by Jon Skovron
“Like the guy on cheesy Southwest souvenirs?”
“I think so.”
“Add it to the list of things I never knew existed.”
We lay in complete darkness for a little while. The weight of Sophie’s head lay comfortably on my chest.
“Hey, Sophie?” My skin suddenly felt very hot.
“Yes, Boy?”
Maybe it was the darkness or the vortexes or the magic flute player, but I just said it.
“I have a huge crush on you.”
“You are so incredibly lame for saying that.” The weight of her head abruptly left my chest.
“Wh-what?” My heart pounded in my chest. “Why?”
“Because at a time like this…” Her face was now less than an inch from mine. “You should just kiss me.”
So I did. As soft and sweet as her voice was, as her skin was, it was nothing compared to her lips. Her hot breath escaped into mine and I thought this must be what her heart felt like. I held her gently; she was so small and delicate that I could not help but surrender my strength to her.
Then she pressed against me and breathed in my ear, “Freedom.”
20
Oh, Brother
SOPHIE WAS UNUSUALLY quiet when we got on the road the next morning. She sat in the passenger seat, frowning as she stared out the window. I worried that she regretted last night.
“You okay?” I asked.
She sighed and rubbed her temples. “Yeah, just having an argument.”
It took me a second to figure that out. “Oh. Claire.”
“Yeah, Claire.”
“She’s pissed?”
“You could say.”
“Maybe I should talk to her.”
“No, definitely not.”
“Are you sure? Because maybe I could—”
“Look, Boy, thanks. Really. You’re a sweet guy. But this…this isn’t about you. She and I need to work this out on our own.”
“Okay, sure.” I wouldn’t know what to say to Claire, anyway. It was strange. I didn’t understand Sophie at all, but I’d known exactly how I felt about her since the moment I first saw her in that warehouse. With Claire, I felt like I understood her perfectly, but I didn’t know how I felt about her at all. Mostly because she could be so mean.
As Sophie continued her silent argument, I drove us down out of the mountains and back onto the flat desert plains. This side of Sedona was even more like a real desert, with tall cactus and swirling sand dunes. We were entering the Mojave.
Sophie started to get more and more agitated as time went on. It had to be hard to argue with someone when there was no way you could ever take a break from each other to cool off. She glared out the window now, and started to say little things out loud like, “Oh, please!” or “Unbelievable!” Then she just started yelling.
“Give me a sodding break! You couldn’t even be nice to the guy for fuck’s sake! Are we back in primary school where you have to beat up the boys you like? Is that it?”
I just kept my eyes on the road like I didn’t hear anything.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Sophie nodding her head furiously.
“Yeah!? Well, you were the one who forced me out. Forced me! That’s why! Because he bloody well stepped up when you ran away. You’re supposed to be the strong one, the powerful one. But the second it has anything to do with Robert, you’re completely useless.”
This was getting really uncomfortable. I started to watch the roadside for a gas station. Not that we needed gas. We still had a huge canister in the trunk, thanks to the Dragon Lady. But honestly, I just needed to get away from the girl arguing with her other self.
As I was scanning for signs, I noticed a dusty white van in the rearview mirror about a quarter mile back. It caught my attention because it was the first vehicle I’d seen in over an hour. But then I went back to trying to find a place to stop. If I could figure out where we were from the mile markers, I could calculate how far ahead the next town was. Probably on the other side of the Mojave. I thought about asking Sophie to take a look at the map, but decided that was a bad idea.
I glanced in the rearview mirror again. The van was a lot closer. I was going eighty on this straight desert highway. At the rate he was coming up on me, he had to be going close to a hundred miles an hour.
“Whoa,” I muttered.
“What!?” snapped Sophie. “I know I’m yelling! You got something to add?!”
“No, no.” I tried to keep my tone calm. “Just this guy behind us is coming up fast. I’m going to pull over into the other lane and let him pass.”
Sophie didn’t seem to be paying attention.
