by Holly Hook
Burglars didn't break into places in fancy suits.
The Abnormal Treatment Centers people did.
They were the ones who dragged Abnormals off to reeducation classes, which were bad because they 1.) didn't work at turning Abnormals into Normals like the company said they did and 2.) were thought to make a lot of Abnormals go insane or starve to death from not getting the real diets they needed and 3.) never let you out.
Sheer panic shot through me and all my senses sharpened. Without thinking I reached for the longest katana and yanked it off the mounted stand. The blade shined in the dim light, clean and never used.
I eyed my cell phone for a second, which was now blowing up with a series of texts from Janine. So did he have a muscular chest? How did U meet? I should have called 911, but the cops would never mess with the ATC people. They were higher up with ties to the government. At the best the cops who didn't hate Abnormals would have to stand there and give me sympathetic looks as they dragged me away. And if I called Dad now he'd rush home and into their arms in no time. If he could. He'd have to wait for the sun to go away first.
Someone had sold me out and I was on my own.
There was another rattle at the back door and I took my first step towards the hallway when a deafening shot rang out and glass shattered.
All the smells of outside washed in along with the scent of lunch-infused blood and the horrible cologne. These people had done a horrible job at cloaking themselves. I was screwed. There was nowhere to run. The sun was still blazing and I wouldn't get far.
"Alyssa Choy," a man announced with scary calm from the back of the house. He stepped in, crunching glass into carpet. Little pieces broke. "We know you are home. Please step out and have a chat with us."
Another Janine text followed with a loud tone. Crap.
"She's down the hall," a woman said.
Four sets of footsteps crushed carpet with painful whispers as the ATC people marched towards me. If I got cornered that was the end. I'd be riding in one of those fated black vans to some underground place. There I'd spend the rest of my life having to choke down salads in some hope that it could help me decide to be Normal again.
And I still wanted to stab something.
"I'm here," I said, stepping into the hall with katana in hand. I kept it raised and pointed at the four goons in suits, three men and one woman who froze in the hall. The first one was only two feet beyond the tip of the blade.
The first guy wore a tan suit and he had the broadest shoulders I had ever seen. He had one hand half in his pocket like he was a gentleman ready to shake hands at a business meeting. The other pocket bulged with a pistol. He wore sunglasses that wrapped around his eyes completely, hiding them from view, and if his face could be any more stony it would belong to a statue. He looked like The Rock without any hair.
The woman hung right behind him, with blond hair spilling down the front of her gray suit and the two other men were also in sunglasses and gray suits. I guessed that Mr. Cologne in the tan suit was the leader. The others gave off the metallic smell of fear along with the food they'd eaten.
Then Mr. Cologne did take his hand out of his pocket as if I wasn't pointing a deadly sharp katana at his chest. He held a wallet and he let it open to show me his fancy badge. Meanwhile, Janine texted me again and another Top 40 hit punctuated my horror.
The badge was an innocent-looking coat of arms that shined under thin plastic. I caught the suburb home, the schoolhouse, the office worker, the sun. The letters ATC shined underneath in red. The badge was designed to look not scary, like there could be hope that I could become Normal again if I just chose hard enough.
"You know who we are," Mr. Cologne said. His voice was just as stony as he looked with a hint of something much darker. "And you know who I am."
Actually, I didn't, even though he looked really familiar like I might have seen him on TV before. I had only lived in Cumberland for three months and didn't know who the local celebrities were yet.
Mr. Cologne lowered the badge and let the wallet close. "We have gotten word that several missing blood bags from the Red Cross have somehow wound up here at your address. We've taken one Eddie Black into custody over this."
Eddie Black. He was Dad's friend and connection at the Red Cross and had been for years. People from there along with hospital orderlies got arrested all the time for smuggling blood bags out to people like us. You heard about it. They were the Normal traitors of the world.
