by Megan Curd
“Go to hell, Xander.”
“If you’re not careful, that attitude will get your parents locked in the cell right beside you.”
I was terrified on the inside, but I refused to let Xander see it. I jutted my chin upward in defiance. “They would rather be there than follow any orders from you. From the Resistance.”
“Don’t act like you know the Resistance.”
“I know you’re part of them, and that they ruined our world. My parents won’t have anything to do with that, and neither will I.”
Xander shook his head in amusement. “Oh, I’m more than a part of the Resistance, love. I’m am the Resistance, and you will do as I say. That’s why I brought you here, after all.”
“I’ll die before I help you.”
“No, you won’t. I won’t let you,” he said coldly. “You may not help me physically, but I have your blood, which seems to be the key to creating more Elementalists. I’ll keep you alive, chained here in this cell, fed through an IV if you refuse to eat. You see, you’re more use to me here than if I were to put you into harm’s way.”
He stroked my cheek, and I turned away. He tsked. “Such a beautiful face. Shame you almost always wear a frown.”
I spit in his face.
There was no time to duck. His open hand connected with the side of my face and left me feeling like it was on fire. I wouldn’t cry. Wouldn’t let him get the pleasure.
“I’m not broken, Xander. You’ll never break me.”
“Everyone has their breaking point,” he breathed, his lips making me shiver as he ran them down my neck. “I will find yours, your family’s, and everyone you love, starting with Jaxon.”
Without another word, he left, plunging me into darkness once more.
Darkness and fear.
What had Mom said? If you don’t know what you’d die for, you haven’t lived enough.
I would die to save them. Save them all. But I had to get out of here.
I don’t know how long I sat shivering in the corner of the cold room. All I knew was that the pain in my cheek had subsided, I’d run out of tears, and exhaustion had replaced all other feelings but one.
Determination to save my friends and family.
Footsteps echoed outside again, and I cringed away from the sound. I didn’t want Xander to try to break me. Even more, I didn’t want to feel his lips or touch anywhere on my body ever again.
I turned my back to the door, too afraid to see his once reassuring smile.
The lights burst to life again, and I curled into a ball as best I could.
It wasn’t Xander’s voice that called out, though.
“If I unchain you, can I trust you not to run?”
I turned around in surprise. The light was still assailing, but I forced myself to focus.
Riggs’s face swam before me in a sea of tears.
He kneeled down and looked at me sternly, but said nothing. His nose was crooked from where Xander’s foot crushed it, and he sported two black eyes. He fished a handkerchief out of his long-tailed jacket and handed it to me.
“Please tell me Xander didn’t hurt you.”
Anger flared inside of me. “Hurt me? Riggs, you’ve lied since you brought me here. Lied to your son. Xander hasn’t had enough time to hurt me as much as you have.”
“And that is something that I can only hope you’ll forgive me for with time,” he said, sorrow in his eyes. He shook my bonds. “I need you to promise me you won’t run when I release you.”
“Trust begets trust, Riggs.”
“And I’m giving you a good faith promise by releasing you, little one.” He stood up and pulled me away from the corner of the room, which I now realized was a medical examining room not unlike the ones I’d seen en route to see my parents. A massive orb-like lamp hung in the middle of the room, its fluorescence on the verge of blinding. There was a cot, and on the wall there were markings, groups of four with a dash crossed through each of them. A tiny rusted bedpan sat in the corner of the room with flies swarming above it. A leaky faucet dripped into the pan and dirty water splashed out — the source of the dripping I’d heard in the darkness.
Someone had lived here. This wasn’t a medical room, this was a prison cell.
Riggs’s voice ripped through the horror of my surroundings as the weight of the manacles dropped from my hands. “You did quite a number on your wrists,” he said with a sigh. “You’ll probably need to have those bandaged.”
As he walked around to face me, I shrunk away. He laughed tiredly and rubbed his temples as he spoke, each word more exhausted than the last. “You don’t know anything, and yet between you, Sari, and my son, you seem to know everything. Oh, to be sixteen again and understand the world.”
