TWENTY-FIVE
a glass pod. He tried to move but thick leather restraints held him strapped to a dentist chair. An IV was in his arm and connected to a device that resembled a dialysis machine.
Outside the pod, Tristan could see a laboratory. A woman stood in the center of the room, pouring different colored liquids into cylinders. Her dark hair was tied back in a tight ponytail.
“Mom?” Tristan called out, peering through the thick glass.
The woman glanced over her shoulder with a smile. She wore a white lab coat that went down to her knees.
“Hi, sweetheart.” She greeted him as though he was walking into the kitchen while she was preparing breakfast. “You have nothing to worry about. I have it all under control.”
“What are you doing?” he asked, seeing a twisted image of his mother through the glass. He didn’t recognize the woman who stood on the other side.
“I’m sorry I never told you,” his mother replied as she made her way to the pod next to him. Sage was inside lying on a dentist chair, unconscious. A gauge outside her pod showed eighty percent complete. Tristan had no idea what that meant, but it couldn’t be good.
“Told me what?” he asked.
“What really happened the night of my accident at the lab,” she said, checking the gauge from Sage’s pod before returning to the table in the center. “You see, I was always trained to hate anomalous, but the more I studied them, the more fascinated I became with their powers. Until one day, after extracting the serum from one of them, I decided to inject myself with it just to see what ability I would get.”
Tristan blinked several times, trying to keep his focus. She kept moving about the laboratory as if in the middle of an experiment.
“You’re anomalous?” he asked.
“I became one, yes.” She held up a vial and pierced a syringe into its cap. “It was supposed to have been a secret, but your father came in and caught me vomiting blood. I tried telling him it was what I wanted, but he didn’t even try to understand. He just dragged me to the roof and pushed me down.”
“Dad said an anomalous threw you out the window,” Tristan muttered in disbelief. “No wonder he moved you when you started making progress. He was afraid of you waking up and telling the truth.”
“I’m not surprised.” His mother rolled her eyes. “He’s always been a coward. But what gave me peace was knowing that it wasn’t over for me.” She turned to look at Tristan. “It wasn’t until I was put into a coma that I realized what my powers were. My mind could inhabit anyone’s body, and because of that, I was no longer confined to that bed your father put me in.”
His mother was the Shadow. She was the one who controlled the man at the bank… Killian… the sheriff.
“How was that possible?” Tristan asked. “Don’t you drain?”
“I was hooked to an IV bag, all day, every day,” she explained. “I didn’t drain nearly as fast as I would have without it.”
“What was all that about?” Tristan spoke in disbelief. “The bank… the kidnapping…”
“It’s the only way this cruel persecution will stop,” she said firmly. “The anomalous have the right to live their lives just like everyone else, without hiding or living in fear.”
“And killing everyone else is the answer?” he demanded.
“I’m simply presenting people with a choice.” Her expression softened as she approached his pod. “If they take the antidote to become an anomalous, they don’t have to die.”
“You kidnapped a child and turned him into a weapon,” Tristan hissed. “Don’t you think you’ve crossed the line?”
His mother narrowed her eyes as if she could see through him. “How did you know that was my plan?”
“What?”
“I haven’t taken the boy yet.” She watched Tristan curiously. “So, how did you know that’s what I was going to do?”
Tristan didn’t respond, but he didn’t need to. A wide grin spread across her face.
“She altered you, didn’t she?” His mother seemed proud. “And here I was about to alter you myself.”
“Well, since I don’t need to be altered, can you let me go?”
“Not yet.” His mother narrowed her eyes again. “You know about my plan. Either you can read my mind or…” Her eyes widened with concern. “You already saw it happen.”
He clenched his jaw.
“Oh my!” She clutched her chest. “You can jump in time.” She tapped a finger to her lips and paced in front of the pod. “As exciting as that may be, you’re a threat to my plan.”
“Your plan worked and can’t be undone,” Tristan said. “Going back in time did not undo the deadly serum you put into the boy’s system.”
“That may be the case, but I still don’t have him in my possession. And no doubt Anya has him quarantined somewhere so the disease doesn’t spread.”
“Mom, I know you mean well,” Tristan spoke in a low voice. “But you don’t have to do this—”
“I am not going to hide, and neither are you!” she yelled. The anger and determination in her tone almost made her unrecognizable. She quickly regained her composure and flattened the front of her lab coat. “Now, the first thing I have to do is make sure you’re not able to get in my way again.”
“What exactly does that mean?” Tristan asked, trying to keep his voice from shaking. What had that woman done to his mother, and what was she going to do to him?
“I’m going to give you a new ability.” She flashed him a smile, then turned on her heels and walked back to the center table.
Tristan was stunned. “I didn’t think that was possible.”
“Normally it wouldn’t be,” she said, not even bothering to turn around. “But lucky for you, I have the means to drain you of your serum.”
“You don’t know that it will work!” Tristan shouted, yanking at the straps around his wrists. “You’re going to kill me!”
“No, I’m not!” She swung around and gave him a serious look. “This whole time that my body’s been in a coma, my mind’s been here, working on this.” His mother came to the glass. “Look on the bright side, when you wake up, you’ll have 15 different abilities to choose from.”
“I don’t want to do this,” he hissed, struggling against the restraints. “Let me go!”
She frowned, then touched the glass. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise.”