The Riser Saga

by Becca C. Smith

  He never answered his phone. In fact, most of our conversations were through phone tag. I didn’t care. I just hoped he’d check his messages today.

  The beep sounded. “Um, hi, it’s Chelsan. Ryan’s headaches are getting worse… um…so you need to send someone… now. Okay, bye.” I hung up.

  That was smooth.

  Answering machines made me nervous. Especially when you’re asking the most powerful man in the world for a favor. Not only that, but he was my grandfather. Not only that, but he tried to kill me about a hundred times. Not only that but he killed my mother. Not only that but he may blame me for his wife’s death. I could go on, but it just made my stomach hurt.

  I hurried to the nurse’s office and found Ryan walking out holding an icepack to his temple. His smile when he saw me made my heart flutter.

  “Hey you,” he said as if everything were perfectly normal.

  “Hey yourself, what did the nurse say?” I asked in-between Ryan kissing me.

  Yum.

  Ryan shrugged. “She just gave me some pain killers. Somehow I don’t think the school nurse can help me with a bunch of kids dying in my brain.” Ryan tossed the icepack back into the nurse’s office and grabbed my hand.

  His hand was cold from the ice, but I didn’t care. Just having him next to me made me feel less worried. He genuinely looked better and hopefully Turner would send one of his specialists.

  If he checked his messages.

  If he even cared.

  Ugh.

  I vowed that if Turner wouldn’t help me, I’d find another way to fix Ryan’s ailment. Whatever it was.

  “Are you going to class or are you going home?” I wanted to make sure he wasn’t staying at school just for me.

  “Class.” Ryan turned me around so that we were facing each other. He cupped my face in his hands and kissed me gently. Toes. Curling. Seriously. “I’m fine. I promise you. I just needed to lie down for a bit. Now that I have, I feel tip top. Okay?”

  “Okay,” I said reluctantly. I didn’t believe him for a second. “But if it gets too bad, promise me you’ll let me know. Don’t hide it because you don’t want me to worry.”

  “I promise.” Ryan kissed me one more time, then grinned. “You better get to class. I’ll meet you at lunch.”

  Ryan kissed my hand in parting and he was off to Physics. Not that he needed to take a class in Physics, he knew more than the teacher did. Ryan is just about the smartest person on the planet. And I’m not saying that because he’s my boyfriend. He really is. Something that annoyed Elisha to no end, and I was pretty proud of that. Ryan beat her intellectually and I don’t think she’d ever forgive him for that.

  But that’s also what scared me the most. I feared that maybe she was causing Ryan’s headaches. It wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility. She was really skilled at popping into people’s heads.

  Ryan gave me permission a few months back to go inside his head to check and see if Elisha was messing with him. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. I didn’t want to stay in his head for too long, because I was terrified to see what Ryan thought of me. Yes, he said he loved me, and I believed him, but jumping inside someone’s head and seeing their thoughts and memories?

  It scared me.

  What if his feelings were changing for me?

  What if he didn’t like me as much as I liked him?

  Paranoid I know.

  I scoped his head for Elisha and when she wasn’t there I jumped back out immediately.

  A part of me wondered if I had jumped out too early. That’s what nagged at me. My own insecurities may have prevented me from really making sure Elisha wasn’t attacking him.

  I shook the thought from my head and walked toward Biochemistry. Students were thinning out as they filed into their respective classes, and I hurried my steps to make it in time. I started to become nervous as I was suddenly the last person in the hallway. I really hated being late to Biochem, Ms. Floster always made an example out of anyone who was even five seconds late. Today really wasn’t my day.

  WHAM!

  The wind flew out my lungs with sudden impact.

  I barely saw the fist that had just punched me in the gut as my attacker quickly disappeared behind me, grabbing my throat with one hand and pulling me into an empty classroom with the other.

  I clutched at the hand and tried to pry it loose, but the grip was strong and tight.

  I started to choke.

