“For what?” Landon asked in surprise.
“For doubting you.” Dr. Brighton started to walk slowly forward, pressing his hand against the back of Landon’s shoulder to signal for him to follow along. “You see, when I was told they had decided to put you on the Pantheon, I wholeheartedly disagreed with them, and I wasn’t silent about it either. When I was asked to then give you your offer, I interjected some very hurtful and unnecessary things on my own volition in hopes that I could dissuade you from accepting. Everything about me told me you weren’t ready.
“But after tonight, I know I was wrong.” Dr. Brighton sped in front of Landon, turned and looked him dead in the eyes. “I was wrong,” he repeated. “Tonight, you performed brilliantly. You should know that. Even in the midst of all that was going on, you remained level-headed and focused. You figured out a way to get up to the forty-seventh floor when all obvious routes were blocked. You went head-to-head with Artemis and won, and most importantly, you succeeded in securing the files.” Dr. Brighton held up the pale blue file folder for Landon to see.
“I never paid attention to it before,” Dr. Brighton continued. “I only saw you as that broken boy, haunted by his past and unable to progress, but what I failed to see, Landon, is that you’re logical, clever and you’ve got a level of creativity when it comes to your abilities that I’ve never seen before. That’s a powerful combination. But most of all, you’ve got passion.”
Landon looked perplexed. He was trying to piece together what exactly Dr. Brighton was trying to tell him.
“Tenacity and perseverance are two things one can’t teach,” Dr. Brighton said. “They have to come from within. You have to be born with them, and you’ve got them. Those things are what drive you to succeed. That constant curiosity you face, that inability to accept the way things are, that need to know everything—it’s just your mind pushing you to be better, to be the best.
“I know the fire that burns within you.” Dr. Brighton passionately pressed his hand at his stomach. “That same fire rages in me.
“Never lose that passion, Landon. That hunger for understanding will keep you honest. We may not be able to know what’s in this file, but we are allowed to wonder, and we are definitely allowed to question whether or not we’re doing the right thing.” Dr. Brighton looked at Landon compassionately. “And know this Landon: what you did today was definitely the right thing.” Dr. Brighton stood tall and turned back toward the lift. In a more jovial tone, he continued, “Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted. That mission sure took it out of me.”
“Agreed,” Landon replied with a smile.
“Perhaps I’ll just sleep on the couch in the faculty lounge tonight. I don’t think I can bear trekking out to my apartment.” Dr. Brighton rubbed the back of his neck in an attempt to sooth the aches of his exhaustion. “I’m just too tired.”
“Yeah, it would really suck to have to find your way out there at night . . . especially after what we just went through.”
Landon and Dr. Brighton laughed as the lift activated and descended into the lower levels of the Olympic Tower.
• • • • •
When Landon entered the locker room, the rest of the guys from the Pantheon had already unsuited and left, returning to their rooms to get some well-deserved rest. Landon disengaged his nano-zipper and slowly pried his tactical uniform off with as much grace as possible. Noticing the bin filled with the suits of his teammates nearby, he set it with the others and dressed in the clothes he had stored in his locker.
Once ready, Landon headed out of the Olympic Tower to his bedroom on the fourth floor. Exhaustion had set in by this point and his thoughts concurrently quieted. Every concern about Celia and Artemis, every question about Project Herakles and every worry and concern faded away into the recesses of his mind. Thinking about nothing but his bed, he strolled through the dark halls of the Gymnasium, stumbled into his room and plopped down on his soft mattress. The moment his head hit the pillow he was out, lost in a deep, dreamless sleep.
However, his mind could only stay quiet for so long. Soon visions crept up through his subconscious and flashed through his blank slumber. Images of the suited guards strewn about the Metis Labs lobby in a state somewhere between sleep and death faded in and out. They were so vivid; his mind reconstructed the scene in perfect detail with limbs oddly contorted and numerous Morphium-12 darts stuck out of the casualties’ backs, arms, legs, necks and even their faces—the horrid remains of a desperate battle. As the images rushed through his thoughts, Landon tossed and turned in his bed. The suited men were their enemy, but no matter whose side they were on, images of the battle’s fallen victims were scarring enough to remain burned into his brain.
