by C. C. Lynch
“But you’re British.” I pointed to him wondering why he would have met my father at Valdor Academy.
“And because of that, I’m not entitled to a proper education?” He smirked and folded his hands.
“That’s not what I meant.” I exhaled, annoyed. I took a seat on one of the beds in the room while keeping an eye on Luther. Even though I mostly trusted the man, I could not be too safe, especially after finding out he was a replicator.
“I know what you meant, love. I was in my first year of university when your father was in his last. I was on holiday with my mates visiting New York City when I was scouted by a professor. I moved to the United States three weeks later.”
I had hoped that his story would bridge into how he somehow became involved with the maleficent group of individuals that he was a main player for. “And how did you get involved with Jeremiah?”
“That is a long story.” He stood up and began looking through the packs of food in my backpack before choosing a plastic container of peaches. “We’ll have time for that later. But right now,” he tilted the food as an offer to me then pulled it back when I declined, “I’m going to enjoy my victory peaches.”
“By all means,” I lay back and rested an arm over my eyes. While I had too much anxiety to completely relax, my muscles ached with exhaustion.
As the group returned there was a palpable uneasiness in the room. Curtis had rejoined the group with an envelope in his hands. The eyes of the room turned to the two grown men, but I was the first to speak. “Okay,” I addressed Luther, “time for our lesson on all things tree house.”
12
Luther’s words bit deep as we learned the details of the infiltration that Replyx had in each academy. He had his suspicions of Osiris that had been confirmed by a more in depth altercation Vlaine had with his father after I left. There were professors in each academy that worked tightly with Jeremiah. Replyx had been created while Jeremiah was still working at Hagan Think Tank. Erik’s father, Beatrice, Slade, and two other people that I had not met were involved from the start. Luther only came into the picture when he had been recruited by Erik’s father, Ivan. Luther’s destructive tendencies had been seen as an asset. Somehow he had remained friends with Curtis, but kept up with Jeremiah’s good graces as a particularly notorious henchman.
The idea that Beatrice had been part of the birth of Replyx was something I could not comprehend. It was not until Luther explained that she was in love with Jeremiah at the beginning of everything that I understood. There were many things that a woman was capable of doing but breaking free from a man you loved was undoubtedly the most difficult. When the true intentions of their tree house began to unravel, so did her compliance. Of course, being part of the organization from the beginning meant that she knew too much and had to be kept in line by the goons of the very group she had helped to create.
A list of the people Luther knew for certain were infiltrators had been written onto pieces of paper, the network of spies flowing like dendrites. The worst was finding out that the people who “failed” out of the academies were predetermined to get kicked out and were sent to be broken and tested. Their fate fell to being a lab rat or working at Replyx either as a scientist or a goon at the tree house. Suddenly the freshman horror stories were no longer a product of fiction, but most likely stemmed from an actual account that some intelligent or brave person who began to tell people that failing out of the academy was something that would ultimately lead to their demise.
My mind raced to the thought of Will. He had “gotten the boot” from Glaston Academy and was stuck in the hell hole with the other students to be drugged, tormented, brain washed, or worse. It made me sick to think of how he had been in the stables and made himself appear as Jay. Had he known he was doing that? Was he threatened or had he been reprehensible the entire time? I shook my head of the thoughts.
As the history of Replyx was laid out in front of us it made me more curious as to everything that had happened to me. “Luther, why am I missing parts of my memory?”
“Mind control,” he said flatly. “Isolation, dress codes, restricting your diet, sensory deprivation, keeping you weary, they were all to break you down so that you could be reeducated, in a sense.”
His answer, for the most part, was what I had assumed. “What happened during those periods that I can’t remember?”
My father cut in. “I believe that given the choice, you really wouldn’t want to remember.”
Luther rested his ankle on his knee and raised a brow. “You weren’t an easy thing for Jeremiah to control. Any given memory that you are missing were ‘games’ to keep you compliant. Ivan was called into work his particular endowment on you because your mind was not breaking quite as rapidly as desired.”
“Ah,” I nodded my head, “Erik said that his father was a talented mental manipulator.” Curtis and Luther nodded at the same time. “And,” I dropped my voice, “does the tree house really just kill people that are no longer useful?”
“Yes.” Luther looked away, abashed.
I was revolted.
“I say Abrielle makes those crazy explosions and just burns the place to the ground.” Draxe was leaning against the wall opposite from me, his arms crossed against his chest. The group looked upon him, silent in morbid agreement.
“No,” I shook my head, “there are innocent people in there. Students from Glaston Academy are there, ones that we shared the same classes and meals with. As far as I’m concerned, the world would be a better place without people like Jeremiah and Slade, but that’s not for us to decide. I don’t know why we all have these gifts, but they’re not going to be used to hurt innocent people.” I threw my hands up in the air. “I can’t use them to hurt people anyway because I feel the effects. Empath, here, remember?”
“Actually, love,” Luther began as he bounced his foot excitedly, “we can make it so that’s not a problem.”
“What are you talking about?” If they had actually figured out a way so I would not feel a negative impact when using destructive abilities against another human beings, I did not want to ever implement it.
