Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy

by P. Anastasia

  I rarely see people for people anymore.

  “Sometimes,” I replied, pretending to be unaffected.

  “Only sometimes?” He cocked his head to the side. “Alright then.”

  I think he could tell I was lying.

  Chapter 5

  We managed to clear the scene before authorities came snooping around. David showed us a shortcut under an overpass—a maintenance tunnel—that spit us out right into the heart of the downtown district in front of a strip of decent-looking businesses and hotels. We probably didn’t have a chance, but David seemed to think we could get a room at one of the nicer ones, despite our lack of credit.

  “If they’re not a chain hotel,” he’d told me, “you can usually convince them to take a risk if you hand over enough deposit upfront.”

  That’s what we had been doing up until now, but all of those places were hardly adequate. I’d like to sleep in a room that didn’t smell like mold or beer for one night.

  “So, where’s he going to stay?” Brian asked me in a presumptuous tone. The four of us had stopped outside the entrance to one of the hotels.

  “He can stay with me,” I replied. “Getting two hotel rooms is hard enough. Three?” I shook my head. “It’s not worth the risk.”

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Brian added, wrinkling his brow.

  “Yes, Brian. We’re adults. We can handle it.”

  “If you say so.” He rolled his eyes.

  “Shut up, Brian.” I shoved him in the shoulder. “I don’t sleep with everyone. Quit acting like you’re so damn righteous.”

  “Alright. Whatever!” He threw up his hands. “I’m going to go talk to someone and see what they can do for us. Alice, wait here, okay?” She nodded in response, and then he jogged up ahead toward the sliding glass doors of the hotel.

  I leaned against the side of the building near the lobby windows and turned toward David, who was looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

  “Don’t get any ideas,” I growled, narrowing my eyes at him. “Brian’s just trying to start shit.”

  “Sorry.” He averted his gaze. “I… wasn’t.”

  Alice took a few steps away so she could sit down on a bench near the curb.

  “So, have you talked to the Saviors at all since we last saw each other?” I asked David.

  “No. You?” He tucked his hands into his pockets.

  “No.” I glanced over at Alice, who didn’t seem to be listening to us, and then back at him. I kind of wanted to tell David about the Prism. In fact, it was right there on the tip of my tongue, but it didn’t seem right. He’d just rejoined our messed-up party and I hardly felt like I could trust him. Maybe telling him wasn’t the right thing to do. Yet.

  “How’s… your sister?” I couldn’t remember her name, but I knew he was taking care of her.

  “She’ll be alright. I called in a few favors to make sure she’s in good hands until all of this shit blows over. I can’t risk disappearing on her again, and I need to know she’s taken care of.”

  David didn’t seem like a trusting kind of guy, so I couldn’t help but wonder who he’d gotten to take care of his sister. It wasn’t my business, though.

  Suddenly Brian came marching out of the hotel lobby with a scowl on his face. Alice leapt up from the bench to rush to meet him.

  “What happened?” I asked, pushing up away from the wall.

  “This place isn’t going to work out,” he said and started walking off in the opposite direction.

  “Hey!” David went after him.

  “What?” Brain veered around.

  “Let me handle this, okay?”

  Brian stiffened. “No.” His eyes widened. “You can’t just—”

  “No. No. Not like that.” David shook his head. “Jesus, man. I don’t need a Glock to get a hotel room.”

  Brian took a breath. “Fine,” he said, looking away. “Do whatever the hell you need to. Just don’t get us in trouble or I’ll—”

  “Leave him alone, Brian,” I butted in. “I’m tired of all the ghetto places we’ve been stuck in lately. Maybe he can help us. Let him do his thing and we’ll see what happens.”

  “Thanks.” David flashed a smile at me. I wasn’t trying to stick up for him. I only wanted Brian to shut it.

  David looked down at the tear in his hoodie and grimaced. “Damn. This won’t do.” He rolled his shoulders back, slipped the garment off, and then handed it to me. “Would you mind holding on to this? I don’t want them to see it.”

