The Unseen Trilogy

by Stephanie Erickson

  I smiled weakly as I stared at my shoes, and he went on, his voice growing softer, warmer. “You’re even smiling again, even if it’s just little ones, and even if it doesn’t reach your eyes yet. I know it will someday, and I’m willing to wait.” Tears filled my eyes, but not from grief or sadness. They were tears of gratitude.

  He raised my chin with his hand. “Plus, control is a fun skill. Imagine finding someone who bullied you in middle school. Or that guy who attacked you when Mitchell found you! You could make him pick his nose and eat it in public.”

  Laughing out loud at that, I pulled away from his hand and swiped at the tear that was trickling down my face. “He probably does that on his own.”

  Maybe I was ready and maybe I wasn’t. Maybe that wasn’t the point.

  “Life happens whether you’re ready or not. It’s probably best to just enjoy the ride and try your damnedest to stay in the seat,” I said, feeling the weight of Maddie’s arm around my shoulder.

  “Who said that?” he asked.

  I lifted my hand to my shoulder and came up empty. “Maddie.”

  7

  “We normally do control exercises with other members of the Unseen, so I can keep watch on what’s going on and make sure it doesn’t get out of control.” Tracy paused, and I couldn’t help thinking of yesterday’s training exercise. I hung my head sheepishly, but if she noticed my reaction, she didn’t comment.

  “However, I’m not sure I want everyone in the group to know just how powerful you are quite yet,” Tracy continued. “I need to understand your methods better before word spreads. Then, I can start teaching the others to do what you do. The more people who know, the quicker the Potestas can find out about you. They have spies everywhere. They already know you’re special, but they have no idea what they’re in for with you. The longer we can keep that a secret, the better our advantage.”

  I groaned inwardly, and she must’ve seen the expression on my face.

  “Who did you tell, and how much did you tell them?”

  “I didn’t tell them anything about you or your secrets. That was the only thing you asked me to keep to myself before.” The words came out quickly, as if they might build a wall capable of holding back her anger.

  “Who did you tell, and how much did you tell them?” Her stern tone didn’t make me want to hear the question a third time.

  “Owen and Mitchell. I just told them I made it past your defenses. All of them.”

  “No one else.” She said it like it was a command, not a request.

  I nodded as quickly as I could, and she moved on.

  “So, anyway, I’ve asked—”

  I cut her off. “No. Not David.” The force of my anger made the words echo in the small room.

  She stopped, clearly surprised by my interjection.

  “Can’t we do this on our own?”

  She hesitated, but I pushed. “I know I didn’t instill much trust in you yesterday, but this isn’t you coming at me, this is me coming at you. That’s always gone pretty well in the past.”

  “Control is a dangerous skill,” she started.

  “So I’ve heard.” David’s warning shaped the words, making them more sarcastic than I’d intended. Lucky for me, Tracy ignored the comment completely.

  “It can be an odd feeling, to control someone else. With your history of seeing just how far you can go without asking permission first, I’m not sure it’s a good idea for us to try this alone.

  I cringed. She was absolutely right. I’d done nothing to warrant her trust. “Please,” I pleaded, but then I sighed. “If you feel like you need to have someone else in here, please choose someone besides David. What about Owen or Mitchell? They already know. Or Camden? He seems pretty discreet.”

  She sighed, taking in my desperation. “What’s the problem with David? I thought you might enjoy working with him again. Did something happen after I left?”

  My voice hardened of its own accord. “No.”

  Tracy scoffed. “Clearly.”

  She frowned, but I could tell her resolve was weakening. After staring at me for a long, silent moment, she said, “I am going to give you a task. You are to do that, and only that. If you push it, there will be consequences for you. No matter how talented you are, you cannot hope to have a future here if the other members of your team can’t trust you.”

  Nodding quickly, I tried to paint my face with the most innocent look I possessed.

  Her frown deepened into disapproval. “Do not make me regret this, Mackenzie.”

  I gave her a weak smile, hoping to show her I was grateful for this chance to prove I could be trusted.

  “Fine. Let’s get started. Controlling someone from within their mind is the easiest, and sometimes safest, way to diffuse a potentially deadly situation. If you’re staring down the barrel of a gun, you only have to slip into the attacker’s mind to convince them to lower the weapon and walk away.

  “However, the method isn’t without risks. It takes extreme concentration. And if you’re face to face with your attacker, it’s dangerous to leave your body vulnerable while you’re delving into their mind. Particularly if they’re working with an accomplice.” She paused, and I wondered if she’d experienced something like that before. After seeing so many of her memories, they were a blur. All except one. You’d think you would know a person well after watching her whole life, but the experience had been fast and overwhelming. It had left me with more questions than answers about what made Tracy Tracy.

  “You don’t have to actually control the person in a puppeteer sort of way. All you have to do is plant an idea. They’re much more likely to do what you want if they believe they thought of it first. So be both subtle and specific. Their own ideas and personality will mold your original thought, the same way water and sunlight inspire growth in a growing plant. It can change the outcome drastically if you’re not careful.

