Nerve

by Kirsten Krueger

  Fury flared in Naretha’s chest at the sight of the two boys and that pathetic girl being dragged away by a few of Danny’s lackeys, who had entered the office upon his command. The Wacko leader didn’t have to explain for her to know they were now his prisoners. Avner and his big mouth… Maybe it was best they remained out of the way until she figured out what had happened during her absence.

  The real source of her rage, she decided, wasn’t that Avner, Jamad, and Meredith were prisoners but that Josh had knocked them out.

  “You little bitch,” she snarled at him the moment the lackeys disappeared from the office. Stomping around the desk, she disregarded Danny’s warning glare and snagged Josh by the collar of his greasy shirt. “You left me! You’re the reason for all this shit! Did you know that he left me?” she asked, spinning toward their leader while maintaining her grip on Josh. “Did you know that your little boy-toy could have brought me back but didn’t?”

  A placid smile crept onto Danny’s lips. “I’m aware.” After pushing off his desk, he approached them, halting his strides at a safe distance. “That’s why I placed Josh in a cell, where he’s spent the last two months contemplating his mistakes.”

  “It wasn’t a mistake—”

  “Regardless,” Danny interjected, harshness seeping into his tone, “neither of you completed the mission as tasked. Hastings Lanio was not retrieved, and it has negatively impacted our situation in a way I never could have anticipated.”

  “Did you tell him why we were unable to complete the mission?” Naretha asked Josh impatiently. “Did you tell him who intercepted us?” Shamefully, he bowed his head, and Danny looked to Naretha with arched eyebrows. “Nero Corvis and Adara Stromer—and some water-freak.”

  “Male?” he inquired, and Naretha nodded. “Calder Mardurus… They work together?”

  “About as well as we do.” She jerked her chin disdainfully in Josh’s direction.

  “And yet they managed to beat you—a bunch of little teenagers. Perhaps you should keep your mouth shut, Naretha, before you make yourself sound even more pitiful.”

  She did press her lips together, but only to contain the slew of curses resting on her tongue. “What is our punishment, then?”

  With a sniff, Danny grimaced in distaste. “I believe justice has been served—but know that I won’t be so forgiving next time. Wash up; our celebratory feast is scheduled one hour from now. Remember to smile, Naretha…and wear something sexy, so my eyes can be as satisfied as my stomach. Both of you.” Licking his lips, he turned on his heel and padded back to his desk.

  Naretha’s gaze slid toward Josh, who, with Danny’s back to them, actually had the courage to scowl at her. “Twat,” she muttered before stalking across the office. Instead of entering the elevator, she slipped through the door that led to Danny’s private bedroom, miffing Josh to the point that he grumbled to himself. It was the only reason Naretha was even remotely delighted to enter these living quarters again.

  Danny’s bedroom was as plain and dull as the other rooms in Headquarters, with pale gray walls and no windows. The massive bed, which had previously been his father’s, rested against the right wall not far from the personal kitchenette snuggled in the far corner. Directly to her right dwelled the elevator, which also granted access to the bedroom via private code. Since Josh likely knew this code, she was surprised he hadn’t entered the elevator through the office and exited on this side to reprimand her for destroying his reputation with Danny. Honestly, she wished he had.

  Though she’d shared this room with Danny for a month, it felt far from home. Even as she opened one of the ornate dressers and saw her clothes within, the whole place seemed foreign. Why couldn’t Danny have sent her on another mission? She would have rather been slipping on leathers to go fight the Reggs than picking out a scanty dress to wear to some dinner. Now that Naretha had failed Danny, though, she doubted he would allow her out of his sight for quite some time. She would become his little pet, especially now that Ashna was gone.

  She had spent the past two months dreaming about her return, but now that she was back, all she wanted to do was escape—make her own plans, follow her own rules, find Zeela…

  With the frustrated thoughts buzzing through her head, she almost didn’t hear the elevator doors open behind her. Good—Josh was here for an argument. She was in desperate need of someone upon which to release her aggravation. When she spun around, however, it wasn’t Josh stepping into Danny’s bedroom; it was Danny’s brother, Zach.

