by Tracey Ward
“What’s the plan?”
“That’s what I’m here to ask you, bro.”
“Did you really just call me ‘bro’?”
“Yeah, bra. She’s asking for the plan. You got her whipped. Your girl defers to you even when you’re totally against her.”
I frown at him. “I’m not against her and she’s not whipped.”
“You don’t agree with her.”
“It’s not the same thing.”
“Please explain to me how it’s not.”
I toss my money on the bar beside my untouched drink. “Stay in a relationship for more than a minute and you’ll figure it out on your own.”
“Hey, antiquated reference,” the girl calls after me with one last smile. “You’re not even going to taste it?”
“Yeah, Carver,” Campbell says with a smug grin. “Look at it. You’re telling me you don’t want to go back there and get your mouth on that?”
I look between the girl with the golden hair and sexy smile standing behind the dark, brooding glass sweating lightly on the bar. I shake my head. “Not my style. Thanks anyway.”
Campbell falls into step beside me as the crowd goes wild again. “You’re an idiot,” he informs me.
“We’ll see who’s the idiot in twenty years, when you’re alone in an empty apartment and I’m still holding the hand of the only girl I’ve ever loved.”
“Don’t kid yourself. We’ll all be dead long before then.”
“More than likely.”
Chapter Nineteen
Alex
“He doesn’t look like much,” Campbell observes from his seat on the tailgate. “More like Steven Rogers before he became Captain America.”
Marcus Beck is definitely underwhelming to see in person. In all of his gear and pads during the game he looked okay, but watching him walk toward his dorm past random, average guys standing in the quad makes him look like a teenaged kid fresh out of puberty. He’s awkward and gangly with long limbs, but somehow still so short compared to everyone else. How he manages those monster hits on opposing teams is beyond me.
It’s not beyond Brody, though.
“I told you,” he reminds Campbell, “they put the wrong power in the wrong package.”
I shrug, watching him wave and smile at everyone he passes. “I don’t know. He’s like a sleeper. You don’t see it coming from him. That could be good, right?”
“If he was better at managing it, yeah.”
“How dangerous is he?”
“Not horribly, but the more time you spend with him the more likely you are to get hurt.”
“Did he ever hurt you?” Nick asks.
Brody nods curtly. “Once. Broke my wrist.”
“How?”
“He gave me a high five.”
“Whoa,” I whisper.
“I told you, don’t shake his hand. Definitely don’t chest bump him. James was laid out with three cracked ribs after that.”
“That story doesn’t make me as sad as it should,” Nick drones.
Campbell jumps down off the tailgate. “So what’s our angle on this one?”
“I’m going to go talk to him,” Brody replies simply.
“That’s it? You’re going to walk up and talk to him?”
“He knows me. We weren’t close in the clinic but he’ll trust me. Just let me talk to him.”
“Alone?” I ask skeptically.
Brody nods. “Probably better that way. He’s going to his room now. I’ll go talk to him, bring him out to meet you.”
“Let’s not do it here,” Nick tells him. “I don’t want another crowd situation like with Fry.”
“Yeah, I hear you. What about the pub we were at? It should be cleared out now that the game is over.”
“No,” Nick answers quickly. Surprisingly quickly. “Let’s not go back there. Let’s not go anywhere we’ve already been. Just in case.”
“In case of what?” I ask curiously.
“They could be tailing us.”
“Not that I’ve noticed,” Brody tells him.
“Either way, let’s go somewhere different. We passed a park with a Frisbee golf course on the way here. No one will be there.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because it’s Frisbee golf.”
“All right,” Brody agrees, knuckle-bumping Nick and Campbell, “I’ll catch up with you there. Stay safe.”
“You too,” Campbell replies.
Brody surprises me when he steps in to give me a brief but firm hug. “Take care of yourself, hon.”
I smile, hugging him back. “I will.”
We watch him walk away, his height and build a strong contrast to watching Beck just a minute before. People look at him as he passes, but no one gives him the smiles or waves they gave Beck. It makes me a little sad inside.
Campbell claps his hands together, the hard smack! making me jump. “All right, you two. Who’s ready to get their frolf on?”
We do not play frolf or Frisbee golf or whatever people want to call it. Instead we sit in the shade of an awning hanging off a big bathroom/utilities building near the course and try not to look conspicuous.
“You didn’t throw up, did you?” I ask Nick, suddenly remembering.
He grins, shaking his head. “On your last Slip? No. I didn’t.”
“Were you sick at all?”
“Yes,” he replies emphatically. “Very. But not enough to vomit.”
“I’m sorry it does that to you. I tried to do it slowly.”
He takes my hand, squeezing it in his. “Don’t worry about it. You did great.”
“You could do better,” Campbell disagrees.
I roll my eyes. “No one asked you.”
“Because you know I’ll tell you the truth and the truth is you’re sloppy.”
“Don’t sugarcoat it for me. Tell me how you really feel.”
“Hey, I pull no punches. Party dress no pigs.”
“What is that? Is that a saying?”
“Does it sound like one?”
“I guess, yeah.”
