by V. St. Clair
One of the Talents he has equipped must be able to scan chips.
That was an unpleasant realization. Ana didn’t like the thought of her enemies being able to read her life’s story at a glance; she thought they had to at least be within reach of her and holding a reader to get information from her.
That was part of what made the Majors so terrifying: no one knew exactly what powers their Talents gave them, since it wasn’t the kind of thing they advertised. They had all kinds of superhuman abilities no one could even begin to comprehend or evade…
“Y—yes, Major,” the girl responded nervously. Ana frowned sympathetically when she saw the girl had wet her pants.
The Major must have been speaking out loud for Fox’s benefit, since the latter didn’t have any Talents equipped.
Interesting no one shared theirs with him…Ana thought vaguely. Perhaps it’s considered rude to ask to share Talents? Or maybe they are individually keyed in some way so they can’t be borrowed or stolen by another Major?
“Too short and chubby,” Fox answered flatly after a long look at the girl, waving a gauntleted hand in dismissal. Ayra looked relieved to be sent back to her seat, but Ana burned from the casual insult. Someone really needed to knock the Provo-Major down a few pegs.
Well, Max and I did last night…that’s why they’re here right now.
They moved on to the next person, then the one after that. Ana came to realize this was going to take quite a long time. Aside from being uncomfortable from all the standing in one place, she had an unpleasantly long time to consider what would happen when they eventually approached her. She would have the undivided attention of two of the Provo-Major, one of whom she attacked last night. Would he recognize her voice when she spoke? She could try to change her inflection, but the people who knew her would notice and might bring it to their attention if they thought it would keep them out of trouble.
Three girls fainted from nerves by the time the Majors finished with the blonds and moved over to Ana’s group. Ana could see this was probably the only good way for her to avoid too much close scrutiny, since they left the other unconscious girls on the floor when they were done checking their information without speaking to them at all, until a teacher carried them away. Fox stared down at them carefully, making a snide comment about how girls were always prettier when they were quiet. Though Ana hated looking weak, the alternative was forcing herself to make eye contact with Fox and counting on her ability to restrain her Gift and his inability to remember such a personal invasion by her. It wasn’t a gamble she could afford to take for the sake of pride.
Just as they were turning to her, Ana let out a little squeal of fear and collapsed to the ground, feigning unconsciousness. Her head smacked uncomfortably against the side of a chair on her way to the floor, but she forced herself not to react visibly or adjust herself into a more comfortable position. Her life depended on her acting ability right now.
There were some concerned noises around her from the other girls, but from the Provo she only heard them reading off her personal information aloud to the room.
“Another fainter,” the Major she didn’t know said disdainfully from somewhere above her.
“At least this one didn’t piss herself,” Fox answered mockingly. Ana seethed at them both but remained still.
“Ana Crumb. Age eighteen. Born in Silveria. Parents are Rand and Elisa Crumb, both still living and working in Giana. Primary Gift is the ability to always know when she is in danger—huh, that’s useful,” the Major sounded mildly impressed. “More helpful than the ability to tell time without a watch,” he added mockingly. “Well, Fox?”
Ana forced herself to breathe normally, trying not to imagine how close Fox was to her right now. He was probably leaning over her, inches away, taking in every minute detail of her face, remembering…
“Not pretty enough, even if she was wearing a wig and some lipstick.”
It was the only time Ana could ever recall being elated at an insult to her appearance. She remained still as the two Majors turned to the next person, and like the other girls who had fainted, she was soon carried off by a team of instructors.
She would normally feel bad for making them carry her limp body through the conference hall and to the infirmary, but since they weren’t taking great care to prevent her limbs from smacking into corners and doorways, she changed her mind about feeling sorry.
As they entered the main hallway on the ground floor she heard a male voice say, “I’ll join you.” Before she could think of who the voice belonged to, her blood went cold at the sound of metal thudding heavily against the floor in time with his footsteps.
The other Major. The one who waited by the door! She had forgotten about him entirely, and had no idea why he was coming with them now. Had he accompanied the others when they were hauled off and she just hadn’t been paying attention?
“O—of course, Major Augen…” one of the two men carrying her sounded surprised by the escort, which wasn’t a good sign.
Maybe the Major just took a whim to stretch his legs and is using this as his excuse, she thought desperately.
“Turn in here,” the Major said abruptly, causing the others to stop hastily and nearly drop her.
“But, Major, the infirmary is just around the corner and—”
“In here, please,” he insisted.
Heart racing, Ana remained still and limp as they turned into the room and lowered her onto a soft surface, probably a couch.
“Thank you, that will be all,” the Major informed them, shutting the door and imprisoning Ana alone in here with him. She was so frightened, goosebumps began to raise along her arms and legs.
“Open your eyes, please. I know you’re awake.”
Ana almost passed out for real. Terrified she was about to be killed, she opened her eyes and noted she was in the ground-floor staff room for the Anomalies teachers.
The Major facing her was surprisingly young, probably no more than a couple years older than her, and also quite good-looking. Dark hair and intense blue eyes were framed by carved features. He was beautiful. Presently, those blue eyes were focused intently on her while he pulled up a chair directly beside the couch and sat down heavily in it, the bulky armor hanging over the sides and making him seem massive.
