by Sophie Davis
“Testing? What sort of testing?” I asked, not sure I wanted to hear the answer.
“It appears Mr. Phi is having his blood drawn,” Nurse Carroll informed us helpfully.
“Where? Take me to him. Now,” I snapped. The dose of compulsion with my words was so intense that the nurse turned and began marching from the room with military precision.
“What’s wrong?” Tals sent.
“Pretty sure we’re not the only ones who know he can heal,” I replied.
“You don’t think…what do you think, exactly?”
“Phi can heal. His blood likely has healing properties, too,” I told her.
Ian sighed, his annoyance verging on pissed off. Given everything we’d been through with TOXIC, exploiting a child’s abilities was not something he’d abide.
Fury left an iron tang in my mouth as we hurried to find the little boy. Taking his blood to distribute to patients in critical condition wasn’t that different than asking him to heal Frederick. Still, I exploded into the room. A man in a nurse’s uniform was siphoning a vial of Phi’s blood. I threw him against a wall and away from the kid.
“How dare you?” I growled, taking in the sight of the small child hooked up two machines.
“Who—what—” stuttered the nurse. “How did you find us?”
“Phi? Are you okay?” Talia bent over the boy’s bed, trying to figure out how to disconnect the machines without hurting him.
“Talia?” The child sounded sleepy, like maybe he was drugged.
“You don’t understand,” the nurse insisted.
I slammed his spine against the wall a second time.
“There are more injured here than we can treat,” the nurse pleaded. “We’re just trying to save lives.”
Nurse Carroll stepped in to help Talia with Phi. Ian walked over and put a hand on my shoulder. He glanced at the nurse’s nametag.
“Nurse DeWayne, is it? Who ordered the child’s blood drawn?” Ian demanded.
“It’s okay, Talia,” Phi said behind me. “I’m used to having blood taken.”
I looked over my shoulder just in time to see Phi sit up, sway, and nearly faint.
“It’s just routine,” mumbled the little boy.
“Save lives?” I shoved Nurse DeWayne a third time. “At the expense of his? How much blood have you taken?”
Seeing the child lying there—pale and clammy with marks up and down his arms—brought back memories I didn’t want to relive. Memories of my time at Tramblewood and the days I’d spent hooked up to machines just like Phi was now. The fourth time I slammed the nurse, he bit down so hard on his lip that blood poured from the wound.
“Erik, easy,” Ian said softly.
He wasn’t concerned that I would hurt the nurse. Ian was concerned that I’d hurt the nurse before the man told us who else was involved.
“Go get the patient some cookies or a juice or something,” Talia ordered Nurse Carroll. To Phi, she spoke in a much nicer, calmer voice. “You’re gonna be okay. I’m so sorry. We never thought this would happen.”
“It’s okay,” Phi replied. “Dr. Icaria says they just—“
“Dr. Icaria?” I whirled on Ian, my glare made of daggers. “Like the woman who’s treating Frederick?”
Nurse DeWayne spit blood at my feet. “That child could heal everyone in this hospital.”
His feverish eyes pleaded for understanding. A part of me did get it. It was the part that was still desperate to save Frederick’s life. But then the jackass added, “Isn’t one child worth the lives of thousands?”
Ian was already off in search of Dr. Icaria when DeWayne’s head hit the wall hard enough to knock him unconscious. The nurse crumpled to the ground.
“Erik?” Tals’ voice was so small and distant.
I didn’t trust myself to speak. How could anyone justify killing a little boy? At least Talia and I had planned to ask Phi for help with Frederick. We weren’t going to trick him or sacrifice his well-being. That fact made me feel only slightly hypocritical for hating Nurse DeWayne and Dr. Icaria.
“It’s different,” Talia said to me softly. “I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but it is different.”
Is it?
Weren’t we just as bad as Gretchen? Exploiting Talents for our own agenda?
“It’s different,” Talia repeated firmly.
