Jill and Nancy were in the hair-pulling stage of the fight and it was starting to get nasty.
Jason flipped out and was about to jump in to stop them when Joan and her girls forced him back into the crowd, where five big thugs held him back.
“Let them fight it out,” Joan said with an evil grin.
I started to stand again, but I couldn’t seem to focus on anything.
Ryan tried to help me up. “She’s in trouble. I gotta stop this.”
And suddenly the weirdest thing happened.
I could see millions of tiny swirling black holes.
They were everywhere, floating around like dust…
…wait a minute.
It was dust.
Dust consists of dead skin cells so it made sense, but why didn’t I ever see them before? I could hardly see anything. Even Ryan was hardly visible. He didn’t leave my side to help Nancy, I could tell he was too worried about me. I tried to turn it off. I didn’t want to go through the rest of my life like this. It was like walking through billions of floating black crap that everyone, including myself, breathed in and out and walked through and it moved and spun and swirled… It was giving me a headache.
I shut my eyes and concentrated. When I opened them again, I managed to tune out the dust and then made it come back into focus. I did this a few times until I got the hang of it. It almost felt like I was switching between two dimensions, one normal and one with black snow.
I connected to several thousand of the swirling black cores of dust like I do when I connect to anything dead. It was a strange sensation since I hardly had anything to work with. Normally, the things I linked to were big enough to really grab a hold of, like a person, or even insects, because they had more substance and working parts. Dust was just… well… dust.
It was almost calming as I made the dust swirl and sway like I was bonding with the wind itself.
Jill was on top of Nancy and strangling her at this point.
Nancy’s face was starting to turn blue and no one was doing a thing, they just watched like it was paid entertainment.
I couldn’t let Jill hurt Nancy, so I acted on instinct.
I made millions of particles of dust fly straight up Jill’s nose and down into her lungs.
She went into a sneezing fit and started hacking up a storm. She immediately let go of Nancy and fell back on the ground, clutching her throat. Before I could stop what I was doing, Jill’s face was beet red and she collapsed on the floor, unconscious.
I made the dust leave her body as fast as I could and then disconnected from it.
Fear raced through my veins. Did I kill her?
The classroom went still with shock and confusion at what just happened.
Mr. Alaster was able to break through the crowd and he knelt down to Jill.
Jill took a huge gulp of air.
I leaned into Ryan with relief, but I was shaking from what I had just done.
Jason raced to Nancy’s side as Joan’s thugs no longer held him back. Nancy’s mood brightened considerably though her hair was a mess and her shirt was ripped.
Jill had regained her composure and stood up with anger. “You did that!” Jill turned to me, her eyes alight with renewed anger. “Don’t bother denying it! I’m on to you!” Jill was in tears now.
“What a freak.” Joan laughed, and her lackies echoed the sentiment.
Jill turned to Joan with venom. “What are you laughing at, fatty?”
That actually shut Joan up. Who knew fatty would pack such a punch? Especially since Joan was as skinny as a rail.
Before I could even utter a response, Jill whirled around and stormed out of the classroom.
“You all right, Chelsan? Nancy?” Mr. Alaster asked the both of us.
I nodded. Nancy echoed the sentiment.
“All right class, relax! Fun’s over! Finish up your blood tests so these nice lab people can leave.” Mr. Alaster was so done. He went to his desk and started reading his electronic reader.
People started to re-form the line and the lab assistants (living and dead) began testing once more.
Joan and her gang huddled in a corner far away from us to gossip about the fight and Jill’s strange coughing fit. Not to mention keeping a flirty eye on Jason.
Ryan held me close and checked my nose. “No blood. Good thing she’s a weakling.” He smiled.
“She just wants answers,” I said quietly. I really did feel sorry for her.
“Weakling? I have a few bruises that say otherwise,” I heard Nancy grumble under her breath. “Are you seriously all right?” she asked me, still scowling from her wrestling match, although she lightened up considerably when Jason started examining her for injuries.
