Jamad pulled his shirt over his head and ignored her comment, but she knew by the annoyance in those icy eyes that the truth of her words grated on his pride.
“Wha… What’s happening?” Meredith’s timid voice piped up as she yawned into an upright position. Her magenta hair was the brightest object in this room, and in her four days out of confinement, her bony structure had managed to retain a little substance.
“Don’t bother getting up,” Naretha snapped, jolting the frail girl. “This doesn’t involve you.”
“We’re just going out for a bit, Mer,” Jamad assured as he buckled his belt. “Go back to sleep.”
“It appears you’ve adjusted to the babysitting role well, kid.” With a condescending smirk, Naretha chucked a sleek black watch at him. “For communication purposes during the battle. We all have one.”
Maddy waited a full minute, watching Jamad admire his new tech, before she said, “Don’t I get one?”
“No.” Naretha looked right through her as she marched out of the room. “Because you’re not coming.”
“Not—” Maddy spluttered, shaking her head as she followed Naretha down the hall. “But I—Why?”
“Yeah, why?” Jamad echoed, as he jogged to catch up with them.
After punching the elevator button, Naretha pivoted toward them. “One, Faddy hasn’t been trained. We don’t let recruits go to battle until they’ve been trained for at least a month, and as far as I’m aware, her training hasn’t even begun.” Her accusatory gaze rested on Zach where he idled uncomfortably at Maddy’s side. “Two, Faddy might be ‘one of us,’ but she’s still loyal to Periculand. We don’t need her double-crossing us in the middle of a fight.”
“I’m in the same situation as Mads,” Jamad defended. “I’m from Periculand, and I haven’t been trained here. Why let me come and not her?”
“Because I cleared you for battle. I’ve seen your abilities in action over the past month; I know you’re ready, and I know we need you. Plus, you aren’t deceptive enough to dupe us. She is. Now, let’s go before Danny blows us into oblivion.”
As the elevator doors parted, Jamad gave Maddy an apologetic wince. “I’ll bring you back some Starbursts, I promise.”
Maddy pressed her lips together, containing the anger swelling in her throat. “If they’re not orange, I won’t forgive you.”
Mock gasping, Jamad placed an offended hand on his chest. “Are you not my best friend? Of course they’ll be orange. Tell Mer I’ll get her some pink ones. That should keep her calm.”
“Keep her—” Maddy cut herself short and gaped at the three of them as they entered the elevator. Naretha’s expression was bland, Jamad’s was hopeful, and Zach’s was unreadable, even after all the time she’d spent in his presence the past few weeks. “Are you expecting me to babysit Meredith while you’re gone?”
“Can’t hear you,” Jamad called before the elevator doors blocked him from sight.
Puffing out a sigh, Maddy rubbed her forehead and then trudged back into room 208. Meredith was out of bed now, examining the swollen, sutured wound on her abdomen. Jamad claimed the girl didn’t remember how the injury had happened, but even if she did, Maddy wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Simply looking at it made her queasy.
“Put on a shirt,” Maddy commanded, grabbing a stray, rosy pink backpack from the floor and slinging it over her shoulder. “Just because we aren’t allowed to leave the complex doesn’t mean we can’t eat.”
Having three much younger siblings, Maddy was accustomed to dealing with slow, difficult children, but Meredith’s pace still managed to test her patience. By the time the girl had picked out a white blouse and put it on, at least ten minutes had passed, and the corridor was now packed with Affinities.
All adorning black leather, the Wackos were too distracted by their own various tasks and duties to notice Maddy and Meredith slip into the elevator and ascend one floor to the cafeteria. The grand room was desolate at this time of night, especially with everyone preparing for departure. Since the feast, Maddy had been up here a few times, but sitting at these plain gray tables was much less satisfying than eating, chatting, and laughing in Periculand’s cafeteria. Without Avner and Zeela, she felt so empty. Perhaps if they’d been here with her, she wouldn’t mind being a Wacko.
Padding to the nearest kitchenette, Maddy dispelled that notion from her mind. These terrorists—who had tortured her and murdered innocents—were now heading for her old home. The school’s cafeteria would soon be rubble, the students would be ash, and Jamad would participate in the destruction.
