After Flux (The Flux Series Book 2)
Page 1
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
After Flux
The Flux Series
Book Two
Table of Contents
Title Page
After Flux
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
About the Author
AFTER FLUX
Marissa Farrar
Chapter One
“I’m going to have to go home sometime, Ari.”
My father’s matter-of-fact tone made it impossible for me to ignore.
A week had passed since he’d been taken hostage by Philip Middleton and other members of the Myriad Group. A week since I’d lost control and almost gotten people killed. A week since I’d been accepted as part of the Kin.
It felt like a lifetime.
I pursed my lips. “I’m not happy about it, Dad. The Myriad is still out there. What’s to say we won’t have a repeat of what happened a week ago?”
My dad, Bryce, was sitting on one of the couches in the common room, last week’s paper unfolded on the coffee table in front of him. It would have looked like a normal setting, had we not been hundreds of feet below ground in a secret training facility for people with telekinetic powers called the Cavern.
“I’ve had security people come around and put a system on the house,” he said, “and I’ll get myself a gun. Does that make you feel better?”
I folded my arms across my chest. “No, actually, it doesn’t.”
He laughed. “Well, you might just have to deal with it, Ari. I have a life. My buddies want to know when I’m going to be bowling again. I can’t hide down here for the rest of my life.”
“It won’t be the rest of your life. Only until we can track the Myriad down.”
He raised his bushy eyebrows. “And then what? You track them down, and then what are you going to do?”
“Kit will speak to his father. Try to reason with him.”
“That man didn’t seem like someone who listens to much reasoning.”
He had a point, but I didn’t want to get into the other possibility with him—that if Middleton didn’t agree with his son to leave us alone, then we may end up having to figure out a way of putting an end to the Myriad. I had no idea how we could do such a thing, or if we were even capable of it, but unless the group backed off, none of us would be safe again.
“Just stay a little longer, Dad, please.” I didn’t like begging, but I’d do anything if it meant he stayed safe, and I wasn’t averse to using a little emotional blackmail if I had to. “I couldn’t stand it if I lost you so soon after we’ve lost Karina.”
A pang of guilt and grief struck me in the chest at using my dead sister to get what I wanted, but I told myself I wasn’t doing it for me. I was doing it for my dad, and Karina would never have wanted to see him put at risk either.
My dad sighed. “Okay, fine. A few more days.”
I resisted the urge to fist pump, so I flung my arms around his neck and hugged him instead. “Thanks, Dad.”
“I don’t think all these young people will to be too happy about having me around for so long, though,” he said. “I must be cramping their style.”
“No, not at all. They love having you here.”
It was true; the rest of the Kin did love having my dad here. With many of them a long way from home, and each of us having already lost one parent, they were happy to have someone from the older generation around. They made him coffee, or grabbed him a beer, and sat beside him on the couch in the common room, chatting about sports or politics. He was a calming measure in our crazy new world, a little dose of normality. I definitely wasn’t the only one who didn’t want him to go.
“Hey.”
Hunter’s voice came from behind me, and I turned to him with a smile.
He stood casually in the doorway, leaning up against it, his arm folded across his chest. His deep, chocolate brown eyes surveyed me, and he pushed a hand through his dark hair, keeping the curls off his face. We exchanged a look, one that connected only us, and my heart swelled with emotion. It was crazy to think he’d walked into my life only a matter of weeks ago. He made up such a huge part of it now, I struggled to think what I had done with all my time before we’d met.
You spent time with your sister, a little voice whispered in my head, and a second stab of guilt pierced me. I still didn’t know who’d been responsible for the bombing that killed her and brought my powers of telekinesis to fruition. That no one had been made to pay yet lay heavy on my heart.
“Hey,” I replied.
He left the doorway and wandered into the room. “What are you guys up to?”
“I’m just convincing my dad that he doesn’t need to go home yet. It still isn’t safe out there, but he’s being lured out by the thought of bowling with the guys.”
“Ari’s right,” Hunter said, turning to my dad. “It’s not safe, Mr. Sheppard. And it isn’t just about you. We need to keep the rest of the Kin safe as well. We already know Kit’s father is more than happy to break the law if it means getting to us.”
I smiled at Hunter, grateful for the backup.
Bryce lifted both hands. “I’m just saying that I’m old enough to make my own decisions, but I’ve already promised Ari I’ll stay for a few more days.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
I was glad he hadn’t given me more of an argument. Outbursts of high emotion tended to not go so well for me. They had a way of making my abilities affect things around me without my say-so.
Since being back in the Cavern, after almost losing my dad, I’d continued with my training. Though both Hunter and Kit assured me I was doing better, I still felt as though my abilities were something that controlled me rather than the other way around. My lack of progress frustrated me.
