by Sophie Davis
Eyes still downcast, Alpha added, “We mean you no harm, Talia.”
What is the Clearwood Institute? Are these children privileged? Where are their parents?
Though the thoughts belonged to Talia, they bounced intensely through my mind.
“How do you know who I am?” Tals asked.
The boy with the shaved head moved to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Alpha.
“My name is Epsilon,” he began softly. “Everyone knows who you are. I mean, you’re sort of famous.”
If only panthers could snicker.
The kid’s black gaze fell on me, almost like he sensed my amusement. “You, too, Erik. We’ve been following your peace rallies on the screens.” He shrugged sheepishly. “When we can, anyhow.”
Talia’s gaze narrowed. “Are you Privileged?” she asked softly.
The other children moved closer to Epsilon, who wrapped an arm around one girl’s thin shoulders. Alpha lowered her head before replying. For just a second, I thought I saw tears shimmer in her eyes.
“We were supposed to be,” she said softly, eyes still downcast.
Hand resting on the back of my panther neck, all my girlfriend’s emotions flowed freely into me. An overwhelming sadness filled us both.
“They were left behind,” Tals sent. “Gretchen left them here.”
I growled. Alpha peered at me, her eyes wide beneath damp lashes.
“After the battle of D.C…,” the girl began, trailing off as her voice tightened. She hiccupped, then continued. “All the American institutes were shut down. Most of the students were taken overseas. We didn’t make the cut.”
“Gretchen abandoned you?” Talia asked incredulously.
If she hadn’t already wanted Gretchen’s head on a platter, this would’ve put her over the edge.
Alpha nodded, the tears reappearing. This time she couldn’t hold back. “We’ve been on our own for over a month now.”
The shift in my girlfriend was visible. She glanced from Alpha to Epsilon to the other three children huddled around their leader.
“They are so thin,” Talia sent. “Have they been eating?”
It was true, except for Alpha. She was average-sized for someone her height. But the harder I stared at her, the more it felt as though something about her appearance was slightly off. It was too perfectly middle of the road. As though reading my mind—maybe she was, with so much energy coming from every direction it was hard to tell—Alpha dropped the visual façade she’d been projecting.
Tals gasped. Alpha’s arms and legs were like twigs, and her smock nearly swallowed her thin frame. But it was her scars that drew my attention. They covered her arms, legs, and neck and varied in states of healing and scarring.
“This is why I’m constantly morphed.” Alpha managed a small shrug as she gestured to her battered body. “This isn’t so pretty.”
Torture, I thought. The scars were similar to ones on my body.
Tals’ fingers curled into my hair. She pulled a handful subconsciously, recognizing the scars for what they were too.
“We can’t leave them,” she sent.
I hesitated, my heart tugging at the ragtag group of kids who’d been abandoned. Their combined power was a hell of a lot more than our combined power, and I didn’t like those odds. Still, Alpha and the others obviously hadn’t eaten in a while. They needed help.
“Do you really think we can trust them?” I replied finally.
“I do. They didn’t need to assist us, but they did. That means something.”
After several long moments, I nodded. Again, I got the impression that Alpha was listening in on our conversation. Her next comment practically confirmed it.
“We would have come to your aid sooner,” she said. “But…if we had, things would have gone differently. Epsilon determined the right moment—the one with the most favorable outcome.”
“Great. Another Visionary,” Tals sent. Her eyes were wide as dinner plates, even as her mental voice was sarcastic.
“Kenly’s vision saved a lot of lives,” I reminded her gently.
“You know what I mean,” she replied.
I did. Visionaries and visions were dangerous. Not like Talia and I were dangerous, but knowledge about the future could be tricky. Visions centered on one possible outcome of the future, one that would only come to fruition if everything else in the world remained on the same track. Unless a Visionary was concentrating on a specific event, it was extremely rare to have more than one vision about the same future point.
Alpha’s comment played back to me.
Epsilon determined the right moment—the one with the most favorable outcome.
