Marrow

by Preston Norton

  “Nero…do you need help?” I whispered.

  Sapphire rolled her blue eyes. “Oh my gosh, Marrow. Are you kidding me? He’s in a coma. He’s not going to—”

  The ticking stopped

  “SHHHHHHHHHH!” I said, shushing Sapphire with a fierce pointed finger. Sapphire stared at my fingertip appalled, as if I had just pointed a bazooka at her.

  I waited. Whisp leaned in closer, adjusting his glasses as if that would make some profound difference. Sapphire continued to glare at my finger and looked like she might break it.

  Tooock tick tooock tooock…tick…tick tick tick…

  I bolted up, ripping the pen and paper from Sapphire’s hands. This new ticking pattern didn’t continue on a loop, but I had already slashed the paper in a violent line of dots and dashes. As I stabbed the last dot, I pushed the paper into Whisp’s face.

  “What does it say?” I asked.

  Whisp’s eyes zipped across the dots and dashes, but he didn’t bother writing it out this time.

  “Yes!” he exclaimed. “It says ‘yes’!”

  My heart pummeled inside my chest. I leaned into Nero’s ear again.

  “What do you need help from?” I asked. “What’s happening to you?”

  A series of ticks erupted into my brain faster than ever. I attacked the paper with my pen, struggling to keep up. When I had two lines of dots and dashes, the ticking ceased. I gave the notepad to Whisp. He took one glance at it and took my pen. He scribbled letters down and then lowered it for us to read.

  I N S I D E M Y H E A D

  Inside my head.

  The hair on my arms and neck pricked.

  “Who?” I asked into Nero’s ear. “Who’s inside your head?”

  Tick—

  Then it stopped. Everything stopped. I waited for several long seconds, expecting it to continue at any moment.

  Nothing.

  Sapphire and Whisp glanced between me and the single dot I had drawn on my notepad.

  “What’s going on?” Sapphire whispered.

  “E?” said Whisp, reading the single dot on the notepad. “Nero is being mind-controlled by someone named E?”

  TOOOCK TOOOCK TOOOCK—!

  The ticking erupted with greater force and urgency than I had ever heard before. I scrambled to readjust my pen, copying the dots and dashes which looked more like chicken scratch than anything that was ever meant to be read.

  …TICK TOOOCK…TICK TOOOCK TICK TICK…TI—

  The ticking stopped abruptly. As if something had smothered it. I hesitated before ending the message with one last dot.

  Nero’s eyes and mouth opened wide beside me.

  He gasped, but that soon became a croaking sound. Thrusting his back off the bed, his body formed a contorted arch. His heart monitor buzzed with activity.

  Nero dropped to the bed, motionless. His heart monitor flatlined.

  The police officer ambled into the room but hesitated the moment he entered. A nurse burst in past him, followed by several more people in medical scrubs and white coats. In mere seconds, the room was swarming.

  “Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh,” said Sapphire in wide-eyed panic.

  “Get these kids out of here,” a doctor ordered amidst the chaos.

  A nurse stepped forward, shepherding us out the door with extended arms. “I’m sorry. You three have to go.”

  “Is he okay?” I asked. “Is he alive?”

  The door closed in front of us.

  I was so stunned that I hardly noticed Whisp as he ripped the pen and paper from my hands. He scribbled hastily while Sapphire observed over his shoulder.

  His handwriting slowed. Sapphire’s jaw dropped.

  When Whisp finally finished, he dropped the paper. He stared past me as if he might pass out.

  “Whisp?” I said, finally snapping out of my own daze. “What’s the—?”

  My gaze shifted to the floor for only a second. That was all I needed to see it—a single name that impaled me.

  O R A C L E

  CHAPTER 23

  Oracle? The weird old cat lady who smelled like mothballs and boiled cabbage? She was controlling Nero?

  She tried to have him kill me?

  “This has to be some kind of sick joke,” said Sapphire, shaking her head. “There’s no way.”

  I wanted to agree. I really did. I mean, what motive could she possibly have for killing me? But one glaring detail kept me from agreeing.