  “What I want you to do first is get me to write a sentence. The sentence can be whatever you, or I, want. Just force me to put pen to paper. Nothing more, nothing less.” A piece of paper and pen were already sitting on the table between us.

  “A sentence,” I repeated.

  “That’s right. Now get to work.”

  “Tracy, how exactly do you implant an idea when you’re in the middle of the blackness of someone’s mind?”

  “Ideally, with subtlety. Some people just whisper a command and hope it takes, others try something a bit more actionable, like creating a false memory. As always, you need to see what works for you.”

  Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and made my way through her defenses. It felt like it took me forever, but each time I walked through her battlefield and up to her wall, it got a little easier.

  Finally, I found myself in the dark space once again. Plant an idea, I thought. Easy enough, right? But how was I supposed to plant an idea? It wasn’t like I could be literal about it. There weren’t any gardening supplies in the expanse of darkness that surrounded me. Or, if there were, I couldn’t see them.

  Then there was the problem of what I should have her write. I see your mind. No, too creepy. Hey Tracy. Not thoughtful enough. Then I had it.

  With no other ideas for how to plant an idea, I shouted the phrase desperately into the darkness. I thought my desperation might give her some urgency. That done, I waited. I couldn’t tell if anything was happening, so I shouted it again. Still no visible change, so I decided to open my eyes and reassess the situation. Maybe she could give me some tips on what I was doing wrong, or how I might go about the assignment differently.

  Tracy was holding the paper in her hands and staring blankly ahead, as if she’d been reading it. She put it down so I could see, but she didn’t look at me.

  Are you writing this, or am I? was scrawled messily on the page. Twice.

  “That must’ve been you. My handwriting isn’t that messy,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. But she only blinked.

  “What an odd experience,
” she said, her voice sounding distant, as if her mind was still someplace else.

  “You’ve never been controlled before?”

  “No. I’ve done it to others, dozens of times. But that…” She trailed off.

  Folding my arms over my chest, I felt very proud of what I had done. I had controlled the uncontrollable. “So, how was it?”

  “Uncomfortable.” She slouched a little in her chair and leaned heavily on the table.

  I opened my mouth, but the words didn’t come. Uncomfortable wasn’t the word I’d expected. In the back of my mind, I’d hoped she might express some pride in my accomplishment. I hadn’t taken the time to consider what my accomplishment might have done to her. Then my mind jumped to the most probable ways control would be used against the enemy.

  “Have you ever made someone do anything…” I paused, not sure how to finish that sentence.

  “Unsavory?” she asked, and then nodded once.

  I didn’t want to know, and I was suddenly thankful for the fact that most of her memories were now a blur in my mind. I didn’t want an image like that—of her questioning someone forcefully, or worse—to color my opinion of her. Anyway, I had no idea how I would react in a similar high-stakes scenario, so I felt like I had no right to judge her.

  “Tracy, can I ask you something?” She looked at me, and I noticed her face had started to turn a pale shade of green, almost like she might be sick at any moment.

  She nodded and swallowed hard.

  “Is… what you did the kind of thing you and David have in mind for me?”

  Her eyes cleared a bit, and some of her resolve seemed to return. “I don’t know. We’re relying on you to save the world and crush the Potestas, so whatever that entails is what you’ll be expected to do.”

  I slumped in my seat. “Is that all?”

  She laughed out loud, and the abruptness of the unexpected sound startled me. “Relax. I’m kidding. Don’t you know a joke when you see one?” The smile on her face seemed to bring some normal color back into her cheeks. Although she still looked a little pale, she wasn’t so green anymore.

  “Not from you,” I said, a bit indignant.

  Despite the sweat on her forehead, she was sitting a little straighter, as if the bad feelings from being controlled were draining from her. Frankly, I was glad it had passed so quickly.

  “You will be expected to be part of this team, nothing more, nothing less. You won’t be made to do something that makes you uncomfortable, but you are expected to contribute.”

  “I am ready to contribute. I’m tired of being a mooch, nothing but a gray cloud hanging around here. I want to get out, start working.”

  “Good, because your first real-world assignment is being handed down tomorrow.”

  8

  I bounded out of the training room, a ball of excitement and nerves. Owen stood from the machine he’d been using and caught me in his arms. He smelled of sweat and masculinity, and a familiar pulse of desire zinged through me.

  “I take it today went better than yesterday?” he said as we spun around in the middle of the gym, surrounded by clanging workout machines and people sparring. A few of them glanced our way and gave us knowing smiles.

  I forgot my haze for long enough to plant a kiss on Owen’s lips. At first, he was too surprised to respond, but soon, he was kissing me back with abandon, apparently trying to make up for the last few weeks. Someone across the gym started hooting, and we reluctantly pulled apart.

  “Wow, what brought that on?” he asked, for only me to hear. “Whatever it was, I think I like it.”

  “I’m getting my first real-world assignment tomorrow.” It felt foreign to say the words out loud. I wasn’t a kid anymore. I had a real job, and I’d start work in the morning. Real work—not busywork. Just like that, I’d experienced my own personal coming-of-age.

  “Really?” he said softly, rubbing his forehead as if he’d just come down with a headache.

  The change in his mood startled me. “What?”

