by Megan Curd
Riggs’s boots echoed on the metal steps, causing us to jump.
“I need to go make sure I’m not on the cameras. Come straight back to the dorm when you’re done here. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
Before I could make a sound, she slipped back into the rows of books and left me alone with my jumbled thoughts.
Maybe Riggs wasn’t the wolf that Jaxon thought he was. Maybe Jaxon wasn’t a wolf, either. Or maybe I was deluding myself.
Riggs came down the stairs with a smile. “All right, I thought we’d start out with a bang.” He was holding an empty glass bowl. “In the long run, I want to see if we can get you to change elements, but today I’d like to see if you can create one—water.”
I laughed at the incredulity of it. “You want me to create water?”
“Well, not create, no. Have you ever heard of the idea that molecules never go away, but instead they simply alter their construction? For instance, water can freeze into ice or become steam. You already know how to create steam.”
“I don’t create steam, sir. I just multiply what’s there.”
He held his hand up. “But that’s where you’re wrong. No other steam elementalist could produce as much power as you could in Dome Four, correct?”
“Yes, but—”
“But that’s where your ability differs. You create your elements. Sure, it’s easier to do it when you already have some of the element in front of you, but I believe you can make the elements bend to your will. I want you to try to fill this bowl with water.”
The thought of having the ability that he described both excited and scared me. What would happen if he were right? What if Riggs was trying to help me? I looked at him hopefully. “You really think I can do it?”
His smile was encouraging. He sat down beside me and put his hand on my shoulder. The leather shifted under his weight, and even while sitting down, he towered over me. “I don’t think you can do it, Miss Pike. I know you can. Give it a go.”
I turned my attention to the bowl and thought about water–not the dirty, insect-ridden water of Dome Four but the pure water that danced in the fountain here. I thought of rain falling from the heavens, of beautiful waterfalls depicted in photographs, of rivers and streams and oceans that were once unpolluted and drinkable.
Nothing happened.
Riggs’s face fell ever so slightly. “Are you trying, Miss Pike?”
Embarrassment crept in. “I…I think so.”
“Try harder. Focus your entire being on your end goal.”
Still, nothing.
Riggs sighed and stood once more. “Let’s try another element.”
He walked to his desk, where an unlit candle sat on the edge, its wick still white. His eyes scanned over to me, and he appeared to be in deep thought. I glanced at the bookcase and saw the camera lens focused on me. I quickly averted my eyes.
“What are you looking at, my dear?”
“I was searching for inspiration.” I hoped he hadn’t followed where my eyes had strayed. I didn’t know whom to trust, and I didn’t want to put my hope in someone that would ultimately let me down. Riggs seemed too good to be true on all accounts.
“Very well,” he said, seemingly mollified. “I would like you to try to light this candle.”
“I’ve never done anything with fire before.”
His voice was kind as he pulled the bowl away from me and replaced it with the candle. “Then I guess it’s time you tried, isn’t it?”
I swallowed, hoping that fire would consume the wick, that a blue-hot flame would emerge from nothing, simply because I wanted it to. Because Riggs said I could.
It didn’t happen.
Instead, I swayed in my seat from the exertion, the familiar exhaustion from creating steam creeping through my body. I felt as though I’d given three weeks worth of steam in the two feeble attempts.
Riggs steadied me as I put a hand over my eyes. Obviously, something was happening, even if the results weren’t visible. The room was suddenly too bright, and a headache thrummed at the base of my neck. His voice was paternal. “It’s okay. I was foolish to expect you to produce any real results on the first day. We’ll try again tomorrow. Meet me here in the library. Please get a good night’s sleep. We have much to do.”
I pushed the bile threatening to rise in my throat back down. “Excellent.” I said, standing to leave.
“And Avery, I would like to talk with you about the location of your parents.”
Heat spread like wildfire to my limbs. They weren’t dead. I’d hoped it for so long, and he’d all but confirmed it. I was afraid to ask the question I’d prayed to know the answer to for so many endless nights. “My parents, they’re not dead?”
