by Amy Cross
“They certainly are,” President Donovan replies, before taking a step back. “We'll be sure to take real good care of her.”
“Oh, I'll be working on her here,” Crawford says, “and -”
Suddenly he stops talking, as the president's men step over to him.
“Under our agreement,” he continues, “I'm to remain in charge of the entire operation. She's my creation, only I understand her.”
“I can't imagine that there's too much to understand,” the president replies dismissively. “We have your notes, Mr. Crawford. Like all geniuses, you've illuminated a path for everyone else to follow. We will do that most diligently.”
“But -”
Before Crawford can get another word out, a gun fires, and I turn to see the old man clutching a wound on the side of his face. He turns and starts stumbling away, before another shot fells him and he collapses against the table. He clings on for a moment, as blood pours from a wound on the back of his head, and then he slumps to the floor. A moment later, I'm grabbed from behind and pulled back by two of the president's men.
“No!” I yell as I see Randall Crawford trying and failing to get up. Somehow he's still alive, although a moment later he rolls onto his back and falls still.
“I'm sorry,” President Donovan says, coming over to me, “I'm sure you were looking forward to spending some time with Mr. Crawford, but I'm afraid his contribution has been made and you're going to be coming with us. Our plans for you are a little more ambitious, and I rather think that Mr. Crawford would have held us all back.”
I open my mouth to ask what he means, but then I hear more gunshots in the distance, accompanied by a series of screams.
“Just mopping up the rest of his men,” President Donovan tells me. “This facility has had its day. I think it's time for Middlewych to fade into the annals of history. Once we've got everything we need, we'll turn the place to ash.”
“You can't do this!” I shout.
“When it's a matter of national security,” he replies calmly, “I can most certainly do anything that I deem necessary. And you, Ms. Mackenzie, are a matter of national security. Your powers are going to give us a decisive edge in the brave new world that we're now entering. We can't afford to lose you, and we certainly can't afford to let anyone else get hold of you. For now, we just need to make sure that you understand your new role in the world.”
“I'm not some kind of animal,” I tell him. “You don't own me.”
“I think we do,” he replies. “Without our money, you wouldn't be here today. Now we just have to figure out how you're going to pay us back, and we're going to start by determining exactly what you're capable of achieving. I'm sorry, but the process might hurt just a little.”
“Why do you think I'd help you?” I ask.
“Because you're smart. Because you're scared.” He smiles. “So many people would like to get their hands on you, and on the secrets you contain, so I'm afraid we've had to go to extreme measures.”
“It sounds like they're having trouble out there,” one of the other men says.
“Then go and help them,” President Donovan replies, sounding a little irritated as he takes one of the guns. “Annie and I will be quite alright here for a few minutes.”
As the guards hurry out, and as more screams fill the distant parts of the base, I look at the president and try to work out whether I can get the jump on him. It's hard to believe that I'm genuinely face-to-face with the guy who's in charge of the entire country, let alone that he's holding me at gunpoint. So many people have been telling me that I have special powers, and right now I wish I knew how to use some of them.
“Just a few more minutes,” he says, “and then we'll have some peace and quiet. You want to be useful, don't you?”
“I want to get out of here,” I reply, stepping toward him.
He immediately raises the gun, aiming straight at my face.
“I wouldn't take any unnecessary risks, if I were you,” he tells me, as more screams ring out in the corridors nearby, accompanied by occasional gunshots. “I promise you, soon you'll realize that we're all on the same side. That's when you'll start thanking me for making you stay. I guess you're a typical teenager, Annie, always thinking that you know best. I'm asking you to trust me for a day or two.”
As he finishes speaking, I realize that the screams and gunshots have suddenly stopped. I turn and look toward the door, but it's as if the rest of the facility has fallen eerily silent.
“Sounds like my men have finished mopping up,” he says smugly.
“I just want to go home,” I reply. “That's all. I never asked to be part of this. I'm just an ordinary girl, I have a job and I have all these stupid plans that I'll never get around to doing and that's fine. I'm not special. I think there's been some kind of misunderstanding.”
Hearing the door swing open, I turn and look over my shoulder. The door quickly shuts again, however, and nobody has entered the room. When I turn back to President Donovan, I see a hint of confusion in his eyes.
“Where are your men?” I ask.
“I told you, they went and finished off the rest of the Chaos Gear guards.”
“It sounds like there's no-one out there,” I point out, as I realize that we might no longer be alone in here. I glance around, but of course I can't actually see any sign of the invisible man.
“They'll be here in a moment,” President Donovan says.
I turn back to him.
“You look so nervous,” he continues, lowering the gun. “That's a perfectly normal reaction. Things have been moving fast. Your head must be spinning.”
“I'm -”
Before I can finish, I realize that a bloodied knife is seemingly floating up behind him. I hesitate for a moment, and then I realize what's happening.
“Wait!” I gasp, but I'm too late.
