by Jessica Roe
Walker huffed. “That's all true, sure, but our release last night had more to do with Nicky's reunion with his evil little girlfriend, if you ask me.”
“Shut up,” Nicky answered childishly.
It was obviously the chance to jump all over him she'd been waiting for. “You're going to have to stop getting all bitchy and hormonal every time someone mentions her,” she said. “If you're harbouring old feelings for her, you need to lose them, fast. Or quit. Whatever, I could care less. But you should be aware that she's a bad person, right down to her hard, cold core.”
“She can't be that bad,” he protested. “She let us go!” He was right about Gable, he knew it. And not in the boneheaded way he'd thought he'd been right the night before when he'd rushed at Zebb and Uang, but in an instinctual, heart felt way. There had to be a part of the girl he'd once known left inside her.
“That means nothing!” Walker's voice was rising, and she scowled at Zay when he warned her that she would wake the others. “She was toying with you, that's what she does!”
“I don't believe she's all bad. I won't believe it.”
Their conversation came to a pause when they heard the sound of shuffling, and Nicky glanced up just as Queenie dragged herself into the kitchen area, still in her fluffy robe and rubbing sleepily at her eyes. “Morning,” she greeted them. “Who's not all bad?”
“Gable,” Nicky explained, hoping Queenie would be more understanding. She was usually the one who took the time to view both sides of the coin.
“Oh.” She looked uncomfortable, and her eyes darted back to the door she'd just come through like she was wishing she could retrace her steps back to bed. Nicky's hopes vanished. “We're still on that then?”
“Of course we're still on that,” said Walker, laughing mockingly. “Nicky the White Knight thinks he can charge in and save her, be her hero.”
“I never said that!”
“But you were thinking it!” she accused.
When he failed to come up with a retort, she let out an annoying 'ha!' of triumph.
“Nicky,” Queenie began with a sigh, sitting down with them at the dining table and accepting the coffee that Zay slid towards her with a grateful smile. “I hate to say it, because I really want to believe that everyone is capable of change, but I don't think Gable wants to be saved. She chooses to work for Pablo. He's not forcing her to do it.”
“How do you know?”
Queenie looked at him sadly and shook her head, silently telling him not to be so naive.
He crossed his arms defensively. That had been a long shot anyway. “Fine. What exactly does Pablo have her doing? What jobs does she do for him?”
“Well, you saw more than I did last night,” she pointed out. “She was part of a team trading money for a Fire Elemental, a person. To me, that's the same as kidnapping.”
“She does most of his worst jobs,” Zay revealed, when Queenie didn't seem to feel any more needed to be said. “The kind of things he couldn't trust his other employees to do. Think the Mafia, but Outcast style. She hurts people, bro. Makes them bleed when they don't give her what she wants.”
Nicky paused for a moment before speaking again. “Has she ever killed anyone?” He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer, but he knew that he needed to know it. Because in his admittedly half crazy mind, if she hadn't committed the act of taking a life, then there was still something left in her worth fighting for.
“Not that we know of,” Walker was forced to admit. “Yet, anyway. It's probably only a matter of time until Pablo has her killing off his enemies. He doesn't seem to mind getting Zebb and Uang to do it.”
Nicky rubbed his forehead with the tips of his fingers, trying in vain to think of a way to prove them wrong. “But she wasn't always this way!” He was repeating himself, he knew, but they had to understand! “She was sweet, and funny, and kind, even when she was pretending to be bitchy and mean.”
“What happened to her?” Queenie asked quietly, and Nicky knew that he'd passed the point of avoidance. He couldn't keep on evading their questions forever and hoping to get away with it, not if he wanted them on side.
NAIVELY, NICKY HAD assumed that telling Gabrielle how he felt about her would be the most frightening thing he'd ever have to face—and that was from the boy who'd spent his childhood playing with imaginary shadow people. But of course he was wrong, because the scarier part would come the following morning at school.
