The Riser Saga

by Becca C. Smith

  That’s when little weasel man from Turner’s entourage pushed his way through to us. “Vice President Turner insists that you take one of his hover-limos. It’s right over there.” He pointed to a safe haven of dead bodyguards and a waiting limo.

  I guess Gramps wasn’t mad at me after all. I breathed a secret sigh of relief, hoping he’d still help Ryan.

  The press was pushing in closer and as far as I could tell the Hover-Shuttle would be a nightmare for us too.

  I sighed. “Lead the way.”

  Ryan gave me a half-smile of approval, and the two of us shoved, clawed and tripped our way to the safe refuge of corpses.

  The hover-limo was empty, so at least we didn’t have to suffer through another awkward moment with the grandparents. Roberta probably talked to Turner on my behalf. Not something I wanted to think about at the moment.

  As we took to the air I could see Eva talking in front of the cameras, apparently loving the attention. She had failed in her mission, but I knew in my gut she’d be back trying to make me go to Elisha. A meeting with Elisha was inevitable. I just needed more time to prepare. Eva might not have complete control over her powers, but Elisha would. And Elisha was a lot more dangerous and far more knowledgeable about the subject. I had to be on my toes.

  It was hard not to become completely overwhelmed. From Turner to Elisha to the new threat of Isabelle. Why me?

  It wasn’t long before the hover-limo was landing at Nancy’s house. I didn’t even bother saying anything to the driver as Ryan and I exited. It was mid-afternoon so Nancy and Bill would be arriving soon and we could give them the scoop. I knew I was going to have to confirm to Bill that not only is Eva with Elisha, but she seemed pretty happy about it. And the fact that she tried to use her powers against me again. The evidence was in, and Eva was guilty. I was on the fence about Max. I’d have to wait and see what he did next.

  Walking inside the house, I felt instantly safe. It was amazing how much an inanimate object could stir so many emotions. It was just four walls and a roof, but somehow it epitomized everything that was good in my life. Almost every good memory I’d had since the devastation of my mother being murdered was in this house.

  George came running in from the kitchen. “I thought I heard the door. There’s something you should see.”

  Uh oh.

  George looked worried and if George was worried, I knew I should be too.

  Vianne came in from the kitchen right behind George holding a plate full of steaming chocolate chip cookies. “You’ll need a few of these.”

  Chocolate chip cookies? I knew I was in trouble then.

  I grabbed three from the plate and bit into the chocolate gooiness.

  Um. Yum.

  George turned on the holo-TV and rewound this afternoon’s broadcast. My stomach already started to turn when I saw Eva in rewind. What did she say? George stopped the holo to right after I disconnected the floating tree branches from their swirling black holes. It was just as I remembered it: the press swarming up to us spouting questions, then Ryan and I making our escape with Weasel Guy. Since Eva was the last man standing, they quickly surrounded her.

  But Eva was prepared. A little too prepared. Actually, what she said next was down right rehearsed.

  Being set up part 2, party of 1. First Turner, now Eva or I should say Elisha.

  Man, I was such a sucker.

  Eva made herself look like she was a terrified rabbit. The crowd of press was so intense that the life-size holo versions of the reporters actually digitalized around the edges. Otherwise the whole living room would have been full of people. It was surreal watching the scene we just escaped from right in front of us.

  Then Eva spoke and I cringed at every word. “You all saw it! Geoffrey Turner’s granddaughter has powers! She can make things fly with her mind. She was going to kill me with those tree branches. If you hadn’t shown up… I owe you my life.”

  The press ate it up like they were the heroes of the millennium.

  Eva spoke straight to the camera, “Chelsan Derée has to be stopped before she kills us all. Vice President Turner has been keeping her powers secret, to protect her, but we have to stand up to him. If he won’t turn over his granddaughter, we’ll have to take her down ourselves!”

  The crowd was getting riled up. I thought I was going to puke.

  I never thought Elisha would do something like this. I thought that in order to protect herself, she’d have to protect my secret. But Elisha was insane-o and that unfortunately meant unpredictable as well.

