by Scott Wilson
“Of course,” Father Yohan said. “And even if they somehow are hurt, it’s not a problem. I can fix them.”
“How?” Caden asked.
Father Yohan reached into the pocket of his robe and held out his palm for Caden to see. He was holding a single seed.
“My angel weapon has the power to control time,” he explained. “I can speed up, slow down, or even reverse time for anything I touch. Take this daisy seed for instance.”
The white X on Father Yohan’s hand shone bright. The seed instantly sprouted a green stem, and dirt-colored roots wrapped themselves around his hand. The plant shot upward, blooming into beautiful white petals. It had only taken a matter of seconds for the seed to transform into a fully-grown flower, and for its roots to become tangled in his hand.
“Now watch this.”
The white X on Father Yohan’s hand shone through the roots. The daisy drooped, faded black and brown, then crumbled into ash.
“You killed it,” Annika said.
“All I did was speed up its natural process,” Father Yohan said, wiping his hands.
“But what about the Nobodies’ parents?” Caden asked. “What can you do for them?”
“Let me make you a show of good faith,” Father Yohan said. He jerked his head to one of the Holy Police, who then ran toward the elevator. The doors opened, and another Holy Police walked into the room, pulling something behind him. When Caden saw what it was, his heart leaped into his throat.
It was Deber. But she was in bad shape.
The arrow was still stuck in her backside. From rump to hoof she was covered in black infection. The leg didn’t even move as she walked; it only scraped against the ground and spasmed. Even the saddle and reins seemed to be too much weight for her to carry. Deber moaned in agony as she was led across the room. When she saw Caden, she tried to whinny a happy greeting, but all that came out was a moan of pain.
“Deber.” Caden rubbed her smooth snout and she licked his hand through the bars. “I thought you were gone, girl.”
“A butcher boy brought this horse to the church,” Father Yohan said. “He seemed very anxious to have her healed no matter what. Apparently, he’d seen my ‘miracles’ before. Usually we have to turn away requests like that or else we’d be overrun with miracle-seekers, but in this case we decided to make an exception.”
“Can you help her?” Caden asked.
Father Yohan grinned. “Just watch.”
He gently placed his palm on Deber’s backside. She shook and groaned, but only for a moment. The black tendrils on her leg immediately began disappearing like dark soup being slurped out of a bowl. In no time, all signs of the wound were gone, and only the white arrow remained sticking out of her backside. A second later even that too fell to the floor. Miraculously, Deber was completely healed.
She was the first one to notice. Deber smacked her tail against her rump, checking for the arrow that was no longer there. She trotted backward, using her back leg normally for the first time in days. At realizing she was no longer in pain, she let out neighs of joy and started bucking around in circles until the Holy Police restrained her. But she didn’t care, and neither did Caden. She was healed—that was all that mattered.
“Is Deber really okay now?” Caden asked.
“Of course,” Father Yohan said. “I merely reversed her backside to the way it was a few days ago. And if any of the Nobodies’ parents have been harmed by undergoing our tests, then I can do the same for them. If, of course, you are willing to help us.”
Deber gnawed gently on Caden’s fingers. She tugged on his hand, begging him to come out of the cage and go riding together. Caden knew that couldn’t happen, but there was one thing he could do. He took off the satchel with Annika’s dress and his dad’s photo in it and hung it around Deber’s head.
“I’ll come back for you, girl,” Caden said. “I promise.”
Father Yohan raised an eyebrow. “Does that mean you’re joining us?”
“I … I don’t know,” Caden said. “I mean, I thought I was built to destroy the world. Not save it.”
“Destroying and saving aren’t all that different sometimes,” Father Yohan said. “To save your horse, I had to destroy the millions of bacteria that were thriving in her wound. Sometimes the difference between saving and destroying is just a matter of perspective.”
Father Yohan signaled with a nod to the Holy Police. They pulled Deber’s reins and led her back to the elevator. Father Yohan followed behind.
