by Rebecca Ann
“We’ll see if we get other people after this batch. As I said, they may have already left,” Mark said as he climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
I buckled my seatbelt, and once Mark drove out of the parking complex and rose into the sky, I glanced down, the lights enveloping their warmth around the city. The opposite of the cold reality that had been with us for the last decade. Up here, I could pretend LIs weren’t being dragged from their homes. The fantasy didn’t last long as a hover zoomed past us. I turned away at its bright lights.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Mark interjected. “What’s up? Besides being nervous about your first pickup.”
I lifted my head. Swung my hair back. Might as well tell him. Maybe he could offer some sort of advice. “A lot. Nothing I can fix. Victoria is just so scared of her powers. She’s never actually used them, and I keep telling her to embrace them when I haven’t even embraced my own. The whole mind-control thing. I’m afraid I’m going to get mad and blow my cover like I did the other day. I could’ve been sent to Ada, Mark.” My voice broke, and I turned away. Damn it. Now wasn’t the time to cry. “How are we going to do this? Get people out?” My best tactic yet: change the subject.
“Teleport. You’ll teleport them. A few at a time. But back to your mind-controlling. You need to be careful. If you get arrested, it will blow our entire operation.”
I glared at the side of his head. “Gee, thanks. I had no idea.” I huffed and crossed my arms.
“Hey, I didn’t mean...”
A muffled voice came from the dashboard, crackling from invisible speakers.
“Fifty-seven thirteen, what’s your location?”
Mark picked up a small black device, putting it to his mouth. “Baker Street. Mark Fisher and partner Lindsey Cooper. 5713, over.”
“Roger.”
Mark looked over at me. “Memorize that. It’s our hover number.”
“Got it.” I looked out the window again as the hover started to descend. As Mark sped toward the ground, my stomach lurched. I glared as he landed with a loud thump. “I’m driving next time.” I put on my hat and followed Mark through the empty hover to the door. Blue and red lights lit up the street. Screams of protests made me pause, hand on the doorknob. “I thought we were the only ones picking up people on this street.” I planted my feet, legs far apart, my breaths loud in my ears. Hopefully the Dawson family and Shannon hadn’t been picked up yet.
“No, just a few houses. This neighborhood is almost all LIs, so they need extra Watchers.” Mark placed his hand on top of mine. “We’re gonna get as many to the headquarters as we can!”
I inhaled and opened the door. As I walked down the metal steps, the anger subsided a little bit. As my feet touched the wet pavement, I shielded my eyes from the lights of the hover a few feet away, blurry in the foggy night. A cold rain spit in my face, but I charged through it, running after Mark.
“Come on. The Dawson house is this way.”
I didn’t slow down as screams and shouts rose up from the darkness. The sobs of terrified children and the pleas of adults as they screamed to be released died on the wind. I squinted into the rain as a cluster of people headed down the street, a Watcher in the front and back of the group, shouting at them to move it along. One person tripped, and a child slipped on the wet pavement. Their hysterical crying pierced the air a second later. I started toward them, but Mark pulled me back.
“We have to get our assignments. Remember what I said,” he whispered.
I threw him the iciest glare I could muster. “You want me to act like a real Watcher and yell at people and drag them by their underarms out of their houses simply because they’re LIs? No! Not happening!” I kept my voice low but ripe with anger as my gaze flitted over the people being pushed into an awaiting hover. The child who’d fallen still howled in their mother’s arms.
At the next hover, light from the streetlamps illuminated too many terrified faces. Several babies wailed as Watchers shoved them forward. Another person fell.
“MOVE!” a Watcher snapped. “Let’s go! Now!” He shoved a long black object into a man’s back, making him stumble.
I clenched my jaw, and the anger carried me down the street with such speed I was almost flying. The Watchers had been nice at the station. Here, they were acting like monsters, like someone had flipped a switch. Was this behavior an order from the president?
“Here it is.”
