He swallows. “I… I never laid a hand on you. I didn’t hurt you. I didn’t—”
“You kidnapped me when I was fifteen!” Frank says, keeping her rayguns trained on us and not looking back at him. “You kept me locked in a room in your basement for two weeks. You terrified me. And when my father came to pay your ransom—”
“Francis, please.”
“It’s Frank! Just like my father, the one you killed. He brought you the money, and—”
“And I let you go. The money was to let you go.”
“—you killed him. Right in front of me. And the thing is, Bernard, you terrorized me, and terror never lets you go. It’s been with me all these years. And now you’re going to feel the same terror, over and over again.”
“Please, Francis—Frank—please, I—”
“Stop arguing.”
He shuts up, his next words dying in his throat with a little whimper.
“You’re going to be afraid, as afraid as I was, and you’re going to do it in front of all these people. And then I’m going to kill you. You understand?”
He nods.
Frank doesn’t see, because she’s still watching us. “I said, you understand?!”
“Yes!” Bernard says, his voice coming out a squeak.
“And as for you.” Frank aims one of her rayguns right at my chest.
Lightning surges in my hands. “We just need the antidote.”
Riley’s face is pale. He’s biting his lip, still holding his shoulder.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sarah’s hand shaking, the one holding her raygun.
Frank looks like she’s actually considering giving me the antidote. Just for a split second. And then she says, “Nah, let’s just end this.”
She fires her raygun.
Both of them.
But not before I dive out of the way, the rays just barely missing me. I land hard on the floor of the stage and try to zap Frank, but I miss.
Tristan throws a fireball at her. It hits her forearm, and she screams and drops one of the rayguns. She fires the other one at him.
Frank starts to say something to the audience, something that sounds like, “Get them!” but Sarah has the same idea, and her voice drowns out Frank’s as she screams, “The League is here! Everybody run for your lives!”
The whole audience erupts in pure chaos as everyone starts freaking out and running in all directions, including toward the stage.
Bernard takes off.
Frank shouts at the crowd to go back to their seats, but they’re too panicked to listen now, and she has to run to avoid getting crushed by the stampede.
In all the commotion, the four of us slip off stage.
“Let’s go!” Sarah shouts.
“Not yet!” I tell her, looking up at the disco ball in the ceiling. “There’s something we have to do first.”
We stuff the fear ray into the trunk of Riley’s car, then pile in.
With all the chaos in the nightclub, nobody noticed us go upstairs to the rafters. Or they didn’t care, because everyone was under the influence of the fear ray and running for their lives. Everyone except us and Frank. I kept expecting her to show up and murder us the whole time, but we didn’t see her.
The fear ray was positioned in the ceiling, with the end stuck into the disco ball. Frank had it set up to amplify the signal, so she could get the whole room at once. And while the rafters weren’t exposed to the rest of the club, there wasn’t exactly a real floor, either. Just some paneling in between the boards to make it look nice.
Riley tried to volunteer to go get it, even though he was injured. Before I could tell him that was ridiculous, Sarah insisted she was going to go instead, and Tristan gave them both weird looks, like he didn’t get why either of them would be so eager to do this.
But I told them I would do it, because it didn’t make sense for anyone else to take the risk. Not when I can fly. Sarah pointed out that people who can’t fly take that risk all the time to work on ceilings, and I said we didn’t have time to argue and that it would be faster this way. And then I proceeded to practically crawl across the beam, inching my way along and taking forever, while Tristan tried to ask Sarah and Riley what the hell was going on. He said if he’d known it was going to take this long, he would have done it.
He also told me he always knew I was a loser, but not until I was safely back on solid flooring with the fear ray in hand.
I handed it to Riley, who turned invisible—turning the fear ray invisible with him—and then we hurried back to the car, which was only a couple blocks away but felt like miles.
Now the fear ray’s safely hidden in the trunk, just a few feet away from where I’m sitting in the backseat. A dangerous weapon the whole city hates me for losing, that Frank just used to terrify and control a whole bunch of people, and we’ve got it in the trunk.
I look out the windows, trying to see if Frank followed us and is coming to kill us or something. I don’t see anything, but it’s also kind of too dark out to tell.
Sarah’s in the driver’s seat. She adjusts it, moving it way forward in order to reach the pedals, since Riley’s a lot taller than her. She turns the key in the ignition, and there’s a collective feeling of relief, as if the car being on means we’re safe.
I look at Riley, in the front seat. He’s still got his hand over his shoulder. “Perkins. Are you—”
“I’m okay,” he says. “It’s not that bad.”
But he cringes a little as he turns to tell me that—plus I still remember what it felt like when I took a raygun beam to the arm at the gala—and I know it’s worse than he’s making it out to be.
“What about everyone else?” I ask. “You guys okay?”
Tristan fidgets in the seat next to me. He doesn’t say anything right away, then nods.
Sarah takes a deep breath. She catches my eyes in the rear-view mirror. “Ready,” she says, though her hands are shaking on the steering wheel. “What next?”
Riley turns to me again, the pain on his face turning into a scowl. “And don’t you dare tell me to go home.”
