Burning Hearts

by Eva Chase

  The world outside the Facility had been going on for seven years without me. All my memories of anything other than yellow and beige walls, lab coats, and barking guards were hazy.

  The clearest memory was the fire. No one talks about how loud a real fire is. The warbling, crackling thunder of it up toward the sky. The sharp, stinging heat. Rasping against my hands like sandpaper.

  And my mother, sobbing. That sound wrenched through my head so loud even in my memory.

  Darryl sat back down. I grasped hold of the present, willing my thudding heart to slow.

  Seven years. I’d had seven years to make sure that never happened again.

  Maybe eventually it’d feel like enough.

  “Thought you should know, I feel like we could use some new sights around this place,” Darryl said quietly, which meant there were some new places the staff were watching us on camera.

  I snapped completely out of the past. “Oh, yeah?”

  He slid his finger over the tabletop with apparent idleness. I knew he was drawing the route from the door to the recreation room. He tapped once—a previously blank spot by the end of the dorm hall now covered. And again—a nook near the experimental rooms. Was this Langdon’s doing too, stepping up surveillance?

  “Nothing much,” he said. “Just a little more than usual. I did have a good stretch in the fitness room, though. After I nearly got a sprain by the exercise bikes.”

  He glanced up at me, checking whether I’d caught his meaning. The staff had put in a couple of new cameras, but one in the fitness room had died, and they hadn’t replaced it yet. That one wasn’t my doing. From what I’d gleaned from Darryl, the Facility had been around for a while before I’d arrived here. A lot of their tech must be getting old.

  “Sorry to hear that,” I said, but I wasn’t sorry at all. My mind had shot back to the kiss in that little gap between the hall cameras.

  When do they have you scheduled for fitness today, Lisa?

  I’ve got lunch, and then library time, and then exercise.

  Same slot as me. A tickle of anticipation passed through me. I’ll see you there, then. And maybe a little more than that. We couldn’t make a run for it yet, but we could make the most of the opportunities we got.

  I was way too pumped by the time the guards escorted us to the fitness room a few hours later. My body wanted to head straight for the exercise bikes, but I still had to be smart about this. Whatever happened, it had to appear like a totally random—and innocent—encounter.

  So instead I hunkered down on one of the rowing machines and burned off some of that extra energy heaving myself back and forth. As an enjoyable burn built up in my thighs, Lisa’s voice penetrated my mind.

  So why were you so eager for us to work out together, exactly?

  You’ll see, I said. I got an inside tip of my own.

  Oh, come on, don’t leave me hanging.

  All in good time. Why don’t you enjoy the view while you wait?

  I meant the last bit as a joke, but suddenly I could feel the temperature rise in her tone. Oh, believe me, I am.

  How was I supposed to hold out when she made comments like that? I threw myself into the rhythm, but after another five minutes, I couldn’t stay in the zone any longer. I got up and wiped myself down, seeking out Lisa’s red hair from the corner of my eye. She was lifting a couple of hand weights by the mats.

  I ambled past her without pausing and hopped onto the treadmill that was just a few feet from the exercise bikes. Thankfully none of the other subjects had decided to go for a cycle yet. I started jogging on the treadmill as if I was working up to a sprint.

  Finish up with those weights and come over to the bike near me.

  Any particular reason why?

  Like I said, you’ll see. When you get here, pretend you can’t figure out how the digital display works. Ask me to come over and help you. Just don’t use my name.

  I’m too intrigued to hassle you over the secrecy. I’ll just warn you I don’t usually like surprises.

  I smiled to myself. I promise you’re going to like this. At least I damn well hoped she would.

  The fitness room was set up with a jungle of strength equipment stations in the middle of the room. They weren’t squashed together so densely that the guards by the door couldn’t see to the far side of the room, but they didn’t have a clear view either. I couldn’t have asked for a better camera to die.