His visions changed to Project Herakles. Glimpses of the test tubes, the labels and the file folder flickered in and out of existence. They moved through his mind with incredible speed, but one image continued to resurface—an image that even his dreams seemed to consider uncertain. Just before Peregrine caught him staring at the papers of the file, he thought he had recognized a strange page hidden deep amongst the sheets of scientific ramblings. He couldn’t make out any of the words in the dark, but it was the doodles that stood out to him; he thought it was a page from his journal. It was the one he had lost in the city as he ran from the same black suited men. Landon couldn’t be sure; he hadn’t had enough time to fully take in what he was seeing before Peregrine interrupted, and his dreams portrayed that. The flashing memory of the page returned over and over again, but the writings were always blurry and the doodles familiar but inconclusive.
Then his mind shifted to Artemis, or Celia. Visions of her standing stoically in the hallway of the forty-seventh floor, coupled with uncomfortable visions of her body lying against the wall and recollections of her face revealed from behind her concealing collar, darted across his mind in rapid succession.
Landon was suddenly startled awake. When he opened his eyes, Celia’s face was right in front of him, consuming his entire range of sight. It was just as he had seen in his dream, but this was reality. She was dangerously close to his face, and it sent a jolt of shock and surprise through his body. He instinctively let out an embarrassing shriek as he tried to distance himself from her. Pushing the blankets away with his feet, he made his way for the far corner of the bed.
“Shh,” she said as forcefully as she could without being loud enough to wake Brock, who was still snoring in the other bed. “It’s me.”
Landon left the instinctive flight mode and calmed down, but his gaze was fixed on Celia, who was crouched near the head of his bed.
“Come on,” she continued in a quiet but hurried voice. “We need to talk . . . now.”
Celia grabbed Landon’s arm and pulled him from the comfort of his bed. Unquestioningly, Landon slid off his bed and got to his feet. Even though he had only gotten two hours of sleep, the anticipation had sucked the fatigue out of his body.
The mysteries of Artemis had been a subject stirring in his mind for nearly a year; he couldn’t escape her. He first heard her name after the incident in the Library and ever since she had haunted his thoughts, torturing him with one question after another but never giving him any answers. After Dr. Pullman told him Artemis was more than a myth, he had exhausted every possibility he could think of to unearth her identity, but Celia never came into his equation.
He couldn’t wait for answers, but in the back of his mind, he had a sinking feeling that what he was about to hear was going to change his life forever. He knew he would hear things he would never be able to tell another soul, and Landon didn’t know if he could withstand holding on to another person’s secrets when he had to fight so hard to guard his own.
Landon went with Celia to the door that led into the dormitory halls and reached to open it, but before his hand even touched the metal knob, Celia stopped his arm.
“No. Can’t risk it. Could wake him.” She pointed to Brock who still lay asleep under his covers. “Here, take my hand.” Landon looked at her skeptically. “Trust me.”
He took her hand with caution; he had an idea of what she was about to do. Celia stretched her arm out and placed her hand on the door. A moment later, Landon watched as her hand passed through the solid wood, disappearing from sight. Inch by inch, Celia vanished as she stepped through the door. Before he could protest or even think about what it would feel like, he was standing in the hall, the door to his room locked and undisturbed behind him.
“How can you do that?” Landon blurted out.
“Quiet!” Celia commanded in a restrained voice. “You’ll wake everyone, and I’ll explain in a minute. Right now we need to find somewhere safe where we can talk.”
After staring off in thought for a moment, Landon said, “I think I know a place.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
THE TALE OF ARETMIS
It was early morning. The purplish aura of the rising sun covering the sky in mild light, but the warming touch of its rays still lay hidden behind the mountains to the east. A light fog had come in across the lake, covering the valley and the forest in a shallow haze.
