“You never even told him you were his father? Well, this is further proof you’re a jackass. You were going to throw your own son into the Wackos’ nest without even batting an eye.”
The man wiped a hand across his brow, as if the heat of her words had induced perspiration. “I never wanted Hastings to have to kill the Wackos, but I believed it was what he was designed for.”
“Ah, so you believe in fate, do you? Where the hell is Nerdworm when we need a logical mind?”
Angor stood now, towering over Adara with his lankiness. Though he was far less intimidating in his prison garb than in his usual purple suit, there was still something menacing in his unnaturally pink eyes. “Hastings was the most skilled student in Periculand. He could have annihilated the Wackos and walked out unscathed. It would have been immoral, perhaps, and I would have loathed to see so many Affinities perish, but it would have saved millions of lives. I’m unsure of what you know about the new leader of the Wackos, but he has killing capabilities you couldn’t even begin to fathom. We’re talking about the extinction of this entire—”
“The Wacko leader is more deadly than Hastings?” she interjected doubtfully.
“Far more deadly and far more temperamental. Without Hastings, I fear we don’t stand a chance. That was why I was so adamant about sending him in, rather than risking our entire population in a futile fight. If we stormed the Wackos’ headquarters, their leader would know in an instant and we would be dead. If Hastings had slipped in unnoticed, however, the leader would have died without warning.”
“And you would have had him murder hundreds—maybe thousands—of Affinities. How righteous.”
“They are terrorists and many are fanatics,” Angor sighed in exasperation. He ran a hand through his hair, which looked nearly as greasy as Fraco’s, and began to pace the cell. “If Hastings only took out the leader, any of the others would have risen in his place—they would have wanted to avenge him. The current leader is actually seeking vengeance for the death of his father, Ephraim Mayer. That officer who was just in here, Officer Telum—he was the one to kill the last Wacko leader.”
“Mitt killed the Wackos’ leader? Damn, I underestimated him. So, he’s like, an American hero then, isn’t he? Why hasn’t the government set up a shrine in his honor for us to worship?”
“Because he is an Affinity. He’s lucky he wasn’t sent to a lab for testing. I would have been interested to see how his ability does work, though…”
“You condone torture—excuse me, experimentation—on Affinities? Well, that just earned you a point in the guilty category. And now I’m back to believing you’re full of shit and Hastings was not your son.”
“I was thirty-five when I met Jocosa,” Angor began dramatically, and Adara emitted a groan.
“I don’t want to hear your whole life story, Your Highness. I just want some form of proof that Hastings was your son.”
“She was a waitress at one of my favorite dives,” he continued, ignoring her interruption. “She had no clue I was a successful millionaire; I kept my wealth a secret, though I always did tip her well. I was always revered and feared in my work life, and I enjoyed going to a place where I could relax, be casual. The fact I’m an Affinity is obvious”—he motioned to his pink hair—“but at the time, the public hadn’t really made the connection between the hair and eyes and powers. Jocosa was always fascinated by me, but she never pried or intruded. At first, she thought me a friend, but I fell quickly in love with her.”
“So…then you screwed her and out popped Hastings?” Adara guessed, causing Angor to purse his lips and halt his pacing.
“To put it bluntly, yes. I became obsessed with her when I realized she had my child inside of her. I started spilling my secrets—my dark secrets—and she slowly distanced herself from me, quitting her job at the restaurant and moving out of town. I lost track of her—not before I told her that I hoped we could name our son Hastings, though. It was the name of the street I had lived on with some of my close friends in my youth, a wonderful place. Even if she wanted me to have nothing to do with him, I was content when I discovered she’d at least given him that name.
