The Powerless Series: Complete 5-Book Set

by Jason Letts

  Chucky watched Mira absorb his demands. When she sat back so she could face Vern directly, he happened to see Aoi walking toward them from a ways down the beach. He wanted to say something, but he couldn’t interfere in their increasingly heated exchange.

  “Vern, you’ve got to calm down. We do need him, and we will get him back, but it just won’t be right now. You know full well barging in or fighting our way through will get us nowhere. Now why don’t you take a seat over here and help us figure this out?”

  Her words had the quality of an order to them, and Chucky studied Vern’s face to see how he would react. He made a sour, unnerved grimace, which made Chucky wonder if it would bubble over to words. Reluctantly, he lurched around to an open spot by the paper, but couldn’t help but throw in a comment before he sat down.

  “Everything’s always got to have a plan. With everything so scripted out, it’s like we’re not doing anything, just like it has been since we got here.”

  It seemed to catch him off guard when he noticed Mira staring directly at him, refusing to let his comment pass by.

  “This thinking ahead is what gives us control. That’s how we do something and not just get swept away by events as they unfold. The more we plan, the better off we’ll be when it comes time to act. Don’t you remember? That’s how I became our leader.”

  Vern held his tongue this time and averted his eyes. Then he let out a sigh when he saw someone coming down the beach. Mira and Chucky looked too and saw Aoi shuffling through the sand. Her hair stuck straight up and she stumbled as if she weren’t fully in control of her legs. Regardless of the dazed expression on her face, she gave an inkling of a smile when she saw them. Mira and Chucky immediately rose to greet her. Vern, suddenly left alone, hesitantly got up too.

  “If it isn’t our little felon,” Mira joked, throwing her arms around Aoi and patting down her hair. “I’m so glad to have you back. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

  Chucky bent over to give her a hug too, noticing that every second seemed to make her a little more refreshed.

  “So how did you break out? They should’ve known they couldn’t hold you,” he beamed.

  “No, they just let me go. I don’t know why. Maybe they thought I’d been put through enough,” she smiled, casting a furtive look at Vern. Mira said nothing, but Vern dismissed her comment by clearing his nasal passages.

  “Here, do you want something to eat? Do you want to sit down?” Chucky inquired. “There’ve been a few important developments since you were taken away. They took Knoll to the ship.”

  Aoi consented to a little rest, easing down against the sand near the boat plans. While Chucky dug into his stash for something to feed her, Mira explained about where Arent would be and how she found out about the machine he would be attached to.

  “But the funniest thing about the fallen panel, some of the bolts had withered to dust. I know it sounds crazy, but it makes me think Goober did it. Maybe he’s trying to sabotage the launch,” she posed.

  “Goober?” Vern gawked, incredulous. “How could that kid even be alive after all this time? I’d sooner expect Fortst to show up and do something.”

  “Just the way things fall apart. It seemed to fit,” Mira continued. “But it was lucky for us. They’re putting a vent in right above him, and that’s what we’ll use to enter the room. And now we’re even luckier since we have you back,” she said, turning to Aoi.

  “Why? Why me?” Aoi asked, looking around at their three faces.

  Mira sat down across from Aoi, the plans sprawled out between them.

  “Because we have to get into the ship and then we have to get to Arent without anyone seeing us. That means we’ll be better off if we can avoid the hallways. You’re the only one allowed near the boat, and so you have to prepare the route to the engine room. They are just days away from the launch, and more soldiers are arriving all the time. We don’t have any time to lose,” Mira imparted.

  Chucky noticed Vern leaning against a tree with his back to them. Turning his attention back to Aoi, Chucky tried to determine her feelings. She still looked shaken, and that prevented him from gauging her reaction to the great responsibility Mira bestowed upon her.

  “OK,” Aoi said resolutely. “What do I have to do?”

  Mira pointed to a small room at the front of the ship on the level parallel with the windows.

