by Leigh, Jena
Most interesting to Alex, however, was the sight of her aunt and her friends all seated in the yard at the front of the building. All eight of them appeared unharmed.
“Something’s not right,” said Declan after the guard finished another lap around the complex. “There are only two guards watching them. Even if they had used a pulse to knock out your Aunt’s ability to jump before… there’s power in the facility. All she would have to do is take some from those floodlights, grab the others, and jump. So why hasn’t she? What’s stopping her?”
“Maybe they did something else to her,” said Alex, suddenly frightened for her aunt. “Something that took her power away.”
Declan shook his head. “I don’t think so. They have plenty of methods for disabling other types of Variants, but for Jumpers, they only ever use a pulse. I don’t know what else they could have used on her.”
Alex examined the group more closely. They didn’t look afraid. Some of them, like Brandt and Aiden, simply looked bored. Others, like Grayson and Nate, looked decidedly pissed about something.
“Well standing here hypothesizing isn’t going to help them,” said Alex. “I say we jump over there, grab the others, and jump back to the cabin.”
“It’s too easy,” said Declan. “This whole thing feels wrong.”
“Do you have any other ideas?”
Declan frowned. “We’ll need to take out the guard in the tower.”
Alex stared down at her hands in the black. She had an idea, but she was frightened that it might not work the way she wanted it to.
“I think I should go,” she said. “I have something I want to try.”
“No way, Lex. I can handle it.”
Maybe he was right. Alex wasn’t really sure her plan would work, anyway… And Declan was trained for this sort of thing.
In the yard below, Kenzie and Brian were sitting off to one side. She couldn’t quite see Kenzie’s face, but she could see Brian’s clearly. He was crying, although he seemed to be trying his best to hide it from the others. He wasn’t doing a very good job of it, though, because his sister had taken notice.
After watching Kenzie reach over and hug the boy tightly, Alex got to her feet.
“Alex?” said Declan. “What are you doing?”
Alex materialized in the cramped watch tower behind the guard. He whipped around to face her, reaching for his holster. Alex was faster. She placed her hand on his chest—and sent a surge of electricity cascading through her palm.
The man fell from his chair and lay sprawled on the ground.
Cassie had only been half right, earlier, when she’d said that Alex had no backbone.
When it came to defending herself? To fighting for what she deserved?
Alex was a coward. Every time.
But when it came to defending her family and friends? To fighting for the people she cared about?
Well, in those all-important moments Alex was a true force to be reckoned with.
She knelt beside the fallen guard, checking for a pulse. Strong and steady. He was merely out cold.
Alex smiled and jumped back to Declan’s side in the forest.
“What did you just do?” he hissed. “I told you not to—”
“It’s okay, Declan. Calm down! I just knocked him out.”
“How? Those spheres would have blown him to bits!”
She wiggled her fingers in the dim light. “I electrocuted him. Knocked the poor guy out like a light.”
“You… We can do that?” he asked, a hint of awe in his tone.
She smiled. “So, what now, Decks? He won’t be out for long.”
Declan shook his head slowly in amusement, then returned his attention to the compound below.
The guard’s circuitous pacing had led him around the side of the building. They had maybe thirty seconds before he reappeared.
“Alright,” he said, taking her hand. “Let’s go.”
They jumped, but as they started to reappear an unyielding pressure pushed against them, forcing them to materialize a few feet from where Declan had intended.
“Decks! Alex!” Kenzie said, jumping to her feet.
Declan glanced at the empty space behind him where he’d intended to reappear. “Well, that was weird.”
“What just happened?” asked Alex
“It’s like something was there,” said Declan. “We’ll figure it out later, right now it’s time we got you guys out of here. Come on. Before that guard comes back.”
No one moved to get up.
“We can’t, Decks,” said Brian.
“What?” said Declan. “Why not?”
A tremor rippled through the air, encircling their group. The sight reminded Alex of the rippling waves of heat that hover above scorching blacktops during the middle of summer. The mirage shuddered violently, and in the next instant, fourteen Agents armed with assault rifles shimmered into view.
They were surrounded.
“That’s why not,” said Aiden. He nodded toward the massive man that had his rifle trained on Declan. The Agent had a shaved head and every patch of skin visible below his chin was covered in tattoos. Alex was fairly certain he’d be able to bench-press half of Bay View High’s varsity football team with each massive arm, if put to the test. “His name’s Dimitri. He’s from Vladivostok. Two guesses what he can do.”
Declan, impudent to the last, grinned up at the giant Russian. “Playing hide and go seek with you as a kid must have been a real bitch.”
Dimitri only smiled.
“Miss Parker and Mr. O’Connell,” said a woman’s voice. “Welcome.”
The wall of Agents parted, allowing a petite woman with short gray hair, dressed smartly in a gray pantsuit and pumps, to enter the circle.
Grayson and the others finally stood.
“I believe I made you a promise, Jonathan,” she said. “Cil? You can take Brian, Cassandra and Mackenzie home now. You can go too, Carson. You’ll see no more trouble from the Agency. We thank you for your cooperation.”