I didn’t realize how badly I’d injured my wrists until I tried to push off the ground with them. Pain shot through my hands to the tips of my fingers and up to my elbows. I made it up, but it wasn’t without anguish. “I don’t have to understand the world to know that you’re evil.”
He sighed and hurried back to the door, glancing in either direction. “Avery, I’m not the man you think I am.”
Riggs’s calligraphic scrawl in Jaxon’s journal came to mind. “Then why would you use your son as a lab rat?”
“Because Xander threatened to kill him, my wife, and my other son if I didn’t!” Riggs shouted. “Because I was trying to save my family!”
Most people will do anything for their loved ones, Xander had said. It’s manipulation at its finest.
Xander had manipulated Riggs. Used him. Broken him.
I looked at Riggs and saw that broken man. He walked toward me, his eyes brimming with tears. “Now while I have your attention, I need to inform you of some things that you’ll need to pass onto my son.” He stuck his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small, rectangular object. “This is a flash drive. Sari and Jaxon will know what to do with it. There are a series of videos on here that will explain everything I’ve done and why I’ve done it. I hope that after he watches this, he’ll understand I’m not the evil one.”
I gave him a stony look. “And all the journals, the information in them, is Jaxon supposed to believe that those were a product of you keeping him safe?”
Riggs looked confused. “Journals?”
“The journals you wrote about Jaxon’s experiments.”
Color drained from Riggs’s face. “I’ve never written in a journal. I kept all of my information on the flash drive I just gave you.”
“Then who…” I trailed off as I made the connection. “Jaxon said Xander gave him your journal. He’s been mad at you this whole time because of what you wrote, how you didn’t care!”
Tears streamed down Riggs’s face. “I cared, Avery, I did. Xander wouldn’t let me near Jaxon after the experiments. The only time I saw my son was when I conducted tests on him.”
He turned his back and walked back to the grey metal door, but before opening it, he glanced at me. “Another good faith payment to you.”
When he opened it, my parents stood outside.
Mom screamed and ran in, grabbing me in her arms and touching every inch of my face that she could find. “Avery! Dear God, I thought we’d lost you again. Riggs said that Jaxon would keep you safe, but no one ever makes it through the Plagues.”
“The Plagues?” I coughed out as I tried to inhale while she crushed me in a hug.
“The fire rain, tornado, earthquake, et cetera,” Dad said as he walked in, his face as white as chalk. He carried my messenger bag with him and set it down beside me. “It was a miracle that you and Jaxon made it back to the academy. I owe that boy more than I could ever repay for keeping you alive.”
“I thought you didn’t think anyone here was good?” I questioned.
Dad looked at Riggs, then Mom. “I’ve seen differently in the past few days.”
This wasn’t making any sense. “What are you talking about?”
Mom gripped my shoulders, her face
intense as her eyes bore into mine. “Riggs isn’t with the Resistance. He’s been trying to get everyone out of here.”
I looked at Riggs, shocked. “Why bring more of us here if you want to get people out?”
Riggs stepped forward. “Because I needed to make sure that my son would be protected. That the people here I wanted to save would have an opportunity to escape and not be thrown to the wolves when they left. With you and your mother at the helm, we finally have a chance.”
My eyes searched his in the hope of finding some truth in his words, but he’d lied to me; lied to me and then kidnapped me.
I looked at Dad. “You trust this man?”
“Completely.”
“And you, Mom?”
Mom picked up my bag and took my hand. “With everything I have. I would never do anything to cause you more pain. All I’ve ever done is try to keep you out of the Resistance’s clutches. When Riggs came to me with his idea, I had to trust him. I couldn’t tell you that he was good, that he was helping us, because I didn’t now if you could keep it from Xander. We were going to tell you when the plan was ready, but with everything that’s happened, that plan got thrown out the window.”