"So he gave us away in exchange for his freedom," I said, not daring to lower the katana. I had the feeling I'd be breaking my silent vow not to hurt people very soon. Like within the next five minutes. I might even have to kill. Oh, god. I would have to kill people, the one thing I told myself I would never, ever do. And the worst part was that a part of me wanted to.
"It is not your business," Mr. Cologne said. "A lot of people like you are struggling to be Normal. We'll fix you. You are a danger to human society."
I kept the sword held high. This guy wasn't backing down and my stomach was rumbling with hunger again. The cheeseburger smell was intoxicating. I should have eaten the second I got home and Janine pulled away. I wouldn't be having this problem right now.
"Sure," I said. "Choking down a vegetarian diet is going to fix what's wrong. Tell me, why don't people ever come out of your programs if they work so well?"
The blond woman flinched but Mr. Cologne stood his ground. I couldn't read him.
"They work," he said, nodding a little. "The reason you don't hear from people who come out of our programs is that most of them take on new identities once they become Normal. You'll learn to reverse the choice you made when you were bitten."
"I was two," I said. "I didn't even know what was going on! How could I have chosen this?" My anger rose to a scary point. My arm trembled. I wanted this guy to bleed. I'd never felt like this before. It was scaring me. "Scientists say it's probably genetic."
"You'd be surprised," Mr. Cologne said. He nodded and I spotted a tattoo on the top of his head. I didn't have time to really make it out, but it looked like a jagged arrow crossed with a sword and it was a dark red, like dried blood. "You don't know what you were thinking at the time."
"It's a gene," I said. "It has to be. Why else did--" I shut up before I mentioned that Dad had also gotten this curse. But I couldn't even put faith in the idea that it really was genetic. It hadn't been proven, after all.
"Alyssa," Mr. Cologne said, using my real name. "We are taking you. Surrender the sword and give us your hands. We will make sure you are out of the sun on the way to the Center."
The Center. The words struck fear in my heart.
But more than that, rage.
I lunged and went for Mr. Cologne first, stabbing with the blade and striking him right in the chest.
Mr. Cologne remained still but the blade refused to puncture. His chest was hard. Stony. He didn't flinch. For a second I wondered if he really was made of rock like some sort of golem but then that would make him an Abnormal. No. It had to be a bulletproof vest or something. Or a blade proof vest.
"Fire," Mr. Cologne shouted to his goons.
The woman drew her pistol and raised it. It was now or never. Instinct had taken over. I jumped past Mr. Cologne and raised the blade just as she pulled the trigger to fire. The gun went off, grazing my arm. Hot pain flared. I ignored it and swung the blade down. Droplets of my own blood flew through the air, making splatters on the wall. I was hurt.
The woman couldn't move away in time. I swung the blade right into her shoulder. It made a wet slicing sound like a knife going through fruit.
She was the one who'd had a salad for lunch. The smell of lettuce and tomatoes and vinaigrette filled the hallway as red blossomed on her shoulder. It was even stronger than her scream of pain or the second gunshot going off, which missed. Smoke joined in on the smell. My stomach rumbled. I couldn't stay here long. I wouldn't be able to resist much longer.
The two gray sui
ted men were next. The woman was out of commission. She leaned against the wall and cradled her shoulder while Mr. Cologne shouted another order to fire. The first man raised his gun and backed towards the living room, but not before I lunged forward, blade first, and stabbed him in the lower abdomen. It punctured so far his suit came close the handle. The katana was sharper than I thought. I drew it back. It dripped with thick blood and smelled of overpowering cheeseburger. I felt dizzy with hunger. The man gasped and staggered back, leaning against the boxes and bleeding all over the floor.
We would definitely have to move after this.
My shoulder tingled as my skin started pulling itself back together. My own blood ran down my forearm, blood I could not smell. I bolted into the living room. I could duck behind the couch. The second man raised his gun at me--
Another shot fired and pain exploded in my back. Blood splattered all over the wall in front of me and the world went darker. My vision tilted and I realized I was dropping my sword. I fell to the carpet, which rose slowly, slowly.
