The Unseen Trilogy

by Stephanie Erickson

  Tracy and I were set up in our trees about two hours later. It took some time to find a hardware store where we could buy rope, hooks sturdy enough to satisfy Owen’s concerns about our safety, and a ladder for those responsible for tying us up there.

  In the end, I was glad we were there so early. It was quite a production to get ourselves up in the trees. In fact, we were spotted by a police officer just as Owen was securing the last hook and knot.

  “Just what do you think you’re doing?”

  Owen froze, but I smiled at her.

  “Just setting up for a little game,” I said, easing into her unprotected mind so I could urge her to move on.

  “Oh. Well, have fun,” she said and walked away.

  “You are just the absolute worst kind of impossible,” Owen said as he leaned in to kiss me. “Good luck. I’ll be milling around down below if you need anything.”

  “I’ll see you on the other side of this mess,” I said, already looking forward to completing the mission.

  The hours in that tree passed slowly. I kicked myself for not bringing that book I’d pretended to read the day before, anything to keep my mind occupied and make the time pass a little faster. The tree wasn’t exactly the most comfortable place to sit for more than a few minutes, let alone six hours.

  But the time eventually passed, as it always inevitably does. From behind the tree’s branches, I noticed the same faces come trickling in, but I couldn’t risk signaling any of my fellow Unseen. I could only hope they’d noticed and were doing their jobs. Soon, I was reassured as they started to trickle through the park. The block prevented me from hearing their defensive thoughts, but based on the way the Potestas essentially ignored them, I could tell it was working.

  Right on time, Shields took his seat on the bench across from the tree where I was stationed, and I could only hope Tracy had begun her attack. The plan was to let her hack into his mind and make her presence known. This, in theory, would distract him, giving me the chance to get in cleanly and unnoticed. Hopefully, she would simply be pushed out unharmed and I could poke around undetected. But as I sat in the tree, waiting for my turn at Shields, I thought of what Mitchell had told me about these people. They would never just push her out unharmed. Regret and dread settled in, and I wanted to cry out, to do anything and everything I could to keep her safe and protected. But it was too late. I had to focus. There were a lot of lives in my hands. I couldn’t let my panic allow them to slip through my fingers.

  I took a deep breath as I counted the seconds, and the five minutes I waited dragged on like an eternity. Then, I pressed my attack.

  Immediately, I felt his struggle with Tracy. She wasn’t getting pushed out easily, that was for sure. Lucky for me, she was keeping him so occupied that I slipped right in. His defenses weren’t even active, which puzzled me. I’d thought that, once set up, a person’s defenses were always armed and ready to go. But his were like traps that had already been sprung, perhaps by Tracy? I made a mental note to ask her about it later as I pressed onward.

  His mind seemed strangely empty as I began to search it for information. Another tactic of the Potestas, I assumed. Redoubling my efforts, I combed through the darkness until I came across something. It was nothing more than a speck at first. But as I got closer, I knew it was the jackpot, or at least something that would lead me to the jackpot.

  Under my focused attention, the speck became clearer and more distinct. It was a model train. Picking it up, I examined it more closely. It was an exact replica of the SunRail—the train on which my best friend had died. My mouth went dry as I peered inside the small windows. I didn’t want to watch Maddie die again. I’d already glazed over it from Washington’s perspective. But I couldn’t stop it. No matter what I did, I couldn’t control what I was seeing.

  Washington was sitting next to Maddie, flirting with her. Actually flirting. The rage nearly made me crush the model in my hands. Two other men—both Potestas—had taken up positions next to her and across from her. All of them were engaging her in friendly banter as they waited for the train to start up. Maddie ate up their attention, flirting right back. And who could blame her? They were all very attractive, and I knew from experience that Washington was quite the charmer.

  Two of them got up eventually. One excused himself to check something in his bag. Washington said he wanted to go to the restroom before the train left, but he added that he couldn’t wait to come back to Maddie’s beautiful face. She beamed at him, and I wanted to walk him in front of that bus all over again. I watched helplessly as the last man sweet-talked Maddie, and then the train’s explosion blew my heart to pieces.

