The Riser Saga

by Becca C. Smith

  Elisha’s face couldn’t hide her disappointment. “Didn’t work, huh? Follow me. I know the way out.”

  And she was off with John and Samuel in tow. It was the oddest train of three children I had ever seen, with Elisha in the lead holding John’s hand and John holding Samuel’s. They headed toward the back of the giant room to another ventilation grate. It was very strange following them as a fly and I knew I’d need to connect to a body soon to be of any real help.

  The alarms blazed like a constant reminder of our doom and I felt the dead soldiers enter the I.Q. Farm.

  Elisha removed the grating and helped John and Samuel into the ventilation tunnel, which was barely two feet tall and maybe three feet wide max. They’d have to crawl. That’s when I noticed that the boys were having no trouble guiding themselves. Even though they had no sight, it was like they could still see. And come to think of it, as they were crawling ahead through the shaft, it made me wonder how dead their brains really were. They seemed to be thinking for themselves just fine. Maybe they were acting on instinct? This whole situation was getting more and more crazy.

  As the first soldiers came within twenty feet of us I concentrated as hard as I could and slammed through their barriers and straight into their swirling black holes. I only connected to the first five, but it was enough for the moment. I made them turn around and block the other twenty from coming closer.

  The remaining men opened fire at my five guys tearing their bodies to shreds. Three were pretty much rendered useless so I disconnected them from their black holes. They rotted to bones within seconds. I guess they had been dead a while.

  I made one soldier stand in front of the other and fire at the twenty guards while I built up the energy to connect to the remaining army.

  The I.Q. kids all around us didn’t even flinch or look at the mayhem going on around them. Their brains must have been so far disconnected from reality that nothing could faze them.

  It took all of my strength to take control of Turner’s men, but I managed to do it without passing out. Ryan didn’t know it, but he was holding me up at this point. I was ready to collapse. I could immediately feel Turner trying to gain back control over his men, so I tried to disconnect them from their black holes as well.

  But I couldn’t.

  No matter how hard I tried, Turner was gaining the upper hand and I was losing my grip on his men.

  Only in this building did he have that kind of power. It was hard to come to grips with the fact that Turner knew so much more than I did about my own power. Pretty soon I probably wouldn’t even be able to connect to the dead people under his control. He’d find some new way of keeping me out for good.

  I was losing them, one at a time, as Turner took back his power over them.

  And just when I was about to abandon the last man standing, one of Turner’s dead stepped forward. “Chelsan? Is that you?”

  Um.

  I turned around to see how Elisha and the boys were progressing and I was relieved to see the grated cover now sealed back in place. Maybe I could give them enough time to make it. Or hopefully Turner thought they were still back in their prison. I just needed more time for them to make their escape.

  “Yes. It’s me,” I made the soldier say.

  “You fool!” the soldier in front of me screamed. “Is she gone? Did you help her?” He practically spat at the man’s feet.

  “You were going to execute her!” I defended myself with the corpse. I couldn’t figure out why I needed to explain myself to Turner, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself.

  “With good reason!” the soldier Turner was puppeteering screamed.

  “Were you going to execute those poor helpless boys, too?!” I made the man scream back. I didn’t like being scolded, especially from a man who continually tried to kill me.

  The soldier’s face that Turner was controlling suddenly went slack. “You freed the twins?” his voice was so low and so quiet I almost didn’t hear him.

  “They didn’t deserve this life. No child does.” I made the corpse say. It scared me more than I cared to admit at how quiet Turner’s corpse was.

  “What have you done?” Turner’s soldier said as he and all the other soldiers dropped to the floor.

  Turner had released them from their black holes and now their bodies were decaying to the state at which they died. It happened so quick I hardly had time to react. Not that there was much to react to. I was now standing in front of a pile of dead men ranging from bones to freshly killed.

  I didn’t know what to do.

  I just stood there inhabiting the last man, staring at the mess in front of me.

  What had I done? Turner’s accusation played over and over in my brain.

  “Chelsan, they’re here,” Ryan’s voice sounded in my ear.

  I disconnected from the soldier and opened my eyes.

  Everything was too bright.

  I bent over from the shock of it.

  Ryan was immediately supporting me.

  “Quickly, dear. The alarms just sounded outside.” I could hear Doris’s voice from beside me.

  I used Ryan to stand up straight and regain my bearings. I blinked in the light and found I was able to see once more.

  Doris was there with Elisha and the twins. John and Samuel were comatose once more, holding hands, staring into nothing. Doris’s hover-car was parked a few feet behind them. She was already ushering the twins into the car.

  Elisha came up to me and for the life of me I couldn’t read her expression. She was trying to look grateful, I think, but it was coming across as blankness. “Chelsan, thank you. I am in your debt,” she said.

  “Um, sure,” I said not exactly sure at all. (And very smooth by the way, I was such a wordsmith!)

  “Listen, you know so little about your power,” Elisha said with some authority.

  Ouch.

  But she was right.

  “She saved your ass,” Ryan said, his defensiveness kicking in.

  “I didn’t mean to offend her,” Elisha addressed Ryan with an almost flirtatious smile.

  Eeeww.

