“And why should we believe that?” Beck asked.
Gina glared at him, her pathetic veneer slipping a bit—and yes, that was the Gina he knew. “Because it's the truth.”
“Even if that were true,” Chloe said, her voice deadly calm. “Why would you help us? Why should we trust you?”
Gina's eyes took on a feverish glint. “Because I want It back,” she replied.
“Of course you do,” Tru said, her mouth twisting in distaste. “Because that went so well last time.”
“Watch your mouth, girl,” Gina snapped.
Beck stepped closer, looming over her. “Don't you talk to her. Don't you ever talk to her.”
Gina shrank in on herself a little. Beck knew it was an act, but Chloe touched his wrist and he didn't challenge it.
“Let's say for a moment we believe you,” Chloe said. “Let's say you are able to find it and take it back. How do we know you won't try to destroy everything like before?”
Gina nodded along with her words, as if she was waiting for her to ask. “I can contain It,” she replied. “I want the power, but if you help me, I'll take It and go. Somewhere far away. You'll get what you want. I'll get what I want. Win-win.” She smiled like it all made perfect sense, and Beck was ready to lay into her, but Chloe beat him to it.
“And you're sure you can find It?”
Beck gaped. “You can’t believe her! She's a liar. It's what she does!”
“And she's our only lead right now,” Chloe replied. “She knows It—the Chaos. Better than any of us. And if she can take us to Ethan—”
“I can,” Gina said quickly. “I know I can. You'll get Ethan back. I'll get the power. We go our separate ways. That's the deal.”
“So why do you need us?” Maia asked.
Irritation flashed across Gina's face, but was quickly hidden. “It won't be easy to get to him,” Gina replied. “And right now, I don't have any power. I need you to get to him. Once you do, I'll invite the Chaos in. I'll take It and it will come willingly.”
“How do you know that?” Dylan had come up behind Beck's right shoulder, presenting a united front.
“Because I can give It what it wants,” Gina said, her voice an eerie echo of the time when she was possessed. “It knows that. It will come to me.”
Beck opened his mouth to protest, to tell Gina to leave—to threaten to call the police if she ever returned, but Chloe raised a hand and the rest of the group fell silent.
“We'll need to discuss this,” she said quietly.
Beck was shocked. “You can't trust her!”
Chloe shot him a look. “I don't.” She turned back to Gina. “How can we reach you?”
“I'll be in touch,” she said. And with that, she turned and walked away, disappearing into the shadows.
They stood in silence for a long moment, all stunned by the encounter.
“Did that just happen?” Miranda asked.
“Oh, it happened,” Chloe replied.
“How could you even think about this?” Beck finally growled. “You know Gina. She's crazy. She's—”
“She could lead us to Ethan,” Chloe said, whirling on him. “If there's any chance she's telling the truth, we have to at least consider it.”
“Guys?” Miranda said, eyes darting down the street. “Maybe we should talk about this in private? We're starting to draw attention.”
All thoughts of ice cream and coffee fled, and they proceeded to the Victorian in silence. Beck's thoughts and emotions were in turmoil, his hand flickering on and off with light. He jammed it into his pocket, irritated.
When they got home, they took their usual places in the living room, a circle of friends . . . allies . . . and looked at each other without speaking, waiting for someone to start the discussion.
Beck took the lead. “We can't do this.”
Chloe let out a heavy sigh. “I understand how you feel about it, but—”
“There is no but!” He stood up and started to pace. “You all know what Gina's like. You've seen what she's done. And even if she's telling the truth—and that's a big if, by the way—you know if she gets that power back, there's no way she's going anywhere. We'll be right back where we started!”
“I have to say, I think Beck's right,” Maia said. “We can't trust her.”
“Thank you!” He threw his hands up and sat back down. “At least someone is thinking straight!”
“That's not fair,” Tru said, to his surprise. “We all want to find Ethan. And Chloe's right—if Gina does know something—we have to at least consider it.”
“I can't believe you'd say that!” Beck said.