He was leaning against his locker before first period, absent mindedly talking to his friends, when he spotted Gabrielle enter the hallway with a group of girls.
With his heart thumping hard and fast against his ribs, he brushed off his confused friends and strode right in to the middle of the gang of girls. Stopping before Gabrielle, he held out his hand for her to take. Those around them gasped, but all he could focus on was the way she stared up at him with wide eyes, and for a terrifying moment, Nicky went cold with the thought that she might have changed her mind about them in the bright light of day. But then she broke out into a beautiful, dazzling smile, and ignoring the muttering of her friends around her, took his hand in hers. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her, long and hard, so that no one would have any doubts that she belonged to him.
They walked down the halls together and Nicky heard one girl blurt to the person next to her,“I guess Nicky Pierce must be cool after all.”
Gabrielle shot him a look of smug victory. “Told you so.”
After school he persuaded Gabrielle to climb on the back of his motorbike and he drove them to his house. Nicky's dad clapped his shoulder approvingly and his mom fawned over Gabrielle like a long lost daughter.
Later, when his parents left for drinks with friends from work, they went upstairs to Nicky's bedroom where things got hotter and steamier than they ever had before and Gabrielle shyly gave him her virginity. It was kind of awkward, and she told him that it hurt like a bitch, and the other two girls Nicky had slept with hadn't been virgins so the new sensations had ended it for him embarrassingly fast. But the second time around he made sure to show her exactly how good it could be using his hands and his mouth, and when she breathed out that she loved him, he sent her an awestruck smile and said it right back.
He was a soppy, love struck asshole and he didn't even care because he was just fucking happy; nothing could break him and Gabrielle apart.
When he drove her home later that night, it was to find her street filled with flashing lights and the sound of blaring sirens.
“HER MOM OR dad had left a lit candle too close to the new drapes in the living room,” Nicky told Queenie, Zay and Walker, staring down at his bunched up fists.
He remembered that night vividly; the way his nostrils had clogged up with the smell of smoke, the skin on his face prickling with the heat of the blazing fire, the scream that seemed to have come from the very pit of Gabrielle's soul when she realized her parents were still inside.
“The fire spread quickly. It was...devastating. Neither of her parents made it out. Even the dog...” Queenie brought a hand to a her mouth and let out a small whimper. “I wanted to stay with her that night, but the cops wouldn't let me. When they told me I had to leave, I got violent.” He shook his head. Eight years had passed and he still cursed his stupidity. “If I hadn't been such an ass, they might have let me stay. I could have helped her...but like I said, I was an ass. She was gone after that, and it took me a while, but I found out she'd been sent to live with her uncle—he was the only family she had left. I got his address and I went there to get her back, but she'd already escaped. Her uncle was a gross drunk, and his apartment was seedy. He told me she attacked him and left him unconscious, then stole all his money and ran. I never saw her again after that...until last night.”
“That's so awful,” Queenie murmured, blinking rapidly. Nicky knew how close she was to her own parents, and how easily she felt for other people. The idea of losing something as precious as the bond of family was unimaginabl
e to her. She was so damned nice.
Walker, as Nicky could have guessed, was less sympathetic. “People's parents die all the time,” she stated coldly. “and they don't all sign up for a job at Evil Incorporated.”
Sometimes, it was really hard to stop himself from drop kicking her in the face. Her constant judgement of everyone around her was infuriating, and instead of bringing him around to her way of thinking, it was only fuelling his desire to prove that there was still a part of Gabrielle left inside of Gable's darkness. “You know what,” he said, pleased at how smug his voice sounded. “You were right before. I do want to save her.” And more sincerely, “I think I can.”
“Aw, Nick,” Zay groaned. “You know I've always got your back, but you're gonna get yourself hurt.”
“As we've already tried to hammer into your thick skull, she doesn't want saving.” Walker's voice was in danger of rising again.
Nicky shook his head and pushed away from the table. “Stop looking at me like you're all so damned disappointed in me, and take a look at yourselves. Isn't saving people what we do? Isn't that our job?”