  I took the torn hoodie from him.

  “Hey, kid,” he said to Brian. “You got that leather jacket with you? The one you had…” He stopped himself. “Anyway, do you have it?”

  Brian hesitantly pulled his black riding jacket from his pack and unfolded it.

  “Don’t get it wrecked,” he sneered, handing it out to him.

  “Damn, man. You’ve got a hell of a complex. It’s a coat, not a car.” David shrugged on Brian’s coat. The fit was off—snug in the shoulders and too short overall—but he pulled it off well enough to get by. He perked up the collar. “Stay where I can see you guys,” he said and then headed into the hotel.

  From the outside, it looked like a much nicer place than any of the previous ones we’d stayed at. No wonder they had turned Brian down. A young guy like him with a handful of cash. That’s not suspicious, said no one ever.

  “What do you think he’s telling them?” asked Alice, peering at the lobby through one of the windows along the sidewalk. We couldn’t see David very well. He was speaking with the receptionist. She had a very concerned look on her face as he spoke and she kept nodding at everything he said. I barely noticed him pointing at something and then tucking it away into his jeans, but I couldn’t see what it was.

  “Who cares? As long as we get a room, right?” I shrugged.

  “I do,” said Brian, wrinkling his lips to the side. “If that creep screws us over and…” He glanced across the street at a police car parked near the sidewalk. “If he screws us and we get caught…”

  I crossed my arms and glared. “You need to calm down, Brian.”

  “She’s right,” Alice murmured. “Let’s just see what happens, okay?”

  Brian heaved a sigh and looked away from me. “Okay.”

  He’d been a nervous wreck ever since he’d run away with Alice. It was wearing me thin, too. I had my own fears to worry about. It wasn’t just about him and his little golden child.

  “Guys!”

  We all turned our heads. David was standing between the sliding hotel doors, gesturing for us to come join him.

  “Come on! Hurry up,” he called out. I was the first to start walking. Brian and Alice trailed behind me.

  We went inside and followed David across the room. I felt someone’s eyes on me and glanced at the receptionist as we headed toward the elevator door. She immediately looked away, as if embarrassed to have been caught gawking, and pretended to search for something on her desk.

  In passing, I saw she was a sleeper, but not an ordinary one. She had a dark brown aura resonating from her outline, along with murky, dirty color swirling inside her, reminiscent of the man we’d seen at the diner not long ago. The one who… dropped dead in front of us. It was different from the stuff inside sleepers Brian could heal. This… was almost completely discolored—polluted with vile darkness.

  I shook it off for the moment, without saying a word to the others, and followed them into the elevator. Once we were inside, David smacked one of the numbered buttons and the elevator door closed.

  “What did you tell her?” I asked, standing between David and Brian to help keep them separated. David didn’t scare me anymore, not since I had discovered I could hurt him with my powers.

  “I saw the cop car across the street and used it to our advantage. I told the receptionist and her manager that you were under protection of the state and that I was your bodyguard.”
/>   “And she believed that load of crap?” Brian scoffed.

  “People will believe anything if you say it with enough confidence.” He pointed at me. “Then I pointed out the blood on your clothes and she caved in real quick. As long as you guys are here, you’re going to have to keep your heads low, alright? Try not to wander around too much. I don’t want people asking you too many questions.”

  The elevator stopped and a ding sounded just before the doors slid open.

  David exited first. He handed a keycard to Brian. “1532. Attached to room 1534, which is our room.”

  The disgruntled look on Brian’s face convinced me he was angry that he hadn’t somehow managed to execute this type of plan earlier. David must have been one smooth talker to really pull it off the way he had. Either that, or the receptionist was gullible as hell. It was so far-fetched, maybe it sounded legit. Or maybe cops would come snooping around later on. David seemed fairly confident that they wouldn’t. Then again, I did see him tuck something away after talking with the people at the front desk.

  David reached into his pocket and took out another hotel keycard.

  “Here.” He handed it to me. Then he shrugged off Brian’s jacket and gave it back to him. “Thanks.”

