Flying Free
Kelle McAllen
Copyright © 2017 Kellie McAllen
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review.
Trademarked names appear throughout this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, names are used in an editorial fashion, with no intention of infringement of the respective owner’s trademark.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Contents
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
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About the Author
A Note from the Author
1
“Shit’s about to get real,” Phoenix muttered as we pulled into the school parking lot and saw all the teachers’ cars still there, even though it was long past the time that most of them went home. I expected as much, seeing how we’d left seven escaped prisoners to fend for themselves.
I bit my lip and looked nervously at Griffin in the seat next to me as Jaxson steered the stolen Camaro into a parking spot. Shutting off the engine, Jaxson opened his door and got out, then held out a hand to help me climb out of the tiny backseat.
My sweat-slicked hand reached for his, and my fingers trembled at the electricity that sizzled between us. He squeezed tighter, and I instantly pulled away from him, even though my first instinct was to squeeze back.
My feelings for Jaxson were complicated, just like the rest of my life.
Phoenix came around the front of the car just in time to see the exchange and scowled at Jaxson then clasped my hand in his, pulling me closer. Griffin nudged in between me and Jaxson on the other side. The twins and I fell into step naturally, like we’d been a threesome forever, even though we’d only gone public a few weeks ago.
Jaxson just rolled his eyes and headed off in front of us towards the school building. Once we got inside, the tension between us was immediately swallowed up in the chaos.
Students and teachers crowded around a group of people in the hallway, jabbering and firing off questions. The strangers looked confused and out of place in a world that had abandoned them. My heart pained at the absence of one of them.
A tall, lanky man with raven black hair, an older version of Jaxson, waved his hands in the air and tried to calm the riot as his wife clung to him. “Listen! We’ll tell you everything we know if you just settle down and give us some space!”
The crowd rumbled some more, and Jaxson pushed his way through it and approached his father and mother.
“Back off, people! They don’t need you attacking them! Everybody go to the gym and sit down, and we’ll explain everything.” His voice boomed over them, and the crowd gradually dissipated as people turned and headed for the gymnasium.
A few minutes later, the entire population of Magna Virtus Academy, sans our leader, Anders Grant, had congregated in the gym and was anxiously awaiting an explanation for the sudden appearance of seven strangers who claimed to be escaped prisoners.
Jaxson took the stage where Anders usually stood directing school meetings and waited patiently with his hands on his hips for the crowd to quiet. The ex-prisoners hovered around him. Tall and toned, with long, raven black hair and piercing blue eyes, dressed all in black as usual, his presence was commanding. When the noise settled, he finally started speaking.
“This is my father, Mark Merritt,” Jaxson stretched out his hands towards the man who looked just like him, “and this is my mother, Lucinda. A few weeks ago, I snuck out of school because I hadn’t seen them in several years, and Anders wouldn’t let me go visit them. When I got to their house, I discovered it was empty and had been for a long time.”
The crowd murmured a little bit at that, but Jaxson continued. “Anders promised me they were fine, but he wouldn’t tell me where they were, and I was worried about them. I found out that Griffin and Phoenix’s parents had gone missing ten years ago, and Lexus’ mom had disappeared when she was a baby. We decided to do some snooping, see if we could figure out what had happened to all of them.”
More whispers and rumblings. The air stifled with tension that rose from the crowd like waves of heat.
“We broke into Anders’ office and found an access panel in the floor, and when we unlocked it, we discovered it led to a set of rooms, hidden the basement of this school…” He paused, giving the tension a chance to ratchet up even higher. “It was a prison, where Anders was keeping eight people captive.”
A collective gasp rose up from the agitated crowd, and voices overlapped each other in discord as they tried to come to grips with what Jaxson was saying. Jaxson waited a few seconds for them to settle, but there was no quieting them, so instead he just spoke louder.
“Anders used these people’s gifts against them, wiping their memories and brainwashing them into compliance. We set them free, and Anders came after us and threatened to kill us. We fought him, but he managed to escape, and he took a hostage, Lexus’ mother. We chased after him, but we lost him. He won’t come back here, but if he ever does, I’ll kill him.”
The noise took over the gymnasium, echoing off the concrete walls in an ear-piercing cacophony. Jaxson gave up on trying to speak and stepped back while Mr. Thorn, the upper-level Conduit teacher headed towards the front.
“Settle down, everyone!” he bellowed at the top of his lungs, and the noise level decreased a tiny bit. “The other teachers and I will look into these… allegations, and make sure that everyone is kept safe. For now, I want everyone in their rooms!”
