by Leito, Chad
“LIAR!” Ned yelled. “I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. Because here is the God-honest truth, Palmer, you’re not in control anymore. I have you. For reasons beyond me, Allen thought that he could turn you into a Multiplier. To be honest with you, I think he was a bit crazy. Teddy told us that you wouldn’t change. But I know the truth. And you’re about to pay.”
Asa saw that blood was trickling down from Jen’s neck. He didn’t know what exactly Ned meant by saying that he was about to pay, but he didn’t want to find out. He wanted to keep Ned talking, so that he could have more time to find a way out of the current situation. “Why did Teddy say that I wouldn’t change into a Multiplier?” Asa asked.
Ned spat. “It’s that stupid riddle your daddy made up. Teddy says that the riddle suggests your dad hid some secrets in your DNA. Teddy told Allen that this whole mission wasn’t necessary; whatever is hidden in that room back there is coded into your genetics. Teddy advised that we gather some of your blood and take it back to the Hive for testing.”
“My blood?” Asa asked.
“Yeah, that’s what I said. The riddle says that there are two places where the weapons and solutions are hidden. ‘One is metal, it’s locked away,’ that’s that back room. That part is obvious. But listen to the last part of the riddle.” Ned recited it by memory:
“Solutions and weapons that are known
Can be used, or worse, destroyed
Best keep them in the void
There are two spaces that these secrets are maintained
One is metal, it’s locked away
The other, though, isn’t so easily disposed
You can’t see it, it doesn’t say hello
It doesn’t make a difference
It’s never seen
It doesn’t affect any pedigree
Where two come and give half each
This is where it will be
You’ll find that I’ve only stolen from me
“Do you see?” Ned asked, still pressing the knife into Jen’s neck. The crows watched him patiently. “Do you understand what the riddle means now? ‘The other, though, isn’t so easily disposed.’ That’s you. You’re not easily disposed, and I think your time in the Academy has proven that. We’ve gone through hell trying to kill you. And then there’s the part about ‘you’ll find that I’ve only stolen from me.’ Teddy thinks that means that your father changed your DNA to code for the serums that your father made. But, he only altered the genes that he gave you, not the ones from your mother. ‘Where two come and give half each,’ that’s just sexual reproduction. I don’t get the part about not affecting pedigree, but Teddy said something about ‘turned off’ DNA. Anyways, the serum that we’ve gone through all this trouble to get is coded in your DNA. Allen was unstable. He was so stubborn and hard headed that no one could convince him that he was wrong. So when Teddy came to him with this evidence, he still wanted to come down here and get the vaccine. And even though he was warned that you might not have changed into a Multiplier, he didn’t believe it.”
“I still don’t get it,” Asa said. “So why didn’t I change into a Multiplier?”
Ned sighed. “Because you have things in your DNA that code for ‘weapons and solutions.’ The weapon is the serum that allows Multipliers to Multiply more often. The solution is a ‘cure’ for being a Multiplier. Your dad made this just in case Multipliers started taking over the world. Some scientist could synthesize something out of your blood, inject me, and I’d turn back into a human again. Whatever is in your DNA prevented you from becoming a Multiplier.”
“And Teddy knew this?” Asa asked.
Ned nodded, then said, “I bet it hurts to have such a backstabbing friend.”
Asa didn’t respond, but in truth, it did hurt. Teddy knew this secret, but had never shared it with Asa. Even when they had had pleasant exchanges in Conway’s basement, Teddy was always plotting against Asa.
And then Asa remembered something that brought another piece into the puzzle. He recalled the time when he had gone into the enormous mansion that Teddy had carved out of the safe room above Asa’s dwelling. There had been a huge wall across from a massive fireplace that was covered in math equations, diagrams, and writing. Asa remembered seeing his father’s riddle written upon the stone, followed by a long series of mathematics, and then a circled double helix, as though that was the answer to Asa’s father’s riddle. Asa did not know as much about biology as Teddy did, but he was aware of the most important double helix known to man—DNA. Asa felt sick with hatred and distrust for Teddy. He reminded himself, though, that Teddy had been sweet, kind, and loyal before turning into a Multiplier.
