by Lane, Styna
“Lily,” he breathed, bounding to greet me with a passionate kiss.
“Ugh!” I shouted, startling Lakin as I hastily removed myself from Lily’s vision.
“What? What happened?” he asked nervously.
“He’s there.” I grimaced, the experience still fresh on my lips. “I think we can just wait for Lily to tell us herself.”
My eyes wandered to Emmy, whose questioning gaze was firmly fixed on something in the kitchen. I tried to follow her line of sight, and finally remembered something that had escaped me, earlier; the trashcan. The out-of-place, ornate trashcan next to the stove was an exact replica of the one that had found a home in the kitchen of the Stein’s house. It seemed far too unlikely to be only a coincidence.
Lakin raised a curious eyebrow, trying to intercept my stare. I shook my head out of its pondering, assuring myself that I would ask Lily about it later. I meant to give a reassuring grin to the boy next to me, but I was distracted by a glint from his neck.
I lifted my hand, brushing my fingers against the tight-fitting necklace I hadn’t noticed before. Curtis had carved the stone into an odd shape. I couldn’t quite place it, but it felt so familiar—a hollow circle, with six spokes poking out from the sides. Almost like a sun…
A twinge in my chest led me to reach into my shirt, and pull out the crumpled drawing Jenny had given me for my birthday. Holding the paper next to Lakin’s very-confused face, the stone lined up perfectly with the little, purple sun in the corner. It shouldn’t have seemed odd for a child to draw the sun like that, especially a child who had never actually seen the real thing. One of the first pieces of art I remembered drawing involved apples growing from pine trees, because those are the kinds of things that make sense to young minds. They see the obvious things that adults are all too willing to overlook.
“What—” he began.
“Well,” Lily said from the other side of the table, interrupting my thoughts as she eyed me awkwardly, “he seems to be all right, but he has no idea what happened, or where he is.”
“How is that even possible?” I questioned, absentmindedly folding the drawing back into my shirt.
“I have no idea. But we do think it has something to do with The Facility.”
“You don’t say,” I huffed, fighting off the overwhelming urge to roll my eyes.
“Why would they only take him?” Sarah piped up from the living room. “Why wouldn’t they take all of us?”
Kayla seemed almost appalled that her friend was participating in our conversation. Her eyes were about the size of melons, and her gaze shifted between us, as if we might burst out of our human-like shells and eat her face off.
“You were under the protection of Jason and Mattie’s gift. Nobody would have even known you were there,” Lily explained, throwing Sarah a sweet smile.
“But why would they want Al?” The question came from Emmy’s lips, this time. She seemed absolutely befuddled as she rested her cheek on her fist, elbow propped up on the urn.
“Seriously?” Lakin cocked his head, jaw slightly agape. My elbow accidentally met his ribs with full force, as I feigned a sip from my empty teacup.
“Mrs. Stein… what, exactly, did they tell you when you and your husband were hired in to The Facility?” Lily squinted with accusation.
Emmy’s eyes wandered nervously around the room, lingering on my face for just enough time to make me squirm in my seat. Having spent a significant amount of my life in her house, I thought I had seen every one of her expressions, but this was something new. This was something that made my insides boil and freeze and turn to overcooked, frost-bitten spaghetti; she looked guilty.
With an uncomfortable sigh, Emmy plunged into a story that had, conveniently, never come up at the dinner table.
“At first, they didn’t tell us much. Only that I would be in charge of the greenhouse, and Eddie would be head of research… but they didn’t say what kind of research, exactly.”
“Why would you accept a job that you knew so little about?” Lily questioned.
“We were in a rough spot. We had both been out of work for a while, we were getting evicted from our apartment, and with a baby on the way… we couldn’t see any other option. It was a paycheck, and a place to stay. We didn’t even know where we were going.” Her stare ventured off into her past, as she relived the story she told. “They told us to meet them at the airport. And we did. Then they put us on a private jet, and blindfolded us before we landed. When they took them off, we were in Mr. Slate’s office. He explained what The Facility was, and how it operated. He said they were initially running experiments on volunteers with marked psychic abilities, but something went wrong, and they all… died. He never said what happened to them, only blamed it on the employees. That’s why they were hiring new people. Then Paula came in, holding the tiniest bundle of white blankets.”