  “Listen very carefully, OK? If these measurements aren’t carried out exactly, everything will be ruined. I’m confident this front room is going to be a storage closet with crates and supplies. We’ll hide here and then snake our way to the back of the ship and slip into the vent. Now listen. You need to cut into the walls just enough so we can easily cut through when the time comes.

  “In the storage room, cut a square into the ceiling exactly two feet away from the door. The size should be a square foot so we can fit through. The ceiling is three inches thick, so use a saw to cut two and a half inches deep. Make a mark in your saw. Then we’ll be here and we’ll want to start moving toward the rear. So make square-foot cuts in these walls ten inches from the ground and eighteen inches from the back walls. The walls are thinner than the ceiling, about two inches thick. Make your cuts an inch and a half deep. The next room over is a crew cabin, so we’ll have to sneak out across the hall from there. Wait, have you got all that?” Mira asked, suddenly concerned.

  Chucky had been watching Aoi’s face, where the numbers and calculations and floors seemed to just pass right over her head. Her eyes glazed over and her mouth hung open as Mira kept spewing this information at her. Aoi’s lip started to quiver and she made the minutest shakes of the head. When Mira finally noticed she had left her behind, Aoi’s composure had vanished completely.

  “No, not math! Please, Mira. I’ll never get it right. I’m going to screw it up and ruin the whole thing. You’ve got to do it,” she begged.

  Chucky kneeled down beside her and put his hand on her back. He’d never seen her look so timid. Mira leaned forward and took her trembling hand.

  “You are the only one who is part of the ship crew, so it absolutely has to be you. Just believe you can do it. Focus now, remember it, and don’t let anybody see you when you’re doing it. I’ll explain everything again. Come on, you can do this.”

  Mira’s comforting tone aroused a hint of jealousy in Chucky, who wished he’d been given this crucial task even though he would have been just as terrified about botching it.

  “Mira…” Aoi murmured.

  “You can pull this off, Aoi. I know you can. You can remember these numbers. Here, I’ll make it easier. Instead of feet, we’ll say the distance from your elbow to your wrist, OK? You can measure by arm lengths. You’ll want to cut the ceiling as deep as your index finger, and the walls as deep as your thumb,” Mira slowly explained, manipulating her friend’s arm and hand.

  Aoi cast a shameful glance at Mira and spoke in the quietest whisper.

  “I wish I were smart like you are, but I’m not.”

  “Listen to me, OK? I know you can do this because it’s not as hard as it seems. We’ll practice and work through it. Trust me, please,” Mira begged.

  “You’ll be laughing about this later after you breeze through it,” Chucky added.

  Vern turned around and looked down at them.

  “She’s not going to be able to do it,” he scoffed.

  “Shut up! You don’t get to talk to me!” Aoi roared at him.

  Only then did her eyes start to well up, and she shivered intensely as every muscle in her body steeled itself.

  “OK, OK. I can do it. Explain it to me again. No, wait, first, how are you even going to get into that room in the first place? How am I supposed to get on after they kick me out to launch the boat?” she asked.

  Mira pursed her lips and took another hard look at the plans on the sand.

  “We’re going to hide in crates and you’re going to load us into this room. My idea is to have you swim out in front of the boat, and have
Vern draw you up to the window where you can break in. Then we’ll go from there,” she revealed, biting her lip as she glanced at the two of them.

  Vern and Aoi shared a bitter, hard glare.

  “We don’t have a lot of options, and the only way we’ll succeed is if we all work together. We’ve come too far and we’re too close to let anything get in the way of carrying on with that glimmer of hope that’s sustained us for so long.”

  Chapter 10: Circumvention

  Sweeping the vacant men’s bunkhouse, Roselyn stopped for a moment to glance at Will’s pitiful looking bed. Exhausted, she leaned against the broom, thinking about how sorry she was that he had gone through so much. No one should have to endure anything like what they’d been through. Her heart ached to escape, but she couldn’t muster the confidence to think they would ever actually make it.