I was shot. Right through my lower abdomen. I staggered and grabbed at the coffee table where Dad kept the golden Chinese dragon figurine his grandfather had given him. I took a deep breath and faced the man I had stabbed. He was moaning and cradling his abdomen. Blood soaked his hands. He smelled even more like cheeseburgers than before. The second man stood over him, face pale with horror.
And I had dropped my sword right where he was standing now.
Mr. Cologne appeared and stood next to uninjured guy "Good, Robert," he praised. "Let's get her into the van before she heals."
"Mike's dying," Robert managed. He was pale. "Shelly's hurt."
I took another breath. My back felt like it was ripping apart. My stomach, too. The inside of my body tingled, trying to heal, but I was so hungry and weak by now I wasn't sure how long it would take. I thought of the blood on the sword and on Mike. It could help me heal but I couldn't crawl over there and reach it.
And I wouldn't. Not in front of these people. Maybe not even in front of myself. I had hurt people and maybe even enjoyed it.
The freezer. It was way across the kitchen and in the store room. I'd never reach it before these guys got to me.
"You heard what I said," Mr. Cologne said, completely calm. "Get her and drag her over here. I'll pull the van up."
Robert swallowed and stepped over Mike, who was still groaning. I scooted away from him. I could move a tiny bit better now, but not much. The pain was an explosion. The world tilted. The bullet must have penetrated organs. Maybe even bone. My back was screaming and grinding noises happened whenever I moved. Robert hesitated like he was scared to come closer even though I was no shape to fight back. Mr. Cologne turned away and left him with the mess and with me. He was a great boss.
The business card.
As much as I hated the idea of relying on Xavier to come bail me out it was my only option. I thrust my hand into my pocket and rubbed the card between my fingers. It was warm and I hoped it wasn't with my own blood.
The card got hot, then scorching so much that I had to take my hand back out of my pocket. My back crunched again. Definitely broken. Robert closed in and reached towards me like I was a venomous snake. I drew back and glared at him. "You like your job?" I asked. The card in my pocket was still hot and I didn't know what was going to happen.
"Of course," he said in a tone that said that no, he didn't.
"So you get great benefits?" I asked. "Great dental and paid vacations?"
"Oh," Mike groaned on the floor.
"Aren't you going to call an ambulance for that guy?" I asked. Shelly was standing there now at the mouth of the hallway, holding her bleeding shoulder. She was really pale, too. Blood had gotten into her hair. Cheeseburgers and salad. Not a good combo. "I didn't want to hurt him but I really, really needed to defend myself." I might have killed someone like Russell Fox was still thought to sometimes. I might be just like him and society was right to want me put away. The thought wanted to make me vomit and chased away all the hunger for a moment.
"I can't," Robert said. He was torn about this, tortured. Then he leaned closer to me and flicked his gaze back to the door like he was scared someone was listening in. "Please help us."
"Huh?" I asked, but not before a loud crackling sound filled the air and the living room heated.
Robert jumped back and raised his pistol towards the sound.
Then I saw.
A column of magenta flame rose in the corner of my living room, crackling like a bonfire and casting a breeze through the whole room. At the same time, police sirens started up in the distance. The neighbors must have heard the shots and called the cops.
The column grew thicker, hotter, brighter. The air in the room turned into a furnace and I tried to stand, but the pain was still unbearable. I wasn't healing fast. I might not be healing at all, so all I could do was sit there injured and watch as a dark form took shape inside the column, at first like a shadow and then more solid. A trench coat. A hat. Sunglasses.
Xavier.
The card had worked.
The column of fire remained, spinning in the corner of the living room like a tornado of flame, and Xavier stepped out, his closed fist glowing with the same fiery magenta of his surprise portal. Without facing me, the War Mage raised his hand towards Robert and a ball of crackling flame shot for him, sparking and lighting the whole room in blinding purple light.
It contacted with a loud fizzling sound and Robert flew back into the kitchen, doing a catapult over the counter.
