by Azalea Ellis
They stared at me in confusion, as I’d been saying the opposite only hours before.
I took a deep breath before continuing, "We take pre-emptive action. Rather than letting NIX control this, we change up the rules a bit."
"What do you mean?" Adam said.
"I mean, I want to do more than figure out how to escape being Players in the Game. I want to completely stop NIX from coming after us."
"And…how do you propose we do that?" he asked.
"We attack. We crush them." I turned to Jacky. "Didn't you tell me once that the best defense is an overwhelmingly powerful offense?"
Her eyes widened, but then she leaned forward and clenched her hands together, fingers entwined so hard they turned white. "Hell, yes. That sounds wonderful. I’ll go wherever you decide, but if it’s to fight, hell yes. Payback."
While Adam was looking at her incredulously, Sam spoke up. "I'm with you, too, if you can think of a way to make it work." He rubbed at his worn and tired face. "I've been afraid to really fight for a long time, because I don't want to be…a murderer. And it's way, way too easy for me because of my Skill. But from now on, I'm going to fight properly, whether it's a suicide mission or not. Some people, those people at NIX…they deserve to die. If I'd realized that sooner, maybe someone who was innocent would still be alive." He looked around self-consciously, and we all knew who he meant.
Adam gaped at him next. "Are you freaking serious?" he spat. "Have you forgotten what happened the last time we fought with someone from NIX? I haven't. I've still got internal bruising! We were totally outclassed."
Blaine nodded. "He is, I must say, correct. You barely escaped last time, and China was killed less than a day ago. You are not thinking clearly, Eve. Understandable, with the tragedy you’ve just been through. Maybe you should sleep for a while. NIX will be on the alert for any attacks. The one reason you made it as far as you did is the element of surprise."
"An element which is now lost," Adam said. "And not only are we too weak to go against them, we no longer have a way to get stronger, now that the Game interface and our location are blocked from NIX. No more magically appearing Seeds, remember? There's no way in hell I'm ever going back there. In fact, I plan to stay as far away and as hidden as possible."
Sam had paled as Adam spoke, but he didn't take back his statement, and Jacky only rolled her eyes in derision at Adam.
I smiled. I hadn't expected it to be so easy. I'd thought Jacky would be with me, because she was the type to jump into any fight with glee, and lately she’d been hero-worshipping me. But Sam? A surprise, there. "Any other concerns?" I asked, looking at each of them. Once they laid each objection out, I could find a way to shoot them down all at once.
"I caution you against this path of action, Eve. It is illogical and reckless. And I fear that it would endanger those still held by NIX," Blaine said.
"Other than the fact that you're being stupid and reckless, no. I think those two things should be reason enough," Adam added.
"Okay, good," I said. "Blaine, I want to fix Kris, Zeke, and Chanelle's information in NIX like it was never erased. That will give them some protection, and it might keep you safe too."
Adam interrupted, "How are you going to do that?"
"Well, you're going to help me," I smiled. "Bunny's on the inside, and he's willing to access the computer system for us. It wouldn't have to be too fancy. Just something so any erasing we did won't be noticed at first glance."
Blaine beamed at the possibility of protecting the kids. "Oh, wonderful! If Adam can get the program ready, I can send the data through to the Moderator's link device."
"Good. That’ll keep those three safe. And yes, Adam, we're not strong enough right now. In fact, we were blown away in terms of power. And we won't be getting any more Seeds. But you know new Seeds aren't the only way to get stronger. They replicate organically if your body displays a need for them. Like muscles. That's where our spontaneous Attribute level-ups come from."
"That takes time. Which we are decidedly lacking right now," Adam ground out. "Didn't you just say running wouldn't work? Your 'plan' doesn't avoid that. The amount of training we'd have to do to face that superhuman strength…we'd be running forever, trying to survive the Trials while organically leveling up."
"Exactly." My smile was, a sharp thing full of menace I didn't bother to try and hide. "Which is why we need to create more time."
