Nerve

by Kirsten Krueger

  “Is Snowman…Jamad?” Maddy interjected, carefully surveying Naretha’s reaction. Luckily, it wasn’t nearly as negative as Danny’s when he was interrupted.

  “Obviously. He should be in the next window,” she added gruffly. “It’s such a freakin’ shame he’s stuck in here. Annoying personality, yeah, but his Affinity’s useful. He froze a Regg to death when we were breaking out of that goddamn facility.”

  “He—murdered someone?”

  “God, don’t tell me you’re Team Sparky when it comes to killing Reggs.” Naretha groaned, rolling her eyes. “Blindie would be disappointed in you, Faddy.”

  “Blindie—Zeela was okay with murder?”

  “Let’s put it this way,” Naretha began as she toyed with a crystal of salt in her fingers, “if you had the chance to kill Danny, would you?”

  “I—I don’t—I don’t think I should answer that. You’ll tell Danny.”

  “I will not tell Danny. I can’t believe—” Naretha paused abruptly, her gaze slivering on Zach. “Does she not know?”

  He barely opened his mouth as he murmured, “I didn’t think it was public knowledge.”

  Lips trickling into a frown, Naretha closed her fist around her salt crystal and then aimed her scowl at Maddy. “Well, aren’t you going to check up on your precious Snowman? I heard you’re basically his girlfriend.”

  Maddy’s cheeks blazed as she inched toward the second cell, eyes darting around frantically. “Who said that?”

  “Does it matter if it’s true?”

  “It’s not…” Maddy started to say, but then her vision fell on the second prison cell, where Jamad paced, lips moving as if muttering to himself. So enthralled to see him awake and alive and moving—even if his dark skin was marred with cuts and his face had sprouted a bushy blue beard—she lunged toward the glass, throwing her hands against it to gain his attention. As expected, his pacing halted, and he whipped his icy blue eyes toward her, but they didn’t quite fixate on her, and he looked more puzzled than excited.

  “Hello?” she was certain his lips said, though she couldn’t hear a thing.

  Spinning her head toward Zach, she asked, “Can he see me? Can he hear us?”

  He bit his lip. “Well, no. The glass is a one-way mirror. He probably felt the vibration when you hit it, but he can’t see or hear anything outside of his cell. There’s a way to turn it off, I think…”

  Maddy peered back into Jamad’s cell, where he’d resumed pacing and ranting, his slow decline into insanity. “But…there’s no way to get them out right now, is there?”

  “I know the code,” Naretha said, “but I’m not dumb enough to set them free. Danny would murder all of us if we even tried.”

  Sighing, Maddy stepped away from the glass and met Zach’s rueful gaze. “Then I don’t want them to see me. I don’t want them to know…how weak I am.” Her eyes drifted to the orange swirls encasing her arms. She’d taken Danny’s bargain—became a Wacko to evade imprisonment—but judging by the fact that her friends were locked away, they hadn’t taken the bargain. They’d had the courage to rot away in these cells rather than join the terrorists.

  “Thanks for letting me see them,” Maddy said to Naretha, her words sincere, “but I think I want to leave now.”

  The dull expression on her face indicated that Naretha was unimpressed by Maddy’s gratitude and propriety. “I warned you this was a poor idea.”

  “I know,” Maddy acknowledged with one last forlorn glance at her friends, “and you were right.”

  “My love,” Danny greeted without affection when Naretha entered his office on Friday afternoon. It had taken her nearly two whole days to muster the patience to approach him. He’d returned on Wednesday night from his meeting in a piss-poor mood, and since he hadn’t shared any information with her, she couldn’t decide if it was because he’d had to kill the sponsor or if it was because the sponsor had decided to not drop them and Danny hadn’t been able to kill him. With her boyfriend’s unpredictability, Naretha knew she would have to tread very carefully when discussing this proposition with him, and she didn’t often have the tolerance for such ridiculous games.

  After Faddy had visited her beloved friends, though, Naretha knew removing them from their cells was a priority—not because she liked Maddy or even because she felt bad for the girl, but because Jamad and Avner were useful allies, and if they were forced to become Wackos, perhaps Maddy would stop clinging to Zach like a leech.

