by Sophie Davis
“No, knock him out like the others and leave him, Penny,” Talia responded after a moment of deliberation. “No hostages.”
Penny. That was why I’d recognized her. Penny Latimore, a fellow Higher Reasoning Talent, and convicted traitor—wait, Penny was supposed to be dead. When Talia had been investigating at the school, Penny was the one she’d caught for spying and betraying her to the Coalition.
I’d attended the trial. I’d sat in the very back, worried about Talia. Penny was convicted. And executed for her crimes. Yet, here she was. Very much alive.
How? How was that possible?
You need to do a reality check. First a comatose man with an empty brain, now a dead girl. Those drugs Pint gave you definitely fried your brain. Or maybe she wasn’t real either….
Once again I wondered whether I was dreaming. I pinched the sensitive skin on the inside of elbow and winced at the pain. Compassion filled James’s eyes when he saw what I’d just done. He brushed a quick kiss over my forehead, lips cool on my hot skin. Our fingers were still interwoven, and he gave mine a succession of gentle squeezes before running his thumb over the back of my hand. Small, comforting circles.
He’s definitely real. This is real. Real. This is real. This is real.
“WAIT!” I EXCLAIMED, suddenly remembering how to speak and why Jaylen Monroe was in the hallway just now. If this was a dream, he surely wouldn’t have been there with the rest of them.
It was that realization that snapped me out of the shock-induced fog and back into the here and now.
All eyes turned to me.
“That guy, his sister, Libby, is a Talent,” I continued. “She’s horrid, but I promised him that we’d help her. We have to help her.”
Why? The part of me that loathed Libby snapped. The deal with Jaylen is no longer applicable. You don’t owe him or his sister anything.
You gave your word. The rest of me, the girl I wanted to be, insisted. You were just worried that Jaylen would betray you, and now you’re going to betray him? That’s not who you are.
“Jaylen was going to help us—me and James—escape, in exchange for taking Libby to the islands. Please,” I added. “I…I promised.”
My words made little sense to anyone besides James and possibly Riley, who actually knew the twins, and I was well aware of it. The fact I’d been dumbstruck earlier didn’t help my case, either.
“Ahh, that explains it,” Riley declared. “We’ve been waiting since before the auction began for the two of you to come up for sale. About twenty minutes ago, your names were removed from the auction house program. That’s when we decided we’d better come find you.”
The fact that Riley was working with UNITED was something I’d puzzle out later. We were short on time, and I didn’t want to waste any asking questions to find out precisely how that odd collaboration came about.
Talia took the disjointed, unclear announcement in stride, not batting an eyelash at this new development.
“Okay, where is she?” she asked.
Penny still had ahold of Jaylen, who was staring open-mouthed at Riley. He didn’t seem to grasp that Talia was talking to him.
“You look just like Benji, my bodyguard,” he said in wonder.
“That’s the point, mate,” Riley said, grinning as if this was the most fun he’d had in decades. “Your sort knows my face well, I had to obscure my appearance. I reckon the best way to do that is by looking like one of your actual guards, now isn’t it?”
“She’s in a hovercar outside,” I said, interrupting Riley’s gloating to answer Talia’s question. “She’s supposed to be drugged.”
Talia and Penny exchanged a glance, then Talia reached up to touch a finger to her inner ear.
“Erik, I need you to find a girl. She should be unconscious.”
Talia turned her attention on Jaylen and visibly focused. Whatever it was that Erik—Erik Kelley, her longtime man friend, self-appointed bodyguard, and the one who’d scared the bejeezus out of me that night in D.C. and told me to run—said in reply, it must have been funny. Laughter rang out from Riley, and even Brand chuckled. An impish smile crept up one side of Talia’s mouth before she shook her head, needing to concentrate.