That meant Epsilon had viewed multiple outcomes of our fight with Eighteen. It didn’t quite seem like a vision from a visionary, so what talent did he actually have?
“If you trust them….” I trailed off, not wanting to argue with her about whether to bring them back to the McDonough house when she’d already made up her mind. I didn’t trust them, but I did trust Talia.
Talia inhaled deeply and turned to Alpha.
“Will you help us get these assholes over to the medical building?” she asked, gesturing to Eighteen and the three bounty hunters.
Alpha nodded eagerly. “Of course.”
With the help of Alpha and Epsilon, Tals used her telekinetic talents to float the unconscious Nightshade girl and the others toward medical. Stalking along behind them, I remained in my panther form. The other children stayed in the courtyard, seemingly due to a silent directive from Alpha.
We locked our captives in rooms as we’d done with Gracia. Just as I was about to morph to human, Epsilon took the helm to program the cages. He used Talia’s biometrics to seal the captives inside the rooms, not even attempting to use his own or Alpha’s.
“Have you been staying in the dorms?” Talia asked as we exited medical with our new allies. At least, I hoped they were allies.
“For about three days now,” Alpha replied. She shrugged sheepishly. “It’s the best accommodations we have come across.”
“What have you done for food?” Talia followed up.
“Berries and edible plants mostly. We’ve found a few abandoned houses and raided the pantries. So, we have a decent supply of canned foods and dried meats.” Alpha hesitated. “It’s hard with so many of us.”
Talia nodded. “Have you tried the cafeteria?”
“Not yet.” Alpha’s eyes flicked to Epsilon. “These aren’t the first bounty hunters to visit, we’ve been staying out of sight.”
My girlfriend’s steps faltered. “We aren’t safe here,” she sent me.
“No, we’re not,” I replied. “But Kenly and Emma are in no shape to travel yet. We’ll have to stay the night at least.”
The knowledge that these weren’t the first round of bounty hunters to come to the McDonough School was troublesome. Gretchen must have known Talia would be there at some point. We were acting too predictably.
The tension in Talia leaked through to me. She was desperate to return to the McDonough’s house and hold Alex. But her heart was torn—she couldn’t leave Alpha and the others to fend for themselves.
“Others will come,” Epsilon said quietly. “In three days, more will come.”
We followed them into the dorms. The Clearwood children had set up camp in student housing, all six taking up only one of the largest rooms. None of the other children had spoken yet, but their fear was so overwhelming that I had a hard time breathing in their presence.
Alpha kept up a stream of babble, telling us she was the oldest at sixteen. Epsilon was only a few months younger. Delta and Theta, twin boys who looked nothing alike except for their shared gauntness, were fourteen and extremely shy. And then there were the two young children, Phi and Zeta. Phi couldn’t have been more than ten and Zeta looked even younger.
Still in panther form, I remained by Tals’ side, close enough that my fur always brushed her leg as we sat in the kids’ dorm ro
om.
“Do you plan to stay here until the bounty hunters come?” Talia asked.
Though she still wanted to help them, my girlfriend still hadn’t invited the kids back to the McDonough house with us. Even without asking, I knew she wanted to spend a little more time with them first and get a better gauge on their abilities. Alex was her top priority, and his safety trumped all.
Alpha looked to Epsilon, who ran a bony hand over his shaved head.
“We will stand with you to fight them when the time comes,” he said, his proclamation sending chills down my spine.
Theoretically, I could see the future. Sort of. Of all my abilities, it was the only one that scared me. The future was fluid, like a river, and could change course at any moment. It was too uncertain to derive anything reliable.
And yet…Epsilon wasn’t like most Visionaries. His control over his talents was impressive, to say the least.
Tals met my gaze, and a silent questioned passed between us. “Do we stay to fight a new threat?”
It was too big a decision to make without consulting the others. Talia wanted to press Epsilon for details of the fight yet to come but held her tongue for the moment. Like me, my girlfriend worried that putting too much stock in visions was dangerous and naïve.
Then again, Kenly’s prophecy about the attack on the islands had saved countless lives.