As Maddy scavenged through the cabinets, discreetly storing canned goods in her pink bag, Meredith studied the dark countertop, running her fingers over the glossy granite.
“My old house had counters like these,” the girl stated absently. “Mom used to make cookie dough on them.”
Biting her lip, Maddy slowly lowered a can of peaches into her backpack. “That must have been nice.”
“It was. My sister and I would always help her. Until the researchers killed my mom—and my sister—and my dad.” Her ghostly, ominous eyes slid in Maddy’s direction. “I was fifteen when they took me. It’s hard sometimes to remember my life before…but this reminds me.” She smiled lovingly at the counter, and Maddy found herself petrified, unable to smuggle more food.
“I…have a sister, too,” she said quietly after a few moments of silence. “Cintia. She’s eight years old now. I haven’t talked to her in months because of…” She gestured half-heartedly toward the walls, this hideout, her prison. “It’s not the same as your situation, but…sometimes I feel like she’s gone, even though she’s not dead. To her, I’m dead.” Sighing, she stared down at her arms, the tattoos concealed by the dark leather. “C’mon, we should get back.”
“Aren’t we going to eat?” Meredith asked, trailing after Maddy as she started toward the elevator. No one had entered the cafeteria yet, but the last thing she needed was to run into one of the Wackos while carrying a backpack of their precious food.
“We are once we get to your room,” Maddy assured her as they stepped into the empty elevator. Once Meredith joined her, she pressed the button for the third floor with a shaky finger. As soon as the doors opened, it would be a quick walk through the hall to the opposite elevator—the elevator she would take down to Danny’s office, the only means by which she could access the prison cells.
The worst way this plan could have failed would’ve been if she hadn’t wasted enough time in the cafeteria, meaning Danny and his closest, strongest allies were still in his office. She was so busy fretting about all the ways they’d kill her that she hadn’t considered the plan might fail five steps before she even reached her goal—that someone might intercept their elevator ride by beckoning for it to stop on the second floor.
Maddy braced for an onslaught of hostile Wackos when the silver doors glided open. Meredith would be useless in a fight, and if there were more than four, she wouldn’t stand a—
“Zach?” she breathed the moment the doors parted to reveal his lanky form, waiting alone. Where there had been Affinities hustling and clamoring fifteen minutes before, there was now a deserted hallway, so quiet her voice bounced off the walls when she managed an awkward, “Hi.”
“Hi,” he huffed as if he’d just finished running. “I—checked the room for you… Where did you…” His dusty eyes landed on the backpack hanging over her shoulders. “Are you leaving?”
Lying had never been one of Maddy’s strongest qualities, so with a grimace, she said, “I…have to. Avner’s a prisoner. He came all this way to save me; now I need to save him. I don’t belong here anyway, and…I don’t want to be here.”
She’d thought that would offend him, but his expression didn’t change as he stared down at her, stern and unyielding.
“I’m…breaking out of here,” she said with such calmness that her next movement almost surprised herself; swift enough that Zach didn’t have time to flinch,
Maddy threw one of her arms toward him, extending it to an unnatural length and wrapping it around his neck with the flexibility of a rope. “And you’re going to help me.”
The silent threat was suspended in the air, slowly gnawing away whatever trust and fondness had accumulated between them. When he glanced at her arm, though, there wasn’t any apprehension there, just his typical dry emotionlessness.
“You don’t have to threaten me, you know,” he said, scrunching his nose. “And I would prefer it if you removed your flesh from mine, please.”
Perplexed, Maddy slowly retracted her arm. “You—you want to help me?”
With a snort, Zach wiped his sleeve over his germ-infected neck. “Well, I definitely don’t want to help Danny. He’s being a prick down in his office. I’ll…” Eyes darting around, he lowered his voice. “I’ll help you escape. There’s a secret hatch that leads into the cells in case of emergency. I…didn’t want to use it to visit your friends last week because I didn’t want Danny to find out I know about it. Now it seems he’s too preoccupied to notice.”