“What is your purpose, Caden Aire?” he said. “Will you destroy the world, or will you save it? Maybe there’s no difference, but it can’t hurt to try. Either way make your decision quickly. Metl will be making ‘contact’ with us soon enough.”
Father Yohan and Deber disappeared behind the elevator doors. The Holy Police bodyguards went down a staircase, leaving the original guards back in front of Caden and Annika’s cell.
“What do we do?” Annika asked.
“I think we should help them,” Caden said.
Annika grit her teeth in frustration. “That just feels wrong. I mean, look at what they’re doing here. I don’t care what good they think they’re accomplishing, this is terrible.”
“But he said they’ll stop it. And he can heal your mom, just like he healed Deber.”
“Yeah, and what guarantee do we have? They’ll probably just put us to sleep like the rest of the parents and never let us wake up.”
Now Caden was getting frustrated. He’d hoped Annika would be on his side. “That’s what you said about Jadice, too. You thought she’d use us and then throw us away, and you were wrong about her. We don’t have any choice, Annika. We have to trust them.”
Annika lowered her gaze. “The last time I trusted someone, they shot me in the arm.”
Caden was torn. He wanted to just tell the guards that he was ready to join them, and then do whatever Father Yohan needed him to do. But at the same time, he didn’t want to abandon Annika. What other choice did he have though?
Before Caden could decide, the electric lights in the room flickered. All the researchers and Holy Police stopped in their tracks. Evidently this wasn’t a common occurrence.
“What’s going on?” came the voice of Freidric, Dom’s brother. He gazed at the wall of screens with the other researchers as the lights kept blinking on and off.
“There’s been a power surge by the garbage tunnel entrance,” one of them announced.
“That’s impossible,” Freidric said. “Nothing down there produces electricity. The only way that could happen is if it were struck by lightning or something.”
Caden and Annika shot each other a knowing look. Lightning? That could only mean one thing: Eleven. Didn’t he know that Caden and the Apostles were supposed to be on the same side now?
“What’s going on, Freid?” asked Dom, peeking over the shoulders of the researchers.
“Don’t worry about it,” Freidric said.
“Sir,” said another researcher. “It’s the elevator. There’s been an unauthorized use. It’s … it’s coming up.”
“Well stop it!” Freidric yelled.
“I can’t, sir. It’s already—”
A loud clap of thunder exploded in the air. Bright, hot lighting flashed out of the elevator shaft and twisted its way through the room, electrocuting researchers and unconscious parents alike. The victims shook and collapsed, convulsing and steaming like meat over a flame.
“Call Father Yohan!” Freidric ordered. “Something’s gone wrong!”
There was another blast of lightning, this time even louder and more destructive. Sizzling electricity rippled along the walls, causing explosions of sparks and fires. Alarms blared, researchers fell to the ground, and all of the parents hooked up to machines started shaking violently. They were being electrified by the devices on their heads.
“Mom!” Annika screamed. Caden could only just make out Annika’s mo
ther Sandie in the on-and-off darkness. She was trembling just as violently as the others.
Annika ran to the side of the jail bars and, to Caden’s surprise, threw them open. The electric lock had lost power. But Annika didn’t make it more than a foot out of the cell before she was stopped by the Holy Police guards.
“Let me through!” she screamed. “I need to save my mom!”
“Don’t let them out!” Freidric commanded. He and the remaining researchers ran to the guards and formed a human barrier between Caden and Annika’s cell and the rest of the room.
“Let us out!” Caden said. “We know who’s causing this. We need to get everyone out of here before he—”
“You’re not going anywhere!” Freidric yelled over the sirens. “Father Yohan has ordered us to keep you here at all costs.”
Caden stepped back and squeezed his hands into fists. His strength was finally back after having been drained away by the magnet-bow. All it would take is one blast to break through them.
“He’s going to do something!” Freidric called. “Shoot again!”
The Holy Police with the magnet-bow pointed it at Caden. It was now or never.