The knife slices straight through the president's throat, sending blood spraying against my face as I hear his final, gurgled scream.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
President Donovan slumps down against the floor, desperately trying to catch his breath as a pool of blood begins to spread from beneath his neck. I stare for a moment, before hearing a shuffling sound nearby.
“High five!” a familiar voice says, and I realize I was right. The invisible man is back.
I look around, but of course I still can't see him.
“Right here,” he continues. “Come on, high five. I'll make sure we connect.”
“You killed him,” I stammer, looking back down at the president, who has now stopped moving. His dead eyes are staring out across the floor. “You... you... I mean...”
“We talked about this,” the invisible guy replies. “Well, not this specifically, but this kind of thing. I know you've lost your memory, Annie, and that's all well and good. Fortunately, I still remember exactly what we were planning, and I've managed to put our plan into action. And then some! You can thank me later.”
As the blood reaches my shoe, I take a step back.
“Where are all the others?” I ask, my voice trembling with fear.
“What others?”
“The guards? All those soldiers, what happened to them?”
“They mostly killed each other,” he says, sounding quite amused by the situation, “and then it wasn't hard for me to pick the last of them off. Everyone was so certain that I'd escaped, they never stopped to consider the possibility that I might have found a way to sneak back in. Thanks for helping out with that, by the way. The entire Middlewych Chaos Gear facility now belongs to us!”
“Why?” I ask.
“Why?”
“I don't get any of this.”
“It's not that difficult to understand,” he replies, and now I can tell that he's heading over to the table. “Crawford's team and the president's team were at loggerheads. Rather than fighting them one by one, I let them take each other out, and now the entire place is under our control. That was the plan for t
he start, remember?” His footsteps stop, and I get the feeling that he's turned to look at me. “Don't tell me that you've suddenly become all moral, Annie,” he continues. “You were always a lot of things, but judgmental wasn't one of them. You might not have been willing to kill for our cause, but you knew that I was. You knew you could leave me to do the dirty work.”
“I don't know what you're talking about,” I tell him.
“Chaos Gear is the future of the world,” he explains. “Whoever controls this facility, controls everything. Some crackpot general wants to create an army of vampires? No problem, Chaos Gear can do that now. What about werewolves? Easy. And now, thanks to that unfortunate incident when you were attacked in the forest, they can combine the different creations. Even mad old Crawford never saw that coming.”
Suddenly Crawford's body shudders, as if it was just kicked.
“Here's to you, Randall,” the voice adds, before kicking him again. “All the -”
“Don't do that!” I snap, stepping toward the corpse.
“Getting sentimental?” the voice asks with a chuckle. “That's fine. You don't remember all the terrible things this man did to us, but I do. And the crazy thing is, we're the lucky ones, because we survived. I saw some of the paperwork once. Do you know how many children died at Crawford's hands, before he perfected the invisibility technique? Over a hundred. So don't feel bad for him, he got what he deserved. Maybe he should have suffered more.”
I stare down at Crawford's body, and then suddenly I feel a hand on the side of my face. I immediately step back.
“Sorry,” the voice continues, “was that too much?”
“Your name's Lester, right?” I ask.
“Lester Graves,” he replies. “It's so strange, having to introduce myself all over again. We knew one another very well, Annie. Better than you might realize.”
I feel a hand on my waist, and I step back again.
“Fine, I won't do that,” he mutters, and then his footsteps hurry around the table, heading toward the other door. “It's time to start playing with our new toys, Annie,” he continues, as the door opens. “This time one year ago, we were fearful, wrecked creatures shuddering in the corners of our cages. This time tomorrow, we'll be rulers of the world. How's that for an experiment?”
The door stays open, which I guess means that he's waiting for me to follow.
“Brave heart, Annie,” he continues. “If you don't trust me, then trust yourself. Because the old Annie would have loved what we're about to do.”
***
“Such a busy day,” Lester says as I follow him onto a balcony, overlooking some kind of laboratory. “We killed our lord and master, and then we killed the President of the United States. How many people in history can say that?”
His footsteps rattle along the balcony, before stopping at the top of a set of metal stairs.
“Well, hang on,” he continues. “There was John Wilkes Booth, and Lee Harvey Oswald, and I think a couple of others. Now they can add my name to the list, and do you know what? I'm almost proud.”
The top steps start to rattle, but then Lester seems to hesitate again.
“You're coming, right?” he asks. “Annie, we're in the heart of Chaos Gear's project. I killed everyone else in the facility, but soon some more goons are gonna arrive, and we have to be ready.”
“Ready for what?” I ask.
“To take control. Once we have our hands on the keys to this place, no-one can stop us. We can demand whatever we want, and no-one will even think twice about obeying us. You might be in shock right now, but I promise that this is what you wanted. Well, in spirit, at least. And the best part is, I can prove it.”
“People keep acting like I was some kind of fighter,” I reply, “but I don't remember any of that. I remember the past couple of days, and that's all.”
