The Homecoming Masquerade

by Baum, Spencer

  “Give me a moment, please,” said Nicky. She began reciting the mantra in her mind, trying desperately to make it work. Breathe in me breathe in me…

  “You may have ten seconds,” said Melissa.

  Fine. Ten seconds. Breathe in me breathe in me – come on now, calm the mind, make the connection, open up to this girl. Nicky looked in Melissa’s eyes. Her pupils were enormous now. There was something there, something going on behind them, Nicky could tell, but it wasn’t having any effect.

  “Nine….eight….seven…six…”

  Melissa’s counting wasn’t helping. Nicky couldn’t focus on her mantra while Melissa was talking.

  “Five…four..”

  Nicky focused on the countdown instead, as if this were a traditional hypnosis session, as if Gia were asking Nicky to relax so they could have a look into her past.

  “Three…two..”

  It wasn’t working.

  “…one.”

  Melissa grabbed the little finger on Nicky’s left hand and twisted it backward at the knuckle, cracking it like a wishbone.

  The pain was excruciating and instant. Nicky cried out in anguish and leaned forward—her body’s natural response was to curl up.

  With a finger on Nicky’s chin, Melissa pulled her up straight and held Nicky’s face to hers so they were once again staring in each other’s eyes.

  “We’ll move to your ring finger next,” Melissa said. “Shall I begin the countdown anew?”

  “No,” Nicky gasped. “The countdown doesn’t help. I’m trying to let you in, I swear.”

  “I believe you, Nicky. Since our last meeting, I’ve given considerable thought to what happened. I even engaged in a research project to try and understand how a simple human might resist my reprogramming. More than fifty slaves were used for the research, including your father. ”

  “My father?” Nicky whispered.

  “Evidence that your talent isn’t genetic,” said Melissa. “Your father took to reprogramming as easily as anyone else.”

  “Where is he?”

  Melissa laughed. “My dear, when I get done with you tonight, you’ll either be under my control or you’ll be dead. There’s no reason to worry about your father.”

  “So tell me then,” said Nicky, “since it doesn’t matter if I know.”

  “Your father is dead.” Melissa said the words in a casual voice, as if she were talking about the weather.

  Tears filled Nicky’s eyes.

  “How?”

  “In a way it’s your fault,” Melissa said. “The fact that you just walked out of the Farm made me wonder if all these years I ever knew what I was doing. So I took some time to find out. I used your father and many others to really understand how mind control works, to try and learn how a little girl could look me in the eyes and just walk away. They were participants in a grand and useful experiment. I took them in and out of hypnosis. I placed powerful commands deep in their subconscious to lock off their minds, then asked my bond to try and get in and see what was there. I experimented with emotional and sensory extremes. Of course, I couldn’t send my participants out in the world. I had messed with their minds so much they might be unpredictable as slaves. All participants, including your father, were disposed of when we were done.”

  “Disposed of,” Nicky whispered.

  “I spared your friend, you know,” said Melissa. “That boy who was sleeping in the RV with you and your father. He became our control in the testing. We gave him standard reprogramming and compared his behavior to that of the test subjects throughout the experiment. He was quite useful and still made for a very fine slave. I just released him from the Farm tonight, in fact. Renata was in need of some new slaves, and that boy is almost ripe. He will be quite delicious in just a few months.”

  “You gave Frankie to Renata?”

  “Amusing, isn’t it? We had our own little reunion at the Homecoming Masquerade. You, me, and your friend, together again in the ballroom, six years after your improbable escape. And now, to top off our reunion, we’re going to learn the truth about you, Nicky. I’m excited, aren’t you?”

  Nicky said nothing. So much to process in so little time. Her father was dead, mistreated in the most horrible way imaginable and then discarded, but Frankie was alive. All that time she’d been looking for him across the country, and he’d never left the Farm. He’d been locked inside that drab gray building for six years, and now he was in Renata’s mansion.

  She had to make it out of the limo alive. No matter what, she had to make it out alive. She felt her mind coming into focus with the purpose of it. If she got out of this alive, she could finally rescue Frankie.

  “In the experiment, I learned that there is a way to bore so deep into the subconscious the subject can be locked off from further reprogramming. That’s what has happened to you, Nicky. You are already a slave. The reason I can’t get into your mind is that some other immortal has programmed you to shut me out.”

  Nicky put a puzzled look on her face, a look that wasn’t entirely a ruse, as Melissa was really going to a strange place with this one. Melissa thought she was already enslaved?

  “Think about where you are,” Melissa said. “In six short years, a little jackal from the streets becomes a student in the Thorndike senior class? It just doesn’t happen that way. Whatever path you think you’ve taken to get where you are, it has all been a lie. Only a powerful force behind the scenes, an immortal from one of our rival clans, someone like Falkon Dillinger or Fu Xi, could have orchestrated a rise like this. How did you even get into Thorndike? Did you just fill out an application and get a phone call? Did you even have to interview? Someone got you in, Nicky. Someone wants you to do something while you’re here, and you don’t even know what it is. Someone is getting you close to me or Renata or Sergio, or maybe even Daciana. Perhaps you are gathering intelligence, or are programmed to carry out a terrorist attack on the school. Maybe you’re here to sabotage the Coronation contest. Maybe you’re going to do all these things and more, and you don’t even know it. Whatever your purpose is, there are too many coincidences in your life to assume that anything else is even possible. Tell me, Nicky, do you remember what happened on the night you escaped from the Farm?”