Caden thought about the joy of Deber being alive, the bittersweet disappointment of finding Annika’s mother, and the anger of having to join with the Apostles to stop Metl. But most of all, he felt the crushing, devastating failure of not finding his dad. Warmth bubbled up inside Caden right to his fingertips, and he let it out with an explosion of air right into Freidric and the Holy Police.
They went flying across the room. The Holy Police slammed into the Nobodies’ parents and Freidric smacked against the walls of monitors, right into a web of writhing lightning. He shook and fell to the ground.
“Freidric!” came Dom’s voice. He appeared out of the staircase where he’d been hiding and ran over to his brother, desperately trying to shake him awake.
“I’m sorry!” Caden shouted. He wasn’t sure why he’d said it. He didn’t owe Dom anything. It was Dom’s fault they’d been caught and put in the cell in the first place. But still, it wasn’t as if he wanted to hurt Dom’s brother.
Annika dashed to her mother. Caden trailed after her, picking up her magnetizer and charge belt from the fallen Holy Police.
“Mom!” Annika said. Sandie was lying on a metal table, sprawled out and shaking. Annika threw off the headband and straps around her arms and legs, freeing her from whatever devices she had been hooked up to. She stopped shaking, but she still didn’t open her eyes.
“What do we do?” Caden asked.
“I don’t know,” Annika said. “I need to save her. I need to. If I don’t then I’ll never—”
Sandie opened her eyes slowly, like she was awakening from the deepest sleep imaginable. Annika pressed her face against her mother’s, smiling as tears dripped down.
“Mom, you’re okay!” she said. Sandie looked at Annika, at first as if she were unsure who she was. But then recognition spread across her face, from her warm eyes to her bright smile.
“Annika,” she said softly. Her voice was hoarse, as if it hadn’t been used in months. She reached out with a weak hand and stroked Annika’s face with the tips of her fingers. “You’re so pretty when you smile.”
Annika laughed and wiped her eyes. She gripped Sandie’s hand.
“It’s okay, Mom,” she said. “We’re getting you out of here. Right now.”
But Sandie’s smile didn’t last. Her pale face turned a sickly gray, and she coughed in a rough, painful way. Blood splattered from her mouth onto Annika’s vest.
“Mom, are you okay?” Annika’s eyes darted all over her mother. She kept coughing, blood dripping down her chin with each agonizing outburst.
“Annika … please …” her mother wheezed.
“What can I do? Tell me what to do!” Annika begged. She looked to Caden. “Caden! Do something with your … with your power or something!”
Caden didn’t know what to do. He could make things fly and explode, but he couldn’t stop someone from coughing up blood.
“Annika … please …” her mother repeated. “Forgive us. Forgive … us.”
As the words escaped Sandie’s mouth, she convulsed, went stiff, and then succumbed. Her body hung limp and lifeless.
“Mom! No!” Annika grabbed Sandie’s shoulders and shook her, but all it did was lurch her head from side to side. Annika put her ear to her mother’s chest, listening for a heartbeat. Caden could tell by the horror on her face that there was nothing.
Suddenly he had an idea. “We need to find Father Yohan now. You saw what he did for Deber. He’s the only one who can help your mom.”
Caden was worried that Annika wouldn’t leave her mother’s side, but she snapped to attention. She grabbed her magnetizer from him, snatched the charge belt, and buckled it around her waist.
“Let’s go.” The two of them dashed to the staircase.
“Stop!” came a voice behind them. It was Dom. “Do something about my brother!”
Caden kept moving. Stopping would only slow them down, and he didn’t know how long they had. If he could bring Father Yohan up to save Annika’s mom, then he could save everyone else too.
The two of them sprinted down the stairs. The steps twisted around and around like a never-ending spiral staircase. They passed by open doors to other rooms filled with monitors and Iltech and fallen researchers. Annika ran five steps ahead of Caden, who struggled to keep up with her.
Until they slammed into Jadice.
Annika pummeled straight into her, and Caden screeched to a halt only inches behind. He’d never been so happy to see blue and yellow hair.