“Cooperation,” said Brandt. “That’s a laugh.”
“I’m not leaving without my niece,” said Cil angrily.
“Cil, it’s alright,” said Grayson. “I’ll take care of her. You have my word. Please, take the children back to the cabin and wait for us. We’ll be there soon.”
Cil looked to Alex.
“It’s alright, Aunt Cil,” she said. “Please… Just get them out of here.”
After a long moment, her aunt took hold of the others and jumped, but she was definitely not happy to do it.
“Why don’t you let the others go, too?” asked Alex.
“Leverage,” said Aiden. “That’s right, isn’t it? Alex jumps and you shoot the rest of us? Isn’t that how it works?”
An almost paralyzing fear gripped her.
They were well, and truly, stuck.
Realizing that there was no possible way of escaping this place that didn’t involve someone ending up in a body bag, Alex decided to do the only thing she could do: offer herself in trade for the others.
“It’s me you want, right?” she said slowly. “I’ll stay—willingly—just so long as you let them go.”
The offer hadn’t worked on Masterson, but she prayed that the Agency would be more inclined to negotiate. She simply hoped that Ozzie had been right about Grayson and his family being untouchable.
“Alex, wait,” said Grayson. “Just give me a moment to talk to Director Carter before you agree to anything. She’s a reasonable woman.” His words carried a bitter edge. “I’m sure we can figure something out.”
Director Carter? So this was the woman behind the Agency?
Alex had been expecting someone… taller.
“I really don’t think so, Jonathan,” said the Director. “You know her best option is to come with us willingly. The Agency can protect her. We aren’t the bad guys, no matter how hard you try to make us out to be. What I’m offering Alexandra is a chance at a better life.”
“What?” Alex asked, confused. “What do you mean, you want to give me a ‘better life?’ Are you arresting me?”
“No, child.” The Director laughed. “We’re not arresting you. You’ll simply become a… a ward of the state, in a manner of speaking. You’ll come to live and work at the Agency. We’ll be your new home.”
Grayson scowled. “For heaven’s sake, Dana. You can’t just take her.”
“We can,” she said sternly. “And we will. The blood running in that girl’s veins is the last undamaged resource of VX-2 in existence. That makes her Agency property, Jonathan, whether you like it or not. Now, we’re not heartless. We could put her down and eliminate the threat, but we won’t. We have every intention of training her as an operative and teaching her to control her gifts. We’ll be giving her a better life.”
There was that phrase again.
“Will you listen to yourself?” said Grayson. “How could that possibly be a better life than the one she’s got? You’ll be taking away her freedom, not to mention her future. And for what? For the chance of training her as a weapon to be used at your disposal?”
“We can protect the girl, Jonathan. It’s what Nora and James would have wanted—for her to be safe. Not just from Masterson… She also needs to be protected from the world. Do you know what the extremists would do to her if they knew what she was and what she was capable of? If they knew there was another like Samuel? We can keep her safe. The Agency is the best choice she has.”
“That’s not a choice that’s a jail sentence. Cil and I can keep her safer than you lot could ever hope to. Alex has the right to be with the people she cares about. To take her away from the life she’s built in Florida is tantamount to—”
“It’s not that simple, Grayson, and you know it. Alex isn’t the only one who needs protection. We also need to protect the world from Alex. You know she’s far too powerful to be allowed to live amongst the norms while she’s still learning what she can do… She might hurt someone. She’s only a child.”
Alex bristled at that. She’d be seventeen next month and was more responsible than a lot of the adults she knew. The events of her life had forced her to grow up faster than most.
To be labeled a child felt like an insult.
Grayson was furious. “Now listen here, Dana, you’re talking about a human being, not a weapon. And I hardly see how the Agency can help her any better than I can…”
Their argument continued, but Alex was no longer paying attention.
Why was it that, every time something major happened in her life, Alex always found herself standing on the sidelines while other people fought her battles for her?
As a child, her parents and six others had sacrificed their lives in order to protect her from Masterson.
Every time someone had picked on her at school—every time Jessica, Connor, or anyone else had done anything to hurt her—it had been Cassie to the rescue.
And now, for the last three days, Declan, Nate, Grayson and the others had done everything in their power to keep her safe and out of danger, ending up bruised, battered and then abducted by their own government in the process.
But it was all to no avail, because here she was.
In trouble, yet again.
Only this time it was her future in the cross-hairs.
Was she really going to stand idly by while these people decided her fate? Was she really going to let the Agency take her away from everything she’d ever known and everyone she’d ever loved without at lest trying to put up a fight?
No.
Alex pulled the gun from her waistband. Raising it toward the sky, she released the safety, pulled the trigger and fired off a round.
Fourteen rifles were aimed in her direction.
The arguing stopped.
She had their attention.
“That is it!” Alex hissed, lowering the gun. “I’m no one’s asset and I’m sure as hell not the Agency’s property. I’m a living, breathing, thinking teenage girl who can speak for herself!”