“No, no, they’re very much alive. If we work together, we can manage a reunion.” His words were saccharine sweet, but the meaning behind them was clear–work with me, and I’ll give you your parents. Don’t work with me, and they remain a mystery.
I forced a smile that made me feel as fake as he did. I glanced back at the arm that sat by the desk. It had been fully functional when he wore it in my dome. My eyes returned, and I saw he held me captive in his gaze.
“May I have proof? You know, to give me something to work toward?”
“Are you saying that you don’t trust me, Miss Pike?”
I spluttered, trying to think of a response to get us out of dangerous waters. “I–no, it’s just that—I meant—”
He held up his hand to silence me, his smile never faltering. “No need to explain yourself. I understand.”
He rummaged in one of his drawers before pulling out a tablet. His movements were swift and sure, as though he’d done this numerous times. The tablet began to ring, and I heard a voice I would know from anywhere.
“Mr. Riggs, to what do we owe this honor?”
It was my mother.
“Mrs. Pike, I was wanting to make sure you were doing all right in your new quarters?”
“Oh.” Her voice was audibly strained. I wondered what her new quarters were like. “They’re wonderful. Thank you for checking on us.”
“No problem, ma’am. I have a surprise for you as well. I’ll bring it in a few days.”
“That’s very gracious of you, sir.”
He stared at me as he spoke, his face full of—what was that? Sincerity? “I am nothing if not concerned for the people in my charge.”
“That you are, Mr. Riggs.”
Without another word, he hung up, his eyes never leaving mine. “Is that enough incentive for you?”
I wanted to say yes. I wanted to say no. He’d called my mother and not even offered the chance for me to speak to her. Her voice—so gentle, just as I remembered it, yet so foreign—echoed in the recesses of my mind like an old song that I remembered every lyric to once the music began. I wanted to hear her again, wanted to speak to her and tell her everything that had happened these past years, tell her about Legs and Jaxon and Alice and everything.
Riggs broke into my moment by clearing his throat.
I hadn’t realized my head was in my hands, that I was crying, until I had to look up at him. His eyes were eerily familiar.
Of course. They’re Jaxon’s.
“Do you believe me now?”
“I do.”
He broke his magnetic gaze and returned to the papers on his desk. “Good.”
I took that as my cue to go and backed out of the library. With a smile as dangerously kind as his, it would have been suicide to turn away. My heel touched the door and I turned to leave.
“And Avery, next time you look for cameras, be more inconspicuous. It’s a rookie mistake.” So he’d known there was a camera. Of course he did.
I straightened my shoulders and stood tall as I opened the door. “I’ll be sure not to be a rookie for long.”
He chuckled. “With the friends you’re making, I wouldn’t expect anything else.”
MY THOUGHTS RACED as I walked through the empty atrium.
Riggs had referred to other students, but I never saw anyone else today. What did he do with them? Lock them away in cages? If he really was crazy, it didn’t bode well for their well-being.
Down the dormitory hall I heard laughter, as if attempting to prove me wrong, to prove that I was the crazy one, that I was the one not appreciating everything Dome Seven provided. Riggs wasn’t abusing my parents, wherever they were…right?
The thought made my stomach hurt. What if it was all a ruse? Was that really my mother? Maybe I wanted them so badly I was willing to trick myself into believing something that wasn’t real. Maybe they were a hologram, like outside the walls of the Academy. My hand rustled through my pocket and found the thin plastic key card. With a swipe, the scanner beeped and beckoned me into the room.
Alice, Sari, and two boys I hadn’t seen before sat in the living room. Alice waved me over. “Took you long enough to get here! We’ve got company.”
The first boy had buzzed black hair and eyes so dark they were almost black too. He wore a sleeveless blue shirt that showed off his sunburned, muscular arms. He rested his hands behind his head, and the muscles in his arms rippled in effect. Alice couldn’t take her eyes off him. “This is Will, and that’s Chase.”
