by Cole Gibsen
It was time to get Dr. Wendell.
6
There you are!” Debbie stopped tossing paper cups into a garbage bag long enough to wag a finger at me as I trudged through the door with the rest of the samurai in tow.
Dr. Wendell glanced up from the vegetable platter he was covering in plastic wrap. His eyes widened in silent alarm when he caught sight of Kim standing beside me.
“Don’t you know how rude it is to abandon your party?” Debbie continued. “Everyone left shortly after you disappeared. They must have been so insulted.”
Maybe not insulted—but they sure were going to be angry when they found out there were no Jell-O shots.
Debbie picked up a stack of abandoned plates and shoved them in the bag. “Where did you run off to anyway?”
I exchanged a glance with Kim. How was I going to get rid of her long enough to get Dr. Wendell alone?
Lucky for me, Q whispered “I got this” in my ear as he brushed past me. “I have good news and bad news, Deb.”
“Oh, Lord.” Debbie pinched the bridge of her nose. “What is it now?”
“Remember when I told you about the bedbugs?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Yes.”
“The good news is I was wrong. Terrance McGill doesn’t have them.”
Her body relaxed. “Thank goodness for that.”
“The bad news is he has fleas.”
“What?” Debbie screeched. The trash bag fell from her hand.
Before I could question what he was up to, Q grabbed my arm and lifted it in the air. “Rileigh already has several bites.”
When I didn’t immediately move, Quentin nudged me with his hip.
“Oh … right.” I rubbed my arm. “I do.”
“Me too,” Michelle added, scratching at her own invisible bites.
“Yup,” Drew said, itching his leg.
“All over!” Braden scratched wildly at his stomach and back.
Kim only nodded and swept his fingers through his hair.
“Oh, God!” Debbie spun a circle, her eyes darting wildly around the room as if anticipating a sudden bug ambush. “What do we do?”
Kim shot Dr. Wendell a pointed look. He, in turn, gave a subtle nod before slamming the roll of plastic wrap against the counter. “This is a very serious situation,” Dr. Wendell said. Debbie covered her mouth with her hand and nodded. “Then this is what we’re going to do. Debbie, I need you to run to the store and buy the biggest bug bomb they have.”
Leaving the garbage bag at her feet, she raced to the counter and snatched her car keys from a bowl. “What are you going to do, Jason?”
“I’m going to finish cleaning, and then I’m going to get us a hotel room. We won’t be able to stay here tonight if we’re fumigating the apartment.”
To my relief, she nodded. If Sumi was coming after me, the safest thing for my mom was to get her out of the house.
“Rileigh,” Dr. Wendell continued, “do you think you can stay at one of your friends’ houses tonight?”
Q raised his hand. “She can stay at mine.”
“Good.” Dr. Wendell clapped his hands together. “Let’s do this.” When Debbie didn’t immediately move, he slapped his palm against the counter. “Hurry, Deb! Before they breed!”
The color drained from Debbie’s face. With a quick nod, she dashed to the door, her high heels wobbling dangerously in her haste as she exited the condo, slamming the door behind her.
After several heartbeats, Dr. Wendell walked around the counter and climbed onto a bar stool. “I don’t know what’s going on, but from the looks on your faces, something tells me I’m going to need to sit to hear it.”
“Kim has his memory back,” I said.
“That’s wonderful news!” A smile flitted across Dr. Wendell’s face before it quickly dissolved into a frown. “But I think I see the problem. If Kim has his memories, then logic would dictate that so does—”
“Sumi,” Kim finished, folding his arms across his chest.
“Right.” Dr. Wendell took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “Let me start by saying, Kim, that I’m thrilled to have you back and on the team.”
Kim nodded.
“It’s too bad,” Dr. Wendell continued, “that your return coincides with such a serious situation. Luckily, the Network has a plan ready for this very outcome.”
This was news to me. I exchanged a sideways glance with Q. “You’re not going to kill her, right? Sumi and Kim—”
“No, of course not!” He waved a hand in the air. “The Network is well aware of Kim’s connection with Sumi, as well as your connection to Whitley. We know that killing either one of them may inadvertently put either of you in great harm.”
“If by great harm, you mean our death, then yeah. That would be pretty harmful.”
Dr. Wendell frowned at me before continuing. “No. The Network prepared for Sumi’s possible awakening by preparing a cell specifically designed to contain her and her powers. We have a transport truck with the same perimeters so we can safely transport her to the headquarters in New York.”
Braden clapped his hand together. “That sounds great!”
I wasn’t so sure. “You say this cell can hold her, but for how long?”
Dr. Wendell slipped his glasses back on. “As long as it takes.”
“What does that mean?” Kim asked.
“It means the Network will do all they can to rehabilitate Sumi. But if that proves to be futile, we’ll hold her … ” Dr. Wendell shrugged. “Indefinitely.”
I narrowed my eyes. “That’s your plan? Hold her in a cage forever? This is Sumi we’re talking about—the most powerful kunoichi to ever live. Fat chance you’re going to be able to rehabilitate her. You might as well put a shark in a swimming pool and ask it not to bite anyone.”
