But he was grievously injured, thanks to Ember. As I watched, he gasped and clutched his oozing shoulder. His knees shook. Revealing himself to us had been foolish. Was he so confident in the strength of his telekinesis alone? His powers were considerable, but he needed to focus on them to use them efficiently, and right now he was obviously in agony. He could pull down the ladder and carry himself through the air, but how would he fare in combat?
I needed to distract him more. He said he didn’t believe in right and wrong—it was time to put that claim to the test.
I let my shoulders slump. “You’re right, I lied. He’s not nobody.” I gave Benjamin my most sugary smile. “We’re courting. Actually, we’re dating.” I wagered Patrick’s definition of the word would carry all the implications it once had for me.
Patrick wheezed a laugh. “It figures that you’d abandon all propriety once you took over. Are you sleeping with Marco and Reid, too?”
“No, I’m not interested in superheroes. I prefer supervillains.” I stepped aside, as if displaying Benjamin. “His parents are the ones who broke into the bank in June. We’ve been seeing each other since that day, by the way.”
“What are you doing?” Benjamin whispered, barely audible. Patrick was fifteen feet from us, so he wouldn’t hear our exchange.
“Play along,” I whispered back.
Benjamin stared at me, but recovered. “Hi, how’re you doing? Benjamin Trent, criminal-for-hire, professional torturer, occasional murderer. I’ve heard all about you. In fact, the strengths and weaknesses of your team were one of the first conversations we had.” He’d continued the conversation as though we’d planned it.
Benjamin threw his arm around my shoulder, and I kissed his hand, then looked at Patrick. “I bartered information about the team in exchange for…well, not kisses, if you know what I mean.”
Patrick’s face went from white to dark red. “You sold us out? You sold me out?”
I smirked. “Sold you out, betrayed you, turned traitor…yeah, I did. I told him all about you.”
“I especially liked the story about what happened when Daddy Campbell wouldn’t let you marry that sexy redhead,” Benjamin said, his voice like velvet. “Spanked you right in front of the whole camp, huh? Was Ember watching?”
“Shut up.” Patrick’s icy eyes flickered towards me. “I can’t believe you betrayed me to one of them.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Why do you care? Right and wrong don’t exist.”
“I care that a slut like you betrayed me for a piece of—”
I threw myself on top of Patrick.
The heel of my hand dug into his shoulder and he screamed, thrashing beneath me but unable to toss me off. Ember had already won my fight for me. I straddled him, one hand on his shoulder and the other slowly unsheathing the knife at my thigh.
“This is not going to be quick,” I said quietly.
And it wouldn’t. Patrick was going to suffer for what he’d put my team and me through. Every little moment of fear and loathing would be heaped on him before he died.
“You’re psychotic,” he spat. “Just kill me.”
“No.” I applied pressure to his wound. “You never killed me, you just tossed me into walls.” I punched his shoulder. “You choked me.” I dropped my knife and grabbed his windpipe, eliciting a wonderful gurgle from him. “You tormented and terrorized the people you were supposed to protect.” I ground my hand into his shoulder, but his scream was cut off by the pressure on his throat.
A heavy blanket of vengeance descended on my mind. Deep down, beyond the rage and pain, a tiny voice reminded me that I had the right to kill him, but I could not justify torturing him. He’d tormented us, and mirroring his actions would be to lower myself to his level.
I ignored the voice.
I leaned in close enough to smell his breath as it wafted over my face. “What’s it like, Patrick? How does it feel to have someone stronger than you cause you pain when you can’t do anything about it? You feel small, don’t you? You feel like a speck in the wind. You want someone to run to your side and save you.” I brought down my fist on his unwounded shoulder, breaking it, savoring his agonized yell. “Well, guess what? Nobody’s coming.”
Behind me, I heard Benjamin slide down against the gym wall. He’d said the other supervillain children had mocked him for disliking violence; how would he feel about me once he saw what I was going to do to Patrick?
I cared less than I thought I would. My hatred of Patrick ran deeper than my desire for Benjamin’s approval, though, to be fair, my hatred of Patrick ran deeper than most feelings of mine.
