As yet, we have not been able to ascertain that the Heir holds an Ability but we continue to conduct tests. However, as the Heir is twelve and most Manipulators manifest their Abilities by eight or nine, perhaps you are correct that the Heir is uninfected.
My breath catches as I reach the part I haven’t seen.
I have been unable to extract information concerning Vaughn’s plans, but that is to be expected. The Heir’s age precludes her from being a part of Vaughn’s strategy, especially as she is his daughter.
I have every confidence we will be able to extinguish the Manipulator threat now that we have a Descendant’s blood sample.
Tomorrow we will begin the height tests to ascertain whether she reacts as her father and brother would. Her Descendant blood indicates a strong likelihood of the Heir possessing the same Ability but further tests are required to extract it.
I will keep you updated with any progress.
Sincerely,
JC
Who is this JC who performed all these tests on me and suppressed my memories? And how does he know what my father and Eli’s Ability is?
‘Come on, Thee,’ Eli says. ‘Next one.’
Duncan,
The strength of the cloaking elixir has been increased and the Heir’s recall of her previous life is fading. I propose that you begin preparing the public for the introduction of your ‘daughter’.
It seems you are correct that the Heir possesses no Ability. The height tests garnered no results. During each test she fell from the ledge, proving she couldn’t Space Vault. Moving to a higher ledge panicked the child but produced no results.
Previous generations have shown that the Manipulator gene does not always develop in offspring. Although her father is a Descendant and her twin possesses an Ability, her mother is a Natural. Therefore, we have to conclude that the mother’s genes run true in the Heir.
Sincerely,
JC
This letter does not improve my mood. As much as I wish for my memories to return, I don’t think I want to remember the tests. I find it curious the writer doesn’t call Duncan Your Majesty or Sire. Even if they are close, in a formal letter the king’s proper title should be used.
I cannot bring myself to look at the other pages I took and hand them to Eli. He senses my mood and puts them inside his jacket. The concern on his face is touching.
‘What do you think about the letters?’ I ask.
‘What about them?’ he says, avoiding my gaze.
His nonchalant attitude is annoying.
‘Everything about them! How many tests did they do? I was locked up for a year, with who knows what being done to me, and I have no memory of that year. There’s a photo in Duncan’s office that shows I was released for the Kingdom Day parade, and yet I don’t remember. My hair is light brown in the picture, dyed so I won’t recognise myself in the mirror – so if anyone from Concord is in the kingdom they won’t recognise me. How? Is Lucy drugging me and dyeing my hair?’
‘That seems unlikely; it’d be a lot of trouble.’
‘Of course! The beauty treatments!’
‘Huh?’
‘Every fortnight Lucy applies a moisturising masque to my hair and leaves it on for an hour or so.’ I look at Eli, horrified. ‘She’s been dyeing my hair brown for years and I’ve been letting her, thinking it was fun.’
‘I think you have worse problems than different coloured hair, Thee.’
‘Yes. Like, why was my memory erased? And who wrote the letters? Who is JC?’
Eli looks at me. ‘I don’t know, Thee, and I don’t think we have the time to find out. For now, we have to focus on rescuing Jay.’
‘It’s so frustrating not knowing anything.’
‘It will start coming back. You remembered the Graysons, didn’t you?’
‘The name was familiar, that’s all.’
‘It’s something.’
I wish my memory would return. Eli is incredibly familiar to me but I’m not sure if it’s because my memory is starting to work or because I’ve spent more time with him. The uncertainty is unsettling.
‘The plan: we find the Graysons and convince them to help us get into the Jasper Institute.’
‘And then all we have to do is find the top secret Chamber and break Jay out,’ Eli says. ‘Easy.’
On the rooftop, dark clouds loom in the distance, promising rain this evening. With a light wind whispering at my cheeks, I am glad I changed into black linen trousers and my grey coat.
Eli is scouting for a spot to Vault to. It can’t be too far away because he has to save his verve for Jay.