  Glancing around, she gave in to a moment of weakness and sat down on his bunk. The thin pad wasn’t much softer than the ground, but for some reason it still felt nice just to be there. Her hand casually grazed the pillow and the scratchy blanket. The impulse came to pull up her legs and lie down, but it vanished when something suddenly appeared in front of her, making her jump.

  “Taking a break?” Neeko scowled, leaning forward nearly into her face. He had on the black uniform he had taken from Will, and he still looked mighty pleased about it.

  Alarmed, Roselyn quickly rose and resumed her sweeping, but Neeko put his hand on her shoulder to stop her. He didn’t take it off even when she cast him a cold glare. Instead, he grinned at her.

  “No, don’t worry. I’m not going to rat you out. I still remember countless times when I wished I could’ve snuck in a quick midday nap.”

  When she started to drag her broom across the floor, his hand finally left her shoulder. Now that she was getting back to work, he’d have no reason to stay, right? Clearing his throat, he stepped beside her, his proximity forcing her to stop sweeping.

  “Actually, I came to talk to you about something. I know you had an arrangement with Will, and things must be hard now without it. I’m just saying that there are things I could do to make it better, if you know what I mean.”

  He gazed at her, a sickening smile on his face, and his eyes felt strangely invasive. Roselyn took a step back, and he followed, almost forcing her back against the wall. Neeko swallowed hard and blinked before lowering his eyes onto her face again.

  “You know…‌I don’t mind that you can’t talk,” he continued, smiling. “In fact, I think it’s kind of cool. If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s girls who don’t know when to close their mouths. You wouldn’t have that problem at all.”

  Roselyn wanted to throw up. He’d made what he wanted all too clear, and the discomfort it caused her was just another reason why this camp was a nightmare and they needed to get out as soon as possible. Roselyn’s grimace should’ve told him how repulsed she was, but he didn’t seem to get the message. He looked her up and down, a strange glimmer in his eyes.

  Finally he backed away, though she was still frozen.

  “All I’m saying is you should think about it. You’d be a lot better off with someone like me than with Will, who’s got nothing but his funeral to look forward to.”

  If she hadn’t been able to watch him leave, she never would’ve trusted that he had really left. As it was, she gasped when he turned out of sight. Holding her hand to her chest, she knew things couldn’t go on like this.

  Holding her hands over her grumbling stomach, Mary sat against the rough exterior of the witch’s cabin at mealtime. For the second full day in a row, she would have nothing to eat. Right now, Will was off begging from the other slaves and Roselyn was combing the mountainside in hopes of finding berries. Though she didn’t expect either of them to be the least bit successful, there was something much more important than helping them that she had to do.

  Hunger had a strange effect on Mary, who dangled her hair over her eyes to block the sun and help her concentrate. For a time, her ravenous desire for food would stampede through her mind and leave it useless for anything else. At other times, that feeling would disappear completely as though it had never come in the first place. It was in these moments when she was not stricken with hunger that she fixed her energy on the old woman just on the other side of the wall.

  The witch and her gift held the answer to their escape, and Mary couldn’t think about anything else but figuring out what it was. And once she did so, Vern would be so impressed with her that she’d saved Roselyn and Will all by herself. It would prove she wasn’t the same flighty girl worrying about whether or not she should bring her mirror and makeup to battle. He would know she was serious, and worthy of him, and had a contribution to make.

  She could feel it, the link the witch had with that little piece of skin encased in the stud piercing her ear. It felt like the old woman had a hand on her, and she wouldn’t let go no matter how far away she went. There was no question that the witch knew the location of everyone by those detached skin cells, but the danger they posed if she wandered too far away eluded her and vexed her.

  A hunger pang made her squirm just as her train of thought led back to when they had first arrived. Held down, the Sunfighters implanted the studs in everyone, even themselves. The one-eyed witch said something about the bond it would create and then told them those cells would burst in a lethal explosion should anyone wander beyond the bounds of the camp. Ragged, beaten, and dirty, the camp’s newcomers were instantly terrified of her.