  Not that Naretha cared about the two of them spending time together, because she didn’t.

  Because she couldn’t.

  “Is something troubling you?” she inquired with as much compassion as she could summon. Even as she rounded the desk to stand by his side, Danny’s radiant eyes remained fixed ahead pensively.

  “What do you think is bothering me?” He glared up at her. “Ashna gave away our decoy Headquarters location instead of the real one. Why?”

  Naretha pressed her lips together; she’d contemplated the same issue, but the more she thought about it the less it made sense. “Knowing Ashna, it wasn’t a mistake.”

  “Nothing she does is a mistake,” he conceded, rubbing his fingers together as he ruminated. “The little bitch is taunting us.”

  It was a struggle for Naretha not to smirk, knowing it was probably true. Instead of elaborating on that subject, she asked, “Why didn’t you have Devika track her down instead of the Starks?”

  “I can’t let her take credit for tracking down Ashna. What kind of leader am I if I can’t even find a runaway child? No, I have confidence she’ll accidentally trigger her tracking mechanism soon, and when she does…”

  The explosive motion he made with his hand was unnecessary for Naretha to know his plans. For the girl’s sake, Naretha genuinely hoped that tracking device was eternally disengaged.

  “And what of your three new prisoners?” she prompted casually. “Have they given you any useful information on Periculand?”

  Danny snorted, absently shaking his head. “Haven’t even given it a thought. At this point, I’m beginning to doubt Periculy will regain power over his own town. If he had any desire to, it would have been done by now, with an Affinity like his. The man’s probably been debilitated by his own grief. With Reggs controlling the town, it’ll crumble within a matter of months. Let it die on its own.”

  After gnawing on her lip in agitation for a moment, Naretha tried again. “Jamad expressed sentiments of vengeance. His parents are Reggs, and they were the ones to betray us to the government. If we give him a chance, I know he’ll fight passionately. Avner is a stubborn little bastard, but he’s powerful. He’s got…people he cares for out in the world. After the past few days in that cell of solitude, he might take the offer of joining us if it means he’ll be able to reunite with those people eventually.”

  Stroking his chin, Danny slowly and suspiciously squinted up at her. “What about the girl?”

  Without thinking, Naretha barked out a laugh. “I barely like giving compliments when they’re true. Don’t ask me to contrive some lie about her secret value. The girl’s pathetic.”

  His lips formed a wide, manic grin. “Don’t turn me on too much with your ruthlessness, darling, or you might not be able to finish your little scheme before my mind wanders.”

  Mouth drooping, Naretha internally cursed herself for believing she could outwit this sly little psychopath. “Well, given that your mind hasn’t completely wandered yet, are you considering it?”

  “Am I considering giving the two boys a deal and allowing the pathetic girl to rot?”

  Naretha clenched her jaw, knowing how obnoxious Jamad would be if she didn’t at least try to free his pitiful pet. “She’s been through hell, and it definitely screwed with her head, but…she’s tough enough, and I bet we could harden her if anyone around here has some spare time to work on it. Still don’t have a clue what her Affinity is, but judging by the fact that her hair’s changed, she must be decent at it.”


  “And if I release them and they betray us?”

  “Do you want me to say I’ll take responsibility for it?”

  “No, no,” he assured her with a dismissive wave. “You’re much too valuable to me to be wasted. Someone will need to be punished, though, and I feel I’ve been far too lenient with Zach lately.”

  A snarl rose in Naretha’s throat, but she swallowed it, feigning indifference. “If those little twats betray us, you won’t be the only enraged one. If they take the deal and just one of them betrays us, I’ll slaughter them all. Is that fair?”

  “Fair enough,” Danny acquiesced through a dramatic sigh. “Though I do hope you won’t be too quick about their deaths.”

  If those kids were dumb enough to cross her… “I’ll be sure to make them suffer.”

  “All right, since I know someone’s gotta be listening out there, I’ll warn you in advance that this is a spoiler because I don’t want to ruin a TV show as amazing as Fate for you, but…” Jamad paused, inhaling a heavy breath. “Hillary breaks up with Todd in season four. There, I’ve said it. And I know what you’re thinking: ‘We all knew it was coming. Hillary is hot and Todd is not.’ Okay—yes, but were they not soulmates? I mean, does anyone believe in love anymore? If Hillary can’t love Todd, then Orla Belven could never love me.”

