by Elle Casey
Am I? The idea of escape had taken root when I’d first learned of their plans to… breed me, but I’d never truly thought I’d ever get out of here. It had all seemed impossible. Now, everything is falling into place, and it might be my only chance. I took a leap this morning by trusting the girl in the hall, and maybe this was what the word tomorrow in her message referred to. Escape. Freedom.
I eye Liam’s hand, still wrapped around my arm. It won’t be total freedom, at least not unless I can find a way to control my power on my own, but it’ll be better than being here. “I’ll go.”
It’s another twenty minutes of slinking down hallways, peering around corners, and pausing at doorways before Liam breaks into a jog and then punches an access code into a nearby door. He pulls me inside and the door slides shut behind us. The room is small and clearly not an exit. Perhaps a storage room of some sort? As my eyes adjust to the dimness, I glance around and am startled to see two people standing in the far corner. Probably not as startled as they are to see me.
A tall girl with reddish hair steps forward, her eyebrows arching upward when she takes in Liam’s grip on my hand. “Who’s this?”
Liam doesn’t get a chance to answer.
A dark-haired boy in ragged clothing edges away from the wall and glares at me. “That’s Price’s pet Reader.”
Pet? I recoil from the animosity in his words and back toward the door.
“She was raised here in the lap of scientific luxury. While the rest of us fight to stay out of this place, she’s been sitting around being pampered by these assholes.” The boy’s lips curl up in a sneer and he sidles forward.
“Shut it, Bastian,” says Liam. “She’s clearly terrified. No need to make the situation harder than it is.”
“And just how hard is that? Just what do you think’s going to happen here? You gonna bring her home? Hold her hand all day? What would we do with a Reader? They’re unstable by nature, and that one in particular… is nothing but a puppet. How do you know she’s not some sort of spy? We already have a mole problem, and now you’re going to invite the enemy in.” He snorts.
“Back off.” There’s a warning tone in Liam’s voice.
Bastian laughs—a ragged, mocking sound. “Back off? You weren’t the one locked up here, poked, prodded, and used as fodder for experiments.” He turns to me. “Do you even know why I’m here, little pet? Do you know what they do to us?” As he gets closer, the shakiness of his hands, the paleness of his skin, and the bruises on his arms come into focus.
I find my voice and stutter out, “No. I don’t.”
Another awful laugh that really isn’t. “Of course not. Your leash was much too short, your glasses so rose-tinted they’re opaque. They didn’t do those kinds of things to you. You’re much too valuable.” He leans closer and my back bumps against the wall as I move away. “The specimen I provided was good enough for you, but they wouldn’t dare let you associate with the riff-raff.” He taps a finger on his chin, and a thoughtful look passes over his face, then morphs into a leer. “It’s a shame. After seeing you in the flesh, I think getting my jollies off in you instead of a cup might have made everything else worth it.”
My body goes cold and I blink back the burn of tears. Bastian might think I’m a pet, but I’m just as much a prisoner as, apparently, he was. My hand flies out, striking his cheek. I’m left with a smarting palm and a perfect view of the shocked look that takes over his features.
“Do you think I wanted any of this? Do you think I volunteered to be an incubator for them?” I snap.
Bastian narrows his eyes. “Of course you didn’t volunteer, but no one saw you doing anything to try to get out of it. From what I’ve heard, you’ve been nothing but a good little pet trotting along after your master. How did you know to be out in the hallway today?”
Liam moves to step between us, but the girl grabs his sleeve. “He’s got a point, Liam. This whole thing is a little fishy if you ask me.” She turns to me, one hand on her hip. “It’s interesting how the only specimen that would give them what they want would probably have to come from Liam. And it’s awfully convenient that you just happened to run into him. You wanna tell us how that came about?”
“There was a girl, yesterday. She ran into me and—”
“What girl? What’d she look like? What was her power signature?” Bastian’s rapid-fire questions leave me no time to answer.
