“Another example of poor parenting to be documented, driving Arial to near suicide,” stated Siri after clearing her throat. “She obviously needs care that only we can provide. Rehabilitation.”
“That’s my daughter,” shouted Arial’s father. “And we healed her! The police will—”
“This isn’t an issue for the police; rather, it is under the umbrella of Child Services, Art,” interrupted Siri. “Should you choose to have them involved, I would be more than happy to place a few calls for you. Besides, you can always visit your daughter. Simply fill out a visitation form, drop it in our mailbox, and we’ll schedule a monitored session shortly.”
Siri handed a slip of paper to Peregrine, who teleported outside the bubble for just long enough to tuck the paper into The Hunter’s shirt pocket, then disappear within again. Arial's father reached up to grasp the paper, crinkling it through the fabric with clenched fingers, before shredding it.
“Now,” continued Siri, her nose high in the air. “If you continue to pose a threat with those officers at your back, I shall consider it a transgression against the agreement between the Police and the Rehabilitation Facilities, especially since this is a personal issue of yours, Art, and not one involving the police. Are we understood? You have one minute to depart, which I deem generous.”
Siri spun on her heel, the Uppers following her back in the building as The Hunter stood on the other end of the wall, silent tears falling down his now aged wife’s face. She took his hand and together they walked back to their car, followed by several police officers, to hold a miniature conference behind the closed doors. From our location, it was too distant to hear, but we could see the shaking of heads. Then we saw the car reverse, but not before The Hunter shouted out the window, throwing the confetti from the paper slip Peregrine had given him against the barrier.
“Don’t think you’ll keep her! We’ll be back!”
Tires screeched on pavement as the cart accelerated away, and the scene returned to that of a normal schoolyard, with dusk finally fallen, and shafts of light from the windows forming long rectangles on the grass. Without the memory, it might have never happened, the slightly depressed grass where Arial had fallen the only testament to her fall. And the twilight progressed as if nothing had happened at all.
“So,” said Darian after a moment of silence, dragging his foot against the ground. “Postpone the plan?”
“Yeah,” I said, shivering in the sudden cold, staring at the point where Arial had fallen. Where she never would have gotten up had her mother not been so close. And shaking as I remembered how Siri would have just watched her die, and Peregrine just let her fall. How both could have saved her, but neither had moved. “With a few modifications. And we need to act quick – if Siri knows that it wasn’t one of the police officers who caught Arial, we might have trouble. Certainly The Hunter knows it wasn't his own men, and he was close enough to feel me – practically looked right at us. But if anything, our plan should work better. Should cause more damage now.”
“You okay, SC?” asked Lucio as we walked back to the crawlspace. “Need something to cheer you up? A happy memory? Besides, it looked like she’s going to be all right.”
“No, Lucio, I want to remember this. I don’t want to push it away,” I answered, my jaw muscles clenched. “I want it fresh.”
I thought of Mason and Mikey from the park, neither of whom had been as lucky as Arial. And I wondered who would be next. Who might be sliding towards a broken and irreparable future with each moment I failed to act.
Darian and Lucio let me walk ahead of them, giving me space as I considered destroying the school in that moment. Of freeing Arial. Of laying waste to what Siri was trying to accomplish.
But that wouldn’t help me find my mother. Nor would it help the other students who had fallen under her spell.
I’d wait until tomorrow to act.
“Lucio, Darian, form a wall,” I commanded when we arrived, and bent over into the crawlspace. Channeling my anger into a black sphere, I annihilated the opossum carcass with a single swipe, and let the sphere pop at the edge of the yard, far enough away to sound like a firecracker.
Chapter 56
“Ready?” I asked Darian, flicking a black sphere into existence as he watched. “Now, your turn.”
Biting his lip inside the bathroom stall we had claimed during dinner, he tried the same motion, the door rattling as it felt the gravitational effects but no orb appearing. He frowned, trying again, managing to darken the air above his palm for barely a second before releasing an exasperated sigh.