I followed Mark up the steps and stood back as he rang the bell. We had to be ready to go the moment that door opened. I teleported into the house, ignoring Mark’s plea to stop. Darkness settled around me, and when my foot crunched something on the floor, I took out my flashlight, shining it around. The place was trashed. Furniture had been turned over, and debris was scattered everywhere. My heart beat in my ears. My breathing picked up again. They’d been taken. There was no other explanation.
“Linds?” Mark’s voice rang in my head, and I teleported back out onto the porch, my net-screen already in hand.
My head swam as I looked up the location of the hotel. “I’m teleporting there! I have to find Shannon!”
“Linds, stop! We don’t know—”
I jerked around to face him and almost slipped on the wet pavement. “She’s not here! The Dawson family isn’t here! I’ll see you there!” As the wind picked up and the night disappeared into a sea of gray, I fisted my hands. Clenched my teeth.
Please let them be there. Please.
I opened my eyes seconds later to find Watchers all around, their faces lit by the lights from the hotel windows. Shouts tore through the darkness, but I ignored them as I tapped a Watcher on the shoulder. “Excuse me!” I tried to keep the panic out of my voice. I had to act like I was supposed to be here. “Where would new arrivals be taken?”
The Watcher sized me up with narrowed eyes, but after a few seconds, he said, “New arrivals are taken to the basement for processing and then to their rooms. If you’re looking for someone in particular, the Watchers’ app has the names and locations of everyone brought in.”
“Thanks!” I raced into the lobby, pulled out the net-screen, and went to the Watchers’ app. Scrolling through the names, a sick feeling rose in my stomach as I looked at Shannon’s name and her location. Infirmary. Why would—
Forget it. I’d find out when I got there. I took the elevator to the bottom floor, ending up in the middle of a long hallway with cement floors and walls. Taking off toward the large window at the far end, I looked inside. My stomach plummeted. Rows and rows of box-type things stood on platforms, tiny black stepstools next to them. Oh, this wasn’t good. Not at all.
“Hey!” I banged on the door as a woman dressed in blue scrubs helped another wearing a gown up onto a stool by one of the black boxes with a clear lid at the top. The tech opened it, and I pounded on the window again. “Hey! Stop!” I glanced right. Then left. Screw this. I teleported into the room and, ignoring the cold, zoned in on the one nearest the door. “Stop right there!” I hurried over to the woman who still stood on the stool, shaking, face pale. I pulled the tech away by the arm. “Move!”
“Hey!” the tech protested, trying to get free of my grip. I tightened my hold. “I have orders to—”
“I don’t give a damn what your orders are!” I snapped. Fury exploded in my chest, and suddenly the tech quieted and sat down in the chair without a word, her movements stiff and robotic. I kept my mental hold on the tech as I approached the woman, careful not to startle her. “What’s your—”
“Lindsey!” Shannon called out from my right. “Thank goodness! They—” Her words cut off with a sob. “They took—”
“They took our light from us,” the woman still standing on the stepstool whispered.
I took a breath, but it didn’t do much to stop the heat prickling my skin as anger continued its journey. The intense smell of cleaning products wasn’t helping. “Okay. What’s your name?”
“Heather.”
; I offered a tiny, reassuring smile, though I doubted Heather noticed in her panicked state. “Lindsey. Shannon, come on! We’re getting you out of here!”
“Sarah? Is she—”
“She’s fine! Waiting for you!”
Shannon’s head lowered, hand over her mouth. “I was so worried,” she choked out, voice heavy with tears. “Can we go now?” She sniffed. Wiped at her eyes.
“Yes.” I took hold of Shannon’s hand and then Heather’s. “Ready?” I closed my eyes, and as the cement walls disappeared, I squeezed Shannon’s hand as we started to spin. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Before I got to six, the spinning stopped, and the gray cleared to reveal the empty street in the underground. “Come on! Let’s go find Sarah!”
I led them down the street toward Victoria’s apartment. Once we reached it, I punched in the code. The door swung open, and I stepped inside. “Vi? It’s me! I have Shannon!”
Victoria stepped out of the bedroom. “Linds! Thank goodness!” She rushed over to me and then to Shannon, giving us both hugs. “Shannon, are you okay? What happened?”