“Back. Off. Bastian.” This time Liam sends a glare at the girl before stepping in front of Bastian. “She’s one of us. Even if they were nicer to her, she wasn’t here voluntarily either.”
“Whatever,” mutters Bastian. He moves back to lean against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and his gaze on the floor.
I appreciate his defense of me, but Liam isn’t entirely correct. I did come here voluntarily. And I’d stayed mostly out of apathy, whether drug-induced or not. This is not information I care to share though. The girl might not be as overtly hostile as Bastian, but she’s not very welcoming either.
Liam turns his attention back to the girl. “Tasha, what’s the status of Bryan’s team?”
“They located the second set of holding cells and have secured two Kinetics and one they believe to be a Tech, but she’s too young to have come into her powers.” Tasha continues rattling off additional information about grids while tapping away at the screen secured to her wrist. She pauses, then looks up at Liam with wide eyes. “We only have about seventeen minutes before the power cuts back on. We need to be well clear of this section by then.”
Liam nods. “Tell Bryan we were delayed, but we have his brother and we’re headed out. They should do the same.” While Tasha’s fingers fly over the screen, Liam turns to Bastian. “I need you to take her so I can have my hands free.”
Bastian doesn’t move. “Why should I?”
Liam’s shoulders stiffen. “Because I’m the leader of this team and I told you to.”
“How do you know I can even do it? I’m an Empath, not a Null.”
Exasperation leaks from Liam’s mouth in a noisy exhalation. “At the very least you should be able to keep her calm enough that we can get out of here without any further problems.” He squeezes my hand. “As soon as we’re out, I’ll take over.”
“Fine.” Bastian straightens off the wall and crooks his finger at me. “Here, kitty kitty.”
Liam leans over to whisper in my ear. “It’ll be fine. He’s had a rough time, but he’s really not a bad guy.”
I steel myself and release Liam’s hand. The difference is immediate. The voices don’t start off in a gradual trickle like they did earlier. It’s full volume from the moment our fingers separate. The screeching noise pounds inside my head and I squeeze my eyes closed as a stifled moan makes its way out of my mouth. I’m frozen in place, the few steps to reach Bastian an impassable distance, while my mind struggles to defend against the onslaught of unwanted visitors.
A hand wraps around mine and the volume lowers. A subtle warmth journeys up my arm and spreads through the rest of my body. Contentedness weaves itself around my anxiety and pushes it away until I’m left strangely calm, the voices no longer concerning me at all. I could even fall asleep…
“Pull it back.” Liam’s sharp voice cuts into my bliss.
Bastian snickers and the warmth fades somewhat. “Sorry. I wasn’t expecting it to be that easy.”
I know he means it as an insult, implying that I’m easy, but as his power levels out, I get an impression of his thoughts, and they’re not what I expect. Anger, yes, that’s definitely present, but there’s also a bit of guilt for what he said earlier. Bastian’s not happy about being here and certainly isn’t thrilled to be my new keeper for however long, but, surprisingly, the rage inside him isn’t so much directed at me as it is the entire situation. He saw what happened when I was left alone with my powers and, while he might not fully trust me, he’s no longer of the opinion that my life’s been as easy as he’d thought. This whole Emp
ath thing is a little strange.
I wonder if I could… I gently push further into his mind and am rewarded with an image of two dark-haired boys playing in the grass. The younger boy rolls a ball across to the older one. The ball rolls back and then lifts off the ground and sails over the first boy’s head—without being touched. The older boy is a Kinetic.
His little brother scowls at him. “No fair using powers, Bryan!”
That little boy is Bastian and this is his memory. I’ve never delved into someone’s memories before. The most I’ve ever done is read pieces of thoughts. What if…
GET OUT OF MY HEAD!
I jerk, and my eyes fly open to find Bastian’s hazel ones inches from my face, narrowed with irritation.
“Oh sorry… I…” My lips curve into a soft smile. “I didn’t know it would be that easy.”
The corners of his lips twitch and I pick up something that might be amusement from him. Or is he sending it? Where exactly does the line fall between our powers? My questions will have to wait. Bastian pulls me over to where the others are gathered by the exit.