The fact they’d all reacted told me that all my rescuers had compatible comm units, all tuned to the same frequency
“Of course you do,” she said sarcastically, the smile still there. “But there’s a line of hovercars waiting to take the buyers home, by the rear exit. The girl should be in an SUV. The license plate is Y...four…W…three…G…hang on a sec,” Talia paused. “Six, one, one. Got that?” Another pause, ostensibly while he read it back to her. “Exactly. In the backseat, there’s a blonde, dressed in white jeans and a blue silk blouse. She’s safe. I’ll see you soon.”
Erik’s next comment made them all cringe, including Riley. Though I had a sneaking suspicion that it was a colorful comment about me, I of course couldn’t be sure.
“Let’s go before someone else comes up here and realizes that all the guards are down,” Brand said. “Talia, take care of our friend here.” He pointed to Jaylen.
A look of fierce concentration came over Talia’s face, and then Jaylen Monroe’s eyes rolled up into his head and he slumped between Penny and the red-headed boy. Penny rested an unconscious Jaylen against the wall.
“All done!” she declared.
Brand and the red-haired boy—I later learned his name was Angus—took the lead. James, Riley, and I went next, with Talia and Penny covering us from behind. Other than Riley and Angus, none of the others had physical weapons, instead relying on their Talents to dispatch enemies. I marveled at how remarkably powerful Talia, Penny, and Brand must be to have taken out so many guards with just their gifts.
The scene outside the cube was surreal. Guards littered the hallway, some bleeding from fresh wounds, others appearing to be asleep. I had to hike up my detestable dress to keep from tripping over their bodies. When I passed Jaylen’s bodyguard, Benji, I did a double-take. I’d known Riley was a strong Talent, but morphing into another human being took exceptional power and energy, and he was maintaining the borrowed form while barely breaking a sweat. And doing so with astounding accuracy.
Several of the doors to the other cubes had been blown open just like ours, but the occupants were nowhere in sight.
“Other cubes were already empty. Those Chromes have probably already been moved to the holding area to await their buyers,” Riley said, answering my unasked question.
“Do you know where that is? Are we going to get the rest of them, too?” I asked.
Riley’s jaw tightened and he shook his head sadly. “No, afraid not. Won’t be time. It won’t be long before someone tries to comm one of these guards. When they don’t answer, someone will be sent up to investigate. When that happens, this place will go into lockdown. We need to be well in the air before that happens.”
“We aren’t going to help?” I asked, coming to a complete stop. The rest of our entourage halted around me, though they were all clearly anxious to get out of there.
While I understood what Riley had said about time, I was confused and stunned that releasing all of the prisoners wasn’t a top priority. I considered taking a stand, digging my heels in until Talia and the others agreed to rescue all of the captives. But the logical part of me knew that an all-or-none mentality was a little rigid. Nevertheless, I wasn’t stepping foot outside of this place without my best friend.
“What about Francie? We need to help Francie, at the very least,” I pleaded.
“Frances Owens? Taken care of, sweetie,” Penny reassured me. “She’s already on her way to the safe house.”
I sighed, the weight on my chest lessening a little.
Our group reached the elevators and it was Riley who stepped forward and scanned his palm to call the car. I was once again struck by how ridiculously powerful his morphing abilities were. Not only had he replicated the form of another person, he’d obviously been met
iculous with the detail, successfully copying the guard’s biometrics with enough accuracy to fool an electronic reader. Impressive was an understatement.
Space was tight with six of us jammed onto the small car and I found myself pressed against James, who wrapped his arms me and pulled me snug against his chest. I buried my face in his neck and savored being so close to him. A part of me wanted to stay on that elevator car forever. In here we were safe. But more than that, I dreaded seeing the arena again, which I knew we would as soon as we exited the car.
“Riley, Angus you two stay close to Kenly and James,” Talia said as the elevator sped downwards. “Brand, take the lead. Penny and I will stay in the back. Hopefully we can get out of here before anyone notices the mess we left upstairs. We play this right and it will look like we are buyers heading home with our new purchases. Still, be prepared to fight. Kenly, James, if you two get separated from us, head for the driveway. At the very back of the line of hoverlimos are five UNITED vehicles, each with a Swiss flag on the license plate and a diplomatic emblem in the bottom left-hand corner of the windshield. All the drivers are agents and know to be on the look for you two. Got it?”
