EVO Nation Series Trilogy Box Set

by K. J. Chapman

  “No, I can’t lose you. Don’t you dare die on—”

  He winces as if being stung by a bee and falls limp against me.

  “Golding? Golding!” I scream. I grasp at his clothes and shake him. “Not like this!”

  A familiar headache spreads from my temples. Tess’s strained voice breaks through my thoughts in a last-ditch effort. “Brace yourself.”

  A blinding pain rips through my brain, and I soar into the air as if the heavens are pulling on an invisible string attached to my naval. My head and limbs dangle under me like that of a rag doll. All I can do is focus on the pain raging through my head.

  “Make him pay,” says Tess’ weak voice. Then, she is gone.

  A loneliness ebbs through me. I can sense that it’s just me left in my mind now. Adam shouts my name from the ground. His voice jolts me to my senses. I can see them all looking up at me from around the pool. My mind is firing on all cylinders and I feel stronger with an unimaginable power. Tess has stretched me to my limit, and I have survived.

  My telekinesis keeps me suspended in the sky. It has a more definite weight to it. My control over it is sure-fast and steady. The warm drip of blood rushes from my nose, but I just wipe it away with the back of my hand.

  Someone is clapping. Isaac stands below me on the roof with an amused look on his face, slapping his hands together in a slow, sarcastic rhythm. I have never felt hatred as strong as I do right now. It scares me- the thoughts that flick through my mind- the things I want to do to him- the things I am going to do to him. I will avenge them all.

  “Congratulations, you have survived, but what now, Teddie? Without my sister, you are nothing.”

  “You don’t get to walk away from this,” I say, telepathically, wrenching the device from my head and launching it at him.

  He skips out of the way as it smashes on the floor. “You really are a naive, little girl, aren’t you? Don’t you see? Even without Tess, I have won. We’re out and proud.”

  “Or you have just killed us all,” I say, out loud. “You won’t get away with this.”

  He rolls his eyes, and in a split-second, I am shrouded in his energy blast. I feel it compressing my bones. I can’t breathe. The pressure on my skull is immense. I retaliate, blasting my telekinesis out from my skin, pushing Isaac’s energy away. His steely expression falters. My telekinesis forces his energy back further, wrapping it around his own body. He can know what it feels like for a change. He staggers, releasing his force on me, and I slam into the roof.

  “Did my little sis leave you with a parting gift?” he asks, panting. “Okay, let’s see what you’ve got.”

  I brace for another energy blast, but instead, he runs to the edge of the roof. Adam flies backward, slamming into a wall, crumpling to the floor unconscious. Isaac laughs to himself, and Adam’s lifeless body soars through the air, plunging into the pool. Wheeler and Jude race to the water, but are catapulted away. Adam floats face down, unmoving. No one can get to him. I need to help him.

  “I will kill each of them in turn, and by the time I’m done, you’ll be begging for death,” Isaac says, through his teeth.

  There it is- that rage burning through my veins again. No more playing games. I thrust myself toward Isaac and land face to face with him, grabbing at his shirt before he can use his ability against me. I don’t think, I just launch both of us over the edge of the roof and we sail through the night sky.

  Time appears to slow as I hold us suspended above the pool below. Reaching my telekinesis down to Adam’s lifeless body, I feel the warm crackle of electricity run through me. I lift him from the water and lower him on the tiles. He stirs, his eyes meeting mine in a blaze of love and panic.

  I enter Isaac’s head. It is easier now. Tess has opened the flood gates. “You can blame Roscoe, Norah, anyone who wronged you, but your hatred is all your own. It was yours to let go, just as it was yours to nurture into this evil that has enabled you to murder your own family.”

  “You know nothing of the torture I feel,” he screams into the night air.

  “Oh, I do. In fact, I know it tenfold.” Taking all the pain that aches in my chest for Golding, for my parents, for Haydn, I force it into his mind. Every ounce of my heart break will imprint into his soul.

  “Do you feel that?” I’m physically screaming at him. “Do you feel that pain? I let go of his jacket and he hovers just below me. “That’s the pain you’ve put me through. You’re just as much of a monster as Roscoe.”

