by Holly Hook
We had to put both agents in Mack's trunk, which thankfully was rusty and had an air hole near the lock. I apologized again and the woman went into hysterics when we closed the lid. I wanted to get away from here and away from the sound. I felt no better as a fake Normal than I did as my usual self.
But, the world.
It came first.
Since I had driven and gotten some experience, I hopped into the van and started it up. It still had a half tank of gas. I blinked in the coming sunlight and prayed that Mack's rite had eliminated everything about me being Abnormal for the next three hours. It was our only hope of even making it to the bunker.
And then we needed a cover story. We'd think of that on the way.
Xavier got inside and I figured out how to back the van up after a couple of tries.
And then we were off.
Chapter Twelve
The sun peeked over the horizon.
And for the first time since I was two years old, no headache exploded in between my temples, even though it was glaring at the side of my face as I drove back to Cumberland.
The sun was warm, red and bright, but not unbearably so. Xavier watched me as I drove and I had to remind myself that it was him there and not a real ATC agent. I rolled my window down, letting the rest of the broken glass rain onto the expressway. It looked like we were just trying to enjoy the breeze now. A few people stared at us as they passed us on the left, but they weren't the suspicious stares that we had gotten before. To them, we fit in and our fellow drivers might be wondering what prisoners we had in tow. These commuters might even be looking for the missing van with the teenagers driving it. As far as they knew, we weren't it.
Cumberland loomed larger. We had already been on the road for about thirty minutes and the traffic was slowing with commuters trying to get to their jobs on time. We slowed and I gripped the steering wheel. I still had the same impatience and aggression as before. Inside, I was still the same Alyssa. I just didn't have access to any of my Abnormal powers.
Or weaknesses, for that matter.
"How are you feeling?" Xavier asked in that male agent's voice. It was so weird and I had to remind myself that it was him with the neat haircut and the mustache.
"I'm okay," I said as a tear slipped down my face.
I was in the sun and not in agony.
Full daylight was beautiful. Sure, I had been out in the daytime before, but on cloudy days that made most Normals want to hide in their beds and sleep. Even on cloudy days, headaches happened. Weakness happened. Even on those days, I shuffled around, not looking at anything so I could avoid hurting my eyes.
Now I could see everything that the sun illuminated.
The skyscrapers of Cumberland glittered with fiery light. Clouds had turned pink and orange and every shade in between and if I squinted, there was another tower of pink light rising from the sun, barely visible on the clouds that it illuminated. I hadn't realized there were so many effects the sun could cast on the sky.
And for a while, I was free to enjoy all of them.
"You're in tears," Xavier said. Even though his voice was different, the concern was still there.
"That's because I've never had the chance to do this before."
"Watch a sunrise?"
"I've sort of seen them, but I've never really seen one, you know?"
We drove in silence as traffic picked up, then slowed again. I wasn't enjoying the traffic jam part of the morning but at least we were getting fewer stares the closer we got to the city. ATC vans were more common here. We had just a couple of miles before we reached the exit that would take us to the old neighborhood and the bunker. I wiped away my tears, feeling stupid that I had reacted this way to something Xavier must have seen a thousand times. I sat up all the way in my seat as we waited for the traffic to move forward.
Tension set in.
We must have a little over two hours left to infiltrate the bunker and get our people out of there...and that was if they weren't inside a portal. Just in case they were, I had a vial of demon blood in my pocket. If we got searched and questioned by the ATC, I had an excuse ready. We had found it on the girl that we shot. And as for why we didn't have the bodies, it was because she ran off into the countryside, carrying the boy. We felt unsafe out there in the dark so we decided to come back to the base. Our captors had even destroyed our radio and taken our phones, leaving us unable to call for help.
I really, really hoped that Death was nearby and I could ask her this one favor, or we'd be doing more missions like this.
