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A blue light faded into darkness and the mechanics of a door hissed as it released, letting in a gust of warm air. I collapsed into comforting arms. A heavy coat crinkled under my chin as a familiar, earthy tang drifted to my nose.
“You okay?” a male voice asked. His hands slid under my armpits and lifted me into a comforting position against his shoulder. I grappled at that shoulder to stay upright and shivered.
Lance.
He wrapped his arms around me, fleece jacket pressing against my chest. Warmth, safety... I wasn’t alone. Not anymore.
I flexed my fingers, and ice crystals cracked into tiny water droplets.
The fight outside...
Alec and Agent Kirsch...
I blinked, trying to clear my vision of the thick, meaningless shapes around me. The couple pale shapes were probably people in Community attire. Lance I knew from the voice. Tim I could guess by his hunched, nervous stance. A Special Forces agent in a dark outfit stood at the console, and two figures sat beside the door.
I rubbed my eyes, grimacing from the painful light as my vision cleared. My breath caught in my throat.
Despite the fitted black armor, the black-haired woman at the console didn’t wear the rising sun cog of Special Forces. For all that she had the poised stance of an agent with her hair pulled back in a regulation-tight ponytail, she wore a pair of sunglasses on top of her head.
Sitting nearest to the door was the burly man in his dark green jacket. He grimaced and popped his back. Beside him, the old man rested his head against the wall, one hand testing the bandage around his wounded arm.
“Why are those guys free?” I asked Lance. My throat was sore from the coolers, and my voice grated against my ears. “How’d you get in?”
He squeezed me tight and rested his cheek against my hair. “We’ll get you out, okay? Sam said they took you, and Tim told me about Lady Black.”
I pulled away, nearly falling before he caught me. “Get me out? I tested positive for theophrenia. I had all these crazy hallucinations of people flying and shooting ice from their hands. The agents put me in here to—”
Behind Tim, a dead agent lay sprawled on his back, a pool of dark blood seeping from his rib cage. Though his face was obscured by the helmet, I recognized the name tag.
Bodrov.
His blood came from a ragged slash mark, skillfully placed where his vest wouldn’t protect him.
Everyone but Lance, with his sword strapped around his waist, had guns.
My vision wavered, and Lance rushed to catch me.
“Jenna? You all right?”
“Of course I’m not all right! That agent was supposed to be protecting me from these people and you—you killed him!”
Lance set his jaw. “I saved you. That agent would have shot us. We need to get you out, and currently, we’re wanted.”
“Think that might have something to do with being infected with a hallucinogenic plague?” I snapped. Lance had put my safety before the Community. I wasn’t sure whether to feel grateful or sick.
“Plague ain’t real,” the burly man said. “It’s a nice little cover-up to hide powers.”
“I think they’re telling the truth.” Tim motioned his tablet to the woman in black body armor. “Inese turned us invisible when Special Forces started chasing us.”
“Why were they chasing you?” I demanded. “How did they figure out you were the hacker?”
“They’re Special Forces, that’s how.” Lance rested his hand on the pommel of his sword. “Tim said you were acting funny around Lady Black, so when Sam told me they took you, I figured we should try contacting you. But Special Forces almost got us before we left the meeting, except Inese turned us invisible when we were trying to escape from the hall. She’s been helping us since then. She even made sure we used the right code for the coolers.”
“Yeah—I didn’t want to execute you.” Tim laughed nervously, his cheeks red.
My blood drained to my feet. “Execute me?”
“You have to give the kid credit,” Inese said, retreating from the console and dropping her sunglasses onto her nose. “He gave the first group of agents the slip by telling their computers we took a different taxi. Not a bad move.” She knelt by the old man. “You ready? I’ve already moved the car, so we should be set.”
The old man nodded once, and Inese helped him stand. “What about Chill and Alec?” he asked. His voice was so hoarse that I barely understood him.
Inese lowered her eyes. “They didn’t make it.”
He glanced at me, evaluating me with a quiet, uneven expression. I shivered. Did everyone here have theophrenia? This couldn’t be real. All those strange powers...
“Jack, can you move?” the old man asked.
The burly man, Jack, pushed himself from the floor. “Sure—” He grunted. “How’re we doin’ on time?”
Inese snatched Tim’s tablet from his hands. “Commander Rick’s van just arrived. Won’t be long before security realizes we’ve cut the external feedback from their cameras. Can you three move all right?”
“I’ll help Jenna,” Lance said.
I tried to push myself away from him, but he wouldn’t let go. I lowered my voice. “What are you doing? Theophrenia causes delusions. These people are putting everyone at risk by not turning themselves in. The agent you killed?” I pointed to the body. “He said theophrenia can be treated, if caught soon enough.” I gritted my teeth. “I’ve been infected.”