  She was a Telepath. And not just any Telepath. THE Telepath. Her power was all about getting inside people’s brains, and she was the best at it. Motivations aside, she was easily the best equipped for the job.

  Could she really be so powerful? Could she really go this far?

  Whisp took a deep huff from his inhaler as if it might be his last breath. “We need to do something,” he said. “We have to tell our partners.”

  Sapphire attempted to nod, but her unsteady attempt more resembled a dashboard bobblehead doll. “Specter’s at the gym right now. It’s only a couple of blocks away.”

  “Nova isn’t far either.”

  The realization didn’t hit me until then.

  Flex.

  My voice became lodged in my throat. Both Sapphire and Whisp turned my way when I didn’t speak.

  “Marrow?” said Sapphire. “Are you okay?” Her gaze penetrated me for a few long seconds before her eyebrows shifted ever so slightly. “Where’s Flex?”

  I didn’t reply.

  I ran instead.

  “Marrow?” asked Whisp.

  “MARROW!” Sapphire yelled. I might have been a little terrified by her tone if I wasn’t in such a panic already.

  Oracle wanted Flex to visit her. But if she was the one behind Nero’s attack, who knew what her true intentions were. Was he in danger? He was the laziest, most unmotivated Superhero of all time after all. One detail set him apart however—a detail Oracle had shared with me herself.

  His brain was immune to her power.

  I ran faster.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a plastic barrel water dispenser vibrate beside me. Then it exploded. The plastic shrapnel missed me, but the water erupted in a very concentrated horizontal stream, blasting me in the side. I barely tapped into my skeletal structure, bracing myself for the impact. I hit the wall and then slumped to the floor, sopping wet.

  “W-wh-wha…what the…?” I sputtered.

  As I staggered upright, slipping on the wet tile floor, Sapphire stormed up to me.

  “Sapphire? Was that y—?”

  Sapphire slapped me in the face. If you remember me telling you how much her playful punches hurt, multiply that by eight hundred and fifty-seven, and that’s how much this hurt. It hurt even more than being blasted into the wall with water, but maybe that’s because I had a split second to brace myself. This, however, caught me completely off guard. I opened my mouth to adjust my jaw which felt like it had been knocked out of place.

  “Ow!” I said. “What was that for?”

  “Don’t you dare run off like that again!” said Sapphire. “What do you think you’re doing, anyway?”

  “Flex is in danger!” I protested. “He’s visiting Oracle right now. I need to help him!”

  “Are you stupid?” asked Sapphire. “Oracle tried to kill you with Nero! She wants you dead!”

  “What are you, my mom?” I asked. “Get out of my way!”

  “You are NOT going over there!”

  “I’m not going to let Flex die!” I snapped. I stepped forward, shoving my way past Sapphire.

  Sapphire shoved me even harder back into the wall. And then she slapped me in the face. Again. I blinked in stunned shock. The good news was that the left side of my face felt pretty much numb at this point.

  “And I’m not going to let you die!” said Sapphire. “I will not let you be that selfish. There’s nothing heroic about getting yourself killed and hurting the people who care about you. I know you think nobody cares about you, but they
do.”

  A mascara-stained tear trickled down Sapphire’s cheek.

  “I do.”

  After two slaps in the face, I was surprised when she leaned forward and hugged me, her face in my shoulder. After several seconds of stunned silence, I awkwardly wrapped my arms around her as well. I mean, what else was I supposed to do with them? Stand there and look like a tree?

  Whisp shifted uncomfortably where he stood. I attempted to shrug and gave him a look that said, ‘Girls. Go figure.’

  He shrugged also and gave me a look that said, ‘This is why I play computer games instead.’

  Sapphire finally let go and wiped away at her eyes. “Sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

  “No, it’s…uh…fine,” I said. I raised my fist and coughed into it.

  Whisp’s gaze was once again bouncing back and forth between our embarrassing exchange. “So…should we maybe be getting help right about now?”

  Sapphire turned from Whisp to me with a quiet, pleading look.