For a moment they stared at each other in silence, and Ana buried her Gift as deeply as possible. There was something about his eyes. This was not a person she could even casually probe without being found out immediately.
Finally she said, “Why aren’t I in the infirmary with the others?” She tried to sound cool and unaffected, but her voice cracked at the beginning.
“Because they actually fainted and you did not,” he answered calmly, still searching her with his eyes. For a wild moment she feared he had the same Gift she did, and was trying to scan her mind for answers. She almost bolted from the room right then, but then reason caught up to her and she remembered it was impossible for the Provo to be Gifted.
“I—how did you know?” she decided against lying on the spot, sitting upright to put herself at eye level with him. She didn’t think he would be convinced by lies right now.
In response, he gently tapped on his right Talent with his index finger. “Your vital signs were not consistent with a loss of consciousness.”
They have a Talent that can read vital signs?!
The Provo-Major had never seemed more invincible to her than in that moment.
Forcing herself to breathe, she said, “Well, alright then,” because she didn’t know what else to say. What did he want from her, the pleasure of making her uncomfortable? If so, he was wildly successful.
“Your deception makes you an anomaly, and anomalies interest me, particularly in the present investigation,” he explained neutrally.
“Well, if you like anomalies, you definitely came to the right building.” She immediately wished she could take back the words. One did not joke with the Provo-Major.
R
ather than punch her like she was expecting, he simply inclined his head to the side and said, “One of the reasons I selected this building for my visit.”
Ana was wildly grateful to be dealing with this reasonable Major, and not one of the condescending egoists who were still interrogating her peers. Then again, she could rely on them to be hot-headed and easier to anticipate and manipulate, whereas this one was clearly her intellectual superior.
“So, Ana, why did you feel the need to feign unconsciousness during the assessment today?”
It was jarring to realize he knew her name, until she remembered it had been read out to the entire room inside the conference hall by his peer. If his left-side Talent was the one able to read ID-chips, he had all of her information sitting in front of his eyes right now anyway.
Frantically reaching for the most convincing excuse she could think of on the fly, she said, “The other Majors didn’t say why they were here today, or what they were looking for. There are Provo swarming the Academy right now, everyone is scared, but no one is telling us what happened. It’s obvious you all are looking for a blond girl with some kind of mental power, but I didn’t want to accidentally say the wrong thing and get hauled off to the Augenspire. My people tend not to come back from those trips in one piece.”
She had no idea if he would buy a single bit of that, or whether he would be offended with her for daring to defy his peers.
Unnervingly, the blue-eyed Major showed no emotion at all as he said, “I’m surprised you were willing to let yourself look weak in front of my peers, given that you’ve wanted to kill them for most of the last hour.”
Ana’s lips parted in surprise, and she considered that maybe he really could read thoughts. If that was true, she was doomed for sure, as was Hera and everyone else she knew about from the resistance.
“What makes you say that?” she asked cautiously.
“Your vital signs during the questioning of your peers were consistent with feelings of intense anger. Everyone else seemed scared. You were enraged. You weren’t frightened until I announced I would accompany you to this room, and you’ve been terrified ever since.”
Ana’s heart beat even harder as her fear spiked, as though it was trying to get through a lifetime of beats in the next few minutes just in case it was silenced prematurely. She felt naked and powerless in the face of someone who could read her emotions and know everything of importance about her at a casual glance.
“Careful,” the Major said gently. “You are approaching a panic attack.”
Defiant, Ana snapped, “I don’t have panic attacks.”
“You will very soon if you don’t calm down,” he countered mildly, and Ana forced herself to take a deep breath and focus her thoughts.
“I was angry because your colleagues were treating us like filth. There was no reason to call anyone ugly, or stupid, or to mock their Gifts. You people herded us up like cattle without telling us anything helpful, and then proceeded to invade our privacy without a scrap of human decency, just like you’re doing right now. And you wonder why I was angry about it?”
She bit her tongue to prevent herself from saying anything further, because she would only dig herself deeper into a hole if she did. People who disrespected the Provo-Major tended to die in terrible ways, and the boundaries of what counted as ‘disrespect’ could be pretty wide depending on their mood.
The Major raised his eyebrows in mild surprise, but only said, “I suppose that is reasonable. I am cheating, after all.” He reached up to either temple and removed the two Talents from his enhancers, returning them to their slots on the ring around his belt. This concession stunned her so much, Ana’s mouth dropped open and she blurted out, “Who are you?”
Intrigued, the Major asked, “Does it matter?”
Embarrassed, Ana said, “I’ve never talked to a Provo-Major before, and since you’re all called Major Augen, I was wondering which Major Augen you were.”
He seemed to deliberate for a moment. Finally he said, “I am Major Topher Augen. Now that we’ve been introduced, tell me more about your Gift.”
Ana’s mind was racing. This was Topher? The same Topher Max encountered briefly during his imprisonment with Fox? It would almost have to be the same person; there were only sixty Majors. How many of them could possibly be named Topher?
