by JA Huss
“I think you have a concussion. Don’t sleep. It’s not safe.”
“I’m not even bleeding,” I say through a yawn. “Nothing hit me.”
“Yes, Sadie. Something did hit you. You just didn’t see it.”
“You’re crazy.” But I smile as I say it, then open one eye to look at him.
He’s nodding. Which is not a good sign when you call someone crazy. Especially when you just helped him escape from an insane asylum. “I know. But not the way you think. Trust me, something hit you back there and fucked with your head. I’m sorry that happened. So don’t sleep. Not yet.”
My eyes just cannot stay open. I can’t even fight it. They are heavy. Like my mind. And they are out of my control. So no amount of shaking from Thomas or calling my name can make me stop what happens next.
I’m out.
CHAPTER SEVEN - THOMAS
I can’t stop… looking at her. There’s something there. Like I know her. Which is impossible. I have never seen this girl before in my life. I’d have remembered those eyes. For sure. I’m positive.
I try to wake her again, but she’s out. I think she really does have a concussion. If I was smart I’d drop her off at a hospital, but I can’t.
Well, I could.
But I won’t.
There’s just no way I’m not taking her with me. Fuck dropping her off. I need to know who this girl is.
Illusionist. Now that is some big news right there. And it can only mean one thing. She’s Prodigy.
But it can’t be. We blew Prodigy up fifteen years ago. More than fifteen now. And she can’t be that old. I’d bet not even twenty-five. Probably even younger than Molly.
I wonder if Molly knows her?
But again… we blew that place up. And this Sadie girl was not there.
The inner voice is cautioning me. Don’t go there, Thomas.
Because if she’s Prodigy and we’ve never seen her, then… fuck.
I shake my head. I don’t want to think about it. I just want to get her some place where I have her full attention. I want to ask her every question I can think of. I want to… know her.
The tower I’m heading to is on the southern outskirts of Cathedral City but I have to pass the remnants of ToyBox to get there. And that brings me back to why I was locked up in the first place.
And Yasmine.
Bitch. That fucking bitch.
But I got even, didn’t I? I have a private moment of satisfaction at that thought. She thought she had me. Stupid. Didn’t they tell her how they made me? Didn’t they tell her me and my drugs, all these years, were the only thing keeping me in check? And yeah, it was Case who started this process. But I was still in control until Yasmine went and fucked it all up.
Look out, motherfuckers. Because I’m back and I’m better than ever.
I smile as I look over at Sadie. I have a level ten illusionist sitting not two feet away from me.
Could things get any more ironic?
Well, I could ask myself why she was there in the first place.
Obviously, I need to face the fact that Prodigy School is alive and well. And the reason Sadie was standing in the vicinity of my mind wave was because they sent her to eliminate me. Or capture me. Steal me away from Yasmine.
But the really fucked-up thing here—for them, at least—is that they’re not on the same side. No way would Prodigy let a level ten illusionist in my general vicinity if they knew what Yasmine was planning. No fucking way. Because the two of us together—Good God. I have to chuckle as I shake my head in disbelief. The two of us together are what you call an unstoppable force.
I cannot wait to tell Lincoln and Case.
Too bad I can’t do that now. Not yet. If I go up to Lincoln’s they’ll definitely come looking for me. Same with Case. But they can wait. At least until I crack Little Miss Trip Chick here.
And crack her I will.
I haven’t felt this sure of myself in ten years. We will put an end to this Cathedral City bullshit once and for all as soon as I get Sadie on my side. Hashtag, done deal.
God. Happiness does weird things to me. I feel like I’m in a state of manic euphoria.
I get off the freeway and turn onto the dirt road that leads to the tower. I only finished them last month. Which is the whole reason we’re in this fucked-up position in the first place.
Shit got a little… well, let’s just say… complicated last month the day the towers went live. I think the electromagnetic force was what did it. But people won’t care what I was doing when they locked me up once I get my revenge, because I will take care of all the Cathedral City scum at the same time.