Emmy forced her eyes in my direction, but they seemed to have trouble meeting my own. She nervously swept a tangle of hair from her face, before carefully sitting the urn at her feet and standing to move toward me. Each step was tense and cautious, like she was treading toward her own demise.
“Mr. Slate said some of the volunteers had had children while in The Facility. By the time they’d realized the children had inherited their parents’ powers, they’d already put most of them into foster care. He said they would continue trying to find the other babies, but for now, they just had you. Then Paula held you out, and you looked up at me with your big brown eyes… Mr. Slate went on and on about how you were different, and dangerous, and all I could think was, ‘how could something so little, so beautiful, be dangerous?’”
Emmy was so close, I could feel the warmth of her arm against my face. She kneeled down, so our faces were on the same level, and she finally looked me in the eyes. Her cheeks were damp with tears, but something was hidden in her voice that I couldn’t place.
“You have to believe that neither of us wanted to contribute to what William was doing to you, Angie. What kind of person experiments on a child? But the moment Paula handed you over, when I held you in my arms… I knew we needed to protect you in any way we could, even if that meant heading the research. So, we signed our contracts. We took you in, so you didn’t have to grow up in the infirmary. You were like a daughter to us. Eddie loved you. I love you. Eric, well…” she trailed off, brushing the last stray tear from her cheek.
As Lakin’s grip tightened around my hand at the mention of Eric’s name, I suddenly remembered the ring that was currently cutting into my finger. I had forgotten to take it off when we returned to the Eden. Nobody had noticed, yet. Maybe they wouldn’t.
“So,” I cleared my throat, “you knew about the others like me?”
“We—” Emmy began, glancing at Lily and then Lakin, “we didn’t know there were so many. We only knew about the ones born in The Facility. We certainly didn’t suspect Al was a… After so many years had gone by, we’d assumed William had given up looking for them.”
“Didn’t you ever wonder why they were doing the research?”
“Well,” she said, looking down at her hands, “like I said, they told us it was all about understanding psychic abilities. We thought, you know… telepathy, or something. The thought that psychic abilities were even real was completely new to us. We had no idea what you were actually capable of. But we were under the impression, in the beginning, that they just wanted to understand the abilities. Not all research is carried out with the intention of using data for anything specific; it’s not uncommon for studies to be done just for the sake of knowing. As you got older, we started to see… Eddie realized, by the type of tests they were running and the data they were collecting, it was never just about understanding. It was about harnessing.”
“Harnessing?” I breathed.
“Nobody ever said it, not outright, but… it became very obvious that William wanted to be able to use your power.”
I looked at Lily, who was glaring, cold and hard
, at the woman kneeling next to me. I wondered if this was new information to her, or if they’d just neglected to tell me that William had intended to turn me into some sort of fireball, freeze-ray soldier.
“Do you know how close they came?” Lily questioned distantly.
“How close they came to what, dear?” Emmy asked.
“To harnessing Angie’s power.”
Emmy’s eyes lingered on Lily for a moment too long. “They were about to start testing the reversal when they brought Al in, but Angie’s powers went haywire. The data they were collecting was unlike anything they’d seen before.”
“Wait, the reversal?” I asked, perplexed.
“Of your Electro-Cuffs,” Emmy said, with a look that suggested I should have already known the answer.
“I don’t understand.”
“Your Cuffs were never intended to only prevent you from using your powers. They were designed to eventually force you to use them.”
I jumped to my feet, ripping my hand out of Lakin’s. My mind was moving so quickly, my body felt the need to join it. I paced around the kitchen, trying to organize my thoughts into sensible words.
“Why didn’t Al know this? Shouldn’t he have been able to read William’s mind?” I asked, gnawing on my thumbnail, which was a habit I saved for only the most nerve-wracking situations.
Lily’s eyes followed me back and forth across the room.
