Activated: A Superhero Adventure Novel (Axel Adams Book 1)

by Dee Benson

  "Where are you going?" he demanded.

  "I'm not feeling well," Axel said quickly. "We're on our way to the medical unit."

  "The medical unit," Nigel said flatly. "Right. That's over that way." He pointed in the opposite direction.

  "We know," Trojan said placing an arm around Axel's shoulders. "But we wanted to have some time to ourselves first."

  Nigel's gazed flicked from Axel to Trojan and then back to Axel again. An expressionless mask seemed to settle over his features. Then, he vanished into thin air.

  Axel nudged Trojan. "Why did you say that?"

  "Say what?"

  Axel's cheeks warmed. "You made it sound like we were looking for someplace to make out or something."

  "Yeah. And it worked because he left us alone." Trojan frowned at her. "Why don't you want Nigel to think we're an item?"

  "I don't care what Nigel thinks, I'm just…"

  Trojan lifted a brow. "Angelo's right. You like him."

  "I don't."

  "You look at him the way birds look at worms."

  "Worms?"

  "Yeah. Big, fat, juicy worms."

  Axel would slap him if she had the strength.

  "Why do good girls always like bad boys?"

  "I don't like him in that way, Trojan. I just think he's not like the rest of The Firemaster's people. He seems different."

  "Yeah, he's good looking, so he can't possibly be evil," Trojan said sarcastically. "Even though he's been an assassin since like the age of five."

  "Are you serious?"

  "Actually, that's wrong. He made his first kill at age four. The Firemaster, while he was Commander of the Armies, had him kill a rogue army sergeant.

  The very thought of it made Axel feel cold all over. Nigel had been killing people since age four? No wonder he was so expressionless and emotionless. He must be completely numb.

  Trojan began to walk again. Axel followed, but her thoughts were miles away. Nigel wasn't happy. She knew he wasn't. She could tell. He wanted out. But he had no choice.

  They entered the field they'd used for flight practice last week and walked to the far end where the trees were like ash-colored statues in the night.

  They wove their way through the trees. After a few minutes, Trojan stopped abruptly. He looked around.

  "What are you looking for?" Axel asked.

  "I think we're here."

  "Where?"

  "At the meeting."

  "Nobody else is here."

  Trojan reached out and patted the air.

  "What are you doing?"

  He took Axel's hand and made her pat the air too. Only it wasn't the air. She felt something solid against her hand.

  "A force field," Trojan said.

  He knocked on the invisible shield, and then began to whisper.

  "Magnificent fire that burns and consumes,

  You are powerful without a doubt.

  So burn on while we hack away at the dam.

  For it takes only water to put you out."

  Chapter 21

  THERE WAS A FAINT click, and then the darkness before them began to part, revealing light. And faces. Half a dozen people were sitting on the ground around a fire.

  "Hurry up!" one of them snapped.

  Trojan stepped forward, pulling Axel with him. There was a faint click behind them as the force field slid back into place.

  One of the guys around the fire stood, his eyes angry. "Who's she?"

  "This is Axel. She wants to join us."

  "No newcomers are allowed until we have investigated them thoroughly," the guy snapped. "Are you trying to get us all killed?"

  "Trust me, Victor. She's fine. I can vouch for her."

  Axel looked around at all the suspicious faces staring up at her. She didn't recognize any of them. Her gaze landed on one familiar face and she tensed. Jasper. There was an unpleasant squeeze in her chest.

  He rose to his feet. "I can vouch for her, too," he said quietly. "The Firemaster killed her parents and kidnapped her cousin in order to force her to come here. She is suitably enraged."

  Most people seemed to relax at that.

  "She's the girl that activated healing powers from the Gifts and Graces," Trojan continued.

  Now, awe filled everyone's eyes.

  Trojan shook his head. "The Firemaster took the power from her this morning. Well, yesterday morning now."

  "She went through a scorching?" a girl asked. She was the only girl present. She had pepper red hair and wore heavy eyeliner.

  "Yes," Trojan confirmed.

  They all looked horrified.

