by H. L. Burke
“Ouch!” He drew his hand back, and for a moment a small, elongated creature appeared before him, fangs bared.
“Wherezit!” Laleh snatched up the animal who immediately disappeared. That didn’t stop Laleh from cradling it in her arms like a baby. “You scared me. Don’t do that again.”
She entered her room, deposited the invisible creature on the bed, and hurried out, shutting the door behind her.
Jake gaped first at her then at his injured hand. Whatever that thing was, it hadn’t broken his skin, but he could clearly make out pinhole shaped indents where it had bitten down. “You’re hiding a ferret? An invisible ferret? How did you even get it?”
“Shush!” Laleh hissed. “Someone will hear you.”
Jake picked himself up and shook his injured hand. Her bottom lip trembled.
“Please, don’t tell Prism. Marco and I both love Wherezit, but I don’t think I’m allowed to have a pet. Plus ... I kind of ... he’s not really mine.”
“Not really yours? Meaning you stole him?” Jake had to admit, he was a little impressed.
“No. I rescued him.” She crossed her arms over her chest, her expression growing insufferable again. He gritted his teeth. It would be so great to walk up to Prism and snitch on this brat, watch her squirm, maybe see her throw a fit.
Easy, he talked himself down. Ratting on her now won’t get you anything. Hang onto it until you can use the information. What does Uncle Vic always say? Revenge is best when it’s profitable.
“Whatever. I’m going to go get some food.” He stomped down the stairs, hoping she was sweating over whether or not he was going to tell on her.
When he reached the hall outside the dining room, voices rose to meet him.
“Are you sure you want to start already?” Fade asked. “I mean, team building is important, but these kids are still scrapping over setting the table. They’re not ready for a real training exercise.”
Jake paused, not wanting them to know he was listening. The smell of bacon and coffee called to him, though. His stomach grumbled.
“We need to start somewhere,” Prism replied. “Yeah, Jake got into it with Laleh, but he’s a teen boy. He’s going to go stir crazy stuck in this tiny cabin.”
“So make him jog around the house a dozen times. Training exercises mean removing the anklet, and I don’t trust that he wouldn’t find a way to bolt the moment we did that.”
This would be a lot easier if Fade wasn’t around. Jake had a feeling he could trick Prism into trusting him if he really wanted to. Fade, not so much.
“I’m not an idiot. I’m going to find something he can do with his anklet on ... probably Laleh too. Marco, I’m not sure. He needs to learn to control his powers, and as long as the disruptor is suppressing them, he won’t learn.” Prism sighed. “Speaking of Jake, do you think he’s coming? I want to start dishes and his portion is just sitting there.”
“If he’s not here in a few minutes, toss it. He had a warning,” Fade answered.
Jake swallowed. Not wanting them to realize he’d been listening, he counted to twenty then entered. “Hey.” He nodded to both adults.
“Glad you decided to grace us with your presence,” Fade commented.
Jake rolled his eyes and picked a paper plate off the counter. Prism moved to the side so he could scoop a spatula full of scrambled eggs off the frying pan still sitting on the stovetop.
“There’s hot sauce, ketchup, and of course salt and pepper on the table,” she said.
“Thanks.” He settled at the table and found himself across from a toddler in a highchair.
The kid stared at him for an uncomfortable period as he sprinkled sriracha on his eggs. When he started to bring his fork up to his mouth, she giggled and pounded her fists on her high chair tray.
He blinked at her. “What?”
“She’s just being friendly,” Prism said. “Ruby likes meeting new people.”
“She could teach you a thing or two.” Fade poured himself a cup of coffee then looked up at his wife who had started on the dishes. “Have you talked to Wildfyre about Marco? He might have some tips for training him.”
Apparently Fade didn’t mind talking about camp business in front of Jake. Jake kept his eyes on his food.
“Oh, yeah, as soon as I heard about Marco’s powers,” Prism said. “He replied with a ten page email complete with bullet points and subheadings. I was tempted to write a letter grade on the top and send it back to him.”