“Remember that day that you ripped the floor apart?” Curtis began hesitantly.
My stomach rolled with angst. I knew the day well and it still bothered me that I had broken Slade’s arm and had not felt a thing. “Yes.” I felt ashamed.
Vlaine cocked a brow at me, his interest piqued. I shrugged quickly. I hadn’t found the time to explain to him what had happened to me while I was gone.
Luther tittered and had a twinkle in his eye as if he was proud of what my father was going to say next.
“I mimicked congenital analgesia and reflected it onto you.” Curtis’s words were serious, but he could not help the proud grin that came when he finished his explanation.
My jaw dropped momentarily. “You can project gifts onto people?”
He nodded quickly, “for a short time, yes.”
Since all our abilities were technically hereditary, it made sense that he could mimic other biological conditions. Part of me was relieved that the drugs I had been given were not responsible for my lack of pain, but I was still angry in general. “I thought there was something wrong with me or they had given me drugs to cause that. Erik said I had mood stabilizers in my system.” I stood in front of the window and peeked through the blinds at the sky painted fuchsia from the setting sun. “It’s a system of checks and balances that I was born with and I would much prefer it not be disturbed in any way.”
No one replied and I turned to see them giving one another knowing glances. The room was silent and it was because they disagreed with me. They wanted me to reciprocate evil acts with even more immorality. No matter what they thought was best, I refused to lose my integrity whilst in Replyx clutches and I was certainly not about to do so after the fact. The two other replicators were capable of the exact same thing, why were they looking to me as if I were the only one with the ability?
&nbs
p; I pointed at Curtis and Luther simultaneously. “You both knew what they were doing. Why didn’t you stop Replyx before?”
My father looked at me sternly. “The most intelligent thing was to have a man on the inside to collect as much information before trying to take down an organization filled with men harboring abilities that you cannot even dream of.”
“So what’s the plan to bring down Replyx?” Liz’s bitter words cut through the tension in the room.
“I have a plan,” Draxe’s eye glowed with excitement.
Draxe decided that we needed to reverse the permeation and ultimately cause an implosion in the organization. With an average of four turncoat professors at each academy, we needed more help. With Luther, we knew who made up the root of Replyx and their abilities, but there were still only a few of us compared to an entire agency with years of experience and research under their belts.
Vlaine crossed his arms over his chest and leaned his hip against the wall. “I think it’s time to call Aiden.” Vlaine’s smile was unnerving.
“Ah you talkin’ about Aiden Briac?” The surprise in Luther’s voice sent goose bumps down my arms.
“The one and only.” Vlaine’s deep voice rippled with satisfaction.
“Oh,” the memory finally dawned on me, “your other friend. Draxe said you had a friend named Aiden that you cared about.”
“Friend?” Luther sputtered, “you’ve some bad eggs in your life.”
More cautious tales about a stranger was not faring well on my nerves. “Enough with the mystery,” I rolled my eyes, “just explain why this Aiden character is so notorious, please.”
“In a word?” My father began, “he is calamity at the very core.”
Luther stood and paced in front of Vlaine, keeping his body close enough to warrant an altercation. “And just how, exactly, do you expect anyone to find Aiden? No one’s heard the kid in half a decade,” Luther paused dramatically to light a cigarette, “and no one can find him. Trust me on that one, I would know.”
“I can find him.” Vlaine stood tall, pushing back into Luther’s personal space as a challenge.
With the cigarette placed between his index and middle finger, Luther pointed at Vlaine with both. “How do you think you can find a person…”
“Hey,” I interrupted the walls of testosterone billowing against one another, “continue your hormone induced head butting later and please tell me how Aiden can help.”
My father took the floor at that moment, stepping closer to me. “Aiden is the only gifted person that we have ever known that can transcend time.”
“What do you mean? Like, he can stop it?” I looked to Liz, who seemed just as intrigued as I did.
Vlaine’s smile grew wide, “Aiden can do anything with time. Stop it, slow it, even reverse it to a degree.”
“Wait,” I held up my hands and looked around the room. “There are three replicators in this room. How is Aiden the only one with this gift?”
“It’s the only thing we cannot replicate.” My dad took a few more steps closer to me, the words flowing from his mouth as slowly as his motions. “As you can imagine, he cannot be found unless he wants to be found and does not take well to being around other gifted individuals.”
Do you think he’ll help us out, Vlaine?” He gave a quick nod in response.
Being the strong and silent type, it was hard to remember that Vlaine had emotions just like the rest of the world. I could not help but wonder about the clash he had with Osiris and feel guilt for causing the fight. We still hadn’t had a chance to speak alone since I had returned from Replyx. “Can we go for a walk?”
“Be respectful, young man,” my father’s serious tone had a jocular hint. He cleared his throat, “hands to yourself.”
I rolled my eyes and sighed, “continue with the plan and we’ll be back soon.”
The lodge was filled with guests filtering in from their day of skiing. Families crowded around tables in the restaurant and couples were on their way out to a Valentine’s Day skiing event complete with fireworks. It felt strange being surrounded by so many normal people. I opened myself to reception to see if I could pick up any of the humming associated with abilities in case anyone that could be affiliated with Jeremiah was near, but I sensed none.