“You’ll really do that?” she whispered, too shocked to raise her volume.
“Yes.” He stepped into the elevator and willingly positioned himself closer to her than he ever had before. Even through the leather, she felt the heat of his body beside hers, his fresh scent permeating her nostrils. “Danny and his horde have already departed, but some have remained behind to watch over the complex, so we’ll have to be stealthy. You can be our lookout,” he added to Meredith, who perked up with the attention.
“Oh…okay.” She smiled softly to herself. “I’ve never been given a job like that before. What am I looking out for?”
“Anything that moves,” Zach said as the elevator doors parted once more. They’d descended to the third floor, as Maddy had originally intended, and this dormitory corridor was as vacant as the one above. Marching through it purposefully, Zach paused at the door labeled 318 and tapped his forearm in the same way Naretha had earlier.
“Is there technology in your suit?” Maddy asked as the door swung inward. The dormitory within was bare except for one bed on either side; even the sheets were plain white, impersonal and unused. An inconspicuous gray rug was draped over the floor, and as expected, when Zach pulled it back, a flat, metal hatch lay beneath.
“Someone with a tech Affinity rigged this whole complex after my father died,” Zach explained, crouching to tamper with the door. “My father hated electronics, but… Danny enjoys the power. Only a select few can access every room: me, him, and Naretha.”
“He…trusts you, then,” Maddy concluded as Zach finally pried the door open. It flopped over, revealing a hole into one of the cells.
“He may find me pathetic and annoying,” Zach said, unlatching a flimsy ladder that unraveled down into the cell, “but I am still his older brother. He harbors some respect for me. We were friends once, and…I think that no matter how evil he becomes, he’ll always subconsciously strive for my approval. Plus, he knows some people here would have rather seen me take over than him.”
“Really?” Maddy’s voice echoed down the hole as Zach descended the ladder. “And they’re not…dead?”
“The problem,” he grunted as he landed on the floor below, “is that he doesn’t know who they are or how many there are. As long as those facts remain unknown, I should be safe…. All clear down here.”
With a nod at Meredith, Maddy inched into the hole and gripped the wooden rungs. Once only a few feet above the ground, she dropped into a flawless landing, her boots inches away from the tiny opening prisoners were subjected to excrete in.
“All right, let’s be quick,” Zach muttered as the cell’s mirror slid downward, permitting them access to the dungeon corridor.
Suppressing a shudder at her former chamber, she followed Zach until they reached the opposite end of the hall, where Avner resided. He was awake today, indolently picking his fingernails as he stared at the wall. Seeing him in this tattered state tugged at her heart with sorrow, sympathy, and spite. He’d chosen this fate, but he’d also sacrificed his life to try to save her, and for that she owed him freedom.
Avner’s expression didn’t change as the glass wall sunk into the floor. It wasn’t until he could fully see the outside corridor that his yellow eyes widened and he staggered to his feet.
“Mads?” he croaked.
“Avner,” she rasped as he tripped through the dirty cell to meet her. Even though his stench was as rancid as a sewer, she didn’t hesitate to envelop his withered body in an embrace. He wore soiled pajamas and his stubbly hair was the color of puke and a pathetically patchy beard coated his face—but he was alive, and soon he would be safe.
“I’m so sorry,” Maddy choked, retreating to survey his appearance. “I have some clothes you can change—”
“Later,” Zach interjected, earning Avner’s attention for the first time.
The two of them surveyed each other for a few painfully uneasy seconds before Avner said through a gruff voice, “Danny’s brother.”
Maddy’s head whipped frantically between them. “You’ve —met?”
“No, but they look exactly alike. Don’t you see it?”
“N-no—”
“Zacchaeus, right? Angor mentioned your name to me once.” Avner extended his hand for a shake. “Nice to meet you.”
Zach’s chin wrinkled, his throat emitting a repulsed, gurgling noise, but he did manage to briefly tap Avner’s filthy hand before hastily retreating down the hall. “Let’s go.”
“He’s…friendly,” Avner mumbled to Maddy, clinging close to her side. Clearly he was attempting to hide his atrophy, but she saw how strained his movements were, how his face twitched in agony every few seconds.