“I’ll explain everything later!” Shannon said as she looked around the sitting room. “Where’s Sarah?”
“Mommy!” Sarah said from the doorway of the room she shared with Lily. “You’re here! I knew Lindsey would find you!”
Shannon was at her daughter’s side in seconds, lifting her off the ground in a hug. She buried her face in Sarah’s hair. “Thank you,” she whispered, looking up for a split second to lock eyes with me, hers filled with tears. “Thank you for getting me out of there.”
I went over to her, rubbing Sarah’s back. “You’re welcome. Now I have to get back. Shannon, Victoria, this is Heather. Could you help make sure she gets settled?”
“Sure! We’ll take care of it,” Victoria said. “But I have to tell you something.” She tugged on my arm. “Let’s talk in my room.”
I let Victoria pull me into the bedroom. “Okay, what’s up? I gotta get back up top.”
Victoria dropped her hand from mine. “Shannon’s dad wants me to run the donation program. I talked with him, and I’m going to a resistance meeting soon. I’m gonna tell them I’ll help with donating. Also, I wanted to tell you that I talked to my mom, and she’s really pushing this program on Ada. I don’t know what to think. She’s my mom, but she’s still a stranger, and—”
“I know, but don’t worry. We’re not going back to Ada, Vi. I just witnessed Shannon and that girl Heather I brought back having their light forced out of them.” I couldn’t keep the anger over this whole thing out of my voice.
Victoria’s face paled, and she took a step back, eyes wide. “Wh-what?” She looked at her hands, brow furrowed. “Their light forced out of them? But how? Where?”
“At the infirmary in one of the hotels they’re taking people to before they are sent to Ada.” I studied the pattern on the rug that covered most of the floor. No matter how I worded what I’d done to get them out, she wasn’t going to be happy. “I had to use my mind-control to get them out.” As I suspected, Victoria’s face twisted into shock and devastation.
“Linds!” she burst out at last. “You promised you’d be careful! You could be sent back to Ada and...” Her words faded, and she turned away, her back to me. “You should go.”
“Vi.” I took a step forward but didn’t touch her. “I know I screwed up! I had no choice! I had to get them out!”
Victoria whirled around, face drawn in anger this time. “You always have a choice! This is the second time you’ve mind-controlled without thinking! Are you trying to get yourself deported?”
“No! Of course not! How can you suggest such a thing?” I took a breath in an attempt to calm down. I wasn’t about to go back up top with Victoria hating me. “Look, you’re mad. I get it. I’ll try not to let it happen again. But I’m not going to hold back if it means saving others from that horrible box.”
“Can’t another resistance member do it?” Victoria stepped toward me until I could smell her shampoo. “Please. Don’t do this. Don’t risk yourself any more than you already have. Stay here. Be with your family.”
I didn’t answer for a long moment, my gaze on nothing in particular, as a hundred emotions raged inside me. “I can’t. I have to get back up top.” I patted Victoria’s shoulder. “I love you, and I’ll see you later, okay? Probably in a few hours.”
Before Victoria could say anything more, I teleported out of the room and, locating Dad via his thoughts, teleported to his apartment. I appeared in the living room to find him sitting on the couch. “I brought back Shannon and a woman named Heather.” I collapsed on the couch next to him as I pushed the memory of the boxes into Dad’s thoughts, too overwhelmed to explain it verbally.
“Shannon’s powers were forced out of her?” Dad’s eyes widened. “Where? On Ada?”
“No. At the hotels they’re being taken to until they are sent to Ada.” I sat up. “Victoria said her mom is trying to convince her that Ada is safe now, but she’s not sure what to believe. After what I just witnessed, I know we made the right decision not going.”
Dad sighed, taking off his glasses and rubbing his forehead, hunched over in exhaustion. “I think you’re right. Victoria’s father is a Royal Watcher. He’s on the fence about it too. But we can’t stay here forever.”
“Then we’ll figure out another plan.”