We made our way to a secluded area by the pool that was closed for the season. Trying my best not to show how terribly I was being affected by the cold, I tucked my fingertips into the sweatshirt sleeve and rubbed them together. Vlaine put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into him, rubbing my arm for warmth.
“I’m sorry about what happened with your dad. I did not mean to cause a rift or anything like that.” Looking into Vlaine’s eyes made me even more nervous to inquire about what I had missed. “What happened?”
“Well,” he pulled his arm away from me and turned to face me, “I needed to know if he really had a hand in your capture.” An unsettling smile spread. “I can control and manipulate any of the abilities he had ever replicated so I made sure he could not move when I searched his mind for answers. I did not search gently.”
“So,” I treaded carefully, “he did help Jeremiah?”
“Yes,” he pulled me close to him once again, “and he won’t be talking to anyone for a while.” His unwillingness to explain allowed my imagination to wander into the darkest possibilities. Knowing what he was capable of, I felt confident that Osiris was one less person I would have to worry about for that night.
“Erik told me that you and Jay went to Replyx to try and get me out.” I opened the subject for him to explain further.
“Yeah,” he nodded, “it makes a little more sense now why it didn’t work. We told my father about the plan before it happened. Jay and I went in looking like those two guys Jeremiah went to Glaston with. Luther and whoever that was. Everything was going fine until all the alarms started going off.”
“How did you get to Replyx?” I had no idea where the place was but since none of the Josnic children could replicate, it had to be somewhere accessible.
He moved his hand faster to build friction on my arm. “We walked right into the front doors. The man has some ego because Replyx is right in the city.”
My mouth hung open. “The city? New York City?” Vlaine nodded in response. “Wow, nothing like hiding in plain sight.” Letting go of the resentment in my tone I looked into Vlaine’s eyes. “Thank you for trying to get me out.”
Vlaine nodded quickly. His eyes grew cold and distant for a brief moment. “Did they hurt you, Abbs?”
I shook my head indicating that I wasn’t ready to have that discussion. “We can talk about that later.”
Without saying anything more, we went back to the suite. The room was silent as we walked in.
Draxe stepped forward and put his hand on my shoulder. “They have a list of students from all the academies that Replyx is planning on retrieving within the next month.” He leaned into my ear and whispered so low that had I not felt the movement of air near my ear I would have thought he said it telepathically, “I don’t think Liz is okay with Replyx dude being here.”
“Okay,” I nodded. I sucked in a breath and looked at the grim faces around me. “Luther, does Jeremiah suspect your involvement?”
Luther’s hand slicked back metallic strands as he paced towards the window of the suite. “Everyone’s a suspect right now, but the man still trusts me. Right now I’m ‘hunting down the replicators.’ Our secret should be safe for the time being.”
“Alright then. Figuring out how to put an end to Replyx is going to take longer than a couple hours. Our first priority should be warning those students. We can’t stay in this room forever. We need to figure out a safe place to go and I think that our homes and Glaston are probably off the secure list right now.” I tried to think of a way to tell Luther that he needed to leave, but I was still trying to wrap my head around the enormous block of responsibility we were chewing off.
“I have a place we can go.”
Vlaine stepped forward with his arms crossed against his chest. “But I’m not letting Curtis or tin foil head go there.” With a shrug he added, “don’t particularly trust either of you.”
I looked to my father whose mouth was open. I thought for sure he was going to protest. “Fair enough,” he nodded. “Luther and I can go set up a safe house that Abrielle will be able to take you to if need be. Afterwards I’ll go to Hagan and see if they’re willing to help.”
“Does everyone agree with that plan for now?” Somber nods answered my question. “Okay. Luther, can you give us a list of the people and where we can find them?”
He nodded and the group gathered and began discussing in hushed voices. Before joining in on the planning I lay my head back against a pillow on one of the beds. “Let ‘er rest,” Luther whispered just before I fell asleep.
13
Ringlets curled around a beautiful Mediterranean face. Her cleft chin only added to her exotic allure. She stared at me, anger filled her eyes. Her bottom lip trembled as she whispered with an unnervingly calm ferocity, “Blast them.”
Consciousness came slowly despite the premonition I had that morning. The moment they saw my eyes had opened, I was barraged with a detailed plan of action. My father and Luther would set up their own secret dwelling that we would be welcome to. They felt strongly that their location would be secure from the minds of those involved with the tree house. Curtis would also begin using different gifts to try and reverse the loyalty of the professors involved.
Vlaine, Draxe, Liz, and I would go to the academies and slowly begin warning people. Any of those who wanted to take refuge in a safer location with us were welcome. If we were lucky they would be willing to help with siphoning the malignant infiltration of the organization that had held me captive.
The idea of using our abilities for something good was humbling. Being able to stop the horrible things that went on at the tree house would be an indescribable and self-fulfilling justice. Our opinions differed on how exactly we would deal with Jeremiah and the rest of the workers because the word “terminate” was repeated by Curtis, when I was rather fond of the term “cure.” I let the difference of opinion slide because it could be dealt with another day.
