The Prince's Trap

by Griffith, P. D.

  Cortland looked at him confused. “What are you talking about? Who’s dying because of what you did? Is this because of what just happened out there? Landon, what you did out there was amazing! You’re the first person ever to stand up to Ares.”

  “Yeah, and now as long as I’m on the team with him, none of you guys will be safe.” Landon sounded totally convinced of his reasoning. “He will never trust me again, and that only puts all of you at risk. I cannot—no, I will not—let another one of you guys die because of what I did.”

  “Landon, you’re really confusing me. Are you talking about Joshua?”

  Landon looked down at the floor at the mention of their former teammate. “If I hadn’t let Celia beat me,” he said, his voice filled with guilt, “Joshua and Jeremiah would still be here.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Cortland said, exasperated. “Landon, that wasn’t your fault. We all saw the match. Celia was hell-bent on winning. There was nothing any of us could’ve done. It was an accident.”

  Landon shook his head. “You just don’t understand.” Before Cortland could respond, he grabbed his shirt from his locker and started toward the exit. Just before he left the area, he looked back at Cortland, sadness in his expression. “None of you understand.”

  He sped up the stairs and through the Temple to get out of the Olympic Tower. As he flew past the Altar, he glimpsed Washington Sykes, who was talking with Dr. Wells, spin around to watch as Landon passed through the exit.

  His steps echoed in the cavernous northern hallway. Still feeling anxious, he turned to the large doors that led into the northern part of the valley, and made his way outside. The day was gloomy, with rain clouds rolling in from the west, and the air was thick with humidity as the impending storm made its way closer and closer.

  Landon went to the lake. The crystalline water bore a grey sheen as it reflected not only the cloudy sky, but Landon’s mood as well. It was when his feet touched the gritty sand that he realized he’d neglected to put shoes on before he ran out of the Olympic Tower. Standing a few feet from the undulating shoreline, Landon collapsed onto the sand, burying his head in his legs as he hugged them with his arms.

  “What am I doing?” he asked himself, his voice muffled. “How could I let all this happen?” He lifted his head and looked out across the still waters of the lake. It looked so peaceful, and somehow completely unaware of the storm that steadily approached. Landon wished he could be the same. If only he were ignorant to the storm brewing around him; naïve, like the lake, about the torrent that approached.

  Recent events ran through his mind like the images of a slideshow. He saw Joshua’s death and Celia lying in her coma; he saw Katie Leigh and himself spying on the Gymnasium through her computer, and the day he enlisted her help when he had nowhere else to turn; he saw Celia standing in the cafeteria, ostracized after the incident in the Qualifiers; he saw Riley grinning excitedly, completely unaware of the potential danger he’d inadvertently placed himself in through his knowledge of the Pantheon; he saw Metis Labs, and the moment he discovered Celia was Artemis; he saw Dr. Pullman dying on the gurney in the medical wing; he saw all his sabotage attempts that he’d painstakingly planned with Celia after deciding to help her uncover the truth; he saw Dr. Brighton telling him about the Pantheon and what lay within the Olympic Tower after he beat Brock in the First Frost Frenzy; he saw himself sitting with Celia under the arbor in the secret garden, cherry blossoms fluttering down around them, and the memory she shared of Dr. Brighton standing over her dead parents when she was seven; he saw Washington Sykes as he hunted for the mole, his ebony skin illuminated as he peered into Landon’s subconscious in the interrogation room; he saw the thief hidden in the shadows of the Library almost a year ago, when his curiosity was piqued and the whole journey started; he saw every person he’d unconsciously placed in danger on his crusade for truth. He had never realized how much collateral damage there could be because of his actions. Joshua and Jeremiah were the first innocent casualties of a game that he had never expected would carry such high stakes. If he didn’t stop, more people would get hurt.

  Tears welled up in Landon’s eyes as he thought back to the very beginning. The image of his mother smiling in the kitchen at breakfast caused a lump to form in his throat. Why did I have to be like this? he asked himself. Why did they have to make me a psychokinetic?

