“Don’t force her if she’s not hungry,” George said while reading the morning news on his electronic reader. He was six feet tall with short brown hair and dark brown eyes. George wasn’t exactly a muscular man, but he wasn’t fat either, just soft. Even though his physical age looked eighteen he still seemed like an older man.
“No, it’s okay, I’m starving,” I said and sat down at the table.
This made everyone visibly relax and soon the whole gang was sitting around the table eating breakfast and… trying to avoid eye contact with me the whole time.
Okay. Here goes.
“I had one of those astral projection thingies.” There. I started the conversation.
Jason nodded toward George who produced a red glowing orb. It was a device he invented so that Gramps could never listen in on any of our conversations.
“Turner?” Jason put his fork down and gave me his full attention, as did the others.
“No. A girl named Elisha Stearne. Or, not a girl really… she was from an I.Q. Farm. She’s actually ninety-eight,” I said the last part very fast. Really just for Ryan’s sake, but I knew it disturbed everyone else as well.
“What did she want?” Jason asked.
In the two months since everything happened, Jason had become the resident leader of our little group. Mainly because he was a reporter and had access to information us “regular folk” didn’t. It definitely wasn’t because of his fighting skills. That boy could scream like a girl when he was in physical danger, but when it came to figuring out a problem, Jason was the man.
“She wants me to help her escape… from the Farm.” I was still trying to process what I just went through. “To be honest, I have no idea if that’s even possible, but she seemed pretty certain I could do it.”
“We have to do it,” Ryan spoke up and his tone was deadly serious.
I looked up at him. His eyes were determined and there was rage in them as well.
I knew he’d react that way. It was probably why I didn’t tell him in Nancy’s bedroom. I didn’t want to see him volunteer for something that may cost him his life.
“Do you know where she is?” Jason took the reigns back in the meeting.
“Headquarters. She saw us there when we escaped.”
“Okay. We’ll take a few days to try and come up with a plan,” Jason said as he took a bite of his pancake. I could tell his brain was already churning with ideas.
“We have to break her out tomorrow. Turner is going to execute her Thursday morning.” I thought I’d throw that out there.
Bill’s eyes widened. “Execute?”
Jason nearly choked on his food. “Tomorrow?”
Nancy patted him on the back and turned to me. “Did she say why?”
I shook my head. “No, but he’s tried to kill me more times than I can count, so that automatically puts her on our side. Guys, she looked terrified. It was really weird talking to her, I mean she looked like a kid, but she’s seven decades older than me. It kind of creeped me out. All I know is, I have to get her out of there. She said there were others that needed help, too. I can’t just leave them there to die. I just can’t.” I didn’t realize how emotional I really was about all this. I was still struggling with the guilt of leaving all those kids in Gramps’s Farm when I might have had a chance to help them.
“Let’s do this.” Ryan was in green light mode. Rescuing kids from I.Q. Farms would help ease his own feelings of guilt for escaping that fate. And to boot, it had only been a matter of weeks since he had to come face to face with the actual Farm. He told me he was still having nightmares about it. Yet another horrible thing I was responsible for. Traumatizing my boyfriend. Yeah, I’m awesome.
“I have to think this through. I mean this kind of thing takes weeks of planning.” Jason was spooked, I could tell. He tended to do that under pressure.
“It only took us one night to figure out how to break in last time.” Nancy shrugged.
“Yeah, and if you recall, Turner knew we were there the whole time which was why we were able to get in.” Jason shoved a fork full of pancake into his mouth, obviously annoyed at Nancy’s comment.
“We still escaped though.” Nancy’s temper was starting to rise.
“Because he let us.” Jason wasn’t letting it go either.
And that was how Nancy and Jason’s relationship had been since the day they met.
“Guys, not now,” I spoke up before the argument could escalate into annoying the rest of us. “Jason is right, Nancy: Turner let us in and he let us go. If we want any chance of rescuing this girl we have to think of something else.”
Nancy looked at me like I had just slapped her in the face. I guess uttering the words, “Jason is right” was not exactly a BFF thing to do, but he was right. When we broke in, Turner knew it the whole time. He was just playing with us because it amused him.
“Wipe that triumphant smirk off your face.” Nancy glared at Jason.
Jason ignored her and turned to me. “Let me see what I can find out about our new friend Elisha.” He focused on Ryan. “If you still have the blueprints memorized that could seriously help us find a way in.”
“I remember.” Ryan nodded.
Ryan’s brilliant brain could memorize anything he looked at. He was the reason we found a way out of Gramps’s crazy building.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you don’t leave now, you’ll all be late for school.” Vianne brought everyone back to the present moment.
I quickly finished my last bite of pancakes and the four of us stood up to leave.
Jason’s phone suddenly made a blipping noise.
“Nice ring tone.” Nancy was obviously still mad at Jason.
Jason grabbed his phone with apprehension. “It’s not my ring tone. It’s an alarm telling me whenever Turner is on the air.” Jason stood up. “Let’s go into the living room and check it out.”
We all made our way into the living room and George and Vianne were the only two to sit down on the large wrap-around black vinyl couch. Jason picked up the remote and turned on the life-size holographic television.