“When he was sent to the detention center, I made an effort to visit him, but it was right around the time Affinities became the government’s enemy—because of the Wackos, of course. Ephraim always had a desire for chaos… It reverted my attention from Hastings to my dream of Periculand. I spent much of my time fighting for Affinity freedom while also trying to track down Wackos. I regret that time I could have spent with my son, and above all, I wish I had told him the truth. He would have scorned me, most likely, for abandoning him, but…”
With a raspy breath, Angor plopped down onto his metal slab and rubbed his temples. “You can confirm this story with Aethelred, if you please. He knows. Fraco knows. Hell, the Wackos know. Why do you think they wanted to capture Hastings in October? Yes, he was powerful, but they wanted him specifically as leverage against me. They thought that, if they could kidnap and corrupt him, I would be swayed to their side. Now they have Madella, which I am aggrieved about. If I had married Jocosa, she would have been my niece.”
Adara was so dumbfounded by this tale that she almost didn’t catch the implication. “The stretchy girl…is Hastings’s cousin?”
“Was, more accurately… It’s a surprise they haven’t tried to use her capture against me. I have no doubt they will, but I suppose I’m no longer a threat to them. If they want Periculand, they’ll have to woo whoever takes charge next.”
With slivered eyes, Adara surveyed this broken man, wondering how someone with so much power could lose it over what he claimed was a lie. “Even if Hastings was your son, I still wouldn’t put it past you to sacrifice him to kill those Reggs. You wouldn’t have expected him to use his power against himself, anyway—you sure as hell looked shocked when he did.”
“I’ve never been on fine terms with Artemis and William,” he agreed, nodding as he stared at the ground. “And I wouldn’t put it past me, either. I’ve done worse.”
“So, you’re admitting to it then?”
“Do you think I’m so reckless? I knew you and all your friends were listening out in the hall. I sensed you mentally as soon as you arrived—”
“With your mind controlling Affinity,” Adara finished, raising an eyebrow.
“With…my Affinity,” he said, nearly choking on the words as his face contorted. “The Affinity I still cannot recall. Regardless, would I have attempted to murder two people in front of your eyes? I only asked Hastings to pop my blood vessels as a display of his power, not to harm the Rosses. Young people should not have to endure such trauma—hurting others and witnessing death. I did, and you see how I turned out.”
“Yes, you’re a murderer. Good thing we only saw our friend die, rather than two snooty strangers.”
Angor loosed a breath and met her dark eyes with his light ones. “What can I say that will sway your mind? I have admitted I am a bad person, but do you believe I’m evil?”
Adara chewed on her lip, tasting the remnants of ash that had seeped into her flesh. “I believe that I need to have a word with Devil-Red. Oh, Weaponizer!” she sang, directing her call toward the closed door Mitt had disappeared through not too long ago. “I have a few requests to make! They include donuts, a shower, our favorite red-eyed person—”
“You have red eyes now, if you were unaware,” Mitt pointed out as he poked his head through the doorway, his silver eyes studying her with a mixture of agitation and amusement.
She had not been aware, but…it wasn’t completely surprising. “Well, then our favorite red-eyed person who isn’t me. Can you summon him?”
3
Another Thieving Stromer
Avner Stromer was really starting to develop a detestation for the countryside. For the past day, his surroundings had been characterized by nothing but fields, farms, and tiny towns. He, Jamad, Zeela, and their prisoner Wacko had spent the first night of the
ir voyage hidden in an abandoned barn, the teens forced to take turns on guard, in case Naretha attempted to flee. During the day, the Wacko insisted on staying away from main roads to remain untraceable, but Avner was convinced this was a tactic to tire them so she could escape.
“You know, I’ll move a lot faster if you take off these handcuffs,” she said, not for the first time, as the four walked along a dirt road. She lifted her hands, cuffed by silver metal that barely glimmered in the overcast gloom.
Judging by the faint glow of the descending sun, evening approached, bringing with it the pang of hunger. Avner hadn’t thought to bring food—or money. It hadn’t taken long for him and his friends to realize they were ill prepared for this expedition, and Naretha knew it.
“You know, you’re a Wacko, so no,” Jamad countered with an icy smile. Overnight, his facial hair had grown into a thin layer of blue over his chin, pale in contrast to his brown skin. Like his friends, he wore lightweight black clothes unsuitable for the chilly November air. The cold didn’t have an effect on him, but Avner and Zeela shivered continuously, as did Naretha in her flimsy prison garb.