  Suddenly, Landon heard a rustling behind him. He turned to find Celia emerging from the tree line. Celia? What was she doing? Landon wondered before realizing that he must talk to her.

  Rising from the sand, he wiped the tears from his face with his arm. Hurriedly, he sped across the grass toward Celia in hopes of catching her before she reached the Gymnasium doors.

  “Celia!” he called out. She acted as if she’d heard nothing and continued on her direct path to the entrance. “Celia!” She continued to ignore him, so when Landon got up behind her, he reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder.

  She spun around, looking inflamed.

  “Celia, I have to talk to you,” he said forcefully. She looked uninterested, and started to turn back around, but Landon tightened his grip on her shoulder and forced her to face him. “You can be mad at me all you want,” he said vehemently, “but you can’t avoid me any longer.”

  She relaxed slightly and gave him a look that said, Go on then.

  Landon took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I—uh—I’ve quit the Pantheon.” He felt so strange saying it aloud.

  “So?” There was something strange about Celia’s voice. She sounded so cavalier. “I already told you I don’t need your help anymore. Be on the Pantheon. Or quit. It makes no difference to me.”

  Landon was taken aback. Who was she? He believed she had to be hurting. Maybe she was acting this was because she felt so alone? “Celia, I also wanted you to know, I saw what happened at the Qualifiers and I know what it’s like to lose control of yourself and find it to have terrible consequences. So if you need it, I’m here for you, to talk or whatever.”

  “Oh, poor, damaged Landon’s here for me? How . . . sweet,” she said mockingly.

  Landon stared silently at her for a while. He was gobsmacked. “God, what’s happened to you? I don’t even recognize you anymore.”

  “A coma is what happened to me. A coma you put me in, if you remember,” Resentment laced her words.

  “Yes, I know,” Landon looked down with shame. “And I’m sorry. I don’t know how else to tell you that it was an accident. I still don’t understand how it happened in the first place.”

  A dull rumble of thunder grabbed their attention. In unison they looked up at the darkening sky, as the storm got ever closer.

  “Five weeks, Landon. Thirty-eight days, to be exact. That’s how much time you stole from me. How much time I was locked away, screaming for help with no one able to hear me. That’s how long you denied me my revenge.” Celia’s voice cracked. Landon could see the pain he’d caused written on her face as she choked back her emotion. “You stole something from me, something I can never get back.” She lifted her head as confidence and pride flooded back into her. “But a part of me thinks I should thank you. If it wasn’t for you putting me in that coma, I wouldn’t have realized how far my focus had wandered.”

  Landon recalled his visions of the redheaded woman during the Qualifiers, just before Celia lost control. Celia’s words reminded Landon of hers, and he was getting the same feeling of foreboding that he felt in the stands that day. He was suddenly afraid of what this Celia might do. “You have to stop acting like this. Too many people are involved now. You can’t let anyone else get hurt,” he pleaded.

  Celia chortled. “Stop? You have to be joking.”

  “I’m serious. It’s too dangerous to continue like this. Too many lives are at stake.” Of everyone in the Gymnasium, Landon thought he was the only one who
could placate her unrelenting drive to succeed at her mission. “Too many people could get hurt—innocent people, Celia.”

  “Collateral damage is a necessary evil of war,” she said matter-of-factly.

  Landon’s head fell in disappointment. He couldn’t believe this was the Celia he once trusted with his life, the Celia he would’ve done anything to protect.“Is this war? Is it? Are you honestly trying to bring down the Gymnasium? Or is all this really about your vendetta?” He spoke forcefully in a last-ditch attempt to get through to her. “Joshua’s already died for your cause. Who else has to die before you’ll realize? Parker? Katie Leigh? Who?”

  Landon watched as Celia retreated into herself and adopted same the prideful façade she’d used while walking the halls of the Gymnasium since Joshua’s death. She did all she could to maintain her stoic demeanor, but Landon noticed a twinge of emotion eke its way through. She stared at Landon for an extended moment, not uttering a word, and then she turned on the spot and stormed back toward the Gymnasium.