  “Yeah,” I said, nodding slowly. “Let’s get help.”

  The three of us raced for the elevator. Fortunately, the door opened right as I pushed the button. Burnished wood panel walls surrounded us. The sleek metal doors slid shut and the elevator descended. I stood closest to the doors, ready to bolt out the moment they opened.

  “We’ll probably need more than just Nova and Specter,” said Whisp. “If Oracle is half as powerful as I think she is, we’ll need all the help we can get.”

  There were a lot of Supers out there to choose from. But I’m pretty sure all three of us were thinking of the exact same person.

  We were nearly to the ground level when the elevator lights began to flicker above us. Our smooth descent jerked and shuddered.

  The elevator then came to a complete halt.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Sapphire. “This seriously cannot get any worse.”

  The lights went out entirely.

  “Well this is awesome,” I said. “Remind me to never take the elevator again.”

  Neither Sapphire nor Whisp said anything.

  “Hello? You guys?”

  The lights flickered back on. I released a very audible sigh.

  “Oh, thank goodness,” I said, turning around. “For a second I thought—”

  Whisp and Sapphire both stood side by side with their eyes rolled back, exposing nothing but the whites.

  “Sapphire!” I said, gasping. “Whisp! What happened to your eyes?”

  Whisp and Sapphire opened their mouths and spoke simultaneously.

  “Hello, Marrow,” said their combined voices. Together, they had a very demonic quality that stripped any sort of humanity out of them. “Your friends aren’t home right now.”

  CHAPTER 24

  “Oracle…” I breathed. My eyes shifted between my possessed friends. “Is that…you?”

  “The one and only,” said Whisp and Sapphire together. “Do you like my new outfit?”

  Both Sapphire and Whisp gestured to themselves in synchronized motions.

  “It takes a couple years off, doesn’t it?”

  If Oracle was trying to be funny, it wasn’t working. “What happened to their eyes?” I asked.

  “It’s a normal effect of my true power,” said Whisp and Sapphire’s voices. “It takes a great deal more concentration on my part to normalize their eyes, and my mind is in a hundred places at the moment. Thanks to you and your meddling friends, secrecy isn’t as high of a priority anymore. I’ve been planning this all along, but we’re going to have to move ahead of schedule now.”

  The elevator lights continued to flicker. I glanced around at the stationary elevator.

  “How’d you stop the elevator?” I asked. “You’re a Telepath, not a Telekinetic.”

  “I’m controlling the electrician downstairs as well. You will find that when you can control anyone, you can control anything. But enough talk. There’s been a change of plans. You are going to come to me.”

  The elevator hummed to life as it lurched downward. The lights ceased flickering.

  “I don’t get it,” I said. “Why not just mind-control me too?”

  “A very valid question. The truth is that I can’t mind control you. Not anymore, at least. For some reason I can’t enter your brain anymore. I can’t even read your thoughts.”

  “What? Really? But…why?”

  Even as I asked, a thought occurred. During Nightmare’s interrogation, I had consciously attempted to mimic my father’s immunity to telepathy. Sure, I was only trying to build a barrier against the hallucinations, but still… Is that what was happening now? I had a permanent, unconscious barrier against all forms of telepathy?

  “I have my suspicions,” Sapphire and Whisp said.

  The elevator door chimed as it reached the ground level. A shadow slipped over me. I turned to find a massive, muscular silhouette filling the opening.

  It was Havoc. Or at least it used to be. His eyes were white like Sapphire’s and Whisp’s.

  “Havoc?” I gasped. “You have Havoc?”

  “Honey, I can haveanyone that I want,” said Oracle through her human puppets. Havoc’s deep voice had now joined the chorus, making it that much eerier. “Don’t underestimate me, Marrow. The truly unique thing about my power is that I can access the powers of those I control. If I control their brains, I literally have access to everything. I don’t even need to learn how to use it. All of that knowledge is right here at my disposal. Now, I’ve arranged a ride for you. How about we discuss this in person?”