  But in the midst of the extension of consciousness the witch embraced within her severed parts, Mary couldn’t sense the source of any destruction. She cleared her mind, breathed deeply, and let the feeling bloom into an enriched arrangement, but still there was nothing of the sharpness or tension that would come with something so perilous. Missing this one vital piece seemed such a great failing.

  The witch stayed in her small corner room, making Mary wonder what was inside. She moved from one side of the room to the other, as she occasionally did. Perhaps she meditated within the sphere of her gift, just as Mary tried to do at that very moment. Concentrating so hard, Mary noticed something strange when she moved. Her feeling felt bigger than it should have for such a frail woman. Even considering the size of the room, it seemed to take up more space.

  Wondering if someone else was in there with her, Mary slowly started to walk around the building. She took heavy, careful steps, trying to pinpoint an angle where there was a clear separation. Almost all the way around, she found it. The division suggested there were two of her in there, which was impossible. Mary pieced together that the witch stored her other eye inside, and it gave off a resonance strong enough for Mary to perceive.

  But what did that mean? Was that how she watched them, by huddling over it? Mary started to grope around in the pit of her stomach for answers about what the eye did in conjunction with her power. If they took it, would she lose her ability to watch over them? Could they escape unnoticed?

  Mary felt confident in her ability, and all of the practice she had put in allowed her to trust herself more than she had. The eye seemed to contain just as much of the witch’s power as the rest of her, and they would virtually rob her of it if they could just steal it from her. She felt herself getting giddy at the idea, and along with the excitement her stomach started to rumble anew. But as so often happens, using a second problem to distract herself gave her mind time enough to solve the first one.

  “It’s a lie,” Mary said aloud, taken aback.

  And it was. Her mouth hung open as she stared into her memories. The terrified newcomers to the camp would never question what the witch told them about the dangers she proposed, and most of them would have never tempted it. Sure, the witch would know if they tried to escape, but there was no force that would keep them back other than their belief in a simple lie. Mary’s teeth chattered when she realized they could’ve just left at any time if not for their own willful acceptance of what they were
told.

  It angered her and itched at her, and the only relief would come when they challenged that lie and fled the mountain camp. If they did so with the witch’s eye, it might be hours before anyone knew they were gone. Mira would know how to unclasp the studs from their ears. And Vern would be there waiting for her. It all seemed to coalesce in her mind so beautifully, once again repelling the intense hunger that daunted her.

  She ran to find her friends. Tearing around the side of a bunkhouse, she trampled through the long grass by the mines where others were eating in the shade. Will took a rejection from one slave and turned to approach a pair camped under a browning tree. As it happened, Will meekly made his way toward Kevin and Jeana. At the very same time, Gloria marched over from the mines to intercept him.

  “Will!” Mary shouted, alerting him to the danger. He noticed Gloria and immediately started backtracking. Only then did he spot Mary out of the corner of his eye. Kevin and Jeana regarded the confrontation as one would some amusing dinner theater. Mary slipped in front of Will and vainly put out her hand.

  “Stop! Leave him alone!” she howled at Gloria.

  Gloria didn’t stop, forcing Mary and Will to shuffle backward, nearly tripping over the uneven terrain.

  “You heard the witch,” Gloria said, slowing down and putting her sopping hand on her hip. “Will’s life belongs to me. I’ve taken so many, by accident and on purpose, but I will enjoy none so much as this.”

  “Please!” Mary begged, running her hand through her hair and desperately trying to think. “Just give us until tomorrow. Let us say goodbye. She said we all get a chance at him, and we haven’t had ours!”

  Gloria rolled her head and sighed.

  “If you get in the way tomorrow, you’ll have all the time in eternity to spend with him,” she glowered, stalking off with a heavy frown and a menacing look.

  “What are you doing?” Will asked Mary once Gloria had left.

  “I have a plan,” Mary said, and then gestured to Kevin and Jeana. Pulling him over to them, she cleared her throat to get their attention. Begrudgingly, Mira’s parents raised their eyes and carefully regarded the oncomers.