I take a deep breath. The last time I did this, I was almost sick. The swirling sensation I experienced Vaulting from the platform at the parade to my room made me queasy and disoriented. This time I know what is to come, but I don’t know if that will help my stomach.
Pointing to the laneway behind Dominion Hall, he turns to me. ‘Are you ready?’
‘Yes.’
‘Remember, you can’t think of anywhere else. Last time your intentions somehow overrode mine and we ended up here.’
‘I know, I know. I don’t know how I did that.’
‘You still need to be careful.’
‘Yes, brother.’
He smiles and takes my arm. For a moment I am calm. But then the whirling sensation takes over – my stomach drops and my head spins.
Thankfully, it is over quickly. I open my eyes and we are in the laneway, my feet planted firmly on the ground. Eli strides down the laneway before turning back to me. ‘Ah, best you lead the way.’
I lead Eli towards the North-west Quarter, walking casually so as not to draw attention to ourselves. Thankfully, our stomachs are full after I convinced Lucy to have dinner brought up while Eli hid. I poured the cocoa out before Eli could drink it. Unfortunately, after Vaulting my stomach is no longer full.
As we pass the closed markets, the sky is streaked with pink and grey, and the dark clouds move closer to the kingdom. In the North-west Quarter we begin searching the residential side streets for the pink picket fence. We are fortunate that this Quarter is smaller than others.
The sun is almost set by the time we find the house. Although the paint is faded, the picket fence is definitely pink. The small cottage is run-down, like every other house along this street. Inside are people I once knew. I smile at the irony. Neither the Grayson boys nor I have any recollection of our lives together.
The small front yard features an oddity: an antique car. The metal exterior is only slightly rusted, the metal panels a patchwork of different colours. The windows are without glass and the interior fabric is patched with varying upholstery fabrics. Motorised vehicles were common in the Old World, transporting people and goods, but I have only ever seen them in the city’s small, neglected museum.
‘The Graysons seem to have a hobby.’
‘I wonder if it runs,’ I say.
‘I wonder what they use for fuel,’ Eli says.
‘I hope Mrs Grayson remembers us,’ I say, opening the gate. Once we knock on the front door there is no turning back. ‘The twins will either believe us or think we’re insane and get the sentinels.’
Eli opens the rickety wire door and raises his hand to knock. ‘Do you think they would answer if I used the special knock?’
I roll my eyes and knock for him – in no special way.
We hear footsteps and the door opens to reveal Darcy, easy to identify with his glasses.
‘Princess Althea? What are you doing here?’
‘Hi, um, sorry to bother you, Darcy, can we come inside, please?’
‘Of course.’ He gestures us inside. ‘Can I get you a beverage?’
‘No, thank you.’
The narrow hallway leads to the living room where Bennet is stretched out on the weathered timber floorboards, playing with some wires attached to an old radio – another old technology I’ve only seen in the museum. Not only does he get a shock seeing me, he gets an
electric shock from touching two fine wires together.
Recovering from his involuntary spasm, he leaps to his feet. ‘Princess! What are doing here?’
‘We need to talk to your mother. This is my . . . this is Eli.’ Eli waves. ‘Is your mother here?’
‘Of course,’ Bennet says. ‘She never leaves. Why do you need to talk to her?’
‘Please, Bennet. I’ll explain afterwards.’
Darcy speaks. ‘I’ll go fetch her.’
Darcy leaves and Eli and I are left standing awkwardly in the living room entrance. Under the one window sits a faded blue settee and the only other furniture is a white armchair squeezed into the corner and a small coffee table.
‘Oh, take a seat,’ Bennet says.
Eli looks at me questioningly and we sit on the settee, sinking into the polyester cushions. Darcy enters a few moments later followed by an older lady in a white, long-sleeved nightgown.
‘Mum, these two people are here to talk with you.’
‘What two people? I don’t know any two people,’ she says, seeming confused. ‘Who wants to talk to me?’
