Darkness stood just behind Cooper’s shoulder, looking halfway terrified and halfway like he wanted to kill him with his bare hands. I wished he could. If Darkness could do that, at this point, I absolutely would let him.
Like he knew my thoughts—and he probably did—Darkness said, “Cooper is so tired, and we’re currently in Dr. Rivera’s body—we’re healthy. We have more energy right now. We have the advantage … right now.”
Jumping forward, I broke the grips of the two thugs, plowed over Cooper, and bolted for the door, but I only made it five feet down the hall before I heard a yelp of pain and turned to see four more guards—with Mia and Mom between them.
“Where is my son?” Mom grunted out, her hair a mess and her eyes on me.
It took me a minute to remember that I didn’t look anything like myself.
“Don’t hurt them!” I demanded, raising my hands in surrender. Mom looked at me in confusion as they marched me past her toward the office where I’d woken up. Part of me wanted to explain, but I barely understood it myself.
Instead, I just whispered as I passed them, “It’s going to be okay.”
Before I got very far, Cooper ran out after me with an obviously broken nose. Darkness walked beside him, chuckling and taunting him with words only I could hear. Joey was the only thing that kept Cooper from attacking me in Dr. Rivera’s body. I smiled grimly at him and waved. Enjoying the fact that right here, right now, Cooper might be able to stop me from escaping, but he couldn’t hurt me.
The guards tied me to a chair, and Dr. Rivera’s assistant gave me a shot to sedate me. They’d have to wake up my body and force me to make eye contact with someone else before they could break my connection with Dr. Rivera.
As the sedation started to take over, I looked up at Darkness and did the only thing I felt could give us—Mom, Mia, and me—any hope to get out of here alive. I gave Darkness total control. In my mind, I told him we both knew that in this situation, he was our best shot.
If there was ever a time to have my desperate will to survive operating at full capacity, this was that time. So I relaxed, and felt Darkness step in and take over.
It was the most welcome release I’d felt in as long as I could remember.
And then there was nothing.
Thirty-One
Jack
Finn’s phone was still gripped tight in my hand long after Cooper had hung up on me. I couldn’t make my fingers release it. They had turned my brother into a Taker? How was that even possible? Dad had never mentioned anything like that to me. Then again, he’d never mentioned the possibility of hiding things in dreams … let alone in the mind of a Taker. I should’ve been used to discovering the important things that he’d been hiding from me by now … but I wasn’t. Each new discovery felt like it was telling me again and again that I hadn’t known him at all. How was I supposed to figure all of this out when he had so many secrets?
My mind was moving so fast my body couldn’t catch up.
“Jack?” Chloe loosened the phone from my fingers and handed it to Finn. She moved around in front of me until I looked down at her.
“Cooper said you know where they are—the abandoned amusement park near Madison?” I finally said, my voice almost non-existent. “Did you know they were capable of turning him into a Taker, Chloe?”
She winced and looked away. My heart ripped inside me, like she’d reached in and torn it in half herself. It was the only answer I needed.
“Jack, wait … ”
I pushed past her and stalked to the living room couch, where we’d put Mason’s body once he finally stopped having seizures. His heart had stopped twice, but luckily Addie and I both knew CPR and we were able to bring him back. The battle for his life had felt like it went on forever, but in reality it had been about fifteen minutes. Since then he’d been sleeping peacefully, for over twelve straight hours. It was after ten in the morning now; the rest of us had slept—or tried to sleep—in shifts, making sure someone was watching him at all times for any other problems.
But there hadn’t been any. Twelve hours of sleep appeared to be enough for us to determine an answer … as long as we could actually wake him up and make sure he’d really slept.
With only four days left to save Parker, it was time to wake Mason up.
“Mason.” I spoke his name loud enough to wake a normal person, but he was definitely in a sleep that was deeper than could be considered normal. Reaching out, I grabbed his shoulders and lifted him off the pillow, releasing some of my pain, fear, and anger by giving him a tense shake and shouting, “Mason! Mason, you need to wake up! I need your help!” My voice cracked, reflecting the way I felt like I was shattering inside, but I didn’t let go.
Libby came in and put one hand on my shoulder. “Jack, I’m not sure—”
Finn took a more direct approach. He ripped one of my hands free until Mason fell back into his pillow.
And then Finn yelled at me. “Knock it off! This isn’t helping! You can’t stomp around here taking your anger out on everyone. It doesn’t do Parker or us any good. But you can come up with a plan to save your brother, Jack. He needs us now—he needs you. You are the only one who can help him … and you need to do it right now.”
“Maybe you two should stop yelling in an old man’s face,” Mason muttered as he blinked his eyes up at us. We both forgot about each other and turned all of our attention on him.
“Are you okay?” Finn asked.
“Do you think Spectrum worked?” I wasn’t trying to be callous, but there were more lives that depended on this answer than just Mason’s.
Mason yawned as he sat up, but the color in his cheeks was better than I’d ever seen and there was a spark of life back in his eyes.
“Well, I just had the most amazing dream—for the first time in forty years—so I’d say yes.” His face crinkled up into the biggest grin I’d ever seen on him.