Chase was Will’s opposite. His eyes were green, and his slender face was cheery. His long hair was so blond that it was almost white, and pulled back into a low ponytail at the base of his head. I was jealous of how smooth it was. My frizzy hair would never lay flat.
“Hi there,” he said with a hint of an Australian accent. “We came to see the newcomers. Some day, eh?”
“Yeah, some day.” I waved half-heartedly. “Look, Alice, I need to turn in.”
“No problem. We’ll keep these guys entertained, won’t we Sari?”
“We can do that.” She walked my way and turned to Alice. “We need you for a second, though. Do you mind, guys? Call of nature and whatnot.”
Will laughed. “Why do girls always go to the bathroom in packs? It’s not like anything is going to attack you in there.”
“But you never know when you might have toilet paper stuck to your shoe,” Alice said reasonably, “or worse, tucked in the back of your pants. Or what if it’s that time of the month and—”
“Stop. Stop right there. No more information needed.”
Sari and I laughed, and Alice seemed proud of herself. She shut the door behind her as we filed into the cavernous bathroom. “I hope you two have a really good reason for ruining my chances with Will. Female talk always makes guys stop the conversation, and it’ll be a miracle if I can get it back on track.”
“Will’s forgiving; he’ll get the conversation back on track for you,” Sari said. “And it’ll be a fast track, if you get where I’m going.”
Alice blushed.
Sari hurried over to the shower and turned both showerheads on full blast. The room began filling with fog. “You can never be too careful,” she said, “Cameras are everywhere, so we make it as hard as possible for Riggs to know what we’re talking about. Now tell me what happened.”
His words echoed in my mind. “Riggs told me I’d made a rookie mistake by looking at the cameras.”
Sari’s eyes widened. “Did he see us?”
“No, it was later. I didn’t think he’d noticed, but he called me on it as I left.”
Alice sat cross-legged on the floor and rested her chin in her hands, reminding me of all the times she’d asked me for gossip in Dome Four. “Tell us everything.”
As I filled them in, their expressions reflected the emotion of the story. They were a loyal, captive audience.
When I finished, Sari let out a low growl. “Riggs has your parents here? Where was I on that one? I’m losing my touch.”
I looked at her, stupefied.
She hugged me tightly. “I got recruited to be part of this merry band of miscreants because I got myself into trouble in my dome for knowing too much.”
“What’d you do?”
“I got information—lots of it—on people who would rather not have their personal details out there.” She grinned mischievously. “I’m good with computers. Too good. When I started blackmailing people in Dome Nine, my parents had had enough. They called a juvenile detention center. I got kicked out of there when someone let me get ahold of a computer, and I pulled out every skeleton I could find on that place. Suddenly, they didn’t want me around.” Her laugh was light, as though she were remembering a fond memory.
“So you’re a spy? And where’s Dome Nine?”
“Sort of but not the kind that sneaks around. I’m a hacker. I can find anyone, anywhere, at any time. I’m the eyes and ears of this place. I dig around in people’s lives to find out what they’re hiding, and Riggs uses it against the other domes. That’s how he keeps them from bombing this place with everything they’ve got. And Dome Nine, by the way, is in what’s left of Florida. You know where it is? I can show you a map.” She put her hand on my knee, concern etched her words. “What happened with your family anyway? Why are you here? You don’t seem to be the overly delinquent type.”
“I wasn’t. I stood out, and Riggs noticed.”
“So what’s your gift? Mind reading? Shooting lasers out of your fingers?”
“She was the most powerful steam elementalist in Dome Four,” Alice chirped, excited to add her two cents to the conversation.
I sighed. “Riggs thinks I can do more than that. He thinks I can create elements.”
Sari eyed me carefully. “Can you?”
“I’d never tried before today.”
“And it didn’t go well?”
