Military? Us?
“So they’re a weapon?” I asked aloud. How could two spinning-black-hole-headed-boys be a weapon? Did they have some kind of power like mine? More powerful, I’d say, if the grandparents kept them locked up for so many years. They never even thought about doing that to me. They just wanted me dead. Ergo: Me not as powerful.
Elisha laughed softly. “Look at your pea little brain trying to work things out. It’s cute. I should be grateful you’re so stupid. It made it so easy to pop inside your head anytime I wanted.”
“You’re stupid!” Nancy said in my defense. And if we weren’t in perilous danger I would have smiled at her loyalty.
But, yeah.
Tied up and all, I decided to swallow my witty comebacks. “I guess I have to be grateful to Grams, then, since she’s blocking what you want to see.” I had no idea what memory Grams was protecting, but maybe if Elisha thought I did, she’d let her guard down and give me some clue as to what she was looking for.
To my surprise Roland angrily stepped forward. “You’ll show her, or you’ll die, you little vixen.”
“Roland, calm down.” Elisha put her small delicate hand up to placate him. “She’s just trying to rile us up.” Then she focused on me. “She can stay nestled in that brain of yours, but I’ll get to that memory, don’t doubt that for a second.”
Wow.
As I sat there, losing circulation in my wrists and ankles and seeing my boyfriend in a computer coma, I suddenly realized how unshocked I was at this turn of events. If I was so unsurprised at Elisha and Roland being this insane, why in the world did I get in the van with Elisha and Doris? I let her control me. I let her inside my mind and make decisions for me when I knew what she was. From breaking her out of the farm to helping her escape to Havenville, I let Elisha use me. And as a result, I put all my loved ones in danger. And Jill, too. (Okay, that was mean: Jill had more than proved herself. Old habits die hard.)
I had to get us out of there. I never thought I’d hear myself say it, but maybe I could get Turner and Roberta to help. I was so busy distrusting them (and rightfully so) I ended up walking into an even bigger pit of evil.
“You can rot in your hell place with that Satan dude,” I said, knowing that it would sting, and secretly hoping I didn’t sound like an idiot.
It worked.
Roland actually stepped forward and slapped me hard in the face. “Don’t blaspheme!”
Ouch. There was that “blaspheme” word again and I guess I accomplished it. Good.
Wait.
Did I just see Ryan’s eyes look at me?
I tried not to stare too hard for fear of Elisha and Roland seeing, but when I glanced back at him, Ryan’s face was blank like before.
Had I imagined it? Probably. But I decided to keep a careful eye out in case Ryan was somehow, some way, awake and trying to send me a message.
Bill nearly fell out of his seat trying to break free to defend my honor, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good. I gave him a look that said I was okay and thanks for trying. I could see in Bill’s face how much he was full of rage and fury at our situation and it broke my heart. I needed to get us out of there, now!
If I connected to that corpse on the hillside before, I should be able to do it again.
I concentrated as hard as I could, but…
Nothing.
I tried not to cry from frustration.
I needed to find out everything I could. Any information could be the difference between freedom and death.
“Let them go. I’ll tell you whatever you need to know.” I tried the martyr tactic. At this point I’d rather die than put my friends in danger and I hoped that whatever it was Elisha wanted from me was more important than keeping my friend’s hostage.
Elisha laughed. “You wouldn’t be able to tell me. The memory is too far back. I need you to kick Roberta out of your head so I can get into that memory. If you do that, I’ll send your friends back to their homes, no questions asked.”
The weird thing was: she was telling the truth.
Jason didn’t believe her, though. “You’re telling us that you’d let us go, with all the information we know about you? I doubt that.” Jason paused, curiosity flitted across his face. “Why didn’t you come forward about the I.Q. Farms? It seems like a perfect match to your religious coming out party. What better way to get people on your side than liberating a Farm of Age-pro’d children?”