  “When, Celia? When is it too much?” Landon yelled to her. The words stopped her. “When does the cost of your revenge become too much for even you to pay?”

  Thunder clapped loudly overhead as Celia pivoted back around to face Landon. She stepped up to him with purpose, standing only inches away. Landon felt her hot breath on his face. “I watched him kill my parents in front of me. He took everything from me.” A single tear escaped her left eye, streaking down her cheek as she struggled to maintain her self-control. She continued emphatically through gritted teeth, “As long as Brighton lives, I will never stop . . . no matter the cost.”

  “Then I cannot help you,” Landon said calmly but decisively. Her words were the last thing he’d expected to hear. This conversation had gone to a place he hadn’t anticipated. He had just wanted to let her know he was there for her even though he’d quit the Pantheon, but in listening to her, he discovered the danger of Celia Jackson’s mission and could no longer allow himself to participate. Once he realized who she’d become, he wished he could talk sense into her, get her to re-evaluate her mission, and work with him to devise a way that didn’t put innocent lives at risk.

  “I already told you, I don’t need your help.”

  “You said it, but I don’t think you mean it. And, Celia, now I’m telling you—I’m done. You’re on your own. Don’t come to me for help. You’ve now officially lost me in this. I’m out.”

  Celia looked at him in disbelief. “Landon, you know what they’ve done!” Her arm motioned with fervor toward the Gymnasium that stood behind her. “I’ve shown you what they’ve done! They’ve deceived everyone! They’re evil!”

  “You’re right. You have shown me,” Landon confirmed, trying to maintain his composure and calm strength. As he spoke, though, his voice rose with conviction. His body started to heat up. “But now I’m not so sure you aren’t evil, too. I agreed to help you discover the truth and find a way to stop them. I did not, however, agree to be a part of your murderous hunt for vengeance.”

  Celia staggered backward at the impact of Landon’s words. He watched as she realized that her quest for revenge had dealt her another loss. Although she had chosen to shun Landon for weeks as punishment for his mistake, she never questioned his loyalty to her. One word and he would have been back by her side, her ally in the unrelenting fight against the Gymnasium; but in this moment, Celia realized that she’d lost him, too.

  Landon watched as she turned and ran into the Gymnasium. The instant the door closed behind her, he collapsed to the ground. His back arched as he held himself up with his hands and knees. Telling Celia he’d no longer help her in her mission was one of the hardest things he’d ever done in his life. He had hoped she would be more receptive to his words of caution, but had never realized how much her rage drove her.

  As Landon rose to his feet, a raindrop fell on his arm. He looked up at the sky; scattered droplets of rain fell from above, streaking from the sky like speeding bullets. It would be only moments before the clouds opened up and released a torrent of water.

  Landon walked toward the Gymnasium while a few more raindrops speckled his shirt. Looking at the massive facility, Landon wondered what he would do now.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  FREE AT LAST?

  Landon leapt onto his bed. He paid no mind to the disheveled comforter and pillows as his body sunk into the mattress and bounced slightly as the springs adjusted to the force of his fall. With his hands cradling his head, he stared up at the ceiling.

  Suddenly, he started to laugh to himself. The unexpected reaction caught him off guard. I just left the Pantheon and told Celia I was finished helping her, I shouldn’t be laughing. I’ve just lost everything. But then understanding slowly pushed out of his subconscious until he realized—he was free. He felt like he could just lift off the mattress and fly. The burden of the Pantheon . . . gone. The pressure of deceiving those around him as he secretly hunted for the truth . . . gone. Sneaking around corners and scheming in the background . . . gone. For one of the first times since his apocratusis, he felt at peace with his circumstances.