Fade chuckled. “Sounds like him.”
“We need to make a fireproof room like we did for training exercises with Wildfyre so we can provide him a safe place to practice,” Prism continued. “Maybe in one of the outbuildings?”
“There’s that workshop behind the cabin that’s mostly empty,” Fade said. “Back to the subject of the training mission, though. What did you have in mind if you don’t plan to remove their cuffs?”
Prism glanced at Jake who ducked his head. “I don’t want to go into details right now, but I thought we could head to the lava fields, partially because there’s less there for Marco to ignite and partially because it’s a unique terrain to work with. I was thinking a simulated rescue mission.”
A smile spread across Fade’s face. “We finally get to use DOSA Dean?”
Jake’s brow furrowed. “Who or what is DOSA Dean?”
“You’ll see,” Prism said.
Jake looked away, irritated that he’d allowed himself to get curious. He shoveled the eggs remaining on his plate down so fast that he didn’t really taste them.
Prism raised her eyebrows. “Are you in a hurry or just starving?”
He shrugged.
“If you want more, we used up the eggs and Marco apparently lives on bacon, so that’s gone too, but we have bread for toast,” she continued.
“I’m fine.” He stood, empty plate in hand.
She took it from him. “The other kids are waiting upstairs. We wanted to give you a few days to settle, but we’ve set up an online learning course for all three of you so you don’t fall behind. Even if you aren’t starting right away, though, we should get you set up and figure out where you’re at.”
Jake’s breath caught in his throat. He hadn’t been in a real school since he’d joined the gang. After all, he knew everything he needed to know in order to work with his uncle and what he didn’t know he could learn on the job. The idea that he might test in at a sixth grade level, well below the two younger teens, made him cringe.
I’m not stupid. There’s just no reason to know that crap. No one cares about any of it.
Fade regarded Jake, an irritating knowing expression on his face.
“Why do I need to do school at all?” Jake stuck his chin in the air. “I have superpowers. It’s not like I’m going to need to do algebra.”
“Builds character,” Fade said between sips of coffee. “Besides, there are few things that will get you in trouble as quickly as overconfidence and ignorance, and from what I can tell, you have a huge dose of both of those traits.”
Jake’s face heated. “Whatever. This is dumb. I just won’t do it.”
“Then you’ll lose other opportunities and privileges.” Prism scowled. “You aren’t in prison, Jake. We intentionally set this place up with things for you to do to keep yourself busy, gaming systems, books, television—but they are only to be utilized once your responsibilities are taken care of, and for now, those responsibilities include your education. Otherwise, you’re going to be spending a lot of time here sitting on your bunk doing nothing.”
Jake’s jaw clenched. “Whatever.” He turned away and stomped up the stairs. When he reached the top, he could hear Marco and Laleh chattering a couple doors down. A feeling of loneliness overcame him, but he pushed it aside. He couldn’t go in there.
A hand clamped down on his shoulder, and he whipped around, hands up defensively.
Fade eyed him.
Crap, how did someone as big as him sneak up on me? Ja
ke chided himself before glaring at Fade. “Watch it.”
“We need to talk,” Fade said.
“No, we don’t.” Jake set his mouth firm.
“Yeah, we do.” Fade guided Jake down the hall and into the bedroom, his hold not painful but still unbreakable. After a brief attempt to break away, Jake went along with it. After all, it wasn’t like he had anywhere else to go.
Fade released him. Jake stood, arms crossed, waiting for a lecture.
“When did you drop out?” Fade asked.
Jake drew back. “Excuse me.”
“I know how it works. Your powers appear. You get into the life. Once you do it’s all consuming. No time for school or friends or anything but staying one step ahead of DOSA and the cops.” Fade let out a breath. “I’m guessing you probably haven’t seen the inside of a school in—what? Three? Four years?”
Jake dropped his gaze to his feet and mumbled, “Around there, yeah.”