  She’s ninety-eight, she’s ninety-eight. I had to keep reminding myself.

  But still.

  Eeeww.

  I could tell Ryan was taken aback because he didn’t say a word.

  Elisha continued but this time she turned to me, “I just meant that there are things I can teach you about them. When things die down, I’ll find you and we can talk. It would help me if I knew how you received your powers in the first place?”

  “My dad did a spell to save my mom and I,” I said not knowing why I answered her. But just the slim chance of an opportunity to learn more about my powers made me blabber. If I could just get the upper hand on Turner…

  “Interesting,” was all she said.

  “Elisha, we have to go.” Doris was beside her now.

  “Go,” I said and before I could move, Doris had her arms around me in a bear hug.

  “Good luck, dear, and thank you,” Doris whispered in my ear.

  “Be careful, Doris,” I said and as I said it I found that I was suddenly very worried for her.

  “I will, dear, and same goes for you,” she said as she pulled away. She reached over and scuffed Ryan’s hair. “Take care of this girl.”

  Ryan grabbed my hand in response. “I will, Doris. Watch yourself and her.” Ryan stared straight at Elisha, not bothering to disguise his hostility.

  I was shocked and worried. Ryan definitely didn’t like her and I was afraid to admit that I agreed with him.

  Doris didn’t seem to notice she was so frazzled and ready to get out of there.

  But Elisha did and her response was a simple smile.

  The two of them hurried into the hover-car and the whirling of the hover fans soon became a distant sound until it disappeared altogether.

  The sirens were blaring from the headquarter building and hundreds of hover-cars were leaving in droves. I couldn’t tell if
they were Turner’s soldiers or regular people evacuating because of the alarms. Either way we needed to leave fast.

  “Let’s get to the Hover-Shuttle station,” Ryan said quietly and led me away from the marked maple tree and back the way we came.

  “You don’t trust her?” I asked aloud as we made our way through the giant trunks.

  “No,” Ryan said and squeezed my hand tighter.

  “I don’t either,” I admitted. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, either. I mean, I’d just helped her escape after all. Turner’s shock and his warnings still echoed in my head. I told Ryan everything that happened.

  Ryan’s response was simple, “Turner is just as untrustworthy. You did what you thought was best.”

  “I guess. But Ryan, I have to tell you, I can’t shake this feeling like I did something horrible.” I was in full confession mode now.

  Ryan stopped me and made me face him. “She was going to be executed. Now, I might not trust her, and you might not trust her, but she didn’t deserve to be killed. Saving her was the right thing to do. Period. Okay?”

  I nodded. I knew he was right, but I still worried…

  “At least we know my Kryptonite now,” I said, changing the subject.

  We started walking again.

  “We have to figure out exactly what the magic ingredient is. Maybe it’s not the metal, but something he mixes into the metal, you know? Whatever it is it could be a diluted version of it in all of his dead minions and that’s what causes the barrier,” Ryan mused out loud.

  “And if I can break through the barriers…” I started.

  “You can find a way to break through whatever it is in higher doses,” he finished.

  “It makes sense. It’s probably the way they hid my mom and all those corpses from me that day.” Everything seemed to be clicking into place.

  “If we could get our hands on some of that metal, I could figure it out,” Ryan said with confidence.

  And I knew he could. It was such a great relief having a super genius for a boyfriend. But where could we get a sample? I wasn’t about to attempt to go back into Turner’s headquarters again.

  “We could get some at Brady’s,” Ryan said softly. “You wouldn’t have to go. Bill and I could do it,” he finished quickly.

  I tried to hide my fear, but it was useless in front of Ryan. Even the thought of going back to Brady’s made my skin crawl and my stomach churn. Being tied up in his basement, in the dirt, in the dark, with that monster… I didn’t think I’d ever get over it.

  But I also knew Bill and Ryan wouldn’t know where to look or which room to take the metal from. Unfortunately, Brady had two separate metal rooms and I only knew for sure that one of them was made from the “Kryptonite.” If we were really going to figure this one out, I needed to go with them.

  “I’ll go. You need me to tell you which room,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster. “We should go today. Get it done.”

  “I’m not letting you go,” Ryan said firmly.

  “You don’t have a choice. Besides, I’ll be okay if the whole gang goes. Really.” I looked up at him as we walked and smiled.

  He tentatively smiled back, but his eyes were brimming with distress. “We’ll be in and out. Just point to the room and I’ll take you out right after.”

  “Deal,” I said, then leaned my head against his arm.

  We walked in comfortable silence until we reached the Hover-Shuttle platform. Hover-cars were still whizzing by, but the alarms had stopped blazing in the hour it took us to get there. I guess Turner would continue his search in secret. He worked better that way anyway. I just hoped he wouldn’t find Elisha and the boys before they made it to safety. If their destination was a Christian Coalition town, Turner wouldn’t be able to touch them.

  The Hover-Shuttle arrived promptly and we made our way inside. It was packed, buzzing with people trying to figure out what had happened. Apparently it was all over the news that someone had broken into the high security section of “Population Control Center and Research” (as Turner’s headquarters was known to the public). Ryan and I pretended to feign interest as complete strangers questioned us about the alarms since we had just left the scene. We played dumb and acted like two teenagers who had played hooky for the day to get lost in the red maple forest. So far, nothing of importance had leaked to the public. I probably had Jason and Turner to thank for that. My whole life felt like a cover-up lately.