  "She needs neutralizing," Trojan told the first guy who'd stood up. Victor. "She told me, yesterday, that The Firemaster agreed to release her and her cousin if she gave him her healing power, but after the scorching, she had no recollection of his promise."

  "Nigel," someone muttered. "They must have had him tweak your thoughts and memories; erase the promise from your mind."

  "So wrong," the girl said. "Wrong on so many levels. It's mind rape."

  Axel didn't know what to say. Maybe she should speak to Nigel tomorrow and ask him. But would he tell her the truth? She thought he would, but maybe she was being too trusting. He was The Firemaster's personal assassin.

  But I've never seen him kill anyone, or even seen a hint of a murderous look in his eyes.

  "Can you help her get the memory back?" Trojan asked Victor. He looked at Axel. "He has mind powers too, like Nigel."

  Victor's eyes glazed over slightly. "Do you give me permission?" he asked.

  Axel looked at Trojan.

  "You can trust Victor," Trojan said. "He won't look beyond your surface thoughts. Will you, Victor?"

  "I'm not interested in any girl's thoughts but Candy's."

  There were some snickers and catcalls.

  Axel felt a tickle across her forehead. "Hey! I didn't say 'yes'," she protested.

  The tickle continued. It was accompanied by an image of Victor in her mind.

  "Is it normal that I can see you?" Axel asked. "In my…imagination, or something like that?"

  "Yup," Victor replied, his eyes still glazed over. "Nigel is far more advanced in mind-linking and can do it without the person sensing him. But most people with mental powers can't stop their subject from sensing them."

  Victor's eyes came into focus. "I can't help you. I can tell that it was Nigel who tweaked your mind. He's done it in such a way that, if I change anything, he will be alerted."

  Axel had in instant headache. Just two weeks ago, life had consisted of school, defending Zanda from Lizzie Carson and her posse, and basketball. Now, she was having her thoughts erased and being scorched.

  "I need to get out of this place," she muttered, rubbing her eyes. Weariness settled into her bones.

  "Don't we all," the girl said. She shuffled over and patted the ground beside her.

  Axel went to sit beside her. She sank to the ground feeling completely empty. Feeling bleak.

  "I'm Stacey, by the way," the girl said.

  Trojan, Jasper, and Victor found spots around the fire while everyone else told Axel their names.

  Axel listened halfheartedly. She was never going to remember them all. And right now, she didn't even have the will to try. The sense that something was desperately wrong inside her was acute.

  Nigel had mentioned that she'd need to recover emotionally after the scorching. Maybe he knew about the strange emptiness she'd feel.

  Victor handed Trojan a small tube of colorless liquid.

  Water?

  Trojan handed it to Axel. "Keep that with you at all times," he told her.

  "What's it for?"

  Trojan looked at Victor.

  Victor shook his head.

  Trojan sighed. "It represents our ideologies," he told Axel. "We'll tell you more when you've attended a few of our meetings. All you need to know for now is that you shouldn't open it because Victor has filled it with multiplication power."

>   "One of the many tricks a person with mind powers can do," Victor said with a grin. "Anyway, today, it's Trojan's turn to tell us his story." He looked at Trojan. "You have ten minutes, Trojan. Once you're done, we'll report back on the assignments I gave out last week. Then, we'll get the heck out of here. I've had a taxing day. Keeping this force field in place is completely depleting me—and I'm using a special force field that distorts our voices so that if anyone tries to eavesdrop they won't recognize who's speaking."

  "Cool," one of the other guys said.

  "Yes, it's cool but it's also tiring, so let's be quick."

  Trojan cleared his throat.

  Axel noticed that his usually easy expression had been replaced by an intense seriousness she'd never seen in him before. Gone was the jovial, happy Trojan. In his place was a stranger with haunted eyes and grief etched into his face.

  Everyone was quiet, waiting for him to speak.

  When he didn't, Jasper nudged him. "You hang out with Axel because she reminds you of her, doesn't she?"

  Trojan nodded.

  Axel frowned.

