Nexus

  ‘After I shot Quinton, I helped Ethan get away from his mom and the cops. Quinton’s blood was on me, and somehow the sight of it leveled me up. I took hold of Ethan and made us both anonymous.’

  Flicker nodded. ‘Nate can do that now.’

  ‘He was just figuring out how to make himself Anonymous back then. We have the same power, inside out. We’re just different people, I guess.’

  Flicker felt a chill. She’d already figured most of this out. But the idea that her oldest friend and her boyfriend were different versions of each other was too squicky to think about.

  ‘What happened then?’

  ‘Ethan and I got back to the Dish, and that’s when I saw Craig.’

  He paused for a long time. Through the wind, Flicker could almost make out the crashes of individual waves on the faraway beach.

  ‘It wasn’t really him, though. Just his body. You know how Nate and I see attention? All those sparkling lines of awareness between people? The ones I chop away and he manipulates? Craig’s were gone. Whatever human connection gives us our powers, he was cut out from it. Dead.’

  ‘I saw his death too, kind of,’ Flicker said. ‘He was looking over the edge of the truck when he got hit. I was in his eyes, using him like a periscope. His vision broke into little shards of light. Scattered away.’

  ‘Oh.’ Thibault reached out and took her hand. Even his fingers were thinner.

  ‘Kelsie felt him leave the loop,’ Flicker said.

  ‘We always knew our powers were about crowds,’ he breathed. ‘But maybe they’re about something bigger.’

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘Life, maybe?’ His hand tightened around hers. ‘Whatever binds everyone together? When I realized that I’d sliced Quinton Wallace out of that web, it was too much. If I could cut someone else out, then I didn’t deserve to stay connected myself.’

  ‘What about what I deserved, Thibault?’

  He went silent. Flicker wasn’t sure where that sudden pulse of anger had come from. But it was growing inside her.

  ‘It’s super awesome, how everyone is connected,’ she said. ‘Yay for us. Yay for our freaky superpowers and the web of humanity. But zoom in a little. There’s also a thing when there’s just two people. Like what’s between us.

  ‘We were all in shock that day,’ she insisted. ‘Craig was dead, Nate under arrest. But nobody else ran away. And didn’t I matter – didn’t we matter – enough for to you to stay with me?’

  He was silent.

  Crap. That had all come out wrong. Selfish and crazy-sounding and way too soon. What if yelling at Thibault only made him disappear again? What if she could never be honest with him again, without worrying that he’d run away?

  But she couldn’t take it back now.

  So she went all in. ‘Why wasn’t I enough to keep you here in reality?’

  For once she didn’t have to wait long for an answer.

  ‘Because everything is harder with you,’ he said

  Flicker blinked. ‘Harder?’

  His slow sigh joined with the sounds of wind and leaves. ‘Living with this power, I learned not to be attached to anyone. It was easier that way, and safer, because everyone would always forget me. But then you learned to see me. That made me think I could connect. That my family could learn too.’

  Flicker looked away, remembering him storming through the halls of his parents’ house, tearing pictures off the walls. ‘And that didn’t quite work out.’

  ‘No. It didn’t.’

  ‘My bad,’ she said. ‘I pushed it too fast.’

  And then, when everything had gone sideways, she’d forgotten him too. Abandoned him just as cruelly as his parents had.

  ‘You tried to help,’ he said.

  Flicker shook her head, taking hold of his shoulders. His bones were too near the surface, sharp. ‘All I care about is if you’re going to leave me again.’

  She heard him try to answer, to reassure her – the first breath of a word coming from his mouth. But it lay there, strangled into silence.

  The wind died outside.

  ‘I don’t know,’ he finally said.

  ‘Okay.’ Maybe this was also too soon, but it was all she had. ‘Nate has an idea that might help.’

  ‘Of course he does.’

  ‘Chizara made a tracker. It doesn’t send out a signal all the time, just when her power activates it. Like a chip in a passport, she says. She can home in on it. She’ll use it to help find you if you…get lost again.’

  Flicker felt his response with her hands. His body turning inward on itself, pulling away from the idea. It was everything he hated – an invasion of privacy, an erasure of will. It was someone tagging him, tracking him, owning him.