I get up off the settee after three attempts and greet her. ‘Mrs Grayson? My name is–’
‘It’s Ms Grayson and I know who you are. What the devil are you doing here?’ She notices Eli, trying to extract himself from the settee. ‘Is this your sentinel? Have you come to take me? Boys, stop them! You told me you wouldn’t let anybody take me!’
Darcy puts a reassuring arm around her. ‘Calm down, Mum. They’re not here to take you. They just want to talk, Mum.’
‘Yes, Ms Grayson, we’re just here to talk to you.’
‘Hmm.’ She settles herself in the white armchair. ‘Darcy, be a dear and fetch some tea. And, Bennet, go fetch my warm blanket, I feel a bit of a draught.’
The young men dutifully do as they are told and Eli and I lower ourselves onto the settee again. ‘Ms Grayson, we were wondering if you remember much from the past?’
‘I remember everything, dearie, regardless of what the boys have told you.’
‘Wonderful. We wanted to discuss your time before coming to live in the Kingdom of Cardiff.’
Her glazed-over eyes turn sharp, and she sits upright in her armchair. ‘We’re loyal kingdom subjects, my boys and I! I don’t know what you mean!’
Eli takes over. ‘Ms Grayson, we are here to talk about your Ability.’
‘I don’t know what you are talking about. I must ask you to leave at once. Boys. Boys!’
‘Yes, you do know what we’re talking about. You know us. We’re the Reid twins.’
Darcy and Bennet both rush in and simultaneously say, ‘What’s wrong, Mum?’
Her alarmed face softens. ‘Oh, nothing. I was just wondering what was taking so long.’
They both leave, grumbling curses under their breath.
‘We need your help.’
‘No, no. I cannot possibly help you. I cannot risk exposing myself, or the boys. Oh, what would happen to the boys? I left Concord to protect the boys from what they were, what they are. I saw the way Variants were being treated.’
‘We wouldn’t ask if we weren’t desperate.’
Bennet pokes his head into the room. ‘Mum, I can’t find the cacked blanket. Where did you last have it?’
‘Oh, that’s right, dearie. I had it out on the back porch last night when I was star gazing.’
‘Of course you did.’ He leaves again, the cursing more audible.
‘I don’t understand. How can you be the princess and Thea Reid?’
‘I was kidnapped the night our mother was killed, Ms Grayson. They kidnapped me and erased my memories.’
She looks frightened. ‘But why? Who would do that?’
‘We don’t know exactly, but the kingdom scientists have been running tests on me, using my blood to . . . make some kind of serum that will disable Variants’ Abilities.’
‘Goodness gracious!’
‘They’ve taken Jay and we need to rescue him,’ Eli says.
‘Little Jay Tomlinson?’
‘Yes. That’s why we need your help. Or rather, your sons’ help. We know they have Abilities.’ Although I wasn’t a hundred per cent sure before, the look in her eyes confirms my suspicions.
‘How do you know they have Abilities?’
‘Because they’ve been using them in their work without realising it. Haven’t you ever noticed the way they scratch at their wrists?’
Dawn’s eyes dart between us. ‘How could I not have noticed?’
‘Noticed what, Mum?’ Darcy enters with a tray of teacups and a teapot. He places the tray on the small, wobbly table and then scratches his wrist.
Ms Grayson cries out, ‘No! No, that’s enough. I’d like you to leave right now!’
‘Mum, what’s wrong?’
‘They have to leave. They cannot be here!’
Bennet enters with the blanket. ‘Here you go, Mum.’
‘Leave now!’
‘Mum, that’s the princess you’re talking to!’
‘No she isn’t! They must leave at once!’
‘Please, Ms Grayson, we need your help!’
‘I will not allow you to put my boys in danger! Not after all we did to get them here, safe!’
Darcy kneels down next to her, patting her arm. ‘Mum, calm down. You’re working yourself up. No one is in danger.’
Bennet wraps the blanket around her but she throws it off and stands up more quickly than I thought she was capable of. ‘You will leave now!’ she commands.