Jacky pursed her lips. "I know you’ve got a plan, Eve. But I dunno what this one is. Explain, please."
"If you've noticed, when we are in the Trials, much more time passes there than what the clock says when we return. In fact, it seems to be about five times as much. Plenty of time to train ourselves uninterrupted."
"You want to stay there, after the Trial is over," Jacky inferred. Her voice was low, scratchy.
Sam stood up and laid his hands on Zed's chest, took a deep breath, and shuddered as he began to heal again. "What if we get trapped?"
"What if we get killed?" Adam snapped, scowling at me.
"Getting trapped shouldn't be a problem. I've talked to Bunny about it. Getting killed is a real possibility. But in our current situation, it's not so different than if we stayed in the normal world."
Sam sat back down. "I'll go."
Jacky nodded. "Me too. I’m not a yellow-bellied coward."
Adam stood up, sparks jumping along the dusting of hair on the back of his arms up to his head. “This is idiotic, Eve. You're leading them into danger, just like with NIX. I’ve supported you in the past, but I’m not going to agree to this. I won't die just because you hate NIX so much you want to find a way to get back at them, and I won't go with you and watch you do it, either. I'm going with the original plan, the one with the least risk to my life." He started to stride way but stopped and turned back. "And I hope you all come to your senses and stay with me. You’re the leader, Eve. The team needs you to lead them, beyond your desire for revenge and panic for your brother.” Then he left, disappearing through the doorway, though his angry footsteps could still be heard.
I sighed. I’d have to keep working on him.
Blaine took off his glasses and rubbed them briskly. "This is not my decision to make. I am not a Player, so I couldn't go even if I wished. But I do have a lot to lose if you screw up.”
“You also have a lot to gain. Freedom from NIX, for both you and the kids.”
“I trust that you’re not leading all of us to our deaths or a life of being test subjects—or enslaved scientists, in my case,” Blaine said. “You must have a plan, knowing you. What is it?”
“I want to hit them where it hurts. Everywhere it hurts. A multi-pronged attack that will make them recognize us as a poison they don’t want to touch with a ten-foot pole. And if I can’t escape the Game, I want to destroy it.”
Chapter 31
Whenever a thing is done for the first time, it releases a little demon.
— Emily Dickinson
A couple days later, Zed finally woke up, startling both me and Sam, who'd fallen asleep at his bedside. We were in a small village off the coast of some city whose name I couldn’t pronounce, hidden from NIX’s watchful eyes as well as possible.
He looked around blearily and croaked like a chain-smoking frog.
Sam rushed to get him some water, while I helped him to sit up.
"He's awake!" I said loudly, letting the others know.
Zed gulped down the liquid and handed the cup back to Sam. "What's going on?"
"You were sick, really sick," I said with a grin so wide I felt like my lips might split. "But you made it."
He frowned. "What was I sick with? I feel like crap."
"You..." I trailed off. How exactly was I supposed to explain this?
Jacky moved to stand beside me, and grinned. "You’ve just been initiated into a super exclusive club."
"You injected yourself with something, remember?" I said.
He nodded. "Yeah. One of those glass bal
ls you use."
"Those are called Seeds," Sam said.
"Do you remember a couple months ago, when I was so sick?" I asked
"Yeah. Is that what this was?"
I nodded. "The Seed is...something that changes your body on a cellular level. Little microscopic organisms go in and change things, according to the wishes you make when you use the Seeds. And using the Seed makes you a Player." I paused to swallow past the lump in my throat.
Adam picked up the explanation for me. "We're all Players. We've all taken the Seed and survived. Well, except him," he pointed to Blaine. "He's just got beef with the people behind all this. And rightfully so. They took his family and blackmailed him into helping them. The rest of us just hate them because of the Game."
"Wait, slow down, I'm lost. What does it mean when you say you're a Player?" Zed said.