“Then it is now. Congrats on being around for the genesis of that gem.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Nick tells me. “He’s lashing out because he’s jealous.”
“Of what?” I ask.
“Of you,” Campbell answers honestly, surprising me. “I want your ability. I would be better at it.”
“You and Nick both. Everyone thinks they’d handle it better, but the truth is it’s my ability. I’m the one stuck with it and—”
“That’s your problem right there.”
“What is?”
“You think you’re stuck with it. You don’t like it. You should be loving it. If you enjoyed it you’d be better at it.”
“She has her reasons,” Nick says evasively.
I know what he’s thinking. He’s thinking about the fear, only he’s gun-shy about mentioning it because it touches awfully close to the nerve of the horrible, awful thing he did to me.
So I say it for him.
“I’m scared of it, Campbell. It’s terrifying.”
“Is it though?” Campbell asks. “Or are you afraid because you’ve always been afraid and it’s your default reaction?”
“I—” I start to tell him that he doesn’t know anything about how horrifying my ability is, but I stop. I don’t want to think that he might be right, but maybe he’s not exactly wrong… “I don’t know.”
Nick turns to face me, his hand still holding mine. “You said it feels good to do it. You like it.”
“That’s true.”
“You were doing it in your sleep automatically. Maybe it wasn’t because you were out of control and wild. Maybe it was because you wanted to do it. Because you liked it.”
“Maybe,” I say, chewing on my lip nervously. I don’t like this conversation. I know I need to have it, but I don’t have to like it. It challenges everything I thought I knew about my ability, no matter how little that information
was. It would mean that my mind wasn’t working against me after all. It would mean it was trying to give me what I wanted, even if I didn’t know what that was.
“Alex,” Nick says, his voice tight. “Now’s not a good time.”
“Good time for what?” I turn to him and gasp. His face is pinched, his forehead covered in sweat. “What’s happening? What’s wrong?”
“Aren’t you trying to Slip?”
“No. Why? Do you feel sick?”
Nick is immediately on his feet. He wavers slightly before getting his bearings and pulling his gun from the back of his pants. He keeps it pointed low to the ground as he scans the park, his eyes thin slits against the sunlight and pain.
“Nick?”
“It’s James,” he says, his voice deep and quiet. “He’s coming.”
I leap up beside him. When I search the park I don’t see anything. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. So far only you and him make me feel sick like this. It has to be—”
The building beside us collapses, the crumble of cinder block, wood, and metal drowning out Nick’s words.
Campbell, Nick, and I hit the ground as it happens. Rubble collapses behind us, water sprays up out of burst pipes to drench us, but none of us are hit. Nothing comes exploding out around us, and when I look back over my shoulder at the destruction, I immediately know why.
The building didn’t explode. It imploded. Collapsed on itself as though an unseen weight had pushed in on it from all sides at once.
“Fry,” Campbell breathes, sitting up on his knees near me.
I follow his gaze to the other side of the park. There in the space that had been empty just a minute ago, is a small crowd of seven people. I recognize only three of them.
Fry. James. Liam.
“They found us,” I whisper shakily.
Nick takes a step away from me. “I’m surprised it took them this long. Stay close to Campbell, Alex.”
“I’m sticking with you.”
“No, you’re not. You’re staying with him.”
“I’m not fighting with you about this again.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice if it were true? You’re staying with him, because if they get us both we’re finished. Game over. If they only get one of us, that leaves someone on the outside. You can pull me to you or come to me—either way we can get free. It’s no good if we’re both captured.”
I swear once, taking a step toward Campbell. He’s right. I don’t say it because he knows it, but it is true: they want us as a complete set, and we stand a better shot at getting out of this if we don’t give that to them.
The seven figures begin to move toward us slowly.
I swallow hard, licking my lips nervously. “I could Slip. I could get us out of here right now.”
“You and Campbell go. Liam and I have things to talk about.”
“I’m not running,” Campbell argues. His gun has appeared in his hand as well. “Besides, Beck and Brody could show up any minute. We can’t leave them to walk right into an ambush.”
“Lower your weapons,” one of the nameless calls out. It’s a woman, and I’m surprised to see she’s carrying a gun.
In fact, everyone but Liam, Fry, and James are carrying weapons of some kind. I guess we know who the supers are in this group.
“Do you have the last stone on you?” I whisper to Nick.
He nods his head faintly, his eyes trained on the people approaching us.
“Lower your—”
“We’re not putting our weapons down,” Nick calls out calmly, “but we don’t want a fight. We could have left by now but we haven’t. We want to talk.”
Liam steps to the head of the group. “You need to give yourselves up. We can talk after that.”
“That’s not how this is going to happen.”
“How exactly do you see it happening, Nick? Do you think you’ll get what you want, play your parlor tricks, and walk away unscathed?”
“I think we both know I’m capable of more than tricks. With or without my powers.”
“What is it you want to talk about? What will it take to bring you in peacefully?”
“I want a name. That’s all.”
Liam’s shoulders sag slightly. “Dare I ask whose name you’re looking for?”
“I want you to pull back the curtain and show me the wizard. I want the man behind it all.”