“There’s a town ahead,” the Wacko said, narrowing her salt-pink eyes at the landscape before them. The farms were mostly barren this time of year, and beyond this field lay a village that appeared to be just one street of buildings.
Jamad scoffed. “You can barely consider that a town.”
“There will still be people,” Naretha snapped as she tried to yank her hands from the cuffs. The red marks on her wrists proved this wasn’t her first attempt. “Any Reggs who see us will report us.”
“So, we go around.” Avner nodded toward the path they walked on.
“Can’t,” was all Naretha said before she bent down, scooped a handful of dirt, and flung it at Jamad’s head.
Dust smothered his face and hair, forcing him to spit before he rounded on her, seething. “Give me one reason I shouldn’t freeze your—”
“You need me,” she said. “And we all need to cover our hair in dirt. If we don’t, the Reggs will definitely call the cops. Trust me, this isn’t the first time I’ve been in public the past three years.”
Jamad glowered through his dirty eyelashes, but he wasn’t the one to speak.
“We’re so impressed that you’re so skilled at being wanted by the government,” Zeela drawled, though she had already sprinkled dirt over her white hair. She rubbed it in, transforming her into a light brunette. “Why is entering this town necessary?”
“Wacko Headquarters is almost two hundred miles from here,” Naretha said as they began trekking across the desolate field. “Do you want to walk for days, or do you want to rescue your friend tonight?”
“Are you suggesting we hail a cab?” Jamad questioned condescendingly.
“I hope you’re not that dumb,” the Wacko snorted while awkwardly smacking dirt onto her pink head with cuffed hands.
Avner studied the buildings materializing before them. Most appeared to be residential, but between two houses stood a lone gas station plucked straight from the 1970s. Angor had really done a spectacular job of locating Periculand far away from civilization, considering this was the most they’d seen since their departure. “Do you know someone who lives here?”
“Hopefully not,” Naretha said. “The last thing we need is to be recognized.”
“Do you think Angor sent out messages telling people to watch for us?” Jamad asked, looking to Avner.
“I’m…not sure.” He crumbled dirt in his hair, hoping it would be enough to conceal the electric yellow. “I think if he wanted to find us, he would have by now. Maybe he wants us to save Maddy.”
“He could have easily conducted the exchange himself,” Zeela pointed out.
“Yeah, but…I feel like Angor’s always got some hidden motives, you know? It seems like him to pretend he didn’t want this, even if he did. Maybe it’s some kinda power move against the Wackos.”
“Let’s not talk about it in front of a Wacko,” Jamad suggested with a wary glance at Naretha, who was more interested in the town ahead. They’d nearly reached the road, and other than the few cars parked at the gas station, there weren’t many others in sight.
“How skilled are you with your Affinity?” she inquired, glancing sideways at Avner.
“He’s the best at wielding electricity,” Jamad stated proudly. “Never met anyone better.”
“I don’t think you’ve ever met anyone else who can control electricity period,” Zeela said, but the argument ended when they stepped onto the pavement and she took in the village through her sunglasses. “This looks like Watertown.”
“It is,” Jamad confirmed. “We’re close to Beverly.”
Naretha’s head perked up in alarm. “Who’s Beverly?”
“It’s the town we grew up in,” Zeela said. “If we’re going north, we’ll probably pass it.”
“We should see if my ’rents will let us borrow their car!”
Naretha tore through Jamad’s enthusiasm instantly. “We’ll avoid Beverly at all costs, and we will not ask your ’rents for anything. We can’t give anyone the means to track us. We’re gonna steal that car.” She motioned toward an old station wagon with a broken taillight and sagging front bumper parked at the gas station across the street.
If anyone were outside, they would have heard her plan to thieve, but there wasn’t a living being in sight—in a normal human’s sight, anyway. Avner could tell by the crease of her eyebrows that Zeela saw something they couldn’t.
“There’s a man inside the gas station store. He’ll see us if we steal it.”