Motion came from the corridor outside, and a moment later, Kit’s face appeared in the open doorway. Lines were drawn between his brows, his lips pinched. “Ari, Hunter, can I see you guys in the Cavern?”
I nodded. “Sure, Kit.”
I still wasn’t sure how I felt about Kit Middleton. His father was the one who’d taken my dad, and who owned the company responsible for making us what we were. Though common sense told me Kit was as mu
ch of a victim as the rest of us, and that in a way he had even more reason for being angry with Philip Middleton and the Myriad Group, those ties still concerned me. If he had to one day decide whether to save us, the Kin, or to save his father, which would he choose? Blood tended to be thicker than water.
“I’ll be back shortly, Dad,” I said to my father. Bryce waved me off and picked up his newspaper, so I turned and joined the two men as we made our way into the main part of the Cavern.
“What’s going on?” Hunter asked Kit.
Several of the other Kin were already waiting in the Cavern. They’d been talking among themselves, but fell quiet as we approached, with Kit leading the way. I spotted Dixie and Sledge among them, and flashed my friends a quick smile. They smiled back, but the expressions were unsure. They didn’t know what was going on either.
Kit moved to stand to the front of us, and Hunter and I joined the rest of the Kin. Though I’d been annoyed with Hunter only minutes earlier, I suddenly wanted the comfort of his presence and looped both of my hands around the muscle of his bicep, pressing myself in close to his arm. He glanced at me then leaned down and kissed the top of my head.
“Thanks for coming, everyone,” Kit started. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since the events of a week ago. I know it’s been hard for many of you to trust me after what—”
Sudden pain speared though my head. I let out a cry and dropped my hold on Hunter’s arm to clutch my hands to my temples. My legs gave way beneath me, and I plunged to the floor, first to my knees, then toppling to my side. I was barely aware of Hunter kneeling beside me, his hand on my shoulder, asking me if I was all right. All I wanted was for the pain to stop. A high-pitched buzzing screamed in both ears, and the pressure inside my skull grew worse. I felt sure my head would explode. Had I ever felt such pain? Terror gripped my soul. What was happening to me? My cries turned to a scream, but I could barely hear myself over the shrill buzzing in my ears.
Help me, help me, help me.
I writhed on the ground. It couldn’t get any worse, could it? I would surely die. But the pain intensified, and as it did, I felt my consciousness pull away at the edges. Was I dying? Did I have a brain tumor and it had just ruptured, if such a thing was possible? I had the crazy idea that everything that had happened to me was nothing more than a byproduct of the brain tumor that was now killing me. Had I spent the last few weeks in a hospital bed in a coma, and none of it had been real?
That was my last thought before I passed out.
Chapter Two
I had no idea how long I’d been out, but when I woke, the intense pain and noise that had taken over my head had vanished. Everyone was crowded around me still lying on the floor of the Cavern.
“She’s awake,” someone cried.
“Give her some space,” came Kit’s deep, authoritative voice.
Instinctively, I looked around for Hunter. There he was, beside my left shoulder, looking down at me with concern on his face. Where was my dad? Had anyone gone to tell him what had happened?
What had happened?
“You okay, Ari?” Hunter asked, helping me to sit.
I nodded. “Yeah, I think so. I don’t know what happened.”
His dark eyebrows pulled together, his lips thinned. “You gave us all a fright, there.”
“Yeah, I frightened myself.”
The pain had gone, but there was something else. I didn’t know how to describe it. It was as though I was suddenly missing something I was desperate to find, or I felt like there was something I was supposed to do, but I couldn’t remember what. I clambered to my feet.
Hunter put his hand on my arm. “Ari, stop. What are you doing?”
“I need to go outside.”
“Don’t be crazy. You just blacked out. You need to rest.”
“No. No, there’s something I need to do.”
“You need to go and lie down.”
“No, I can’t—”
Hunter cut me off. “Come on. I’m taking you to bed.” For once, I didn’t think he was offering something fun.
Kit stepped in. “Wait a minute. Listen to her, Hunter. You’re dismissing her too quickly.”
I smiled at Kit gratefully. He returned the smile, though he still had caution in his blue eyes.
“Tell us what you’re thinking, Ari,” he said.
“It’s hard to explain,” I said. “It’s like something’s telling me I need to go into the city.”
Someone pushed through the small crowd, and then Dixie was standing over me, her eyes bright. “There’s a new one!”
I frowned. “What?”
“I sensed a new member of the Kin. Just now. I don’t know what’s happened, but I can feel him.”
Him?
Something solidified into certainty inside me. Yes, a him. That was who was missing, who I needed to find.
“He’s in the city,” I murmured.
Dixie stared at me. “Yes, he got hurt. We need to get to him before they do.”
“They?”
