could even take her gift and use it to kill her.”
A chair squeaked as its owner shifted. I leaned forward and tried to see anything beyond the cracked door. I held my breath and focused on not losing my balance. I almost fell over in panic when I saw Felix sitting in the chair near the door, but I only saw his profile as he faced his companion. He would have to turn to see me; if he even inched his head my way, I could probably get out of his view. I looked around as best I could.
Surprisingly well lit, the room contained several tables set up with a few laptops and odd-looking machines I’d never seen. Scattered items lay on the tables behind him: vials and tubes, scribbled-on papers and a few coffee mugs. I wrinkled my nose; he was a messy scientist. I edged forward a few inches more. On the desk by Felix’s reach were folders, stacks and stacks of them. I would bet my life they were folders of gifted, of the research he’d conducted with or without their permission. I wondered if I could get my hands on them and take them back to Sheffield.
As I craned my neck for a better view, I lost my balance. To my horror, I smashed right into the door; it flew open as I tumbled into the room. My knee slammed into the floor and I struggled to stand up; finally on two feet, my knee aching, I shoved my hair out of my eyes and faced my enemies.
Chapter 34
Felix sat in his chair, the shocked and angry expression on his face quickly turning to glee.
“Christmas came early!” he crowed. He leapt to his feet to face me and straightened the glasses on his nose. I turned to his partner, who was pale in the face and knew he’d been caught. I knew my face revealed every bit of hurt I felt.
“I trusted you,” I spat at Gabriel.
“Lucy, it’s not—,” he tried.
“Shut up. I will never forgive you for this.”
Felix reached for something as he watched our exchange. He saw my glare and waggled a syringe at me.
“Don’t look so worried, Lucy. It’ll only hurt a little. I’ve been working on the cure and I’d like to see if it works on you now.”
“I don’t want to be human,” I growled.
“I’ll take your gift, which will make you human, but you don’t need to worry much more. Not when I’m going to kill you.” He lifted the needle and started towards me.
I didn’t know if I could beat Felix in a firefight and mad as I was, I couldn’t imagine killing Gabriel. Instead, I turned and bolted out the door. My knee screamed in protest
but I pushed through the pain. I ran for my life down the hallway, back to the red basement door. I hoped darkness would cover me, but I heard footsteps pound on the shiny tiled floors behind me. I glanced back to see two shapes chase after me. I had a brief thought to set the school on fire, but that would be suicidal; no way could I survive a demolition over my head.
Racing to the storage room, I managed to get halfway to the exit door before my knee buckled. I slipped, colliding with a desk that fell over with an echoing bang. A stack of textbooks tipped over and landed on me. I tried to clear the way, but it was too late. Shadows jerked as Felix and Gabriel caught up with me.
“I’d like to thank you for making this fairly easy,” Felix said with a huff. “Grab her, Empath.”
Gabriel sprung at me as I tried to stand. He wrapped his arms around me, pinned my arms to my sides to where I couldn’t flail or punch. He held on tight; it hurt so much I couldn’t even produce a flame. He squeezed me hard.
“Please don’t try,” he whispered in my ear. I violently shook my head away from him.
Felix came toward me with his weapon of choice, the syringe meant to take my blood. A terrifying tool, it was much larger than I’d feared; the size of a rolling pin, I clearly saw double chambers with blue liquid in one tube. Felix needed both hands to wield it. My heart caught in my throat as he approached me. I could not let him near me under any circumstances or he would make me human, and then kill me. If he was still a Firestarter, I couldn’t exactly hurt him and I’d only kill Gabriel. I would not do that until I had answers.
The moment he got within reach, I kicked my legs at him. Gabriel lifted me off the ground and pulled me ever so slightly back; I took my advantage and aimed my shoe at Felix’s hand. I knocked the needle out of his long fingers and it skittered across the floor. Felix went to retrieve it; he took one look at it and grumbled.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, she broke the needles off,” Felix said. “Hold her down while I run and get another syringe. I’ll bring another injection as well. Knock her unconscious if she tries to set you on fire.”
“I might do it to you for fun,” I growled at Gabriel.
Felix disappeared into the darkness. Gabriel gripped my arms at my sides. I struggled, kicked my legs around and tried to hit him in the balls.
“Stop! Stop, Lucy, it’s not Gabriel! It’s me, Fin!” he hissed at me.
“You’re a liar!” I screamed at him. I thrashed around some more.
“I’m not. I helped you kick him! It’s me, look,” he said. I felt him shudder and when I turned my head, Finley’s brown eyes and freckled nose appeared. Stunned, I instantly ceased my struggle. He loosened his grip, but didn’t let go of my arms.
“What the hell are you doing here? Why does Felix think you’re Gabriel?”
“Because I saw Gabriel meet him here last night after that fight in the tent. Nik and I followed him when he left the grounds one night. We did the same thing you did—snuck in here and heard him talking to Dr. Hardy.”
“Boy, he needs better security. Why did you follow Gabriel?”
“We were worried about you, about his weird fascination with you. And rightly so, looks like.”
“How did you even get close enough to touch him for transformation?”
“At dinner earlier. He was sitting at one of the tables and I clapped him on the shoulder. I’m not too bad at sneaking in touches when I need to.” He almost looked offended.
“Felix will kill you, kill us both,” I whispered.
“We had no idea who Gabriel was meeting, I swear. We saw Felix for a second after that fight, but we never expected…we thought it was Gabriel hooking up with some girl. We wanted to break the news to you and hope it would knock some smarts into you.”