Tru shrugged. “We can't react in fear,” she said. “And discussing it doesn't mean accepting it. It means discussing it. Looking at all the options.”
Beck stared at her for a long moment before he deflated, shaking his head. “All right, let's discuss.” He sat back, resigned to silence for the time being.
Dylan slapped his hands on his thighs. “Okay, then,” he said, standing up. “I think we all agree that Gina can't be trusted.” He paused, met by nods from around the circle. “In that case, we need to talk about whether the chance of finding Ethan is worth the risk of Gina teaming up with the Chaos once again. And if there's any way to alleviate that risk if we decide to proceed.”
Miranda pursed her lips. “Even if she means what she says, she's delusional if she thinks she can control the Chaos.”
Dylan nodded. “More like the other way around.”
“So . . . we don't let it get that far,” Wren said, leaning into Beck. “Maybe we just use her to get to Ethan, and that's it.”
“But if she doesn't take the Chaos out of Ethan, how do we get it out?” Chloe asked.
Wren shrugged. “We'll either have to figure out another way, or—”
Beck looked down at her, but she wouldn't meet his eyes. “Or?” he prodded.
Wren sat up. “Or we let her take it, and then deal with that.”
“Deal with that,” Beck repeated. “Deal with that how, exactly?”
“We do what we have to do,” Wren replied.
“You mean kill her,” Maia said.
“Not necessarily,” Wren said. “If we can find a way to contain her, we do that. Maybe Tru can wrap her up like Ethan and we leave her wherever he is now.”
“But if we can't . . .” Maia said.
“If we can't, we do what we have to do,” Wren said, chin up defiantly. “Personally, it's something I'm willing to do if it means getting Ethan back.”
“Me, too,” Miranda said.
“You're talking about killing someone,” Dylan said slowly. “It's not easy.”
“I know that,” Wren said. “I know it as well as you do.”
And she did. Beck knew it was something she dealt with every day, even now. Even months later.
“How do we even know killing her would kill the Chaos?” Maia asked.
“She’s right,” Tru said. “We’ll have to imprison her. I’ll have to do it.”
Chloe was notably silent. “What do you say?” Beck asked her.
She cleared her throat. “I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that I would do anything to find Ethan,” she replied quietly, her eyes focused on the coffee table. “But I haven't been the most rational, lately. I am willing to work with Gina, but I can't ask any of you to do the same.”
“You aren't asking,” Miranda said. “And there's no way we're letting you do this alone.”
Dylan leaned against the wall, nodding slowly. “So the proposal, if I'm hearing correctly, is that we let Gina lead us to Ethan, if she can do it. And we let her take the Chaos into herself to free him. Then, we try to imprison her where Ethan is.”
“A lot of ifs,” Maia said.
“Well, at the moment, it's all we have,” Dylan said. “So the question is, who wants to try?”
Chloe was the first to raise her hand—no surprise there—and one by one, the others did as well. Beck kep
t his arms firmly clasped across his chest until Tru joined the others, raising her hand in approval.
“Seriously?” he asked her.
“We have to try, Beck,” she said. “He's your best friend. Don't you think we have to at least try?”
And that was the rub, wasn't it? They really had no other options. Research had turned up nothing, and Chloe's visions had been less than helpful. Despite his reservations, he knew deep down that this was their only chance. So, with a heavy sigh, he grudgingly lifted his hand.
Chloe breathed out shakily, tears in her eyes. “Thanks,” she whispered.
“Don't thank me yet,” Beck replied. “I still think this is a huge risk. But Tru's right. We have to at least try.”
He could only pray that they wouldn't all regret it in the end.
The blackness pressed in around her, familiar now, but no less frightening, and Chloe didn't even fight to breathe. It never worked, after all. It only made the panic worse.
She knew it was a dream. Knew it was more. And once again, the fathomless darkness was unrelenting, unforgiving. Devouring her.
Then, in a flash, it was gone.