Declan and the others gaped at her. The Director folded her arms across her chest and fixed Alex with a steely glare.
“I know you think you own me, Director, but you don’t. Grayson’s right. I’m a human being, not a weapon for the Agency. Legally you have no claim to me. And if word got out about what you were trying to do here, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t like the results. I have a life, I have a family and I have friends that mean everything to me and I am not about to stand by and watch you take all that away. I have no intention of going anywhere with you. I trust Grayson and his family more than I will ever trust you or your organization. If they’re willing to help me—to keep me safe—then they are the ones in whom I will place my trust. Not you.
“And you’re not getting my blood. That one’s non-negotiable. The last thing this world needs is an army of freaks like me. There’s no telling what they might do. Look at the trouble one Masterson has caused. Are you really willing to risk the creation of another?
“What I’m saying, Director, is that I will obey your laws and I will follow your rules, but I will never be your asset. I have no desire to be turned into a weapon. All I want is to be left in peace.”
Her words were met with a stony silence.
The Director’s eyes had narrowed to slits. “Very well, Ms. Parker,” she said curtly. “We’ll do this on your terms… for now.”
Alex let out a slow breath.
“However,” she continued. “If your burgeoning powers should prove dangerous to the public—or if the Agency should find any reason to doubt Mr. Grayson’s ability to handle your care—then there will be no more room for negotiation. The Agency will at that point become responsible for your… maintenance. You will be taken into custody and dealt with accordingly. Have I made myself clear?”
“Crystal,” said Alex, handing the gun to Grayson. “Now if you’ll excuse us, Director. I’m taking my friends and we’re going home.”
With that, Alex and the others vanished from the yard.
— 25 —
“Oh, that poor, poor girl.” Cassie lowered her aviator sunglasses and peered over the top of the frames. “What did she do? Go to the spray-on tanning place and request the Oompa Loompa treatment?”
Alex glanced up from the pages of her novel to see who it was that had so captured her friend’s attention.
Miranda Pierce—a sophomore Alex and Cassie had hung out with occasionally before the “incident” in the computer lab—was standing at the edge of a makeshift beach volleyball court in a barely-there, lime-green bikini, flirting shamelessly with Connor and half a dozen guys from the varsity soccer team.
It was the same barely-there, lime-green bikini that Alex had been eyeing in a boardwalk shop earlier on in the week.
It felt like a hundred years ago.
Alex tugged at the hem of her tank top, trying to keep the material from riding up high enough for her scar to be visible. While Cassie had been lying stretched-out, working on her tan beside her, Alex had been sitting cross-legged with her back to the water, trying to ignore the rowdy gathering of her former friends partying a short way down the beach.
Now that she’d started watching them, however, she couldn’t seem to look away.
It didn’t help that Miranda’s skin was like some strange orange beacon, mesmerizing in its unnatural brightness.
Poor girl. Alex could sympathize. They both had the sort of fair skin that made sunburns inevitable and a healthy tan almost impossible to achieve. Sometimes, even neon was preferable to pasty. And Alex had seen worse fake tans.
None that immediately sprang to mind.
But, you know.
She was sure they were out there.
Not that Miranda needed her sympathy. With that figure, her skin could have been bright purple and she’d still be holding Connor’s attention.
“I don’t know,” said Alex. “It’s not that bad. She looks tan… -ish.”
“T
here is a fine line between tan, and looking like you just rolled around in a giant bag of Doritos. And Miranda seems to prefer the nacho cheese variety.”
Alex smiled as she watched their erstwhile friends horsing around and playing volleyball near the pier. They were just close enough that she could hear the sound of their laughter over the crash of waves breaking against the shore.
She sighed, remembering a time, not so very long ago, when it had been her standing at the edge of that court where Miranda now stood, surrounded by friends, without a care in the world.
Miranda, she now realized, had become her replacement.
“Do you ever miss them, Cass?”
“Who? Those rejects?” she asked, pushing the aviators back up the bridge of her nose. “No. And after the way they treated you, you shouldn’t either.”
Alex stared down at her hands, wiggling her fingers experimentally, attempting to form a sphere.
Nothing.
Not a single watt.
It was Tuesday—their last day of spring break before school was back in.
Alex had spent every waking moment since Saturday morning avoiding any sort of physical contact with her aunt. After the events leading up to the weekend, she wanted nothing more than to be ability-free for as long as she could make it last. She wanted to feel normal. Even if the sensation could only ever be temporary.
The past few days had been relatively quiet. No contact from the Agency. No unexpected visits from Masterson. And she hadn’t been back to the cabin since she left on Saturday morning.
If anything, her life had taken a turn for the boring.
And Alex couldn’t be happier about it.
“So tell me, G.I. Jane—did you really shoot that gun into the air before going all women’s lib on the Director?” asked Cassie, breaking into her thoughts. “Or was that just Aiden trying to liven up the story?”
“I wouldn’t exactly consider standing up for myself an act of female empowerment,” said Alex. “But I’ll admit. Telling her off felt pretty good.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Alex grinned. “I might have shot a gun in the air.”