The tower disappears from view as I weave my way around the mountain, but I can feel that fucker. It’s a hum. A vibration. A wave of power. My power.
And when it finally comes back into view, my whole body is electric. I am on fire. But not the way Case and Linc heat up. I am raw and ready for battle.
I glance over at my new sidekick and smile. And if I were to see this smile in a mirror, I’d see what everyone sees.
Evil.
That’s right, motherfuckers. I’m about to let everyone know just exactly what I am. I’m about to make everyone pay.
I don’t park in front of the tower. I drive right into the ponderosa pines and stop under the cover of a two-hundred-year-old tree. They’ll see this car for sure once they realize I’m gone and put out an alert.
They’ll get out their drones and their helicopters and scour this city. In fact, I’m damn lucky I own all the satellites, or they’d track me that way too.
Dumbasses. What did they think I was gonna do with a satellite network? Phones? Really?
Insert evil laugh here.
They won’t find us. Not until we come out of hiding. And I won’t do that until this girl is on my side. I will do anything to keep her with me. Make her part of my plan.
Yes.
Me alone. Now that’s something people really need to fear. But me and her together?
That’s some apocalyptic shit right there.
I cut the engine and look over at my prize. Shake her shoulder. “Sadie,” I say. “Wake up. We’re home.”
I’m really in a goddamned good mood.
She doesn’t wake up. So I get out, walk around to her side, and open her door. “Come on, partner. We’ve got plans to make.” I shake her again.
Nothing.
Fuck. Is she sweating? I feel her forehead and realize she’s burning up.
Dammit. She can’t die now. I just got her. Fuck that.
So I pick her up, kick the door closed with my foot, and take her to the secret entrance to the tower.
It’s tricky trying to enter the security code, and I almost drop her a few times as I juggle her body and punch in the numbers. But I manage. The door clicks, opens a few inches, and I push my way through, using my body to slam it closed and lock us in.
Lights near the floor flick on when I step forward, then flick out, so the next one a few feet forward can take its place. This would be creepy as fuck if I didn’t know these towers so well. But I do. So they’re not.
I like the feeling of being in the spotlight. Like I’m in command of them, even though they’re just on motion sensors. I stop at the top of the stairs, adjust Sadie’s body in my arms, and then descend. Each step has a light. And each time my foot falls, it lights up.
Case came up with this little improvement after Lulu complained about Lincoln’s dungeon stairs being too dark, so of course, I had to upgrade as well.
When I get to the bottom of the stairs I say, “Lights,” and the whole room illuminates.
I might not have giant jellyfish tanks, but I make up for it with computer monitors.
Sixteen seventy-two-inch monitors to be exact. All mounted and starting up so they can feed me satellite info on command.
I place Sadie on one of the couches near the back of the room, then walk over and take a seat at the command center to enter the codes to
see the city.
Then I go back to Sadie. “Hey,” I say, bending down to touch her forehead again. “Can you wake up?”
She really needs to wake up. I cannot take her to a hospital. If I had a Sheila, we’d be all set. But after Steve went a little crazy when the Red Robber hacked into him at Case’s house made of SpyGlass, we put the whole sentient house program on hold except for Sheila.
I had one called Mitch. But he was very elementary. Couldn’t even do things Steve could, let alone Sheila. So I didn’t lose much when we quarantined him.
No, I might not have a Sheila. But I have something almost as good.
I walk over to the small kitchen and open the fridge where I keep all the drugs. Hundreds of little vials are neatly stacked in their proper places. I look around until I find the one labeled REGENERATION, take it out, slam the door, and go looking for a syringe.
This is a special healing enzyme that Linc and Sheila cook up down in that dungeon of theirs. It does exactly what it sounds like. Well, with the exception of Case. But it only went weird for him because Molly poisoned him with something the Blue Boar gave her before we killed him.
I open the syringe, draw out the viscous goop, then flick it with my finger to get rid of air bubbles.