  “If you kill me, you’re no better than me, no better than Roscoe,” Isaac says, sneering. He shakes his sweat-wetted hair out of his face, his teeth bearing under his thin, twisted lips.

  “Maybe it takes a monster to kill a monster,” I scream, and then I release my hold on him.

  He tumbles away from me. He doesn’t even bother to fight it. The tendrils of my ability reach down to him, holding his thrashing body under the water. I hold firmer, firmer, firmer until his fight dissipates. My nose bleeds in a watery stream down my mouth and chin, and I’m unbelievably weak, but I will not let up until I’m sure the life has left him.

  “Adam, the water!” shouts Jude.

  Adam stumbles forward, sending a blast into the pool. Isaac’s body convulses violently as volts shoot through him in waves of blue and brilliant white. It’s pointless, he’s already dead. After a few seconds, the blue sparks retreat back into Adam’s palms, and the water goes dark once more. The pool lights spark and wane to nothing.

  I force myself higher into the air, and using the building as an anchor, I lower myself back onto the rooftop beside Golding. I levitate him into my arms and shake him again. He is gone. Clenching my eyes shut, I try telepathy, but there is no trace of him. A guttural, pain-filled cry rips out of my throat. I walk him to the edge of the roof and lower us both to the ground.

  “He’s not dead. He’s not dead,” Yana chants to herself.

  Adam’s arms wrap around my shoulders, and he presses his face into my hair. I cry harder, rocking Golding back and forth on my lap.

  Maggie places a finger on the side of Golding’s neck and shakes her head, her cheeks streaked with tears. Yana wails and collapses into Wheeler.

  Jude steps forward, slowly prizing my fingers from Golding’s shirt, loosening him from my grip. He lays him on the warm tiles, closing his eyes with two fingers.

  “He’s just sleeping,” I scream, grasping for Golding again. “Maggie, tell them!” I look to her, but she shakes her head. Another agonising wail bursts from my throat. I lie down beside Golding, wrapping an arm over his body. “He’s okay. He’ll be okay.”

  “You have to let go of him, Baby,” Adam soothes, lifting me away from Golding’s body.

  “I can’t leave him here.” My body trembles from head to toe with shock. “He can’t be dead.”

  The gate screeches open, and a van roars into the complex. Emiko and Seth jump out.

  “Hurry,” Emiko shouts.

  Seth searches for Golding, finally seeing the devastation of the lifeless body lying at the poolside. He begins to fall, but Jude grabs him around the waist and wrestles him into the van with the rest of us.

  “We can’t be here,” Wheeler shouts, as Emiko speeds out of the gate.

  ***

  The back of the van is dark. We sit huddled on the bare, metal floor. Adam’s shirt is wet from the pool, but I press my face into it regardless. He holds my head close to his chest, so I listen as his heart beat slows back to a normal rhythm. His free arm is around Seth. He sobs into Adam’s shoulder, and I feel Adam’s chest shudder from keeping his own emotions in check.

  Eleven of us have escaped that place. Me, Adam, Wheeler, Jude, Yana, Maggie, Emiko, Seth, October, and two men from Jude’s meeting. The others must have fled once Tess killed the E.N.C members.

  “We’ll all be on the CCTV,” says Wheeler. “What are we going to do?”

  “We disappear. Although, I reckon we’re the least of their worries,” says Jude, handing over hi
s mobile phone.

  The images are of riots in London and every major city in the United Kingdom- fire and death everywhere. EVO and Non-EVO killing each other like animals.

  “Isaac has got exactly what he wanted. Emiko head for the docks,” he says.

  “He may have got what he wanted, but he also got what he deserved- a painful death,” I say.

  ***

  Jude’s speed boat is moored on the jetty. We climb aboard, whilst Adam and Wheeler release the lines. Jude turns on the engine, racing the boat out onto the moonlit ocean.

  “I’ll take us to my yacht. We can plan our next move from there,” says Jude. He doesn’t sound convinced, but no one offers a better suggestion.

  The boat bobs against the waves, the sea spray soaking everyone through. I slide my arms inside Adam’s wet shirt as he holds onto the side to steady us. His skin is cold and goose pimpled.

  “Everything has changed. I don’t know where I fit anymore.”