“So now that we’ve gone through our little song and dance, Palmer, here is what I want. I want your blood, or I kill the girl. Do you understand?” Ned smiled.
“Don’t do it,” Jen whispered, and then she cried out as Ned pulled her hair.
“SHUT UP!” he said. “Either you give me your blood, Palmer, or I kill the girl and then I’ll come over there and drain you of it. Your choice.”
Asa looked at Jen’s face. He didn’t want anything to happen to her. “How am I supposed to give you my blood?” He asked.
“You’ve got that open wound on your neck. Take off your shirt, rub it on the wound, and then toss it to me. I’ll take the bloody shirt, and you’ll never hear from me again. I’ll let the girl go.”
Asa’s heart was beating fast. He was willing to give his life to stop the Multipliers from getting the vaccine. He looked over at Lilly and Viola. Lilly was able to produce hallucinogenic powder, and Viola still had five mutated fingernails that she could try to attack Ned with. He liked their chances in a fight, but the thought of watching Ned slice Jen’s throat made his stomach churn.
Asa felt emotionally drained. He wanted to go home—the real home, not back to his dwelling. He wanted his mother back. He was tired of living a life in which he was frightened all the time. He was constantly alert—constantly on edge—constantly pumped full of adrenaline so that his heart was hammering and his palms were sweaty. In the last year he had seen so many people die that he couldn’t name them all. A few hours ago, he was bitten by a Multiplier, and a few minutes ago, he had been seriously considering destroying the vaccines and letting the Multipliers kill him. It was all too much. He looked into Ned’s angry eyes and suddenly wanted to cry. He felt unstable, insane, and not prepared to make this kind of decision.
In his peripheral vision, Asa saw Roxanne getting to her knees in the pool of blood. She looked up at Ned, her eyes hazy and out of focus.
Ned didn’t notice Roxanne. “What’s it going to be, Palmer?” He asked, and he tightened his grip on Jen.
Asa slowly began to unbutton his shirt and a smile spread over Ned’s face. “That’s good, Palmer. Very smart.”
Behind Ned, Roxanne’s eyes slowly shut, as though she was falling asleep, and then they snapped open. She did not look well. Ned still didn’t notice her.
Asa took his shirt off and brought it up to the wound on his neck.
“Rub it hard, Palmer. I want a lot of blood on that shirt.”
Behind him, Roxanne’s eyes were shifting into focus, and Asa saw them widen as she realized what was happening.
Asa was so distraught that he barely felt it as he dug the shirt into his fresh wound and let it soak up his blood. Ned watched, and still did not hear Roxanne behind him.
Roxanne stood on shaky legs and took a couple steps towards Ned.
“Don’t do it, Asa,” Jen whispered.
Ned tightened the knife on her throat, making more blood run down her neck and chest. Jen stopped talking.
Asa tried not to look at Roxanne as she crept towards Ned. Her right hand was balled in a fist, and it was obvious that she was getting ready to bash his head in, just like she had done to Allen.
Maybe it was Asa’s eyes, or maybe Ned heard something, but he detected Roxanne behind him. He turned quickly, released Jen, and stabbed at Rox
anne’s face. Roxanne ducked, and the knife cut some of her hair.
Asa dropped his shirt on the ground and ran forward. Like a linebacker, he tackled Ned and crows flapped into the air to avoid their rough landing on the floor. The knife went skidding across the stone, and landed out of anyone’s reach against the wall.
Asa was only able to stay atop Ned for a moment before he was flung off. Ned stood, his broad shoulders flaring, and looked wildly around for the knife. He spotted it at the same time that Roxanne got to her own feet and began to run after him.
Ned reached the knife before Roxanne could grab him, and he turned and backed her away, brandishing the pointed metal. Roxanne skidded to a stop.
Ned laughed wildly, his broken nose gushing with blood. He kept his eyes on Roxanne, as she was the only truly formidable opponent. “It’s one on five,” Ned said. “Unfair, but I think that I can make this interesting.”