“Yes,” Queenie said. “But—”
“But what? We only save model citizens? People who finished school at the top of their class and go to church on Sundays and help old ladies cross the street? Is that it? We pick and chose who it is we save? Do I have to remind you guys that the Fire Elemental we saved last night killed a guy? But we didn't turn our backs on him.”
Walker harrumphed, but Queenie and Zay remained silent, looking thoughtful, and almost contrite.
“Okay,” Zay said finally. “What if we agree to think about it? But only if you will too? Just think and make sure you understand what we've said to you.”
“Look at him!” Walker rolled her eyes in disgust. “He's not going to listen to anything rational. He's just a silly little boy, blinded by love.”
Nicky's head swam with the very idea. “Don't be stupid,” he protested, perhaps a little too vehemently. “I don't love her, not any more. This ain't a love thing. I haven't even seen her since I was sixteen. But if I can save her from herself, I will.”
“Why are you so determined to be stubborn over this?” Walker demanded.
“Because I got a second chance. She deserves one too.”
“HEY,” NICKY CALLED out to Charles as he exited Cadby's tent after another gruelling few hours of training. He was getting so good at being able to control his Shadow Guide abilities that Cadby was sure he'd only need a couple more lessons. A giant part of him was relieved, because the hours spent with Cadby were tough as hell, but he'd also kind of miss them in a nostalgic, high school kind of way. And Cadby had become a pal; a quirky, mind reading pal, but a pal all the same. “What are you doing here?”
Charles said goodbye to the man he'd been talking with—a stall owner selling various bones for magical purposes—and smiled at Nicky as he approached. “I was here to help a new Outcast settle in,” he explained.
They fell into step and walked in the direction of Yarmac and Bogely's gates. Most of the time, Nicky hung around to have dinner with the Outcasts after his sessions with Cadby. He liked how they treated every evening as if it was a celebration—huge, delicious feasts, roaring bonfires, music and dancing. But Nicky was particularly spent after working with the shadows and he just wanted to go home and crash. And the fact that headquarters was his home didn't even feel weird at all any more. Mostly. “Yeah?”
“A lovely young Banshee named Lace. I introduced her to Fabian and Celeste—she's about their age. They'll look after her. I think she'll fit right in here.” The gates clanged shut behind them and Nicky barely registered the magical feeling that washed over him. “Do you need a lift home?”
“Nah, I got it.” He nodded towards the second hand motorbike he'd bought with his very first pay check. He'd only owned it a couple of days, but already it had given him an unparalleled sense of freedom; something he hadn't felt it a very long time. It was precious.
Instead of going straight home, Nicky drove for a while, enjoying the way the wind whipped against his exposed skin.
By the time he got back to headquarters, Charles' jovial mood had been forgotten and replaced by a frustrated agitation. He was pacing the living room, his hands twisting and his hair uncharacteristically dishevelled, like he'd run his fingers through it over and over again. He must have called the others, because they all entered at the same time.
“What happened?” Nicky demanded immediately, his exhaustion forgotten.
“I've just received a most distressing phone call from Heidi, a very old friend of mine.”
“Is she okay?” Zay asked, and from his worried tone, Nicky could tell he knew her too.
Charles shook his head. “She's being hunted...by Pablo's men.”
That was all it took. Because anyone who was important to Charles and Zay was important to them all. They were a team, a family.
“What are we waiting for?” asked Walker. “Let's go get her.”
IT ONLY TOOK the team a couple of hours to find Heidi at her hiding place, evade Pablo's thugs, and escort her and her confused daughter back to base. Heidi was shaking with fear at her almost capture, and Becky, ten years old and cute as a button, didn't seem to have a clue what was going on, other than that they'd been on a mini adventure in a super fast car.
“Heidi, can you tell us what happened?” Charles asked her gently, handing her a cup of steaming tea and sitting down next to her on the sofa, so close that it was almost a protective gesture. Nicky passed Becky a coke and she smiled up at him adoringly. “What does Pablo want with you?”