  Did she remember running through the swamp, getting bitten by a snake, collapsing under a tree and nearly dying? Yes, she remembered all of these things, but she sensed this wasn’t the right answer.

  “No, I….” Nicky whispered.

  Melissa smiled. Her fangs were fully exposed now, as if she were ready to pounce on Nicky at any moment.

  “When I tried to see into your mind, your own reprogramming kicked in,” Melissa said. “That’s how it works. I’ve replicated your case in the experiment. I’ve discovered the secret, and I’m going to flush out whoever is behind you. You see, I’ve learned how to crack open a mind that has been programmed to stay closed. My subjects opened up when I spoke to them in the language that our inner animals understand. Pain, anger, fear….so I’m going to ask you again, Nicky. Are you ready?”

  “Ready for what?”

  “Ten….nine…”

  “Oh no,” Nicky said. “Not again. I’ll cooperate. I just need time.”

  “What you need is fear. When I finish the countdown, I’m going to break another finger. I want you to think about that. I want you to fear it.”

  “Please,” Nicky said. “Please don’t.”

  “Seven…six...”

  Nicky took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. She had to make it out of here alive. She had to convince Melissa that she was safe to let go. Frankie was alive.

  Breathe in me breathe in me.

  “Five…four…”

  Breathe in me…it wasn’t working. There were only three seconds left and it wasn’t working.

  “Three…”

  Breathe in me breathe in me – she took a slow, deep breath through her nose, exhaled through her mouth. The scent of the orchid corsage on her chest fi
lled her nostrils. Breathe in me breathe in me.

  “That’s it, Nicky. Feel the fear. I’m beginning to see something. Focus on the pain that will come when I break your finger. Two seconds…”

  Beginning to see something? Was it fear? Was Melissa scaring her into opening her mind?

  No, that wasn’t it. It wasn’t fear. It was Sergio. She had smelled the orchid corsage when she inhaled through her nose and it reminded her of him, of the trance he had put her in when they danced.

  “That’s it, Nicky. Open your mind to me.”

  She thought about the way Sergio looked, the way his back felt in her hands, the way he smelled. She thought about almost losing herself to his presence.

  “One second left,” Melissa whispered.

  Nicky took a deep breath through her nose. The scent of orchid filled her nostrils and she was all the way back. Her heart slowed down. Her breathing became steady and deep. Her pupils dilated. Her mind had taken her away from here, away from Melissa, away from the limo. She was there again with Sergio. She was inside her own memory of the dance.

  “Very good,” said Melissa. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

  “No,” Nicky said. She said it because she knew it was what she was supposed to say. Melissa’s voice had told her so. Nicky was hardly even there, so lost was she in the memory of her dance, but she knew enough to answer no to Melissa’s question.

  “Now, search your memories. Tell me who programmed you.”

  “Falkon Dillinger,” she said, lying with a name Melissa had already given her.

  “Yes,” Melissa hissed. “I knew it was him. He can’t seem to leave us alone. First the Evans family, now this.”

  The Evans family? Nicky struggled to maintain her composure. Was Melissa telling her why the Evans family was killed?

  “What is Falkon having you do?” Melissa asked.

  Nicky had learned from her time on the streets that the best lies were the simple ones.

  “My job is to observe and report,” she said.

  “Yes, intelligence. Go on. Why did you enter the Coronation contest?”

  “As a girl wearing black, I can get closer to the immortals and report more of what is happening to Falkon.”

  “But why does he want to know? What does he plan to do?”

  “I am not to concern myself with that,” said Nicky. “My job is to observe and report.”

  “Interesting,” said Melissa. “Nicky, I want you to listen to me. Starting now, Falkon Dillinger is no longer your master. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Your mission is no longer to give intelligence to Falkon Dilligner. It is to fool him. You will now only report to him what I tell you to say. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” said Nicky, a part of her thinking this was all so familiar, so much like the night on the Farm.

  “I am your master now. But you will remain unaware that you have been programmed. You will continue as a student at Thorndike, completely ignorant of the fact that you now work for me. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “You will remember nothing of this conversation. Starting from the moment your driver opened the door for you until now, you have been riding quietly to your party, by yourself. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “What happened between us six years ago is now erased from your memory,” said Melissa. “You have never met me. You never came to the Farm. You never escaped my reprogramming. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “You are going to lose the Coronation contest, Nicky. You will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure you finish dead last. Your mission will be over when you are in the cage next spring. The moment before you die, you will remember everything I have told you to forget, and you’ll realize you’ve just been a pawn to my will all this time. Do you understand?”

  This command complicated things. At some point in the near future, Melissa would see that Nicky had no intention of losing the contest and would know this reprogramming session was just as fraudulent as the last one.

  If the mission was to continue, the Network would have to kill Melissa Mayhew.

  “Yes,” Nicky said.