“Parts of William’s mind were protected. Al wasn’t able to get much information out of him while he was there,” she said, staring blankly ahead. She sat up straighter, as if suddenly realizing she had said too much.
“Protected? How?” I asked, shaking my head. There were so many confusing things happening, it was causing my brain to swim in a hazy fog, and I wished for nothing more than to spontaneously combust.
Lily stood, brushing wrinkles from her shirt as she spoke without emotion. “You should all get some rest, we’ll leave first thing in the morning. William is going to be looking for the others, and if their technology is as advanced as Emmy says, he may already be capable of using Al’s power to find them.”
I looked away as a prickle of pain ran through Lily’s eyes at the mention of Al’s name. I tried to imagine how I would have felt if Lakin had been the one captured. My stomach turned at the thought. I couldn’t fathom how the woman in front of me was remaining so strong, and so intent on carrying out the plans we had made. Then I remembered how Mattie and Jason had taken over when Al was lost. Maybe it was just an Elementum-thing—ignoring your own pain and concerns for the sake of everyone else. It certainly wasn’t a human trait I had witnessed often in my life.
“I set up the beds in the spare rooms at the end of the hall. You are more than welcome to take those. I’ll have mom stay at Gabe’s tonight,” Lily said, turning to Emmy and the girls. “Angie, I’ll sleep on the couch if you and Lakin would like to take my room.”
I couldn’t keep a snort of surprise from escaping my mouth. In the midst of all that was happening, Lily was only worried about making everyone else comfortable. She would probably make a wonderful mother, someday.
“Don’t be ridiculous. We’ll be fine sleeping on the floor again,” I said, eyeing Lakin, who was nodding in agreement. “What do we tell the others?”
Lily chewed her bottom lip in thought, for a moment. “Everything.”
Chapter Sixteen
Trespassing
I stared at the eerily-green grass, holding Lakin’s hand as we sat on the steps outside Lily’s house. The ghost of morning light filtered down through the water overhead, washing everything out so that it looked like a photo, faded with age. Jackie was curled up next to me, her loud purrs providing a soothing soundtrack to the Eden. She had slept directly above my head the night before, and since I hadn’t died in my sleep of a freak blunderbuss accident, I decided she wasn’t so bad.
We’d told Bryant and Joseph that we would be coming to get them, today. Bryant first, since he lived the closest. We didn’t know where Nadia was, as she had no idea which hospital she was in, let alone which state, but Lily assured us that if we couldn’t find her, it was unlikely that William would be able to. At that moment, Nadia was safer than any of us. Lyla hadn’t shown up in the Room at all, no doubt still trying to avoid being dragged into ‘hippie-commune’ life, so we were left with only the knowledge that she was somewhere in New York City. Probably. Maybe.
Reagan and Nixon appeared at our feet, looking up at us with tired smiles. They were staying with Emmy and the girls while we were gone, partly so they didn’t have to be alone in a peculiar place all day, and partly because Lily didn’t quite trust the strangers. Judging by their expressions, and the quiet of the Eden, it was obvious that Elementums were not morning-people.
I turned as Lily pulled open the door, eyebrows creased with concern. Looking past her, I could see Emmy bustling about the kitchen.
“She just… started cooking…” she whispered, eyeing me nervously.
“Yeah, she does that.”
“Great, I am starving,” Nixon yawned, rubbing his stomach as he shuffled past us.
“Be safe,” Reagan whispered to me as she trailed after her brother.
“Oh my, aren’t you a large fellow.” I heard Emmy mutter from inside the house, followed by, “That’s a… very interesting color.”
“Are you ready?” Lily asked, not really waiting for a response from either of us.
Lakin and I followed her away from the Eden, and down the dark tunnel. I eyed her white cotton gloves curiously, as she removed one to open the stone doorway behind the waterfall. It was far too warm for winter-wear, but I figured she probably just had an odd sense of fashion.