  Assuming it was still dead. A flicker of nerves shot through me as I heard Lisa walking by behind me. The staff might have fixed the camera in those last few hours. I reached out my awareness into the wall where Darryl had told me the camera was. The tension in my chest released.

  No, it was still out. I could sense the hot trickle coursing through the wires—and bypassing the device there that was no longer drawing the current.

  Lisa played her part perfectly. She leaned over the bike’s control panel, poked at it, and frowned. Then she glanced over at me. “Hey, do you know how this thing works?”

  I slowed with a sigh as if annoyed by her interruption. Nice, I told her, while I said out loud, “Let me have a look.”

  So what’s the secret? Lisa asked as I joined her.

  One of the cameras is broken. Which means I can do this.

  I stepped closer to the bike as if to check it over, catching Lisa’s waist with my hand at the same moment to stop her from retreating. A startled breath hitched out of her. Then I’d caught her mouth with mine.

  Fuck, it was good. The heat of her skin against my hand, just one thin layer of cotton between us. The scorching press of her lips as she kissed me back, hard. In an instant, I was addicted. How the hell could I let this go?

  But I had to. I’d gotten more than a peck this time, but we weren’t going to escape notice very long. I kissed her again, with all the pent-up desire I’d bottled over the last few days, and she gave back just as good as she angled her mouth to bring us deeper together. Every nerve in my body sparked with a different sort of fire.

  It took every ounce of my will to step back. Then I really did look at the bike.

  “You can adjust the resistance here,” I said, impressed by the evenness of my voice. “This part is where you read your speed. Was there something else you were confused about?”

  “No,” she said, slightly breathless. Other than how I’m going to survive until we can do that again. “Thank you.”

  I couldn’t help shooting her a grin before I headed back to the treadmill. I guess we found one kind of surprise you do like.

  If only I had any clue whether we would have the chance to do that again.

  6

  Lisa

  I didn’t know how it had happened. Where had that girl who didn’t need or want anyone but herself gone? Somehow in the space of a few days, I’d become someone whose heart ached when one particular guy wasn’t scheduled in the same room at the same time. Even though I could still talk with him anyway.

  Where are you? I asked Jason. I could sense him across the Facility, but I didn’t have a clear enough sense of the layout yet to tell anything other that what direction he was in.

  Shelving duty in the library, he said. My chore of the month. You?

  Sweeping the cafeteria. I shoved the broom across the floor with a steady rasp. One of the older women was sharing the duty with me. A guard watched us from the doorway, as always. The tangy smell of today’s lunch, a pale imitation of beef teriyaki stir-fry, lingered in the room.

  I wanted to ask Jason what he was scheduled for next. Hell, I wanted to have his schedule for the next month burned into my brain so I’d always know exactly where he was. The longing itched at me.

  Should I really be this hung up on a guy I’d met less than a week ago? No matter what he’d done for me, no matter how many thoughts we’d exchanged... It was too much, too fast. How could I be sure how real these feelings were, and how much it was just this crazy situation making me cling to the one friendly person around? How well did I
even know him?

  I pushed the broom against the floor, gathering crumbs and bits of fallen rice into a heap. The questions nibbled at my brain. Well, at least one of them I could do something about. If I wanted to know him better, all I had to do was ask.

  Jason, when did you first get your power? Or could you just always make fires start?

  There was a brief hesitation before he answered. No, it was something that must have kicked in during my teens. From what I’ve heard, the little bits I’ve talked to people here, the kind of talents we have usually pop up somewhere between when you’re an older kid and early twenties. I don’t know if it’s random or has to do with the kind of talent or what.

  So how was it for you? He must have known there was something supernatural going on from the start. You couldn’t mistake a flame shooting out of your fingers for anything natural, the way I had with the thoughts I’d inadvertently been reading.

  It kind of crept up on me. I’m not totally sure what the first incident was. There were a few times when I was upset, and saw sparks light up on something, but they’d die out so fast, and it didn’t make any sense that I could have done it... I let myself ignore it.