“We changed Kenly’s vision,” Talia reminded me as she glanced around the room.
Alpha, bright eyes shining with hope, stood tall beside Epsilon. Delta sat on the lower bunk of one set of beds, his head bowed. Long pale-blond hair obscured his face, but his gaze peeked through heavily. Theta and Zeta were downstairs keeping watch for new threats.
Phi huddled in the corner of the top bunk opposite Delta, knees drawn to his chest and his chin tucked. His fear was the worst, though his expression was hard. Something about his large eyes and high, sharp cheekbones was familiar. I glanced at Alpha.
They’re related, I realized.
“Will you stay and fight?” Alpha asked, her tone betraying none of the feelings swirling inside of her.
“She knows Epsilon’s vision,” Tals sent.
With her hand still on the back of my neck, I nodded my response.
My girlfriend met Alpha’s questioning gaze. “I want to know more about the Clearwood Institute,” she said.
Alpha and Epsilon exchanged pointed stares that made me believe they were speaking over a closed mental channel just like Talia and me. I considered pushing my way into their heads but refrained. The more time we spent with the Clearwood children, the more sure I was they were truly on our side. Still, I couldn’t help wondering if I was beginning to trust them simply because I was drawn to their power.
“Can we talk at the McDonough’s house?” Alpha asked after a long moment. “Just Epsilon and myself. The others will stay here for now.”
Talia hesitated only a beat. “Of course.”
She appreciated the offer to have four of the six children stay at the main campus, away from Alex.
Someone’s stomach growled loudly, Phi’s if I had to guess. The boy whimpered and curled further into himself. I looked up at Talia, whose violet eyes held a question that I hadn’t considered until that moment.
“Are you sure you want to do that? I can go alone,” I told her.
Tals shook her head. “These kids are starving, Erik. And Kip, Emma, and Kenly need protein. There isn’t a choice.”
She turned to Alpha and Epsilon. “Can you both morph?”
Chapter Nine
Cressa
The lilac canopy draped above her held an innate serenity, and its long silken drapes assured Cressa she was exactly where she belonged. Soft white pillows nestled her in the little hole her father called a nest. Kev Leon’s dimples greeted her from a v-screen on one wall. She sat up, her eyes darting back and forth.
“Call Julie.”
Another v-screen flickered to life beside the one of Kev Leon, and a petite girl with raven hair appeared. Clad in pajamas, she had a gaming v-screen paused in the background.
“I just crushed Chance the Whapper!” Cressa’s best friend declared with a grin.
“Awesome,” Cressa replied automatically, her mind racing.
Julie’s fingers pinched at the air, zooming in. “Are you okay? You look weird.”
“Yeah, I just had the worst nightmare. I feel really out of it.” Cressa swiped beads of sweat from her forehead.
“Tell me about it.” Julie plopped onto a couch, and Cressa’s v-screen followed her automatically.
“Kev Leon was there…,” she started.
The dark-haired girl’s features wrinkled. “That doesn’t sound like a nightmare.”
“There was also an…Ice Queen?” Cressa tapped on her forehead, as if willing the information forth. “No, Dame de Glace. She was…saving people? I don’t know, but I was Talented. I mean, she made me Talented. No, Privileged. I was Privileged.” Cressa’s heart was racing. It wasn’t coming out right, the words sounded so benign.
Julie evidently agreed. “That all sounds like a good time, Cressa. Your Ice Queen adopting anyone else?”
“No,” Cressa insisted. “It was terrifying. There were these secret tunnels. A frog pond. A little bird…I saved her from dying.”
Swinging her legs off the couch cushion, Julie straightened and leaned forward. Swiped the game screen aside with a toss of one hand.
“Who did you hang out with last night?” she demanded. “And why wasn’t I invited?”
“Huh?”
“You were obviously shiny. If it brings dreams of Kev Leon and talents and privileges, sign me up. Were you with Rickon?”