“I’m all right. Are you?” I asked, just as upset.
“I’m fine. It was pretty lucky she had that coughing fit when she did.” Nancy looked over at me with eyes that said she agreed with Jill that I had done the deed.
“I just need to sit down for a sec,” I said as we returned to our desks.
Jason stood behind Nancy completely ignoring the admiring fans in the room now. I was actually proud of him, his attention was entirely focused on Nancy for once as if seeing her in a fist-fight brought out his love for her. Such a weirdo. But it made Nancy happy and that’s all I cared about.
Nancy mouthed, “Did you do that, with the coughing?”
I nodded, feeling a little guilty.
They all had serious expressions on their faces.
“What did you do exactly?” Nancy asked.
“Dust. When she hit me it made me see it everywhere. Tiny microscopic black holes. I never noticed it before probably because it was too small.”
“Dead skin cells, makes sense,” Ryan said coming to the same conclusion I had. I knew his brain needed to give a scientific explanation of what happened to make it easier to cope.
Jason suddenly smiled. “I think I have an idea of how we’re going to do that thing tomorrow.”
“Well, do tell,” Nancy said impatiently.
Jason nodded over to dead girl in the far corner. “I don’t know how good her hearing is. Let’s save it for home. See you guys there.” Jason left without another word.
Nancy smiled at me. “He said home. He meant my house, you know.” She had a renewed pep to her tone despite her torn t-shirt.
“Yes, Nancy.” I rolled my eyes with a grin. We sat through History class with a snore.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Honestly, I couldn’t wait to get out of school so we could sit down and make a plan of attack. I was in my last period, which happened to be English. Ms. Knudson, a pointy faced woman who looked about twenty, was spouting on and on about comma placement. Nancy, Bill and Ryan weren’t in this class, unfortunately, so I had to suffer my last minutes of school alone.
Jill sat two rows over and one seat back. She had been staring at me the entire period. I made sure I kept my eye on her this time. I didn’t want a repeat of Mr. Alaster’s class. I knew at one point we’d need to have some kind of confrontation. I actually welcomed it. It was tempting to think about telling her the truth. Maybe it would make her change and she wouldn’t be so horrible. I somehow doubted it, but still… Blew up her dad. Kind of owed her.
The bell rang and I practically sprung for the door.
“Chelsan, stop for a sec,” Jill’s voice sounded behind me like a harbinger of doom.
I froze in my tracks and turned around slowly to face her.
People shuffled around us, trying not to stare, but word of Jill’s punch had been circulating all day and it looked like the crowd was raring for another fight.
Jill gave them her typical, Get out of my face look and they all left the classroom.
It was just the two of us, even Ms. Knudson had left.
“I don’t want to fight you,” I said, keeping at least a few feet of space between us.
“I’m not going to punch you, if that’s what you think.” Jill acted as
if the idea was preposterous.
She took a step forward and I took a step back.
“Just stay where you’re at. What is it?” That came out a lot colder than I meant it to, but no matter how much my guilt button was pressed, I still despised Jill.
Jill rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “You owe me an explanation,” she said very quietly, almost as if she were convincing herself that it was true.
“After everything you’ve put me through in the last three years, why on earth would I tell you anything?” I uttered angrily. Wow. I was madder than I thought.
“So there is something to tell?” Jill deduced.
“Of course, Jill, what did you think, Geoffrey Turner asked your dad to have you spy on me because I was poor?” I shook my head. “I’m sorry your dad is dead, but it’s not my fault.”
Jill stood there for a second and I couldn’t for the life of me tell what was going on in that brain of hers.
“I’m not stupid, you know,” Jill said softly.
“I never said you were.” I tried to be as gentle as I could. I really didn’t want her to snap again.
“You have some kind of power.” Jill stared straight at me and I felt the intensity of her glare like a stab in the brain.
Did she know something? I didn’t want to say anything for fear of… I didn’t even know what I was afraid of. What could Jill Forester possible say or do that would hurt me?
“Um, Jill.” That was intelligent.
