Red and Black

by Nancy O'Toole Meservier

  I nodded. How could I forget Sully, ready to jump from that bridge?

  Amity continued to speak.

  “When Callie’s resolve started weakening…I searched for ways to distract her. And if there was one thing she felt stronger than anything else, it was her anger at the people she held responsible for putting her in that asylum, stealing years of her life. I told her that Dana and company had betrayed her, turning her in to the Forgers. And her mind was so fragmented that she wasn’t able to put together how little sense that actually made. We came to Bailey City, and she was the most focused that I had ever seen her. She wanted her revenge. And then things went wrong again.”

  “How so?” I asked, straightening up in my seat.

  “The progress that came from using her powers…it only goes so far. You see, there are only so many people she can take in. And when she reached the limits of her abilities, she stopped getting better. But she still wanted revenge.”

  She shook her head.

  “I thought when I turned Callie on those five, I was giving her something to focus on. Instead, I was just giving her something else to be crazy about.” She paused, wetting her lips before speaking. “I thought I was getting Callie back. That beautiful girl who had been…” She paused and scowled. “Of course, all I was doing was shooting myself in the foot again. My realm is the past, after all. What do I know about planning for the future?”

  She paused, placing the glass on the nightstand next to the desk lamp.

  “For example, getting drunk right before the big moment? Not a good idea.”

  I shook my head.

  “I think I’m starting to understand,” I said. “But what does this have to do with me?”

  “Ah…yes, that latest kink in the armor.” Amity rolled her eyes. “Apparently, ever since Faultline came back talking about this Wonder Woman–level figure with super healing abilities, Callie decided to change from plan F back to plan A.”

  “What do you—”

  “She wants me to unlock Dana’s lost memories, show him how to transfer powers again. And then she wants to take your wonderful, healing powers into her and finally fix that broken brain of hers.”

  “She wants my powers?”

  “Yes, and her original ones on top of that, of course. Can you imagine the combined results if it actually works? Hell, what if it doesn’t work? I can’t piece together how your powers function. There’s something…odd about them. Maybe you’re not really healing, but reverting back to the state you were in when you first received your powers. And where would that leave us? With an insane woman who has super-strength and enhanced healing abilities? Even I can see that could go wrong on so many levels.”

  “Amity. We need to stop this from happening!”

  “How? You saw before. She won’t listen to me.”

  “But you have the power to erase memories! Make her forget!”

  “Do you think I haven’t tried?” Amity half-shot, half-stumbled to her feet. “She won’t even let me touch her.”

  “What if we got help? Overpowered her? The hostages—”

  “Of which the only one of any use is an injured cop? Callie has a small army at her disposal. Did you forget that?”

  Hmm. Right. Not smart.

  “Well, let’s focus on the revenge quest, then,” I offered. “Callie thinks the five hostages are responsible for interrupting her Transference. But they’re not. You are. If you could tell her—”

  “Oh, that’s rich!” Amity paused to let out a loud, barking laugh. “You, telling me to take responsibility for my past. When you’re an expert at running away from yours.”

  “What?” I blinked.

  “Oh please. Don’t make me spell it out for you. I’ve seen into your memories, girl. The moment you approach something that truly makes you uncomfortable or scared, you run in the other direction as fast as you can.”

  “No. I—”

  “Father dies when you’re sixteen. You respond by pushing away everyone who just wanted to help, destroying friendships in the process. Then you get kidnapped at twenty and refuse to talk about it to anyone, even the therapist hired to help you. Using your amnesia as an excuse for even dealing with the problem at all.”

  “But I really can’t remember—”

  “Anyone who tries to help you, you push away. Your therapist. Your mother. Your best friend. And let’s touch on that one, shall we? Have you spoken to Sunshine yet?”

  “I’m going to. I’ve just been so busy—”

  “Ah, the drawbacks of the logically minded. It’s just so easy to find excuses, isn’t it? You find more and more of them until the problem is so far in the past that you think you’ve moved on. But you haven’t.”