He laced his fingers together and rested them on his lap. “I understand your concern. But I assure you this cell will be able to hold her. We can’t kill her—not without risking Kim’s life. So if you have a better idea, I’d be open to hearing it.”
“I—” But the words died on my tongue. Truth was I had nothing. I locked eyes with Kim but he only frowned. I then looked to each samurai, hoping to find a solution among them, but as I met each pair of eyes, they only turned away with sad shrugs.
I sighed. “All right. Cage it is. Do you at least have a plan for getting her into the cage?”
“It’s like I said,” Dr. Wendell continued. “We’ve had a truck engineered specifically to transport her. I’ll call and have it sent here. In the meantime, I need all of you to go to Sumi’s house and address the situation. There’s a chance we might be reacting over nothing. None of us fully understands the extent of Q’s powers, correct? So there’s still a chance Sumi could be without her memories and, therefore, quite harmless.”
A knot loosened inside my chest. Maybe we were getting worked up over nothing. “So what do we do if she doesn’t have her memory back?”
Dr. Wendell sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to contain her regardless. We can’t take any chances.”
“Agreed,” Kim said. He turned around so that he faced us. “All right. We have our mission.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from groaning. I’d had Kim to myself a whole fifteen minutes before the Network managed to assign us a mission.
“Remember,” Dr. Wendell added, “your objective tonight is strictly surveillance. On the off chance Sumi has regained her memories, I don’t want anyone confronting her until the truck arrives. Is that clear?” His eyes targeted mine.
I met his gaze with my own unwavering stare. “But if she attacks—”
“You retreat,” he finished.
I jerked back. “You want us to run away like cowards? Are you forgetting what we ar
e?”
“No one is accusing you of being a coward, Rileigh. I simply know that Sumi’s powers killed all of you in your past lives.”
“We were caught off guard,” I argued. “Besides, now we have Q, who might be every bit as powerful as Sumi.” And I’d be lying if I didn’t admit there was the teensiest part of me that wanted her to pay for all the hurt she put me and my friends through.
Quentin cleared his throat. “Let’s not make any assumptions about what I can or cannot do. I’m not sure what I’m capable of, let alone the extent of my power.”
“Exactly.” Dr. Wendell nodded. “We need to go into this situation with extreme caution. I will not put anybody at risk.”
“But—” I began.
“No buts, Rileigh!”
I snapped my mouth shut, stunned. After all the crap I’d given him over the last year, Dr. Wendell had never raised his voice to me before.
He slid off the stool looking more exhausted than he had a minute ago. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap like that. I just refuse to take any chances when it comes to Sumi. She bested you once before.”
“That’s ancient history,” I reminded him.
“Yes, it is.” He crossed his arms and locked eyes with me. “But that’s the thing about history; if you don’t learn from it, it has a funny way of repeating itself.”
7
We crept through a cow pasture, having abandoned our cars several miles away on one of the many country roads in Waterloo, Illinois. It was better we stayed off the roads and away from curious eyes who might wonder what the six of us were doing in the middle of the night with swords strapped to our backs.
The long grass in the field pulled at our legs, making shushing sounds as if warning us to remain hidden. As we approached, several cows glanced up at us, only to drop their heads disinterestedly back to the ground in search of clover after we’d passed.
Kim led our group, with me following closely behind. Q and Drew walked on either side of me while Braden and Michelle brought up the rear. Her frequent glances over her shoulder let me know she was doing her job, checking to see if anyone was sneaking up behind us. Even if they were, it was a long shot their attack would go undetected by my danger premonitions—a tingling that buzzed beneath my skin whenever an enemy lurked nearby.
Kim stopped just before the crest of a hill, dropped to the ground, and pointed to the dimly lit farmhouse just ahead—
the home of Sumi’s adoptive parents. We fell to a crouch beside him. He glanced at each of us, his eyes asking if we knew the seriousness of the mission ahead. We nodded, one after another.
If I hadn’t known better, as I found myself kneeling in a field under an open sky with a sword strapped to my back, I might have assumed I’d traveled back in time to my days as a samurai in Japan.
History has a way of repeating itself.
I shook my head, trying to dislodge Dr. Wendell’s words from my head. But I was too late—a shiver danced along my spine as the memories of our last battle, and ultimately our deaths, replayed in my mind. I clenched my eyes tight, as if I could somehow block out the moment my Yoshido fell to the ground or the feeling of my own dagger as it pierced my stomach.
Someone touched my shoulder, and I was snapped from my memory. I blinked several times before Kim came into focus in front of me, his eyes wide with alarm.
I nodded to let him know I was okay. This wasn’t Japan and we were prepared this time. No one was going to die.
I repeated the phrase over and over inside my head—No one’s going to die—hoping the more I thought it, the truer it would become.
Kim waved his hand and motioned us forward. At once, we were on the move. And even though more than 500 years had passed since our last battle, we moved as if we’d fought only yesterday. We were no longer a group of people but a single organism with many limbs, operating with one mind for a single purpose.
We reached the bottom of the hill and Kim raised his arm. Wordlessly, we fanned out.