“Knock some smarts into me? I do not have a thing for Gabriel!”
“Yeah, well the look on your face when you thought it was Gabriel a few minutes ago says otherwise.”
“Fin, I’m pissed because Gabriel’s a spy. He’s using me, using us all to help Felix. Felix wants to take our gifts and expose us to the world, to treat us like lab rats! He’ll take Sheffield’s gift to wipe us out of existence, right after he makes millions and flips his shit on the rest of the world.”
“I picked up that much, too. Felix is dangerous. We need to get back to the grounds, tell Sheffield and the others about his plan and this so-called cure. You have to get out of here.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll shift back into Gabriel and get the hell outta here. I’ll convince him I need to go back to stop you from getting to Sheffield. Now burn me.”
“What?” I turned my head to look at him in surprise.
“It has to be believable or he’ll know. I’ll shift back and you burn me enough so that Felix will know I couldn’t hold you…just don’t set me on fire, though, okay?” He managed a nervous smile.
“I guess I could do that.”
Finley shuddered—his frame heightened, his short, sandy blonde hair grew longer, brown eyes turned blue, and Gabriel stood with his arms around me once more. I opened and closed my mouth and his eyes narrowed.
“It’s not what you think, Fin. I thought Gabriel was helping me. Besides, do you think there’s a chance in hell now?”
“Keegan’s crazy about you. Don’t drag him around.”
I nodded and turned my head back around. I tensed up and prepared to steam him.
“Lucy?” he whispered.
“Yeah?”
“If I’m not back soon after you, something probably went wrong. Tell Delia…” he trailed off and I looked at him, surprised. He clenched his jaw and went silent.
I closed my eyes. His grip around me tightened and I warmed my entire body like a stove. He grunted but kept his stance. His arms shook as he kept hold of me for as long as he could stand it. Finally he gave a yell and dropped me. When I turned back to him, his arms and neck were blistery red. He’d even leaned his cheek against me so that his face burned.
We both turned to look in the dark hallway as Felix’s whistling could be heard. He was coming back for me.
“Fin, I’m sorry-”
“Go! Run!” he said. He gripped his arms and doubled over in pain.
I threw him one last apologetic look and half-ran, half-hobbled out of the room. I threw open the basement door and raced to my car. I thought I heard a scream; I couldn’t tell if it was Felix or Finley. My hands shook as I fumbled to get the keys in the ignition, but I managed to throw it in gear; my tires squealed on pavement as I zoomed off.
I broke every speed limit law on the way back. I pulled into the Donovan grounds parking lot and braked so hard gravel and dust flew up everywhere. I sat for a moment to recall details. My knuckles, white from their grip on the steering wheel, still refused to let go. I took a shaky breath and tried to face facts.
Felix could be on his way here. I hoped to the bottom of my heart Finley escaped undetected. I looked at my dashboard clock: 1:03 a.m. I needed to get to Sheffield, wake him up if necessary, and tell him what I knew. But his reckless attitude, his insistence for self-sacrifice, made me pause. Despite my own stunt an hour earlier, I didn’t want him running to Felix and subsequently, to his death. Felix would trap him, take Sheffield’s blood and kill him, then come after us. Sure, it made me a hypocrite, but too many people depended on Sheffield. He couldn’t leave them.
Then there was Gabriel, a traitor and a liar. I could hardly admit to myself how much that hurt. It wasn’t only my feelings for him. I’d trusted him, told him things no one knew about me. He’d seen me cry, or at least the closest I’d been to crying in years. He knew my fears and used them to his advantage. I’d never opened up, showed my emotions to anyone and now I knew why. He’d used me, learned so many of my secrets, even pried open the wall that hid my heart. Every word I said, he’d taken it back to Felix to hurt me. Why would he do such a thing? Were his stories of his gift, of his Rehab even remotely true or had he made that up to get to me, too? I
couldn’t begin to know where his lies threaded into the truth.
Gabriel had betrayed me. It hurt, but I needed to put my own feelings aside. The Donovan Circus was about to have bigger problems. I glanced at the time again: 1:07 a.m. I’d gotten a jump on Finley and if he’d had to convince Felix of his—or Gabriel’s, rather—innocence, then that might take a few minutes. How much time should pass before I could freak out? I didn’t want to leave the lot in case Fin showed up, but if I stayed too long, I’d become easy bait. I let go of the steering wheel and waited.
Chapter 35
At half past one, I gave in to the fear. If Finley had been caught, I couldn’t bear to imagine the consequences. He had gone to protect me and now he would die for my arrogance, for my appearance. It had been a mistake to think I could so easily win. I bolted from my car, pushed through the pain my knee and tried to outrun the guilt. I wound my way through the tents and slivers of light; the shadows caught in my hair and tried to trip me but I refused to fall. I finally arrived at the camper I needed.
“Open your fucking door,” I growled. My fingertips tingled with heat as I pounded on the door. Ten infuriating seconds later, it opened.
“Lucy? What are you doing here so late?” Gabriel asked.
“What am I doing? What are you doing, asshole?”
“Jesus, what’d I do now?” He rolled his eyes and I felt my blood boil. He crooked an eyebrow and I glanced down. My skin glowed a dangerously bright red. I tried with all my might not to set his camper on fire.
“You snake. You used me, used all of us and now we’re going to die because of you. Just tell me why!”
Every bit of arrogance dropped from his demeanor. His crossed arms dropped to his sides and instead of looking remorseful, he seemed worried. “Oh shit. What do you know? And more importantly, how do you know it?”