Modified- The Complete Manipulated Series

by Harper North

  No, no, no.

  I watch Lacy’s chest. It’s so still…

  But then it rises and falls in a slow, drawn-out breath.

  I drop to my knees, tears springing to my eyes. She’s still here. It’s not too late. I trudge closer on my knees until I can see Talen is in the same state, but I calculate that they’re only taking eight or nine breaths per minute.

  I let my shoulders fall away from my neck, which cramps and resists. They’re alive, but these people have done something to them.

  “Lacy,” I call, forgetting that Cal’s watching.

  She doesn’t respond. My blood sings in my ears as I ball my fists behind my back.

  “We might get out of this, Fin,” Sky whispers in my ear. His words are soothing water on a burning wound.

  “Sit,” Cal barks from behind us.

  He leaves no room for argument. Sky nods to me, and I stand to follow him back to the circle, squeezing into a spot beside Cia. One of the civilians, a former Dweller named Mike, scoots to the side to let me stay next to Sky. The sand is warm, but it does little to calm my racing heartbeat.

  It doesn’t help when one of the kids kicks sand at the back of my head. I look back at the boy, younger than Cia, but as soon as I do, he runs off to join the other kids.

  Cal paces around our human ring while the other adults stand on the edges with their old-fashioned shotguns. The kids have vanished, and the chatter dies down as the last two of our fighters—Reinhart and Elias—sit on the outside of the ring. Reinhart refuses to take his gaze off the sand. If he could, I bet he’d stick his head in it and hide.

  But Elias looks right at Sky and me. The pressure of his kiss returns to my cheek, turning to ice as he scowls.

  Cal raises a hand and silence falls. For a second, only the lapping of water fills the air.

  “The Creators bestowed this safe haven upon my people a century ago. Then the Destroyers came, not just here, but to settlements all over the world, trying to take what was ours. But we defeated them back to the surface. Now, you have returned. Why?”

  I gasp. I had forgotten there were settlements all over the world. That means there may be more survivors—good and bad.

  “I ask you again. Why has the treaty been broken?” Cal asks, looking right at me, and then Emma, and then Reinhart.

  Elias tears his gaze from me to look at the Original leader. “We told you. We don’t know anything about a treaty.”

  Cal tightens his grasp on his shotgun and leans down over Elias. “I would shoot you for your lies, but it occurs to me that the Destroyers may have left this out of your history lessons, son.”

  “How many times do we have to say it?” I add. “We’re not Destroyers. Some of us are wearing their clothes because we were trying to infiltrate their ranks and bring them down, but we’re really like you.”

  Cal whirls on me. “Like us? We are nothing alike.”

  “We came from the underground, too. A different underground,” I explain, trying not to look at his weapon. I glance at Lacy, who still breathes at the same slow pace. She looks like a limp doll, and the sight tightens every muscle in my body. “We were made to work for the Destroyers, in their mines. We were slaves.”

  “Then why do you move like them?” Cal asks.

  I’m ready for that. “We stole their technology for ourselves so we could escape the mines and reach the surface.”

  Cal chews on his lip in thought. We might be assets.

  “Our friends there, Lacy and Talen, they were captured by the Destroyers and turned into mindless killing machines called Auras. But Emma,” I say, glancing her way, “she’s a computer genius. She was able to fix them. They still have their incredible powers, but also their souls. I know they may have frightened you, but they’re Destroyer victims, too.”

  My voice hitches at the end. I swear Cal’s eyes soften just a little.

  “Your friends are in an induced coma. We didn’t know what else to do with them. They will remain that way until we can figure out what is happening.”

  “They’re perfectly safe,” Emma says. “I assure you.”

  Cal gives her an appraising look. “You really are like us.”

  “If you mean I haven’t been modified in any way, then yes. I am.”

  Cal paces around us again, studying all our faces. His people stay still, guns lowered, waiting. Cal circles around the seated prisoners to stand above me. Craning my neck back to look at him, I press against Sky.

  “My gut tells me I can trust you,” Cal says. “But we’ve been tricked by Destroyers before. They left us with no power, even after the treaty.”