Liam opens the door and tilts his head around the doorframe, glancing from side to side. “It’s clear.” He walks out and motions for the rest of us to follow.
We move quickly, staying close to the wall, with Liam in the lead and Bastian and I last. The calm from Bastian ebbs and flows as we walk. Its steady presence never completely blocks out the noise, but instead forces it into the background. For good reason. There’s not much room in my head. It seems my telepathy plays off the Empath power, and any other voices are drowned out by the intensity of the emotions I read from Bastian. He doesn’t mean to do it. All he’s trying to send is calm, but I’m picking up on so much more.
Somewhere ahead of us, a door swishes open. Liam’s hand jerks up and everyone stops. Tasha makes a few movements over her wristscreen, then holds it up to Liam. He nods and gestures toward us. She creeps along the wall until she can grab the collar of Bastian’s shirt and pull his ear down to her mouth.
I can’t hear what she’s saying, but my reluctant escort is clearly unhappy with it. He sighs and jerks his chin down in a nod. Tasha presses something into his hand and then moves back up to Liam while Bastian pulls me back the way we came.
“Come on. We have to take the other way out,” he says.
“The other way?”
He looks back over his shoulder and gives me a lopsided smile. “Yeah. The laundry chute.” I wrinkle my nose and he laughs. “No other choice. Tasha and Liam can shoot their way out, but I’m not exactly in fighting condition right now. Especially not with only one hand. Unless you feel like fending for yourself?” He wiggles his fingers as if he’s going to let go. My stomach lurches and I clamp down tighter on his hand. “Relax, I was just kidding. I can be a cold bastard, but I’m not completely heartless.”
I chuckle, but it’s forced. I could tell he was joking, but it’s not instinctual for me to trust this strange blend of emotions that don’t belong to me, and I’m having a hard time separating his from mine.
After a few more turns, he stops and consults whatever it was that Tasha gave him. Some sort of map? In the next hallway, he knocks softly on the wall as we walk. Two thirds of the way down, one of the panels swings inward.
“Looks like this is it,” he says. “You ready?”
Stepping forward, I tap at the panel and lean into the hole for a better look. The slope isn’t that sharp, but the passage is pitch black… and awfully narrow. “How are we going to… I mean…” I lift up our joined hands. “How far down is it? How long will I be… ?” Fear clogs my throat. After what I’ve experienced today, the idea of doing anything without someone to anchor me is daunting.
For a moment, Bastian looks like he’s going to make another smart remark, but then his face softens. “Don’t worry. It’ll be a tight fit, but we’ll make it work.” He moves his gaze to the floor. “I get it, you know. Well, kind of. The mind-type powers are burdens… at best. I can’t be around big crowds, or all the conflicting emotions will drive me nuts. I’m not much use to anyone; even my brother gets sick of me most of the time. In fact, I’m surprised he risked letting Liam join in on this convoluted rescue mission. Liam’s ability is even more rare than yours, plus it’s actually useful.” He laughs and shakes his head. “Yet Liam still ended up ditching the person he was supposed to rescue. Tasha’s got him wrapped around her little finger.”
“You mean they’re together or something?”
“Or something.” He looks up at me and raises his eyebrows. “You weren’t holding out hope for Liam, were you? He’s a good guy, but a bit dense. He and Tasha have been dancing around each other for years.”
I shrug. Honestly, I hadn’t given Liam much thought at all. He’s an attractive guy and his ability is useful to me, but there’s no spark there. “No. Getting a boyfriend is the least of my concerns.”
“Who said anything about a boyfriend?” There’s a teasing glint in his eyes, but there’s also heat behind his smirk, and what could only be lust rolling off of him.
Fire climbs up my neck and into my cheeks. I break my eyes away from his.
“Well then, let’s do this.” Bastian pulls himself up and dangles his feet into the darkness beyond the panel. He tugs on my hand and glances down at his lap. “There’s only one seat on this ride,” he says with a wink.