Nancy’s holo-tv was one of the best out there. It felt as if the people were actually standing in the room with us the quality was so crisp and clear. Carleton Gordan, the local news anchor (he was incredibly monotone and boring) sat at his desk with holo-video of a burning building behind him.
“Standing by at the site of the terrorist act is Vice President of Population Control, Geoffrey Turner,” Carleton said with as little enthusiasm as he could muster.
Vianne’s hands went to her mouth in shock. The rest of us felt the same.
There hadn’t been any kind of terrorist attack for over two hundred years. My grandpa managed to keep the peace by making people terrified of dying and losing their immortality with Age-pro. If they only knew he was actually mass murdering millions!
If there was an attack, my bet was that Turner was behind it.
Ryan put his arm around me and I snuggled in close. No matter what happened at least I had Ryan at my side. It amazed me at how much a difference that actually made in keeping me sane.
Carleton left the screen and the scene changed to the front of the burning building, where a podium was set up. My breath caught in my throat as my grandpa stepped up to the microphone. I had only seen him twice since he last tried to kill me and both times were on holo. My knees shook. I was still so scared of him, but when someone tries to murder you a bagillion times it was kind of hard not to be. Did I mention he had a serial killer kidnap and torture me?
Ryan held me tighter and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked behind me and there was Bill’s supportively sweet face, his baby blues full of concern. I touched his hand and squeezed my thanks. Ryan didn’t like that, of course, but he didn’t say anything.
Turner turned to the holo-cam, which made it look like he was talking directly to us in Nancy’s living room. Turner was one of the few public faces that actually
looked old. He started taking Age-pro when it was invented over three hundred years ago and he was in his fifties at the time. It was still strange to me so see actual wrinkles and lines on his face. Not many people from that era ever left their houses. They mainly kept to themselves since everyone pretty much gawked at them wherever they went. Seeing someone over the age of forty or fifty was like staring at a hover-car wreck. You just couldn’t keep your eyes off them. But power has perks and since Turner is the most powerful man in the world no one ever mentions his age.
Turner cleared his throat and spoke into the microphone, “I am shocked and devastated to bring you the news of this horrible outrage. Behind me is the Los Angeles Baby Center.”
We all gasped, even the normally stoic George couldn’t control his surprise.
Someone attacked a Baby Center!
Turner was right. This news was devastating. Baby Centers were all over the world. They were created for the rich so they could have children and not have to stop taking their Age-pro. Age-pro worked in a way that basically stopped the aging process at whatever age you started taking it. So as a result it ended up being the ultimate birth control. If your body stopped growing it meant nothing could grow inside you either. When women realized they had to stop taking Age-pro in order to have kids there was an uproar. (Among the rich anyway, poor people couldn’t start taking Age-pro until thirty when the National Health Care kicked in so they could have babies all through their twenties if they wanted.)
Eventually, the solution became Baby Centers. A place where the rich could donate their eggs and sperm and have surrogate mothers inseminated. It was a Win-Win situation for both the women of meager means and rich women. For the poor, if you volunteered to be a surrogate at one of the centers you were allowed to take Age-pro at twenty-three when your contract was up. So from eighteen to twenty-three you were basically pregnant the entire time and treated like a Queen. For the rich, they could have as many babies as they wanted and still be able to take their Age-pro.
The centers had been around for at least a hundred years and pretty much everyone I knew came from the L.A. Baby Center. Except for Bill. His parents were so ridiculously rich they didn’t care what people thought of their age so they both stopped taking Age-pro until Bill was born. I met them for the first time a month ago and they looked like they were in their twenties. I admired them for not caring what people thought. Rich people who didn’t look eighteen were usually shunned in their community, but when you were as rich as Bill’s parents, no one said a word.
Ryan had tensed up at the news. He and Nancy were both conceived and born in that building and to see it burning was obviously upsetting him more than he’d care to admit.
Turner continued, “It saddens my heart to report that all seven-thousand surrogates and their doctors and nurses are unaccounted for and we can only assume that they were incinerated in the fire. There were no survivors. So far we’ve been able to determine that it was a series of explosives set up by someone from the inside. There will be a full investigation of who is responsible for this heinous crime. In the mean time we’ve heightened security in all public buildings. We ask that everyone keep an eye out for any suspicious behavior. We don’t know if these attacks will continue and we have no way of knowing where they will strike next. As soon as I have more updates I will inform you immediately.” And with that my grandfather walked away from the podium and through a swarm of reporters screaming questions at him.
Jason turned the holo off. We sat in stilled silence for a moment.
“Do you think he did it?” I asked the question that was on everyone’s minds.
Jason shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. It sounds like something he’d do. But if it’s not him, then who?”
No one had an answer.
“School.” Nancy broke the tension.
Ryan grabbed my hand and we followed Nancy and Bill out of Nancy’s house. George, Vianne and Jason trailed behind, seeing us to Bill’s hover-car.
“Be careful.” Vianne hugged her daughter a little harder than usual.
“They’re not going to blow up the school, Mom.” Nancy rolled her eyes in mock exasperation, but I could tell she was more than a little worried.