  I guessed I’d oversimplified. Yeah. It’s hard to believe something like that, isn’t it? I feel kind of stupid that I didn’t realize for so long. Had some part of me known, and just not wanted to face it? I’d started avoiding people, keeping my head low, not wanting to see their expressions... but that had also conveniently meant I never had to notice that their mouths didn’t move when they “said” the things that hurt me.

  Stupid or a coward. I wasn’t sure which was worse.

  You’re not stupid, Jason said firmly. No one’s prepared to believe in this stuff. I’ve met people in here who still deny they’re doing anything supernatural, no matter what the researchers say. I have no idea how long it would have taken me to accept what I could do if I hadn’t—

  His mental voice cut off abruptly. The way it did when he realized he was about to think more than he wanted me to hear. My stomach knotted in the silence. I swept my pile into the dustpan before prodding. If you hadn’t what?

  There was a halting quality to his words that told me he was carefully controlling what he thought loudly enough for me to hear. I made a fire way too big to ignore. That’s how the Facility’s scouts found me.

  I could tell there was so much more to that story. But he obviously didn’t want to tell me. Before I could decide whether to press further, he changed the subject. What tipped them off about you? I wouldn’t have figured reading thoughts would catch much attention.

  The memory flashed through my head: one more nasty remark “overheard” that had tipped me over the edge. Adrenaline rushing through my body as I’d shoved the guy in the middle of the street, the punch he’d thrown that had bruised my jaw, my fingernails clawing at his face to get him off me, the blare of a siren as the police cruiser someone had called pulled up. The cold click of handcuffs closing around my wrists.

  Every muscle in my body balked at the thought of putting that experience into words. Jason knew I’d gotten into scraps, but I’d never admitted just how wild I’d let myself get, how violent my reactions had become. I hadn’t been proud of it even back then. It’d just felt like survival. But how well would he understand that?

  Maybe I shouldn’t doubt him just because he wasn’t willing to spill his guts all at once.

  It was more how I reacted to the thoughts I heard, I settled on. I told you I was always getting into trouble. Well, I... got into a lot more trouble than before, and I guess the people here got wind of it and figured there was more going on.

  They have ways of testing for unusual types of mental energy, Jason said. I think they must check a lot of people who aren’t talented while they’re looking for the ones who are.

  Yeah. Lucky me that they’d found me. I restrained a grimace as I emptied my dustpan into the trash can.

  You know, it’s okay if you’re not ready to talk about some of this stuff. I’m not trying to be nosy. I want to hear everything about you, but I don’t mind at all if you take your time.

  A sudden swell of affection for him rushed through me. I had about three seconds to enjoy the sensation.

  Then the sharp-faced guy from the other day in the cafeteria—Langdon, Jason had told me—walked into the cafeteria. His cool gaze stopped on me. Technically I’d finished sweeping, but it seemed safer to look busy. I grasped the handle of my broom and headed back toward the tables.

  The gambit didn’t work. “It’s Lisa, isn’t it?” Langdon said, flicking his fingers my way. He didn’t wait for me to confirm. “Come with me. I think we have some things to talk about.”

  Not if I had any choice in the matter. But I obviously didn’t. I kept my expression as impassive as possible as I went to lean the broom against the wall. I wasn’t scheduled for lab time until later this afternoon, but I’d bet this guy liked disrupting the schedule. Keeping us on our toes and off-balance.

  I couldn’t let him get to me. Even if Jason hadn’t warned me, I’d have been able to tell the guy was dangerous. No one with that air of cool detachment ever cared about anyone but themselves.

  For a second I thought he’d planned on escorting me alone, when I’d never gone anywhere in the Facility without a guard along for the trip. But just outside the cafeteria, a bulky woman in the khaki guard uniform, electric baton hooked to her belt, was waiting. She walked behind us as Langdon ushered me toward the lab rooms.

