Lincoln’s on his knees, hands up, eyes pleading with me to go.
“Turn that down or I will kill him,” William says without any emotion.
I have no doubt that he will. I force the light down, pushing it toward my palms as I tuck my hands behind my back. I can’t leave Lincoln. I don’t know what to do.
I think of the practices. All the cans I blasted. I can do this.
You can do this.
I take a deep breath in, hands still hidden, sun filling me with energy.
“Don’t even think about it.” William’s chin is tilted down, his eyes glaring. His thumb flicks something on the gun.
I hold his gaze, standing only a few feet away. I need to get him away from Lincoln. I can do this. I raise my hands. I blast him with a burst of light like nothing I’ve ever produced. He falls back and I don’t lose my head start. I need Will to follow and give Lincoln a chance to get away.
I run.
31
Julia
The gunshot reverberates through the air behind me; it cracks off the tall pines like a whip. The sound is so much louder than I would have ever expected. My choice to run will haunt me for the rest of my life.
I’m on the ground before I know how I got there. Stones and twigs dig into my knees and palms. I inhale dust, fighting to keep from coughing.
“That’s far enough, Julia,” William says. He’s calm yet loud enough to be heard all around me. “I did warn you.”
I turn around slowly to see Lincoln on the ground. Dark liquid pools around his lifeless form.
Lincoln! God, no. Please no.
Tears sting my eyes. My fingers dig into the ground so hard the dirt jams under my nails. The metallic zing of blood fills my mouth from biting my lip. Anguish rips through me, breaking my heart. Nathaniel. What will he do when he finds out? Poor Lincoln. Poor Nathaniel … all because of me …
“The next bullet is for you. Please understand that this is not a game.” William makes his way to me easily. I didn’t get very far. All pretense is gone. Disgust curls his lip as he looks down on me.
He pulls me to my feet by my hair. “Get up.” His grip is bruising as he tugs me forward. He grunts a little from the action and I pray that Lincoln’s final blow caused William internal bleeding.
“It’s only a little way from here,” he says.
I always dreamed I’d be strong in a harrowing situation. I played out scenarios in my head a thousand times where I would do the right thing in the moment. But I’m not brave at all. I’m terrified. I’ve killed Lincoln. I didn’t think … I just … I’m so sorry. I’m so weak. I do as William says because I don’t know what else to do. I still want to find others like me. At this point, they may need help.
My body convulses with tremors as he roughly drags me into the old factory. We pass the room I went off in so many times toward an old cave entrance I never knew about. More signs warn about entering.
I think I might be in shock. I’m unable to focus on a single thought. My limbs have gone numb. I’m stumbling to keep up. Before too long we are deep in a cave.
“Where are we going?” I stumble as the trail narrows and descends steeply.
“Just a little further.”
We walk another few minutes. The air is damp and decayed as the walls come closer and closer. He has to tuck his head to walk. My powers aren’t working as well here. It’s like trying to lift something that’s been weighted down with wet sand. I can do it, but it’s taking more effort than it should.
Maybe it’s the shock wearing me out.
I’m relieved in a weird way when we reach a circular vault-like door. Maybe not everything he spews is a lie. It’s old steel, corroded from time. He gestures for me to open it, the gun still pointed at me. It takes leveraging my foot against the wall to pry it open. The squeak of the hinges echoes loudly. It won’t open any further, stuck only a few feet wide. He shoves me through and follows. The skin is tender at the base of my skull where the gun is pressed.
Inside an automatic light flicks to life, humming with old energy. I can’t make out how big the room is; my eyes don’t seem to be working as well in this low light, but based on how long shuffles take to echo back, it’s pretty cavernous. The cement walls and floor are dusty and the air smells of stagnation. The little hope I have crashes when it’s clear nobody has been working here for decades.
Have I really been so naively hopeful that I took his lies as truth? So desperate for any chance I wasn’t all alone in the world?
All hope drains out of me. I feel icy—more hopeless and alone than I have ever felt.
“There are no others.” I don’t know why I say it out loud. I just need to know. Put the final nail in the coffin.
“No, there are. Other freaks like you,” he says but he can’t hide the disgust in his voice.
So is that where he’s taking me? Are they down here? I imagine cages. Women like me being poked with sticks or shocked with electrodes.
“They just aren’t here.” Abruptly he points the gun at me.
I shove my back against the wall. The single light near us flickers in and out feebly, casting long shadows in flashes, like monsters in the night that pop up and melt away.
In one of the darker moments, I scuttle to the side.
“Don’t drag out the inevitable,” he says.
I’m out of the reach of the light. He squints to try to find me. I take another step but my foot hits a puddle and his head shoots in my direction. The gun is aimed at me now too. I track him in the dark, but it seems to drain me like never before.
“Julia. Don’t forget—where there’s a Will, there’s a way.” He smiles and my skin crawls.
“Why go through all this? Why not just kill me somewhere else?” I ask.
“Don’t make me spell it out. Here, it’s an accident. Some rocks fall on you. You come up here all the time. I was never even here.”