  Halting his pacing, Jamad’s eyes roved the walls of his prison cell, searching for some camera or auditory device. So far, he’d spotted neither, but he wouldn’t have cared if the entire Wacko Headquarters could hear him. Honestly, he would have preferred if someone were sitting on the other side of the mirror, eating popcorn and chortling about his incessant ramblings. At least then his existence wouldn’t feel like a complete waste.

  Surveying his appearance in the mirror—the bushy, overgrown cloud of facial hair, the way his icy blue hair puffed into an afro, the cuts and bruises marring his otherwise smooth skin, this ugly sweater he’d borrowed from that tomato-headed Wacko…

  “Okay, fine, Orla Belven could never love me no matter what,” Jamad concluded, shoulders slumping. “But, just so it’s known, she did say I’m the most attractive guy she’s ever slept with, and that makes me better than Nero and Avner. I hope you can hear me, Avner!” he added in a shout. “I hope you can hear me, and I hope you know I hate you!”

  With another sigh that sounded almost like a groan, Jamad banged his head against the glass and stared into his own eyes. This close, he could see all the white specks woven within the pale blue and a few faint remnants of the brown they’d once been.

  “Avner’s the reason I’m in here, you know. I was about to join the Wackos—and I wanted to join the Wackos—but then Avner opened his stupid, goody-goody mouth, and now I’m stuck in yet another prison. I have to shit into this tiny hole!” He threw his hand back toward the narrow tube in the concrete floor. “It’s not easy shitting into a hole that small. It takes a lot of concentration and coordination. Whoever’s watching me out there, you should have seen the ease with which I shit into that hole and said, ‘Wow, we need this guy.’”

  Removing his forehead from the mirror, Jamad shook his head at his reflection. “If Naretha were here, she’d say, ‘Yeah, Snowman, because we definitely recruit people based on how efficient their shitting techniques are.’

  “You know what, Salty—you should make that a standard by which you judge people.

  “‘Even if we did, you’d still be stuck in there,’ she’d say—with that dry, condescending tone of hers, no doubt—”

  “Mm, no doubt at all,” a dry, condescending voice sounded—the first noise other than his own ranting that had penetrated his ears in what felt like weeks.

  “Naretha?” Jamad pressed his hands and his nose to the mirror as if he could see through it. As he did, the glass began to move, sliding the mirror upward and replacing it with a transparent window that gave him a view of the corridor beyond. Other glass-paneled cells lined the wall across the hall, but between his cell and the empty ones stood Naretha, her arms folded and her appearance tidy for the first time since he’d met her.

  “Snowman,” she greeted, eyeing him dully. Her hair was much pinker and paler than he remembered, probably because it had actually been washed, and the black tank top and ripped jeans she wore made her look like a civilized person. The wound on her arm from the experimenters remained, but it appeared to be healing, and though her bones jutted out a little more than they should have, she seemed healthy and whole, which was more than Jamad could say for himself or his friends.

  “You need to get me out of here,” he hissed, his words forming condensation on the pristine glass. Her voice had sounded so close and crisp, but even though she stood mere feet away, there was more disconnecting them now than there ever had been. “C’mon, Salty. I thought we were gonna take down the Reggs together. I thought we were friends.”

  “Just because we traveled here together doesn’t make us friends, kid.”

  “I’m not sure I’m fond of how fond this boy is of you,” the Wacko leader stated as he stepped next to his girlfriend. From beneath the fabric of his burgundy t-shirt, pillars of flame, tendrils of smoke, and blasts of explosive light consumed his skin, creating a mosaic of death and destruction.

  “I’m not in love with her, man,” Jamad said, splaying his hands on the glass once more. “I just appreciate her life goals, which include getting revenge on the Reggs. I’m on the same side as you.”

  Danny’s eyebrows shot upward. “Even if our side chooses to oppose Periculand?”

  “Reggs rule Periculand—of course I’ll oppose them. I don’t care what Avner says about morals. Letting Reggs have control over us is immoral.”