“Jenna—” Lance took my hands, his eyes pleading. “Tim hacked the health network, and I’ve killed an agent. You didn’t take the pills. Those are international violations. The guards have been ordered to kill us on sight.”
“But—”
Lance squeezed my hands and looked me square in the eye. “Jen—if we stay here, we’re going to die. We have to leave. Please come with us.”
For the love of everything secure...
They must have caught the disease from me.
“Are you coming or not?” Inese poked her head in from the doorway. “It’s clear for the moment, but if Commander Rick catches us, we’re done for. Pops will be tortured, and they will find the rest of our team. Stay if you want, but don’t keep us here.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but the old man, Pops, spoke first. “She’s coming with us.” He pushed himself from the metallic wall. “We can’t let them hurt her.”
I let out a gasping laugh. “Would someone please tell me what they think is going on?”
Pops sighed. “Theophrenia isn’t real. We have proof. Just give us a chance to show you.”
I stared at him. There was no pull to believe him. No trust. Nothing like yesterday, when I wanted to believe him. Nothing like today, when I wanted to believe Lady Black.
“You said Lady Black has persuasion. What did you mean?”
“Persuasion? It’s a power that allows you to influence people.”
“What about you? Do you have this so-called persuasion power?”
He inclined his head. “Yes.”
He was admitting to it? “You were using it last night,” I tested. “To get me to come with you.”
“You’re from the Community. Your priority is safety. So yes, I was using my power then. I wanted to explain the situation without risking my team members.”
I set my jaw. I had no proof that his story was true. But that blond guy, Chill, died trying to protect me. My stomach twisted. What was I supposed to believe? That these powers were real? That people were dying because they believed in these abilities?
But I’d seen them, too.
“We’ve got to move.” Inese turned toward the lockers on the back wall, counted softly, then opened the third to last. “This ought to help.” She tossed Pops his cane. Next locker, she had my backpack. I shot away from Lance and tried to grab it, but ended up tripping over my own feet. Lance looped his arm around me and I cradled my backpack against my chest.
“I don’t trust them,” I whispered. I couldn’t trust them.
Lance squeezed my shoulder. “We don’t have a choice. If we stay here, we’re dead.”
I clenched my fists around my backpack straps and locked eyes with the old man. “We’ll come with you. But if you’re lying, we’ll leave. And we will find a way to leave.”
Lance let out a sigh of relief and we hobbled into the hall. Rows of blue-tinted light panels in the ceiling made the silvery hall gleam. Boots echoed behind us, and every few steps, one of the lights streaked. I used Lance’s shoulder as a crutch while Tim ran ahead with Inese. She vanished before each corner, and then reappeared to give the all clear. No one else seemed to mind, but I jumped each time she disappeared. We finally reached a large exterior door, and Tim furiously tapped the screen on his tablet, trying to guess at the security codes.
“Try this.” Inese unzipped a pouch at her side and handed him a mess of wires. Tim’s eyes went wide and he linked the tablet to the keypad by the door.
Jack scowled. “Hurry up, will ya? This ain’t a homework assignment. You don’t have to be exact.”
“Actually, I do,” Tim murmured. The keypad beeped and the door rumbled open. “Got it!”
“Good job, kid. Now move.” Jack shoved Tim through the open door and the rest of us followed. Inese took off running and vanished again while the burly man strode across the lawn.
I shivered. The hairs on the nape of my neck rose, and I turned around. A leader I didn’t recognize stood less than a meter behind me. He wore an odd assortment of baubles and trinkets inside a long brown trench coat. Antiques spilled from his pockets. He smirked, altogether too amused.
Lance stopped short and stared right at the leader—or through him, really—and frowned. “What are you looking at?”
“You don’t see anyone standing there?” I asked.
The man had unkempt, reddish-brown hair poking up in prickly spikes, but it was matted on his forehead by a pair of glass and leather goggles. He winked, and his bright green eyes glinted in the light.
Lance shook his head. “No.”
The leader removed a small, orange pill bottle from one of his pockets, then rattled it near his ear. The game begins. Let’s see how well you fare this time.
I could’ve sworn I’d heard that voice in my head. But the man was gone. Vanished. No sign of his existence at all.
“Jenna—” Lance nudged my arm.
“Hurry up!” Jack called. Several guards raced toward us, pistols raised. A sleek, four-door sedan with old, square fenders materialized in front of us. The tinted windows rolled down and Inese stuck her head out the driver’s window.
“Coming?”
“Nice car,” Tim whispered, his eyes wide.
Lance grabbed my hand and yanked me inside as the guards took aim. Tim jumped in after us. Inese started the engine. A bullet tinged off the back of the car and she cursed, but as the guards aimed their second volley, the car lifted into the air. I about lost the snack bar I’d had all those hours ago.
The car was flying.