  But what he said out loud was ‘Will that make it easier for you?’

  Flicker pretended that she hadn’t felt the shudder in his body, in his voice. In her own heart.

  ‘It will,’ she said.

  ‘Okay, then. A tracker sounds perfect.’

  NATE WAITED TILL AFTER BREAKFAST, WHEN CAFFEINE AND BLOOD SUGAR WERE GLITTERING IN EVERYONE’S ATTENTION. The sun speckled down through pine needles, chasing away the night chill.

  ‘There’s doughnuts in the van,’ he said. ‘Also, I think we should go to New Orleans next.’

  Kelsie looked up, her focus shimmering like a string of glass beads. He knew he didn’t have to convince her. Her dad, on his deathbed, had said her mother might still be in New Orleans.

  Plus, the ultimate party girl, in the ultimate party town?

  Too easy.

  Chizara was the first one to argue, of course.

  ‘What the hell, Nate? Did you miss what happened in Vegas?’ She lowered her voice. ‘We almost lost control. The first time we’re in a big city in weeks, and we had a riot going inside five minutes!’

  ‘We were betrayed, attacked,’ he said. ‘But there’s no one setting a trap for us in New Orleans.’

  ‘Every city is a trap.’ Chizara looked around for support. ‘All those people. All those eyes. All those wanted posters! Do you really want to be looking over your shoulder all the time?’

  Nate glanced down at the palm of his hand, where he’d written a message for Flicker.

  Help me?

  But if she was looking through his eyes, she didn’t respond.

  ‘What kind?’ Ethan asked.

  Nate stared at him, uncomprehending.

  ‘Of doughnuts,’ Ethan added.

  ‘Stale.’

  ‘Cool. My favorite.’ Ethan slouched off toward the van, coffee mug in hand.

  ‘I think going to a city makes sense,’ Kelsie said. ‘We lost it in Vegas because we’re out of practice. I mean, how are we supposed to learn to control our powers if we’re in the wilderness all the time?’

  ‘Good point,’ Nate said.

  ‘But New Orleans isn’t your average city.’ Flicker spoke up. ‘And isn’t it almost Mardi Gras? That’s like learning to swim at the Olympics! Thibault just came back to the real world. Do we want to throw him straight into the deep end?’

  So much for Flicker helping him.

  ‘This isn’t about training, is it, Nate?’ she said. ‘What’s the real reason you want to go there?’

  ‘Because of Mardi Gras. The world’s biggest party will be a Zeroes magnet. We’ll find other people like us.’

  ‘People like us mostly suck,’ Chizara said. ‘And didn’t Verity say she was from there?’

  Nate spread his hands in surrender. ‘She did. Agent Phan is too, I’ll bet.’

  ‘Seriously?’ Ethan was back, standing at the edge of the campfire circle, chewing a chocolate-glazed doughnut. ‘You want to risk bumping into the guy who almost trapped us – twice – and his superpowered sidekick? What the hell for?’

  ‘Listen.’ Nate let the word hang for a moment, then gently pulled the strands of their attention tauter. ‘Something’s happening out in the rest of the world. Something big. People with powers are everywher
e, and they’re doing important things.’

  ‘They’re doing stupid things,’ Flicker said. ‘Messing with the Super Bowl? That’s a great way to get us all shot on sight!’

  ‘That’s why we can’t just sit here.’ Nate swept his gaze across the group, trying to connect them. ‘Before you interrupted my interrogation, Phan was telling me about someone called Piper. She’s also in New Orleans, planning something. He thought I might know about it. Think about that for a second.’

  Everyone stared at him, listening now.

  ‘I was stuck in jail a thousand miles away, in isolation most of the time, not allowed to talk to any other prisoners. And he asked me about Piper’s plan.’ Nate looked around at their uncomprehending faces. Why were they being so thick? ‘Whatever it is, Zeroes from all over must be joining up with her!’

  ‘So you have to be there too,’ Chizara said. ‘Figures.’

  ‘This isn’t about me,’ Nate said. ‘This is about who we are. Do we want to hide for the rest of our lives, not using our powers? Or do we want to be part of whatever’s going on out there? Part of what this all means?’

  ‘He’s right,’ came a voice from the edge of the circle.

  Everyone looked up.