Avner crossed his arms over his chest. “Even if he doesn’t see us, it’s still wrong to steal.”
“You broke a ‘terrorist’ out of jail,” Naretha reminded him dryly. “I think you’re past the point of fretting over the law, little one. Have you ever used your Affinity to start a car?”
“We’re not stealing the—”
“I’ll take that as a no. It shouldn’t be too difficult, if you’re careful. You’ll need to use the right voltage or you might fry the battery.”
“I’m not stealing a car.”
“All right, I’d like to make it known that I’m not really against stealing this piece of junk,” Jamad interjected, hands held before him in innocence. “I mean…I don’t think anyone’s gonna miss it much. But Av is never gonna go along with this—it’s futile to even try. Let’s just walk to Beverly.”
“Do you want to involve your family in this?” Naretha demanded, her impatience opening the door for ruthlessness. “Do you want them to be questioned and imprisoned when the government finds out they were accomplices in this? I might not believe my cause is one of terror, but everyone else does.”
“We can plead with my parents for help,” Zeela offered with a shrug. “They probably won’t, but I wouldn’t be too concerned if they went to prison—they always looked down on me for being blind, and they thought Eliana was clinically insane.”
Naretha’s tone was breezy as she said, “You might say that, but you don’t mean it. If you won’t start the car,” she added to Avner, “I’ll break into that store, kill the man, and steal the keys and the car—and you’ll be forced to watch.”
“How are you gonna kill him in handcuffs?” Avner asked skeptically.
“You think these handcuffs disable me from using my Affinity? Children, I could kill each one of you if I really wanted to, but I don’t. These are Regg cuffs—they aren’t doing much, other than bruising my wrists. Don’t test me. Will you start the car, or are we gonna keep standing here like a bunch of suspicious creeps?”
“He hasn’t seen us yet,” Zeela noted, peeking between the man in the store and her boyfriend. “He might not notice if we’re quick.”
“I’ve never started a car with keys before. Why are you so convinced I’ll be able to magically start one with electricity?” he asked Naretha.
“Because it’s not magic; it’s science.
You’ll need to send a current to the battery, which is essentially what the key does. That’ll start the engine, theoretically.”
“That sounds oversimplified,” Jamad said, stroking his dirt-covered stubble.
“Would you like me to get technical, or would you like to go save your friend?”
“Stop pretending to care about Maddy,” Avner said, more as a command than a statement of annoyance. “We know all you wanna do is get back to your Wacko boyfriend. I want to save Maddy, though, so…we’ll steal the car.”
“I was really hoping you’d say that.” Jamad clapped his hands together in excitement. “I’ve always wanted to steal a car.”
“Really?” Zeela mused, raising her white eyebrows behind her sunglasses. “I’ve known you for fourteen years and I’ve never heard you once express an interest in becoming a car robber.”
“I meant it more as I’ve always wanted to steal a car since the Wacko suggested it a few minutes ago,” he amended, unfazed. “Seems pretty badass—especially if Av’s gonna use his Affinity to do it.”
“We’ll see,” Avner grumbled, not bothering to look before crossing the street. There had been no passing cars so far and, for their sake, he hoped none would drive by to witness this experiment.
The station wagon had probably been white at some point but was now a dull yellow with enough nicks and scratches that it almost looked like an intended design. Avner shot an instinctive glance over his shoulder before approaching the driver’s side, but as before, there weren’t any spectators to be concerned about.
“The guy still hasn’t seen us,” Zeela assured him, her white eyes fixed on the store.
With a deep breath, at which Naretha rolled her eyes, Avner grasped the handle and yanked open the door. It squeaked loud enough that Jamad cringed beside him, and he had to be delicate with it as not to tear it from its rusting hinges.
As he slipped into the driver’s seat, Avner noticed the interior was as unappealing as the exterior; holes, stains, and claw marks riddled the seats. Grease smeared the rearview mirror, filling the car with its stench, and the steering wheel was sticky when he placed his hands on it.
Nerve Page 4
