When my mouth could function again, I rasped out, “What are you talking about? I didn’t get the food. And they took Laney!”
Simon rested his hand on mine. “Laney was probably the only other Clan member, besides yourself, that they could have taken and Molloy would have forgiven you for.” He cracked a smile. “Although he probably wouldn’t have missed me much.”
It still didn’t make sense. Laney was new to the Clan, but her disappearance only proved that I had failed. Simon cocked his head. “Molloy’s not a monster,” he said. “Well, not completely a monster. He knows you were trying to protect Laney, and that means something to him. The fact that you made it out to the depot, and they had to stop you with darts, convinced him pretty well that you were the real deal.”
“So.” I had to stop to take another drink of water. “So, he’s letting me stay in Block C?”
“Yeah,” he said. “And Molloy’s put the word out to the Clans seeking to ally with Block C to search for Laney. He thinks one of the others might have taken her in.”
My shoulders sagged. “She’s gone.” Although it was reassuring that Molloy was at least trying to find her. He really did look out for the changelings, as well as the rest of his Clan. I understood a little better what he meant by “family” now.
Simon gently squeezed my shoulder. “Don’t give up hope. They may have forgotten about her, once they had you to contend with.”
“No, you don’t understand,” I said. “I searched the camp. She’s not here.”
He drew back. “You’ve been out for hours, Kira. Ever since I found you near the depot.” His eyes went wide. “Wait. You mean you searched with your mind? How far can you reach?”
“Far enough.” Simon probably saved my life by bringing me back before some praver found me lying in the dirt. Yet I couldn’t bring myself to trust him.
He seemed to think my brain was still fuzzed on juice. “You’re sure she’s not here?” The answer was plain on my face. “You searched the entire camp?” There was a new wonder in his voice. “Kira, that’s…” The gears were turning in his head, but what did it matter? “The camp’s over a thousand feet per side, Kira. Can you really reach that far? How about control? Can you jack that far?”
I looked away from him. It didn’t matter. All it meant was that Laney was gone. And I was an even a bigger freak. Why hadn’t they taken me? Why did Kestrel leave me behind, while taking Laney for some hideous experiment? My body shook with a cold-sweat chill. It wasn’t right.
“Because if you can,” he said, pulling my face back to his, “we might have a way out of here.”
That got my attention. “What do you mean?”
Furious thinking and giddy excitement warred on his face. “The camp is surrounded by electrified fences. They’re buried below the ground level, too. The only way in or out is through the gates.”
“Why doesn’t someone hijack the newcomer truck and ride that back out?”
“The truck and the perimeter are gassed whenever the newcomer truck leaves. Everything’s remote-controlled, and they must have cameras somewhere because if someone tries to escape through the gate, they turn on the gas. But,” he said, his voice rising a notch, “you can defeat the gas. You could get outside the fences.” There was a gleam in his eye.
“Couldn’t someone just hold their breath to get through?” The trip through the gates didn’t seem that long. Mostly, I didn’t want Simon to know my ability to fight off the gas had an upper limit in terms of time.
“No, the gas is too powerful. Even if someone could make it past the electrified fences and the gas, they’d still have to contend with the outer perimeter fence and the guards. Plus they have guns. There are four guard stations around the perimeter, but there’s only one gate, where they bring in the newcomer truck.”
“Maybe they could jack the guards?” I asked, realizing the they we were talking about now was likely me.
“The guard gate is at least a half a mile away, far outside anyone’s range to jack. Except maybe you.” He smirked. “The guards could be readers or jackers or both. If you could jack at a thousand feet away, then maybe… if you could reach the guard gate from here, you could jack them to open the gates. Even if you can’t reach that far, you could fight off the gas in the truck, get close enough, and even if they were jackers, if they didn’t see you coming…”
“I could jack them before they knew what had happened.”
He seemed like he wanted to hug me, but kept his hands to himself, which was a good move on his part. His plan was entirely demens, and the idea that I could jack someone half a mile away was far-fetched at best. Maybe I wouldn’t have to jack that far. Maybe I could ride the truck right to the gate and catch them by surprise.
