by JA Huss
“Don’t mind her,” Molly says. “She’s creepy at first but she grows on you.”
The woman is made out of light.
“I’m a hologram. Well,” the Sheila says. “I’m a computer, really. But I use the light to make a body. It makes people more comfortable to talk to a face.”
“Mmmm,” I say. No. Still creepy.
“We should join them, I guess,” Molly says. “It seems we have a lot to talk about.”
“Yeah,” I say, and follow her into the great room. Lincoln is pouring drinks, Iziah is looking at the art on the walls, Cyan is glaring at me, Uzi is glaring at Sullivan, and Sullivan is smiling at me.
I smile back.
Uzi does not miss this little interaction. Neither does Cyan.
But I ignore them both. I don’t feel the same way about them since they got me back. I don’t know why. I can’t explain it. But things are just different.
I feel more connected to Molly and Sullivan right now than I do to Cyan and Uzi. The rational part of me understands that it’s because of the mind blast Thomas threw at me back at the asylum. God, that feels like lifetimes ago. It flipped something off. Or maybe it flipped something on. It doesn’t really matter. I know this is the reason I’m having a hard time connecting to my sister and friends.
But there’s another part of me that thinks it’s because they’re wrong about things. These Alphas, mostly. Thomas wasn’t a bad guy. Not to me. He helped me a lot. And that sex in the shower. Good God.
And I actually like Sullivan a lot. It’s weird to think that, considering I first met him when he had me naked and tied to a table. But damn, it was kinda hot. I almost wish he’d do it again.
Sullivan chuckles across the room. Oops. I think he just read my mind.
“Drink?” Lincoln calls out. He’s still got his back to us as he finishes pouring. I can see the cannon he’s got attached to his arm and I absently wonder how much that thing weighs. His arms are definitely big enough to carry it. He’s bigger than Uzi, and Uzi is built like a tank.
I let out a breath, feeling a little relieved at that thought. It occurs to me that I’m… afraid of Uzi. Just a little. But that’s more than enough. He’s powerful. And intimidating. I don’t like it. Iziah is built like Uzi, but he has none of the attitude. Iziah is calm and rational. Uzi is hot-tempered and angry.
Sullivan is built. His body is well-muscled and perfect. But he’s not a tank. He’s more like a sophisticated rifle, if I want to keep the weapon comparison.
All the men take drinks and stand there sipping for a few moments. Sizing each other up.
Cyan walks over to me and Molly. She takes my hand. “Come sit with me, Sade.”
I dutifully follow her over to a couch and we sit. Molly wanders over to Lincoln and he slips his non-weaponized arm around her waist.
They know each other, I realize. That move was well choreographed. She knew which side of him to stand on. He knew she wanted him to claim her with that display of affection.
It makes my heart hurt a little. Every time Uzi has tried to show me affection since I woke up, it was unwanted. But he didn’t care. He did it anyway.
Lincoln knows how to read Molly.
Uzi has no idea how to read me.
“So,” Lincoln says, looking at Sullivan. “Who’s the new crew, Thomas?”
Can’t he see he’s not Thomas? Because I can see so clearly. Sullivan and Thomas are almost nothing alike inside.
“They saved our asses down in the tunnel,” Sullivan replies. “We were on the train car, heading towards the west tower so we could make our way up here and sort some shit out. But then…”
Then I fucked things up with that little… whatever it was.
“Then someone took over the grid or something. We lost power and the gates—”
“Shit,” Lincoln says, obviously seeing where this is going.
“Yeah, we almost got split in half. Sadie and I were pretty fucked up after the crash. And we were on the wrong side of the gate. But then the cavalry came in the form of these two.” Sullivan motions to Uzi and Iziah with his drink. “And they…” He stops and I wonder what he’ll say about the fact that they starved him for weeks. “They saved us.” Skips right over that little nugget of unfortunate truth.
“Well,” Lincoln says. “We owe you then.”
“That’s how I see it too,” Uzi says. He and Iziah are standing shoulder to shoulder across from Lincoln, Molly and Sullivan.