  Their demeanors were so incomparable that it was sometimes hard to remember they were brothers. Where Danny was confident and crass, Zach was cautious and courteous. Where Danny was compact, muscular, and athletic, Zach was tall, gangly, and awkward. Even their reactions to her presence were wildly different; upon witnessing her where she stood by the dresser, his steps out of the elevator were so slow and careful that she would have snapped at him to hurry up if she weren’t paralyzed by the sight of him, as well.

  “Is it really you?” he whispered, voice barely audible.

  Swallowing, Naretha kept her posture rigid. “Am I really so unrecognizable without my hair?”

  Zach closed his mouth, inhaling through his nostrils, and then frowned. “You’re far less sanitary than usual.”

  “That’s what happens when you’re unable to shower for two months.”

  He scratched the back of his neck but refused to move any closer. His ashy hair was abnormally disheveled today, as if he’d recently awoken from his daily nap, but other than that, he looked as neat and fresh as always, unaltered even when everything else had changed.

  “Prove to me who you are,” he finally said, eyeing her timidly.

  “Prove it? What, are you afraid I’m a shapeshifter in disguise? You want me to show you my tattoos? Are you trying to get me to remove my clothes, Zachary?”

  Every muscle in his face twitched. “It’s Zacchaeus.”

  “I know,” she said flatly, crossing her arms. “I just like to watch you squirm, which is tempting me to take off my—”

  “Don’t,” he interjected, glancing warily toward the door to the office. Naretha sobered at the thought of Danny and his possessiveness. “I should leave. I just…wanted to see that you’re actually alive.”

  “Wait,” she sighed before he could retreat to the elevator. “Where is Danny keeping the prisoner, Maddy? Her…friends are here.”

  Zach blinked, nonplussed. “Danny’s letting her go?”

  “No. I just…peeked at his computer when I was behind his desk and saw that only one of the cells was occupied—with Josh, meaning she’s not locked away anymore.”

  “She’s in…” Zach’s grayish eyes darted around uneasily. “My room…”

  Her insides curled with bitterness at his words. “Ah. Right. Eighteen-year-olds aren’t too young for you?”

  His discomfort morphed into chagrin. “Twenty-two-year-olds aren’t too young for you?”

  “That’s different—I don’t have a choice and you know it.” Zach simply snorted, and she barely contained the urge to hurl an oversized salt crystal at his head. “Tell your child-girlfriend that her friends are here, unless you’re too petty to relay information for me. They’ll want to see her.”

  24

  Different Breeds of Monsters

  After less than twenty-four hours, Maddy already felt like Zach’s bedroom was her home. She’d awoken to a tray full breakfast food waiting on the nightstand, accompanied by a stack of fiction novels and a note in an elegant scrawl that simply said, “Enjoy.” That Zach had actually succumbed to entering this side of the room—for her—was enough to bring a blush to her cheeks, even though he was nowhere in sight.

  So far, she’d learned the Wackos’ food rations were minimal, but Zach had managed to get her three whole plates—perhaps enough to make up for the malnourishment she’d suffered in that dark dungeon. After savoring the meal for a full hour, she picked up the first book atop the pile and spent the d
ay in fictional bliss.

  By the time the little window embedded in the wall darkened, Maddy took a break from reading to stretch on the floor. It was while she pressed her nose to her knee, extending her leg and trying to reach the same length with her fingertips, that Zach reentered the room. Immediately she retracted her elongated limbs, blinking up at him in embarrassment.

  “Do you know how disgusting that floor is?” he demanded, wrinkling his nose at it.

  “I—no.” She hopped to her feet and wiped off her pants. “Sorry…”

  His expression mollified, but he didn’t acknowledge her apology as he scrutinized her with those dust-colored eyes. “Your friends arrived.”

  “My—what?”

  “Your friends. Two boys and a girl.”