  By removing himself from play and taking a laissez-faire stance on everything, he felt certain the weight of responsibility was lifted and the people he cared about would now be safer. Landon was still psychokinetic, he was still at the Gymnasium, but all the added pressure he had never wished for was gone. He could be normal, or as close to normal as someone living in a secret training facility for genetically enhanced teenagers could be.

  As he continued to stare at the ceiling, he recalled the pockets of students he had passed on the way up from the valley who were chatting in the stairwell and aimlessly meandering the halls. It was Saturday. When there’s nothing compulsory, Landon realized, people can do all sorts of things. Landon smiled as he glimpsed his future life. The idea of doing whatever he wished on a Saturday seemed strange but exciting. He could sleep in, spend the day reading, play games with Riley in the Rec Center—the possibilities were endless, and he knew he wouldn’t be worrying about risking his life, training arduously for missions, or devising some new countermeasure in his life as a double agent.

  He lay in the silence of his room, and as fatigue from the day’s stresses took hold, Landon, welcoming the peace, slowly drifted off into a catnap.

  Landon stared down into a dimly lit bedroom. The bed was made, but sheets of paper were strewn over the comforter. A stack of books was piled high on the nightstand, and a few pieces of clothing were scattered around the floor. The only light came from the monitor on the desk. Katie Leigh sat at her computer, her hand resting on the keyboard. Program windows and web pages flicked into and out of existence in rapid succession, commanded by her technopathic abilities. Landon watched her work, he saw her occasionally perk up in her chair and cautiously scan the room, as if she could feel she was being watched.

  Landon couldn’t see the information on the computer, but Katie Leigh worked diligently. Every so often, she paused on a page and, leaning in, scanned the text quickly to take in a new nugget of intelligence. He figured she was perusing the network for information on the Prince and Project Herakles as Landon had asked her to do.

  Suddenly the screen faded to black, but a moment later, the monitor surged back to life. Katie Leigh pulled away from the computer, leaning back in her chair in surprise, yanking her hand off the keyboard as if it were scalding. What she now watched, instead of the numerous windows she had open, was a screen overtaken by a face hidden in shadow.

  “There you are.” The voice was raspy and deep but had a strange tone that made Landon think it was being altered in some way to hide his identity.

  “How?” Katie Leigh stuttered. “How?”

  “You’ve been looking for me, haven’t you?” the man said matter-of-factly. “So . . . here I am.”

  “The Pri
nce?” Katie Leigh spoke softly, the words barely able to clear her lips as fear overtook her.

  “Unfortunately, my sweet, this isn’t a friendly visit. You see, I make it a point to remain hidden, and you’re drawing too much attention to me.” The Prince shook his head slowly as he rhythmically said, “Tsk-tsk. Tsk-tsk.” His words dripped with arrogance. “We can’t have that, now can we?”

  Katie Leigh stared at the man, speechless. Her breathing was erratic as her fear took over. Suddenly, her door burst open with the sound of splintering wood and a squad of men wearing masks and clothed all in black rushed in. Katie Leigh screamed in frightened surprise. Before she had a chance to react further, they swarmed her and, with unbelievable force, ripped her from her desk chair. As she screamed, they pulled in her flailing arms and kicking legs. Once they restrained her, a sack was slipped over her head. Landon could hear her terrified screams while they carried her off. Her voice faded as they took her farther and farther away.

  The Prince watched the whole thing before fading from the screen, which then filled with white light. Katie Leigh’s chair swiveled slowly amid the debris, the eerie remnants of her abduction.

  “Katie!” Landon yelled. He jolted upright in his bed. He was covered in sweat, and he panted heavily. Thinking on his dream, he couldn’t decide if the vision was real or not.

  How did I forget about her? She would still be searching the systems for information, trying to discover the identity of the Prince and details about Project Herakles. He told Celia he was done, and now he had to tell Katie Leigh. She was still in serious danger. He’d brought her into this world of deception, and he needed to convince her that it was time to get out of it. He just hoped she’d be receptive to the idea; Katie Leigh wasn’t known to give up on things when her curiosity was piqued.