“Jadice!” he cried. “You’re alive! You escaped the Basement.”
“Seems like you did too, Blondie,” she cackled. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“Eleven is here,” Caden said breathlessly.
Jadice glared. “I know.”
“We need to save my mom!” Annika said. “We have to find Father Yohan.”
“Where is he?” Jadice asked.
“We don’t know. He went downstairs in the elevator.”
Jadice’s eyes lit up. “All right. Follow me.”
The three of them continued spiraling down the staircase at breakneck speed. Caden felt a huge sense of relief. With Jadice here, they were finally safe. They could beat Eleven, get Father Yohan to save the parents, and then finally stop Metl.
At the bottom of the staircase was a thick wooden door with stone padlocks. Thankfully it was already leaning open. Jadice pushed it out the rest of the way, revealing the church’s worship hall.
It was enormous. Dozens of rows of wooden pews all faced the stage that the three of them were standing on. High above them loomed a towering ceiling, separated into six ornately-painted sections, depicting each of the Six Virtues. Along the walls sprinkled with bark and leaves were tall stained-glass windows of rainbow-colored ants, letting in dazzling light from the rising sun outside. Behind Caden was a tapestry of Gotama’s Ant, stretching all the way from the ceiling to the floor of the stage.
And on the other end of the stage was a podium, where Father Yohan and his two Holy Police guards were standing. Deber was there too, satchel still around her neck. She gave a happy neigh as soon as Caden stepped in.
“Father Yohan!” Caden called. “I’ll join you! I’ll do whatever you want. But we need your help!”
At first Father Yohan smiled, until he saw Jadice. His expression turned dark. He extended out his fingers, revealing the white Xs on his palms, as if ready to fire.
But before he could do anything, Jadice struck first. She kicked her boot in the air, sending bolts of crackling lightning across the stage right into Father Yohan and the two Holy Police, blasting all three of them backward into the rough, bark-covered walls. They slipped down and collapsed onto the pews, doubled-over and unconscious.
“No!” Caden yelled. “St
op! They don’t want to destroy me.”
Jadice turned to Caden with a sinister grin.
“Oh, I know they don’t, Blondie. But I do.”
Chapter 16
The Betrayer
Before Caden could react, Annika had her magnetizer out, ready to fire. Jadice was even faster. Another kick and more lightning bolts flew out of her boot, crashing into Annika, blasting her across the stage and knocking her to the floor. But how did Jadice have electrical powers? Wasn’t that supposed to be Eleven’s weapon?
Caden didn’t have time to think. He thrust out his palms, but Jadice was one step ahead. With her other leg she kicked the air, sending an electrical discharge right at Caden. Unlike the others, the bolts didn’t send him flying, they wrapped around him, sizzling him like a sausage. The lightning rippled through Caden’s skin, piercing him like hot needles and shaking him, bringing him down to the ground.
The electricity fizzled away, but he couldn’t move; he only shook involuntarily. He burned all over, and his stomach felt like it was churning out acid. Deber ran over and nudged him, but all he could do was cough and try not to vomit.
Jadice slowly walked over, her heavy footsteps echoing on the wooden stage.
“I know that’s not enough to kill you,” she said. “But it should be enough to prevent you from interfering while I set up something that can.”
Deber gave a gut-wrenching growl and dove at Jadice. Jadice lazily put out her palm and a gush of water even bigger than Deber hit her smack in the face, pummeling her backward until she collided with the tapestry of Gotama’s Ant on the wall and collapsed.
Caden tried to ignore the burning pain all over. He scanned the room. Annika was still down, Deber was moaning, and Father Yohan lay bent backward over one of the pews. It wasn’t clear if he was alive, but he wasn’t moving.
“I … I don’t understand,” Caden forced out. “I thought you … I thought you were helping us.”
Jadice chuckled to herself. “I did make it seem that way, didn’t I? I had to be careful though. Lying isn’t my strong suit—killing is. And now I finally get to do it.”