I slid over to the right lane to let him pass. But as soon as I did, he swerved over into the same lane.
“Uh…Soph?”
The van was getting closer and it wasn’t slowing down. Just to see what would happen, I switched back to the left lane. The van did, too.
“Sophie.”
She didn’t respond.
I pushed the accelerator all the way to the floor and the speedometer climbed to ninety-five. The van picked up speed, too.
“Hey, Sophie.”
The van was right up behind us now. I could see the driver. It was a thin guy with pale skin, freckles, and curly hair. He looked a lot like Sophie. His mouth was wide open and veins stood out on his neck, like he was screaming at us.
“Sophie! I think your brother just found us!”
“Wait.” She turned to me. “What did you just say?”
Then the van slammed into us.
The Sunbird was an old car with a solid steel frame, so it didn’t crumple up. But it was a lot smaller than the van so it bucked forward and the tail swerved to one side. For a second, I thought we were going to flip, but I turned into the skid and we straightened out. The van hit us again, and I just barely managed to keep us from sliding off into the sand.
Meanwhile, Sophie was screaming, “Robert! It’s fucking Robert! How the hell did he find us?!”
“You want to stop and ask him?” I grunted.
It seemed like it was just a matter of time before either I lost control of the car or he battered it to pieces. I had to get us away. The next time he gunned the engine to ram me, I tried to dodge into the other lane so he’d get in front of me. But he swerved, hitting me on the diagonal. Our car went into a spinout. I fought against it for a second, but then thought maybe if I went with the spin, I could get us going in the opposite direction.
“Get down!” I yelled.
I pulled the wheel hard and the car spun a full 180. But apparently, that maneuver only works in movies. As we completed the rotation and I tried to straighten us out, there was too much momentum, the car turned into a barrel roll, and we flew off the road.
When we finally came to a stop, we were right side up and more or less uninjured, but the car was so smashed up we couldn’t open the doors. Sophie was screaming and pointing out my window. The van had stopped. Robert climbed out of the driver’s side, a rifle in his hand. As he walked toward us, he took a shot that hit the ground about five feet from the car.
Sophie whimpered.
“It was just a warning shot,” I said. “He’s not really going to shoot you. He thinks he’s trying to save you from Claire, remember?”
“He’ll shoot you, though, if you get in his way.”
“I don’t think he can kill me with bullets. At least, not easily.”
Then I remembered that there was a completely uninsulated metal canister of gas in the trunk. Bullets might not cause much damage, but a gigantic fireball sure would. And Robert would end up killing Sophie whether he meant to or not.
“We gotta get out of this car now,” I said. “Move back against the seat slowly, so it’s not obvious.”
Sophie pressed against the seat. I aimed my feet at her door, took a deep breath, and kicked it as hard I could. It bent, but didn’t give away completely.
“Don’t move or I’ll shoot again!�
� I heard Robert yell in the same British accent as Sophie and Claire.
“Tell Claire I could really use some extra muscle right about now,” I said to Sophie.
“She won’t come out.” Tears streamed down her face. “She’s terrified of him. She’s so scared, so scared….”
“Hey, stay with me, Soph. It’s going to be okay. We’ll get out of this. I’m going to try the door again. I think it’ll give this time, but then he’s going to shoot. If he hits anywhere near the gas canister in the trunk, this whole thing is going to go up. So as soon as the door opens, you jump clear, okay?”
She stared at me. No, she stared over my shoulder at her brother walking toward us with a big gun.
“Sophie!”
Her eyes snapped to mine.
“Get ready to jump!”
She nodded.
I reared back and kicked the door. It flew off the hinges and landed ten feet away.
“Don’t—” yelled Robert.
“Jump!” I yelled.
Sophie launched herself through the open doorway.
A shot rang out.
I jumped after her.
The bullet hit somewhere in the back of the car.
I landed on top of Sophie and shielded her with my body.
The car exploded. I could feel the fire licking my back and arms. I could smell singed cotton from my T-shirt.
