by Toby Minton
“I’d better get out of your hair,” she said, making her decision and gathering up her loot. “You’re letting me borrow too much as it is. I don’t want to owe you too big of a favor.”
She was also in danger of actually liking Kate, and that Nikki couldn’t allow. She didn’t make friends, for good reason. With all the moving around she and Michael did, friendships just couldn’t survive. They might see people they knew and had hung out with before when they blew back through a town once in a while, but they didn’t make lasting friendships. Not ever. It was one of their cardinal rules for survival.
For Michael, the rule no doubt had something to do with security. The fewer people who knew them, the better off they were. Minimize the chance of word of their powers getting out—that was her brother’s credo.
For Nikki, the rule had more to do with self preservation. She had built friendships with other girls once or twice when they were younger, before she’d known better. One of those friendships had been stronger than the others, had grown to more than just a friendship. Never again. That kind of pain…well, Nikki had vowed to be on the giving end of all the pain in her life from that point on. Period.
Besides, she was still a little pissed at Kate for not being old, ugly, and handsy the way she’d pictured when she'd first cornered Michael. Young, cute, and nice was just a disappointment on so many levels. Where was the funny in watching Michael run from that?
“Oh, OK,” Kate said, unfolding her legs and sliding off the bed. “I have a dress in here somewhere though. I couldn’t quite pull it off, but it would look amazing on you. If I find it, I’ll bring it by.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Nikki said. “This is too much already, really.”
She tried to keep her tone the right mix of casual, appreciative, and curt, but since she wasn’t even sure such a thing was possible, she flubbed it. So she just turned for the door and made a beeline for her room up the hall.
She left her door open when she blew into her room and went straight to the bed. She dropped the pile of clothes and leaned on the bed for a minute berating herself for letting her guard down as much as she had.
She’d had her shower. She’d inhaled some food. It was past time they got the blazes out of this trap they’d wandered into. She hacked a couple hours off the time she’d decided to allow Michael. He’d understand, especially if Kate managed to corner him again.
When Nikki collected herself and turned around, Michael was stepping through her open door, pantomiming a knock.
“Mind if I come in for a minute?” he asked as he walked in. Obviously he didn’t care if she minded. Fine with her though. He’d just saved her the trouble of going to find him.
When she got a good look at him, what she was going to say slipped right out of her mind. “Why are you so sweaty?” she asked.
“Huh? Oh,” he said, looking down at himself as he leaned against her wall. “I was in the hangar with Gram.”
Nikki snorted. “OK. Um, something you want to tell me? Have you found love at last?” she asked around a giggle.
“What?” He actually looked alarmed for a second, and if she didn’t know better, she’d say he looked guilty. “Oh, yeah,” he said, his expression souring as he got the joke. “Whatever.”
Nikki shook her head and went to the locker. It was empty except for her small bag on the bottom shelf, so she didn’t have to work hard to find a spot for Kate’s loaners. Not that they’d need a place for long.
“I was helping him with a generator,” Michael said.
Nikki looked over her shoulder to see him futilely rubbing at grease stains on his hands. “Weird. And that made you all sweaty?”
“No. He was also grilling me about Kate.”
Nikki laughed loudly. “Nice!” She’d have to remember to thank Gram. The old codger had found a way to salvage a spiraling situation and make her brother uncomfortable after all. Score one for grandpa.
“That wasn’t all we talked about though,” he said, still staring at his hands, his focus somewhere else entirely.
Nikki swung the locker door shut with her heel and leaned back against it to stare at her brother. His look and tone said he was wrestling with something more important than generators and funny grandparents. Through the link, she was getting a familiar fuzzy sensation she’d learned to attribute to Michael’s fun mix of curiosity and worry. He was in no mood for jokes and sarcasm when he was like this, not that Nikki ever paid attention to that.
