Locked Out of Love

by Mary K. Norris

  He froze and took the nearest chair. “I can’t help it. This doesn’t feel right to me, Ell.”

  Her face softened into sympathy. “Look—”

  Felix and Cali marched through the door. Joel glanced at the clock: 6:01 p.m.

  “Where’s the fire?” Felix asked.

  Joel stood. “There is no fire. Melanie wanted to meet us tonight. All of us,” he pointed out in case Felix felt like cutting out early.

  Joel expected more resistance, but Felix only nodded and led Cali over to the chairs to take a seat and wait.

  Merrick arrived shortly after. Sydney and Luke came out after they finished cleaning up in the back. The whole guild crammed into the lobby, like some secret AA meeting.

  Melanie arrived six minutes later. She stopped short in the entrance at the sight of them all. Her eyes were red rimmed and her nose pink. He got another creeping sensation.

  Joel went over to her. “Hey,” he whispered so the others wouldn’t hear. “Are you sick? Allergies?”

  Melanie sniffed. “Yeah, allergies.”

  Joel dug in his pockets for some kind of tissue but only produced some change, a mini screwdriver, and a flash drive.

  Melanie smiled. “I’ll be okay.”

  He stepped back and followed her to the center of the guild circle. She swallowed thickly as everyone’s attention zeroed in on her. Joel took his place in the circle with the others. They all stood, probably in an attempt to try and ease Melanie’s obvious nerves. It was easier to talk to a group of people if everyone was standing, right?

  “Um.” Melanie waved and dropped her hand, embarrassed. “Hi.”

  Joel coughed behind his fist. He half expected the guild to burst out unanimously with “Hi, Melanie.”

  They remained silent, waiting for her to get to the point.

  Melanie cleared her throat. “I asked Joel to bring you all here tonight because I wanted to apologize.”

  “Apologize?” Sydney’s delicate brow furrowed.

  Melanie nodded and walked over to grasp Syd’s hands in both of hers. “Yes, I’m afraid I’ve been keeping my distance because I’ve been scared of my newfound powers.” She dropped Sydney’s hand and moved to Merrick, placing a hand on his bare forearm. “I know you guys all accept your powers, and for me that has been a hard pill to swallow.” Sydney frowned at her hands. She opened and closed them. Merrick’s gaze snagged on the motion, his eyes quickly darting to where Melanie touched his arm. He opened his mouth, but she was already moving on. She laid a hand on Luke. “I’ve kept my distance from you because it’s intimidating to be around people who are so comfortable with who they are—what they are.” She smiled up at Luke. His neck turned red. Felix was next. “I’ve seen what some of you can do, and I envy the kind of comfort you have with yourselves.” Felix’s eyes were locked with Melanie’s, searching. Melanie broke contact first, hastily moving to Cali. Cali leaned back, as if trying to avoid the contact, but Melanie placed a comforting hand on her upper arm. “I’m here to apologize because it took me this long to see what I really wanted. All this time I thought powers were a curse, but you guys have helped me see things differently.”

  Joel felt a swell of pride in his chest. Melanie was finally coming around to view powers as a gift. Relief washed over him. All his worry wasn’t necessary. Everything was going to be fine.

  Cali jerked away from Melanie, her arm tucked tight against her body. “What the hell are you doing? She took my powers!”

  The fine hairs on the back of Joel’s neck stood up.

  “I felt it, too,” Merrick said with a slow nod. “I’ve never experienced anything like that. A numbing sensation?”

  Cali nodded.

  Sydney and Luke shared nervous glances.

  Felix frowned. “What gives, Joel?”

  What the fuck? Did Felix honestly think he was behind this? “I … ” He didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t known what Melanie was going to do. He certainly hadn’t told her to do this.

  She stepped forward. “Joel has no idea what’s going on.”

  The sound of car doors slamming came through the eerie silence of the lobby.

  Sydney peered through the glass door. Her face whitened. “Um, guys?”

  Joel’s stomach turned to lead.