“NO!” I heard Robert scream.
Sophie sobbed beneath me.
I heard Robert’s footsteps come quickly around to our side.
“Get off her!” he yelled.
I tried to push myself up, but my arms weren’t working right.
He jerked me to my feet, the rifle pointed at my face.
I took a swing at him, but I had no arm from the elbow down.
His eyes widened and he looked down at the ground by Sophie. Both my arms lay next to her. The explosion had burned away the stitches that held them on.
His face twisted up with loathing. “You!”
Then he slammed the butt of his rifle into my forehead and I was out.
THIS TIME, INSTEAD of waking up naked on a cot in the care of a grumpy old gryphon, I woke up in the back of a hot van with a throbbing headache and my body in pieces. Robert had finished the fire’s job and cut the stitching on my legs as well. All four limbs sat in a crate on the other side of the van next to Sophie, who was tied up and gagged. She looked at me sadly.
“I’m okay,” I whispered. “It doesn’t hurt.” It was only sort of a lie. My arms and legs didn’t hurt at all. But my stumps were nothing but soft, tender tissue, and they throbbed with a crazy sort of itchy, aching feeling. What made it a lot worse was having Sophie see me like this, in parts. Undeniable proof that I wasn’t just a human with stitches. I really was a monster after all.
“Shut up back there, freak!” yelled Robert. “I promised I’d keep you alive, but trust me I can make you wish I hadn’t.”
A cell phone rang. Robert picked it up.
“I see it’s you,” he said. “And yes, I have your van.”
There was a pause.
“I didn’t steal it, I bloody borrowed it. I just needed it for something. I’ll bring it back to you tomorrow.”
Another pause.
“Well, go ahead and fucking fire me, then!”
He slammed the phone against the dashboard, cursing under his breath. Then he turned his head. “This will all get much better soon, Sophie. I promise! We just have to fix this…problem of yours.”
Sophie closed her eyes, but it looked like she was all out of tears.
FOR A LONG time, I wasn’t sure where we were going. From my spot on the metal van floor, I couldn’t see much out of the tinted windows except night sky. But eventually, I started to see glimpses of light that grew more and more frequent so I guessed we were entering a city.
The van pulled into some kind of indoor facility, like a garage. He cut the engine and got out. I heard him walk around to the side of the van, and then the door slid open. He smiled at Sophie, like he couldn’t see the fear in her eyes.
“It’s going to be okay.” He reached for her. “I’ll have you fixed up in no time.”
She jerked out of his reach and his face darkened.
“It’s that bitch, Claire, fighting you, isn’t it? Just keep her inside a little longer. We’ll be rid of her soon.” He climbed into the van, reaching for her again.
That’s what I’d been waiting for. I coiled myself up and pushed off the ground with my stubs as hard as I could. The pain was like touching raw nerves to sandpaper, but it got me upright. I teetered there a moment as Robert slowly turned and looked at me with dumb shock. Then I slammed into him. His head cracked against the side of the door and bounced back, which in turn pushed me backward. I fell onto my back, squirming like a bug as I tried to roll over. Then Robert hit me in the head with something. It wasn’t enough to knock me out this time, but it dazed me long enough for him to pull Sophie out of the van and slam the door closed.
I heard Sophie scream through her gag. Then there was a sharp slap.
“Sorry, Sophie! Sorry!” I heard him say. “I wasn’t hitting you, I was hitting Claire. This will all be over soon, I promise. We’ve got a benefactor now who’ll provide us with whatever we need. Her resources are incredible. She was even able to pinpoint your exact location in the middle of the desert! After today, the curse of our granddad will be lifted and we can have normal lives. I’ll do my research and you can go back to school….”
He went on and on, raving about all the “normal” things they’d do. I heard the sound of metal clanking, of leather straps snapping, of glass tubes clinking…. Crazy thoughts flashed through my head. I remembered the way Sophie had described those early experiments he’d done on them. I couldn’t handle it. I had to get out.