Cressa pushed herself out of bed, her feet moving automatically into her mem-socks waiting beside it. The camera panned out as she paced on the carpet’s bright threading.
“I told you, I said no when Rickon asked me out,” she insisted, turning around at the far wall. “This wasn’t shining, it was a dream. I was Privileged. My parents sent me there.”
“Sent you where?” Julie’s forehead wrinkled. “Like, they sent you away?”
“To the Institute. It was sort of a boarding school, but they make you Talented. We were supposed to save the other Talents. UNITED voted to kill them all, we had to save them.” Even to her own ears, Cressa sounded like a ranting banana.
“It was just a dream, Cress,” Julie soothed. The worried expression disappeared as her eyes lit up. “Where did Kev Leon come into it? Like a ghost?”
Right. Kev Leon had died in an accident.
“He wasn’t dead,” Cressa explained. “The Dame faked his death and kidnapped Kev. He’s Privileged, too.”
Cressa stopped walking and closed her eyes. She swore she could still feel a trace of his touch on her hand, a hint of the kiss he’d brushed across her cheek. The thrill of standing beside him, united.
“What are you doing?” Julie asked with a giggle.
“It felt real,” Cressa insisted. “He kissed me. He saved me. More than once.”
Her best friend snorted. “Doesn’t sound real, but I’d sure like it to be.”
“Yeah,” Cressa agreed.
Her friend’s face slowly drained of color.
“You look weird,” Julie said again, backing away from the screen.
“Some friend you are,” Cressa replied with a laugh. “I need to go get ready for school, see you soon.”
The v-screen disappeared with a flick of Cressa’s thumb. She looked at the other one, the one with a life-sized Kev Leon smiling back at her. Maybe it was finally time to get rid of him, she didn’t need the ghost of a movie star haunting her dreams.
“Swap poster one,” Cressa said aloud as she strode to the attached bathroom. Glancing back when she reached the door, Cressa frowned. Another image of Kev Leon had replaced the first.
“Swap poster one.”
Those piercing blue eyes still stared at her, this time from atop a horse.
“Swap poster one, no Kev Leon. Anyone else,” she called, shutting the door behind her. The bathroom v-screen automatically flickered on when she entered, Kev’s devilish smile taunting her.
“No Kev Leon,” Cressa repeated slowly. “Put up the Sec—”
The words disappeared on Cressa’s lips as her eyes fell on the mirror’s reflection. Her hair was still blonde, though the shade was now cool and light instead of strawberry-kissed. Steely blue eyes stared back. Cressa held one hand to the glass, sure that the v-makeover feature had somehow activated. Instead of sliding through the image, her fingers connected with the cold, hard surface. She traced the faint wrinkles beside her eye, and the slightly deeper ones beside her mouth. Lines like that came from decades of laughter that never reached a person’s eyes.
A lightbulb exploded somewhere behind her, but Cressa’s eyes were fixed on her hand. There was something wrong with it. The skin wrinkled slightly at the joints. They weren’t the hands of a fifteen-year-old. Cressa held the other one up to compare and found a thick golden band around one finger. Mounted in the center was an enormous blue stone. Ice blue. Like her eyes. Cressa’s mouth formed a silent scream as she stepped back and took her in reflection.
Dame de Glace.
Cressa didn’t look the age the Dame had in person, but a bit younger than her holo-image. Even with the tighter features and only a hint of aging, she was unmistakably seeing Gretchen in the mirror.
The scream that ripped from Cressa’s throat was an inhuman sound. The lights around the mirror exploded in tandem. Items from her vanity joined the glass and flew through the air.
Cressa didn’t know how long she’d been standing there when the bathroom door slammed open.
The tears welling in her eyes spilled over at the sight of her mother. The whirlwind of items tumbled to the floor, and she pitched herself into the arms that had always kept her safe.
“What’s happening?” Cressa pleaded.
Mrs. Carmine gently pulled away to study her daughter’s face. Tugging her hand, she guided Cressa back to face the mirror. Her mother’s reflection joined that of the Dame. Delight radiated from her at the sight.