“Do you think it could work?” I asked.
“I think we need to find out what you can do.” His grin seemed to crack his dust-covered face.
It didn’t take long to discover I had more range than I ever imagined. Not only could I reach people at the other end of camp, but if I concentrated, I could jack them as well. But I couldn’t reach the outer perimeter. Somewhere between a thousand feet and a half mile was the limits of my abilities.
Simon pressed me on. “Focus on the jack. It’s like a muscle—the more you use it, the stronger you get.”
My eyes were closed, but I felt the intensity of his stare. “Yeah. Except when you’re distracting me.”
“Sorry,” he said, his voice hushed.
I reached out and brushed several minds at the far side of the camp. They didn’t sense me, so I could easily knock out the weaker ones before they knew what happened. Some were so weak they could barely push back. I practiced on a few of those first, making sure they were already sitting down. No need for concussions.
“How far out are you?” His voice was impatient.
“I’m in Block D.” I snapped my eyes open. “Is that far enough for you?” Block D was at the farthest corner of the camp from Block C. Whoever had laid out the Camp of the Flies had no respect for alphabetical order.
His laser focus didn’t waver. “Yes, but can you jack there?”
“I just knocked out two inmates.” A smug edge crawled into my voice and it made me queasy. “They weren’t very strong.”
“Some of the jackers here are practically linkers.”
“Linkers?”
“Jackers that aren’t very strong. They can link thoughts but not much else.”
“How did they end up here?”
“How did any of us end up here?” he asked with a snort. “Extreme bad luck. Anyway, did the linkers you jacked know you were there?”
“No.”
“A jacker can only resist you if he knows you’re there. If you catch them unaware and move fast, even the strongest jacker can be knocked out. But if you hesitate or if he’s expecting you… Well, that’s when you end up on the losing side of the jack.”
“I’ve got the Impenetrable Mind, remember?”
He gave a short laugh. “Right. Okay, so maybe it won’t be a problem for you.” He gave me an unexpected soft look that made me close my eyes again.
“Okay,” I said. “What next, Master Zagan?”
“Next, Little One, you need to jack the strongest one you can find.” I killed the smile that threatened to break out on my face. Simon was right—the more I practiced, the stronger I got. Although some jackers seemed naturally stronger than others, regardless of how old they were. I wondered if my dad was a unique like I was—did he have an Impenetrable Mind, too? Could he reach a thousand feet? If he had simply told me the truth, I wouldn’t have to rely on Simon to find out what my abilities were.
As I brushed across the minds in Block D, I could tell which jackers were the strongest by the feel of their brain barriers. It was the difference between Jell-O and cream cheese—the cheese would give, but I had to push harder. Even with all the jacking I had done, it still grossed me out.
I was growing stronger, but I was no
match for the strongest ones—plus they more quickly sensed me and pushed me back out. The leader of Block D threw me out after a fraction of a second. His second-in-command was even stronger. I retreated and left them sparring with each other. At least they didn’t know who I was. I kept trying, jacking in and grappling with fairly strong jackers. Unless I caught them completely unprepared, I couldn’t knock them out. And all the strongest jackers in the Camp of the Flies were constantly on edge.
After we had practiced enough to satisfy Simon, he brought me to Molloy.
Molloy verified my long range ability by sending Andre and a couple other members of Clan Molloy to the far side of the camp. Even at that range, Andre had a hard time keeping me out of his head, which brought a smile to my face. But I could only knock out the weaker jackers he had with him. Still, that delighted Molloy to no end and convinced him even more that my skills were worth keeping around.
“Okay, there’s this skinny weasel named Jackson in Block D,” Molloy said, hunched on the cot next to me. “Can you find him?”
I closed my eyes and reached out to Block D. “Does Jackson have dark brown hair and an abiding love of beets?” Jackson was holed up in a corner with a pile of beet cans, his recent booty from the food frenzy. I had been lucky that Simon had found me before the jackers who knew I was a bigger prize than beets.