Fade nodded slowly, the expression on his face far too close to pity for Jake’s taste. Fade didn’t know anything about Jake or his life.
Jake stood straighter. “It doesn’t matter, though. I know everything I need to know to survive.”
“You say that, but you’re going to miss out on a lot of opportunities if you stop your education now.”
“The only opportunities I want are the ones that rely on my powers,” Jake said.
“You think that now, but I know from experience that once you develop super abilities, this world becomes determined to railroad you onto one of two paths: hero or villain. Trust me, though. There’s a lot more out there,” Fade continued. “My brother-in-law quit DOSA to be an EMT, and his girlfriend is a sable but is currently working as a dance instructor. The best hacker I know is a sable—weird guy, but useful even without his powers—and even if Prism and I are involved with DOSA, we’re a lot happier since we got out of heroing. I’m just sayin’, you’ll do yourself a favor long term by keeping your options open.”
Jake kept his mouth shut.
“Either way, your time here is going to be a lot easier if you work with us, not against us. We can slowly catch you up on what you’ve missed, let you learn at your own pace, and even adjust the curriculum to what your interests are to an extent, but again, if you don’t cooperate, you’re going to miss out on privileges that would make your life here a lot more bearable.”
“Okay.” Jake just wanted this conversation to be over.
What would Uncle Vic want me to do? Pick my battles. Pretend to go along with things until I get a chance to break out of here.
“Think about what I said, all right?” Fade took a step towards the door. “The other two are already in the computer room. Prism told them if they set up their school logins they could play with the game systems for a few hours. You might have fun if you joined them.”
“Sure.”
Before Fade could leave someone knocked on the door frame.
“Fade, Jake, are you busy?” Prism peered in, Ruby on her hip, her phone in her hand.
“We’re done in here.” Fade glanced back at Jake who avoided eye contact and took a seat on the edge of his bunk.
“I need to talk to both of you, anyway.”
Ruby wiggled, and Prism placed her down on the floor where she immediately got to her feet and started toddling around Jake’s room. Jake tensed as she wobbled about. What if she fell and hurt herself? Were babies usually this unsteady? The floor in here was awful hard.
“I was checking the tracking app, just to make sure it was transmitting, and I noticed something in the data from last night.” Prism passed the phone to her husband.
He glanced from it to her then side-eyed Jake. “You want to talk about this in front of him?”
“I want to ask him.” She stepped around her husband and cleared her throat. “Jake, did you notice Marco leaving your room last night?”
Jake’s mouth clamped shut. Even if he didn’t have any emotional investment in Marco’s well-being, he wasn’t a snitch.
Prism held up one hand. “Don’t worry. You won’t get him in trouble. I can tell from the tracking app that he wandered downstairs in the middle of the night last night. I am not asking you to tattle on him about that. I just wondered if you saw him do so and if he told you what he was doing. Maybe gave you a reason?”
“Marco went downstairs by himself?” Laleh had definitely been with him. Why wasn’t she asking about Laleh?
“I know from the tracking he did, but other than expected trips to the bathroom, you and Laleh never left your room. Again, he’s not in trouble, but I thought since you are staying in the same room as him, maybe you knew why?”
“He might’ve said something about a snack.”
Or Laleh did. Why don’t they know that Laleh was with him?
Prism’s shoulders relaxed. “That makes sense.”
“Do you think we should talk to him?” Fade asked.
Prism shook her head. “A growing boy getting a little peckish in the middle of the night is hardly a cause for concern. I kind of already suspected it might be that based on the fact that I found cheese cracker crumbs on the floor this morning.”
“Yeah, and we didn’t set any rules against midnight snacking.” Fade laughed.
Ruby wobbled, waved her arms, and sat down hard.
Jake bounced up, ready to go to her aid, but instead of crying, Ruby giggled and hoisted herself up again. Before she could take more than a step, Fade walked over and scooped her up. He and Prism then left, shutting the door behind them.