  Juliet and her goons came through the front door. Salt air blasted into the lobby, heavy and wet, sticking to Joel’s skin, chilling him to the bone. Or maybe that was the feeling of utter betrayal he got as Melanie stepped away from the guild to greet Juliet.

  “I’m sorry,” she said to them at large.

  Felix’s eyes glittered with repressed rage.

  Cali’s face was red.

  Merrick remained impassive as he stepped in front of a shocked Sydney and a nervous-looking Luke.

  Joel glanced behind him and quickly stepped in front of Niella.

  “You turned us in.” it wasn’t a question. Joel’s whole world spun on its axis. All he could think was that he’d been so wrong—and he’d endangered them all.

  Melanie’s eyes filled with tears. Now he knew why they were red.

  “Allergies, huh? Just another lie you let me believe?”

  “Joel—”

  He broke eye contact. He didn’t want to hear any more of her lies. A part of him was dying inside and it hurt like a bitch, but he wasn’t going to let her see that. He didn’t want her to see how much she’d hurt him—how foolish he felt.

  “Take them.” Juliet pointed to the others.

  Another salty blast of air. The door opened and in came the Asian woman.

  “Syd,” Felix said. “Shields up.”

  “I—I can’t.” Sydney’s green eyes widened in fright. “Nothing’s happening.”

  Felix frowned and waved his hand. Nothing.

  Bile rose in the back of Joel’s throat. They were helpless.

  No, not everyone.

  She didn’t take his powers.

  Without another thought Joel lunged, but it was too late. The Asian woman threw out her hand, a sonic boom blasting him into the reception desk. His neck snapped back with a resounding crack. Melanie screaming, warmth at the back of his neck, and then darkness.

  He awoke to a throbbing pain in the back of his skull. He groaned, wishing for unconsciousness to take him again.

  “Joel? Joel, stay with me. Come on, I need you to wake up.”

  Something cool pressed against his forehead. The scent of copper hung heavy in the air, but underneath he could pick up the traces of white chocolate and strawberries.

  Melanie.

  His eyes snapped open. He struggled into a sitting position.

  “Not so fast.” She gripped his shoulders as his world took a dangerous turn.

  He took stock of his surroundings. He was still at Sydney’s clinic, the hard lobby floor beneath him, but he’d been moved to the center of the room. He reached for the back of his head and his fingers came away red, his hair sticky and wet with blood. He felt a bandage covering the source of the throbbing and only vaguely felt the pressure of the tape around his forehead holding it in place.

  The lobby looked undisturbed other than a few chairs moved out of perfect alignment. No sign of a struggle.

  If Joel didn’t have a chill in his bones and his head injury, he would have thought nothing had transpired, that somehow what he’d seen earlier was just some horrible nightmare, but he knew better.

  “You betrayed my guild.” It came out hoarse.

  Melanie winced. Her arms dropped away from him and she took a step back.

  “You betrayed me.” His voice grew in strength. He rose onto shaky arms.

  Melanie reached for him but stopped herself short. “Joel, I—”

  “You lied to me! In the worse possible way.”

  His throat clogged with emotion. He felt like someone was squeezing his heart—killing him slowly. He pushed the pain aside, let the anger take over. It felt better—stronger.

  “Why?” he spoke again when he was c
ertain his voice wouldn’t shake. “Was it all a sick game? Lead me on, make me feel for you, and stomp around on my heart a little bit until you had your fill?” Something clicked in his brain. “You used me to become full-forced, didn’t you?” He reached out for a chair to keep himself standing. He needed to get away from Melanie—far away. Now.

  “Joel, please, it wasn’t like that. Let me explain.”

  “Explain what? How I lost the Mirror Mate lottery by a landslide?” He snorted. “I think we’ve already established that.” He took a tentative step. The world spun. Still woozy, but not as bad.

  “I did this for you,” she called after him.

  He paused and slowly turned to face her, his vision going red. “You did all this,” he spread his arms to encompass the clinic, “for me?”

  She sighed in exasperation, glancing at the clock. “Look, we don’t have time. You have to—”

  “You took away my entire guild—probably sentenced them to a fate worse than death, and it was all for me?” He spat the last words.