  16

  The model train lay in pieces at my feet. The explosion had not harmed me at all. It wasn’t real, at least, not this time. I looked around in the darkness, tears streaming down my face, when something tugged at the back of my mind.

  Two men had left the train. The one who stayed had died with Maddie. So whose memory had I just watched?

  The sound of someone clapping echoed through the space, but I couldn’t find the source of the noise.

  “Well done, Mackenzie.” A man’s voice slithered through the air around me, making my skin crawl.

  Folding my arms over my chest and pulling my sweater tight around me, I tried to protect myself from him.

  “You are a rare specimen indeed.” I had to resist the urge to cover my ears when he spoke. Was it Shields? I wasn’t sure who else it could be, so by default, I assumed it had to be. “Your skills are like nothing I’ve ever seen before, not even among our most advanced members.” He made a tsking sound. “Too bad we didn’t find you first.”

  “You would’ve killed me if you had, considering who I am. Then you never would’ve known I was such a rare specimen,” I spat.

  The voice laughed. “I can’t argue that. But I think it’s fair to say that we’ve learned our lesson. We’d like to have you for our side. We believe you would be a very valuable asset. In fact, we’ve been looking for you for quite some time. I had no idea we’d be lucky enough to have you walk right into our latest meeting.”

  “A meeting.” I said it as a statement, not a question. “Of course. That’s why so many of you keep gathering here.”

  “And yet, you still attempted to get what you came for. Very brave of you.”

  “Or stupid,” I said.

  The voice chuckled. “A sense of humor to boot. Like I said, you’re a valuable asset.”

  “I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.”

  Again, he laughed. “I bet you have.”

  The voice was quiet, as if he actually expected me to consider his offer. It was my turn to laugh. “You are all dumber than I thought.”

  “Are we?” His tone didn’t seem to show any sign that I’d wounded him.

  “I’m not joining you. I’ve seen what that chemical can do, the suffering it would cause. I don’t want any part of it.” By that point, I’d had enough. I tried to break the connection, but alarmingly, I couldn’t. Opening my eyes seemed like a Herculean task. In fact, I had trouble even connecting to my own body. Before my alarm could develop into a full-blown panic, he interrupted my attempts to escape.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.” His tone turned dark, making the panic shooting through my body all the more insistent. “Those who are not with us are against us.” Slowly, I perceived the smallest bit of light, a short distance off. I saw Tracy lying in a heap just under the light source.

  I ran to her and collapsed by her side. “Tracy,” I whispered. “We have to get out. We’re done here. Let’s go.” But she didn’t respond. Shaking her shoulder, I pleaded with her again. “Come on.”

  Just then, the voice started laughing—quietly at first, and then with a maniacal power that made me shake.

  Owen and the others. My mind started to race as their faces popped into view. How could I warn them? Tell them the mission had failed? But trying to help might compromise their position. So I just let them
flounder? No. I couldn’t just sit idly by, letting them get slaughtered.

  Tracy. I may not have been able to find my own body, but Tracy was right here. It blurred the lines between the mind and reality, but I couldn’t get hung up on technicalities. I had to try.

  Ignoring the laughter that grew louder with every breath I took, I tried to infiltrate her mind, but I found only fog.

  “Tracy?” I called out. “Tracy! You have to warn them. I think we might die, but you can save the rest of them. You have to call out to them. Do it! Now!” I took a deep breath and yelled. “Owen, run!”

  But without any warning, I was thrown headlong out of her mind. When I opened my eyes, I was lying on top of Tracy’s crumpled body. I looked more closely at her. She lay on her side, knees drawn up, her blonde hair spilling every which way. Her face seemed peaceful, relaxed, and almost unrecognizable.

  “What have you done to her?” I asked the darkness.

  “I’ve eliminated her. She wasn’t useful.”