  “What treaty?” Elias asks again. This time he looks to Reinhart for an answer.

  Reinhart shoots him a hard glare. He doesn’t want his identity discovered, but now Cal’s staring at him expectantly, and he has no choice but to answer.

  “I’ve heard rumors,” he growls, distancing himself from whatever he’s about to say, “that the EHC shut down these settlements a long time ago, but the people who lived here put up a hell of a fight.” He nods respectfully at Cal. “Eventually, apparently, a treaty was signed. The EHC would stay out of the settlements as long as the inhabitants didn’t interfere with things on the surface.”

  My breath escapes me. The EHC let people like me live in freedom? Why them and not us? I shake with the injustice of it.

  Reinhart shrugs. “But I always thought that was a folktale.”

  “No, it happened just as you said.” Cal narrows his eyes at Reinhart, then he looks around at the rest of us. “If you’re not Destroyers, but fighting against them, why are you here instead of up there with them?”

  “There is no up there anymore,” Elias says, hanging his head. “The Destroyers’ power source erupted and… destroyed everything. We were lucky to escape.”

  Cal turns his gaze to Reinhart, who reeks of military leadership. “I'm not surprised to hear that the Destroyers have annihilated themselves, but I still have no guarantee that you aren’t Destroyers just lying to survive.”

  “Even if we were,” I venture carefully, “what harm could we do to you now? Please. Give us shelter, and we’ll do whatever we can to protect you from a greater threat—”

  “You don’t decide the terms of any arrangement made here today. I will. Your kind…” Cal lets the words hang as he faces the lake. “The Destroyers took my father. Experimented on him so they could learn how long an Original could survive on the surface.”

  Sky tenses beside me. On the other side of him, Cia curls against Starla. “They did that to my sister!”

  Cal eyes him in shock. “So they kill their own kind, then?”

  Sky shakes his head. “No. This is her. Right here. We had to modify her to save her life. It was the only way. You have to believe that we hated the Destroyers as much as you do.”

  Emboldened, a murmur rises from our exhausted group of survivors. Names, stories, all tangling together into one rush of anguished noise. My chest hurts every time I breathe. Who here hasn’t had someone taken by the EHC or the SNA?

  But this is our chance to turn things around.

  “I lost my uncle to the Destroyers,” Elias says.

  “My cousin,” Emma adds.

  I swallow. My throat scratches. “One of my best friends.”

  Drape died at the hands of the SNA, but the principle is the same. His final breaths fill my mind and I close my eyes for a moment, hating that Cal’s forcing me to relive it.

  “He was my friend, too,” Sky adds.

  Cal slowly turns to face us again. I suck in a fresh breath of hope as he screws up his features, thinking. I sense he needs the silence.

  “This greater threat?” he asks me. “Who are they? Who could be worse than the Destroyers?”

  I glance at Sky, Emma, and Elias. Finally, it’s Reinhart who opens his mouth and tells our story—painting himself as a rebel all along, of course.

  “I still don’t trust you,” Cal says, at last, rubb
ing his chin. “But the Creators were fair, and I’ll follow their rules. No one should be condemned to death without a trial. You’ll need to prove whose side you’re on, so I will give you a chance. Then, maybe, if you’re worth your weight, you can stay.”

  Reinhart lifts his chin. “How can we do that?”

  “The Creators left us the Protocol. It’s our way of knowing who our friends and enemies are.”

  The word hovers over us, growing heavier the longer Cal lets it. I look at Sky. He shakes his head. This can’t be good.

  “The Protocol?” Emma asks.

  Cal puts his hands behind his back and stands with military posture. “To prove you are our allies and who you say you are, you must bring us proof. Bring us a captive Destroyer leader, and we will allow you to stay and fight by our sides. But fail, and we will make sure these two,” he points to Lacy and Talen, “never wake up. You will also be banished to the caves to survive the best you can.”

  CHAPTER 7

  SWEAT ROLLS DOWN Reinhart’s temple. He bites the inside of his cheek as the Originals line us up on top of the hill. I fall in behind him, wrists still bound. No one says the obvious.