  It didn’t take long before we were exiting the Hover-Shuttle and making our way to Nancy’s house. School wasn’t going to be out for another couple of hours, but we decided to hang out with George and Vianne until the rest of the gang arrived.

  I unlocked the door and we let ourselves in. George and Vianne were beyond relieved to see us. When they heard about the alarms, they had assumed the worst.

  We were all sitting on the couch and Ryan had his arm around me in an “oh so comforting” way.

  I told them everything that happened.

  “Those poor boys.” George shook his head.

  “Those poor kids,” Vianne added. “I just wish there was a way to free them all.”

  “Yeah,” I said, but at this point I was happy to be away from the Population Center and everyone inside. I didn’t like the way I was getting used to the events that occurred in my life.

  “I’m with you two,” George said after taking a moment to think. “I’m not trusting this Elisha girl.”

  “Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now. At least she won’t be popping in my head any time soon,” I said and I was very glad of that.

  “We hope,” Ryan said and held me tighter.

  And from the looks on their three faces I could tell that they didn’t think Elisha bumping into my head again was out of the realm of possibility. I hoped they were wrong, but now that I flitted with the idea in my head, I wasn’t so sure. Great.

  Vianne made us some lunch and food never tasted so good. She made my favorite: a grilled blue cheese sandwich with sweet potato fries and ranch dressing, yum.

  The sound of Nancy’s voice made me jump to my feet. She came rushing into the kitchen with Bill in tow.

  “Oh thank goodness!” she practically yelped and gave me a tight hug.

  “We heard about the sirens, but no one knows what happened,” Bill said as he gave me a warm hug as well. “What happened?” he asked.

  “Don’t start without me.” Jason walked in with a serious expression on his face. He had obviously let himself in. George and Vianne had pretty much given everyone a key since they considered us all family now.

  I told them everything that went down and Nancy made the most noise in response to some of the near escapes.

  “I’m with genius boy, here. I think Elisha will pop into your head anytime she feels like it.” Nancy shook her head, uneasy.

  I was afraid someone else would think that.

  “Well, I’m not going to flip out about something I can’t control,” I said. “Besides, we better get to Brady’s before it gets too late.” I didn’t really want to go, but needed to change the subject.

  Bill stepped over to me and placed his hand on my shoulder in a comforting way. “Are you sure you need to come with us? We can get the metal on our own.”

  Ryan apparently didn’t like seeing Bill’s hand on my shoulder because he reached over and grabbed my hand.

  Bill rolled his eyes. “Insecure much?”

  “Maybe if someone wasn’t always fawning over my girlfriend,” Ryan’s voice was low and angry.

  Uh, oh.

  “Guys… please don’t.” I tried to intercede, but they weren’t even listening.

  “Fawning? Are you serious? Chelsan and I were friends before you even cared to know she existed.” Bill pulled his arm back from my shoulder while Ryan’s hand squeezed mine more intensely. Ouch.

  “Oh, here we go again with the ‘I’ve known Chelsan longer, so I know her better’ speech. Guess what? She knew you longe
r, but she still didn’t want you.” Ryan knew it would sting.

  And it did.

  Bill’s face turned red from anger. “You don’t know that.”

  “I don’t?” Ryan turned to me, “Chelsan, once and for all, please tell Bill you never had feelings for him.”

  Both their eyes were on me.

  Gulp.

  “Shut it, both of you!” Nancy earned her best friend card in that moment. They were about to be cut to size. Ryan first. “You! For the smartest person on the planet, you’re a complete idiot. She’s loves you, stop being so possessive.” Bill next, “And you! She picked Ryan, okay? Get over it! This pining from a distance is driving us all crazy!”

  “You should talk,” Bill mumbled under his breath, obviously referring to her crush on Jason.

  “Okay, enough teen angst,” Jason interceded. “Brady’s place, remember?”

  “I’ll drive.” Bill’s arms were crossed, but I could tell he was trying to calm himself down.

  “Are we all okay?” I asked, seriously not needing this particular headache, and thanking my lucky stars Nancy pulled me out of having to answer whether or not I ever had feelings for Bill. Truth was, I didn’t know if I had or hadn’t because the thought never entered my mind back then.

  “Yeah,” Bill tried to smile, but it was weak.

  “Of course,” Ryan kissed me briefly on the lips and I couldn’t help but think he was trying to prove something to Bill again. Ugh.

  Saved by the doorbell.

  “Expecting anyone?” Vianne asked with a slight edge to her voice. Vianne and George never interrupted our arguments preferring us to work out our issues on our own, but I could tell it bothered them to see us at odds.

  We looked at each other and shook our heads in the negative.

  “Let me get it.” Nancy was out of the kitchen and answering the front door before any of us had even budged.

  Jason couldn’t help himself and started to peek through the kitchen door to see who it was.

  WHAM!

  The door swung in his face before he could move out of the way.