“So what can I help you with?” Lincoln asks.
Uzi nods his head to Sullivan. “Tell him,” he says.
“Well,” Sullivan says, looking at Uzi. “It’s a long story. You see, my friends don’t even know half of what you know about me.”
Uzi narrows his eyes at Sullivan. “Do not play games with me, asshole.”
“I’m not,” Sullivan says, putting his hands up like he’s innocent. “They have no clue I’m a mentalist.”
“A what?” Molly asks.
“See,” Sullivan says. “My superpower, Molly. I’m what they call a mentalist. Just like Uzi here. And Cyan,” he adds, looking over at us. “Right, Cyan? You’re one too?”
She says nothing.
“But the really interesting part,” Sullivan says, looking directly at Lincoln now, “is that we mentalists all have an opposite. Kinda like you and Molly. Alpha and Omega. Only our Omegas are called illusionists. That would be Sadie here. And Iziah, if I’m guessing correctly. We’re linked to them. Kinda like your genetic bond, but mentally.”
“And your friend here,” Uzi says, nodding his head at Sullivan, but looking at Lincoln, “has stolen mine away. I want her back.”
“Purely,” Sullivan says, opening his arms in an innocent gesture, “by accident.”
“Ahh,” Lincoln says. “Gotcha. Sheila,” he says to the air.
The light woman manifests off to his left. “Yes, Lincoln.”
“Can you look into this… procedure? I think our new friend Uzi would like his link back.”
“It’ll take some time for me to pull up the Prodigy records and understand it. But I’m confident I can be ready to help in the morning.”
“No,” Cyan says. Her whole body is stiff with resistance. “No. Absolutely not. We’re not staying the night here. Out of the question. I’m sure if we take Sadie home, away from this stupid Alpha, your link will come back, Uzi. Let’s just go.”
“Doesn’t work that way,” I say, surprised that I’m speaking up. “You all know it doesn’t work that way. Hell, even I know it doesn’t work that way and I’m the most clueless person here. We need to sever it first. Then rebuild it. And the way it was severed in the first place was from Thomas’s mind blast back at the hospital. I’m not saying I want him to blast me. I’m not on board with that at all. But we need to do more than just create distance.”
I look over at Uzi, trying to figure out what he’ll do. But he nods at me. I smile, trying to make him feel at ease.
But all I want is a fucking night alone with Sullivan. And I realize now that this is why we’re here.
Yes, the message scrolling across my vision overlay says. Yes.
He wants to be alone with me and that was never going to be possible back at the other house. But here? In this monster of a mansion… here we can do whatever we want.
“So tomorrow?” the Sheila asks. “Say, nine AM? You should probably not eat,” she says, looking first at Uzi, then at me. “Just in case the procedure requires general anesthesia.”
“I’m not going under,” Uzi says. “Fuck you if you think I trust you to put me under.”
“It probably won’t come to that,” Lincoln says. “Sheila’s just being cautious. Hell, she’s done hundreds of modifications on me and I almost never went under. So unless you’re a pussy”—he looks right at Uzi—“it shouldn’t come to that.”
Uzi glares at him, but then takes his attention to Cyan. “What do ya say?”
Cyan is still stiff with resistance, but sh
e nods her head. Agreeing with him.
No one even bothers asking Iziah. And he offers up no opinion on the matter.
“Great,” Molly says. “And you’re in luck. If you had shown up last month there’d be no guest rooms. But the upstairs was just finished so we have plenty of space now. I’ll show everyone to their rooms.”
I’m the first to follow Molly. When I look over my shoulder Uzi is right behind me. Cyan has to be pulled to her feet by Iziah, but by the time we make it to the grand staircase and begin to climb, we’re all lined up like ducks in a row.
I have to give it to these Alphas. They’re great manipulators. I bet Uzi never thought in a million years he’d be going along with an Alpha plan, let alone spending the night in one of their houses.
We get to the top and begin walking down a long hallway, passing door after door. They are all closed.
“OK,” Molly says, stopping at a door about three quarters of the way down the hall. “Who’s rooming with whom?”