The exit came up and in silence, I turned off. The air smelled of dew but nothing else. I could no longer smell Xavier's fear, even though he was grabbing onto the armrest in his vote of confidence. I drove through the old subdivision. There were no police and the party house had vacated, probably because they had been here earlier. The search had moved on to another area.
The authorities would still be searching for their missing agents, who were about to turn up.
My stomach heaved with nerves as I drove closer to the bunker area. It took me a while to find the road that turned off with this duller Normal vision, so I drove at a crawl and turned down the narrow drive. I hated how details were no longer obvious to me, but Mack had made our disguises as convincing as he could. I hoped that the spirits he had called upon--whatever they were--had some mercy on us and didn't drop our disguises early.
I didn't even have my sword. I had left it with Mack. All I had was the taser and a gun with limited rounds. If I had it with me, it would bring us too much suspicion, even if I said I plucked it away from the girl we shot.
We drove for what felt like forever through the trees. At last, the forest cleared and I noticed the low form of a gray building ahead. I was still seeing with full Normal vision. That was a good sign. I couldn't stop the waves of nervousness going through me. So this was how Normals felt tension. I'd remember this for the rest of my life.
There were no vans in front of the bunker. I drove up to the closed, chain link gate and stopped. There was a guard shack right there and an ATC agent sitting inside. He didn't give us a second glance at first, but then the guy snapped his gaze to me and Xavier and his mouth fell open.
"Agent Sanders. Agent Ernest," he breathed. "Are you all right? We all thought the worst."
"Yes, sir," I said in Sanders's voice. "We have a story for you."
"Do you have any patients?" the man asked. His name tag read Peters. That was easy to remember.
"The patients have...escaped," Xavier said. "The two of us have had a very long night."
"I can imagine," Peters said. There was still some suspicion in his voice. "May I inspect the patient carriage?"
"Of course," I said. "We wouldn't want to have any Abnormals sneaking in here, would we?"
Peters got out of his guard shack, radio at the ready. He evidently didn't have a sense of humor. Something beeped and he unlocked the back door. He climbed in, said something into his radio, and climbed back out. I wished I could hear what it was. Despite the beautiful sunrise, I already missed my supernatural hearing.
The doors closed and Peters appeared at my window. "Did you obtain any bites or have any exposure to magic?"
I got the story ready. "No, sir. The Abnormals attacked out of nowhere. They broke our windows and threw us into the back of the van. There was a girl and a boy. Then they drove us out of the city. We heard the police sirens and the van turned several times. They must have driven for thirty or forty minutes with us. When they opened the doors and ordered us out, we were in a field, not far from a farm. I still had my gun. I managed to get a shot off on the girl. She grabbed the boy and they ran into the wilderness. Ernest and I attempted to follow, but the girl moved at an inhuman pace."
"What did she look like?" Peters asked. He was very close to me. So close, in fact, that he'd notice the moment this glamour started to slip away.
"She had black hair, sir. She must have stood a little over five feet tall
and she carried a sword."
"Then you are lucky to be alive," Peters said. "I believe you had an encounter with Alyssa Choy. You'll need to report this to Don."
"I was afraid of that," I said. So I was feared in the ATC. Of course. I had escaped them numerous times and broken into the headquarters twice. Now I was about to make my third, and probably my most dangerous, break-in. "Yes. I want to speak to him right now."
"Are you certain you haven't obtained any bites or fallen under magic?"
"We're certain, sir," Xavier said with a professional nod. He was good at this acting thing.
Peters waved us through. "We're glad to see you back," he said. "Be ready for the protocol. I'll spread the good news."
I drove through and parked the van on the side of the bunker, where about a dozen others were parked now. It looked like the ATC was done hauling people out of the Underground for now. I hoped that some had managed to escape. One thing was for certain: the number of free Abnormals in Cumberland was a lot lower than it had been when Xavier first introduced me to this world. Thoreau wouldn't have much resistance at all when it came time to merge the worlds. I still wondered how exactly he planned on it.
If all went well, it wouldn't go that far.