  Amity stood tall and leaned over me, resting her hands on my wheelchair. Her shoulders hunched upwards, her face uncomfortably close to mine, alcohol strong on her breath.

  “Because that’s the real fear, isn’t it?” she asked, softly. “The one that pushes you forward. The one that motivates you to jump off rooftops at night. The fear that you will never truly be a hero, an Actual. No matter what, you’ll always be the kidnapped girl. Well, I’m here to tell you that you’re right. Because we are going to take away all those powers of yours, everything that makes you special, and leave you nothing but the shy, painfully awkward, damaged, stupid, weakened victim you were before.”

  And with that, she reached out and tapped the side of my face, not hard enough to be a slap, but it hurt anyway. I turned to the side, unable to meet her gaze.

  “Now,” Amity said, straightening up. “I feel so much better. I’m going to do my best to sober up and meet with Callie. She wants revenge. I’ll help her. She wants more powers. I’ll help her there, too. She may be one crazy bitch, but she’s my crazy bitch. And there’s no way in hell I’m going to stab her in the back to make your life easier. Ta-ta, Dawny,”

  And with that, she left the room, waving a hand over her shoulder.

  I couldn’t help it. I flinched as the door slammed shut.

  I don’t know when it started, but a tightness had formed in my chest, migrating upward to my throat. The second Amity left the room, I felt a sob bubble up and escape outward, half-choked. I raised a hand to stifle it, but it did no good. My body shook. Tears formed in my eyes. In under a minute, Amity Graves had torn me open and laid me bare for the world to see.

  It had been cruel. But she hadn’t been wrong.

  I did run away from my problems, grabbing onto any logical-sounding excuse on the way. And to have her throw all my insecurities right back at me like that…it had been awful. It had been…

  Right.

  And soon that would be all that was left of me. If Callie were to take my powers away, then what would that leave behind?

  No one’s hero, that’s for sure.

  I knew I was being selfish. The five hostages. They could lose their lives tonight. Or worse, Callie could take control of their minds, their free will, as she had with Alex. They were worth so much more than just me. But in that moment, all I could do was sob into my own hand as Amity’s sharp words cut deeper and deeper, and it got harder and harder to breathe.

  23

  Alex

  “You betrayed me, Faultline.”

  I blinked and shook my head, wondering how the hell I had ended up on the floor. I looked up to find myself surrounded by Calypso’s drones. Every set of eyes was focused on me, and I was pretty sure they weren’t looking for instructions this time around.

  Calypso towered above me, despite the fact that I knew she couldn’t have been more than five-foot-four. Her face was set into a frown, her usually delicate features hardened into a mask. It was clear that she was pissed, and it felt directed at me. What was going on? Why was she so upset?

  And then her words really sank in.

  You betrayed me, Faultline.

  That’s right. I had tried to help Dawn escape. But why had I done that? Calypso wanted Dawn. Had told me to my face, more th
an a week ago. And I had helped her anyway. Why had I done that?

  “Shit,” I said, pushing myself to my feet. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. It just seemed so important at the time.”

  Calypso’s eyes flickered down, then up again. When she did, the anger that had been so obvious before was gone, replaced by sadness that hit me like a sucker-punch. Why had I found her so distracted and vague before? Why had I thought of her as cold? It was obvious what she was feeling.

  “It’s fine,” she said, lips pressed into a tense line. “We all make mistakes. I can see that you have changed your mind.” She turned away from me. “I need to go see Amity.”

  “Wait,” I said, reaching out and grabbing her hand.

  She froze at the contact.

  “You say everything’s fine, but I know that look. Used to seeing it on my sisters’ faces. You’re still upset.”

  Calypso didn’t respond, her face hidden behind the curls of her hair.

  “There must be something I can do to make it right. Come on, Calypso.”

  Even beneath my glove, I felt her stiffen at the mention of her name.