“He thinks you’re gross. It’s nothing personal.”
“Well, I do feel pretty disgusting.” Avner cringed at his own grunge. “Hey—where’s Jamad?” he added, peeking around at the empty cells. “Did you free him already?”
“No…” Maddy avoided Avner’s bright, inquisitive eyes as she led him into that last cell on the left. “He took Danny’s deal, Av. I’m sorry.”
He halted his strides, eyebrows creasing. “Danny’s deal?”
“He…offered to let you guys become Wackos,” Maddy reminded him, trying not to panic at the prospect that his brain might have degenerated.
“Yeah…and Jamad and I both refused,” Avner said as Zach ascended the ladder. “That’s why Danny threw us in those cells…”
Zach disappeared through the hole, but Maddy was too paralyzed to move toward the ladder. “Danny…didn’t come to your cell a few days ago and offer to free you?”
“No,” Avner answered with enough clarity that she knew he wasn’t confused. “I’m assuming he did present Jamad with that offer, though.”
“Get up here,” Zach hissed from above, his face nearly indistinguishable.
Befuddled, Avner stumbled toward the ladder to climb the rungs. Maddy was too infuriated to watch him. Danny had lied—and Naretha had lied. They hadn’t given him a choice. It was impossible to say how he might have responded to the proposition, but he hadn’t even been given the opportunity to—
A yelp broke her out of her piqued thoughts as Avner plummeted to the ground. In his weak state of decay, he hadn’t made it very far up the ladder, but the sound of him hitting the concrete was still loud and unpleasant. Dazed, he attempted to stand, readily taking Maddy’s hand when she reached for him.
“I’ll—”
“No, don’t try again,” Maddy said before he could groggily fumble for the ladder. He shot her a quizzical look that she ignored as she squatted and then sprung into the air.
The leather outfit she wore didn’t elongate with her limbs, but thankfully, it didn’t inhibit her from reaching the hole in the ceiling. After hooking her fingers around the ledge, she pulled up with enough force that her rubbery limbs propelled her through the opening. Scrambling back in alarm, Zach moved just i
n time for her to shorten her limbs to a normal length and land lithely in the dorm room.
Without wasting a second, Maddy flattened onto her stomach and peered down through the hole at Avner as he squinted up at her. After stretching her arms again, she wrapped them securely around his waist and then, groaning, used her strength and her Affinity to slowly hoist him upward. He gripped her arms to remain upright while Zach held her legs to prevent her from falling. By the time Avner had joined them in the room, Maddy was panting, her limbs tangled between both boys.
“Thanks—Mads,” he coughed, rubbing his ribs. “Where—Meredith?” he blurted the moment his eyes fell on her.
Sprawled against the door as if actively preventing someone from barging in, Meredith’s frenzied gaze locked onto Avner and she smiled. “I’m the lookout.”
He nodded, returning her expression. “I see that. So, where do we go now?”
“We can’t take the elevator up to the cabin,” Zach said as he pulled up the ladder and sealed the hatch. Maddy gradually retracted her arms and legs, massaging them gently as they ached with soreness. “There will be too many witnesses. In the weapons room there’s a staircase that leads up to the cabin’s basement. You should be able to sneak out through there.”
“You’re…not coming?” Maddy questioned. “You’re staying here?”
“I have to. Danny might be crazy, but…not all of the Wackos are bad. I need to make sure this organization doesn’t ruin them—and the world.”
Maddy gnawed on the inside of her cheek but couldn’t come up with a counterargument. His father had built the Wackos, albeit they’d gone by another name back then. She understood how Zach would view the organization as his responsibility, even though he wasn’t the rightful leader.
As they exited room 318 and took the elevator up to the cafeteria, Maddy and Avner both moved sluggishly, her muscles fatigued and his muscles deteriorated. Zach propped her up whenever she needed it, carefully avoiding her skin and only making contact with her clothes, while Meredith, though as weak as Avner, held his hand in encouragement whenever his body threatened to collapse.
Nerve Page 52
