Chapter Seventy-Seven

Good question.

Octavia gathered her thoughts. “When del Valle spoke to Ada at the base, I saw something,” she said. This was the crucial part. She was pretty sure she was on the right track. “Images of the past that I had no memory of before. They could represent a…a door, of sorts.” She searched for the words to explain the instinct that guided her. “I believe the flashes make up a puzzle…a key…to reverse what Dr. Lopez was doing to Nina. Did any of you notice? Something out of the ordinary?”

Her question was greeted with silence, until finally Joey said, “I didn’t notice anything other than the words she spoke. I mean literally. The written words. Stop. Control. Wall. Marbles. Cease. Maze. Door. Mind. Resurrect. And…yeah, well, sunflowers.”

Lena chortled indelicately, and even Octavia was amused.

“It’s okay, Joey. I like sunflowers, too,” reassured Thyra. “But I didn’t notice anything.”

“You are sure?”

“Very sure. I was a tad distracted.”

Lena muttered, “Surprise, surprise.”

“Nothing? When Rory kept Ada down and del Valle forced us to look at her?”

Joey was fighting disillusionment—Octavia sensed it deep inside the core of her being. If Thyra hadn’t experienced anything, her theory could be wrong.

“I didn’t even hear what she said,” Thyra explained. “This weird tune kept playing in my head. It was impossible to think.”

“A tune?” Octavia asked quickly. “What kind? A song?”

“No. It was a strange melody. A sort of cadence that sounded familiar and yet wasn’t. Let me hum it for you—”

“Spare me!” Lena cut in dismissively. “This is crap. I didn’t see, hear, or”—she addressed Joey sardonically—“read anything. I wasn’t even there until that Duvall bitch slapped me.”

“Big shock,” said Joey. “You’re ’bout as susceptible as a rock, and just as subtle.”

“Yeah, well. We can’t all be tree huggers like Octavia.”

“Grow up, Lena. I’d rather be a tree hugger than emotionally handicapped like you,” Joey shot back.

Lena snorted.

“At least Octavia is trying to do something constructive. If it were up to you, we’d probably end up going back to Prima Vista so you could torture the doc to death.”

“Excellent idea. Let’s do that,” Lena snapped. Her impatience rose to new heights. “We’ll snatch the bastard and extract the information from him that will let us terminate Ada and find Creed. Then we’ll go after that son of a bitch for real, and kill him.” Her enthusiasm mounted. She definitely liked that idea. But then, when it came to killing, Lena usually was game.

Joey scoffed. “Beat it out of him, you mean?”

“How else? I doubt a blowjob will do the trick.”

“This is so boring,” Thyra said. “Why don’t I just leave you girls to decide? Rory is taking a shower. I think I’ll join him. I’m feeling…dirty.”

“Don’t you dare,” Octavia warned, trying to regain control of the conversation. “Lena, shut up! The slapping was probably part of it.”

“A part of what?” asked Joey.

Lena frowned. “Yeah, what? If you say we’re going to need lots of slapping, I’m going to slap you.”

“No. I mean part of what del Valle did. Think! She gave an auditory command, provoked visual responses, and finished it with a physical action. You remember how Lopez treated us, yes? Always sound and visuals, followed by pain. It is the same pattern, no?”

And the only way they had broken through Ada’s control was when things nearly got out of hand. When their emotions, their fear, their love, burned so hot that it cut right through Ada and forced her aside.

“I should have hit her back,” Lena grumbled.

“I think you’re onto something, Octavia,” Joey said, her mind hitting the same memories and drawing similar conclusions. When Ada had almost shot Rory, fear of actually shooting him, losing him, had been the driving force that allowed Lena to take over again.

Emotions. Ada didn’t seem to have any true defenses against them. Her weakness?

“It does make me wonder how del Valle knew what to do. There was something familiar about her, but I’m certain I don’t know her. How ’bout you, Octavia?”

“She reminded me of someone, too,” Octavia admitted. “But no, I did not recognize her.”

“Me, neither. She was pretty, though. She could do TV. Not cinema, but television, definitely.” This useless information was supplied by Thyra.

Lena was suspiciously silent.

“What?” she demanded.

“You’re too quiet. What are you not saying?”

No response.

Octavia sighed, hating Lena’s contrary nature more than ever. “This is not the time for secrets, Lena. You recognized del Valle, yes?”

There was a slight hesitation before Lena finally said, “Yeah. She’s changed her appearance, but I knew her.”

“From…?”

The memory exploded into their mind before Joey could finish her question, startling them all with a barrage of previously unrecalled events.

“Lord almighty. What on earth was that?” Thyra sounded pained at the sudden bombardment of memories.

“Holy cow, what a rush,” Joey said with awe.

They were memories only Lena’d had access to, until now. From back when Nina had used the Lena Alvarez cover.

“It’s working. The boundaries are slipping.” Octavia was sure of it, struggling to sort through the information that had so suddenly been unleashed. She was thrilled.

“I don’t see what the big deal is. Our memories have mixed before.” Lena said.

“Not like that.” Joey said. “It would have been nice to know more of our past.”

“It wasn’t time yet,” cut in Octavia, feeling it was the truth. “There were good reasons for Nina’s past to be split up the way it was.” The impenetrable boundaries were what had saved Nina from complete destruction.

She was on the verge of saying more when suddenly a cold, unfamiliar voice joined the discussion. “This is all futile. You cannot defeat me. Your presence here wasn’t even part of the plan. I was supposed to be the only one.”

They all started at the abrupt appearance, their awareness shifting toward the very reason for their separate existence.

The bitch!

“Ada!” Lena snarled. She started to pounce on the new arrival.

Octavia demanded, “What are you doing here? You have no business with us. Leave!”

“I do not take orders from you,” Ada countered unemotionally, taking their measure and calculating the threat they posed. “You will fail if you try to defeat me. You’re nothing more than an anomaly in a failed experiment. I am too strong, too entrenched. You are merely fragmented, weak replicas of shadows that never were. You are no match for me.”

“I’ll show you a goddamn match,” ground out Lena.

Joey tensed with barely restrained anger. “Don’t be too sure. There are four of us and only one of you.”

“Well, this was fun,” Thyra said, already backing off. “Not. I’m outta here.”

“We were one,” said Octavia before Thyra could withdraw. “And we will be one again.” She was more certain of that now, than ever. “You are going to be less than a memory, Ada.”

“You think you can defeat me? I challenge you to try. I am here to stay.”

“We are no longer fragmented, but united,” Octavia said. “We will fight you, and we will win.”

Thyra sighed. “Can’t we all just get along?”

Lena surged forward, an unstoppable force. “You’re mine, you bitch. When I’m done with you, you’ll wish you’d never been.”

It was time. They must form a united front, or face defeat.

So, they all joined Lena in battle.

And knew it would be to the death.