  “R-really? They came?” Everything around her swam in a blur. Zeela, Jamad, and Avner had traveled all the way from Periculand to wherever this hideout was to save her. Danny had told her weeks ago that they were on the way, but…she hadn’t believed him. She trusted Zach, though; the expression on his face was too honest for this to be a fabrication.

  “Yes,” he confirmed uneasily. “They’re…in the cells.”

  “Oh.” Maddy’s elation plummeted as she recalled the glass-paneled, closet-sized cubbies that had housed the Wacko, Josh, and which now housed her friends as well. “Oh…”

  Awkwardness enveloped his posture and an apologetic gleam consumed his face. He probably felt guilty for his brother’s actions, and she wanted to reassure him it wasn’t his fault, but…was he completely blameless? He’d expressed vague contempt toward Danny, but if the Wacko leader hadn’t locked him away, he obviously hadn’t argued against her friends’ imprisonment.

  “I can bring you to see them when Danny goes out,” Zach said. “It might be a few days… His trips are often sporadic.”

  “Yeah.” She coughed. “Yeah, that would be great. Thank you.”

  He eyed the bare walls, and Maddy thought he might be looking for dirt or imperfections, but then, when he spoke, she realized he was avoiding her gaze. “Which one is your boyfriend?”

  “My—oh. Oh, no. Neither.” Her words were so choppy that it didn’t sound convincing. “I—well—I used to have a crush on Jamad, with the light blue hair, but he’s too much of a flirt. And Avner’s dating Zeela…plus he’s always been too friendly for me.”

  Zach’s eyes flew to her, incredulous. “Too friendly?”

  Warmth trickled into her cheeks as she stared down at her feet. “Yeah, I guess. It would be hard to look at him romantically. He’s too open, too exposed. I prefer something…more mysterious.” She peeked up at him, expecting confusion or disdain, but his face was wrought with contemplation. “It’s probably weird—”

  “No, it’s not. I do, too.”

  Her lips curved faintly as his did. “Let me know when we can go see them.”

  “Are you hungry?” he asked before she could retreat to her bed.

  “I’m still full from breakfast; you don’t need to get me any—”

  “Well,” he interjected, clearing his throat, “there’s actually a feast up in the cafeteria…to celebrate my…brother’s girlfriend’s return.”

  “The girl that traveled back here with my friends,” Maddy recalled.

  Zach’s nod was strained. “Since you’re officially a Wacko now, you’re invited. You’ll need to behave, though. Danny has your friends; he won’t hesitate to use them against you.”

  “I know,” she assured, smirking. “Despite my history as a prisoner, I’m not much of a rebel. I know how to stay out of trouble.”

  “Good…” he said, too deep in rumination to react to her joke. “You’ll have to dress nicely. Danny likes to make a spectacle of these events.”

  Maddy glanced down at the plain sweatshirt and jeans she’d been gifted upon her release from the dungeon. “This isn’t good enough?”

  His lips did quirk now, but only briefly before his expression dimmed. “My roommate won’t care if you borrow some of her clothes.” His nose twitched at the fishnet tights sprawled on the floor. “Good luck finding something that fits your style…”

  It had become apparent to Zeela that the group of Affinities she traveled with was weak. Not physically—though, most of their muscles were atrophied—but mentally. After escaping the Reggs, the group had barely trudged through the woods for an hour when complaints halted their journey. These people were tired and they needed to rest.

  Only because Avner would have permitted it did Zeela grant their wishes and allow them to take a short break. How any of them could sleep at a time like this was beyond her. They were in the middle of a forest, where Reggs might find them at any moment, and with those high-tech suits, they must have seen this massive group of Affinities sprinting away. The Reggs would come back, and the Affinities were simply going to lie around and wait for them.

  By the time they all woke, the sun had risen, shifting the lens of Zeela’s vision into a lighter tone. At a brisk pace, she led the pack out of the forest and into the fields—the same fields they’d run through after escaping the research facility. Due to fatigue, the length of their journey this time tripled that of the previous night, and when they arrived at the ruins of the barn, her vision had returned to a darker shade, signaling the sun’s descent.

  “Well, the fire’s dead,” Charlie huffed as the group halted a few paces from where the entrance once stood.