Landon and Celia hurried across the dewy grass and made their way through the woods. They sped through the trees. Landon knew the way without question. Even though there was no marked path, he knew which tree or rock designated the next step in the journey to the sanctuary hidden in the mountains.
Soon they were standing before the rock wall of the northern mountains. Landon stood silently for a moment, rethinking his decision to bring Celia there. It was the safest place Landon knew of, but it was also Dr. Brighton’s secret hideaway. His teacher had trusted him to keep it secret, but it was the only place he could think of that would be safe from prying eyes and inquisitive ears. Unfortunately, Artemis’ tale was too important and there was nowhere else to hear it.
Without waiting another moment, Landon raised his arm, gripped the boulder with his abilities and with a motion of his hand, rolled the stone aside, revealing the entrance into the tranquil paradise that was Dr. Brighton’s Secret Garden.
Landon led Celia to the arbor where he and Dr. Brighton had spent so many Saturdays training. The garden was in a state of utmost splendor. The cherry trees were in full bloom; their branches filled with a resplendent number of delicate pinkish-white blossoms. With every passing breeze, the trees would sway just enough to loosen a few of the blossoms, causing them to break free and coat the ground with little specks of their beauty.
The other trees and shrubs that were so meticulously planted in Dr. Brighton’s Japanese garden were lush and green, bursting with new growth. The creek filled the air with its soothing din as it washed over rocks and fell over tiny waterfalls. The intoxicating aroma of the living garden wafted into their noses as they sped into the sanctuary.
They hurried down the paths and over the bridges, passing the pond filled with colorful koi fish that swam under flowering water lilies, but they did pause for a moment by the pagoda to see if there was any sign of Dr. Brighton inside.
Satisfied he had actually decided to sleep in the Gymnasium, they continued to the arbor and settled there.
“God, this place is wonderful,” Celia said in admiration as she looked around the garden. “Your ability to block me from your thoughts has definitely improved. I had no idea this place existed.” Celia completed her rotation and finished taking in her surroundings. Her demeanor then changed the instant her eyes reconnected with Landon. He was standing rigidly on the stone floor, looking pointedly at her.
“Celia, what’s going on?” Landon asked.
“Hmm, I don’t even know where to start.” Celia lowered her head and stepped closer and closer to Landon, biding her time while she tried to figure out the best way to frame everything. “For starters, yes, I am Artemis and the reason you saw me last night is that I work for Metis Labs.”
Landon’s eyes widened, which forced Celia to continue, “But it’s not what you think. The Gymnasium’s been lying to you since the beginning. You weren’t brought here to become a better person, or to help the United States like they told you. The Gymnasium exists for one reason and one reason alone—to turn you into a weapon they can use.”
“Celia, you aren’t making any sense,” Landon interjected. How could the Gymnasium—his home—be bad? “What are you talking about? Why would you do this?”
“How do I explain this?” Celia turned her head away for a moment while she thought. “Landon, have you heard of a synaptic sync?”
“No.” Landon was so confused. Is this just another thing they haven’t gotten to yet in my Pantheon training?
“Well, I’ve been given clearance to show you what I know—to make you understand. But I think the only way I’m going to be able to make you see is if you see my memories. I want to show you how all of this started.”
Celia grabbed Landon by the wrist and pulled him to the ground as she lowered herself into a seated position. Looking at her perplexedly, Landon followed along and joined her on the stone floor of the arbor. As he sat across from her, he couldn’t understand what she was talking about or how she was going to make him understand why she was working for Metis Labs.
“Take my hands,” Celia ordered as she extended her hands forward, palms upward, and waited for Landon to grab hold of them. “I’m going to start from the beginning.”
Landon cautiously placed his hands in hers. He wanted to understand. The moment his fingers touched her skin, Landon felt a tugging sensation coming upward from the base of his spine, and then saw flashes of white light until he was somewhere completely different.