  “We’re almost done here, Nicky, but you now have a broken finger. We need an explanation for that.”

  Melissa pressed a button on the wall, giving her intercom access direct to Julien.

  “Driver, please take the next available opportunity to get us into an accident. We’re looking for a fender bender, nothing too dangerous. We still wish for Nicky to go to her party tonight. We just want her to be a bit late.”

  She turned back to Nicky.

  “Or maybe a lot late. It’s tough to get your supporters excited when you miss your own after-party. You better buckle your seatbelt.”

  Melissa buzzed Julien again.

  “Driver, after the accident, I want you to stay until medical help arrives, to insist on a full and truthful report, and to have the paramedics give a thorough evaluation to everyone present. Even if Nicky wants to go to her party, you are to make her wait. Her safety comes first.”

  On some level, Nicky felt herself starting to grow nervous. What Melissa proposed was a terrible plan that might result in innocent people getting hurt. But now wasn’t the time to indulge such thoughts.

  Breathe in me…

  Nicky sat back in her chair, her body cool and composed, and she buckled her seatbelt.

  Julien waited until they took their exit from the freeway, and then plowed into the line of cars stopped at the first traffic light, rear-ending whatever driver was unlucky enough to be at the back of the line. The crash was swift and jarring, beginning with the collision of bumpers followed by sounds of squealing tires and folding metal.

  There was a second of silence, then another crashing sound, this one right next to Nicky. She turned to find that Melissa was gone, having thrown open her door with such force it had broken from its hinges.

  “Dammit,” Nicky whispered. She reached up to press the intercom button and speak to Julien and cried out in pain with the movement. Her neck, her shoulders, the little finger on her left hand – all were in various states of agony. Looking down at her finger, she saw that it was angled sideways at the knuckle and starting to swell. With her right hand, she undid her seat belt, then she started going through the array of cabinets and drawers along the wall and underneath the seats. After finding two drawers stocked with various free samples of expensive makeup and another six stocked with liquor, she found a first aid kit in a compartment under the armrest where Melissa had been sitting. Using her good hand and her teeth, she cut off a long stretch of medical tape and hung it from the ceiling. Then, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she grabbed her little finger and pulled it straight, hearing the bones grind inside as she did so. The pain was worse than when Melissa had broken it, but it was over, and there was no one in the car threatening to break the rest of her hand.

  Pulling the length of tape from the ceiling, she wrapped her finger tightly, and ripped off the excess with her teeth. Then she crawled out the door Melissa had left open.

  They had smashed into a white sedan and pushed it into the next car, sandwiching the poor driver on either side. It was a middle-aged man, who was now kicking at his door to get it open. Nicky ran to help him pull. Together they got the door open and the man stumbled out. He appeared to be unharmed.

  “What the hell--” the man began, but seeing that Nicky was in formal wear, in black formal wear, changed his tone. “Are you okay, Miss?”

  “I’m fine,” Nicky said.

  “We’ll let the medics be the judge of that,” came a voice behind her. It was Julien, who was walking toward her with a limp.

  “I’m so sorry,” Nicky said to the man. “My driver was being reckless. He--”

  “No, no,” said the man, holding up his hands. “It’s all good, I’m sure. Did you just come from the…?”

  “Yes, I
was at Thorndike’s Homecoming ball,” said Nicky, “and I’m afraid--”

  “Let’s wait for the police to arrive, Nicky,” said Julien. “We can give them a full report. Rockwell Transport will make sure that everyone who was involved is fully compensated.”

  “I’m just glad you’re alright,” the man said to Nicky.

  “What happened back here? I have children in my car!” came a voice from farther down. It was a woman. Her minivan had been parked at the light. The limo had pushed the white sedan into her back bumper.

  “Everything’s fine,” said the man. “This limo was on the way from the Thorndike Homecoming.”

  It was a warning to the woman to cool her jets, that this was a girl wearing black who, for all they knew, might be an immortal in nine months. The warning worked. The woman instantly went from angry to helpful.

  “Oh, my,” she said. “I’m so glad you weren’t hurt. What happened?”

  “Just a little accident ma’am,” said Julien. “I’ll be giving a full report to the police. You have nothing to worry about. My company will ensure you are compensated for any damages.”

  Nicky felt sad for all these people. They were the ones whose lives were interrupted, but they were kowtowing to her, the girl wearing black, as they had been trained to do. It was all so ugly and rotten.

  And Nicky would have to just go with it.

  “Excuse me, ma’am,” she said to the woman from the front of the line. “I’ve got to get to a party, and my limo…well..”

  “Are you asking me for a ride?” the woman said.

  “You can’t leave, Nicky. The police are on their way. We need to complete the accident report.”

  “I need to get to my after-party,” said Nicky. “The police will understand. If you have a problem with that, send them to the Hamilton.”

  “The Hamilton then?” said the woman. “Yes, I’ll take you. My car…it’s such a mess. I’m so sorry. It’s the children.”

  “No one is leaving!” Julien snapped.

  “Ignore him,” Nicky said to the woman. “He’s forgotten who he works for. I’ll be having a chat with his boss tomorrow. Nothing is more important than getting me to my after-party right away.”