“I’m not.” Though I hate that he got hurt again, and that it was because of me. If I hadn’t blasted that remote, Frank wouldn’t have shot him. But I didn’t know she was going to do that, and either way, I can’t afford to worry about it right now. “I mean, if you wanted to leave—”
“I don’t.”
“—then I would get it. But I’m going to need your help. All of you. Because we’ve got only one more shot to get that antidote from Frank, and I… I can’t do it alone.”
“Well,” Tristan says, “I know I’m not going anywhere. The mission’s not done, and you’re right”—he looks me over, clearly not liking what he sees—“you can’t do it alone.”
Sarah nods. “Me, too. I mean, me too as in I’m not going anywhere. Not me too as in you can’t do it alone. Though, if I’m being realistic, you probably can’t, so I’m not not saying that. I just would never actually say that, because it’s kind of rude and I’m your friend. I mean—”
“Thanks, Sarah.”
“You’re welcome.”
“And… thanks,” I tell Tristan, not quite looking at him.
“No worries,” he mumbles, not really looking at me, either.
“It’s the four of us against Frank,” Riley says.
Sarah grins. “So she’d better watch out.”
I can’t help grinning back at her, even though Frank pretty much just kicked our asses. Tonight hasn’t really gone as planned, since the plan was to, like, actually get the antidote. But we faced Frank again, and we’re still here. All of us. And we have the fear ray.
And even though Riley got hurt, and even though we’re all kind of shaken up after that fight, it doesn’t feel like the end of the world. Not like I expected it to—not like it would have even just a week ago. And maybe it’s because of all the adrenaline, or because I can’t think about anything except getting Kat that anti
dote, but it feels good to have challenged Frank and still come back alive. It feels really good, like maybe we can do anything—or at least that we can do this—and like maybe it’s all going to turn out okay.
“So,” Tristan says, “what’s the plan?”
“We’ll do whatever you need us to,” Riley says.
“And I’ve gotten a lot better at driving downtown,” Sarah adds. “And my night vision has improved. So we can go pretty much anywhere. Though we might have to get gas first if it’s very far.” She purses her lips at Riley, as if he should have been prepared for that.
“We don’t need to go far,” I tell them, “though we will be downtown. We’ve got the fear ray, and Frank still needs it to get her revenge, so—”
My phone buzzes. It sounds extra loud in the car, especially since everyone seems to hold their breath, or maybe that’s just me.
It’s Kat’s mom again. I answer it, barely able to get out the words, “Hello? Mrs. Wilson?”
I can hear her crying on the other end of the line. “Damien, honey, it’s Kat. She’s—” She chokes on a sob, unable to go on for a second.
And in that second, I feel like the whole world gets sucked into a black hole. Like nothing else exists except this conversation. My body is numb, my breathing slow and shallow, afraid that if I breathe too hard, I’ll miss something.
“She’s fading fast,” Mrs. Wilson finally goes on. “The doctors think that she— They don’t think she has much longer. You should come. To say good-bye.”
My heart stops beating. Time slows down. And I think if I can just stay in this moment forever, if I can just will time to completely stop, then this won’t be happening. Or it will, but Kat will never actually be gone.
But my heart doesn’t actually stop—it thuds in my chest, beating too fast, if anything. And time doesn’t actually freeze, because then Mrs. Wilson says, “Damien, did you hear me?”
“Yes.” I feel my mouth move, but it’s like someone else is controlling it. I know I should say something else, but that’s all that comes out. Just Yes.
“I’ll talk to Tom. I’ll make sure you get in to see her.”
“Okay.”
“Where are you?”
“Downtown,” I tell her. “Not far.”
There’s relief in her voice when says, “Good.” Like even though I’m close, I might not make it.
“Tell Kat to hold on. Tell her I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“I will,” Mrs. Wilson says, then hangs up.
I stare at my phone, still in shock. There are tears in my eyes. They slide down my face, and more replace them, and even though I tell myself I’m not crying—that I can’t, because I don’t have time and because this can’t really be happening—I know it’s not true.
Everyone’s staring at me. There’s a heavy feeling in the car, the air full of tension. I don’t know if they heard the whole conversation or just my side of it, but it must be pretty obvious that the news wasn’t good.
Riley asks what they all must be wondering. “Is she—”
“Her mom says there’s no time.” I sniff and rub my face with my hands. “That I should get down there right now to say good-bye.”
Tristan’s mouth hangs open. He looks kind of sick, then quickly turns away, toward the window.
“Which hospital?” Sarah asks, checking her mirrors as she prepares to pull out of the parking space.
“Golden City General, but we’re not going. Not yet.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Tristan says.
Riley gives me a worried look. “X…”
“I can’t say good-bye to her. Not when there’s still a chance we could get the antidote.”
“You might never see her again. Even if we do manage to get the antidote, it might be too late.”
“I… I know.” I grip my knees with my hands, my fingers digging in too hard. I know what he’s saying, that missing out on the chance to see Kat one last time, to say good-bye to her, is something I’ll regret for the rest of my life. But I could never forgive myself for giving up when there was still even a chance of saving her. And yeah, if I don’t get to say good-bye, I’ll spend the rest of my life hating myself. But not as much as I’ll hate myself if I don’t even try to stop this, if I don’t take that risk. So there’s no question. “We still have to find Frank.”