I wasn’t quite familiar with our typical path through the woods, but I was aware that we were heading in a different direction than usual; instead of walking toward town, we were walking around the pond, keeping the water to our right. Before long, we came upon an old cabin that looked like it was about to fall in on itself. Shrubbery had all but overtaken the front porch, and the windows were so thick with dust, the dim glow of light from inside could barely be seen.
“What are we doing?” Lakin asked, hesitantly following Lily up the steps.
“Going to see an old friend.”
Before Lily was even able to knock, an elderly woman lunged through the door, waving her cane around wildly in what she probably thought was our direction. Thick glasses threatened to launch themselves from the nest of white hair on top of her head.
“I don’t want your cookies!” she shouted, clear-gray eyes barely focusing on any one of us.
“We don’t have any cookies,” Lily said, flattening herself against the porch railing to avoid being struck by the cane. Even through the surprise, I laughed, instantly thinking of the hundreds of snickerdoodles that resided in the Eden. I didn’t know who this woman was, but it seemed like she would have gotten along pretty well with Lily’s mother.
“Well, whatever you’re selling, I don’t want it. You are trespassing, and I won’t hesitate to shoot you.” The wrinkles around her mouth sharpened as she pursed her lips, shakily holding up one of her hands to vaguely resemble a gun.
I glanced at Lakin, half with amusement and half with concern for the well-being of everyone on the porch. He shook his head and shrugged, looking back to the old woman with entertained eyes.
“Even if you were able to hit us, Abigail, I don’t know how much damage you would really be able to do with that,” Lily said light-heartedly, removing one of her gloves and placing her palm on the woman’s hand-gun. For a split second, I thought I saw a flash of purple gleam in the woman’s eyes as her demeanor suddenly became that of a friendly, old grandma, who was likely to force-feed you last year’s baked goods at Christmas.
“Oh, Lily,” Abigail cooed, lowering her cane to lean on as she stretched her arm out to its full extent to pat Lily on the cheek. “It’s been so long, I didn’t even recognize you.”
“These might h
elp,” Lily said, lowering the woman’s glasses down to her nose.
Abigail’s eyes became massive behind her spectacles, jerking and blinking as her vision focused. Her gaze landed on me, and her jaw dropped, tautly stretching the wrinkles around her mouth.
“It can’t be… Melody?” the old woman breathed, taking an unsteady step toward me.
“No,” Lily said, placing a kind hand on Abigail’s shoulder, “this is Angie… Mel’s daughter.”
I gasped as my lungs took an unexpected intermission from their usual programming. I’d never thought to ask anyone what my mother’s name was, but without even realizing, Grace had already told me.
“You knew my mom?” I whispered. I had intended my question to be much louder, for fear that her ears wouldn’t be able to hear me, but a whisper was all I could manage through the commercial break of The Angie Network’s newest hit drama; Respiratory System: Failure.
“Of course, dear. I knew her well. My, you look so like her,” Abigail said, face contorting into a drooping smile as she placed a cold, spotty hand on my cheek. There it was again—the purple flash in her eyes, magnified and distorted by the thick glasses. It lasted less than a second, but I’d seen it… I was sure. “Though, your resemblance stops at the skin, doesn’t it?”
The woman withdrew her hand quickly, staring at me with a look of utter disappointment, and leaving me without an explanation for her cryptic thought.
“You’ll stay for tea?” she asked suddenly, twisting her head toward Lily.
“Actually, we’re in quite a hurry,” Lily began.
“You’ll stay for tea.” The old woman’s tone didn’t give us much choice, as she hobbled into the house, taking great care when she stepped up through the doorway.
The inside of the cabin was small, basically one room, and looked pretty comparable to the outside. The couch-cushions were all caved in, and bits of fluff poked out from the seams, like clouds trying to escape from a tattered prison. The faded wood floors creaked unnervingly with each step. The stove-top seemed to be coated in a decade’s-worth of grease, and most of the kitchen table was covered in dust as thick as velvet, except for near the seat where Abigail must have frequented. It was obvious that the old woman rarely had company, and I understood why Lily was not stricter about us needing to leave. It seemed like such a lonely life, especially for someone who probably didn’t have much life left.
