Lucid Design

by Kate Tailor

  The racks of wine collected dust, and the dampness was cool, not sweltering. If there were ghosts in the attic, what lurked down here? Raleigh followed behind Gabe as they wound through the vast collection of ancient bottles that had labels tattered with age. Turning a corner, her attention was no longer on the collection of presumably valuable wine.

  In the corner loomed two large metal cages with built-in clunky locks that required big metal keys to open them, a primitive sort of cell. A lone toilet sat to the side—no sink and no privacy. Raleigh could make out four men in the dim light, but she could only sense the two Receps standing guard. Her mind couldn’t detect the men inside the cages. She held her breath. Only one type of person could barricade that well.

  “These are the Designed.” Gabe sounded like a zookeeper showing off his animals. “Mu and Tau are from separate triplets, but all of them look a bit alike in a weird way.”

  He was right, they didn’t look normal. But it wasn’t their eerily good looks that caught her attention. It was their tattered clothes, greasy hair, and scarred arms. Their mental barricades were too strong to break, so there had been attempts to do so physically. Even without sensing—with their sunken eyes and bowed backs—she could see the toll the extractions took on them. Raleigh stepped up to the bars, observing them as best she could with the limited light from the small bare bulbs overhead.

  Mu looked like Kappa, but his green eyes were dull with exhaustion. He had blue hair that Thalia would’ve appreciated. His blond roots gave a clue about how long he’d been imprisoned. His shirt hung loose, and tattoos peeked out, the most prominent one being a large Greek “mu” symbol at the base of this throat. He would’ve been frightening if she couldn’t picture Kappa’s smile on his identical lips.

  “Who is she?” Tau put his hands on the bar and inspected her.

  He was the first of his triplet set that she’d met. According to the files, Chi was a recluse, and Beta was dead. Like Mu, Tau had a menacing expression. But his large blue eyes with long dark lashes softened his face, and the scruffy beard along his strong jaw helped.

  “This is Raleigh.” Gabe didn’t elaborate.

  Mu arched his eyebrows. “Gabe, you can’t hurt her.”

  “If he does, the blood is on his hands.” Tau released the bars. “We aren’t going to give up anything. If you stoop low enough to hurt a girl, that’s your decision. We aren’t telling you a thing.”

  Raleigh’s heart twisted. They didn’t expect her to be a danger. Instead they worried for her, implying Gabe would harm her in an attempt to draw information from them. What had he done to make them think he was that ruthless?

  “Are they on the inhibitor?” she asked. The bars were thick, but they couldn’t keep out the abilities of the Designed mind.

  “They can’t hurt you,” said one of the guards. With his dark skin he easily blended into the shadows.

  Raleigh’s attention returned to the cages. Hating to see anyone imprisoned, she wanted to turn away, but she couldn’t go back now. “Will the locks hold?”

  The kind Recep held up the keys. “Trust me. They won’t open without these.”

  Gabe rubbed his hands together. “All right, time to get down to business. We think they know where the others are, a meeting location. We want you to break their barricades and do what you have to do to get that information.”

  “You want me to torture them?”

  “What did you think we were training you for?”

  That was it. Maybe one day G and A would let her become a healer, but that was contingent on her becoming a weapon first. In that moment she knew that she was going to get Mu and Tau out. No one deserved to live like this, caged like an animal and robbed of their Lucidin. Yes, there’d been a massacre that these two had failed to stop, but if they were evil, they would’ve been killed not captured. The pain of their captivity reminded her of the way she felt when she had blackouts—trapped, lonely, scared. They were in a real prison, and hers was due to what she mistook as an illness, but she could draw the parallels.

  The weary expression on Tau’s face mirrored the desperation she had after so many inconclusive doctor appointments. It represented a life stunted, denied the right to grow in a normal way. Seeing Rho on the cusp of death had been scary. Seeing these two trapped like feral animals infuriated her. She could no longer stay with Grant and Able. She would find another way to become a doctor.

  Raleigh studied Mu. Curiosity and animosity warred in his eyes. She wished that she could somehow let him know she was on his side. If it were a movie, she would’ve had a password or something to let him know. As it was, she had nothing.