“I’ll have my dad send someone over to check the school for explosives,” Bill announced. Apparently, he was freaking out about the whole thing, too. “Look, if it is Turner, what better way to get rid of you than to blame it on a bunch of terrorists attacks? And if it’s not Turner what better way to send a message to the big guy than to blow up a school with his namesake?”
I guess Bill really had thought about it.
“What? Did it take you all of the last forty seconds to think of that one, Mr. Paranoid?” Nancy smiled, trying to lighten the mood.
“Bill’s right,” Ryan chimed in. “I’d feel safer if the place was scoped out before we let Chelsan step a foot in there.” I guess the one thing they could agree on this morning was my safety. At least it was something!
“I’m glad somebody cares about somebody’s girlfriend.” Nancy directed her comment toward Jason, but he ignored it as usual.
“I’m the one who thought of it, not Ryan,” Bill kind of grumbled under his breath.
“Thanks Bill, and thank your dad for me,” I said gratefully. He was going above and beyond and I wanted him to know that I noticed.
“You’re welcome,” Bill said with an embarrassed smile. I don’t think he thought I’d heard that.
Ryan gave me a look. A bad look. Oh man. It made my heart sink. “What?” I asked.
“Nothing. I’m just glad Bill can keep us all safe.” Ryan smirked with annoyance.
“Ryan?” I questioned him. He hadn’t acted like that toward Bill in quite a while. I guess this morning stirred up a lot of emotions.
Ryan squeezed my hand and kissed the top of my head. “Sorry, just a little on edge,” he said, but I could tell he wasn’t quite over it yet. I figured there was nothing I could say, so I left it at that.
“I’ll call him now.” Bill stepped a few feet away and made the call as Ryan and I sat in the backseat of the hover, while Nancy slid into the front.
Bill hung up his phone and waved to Vianne, George and Jason. “All set. Dad’s sending a team right now. It’ll be inspected before we even get there.”
Vianne pulled Bill in for a monster hug and I could see his face turning pink. “Thank you, Bill.” Vianne’s eyes were watery.
“No problem.” Bill smiled awkwardly as he walked away and sat in the driver’s seat.
Once inside the car, Nancy turned to face Ryan and me. “I can’t believe someone would blow up a Baby Center. It’s unreal.” She shook her head in thought.
“It has to be Gramps. It’s so his M.O,” I said. But a part of me didn’t really believe it. I knew Turner was capable of mass murder, but for some reason I just didn’t think he did it. I couldn’t explain it, but somehow I knew he wasn’t responsible.
“I don’t know, maybe, but I feel like he’s more subtle than that,” Ryan said aloud as if reading my mind. “I mean according to Jason, Turner’s been researching gases and toxins for hundreds of years to exterminate people, if he just wanted to blow them up he could have done that all along.”
“Yeah, I think I have to agree with brain boy here, which would mean a new enemy we have to worry about.” Nancy turned back around with a large groan.
“You guys don’t think this Elisha girl has anything to do with it, do you?” Bill asked quietly.
With the news of the Baby Center attack I had completely forgotten about Elisha. Was it too much of a coincidence? Did she know something about the attack? Was this why she was being executed? Too many questions and no way to answer any of them. It was so frustrating!
“I guess we’ll just have to see what Jason comes up with,” Nancy said as she stared out the window.
Poor thing. I could tell she was thinking about Jason again and my heart hurt for her. I knew how hard it was to like s
omeone and not really know if they liked you back. When Ryan tutored me my Junior year my whole “crush” thing started, but afterwards he ignored me completely. I tried to block him out of my brain, but it was no good. Every time I saw him my heart did the proper pitter-pattering and I was helpless against it. When I finally found out he liked me my brain nearly exploded. Nancy knew on some level Jason had feelings for her, but Jason couldn’t get over their age difference so he kept her at a distance. I shuddered to think if Ryan ever did that to me. I rested my head on his shoulder and he unconsciously stroked my hair.
My mind was still reeling as I watched the oak forests beneath us whizz by. I remembered living near one of the giant forests and getting lost in their enormous shadows. I used to love wandering off and be alone with my thoughts. To simply escape among the trees and just be. I felt a pang of anger towards my grandfather. He stole that part of me two months ago by making me terrified. I knew I was still recovering. I knew it would take time. I was just an impatient person and I desperately wanted not to be so scared all the time. I still had nightmares about Brady, the serial killer. He’d kept me locked in his basement for days and was supposed to kill me, but he failed because I had used my power to control Brady’s victims to fight my way out…
I blinked away rising tears. I didn’t want anyone to notice. I had to stay strong. And at this point, if anyone said anything to me their kindness would probably make me bawl my eyes out. That would make everything worse. I needed to keep it together.
“Chelsan?”
I wasn’t in the car anymore.
I was in the darkness again.
I reached out for Ryan anyway, but I was alone.
Elisha stepped out in front of me, her violet eyes watching me carefully.
“Chelsan, can you hear me?” she asked as she took a step closer to me.
“Yes. I can hear you,” I answered and wished we weren’t in this utter blackness.
The Riser Saga Page 35