  “Yes,” she said desperately. “Juliet would have taken you, too, if I didn’t cooperate. I had to go along with it, but if we hurry we can make it in time and save them!”

  “How the fuck are we going to storm a castle in this condition?” He pointed to himself, disregarding her statement and the flare of hope it brought him.

  She looked like she was torn between crying and smacking him upside the head. “Because I took the entire guild’s powers! I have them all inside me and I can use them, if we hurry.”

  Joel blinked. That spark of hope inside his chest flared. Could Melanie be telling the truth? Could he be wrong about her intentions? Had she been playing Juliet the entire time, working as a double, double agent?

  His head spun.

  He had no idea who to believe.

  He had no idea what to do.

  He stomped that little flare of hope right out.

  “Why the hell should I even think about trusting you? You betrayed us all.”

  “Because I didn’t have a choice,” she nearly yelled, clearly trying to hang on to what little patience she had left. “This was the only way I knew I could stay in the loop with Juliet and keep you safe. If I had warned you of the attack, they would have tried again. But they’re done in Orange County. I know where they’re taking the rest—it’s a small pit stop before they load up their trucks and drive away. If we hit them now, they’ll cut their losses, turn tail, and run. Plus, Niella mentioned you guys are looking for another girl, Hazel Benedict? This might give you another chance at finding any information about her before it all disappears.”

  “Niella is in on this?”

  Melanie gave him a small smile, some of the tension and sadness leaving her face. “Yes. She helped me plan.”

  His jaw metaphorically hit the floor. “Seriously? Niella? Why didn’t you come to me? I would have helped you in a second. I would have protected you.”

  Her hands fisted and rested on her hips. “I don't need saving all the time. I'm not that Zelda princess to your Link."

  "Wait." Joel held a hand up. "You actually know who Zelda is?"

  Melanie fumed. "That's not the point!"

  "Right," he said hastily. He rubbed his temples, trying to concentrate and ignore the pounding in his head.

  Some of his pain must’ve shown because Melanie went to her purse on the floor and dug around inside until she produced a small pill bottle. She held out two tablets for him. “Here. This should help.”

  Joel swallowed them dry and grimaced. Hopefully, they’d kick in soon so he could focus better. His mind was a jumbled mess. He didn’t know what to feel.

  Maybe that was for the best. If the terrible pain in his chest was any indication, he was being ripped apart from the inside out and the only cure was space apart from Melanie. But if what she was telling him was true, that wasn’t an option right now.

  “Say I believe you. What then?”

  “You need to believe me, otherwise your friends are screwed. And what we need to do, now I might add, is drive to this address.” She thrust a small piece of paper at him.

  He stared down at her bubbly script and had to blink a few times.

  She took the paper back. “You know what, I’ll drive. You focus on getting better. I’ll need you as strong as possible. I’m not sure what Trina can do, but right now I’m powered up on eight different abilities.”

  “Eight?” Joel narrowed his eyes at her. “You only touched five of us, and if you add in your own powers, that brings the total to six. I may have hit my head, but I can still do simple addition. Where did the other two come from?”

  Melanie avoided his gaze. “Missions with Juliet, before I realized what a monster her organization is.”

  His heart kicked against his ribs. “How do you have them for this long?”

  She reached for the leather around her wrist and the action wrenched his heart even more.

  No. Anything but what I think she did.

  “Melanie?” It came out hesitant, nervous.

  She looked up at him through guilt-lidded lashes. Tears threated to fall on her cheeks. “I took them. Permanently.”

  He knew that answer was coming, braced for it even. But hearing her say it hit with the force of a wrecking ball. The air left his lungs; he wrapped his arms around himself because what he really wanted to do was wrap them around Melanie, but he couldn’t allow himself to.

  “I told you I had secrets,” she said. “I wanted to tell you all of it, but I couldn’t. I was going to when it was all over. I never knew it’d escalate to this.”

  He didn’t know who this woman before him was. She was a stranger, deceiving him from the beginning. She was worse than Sydney.