It took several more commands, but the students eventually migrated out of the gymnasium and into the halls. The boys and I stayed, the escapees by our side.
“Take me to this prison,” Mr. Thorn demanded.
2
Jaxson marched through the halls back to Anders’ office like a commanding officer on a mission. The Catalyst and Conduit teachers, along with a few others, all followed us, as well as the escapees.
The access panel in the floor was still open, and one by one we climbed down the creaky, wooden steps into the basement. Jaxson guided everyone through the boiler room and into the prison. The cells sat empty now, a creepy graveyard of Anders’ obsession, but the evidence of their occupancy was still fresh.
The teachers gaped at the iron bars separating the small cells, muttering exclamations of shock and horror. I shivered in the musty, dimly-lit cave.
“He was such a good man; how could he do this?” Mrs. Stein asked the questions everyone was thinking. “Why did he do this?”
Jaxson put a hand on his hip and waved the other at the ex-prisoners. “We don’t know for sure what his motives were, but h
e was definitely using these people against each other to get them to do what he wanted. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he captured the parents of the two most powerful students in this school.” He nodded at me.
I shook my head. “I’m not sure he knew that Renee was my mother. She hasn’t been a part of my life for a long time, and he had her listed by her maiden name. I think she just had a power he needed.”
“What could she do?” Mr. Thorn asked, running his fingers through his thinning, gray hair.
“She could wipe memories. That’s why our parents didn’t remember they had children.” The grim explanation haunted Griffin’s face, and his mother put her hand over her mouth and shook her head.
“I can’t believe someone could do that — make a mother forget her children.”
She didn’t seem to have any trouble forgetting her own.” Phoenix scowled.
I knew Phoenix was on my side, but the words still jabbed at the open wound. Why was my mother willing to give me up? I knew she feared for her safety when my father threatened her, but how could she justify leaving me with him if she thought he was dangerous?
My father claimed she was a good person, though, so I had to believe she only did what she thought was best. Besides, she’d been under Anders’ control for years. It wasn’t like she had the freedom to come look for me.
“That was our fault,” the twins’ mother, Stacy, dropped her head. “He used our power to manipulate everyone into obeying him.”
“He manipulated you, too, Mom.” Griffin wrapped a hand around his mother’s shoulder. “You’re just as much a victim as everyone else.”
“These are very serious allegations, and the council is going to want to hear about this from the victims. What kinds of things did he compel you to do?” Mr. Thorn glanced between the seven escapees, but none of them would make eye contact.
“It’s all right to tell us the truth. None of you will be held accountable for the things you were forced to do.”
The twins’ father, a fit man with dark hair and grey eyes, an older version of his sons, shook his head. “You don’t know that. The council could very well see things differently, and even if they did exonerate us, the whole Specials world will learn about the things we’ve done. I’d like to live the rest of my life in peace, not trying to rebuild a tainted reputation.”
The youngest man in the group had wild eyes and twitched nervously. “That’s right. It’s no secret that troublemakers go missing. If they think our existence is a threat to the community, they’ll make us disappear for good.”
The group started rumbling their agreement.
Mr. Thorn waved his hands in the air, trying to settle them down. “Now, now. I understand your concerns considering the trauma you’ve already endured, and I’m sorry for what you’ve been through, but I think you’re villainizing the wrong people. The council was formed to protect the best interests of our kind, and proper protocol requires that they be notified and testimony given in situations such as this. Now, I’m sure you all are eager to leave, and I’ll contact the council right away, but in the meantime, we’ll find rooms for you all here and help you however we can.”
The group clearly weren’t convinced by Mr. Thorn confidence if their shifting eyes and jittery bodies were any indication, but they didn’t have a lot of other options at the moment, so they stifled their arguments and followed him back upstairs.
Mr. Thorn explained that they could get food from the cafeteria any time it was open then led them upstairs to the dorm rooms. With a little help from Jaxson, he found empty rooms for them and offered to bring them each a supply of toiletries.
“I’ll contact the council now, and hopefully we can have a representative here as soon as possible to take your statements. In the meantime, make yourselves at home here, and don’t hesitate to ask me or one of the students if there’s something you need.” With that, Mr. Thorn left and headed down to make a phone call.
Jaxson and his parents were talking rapidly in hushed tones by Jaxson’s bedroom, and the twins and I stood with their parents in front of the room Mr. Thorn had assigned to them. Mrs. Easton’s eyes were damp with tears threatening to fall as she stared at her sons. Mr. Easton hid his emotion behind a stoic mask, but every so often his face would twitch, and the mask would disappear for a moment as a flash of angst appeared, like a computer glitch.