Drew ran to the nearest tree, hoisted himself onto a limb, and disappeared within the branches. Michelle and Braden sprinted ahead. When they reached the side of the house, Braden crouched down. Michelle used his back to launch herself onto the roof of the porch, where she landed with barely a sound. Next, she reached over the side, grabbed Braden’s waiting hand, and hoisted him up beside her.
Meanwhile, Q and I followed Kim as he darted behind a large, silver truck in the driveway. I peered over the truck bed and watched as Braden and Michelle tiptoed around the roof, pausing long enough to glance inside each of the second-story windows. When they finished their circle, Michelle gave me a thumbs-up.
I crouched beside Q and Kim, who lay on their stomachs peering at the house from under the truck. “Michelle gave us the all clear,” I said.
Kim nodded. “All right. On to phase two.”
Q glanced between us. “What’s phase two?”
“It’s a surveillance mission,” Kim answered. “So now we watch. We don’t want to alert Sumi to our presence, but at the same time, we need to know if she has her memories back—as well as her powers.”
I nodded and slid down to my belly next to Kim, trying not to flinch as a jagged-edged rock dug into my skin.
“How long do we wait like this?” Q hissed.
“As long as it takes,” Kim answered.
And I knew from past experience that “as long as it takes” translated into a very, very, long time. I propped my elbow on the ground and let my head fall against my hand. I’d always thought graduation would be a new beginning for me—no more following orders, no more being told what I had to do. It was supposed to be my opportunity to finally take charge of my life and decide for myself how I wanted to live.
Considering it hadn’t been quite twelve hours since I’d received my diploma and I was belly-down under a truck in the middle of the night—the whole taking charge of my life thing was not going so well.
The three of us remained silent as we watched. My body began to ache from not moving, but each time I tried to find a more comfortable position, the sharp edge of a rock dug into my skin. I cursed under my breath. How long had we been lying here anyway? An hour? Two?
I shifted again and this time a stone jutted against my hip bone, making spots of pain erupt behind my eyelids. I opened my mouth to tell Kim we should maybe find a new hiding place when an uneasy feeling crawled along my skin.
I snapped my mouth shut and tried to make sense of the feeling. It wasn’t exactly a danger premonition, but it definitely felt like a warning of some kind.
Kim looked at me. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure.” I dug my fingers into the gravel to the dirt below, hoping the cold earth would balance the sense of unease spreading through my body. No such luck. “I can’t explain it. It’s not the electric jolt I get from a danger premonition, but … ” I licked my lips and motioned to the house. “Something’s not right.”
Kim followed my gaze, his eyes searching the windows. “We haven’t seen any movement.”
“I know.” So why was the creepy-crawly feeling growing more intense by the second? I shuddered as another wave rippled over me.
After several minutes of silence, Kim gave a sigh. “You’re not going to be satisfied until we check things out, are you?”
I gave him my most brilliant smile. “You really do have your memories back.”
He chuckled softly. “Fine. We’ll go in for a closer look. Just remember I’m still in charge of this mission. We are to remain unseen at all times, and if I say we run, we run. Got it?”
“Got it,” I said.
“Got it,” Q echoed.
Kim turned to him. “Listen Quentin … maybe you should stay here. It’s dangerous enough with just Rileigh and me going in—”
“Kim.” I placed a hand on his should
er. “He goes. He’s our secret weapon. Besides, if Sumi has her powers back, Q’s the only one who can fight off her mind control. There’s no way we can leave him outside.”
Q leaned past Kim and smiled at me.
Kim sighed. “Fine. Just stay behind us and keep quiet.”
He nodded.
“All right. Let’s move.” Slowly Kim slithered out from under the truck. Q and I were quick to follow. Michelle and Braden watched from the roof as Kim signaled to them that we were heading inside. They glanced at each other warily before unsheathing their swords and backing into the shadows. Better to be prepared than not.
Another icy wave spiraled down my spine, and I clenched my teeth together to keep from crying out. The feeling grew stronger the closer we moved to the house—not a good sign.
The three of us tiptoed onto the porch and stood on either side of the door. Kim reached for the knob and, when it refused to turn, he motioned me forward. “I believe this is your department?”
Right. I closed my eyes and fell inside myself, to where my ki power sat nestled within my core. With a gentle nudge, I released a small amount from my fingertips. What felt like the rustle of a breeze swirled around my body, flipping the ends of my hair before blowing away. A second later, I heard the faint click of a lock being turned. Mentally I drew my ki back inside my body, feeling a slight tug in my stomach like a ball of yarn pulling tight, before closing it off. I opened my eyes with a smile. Controlling my ki had sure become a lot easier now that I no longer had Sumi screwing with my mind.
I reached past Kim and twisted the handle. The door swung open soundlessly. “After you.”
He unsheathed his sword, and I gave him a sideways glance as he stepped past me. “I thought you said this was an observation mission only.”
“We should still be cautious.”
“Agreed.” I unsheathed my own sword, relishing the feel of the eelskin-wrapped handle in my grasp. I glanced at Q. “Ready?”