The trip down the chute is shorter than I expected, but in those brief seconds when we’re curled around each other, both of our powers go a bit haywire. Unintentionally, I shove into Bastian’s mind again, dragging along whatever emotions he’s feeling and creating some sort of mental feedback loop. I’m so used to the drugged lethargy I’ve experienced most of my life, the rapidly shifting emotions are odd, but not exactly unpleasant.
We land in a pile of fabric. Bastian lets out a grunt at the impact, his arms wrapped tightly around my waist. His hold keeps me from rolling off to the side and breaking our connection, so I’m left lying on top of him with my face burrowed into his neck. Before I can pull away and get my bearings, the smell of clean sheets and laundry detergent catapults me back into his memories.
A teenage Bryan sits on a couch facing a girl as she removes her shirt. The girl flips her long blond hair over her shoulder and giggles as a pink rose floats up to her nose. The flower runs slowly down her face and neck to rest between her breasts. Bastian, who looks around twelve, peeks around the corner and quickly backs up. But not quickly enough.
The girl grabs her shirt, holding it in front of her chest, and glares over her shoulder. “I thought you said the little creeper wasn’t home.” She shudders. “Ugh. I can feel his disgusting lust vibes. I can’t do this. I’m outta here.” She pulls her shirt on and flounces out the door.
Creepy. Disgusting. Shame and embarrassment twist around the edges of the memory, only getting stronger as Bryan stands and admonishes Bastian for not staying in the laundry room like he was told and, even worse, not keeping a lid on his powers.
The scene shifts and the boys age. Bastian looks much like he does now, though cleaner and bulkier. It must be a memory from not too long before his capture. Bryan looms over him, yelling something about Bastian being a worthless piece of shit. Ungrateful. Loser. Useless. The words keep flying, and Bastian stands there with an unaffected look upon his face. He’s gotten control of his powers, and Bryan cannot feel the devastation flowing from him, but I can. What’s more is I can get somewhat of a read on Bryan—and he means every word. If this is truly what he thinks of his brother, then why did Bryan come to rescue him?
I’m violently shoved away, both mentally and physically, as Bastian pushes my body off his and breaks the connection between us. The voices don’t even have time to gear up again before he curses and grabs my hand. His voice is shaky when he says, “Don’t do that again.”
The flow of emotions from him vacillates from angry to embarrassed to something else and back again while he struggles to pull his powers under c
ontrol. I resist the urge to reach out and reassure him, knowing that he needs time to level himself out and that my help would not be welcome. My forays into his head have created a forced sense of intimacy between us that can only get more awkward if I press the issue.
My powers aren’t the same as his, but I understand some of what he went through. It was quite clear that most of the doctors here found my abilities creepy, though, thankfully, my teenage hormones had never been broadcast to everyone around me. I may have been lonely, and I would never have gone along willingly with their planned breeding program, but I was mostly treated with clinical disinterest, nothing like what Bastian seems to have experienced even from his own brother. I’m finding it hard to believe I won’t be considered an even bigger freak once I leave here.
And that thought terrifies me much more than it should. Isn’t freedom what I want?
“What’s it like out there?” I ask.
“Out where?”
I fling my hand upward in a sweeping gesture. “Outside. In the real world. It’s been years… since I came here.”
He gives me an odd look. “I guess it’s okay.”
“Are there really no other telepaths… Readers like me?”
“Not sane ones.” Indecision flickers across his face, and he glances down at our joined hands. “You saw what it was like for me when I was coming into my powers. Psi abilities normally reveal themselves around seven or eight. It’s easy for a child to learn to control a physical power, like the Kinetics, but it’s much harder for Empaths. Other Psi only have to worry about what they’re doing. Not only did I have to learn to control what I was doing, I had to learn how to handle the impressions I get from other people. For a Reader… mental stability is pretty much an impossibility. Their powers come in much younger, and they aren’t able to learn any sort of control at that age. They just get overwhelmed with everything around them and eventually…”
“Will that happen to me?” My question is barely a whisper.