  Brian didn’t even reply. He could have at least thanked him for everything. Stubborn ass.

  I slid the card through the card reader on the door and waited for it to click before turning the knob. The lights came on as soon as we entered and the smell of bleach, wood cabinetry, and clean sheets filled my nostrils.

  “We haven’t been in a place this nice before,” I said, poking my head into the bathroom and looking at the large garden tub. “Thanks for hooking us up with these rooms.”

  “Don’t mention it.” He slid his gun out from behind his back and flopped onto one of the two queen beds in the room. The sight of the gun made me uncomfortable, but I snuffed out my fears and reminded myself how he’d just put his ass on the line to help us.

  He tucked the gun beneath one of the pillows on his bed and then shot me an offensive glare. “I… don’t think I have to tell you this, but—”

  “I won’t touch your gun,” I replied. “I’m not stupid.”

  “Good. Though I’m not gonna lie; it wouldn’t hurt for you to learn how to use one.”

  “Maybe later.” I shrugged. I didn’t want anything to do with it.

  He sat up and rubbed his face with both hands. “Ugh. You feel as shitty as I do right now?” He glanced up at me while I fiddled with the A/C console. It was ice-cold in the room.

  “Uh, I was sort of the one who almost got buried alive today, remember?”

  “Ah, yeah. Almost forgot about that.” He stifled an awkward chuckle. “How’s your arm doing?”

  “Better,” I replied as I walked into the bathroom and turned on the hot water to wash my hands in the sink. I needed to take a shower, too. My jeans had stiffened from the dried blood and I felt disgusting. “How long can we stay here?” I asked, pressing a hot washcloth against my face and taking a deep breath of the steam.

  I didn’t hear a reply.

  “Da—” I turned my head.

  He was in the bathroom doorway now, looking down at me.

  “Jesus. Don’t sneak up on me like that!” I huffed and squeezed the muddy reddish water back into the sink.

  “A few days if we need to,” he said, leaning against the doorframe.

  “David?” I set the washcloth down. “What did you show the receptionist downstairs?”

  His eyes widened briefly in surprise. “Uh. Why?”

  “Because. I want to know,” I said, turning to face him. “You didn’t tell the others, but you can tell me. Really. I won’t say anything.”

  He stared at me for a few moments, as if he were contemplating how to reply, or whether or not to tell the truth.

  “It’s okay,” I added, reassuringly. “I won’t tell them. I swear. I just want to know because we’re—”

  “This.” He pulled a wallet out of his jean pocket and flipped it open to a fake ID and goldtone badge. He pulled it back before I could make out what the ID said. “Now don’t go saying anything to the kid.”

  “I won’t. I promise.” I took up the washcloth again and ran it under the faucet. There was absolutely no doubt that Brian would let David have it if he found out he was brandishing a fake detective’s badge. I didn’t really trust him, either, but I had to. We had to.

  I squeezed hot water from the cloth and started scrubbing the rest of the dried blood from my arms.

  “How do you stand those two?” David blurted, coming up from the doorframe and taking a step closer. Our gazes met in the mirror. “Really? How do you do it? That Brian kid is such a hard-ass. And his girlfriend—”

  “There aren’t a lot of people I can trust.” I hung the wet rag on the nearby towel rack and leaned back on the edge of the bathroom counter. “We’re kind of stuck together.”

  “But you don’t have to be with them, you know. No one can force you guys to stay together.”

  I glared at him. “You don’t get it do you, David?”

  His brow furrowed. “Get what?”

  “Those things up there can force us to do whatever they want. The Saviors almost killed Brian when he tried to stand up to them. I’m not ready to take that risk.”

  I didn’t want any more pain. I didn’t have someone to worry about like Brian did. I didn’t have someone worth fighting for or worth dying for.

  My throat tightened. I had to muster up every ounce of strength I had left to keep my eyes from watering in front of David.