  “I’m glad you think so,” Danny drawled as he took a few calculated steps toward the glass, “because we just spoke with Avner and he says he still has no interest in joining us. If we can trust that you’re no longer attached to your old friend…”

  “I’m not.” Jamad removed his hands from the glass and stood straight. “I’ve been done with Avner since the moment those asshole Reggs who tortured us stood before us and he didn’t want them dead.”

  “Good.” Pulling a remote from his pocket, Danny unlocked the cell, glass sliding upward to leave an open threshold. Just like that—just by choosing not to be a stubborn little saint like Avner—Jamad had won his freedom. “Naretha will show you your room. Wash up quick. I’d like to hold the initiation ceremony tonight.”

  “Ooh,” Jamad enthused, rubbing his hands together, “sounds exciting. Do I get to show off my Affinity?”

  Danny’s lips quirked in amusement while Naretha simply rolled her eyes.

  “All you need to worry about is what kinda tattoo you want,” she informed him, eyes flitting over the artistic depictions woven into Danny’s skin. “I’m thinking a snowman right on your forehead, carrot nose and all.”

  “Oh, yeah, that’s sure to strike fear into the hearts of our enemies,” Jamad droned. “Hey—did…did Meredith refuse your offer too?”

  Gaze cutting to the left, Naretha said, “We were going to let that be your decision, actually. Do you want to babysit, or do you want to leave her safely in her crib?”

  Jamad followed her line of vision to the cell beside his. Beyond the wall of glass, Meredith was curled in the far left corner, knees pressed against her chest and bright magenta eyes staring lifelessly at the one-way mirror. After years in that research facility, she probably looked like a stranger to herself. Perhaps it would have been better to leave her in there; though Jamad had a soft spot for her, the girl was clearly deranged, and she would be more of a liability than a help when fighting the Reggs. The thought of her alone in that cell, though…

  “Do babysitters get a salary around here, or…”

  “You get rewarded with your own internal satisfaction over what a wonderful person you are,” Naretha assured him with a tight, sassy smirk.

  Jamad shrugged. “I’ll take it.”

  By pressing a few buttons on h
is remote, Danny unlocked Meredith’s cell, the glass sliding down instead of up this time. As it disappeared, the girl blinked and unfurled her legs, staggering to her feet. So weak from years of atrophy, her knees bent inward and her shoulders hunched forward as she crept out of her cell.

  “Welcome to the Wackos,” Naretha congratulated without any sort of celebratory glee.

  “I-I’m free?” Meredith stuttered, her wide eyes darting from Naretha to Jamad and then, with a hint of trepidation, to Danny.

  “Yeah,” Jamad said, gently patting her bony shoulder. “We’re free—and we’re gonna make sure the Reggs never treat anyone else the way they treated you.”

  For the first time since he’d met her, a smile broke across her face, and rather unexpectedly, she lunged at him in a hug, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder. Naretha snickered mutely to herself, but Jamad shot her a wordless glare as he returned Meredith’s gesture. Maybe his parents thought him some vile disgrace, but to this girl he was a savior.

  “I feel…very great,” Meredith said once she finally pulled away.

  “Well, you smell really bad,” Jamad commented, at which Naretha audibly snorted. “No offense… I think we both literally smell like human feces.”

  Meredith nodded in agreement, a small, shy smile lingering on her lips.

  “Which room should I bring them to?” Naretha asked Danny.

  “208,” he called back as he sauntered out of the dungeon corridor.

  Pure indignation morphed Naretha’s features as she glowered after him. “That’s Cath’s room.”

  “That was Cath’s room,” Danny corrected, disappearing into his office only after gifting her with a smug grin.

  Visibly seething, Naretha stalked after him, vaguely beckoning for Jamad and Meredith to follow. With her newfound freedom, Meredith’s confidence had swelled, and her gait was much less feeble as they trekked through the corridor. Jamad hadn’t given much thought to where Avner’s cell might have been, so when they reached the one closest to the exit and he caught sight of his old friend, he had to force himself to keep moving—not to loiter and dredge up sentiments of regret. Avner had damned himself, and Jamad refused to be needlessly dragged down with him.