Elisha turned to Jason, expressionless. (Expressionless I’d learned with Elisha meant she was trying to hide something.) “Roland and I didn’t come forward about the I.Q. Farms because we don’t care. We’re perfectly safe here. We don’t care about some over-aged runts that Turner has hooked up to his machines. And we certainly don’t care about the famous reporter Jason Keroff. You’re a joke just like the rest of your gang. We’ll have everything soon, and you are just fleas in my way. Only Chelsan and Ryan matter. I could care less about you lot.”
I remembered my accusation that morning about the I.Q. Farms. Why hadn’t they come forward and freed all the other kids? Elisha could have been a hero: the poster child for sympathy and the horrors of Age-pro. I suddenly had a very bad feeling. This was far bigger and far deeper than my pea brain had fathomed.
Elisha and Roland were out for power.
They had a plan and, somehow, Ryan and I were a part of it. Ryan I understood, he was crazy brilliant. But me? Did Elisha think I’d use my powers for her? Or that she could control me enough to use them herself? If she had that kind of power she would have done it already. And what memory was so far back that I wouldn’t remember it? And why would Elisha need it so bad?
Oh.
Crap.
“You’re after my powers,” I said quietly, realizing, “You want the spell that my dad used.” I was a baby when it happened and well… dead. There was no way I could remember the details of that spell. But my mind did. And if Elisha had access to that memory she could perform the same spell on herself. According to Jason, my dad had made it up. I guess Dad used elements of the spell that my grandparents used to kill my mom, called The Ritual of Vortex. But no one knew for sure. Only my brain was witness.
“Very good, Chelsan. I knew there was some kind of brain in there.” Elisha smiled wickedly. And let me tell you when a kid with purple eyes smiles at you wickedly, it’s disturbing.
“Fine. Just send them to Nancy’s house first and I’ll kick Roberta out,” I said and literally had no idea if I could actually do that. I just wanted my friends out of there and safe.
“Um, no way,” Nancy said, staring daggers at me. “We’re not leaving you.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening.” Bill’s nostrils were flaring in determined agreement. “And we’re not leaving Ryan, either,” his voice cracked.
“Do I have a say about that?” Jason said with his usual yellow-belly tone.
“NO!” Nancy and Bill answered in unison.
Jill stayed quiet, but she looked at me, and another one of our mutual understanding moments passed between us. She knew, like I did, that the only way to help Ryan and me was to get out of Dodge. Four extra bodies meant four extra prisoners that needed to escape, something that was near impossible in a town like this. I gave Jill one last pleading look and hoped Elisha wouldn’t notice.
“Get them out of here and I’ll give you what you want,” I said to Elisha.
Elisha stared at me for a good minute…
She decided I was telling the truth. “You got it.”
Elisha hit a button on a nearby console and the low ceiling suddenly opened like a giant sliding glass door. Apparently the roofs were removable. Interesting. Elisha talked into a small round device next to the console. “Hover-Five to Building Sixty.”
A man’s voice responded and within minutes a large hover-van like the one we came in whirled above our heads and landed on the roof next to the ceiling’s opening. A retractable metal ladder slid down to the slate flooring, followed by five bu
rly men with guns climbing down to join us. They cut the ropes binding my friends, then manhandled them toward the ladder. Only Nancy and Bill were fighting back, struggling to free themselves and somehow help me and Ryan escape…
But these men were professionals.
One of them simply put a gun to Jason’s head. “Up the ladder or he dies.”
“Let’s not be hasty. I’m cooperating here.” Then Jason looked angrily at Nancy and Bill for fighting against the guards. “Would you guys knock it off?”
Nancy gave me a desperate look of anguish. This was killing her.
Nancy and Bill stopped their struggle.