“Whoever hurt him enough to bring his abilities to life.”
Everyone looked between Dixie and me. We stared at each other.
“You can feel him, too,” Dixie said, in hushed awe.
I nodded. “Yes, I think I can. I think I felt whatever happened to him, too.”
Hunter was staring at me. “Holy shit.”
“We have to go and find him.”
Hunter shook his head. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. You blacked out only minutes ago.”
“It wasn’t my pain,” I tried to explain. “Or at least, I don’t think it was. I think I felt his.”
Kit frowned. “We have to be careful. Whatever happened to him might have been orchestrated by the Myriad. They could be around, watching.”
Hunter nodded. “Kit’s right.” I was surprised to hear Hunter agree with him for once. “We don’t know what we’re dealing with. This might have been a way of drawing someone new out into the open to get us to reveal ourselves.”
“But we can’t just leave him.” Worry bubbled up inside me.
Dixie shook her head. “We won’t. We’re going to get him.”
Hunter pressed his lips together. “I don’t know, Ari. What if you’re in a dangerous situation and you black out again?”
“What if it was me out there, Hunter? What if Dixie had been the one to experience what I had, and it was me she was going to find? Would you have stopped her?”
He lifted his gaze to mine and locked me in his stare. I could tell he knew I’d backed him into a corner. He wasn’t going to answer because if he did, he’d have to say he wouldn’t have stood in her way.
“Right, then,” I continued. “So, you see why I have to go.”
“Fine,” he relented, “but I’m coming, too.”
“So am I,” said Kit.
I smiled at them both. “Good. We want you there.”
There was one other male in my life I needed to talk to. I went to find my dad.
I discovered him in the kitchen, making himself grilled cheese. Clearly, no one had told him about my little episode in the Cavern. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. It was good no one was going behind my back to him, but a part of me would have liked a little fussing over from my only parent. But this was Kin business, and as much as everyone loved my dad, he wasn’t Kin.
“Hey, Dad,” I said from behind him.
He glanced over his shoulder at me. “Everything all right, Ari?”
“Sure... Well, kind of. I need to leave the Cavern and go out into the city for a little while. There’s another one of us—another Kin—out there, and we need to go find him.”
My dad’s bushy eyebrows lifted. “So, you want to keep me down here, but it’s okay for you to go out?”
Jeez, why does everyone want to give me grief today?
“I’m not going out alone. I’ll have Hunter and Kit with me, Dixie, too. We’ll stay together.”
“I don’t k
now, Ari.”
“Dad, we’re not helpless, you know. You’ve seen that for yourself. We all have ways of keeping ourselves—and each other—safe.”
He sighed. “I know that, Ari. The things I’ve seen you all do are incredible. I wouldn’t have believed it myself had I not seen it with my own eyes.” Bryce had spent much of his time down in the Cavern watching through the huge glass walls of the training rooms as members of the Kin continued to learn to control their abilities. Most trying to become stronger. I hadn’t allowed him to watch any of my own training, knowing it was hard enough to control my abilities, without the added pressure of my dad looking in.
“We’ll be back before the end of the day,” I told him, hoping I could keep to my word. “Try not to worry.”
“How can I not worry? After what happened with Karina...”
I walked up to him, put my arms around his neck, and squeezed him in a hug. Yes, it was irritating having the men in my life trying to control what I was doing, but I was lucky to have people who cared what happened to me.
“I know, Dad.”
“I don’t have much of a choice, do I? I’m going to assume asking to tag along isn’t going to work either.”
“No, sorry. This is a Kin-only invitation.”
“I thought as much. I guess I don’t need to tell you to be careful either?”
I smiled. “I will, Dad. I promise.”
The drive to find the new person I’d sensed rose inside me. It was like a thirst—something I needed to quench. “I have to go.”
“Sure.”
I gave him another hug then turned and hurried back to the main part of the cavern. The others were waiting for me.
Sledge was standing with Dixie. “Sure I can’t come along?” he asked in his baritone voice.
“Best we keep it a small group,” said Dixie. “We’ll be less noticeable then, and we might need the space in the car if we’re bringing someone back.”
He nodded then wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her in hard for a kiss. Hunter and I exchanged a small smile, and I glanced away.
“Okay, everyone ready?” Kit asked.
We all nodded.
With Kit leading the way, me and Dixie in the middle, and Hunter bringing up the rear, we hauled ourselves into the tunnel which led to the outside world. In front of us as we walked, hunched over to prevent us banging our heads, the candles attached to the walls at shoulder height burst into flame. I looked to Kit, knowing he was responsible for causing the flames. I wondered if that was part of my talent, too. Pyrokinesis was something I hadn’t tried yet, and I wondered if, considering my inability to control my powers, if it was such a good thing to start messing with.