“Did he tell you how to get rid of that hair dye?” she asked, eyeing the damp reddish curls plastered to his forehead. She smiled and shook her head. He really was beautiful. And no, she wasn’t just thinking that because they looked so much alike. With his short curls, his T-shirt plastered to his lean but cut chest, and that deep-thoughts look in his hazel eyes, he looked like some tortured hero from a comic book. Poor Kate hadn’t stood a chance. “You’re creeping me out as a redhead. Plus, maybe Kate hates blondes, so—two birds.”
“He told me some stuff about Gideon, Nikki,” Michael replied, ignoring the hair comments.
“Great,” she said, crossing her arms to match his pose and heaving a sigh. “I can’t wait to hear all about it.” She could wait. She really could, like until they were a hundred miles away and on their own again.
“Stuff about why Gideon is so set against Savior,” he went on.
“You mean besides the fact that E-Day made Gideon ugly and twitchy but made Savior gorgeous and powerful? I can see the grudge.”
“No. It’s more than that,” he said. He looked up at her and then back down at his hands. “Gideon can see the future.”
Nikki had never wanted to laugh so badly in her entire life, but Michael was being so serious. She brought her hand up to cover her mouth and nodded at him, keeping her eyes as serious as she could. “Hmmm.”
“I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not like that. Gram believes him. So does Elias. They all do, Nikki. That’s why they’re here.”
“To get their fortunes told?” she said before she could stop herself. She sucked in her bottom lip and bit it, hard, to keep from saying more.
He looked up at her, a little anger in his gaze this time. “No, Nikki. He just gets glimpses, but he’s seen what Savior could do to our future, to the whole planet’s future. Everyone in this place is here to stop Savior, to keep that future from happening.” He paused for a breath before saying, “Nikki, I want to stay.”
Aha. There it was. She knew he had been messing with her with the whole “sees the future” BS. Her brother was the most practical person she’d ever known. He had never bought into the free zone craze of going to psychics and fortune tellers. He’d always said they were fakers. So for him to fall for Gram’s tale now—of course it was something much more believable. He had just wanted to throw her off-guard so he could push for a longer stay. He must have felt her panic earlier with Kate and figured out she’d been planning to shave down the time.
“Look, I already agreed to stay for a while, so you don’t have to make up a bunch of crazy,” she said. “But we’re not dragging this out. I’m thinking another day, tops.”
“Nikki, I mean I want to stay here.”
“Yeah, I got that—”
“No, you didn’t. I mean I want to stay stay. I want to help them stop Savior.”
Nikki swallowed what she’d been about to say. She couldn’t remember it anyway. He was serious. He was really serious.
“Are you kidding me right now?” she shouted. “No. No way!”
“Nikki this is important.”
“This is crazy is what this is,” she snapped, her temper flaring. “What happened to ‘keep moving,’ to ‘just the two of us’?” she shouted. “What happened to never forming relationships?”
“This has nothing to do with Kate!” he snapped back, his eyes suddenly wild like when he walked in.
“Who said anything about…” She trailed off, her eyebrows climbing higher and higher as all the pieces fell tog
ether. His alarmed look, his nervousness with her grandfather, the way he’d been defending her from the start. “Oh. My. God.”
“Nikki,” he said, already shaking his head and moving toward her, his hands up, the look in his eyes a different kind of panic. “Nikki, just let me explain about Savior and—”
“Are you kidding me?!” she erupted and shoved him back into the wall with both hands so he wouldn’t miss a second of the hand-waving, ear splitting tirade she was about to let loose. A tiny trickle of strength tingled through her, but she hardly noticed it next to the inferno of her temper. “Her? You like her?”
“Nikki, don’t.”
“Of all the girls who’ve chased you in your life, all the hot, half-naked crotch wranglers who’ve literally thrown themselves at you—”
“Nikki, just stop!”
“—all the lovesick tweens and revved up cougars who would have done anything to get you in the sack, you fall for little Hong Kong Katie?” If she’d been a little less riled she would have laughed. “I don’t get it.”