We got out of the van and stood there for a second, not sure what to do. Even with Normal vision, I knew that the entrance at the front of the bunker wasn't an employee entrance. But I was also aware of Peters out in the guard booth. I wondered if he was calling the rest of the ATC to let them know of our safe return. The news might follow, wanting interviews with the heroic agents who had survived horror. We had to hurry. I didn't need to say anything for Xavier to know. I took his arm and looked around, at last finding a door on the side of the building that read AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
It was unlocked. It was an employee door, of course, but right inside was another closed door, a steel one with a scanner hanging next to it for fingerprints. Xavier and I were able to get the scanner to unlock the door with no problem. This glamour was good. Mack's spirits had done a great job, recreating every detail of these agents.
"This is easy," Xavier whispered. "I wonder if there are magical wards."
"They shouldn't detect us." The ATC headquarters had them just inside the doors, designed to go off whenever an Abnormal who wasn't Bound to Thoreau entered the place. It had doomed Xavier's parents and everyone else who had gone in to assassinate Thoreau so long ago. That, and Allunna hadn't had a problem betraying them all, giving them bad directions that led to their capture.
I sniffed the air, but there was no scent except for faint brewing coffee. My supernatural sense of smell was gone for now. I would have to rely on these dull senses.
For the first time, I felt helpless.
I opened the scanner door and we entered a narrow room with twin glass walls. Xavier and I stepped inside and I realized the glass was frosted. I couldn't see who was behind it on either side, though I knew that my regular vision would have allowed me to.
"Remain still," a voice said over an intercom.
Xavier and I did so. A second later, beams of orange light swept over us. They were scanning. Checking us out. I tensed and remembered the vial of demon blood in my pocket. It was corked and airtight but I wasn't sure if the scanner would pick it up or even what it was scanning for.
"Congratulations," the bored guy said over the speaker as if he had done this a million times before. "Neither one of you are infected with lycanthropy or vampirism. You may proceed."
"Thanks," Xavier shouted, waving at the glass and managing a smile.
They sure had good security around here. Without this strong glamour, neither one of us would have made it inside. I wondered how much time we had left.
Another set of doors opened onto an office with a half dozen people sitting at computers. We stepped through and a woman sitting at the nearest computer turned to look at us. Her mouth bloomed into a smile and she shot off her chair, hugging me.
"Sanders!" she squealed. "You're safe!"
I hugged her back. I could smell her perfume. Her name tag told me that her name was Cristoff. She must be only in her mid twenties. "I'm glad to see you again," I said, sounding stupid.
"I thought the worst," she said, full of emotion. One of her huge striped earrings was in my face. She was shaking. Little did she know that her real friend was lying in the trunk of Mack's car, scared out of her wits. "We have to do lunch as soon as you're rested." She let go of me. I glimpsed her computer. It was a prisoner log, complete with a list of names and cell numbers. I searched for Thorne's name but I couldn't find it. Trish, either.
"We definitely do," I said. "Which place?" Even with Normal senses I could feel every gaze in the room on me. The office was just a few cubicles but people were leaning over them for a peek of us.
"Oh, that Italian one we tried last time sounds good," Cristoff said. "I'll ask your brother if he wants to come. Heck, your whole family. We can have a big celebration!"
"That sounds good," I said. This was what it was like to have a Normal family. It was something I'd never have for real. This whole glamour was turning out to be an unexpected torture. I was getting a tour of a life I could never have.
I would never see another sunrise or have dinner with a family, even if I got Dad out of the Infernal.
Cristoff's phone rang and she turned away from me. I struggled to breathe again. I didn't even have my amazing breath-holding ability right now.
Xavier nodded to me and looked at another door on the other side of the room, which had another fingerprint pad on it. A sign next to the door read that it led to the prison cells (RESTRICTED ACCESS) and the supervisor's office. Don. We had to head that way and go talk to the guy according to protocol. I had the feeling I'd be talking to the guy with the taser. I'd never forget the agony of having ten thousand volts rip through my body while the public looked on.