  It was Thibault. He’d gotten lost in the bickering. But now he stood there, clear as day behind Flicker, connected to her.

  ‘These powers have to mean something,’ he continued. ‘You think they just popped up for no reason, all over the world at once? And even if they’re dangerous sometimes, they can also work for good. I mean, look what we did back at the Dish, bringing people together. What if there’s some bigger version of that happening? Don’t you want to be a part of it?’

  ‘Not if it’s a bigger version of what Glitch and Coin used to do,’ Flicker said.

  ‘Or Swarm,’ Chizara added.

  ‘Then we should be there to stop it,’ Thibault said. ‘If there’s a battle happening, we should pick a side. I’m tired of drifting, of running away.’

  Nate blinked, not quite believing what he was seeing. Thibault was holding their attention, for a moment at the radiant center of the group.

  Then those sparkling lines started to slip from him, and he became Anonymous again.

  ‘Okay,’ Flicker said. ‘Let’s vote. But if it’s three to three, then we figure out somewhere else. Someplace a majority of us want to go.’

  She turned to Nate and smiled sweetly.

  ‘Is everyone okay with that?’

  Murmurs of agreement went around the circle. Nate tried to think of a reason to disagree, to keep the argument going. But they all listened to Flicker now.

  Voting? Things really had gone haywire in his absence.

  ‘I say no.’ Flicker turned to Thibault. ‘Sorry. But it’s too dangerous.’

  ‘Way too dangerous,’ Chizara chimed in. ‘No for me, too.’

  ‘Zara!’ Kelsie stared at her girlfriend. ‘What about my mother?’

  Chizara shook her head. ‘We don’t know if she’s still there. But a million Mardi Gras revelers will be. You can’t handle that yet.’

  ‘I can’t wait to,’ Kelsie said. ‘I vote yes.’

  ‘So do I,’ Thibault said.

  Nate shook his head. Both couples were in disagreement. However this worked out, things were going to get awkward once night fell.

  And worse, Flicker had engineered this so that Ethan had the deciding vote.

  Mr. Bravery himself, standing there chewing a stale doughnut.

  Nate turned, hoping that the sugar had reached Ethan’s bloodstream. He marshaled every ounce of charm he had, all the shards of his power dulled by weeks in an isolated cell, every argument he could think of, every appeal to Ethan’s ego and cowardice and short-term thinking.

  ‘I vote yes,’ Nate began. ‘Because this is without question the most important—’

  ‘Me too,’ Ethan interrupted.

  ‘Wait,’ Nate said. ‘What?’

  ‘What?’ Flicker spat.

  Ethan stared at the ground. ‘Uh, I heard there was this conference in New Orleans. Kind of wanted to check it out.’

  Nate frowned. ‘A conference?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Ethan said. ‘Like, a weird-hunter thing. I mean, about Zeroes. Could be…informative.’

  Chizara gave him a death glare. ‘Where the hell did you hear about that?’

  Ethan was wearing a look, one that hadn’t changed much in the weeks Nate had been away – the look he wore while deciding whether to use the voice on his friends or not.

  ‘The internet,’ Ethan finally said in his real voice.

  Chizara swore. ‘You’ve been using the burners to go online again.’

  ‘Not since you yelled at me!’

  She glared at him another moment, then groaned. ‘Well, I guess the motion passes. Hell, it might be worth going to New Orleans, just to get Scam in a room with Verity again.’

  ‘That’s cold,’ Ethan said.

  Nate frowned – would the voice be affected by Verity? Or were Scam’s lies the stronger power?

  Lies versus truth. A sudden thought shook Nate.

  ‘Ethan,’ he said. ‘Have you ever tried to use the voice to make someone else talk?’

  Ethan stared at him. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Concentrate, right now. Use your power to make me tell the truth. Draw it out of me!’

  ‘How the hell would I do that?’

  ‘Just try!’ Nate yelled, hoping the shock might nudge something in Ethan’s brain. If his Bellwether power and Anon’s were opposite sides of the same coin, why not Verity’s and Scam’s?

  ‘You mean…’ Ethan murmured. He got a determined look on his face, his attention narrowing like a spotlight on Nate. The rest of the Zeroes were riveted, the Curve fully present.