  George paused the holo-TV. “I’m not sure what this is going to do, but you better stay here until we sort this out.”

  Vianne handed me another cookie and I took it gratefully. “Jason is on his way. He says he thinks he knows how he can spin this, but he’ll need Turner’s help.”

  I let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m not sure how receptive Turner will be for doing me any favors right now. I kind of screamed at him and Roberta and told them to never speak to me again. But they still gave me a ride home after all that, so maybe he’ll listen.” I just wanted my favor from Gramps to be for Ryan not me. Saving Ryan was way more important than saving my reputation. Hands down. I just hoped Turner saw it that way.

  George’s eyes twinkled with pride. “He owes you, and he deserves any words you have to say to him.”

  Vianne plopped down next to me and ate a cookie herself. “You know we’re behind you, no matter what happens.”

  I nodded and placed my head on Vianne’s shoulder while I took another bite out my cookie.

  “Why would Eva blatantly lie about your power?” Ryan asked, thinking it through. “I mean, it’s far more terrifying that you can control the dead than you making things fly.”

  “Thanks,” I said sarcastically.

  Ryan kissed my cheek. “I love you, but your power is pretty scary. What’s even scarier is that three more people have it, one of them being Elisha, the craziest psychopath on the planet.”

  He was right, but it only made my stomach churn more. “They don’t want anyone knowing they have the same power?” I volunteered, though I was only guessing.

  Ryan shook his head. “If I were Elisha I’d want everyone to know exactly what your powers are. That way she could blame you when she uses them herself. Especially, if she plans on using them for war.”

  There was that word again.

  War.

  I brainstormed, “Well, what would be the purpose of telling people that I can make things fly?”

  George sat up. “She’s going to blame you for something, like Ryan said, and she has to be certain everyone will blame you.”

  I rubbed my face in frustration. “This is all speculation. We could guess until the cows come home. With Elisha we won’t know it until it’s happening.”

  “There’s got to be a way to get a step ahead of her.” Ryan pulled me in and held me close.

  I wished he was right, but experience told me that unless we wanted to get into the torture business we were out of luck.

  “Whatever she wants to fly would have to be something dead, because as far as I know making random things fly isn’t a skill set our powers have.” I sighed.

  We all sat there in a stupor. For smart people, we felt pretty dumb. Maybe the others would have some more input.

  As if answering my thought, Jason, Bill, Nancy and Jill walked in the door. I was a little surprised to see Jill, but part of me was happy all the same. I felt like I could use a dose of her bitchy point of view right about now. Sometimes that particular skill ended up helping us “nice” people see things we wouldn’t normally see.

  They all plopped down around us and helped themselves to Vianne’s cookies.

  I was about to tell them the scoop when I realized I hadn’t told Jill about Max and Eva yet. I wasn’t looking forward to this conversation at all. Why couldn’t Bill and Jill just have stayed a couple? It was really annoying that they both liked two possible homicidal maniacs. />
  Nancy could see from my face the inner dilemma I was having. “I told Jill about Max,” Nancy admitted.

  Ah, Nancy. This was exactly what best friends were made for.

  Jill folded her arms and gave an exasperated sigh. “I knew that boy was too good to be true. Whatever.”

  “We’re still not sure about Max yet, but Eva…” I looked at Bill, worried about his reaction. His face didn’t reveal a thing.

  I filled them in on everything, and tried to handle the Eva debacle as nicely as I could for Bill’s sake. There was silence when I finished.

  Bill was the first to speak. “You guys were right.” He looked devastated, but also resolved. Bill just wasn’t lucky when it came to girls. It seemed like a flaw in the universe that someone as deserving as Bill couldn’t seem to get a decent girlfriend. Let alone one that didn’t want to annihilate the world. Bill looked directly at me, “She trusts me. You could use that if you need to.”

  Wow.

  That was Bill proving his loyalty to me, and I just wanted to jump over the couch and give him a big hug.