  He didn’t say anything, but he touched me more than I liked. His hand on my elbow as if I needed help turning the corner. His fingers brushing my back as he nudged me to walk a little faster. A creeping sensation ran over my skin. He was testing for something, I had the feeling. I just didn’t know what.

  I kept my mind tight inside my own head. I didn’t want to hear what might be going on in his. The first thought I’d picked up from him had been discomforting enough. It’d be easier not to react if I didn’t listen.

  Another man in a lab coat was already in the room Langdon prodded me into. He turned as we came in, and his sleeve brushed a glass that was sitting right at the edge of the table. It tipped over the edge and smashed on the floor. I flinched, my heart lurching.

  “Sorry about that,” the researcher said, not sounding all that sorry or concerned. Langdon didn’t comment at all. The other guy grabbed a whisk broom that just happened to be sitting on the room’s cabinet and swept the shards over to the wall.

  A sense of certainty prickled over me. That hadn’t been an accident. He’d knocked the glass off on purpose. Why?

  In my confusion, my hold on my mind wavered. A voice trickled into my head from the other researcher. ...cut off her hand and let her bleed all over the—

  I wrenched back inside, my back stiffening. What the hell was that? Was he really—

  Langdon nudged me farther into the room, studying me with those flat gray eyes. “Is everything all right, Lisa?” he said.

  Shit. What had he noticed? I fumbled for an excuse. “It’s hard not to be jumpy with glass shattering all around.”

  “Hmm.” He peered at me as if he didn’t totally believe me. Did I want to reach into his head and find out what awful things he might be planning?

  If they did want to cut off my hand, could I stop them?

  I crossed my arms over my chest to keep them from trembling. I couldn’t let them get to me. The glass had been a set-up. Who knew what else might be? I couldn’t give them any response at all, nothing but literal answers to questions they asked out loud.

  The other researcher stepped to the cabinet. His face was tense, as if he didn’t want to be there any more than I did. I definitely didn’t want to take another peek inside his head.

  He retrieved a plastic box from the cabinet and set it on the table. Langdon opened it up, murmuring something to himself under his breath. “Take this,” he said, extending his hand to me.

  It was a tennis ball. Clearly us
ed, the fuzz patchy and the color dulled. I curled my fingers around it, examining it. Nothing about it looked remarkable. What kind of a bizarre test was this now?

  “What do you think of it?” Langdon said casually, as if my answer didn’t matter much to him. Yeah, right.

  “It’s a tennis ball,” I said. “Seems pretty normal.”

  He nodded and motioned to the other researcher to take it away. The way the other guy plucked the ball out of my grasp, like he could hardly stand to touch it, made my gut twist. Should I have been bothered by it? What wasn’t I seeing?

  “And this.” Langdon held out another object to me. I reached for it automatically. It was a wrought iron figurine in the shape of a rearing horse. Heavier than I expected in my hands. And cold. I turned it over, studying the detailing, and my body froze.

  Two hairs clung to a notch between one hoof and the base. Two hairs and a dried reddish-brown fleck.

  —murder her with it. Is she really going to know? What are we even doing with—

  “Lisa.” Langdon’s voice cut through the one that had slipped into my head. “If there’s something that’s bothering you, you should let me know.”

  “It looks like there’s blood on it,” I said. I couldn’t keep the tremble out of my voice. Maybe they were planning to kill me if I couldn’t cough up whatever it was they wanted. What good was I to them if they couldn’t even figure out my powers? I might never walk out of this room.

  My heart started to thud. I grasped the edge of the table and reached out in the one direction I might be able to count on.

  Jason? Jason!?

  His voice flowed into my mind an instant later. Right here. What’s going on? You sound upset.

  I don’t know. That Langdon guy brought me to the labs early. The other guy here keeps thinking about hurting me, or something. They’re doing some weird tests. I don’t know what to do.

  “That could be just paint,” Langdon was saying. “Is there any other reason you’ve gotten so tense?”