“Dude,” Tristan says.
“I know what I’m doing.”
He gives me a really skeptical look. “Do you?”
“I’m totally on board,” Sarah says. “But maybe you should text Kat your good-bye, just in case.”
“We’ll make it,” I tell her, even though I’m not so sure. Even though, if I’m being completely honest, it feels kind of unlikely. But I push that thought down. I rub my hands over my eyes again and hand Tristan my phone. “Start recording.”
He raises his eyebrows, like he still thinks I’m being crazy, but he pushes the button and motions for me to start talking.
“This message is for Frank. I have what you want, and you have what I want. Meet me in the park by the place where you first saw us—you know where I’m talking about. Be there at ten o’clock.”
I nod at Tristan. He hits the button to stop recording, then hands me my phone.
“That’s only ten minutes from now,” he says. “It’ll take us at least fifteen to get to the gallery from here.”
“And there’s no park by the gallery,” Riley adds.
I shake my head. “We’re not going to the gallery. Frank was there that night, at the train station, when we went on that mission. She said she was watching us.”
Riley frowns. “But… what if she doesn’t realize you remember her saying that? Or what if she was watching us before that?”
“She’ll figure it out.”
“In ten minutes?”
I post the video to YouTube. Then I send a link to Sarah. “Send that to the email address you had for Frank.”
“Okay, but it might not work. I mean, she might not check it. I don’t think it’s her real email.”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s still a start.” I cross post the link on Facebook, then send it to a couple of news sites—well, gossip sites—that like to talk about me, even though it makes me kind of sick. But I don’t even know if Frank’s going to see this message, and the more people posting it, the higher the chance it will get back to her.
I just have to hope she’s watching.
Chapter 44
IT’S TEN AFTER TEN, and Frank hasn’t shown up yet, and every second that ticks by makes me feel like I’m going to explode. She has to show up. She has to. Maybe I overestimated how much she still wants the fear ray. Or maybe she figured this was a trap and decided not to bother. Except she’s bested us twice now, and I really doubt the thought of us lying in wait for her is going to scare her off.
It occurs to me that even though it’s a relatively small park that maybe I should have been more specific about where to go, but that might also have, like, tipped off the police or the League or something about where this meeting was taking place. I’m standing by the lamppost near the main entrance by the road, just far enough back that no random passersby should be able to see me, especially since I’m holding the fear ray. Riley’s invisible, waiting by the bench across the clearing, on the other side of the trail. And Sarah and Tristan are hiding off in the trees to my left, in case—well, when—we need backup. But even though I know they’re there, I still feel really alone as I wait, not knowing if Frank is even going to come, my thoughts about what happens if she doesn’t all piling up.
Or if she does show up, but I don’t get the antidote.
Or if I do, but it doesn’t matter because it’s too late. Because this has already taken longer than it was supposed to, and I don’t know if there was ever any time for it in the first place. And Kat might be lying in her hospital bed right now, in pain, wondering why I didn’t come to see her. This was the last chance for the person who loved her most in th
e world to tell her that, and I didn’t show up. Assuming it’s not already too late. Because maybe she already thought all that stuff, and I never came, and now she’s…
I slide a hand across my face, even though I’m supposed to be watching for Frank. I can’t afford to think that way. My throat feels thick, and my eyes are starting to water again, and part of me just wants to call it and say this isn’t working. Frank’s not coming, and I’m wasting the time I should be spending with Kat.
But I can’t give up on this.
And Frank’s going to be here. There’s no way she’s not.
And Kat knows that I love her, and that I’d never just ditch her. That if I’m not there right now, it’s not because I don’t care.
A stick breaks somewhere to my right. I jump and whirl toward it, gripping the fear ray. I don’t see anything. But it’s dark, the light from the lamppost not reaching that far.
“Frank?” My voice is hoarse. I hate how unsure I sound, like someone scared and alone, waiting for some crazed murderer to sneak up on him in the park, not at all in control of the situation. I clear my throat.
There’s silence. I strain to hear something, anything.
And then Frank struts into the clearing like she owns the place, a raygun in her hand, trained right on me. She’s got on the same purple-tinted safety goggles as before, and she taps them with one finger and nods at the fear ray, saying, “That thing won’t work on me, but this raygun will work just fine on you.”
“Yeah, well, those goggles don’t make you immune to lightning.” I keep the fear ray pointed at her anyway, though, as she walks across the clearing and faces me. “All I want is the antidote.”
Frank laughs. She pulls a tiny bottle of green liquid out of her pocket and holds it up. “You mean this?” She makes like she’s going to drop it on the paved trail.
I jump, startled, and lurch forward a little, holding out my hand like I have any chance of saving it from where I’m standing.
But she doesn’t drop it. She gets this satisfied smirk on her face and tucks the bottle back into her pocket. “I could trade you, I suppose. Or I could just take what I want.”
The Phobia of Renegade X Page 32