“Look, it’s just not going to work. I can maintain those things, but I can’t create them. I can’t mimic the power that far. You’ll just have to feed them to me.”
“Well, I can only give you two at a time,” I answered. “But that should be more than enough to do the job. Just go heavy on the gravitational sauce afterwards, all right?”
“You got it,” he answered and created a force point underneath the toilet paper, unspooling the roll in seconds. “Out of all the powers I’ve had the chance to use, this has to be one of the most amusing, SC.”
I rubbed my eyes as he tried to flush the toilet using only the power, and just managed to make the handle quiver. I was still exhausted from the night before, spent hidden outside the door of the infirmary, listening as the nurse and Siri hovered over Arial.
“A full recovery, it seems, perhaps even more,” the nurse said to Siri. “Not even a bruise. Flawless skin, down to the fingernails. If you look, there’s not even split ends in her hair. A better job than any healer I’ve ever met – I bet there’s not a single scratch on her.”
“I just want to go home,” slurred Arial’s voice, while Siri spoke up.
“You’re in pain, darling; we can’t let you move. It’s for your own benefit. Hush now, to sleep you go – Nian, up the dosage. I don’t want her wandering off in the night.”
“Of course, Siri, but rest assured I’ll be watching over her personally,” said the nurse. “And if I depart, the door will be guarded.”
“But—” started Arial, and her voice trailed away, replaced by heavy breathing that I could just barely hear through the door. When Siri’s footsteps approached, I ducked into a small side closet to wait until she departed, and listened as the nurse maintained her watch, hoping to hear a second set of snores but instead listening to only the rustling of papers and organizing of medical supplies.
After an hour of waiting, I departed, stealing back along the hallway to return to the Bottom room. My thoughts turned to Arial as I walked, questions filling my mind. Was she truly healed? Had her mother’s mending removed Siri’s influence from her mind as well? How could I sneak in to speak with her?
When would we kiss?
I stopped, blinking, that last question circling my mind, my cheeks burning in the darkness. Where had that come from? I should be thinking instead how to save Arial, how to remove her from Siri.
Or how her body would feel lying against mine.
I blinked again and kept walking, my pace slightly faster. And I thought of us together, somewhere far away from the facility. My hands running through her hair, her whispers in my ear, my fingers running down the curves of her body to be intertwined with hers. The thoughts growing stronger with each step as my breathing shallowed and my pulse quickened, daydreams flashing in front of my eyes in the darkness in vivid detail.
“Just us,” Arial’s voice lured, so tangible it was indistinguishable from reality. “I’ve been waiting so long for this.”
Pausing, I shook my head, my hand pressing against a classroom door for support. And as I put my weight on my arm, the door gave way, swinging open and slamming into the wall behind as I stumbled into the classroom.
There was a stifled shriek as I jumped back to my feet, my hand searching for the light switch, and hearing a second shriek as I flipped it on. At the back corner of the room, there was a flurry of motion as a blanket whipped thro
ugh the air, concealing two bodies but not the clothes strewn about the floor in a path between them and the door. Socks and shoes, followed by two pairs of pants and shirts, and finally the undergarments just before the blanket.
“What the hell?” said one of them as my eyes adjusted to the light. “Shut that off; this isn’t a peep show!”
“Wha – What?” I said, my mind reeling as the flashes of images of Arial were replaced by shock and anger, and as I recognized the two faces peeking out from under the blanket. Connor, who had sat up and glared, next to a very red Wendy, who was doing her best to conceal herself with the blanket.
“Erm, yes, sorry.” I said, backing away. “Though, Connor, you might want to keep it down a little. Up here, that is.” I tapped my head and flicked off the light as I felt a flood of embarrassment.
“Will do. No one hears about this, SC, understand?”
“Of course, Connor.” I answered, and left the two alone once more in the darkness, feeling relief as I walked away, realizing the visions of Arial had just been from his power. And still rushing back to catch as much sleep as I could in the few hours before dawn would break.