  The door shut and I knew we were completely cut off from the rest of the school. The one thing this building was good for was sound control. You literally couldn’t hear through the walls of the next classroom.

  I searched for anything dead around me to distract whoever was assaulting me. When I couldn’t find anything, I knew dust would have to do. I realized recently that I could connect to dust since in actuality dust was mostly made up of dead skin cells. It didn’t do a lot of damage, but when I controlled it to fly into a person’s lungs, it could at least knock them out.

  I could barely breathe.

  I concentrated and had the dust under my control in seconds. I puppeteered the dust where I assumed the nose of my attacker was behind me, and slammed it down their throat. I heard coughing and the hand released my neck.

  I whirled around to see…

  …Eva.

  Oh boy.

  She kept coughing but when she looked up at me her eyes were so full of rage and hate I nearly flinched.

  I quickly pulled out the dust and Eva started to catch her breath.

  Eva charged.

  BAM!

  She tackled me to the floor.

  If I hadn’t been in so much shock I’d have fought back, but the mere idea of Eva attacking me like this was insane.

  I mustered all my strength and shoved her off.

  “What is your problem?” I screamed at her.

  “You,” she said with a glint of crazy in her eyes.

  Eva charged at me a second time, but this time I was more prepared. I sidestepped just in time and Eva fell to her hands and knees.

  “You’re working for Elisha,” I accused her. I figured at least I’d see what her reaction was.

  Eva flipped herself up to standing like a graceful ninja. “Who?”

  Nothing.

  There was nothing in her eyes.

  Unless she was an award-winning actress, Eva had no idea who Elisha was.

  “Why do you have a problem with me?” I asked as I backed up, anticipating another attack.

  “Because you’re an evil bitch that likes messing with Bill’s head,” Eva snarled in response.

  “This is about Bill?” I asked incredulously. What did he tell her?

  “What else would it be about?!” Eva was revving up for another assault.

  “That’s enough.” Max entered the classroom.

  His dark eyes met Eva’s and she immediately went still.

  “Max, stay out of this,” Eva pleaded, anger-eyes still held on me.

  “Eva,” was all Max said.

  It was enough.

  I didn’t know what kind of relationship they had, but apparently Max was in charge.

  Eva was obviously annoyed, but she didn’t argue back. She was wearing a long sleeve thermal to cover up her burn marks, but as she reached up to pull her hair back I could see the long striations growing up her wrists like angry pink vines. Only her face was unmarked from scars, the veiny-like marks crawling all the way up her neck to frame her perfect features. Eva had a light sprinkling of freckles across her nose and cheekbones and her giant eyes almost looked like emeralds, they were so green.

  It was hard to believe that anything Bill may have said about me could make Eva this angry, but maybe I underestimated how he really felt about me.

  “Look, Eva, I don’t know what Bill told you…” I tried to explain.

  Eva cut me off, “He told me the truth, that he poured his heart out to you and you treated him like an annoying puppy.”

  F
irst off, puppies aren’t annoying, and second off, “I love Bill as a friend. That’s all I told him. I can’t help how I feel.” I was more defensive than I thought.

  Max stepped in. “It doesn’t matter. Eva had no right to attack you. Did you Eva?”

  Again with the control.

  Although, looking at Max and how calm and reassuring he was, I’d do what he said too.

  Max was the kind of guy that has such a presence that you can’t help but be enthralled by him. Kind of like a president or a king, Max just carried himself with a strength and power that was more than a little intimidating.

  “No,” Eva admitted grudgingly.

  “I apologize for my sister’s behavior,” Max said to me with a gentleness that instantly made me shy.

  “Um, no problem,” I replied. No problem? I could still feel the marks where her fingers strangled my throat. What was going on? I immediately felt inside my head for intruders. Maybe Max had just made a sneak attack like Elisha had before and was influencing my responses?

  Nope.

  All clear.

  I was just a bumbling idiot all on my own.