  “Where are the others?” Raleigh voice came out frail.

  “This isn’t going to work, Gabe,” the second guard said. He was beefier than the first guard, and Raleigh noticed bruising on his hands. He’d clearly taken a shot at getting them to confess.

  Tau spat on the ground. “Go to hell.”

  Mu turned to his brother, then to Raleigh. “Leave us alone. We aren’t talking.”

  “Raleigh, you’re going to have to be a bit more forceful.” Gabe put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re strong enough. Apply a little pain. Just a bit.”

  “The inhibitor doesn’t stop their barricades.”

  Gabe removed his hand and stepped back. “You can break them.”

  “Which one knows more?” There was a chance that neither knew anything.

  “Tau, probably,” the kinder, smaller guard said.

  Raleigh took two steps over until she was directly in front of Tau. “Can you tell me where your brothers are?”

  Gabe rubbed his nose between his eyes. “If asking sweetly worked, we wouldn’t need you.”

  She closed her eyes. Reaching out her mind, she sensed a few feet away, where Tau’s mind should’ve been. Probing, she tried to establish some sort of line of communication. The phone rang, but he refused to pick up. It wouldn’t be as easy as breaking a Recep’s barricade. Their barriers were like tissue paper compared to Tau’s stone.

  Raleigh pressed his mind and winced at its sturdiness. “I can’t do it.” What she neglected to say was that she didn’t want to break it. She could picture Rho being trapped behind those bars. He wouldn’t be, though. They would have killed him on sight.

  Gabe crossed his arms. “We can stay down here as long as you need us to.”

  Raleigh’s eyes flitted to the cracked ceiling. It was odd to think that Dale was up there eating a buffet dinner, unaware that she was grappling with the largest moral dilemma of her life. The worst thing she’d ever done was punch a kid in kindergarten. It was a skirmish over the water fountain. The boy pulled her hair, and she walloped him across the face. Their parents were called, and they both got a pink slip in their file. Her mother, unsurprisingly, made a huge deal about it, insisting that Raleigh compose a letter of apology. Thalia decorated it with stickers. That was for one hit. If she did what Gabe asked, no words, stickers, glitter, or guilt would be able to undo it.

  Maybe she should break them out now. She knew where the keys were. Three Receps, including Gabe, would be easier to manage than breaking Tau’s barricade. But what would they do if she broke them out? How far could they realistically get? Two Receps waited upstairs, presumably ready with the inhibitor. The place was already on high alert. She had her phone in her back pocket. She could call Trevor, but he wouldn’t be in Virginia. A good spy would’ve given him the heads up that she was on the move. But since she’d given up on being a mole, she’d let the communication slack. No. She couldn’t break them out tonight. There were too many unknowns, and they’d be running away on foot.

  “I know you can do it.” Gabe mistook her pause for inability.

  Yes, she could. It would be hard, but she knew that in Tau’s depleted state he didn’t stand much of a chance. Raleigh needed to keep Gabe’s trust a little longer. It had to be done. She closed her eyes. All her other senses went silent. She barely heard Mu ask Gabe if Grant and
Able made her. The cold air ceased to annoy her. The world was one thing—Raleigh’s mind. She pressed up against Tau’s barricade. It was an impenetrable wall of silence. Slowly the Lucidin pooled in her. Then, all at once, it surged, cracking Tau’s mental wall in two. Now she sensed two things—her and him.

  Concentrating, she raised her eyelids and took in the world she’d forced out. On the other side of the bars stood Tau. His blue eyes widened with fear and contempt. She couldn’t face those eyes. Lowering her head, she shut hers.

  Hunger churned Tau’s stomach. He hadn’t eaten much that day, and the water he’d drank sloshed around. Next, she experienced the exhaustion that comes with extraction—the bone-deep kind she’d endured all those months ago when she saved Rho. Lastly, she felt his heart. It was strong and beating with the accuracy of a clock.