Jacky butted in again. "It means you’re a kinda super human badass now."
Adam rolled his eyes. "Sorry, but the other side of that is you're teleported away and forced to play in a death game every handful of days."
Sam shook his head at the both of them. "Guys, you're kind of horrible at explanations. You're being confusing and frightening by turns." He turned to Zed and said, "Hi, I'm Sam. I'm a member of your sister's team. This must all be very confusing."
Zed nodded at him in relief, "Yes, it is." He looked to me. "Please, someone just start making sense."
"When I got sick that time, I wasn't actually sick. Not in the conventional sense. There's a secret organization called NIX that forces people to play something they just call the Game. They do that by injecting us with a Seed, a tracking device, and a virtual reality chip. Since you did it to yourself, you only have the Seed. But you'll still have to go to the Trials. When you saw me disappear, that's what happened. It’s basically teleportation, as far as we can tell. Or maybe time travel. Every few days, that happens to us, and we reappear at something called a Trial. Basically, it's a test of our ability to survive using the abilities we gain from the Seeds." I continued trying to explain for a few more minutes, with the others interjecting periodically.
At the end, Zed just stared at me. "I feel like I'm dreaming."
A laugh bubbled up from my stomach. "You're not dreaming. But I remember when I thought it was all a crazy hallucination, too. That changed quickly enough. Here, let me show you." I looked to the others. "Quick demonstration?"
Jacky nodded and picked up the ceramic mug Zed had drunk from.
She squeezed, and the handle crumbled away in her hand. She held out the dust for Zed's inspection, and then blew it into the air, creating a little cloud of floating particles.
Which Adam then poured little sparks of electricity through until it looked like a cutely menacing storm cloud.
Then I allowed the now-familiar feeling of power to roll through my veins, turning my fingernails into thick, slightly curved claws. Looking down, I saw that my toes had changed a bit, too. The joints and bones of my foot seemed to have thickened and spread out, and the nails had grown pointed. "That's new," I said, using my superior balance to raise my leg straight up from the ground to show the others.
"Fascinating," Blaine said, leaning in. "You say this had not happened before? I would love to spend a little more time examining your transformation..."
I rolled my eyes and gave him an exasperated smile, then turned to Zed, whose eyes were wide enough to show the whites. I picked up his hand and ran my index fingernail across the palm.
He yanked the hand away, and stared up at me in horror as blood started to bead along with scratch. "What the hell?"
"It hurts, right? I don't know if it's true, but they say you can't feel pain in a dream. Plus, I needed to set something up for Sam to show you what he's capable of."
Sam took Zed's hand gently, and within a few seconds, the scratch had transferred to Sam, and in a few seconds more it was gone.
Blaine wiped the blood off Zed's hand with a cotton swab, and moved away to examine it at the nearest microscope.
"This is insane," Zed said. "You guys are all...mutants?"
There were a few seconds of silence, and then we all started to laugh. I chuckled at first, and then noticed Zed's surprised confusion and started to laugh even harder.
Jacky's immense strength deserted her under the effects of her mirth, and she sank to the ground, snorting like a pig on every inward breath.
Finally, I was able to open my mouth without laughing. I wiped my eyes and said, "Yeah, kinda like that."
* * *
Zed had gone back to sleep as his body fought to regain strength, and I lay on a pallet in the large room we’d rented, working on the smallest puzzle ring the Oracle had given to me. Technically, I should have been sleeping like the others, but I felt a constant pressure to do something to give us all a better chance at survival.
My weary eyes grew a sort of tunnel vision, allowing me to see the irregularities in each band's surface. I'd slipped it over my left forefinger because without something to hold onto and wrap around, the bands kept slipping apart.
I'd found that my claws were better suited for the finesse required to fit the bands together. I could use their tips like tweezers, instead of the clumsy flesh of my fingertips.