  As they march us down the steps, Elias glances back at him and shakes his head whenever the guards aren’t looking. Don’t say anything, it means. As though he honestly believes Reinhart might actually try to sacrifice himself for a bunch of slags.

  As we walk through the hallway and past the map office, Elias shakes his head at me. The hardness in his eyes almost makes me stop. I might not be a Reinhart fan, but I’m not going to sell him out to these people. And they might not believe us, anyway. Having a semi-leader from the EHC on hand would be too convenient. It’s already become obvious that Elias would never forgive me for doing so either.

  “We would be happy to help the Originals,” Emma protests from the back of the line. “But like we said, the Destroyers are gone. Surely we can work out another arrangement. We can share our knowledge and keep Cho and his people from taking your settlement away.”

  Cal also hangs near the back. “The Protocol was put in place by the Creators for a purpose. We have no reason to doubt their wisdom. You must bring us a Destroyer.”

  “He’s not going to come around,” Sky whispers in my ear.

  Who would, after the EHC stole their father? One of the Originals—Steven—holds open the final door in the hallway, the one leading to the caves, and my stomach turns over as I remember Cal’s words about banishment. I might be a Dweller but surviving underground without food is enough to terrify anyone.

  Steven gives me a curt nod as I step through and into a carved, lit chamber. Old excavation vehicles stand in rows, dusty and long abandoned by the Creators. A pair of steel doors stand shut on the other side of the big chamber.

  I stand under a single hanging light. Steven goes around and undoes the cuffs on everyone’s wrists. It’s not as if any of us can run. The double doors must be locked, and the Originals who stand near the entrance all still hold their shotguns. I swing my arms around in relief once they’ve been freed.

  Cal holds up a hand for quiet, not that anyone’s speaking. “We will give you ample time to decide how you will satisfy the Protocol. In the meantime, your Destroyer friends will be kept safe. I will leave Steven here to guard you, and he will alert the rest of us if you attempt to attack or escape.”

  “Cia’s still just a kid!” Sky shouts. “You can’t throw her out in the caves!”

  Cal moves his jaw for a second. “We can’t trust anyone until they prove themselves. That, unfortunately, includes children.”

  “Sky, don’t make them mad,” Cia whispers.

  “I won’t, Sis.” He pats her on the shoulder. “We’ll get out of this.”

  Cal leaves, and his Originals follow while Steven hangs back in the shelter of the doorway. Emma sighs and steps away from him. I hate to see her dejected like this. She was the one who had the best chance of reaching them.

  “Bring them Cho,” Elias says, “and we knock out all of our problems right there.”

  “He’s not going to count Cho as a Destroyer,” I mutter. “You heard him.”

  Elias starts pacing in front of Reinhart. “Once they meet him, they’ll know he’s the true threat.”

  “Cho’s an excellent liar,” Emma adds. “It might be dangerous to bring him here. He’ll see the potential in the Originals. Perhaps he knew about them before he came down here and has plans to recruit them.”

  “We need to recapture Cho, anyway,” Reinhart says. “And besides, there are no EHC leaders left.” He says this very pointedly.

  To make him squirm, I say, “There could be a few EHC leaders who came down here right before the eruption. We could find one of those.”

  Reinhart glowers at me. “We go after Cho. He’s the best candidate and our best chance.”

  “I agree,” Elias says. “Cho will offer the proof we need. All he has to do is start talking about his pure people—”

  “And the Originals might hop right on board,” Emma finishes for him.

  “We have to show the Originals he’s a threat to them. That he’s the same as the SNA, who was the same as the EHC. Takers. Destroyers,” I say, a shudder racing over my skin.

  “But how?” Emma asks.

  I pace, calculating the scenario most likely to keep us alive. “The Originals are free people. They won’t stand for the amount of control he’ll want to have over them. We need to make Cho reveal his true nature once we have him.”

  “I like Fin’s angle,” Sky says.