“Cyan and I can take this one,” Iziah says.
“Perfect. Uzi and Sadie, you can follow me.”
Oh great. I have to share a room with Uzi? How am I supposed to orchestrate dirty sex with Sullivan when I’m rooming with Uzi?
I smile internally at my audacity.
“I have a great one down at the end here. It’s got an amazing bathtub,” Molly says, winking at me over her shoulder.
I shoot her a weak smile just as Uzi grabs my hand. Why can’t he take a hint?
“Here you go. Everything you need is in there. But if I forgot anything, just—”
“Excuse me, Molly?” The Sheila thing pops into existence.
“Yes, Sheila?”
“I’m going to need Sadie to come down to the lab. I looked up the protocol and just realized I have a lot of prep work to do. Tests,” she says, looking at me. “But mostly painless.”
“What the fuck is this about?” Uzi growls. “She’s not going anywhere with that thing.”
“OK,” Sheila says, nodding her head. “We can do it in the morning. But you’ll probably have to stay another night. The procedure appears to be long. Quite complicated. And we want to do it right the first time. You don’t screw with people’s minds without some forethought.”
Uzi is ready to explode. I might not be linked to him anymore, but he’s squeezing my hand so tight, it makes me wince. “Uzi,” I say. “Let’s just get it done. I want this to be over, don’t you?”
He stares at Sheila a moment longer. Then Molly. Then his gaze lands on me.
I rub his arm to help him calm down. “I’ll be fine.”
“I’m going with you then.”
“Well,” Sheila says, sheepish smile on her face. Jesus. I don’t know who programmed her emotions, but she’s got this shit down. “She’s going to need some privacy, Uzi. I’ll have her completely naked for most of it.”
“So?”
I laugh. “What do you mean so? I’m not going to let you hover over my naked body while I have tests done. It’s invasive, Uzi.”
“You want this, don’t you?”
I know what he’s implying. That I’m eager to get away from him. And I am. But I can turn that around. Manipulating what people see when they look at me also involves manipulating what they think. “I thought you wanted this too! Don’t you want us to be linked again?”
“That’s not what I meant,” he says.
“Then what do you mean?” I ask. “Do you think I’m excited about this?” I raise my voice a little. Put an edge on my words. “This was your idea. None of this is my fault, Uzi. I’m here because you wanted to come here. I’m doing this because you said we should. And now you’re going to accuse me of what? Ditching you?”
He shrinks back. Just a little. But just enough. “No. I’m not trying to be an asshole. I’m just…”
“Insecure?” Sheila offers.
He glares at her. “No.”
“Good,” she says, taking control. “Then she comes with me. We’ll do all the prep work and tomorrow afternoon you can be on your way. I, for one, cannot wait for you to leave.”
“Sheila,” Molly says, chastising. “Stop it. They’re guests. I tell you what,” Molly says to Uzi. “I’ll bring you status reports every hour. And you don’t have to stay in these rooms. Just come downstairs whenever you want. Lincoln and I will be up for a while. And Case and Lulu will be here soon. We’ll have dinner.”
“He can’t eat,” Sheila reminds him.
“Ignore her,” Molly says to Uzi. “I ignore her too. But her and Linc are a package deal. So we endure.” Molly rubs Uzi’s other arm. And holy shit. These people are way out of my league in the manipulation department. She’s playing him like an instrument.
Uzi finally huffs out some air, giving in. “Fine.”
“Great. Come with me, Sadie. I’ll show you down to the lab.”
I turn to follow the walking woman made of light. But Uzi’s not done. “I want hourly updates,” he says. “With video. Or I’ll just find my own way to that lab.”
“Good luck with that,” Sheila mutters as we walk back towards the stairs. “Don’t worry, Sadie. He’ll never find it.”
I’m not sure that’s a good thing, even though she makes it out to be one.
When we get to the stairs, we don’t go down them. Just keep walking. And when I look over my shoulder I expect to see Uzi watching this little change up, but he’s got his back to me. He and Molly are having a heated conversation that involves lots of waving arms.