“Stop,” he said in a quieter voice, his voice dropping as his anger rose. She could feel it fueling hers through the link. He had to be feeling the same, only worse.
“I guess it’s partly my fault, really,” she said. “I should have gotten somebody to deflower you years ago. Then you wouldn’t be over-reacting now!” she finished with a shout.
She shook her head in disgust and stomped toward the door. “Well forget it! I’m not staying here in crazy town so you can play googley eyes with little nerdy Kate!”
“I said STOP IT!” he roared. He lunged from the wall and grabbed her arm.
With all his crazy monkey-fu holds and joint twistings, Michael could probably hold her if he put his mind to it. But as angry as he was he just grabbed her and matched strength for strength. The trickle she’d already gotten gave her the edge.
Nikki slammed her open hand into Michael’s chest. He backpedaled, glancing off the edge of her bed before he could catch himself on the concrete wall. “Just go get freaky with her and get it over with. Then we are leaving!”
Michael blinked and looked up at her and then past her. He swallowed and the blood drained from his face, the fight in him slipping away with it.
Nikki turned and stepped through the door. And there was Kate standing just outside, a folded slip of red and black fabric in her hands.
Kate swallowed and took a breath, obviously holding back something—maybe some choice words, maybe even tears. Whatever it was, she pushed it away with an effort and gave Nikki a look that poured a bucket of icy water on Nikki’s anger.
“I found that dress,” Kate said, her voice calm and even. “Bad timing I guess.” She turned on her heel and walked down the hall toward her room without looking back.
Nikki stared after her, feeling ugly. Then Michael pushed past her and strode down the hall in the other direction.
“Great job, Nikki,” she whispered. “Just great.”
There’d be no leaving now, definitely not today, probably not tomorrow. In fact, she’d be hard pressed to make this up to Michael without spending several days trapped in this dungeon. Fantastic.
She’d just have to tough it out until Michael got over it and came to his senses. They needed to get out of here so everything could go back to normal. Once he had a little time to cool down, he’d see that. Until then, she could suck it up and play the good girl for a while. No problem. She’d apologize and be on her best until all was right with the world.
Worst case scenario, she’d be trapped down here a few days, maybe. A week, tops.
Restless
Chapter 24
Nikki
Three weeks. Nikki had been trapped in the boonies for not one, not two, but three weeks. Three!
She was about to pop. In her wildest nightmares she had never imagined it would take this long to convince Michael to leave. But he just wouldn’t budge. He was adamant that they weren’t leaving until Gideon and his people figured out how Savior was tracking them.
Problem was, Nikki didn’t see any figuring happening. Sure, Gideon was always stewing and brooding over something when she found him, and Kate was usually hard at work in the nerd lair (when she wasn’t mooning around with Michael), but as far as Nikki could tell, they weren’t any closer to solving the problem than they had been weeks ago. It was driving her nuts.
Needless to say, her boredom bucket was starting to overflow, which, not surprisingly, made her just a tiny bit cranky. Today alone, she had shouted at Coop for shutting his door too hard, jumped Mos for taking the last apple at breakfast, and argued with Elias for twenty minutes to let her stream a German satellite radio station she’d found in the command center. She wasn’t even a huge fan of German techno, but it had been something to do.
Pretty much everybody was starting to turn the other way when they saw Nikki coming. Everybody except Impact and Sam, that is. And Sam kept getting sent on supply runs and other errands, or at least that’s what he’d told her before he disappeared today. Why it was OK for him to go gallivanting and not Nikki was a mystery to her, but whatever. That just meant Impact won the prize of her company this afternoon.
He was enjoying his prize in the PT room at the moment, where Nikki was using the weight bench as a lounge while she watched Impact run on his manual treadmill. Yep, she was that bored.
“Now?” she asked, raising the BB gun in her hand, her smile coming up with it.