  She chose to focus on his head because she didn’t want to touch any of his organs, and it seemed like the most effective way to get what she needed. The pain started off dull, like a foggy headache. Then she ramped it up to a throbbing sensation that threatened to knock him out.

  Tau screamed.

  Awareness of her surroundings flooded back, her eyes flashing open in time to see him fall to the floor. The pain made Raleigh sick as Tau heaved up water.

  “What is she doing?” yelled Mu.

  Gabe remained calm. “Getting information. Raleigh, you’re going to have to do worse than that.”

  She pictured the sharp pain of a hornet’s sting. Focusing on the sensitive skin on his arms, she prompted the pain receptors to shoot stinging burns up and down the length of the limbs. Writhing on the ground, his hands grasped his arms in an attempt to extinguish the pain.

  “Stop it! Stop it! Northern California!” Mu confessed as he grabbed the bars between their cages. “That’s all we know!”

  Raleigh stopped. Tau’s barricade went back up, and she allowed it because they had what they wanted. Gabe said something, Tau moaned, and Mu fumed as Raleigh ran back through the wine racks. She dashed up the steps to the kitchen and ran over to the sink. The nausea she’d found in Tau washed over her. It was a bitter cocktail of disgust, pain, and guilt. She vomited in the sink.

  “Raleigh?” The kind Recep hung back steps behind her.

  Lifting her head, she noticed that the soap dish was shaped like a frog with an open mouth. It was an unexpected quaint thing for a house with such secrets in the basement.

  Raleigh turned, straightening. “I’m not going back down.”

  “Let’s go upstairs. You can get settled in. I’m sure that was hard on you.”

  Raleigh nodded and followed him out of the kitchen. As they walked past the dining room, she heard polite conversation before they went up the grand staircase that led to the bedrooms. He opened the door to a room with a four-poster bed and a doily on the nightstand.

  “I think you’re in this one. I’m Darius, if you need anything. I know what happened back there was difficult. They look like people.”

  That was the problem. They all thought they were something else. “What makes them less than human? Their brutality when they escaped from the island? Since when are humans always kind? We’re all capable of that evil. I’ve just proven that.”

  Darius’s face faltered. “It’s for the greater good.”

  Raleigh pulled herself together. More than ever, she owed it to Mu and Tau to get them out. It was time to put on her spy face. “I know. I’ve read their files. It’s hard to feel pain in someone else and know that you’re the cause of it.”

  “Gabe says that when this mess is cleaned up, you’ll be a healer.”

  “Will I have to see them again?”

  “If you’re up to it. They should be here for a day or two. But tomorrow you should focus on the dinner. The day after we’ll see if Gabe thinks there’s anything else you might be able to get out of them.”

  “Would you tell Agatha to save some food for me? I need a bit of time to rest.”

  “Sure. I’ll see you later.” Darius stepped out of the doorway and into the hall.

  Raleigh stopped the door from closing. “Is it safe holding them here? There are only a handful of Receps.”

  “There are ten of us and a camera in the basement. Don’t worry. If their brothers come, we have a trick up our sleeve.” Darius nodded to her and headed down the hall.

  Raleigh shut the door. A trick. They assumed the brothers might come. They were definitely planning for it. The real question was, were they planning on it? Raleigh wouldn’t be able to get them out herself. She needed the Designed, and it was going to be messier than she’d anticipated.

  Pulling out her phone, she knew she had to let Trevor know that she was in Virginia and the guys were here, too. This had to be done strategically. She didn’t want Trevor to know too much or the Designed to jump the gun. The ideal time for them to arrive would be during the party. The Receps would be focusing on keeping the guests safe as well as watching Mu and Tau.

  She decided to send a text.

  If you call Arizona, I won’t answer, sorry. I’m in Virginia the next few days. Wish you were here. The weather is beautiful.

  Raleigh clicked both Thalia and Trevor and pushed send. If anyone from G and A asked, she’d say she added Trevor by accident. Hopefully Thalia wouldn’t notice, and Trevor would get the clue.

  Best-case scenario was that the Designed would come to Virginia, and she could hold off bringing them closer until tomorrow.