“That’s the one,” said Molloy, like a kid with a shiny new toy. Only I was the toy. “Can you kill him? Even at this range?”
I popped my eyes open. “We talked about this. No killing.” I had made my terms clear as soon as we came to Molloy with my new skills.
“Okay, okay. Just knock him out for me. Wait, wait!” Molloy held up his hands. “Make him dump out all the beets on the floor first. Then knock him out.” I closed my eyes to block out the smirk on Molloy’s face as he got his thrills at Jackson’s expense. But I did as he asked.
“Okay,” I said. “It will take a while to empty out twenty-three cans.”
“Take your time,” said Molloy, with a self-satisfied tone. I kept my eyes closed as Jackson methodically opened his cans and poured them onto the dirty barrack floor. I did another sweep through Block D and the next Block over, still hoping that I had missed Laney that first time. I didn’t find her, but there were plenty of other horrible things happening.
In Block G, four older boys were tormenting a thirteen-year-old named Daniel by taking turns inflicting phantom pain. Since pain was in the brain, not the body, all they had to do was jack an imaginary broken arm or bruised kidney into his mind. The injuries weren’t real, but the pain was. I gritted my teeth and concentrated on reflecting the miseries back on the senders. Each time a praver jacked into Daniel’s mind to inflict some imagined injury, I recreated the same one in the tormenter’s mind. Daniel wasn’t a linker, but he wasn’t a very strong jacker either. They quickly backed off, confused at this new mind trickery.
They had no idea it was me, which made me smile.
I jacked Daniel to take advantage of their confusion and run. I planted the idea in his head to find his way to Block C. Hopefully, Molloy would take him in.
“Kira!” Molloy’s voice was filled with impatience.
My eyes snapped open. “Huh?”
“Did you get lost there, lassie, counting cans?” He was suspicious. I quickly checked on Jackson and sure enough, he was done. I knocked him out.
“Nope. Jackson is sleeping on his pile of beets now.”
Molloy’s grin sent a buzz through the room. “Well done, lassie!” Molloy slapped Andre’s back, but Andre was far less amused with my parlor tricks. He had been trying to pierce me with his steel-gray eyes the entire time. Probably still sore that I had jacked him into doing the chicken dance earlier. I ignored him.
“So, let’s talk about this plan of yours.” Molloy motioned to Simon, who had been leaning against the far wall. Simon strode over and gave me wink on the way to let me know I had done well. I scowled at him.
Molloy’s face grew serious. “The Clan can give you cover when the next newcomer truck arrives. Blocks E and F are already allied with us, and we may have others by the time the truck comes. Could be any day, we don’t know when. When the truck arrives, we’ll retrieve the newcomers and slip you two in,” Molloy motioned to Simon and me, “before anyone can give serious notice.”
“Wait,” I said, interrupting him. “I thought I was doing this alone.”
Molloy’s face became granite. “Seeing as how I can’t tap into that hard little head of yours, lassie,” he said, reaching over to thump my forehead, “I’ll not be trusting you to do this alone. Simon here will be along to make sure you keep your promise to come back for the rest of us.” Molloy’s shark teeth were back and glinting.
The plan was that I would break out, overpower the guards, and then release the gates so that all the prisoners would be freed, including Molloy and his Clan. If I was lucky enough to make it out, I wasn’t sure letting the rest of them loose was a great idea. The camp held a lot of changelings like Laney that shouldn’t be locked up in a prison, but there were just as many camp-hardened pravers that gave me the creeps. Obviously, I couldn’t let Molloy know my thoughts on that subject, or I’d never get the chance to escape. Having Simon along was a liability.
“What if I don’t agree?”
Molloy stood and loomed over me. “Either you’re a part of the Clan or you’re not, lassie. If you’re in, you stay in. If you betray us again, I won’t stop next time to ask why.”
“I’m in,” I said, without hesitation. I didn’t have any other options.