“You don't remember destroying the original Middlewych town?”
“How could I possibly have that?”
“And you don't remember the night you were attacked by Joseph, and by Adam?”
I shake my head.
“I was there,” he continues. “I wanted to help you, but they were out of their minds and I was terrified. Then the Bister sisters showed up and beamed you into their experimental ship, and I thought maybe you were gone forever. Fortunately, they deposited you in your room, for reasons best known to their good selves. That's the thing about Lillian and Lorraine, they use their telepathy so much, they sometimes forget to tell everyone else what's going on. They seem to be long gone, though, so I don't think we have to worry about them too much. Not for now, at least. Come on, let's get into the main chamber and prepare the explosives!”
“Explosives?”
As he hurries down the stairs, I head to the top. Down below, a vast laboratory is laid out like something from a movie, with wires and pipes running everywhere, and there's some kind of huge covered cauldron in the center of the room.
“We're special, Annie,” Lester calls up to me, “and we need to stay special. That means destroying the Chaos Gear equipment, so that I'm the only invisible man, and you're the only witch-slash-whatever. You understand, don't you?”
I pause for a moment, feeling as if my mind is about to explode.
“Okay,” Lester continues with a sigh, “let's find a computer terminal that can connect to the cloud. I'm going to show you something that'll change your mind forever.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
It's me.
As the video starts playing, I see a grainy, shaky handheld shot of my own face. I look a little thinner than now, and maybe younger too, and pained, but I can't deny for one moment that it's really, truly me.
“I managed to obtain a phone while we were prisoners,” Lester explains. “Some of the guards were less smart than others. I filmed you through the bars that separated our cells. This is the only video I managed to save, I uploaded it to a hidden part of the facility's servers. At the time, I thought it was going to be a record of what we went through. I never suspected that I'd need to show it to you, to prove to you that you believe in our cause.”
I instinctively turn to walk away, as if somehow I can't bear to see myself on the screen, but an invisible hand grabs my arm. I hesitate, and then the audio kicks in and I hear my own voice.
“I know we're going to get out of here,” I'm saying in the video. “I feel it, in here. I don't know if that's something to do with my powers. Maybe it's witchcraft, maybe it isn't, but somehow we're going to get out.”
“Maybe,” Lester's voice replies, his voice sounding a little tinny over the speakers, “you can escape when they put you through your first test a few weeks' time. I know they're going to wipe your memory for the tests, but isn't it possible that you'll somehow still remember?”
“Maybe.”
“And then you can just run, Annie. You can get far away from here.”
“Not without the rest of you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I want us all to get out. Every last one of us.”
“Even -”
“Even Joseph.”
I turn to look at the screen again. The camera has zoomed in a little more, and I swear I can see the bitterness in my face.
“Our best chance,” I continue in the video, “is when their routine is disrupted. Taking me out for my first test is a disruption, so you need to be ready, Lester.”
“I don't see what I can do.”
“We'll work it out.” Suddenly I look straight at the camera, and I have to admit that the forcefulness of my stare is somewhat striking. “We're all getting out, every last one of us. And once we're out, we're going to make sure that they pay. All of them. The whole of Chaos Gear, from Crawford down to the lowliest guard. Then we're going to make the world pay, because the world has allowed this to happen.”
“Most people probably don't know anything about Chaos Gear or Middlewych,” Lester's voice replies.
“Some of them do,�
� I sneer on the screen. “All the money has to come from somewhere, for a start. I don't know how, I don't know when, but at some point we're going to get a chance to burn this whole thing down to the ground. And I'm telling you, Lester... that's not a chance I intend to ignore.”
The video continues for a moment longer, before cutting out. The screen goes black.
“That was you, Annie,” Lester says, his voice coming from a spot just a few feet away now. “Six months ago, by my count. We did come up with a plan, and to be fair it worked. On the night of your first test, we managed to free everyone. Of course, by then you'd lost your memory. Call me naive, but I really thought you'd have remembered the truth by now. I'm starting to wonder whether that'll ever happen. I'm sure the old Annie is still in there somewhere.”
Shaking my head, I take a step back.
“We're right on track,” he continues, sounding a little more desperate now. “This is pretty much the exact plan that we worked on. We freed everyone. I always knew I had to find a way back inside, but first I had to leave, because even Crawford would have swept the place to make sure that I wasn't lurking somewhere. Once he was certain I'd joined the escape, the time was right for me to sneak back in, but those gates are pretty sturdy. We had to make them help us out, which is why we agreed that ultimately you'd get captured again. I waited for your second test, and now here we both are. Crawford turned us into freaks. I intend to make sure that we stay that way, so that we remain powerful.”
Bumping against the wall, I feel as if I have to get out of here. At the same time, my head is throbbing, and I'm starting to remember that I was in this room once before.
“Annie, please,” Crawford continues, “trust me.”
“Wait!” I gasp, dropping to my knees as I feel my memories starting to return. “Just...”