  I might screw this up. I’ve already done that, despite my enhanced mind. All I can think in is probabilities, not guarantees. Slipping my hand into Sky’s and squeezing, I force out, “I like my angle, too, but if anyone has better ideas, please say them.”

  “Cho could shut down Elysian Beach at any moment,” Reinhart says. “Ambush us in the dark. We’d be dead without our Auras.”

  “We’re gambling for Lacy and Talen’s lives,” I say over the lump in my throat. All of our lives. And can the Originals even be trusted? They could turn on us in the end.

  Sky, as if sensing my inner storm, tightens his grip on me.

  Elias’ gaze drops to our interlocked fingers, and he takes a step forward. Reinhart shakes his head at him, indicating he’s to leave us alone. Elias scowls and turns, stalking back through the small crowd.

  “Steven,” Reinhart calls out. “We have made our decision. We will bring you a leader who threatens you right now. Do you remember the people who turned on the power station?”

  * * * * *

  Cal objects to feeding the same people who took his father, but Emma brings up the good point that we need energy and sleep before we go on this mission. He has a couple of boys bring a bag of canned food to our prison, and I can’t tell if he’s given them permission to throw the cans at us, or if they’ve decided to hate us on their own.

  The boys stand beside Steven and laugh as one of the cans sprays fruit juice all over the floor. Cia creeps forward and retrieves it, backing away as one of the boys aims for her head.

  “Leave her alone,” Sky demands, stepping in front of her.

  “Yes. Stop wasting food,” Steven orders.

  “Do they eat regular food?” one of the kids asks Steven.

  “Yes, we do,” I say. “And we don’t normally have it thrown at us.”

  “But they’re from another world,” the kid says to Steven, ignoring me.

  “We’re all from the same planet,” I tell him. “All people were from the surface world once. And I’ve spent more time underground than the two of you ever have.” As I talk, I study the adult guards Cal posted, two men and two women, but they stay expressionless. I’m not getting through to them.

  The boy looks at me like he’s not sure what to think. Then he and his friend wander back down the hall.

  They’ve thrown us mostly canned fruit and beans, but it’s better than nothing. I feel somewhat restored after eatin
g, and my creeping headache backs off. They didn’t offer us anything to sleep on though, so we begin to spread out across the floor.

  Sky and I lie down arm to arm, not quite touching. I can’t wrap my mind around how he and Elias could totally flip in one day any more than I can understand The Flip that set all of these things in motion long ago.

  * * * * *

  I wake when someone pushes open the door to the chamber. Sitting up, groggy and in need of a shower, I find Cal standing in the doorway between the offices of Elysian Beach and us.

  He gives me a sharp, untrusting nod. “Up. You set out today.” He slams the door shut, and the echo draws groans and grunts from the sleeping forms around me.

  “I guess we can’t expect decent supplies?” Sky asks.

  I spot a busted can on the floor. “Expect nothing.”

  Cal’s people direct us to the double doors on the other side of the room. They don’t want us tainting Elysian Beach anymore.

  The doors lead out onto the shore of another small river, one that might flow from the main dam. No lights shine out here, so we have only the glow coming from the chamber behind us to light the way. I step out onto the rocks, unable to see past the glint of water. The cave out here is cold. Dark. I reach for my flashlight, but it’s gone.

  “What about weapons?” Elias asks, whirling as we all gather on the rocky shore.

  “Weapons,” Cal says, “will be provided in due time. We have left you several supply crates about a mile down the river.” He points in the general direction of the main dam. “We will not arm you when you are anywhere near our children. You’ll find enough food to last you a few days as well. Do not return without an important captive.”

  Sky turns on a flashlight and shines it along stone walls, onto the dark river, and down a very long, pitch-black tunnel.

  A horrible thought strikes me. Cal could be tricking us. “You haven’t told us if Lacy and Talen are still alive. For all we know, you’re throwing us out here with nothing!”

  Panic explodes through the crowd. Several Dwellers rush Cal and the Originals in the doorway, but they back through and slam the doors closed. The Dwellers bang on the doors and shout for Cal to let them back inside. How could they do this without a trial?