“Open this door here, Sadie,” Sheila says.
I do, still checking to see if Uzi is watching. But no. Still arguing with Molly.
So I slip inside and he never sees a thing.
Yes. These people are all very coordinated and clever.
I close the door and find myself in a room. A nice one, for sure. But nothing special.
“I have no body in this room,” Sheila says through some hidden microphone. “Molly won’t let me into any of the bedrooms after that nursery incident. So I’ll just talk you through it. Go over to the fireplace, find the seventh brick on the far left, and push.”
“I don’t think this night could get any weirder,” I whisper. But I do as I’m told and yes, it’s a secret door built into a fireplace. I stare into the darkness as it opens up, wondering just what the fuck I’ve gotten myself into.
“You haven’t seen anything yet, sweetie. Now go down the steps like a good girl and meet me in the dungeon.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - SULLIVAN
As soon as the new crew is out of sight, Sheila says, “Case just landed in the helicopter. He’ll be here in a few minutes. I’ll take care of Sadie.” Then she disappears.
I take my attention back to Lincoln. He squints his eyes at me, then whispers, “Sullivan?” I nod, which makes him exhale in relief. “Follow me.”
He heads towards the east wing of the mansion and goes into his office. I follow and close the door behind me.
“Are we on track or what?” Linc asks.
“Well”—I laugh—“it’s not exactly going as planned.”
“No shit. What the fuck are you doing? We had an agreement.”
“I know,” I say, sighing as I drop into a deep leather chair. Linc doesn’t sit. Just leans on his desk and folds his cannon arms across his chest. “But Thomas, man. I don’t know what’s happening to us. The dude is in denial or something. I can’t get him back now.”
“I hate it when you talk like that. You know I hate it. You’re the same guy.”
I sigh. “How many times do I have to explain this to you?”
“Apparently once more. Because no matter what you say, you’re still Thomas. He’s still you.”
The door opens and Case walks in. “Hey,” he says, closing the door behind him.
“What the fuck are you wearing?” Lincoln asks Case.
“You like ’em?” Case replies, sliding the SpyGlasses down his nose. “I just got this model in toda
y. They’re going into distribution tomorrow. My end of this little catastrophe is done.”
“Already?” I ask. “Damn. I really missed a lot.”
“Hey, Thomas,” Case says. “And yeah, we didn’t appreciate your little disappearing act. Where the fuck have you been for the past month?”
“I was just getting to that,” Linc says. “But this here isn’t Thomas.”
“What?” Case is not so much surprised as he is annoyed. “We had a deal, asshole.”
“I know,” I say again. These fuckers are giving me a headache. “But that stupid doctor pushed some drugs into him—unbalanced everything—and then he blasted the whole floor with his goddamned mind. It wiped Sadie Scott’s memory. She came to get me, by the way. And take me back to Prodigy. Which is still very much alive.”
Case almost snorts out his laugh. “Well, that was lucky. Did he mean to do that?”
“I don’t think so. I didn’t know she was in the building, so I highly doubt he did. Yasmine gave him some drug—which, from what I can tell, split us up again. He was in and out, and then we were on the train car heading towards the west tower and either he knocked out the power or Sadie did, but either way it resulted in a fuck-up of epic proportions. And ever since then he’s been… missing.”
“He’s not missing, you dumbass.” Case walks up to me and raps his knuckles on my head. “He’s right in there where he’s always been.”
“Are you two going to complain? Or should we try to move forward? Because I’m not in the fucking mood.”
“So the plan is shot?” Linc asks.
“The plan is only shot if the two of you fucked up your end.”
“Hey,” Case says. “I got the SpyEye software on every handheld device in Cathedral City. I did my part. Distribution is done.”
“Good,” I say, looking at Lincoln. “And the program? You got that ready?”
He nods. “It’s ready. But it hasn’t been tested yet because you and Thomas decided to go off the goddamned deep end. Why now? Why, after all these years?”
“I have no clue why he does this shit. He just… overreacted, I guess.”
“You pissed him off,” Case replies. “And he wasn’t ready for it.”