  Chapter 6

  After my shower, I threw on a terrycloth hotel robe and tied the belt snugly at my waist, hoping David wouldn’t get any stupid ideas. I didn’t feel that comfortable half-dressed around him, but I also didn’t have any other choice. My only set of clothes was covered in blood and I’d lost my bag (and with it, my change of clothes) in the earthquake.

  I filled the bathtub with a few inches of warm water and a drop of shampoo and tossed in my shirt and blood-soaked jeans. As I swished them around in the tub, swirls of brown mucked up the water. I wrung them out as best I could and then flung them over the shower curtain rod. Hopefully, they’d be dry by morning.

  Back in the spacious hotel room, David lay flat on the bed closest to the window, his eyes closed as if he were asleep. Dark cinnamon skin showed through webbed tears in his denim and the laces on his black sneakers were frayed, like the hem of his jeans.

  I sat on the edge of what was apparently my bed for the night and cupped my hands in my lap.

  I glanced at my arm—the one that had been wounded earlier. Hidden beneath the fluffy white facade was fresh, pristine skin. It was as though nothing had ever happened to me. I hadn’t been cut up. I hadn’t almost been crushed to death and suffocated because of an earthquake. I hadn’t been rescued by a man I knew little about, and I wasn’t about to spend the night in a room with him.

  “What the hell am I doing here?” I murmured. It had barely been a week since the Saviors had teleported me out of the police station. My entire world had been turned upside down just as school ended and college loomed on the horizon.

  I didn’t want to be stuck with the group like dead weight. Alice and Brian had each other. David had himself and that was obviously all he needed.

  Me? I was just… there. Useless while we weren’t actively searching for sleepers.

  “Can I sit with you?” The voice made me jolt. I glanced up at David, who was now standing beside me with a concerned look on his face.

  “Uh. Yeah. S-Sure.” I scooted toward the corner of the bed to make room for him and he sat down, his weight sinking in beside me.

  He spent a moment studying me, searching my face for something. Then he leaned closer and reached toward my face. His fingers drifted past my ear and as he drew back his hand, a metallic shimmer blurred by the corner of my eye.

>   “How long have you been hiding that there?” He smirked, playfully investigating the coin that had appeared in his hand.

  “Wait. How did you?”

  “Some sleight of hand, that’s all.” He tipped his head to the side and grinned, holding his open hand out, palm up.

  The coin was large. I didn’t recognize it. 1 Onza… something. And an image of an angel.

  “It’s from Mexico. A silver Libertad,” he said with a nod. “It used to be my mother’s. They found it in my father’s hand just after…”

  He stopped himself and averted his gaze.

  “Just after what?” I asked, having a gut feeling the answer wasn’t something I really wanted to know.

  “Well, let’s just say after he passed away. Anyway.” He shook his head and adjusted his grasp on the coin. “She found it the year I was born and truly believed with all her sweet little Catholic heart that it was some kind of sign from God—a good luck charm dropped for her by an angel. See, she and my dad wanted kids real bad, but because of a health defect, my mother couldn’t get pregnant. Or, at least, that’s what a bunch of doctors had told her.”

  I squinted my eyes to try to see the year on the coin, but he flipped it over too quickly. The back showed an eagle with a snake in its beak mounted atop a cactus.

  “This is the Mexican national seal, by the way,” he added.

  “What does it mean?”

  “Hell if I know. I didn’t grow up in Mexico. I’m American. Grew up in a few different states until…” He stopped himself. “I didn’t take this out to give you a history lesson on myself.”

  He flipped over the coin again and held it up to my eye level, pinching the rim between his thumb and index finger.

  “Do you see the two mountains behind the angel? One on each side in the background?”

  I nodded.

  “They represent two lovers from an Aztec legend. Supposedly, there was this warrior who wanted to marry a princess, but her father—the king—said he couldn’t have her unless he won a battle against a rival tribe. So, long story short, the rival tribe spread a rumor that the guy was killed in battle and the princess ended up dying of a broken heart. The warrior returned, buried her on top of this hill, and knelt beside her to watch over her. Over the years, snow covered them both and they eventually became the two volcanoes you see there.”