Riggs stepped forward and extended his hand. “Bringing the people I needed to the enemy’s lair, to have them close so that I could free them, was the only thing I could think of. This has been in the works for a long time. I planted the idea to use the underground tunnel in Jaxon. I’m glad he’s at least taken to thinking the way I do. It may be the only good thing I’ve taught him.”
Dad put his hand on Riggs’s shoulder. “He’s a good young man, Atticus. He got that from you, even if he doesn’t know it yet.”
My mouth hung agape as I tried to connect the dots that were in front of me. “So you’re saying…”
“That I’ve been planning this since your mother arrived and spoke of you,” Riggs explained, “But I had to have Xander’s trust before I put anything into motion.”
“Xander’s trust?” I repeated.
“Yes. He’s the one that wants to build the army. The videos explain everything.” He put the flash drive in my hand and cupped both of his around mine. “Keep this safe. I want it to be with you, because you must survive. If anything happens to me…” He trailed off for a moment. “I want to make sure Jaxon knows the real me.”
I pulled my hand from his and quickly placed the flash drive in my messenger bag along with the sketchbook, and my father’s pocket watch. My hand grazed the usual spot where my mother’s teapot resided.
It was gone.
Loss surged through me as I looked up at my mother. “Mom, your teapot, it’s not in here.”
Mom looked at me as though I’d lost my mind and pulled me toward the door. The lights in the hallway flickered. “Now’s not the time to be worried about that, honey. We’ll get you another teapot.”
I looked at Riggs. “You took it.”
He shook his head in earnest. “I assure you that I did not. I did, however, restore the pocket watch I found in your house.”
Violation colored my vision as I imagined Riggs rummaging through my room, Alice unknowing in the other room while I was out. “You had no right to go there!”
“I needed to know what I was up against,” he said apologetically. “When I saw the memorabilia you still possessed from your parents, I wanted to restore the watch to its former beauty for you. I’m sorry.”
How could I be mad? Words evaded me as I turned back to my mom, who now pulled me along the dingy corridor. We followed behind Dad, and Riggs took up the rear. Our pace was furious, and Dad looked at the rusted numbers on the doors of the cells. Some weren’t even nailed to the door anymore, and instead the shadow of where they once were lingered to reveal the numbers.
Dad called back, his voice intense and focused. “Which number did you say that Jaxon was in, Riggs?”
“Twenty-two. He’ll be at the very end.”
“And Sari is where?”
“Number Five.”
Dad humphed in frustration. “Complete opposite ends of course. Xander isn’t foolish.”
Riggs made a noise of agreement. “I had to do what he told me.”
“We’ll make it work,” Mom said. She pushed ahead of Dad and reached the door marked twenty-two.
She didn’t wait on a key card. Instead, she placed her hands on the door and closed her eyes. The door hinges heated to a fiery red and melted. She kicked the door in with a loud clang.
Her eyes shined bright with pride as she turned to us, swaying slightly from her exertion. “Who’s the welcoming committee?”
Dad’s eyes were filled with resolve. “Let me go in first,” he said. “Then you’ll know what you’re walking into.”
Riggs held his arm out to stop Dad. “Let Avery go in. Jaxon trusts her. She’ll give us time to explain.”
What kind of condition would Jaxon be in? Fear crept into my thoughts, and I was afraid to be the first one to see him.
Riggs looked at me sadly. Age lines I hadn’t noticed before defined his forehead and made him look much older than I’d first imagined him to be. “I need you to do this. Not for me. I know you won’t do it for me; you have no reason to trust me, nor do I expect you to. No, I’m begging you to do this for Jaxon. He’ll listen to you. There’s no time to spare, and we need him — I need him.”
His voice was layered with the same compassion and desperation that my own mother’s had carried when she spoke to me earlier. I didn’t trust him, but I wouldn’t leave Jaxon alone to suffer.