On the table, the tea tray starts rattling and I can hear a buzzing sound from the dismantled radio left on the floor by Bennet.
‘Woah, what’s happening?’
‘Earthquake!’ Bennet dives to the floor, pushing his head and shoulder under the table while Darcy pulls his mother into the doorway in a well-practised move. The lights start blinking on and off.
‘Earthquake?’ I ask. ‘The kingdom doesn’t have–’
‘We should go, Thea.’ Eli pulls me up from the settee.
‘What about Jay? We need their help.’
‘We’ll find another way. Let’s go.’
As the rattling and shaking in the room intensifies, I follow Eli out of the house and onto the street. Through the Graysons’ open curtains, I see the lights flicker. The few street lamps also flash off and on.
Eli tows me to the corner. ‘That was close.’
‘I’ve never heard of the kingdom having an earthquake but their reactions seemed routine.’
‘It was an electrical rage. Ms Grayson would have got worse if we had stayed.’
There is still so much I have to learn. ‘Now what?’
‘We go get Jay.’
We walk to the Jasper Institute through the deepening dark, storm clouds hovering above. The crackling of lightning and thunder sets the mood perfectly for the night’s activities.
Unlike the medical ward next door, the Jasper Institute is unlit by outside lights. We creep to a window and peer inside, spotting two sentinels in the dimly lit lobby. One stands at the ready in the middle, his maserlock gripped in his hands, while the other casually leans against the back wall next to the stairwell, his maserlock propped next to him.
I move out of the way for Eli to take a look. ‘The way I see it, we have two options. Either, we knock on the front door and you ask to be let in.’ I look at him like he’s crazy. ‘Or, we Vault in behind them and you freeze them.’
‘We’re going with option two.’
‘Are you sure you can freeze them?’
‘Let’s find out.’
‘There’s no going back.’
‘I don’t want to go back.’
Eli takes my hand. ‘Crouch down.’
I blink and we are in motion. Before I can even register the spinning sensation, it stops. I look around to get my bearings. We are crouched in the stairwell. The sentinels are in their same positions and haven’t noticed we’re behind them.
A sentinel guards the basement door.
Eli reassuringly squeezes my shoulder and I slowly extend my left hand, aiming at the sentinel.
‘Hey–’ we hear, and then nothing.
We cautiously poke our heads out. The sentinel is frozen, his mouth open, his maserlock raised.
I step around the sentinel, push open the door and go into the basement, a large, open space like the floors above but with one glaring difference. The middle of the space houses a separate room, its four walls made of glass. Something about this place feels familiar. In the middle of the transparent room is Jay, hanging by his hands from chains that descend from the ceiling. The Chamber.
I rush over to the Chamber and bang on the glass but Jay doesn’t look up. ‘Jay!’
Beside the Chamber on the left is a long metal desk upon which sit similar machines to those on the testing floor above: screens displaying black-and-white typewriter-like writing, keyboards and metal boxes with flashing lights. From my history books, I think these are computers. To the right is a metal-framed door with glass panels. Eli races over to the door as I step towards it.
Somewhere behind me I hear a scraping sound and turn. The sentinel has unfrozen and is aiming his maserlock at me.
‘Thea!’ Eli yells.
I raise my hands and close my eyes, preparing for the pain to hit me. But it doesn’t. I open my eyes. The pulsar hovers a metre from my face.
The sentinel falters, confused, before raising the maserlock and firing again.
My scream is lost in swirling motion and I am suddenly by the metal desk with Eli. He releases me and charges the sentinel, barrelling him to the ground. Eli slams his head onto the ground, knocking him unconscious. Then Eli removes the maserlock from the sentinel’s limp fingers and stands up.
‘Are you all right?’ I ask, walking over to him.
‘I’m fine.’ He shrugs me off and heads over to the door. I follow, my wrist tingling.
The door is locked and Eli bangs on it to no effect. Jay hangs limply in the chains.
‘What are we going to do?’
‘We have to Vault in.’
Time Catcher Page 15