“Right,” said Molloy. He narrowed his eyes. “And don’t be thinking about letting the gas take Simon, little Kira. If he comes back in the truck alone, I’ll make sure he regrets the day he met you.”
I gulped. I didn’t like Simon, but he didn’t deserve whatever punishment Molloy would dish out. When Simon had tried to kill Raf, he had jacked in deep to slow his heart rate. I should be able to do the opposite and speed up Simon’s heart to keep pace with the gas, like I did my own. It would slow me down, but it would work. I gave Molloy a short nod.
Molloy’s shark teeth receded, replaced by a real smile. “Now, there’s this right nuisance, Samson, a part of Lenny’s old crew.” He settled back into his spot across from me. “I think he’s in Block D now. Can you find him?”
“Sure.” I went hunting for the unfortunate Samson. Simon nodded as though this was all according to plan. He did save my life on more than one occasion, so I didn’t mind breaking him out of the camp. But, like Molloy said, Simon was more likely to come back for the rest of them.
I had no intention of being a part of Clan Molloy once I was free. I yearned to go home and set things right with Raf, maybe get my life back again. My dad was a jacker and a high-ranking Naval Intelligence officer. He had to know how to keep the Feds at bay. If Clan Molloy were stuck in the camp, I wouldn’t have to worry about them menacing my family on top of everything else.
But if I left Clan Molloy behind, I would be dooming all the changelings that were trapped in the camp as well. Changelings that hadn’t done a thing wrong in their lives, like Laney.
I tried not to think about what was happening to her.
My top priority was getting out of the camp. If Simon insisted on opening the gates for Molloy, I wasn’t sure I would stop him. But if he tried to stop me from leaving Clan Molloy behind, I wouldn’t hesitate to overpower him and leave him with his friends in the desert.
chapter THIRTY
It wasn’t long before Daniel-the-changeling found his way to Block C. He was smart enough to shed his armband along the way, but his tattered shirt betrayed that he had been in the camp for a while.
Molloy raised his eyebrows. “You wouldn’t have anything to do with this, would you, lassie?”
I shrugged and feigned innocence. Since Molloy couldn’t scrub my mind, he set Andre on Daniel to make sure he wasn’t a spy. I cringed as Daniel suffered through Andre’s interrog
ation.
“Is that necessary?” Maybe bringing Daniel to Block C had been a mistake. Molloy didn’t answer, and Andre released Daniel after a few more moments.
“He’s just a changeling.” Andre glared at me, but didn’t say any more. If he’d found any evidence that I had been involved, he wouldn’t hesitate to say so.
Molloy offered Daniel a hand up from the floor. “Sorry about that, lad. You understand, don’t you?” The boy nodded so hard, I was afraid his head would fall off. I didn’t care much for Molloy’s methods, but once he had accepted Daniel into the Clan, it seemed like Molloy would take care of him. And he didn’t raise any more eyebrows when changelings started showing up at Block C after that.
At least, I didn’t think he suspected me.
Nearly a week passed before the newcomer truck brought fresh inmates to the camp. Word traveled fast about the truck’s impending arrival, the linked whispers of the Camp of the Flies rivaling the thought-speed rumor mill of Warren Township High. However, sitting on a rough cot in the middle of Block C, surrounded by anxious members of Clan Molloy, couldn’t have been more different than walking the halls of my school. And Shark Boy could only dream of being as ruthless as the pravers in the camp.
I knew without brushing any minds that the newcomer truck had stopped at the first gate. After a week of practice, my reach easily swept beyond the camp fences to the surrounding desert. I kept checking whether I could extend out to the guards at the outer perimeter (still no) or detect the incoming shipment of new inmates before anyone else (yes).
Molloy gathered his people so we could travel as a group to intercept the truck. The plan included myself and Simon, Molloy, Andre, and a half dozen other Clan members, plus a few strong jackers from Blocks E and F. We needed a large group, partly to ensure our own safety and that of the newcomers, and also so Simon and I would not be missed when we slipped inside the truck. Our Allied Clans were in on the escape effort, but alerting the other inmates to our plans would be problematic at best.
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