“You’re right, I’m not doing this for you,” I said as I pushed through the group. “Let’s get Jaxon and keep moving.”
The light from the hallway bled in just enough for me to make out Jaxon’s figure in the back of the room. He wasn’t moving. I wasn’t sure I wanted to see more.
I found the light switch and flicked it on. The same blinding light hung in the middle of the room and filled the room with its fluorescence.
Jaxon’s arms were manacled as mine had been, but his chain was bolted to the ceiling. Jaxon hung limply from it, his knees barely scraping the ground. His shoulders hung awkwardly out of their sockets, and his torso was bloody. Lacerations that looked suspiciously like whip marks wrapped around his sides. His chest rose and fell weakly as he tried to open his swollen eyes. His face was a bloodied and bruised canvas; there was no part of him that was unscathed.
I screamed in horror as I sprinted the short distance between us and began to try to undo the manacles. “Jaxon! Oh, my God! What did they do to you?”
His face contorted into what might have been a smile had his lips not been cracked and swollen. “Just another day in paradise.”
Riggs and Dad ran in behind me, and I heard Riggs curse. Dad came to my side with a set of keys that Riggs must have used to undo my chains. He looked back at Riggs.
“Atticus, get ready to catch him when he falls. He’s too weak to carry his weight.”
His father’s name seemed to awaken Jaxon, who began to thrash in his bonds. He pushed himself to a standing position as the chain held him aloft and jerked his hands above him.
“Get away from me! Don’t touch me!”
“Jaxon, it’s okay,” I said as confidently as I could, scared to touch any part of him. “He’s not going to hurt you. He got me out of my cell. My mom and dad are here to help, too. We’re going to escape.”
His already puffy eyes narrowed and he continued to writhe against his chains, making it difficult for Dad to untie him. “You can’t trust a word he says. You know that, Avery.”
I put my hand on the one spot of his chest that wasn’t battered, just below the hollow of his throat. “Trust me, then.”
He stilled, and watched Dad as he finally lodged the key in the hole of the manacles. “Riggs, catch him.”
Riggs stepped forward, but stopped the moment Jaxon spoke. “No,” Jaxon said firmly. “I’ll walk on my own.”
When the manacles loosed his
weight, he crumpled as I tried to hold him up. “Help me, please,” he whispered to my father.
The sadness in Riggs’s face was evident as my father and I helped Jaxon to his feet, each of us trying to support his weight with his arms draped over us. Jaxon winced as his shoulders ground in their displaced sockets with the motion.
“You’re too injured to walk,” Dad said as he scooped Jaxon up and put him over his shoulders like a wounded soldier. “I’m sorry, but we need to move.”
Jaxon opened his hand in search of mine. “Thank you,” he murmured as he gripped my hand in his. Blood dripped from a gash along his ribs and covered Dad’s neck. “Thank you for coming for me.”
“Riggs came for both of us.” I said, wanting to give Riggs credit where he was due. Jaxon said nothing, but simply let his head hang limp as Father carried him from his cell and into the hallway.
I looked at the people before me as they ran down the hall: Mom, Dad, and Riggs, and I realized that they were a team.
“What do you have planned?” I called out.
Riggs answered. “We’re getting Sari, and by then I’m hoping that Asher has retrieved Alice and his friends. If that all plays out, we’re going to escape. All of us. We’ll make a plan to come retrieve the rest of the students here after we’ve rendezvoused with the Alliance.”
Confusion riddled my thoughts. “I thought the Alliance was broken?”
“There are pockets who hide outside the domes.” Riggs said between breaths, the tails of his coat scraping the ground and the thumps of his dress shoes making more noise than the rest of us. “When you and Jaxon realized that the Earth wasn’t completely ruined, I knew we had to act fast. Xander wouldn’t allow you to have that knowledge. He told me to put you in the cells and said that he would dispose of you.”
My body went stiff, causing Mom to trip over herself. I whipped around to face Riggs. “Dispose of me? Of Jaxon?”