She wasn’t inside my head, likely afraid of what she might find in that moment. My girlfriend just knew me well enough to know where my mind had gone. And, well, maybe she was feeling just as guilty.
I heard Ian and Dr. Icaria approaching long before they entered the room. They were arguing, with the doctor pleading nearly the same case as Nurse DeWayne. Listening to her rationalize her horrendous behavior sent me over the edge. Dr. Icaria sounded just like Danbury McDonough as she spouted nonsense about all the shit she could do, all the cures she could make, with just one Healer’s blood. It nearly mirrored the words the former TOXIC director had said to me about my own blood.
I spun as Ian and the doctor reached the doorway. Vials of Phi’s blood were lined up in refrigeration units of each machine he’d been connected to. So many vials of necessary lifeforce that had been siphoned from one little boy.
Destroy. As the thought crossed my mind, someone screamed.
“Erik! Don’t!”
In that moment, it was the only voice that could have stopped me. I met Phi’s frightened, somewhat dazed eyes.
“What’s done is done,” he said. “Don’t let it go to waste.”
“Mr. Kelley, I beg of you to listen to him,” Dr. Icaria interjected. She hurried into the room and placed herself between me and the vials of crimson liquid. “You do realize that your friend Mr. Kraft could live if he receives the child’s blood?”
“The child has a name,” I growled.
Dr. Icaria had enough sense to be scared. But, like most fanatics, she was convinced she was in the right. She was willing to die for her beliefs. I didn’t bother to hide my disgust for the doctor. I wanted her to know just how much the sight of her made me sick.
“Frederick wouldn’t want to live at the expense of another,” I spat. “Especially a little boy who’s already been through so much.”
Nurse Carroll returned with a package of goo for Phi that was supposed to help restore his strength. He accepted it with a small frown and finished the greenish paste quickly.
“I want Phi and the other three children in his suite discharged and transported to my estate immediately,” Ian instructed the nurse.
Two uniformed soldiers appeared in the doorway, neither of whom I recognized. Ian gestured to Dr. Icaria.
“She’s all yours,” he told them.
“Ian, don’t do this. You need me,” she protested. “You’re short staffed as it is.” One of the soldiers slapped restraints on the doctor. Her expression hardened, became more defiant. “Are you sure you want me interrogated, Mr. President? What if I say something….”
Her eyes landed on Talia. Dr. Icaria cocked her head to one side, as though giving serious thought to how she wanted to end the sentence.
“Incriminating,” Icaria finished.
Without looking at Talia, I felt her tense.
Ian’s laughter masked his fear for my girlfriend. He didn’t care about himself. Harboring a fugitive wasn’t a big deal, not when he’d intended to give Talia asylum long before she showed up in the States. Nor did Ian believe UNITED agents would dare breach his estate and try to take her by force. He was the council leader, after all.
Still, if Dr. Icaria told people that she’d seen Talia at the hospital, it was only a matter of time before the world knew she was in Virginia. UNITED might respect Ian as their leader, but the Sons of After definitely wouldn’t think twice about storming the home of a Talented President. If only to prove they could. Then there was Gretchen….
“You assume that I intend to have you interrogated,” Ian countered, his voice calm. “There’s no need for that. W
e are a nation at war, Dr. Icaria. I am commander-in-chief of the armed forces and head of the UNITED council.” The look he levelled on the doctor was pure triumph. “You have committed a heinous crime against a Talented child. It will be a very long time before anyone cares what you have to say. If they ever do.”
With one solider flanking each side, Ian’s men marched Dr. Icaria from the room. I watched her go, fists balled at my sides. Talia’s touch was light on my arm.
“Come on, let’s take Phi to his sister.” She had one arm slung protectively around the boy’s shoulders.
Letting her take my hand, I found solace in her warm skin against mine. I tried not to dwell on the leaden feeling in my gut, the one that promised we’d just made a critical error with Dr. Icaria.