Boom Boom spoke from the corner wall where he sat with his broken leg. “It’s not one on five,” he corrected.
“Oh, fine,” Ned said. “One on six. I didn’t think that I’d count you, considering the shape of that leg.”
Boom Boom smiled, his pale skin glistening with sweat. He was obviously in pain. “I’m not talking about me,” he said. “I’m talking about the crows.”
Ned looked down at all the hundreds of birds that covered the floor and his jovial face fell, and his brow creased with worry. Now that he didn’t have Jen as a hostage, Asa had no incentive to keep the crows calm.
“Attack him,” Asa said, not much louder than a whisper. Every talon left the stone in an instant, and every wing was flapping towards Ned’s face, blinding him in a flurry of black.
Ned screamed, fell back, and the crows tore at his flesh. He thrashed and rolled, killing some, but there were so many that he was not able to fend off the whole attack. It reminded Asa of when the crows had attacked Harold Kensing outside his home.
Roxanne did not want to leave her fate up to the crows, however. She ran towards his writhing body. Ned was so preoccupied with the beaks that were pecking his face off that he didn’t notice her coming. With electric speed, she kicked him in the chest and he came off the ground and rolled into the water.
Roxanne would later admit that she hadn’t been looking at the second-hand of the clock to see where it was, but luck was on her side. Shortly after Ned hit the water, the second hand passed over the appropriate spot, and the tentacle came out and grabbed hold of his screaming head. He was dragged under and Asa never saw him again.
When Ned was gone, the crows gathered on the ground, and it was quiet. Asa was ambushed with a shot of emotions and he fell to his knees, gasping and crying. It’s over. We did it. We stopped the Multipliers. We won.
He was happy for all these things, but did not know why he felt so terrible. He wailed uncontrollably, feeling that he couldn’t cry hard enough. He thought that his teammates might be staring at him, and that they might think that he was crazy, but Asa didn’t care. He sobbed into the bloody rock and hitched his chest and howled.
44
Artificial Intelligence
Asa’s sobs slowly waned until he quieted and the tears rolled without sound. As he came out of his hysterics, he realized that he didn’t know how long his weeping had lasted. He had been so consumed with sorrow that nothing else mattered for a time.
“Palmer,” came a hoarse whisper.
Asa looked up through wet eyelashes to see Boom Boom motion him over. Asa stood, found his shirt, which he put back on, and then came over to sit with Mike Plode.
The other Sharks were along the opposite wall. Jen, Viola, and Lilly had their backs to Asa, but Roxanne was facing his direction. She was crying. Asa wondered if she was remembering Bruce. He wondered if it felt good that she had somewhat gotten revenged for his death. She probably just wants him back, though, Asa thought.
“Gabby would have come,” Mike said, “she wanted to, but we made her stay back. She drank too much at the dance and fell down on her crutches right outside the Shop.”
Asa nodded, and then looked at Mike. “None of you had to come.”
Mike exhaled air in an impatient manner. “Don’t act like you wouldn’t do the same for us. We wanted to help. We care about you. We’re family.”
Asa started to cry some more after hearing those words. He had only known his teammates less than half a year, but he felt like he had known them his whole life. He looked over Mike’s body. Dried blood sat under his busted lip, but the worst part was his leg. “Your leg looks like hell, Mike.”
Mike laughed, and looked down at the deformed extremity. The foot was twisted in an abnormal position. “I think I broke it.”
“Duh,” Asa said, and then they both laughed.
Mike cleared his throat and then lowered his voice, “Listen, Asa, we’re glad that we could help and all, but we’re a little confused. What’s going on? How did you end up here? Jen said that last she saw you, you were at the dance.”
Asa wondered if Jen told them about how Asa had kissed Charlotte. Boom Boom’s face didn’t give away whether or not he had this piece of knowledge.
“I know that it may be hard to talk about, but I think that me and your other teammates can help you work through this,” Mike said.