Mrs. Easton reached out a tentative hand but then pulled it away, lifting it to her mouth instead. “Boys, there aren’t words to express how I feel right now, seeing you, imagining what you’ve gone through all these years. I want to know everything. I know we can never make up for the years we’ve missed, but we want to be part of your lives. Will you… let us?”
“Of course… Mom.” Griffin took a step towards her and started to lift his hands. That was all she needed to embrace him, her arms reaching up to wrap around his shoulders, her face buried in his chest. She was tiny compared to him, maybe even smaller than me, and her long, frazzled, gray hair made her look older than she probably was.
I was happy for the boys that they’d found their parents, I really was, but I couldn’t help but compare their reunion to the one I’d had with my father a few days ago. There had been no hugs, no tears of joy, and no promises about the future. But then, my father had purposely stayed out of my life. Just like my mother. How did I expect him to respond when I showed up at his doorstep?
Mrs. Easton sniffled and wiped her eyes as she pulled away, giving a terse laugh. “You’re so… big! The memories I have of you are of children, but you’re grown men. How…” embarrassment flicked across her face, “How old are you?”
“We’re 16, Mom. We’re in 10th grade. We just started at this school a few months ago,” Phoenix said.
“Where were you before that?” Stacy’s voice wobbled.
Griffin nodded down the hallway. “Why don’t we go to our room and sit down. I think we have a lot to catch up on.”
3
I stood in the middle of the hallway feeling lost as Griffin and Phoenix led their parents towards their room. I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. Thoughts of my own mother consumed my mind, but I had no idea how to find her or even where to start looking. I wanted to interrogate Anders’ captives, hoping to glean some useful information from them, but the Merritts and Eastons were eager to catch up with their children, and I didn’t want to interfere with their reunions. I wasn’t exactly family, even though it felt like they were the only people in the world who cared about me.
I stared down the hallway for a moment, paralyzed with indecision, till Griffin reached his bedroom and turned to enter. His eyes caught mine, and he smiled and waved me towards him. Relief smothered my anxiety like a soft blanket, and I hurried his way.
“Mom, Dad, this is Lexus. She’s Renee’s daughter.” Griffin took my hand, pulling me into the room behind him. It felt odd to be described that way, like that was a defining part of my identity, when in reality, it was still hard for me to believe that the woman I had called my mother for the last 15 years wasn’t even related to me. Renee might be my birth mother, but she was still a complete stranger.
Mrs. Easton’s eyes flicked down to our joined hands and back up to Griffin’s face. “Looks like she’s someone important to you, too.”
Griffin gave a wry, little smile and dipped his head. “Yeah, she is.”
He glanced towards Phoenix, who was grinding his teeth, trying to decide whether or not to spill the beans about our unusual relationship. Griffin gave him a look that must’ve convinced him to wait because he didn’t say anything, just swallowed his words and sat down backwards on the desk chair.
“So, tell us what your life has been like, boys. Good, I hope?” Mrs. Easton’s face, so similar to theirs, lifted in expectancy as she rubbed her hands over the plaid comforter.
Griffin tried to keep a straight face, but Phoenix’s expression made it obvious that wasn’t the case. Stacy’s faced drooped, and she dropped her head to sta
re at her hands for a moment.
“It wasn’t all bad, was it?”
“No, of course not.” Griffin shook his head. “We went into foster care after you… disappeared, and some of the homes were pretty good.” His eyes drifted back in memories.
“How many different homes did you live in?” Mr. Easton ran a hand through dark hair streaked with grey, pacing back and forth in the small space between the beds.
“Five, before we came here.”
Stacy’s eyebrows puckered, and her mouth fell open in a shocked O.
“It was my fault,” Phoenix insisted, his crystal grey eyes clouding. “I didn’t make it easy for people to put up with us.”
I lifted the corner of my mouth at Phoenix, proud of him for trying to ease his parents’ regrets by taking the blame, but I didn’t want them to think badly of him.
“You’re just passionate, Phoenix. You don’t back down when you feel strongly about something. It can be a good thing, too. It was you who wouldn’t give up on the search for your parents.”
Phoenix’s face softened, and he grinned at me. His fingers flexed like he wanted to reach out and take my hand, but he resisted. His parents still looked curiously between us, though. I hated that we were back to hiding our relationship. Wouldn’t it be better just to be up front about it from the beginning? It’s not like we could keep it a secret forever. Everyone in the school knew about us now.
“You always were… enthusiastic.” Stacy smirked at Phoenix.
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