“Mmm. In the meantime, there’s something else I want to talk to you about.” I stiffened at the seriousness in his words. Uh-oh. This wasn’t good. “I don’t want you using your mind-control abilities. It’s happened twice now, and next time, you might not be so lucky.”
I looked at the ceiling, not able to handle the disappointment I knew was on his face. “I know, Dad. I’m sorry. I just can’t seem to control my anger. I’m trying, but seeing what’s happening isn’t making it easy.”
“We talked about this when you decided to become a Watcher. I know it’s hard, but you agreed to try to keep your mind-control out of it.”
I bit back a retort. Victoria was already mad at me. I didn’t need Dad angry too. “I know, Dad. I’m sorry. I’ll try to do better!” I kissed his cheek. “I love you. I’ll see you in a few hours with more people.” I stood and walked around the coffee table.
Dad got to his feet. “Be careful. I love you and so do your mother and Lily.”
“I love you guys too!” I squeezed his shoulder and teleported to the hotel, arriving in the basement to find a few Watchers milling about.
I attempted a smile and continued down the hall, trying to act casual even as fury tore through my veins. I was going to get these people out of this hellhole right now, even if it meant breaking my promise to Dad and Victoria. They might never forgive me, but I couldn’t sit by while our people were being treated like machines.
I yanked open the door to the infirmary and stormed inside, scanning the room. Good. The tech from earlier wasn’t there. The other just stared at me in confusion. I took a breath. Okay. I could work with that.
“I want everyone that’s in these boxes out of them! Right now!” I pushed the action into the tech’s mind, and with stiff movements, the tech did as I asked. I held the mental bond as I helped women, men, and children out of the boxes. I’d get them down to the hiding place ASAP. If my energy held out. With each minute that passed, I could feel it draining from me. I tried to shake off the exhaustion as I lifted a little girl out of one of the boxes. She clung to me, shaking.
“It’s okay, sweetie.” I put her on her feet, and she wrapped her hands around my arm. “What’s your name?”
“Jamie,” she whispered, bottom lip trembling. Tears pooled in her brown eyes, and my heart broke. She couldn’t have been more than six or seven.
“Hi, Jamie. I’m Lindsey. Do you see your mommy?”
Jamie nodded and, letting go of my arm, ran to a woman a few feet away. I exhaled as I went to the door. “Mark, I’m taking a few people down now.” I headed out into the hall. “I ne
ed to—”
“Linds?”
I glanced up to find Mark standing in front of me. “Hey, so I—”
“You need to come with me.” He pulled on my arm before I could say anything, dragging me down the hall. “You should’ve waited to do what you just did.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I just had to get as many people out of there as I could.”
“Cooper!” Commander Scott’s voice came from down the hall. Crap! No! “My office! Now!”
I groaned. Yep. Another sign I should’ve planned this better. I walked slowly down the hall, my face schooled into indifference. I wasn’t going down without a fight. With one last deep breath, I stepped into his small office, Mark behind me. Without a word, I sat down in one of the dark blue hard plastic chairs in front of the desk. “You wanted to see me, sir?” I looked over his head at the wall. No decorations. No pictures of any kind. It was like standing in a jail cell. Even the temperature had lowered. Or maybe that was my body telling me to teleport out of here.
Commander Scott took a seat at his desk, his expression unreadable. “A tech in the infirmary informed me that you took several people out of the—”
“They were having their powers forced out of them!” I bolted from the chair. “I had to get them out of there!”
“That isn’t your job!” Commander Scott’s voice boomed across the small office, and with the door open, everyone in the hall could probably hear him. “From now on, you’re not to go near the infirmary, and I’m assigning another Watcher to your team for roundups.” His dark eyes narrowed. “Is that understood?”
“No!” The word tumbled out of my mouth as anger took me in its iron grip. My hand connected with the desk with a crack that cut through the silence. “I became a Watcher to help my people, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do!”
“Linds,” Mark said. When his hand rested on my shoulder, I shoved it away, my gaze locked on Commander Scott.
“You don’t want to mess with me, Commander Scott!” As if my mind wasn’t connected to my body, Commander Scott’s hands went to his throat.