  “I just…”

  I waited impatiently for him to spit it out. “You just what? Don’t think I can do it? Or is it just that you still don’t think I’m ready?” My insecurities were showing, and I didn’t like it.

  He frowned. “No. And frankly, I would love for you to get more assignments if they all result in kisses like that.” He forced a smile.

  I stuck out my chin, refusing to relent. “Well, what is it then?”

  “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  It struck me as funny because it was just about the last thing I expected him to say, and I stifled a laugh. “I don’t think I will, Owen. They won’t send me to do something super dangerous on my first mission.”

  “Do you know anything about it yet?”

  “No. I’m supposed to get my orders tomorrow.”

  “Well, you’re mine until then,” he said. There was an air of seduction in his voice, and the twinkle in his eyes returned.

  Trying to encourage this more positive, though rather sudden change in mood, I asked, “What did you have in mind?” When I smiled back at him, I realized it felt genuine. It was a good sensation.

  After Owen got cleaned up, we headed to dinner together. Most of the Unseen were gathered in the dining room at the same time for once, and Owen banged his fork on his soda can. “Excuse me, everyone. Tomorrow, our little Mac gets her first real assignment. She’s leaving the nest.”

  I felt my cheeks flush amidst the chorus of hoots and hoorays from the group.

  “So, tonight, we celebrate her initiation.”

  My stomach dropped as I wondered what exactly he meant by initiation. “Oh, jeez guys, you don’t have do to that,” I said, hoping to save myself some embarrassment.

  I gave Mitchell a hopeful glance, but he shook his head. “No fighting it. They do this for everyone. No matter what.” Turning back to his plate, he shoveled more food into his mouth, but the corners of his mouth had twisted into a smile. Traitor.

  Camden ran into the pantry and emerged with a tiara and a plastic lei necklace. After I put them on—mostly to shut everyone up—a few of the guys came over and lifted up my chair to bounce me around the dining room. Everyone laughed and clapped as they sang songs of encouragement and good luck. It was a pep rally, just for me. It was terrifying, but a laugh or two escaped my lips in spite of myself.

  By the time they set me back down, almost everyone was done eating.

  “Now it’s time to play truth or dare,” Owen said.

  “What? No,” I said. True, I’d learned to block my thoughts, but it still didn’t seem like the best game to play with a group of mind readers.

  “Aw, come on. Everyone plays. It’s fun,” he pleaded.

  “It never gets awkward, serious, or ruined by the fact that you all know who’s lying and who’s not?” I folded my arms over my chest, knowing I couldn’t possibly be wrong.

  “No! Come on, we’re all good sports, and we know better than to pry. Justine learned that the hard way when she got tangled up in Kyle’s defenses—standing naked in front of a crowd of people, trying to give a speech.” Everyone laughed, but it still didn’t hold much appeal for me. “Just try it. We do it with all the first timers,” Owen explained.

  I looked at Mitchell, who nodded and shrugged. “My first time, they made me try to balance eggs on my feet while I did a handstand. Needless to say, we needed more eggs by the end of the night.”

  I laughed. Maybe this would be fun. “Fine. But I go first.”

  “Fair enough,” Owen said.

  As soon as I’d said it, I regretted it though. I didn’t know what to ask, or who to ask it of. I looked at Camden, full of joy, despite his imposing size.

  “Camden, truth or dare?”

  “Dare.” His deep voice resonated throughout the dining room.

  “I dare you to squeeze into the cupboard under the sink.”

  “C’mon, Mac, can’t I use one of the cupboards where the sink doesn�
��t take up forty percent of the real estate?”

  “Sure. That’s fair. Now go,” I said, pulling out my cell phone to document his struggle.

  We all cried with laughter as our six-foot-six friend valiantly tried—and failed—to cram himself into the biggest kitchen cupboard we had. The kitchen—and Camden—would never be the same. The game only went downhill from there. They dared me to share my most embarrassing story, so I found myself telling them about one of my open-mike performances with Maddie. Two things had gone wrong that night—I got the hiccups halfway through the set, and thanks to a poor wardrobe choice, I inadvertently flashed the entire audience in the intense overhead lighting. Maddie had thought it was hilarious, so she hadn’t told me my high beams were on until later.

  I made the others do ridiculous things and tell equally embarrassing stories. My face was starting to hurt from all the laughter.

  Before I knew it, someone was passing out mugs of hot chocolate, and we were all calming down.

  “Now, it’s everyone’s turn to tell Mac about their first assignments,” Owen said.

  “Ooh, I like this idea,” I said, eager to get some insight into what I might expect for the coming days.

  But their tales were all so different. Camden told me about a local teacher he’d been assigned to check out. Turned out the guy was planning to bomb the school because he’d received another bad evaluation. That one turned my stomach a bit.

  Mitchell’s was the most surprising. He’d been assigned to a college girl. The higher-ups thought she was a possible suicide bomber, but it turned out she was just a suicide risk. She wasn’t involved with the Potestas, and she wasn’t a reader. Mitchell kept a lot of the details to himself, but something in his tone said he’d cared more about her than he was letting on. Before I could ask what happened to her, the group moved on.