After a lot of squirming, I was able to roll over and inchworm my way to the crate that held my arms and legs. I knocked it over with my head and they spilled out onto the floor. I bit the shoe of one leg and dragged it slowly over to the sliding door. I rolled onto my back again, with my leg on my stomach. After a lot of failed attempts, I managed to get all four stumps around the base of my leg so that the foot pointed up. I inched on my back to get the foot positioned right, then dropped it so the foot hooked onto the sliding-door latch. The latch moved down, but not enough to open the door.
“Shit,” I hissed.
I couldn’t get enough of a grip on my leg with my stumps. They were too short and slick with sweat and blood. I stared at my leg for a moment as it dangled from the door latch.
Then Sophie screamed.
That was the only motivation I needed. I closed my eyes, bit into my own leg as hard as I could, and jerked my head down until I heard the latch give and the door slide open.
I let go of my leg and rolled out of the van. When I dropped to the floor, I took the fall on my side so I wouldn’t crack my head. The air whooshed out of me and I gasped for breath, fighting off the dizziness and tunnel vision. I still had no idea what I was going to do, but I’d gnaw the guy’s ankles off if I had to.
I rolled across the grimy cement floor in the direction of the sound. On the other side of the garage, I found a makeshift lab. There were a couple of metal bookshelves stacked with powders and liquids in beakers and vials, some kind of large refrigeration unit, and Sophie strapped to a metal gurney. No wonder Claire had been freaked out at The Commune. It was the exact same setup.
Robert was muttering to himself as he ran a centrifuge on a nearby table. His eyes looked totally crazed now.
“Please, Robbie!” sobbed Sophie. “Please stop! Please!”
“Don’t let Claire out, Sophie! Fight her! I know you can do it! I’m almost ready for the final injection. Once the catalyst goes in, it’ll be a little painful, but then everything will be perfect. I promise! Just don’t let her out, Sophie. That will ruin everything.”
That will ruin everything.
“Claire!” I shouted from
the floor. “I know you’re scared. But you’ve got to come out and fight! For your mom and Stephen. For Adam Iron and my parents. For all the victims of asshole creators!” Those words tasted bitter in my mouth, but I said them because I knew it would get to her.
Sophie’s face began to ripple and her body spasmed.
“No!” shouted Robert. He picked up a long knife from the table. He took a lurching step toward me, then toward the transforming Sophie, like he didn’t know which way to go first.
“I’m the one you want!” I shouted to him. “I’m the monster that messed up your chance at normal! Me!”
The transformation was half complete. Sophie and Claire flickered back and forth, the size of the body shifting as they strained against the leather straps.
Robert walked slowly toward me. “Yes, I’ll kill you. And then I’ll kill her. At this point I’ll have to sacrifice Sophie, but that can’t be helped. The world must be rid of every last Hyde.”
I tried to roll away, but I realized too late I’d backed myself against one of the metal shelves. I slammed into it as hard as I could, hoping to knock it down, but it was bolted to the floor so it just hurt like hell.
He raised up the knife. His eyes gleamed with rage, his lips pulled back in a grimace.
Then a hand grabbed his wrist.
“Back off our boy.”
He tried to dodge, but he wasn’t fast enough. A fist smashed into his face and he went stumbling into one of the shelves, glass vials shattering as he fell.
I looked up and saw that Sophie and Claire were still halfway between the change, shifting, growing, shrinking, expanding as they stumbled toward Robert, reaching for him.
“Get away!” he screamed. “You monster!”
“No, Robert,” Sophie and Claire said with one voice. “You’re the monstrous one.” They picked him up and slammed him into the shelf until he was unconscious. Then they dropped him to the ground.
Finally, the transformation subsided, and there was Claire, her fists clenched and her jaw set as she stared down at the man who had always terrified her. She looked supremely badass, even wearing Sophie’s too-small polka-dot dress.