“Nancy, it’s okay. It’s for the best. But guys, please, watch out for Jill. Turner will want that chip and he’ll kill her so we can’t access it. All he wants is that chip, he doesn’t care who he hurts. So just give it to him, okay? It’s not worth Jill’s life.” I knew I was being cryptic. But I hoped one of them would realize I was telling them to give Turner the chip in exchange for help. I knew Elisha had been in my brain, so she knew all about the chip. I was counting on the fact that she expected me to be worried about my friends, so a message like that wouldn’t trigger any red flags for her.
Nancy started to cry and I hoped it was her way of hiding from Elisha that she was trying to sort out what I had told her. Nancy had known me long enough to realize that I was trying to give her a message. She could talk about it with the gang once they were safely inside Nancy’s house and protected by George’s red orb of radio silence.
Bill looked utterly devastated by his helplessness. He tried to offer me a look that would give me some kind of hope, but he just ended up looking like a lost child.
Jason had no problem climbing up the ladder and away from the gun aimed at his head. Aside from being threatened, he knew the advantage of leaving, even if the others were being emotional about it. Jason was a reporter and a survivor. He knew when to get out.
Jill was the last to go. She gave me a small supportive nod, then followed the others up.
I turned to Elisha. “I’m not giving you anything until I have confirmation that they’re at Nancy’s.”
Elisha didn’t seem fazed by this at all. “Of course.”
Roland stood behind her with his arms crossed, watching me with disdain, but he didn’t argue.
The hover-van whizzed away and we sat in silence, waiting. Elisha was focused on the holo-displays of Ryan’s computations and making small “Ooooos” and “Aaaaaahhhs” while Roland just stared at me, fury in his eyes.
I really hated him.
After about forty-five minutes of my wrists seriously starting to hurt from the ropes, the hover-van’s driver’s voice sounded on the speaker. “We’re here.”
“I want to speak to Nancy,” I said.
Elisha nodded as if this were par for the course and gestured for me to speak.
“Nancy? Are you guys safe?” I asked aloud.
Nancy’s voice sounded raw from crying and I nearly broke my composure. “We’re good. They let Bill contact his dad and we’ve got about thirty bodyguards surrounding the house.”
I could hear Vianne in the background, “Is that Chelsan? Chelsan? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, just worry about Jill and that chip,” I said in my last attempt at giving them a plan of attack.
“We got it, Chelsan. The chip isn’t worth a life,” Jason’s voice echoed over the speaker, and I was instantly relieved. I could tell from his tone that Jason knew exactly what I was trying to say. Jill wouldn’t be happy about it, mainly because she wouldn’t want any help from Turner if she could avoid it, but staying alive meant more, so I knew in the end Jill would comply. I just hoped it would be in time.
“Good?” Elisha turned to me for approval.
I nodded. “Good.”
Elisha smiled into the intercom. “I hope you enjoyed your stay in Havenville.”
Just as Nancy’s voice started to say something nasty, Elisha broke off communication and turned to me. “See? All safe. Now are you ready to kick cat lady out?”
“Here goes.” I squeezed my eyes pretending to concentrate and then opened them, breathing heavily as if exhausted. “Okay, she’s gone. Go on in.” I hoped I knew what I was doing.
I had just the hints of sensing Elisha in my brain before and I was counting on a full attack once she was inside. I had no idea what exactly that meant, but I wasn’t going to take Ryan hanging from the ceiling and living out his worst nightmare lying down.
Elisha sat down on the couch and closed her eyes.
And there she was.
I could feel her like a cloud swimming through my brain.
How could I not have felt this before?
She was going directly to the barrier that Roberta had set up like a high security prison. A part of Roberta was there. I could feel her, too. But it felt more like some kind of magic essence of her, probably some kind of spell or voodoo to protect the memory. Even if I wanted to I don’t think I could have broken that kind of mojo. I had to give props to the Grams, she was a seriously powerful woman.
I closed my eyes and decided to delve in full throttle.