  Eva strode over to Max, slightly shoving me as she passed by. Before she left the classroom she turned to me with venom, “Just stay away from Bill.”

  Before I could respond, Eva stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

  All that was left was Max and I.

  “I better get to class,” I said, heading for the door.

  Max stepped in front of me, preventing my exit.

  “You keep blocking me out,” Max accused. He didn’t say it like he was angry, just that he was surprised that I would do such a thing.

  “I don’t let people into my head anymore.” I tried to keep it light, though having a conversation about brain-jumping was anything but light.

  “We need to talk.” Max looked into my eyes with a seriousness that scared me a little.

  “We’re talking.” I didn’t know what else to say. This was getting freaky fast.

  “Not here. Tonight. Outside your house. I’ll wait for you at the Hover-Shuttle station,” Max said as if we were spies arranging a secret rendezvous.

  “What’s this about Max?” I asked.

  “John Fortski.”

  Um.

  “Um.” Good one.

  But it caught me off guard. Why would Max want to talk to me about John Fortski? I didn’t know the guy. Why me?

  “Really?”

  “It’s important, Chelsan. If you think about it long enough, it’ll start to make sense.” Max’s dark eyes bore into me like they were trying to read my soul.

  There went the intimidation button again.

  “Cryptic,” I finally responded.

  “I won’t talk about it here, okay?” Max was dead serious.

  “Okay,” I said, because I found the whole conversation odd. Seriously, what did John Fortski have to do with me?

  “Good.” And then Max smiled. When he did, it made his whole persona change. His perfectly white teeth were a startling contrast to his ebony skin. There was no getting around it: Max was stunning.

  No wonder Jill liked him.

  Max was gone before I could utter another lame response. I sighed a giant sigh of relief and checked the hallway for insane-o-Eva before I felt like the coast was clear and made my way to Biochem.

  After receiving the expected earful from Ms. Floster about being ten minutes late, I shuffled myself lamely to the back of the room. I hoped she wouldn’t keep picking on me throughout the rest of class like she normally did to latecomers. To my shock, Ms. Floster was so enthralled by the latest news on Biochem, she appeared to be ignoring me completely. I crossed my fingers it would stay that way.

  I spaced out thinking about all the events that had already happened today. From my Roberta nightmare to the freaky violent confrontation with Eva to the promised conversation with Max. Something big was afoot, I was sure of it. I just didn’t know what and that was never a good thing.

  Then it hit me.

  I’m in Biochem.

  What better place to research John Fortski than in the class that was his area of expertise.

  “Ms. Floster?”

  I really just said that.

  I had completely interrupted her.

  There was an audible gasp from the room. No one interrupted Ms. Floster. At least not without consequences.

  She looked pissed. Ms. Floster wasn’t exactly the prettiest bird in the flock, but she was downright ugly when she was angry. It looked like she started taking Age-pro in her early thirties from the slight crows feet around her eyes that were now squinting in annoyance at me. She was about five foot two with a dark brown bob, long crooked nose and brown beady little eyes. And right now those beady eyes were staring daggers at me.

  “Yes, Ms. Derée?” Ms. Floster hissed.

  “Sorry, I… uh… just had a question.”

  “A question that apparently was more important than my lecture.” The way she said it indicated that no question would be more important than her lecture.

  How do I get out of this one?

  I figured at that point I’d go for it. She’d either kick me out or actually answer the question.

  “Why do you think John Fortski was kidnapped?”

  Silence.

  Silence from the class.

  Strangest of all, silence from Ms. Floster.

  Her face kind of scrunched up as if she was fighting some inner battle within herself. I could tell right away that she had a theory that she was dying to share, but by sharing it she’d be admitting to me and the class that my question was better than her lecture.

  I prodded. “I just thought, of all people, you’d have a theory.” I hoped stroking her ego might work.

  “I do, in fact,” Ms. Floster lifted her crooked nose high, “not that I should be placating your bad behavior, mind you.”