“I didn't even know he knew I existed until this afternoon!” she began tearfully. “I was on my lunch break so I went down the block to the café I go in every day, and all of a sudden I turn around and Pablo Nunez is just standing there behind me. I recognized him right away, of course, there's not an Outcast in New York City who hasn't memorized his face from sheer self preservation. He asked me to sit with him, and I was too terrified to say no. He said that he'd heard of my power—I'm a Telepath, I can read thoughts when I touch people,” she added, for the benefit of those who didn't know her. “And I can also sense what kind of power an Outcast has, if they're nearby. That's what he seemed interested in. He had a proposition for me—help him track down some Outcasts in return for a lot of money. And for a moment, I actually thought about it.”
Charles made a sound of protest. “Heidi...”
She held her hands up. “I know, okay! Like I said, I only thought about it for a moment. He offered me enough to take care of Becky for the rest of our lives! And finding Outcasts didn't sound too bad. But I'm not stupid, I'd never have accepted. I know that making a deal with Pablo is like making a deal with the devil.”
“Is that why he's after you?” Queenie asked sympathetically. “Because you turned his offer down?”
“No, I never got the chance to say no. His hand was on the table...and I touched it...I didn't mean to...God, I wish I hadn't.” She shuddered. “His mind is...horrible. I've never seen a mind so dark and twisted and cruel. I saw...” She hesitated, and glanced over at Becky.
Interpreting the look, Kain put on a smile for Becky's benefit and said, “Hey Beck, you wanna check out my cool computer lab with me? I've got some awesome games.”
Heidi mouthed 'thank you' to him, and he sent her a nod.
“Sure!” Becky hopped off the sofa and gazed at Nicky. “Are you comin' too?”
If he wasn't mistaken, little Becky had developed a crush on him. How...embarrassing. Or apparently amusing, if Zay's silent laughter was anything to go by. “Uh...maybe later, kid.”
“Okay,” she said cheerfully, following Kain out of the room.
When she was sure that Becky had disappeared, Heidi gripped Charles' hand desperately and continued. “I saw some of his secrets. Things he definitely didn't want me to see. He has at least a hundred Outcasts locked up in underground cells somewhere. They're be
ing experimented on, Charles!”
Nicky paled, and he wasn't the only one in the room. The others all looked as sick as he felt, and Queenie gasped loudly.
“What for?” Charles, the only one who seemed capable of speech, questioned, although even he appeared to have a hard time getting his words out. “What kind of experiments?”
Heidi looked truly frightened, in a way that only people who had seen the most awful things could be. “I saw his aspirations. He want to...to...he wants to create the perfect Outcast. And when I say perfect, I mean an Outcast with the abilities of all other Outcasts, if that makes sense. An Outcasts with unlimited powers. He's experimenting on the Outcasts he has locked away, trying to find ways to extract their power, their energy, so he can put it into another source.”
Nicky found his voice. “Why would anyone wanna do that? What kind of sick freak wants to take energy from other people and shove it into someone else?”
“A sick freak who's lived forever?” Heidi suggested. “Some of his thoughts were jumbled, but from what I could see in his mind, the idea began as a desire to obtain all of that power for himself. He wanted to be the ultimate Outcast. But then his idea evolved into something else, a way to make money, to cause destruction. He realized that if he could find the formula, he could market it.”
“He wants to sell the formula to creating the ultimate Outcast?” Walker exclaimed, sounding disgusted and horrified. “But that means...that means anyone could use it.”
“Catch me up,” said Nicky. “Why would one of the richest men in the world need to come up with more ways to make money?”
“Pablo probably doesn't even care about the money any more,” Queenie stated sadly. “Aside from the fact that he has more of it than others. He's lived for centuries. Imagine all the atrocious things he's witnessed in that time. All the wars, the deaths. No wonder he became so evil and ruthless.”