I was immediately next to Elisha, in a long hallway with millions of doors on either side of us. It looked just like when I visited Roberta’s memories. It must be the same for everyone, or this was just how I processed seeing memory banks. Upon closer inspection there were a few doors with a translucent bubble surrounding them.
Grandma’s mojo.
Elisha turned to me with fury. “Break it down. It’s this door.” She pointed at the door next to us on the right.
“Okay,” I said and then turned to her, angry. “Oh, wait. No.”
“No?” Elisha didn’t bat an eye. “I can still kill your boyfriend, you know?”
“But you won’t because you need him for his brains,” I said, but I was definitely scared that she’d kill him anyway.
Elisha crossed her arms. “Why don’t you want me to see? What do you care if I have the same power as you?”
“Why do you want it?” I asked, trying to get some kind of information out of her.
Elisha waved her hand and two armchairs appeared facing each other in the hallway. “Sit.”
I sat down. Elisha sat across from me. To my surprise, she did not get angry. “Chelsan, this is going to sound very strange to you since you were never raised with any kind of religious background, but I am a part of a prophecy.”
“You mean like a fantasy novel thing?” I could tell this was going to get crazy.
“For you, I suppose, yes. But for people who believe in something beyond them, prophecies are very important.”
Elisha sat forward and held my hands in hers. Awkward. But I didn’t take them away. “In the Bible the man named Elisha was the prophet Elijah’s successor and a prophet himself. He was said to capture the spirit of Elijah and all of Elijah’s power were transferred into him.” Elisha stared at me with her cold violet eyes, “Chelsan, Elijah could bring back the dead. According to a vision that came to Roland, I’m meant to have this power for our church. It’s my namesake, and rightfully mine.”
She was serious.
And what was I supposed to do with this information? Not let her get into that memory, that’s for sure. Elisha was trying to convince me that this was a part of her destiny, but in the last few days, (actually, more like the last few hours) I knew Elisha wanted these powers for something else. Something far more dangerous than a simple I was named after the guy that could bring back the dead. Elisha thought she was doing a damned good job at manipulating me, too.
“You’re full of crap,” I said out loud.
I regretted it immediately.
The chairs disappeared and Elisha’s hand reached up, grabbing my throat. “I can kill you right here. Astral projection is much deadlier than you know.”
I couldn’t breathe. Even though I knew I was just an image of myself in my own brain, I still could
n’t breathe. I was choking to death.
“You keep yourself in the dark and don’t bother to learn anything about your powers. Even when two people are walking into your brain like a revolving door you still don’t do anything about it. Your grandmother tells you to learn to control it, someone who’s tried to kill you, and you just sit there and let us in anyway. You are quite possibly the stupidest girl I’ve ever met. You don’t deserve your power.”
As I tried to claw her child’s hand off my throat, I realized Elisha was absolutely right.
I was in complete denial. Of everything. And my way of dealing with it was ignoring it until I couldn’t anymore. And it may have cost me and Ryan our lives.
No.
I reached down and grabbed Elisha’s throat with all my might. The two of us stood there, choking, strangling the life out of our ethereal forms.
One thing I got out of her little speech? If she could hurt me, I could hurt her.
And I was bigger.
I threw her body like a rag doll and Elisha slammed against a door.
But before I could gain my bearings, she instantly materialized in front of me and pushed me down the hallway about forty feet.
I guess she was stronger in ghost form.
I had to stop thinking like I was a person in a hallway. I had to think of myself as a ghost myself and if I was a ghost I could…
…I made myself materialize behind Elisha just as fast as she had. Before she could react I grabbed her arm and smashed her body against the wall.
Elisha screamed in rage more than pain.
“OUT!” I yelled from the depths of my soul.
My eyes opened.
I was back in the warehouse, still tied to the chair.
Elisha jumped up from the couch and punched me in the face.
I barely noticed as I smiled back at her.
I had kicked her out of my brain.
I still hadn’t figured out how to keep her out, but it was a good start.
The Riser Saga Page 51