“So, how is this going to go?” I asked. “I rather like the idea of breaking your limbs and tossing you in the water, but I also like using my knives, and I’ve had so few chances to use them these days.”
Panic flitted across his face. “Just kill me.”
I laughed. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“Jill, look out!” I heard Benjamin’s warning at the same time I saw Patrick’s arm move.
My knife, forgotten at my side, cut a jagged gash in my right arm. Dark blood gushed from the wound as Patrick threw me off of him.
Fun time was over, then.
The knife flew out of his hand and straight at my chest, but I twisted around, and it sailed past me into the water with a small splash.
I grabbed Patrick around his middle and threw him to the ground.
An invisible hand grabbed my collar and pulled me backwards, dragging my boots through the pebbles. He clambered to his feet and reached out a hand.
My throat constricted. I clawed at the invisible choking force, cursing his favorite tactic.
Benjamin slammed into Patrick, knocking him down again and breaking his chokehold.
I shoved Benjamin aside and began my final assault.
Fighting telekinesis was like trying to force two north poles of magnets together—my fists merely slid over the unseen force that repelled me. Only when one of my punches hit his shoulder did Patrick gasp, allowing me to get a decent punch in.
The force field dissolved completely.
A punch to the chest. His ribs broke, puncturing his lungs. He’d never yell threats of violence at my team again.
A blow to the upper thigh, and his pelvic bone cracked. He’d never kick me in the stomach after a beating, driving home how powerless I was to stop him.
Multiple hits to his soft middle, and I knew he was already bleeding internally. He’d never see another sunrise.
I finally stopped to catch my breath. Patrick was still conscious, but no longer moving. He gazed at me—through me—with an empty, broken expression.
“I hate you,” I choked.
He said nothing.
“Fight back,” I growled, pulling my fist back to punch him again. Blood from my arm dripped down my hand onto his body and mingled with his own. “Fight back!”
“He’s down, Jillian,” Benjamin whispered. “He’ll be dead soon.”
The late summer sun shone bright on the three of us, but a deep cold prickled at my skin. I’d beaten Patrick. My great enemy was dying in front of me, and when he was dead I would be free. We’d all be free. So why did I feel like I hadn’t won?
I gripped the front of his shirt and shook him roughly. “Fight back!”
This couldn’t be it. There had to be more to Patrick’s death, something epic. “Fight back, dammit!”
Why had he come out to fight me? In his condition, the decision had amounted to little more than suicide. “What’s wrong with you?!” I screamed. “Answer me!” I backhanded his face, but he said nothing.
Benjamin was at my side in an instant, pulling me away. “We have to go!”
“No! He’ll escape! He’ll—”
“No, we have to go! Jump in the water! Now!” He pointed to something across the water.
I looked to see what he was pointing at. In the distance, and rapidly approaching, was a small speedboat with three people in it. It
wasn’t a rescue boat.
I squinted. “Who are they?”
Benjamin’s breathing quickened. “My family. Oh my God, it’s my family.” He grabbed my hand and my bleeding gash sealed itself. Benjamin searched frantically for an escape. “If we jump in the water now, we can…we can…”
He turned to me. His eyes, usually so full of laughter and strength, contained nothing but fear.
I squeezed his hand. “I’m right here. I won’t let them do anything to you.”
He shook his head and wiped his face with the back of his free hand. “You don’t get it. You can’t do anything to them.”
The roar of the speedboat drowned out my reply. The boat pulled up to the roof, which was essentially a dock in the floodwaters.
At the helm was a tall, handsome, muscular man in his mid-twenties who bore a striking resemblance to Benjamin—Beau. The other two people were much older. The man, obviously Mr. Trent, was a vision of an older, dour Benjamin, tall and hazel-eyed. Mrs. Trent had softer features and wavy hair that spoke of Eleanor, though she and Benjamin shared the same mouth.
Benjamin stepped in front of me. “Mom, Dad, Beau. It’s been a while.” His voice was higher than normal.