“You’re right,” Asa said. “I’m just trying to think. So much has happened tonight. I guess I’ll start at the dance. No. Before then. I need to start my story right after Jen and I saw Bruce killed in the Lab. We then ran over and saw the Multiplier’s lair. But after that, we split up. I didn’t tell anyone where I went that night, but I went and talked to Teddy. That’s where this all started.” Asa then recounted all that had happened, going over his conversation with Teddy, Teddy’s advice that Asa drop the bombs, and Teddy’s coke can radio. He told Mike about leaving the dance to go drop the bombs, getting caught by Rose, getting bitten by Allen, and then of not changing into a Multiplier.
“Yeah, I heard that big one, Ned, saying something about you being bitten and not changing. He said your dad coded it into your DNA.”
Asa explained how he didn’t know what was going on when he woke up after being bitten; he just knew that he was still human. He explained about the hidden vaccines, and about the Multiplier’s desire to obtain them. “And then you guys showed up just before the clock was in the right position.”
Mike’s eyes went up to the clock above the water. “It’s twelve twenty,” he said. “You could swim over on the left side. Or fly over, I guess.”
Asa’s mouth went dry. “Why should I do that?” he asked.
“Same reason you were going to before. Don’t you think you should destroy those vaccines?”
Asa wiped his mouth. He wasn’t crying anymore. “Yeah. I think you’re right. Just don’t leave until I come out, okay? I don’t know if you can see the clock from the other side.”
Mike Plode smiled, trying to be cheery despite the pain he felt from his broken leg. “Do I look like I’m going anywhere soon? Go on ahead. We’ll wait for you.”
For reasons he couldn’t understand, Asa’s anxiety flashed back up as he walked past the birds and over to the edge of the stone pool. He expanded his wings out beside him, and when the time was right, he flew over the water towards the third part of the room. He landed, looked back, and gave Boom Boom a thumbs-up.
The double doors were ten feet tall, and the handles were crafted to look like a crow’s wings. Asa turned one of the handles and slipped inside of the room.
There were candles burning, and a fireplace along the far wall. Again, Asa found it eerie that all the candles turned on automatically—it gave him the feeling that someone lived down here. The floor was ivory, which was so dusty that little clouds came up where Asa walked.
The vaccines were in glass boxes on pedestals in the center of the room. There were two separate enclosures, one for each vaccine. The solutions weren’t labeled, but Asa knew that one must cure Multipliers, while the other allows them to
Multiply even more frequently.
The door behind Asa shut automatically, and then the fire in the fireplace grew to a blinding wall of light. Asa had to turn his head, and was momentarily blinded by the strange flare. After a moment, the fire was back to normal, and Asa could look back in the direction of the fireplace.
A man had appeared there. He looked very similar to Asa, but there were some differences. He was shorter than Asa, and not as well built. His face was covered in a prickly beard. His hair was longer than Asa’s, and messier. He wore glasses, but the blue eyes that looked through the lenses were identical to Asa’s. Asa had seen the man before, first in a polaroid that a David had given him in the woods.
“Who are you?” The man asked. He crossed his arms.
Asa stepped forward until he was standing with only one yard in between himself and the newcomer. “Do you not know who I am?” Asa asked the man.
The man’s eyes ran over Asa’s face, and Asa thought he saw the slightest hint of recognition.
“I’m your son. I’m Asa Palmer.”
Edmund Palmer bit the side of his hand and stepped back with emotion. Asa didn’t know how his father was here. Allen said that he shot himself. He didn’t care, though. Asa didn’t need to know why his dad was here. What mattered was that he was immensely grateful to be staring face to face at his dad for the first time. He didn’t consider that this could be a trap, or some kind of test. Asa stepped forward, arms wide to embrace his father.
Only, there was nothing there. His arms sliced through his father as though he were only air. Asa looked back and saw that Edmund Palmer was now standing behind him.
“I’m not your actual father, Asa. Your actual father is dead. You do know that, right?”
Asa’s heart ached in his chest. “I know that,” he said. “It’s just…I saw you, and…”
Edmund, or the thing that looked like Edmund, smiled. “I know. I look very real.”
Asa agreed. The illusion of his father was indiscernible from a real person. Asa could see the pores on his father’s face, bits of red mixed into his brown beard, and tiny green striations that ran along his blue irises.