Finn let out a loud, startled whoop of joy and then turned to me, his smile sobering slightly. “We need to get moving.”
Chloe grabbed my arm as I moved toward the kitchen.
I jerked my arm away. “Not now, Chloe.” I gathered the remaining vials of Spectrum from the fridge and looked around for something stable to transport them in.
“Yes, now!” She grabbed my arm again and then pulled hard until I looked down at her. “You need to listen and believe me. We went to the amusement park a long time ago. They’ve mentioned it once or twice since then, but I had no clue that would be where they’d end up. As far as the other part, I’ve heard Cooper mention the idea that maybe they could turn one type into another … but it was all just talk.” She looked desperate to convince me, but I wasn’t sure I even wanted to listen. “I didn’t think it was real, let alone that they could be doing it to Parker. If I’d even suspected, I promise I would have told you.”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t have time to talk about this now.” My voice was tight and angry in spite of my words, but my attention was entirely focused on the vials in front of me as I tried to find a way to be sure we wouldn’t spill a single drop of the precious liquid. “I have to focus on Parker. How to get him back, how to save him—and then how to turn him back.”
“But even if he’s a Taker for good, at least he’s still alive. Right?” She looked up at me and gave me a tentative smile. “And we’ve worked so hard. Now, with Spectrum, all the Takers could live long normal lives—”
“You think I’d let my brother remain a Taker like you?” I spun on her and had to move fast to catch the vial my movement had knocked to the edge of the counter. My voice lowered. I looked her straight in the eye and uttered the next word like a solemn vow. “Never.”
She recoiled violently, as though I’d hit her, then nodded and silently backed out the door into Parker’s backyard. My heart ached that she was gone, while my brain was furious with me for ev
er trusting a Taker.
Searching for anything else to think about besides Chloe, I searched again for something in which to transport the twenty vials I’d now made—I’d finished fifteen more while Mason was sleeping. On one corner of the counter, I saw one of Mrs. Chipp’s plastic containers with separate compartments. That would work perfectly, and it also offered the added bonus of reminding me that Parker wasn’t the only one depending on me anymore … I had to save his mom and Mia too.
“I think these will work. Help me pack the vials into these?” I asked.
It took me a moment to realize that no one was moving. When I looked up, Finn and Mason were both looking at me with disappointment, but when I saw Libby looking out the door after Chloe with a hint of triumph in her eyes, the guilt seeped in and I knew I’d gone too far.
I’d have to sort it out with Chloe later. For now, I had to get to Parker before they did anything more to hurt him. “Just help me pack this stuff up,” I grumbled. “And we need a cooler from the garage.”
Finn shook his head in disgust and walked out after Chloe.
“I’ll get the cooler.” Libby sounded reluctant, but I was still grateful for her help.
“Your dad was always proud of you, Jack.” Mason walked over to help me pack the vials. He tilted his head toward the door Chloe had disappeared through. “Don’t make me think he was wrong to feel that way.”
His words stabbed straight through me. Chloe was so brave and strong that it was easy to forget what she’d sacrificed. She’d given up everything and everyone she’d ever cared about simply because she believed it was wrong. She was incredibly selfless and probably braver and stronger than anyone I’d ever known … definitely more than me. And half the time I’d treated her like she was no different than her father.
But maybe I was the one who was too much like him. Maybe I was the one who thought other people were less than me just because of what was in their DNA.
Parker would be lucky to be more like Chloe.
Libby and Finn helped pack everything into the van as I wrote down exact directions for making Spectrum.
“I imagine this wears off, but I don’t know how long it will take. We still have a lot to learn.” I handed the paper to Mason but didn’t release it yet. “We’ve sacrificed a lot to get this. My dad trusted you, and so do I. You have to protect Spectrum, because whether we survive today or not, all this fighting has to stop. You can’t let the formula fall into their hands. We have to make certain they need us to get it. We have to give them something to lose. Promise me you’ll make this available to any Taker who wants help and is willing to live peacefully from here on out. That will go a long way toward ending this war.”
“I promise.” Mason took the paper, folded it carefully, and stuck it in the front pocket of his flannel shirt. His brow creased with worry. “What do you plan to do when you get there?”
“I’m running out of options. It’s kind of a Hail Mary, but I guess I’ll offer Spectrum to Cooper and hope he’s desperate enough to take it.” I massaged the knotted muscles at the back of my neck with my right hand. “I figure either it’ll cure him and he’ll help us just to make sure he can stay alive, or he’ll have an even worse reaction than you did and it’ll kill him. I can’t say I’ll be disappointed if it turns out to be the second option.”
“Well, good luck.” Mason gave me a grim smile. “You do what you can to get out of this alive, because celebrating when everyone else is dead ain’t my idea of a good time.”
“You’ve got it.” We shook hands, and I swallowed back the sinking fear that this could be the last time I saw him. Then Addie, Finn, Libby, Chloe, and I got in the van, and I started to drive.
It was midday before we got to the abandoned amusement park where the Takers had set up their new camp. I could see immediately why they’d picked this place. Cooper might be going crazy, but he wasn’t stupid. There would be no sneaking in unnoticed around here.