Impact shook his head and cut his eyes toward her, grunting something as he ran. He was always a little grumpy, in her opinion, but when he was concentrating like this, he could be a real bear. “Wait until I say,” he said, his eyes shifting forward again as he focused and accelerated.
Nikki grimaced and lowered the pistol.
The treadmill whirred under his feet, the display on the wall beside him passing 60 kph. He wasn’t even breathing that hard. His ability was really pretty cool. He could carry on a conversation while running fast enough to trip the speed sensors on a city street.
When the display hit 97, Impact held the pace and scrunched his brow in concentration again. To Nikki’s eyes, nothing changed except the display, which ticked up and down between 96 and 101. Impact started sweating, but not from the strain of running.
He’d been at this for a solid hour, trying again and again to expand the kinetic field he generated when he ran. Or was it an envelope? He’d explained it a few times, but science had never been Nikki’s strong suit, so she’d zoned out each time. Whatever it was, it was invisible to Nikki, and Impact had been trying to stretch it to cover the paper target secured to the side rail near his arm. So far, he hadn’t succeeded.
“Now,” he said, his expression still tight and his attention focused ahead of him.
Nikki took aim with the BB gun, pursed her lips, and fired. The BB deflected off the invisible field a few centimeters off Impact’s side, but not before it punched through the target right beside the bullseye.
“Yes!” she shouted as Impact cursed.
“It didn’t work,” he said, looking over at her like she was an idiot as he slowed down.
“Yeah, I know. It never works. But did you see that shot? I’m getting good with this thing.”
He didn’t respond to that. He just jogged off the open front end of the treadmill and yanked his towel off the rail like it was to blame. He turned back to scowl at the treadmill as he toweled off his bald head and slender arms.
He was a good-looking guy, Nikki didn’t mind noticing. Savior must have used DNA from only the best stock for him, like Gideon said he had for Nikki and Michael. Maybe they were even related.
Nikki toyed with the BB pistol as she watched Impact strip off his outer shirt and toss it aside, his eyes still on the treadmill. She looked him up and down, sincerely hoping they weren’t related. The skin-tight compression undershirt showed all the curves and sharp angles of every tight muscle in his impressive torso. His ability apparently kept him even lean
er than her brother, so he wouldn’t be winning any body building contests for sure, but the muscle definition on his thin frame was like nothing Nikki had ever seen. She was having trouble looking away.
“You can lose the gun,” he said, giving her a brief glance before stepping back to the treadmill. “I’m not getting anywhere with this. I’m going to work on something else.”
“Outside?”
“No,” he said, screwing his brow up at her. He did that a lot, and it came across pretty condescending. He should really tone down the attitude. He wasn’t that good looking.
Nikki harrumphed at him and leaned back against the dumbbell bar behind her, letting her head loll back until she was staring at the concrete ceiling.
“I need to practice increasing resistance instead of decreasing it,” Impact said. She heard him step back onto the treadmill and start jogging up to speed.
“I’m no science wiz, but isn’t that going to slow you down?”
“Yes.”
She raised her head and gave him a screwed-up, mean look of her own. Two could play that game. “Why would you do that? Faster than normal, I get. Slower than normal—why? There’s a reason snails and turtles aren’t top of the food chain, you know.”
“I’m not increasing it everywhere, just in targeted areas of the envelope,” he said as he passed 45 kph. “If I do it right, maybe I can use it to change direction faster at high speed, or maybe slow my fall if I run off something high.” 77 kph. “I won’t know until I experiment.”
“You’re already crazy fast and pretty much indestructible when you’re moving, right? So why spend all this time sweating maybes and ifs?” she asked, dropping the pistol on the mat under her bench and leaning up to rest her arms on her crossed legs. “What’s the point?”
He slowed back down, stopped, and leaned on the rail to face her. “The point is the more I work at my ability, the more control I have. The more control I have, the better I am at using it, the more powerful I become,” he said, looking at her like she was the one who was hard to understand. “Don’t you ever push the limits of what you can do? Don’t you try to do more?”