  “You what?” My heart pounded in my ears as I turned her onto her back and pressed my ear to her chest, willing there to be a sound. But all I could hear was the man’s laughter.

  “Shut up!” I screamed until my voice was hoarse. I began chest compressions on the lifeless image of her body, not knowing how much good it would do, but I couldn’t just let her lie there. Was she still tied to the tree? Had Owen and the others saved her? I could only hope as I pounded on her chest.

  “Your efforts are as commendable as they are useless. I’ve commanded her to stop breathing, and so she has.”

  “You’re… an… idiot,” I said between compressions. “Do you know how much information she had on the Unseen? You’ve pissed away countless secrets, all in an effort to what? Scare me? Intimidate me? Show me how superior you are and how unworthy the Unseen are?”

  He didn’t laugh like I thought he would. But he didn’t bring her back to life either. Instead, he let me sit in silence as I pounded on the chest of my lifeless friend, wondering how I’d come to find myself in this new and terrible version of hell.

  17

  The voice did not return. I had no way of marking time in the darkness, and even if I did, time passed differently in the mind than it did in the real world.

  Tracy’s body hadn’t faded with the voice, and I continued to give her CPR until exhaustion finally overwhelmed me. I gave in to the tears and collapsed on her chest.

  “I’m sorry, Tracy. I knew we shouldn’t go in, but it was too late by the time I realized it. I couldn’t stop you without endangering everyone else. It’s my fault. I’m sorry.”

  But her lifeless body had nothing to say. No reprimands. No stop your blubbering—nothing but silence.

  I didn’t have anything to cover her with, so I couldn’t shield myself from the reality of her death. Folding her arms over her chest, I tried to make her look comfortable again, at peace. But I knew better. I knew she’d died horribly, and it was my fault. I tried not to think about what Shields might have done to her, how he’d probably tortured her, but the darkness didn’t offer many distractions.

  After a time, I found myself wishing the voice would’ve taken her with him. As soon as the thought formed, I regretted it. Once she was gone, I would never see her again. But this wasn’t even her. It was a shell of who she’d once been.

  Regret became my companion for a little while, simply because there was no room in my heart for more grief. So I blamed myself. I shouldn’t have agreed to this mission. I wasn’t ready or prepared. I had too many distractions on my mind, too many burdens on my heart. I was too new. Maybe with more training, more skill, I could have succeeded, but I’d ruined everything instead.

  Because of me, the Unseen had lost one of their most valuable members. Tracy was the best of the best. What on Earth would we do without her?

  Once the questions started, there was no stopping them. How could I have prevented her death? What could I have done differently? The number of Potestas milling around should’ve been a clue that we couldn’t handle the job. But if we couldn’t, who could?

  When the answers didn’t come, I got up and ventured away from Tracy. Now that I knew I couldn’t save her, it was time for me to once again search for either a way out or a way into the mind that had trapped me. I struck out in a random direction and just put one foot in front of the other, always keeping the light source at my back. Strangely though, no matter what I did, I couldn’t make much progress in distancing myself from it. I could hear my shoes hitting the floor, so I knew I was walking, but the space between Tracy’s body and me never seemed to grow any larger.

  After a while, I gave up and went back to her. Sitting down beside her, I decided a more internal approach might work better. Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm my racing thoughts. What had become of Owen and the others? Did they manage to get out? Did my warning work? What if Owen had been killed right alongside Tracy? What if all the others were gone?

  No, I thought, taking another deep breath and making myself lightheaded. Get out. That’s what you need to focus on doing. You’re no use to anyone trapped in this bizarre purgatory. Just concentrate on getting out.

  Hoping to shut out the few distractions that surrounded me, I closed my eyes and searched for myself. It was an odd feeling, being so separated from my body. I knew I still existed, that somewhere on Earth I was still breathing, but I didn’t know where, when, or how. I had no idea if I was still tied to that tree in the park, if they’d moved me someplace, or if Owen or one of the others had rescued my body and I was safely back at the facility.