Back in the bathroom stall, I shook my head to clear it of the memory, turning my focus back to Darian as he flicked force points around the enclosure.
“Got the hang of it yet?” I asked, unlocking the stall.
“Enough to matter,” he answered. “I’m ready to get out of here. Let’s begin.”
Chapter 57
“Lucio, is your story straight?” I asked as we weeded the yard after dinner, tossing another patch of crabgrass onto a pile between us and straightening up to stretch my aching back. “We go live in five minutes.”
“Down to the details,” said Lucio, his eyes still scanning the ground. “As lifelike as I can make it. Any last-minute additions?”
“None,” I answered and held out both my palms, generating two dark spheres. “Take these, Darian. Feed them; we’re going to want a bang. Now, you remember the route?”
“Of course. Stop worrying, SC,” he said, dismissing me with a waved hand. “It’s pretty simple.”
“Just make sure you actually follow it,” I lectured, looking him in the eye. “Don’t just run off. You won’t make it far and the plan will be shot. All right, here’s where we split up. Lucio, we’ll see you soon.”
“Hopefully not both of you!” exclaimed Lucio, and held out a hand. “And, Darian, don’t forget about us.”
“Of, of course I wouldn’t, Lucio,” answered Darian, cracking a smile as he grasped it. “You make it too difficult.”
They shook, and Lucio started to make his way to the rhododendron tree where I had first met Arial, while Darian and I departed to the front of the school. It was dark enough at this point that the two orbs hovering just under Darian’s hands at his sides were not noticeable to the casual observer, though we clung to the side of the school to discourage prying eyes. And as we walked, I could feel their presence growing, their pull increasing, their distortion of space more profound, and Darian’s expression deepening in concentration as he worked to keep them under control.
We reached the front of the school just as sweat started to show on his temple, and I generated two more orbs of my own, feeding them with bits of weeds I had carried with me, letting them swell past the size of Darian's in seconds.
“Now or never, SC,” said Darian, his voice strained. “I can’t hold on to these much longer.”
I gazed across the schoolyard, making sure it was empty except for the occasional Bottom intent on finishing their chores, and at the street beyond where the rush hour traffic had long subsided. Drawing in a breath, I reviewed the plan once more, making sure I had forgotten nothing, and nodded to Darian.
“Go.”
He accelerated to a full sprint before I finished the word, launching himself towards the school gate, and hurling the two dark spheres in front of him towards the force field. On contact, they shattered the barrier like bowling balls through a thin layer of ice, purple sparks erupting as sheets of the field were dragged into the street and absorbed into the spheres, which continued rocketing upwards at a forty-five-degree angle as Darian crossed the threshold of the rehabilitation facility. He whooped, his steps driven as much by the plan as adrenaline and excitement, and punched a hand into the air as his foot touched down across the border of school property.
He turned back just as the first of the spheres exploded high above behind a building, the boom setting off car alarms in the street below and rattling the facility windows behind me, my chest feeling the wave before my ears heard it. Then the second sphere exploded, the bright flash from this one in clear sight, and the sound slightly louder than the last.
Darian held up a hand as I threw the next two black spheres at him, catching them just as I lost control of them and centering them on his palms. Then he met my stare one last time, nodded, and took off down the street just as an alarm started to blare from within the facility behind me and the front door burst open. The two guards leapt down the steps, hands raised as they frantically reconstructed the barrier, followed shortly by a slew of other shouting instructors and Uppers as I crept around towards the back of the school.
“Which one was it?” I heard Siri scream as bodies swarmed over the lawn, the shield growing purple as it rose into the sky once more, though no answers came. “How many?”