  As she lay on the bed, she knew that while she slept Rho and his brothers would be preparing. Going down to dinner wasn’t an option now. She couldn’t face Agatha and the others, not moments after betraying them.

  26

  “RALEIGH?” AGATHA’S SOFT voice filtered through the bedroom door. Unlike Raleigh, she hadn’t gone to bed early, and her body was tired.

  “Come in.” Raleigh sat up on the bed. Daylight streamed in the curtains. The denim shorts she slept in stiffly rubbed her skin, and her stomach grumbled angrily because she’d chosen the escape of slumber over its well-being. Her mother always said troubles seemed lighter after a good night’s rest, but hers held finality. She sent a text message yesterday. That wasn’t a dream.

  Agatha slipped in and sat on the bed. For a woman who wasn’t a mother, she was surprisingly maternal. “Gabe said you managed to get information out of them, but it was hard on you.”

  “I hope it helped.”

  “It will. We now know where to focus our attention. We shouldn’t have sprung them on you.”

  “A heads-up would’ve been nice.”

  “We weren’t sure if the boat would have time to dock, or if we could even get them here. Luckily, it worked out.”

  Luckily.

  She patted Raleigh’s shoulder. “I feel better sending you into the field knowing that you can match them.”

  “Tau and Mu are weak. You’ve been draining them. They’re worn out. The others won’t be the same. But, yes, we are evenly matched.”

  “You need breakfast, and I have a girls’ day planned. We’ve had you in the trenches with the boys too long. We have the excuse of tonight to get all done-up. I’ll meet you in the dining room for some breakfast. Do you want to extract?”

  “Yeah, I’ll do that first.”

  Agatha squeezed her hand. “I’ll have Gabe put the extraction machine in the dining room, so you can eat something.”

  As she extracted, Raleigh ate a simple breakfast consisting of an omelet and toast with an obscene amount of butter. She wondered what was on the menu one floor down. She wasn’t sure if she could face seeing Gabe, any Recep, or Dale who’d have questions about the Designed. She ate quickly.

  Before long she sat beside Agatha in a rented car. The Recep who drove them to the spa waited in the lobby with a book, and the two women embarked on their spa day. The lobby smelled of lavender and oranges, and the employees were eager to help. Raleigh wondered if the workers knew who Agatha was, if they were paid well, or if it was simply Agatha’s co
mmanding presence.

  This wasn’t the makeup counter at the mall and home manicures. The schedule they’d handed her indicated it would take a few hours.

  Large marble tubs and various saunas took up a good half of the building. They enjoyed mud baths first. She compared the silky mud to the coarse Arizona dirt that usually covered her skin. They rinsed off and wrapped themselves in large fluffy white robes before heading back to the locker room.

  While wrapped in her warm soft robe, her mind wandered to hornets. How could she enjoy the feeling of terrycloth after what she’d done to Tau?

  She’d left her phone in her locker. She didn’t know Frank’s address, but she only had to get Trevor within ten miles to pick up the chip in her shoulder. She undressed and turned on the shower. The noise of water hitting the marble tiles made it hard to hear when Agatha turned on hers. Raleigh soon began to sense the hot water removing the dirt from Agatha’s skin. Agatha’s muscles relaxed as she languished under the herb-infused water.

  Raleigh washed quickly and cracked opened the glass door of the shower. She waited for an older lady to leave before slipping over to her locker. She unlocked it with the small nautical-themed key, grabbed her phone, and typed the message she’d been composing in her head the better part of the morning.

  Sorry I sent that last night! It was meant for my sister. I guess maybe it’s fate’s way of saying we should connect again soon. Just hitting up Alexandria. If my parents wanted to name me after a southern town why couldn’t it have been that instead of Raleigh? Tonight I have a party. Remember homecoming and how we danced? Too bad you won’t be here to join in. It won’t be as fun without you. I’ve made a couple of new friends. Maybe one of them will share a dance. Talk soon!

  Alexandria was near enough for them to pick up the chip. She sent the text. That was it. She went back to the shower. Agatha remained under the stream of water, oblivious.