  But Ryan shook his head, cautioning Bill. “After today, she’ll be suspicious. You shouldn’t risk yourself getting hurt or worse, kidnapped by Elisha and used as leverage.”

  Instead of being defensive, Bill nodded agreement with Ryan, but then said, “I’d be careful. I just want to help.”

  “I know you do, Bill.” I wanted him to know how much I felt for him. But Ryan was right, I didn’t want Bill turning into an Elisha pawn. If that happened, I knew I would do anything to get him back and I also knew that since Bill’s parents were possibly the richest people on the planet, they would pay anything to get him back.

  Jill harrumphed, “You guys are so dramatic. So what? Do we just hole up here until Elisha makes a move?” With both Jill’s parents dead, she was pretty much living on her own. But she did love a good excuse to stay over. George and Vianne had offered her a room permanently, but Jill was too stubborn for that. She’d just turned eighteen and lived alone in her giant empty mansion. Surprisingly, Jill appeared to be handling it quite well, but she was a hard one to read. I wondered if I’d even be able to tell if Jill was hurting or not. She was flippant about Max, but I had seen in her eyes how much she liked the guy. I decided not to push, but I also decided I was going to try and have a heart to heart with the girl as well.

  Jill and I had come to an understanding. I was pretty sure I was her only true friend.

  Jason finally piped in, “You guys go to school. Act like nothing new has happened. Chelsan will stay here. I’ll see what I can do to spin this.” He sat thinking a moment then added, “We just need another explanation for why sticks can fly.”

  Yeah, not hard at all.

  After that, the conversation turned to the mundane, which was a welcome relief from the chaos that was my life. Nancy seemed happy with Jason again. He must have begged and apologized profusely enough to satisfy her. She was already planning out her dress for prom. I wanted to be excited and plan everything for myself, too, but yeah…

  The world was coming to an end and I was in the middle of it. Yet again.

  Why couldn’t I shut off for brief moments of bliss like Nancy seemed able to do? But I wasn’t being fair. Nancy was probably stressing out just as much as I was, but she didn’t want me to see it. She just wanted me to forget about my crazy life for a while. I loved her for that, but at the moment I couldn’t get into it.

  Jill noticed right away and of course couldn’t keep her mouth shut. “Do you honestly think Chelsan cares about prom right now?”

  Instead of looking hurt like I thought she would be, Nancy stared daggers at Jill. “It’s called distraction, you moron.”

  Just like I thought. But now I felt bad for Jill.

  Jill stood up. “Why do I even come here? Call me if you need me.” She headed for the door.

  “Now who’s being dramatic?” Nancy accused.

  Really?

  I went after Jill with a quick smile and shake of my head at Nancy. Nancy shooed me toward Jill, essentially giving her permission for me to patch things up. If Nancy’s temper was fire, Jill’s was lava. And the two of them combined could potentially turn into an erupting volcano (like five months ago when they got into a fistfight at school).

  I caught Jill on the front porch making her way toward her hover-BMW.

  “Jill, would you just wait a second.” I caught her arm.

  She whirled on me defiantly, “What?”

  “Look, I know you’re upset, but I need you.” I didn’t exactly know what I needed Jill for, but I wanted her to feel like she was part of the team.

  “Oh please! I’m just your charity case. I wouldn’t even be popular again if it weren’t for you. Do you know how much it sucks owing your worst enemy?” Jill fumed.

  “Worst enemy? Really, Jill?” I knew she was just frustrated and let’s face it, she felt left out. No matter how hard I tried to make her feel like one of the group, Jill was still an outsider. That was a fact. I couldn’t erase three years of bad behavior from my brain, and neither could she.

  Jill sighed heavily. “You know I’m full of crap. I’m just… I don’t know. I’m tired, I guess. Look, I’m gonna go.”

  “Jill?” Max stepped into view. He had obviously been standing behind her car and neither one of us had seen him.

  I wanted to think it was creepy, but seeing as how Max was well Max, it was kind of cute.

  Jill turned to him. “Stay away from me, psycho.”

  Okay.