There is a slight risk to using this. She could have an allergic reaction, which would make things significantly worse very quickly. But it’s unlikely so I feel the benefits of not having to take Sadie to a hospital outweigh them. She’s Prodigy. Which means they did things to her as a child, just like they did with me, Linc, and Case. Which means she’s probably had this before anyway. Lots of times. If she was allergic she wouldn’t be here. She’d already be dead.
So I lift her floppy arm and stab her in the vein, pushing the goop in with one quick motion.
She hisses through her teeth. Probably because that shit burns going in, but it’s a good sign. It means she’s still in there. She’s not really unconscious. She’s probably just exhausted.
“Sadie,” I say, slapping the skin on her arm. “Wake up.”
The goop must hit her bloodstream at just that moment, because her eyes fly open and she sits up, panic on her face.
“Shhh,” I say, putting a hand on her shoulder. “It’s just me. Remember? Thomas Brooks? We met at the insane asylum. You fell for my charming good looks and now we’re living together down in a dungeon?”
I smile at my joke. It’s something new for me. Joking.
She doesn’t find me funny. She yanks her arm away from me and looks around. “Where the hell am I? How did I get here?”
“We’re in one of my towers,” I say, pointing up towards the ceiling. “You know, those giant metal things on the edge of town?”
“No,” she says, eyes searching the room like she’s desperate for something familiar.
“Yeah,” I correct her. “You’re just confused. You can’t miss those towers. I’ve been building them for like a year.”
She places a hand on her head, like she’s got a migraine. “I have never seen any towers,” she insists. “And how did I get here?”
“I brought you, remember? We had that whole daring escape from the asylum and—”
“Oh, my God. I forgot. You’re crazy. I need to go.” She stands up, but staggers over sideways so fast, I have to make a mad grab for her waist to stop her from falling to the floor.
“Whoa, there, tripper. Just take it easy.”
“What did you call me?” she snarls.
“Tripper? You know. That’s what we call illusionists in my neck of the woods.”
“What I mean,” she sneers, “is how did you know I was an illusionist?” She enunciates each word carefully.
“Level ten,” I say, shooting my finger at her. “You told me, remember?”
“I’d never tell you that.” Her eyes pin mine to hers. Her attention stabs me with an intensity I’ve only ever seen in a few people. Lincoln Wade and Case Reider.
Alphas.
“OK,” I say, shoving her towards the couch so she’ll fall over in that direction and not hurt herself. “Fine. I can see you need a little more time to adjust. So just take a seat while I pull up the hospital on the maps and take a look at how much damage I did up north.”
“That’s right,” she says, pinching the bridge of her nose to stave off pain. “You…” She opens her eyes and looks up at me. “What exactly happened back there?”
“Sorry about that,” I say with a shrug. “You just got caught in one of my infamous mind blasts. But you didn’t get injured. At least not by the shock wave. I’m still thinking about that head injury you have.” Her fingertips go to her scalp, searching for a wound. “Don’t worry. It didn’t cut you. At least on the outside.”
“What’s that mean?” But just as the last word comes out of her mouth, she winces, like the pain is still shooting through her mind.
I got her good. I don’t know why she didn’t fall over with the blast like everyone else. I don’t know why her injuries aren’t worse. But that’s only because I haven’t had time to think about it too hard. It’ll make sense soon. But first… I really need to figure out what’s happening in the city. So I’ll give her some lame excuse and leave her alone to sort it out.
“Well, I’m just guessing here,” I say in my most amicable tone of voice. “But I think what I did knocked something loose in your head. You know, because you’re an illusionist. You’re Prodigy, Sadie. Like me,” I add. “We’ve probably had some of the same modifications.”
She just stares at me. For several very long seconds. Then shakes her head. “I don’t know what’s happening.”
“My mind blast knocked your memory out of whack. That’s all. It’ll come back, I promise you. Just give it a day.”
“Should I know what a mind blast is?” And it’s such an honest question, I smile.