Chloe drew in a relieved breath and took in the scene around her. She stood in front of a large screen of some kind—a TV or a computer maybe—the only light in the darkness around her. The sound of static grew louder, mirroring the flickering snow on the screen. Then, the screen went black except for a white dot in the middle that grew, slowly and steadily until it filled the screen with bright, dazzling white light. Chloe squinted against the glare, holding up a hand to shield her eyes.
It dimmed, and an image came into view—only shadows at first, until it sharpened into a recognizable figure.
Ethan.
He stood, wrapped in Tru's ribbons of light, his eyes black and swirling, and Chloe fought to memorize each detail of this new vision.
“Ethan!” she cried out, pressing a hand against the screen. It gave, and she fell forward through it and onto the ground. She looked up, suddenly on her hands and knees in a dark chamber, Ethan an arm's length away.
“Too late,” a voice said, and she whirled to find herself face to face with Gina Talbot. Gina's eyes swirled with black, smoke streaming out between teeth fixed in a sinister smile. She threw her hand out toward Ethan, and Chloe gasped in shock as he floated up, back arched as he cried out in pain. He writhed, the bonds tightening around him, pressing into his skin, blood welling out and dripping to the ground.
Chloe screamed as the sounds of Gina's laughter surrounded her.
She woke, the screams still on her lips, her body sticky with sweat and her heart pounding in terror. Miranda burst through the door, eyes wide as she scanned for the threat.
“What happened? Are you okay?” she asked, crossing to Chloe and climbing onto the bed.
Chloe could only nod, unable to draw a deep breath for a long moment. Miranda waited patiently, watching her closely with worry evident in her eyes. As Chloe's heartbeat finally slowed, she pressed her hands to her face and drew in a shaky breath.
“Was it a vision?” Miranda asked.
“Yes.”
“A bad one, I'm assuming.”
Chloe huffed out a humorless laugh. “It was terrifying.” She described the vision to Miranda, holding nothing back. Her friend stood up when she was finished, and began to pace, thinking it through.
“Well, it's not that hard to interpret,” she said finally. “Obviously, Gina can't be trusted. Not that that's a surprise.”
Chloe snorted, but said nothing.
“Of course, it could be that extracting the Chaos from him is painful,” she said, eyeing Chloe carefully. “Maybe that's what you saw.”
Chloe nodded. “It could be.”
“If so, it may be unavoidable.”
“I realize that.”
Miranda sat back down on the bed, criss-crossing her legs and picking at the quilt. “So do you still think we're doing the right thing?”
And that was the question, wasn't it?
“I'm not sure,” Chloe admitted. “I think so. But I think the vision is a warning. We have to be careful when it comes to Gina.”
“Not a warning we really needed,” Miranda replied.
“Right, but—” Chloe tried to put her thoughts into words. “I think . . . I feel like it could go either way, if that makes sense. We could save Ethan. Or Gina could—” She broke off, unable to say it.
“Then there's a chance,” Miranda said firmly. “That's what we're going to focus on. This could work. This will work.” She grabbed Chloe's hand and looked straight into her eyes. “We will save him.”
“How?” Chloe asked.
Miranda sighed. “I'm not sure. Not yet. But we'll figure it out. We've been warned about Gina, so we'll be on guard around her. We'll watch each other's backs.”
“And watch Gina,” Chloe said.
“Definitely,” Miranda agreed. “We'll take it one step at a time.”
Chloe nodded and inhaled deeply, letting it out in a long, slow stream. “And step one is teaming up with Gina.”
Miranda smiled wryly. “God help us all.”
Chloe wasn't sure how Gina knew, but the next day, she called Chloe's cell to find out her decision and arrange a meeting. Maybe it was silly, but Chloe didn't want her at the Victorian, so they agreed to meet at the same place where she'd confronted them the night before. Gina had insisted that it be after dark—she didn't want to risk being spotted, since she was still wanted by the police, so at eight o'clock, they waited on the sidewalk for her to arrive.