  I guess Jill thought it was creepy.

  “Can I explain?” Max was upset.

  Meanwhile, third wheel here.

  “Explain what? That you’re a six-foot infant that has no soul and uses freak powers like her.”

  Thanks, Jill, thanks.

  “I should leave you guys alone,” I said, trying to bow out of this uncomfortable situation.

  Max put his hand up to stop me. “No, Chelsan, I need to talk to you.”

  Jill threw her hands up as if the world had just exploded. “Of course you do! She’s way more important than any of us plebes.”

  Max stepped forward, giving Jill a stern look. “I want to talk to you, but I have to warn Chelsan of Elisha’s plan.”

  I thought Jill would explode, but then something strange happened. As if against her will, Jill walked toward Max. It was kind of jerky at first, like she was fighting against her own thoughts, it was so odd...

  That’s when I knew.

  I grabbed Jill as fast as I could and threw her back toward Nancy’s front door.

  “What the—!?” Jill snapped out of it and yelped in shock.

  Max’s face went from sweet to pissed in about a millisecond.

  I yelled at Jill, “He’s inside your brain! Get in the house and make Bill sit on you! I don’t want Max influencing you!”

  Jill didn’t need to be told twice. She ran inside and slammed the door.

  I turned to Max, “Played too hard, too fast.”

  Max’s beautiful face grimaced in annoyance. “You’re coming with me, now.”

  I still couldn’t believe Max had been faking everything.

  “Elisha will have to come to me. I’m not going to her,” I answered, keeping my distance.

  “I’m already here,” Max snarled.

  Oh man.

  Okay, well it made me feel a little better about my instincts.

  Elisha was using Max’s body.

  Duh.

  I should have known that as soon as Elisha found out that Max had spilled his guts to me that she would use him to get to me.

  I tried to help Max fight Elisha. “Max, if you’re in there. Build a wall. You can kick Elisha out.”

  “Did you ever stop to think that he doesn’t want to kick me out?” Elisha spoke through Max.

  It was very surreal having a full on conversation with Max knowing that it was really Elisha nestled in his brain.

  For a second, Max ca
me through, his eyes clear and panicked and scared. “She brought others.”

  Then like a switch, his eyes were Elisha’s again. Max’s face smiled the way Elisha smiles, like she owned the world.

  I ran for the front door just as five armed men raced out from cover. They weren’t dead because Elisha knew I’d be able to control them otherwise. They were hired thugs and they had guns. All of which were pointed at me.

  Elisha spoke through Max, “Unless you want me to have my men walk inside that house and mow down all your friends, I suggest you come back here.”

  I abandoned my idea of running into the house for safety. What made Nancy’s house safe anyway? It wasn’t a game we were playing. I didn’t have a base where Elisha and her men couldn’t touch me. I turned to Max and the men pointing machine guns at me.

  Machine guns? Really? Overcompensating much?

  I put my hands up in surrender. “I’ll go with you, just don’t hurt anyone.”

  “I can be fair. I don’t need to hurt your friends, but I will if you don’t come with me.” Even though Max was saying it, I could almost hear the evil feminine tone of Elisha.

  Before I could step toward them, Max and all five soldiers clutched their chests in pain. They dropped their guns, screaming in agony.

  Black swirling holes were starting to form in their chests.

  Isabelle.

  She was here and she was killing Elisha’s soldiers.

  And killing Max.

  “What’s happening?” Elisha screamed through Max.

  I ran over to Max and screamed to Isabelle wherever she was hiding, “DON’T KILL THEM!”

  Then Max grabbed onto his head as if fighting off the world’s worst migraine.

  When Max looked up at me, he was Max again. “I don’t know how long I can hold on before she takes over.” He was still clutching his chest as the black hole grew larger. “Am I dying?”

  Yes, yes he was.

  “Isabelle! STOP!”

  The assassin walked out from behind Nancy’s house. “They want to kill you,” she said as if I were stupid to want to her stop. She still hadn’t let up. Max’s eyes were bugging out.

  He was going to die.