Chapter Twenty-One
Talia
Hearing Dr. Icaria’s frantic ramblings about the sacrifice of one being worth the lives of many drove home Crane’s point about abusing power. Guilt ate away at me the entire ride back to Crane’s estate. Phi rode with Erik and me. The other kids from the Clearwood Institute traveled in a medi-hover under the watchful eyes of Crane and a team of his most trusted soldiers.
I couldn’t bring myself to ask Phi to heal Frederick after Dr. Icaria had practically drained the poor child. Instead, I did the next best thing and asked Crane to have Frederick brought to the estate. At least he would be surrounded by his friends there. The only thing left was to pray Frederick would hang on long enough for Henri to be located.
I refused to give up hope, though. Dr. Icaria might have been crazy, but she was right that Talents healed differently than norms. Injuries considered life-threatening to a norm would not necessarily kill us. Dr. Patel knew all of this and still believed Frederick wouldn’t recover, but he wasn’t a trauma specialist. Bryn had recovered, after all. Why not Frederick, too?
Erik barely spoke on the ride back. Once we arrived at the estate, he muttered something about needing to rest and disappeared into one wing of the mansion. He was still so angry, I suspected he was really going to find somewhere to blow off steam. I almost offered to join him but worried my presence might just make his mood worse.
Instead, I visited Penny in her bedroom, which was quite possibly the strangest place I’d ever seen with my own eyes. Which was saying something.
“President Guidemore’s third wife was apparently super into themes for the rooms,” Penny informed me. I’d been caught with my mouth agape while looking at the décor.
“I see. What exactly do you call this theme?” I gestured to the pastel pink wallpaper that was scattered with rainbow sprinkles. “Ice cream sundae?”
Penny laughed. “Wait ‘til you see the bathroom. The tub looks like a banana boat.”
“Terrifying,” I said.
My best friend’s color had improved, and she no longer resembled a vampire. Sleep had done wonders for her dark circles and bloodshot eyes. In fact, her messy red-orange hair was the only part of her that still looked amiss. Penny’s hair was often out of control, so it was somewhat reassuring to see her sloppy ponytail.
Crane had asked me not to mention the episode or any other topic that might cause Penny unnecessary stress. I understood the logic, yet that left me with very little to say to my best friend.
“Knock, knock.”
Never before had I’d been so relieved to see Brand. The feeling didn’t last long as I noticed his grim expression and even grimmer mood.
“What’s wrong?” Penny asked, immediately sitting up a little straighter.
“Have you found Henri? Oh, my god. Is it Frederick?” I demanded. “Has he…is he….” Tears welled up in my eyes and I couldn’t finish.
Brand appeared touched at my emotional reaction and more than a little shocked that I had the capacity to care for another person. He was such an ass.
“Frederick is fi—” He halted, realizing the word wasn’t exactly right for our friend’s situation. “Frederick is alive. Henri is still unaccounted for. We’ll find him, though. The good news on the front is that he never left London. Henri wasn’t on the same hover as Frederick; one of the other agents on it has confirmed as much.”
“If he’s at one of the ports helping with evacuations, wouldn’t there be a record of that?” Penny asked.
“There should be,” Brand agreed. “But everything is so chaotic, and things aren’t running as they should. Frederick’s name is on UNITED’s wounded list now. Once Henri sees it, he’ll reach out to one of us.”
Where are you, Henri? I wondered.
“So why do you look like they stopped making your favorite brand of hair gel?” I asked.
He scowled, but Penny giggled.
“Epsilon found something he thinks you might want to see,” Brand told me. I was already to the door when he added, “Not you, Pen. You need to rest.”
I expected a protest, but Penny nodded bleakly. She dutifully settled back against two pillows that were shaped like scoops of ice cream. With a wave and a promise to return, I followed Penny’s boyfriend from the room.
The home crypto bank was packed when we arrived. In addition to those I expected to find there—Alpha, Epsilon, and Kenly—Crane, Erik, Mr. Kelley, Alex, and James were present.
I forced a smile. “Must be important news. What’s up?”