Chloe's nerves were on edge, but she wasn't the only one. Beck and Tru stood together, talking quietly, and she couldn't imagine what they were going through. She was so thankful for her friends. So thankful that they were willing to put their fear and anger aside for her.
For Ethan.
Dylan and Maia stood on opposite sides of a power pole, trying to act like they weren't watching her. But Miranda wouldn't leave her side. She stood to Chloe's left, on alert. Waiting.
Gina had no power—they knew that—still, it was like she appeared from nowhere, slipping out of the shadows to stand face to face with Chloe.
“I'm glad you came,” Gina said, watching as the others took up ranks behind Chloe. A show of solidarity and support.
“So what now?” Chloe asked. “Where's Ethan?”
Gina swept her gaze across them all before settling once again on Chloe. “Follow me. I'll show you.”
She turned to walk away and Chloe started after her, but Beck grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks.
“Are you sure about this?” he murmured.
“No,” she admitted. “But we're doing it anyway, right?”
She looked pointedly down at his hand on her arm, and after a few moments, he let her go.
“Right.”
Chloe nodded and they started after Gina, who'd been waiting a half a block ahead of them. Once she saw they were following, she led them on a zig-zagging route, avoiding main streets and sticking to shadowy alleys. Gina froze at the sound of a distant siren, and ducked behind a dumpster as a police car drove by.
“Little jumpy?” Beck asked.
Gina didn't reply, but continued on her way.
“Where are we going?” Chloe asked.
Gina glanced over her shoulder, but didn't slow her pace. “I feel It. It calls to me. I follow the call, and it leads me to the same place every time.”
They rounded the corner and Chloe looked up in shock. “You've got to be kidding me.”
Gina led them halfway down the next block and turned to point across the street at a concrete building. “It's in there. Somewhere.”
“Of course it is,” Chloe muttered, still staring in disbelief.
“I've tried to go in,” Gina said, “but they won't let me past the front door. Security's pretty tight.”
At that, Chloe couldn't help it. She burst out laughing.
Because of course—of cours
e—the place Gina had led them to wasn't just any old building.
“What is it?” Miranda asked, eyeing her warily.
Chloe swallowed her laughter and tried to get control of herself. She didn't want to reveal too much to Gina, so she shook her head.
“Sorry,” she replied. “Just nervous, I guess.” She gave Miranda a look, hoping she'd catch on and not push it.
It seemed to work, because Miranda diverted Gina's attention, asking, “Any idea where inside? It's a big place.”
Gina was still laser focused on whatever she felt drawing her across the street. “I don't know.” She frowned, eyes narrowed as she concentrated. “I can't tell from here. I need to get in.” Then she whirled around, pointing at Beck. “You can get in. You can rip the door right off its hinges.”
“I'm sure they have an alarm system,” Chloe said quickly, trying to stay calm. “The police would be here in minutes.”
“They can make us invisible.” Gina waved a hand toward Wren and Maia, then pointed at Dylan. “He can shield us from bullets. The girl can tie up the cops with her light ropes.” She wiggled her fingers toward Tru, her eyes taking on a frenzied light.
“That's why I brought you all. You're my ticket in.”
“I'm not breaking in,” Beck said. “You're the criminal, not me.”
“You'll do what I say, boy!” Gina snarled. “I'm your mother.”
Beck laughed humorlessly. “You're a lot of things, but not that. Not anymore.”
“You ungrateful little—”
“Now hold on a second.” Chloe held up her hands in an attempt to diffuse the situation. “Beck's right. We're not breaking the law.”
“But—”
“But . . .” Chloe fought to keep her voice low . . . reassuring. Gina was wound tight, and the last thing they needed was for her to explode.
“We'll find another way,” Chloe said.
Gina threw up her hands, pacing a few steps away and then back again. “How?”
Chloe made sure she met her gaze. “We'll figure it out. Give us a few days,” she said. “I'll check my visions, and we'll come up with the best way to proceed.”
Super Heroes (The New Super Humans #4) Page 8
