by Sophie Davis
“After all the trouble your stupid little girlfriend has caused UNITED, the councilwoman protected her to the very end.” Anya shook her head, baffled by such loyalty. “It’s nonsensical. She knew she was going to die either way. Still, she refused to hasten her death, even when we made it oh so tempting.”
I wasn’t the only one of the non-crazy people in the room feeling sick to my stomach now. Everyone, save Talia who wasn’t listening, was worried about becoming violently ill.
“What do you want, Anya?” I demanded, putting an end to her tale of torture. “You aren’t fool enough to believe that you and those three stand a chance against us.” I gestured down the line of James, Kenly, and me, careful not to include Talia so that no one would look her way.
“You’re the fool, Erik,” Anya spat. “Gracia here is Talia, in every possible way. Talia’s DNA was used to make her, they share all the same powers. She’s just as strong as your stupid doll-sized girlfriend.”
The object Talia had summoned was in her palm. She quickly hid it behind her back when Anya glanced over.
“She might look like Talia. She might sound like Talia. But there is only one—”
“Save it,” Anya snapped, cutting me off. “I don’t care to hear your false declarations of love.”
“False?” I echoed.
With painstaking slowness, Talia began inching her way towards me and the others.
“Oh, come on Erik. Gracia fooled you into believing she was Talia last night. Silly me, I thought you actually loved Talia too much to sell her out. But that’s what you did, isn’t it? You told Victoria that you’d set up a meeting with Talia, and then sent the councilwoman instead. Guess both of us were wrong about your love, weren’t we, Tals?”
Black hair fanned out behind Anya as she whipped her head in Talia’s direction. My girlfriend froze mid-step.
“There is one delusional person in this room,” Talia agreed smoothly.
Anya narrowed her gaze.
“You, of course,” Talia continued. “And I’m not talking about whether Erik loves me or not. I’m talking about the fact that you believe your fake me is capable of fighting, let alone killing anyone.” Talia turned to the imposter. “Gracia, was it? Even she knows that she is no match for me. Look at her, she’s trembling.”
Gracia was indeed shaking. She may have been made to look like Talia, and she did have the same talents. I could feel that about her. But she hadn’t spent half her life training to be an assassin. When push came to shove, Gracia lacked the ability to do what was necessary. Someone had given her Talia’s genes, but they’d forgotten the sequence for self-preservation.
“You are all going to come with us, without a fight,” Gracia said in a surprisingly even voice.
Admittedly, she was a strong manipulator. Too bad for her and her friends Gracia lacked conviction. Her words had little effect on anyone.
Gracia turned her mind games solely on Talia. “Go. Stand with the others.”
Biting her lip to hide her smile, Talia obeyed. She even went so far as to get all glassy eyed like so many people did when being controlled.
“Emma, come here. Now. Take my hand.” It was Talia’s voice inside my head, even though she wasn’t speaking to me. When James and Kenly both stiffened beside me, I knew they’d heard her, too.
“You. Get up,” Gracia snapped at Emma, her voice stronger with the confidence she’d gained from her believed manipulation of Talia.
Emma struggled to her feet.
“I’m scared, Talia.” Again, Emma wasn’t talking to me, but I heard her voice inside my head.
“I know. So am I. You have to trust me, though. Kip, you ready? Wait for my signal.”
“Ready,” came Kip’s mental reply.
Too busy marveling at Talia’s group mind connection, I didn’t think to scour her mind for details of her master plan. And she wasn’t ready to share with the class, expect, apparently, Kip, who was the only one not experiencing confusion.
Talia held out her hand, and Emma took it.
Anya nodded encouragingly to Gracia. The two other goons in their squad raised tranquilizer guns, one pointed at me, and, interestingly, the other pointed at Kenly. They were under the very false assumption that we were their greatest threats. Or, Talia’s greatest weaknesses, either way.
“Ron and Rand are going to cuff you all now,” Gracia began, and then seemed to think better of the idea. “I’m going to cuff you all now,” she amended. “Then, you will come with us. Our backup is upstairs, right through that trapdoor. Don’t try anything.”
Gracia, Ron, and Rand moved towards us.
“Um, Tals? If you’re going to do something, now might be the time,” I sent.
In response, an image I knew well filled my head, followed by Kip’s, “Got it.”
“Grab the person next to you,” Talia sent.
Everyone did as told. When Gracia was within reach, Talia’s hand, the one she had linked with Emma’s, darted out and grabbed hold of the girl’s wrist.
“Now, Kip!” Talia shouted aloud.
It was as though every light in the bunker went dark at once, and then a vacuum sucked all the oxygen out for good measure.
“NO!” Anya wailed, her cry a mix of fury and panic.
I had a brief moment of disorientation, followed by the trippiest out of body experience ever. One second there was ground beneath my feet, and then there was empty air. I barely had time to form a single thought before the ground was back.
Blinking rapidly, I took in my surroundings, strangely not shocked to see a familiar bed and familiar pictures hanging on the walls around me. I’d only visited Talia there once, but I recognized her bedroom in the McDonough’s house immediately. A part of me must have known from the instant the image flashed inside my head that this was her plan, to have Kip teleport us to the place where, unbeknownst to Talia at the time, her nightmare began.
Beside me, Kenly sank to her knees, panting. James coughed several times as though trying to hack up a hairball. Kip was deathly pale and shaking with exertion. Emma looked as though she’d been hit over the head with a very heavy object. Of our crew, only Talia was undaunted by the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it transatlantic journey. Her cold, murderous gaze was fixed on the pile of limbs at her feet: Gracia. And I only had eyes for my girlfriend.
And I thought Talia was more brute force than brains, I thought wryly.
We could have fought our way out of that bunker. The collective abilities in our group of misfits were enough to take down an army. But Talia had chosen the path of least casualties.
I pushed James and Kip out of the way to reach my girlfriend and wrapped my arms around her from behind.
“Why are we here? Wait, buggar that, where is here, exactly?” James asked through sputtered coughs.
“Where it all began,” Talia said calmly. “The McDonoughs lived here for over a decade. There are answers in these walls. There have to be, because this is where I first saw that tattoo on Gracia’s neck.”
Invisible fingers gripped Gracia’s ponytail and yanked it to one side, exposing the eye tattooed just beneath the hairline. It was the same tattoo Henri had seen on Ernest at the Poacher’s auction.
Gracia whimpered. Talia was too furious to care. Victoria’s murder had upset her deeply, and she was looking for vengeance.
“I’m also betting there is quite a bit of information inside Gracia’s head, as well. Like who the hell Selby Masterson is.”
The name meant nothing to me, but Gracia paled and began to cry quietly.
From Talia’s mind, I knew she was considering slamming Gracia’s skull against the floor. In a highly impressive show of restraint, my girlfriend decided against the act.
“One way or another, we will find out who is behind these so called Privileged and Nightshade and what they are planning.” Talia glared down at the girl who could have been her twin. “Start talking, Gracia, or you will learn what true manipulation feels like.”
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