I close my eyes and breathe as quietly as possible. But I don’t stay still too long; I keep moving. Despite my broken heart, my survival instinct keeps me from giving up.
I try to dodge but he seems to follow me no matter where I go. My pounding heart must be giving me away.
“Plus, I just want to see you die,” he adds.
A shudder racks my body. What a sick monster.
“I don’t understand,” I say and my voice bounces around the room. That seems to throw him off more than my silence. I move quickly. “What did I ever do to you?”
The gun flies left and right, trying to track me. “It’s simple. You disgust me. You’re a freak. If it was any era other than this PC fucking snowflake time you would have been put down a long time ago.”
It’s the most vehemence I’ve heard from him yet. His psychopathic aloofness melts away to reveal the demon under the skin.
“You can’t be allowed to hurt people. If you were an unregistered weapon, I would be within my rights. People like you aren’t humans. You are the freaks. The dregs of society. And you need to be put down before you can take what we have worked for.”
“You have no right to decide who lives and who dies.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I have the most right. I contribute the most to society. I make the most money and put it back into the economy. I make choices every day that impact thousands of people. If not for men like me, you wouldn’t even have anything.
“You, on the other hand, serve no purpose. If anything, you are a ticking time bomb. You will hurt more people in your life than I ever will. You probably already have.”
Despite the fact that I know he’s delusional and power hungry and has lost all track of reality, his words hit their mark. Everything he says is right. I do hurt people. I got Lincoln killed. I have ruined Nathaniel’s life. I will hurt others.
Not for the first time, I think about how much easier it would be if the candle of my life was blown out of existence. What purpose do I serve?
I stop moving. I can hardly see now. The light has gone out inside o
f me. I find it difficult to find any energy to pull from. I want to give up. I’m so tired of fighting every day just to be normal.
“There’s no place for freaks like you. You’re a scourge on society. Just like his mother. I’ll take care of you too.”
“No,” I whisper.
The earth shuffles as he steps closer to me. Nathaniel’s mother. I suddenly feel rage on her behalf. On behalf of a child that lost his mother. I gather my rage like a blanket around me, warming the numbness. But it’s not enough; I can’t seem to find the light in me. I feel only cold darkness. Maybe it’s the room. Maybe he’s right.
“Not a car crash? How could you? You made a child with her.”
“Don’t remind me. Flesh is weak.” He sighs. “Unfortunately, I can’t take credit for her death. That was one of my associates. He made it look like an accident, just like I will do to you. It’s what we do. A side hobby for some friends and me.”
“Having power and millions of dollars isn’t enough?” I ask.
“You know, it’s not.” He laughs good-naturedly, almost self-depreciatingly. But it’s like seeing a monster slide into human skin. “It’s important to have hobbies. One by one, we are picking you freaks off. Marty was close to one, but he got greedy. And was stupid enough to get caught. Always close those loops.”
I want to keep him talking. If I can just get to the door that’s still stuck open, maybe I can rush through. But that’s near the light, and if he shoots … well, at least I’ll have tried.
“You know I watched the tapes of you and Nathaniel in the labs. You two. So sloppy. Did you really think there wouldn’t be cameras in a high-tech, multi-million-dollar facility? I heard you talk about wanting a normal life. It was so damn sweet. Really tugged at the old heart strings. You had him fooled, but not me. I know women like you. You reel in innocent men and then take everything from them. It’s important to keep you in place. You made it too easy. You and your bleeding heart. You really had him going. I knew that was how I could get you to come here. So easy.”
I’m getting closer to the door. Moving so silently. If he can just keep waxing poetic. He isn’t so powerful, is he? Just another man that loves to hear himself speak.
“You’re wrong,” I say, unable to help myself. The gun swings back to me. “Love is not weakness. Love is strength.”
“You aren’t normal. You will never belong.” He must have the last word. His eyes are wide, greedy for the end. He cannot wait to see me lying in a pool of my own blood.
I’m almost to the door. If I sprint, I might make it past him. I have a small chance.
Then his words slip in, weirdly mirroring a similar sentiment his son has been trying to tell me from the beginning. I am not normal. I will never be normal. I remember Angel’s words too. About love being a power in the darkness.
The understanding settles into my skin like a protective shield. All at once the power begins to return to me.
It never left me at all. I just stopped understanding. I have the power. I have meaning. I have something that William Moore will never have.
He’s weak. Average. He’s the normal one.
And what’s so great about that?
I’m not normal and I’ve never been happier about it.
Fuck running. It’s time I stay and fight.
* * *
Nathaniel
I run to my car, heart racing. I never should have let Will take Julia. I was a fool to think this wasn’t always a part of his plan.
The moment I’m off base, I find my phone and turn it on. I need to warn Lincoln that our father is out for blood. I turn onto Main Street to head to the police station when my phone immediately starts ringing from a blocked number. I only answer because it could be Julia.
“Hello?”
“Nathaniel? This is a friend of Julia’s.” The words are contorted into a robotic tone like the caller is using a voice changer.
My heart is already racing as I speed too fast through town, phone tucked against my shoulder.
“Who?” I ask.