“No,” I say, shaking my head at her. “Not really. It’s not important. You didn’t get hurt too bad, just a few screws loose up there. I promise, it wears off. Your memory will come back.”
Her fingertips gingerly pat the side of her head where she thinks there should be an injury. She draws them back, looks at them, unable to believe there’s no blood, then sighs heavily. “What if it doesn’t?”
“I’ll call my friends and let Sheila do a work-up on you. K?”
“Who’s Sheila?”
“It’s not important right now. But she’s capable of fixing pretty much anything. So don’t worry.”
“Then why don’t you take me there now?”
“We’ll be caught if we go now. So we’re here. But I swear, you’ll be fine. I gave you something. It’s the same thing Sheila would’ve given you anyway. Where she’d start, at least. We’re just gonna roll with it, OK? One step at a time. Besides, I can just call her and she can tell me what to do if anything goes wrong. I have almost everything here they have there.”
This seems to mollify her, because she sinks back into the couch cushions.
“Now just rest up. We’ll figure it out. But right now, I need to see what’s going on up north OK?”
She doesn’t answer. Just stares at me.
I take that as a yes and go back over to my control panel and take a seat. All the screens are live now, and I zoom in and out, looking all over the city for anything that could help me understand what’s happening.
Obviously, this was an attack. And now that I know what this Sadie girl is… it means it was an attack on me and my friends. She has to have come from Prodigy School. I don’t want to admit what that means. That the school still exists. That we didn’t end things when we blew it up fifteen years ago. But I have to. Because she’s real.
She didn’t come to kill me. She can’t kill me. And they know that. But they sent her for something.
And Yasmine. What the hell was she up to back at the hospital? Obviously, she knows what I am. I think she was trying to draw out Sullivan. But why?
I fucked up pretty bad last month when shit got… out of h
and. Funny thing about that… Yasmine did manage to get rid of the voices in my head. And they’re not back.
Yet.
So maybe our luck is changing all the way round? Maybe we have the perfect team now? Linc, me, Case, Molly, Lulu, Sheila… and—I look over my shoulder to see Sadie, lying down on the couch, her hands tucked under her cheek as she stares back at me—her. Yeah. She’s exactly what we need to finish this city once and for all.
“Go to sleep,” I say over my shoulder. “I’ll keep watch while you rest. That stuff I gave you is gonna kick in soon and you’re gonna need rest. Lots of rest. Don’t fight it. You can’t win.”
All I gotta do is keep her happy until we figure out what to do next.
I take one last look at the satellite images and swivel my chair around to look at her properly. We blew up Prodigy School fifteen years ago, so her mere existence is a mystery I’d like to solve.
She’s very young. Older than fifteen, for sure. But not by much. Barely legal if I had to guess. No way can she walk into a bar and order a drink. Way too young for me.
But… there’s always a but.
She’s pretty. And she survived my mind blast with nothing more than a headache. I’m exaggerating, obviously, since it wiped her memory. But she was still standing. That in itself is practically unheard of.
So she’s one of us. And that’s the only thing that matters.
Because now that I found her, it makes her mine.
CHAPTER EIGHT - SADIE
He’s not someone I should trust. I feel that. My memory might be fucked, but I know this to be true. Somewhere deep inside my mind is my missing reality. And if I know anything, above all, I know that this man—this Thomas Brooks—he’s not one of the good guys.
“Stop it,” I say.
“Stop what?”
“Looking at me that way.”
“I’m just…” He stops, thinking. “I’m just admiring you, Sadie. Your… strength. I’ve never seen anyone withstand a mind blast like that. Granted,” he says, putting his hands up as if to enunciate this exception, “I haven’t blasted anyone like that in a long-ass time. They drugged it out of me before I left school and I kept up the protocol—albeit a modified one—because I like to be in control. So I don’t have a lot of recent experience on what my mind blasts are capable of these days. But just look at Yasmine. She took a direct hit and it did her in.”