“Um, Chelsan.” Jill mocked me like her true, nasty self.
“I’m leaving,” I said, turning toward the door.
I felt her hand grab my arm and I immediately shrugged it off, whirling around to face Jill. I was ready for a fight. I was ready to scream at her. I was ready for anything.
Except for those eyes.
Those large green eyes were filled with so much pain it almost made me cry.
“I’m sorry, okay?” Jill’s voice was so sincere it was heartbreaking. “About everything.” Jill rushed past me and almost made it through the door when I stopped her with five words.
“I do have a power.”
Oh boy. Did that really come out of my mouth?
Jill turned slowly and with purpose. For the first time since I had known her she looked at me with genuine curiosity instead of her normal I hate you glare.
“It’s something to do with dead things, isn’t it?” Jill asked cautiously.
I could tell she still wasn’t sure what her boundaries were with me. We had been enemies for so long it was awkward to have any kind of meaningful discussion. Jill had obviously been thinking about this for a while now, and I was pretty impressed that she had guessed that much.
“Yeah, something like that,” I said and I motioned for her to sit.
We both sat down at desks across from each other. I knew this was it. I was going to tell her about her dad, about my power, and about how she had been living with a zombie for years.
Jill closed her eyes for a second, and then opened them slowly. “I’m not sure I’m ready to hear any of this,” she said as if she already knew what I was going to say.
“I’m not sure if I’m ready to tell it, but you deserve to know.” I paused, unsure of how to proceed. How do you tell a girl her dad was a walking, talking corpse? And that I blew him to smithereens? I braced myself for another punch in the face. “Jill, I control dead things, and I mean anything dead, from plants, to animals… to people.” I let that sit for a while so she could connect the dots herself.
She was silent again, staring at the surface of the desk, no longer able to make eye contact with me. “He was dead already?” she whispered. Her voice was shaking, I could tell she was about to cry.
I didn’t want to embarrass her so I continued, “Yeah. Turner must have killed him years ago. He can control dead things too, but he has to use spells and rituals, my power is innate.” I tried to keep it informative.
“Three years.” Jill suddenly looked at me. Her eyes piercing and filled with torment. “That’s when it happened. He went to work in the morning and he came back… different. He never spoke to my mom and I after that, only to give us orders.” Jill wiped away her freshly fallen tears and regained some of her composure. “What happened to him that day you took him away? Turner’s men said he died in the line of fire.”
Yeeeek.
Here we go.
“Turner and his wife were holding Ryan hostage and were keeping my mother on their puppet strings. They tortured her body, gouged her eyes out, and made her say terrible things to me.” I found that I was choking up myself at the memory. I never wanted to remember my mother like that and it was for that precise reason Roberta did it. I also didn’t want to tell Jill that the Turner’s were my grandparents. Not yet. If her hatred shifted from me to Gramps, I didn’t want her know we were related. “I just wanted it to stop. I couldn’t stand the sight of her, eyeless, beaten, dancing around like a crazed toy. So I screamed. And it must have tapped into some part of my power that I wasn’t aware of because everything dead that was near me exploded.” I left it at that. I really didn’t want to elaborate and I wasn’t sure how she was going to react.
Jill stared at me with hollow eyes, then slowly started to nod. “So you blew him up?”
Uh.
“Yeah.”
“You couldn’t have kept him alive long enough to say good-bye to me?” Jill asked and I could tell she was starting to get angry again.
“It doesn’t work that way, Jill. He wasn’t really alive. He was just an empty shell…” I started to explain.
“Forget it.” Jill stood up and before I could stop her she was out the door.
Well, that sucked.
I slowly stood up and opened the freshly slammed door.
Ryan was there to greet me with that ridiculously adorable smile of his. “I was starting to get worried, especially when she-bitch stormed out before you.”
“Don’t call her that,” I said, mildly defensive.
Ryan raised his eyebrow in slight surprise. “What’s wrong?”