“I assure you, you don’t.”
“So you know who it is?”
“Of course I do.”
“Take me to him, then.”
My heart leaps into my throat. “Nick, no,” I hiss.
“That can be arranged,” Liam replies.
I take an anxious step forward. “He’ll screw you, Nick. He’ll never follow through.”
“I will,” Liam promises, “but I want something in return.”
“What?” Nick asks.
“Alex.”
“No.”
Liam spreads his hands in supplication. “Then I’m afraid you’ll never meet your wizard.”
“Then we have nothing more to talk about.”
“I imagine you plan to have Alex remove you both?”
Nick doesn’t answer him.
“As I thought. Sasha? Now.”
The woman who called for us to lower our weapons raises hers, points her gun directly at me, and fires.
It scares me nearly to death—and isn’t that ironic and not at all funny? I know when I hear that crack that this will be it. This will kill me, and the plain, simple truth is that I do not want that. I don’t care to die today. No, thank you.
Campbell is close to me. He dives for me, trying to take me down at the waist. Nick is farther away but he closes in faster, though he’s not faster than a shot out of a gun. No one is. Neither of them can save me.
It’s up to me to save myself.
I don’t dive. I don’t fall down, I don’t panic, I don’t scream. I don’t think, either.
I Slip.
One second I’m standing in front of a speeding bullet, the next I’m standing behind the woman who fired at me. I’m looking over her shoulder at the decimated building and Campbell and Nick nearly colliding in the space where I had been standing. I was there and now I’m here and I did it.
Only me. I Slipped on purpose, on my own.
I would faint from joy if I had the time.
Confusion registers through the entire group on both sides of the park. I don’t wait for it to clear. I immediately jump onto the woman’s back, wrap my body around hers, and I’ve Slipped us out before she can make a sound.
We crash together into the sand, both of us tumbling head over foot against the soft, white grains. The woman turns her fall into a roll and is up on her knees with her gun trained on me before I can even get my bearings.
“Stop!” she commands.
I do not obey.
I reach out to Slip again, throwing myself down the rabbit hole as fast as I can go. I don’t know where I’ll end up, but the important thing is that I don’t stay there with her. The last thing I hear before I leave her behind is the sound of hacking and retching, and I’m not surprised. I did not go easy on her.
Just moments of that sweet, golden champagne feeling and I’m back. There’s grass under my feet, sand in my hair, and a gunfight going on in front of me. I’ve made it back to the park but I’m on the wrong side. I’m at least half a football field away, Nick and Campbell are outmanned and outgunned, and I don’t have time to run it. I only have one option. I Slip again, this time taking a breath and focusing on the spot I want to be.
When the euphoric haze clears I’m right where I planned: directly in front of Fry.
I should grab her right away. I should jump on her the way I did with the other woman, but once I come out of the Slip I feel drained. I’m half a step behind where I should be, and that’s all the opening Fry needs.
She lashes out immediately, slashing at me with a knife I don’t see coming. It slices acr
oss my stomach, making me cry out in pain and surprise, but it doesn’t go deep. I grab her arm defensively, and just as she’s swinging her other hand around to strike me across the face, just as I feel vibrations and heat in the air all around me, I Slip us away.
I have no idea where I left the woman with the gun. Some island somewhere. Maybe it was Puerto Rico? I can’t be sure. With Fry, however, I am very sure. I’m incredibly specific about where I take her.
We slam down onto the pavement in the middle of the parking lot. It’s empty now, not nearly like it was the last time I was here. I’m surprised to see that the mouth of the cave has been sealed and every vehicle and remnant of our stone bird has been removed. I would be amazed by this, but I know I can’t sit around gawking. I learned from my last opponent, and when I land I roll away from her as quickly as I can.
She staggers, drops to her knees, but doesn’t go down completely. She looks about ten different shades of green but she doesn’t vomit.
“What did you do?!” she screams at me.
I take a couple deep breaths, my hand pressed over my aching, bleeding stomach. I’m sweating hard, my heart is pounding audibly in my ears, and my vision vibrates with each beat of my heart. I’m thinking of Liam’s story of his Slip trials as a kid—the ones his dad forced him through over and over again, that left him weak and shaking. I’m thinking I need to slow down, but I can’t. I need to be careful but there’s no time.
“That,” I grunt, standing up shakily, “was skill. The kind they chase you for, not the other way around.”
“Where the hell are we?”
“To be honest, I don’t really know. But you wanted back in the clinic and this is the only one I know of. It’s a little rundown, but with some time and TLC I’m sure you can make it nice.”
Fry goes to stand, to come after me, but she stumbles onto the ground. “I’ll kill you,” she seethes.
“You’ll have to catch me first.”
I Slip away before she can respond.
Being inside the Slip is pure relief. I don’t feel tired. I don’t feel any pain. Whatever part of me that’s broken or depleted is whole again. It’s a shame it can’t last.
It’s a shame it hurts ten times worse when I come out of it.
I collapse in a heap on the ground beside what used to be the building in the park. I’m not terribly surprised to see that the thing is fully engulfed in flames.