  “And so is the barn.” Her eye scanned their surroundings, so altered since the day before. It was a miracle the fire hadn’t consumed the whole field, but judging by the small amount of withered matter, only a few feet of grass had burned around the barn. The structure itself was barely distinguishable to Zeela now, likely just a heap of ash. Her vision did detect some heat lingering among the rubble, though—embers that had yet to cool.

  Taking a few steps forward to inspect further, she said, “We’ll need to be careful with the embers and our bare feet. I’ll go first. Charlie, you follow,” she added with a glance back in his direction.

  “I’m Key Fingers,” the mass of heat said, and Zeela swore internally at her mistake. Hadn’t Charlie stood there a moment ago? With how similar everyone appeared, she would have to memorize how the bones and muscles of every person she knew differed.

  “Let’s go,” Charlie prompted. His structure was taller than that of Key Fingers, she observed, and his muscles were denser with less atrophied. She could learn people’s looks again—she would have to.

  Nodding, Zeela strode into the mound of charred debris. The mixture of ash and rubble was slightly damp beneath her feet, but it hadn’t rained. Although this struck her as odd, she continued onward, dodging the smoldering embers, while Charlie cautiously followed in her footsteps. As she moved, she searched for any hint of the staircase leading into the facility below. The earth didn’t feel hot enough for the fire to have moved underground, so when she finally did spot the opening, obscured by two massive beams of charred wood, she didn’t hesitate to approach it.

  “I’ll grab the other side,” Charlie said. After surveying the path he’d have to take to get there, Zeela dipped her chin in agreement. It took them longer than she would have liked to remove the beams, and even from a distance she heard the other Affinities starting to complain about how cold, exhausted, and unhappy they were.

  “Ignore them. They’re ungrateful,” Charlie grunted as they heaved the second beam onto the grass. The metal stairwell loomed below, likely dirtied with debris Zeela couldn’t detect. “Do you want me—”

  “No, I’ve got it.” Before her brain could convince her not to, she plunged down the stairs. The ashes were less damp here, the scent of smoke less pungent. With her X-ray and heat visions, she couldn’t perceive any traces of life on the first floor of the facility, but two definite forms lay motionless on the level beneath.

  “They’re in the experimentation room, I think,” Zeela told Charlie, her voice echoing eerily off the corridor’s walls.

>   As she slinked along, her foot hit something fleshy, and the stench that had been covered by the smoke hit her: deteriorating humans. Dead, the bodies were less noticeable in her heat vision, but she could now pick out the muscles and bones and blood of the Affinities the Reggs had shot and killed. Charlie must have noticed them a moment after, because he began gagging as they scurried through the hall, unable to avoid the corpses.

  The door at the end of the corridor was still ajar, so they hurried through it and skipped down the second stairwell, immersing themselves in the hellhole to which Zeela had hoped never to return. Though it was difficult for her to see, she discerned that the wooden door to their little dungeon was open, excreting the two dead Reggs’ decaying odors.

  “Do you want me to extract the handle from the door?” Charlie asked, voice nasally as he held his nose between two fingers.

  Zeela pushed on the metal door handle, and as Charlie had probably sensed, it was locked. Before she could give him consent to rip it off, movement sounded from within, paralyzing them.

  “H-hello?” a weak voice croaked, followed by a cough and a stronger, “Hello? Is someone out there?”

  Zeela realized then that she didn’t even know their first names, so rather awkwardly, she called, “Mr. Stark?”

  “Y-yes—yes!” he exclaimed, fiddling with the lock on the door until it opened. Even without the metal between them, the man looked the same to Zeela now as he had a moment ago: a compilation of bones and muscle that was a bit taller than Charlie, perhaps with more plaque buildup in his arteries. The hallway must have been illuminated well enough for him to absorb Zeela’s appearance—her white eye, her missing eye—because his enthusiasm rapidly dwindled.

  “Are you…”

  “Wackos?” Charlie offered. “No. Affinities, yes. We were stuck in this facility until yesterday.”