  ‘I love stale doughnuts,’ Nate said. ‘And sharing a tent with Ethan.’

  All of it came out without the slightest hesitation.

  Ethan slumped. ‘That was pointless, dude. My power’s not the reverse of Verity’s. Swarm didn’t even think I was a real Zero. I keep telling you guys – that’s why he didn’t eat me!’

  ‘Well, this is why we’re going to New Orleans,’ Nate said with a shrug. ‘For answers. Maybe we’ll find another one of you there.’

  And the question of another Scam was only the tip of the iceberg. There could be hundreds of Zeroes among the vast crowds of Mardi Gras. More Crashes, Flickers, Anons, Glitches, Coins…Mobs halfway to Swarms. And better Bellwethers, it seemed.

  New powers, probably, with infinite new ways for all of them to intersect.

  So much to see. So much to learn.

  Worth any risk.

  ‘WE NEED GAS,’ ETHAN SAID.

  No one answered. Probably napping. Ethan had been driving for three hours already, and New Orleans was still twelve hours away. Apart from visiting his dad one time in Chicago, Ethan had never been this far from Cambria.

  He glanced at Nate, who lay with his head against the side window of the van. Lucky asshole. Ethan could never sleep in cars.

  ‘Gas,’ he said louder.

  ‘There’s a station half a mile ahead,’ Flicker replied from the backseat. ‘Only a couple of people inside.’

  Ethan grunted his thanks.

  A friendly yellow filling-station sign loomed into view a minute later, and Ethan coasted off the highway and up to a gas pump.

  ‘I’ll do it,’ Thibault said. ‘You pay.’

  Ethan jumped. ‘Oh. Thanks, Tee.’

  Thibault smiled. It looked weird on him, like he had to remind himself how.

  Ethan still felt guilty about forgetting the guy. But that guilt didn’t help him remember Thibault in the here and now, especially when they were all crammed into a car together. The Curve really liked tight spaces.

  ‘I need to stretch,’ Flicker said, pulling a floppy hat on. Apparently she didn’t want Thibault getting more than a few feet from her. Didn’t she trust Chizara’s tracker thing?

  The Zero
es just got more paranoid every day.

  ‘Get some snacks, too, Scam,’ Nate said, hunkering lower in his seat. His face was the one on the wanted posters, so he never had to do anything.

  ‘Duh,’ Ethan said under his breath. Like he served any other purpose in life. Snacks and gas and fresh clothes.

  He grabbed his cap and pulled it down low over his sunglasses. Then he unfolded himself gratefully from the van.

  This road trip was giving him cabin fever. One thing about growing up as Ethan Cooper, he’d always spent a lot of time on his own. But now it seemed like the entire rest of his life was going to be like this. Holed up in some cramped space with the same four – no, five – people.

  What a freaking mess.

  He was sick of being on the run. He had permanent neck cramps from always looking over his shoulder. Plus no video games or internet.

  Chizara was keeping the burner phones wrapped up tight these days, and Ethan hadn’t even gotten a chance to tell Sonia that he was headed for her weird-hunter conference.

  But maybe that was the smoother move. Just send her a text when he got to New Orleans, like it was no big deal.

  Hey, in town. Wanna hang?

  Yep, an international man of mystery.

  Or interstate, anyway.

  ‘Get salsa!’ Kelsie yelled across the forecourt. ‘I’m starving.’

  Ethan flinched. Didn’t Kelsie understand the concept of lying low?

  He wondered what Sonia was doing right now. Probably going to weird-hunting parties, meeting cool people, and bragging about knowing the Cambria Five.

  Ha! Nobody even knew there were six of them. Maybe he could casually drop that into conversation.

  Yeah, no. If that info wound up on the weird-hunter message boards, it would just make it easier for the law to spot them.

  Inside the convenience store, he headed for the snack aisle to load up on salsa and chips. At the checkout a guy stood sucking a giant soda.

  Ethan could just make out the guy’s name tag through his sunglasses. Dwayne. Name tags really took the fun out of things when you had the voice to fill you in.

  Ethan dumped the snacks on the counter, and the voice came charging up his larynx, glad to have company at last.

  ‘Hey, Dwayne,’ the voice said. ‘Brittney says hi.’