Looking around, Landon realized he was in some small town’s police station. He sat in a chair beside an officer’s desk, watching as men with badges and guns clipped to their belts walked around the precinct with purpose. Two men, one in a crisp, black suit and the other in slacks and a blue oxford, were in a heated discussion down the hall, and one of them kept shooting Landon a quick glance.
Their voices could be heard from where he sat, but they were too muddled with the rest of the commotion going on around him for Landon to understand what they were saying. After a few more seconds of this, the man in the black suit turned away from the guy he was talking to and started down the hall toward him.
When I was seven, my parents were murdered. Celia’s voice resounded in Landon’s mind. Something like this had happened to him before with Dr. Pullman. He was somehow experiencing Celia’s memories, trapped in her mind, listening to her narrate her own life’s story. I wasn’t lying about that, but on that day, as I was sitting in a police station, a man in a black suit came and spoke to me. He said he was there to take me to where I belonged. Where he took me was a place similar to the Gymnasium. It’s called the Academy.
Landon’s thoughts interrupted. Wait! So there really is another place like the Gymnasium? He couldn’t believe what she was saying. There was another facility like the Gymnasium for psychokinetics.
Yes. But unlike the Gymnasium, the Academy truly does strive to do what they say. A hint of contempt could be heard in her voice as she referred to the Gymnasium. The Academy trains psychokinetics, like us, to control our abilities so that we can help humanity.
When I was brought there, I was a special case. Unlike everyone else, I hadn’t debuted yet. I was only seven. Her bodiless voice spoke emphatically in Landon’s head. But they let me stay anyways, and they raised me from then on. They clothed me, fed me, taught me what I needed to know, and when I was ten, it happened. A stupid boy, Aaron Hopkins, kept pestering me and pestering me. Then one day at lunch he wouldn’t leave me alone, and I finally snapped.
The precinct disappeared from Landon’s mind and a new setting emerged. Landon was now
standing in a cafeteria, holding a tray in his hands picked clean of food. The room was much warmer than the Gymnasium’s cafeteria, with rich wooden tables running down it. It had vaulted ceilings, like a cathedral, and large stained glass windows ran down the walls, which ignited the room in bright light.
Standing in front of Landon was a boy of about sixteen. He was tall, freckled and had buzzed red hair. He seemed to be intentionally standing in Landon’s way.
“Aaron, can you please move out of my way?” Celia asked while Landon watched through her eyes. Realizing he was standing in the Academy’s cafeteria, Landon’s heart beat faster for a moment. It was the day of Celia’s apocratusis.
“Uh, I don’t think I can,” Aaron snidely replied.
“Come on, let me by.” Without a say in the matter, Landon moved forward in Celia’s body, but Aaron stepped in front of him, cutting off his path to the exit.
“I think you need to find another way out,” he said as he crossed his arms over his chest. Aaron towered over Landon. Celia was obviously quite short at this age. “This way’s for psy-kins, not orphans.”
At Aaron’s words, Landon felt her anger surge from within. Looking down, he could see that Celia’s hands clenched the edges of her food tray with such power that her knuckles turned white. Landon could tell that at any second, Celia was going to erupt. Aaron had pushed a serious button.
Then the table to Landon’s right suddenly burst into flames. Luckily there wasn’t anyone sitting at it, because that could have resulted in a serious tragedy. With the flames reflecting in his eyes, Aaron stepped back, and the few remaining students in the cafeteria stared at Landon in fear. As Celia, he was still standing with his tray clasped in front of him. The orange and yellow flames rose high into the air as the wood of the table splintered and cracked under the intense heat. He wanted to run away to safety, but his body was frozen in place. Just like Landon’s apocratusis, Celia was overtaken by her abilities. She had no control over what was happening.
The Search for Artemis (The Chronicles of Landon Wicker) Page 32