James and I nodded in unison.
“What about their hands?” Riley asked. “It’ll seem strange that their hands aren’t bound, won’t it?”
“Leave that to me,” Talia said.
“How—” Riley started to say, but was cut off by the ding that signaled our arrival on the floor.
Unlike Riley, I didn’t need to ask how she intended on handling the issue of restraints. Talia would use Manipulation to make people think they were seeing cuffs around our wrists. The strength of her Talents was scary.
My adrenaline was off the charts when we stepped into the same hallway that I’d been in with Pint and Mole not that long ago. Despite my earlier resolve to avoid looking into the arena, I couldn’t stop myself.
Time seemed to standstill. I saw a well-known Italian actress and her soccer player husband, toasting with an American photographer who’d made headlines back home for his work in areas that still bore signs of the Great Contamination. Their laughter sickened me. The primal urge to attack welled up inside me.
“Kenly, it’s not worth it,” Talia said quietly. “Really. They are not worth it.”
Until she spoke, I hadn’t seen her standing beside me. For a moment, I wondered if my expression had betrayed my fury. Then, of course, I remembered that Talia was a Mind Manipulator who didn’t always have much respect for boundaries. To be fair, I don’t think she could help it, especially in a situation like this, where emotions were running high and feelings running deep. She’d long ago explained that it was like broadcasting your thoughts.
Talia tentatively touched my elbow, paused, then swung an arm across my shoulder and squeezed encouragingly.
“Come on, Kenly. We need to go.”
Standing there, in the middle of a walkway crowded with some of the worst human beings in the world, I considered her words. They are not worth it. Talia was wrong. They were. They needed to pay for all of the suffering they caused. Someone had to pay.
Didn’t Talia understand that? Didn’t any of the UNITED agents understand that? I wanted the Poachers to answer for their crimes. For now, in lieu of that, I’d take the buyers.
“They will pay, Kenly, I promise. But today isn’t the day,” Talia pronounced.
“She’s right, Kenly,” James added. “Right now, we need to get out of here.”
Gently squeezing his hand, I was again thankful he was there. If they both thought so, I could accept that.
“Never thought you’d be the voice of reason,” I said, glancing down at my former mentor. Before I’d met Pint, I used to think Talia was so small. Not anymore.
“Yeah, well, me neither. Now, are you going to start walking or do I need to make you?”
I smiled weakly. The fact that Talia was giving me the option instead of compelling me into submission was a great show of respect in my book. The very last threads of lingering animosity for her vanished entirely. I still had quite a few reservations about UNITED, but at least one of their agents was willing to let me keep my free will for now.
“What’s the problem?” Brand hissed, glaring at Talia.
“Nothing,” I said automatically. “Nothing’s the problem, let’s go.”
I kept my eyes downcast as we made our way through the crowd, using my peripheral vision to keep track of the guards we passed. No one tried to stop us. Several of the guards even called out greetings to Riley, addressing him as Edwards, which I surmised was Benji’s last name.
“Our people have your friend, Libby was it?” Talia said, sidling up between Riley and me to share the update. “She’s aboard one of our hovercars.”
“She’s not my friend,” I said instantly, speaking out of the side of my mouth and barely moving my lips.
“All the same, we have her, as you wanted,” Talia said, then fell back a step to walk with Penny.
Although I knew it was silly, I was touched that she viewed me as something of a peer, at least enough to give me updates. More than that, she viewed me as a friend—as one of her own. Just as James had said the night I’d broken down and told him the whole story about Talia, Erik, and the fall of TOXIC.
James.
Hope brought tears to my eyes. The future I’d seen, the one where I was the Monroe’s prisoners and James was tortured for my disobedience, was no more. For that alone, I was immeasurably grateful.
And Talia had made that happen.