Then their voices were drowned out but another sound was heard, one that grew louder with each passing second. Sirens, accompanied by telltale flashing blue lights on cars that swerved in front of the facility. And just as the doors opened, and police officers started to pour out, there was a third boom in the distance, causing the doors to slam and the cars to peel away in pursuit. I smiled as I watched the blue lights reflecting off the tops of buildings, following the route I had discussed with Darian the night before, and hearing the screech of metal as one of the cars was upended and tossed against the side of one of the buildings. As it descended, it collided with a lamp post, the door ripping off to hang like a Christmas ornament from the peak, swinging almost peacefully as the fight continued below my line of sight.
“Stop,” I heard over a loudspeaker, the voice rushed. “Stop, by the authority of the police, or face—”
There was a second screech as the speaker cut off, and the squealing of tires as several cars turned. And I pulled my attention away, focusing on rushing to the end of the schoolyard. Where the rhododendron tree stood, and Lucio would be waiting.
Chapter 58
I raced the flashing lights around the schoolyard, watching over my shoulder as the police cars grew louder again, and I saw a jet of fire spiral into the sky. There was a third boom, the strongest yet, catching me by surprise and causing me to stumble. I regained balance just as I saw Lucio pressed against the wall, nearly invisible in the darkness, his eye up against a hole just under the rhododendron tree.
There were several reasons we had chosen that tree – for one, I knew the area around it well, and there were few obstacles near the base. Second, an intersection was just behind it, allowing several access points from different directions. And most importantly, the countless leaves and branches served as a dowsing rod to the approaching target.
“This would be much easier if I could see right now,” said Lucio, his eye pressed against a hole in the fence, and his nose flattened. “You just had to choose to do this at night, didn’t you?”
“Now you tell me?” I answered, the words intermingled with panting. “You had two days, Lucio!”
“It’ll be fine, it’ll be fine,” Lucio answered, waving a dismissive hand but refusing to break his gaze. “There might just be a few cops with some extra memories floating around. I’ll just shotgun blast the group.”
“Stealth, Lucio, we can’t afford—”
“Jeez, SC, you’re easier to set off than a firecracker. Everything is going to be fine. Speaking of,” he continued, pointing upwards, “it’s time.”
&nbs
p; Above, the rhododendron rippled, leaves and branches swiveling to point down and right as Lucio stiffened. Sirens still sounded, but they were farther off, crisscrossing through distant streets. And closer was the sound of heavy breathing as Darian arrived on the other side of the wall, a single dark orb still in hand, letting it absorb rays from a nearby streetlight, the leaves angled towards it to indicate its presence.
“And now,” whispered Lucio as Darian hid in the tree’s shadow, “we wait.”
Darian cast a sideways look towards the fence, nodding once, then stilled as the shapes began materializing in the darkness. Five in all, creeping down the street, and spearheaded by a single familiar figure that I could just make out in the darkness.
The Hunter, drawn forward by the scent of my power held in Darian's hand.
“Closer,” whispered Lucio as Darian put a hand against the tree and bent over, only half pretending to catch his breath. “That’s it, closer.”
The four other figures broke away, spreading to form a semicircle that cut off all escape routes from Darian, moving in like a human net. Some of the figures I recognized – the cop I had seen The Hunter speaking to outside my apartment, as well as one that had helped search for me in the public park.
“Almost there,” breathed Lucio, both hands pressed against the fence now, his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth. “Almost.”
Their party took three more steps in silence, like predators stalking a kill, just as Darian looked up to spot the first among them.
“Got you!” said both Lucio and The Hunter at the same time, just as the hidden officers lunged forward. One, a woman with hair cut just above the ear, performed a chopping motion and the branches above Darian came rushing downwards, growing impossibly fast to wrap around his arms and legs before he could react and swelling to the size of sink pipes. Then they continued down past him to jab into the ground, forming roots that rippled away and locked Darian in place, as additional branches encircled his torso. Bark split off to litter the ground like mulch as the wood expanded, a fresh layer filling in from underneath, and leaving a shell on the ground like a molting insect.
Star Child: Places of Power Page 18