“Julia knows me as Angel. She’s in danger. Will isn’t taking her to the police.”
I don’t have any reason to trust this person but it would be ridiculous to question when they already know this much.
“Where is she?” I ask.
“Go left and head up the mountain. I will text you their location. He’s taking her to the old mines.”
I hit the steering wheel but follow the instructions. I don’t question anything at this point. My only concern is Julia.
“Is she okay?” I ask, voice cracking.
Traffic is heavy with summer break visitors.
There’s a pause. “I don’t know, but there’s more. He has Lincoln.”
The two most important people to me in the world. I take the next turn too sharply and the phone falls from my clammy palms. “Shit.”
The car jerks up the narrow winding road leading up the mountain as I blindly reach for the phone while trying to stay in my lane. I have to focus on driving.
When I am able to get the phone again, I hear the voice calling out. “Hello? Hello?”
“Sorry. Dropped my phone.” I’m shaking all over. “Are they okay?”
“I don’t—you have to hurry—isn’t who he seems—is hunting—” The voice starts to break up the higher I speed up the mountain.
“I can’t hear you.” When I pull the phone away from my ear to check, the call has dropped and I have no bars.
I hit the steering wheel again. Thankfully the text with the location has come through. I will not lose my only family. I won’t let him take anything else from me.
32
Julia
I step into the light and stare at the monster in front of me. As soon as he spots me, the gun in William’s hand swings toward me. I step forward and smile sweetly.
Without lifting a finger I glare at the flickering light above until it pops and goes out, blanketing us in darkness.
“You’re right,” I say. “I’m not normal. I am not ordinary.” I step quietly to the left. “I’m extraordinary. And I am loved.”
The gun goes off but I’ve moved.
“You are nothing,” I say in the ringing silence after the shot.
Like I did all those times I practiced with Nathaniel in the lab, I aim and send a pulse of hot light at my target, blasting the gun out of William’s hand. I hear the metal skid across the stones.
“Neat trick,” he says. His voice is still irritatingly calm. “But you’re forgetting something.”
I step closer to him, reaching deep, searching for the light within me.
“There’s a reason I brought you here. There’s no light. No sun. No stars to pull from. The walls are lined with lead.”
The light in me stutters to a stop at his words.
“I know how your powers work better than you do,” he spits out. “You never wanted to explore your full capability. You truly could have gone off like a bomb—that wasn’t a lie. You have so much power, but you wasted it all being afraid. And now you’re going to die like you should have a long time ago. I bet you already feel your power draining.”
As he speaks, my worst fears are realized. There is nothing growing in me. The little light I had seems to be gone after I blew away his gun. I am powerless, like a candle snuffed out.
His hand snaps around my throat at my hesitation, squeezing. The pain is unlike anything I’ve ever felt. My throat is like a paper straw under his grip. No matter what, a man can wield his size like a weapon. He shoves me against the mountain wall. My eyes feel like they are bulging out of my head. The air won’t come. I scratch and kick and fight but my strength is nothing compared to his. His free arm is pressed across my breastbone, crushing my chest.
A new fear spreads through me. I cannot stop him. He will win.
No.
This isn’t right. He cannot win. Nathaniel and Lincoln will not remain under his thumb. This is a final attempt from a desper
ate man who knows he’s losing.
I calm myself and think of Nathaniel and the electromagnetic spectrum. Light waves. Energy waves. It’s all connected. It’s always there.
My knee slams up at the same time I bring my hands up to break his grip on me.
“You’re wrong. You don’t know more about my body than I do.” My voice is raspy from the effort to speak. “I can pull from anywhere. Anything.”
Will’s hands are on his knees, wincing with every gasp. I must have hit him where Lincoln already bruised him. He glares up at me.
“For example, did you know a lot of granite has veins of naturally occurring radioactive elements? Your incredible son taught me that.” He watches me warily as I straighten. “This whole mountain is filled with it.” I close my eyes and reach for the energy within the rock. “I feel it all around us right now.”
I visualize Nathaniel. I think of the way he looked at me while holding me. His stolen glances during meetings. I think of his love for the team and his devotion to Lincoln that I now share. I think of the Davies and the love poured into their garden. I think of the love Kate has for her daughter. I think of all the forms of caring. It’s all love. It is everywhere. Love is a type of energy.
I love and I am loved. That’s what makes me strong.
William is nothing more than a weak and scared little man.
Light waves of every size and strength surround me, some the normal eye can’t see. Colors and shapes and dimensions I never let myself embrace because I was too afraid swirl around me. I held back before, but now I lean fully into my powers. I see it all. The energy is everywhere. We are all connected.
I think of all the world could be. All the life I can bring to it. I imagine the love waiting for me.
Deeper still, I collect. I focus on the energy flowing into my body. It feels like I’m stepping into a warm pool, the gentle heat starting at my toes and spreading up my legs.
Light starts to fill the room around us. The confident smirk slides off Will’s face and his eyes go wild with fear. The same fear that all the people he has hurt have felt.
The Untouched: THE UNSEEN SERIES, #2 Page 25