Talia had come for me, even after I’d made an attempt on her life. She’d acquiesced to saving Libby, without question or protest. She hadn’t abandoned me. Not now, and if I was being honest, probably not ever.
“Hey, Tals?” I called behind me, using the old nickname reserved for her closest friends.
“Yeah, Kenly?” she answered, a hint of a smile in her voice.
Given the depth of my gratitude and the overwhelming appreciation I felt in that instant, all I had to do was think the words and I knew Talia would receive the message loud and clear.
Thank you. For…everything.
OUR NEXT OBSTACLE was a crowded lounge area. Guards lined the walls, eagle eyes focused on the attendees who were busy drinking, laughing, and watching the auction on the wallscreens over every table.
“Bloody disgusting,” James muttered beside me.
Like me, he had been staring at his feet while we passed under the noses of the guards. Now he was taking more liberties, staring disdainfully at the buyers like he was ready to wage a one-man-war at any moment. Even though I knew better, I reached out and took his hand. I said nothing since I felt much the same way and could offer no calming words. Still, my touch alone seemed to relax James and the murderous expression vanished.
Past the lounge area was a foyer similar to the one where I’d fought Pint and Tattoo-neck. We were really close. The exit was within sight. Two guards stationed at the door were our final hurdle.
While I was well aware of the damage this group could do in a fight—I couldn’t imagine being surrounded by a crew more badass than this one, probably because there was no such thing—I didn’t want it to come to that.
Behind me, Talia kept muttering under her breath into the wireless comm system she wore, so I knew she was in contact with other agents. But their location and number was a mystery to me. I worried that we might be outnumbered. Especially since James and I still didn’t have our Talents to protect us. We were weak links, liabilities.
My pulse was off the charts, heart hammering against my ribs, a trickle of sweat stinging my right eye. I’d never been so scared in my life. Not even during the battle in D.C. Then, I’d felt numb, simply going through the motions as if programmed to act a certain way. Now, I felt overly in tune with my emotions, almost wishing for that numb, detached feeling I’d had back then.
It suddenly occurred to me that, although I’d spent countless hours considering every aspect
of that day in D.C., this was the first time I recalled the way I felt. Even coming within millimeters of losing my life had not brought about the terror that walking through this palace of horrors did. At the time, I’d been fully aware that Erik was about to kill me. But I’d never felt the terror that was now constricting my lungs.
Hope, I realized.
There was still hope that we would make it out alive in this situation. Then, my death had been a foregone conclusion, all hope extinguished.
Talia’s arrival outside of the penthouse suite in the Hamilton Hotel, had meant the fight was lost. Her arrival tonight, however, had precisely the opposite effect. It’d breathed new life and resolve into me.
And now, ten feet from the exit door, I could practically taste freedom. It was the thought of that freedom being stolen from me that was so terrifying. Only a random twist of fate had kept me, instead of Francie, from experiencing the indignity of the auction block.
Maybe that was what was scaring me so much: if we didn’t make it through those doors, that indignity was still in my future. Not to mention the fact I’d have to go through all of the B.S. again with Pint and Mole.
But it wouldn’t be just me and James enduring the degradation if that happened. Riley, Talia, Penny, Brand, and even Angus were all at risk. A risk they’d taken for me. It was still unfathomable that every single one of them had stuck their neck out to help me. And it seemed so futile right then. They were all going to lose their freedom right along with me.
“Calm thoughts, Kenly. We’ve got this. No one will take your freedom away again, okay?” Talia spoke in my head, an odd trick I’d never gotten used to during our practice sessions.
Containment isn’t freedom.
I thought the words before I could stop myself, and Talia read them right out of my mind.
“Don’t worry about that right now. I’ll take care of it,” she mentally promised.
Unsure of whether she actually meant her words or she was just placating me to keep me moving, I didn’t ask how exactly she planned to keep that promise. Honestly, I didn’t know if her assurance had any basis, if she actually had enough pull within UNITED to keep me out of a containment cube. Hopefully she did, and she would.