  “Listen to me,” he says. “You fit right here.” He tucks me against his chest, his arm strong around my back. “This is home for both of us, okay?”

  I nod. “I love you. I love you. I love you,” I say into his neck.

  “I love you too, Baby.”

  After what feels like an eternity, the dark outline of Jude’s yacht looms in the distance. It stands alone- silhouetted against the inky sky- isolated from the rest of world much like we are. For now, she can be our port in the storm.

  END OF BOOK ONE

  EVO Ghost

  Book Two

  By K.J. Chapman

  CHAPTER ONE

  When Jude said he had a yacht, he wasn’t lying. Mansion on water is the term I would use. Under different circumstances, I’d appreciate the luxury more, but being on the run, and using her as a hideout, makes her nothing more than a glorified safe house.

  I sit sideways with my legs over Adam’s lap, my head resting on his shoulder. He holds his hand just in front of my face, and I play with the blue electricity dancing in his palm, enjoying the satisfying buzz as the sparks caress my fingertips. We don’t talk, we don’t have to. There is something intimate and absorbed in experiencing his gentleness with an otherwise deadly ability.

  “Do you two have to do that?” Jude moans, walking by. “If you electrocute my little Telekin—”

  “I would die before I hurt her,” Adam interrupts.

  Jude stops, his eyes flicking between Adam and I. “I know.” His face is sincere, if not a little sad. He restlessly scruffs at his long, dark hair and ties it back into a man-bun.

  He lost Tess for a second time last night. Once is enough for anyone, but twice is plain cruelty. I’ve read his mind and I know how much he loved her. Even after six years believing she was dead, he still loved her.

  I get up and wrap my arms around him. He holds me back- really holds me- not the restrained embrace I experienced time and time again from Isaac. The thought of that man turns my guts. How could he pretend to be my father knowing he was going to sacrifice me for his sick plan to dominate the Non-EVO? I’m glad he’s dead, and I’m glad it was me who killed him.

  I squeeze a little tighter, bringing my thoughts back to Jude. I’m focussed now that the rose-tinted glasses are gone, and I know Jude is genuine. He is my Uncle- my blood.

  “I’m sorry about Tess,” I say into his ear.

  He pats my back and walks away. I get that he doesn’t want to talk about it. I respect that. It’s best to leave him to pour himself a drink and drown his sorrows until he can face them. I know from witnessing my Mum, Shana’s, downfall that alcohol is never the answer, but who am I to tell anyone how to grieve? I’m not even sure I know how.

  We’re the only ones awake. I can’t sleep. My head aches from crying, and every time I close my eyes, I see dead faces; Golding’s and Haydn’s most vividly. Once we made it to the yacht in the early hours of the morning, time stood still. You could have been fooled into thinking that it was all a bad dream, if not for the pain and fear that hung in the air like a bad smell. I didn’t speak one word all day- I couldn’t. It was only when everyone headed to bed a few hours ago that I felt I could finally breathe.

  Although huge, the yacht hasn’t been built to sleep eleven people. Maggie, Yana, and October have bunked up in the master. Emiko and Wheeler have taken the double, and the two men who escaped the complex with us, Fabian Nuti an Aerokin, and Dom Cooper a Pyrokin, are top and tailing in the third room. Seth and Jude have taken the sofas.

  Adam and I have the corner couch to ourselves. I stretch out, resting my head on his lap. His fingers trace the outline of the dressing on my back, another set of stitches to match my arm. Considering everything that happened last night, a piece of glass in my back is a mild escape. What I wouldn’t give to bring back Golding and Haydn- Tess too. I thought, at the time, that killing Isaac would be vengeance enough, but it was far from it. It hasn’t brought my friends back. It hasn’t erased these last fourteen days. Fourteen days- it feels like a lifetime.

  “I think you should take the pills Jude offered. You need to sleep, and they worked for Yana,” Adam whispers.

  I shake my head. “I’ve had enough of being drugged for one lifetime.”

  “I know, but I’m right here—”

  “And having you here is enough,” I say. “I’ll try to sleep if it’ll make you feel better.” He nods, sliding down to lie face to face with me. Taking his hand, I bring it up to my chest. “Will you do it again? It’s comforting.”