  “Did you ever believe any of it?” he asked softly.

  Melanie frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  The pain in his gut turned to anger. He fisted his hands to keep them from shaking. “Everything you told me, about free will, about making your own choices, was any of that real?”

  She blanched.

  “You’re a hypocrite,” he accused. “Have you ever stopped to realize that what you're doing is taking away other people’s free will?”

  Her mouth opened and closed. The tears fell this time, but Joel refused to be moved by them.

  “You’re worse than Juliet.” He held up his hand to stop her from speaking. “Save it,” he told her. “The only thing I’m interested in now is helping my guild. They’re all that matter to me.” He stared at her without blinking as he said the words. But instead of feeling satisfaction at the hurt in her crystal-blue eyes, he felt an answering pain.

  Chapter 31

  Melanie thought for a moment they weren’t going to make it. Mrs. Kegler’s crappy car had rumbled and protested all the way as she’d driven with the pedal flush to the floor. But it was worth it. She had only one shot at this, and she had no idea how much time she had with these powers. She needed all the advantages she could get.

  In the passenger seat, Joel shifted uneasily.

  The wound in Melanie’s soul cracked open and bled a little more.

  He hated her.

  Did you really expect anything else?

  She knew what she was getting herself into from the beginning. She wouldn’t bitch and complain about what couldn’t be fixed. She had only right now, and she was going to right as much of her wrong as possible. Starting with putting an end to Juliet’s plan with the Guild of Truth. Then she was going to promise to use her powers only for good, like Joel and his friends, because the last thing she wanted to do was hurt anyone else.

  Melanie knew Juliet wasn’t going to strip any of them that night. After Joel was knocked out, they’d tranquilized the rest of them. She’d watched as they loaded them into their van, careful that no one saw. Melanie had kept an extra eye out for Tom. The last thing she needed was some innocent witness harmed for something he shouldn’t have seen. But, thankfully, Tom stayed in his pizzeria a
nd the rest of the shopping plaza had closed up for the day.

  Juliet’s plan was to take them back to their headquarters in L.A., where Melanie bet Hazel was being kept too. Juliet didn’t want to risk giving Trina too many powers. It appeared that the woman was already getting too cocky, which had been precisely why they’d wanted Melanie so much. She was a newbie, someone with no other powers, and who hated abilities to boot. If everything had gone to plan, Melanie would have been Juliet’s perfect little weapon, doing what she wanted—helping strip others of their abilities but never using those powers, until eventually—from what Melanie understood from little bits she’d overheard—she’d be stripped of all her abilities by another newbie when she became too hard to handle.

  It was a vicious cycle. It ate her up inside that she’d had to pretend everything was okay after that stunt in the herbal shop. She felt dirty, but she’d needed the information. It was the only thing that could help the guild now.

  “I need a quick run through of everyone’s powers.” She turned to Joel.

  She hated how his eyes stared at her with no flicker of amusement, no affection—just emptiness. Whatever fresh start she’d thought she’d be able to have with him was crushed. She’d screwed up. Joel might never look at her again, and she couldn’t blame him. She never knew it’d come to this, but that wouldn’t matter to him. Betrayal was betrayal no matter how one painted it.

  He held up one finger. “Felix, Eraser—pretty self-explanatory. He concentrates very hard on an object he wants to vanish, waves his hand, it disappears.” He held up two fingers. “Cali, Silencer—she can manipulate sound. Hers is more complex, but think of it as a sound vacuum; she can make herself soundless and sneak anywhere she wants, and also can project sound into a physical element, like that woman, Trina.” Three fingers. “Sydney, Shielder—activate her powers and no one else will be able to use theirs. If you need some kind of visualization, think of erecting walls all around you. Merrick, Decoder—he can learn information from an object when he touches it. Luke, Rejuvenator—used to be called the Generator, but he didn’t like it, thought it sounded too much like terminator.” Joel’s face softened momentarily. “He can heal faster than any normal human, making him pretty resilient when it comes to fights.” All five fingers were raised by then and he wiggled them before dropping his hand. “That’s everyone you touched.”