His parents stepped off the boat and onto the roof. Benjamin pushed me backwards.
Mr. Trent gave his younger son a look of pure hatred. “Get in the boat, son.” The order carried as much threat as any elder’s. I shivered.
Mrs. Trent held up a hand. “Benny, we don’t want to fight. We just want to talk.”
Benjamin stiffened. “Put your hand down and I might believe you.”
Mrs. Trent dropped her arm. “Honey, you can’t possibly think I’d—”
“He’s working with camp trash,” Mr. Trent interrupted, staring beyond Benjamin at me. “Anything’s possible now.”
Trash? The man who’d dedicated his life to villainy was calling me trash? I wanted to respond, but for once I had the sense to keep my mouth shut.
“I’m not going with you,” Benjamin said, his voice shaking. “So you can just get back in the boat and go home.”
“Home’s gone, idiot,” Beau said from the boat. “Or did you not notice the flood?”
“Then go back to the Annapolis house. I don’t care where you go. I’m not going with you, though.”
Mrs. Trent’s face went from sad to furious. “They’re controlling you, aren’t they? They want your healing power.”
“No! I’m not being controlled!” Benjamin may have been trying to project authority, but his voice trembled.
His fear became mine—why did his family terrify him so much? I was a superhero, and I could handle supervillains, even if there were three. He knew something I didn’t.
“Of course you’re being controlled!” she shot back, balling her fists. “You’re my son, and you would never betray your people for these pieces of—”
Mr. Trent held up a hand to his wife. “This is about the damn scholarship, isn’t it?”
“No, Dad, listen—”
“Yes, it is. This is some bratty attempt to assert your independence because I didn’t let you accept that damn scholarship to Columbia—”
“Old Dominion! God, Dad. Eleanor went to Columbia. Get your disappointing kids straight!”
“At least Eleanor never abandoned her family to work with the likes of her!” Mr. Trent roared, pointing at me.
Benjamin grabbed my hand, though to stay me or steady his own nerves I couldn’t tell.
“Where is Eleanor?” Mrs. Trent asked, narrowing her eyes. “You left the house together.”
I peeked over his shoulder. “I’ll tell you what happened to Eleanor if you tell us how you found Benjamin.”
Benjamin hissed at me to shut up.
Beau waved at me. “I knew my geek brother was alive when I saw the books on the floor of his bedroom that night.” He shook his head. “You were in the closet, weren’t you?Well, anyway, you shouldn’t have told the Coast Guard where you were over the radio.” He tapped his head. “I can hear it all.” He leered at me. “I can see why you turned, Ben. You always picked ones with a decent rack.” His leer turned vicious. “If I asked her about what you’ve been up to, do you think she’d talk?”
Benjamin bared his teeth at his brother. “You will never—”
“Did you get my letters? I sent six, but you never answered them.” Beau was grinning from ear to ear—yet, somehow, his eyes were as flat and blank as a shark’s.
Good gracious, he was creepy.
Mrs. Trent’s head whipped back and forth between her sons. “You’ve been in contact? What’s going on?”
“Thank you for explaining,” I said, doing some quick thinking. So they’d been monitoring the frequencies. Were Ember and Reid safe? What about the people in the shelter below? I had no way to fight three supervillains by myself, and Benjamin was visibly shaking. We needed to get away from them.
Mrs. Trent crossed her arms. “What about Eleanor? Where’s my daughter?”
I pointed to Patrick, who was still lying on the ground and breathing slowly. “He killed her at the library. I saw everything.” For all I knew, Eleanor really was dead, but I wanted the heat off of the two of us.
Mrs. Trent calmly strode over to Patrick and placed a hand on his face. He flinched.
In the blink of an eye Patrick’s face, neck, and upper chest collapsed into dust that scattered in the light breeze. Blood poured out of his ribcage, pooling thickly around his corpse. Mrs. Trent kicked his body to the edge and into the dark water where it bobbed slightly before sinking below the surface.
Benjamin and I backed up against the wall. My eyes were locked on the area of water where Patrick’s corpse had sunk.