  A dim, blue glow of electrokinesis emanates from his palm, illuminating his black skin and green eyes beautifully. I could happily stare at him for the rest of the night, but the pulse of energy in my fingers, and his hot breath against my skin, makes my eyelids heavy.

  ***

  I’m dreaming. I must be dreaming because I’m back on the rooftop. Tess’ body lies frail and lifeless on the hospital bed. I switch her life support back on, but there is no change on the monitors.

  I’m alone. Isaac is where I left him at the bottom of the pool below me. It’s easy to look at him; the man who had everyone fooled. As I watch his face ripple under the water, I’m sure I see it contort into a twisted smile. ‘I’ve won,’ he’s saying.

  My attention is broken by the sound of footsteps coming up the stairwell to the rooftop. Spinning around with my hand outstretched to the door, I wait. My own heartbeat drowns out any other sound.

  The door swings open, and Golding breezes through- blonde Mohawk, thick eyeliner, and all. I swear my heart has stopped beating if only for a split-second. I race the length of the roof. My best friend is right here and he is alive. I have to get to him.

  The sound of my footsteps thundering over the gravelly surface of the roof startles him and his head snaps in my direction. A shriek catches in my throat. Stumbling, I skid on my stomach until I stop at his feet. It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real.

  “But this is real, Teds?” says Golding’s voice, answering my private thoughts. “I’m dead- kicked the bucket- popped my clogs- croaked it- snuffed it. And you left me behind, just like you did your Dad and Haydn.”

  “I’m sorry,” I say, barely louder than a whisper. “We had to leave you.”

  His grey face has a mummified, leathery look of decomposition to it. My lip trembles, but I manage to hold in my screams. It’s happening again, exactly as it did when I was under the hallucination at Facility One and saw my Dad’s eyeless, rotted face.

  “They say you’re a powerful Dual-EVO, Teddie. Why didn’t you save me? You could have saved me. You said I was your best friend, and yet, you let me die.”

  Burying my face into my forearms, I chant, “You’re not Golding. You’re not Golding,” over and over again.

  “Look at me, Teds!” he screams. “Everyone around you ends up like me. Who is next? Yana, Maggie...Adam?”

  I clutch my hands to my ears. “Shut up, you’re not Golding!” I scream. “Shut up!”

  There is silence. I open
my eyes. Golding stands not a metre away from me with his eyes full of fear, his hands grappling at the collar around his neck. His face is back to normal: beautiful, scared.

  He drops to his knees right in front of me. “Am I going to die, Teddie?” he whispers. The exact words he said last night.

  “Please, don’t make me relive this,” I scream at nothing. I crawl to him, wrapping him in my embrace. “I can’t go through this again.”

  “I love you, Teds. Make sure you finish this,” he says, smiling through tears.

  This is too real. He kisses me and his body falls limp in my arms. I scream and scream and scream.

  “Teddie, wake up,” says Adam’s distant voice, his soft tones rippling through me like water. “Wake up, Teds.”

  I start awake to the couch shaking violently. Seth is sprawled on the floor in a tangle of blankets and cushions. The pictures drop from their positions on the walls, and Jude holds the coffee pot in place whilst trying to brace against the cupboards. My first thought is an earthquake, but it can’t be because we’re at sea.

  “It was just a dream, Baby,” Adam soothes. Both his hands cup my face. “Calm down.”

  I’m causing this. I pull my telekinesis back and the shaking stops. Beads of sweat have materialised on Adam’s face, and his thumbs stroke away the tears on my own. My heartbeat thuds throughout my whole body, followed by hollowness at reliving Golding’s death.

  Everyone has filed into the lounge area looking shocked and dishevelled from their violent wake up call.

  “What’s going on?” asks Wheeler. His dark, curly hair has the look of a bird’s nest.

  “Everyone go back to bed. It was nothing,” says Jude, resting a gentle hand on my head.

  “She did this, didn’t she?” snaps Cooper, gesturing at the destruction. “Are you trying to kill us in our sleep, Telekin? God knows what Tess has done to her, but she clearly isn’t in control. We’re not safe with her on the yacht.”