  “What did you call me?” She turned back to me, gaze wary.

  “Crap. I’m sorry.” I shook my head. “Don’t know what I was thinking.”

  Calypso nodded slowly, then pulled her hand away.

  “You have nothing to worry about,” she said. “I’m just concerned about the events of tonight. Once it’s over, everything…” She paused and lowered her voice. “Everything will be better.”

  With that, she pushed past me. I let her go, despite the fact that something still felt off. Marty took a step back, clearing a path to the elevator. Once the doors had shut, he leaned down to pick up my helmet. He stood tall and crossed the space between us.

  “You good?” he asked, passing the helmet to me.

  “Why wouldn’t I be?” I accepted my gear.

  “Anything…different?”

  “I dunno,” I said with a shrug. “What’s the big deal?”

  Marty let out a sigh.

  “Everyone thinks you’re so smart,” he said.

  “And you don’t?”

  “Nah, man.” He shook his head. “Just…not about everything, I guess.”

  What the hell did that mean? Marty really was a pro when it came to getting on my nerves.

  “You heard her,” I said, turning toward the people around me. “She’s planning something for tonight. She doesn’t need us now, but we should be on alert if and when that changes.”

  Everyone nodded, our previous scuffle clearly forgotten. After all, Calypso had accepted me back.

  Not Calypso. I shook my head. It felt wrong to call her that. Mistress. I would call Her Mistress from now on.

  Wonder why I had ever wanted to call Her anything else.

  “Hey Noel, what did her face look like when she fell off the tram?”

  I sat in the back of the white van, my feet planted on the concrete floor of the garage while Noel and a small group of drones sat around an upturned barrel and played a game of cards. I had sat in this same van just a short while ago. And I had been upset. But why? The Mistress’s plans had been successful, after all. Even if things had gone sideways when Dawn had arrived.

  Dawn. I thought back to the image of her falling off the side of the tram. To finding her in a pile of garbage on the street. My stomach clenched at the memory. Dawn. I had hurt Dawn.

  “Oh, well…it probably wasn’t the best call,” I heard Noel say. “I could have just as easily hit Alex after all.”

  I looked up at the makeshift poker party. Noel seemed to be paying attention to his cards, but every now and then his eyes would focus in my direction. At the mention of my name, the others followed suit.

  Ah. I had kind of snapped at Noel back then, hadn’t I?

  “It was worth it,” I said. “The Mistress wanted her. Isn’t that right, Noel?”

  “That’s right,” Noel said, a smile spreading across his face.

  I had been so angry, a side effect of using my powers so much, and I hadn’t really been fair with the guy. To the right of me, Marty drew close, looking all serious, that ridiculous tire iron slung over one shoulder.

  “Is something wrong?” I asked, feeling my temper rise.

  “You tell me,” he said.

  My jaw clenched. Seriously, what was up with him? He had been trailing me for the past half hour, treating me like I was a bomb about to burst. The guy had to know I could barely stand him. Why was he trying to make things worse?

  “Faultline?”

  We turned and saw Sarah, one of the drones who had been guarding the hostages, enter the room.

  “I have a message from the Mistress,” she said with a stiff nod.

  I rose to my feet and reached for my helmet. Slipping it on, I spun toward the exit, almost colliding with Marty in the process.

  “Seriously, man?” I said. “You need to back off.”

  Marty didn’t reply, just looked at me with that scowl of his. What a moron. I pushed past him. As I did, I could have sworn I heard him say “never.”

  Great. Just what I needed.

  The wait was over. The Mistress’s plan, whatever it was, was ready to go.

  Although She wanted all of us on guard, only a few could fit into the ballroom. Not that it wasn’t big enough—it was a ballroom, after all—but the floor got weaker the farther you went toward the center of the room. There were even holes in the wood. I had looked down one of the gaps once, and it looked like things went down a hell of a lot farther than just a single floor, maybe all the way to the basement. I could see why putting fifty guys in it wasn’t the smartest idea. Instead, a half-dozen of us were invited. The Mistress had asked me to pick a team of the people I held responsible for the benefit’s success. I picked Susan, for patching everyone back together, along with Noel and a few others that had been involved in the plans from the beginning.