“I told her about her dad… and what I can do,” I said the last part quietly. I was the only one who thought it was a good idea to tell Jill what happened. Everyone (including Ryan) thought it was dangerous and had pretty much thought they had talked me out of it.
I looked Ryan in the eye, awaiting the lecture that was sure to come. I wasn’t disappointed. I could tell he was surprised and a little angry, but in a matter of milliseconds it was replaced with a shake of his head. “You did what you thought was best. I trust you.” He leaned down and kissed me until my toes curled. He pulled away. “Let’s get to Bill’s car. We have a big night ahead of us.”
I nodded as Ryan took my hand and we plowed our way through the crowded hallways.
We ran into Bill and Nancy as soon as we exited onto the hover parking lot. Nancy was wearing a cardigan to cover up her ripped shirt, but otherwise she was unscathed by her fight this morning.
I told them both about Jill immediately. I wanted to do it quickly. I was pleasantly surprised by both their reactions.
Bill shrugged and I could tell that a part of him was relieved, while Nancy just guffawed and mumbled that Jill would have found out eventually anyway.
“I didn’t tell her Turner was my grandpa, though. Gramps would kill me if that got out. Literally,” I said as we reached Bill’s car.
Nancy noticed something. “She’s not going to be happy about that.” She nodded to a few cars down.
And there was Jill’s BMW hover. Completely vandalized. There were scratches, sprayed-on profanity, bird crap, you name it, it was on her car. Even I didn’t get attacked like that. (Although I didn’t own anything to damage, but still.) Knowing that Jill had just found out about her dad and then would come out to see that…
Bill unlocked the doors for us, then a strange look crossed his face. “Be right back.”
Bill hurried over to Jill’s car and it was then that we all
noticed she was sitting inside. Crying.
We all watched as Bill knocked gently on her window. They had a brief exchange and then Bill came back to us. “I know she probably deserves it for how she’s treated you and everyone else over the years, but she’s in pretty bad shape,” Bill said as he opened his door and sat inside.
Everyone followed suit and soon we were in the car, flying away toward Nancy’s house. No one spoke. What was there to say?
Except one thing.
“It was nice of you to check on her,” I said to Bill. He really did hate seeing people treated badly. It was the reason we were friends in the first place. Bill Merryweather Defender of All.
Bill didn’t respond. He looked conflicted.
Nancy brought us all back to reality. “Well, we have much more to worry about than Jill Forester. We have to break into a high security I.Q. Farm in about ten hours and we still have no plan.”
“Jason said he had an idea,” I reminded them.
“What does he know?” Nancy grumbled.
Guess she was back to being annoyed with him. I couldn’t keep track.
Bill landed his hover on the landing area in front of Nancy’s place and we all piled inside the house.
George was sitting on the couch with Jason watching the news on the holo-tv. They both turned when we entered.
“Oh good you’re here.” Jason smiled then he yelled, “Vianne! Get your butt in here!”
Vianne came in from the kitchen. The smell of roast beef and potatoes wafted in with her and my stomach began to growl. “I’m here. Now what’s going on?” she said, wiping her hands with a dishtowel.
“Everyone sit. I’m going to tell you how we’re going to break out Elisha and the twins,” Jason said with a grin.
My stomach growled again, but this time it was because I felt like vomiting.
Chapter Two
Wednesday December 1, 2320
“Chelsan?”
Great. I recognized that voice. Elisha was in my head yet again.
At least I was sleeping. It was much better when she visited me when I was already unconscious.
I opened my eyes within the dream and Elisha was standing in front of me. We were in the red maple forest surrounding Turner’s headquarters. Dark thick trunks surrounded us and their long branches sprouted out about ten feet up the long boles. The bright red leaves of fall had now turned into the deep red buds of winter. I could barely see the flashes of white coming from the spectacle of a building. I could still remember driving up in Bill’s hover two months earlier and seeing the monstrosity for the first time. It looked like hundreds of twisting and spiraling crystals made of white metal reaching into the sky. Even through the trees it was breathtaking.
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