After a long, intense period of fiddling, twisting and turning, and matching protrusions to grooves, the last piece of band matched up with its companions, and the shiny ring became one solid piece.
I made a fist and pumped it in the air. Finally, I'd finished it!
Then, the ring seemed to come alive, grabbing at my skin, sliding down, and shrinking around my finger till it fit snugly. It pierced inward and injected into me, just like the Seeds.
YOUR NON-SENSORY PERCEPTION HAS INCREASED
The window hung in front of my face, prompted by the sensors of the now local-access-only VR chip still embedded in my skull.
I stared at my hand in a mixture of curiosity and horror.
Then the seizure started, and all curiosity slipped away. Pain ruptured my consciousness, and my eyes rolled back in my head as my body flailed on the couch.
There was only pain and flashing lights behind my eyelids for a while, and then I started to see things in the lights. Most of them passed too fast or were too strange for me to understand. Blood, yellowing teeth, mold growing over a sick child's cheek, and a dizzying rush of sensations and images that I didn't catch but which filled me with fear and the sick feeling of decay and ruination all the same.
Then, it settled down, and I saw a huge mountain towering above a beautiful land filled with dark-rippling fire. I stood on the mountainside, and knew that at the top sat power unimaginable. Then the ground trembled beneath my feet and my perception changed like a child that looks up at the sky and realizes they are about to fall off the bottom of the world. I understood the power dwelt not at the top, but beneath me, and I stood on a gargantuan body only pretending to be a mountain.
I woke up then, but still my physical eyes did not open.
Instead, I lingered in a body not my own. A man's body, and his thoughts, and his world. A vague part of me realized that I was dreaming of being someone else, but the other part of me was too caught up in the sensation of the moment to care.
I looked up at the moons, showing through the still brightening morning sky. I stood at the top of a small grassy knoll looking out over a lake. This place, at least, still lay untainted. I smiled, and lifted something over my shoulder with a strength I'd never experienced in my real body. I wanted to protect this land, my land, and my people. I turned then, and saw a face peeking out at me from behind a tree. A beautiful girl grinned at me and my heart filled with happiness.
Then I woke up, gasping and looking up at the peeling-plaster ceiling of our rented room. I rolled off the couch onto my hands and knees, choking and gulping back sobs. Tears dropped rapidly onto the wooden boards between my hands, and I shook my head in confusion. I felt a deep-seated sense of loss, heartbreak almost, as if somethin
g precious had been ripped away from me.
I sobbed as quietly as possible, but someone placed a cool hand on my back in comfort. I jerked away from it, and looked up to see Adam.
He knelt beside me on the floor and just rubbed my back silently.
After a while, the sobs calmed down, and I wiped my face. "J—just a dream," I hiccupped. I doubted the truth of that. The ring puzzle had given me a vision, but the second part had been different. It had a kind of mental scent to it, which I’d felt before. It smelt the same as the time I’d been expanding my senses under China’s tutelage and had felt like I was somewhere else, and the same as when I’d been in the woods at our base, breaking under the pressure. “The crazy thing is, it was k—kind of a nice dream."
"Sometimes those are the hardest. When you wish they were real, and then have to wake up to reality," he said quietly, the soothing hand still on my back.
That wasn't quite it, but I didn't have the desire or the energy right then to try and explain what had happened, so I just nodded. "Sorry I woke you," I sniffled.
He shook his head. "I was already awake. It's one of the side effects of the Seeds augmenting my body. I just can't sleep as much as I used to."
"Oh."
"You should go back to sleep, though. Come on," he waved me back up onto the pallet and pulled a light blanket over me. "I'll stay with you until you fall asleep."
"Adam..."I said hesitantly.
He smirked. "I'm not going to tell anyone you were crying like a little girl, Eve. Just turn over and go to sleep."
I wrinkled my nose and turned my back to him.
He rubbed my back soothingly, over and over till I fell asleep, but all I could think of was that feeling in my dream, that happiness.
* * *