"Sure thing," Cristoff said, finishing her phone conversation and hanging up. She stood. "Everyone. Thoreau will be arriving to meet with our heroes in a few minutes, so look busy."
Xavier and I eyed each other again. "I don't know if we're heroes," he said.
"Come on," Cristoff said. "You are heroes. Peters just called and told us what happened."
"Ernest and I need to do protocol," I told Cristoff, flashing her a smile and pretending that the thought of Thoreau being here didn't unnerve me to the extreme. "I'll catch up with you later. I'm looking forward to the party."
Cristoff waved to me with a smile. "You might want to wait for Thoreau to finish his visit to go file your report."
"I agree," Xavier said. "It's not that I love paperwork."
"Good luck with getting to Don," Cristoff said. "I can't believe how much the mayor has been here in the past couple of days. I swear, this is his second home."
"Maybe he's hoping to catch Alyssa Choy," I said. I eyed the door behind me and wondered if Thoreau would have to go through the same scan. How did he pass it every time if he was a demon? Maybe he had a great glamour of his own.
"That's my theory," Cristoff said. "He wants to be the mayor who captured all the scariest Abnormals out there. All politicians are about image. He thinks it will help him run for President." Judging from her tone, she wasn't a big fan of the guy.
It was awful, waiting for the mayor. About six or seven minutes passed, according to the clock on the wall. People kept typing and Xavier and I wandered over to the coffee machine because there wasn't anything else to do but wait. We were stuck. We were wasting so much time but we couldn't risk rushing into Don's office with Thoreau ready to pop in at any second. So I sipped some hot coffee, wondering if it would affect me after the glamour wore off. To my shock, I didn't gag on it, even if the taste was bitter. Mack's rite had pretty much made me Normal for a few hours.
Xavier did a lot better. He was an experienced coffee drinker. He had to be in order to keep up with my night schedule. He had finished half of his cup when the door to the scanning area
opened and Thoreau appeared, smiling and wearing a black suit that fit him perfectly. His sunglasses hid his eyes.
Everyone in the cubicles turned to face him. Cristoff waved to him with caution as if she knew something was seriously wrong with the guy.
"Hello, once again," Thoreau said to everyone. He didn't give Xavier and I a second glance. "I've heard the good news that our two agents have been returned safely to us." He smiled again and turned to Xavier and me. "I've ordered the entire office food to celebrate and will be having breakfast catered very shortly. In fact, it's on its way."
I couldn't help but tense but I forced myself to smile. "That's so sweet of you," I said. Having food catered was something Thoreau did not do for people and it immediately turned on my alarms. I thought of his own employees working ungodly hours and the fact that he hadn't cared about his assistant getting slashed with my sword. He was close to merging the worlds and would be needing the ATC less and less. They'd be sacrificed in the end just like everyone else. Why treat them nice?
Thoreau reached out and I realized he wanted to shake my hand. I did the hardest thing and took it. He kept my now-Normal hand in a tight grip and shook it vigorously. In this body, Thoreau seemed so much stronger, like he could toss me across the room if he wanted. I wanted to go for my taser but I held back.
He shook Xavier's hand, too. There was no sign that he recognized us. "Come with me," he said. "I want to hear the story of how the two of you escaped from what may have been our most dangerous fugitive in Cumberland. I want to learn of her possible whereabouts."
Thoreau turned away and I knew we were supposed to follow.
This was not what I wanted.
The scanner door behind us opened again, this time for a guy who had a stack of metal trays in his arms. Breakfast. My stomach growled with actual hunger and not blood lust.
Xavier and I had no choice but to trail behind the mayor. He walked towards the restricted area door and placed his finger on the pad. The door unlocked. Xavier and I left the smell of sausage and pancakes behind. I took one final glance at the office, at the people rising to take advantage of the free meal. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off here.