She turned to face me. “How are you controlling my son?”
I removed my shaking hand from my mouth. “I’m not. I swear.”
Everyone on my team had killed people, but I’d never seen a death as horrible has Patrick’s, nor someone kill another person so casually. Benjamin’s terror of his parents started to make so much more sense. What did they do behind closed doors that made Benjamin think they’d turn their powers on him?
She took a step towards me. “You expect me to believe that my son would ever willingly betray his loving family for a stupid, backwoods girl like you?”
Benjamin took an unsteady breath and stepped forward. “No, I wouldn’t expect you to believe it. But I would leave a family of murderers to serve beside a kind, smart, strong superhero and her equally admirable team.”
Mrs. Trent rolled her eyes. “Really, Benjamin. Can you hear yourself?”
Mr. Trent studied us. “He can hear himself. So what’s it going to be? Are you going to come with us quietly, or are things going to get ugly?”
Benjamin pushed me behind him again. “Define ugly.”
“I drag you back to the boat and your mother erases her from existence.”
I wrapped my arms around his torso. “I’ll fight for you,” I whispered.
“But you’ll die,” he whispered in return.
“Then I’ll die for you.”
He raised his chin and faced his parents. “I’m not going with you. But…but mom, it doesn’t have to be like this.”
Mrs. Trent gazed at her son, her previous fury turning to despair. “Henry...”
Mr. Trent gasped. “Janice, we can’t let him stay! He’s a threat to everyone, now. We have to do it.”
“I can’t kill my own son,” Mrs. Trent whimpered. “He’s my baby. He’s my Benny.”
Mr. Trent took his wife’s hands in own and kissed them. “I’m sorry.”
Mrs. Trent screamed and fell to the ground, twitching. Mr. Trent’s hands crackled with electricity as he turned to us.
“Run!” Benjamin shouted, pulling me towards the edge.
Without pausing even for breath, I jumped into the floodwaters at the same time as Benjamin and surfaced a moment later with a gasp. The water churned, threatening to suck me under at any seco
nd. I grabbed Benjamin and swam with difficulty towards the church’s flagpole. Benjamin and I clung to the metal pole and choked on the water we’d swallowed.
It only took a second for me to realize how much our situation hadn’t improved.
Mr. Trent stood at the edge of the roof, shaking his head. “You can’t escape me.” He sounded almost sad.
“Dad! It doesn’t have to end like this! Just leave!”
Mr. Trent raised his hand, electricity traveling up and down between his fingers. I knew that he could manufacture enough current to kill us in the water. The power of electricity in water had been one of the first subjects I’d learned about from a book, in the library, before I was even ready to admit that book learning had value.
Benjamin planted a desperate kiss on my lips. “I’m sorry.”
I gave him my best smile.
Mr. Trent brought his hand towards the water.
An explosion of sound and searing heat nearly knocked us off the flag pole.
A rippling beam tore through Mr. Trent, vaporizing him where he stood, leaving nothing but a smoking pair of shoes with bits of ankle poking out. The roof beyond burst into flames. The water touched by the beam turned to steam in an instant, and even the water around us heated up to the temperature of bath water.
Marco stood high above us on the gym roof, white and yellow tendrils snaking out and away from his entire body, with his hand outstretched and his eyes glowing so brightly he truly appeared to be the sun titan Helios, beautiful and terrible.
He’d unleashed the full power of the sun.
A floating piece of furniture crashed into Benjamin and me, knocking us off the flag pole and into the swirling flood.
39
The swift-flowing water dragged us down into its murky brown depths, buffeting us against unseen objects and knocking the air out of my lungs. I kept an iron grip on Benjamin’s hand. If I loosened it even a little, he’d slip away from me and drown in an instant.
I kicked as hard as I could and pulled us up into the sunlight, breaking the water’s surface and desperately looking for something to latch onto. We were in the middle of the unofficial river, flowing rapidly towards the ocean. As I watched, a small house broke away from its foundation and joined our watery path to the Atlantic. All around us, families on rooftops waited to be rescued.
Battlecry Page 32