What had Maxton told her about him? He and Fox didn’t seem to like each other very much. Then why was he here with him now? Was that why Topher was waiting at the back of the room while the others were interrogating her peers? What did he think about the attack and the escape when he heard about it? Her thoughts darkened. This was also the Topher who killed Risa’s young friend, who destroyed all traces of Ash’s rebellion at Halstead and discouraged all further resistances until Hera came along, the monster responsible for the Battle of Corithans. No matter how he presented himself to her right now, she could not forget he was as horrible as the rest of them.
She was taking too long to answer his question.
“Should I equip my Talents again so we can do this the hard way?” he prompted her.
“No, sorry…” she shook herself. “My Gift allows me to know when I’m in physical danger—severe danger, that is. I don’t know little things, like if I’m going to trip on a stair and roll my ankle, but I know if a bus is about to run me over on the street.”
Topher looked interested.
“How does it work? Do you see a vision of the upcoming peril and thus know how to avoid it, or do you hear a voice in your head warning you…?”
“Thankfully, no, I don’t hear voices in my head,” she chuckled. Topher blinked and his expression went eerily blank for a moment before returning to normal, though she had no idea why. “I feel an alarm go off, but it’s kind of hard to explain,” she admitted. “I’m overwhelmed with a sense of worry, so I know I’m in danger. I usually don’t know what the exact cause is, so I start looking around for anything obvious and take steps to reduce any unnecessary exposures. Not walking through dark alleys, for instance. Rarely, I get a general sense of why I’m afraid. For instance, if I’m terrified of riding the bus all of a sudden, it probably means the bus is going to wreck or I’m going to die on it by some other means.”
Topher absorbed all of this without any obvious reaction and said, “And this is the only aspect of your Gift? You don’t have a secondary skill?”
Since he could easily check her response against her file, she said, “No, nothing, though I haven’t been released from practicum yet.”
Topher looked vaguely unsatisfied by this, glancing down at her emblem. For a horrible moment, Ana thought Fox had remembered it from the night before and that Topher was toying with her all this time.
“Odd that your emblem would be an eye, since you aren’t really seeing anything with your Gift.” He met her gaze again and it felt like he could see she was lying to him, even without his Talents equipped.
Ana shrugged. “You’re not the first to point that out. I guess there wasn’t a good way to represent awareness of danger, so the elarium made itself into an eye instead.” Wondering how much he would tell her, she said, “Why are you all here today?”
Topher frowned thoughtfully and said, “A prisoner named Maxton Mercuria escaped the Augenspire last night and attacked a member of the government. He was joined by a Gifted friend of his, who also participated in the attack, which we are currently investigating.”
Ana wondered what story Fox had given his peers for how he lost his Talents. Nothing that would make Ana or Maxton look good, she was sure.
“Oh,” she raised her eyebrows and tried to look surprised. “So you’re searching all the buildings in the Academy, or just Anomalies?”
“All of them,” he answered evenly. “This is simply the building I chose.”
“If you knew I wasn’t really passed out, how come the other two didn’t? Or did they just not care?”
Topher pursed his lips slightly and said, “We do not tell each other whi
ch Talents to wear. I chose to sit back and observe the group at large while they spoke to individuals, so I equipped Talents to assist with that.”
“It didn’t seem like the one Major with the broken nose was wearing any Talents.”
Topher’s expression shifted slightly in warning. She was treading on dangerous ground now.
“That is his choice,” was all he said in response.
Before she could make things worse, the door banged open and Ana startled at the sight of both Fox and the other Major in the doorway. She’d relaxed in the presence of Topher, and almost forgotten the Provo-Major were here to hunt her down.
“There you are.” Fox ignored her completely. “If you’re done screwing around in here, you might deign to help us haul off these Gifted for questioning.”
Topher looked slightly annoyed with his colleague but got to his feet. “You found the girl?”
“We got three strong ‘maybes,’ ” Fox elaborated. “We’re dragging them back to the Augenspire to do a deeper search.” The way he said the words made Ana’s skin crawl.
Topher said nothing, simply following them out the door, turning briefly at the threshold to give Ana a thoughtful look before leaving her alone in the staffroom. Ana waited until they disappeared from view and then got up from the couch, hurrying after them to peer out into the hallway.
Her stomach clenched unpleasantly at the sight of three girls of her approximate age being roughly dragged by the arms towards the main exit. All of them were either crying, screaming, or begging to be let go, insisting this was a mistake and they hadn’t done anything wrong. The three Majors were walking alongside them, while a group of Provo-Minor were charged with physically pulling them along. People were lining up along the hallway to watch with frightened looks on their faces, hands over their mouths and in some cases crying.
Ana wanted to vomit. These three innocent peers of hers were being carted off to the Augenspire for whatever unpleasantness the Provo-Major wanted to unleash upon them, all because of her. She tried to tell herself they wouldn’t do anything too horrible to them; after close investigation, it would be obvious they weren’t at Club Roxx last night. Then she recalled what Maxton told her about Fox’s love of casual torture. Hell, Topher felt like the ‘good’ Major, and he was a mass-murderer…