Jake brushed his hair back from his forehead. Laleh definitely was wearing the same tracking device as he and Marco were, but for whatever reason Prism hadn’t known that she’d been moving around with Marco. That could only mean one thing: Laleh knew how to override the trackers somehow. Jake needed to get her to tell him how. If she did, escape was only a matter of time.
Chapter Eleven
The sun beat down on Jake as he stared out across the otherworldly moonscape of black rock. In the distance, trees covered the hills, and every so often a small shrub or patch of grass had somehow managed to take root among the endless sea of rough black stone, but the area Prism and Fade had led the teens to was anything but welcoming.
“What do you expect us to do here?” Jake snorted.
“You’ll see.” Prism gave a knowing smile.
From her perch in a baby carrier on Fade’s back, Ruby cooed and bounced. She wore a floppy yellow hat to protect her from the sun. Laleh had gushed about how cute the toddler looked in it, which admittedly she did, but Jake wasn’t going to let on.
Marco scrambled to the top of a nearby outcropping and waved down at the others in the group. “Man, I can see for miles from here. This goes on forever. Imagine what it must’ve been like when this was actual lava.”
“Hot," Fade answered.
“Come on. We’ve got a bit of a walk.” Prism waved at them. “I promised the park people we’d keep you away from the tourist paths.”
Jake grumbled to himself as they picked over the rough terrain. Even with the new hiking boots Prism had provided for him, every rock he stepped on poked at him. After a while they came to a section where a makeshift wooden structure had been rigged. It looked a little bit like a mix between a radio tower and a kids’ fort. Wires were strung around it, and at the top a human-shaped object was suspended by its feet.
Jake squinted up at it. “Is that a crash test dummy?”
“DOSA Dean.” Fade nodded. “I named him that because he’s got about the same intelligence level as the average DOSA bureaucrat.”
Prism cast him a side eye. “Maybe we should tone down the criticism of the agency in front of the kids.”
“I don’t see why,” Fade said. “Better they figure it out now than later.”
Prism shook her head ruefully. “I needed to find an exercise you three could do that wouldn’t be too dangerous but would still be a challenge with real world application. I decided o
n a simulated rescue. Dean up there—” she pointed towards the dummy, suspended maybe twenty feet above the ground— “has gotten himself stuck in a tricky situation. You three need to strategize and enact a plan to get him back on the ground in one piece, preferably without hurting yourselves.”
Jake examined the structure. It didn’t look too sturdy, but Prism wouldn’t have him and the other two climbing around on something that could collapse ... would she?
“So we just climb up and get him?” Jake frowned. “That seems pretty easy.”
“A little harder because those wires are electrically charged,” Prism said.
Jake recoiled. “Seriously?”
“I thought you said you didn’t want anything too dangerous?” Laleh said.
“We went with low current, a little under that of a typical electric fence,” Prism explained. “If you do touch a live one, it won’t seriously harm you, but you won’t like it much either.”
“Great,” Jake muttered.
Prism pulled out her phone. “Marco, come here, please.”
Marco swallowed, his chin dropping, before he sidled up to her. She tapped her phone screen, and with a whirring sound, Marco’s anklet fell off him.
His eyes widened. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
Prism picked up the anklet and tucked it in her pocket before giving him a comforting smile. “I’m sure. We specifically picked this area because there isn’t much flammable here, and you need to learn to control your powers. They might not be particularly useful in this scenario, but it seems like your powers mainly ‘go off’ when you’re stressed or frightened. This exercise may be a little stressful, which means this is a good opportunity for you to practice keeping them contained during high pressure situations.”
“I’ll try,” Marco said, not sounding too sure of himself.
“We’ve got you covered if something goes wrong.” Fade pointed towards the area just beyond the tower. A canopy and some basic camping equipment had been set up there. “We have fire extinguishers, first aid kits, and extra water, just in case.”
Marco let out a breath. “Okay. That makes me feel a little better.”