“Epsilon wanted to wait for you,” Erik replied.
“I thought it most efficient that way.” Epsilon sat at a desk in the center of the room, several documents up on the holoscreen.
We all huddled around him, and I stared at the first document curiously. A web of decorative lines connected names to one another.
“Is this a family tree?” I asked, my forehead wrinkling. We were a little busy for genealogy time.
Epsilon nodded and enlarged the document. “All the files in that numbered folder you were interested in? They are family trees. This one belongs to the McDonoughs, as you can see.”
Starting at the top, I scanned the names. Some I recognized, some I didn’t. Most notable was the timeframe it covered—only the last one hundred and twenty years.
“Margaret Anne McDonough,” James read, pointing to the first name on the page. “She founded the McDonough School, right?”
“Yeah, she was President,” I replied. “She started the school because of her grandson, Daniel. He was the first McDonough born talented, part of the first generation.”
Epsilon clicked on Daniel’s name, and another document opened beside the first. It read like a TOXIC operative bio but was intensely comprehensive. There were columns for abilities, physical description, and strength levels—all standard nowadays—but also observational notes, diet plans, and blood test results. Most of the science stuff was over my head, so I focused on the notes. Daniel had been an incredible Talent, with exceptional power and mind manipulation capabilities that far surpassed my own. And he’d exhibited talents as young as two weeks after his birth.
Mind manipulation….
I mulled over the phrase, bothered for some reason by the wording. Erik realized the issue before I did.
“When was this report made?” He directed the question to Epsilon, whose fingers began flying over the keys.
“Why do you ask?” Mr. Kelley wanted to know.
“Because Daniel McDonough was born before TOXIC was established. Before UNITED was established—” Erik began.
“Before classification terms had been established,” I finished for him.
Epsilon rattled off a date approximately thirty years before. It was long after Daniel was dead.
“So, this isn’t an original record?” I asked, though it wasn’t really a question.
Someone had clearly observed Daniel and kept a very detailed record of his life and abilities. Then…what? Mac had tracked down those notes and made a new file?
“I cannot say,” Epsilon told me. “But I can tell you that this particular document was opened often and updated not infrequently. All the way up until two months ago.”
; “Not long before D.C.,” I commented. It made sense; the school was shut down and Mac was arrested after the battle. “Okay. Can we go back to the main view of the family tree?”
Epsilon obeyed, and I continued perusing the McDonough lineage. Though I didn’t know what I was looking for, I hoped something significant would jump off the screen and bite me on the nose. There was a reason for the family tree and its frequent updates, I was certain.
“It wouldn’t have been encrypted if it wasn’t important,” Erik sent, confirming my suspicion.
With my thoughts on safer topics than Donavon, I’d left my mind vulnerable. Erik was taking advantage. Honestly, I was just glad he was talking to me. It felt lonely inside my head without him sometimes.
“Agreed,” I sent back.
“What do you know about Daniel’s kids, Denna and Darin?” he asked me.
“Only that Darin is Mac’s father. I didn’t know there was another child in that generation,” I admitted. Turning to Epsilon, I switched to vocal communication.
“Will you click on Daniel’s kids? I want to know what their talents were,” I told him.
Again, the links led to very detailed reports on Denna and Darin McDonough. Denna was another Mind Manipulator and extremely powerful. She’d died young in some sort of accident that also claimed her father, according to her file.
“Is there more info on the accident?” I asked.
Epsilon shook his head. “Not in this file. I can look into it, though,” he offered.
“No need,” Crane interjected, speaking up for the first time. All eyes turned on him. He crossed his arms and cleared his throat. “Denna was a very strong manipulator. She was also…,” he waivered, glancing in my direction before continuing. “Unhinged.”
His midnight eyes held mine, and my heart started beating faster.
“Denna was reckless, in every aspect of her life,” Crane elaborated. “She loved partying and relished being out of control. One night, while the family was on vacation, she had a little too much fun. Denna’s father confronted her. It didn’t end well for either of them.”