Before I’d even parked the van, I saw a watchtower set up in the highest cart of a massive Ferris wheel in the dead center of the park. It must’ve been one of the newer rides when the park closed, because it didn’t look nearly as rickety as some of the others. The rest of the park was nightmarish. Even staring too hard at the creepy bones of the white roller coaster to my left felt like it could get me infected with rust and decay. The whole place felt like a graveyard where the happy dreams of children came to die.
A perfect new home for Cooper and his thugs, but I was oddly relieved that Chloe hadn’t ever lived here—even if it was because they wouldn’t take her back after she’d helped save Finn. I glanced in the rearview mirror, regretting my words once again.
Chloe was sitting in the very back seat. She hadn’t said a word or even looked at me the entire drive.
I definitely had some apologizing to do.
Once I parked and got out, I took two vials of Spectrum from the cooler in the back of the van. I left the rest where they were. Reaching for some extra knives, I paused with my hand on the hilts. I would keep the knives I always carried on me, of course, but I figured any noticeable weapons would only lead to more people dying … so I left the rest there.
I turned back to face the others as they climbed out, and Chloe immediately looked away. “I think our best bet is for all of you to stay here. Maybe if I go in alone, then—”
“No.” Finn looked at me like I’d just told a very unfunny joke.
“Absolutely not.” Libby rolled her eyes.
Chloe just started walking toward the park entrance.
“Fine,” I grumbled, closing the back of the van.
I stood behind the van, taking a deep breath. The last time I’d gone to face the Takers, I’d lost my dad. Now I was here to save my brother, and this time I refused to leave anyone behind. Being here now, it felt like some part of Dad was here beside me.
And instead of weakening me, it made me feel stronger.
I stepped out and took a look at the huge rusty building near the front. The weeds on the path in front of it were trampled. That little detail, plus the sheer size of it, were the only things I needed to see to know that this was the main part of the park the Takers were using.
The structure must have originally been some sort of fun house, because there was a huge discolored clown on the sign hanging above the door. The eyes of the clown had been blacked out and the once-red hair had faded to a sickly orange-yellow color.
I shivered. Clowns were something I’d never understood. I’d seen more of them in other people’s nightmares than in real life. How could something so many people found nightmare-worthy also be considered fun? I didn’t get it.
The two large doors on the front of the fun house suddenly squealed open. Cooper walked out, backed by a virtual militia. There were twelve heavily armed men behind him. Different ages, heights, builds, body types … but they all had the same telltale signs of exhaustion. The same pale, gaunt skin. The same dark circles beneath their eyes.
They were an army of Takers here to do his bidding.
Perfect.
“Welcome! It was so nice of you to let us know you were coming, Jack.” Cooper kept trying to look at me, but the sunlight was too bright and he was obviously in pain, trying to use his arm to block out the sun. He gestured with his free arm toward the group behind him. “As you can see, we’ve been able to organize a better welcome party to greet you this time, since we had a little notice. Come on in.”
“Where’s Parker?” I walked slowly forward into the shadows, giving my eyes time to adjust. I was still tired, but soon my eyes were fully acclimated and I got a real look at Cooper. He looked far worse than anyone else—he’d lost noticeable weight since I’d seen him just eight days ago. His eyes wandered and he was struggling to focus. His body suffered from one tremor after another.
Chloe must have recognized the same thing because I
heard her inhale sharply behind me and whisper her brother’s name.
Cooper glared at us. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s rude to stare?”
“Cooper, I think you need what we brought more than anyone.” I spoke the words quietly and sincerely, despite the fact that I’d be utterly satisfied if he just fell over and died instead.
Cooper waved one shaking hand toward a couple of his heavily armed escorts and they stepped aside to reveal three metal chairs behind them. I had to squint into the shadows until someone closed the doors to the outside and flipped on the lights. The room we were in was immense, the walls covered in dusty mirrors. Many were cracked or broken. This must’ve been a maze at some point, but all the mirrors and walls in the center had been taken out, leaving just a few support beams.
People of all ages stared at us from their spots around the room. Many were standing, but some were seated on triangular concrete platforms that were spaced evenly around the room, which must’ve been part of the original design as well. The kids in the room were quiet and looked hardened; the adults ragged and tired.
These weren’t people who were living it up like the gods Steve Campbell professed them to be. They were just people, many of whom had to be as tired of the endless fighting as I was. A slight spark of an idea wiggled its way to the top of my thoughts. Maybe Cooper wasn’t the one I needed to convince …
There was movement near the back corner of the room, and the people stepped aside to let someone through. Two guards dragged something behind them. My hands flexed into fists and I suddenly wished I’d brought more weapons. They were dragging Parker.
My heart stopped and my chest felt like a sucking pit of agony. He had bandages on his arm and leg. His eyes were closed when they lifted him into a chair. A hand squeezed my arm and I turned to see Addie looking as pale and terrified as I felt.
They bound Parker to the chair and gagged him. Even though I wanted to kill everyone around him … my chest felt lighter because I knew he must be alive. No point in tying a dead body to a chair.
Mania Page 25