Things thumped and glass shattered as the entire cabinet of Dad's vintage wine glasses spilled out and onto the floor. Robert groaned and Shelly bolted for the door as Xavier turned his attention to me.
"Alyssa," he said, extending his hand. "Get up. We need to go."
I glanced at Mike who had gone still on the floor and at the blood splattered all over the walls. Staying anywhere near Cumberland from now on was going to be impossible. Down the hall, my phone blew up with another text and another. But at that moment, with everything going to hell around me, I didn't care. I just needed to get out of here before I was reduced to getting on my hands and knees and licking the blood off the floor, because I was seriously thinking about it.
So I took Xavier's hand and prayed we didn't have to leave through that fiery column.
"We need to leave through the column. It'll close behind us," he said, surveying the room. "See, Alyssa? Not only are you hot, but you're a good fighter."
Chapter Three
I had to close my eyes as Xavier pulled me closer to the fire portal. Someone in the house groaned and the cheeseburger smell got super strong again as we stepped over where Mike was lying. He was still breathing, regularly now like he was trying to conserve his energy until the ambulance got here. I hoped they found him even if the guy had tried to shoot me. All the aggression was out of me now that I was this hurt.
The air got hotter and hotter, almost unbearable, as we stepped through. The air fizzled and crackled around me as I kept my arms around Xavier and his leather coat. I let my head rest on his chest (which was, by the way, pretty muscular) as we fell through space and bright purple light tried to invade my eyelids. I waited for my skin to burn, for the sickness to join in on the excruciating pain in my back, but it never came. This was a different light than the sun.
And even in this magical limbo we were falling through, he still smelled like wood smoke. I couldn't get the smell out of my head. It was intoxicating, different, almost refreshing. Or, it would have been if I wasn't falling into the unknown with a strange guy I had only met an hour ago.
We fell for what felt like ages. I held my breath and closed my eyes, letting my head rest against his chest. The pain throbbed and ached, crunched and burned. I wasn't healing. I was supposed to. An awful hollow feeling swept through me like I was losing too much blood. How ironic. I was going to die if I didn't get help soon--if I could die.
I could. Dad
told me that. It took a lot, and I wasn't sure how much--but I could.
The floor hit and a jolt ran through my body. I screamed with the agony and Xavier said something. I opened my eyes. It was darker. I slumped in his grasp. Gas lanterns hung from the ceiling of an ancient brick tunnel. A barrel leaned up against the wall and the forms of people walked past. A woman asked if I was okay. Xavier said that she needed to use her eyes. More corridors branched off, some with warm lights down them and others very dark save for the very faint glows of candles. A very big, burly man with a doglike smell paused to glance at me. His eyes were a very faint yellow as if there was something other than human inside.
"Les," Xavier said, managing to hold me up.
I was so, so going to faint in his arms.
"What?" the doggy smell man asked. His teeth were very, very white.
"Get Trish. Now. This girl needs infirmary." He sounded so calm, like I wasn't bleeding out all over the floor. "She can't heal."
Les turned his gaze on me. I honestly didn't care that he had doggy breath, too. Xavier didn't seem to mind, or at least he couldn't smell it. The hallway was turning even darker. The pain was so intense I didn't care if Les tore my throat out or whether or not I would survive it.
"Where did you find her?" Les asked. He sounded more intelligent than I thought he would, almost like a gentleman. "She looks like an Imposter to me."
"It doesn't matter what she is. She took out one of Thoreau's agents," Xavier said. "She's worth saving and bringing to the cause. You heard me. Go and get Trish. That's an order."
A wave of darkness swept across my vision like a shadowy hand blocking out everything. Xavier managed to keep one arm around me as he lowered me towards the floor. He took off his sunglasses with his free hand and for the first time I saw the color of his eyes. They were the deepest blue I could imagine, with tiny flecks of purple around his irises like rare jewels. I hadn't imagined a creature like him could even exist.
The shadows won and I spiraled down into darkness.