  "As most of you already know," Trojan said, "The Firemaster had my twin sister killed."

  "You had a twin sister?" Axel asked.

  "Yeah. She was kind of like you: comfortable in her own skin, happy with being one of the guys, totally oblivious to her own awesomeness." Trojan smiled faintly. "She was always so authentic. Wore her heart on her sleeve."

  "She was pale like Axel, too," Jasper added. "Pale skin with the same weird hair color."

  Stacey frowned. "What's weird about Axel's hair color?"

  "I can't work out if it's blond," Jasper said, shrugging. "I think it is, but sometimes, I think it's more like brown. Amanda's and Gladys's hair is what you call blond."

  "Mine is dirty blond," Axel said, a tad defensively.

  "Dirty blond," Victor drawled. "I like the mental images that phrase gives me."

  Some of the guys snickered. Trojan and Jasper didn't.

  "And I'm not pale," Axel added. "If I'd lived here all my life like you guys have, I'd have a permanent tan too."

  "Geez, chill out," one of the other guys said. "He wasn't saying there's anything wrong with the way you look. He was just making an observation."

  "He can keep his observations about her appearance to himself," Stacey said. "I believe Trojan was speaking."

  "Yeah," Trojan said. Bitterness filled his eyes. "She was killed. Just last month. The Firemaster said she was a rebel. Which was true. She was. But just because someone disagrees with your ideology, does that mean they have to die? Our mom tried to stand up for her, and…she was killed too."

  Nausea churned in Axel's belly. All along, she'd thought she was the only person hurting. She hadn't known that Trojan had been through pretty much the same thing she'd been through. How many of her classmates were in a similar position?

  "What was your sister's name?" Axel asked.

  "Jasmine." Trojan sighed. "She told me something before she died. Something she said The Firemaster had told her about her and me. I never got to ask my mom about it, but I think it's true based on how the teachers treat me. And if it is true, it only makes The Firemaster the more evil in my eyes."

  "What did she tell you?" Jasper asked.

  Trojan shook his head. "I shouldn't have mentioned that. Forget I said that." He looked at Victor, his eyes blazing with determination. "I have to get out of this place. My mom was loyal to The Firemaster, so she ran away when he was banished or the king would have killed her. She was able to escape to Netherium, and my sister and me were born there. When the Firemaster began to plan his come back, he invited her back. We thought he would treat us well, and I was looking forward to activating powers. I definitely didn't expect my mom and my sister to be dead within a few weeks of getting here. I can't take this life much longer. I need to get away. We all do."

  "And we will," Victor said with conviction. "We will find a way. Let's report back on the assignments I gave out last week."

  Axel's eyes grew heavy as they began to give their reports in turn, but she made herself stay awake. These people were planning to escape. She desperately needed to escape. But she couldn't escape without Zanda. Her head began to throb.

  Jasper was reporting on his efforts to find out how to create portals. From their discussion, Axel deduced that portal creation wasn't a common power. Only a handful of authorized aristocrats knew how to do it. Furthermore, anybody who managed to access that power tended to disappear mysteriously and then wind up dead after a few days.

  Axel thought of Uncle Brett. He knew how to do it. Maybe her escape was as simple as finding Zanda and then contacting Uncle Brett.

  She raised her hand. "I know somebody who can create portals."

  Everyone went silent.

  "Who?" Victor asked.

  "My uncle. I could contact him, and he could create a portal for us now. His wife can teleport it to us."

  Everyone looked stunned. Some looked like they didn't believe her.

  "Are your aunt and uncle in Netherium?" Trojan asked.

  "Yes."

  Disappointment filled every face.

  "Honestly, they can teleport the portal to us," Axel told them. "They've done that before."

  "But how will we contact them?" Trojan asked. "We can't contact people in Netherium. Calls to Netherium don't go through."

  "How about email?"

  "It won't go through. The Super Land is set up not to have any contact with the outside world. Apparently, only top government officials are able to call and otherwise contact those in Netherium."

  "Then all we have to do is steal a top government official's cell phone, or hack into their email, or something…"

  Everyone looked hopeful again.