  No. I sent out the questions swirling in my mind. But I couldn’t stop the rising desperation that held the peace I sought just out of reach. That was when the if-onlys started to plague me. If only I’d saved Tracy, if only I’d left Owen and the others out of this, if only I’d… what? What else could I have done to prevent this situation? And what could I now do to fix it?

  The answers continued to evade me, and, suddenly, a voice interrupted my thoughts. A voice I’d recognize anywhere. A voice I’d been listening to for over eighteen years.

  “Ah, Mackenzie. I’d like to say it’s good to see you again, but I never did much care for you,” Amanda said.

  My mouth hung open as a giant image of her was projected against the darkness.

  She occupied most of the frame. Her makeup was precisely applied—not too much, just enough to make her look polished. She looked exactly as I remembered her, but there was something in her expression I’d never seen before. Was she happy? What was she happy about? Had she wormed her way into the man’s mind to save me?

  Then another question occurred to me. Could I address her directly?”

  “Hello…” I trailed off, not sure what to call her. We both knew she wasn’t my aunt. She didn’t respond, so I had no idea if she’d even heard me.

  “Perhaps I should explain the… situation before we get into why you’re here. I don’t expect you to understand because honestly, I don’t think you’re capable, but I’ll tell you anyway. I’ve left the Unseen. After squandering my life with them, I was offered a rather high position with the Potestas. Given the amount of inside knowledge I had about you, they were happy to forgive my transgressions and accept me into their ranks.”

  Her brown, perfectly styled, shoulder-length hair bobbed as she shrugged. “The Potestas take very good care of me. I have everything I could ever want. And I’m able to use my abilities to their fullest extent. The Potestas can do things the Unseen are too backward to even imagine. Naturally, I was more than happy to join them after the way I’d been treated by the Unseen.”

  David was right again, I thought.

  Narrowing my eyes at the projection, I walked closer to it, trying to get a feel for what I was seeing. Her image was bigger than life, and as I walked closer, I had to look up to see her face. Was it a recording, or was I watching this live through Shields’ eyes?

  She appeared to be inside, but the
frame was so entirely filled by her image, I couldn’t discern much else. As she shifted in her seat, I thought I caught a glimpse of something behind her, but I couldn’t tell exactly what.

  “Now…” A smile crept across Amanda’s face—a rare expression for her. “I can let you in on a little secret. I think you’re familiar with a gathering called Coda?”

  I shifted my weight, growing more and more uncomfortable with the direction this conversation was going.

  “Of course you are. You always dreamed of going to it. Even had the gall to ask me to fund a little excursion for you and that pathetic friend of yours.”

  “Now wait just a minute—” I said, unable to sit silently while she prattled on unchecked.

  But she interrupted me, and I still couldn’t tell if I was even being heard. “At any rate, I’m sure you know some of the details of our plan. You know what we’ve allowed you to know—enough to make the Unseen panic, but not enough for them to do anything about it. It’s actually quite entertaining to watch you all scramble.

  “But, I’m getting off track. Dux Ducis was a trap, a made-up role played by Dylan here, a few others, and me. That idiot scientist had no idea what Dylan was doing when he planted the defenses, nor did he know Dylan was one of the ones playing Dux Ducis. Not only were we able to control Jeppe with the alias, but the person we created was untraceable, and he led you right where we wanted you.

  “Our plans for Coda are merely a test run, you see. Nothing more than a distraction for the Unseen while we plan strategic, global distribution of the chemical we’re calling Zero. I don’t want to give you all the details—after all, the surprise is half the fun—but Zero will help put our organization into the ultimate position of power.”

  Strategic, global distribution? Position of power?

  As I contemplated what she’d said, the frame panned out, revealing more of the room my former aunt occupied. A person sat just behind her, a woman. A woman who looked a lot like me. Her likeness startled me so much that I choked, halting the tears in their tracks.