The hard pounding behind my ears was my reminder of how it went. “Not at all. I ended up giving myself a migraine.”
She scrunched her face. “Seems odd he’d assume you could do that. Can you make those light up?” She pointed to three fat candles sitting on the stairs by the whirlpool.
“Maybe. I couldn’t earlier today.”
“Have you ever done anything elemental like that? Ever?”
My thoughts trailed back to two days before. “Actually, yeah, the day Riggs came to the dome.”
Sari’s eyes widened. “What’d you do?”
“Cooled a blob of steel. I didn’t know that’s what I was doing—creating, I mean.”
Sari laughed. “Well, do whatever it was you did then, I guess. It can’t hurt to try.”
I focused on the candles and thought of the warm fire in the library—the way the flames danced, consuming everything in their path.
Suddenly, I crumpled to the floor in agony. I felt a fire ignite in my stomach, then course through my limbs. My head was about to explode. I bit down on my bottom lip to stop from screaming.
The girls were at my side in an instant. Alice grabbed my hand. “Avery! Oh my God, Avery! Stop!”
“I—I don’t know how! It feels like I’m on fire!”
“Then think of water!”
As if on cue, the flames licking my insides were instantly snuffed out. I uncurled my limbs and lay flat on my back. A sheen of sweat covered my brow, and my whole body felt clammy.
Sari was as pale as a ghost. “Oh my God, Avery. I’m so sorry. What happened?”
I willed myself to bring the world around me back into focus. “I don’t know.”
“Never do that again,” Alice said fervently. “Promise me you’ll never try that again.”
“I have to,” I said as I pulled myself into a sitting position. “That’s how I’ll see my parents.”
Sari’s brow furrowed in concern. “It’s a bad idea to trust anyone or anything here, Avery, especially anything Riggs has promised you. What I found out today…”
I grasped the opportunity to turn the conversation in a different direction. “What’d you find out?”
She sat by the candles I’d tried to light and twisted the wicks between her fingers. “You were gone, and Alice was flirting with the guys, so I poked around with some encrypted files I haven’t been abl
e to crack. I managed to get into one.”
I chuckled. Sari seemed to have an affinity for finding trouble. She smiled back. “Yeah, I know. You’d think I’d learn, but I enjoy a challenge. Anyway, Riggs was on the Alliance’s side at first. His oldest son was a soldier for the Alliance, even. Then all of a sudden, he flipped sides. I can’t figure out why, but I’m sure there’s information in the files that I can’t get into…yet. Alice is going to do some digging in the library while we’re in our courses tomorrow.”
“So what are you saying? That this Academy is like a military boarding school for the Resistance? The war is over, Sari.”
Her face was somber. “Do you really think the war is over after today? Don’t be that naïve, Avery. The war’s never been over. This place…I bet it’s ground zero for the Resistance. They want us to be their army. They still want to have one government.”
“You can’t know that for sure.”
“All the information makes me think it’s true. You tell me why Riggs would be combing the domes for people with abilities and bringing them back here, building up defenses to keep people out, and having cameras all over the place to keep tabs on us.”
“I don’t get it,” Alice said, shaking her head. “Mr. Riggs seems nice to me.”
Sari sighed. “There are times that Riggs is nice, but he comes off like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to me. Some days he treats us like family, and others he acts like we’re dogs. I can’t figure out what changes his moods. I need to find the cause.”
“And since I’m Traditional, it means I have plenty of time to poke around in places I shouldn’t be. It’ll be like being home again!”
I shook my head at the thought of Alice’s gossip hounding. “He seemed perfectly fine this evening, except for the whole perform-for-parental-information bit he pulled. I wonder if he’s crazy.”
“No one could be that crazy and run an Academy like this. The weapons he has in place to keep people out…” Sari shuddered.
“Are they his weapons? Do you know he made them?”
“He had me program them.”
So apparently, no matter what Riggs had been in the past, his allegiances lay firmly on the side of the Resistance now.