  Another silence.

  Another inner battle.

  But her desire to impress us with her theories won out.

  “I’ll indulge you this once, only because it’s relevant to your next assignment.” Ms. Floster straightened her blue polyester pants suit and sat down on the edge of her desk. “Dr. John Fortski, as you all know, is the inventor of Age-pro.” She paused as if telling a good horror story. “What you may not know is that Dr. Fortski was also the inventor of a number of experimental drugs that never made it into the market. My father worked for Dr. Fortski back in the 1990’s, in fact, the reason I look like I’m in my thirties is not because I’m poor, but because I was thirty-five when Age-pro was invented!” Ms. Floster revealed.

  Everyone was speechless.

  It was very rare to meet people who were around when Age-pro was invented. Unless you were young, being aged was considered grotesque in modern day society. Only religious nuts didn’t take Age-pro and let themselves age naturally until they died really young, like ninety or a hundred. I shuddered to think of only living that long. It was quite a shock when we were stuck in the Christian Coalition town of Havenville five months back and I saw some of the old people there. At first it was like a nightmare, they were wrinkled and hunched, like monsters. But after a while, they were so sweet, the old folks actually looked cute, like critters.

  My grandpa was the only public figure that was around at the time of Age-pro. He was in his fifties and that was considered ancient. Not even lower income families had to age that long. National healthcare kicked in at thirty, so most poor people looked around thirty-something. We all assumed Ms. Floster was one of those. I had no idea she was over three hundred years old!

  Ms. Floster continued her story. “My father said that Dr. Fortski was working on more than just a drug that would stop people from aging. His goal was to invent a pill that would heal any wound. If you were stabbed, shot or even had a simple paper cut, all you would have to do was take the pill and it would heal instantly. Coupled with Age-pro, it could make humans truly immortal.

&
nbsp; “Of course the flaw would be that, if you were outright killed, it couldn’t bring you back from the dead. But, according to my father, the drug was being designed so that you could be mortally wounded and still heal as if you were never injured. I believe Dr. Fortski was kidnapped to start his research once more and invent this drug.” Ms. Floster was alight with passion.

  Gulp.

  A drug that heals wounds?

  Elisha.

  She had Fortski.

  I knew it with every fiber of my soul.

  Elisha wanted to be invulnerable.

  This was big. Bigger than me. I hated to admit it, but I really needed Gramps about now.

  But what did Max know about all this?

  Did he think I’d come to this on my own? Did this have anything to do with what he wanted me to piece together? Or did I still have to “think about it long enough” and I’d come up with some other realization?

  “Did Dr. Fortski invent anything else?” I asked before I could stop myself.

  Wow. I’d just made Ms. Floster even madder than before.

  “Immortality isn’t good enough for you, Ms. Derée?” Ms. Floster glared at me. I shrank in my seat.

  “No… I just… you said he invented a number of experimental drugs... I just thought…” Please, someone else, help me out here.

  “Yeah, what else did he invent?” Drea Noville asked, practically salivating from the new topic.

  Ms. Floster apparently liked Drea’s response more than mine as she pointedly ignored me and turned all her attention to Drea.

  At that point Ms. Floster went into a ramble about all of the scary drugs Fortski experimented with. She even told a story about how, in the beginning stages of Age-pro research several of the lab rats died from aging too fast. It seemed Fortski didn’t have a handle on the aging process for quite a while. It made me think of the time I astral projected into Roberta’s head and saw the memory of Fortski telling her he was close to finding the cure for aging. She had wanted to take the experimental drug, but Turner wouldn’t let her. She chose face-stretching surgery to tide her over, yuck.

  The only thing that stuck out was the “healing” drug. I’d have to put Jason on researching that. I hoped he’d be able to find all sorts of stuff on the topic.

  I was starting to look forward to meeting Max. I wondered what he was going to tell me about Fortski. Maybe Max knew where he was? I just didn’t know.