  And much as I hated to admit it, Marty had been important too.

  He entered the room first, head held high. I caught Noel rolling his eyes at me and held back a laugh.

  Then I took a good look at the room and paused.

  Where were the hostages? Finding them had been the point of all this. But instead of tubby lawyers and frosty hospital owners, I saw only that Dana guy. He was arguing fiercely with Amity as we entered.

  And on the other side of her was Dawn. No longer in a wheelchair, she stood, staring down at the floor. Her eyes were red and puffy. Did that mean she had been crying? I felt something twist in my chest. Why would Dawn be crying?

  “Listen,” Dana said. “I don’t know how many times I need to say this. I have no idea what you’re talking about. There’s no way in hell that I can—”

  “Ugh.” Amity threw up her hands. “Trust me, the last thing I want to do is dig back into that slimy mind of yours. We need the Transference. From her.” She pointed to Dawn. “To her.” She pointed to the Mistress.

  Transference? They must be talking about transferring Dawn’s powers to the Mistress. That didn’t seem right for Dawn, but if that was what the Mistress wanted, then that was how it had to be.

  Dana shook his head and opened his mouth to protest, only to have Amity roll her eyes and take a step toward him.

  “Ugh, fine. Let’s see what I can unearth in that skull of yours.”

  She reached out and grabbed one of Dana’s bare wrists. I saw both of them go stiff as Amity pulled through his mind. After a few seconds, she let go. Dana blinked and stared at his hands. He flexed and unflexed his fingers.

  “I don’t understand,” he said.

  “Congratulations, you’re Empowered!” Amity said with false cheer. “Now, the Transference.”

  “What, from her? What am I supposed to—”

  “Ugh! I can’t believe this.” Amity rolled her eyes and turned to the Mistress. “This may take a minute.”

  The Mistress frowned, leaning toward Amity.


  “You reek of alcohol,” She said.

  “Well, everyone needs a hobby!” Amity replied.

  “Fine,” the Mistress said, nostrils flaring. “Another minute will be fine. In fact…”

  She turned toward us and let out a small half-smile. I could feel everyone around me, myself included, tense in anticipation.

  “I would be remiss if I did not address all of you tonight,” She said. “To properly thank you for what you have done.”

  Cries of protest, including one from Noel, broke out from the small crowd. She paused, blinking in surprise. Susan, the nurse, took a step forward.

  “Mistress,” she said. “There is no need to thank us.” She placed a hand on her chest. “When you found me, my life couldn’t have been darker. The loss of my husband…my son.” She shook her head. “It shattered everything I believed in. But you showed me true purpose, a family like I have never experienced. I’m more than happy to help out in return.”

  Everyone nodded in response, myself included, but something about it felt off.

  “Family.” The Mistress’s gaze was distant, then focused as She turned to us. “I couldn’t have asked for a better one. Nothing compares to the unbreakable support you have shown me.”

  Next to me, a smile spread on Noel’s lips. He shook his head, clearly echoing Susan’s thoughts. There was no need to thank him. His support was, absolute after all.

  Only…

  I blinked, Mariah’s face appearing in my mind, her expression creased with frustration and concern. Mariah had always seemed so supportive, but the second she began to suspect what I was doing for the Mistress, that support had vanished. Maybe that was a sign that my true family was here.

  “I don’t care how much you think you know about my memories. I’m not doing it.” Dana’s voice cut through the silence. “The last guy had a bunch of machines keeping him alive. This…this could kill Dawn.”

  “Noel,” the Mistress said, Her voice low.

  Noel’s face hardened and he began to walk forward. As he passed the Mistress, I saw Her look up at him from beneath Her eyelashes. He stopped in front of Dana and reached for…