  After a few moments, Victor nodded. "I like how you think."

  "But before we do that," Axel said. "I need your help. I can't leave this place without my cousin. Before we work out how to contact my aunt and uncle, we need to find my cousin."

  "That is acceptable," Victor said. "We'll help you find your cousin, and we will work together to find a way of contacting your aunt and uncle."

  Suddenly, Axel was wide awake. "How are we going to find my cousin?"

  "She'll be somewhere here in Merspool. If we have to search the whole city, we will."

  There was a knocking sound.

  Everyone seemed to freeze.

  It was coming from the direction through which Axel and Trojan had entered the force field.

  "Open up," came a voice that made everyone jump to their feet immediately.

  Serloyd.

  "If you let me in," Serloyd said, "I might be more lenient on you. But if you make me break in, I'll make sure you all regret the day you were born."

  Everyone looked at Victor. He looked panicked.

  "You know what The Firemaster does to rebels, don't you?" came Serloyd's voice. "He kills them. No questions asked. Remove the force field and explain yourselves. Explain everything I've just heard you discussing about portals and escaping."

  Victor looked frozen to the spot. Everyone else was looking at him as though waiting for him to tell them what to do.

  "Stamp out the fire," Axel whispered. "Then remove the force field on that side," she said, pointing in the opposite direction from where Serloyd's voice was coming. "We'll all run. When were good distance away, you can remove the rest of the force field."

  Everyone jumped up and began to stamp out the fire.

  "Open up, rebels," came Serloyd's voice on the other side of the force field. "My patience is wearing thin."

  Victor suddenly cried out.

  "What happened?" Trojan asked him.

  "I think Nigel is with him. I just received a mental attack. I've removed the force field from behind us, but I don't know how long I can keep it up on this side before Nigel breaks my concentration." He began to run.

  Everyone followed.

  Axel couldn't keep up. Pain spasmed
through her chest and back. Her limbs throbbed.

  Trojan grabbed her hand. "Come on, Axel."

  She tried to push through the pain, but it was getting more intense by the second. "I think I'll have to hide. You go."

  Trojan paused, and then dragged her over to a cluster of bushes. He crouched down beside the bushes. Axel dropped to the ground beside him, completely exhausted. She allowed him to drag her deeper into the bushes. Branches and twigs clawed at her skin.

  Dazzling light filled the whole area. Trojan stilled. Axel held still too. She looked through the branches. Nigel and Serloyd were approaching. A huge light orb floated above Nigel's head as they walked.

  "I sense that two of them are hiding around here," Serloyd said, looking around. He pointed in the direction that Victor and everyone else had run. "The rest of them went that way. We're best off looking for the ones who hid here, and getting them to tattle on the rest."

  "Okay," Nigel replied. "Let's split up. I'll search this side," he said, indicating the side of the forest where Axel and Trojan were hiding. "You search that side."

  Trepidation filled Axel's heart as Nigel and Serloyd searched. Nigel was going to find them.

  "See if you can use an aerial view to find them," Serloyd called to Nigel.

  "I've already tried that," Nigel replied. "I can't see anybody here. I think they've all run off together."

  "No. I'm pretty sure I can sense two people still around here." Serloyd was still for a moment. "They're on your side."

  "Then why can't I sense them?" Nigel asked, looking around a nearby tree.

  "Maybe sensus powers are superior to mental powers after all," Serloyd replied. He came over to join Nigel with searching the side of the forest Axel and Trojan were in. Trojan took her hand.

  It looked like Serloyd was heading for their bush. "That bush. I sense something in that bush."

  Axel's heart squeezed in her chest.

  Nigel stepped in Serloyd's way and crouched, parting the branches of the bush. He squinted at Axel and Trojan.

  "Anybody there?" Serloyd asked.

  "No," Nigel replied. He held Axel's gaze for a moment, before releasing the branches and standing. "Are you sure you can sense people here? I'm sensing that they've all run that way." Nigel pointed. "The longer we hang around here, the further they're getting away. I say we teleport over to them."