  “And if I refuse?” I said.

  Havoc, Sapphire, and Whisp laughed in haunting harmony. “Supposing that you could fight off three Supers under my control…I think you’re full aware of my visitor this morning.”

  I cringed. Flex.

  “Sticks and stones may not be able to break his bones…but there is more than one way to skin a cat, so to speak. The easy way or the hard way. Take your pick.”

  My hardened gaze stared into Havoc’s blank white eyes. Finally, I sighed. “Where are you?”

  Havoc, Sapphire and Whisp all curved their mouths into unnerving smiles. “The same place I always am. I never leave Maximus home alone.”

  Whisp and Sapphire stepped forward, each of them taking me by the hand. Forming a circle with Havoc, he swallowed their hands in his grip.

  Our surroundings exploded into a smoky haze. Gravity became a suctioning vacuum, and I felt like I was being folded inside out, exploding through a black hole.

  Only a second later, my feet were on solid ground again. My disoriented gaze shifted up from the carpet.

  Oracle’s house didn’t look anything like I remembered it.

  All of the furniture had been pushed aside, replaced by spotlights, television cameras and cameramen. Several people were tinkering with cords or electrical equipment as Oracle’s armada of cats slunk between their feet. But this was not just any one television news crew. I stood by a window and noticed at least a dozen news vans and crew members skittering around like ants. I spotted several different channel logos on vehicles, equipment and uniforms. It looked like every big news crew in Cosmo City was crammed into or around Oracle’s house. And beyond them, red and blue lights flashed. A perimeter of police cars surrounded the scene.

  All of their eyes were white. Every one.

  I pulled my gaze away from the window. Inside, the crews' mind-controlled efforts had a very obvious focus. Every light, every camera, was pointed at a single figure tied to a chair and gagged. Flex's eyes were red and swollen. It was obvious he had been crying, but I don’t think it was so much what was happening to him as who was doing it to him—Oracle, the woman who took him in from the orphanage. Probably the only mother he ever knew.

  I had cried like that before.

  “You probably think I’m insane.”

  Oracle’s voice was unmistakable. Cameramen and technicians stepped aside as she emerged from the crowd. She was hunched slig
htly, resting on a cane, wearing an ugly black dress and an uglier knitted shawl. Her milky white eyes stared past me.

  “Oh, I don’t think you’re insane,” I said. “That would imply that I had any doubt about it.”

  “How little you know,” said Oracle. “I’m not the villain, Marrow. I’m the hero. I’m simply a breed of hero who’s willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish what needs to be done.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” she said, gesturing to everything surrounding us. “Your father, Marrow! This is all for your father! There are several hackers under my control who will tap us into the CTN Tower and get us on every television screen in Cosmo City. I’m going to kill Spine once and for all—the one thing that Fantom could never do. And I’m going to use you and Flex as bait.”

  CHAPTER 25

  This had to be the worst idea in the history of bad ideas. Right up there with underwear. Seriously. It’s like a prison for your butt. Who decided we have to wear those anyway?

  “Bait?” I repeated. I raised an incredulous eyebrow. “If we’re bait, isn’t he actually supposed to care about us?”

  “Such naivety,” said Oracle. “You really don’t get it. He’s your father. Of course he cares about you.”

  “No, I don’t think you get it,” I said. “He abandoned me. He’s as much my father as Larry the Cable Guy is. I might as well be dead. That’s how much he cares about me.”

  Oracle shook her head of frizzy gray hair. “There was once a day when I could see inside Spine’s head. And he loved you infinitely more than his own life.”

  “Yeah, before my mom died and he went out of his freaking skull, maybe,” I said. I attempted to say this without emotion, but the words cracked slightly coming out. It was even more uncomfortable having this conversation with the crowd of mind-controlled news crews bustling around.

  “I would think the same thing too,” said Oracle. “But there is one piece of evidence that proves otherwise.”

  I rolled my eyes, unconvinced. “What’s that?”

  “I can’t read your mind anymore,” said Oracle.

  “What does that have to do with anything?”