‘What syndrome?’ Ethan asked. ‘Wait, both my parents? Were they, like, together?’
‘Yeah. He had his arm around her.’
Ethan turned away, feeling really homesick now. He hadn’t seen his folks in the same room for five years.
‘How’d Jess look?’ he asked.
‘Halfway scared for you, halfway seriously pissed.’
‘Yeah, she learned that expression in the army.’
He’d never meant to upset his family like this. But one thing had led to another – which it always did in Ethan’s life – and now there was no way to contact them without putting the Zeroes in danger.
Of course, he wasn’t supposed to contact Sonia, either. And here he was, blabbing away.
‘Just to be clear,’ he said. ‘You haven’t told anyone in Cambria you’re still in touch with me, right?’
‘As if. And I snuck away from WeirdCon without…’
She paused, her scowl fading.
‘What?’ Ethan asked.
Sonia shrugged. ‘I may have mentioned that I was meeting a friend from home. It just slipped out.’
Ethan froze in his tracks. ‘What do you mean, “slipped out”?’
‘I was leaving the con hotel, and this girl I’d been hanging out with asked where I was going. And it just came out of my mouth, you know? Like some kind of brain fart.’ Sonia laughed at his expression. ‘But it’s not like I said who you were.’
‘I have a feeling you didn’t have to.’ Ethan spun on one heel, looking in all directions. ‘Listen, I gotta—’
But there she was, halfway down the path, hands in pockets, casual as can be. An all-too-familiar figure.
‘Verity,’ Ethan hissed.
‘Huh?’ Sonia said. ‘You know Verity too?’
‘She’s a federal agent,’ Ethan said through gritted teeth, dragging Sonia behind a hedge.
‘No way. She’s a local weird-hunter. I’ve been reading her blog for months.’
‘Shhh! We have to—’
‘Ethan Cooper,’ called Verity from the other side of the hedge. ‘I can see you. Come on out.’
ETHAN FROZE.
For a moment he considered making a run for it. But then his head filled with images of cops bringing him down in a flurry of shotgun blasts.
So he put his hands in the air and slowly walked out from around the hedge.
‘Relax,’ Verity said. ‘I gave my bodyguards the slip.’
‘Bull.’ Ethan kept his hands in the air. ‘You just want me to get shot.’
‘Put your hands down,’ Verity said, glancing around. ‘They’ll be looking for me. Plus, you look stupid.’
Sonia took a step forward. ‘Did you follow me here, Verity?’ ‘Gee, cool hair and smart,’ Verity said. ‘Yeah, I figured if the Cambria Five were in town, you’d know where.’
Sonia looked pissed. ‘You used me? That’s totally against the weird-hunter code!’
‘Oh, please.’
Ethan finally lowered his hands. Verity was also scanning the park. Was she looking for her backup?
Or maybe she was telling the truth.
‘Okay, one question,’ he said. ‘Why aren’t there a bunch of marshals busting me right now?’
Verity raised her phone. ‘There will be if you try to run. But I’d prefer to have a private conversation.’
‘Holy crap.’ Sonia stared at them both. ‘She really is a Fed?’
‘Afraid so.’ Ethan turned to Verity. A conversation was fine with him. It meant he could use the voice. ‘What do you want to know?’
‘Is the rest of your crew here?’ Verity asked.
When Ethan hesitated, the force he’d felt in the interrogation room hit, pushing against his throat. No, he was going to beat it. Verity didn’t have a crowd, after all.
But then he felt it – a need to answer, to tell the truth. And it was building.
He turned at the sound of laughter. On the other side of the hedge, four kids were rolling up the path on bikes. They took their time, winding along in meandering loops, the Curve building as they came.
Ethan hated those kids. He hated their slow, easy banter and their wobbling progress. The closer they came, the worse his throat got. Like tonsillitis and mono rolled into one.
But then Sonia blurted out, ‘They split up in Saint Louis!’
She looked confused. But she’d told the truth as she knew it.
Ethan felt the pressure ease from his throat. Sonia answering the question had helped a little, and the kids were finally rolling past.
‘What the hell was that?’ Sonia asked.
‘She makes you tell the truth,’ Ethan said. ‘That’s her power.’
‘You mean, she’s one of you?’ Sonia’s eyes went wide. ‘And a Fed?’
‘Yes!’ Ethan said. Telling the truth felt amazing.
But Verity was still going. ‘What are they doing in St. Louis?’
Oops. Time for power versus power.
Come on voice, razzle-dazzle her.
‘Nothing,’ it said flatly. Which was technically true, Ethan supposed, because if you weren’t in a place, you weren’t doing anything there. But he wanted the voice to straight-up lie, to beat this girl at her own game.
‘Have you heard from Piper since you got here?’ she asked.
Damn. There was that pressure again, like a burning hand around his throat. Luckily, this one was easy.
‘I don’t know who…’ Ethan began, but it was too hard. ‘Only that she’s a big deal in this town.’
‘And she hates normals!’ Sonia chimed in.
A big group of kids was coming into the park now. Kids in matching T-shirts, with a few adults guiding them. Great. Some kind of extracurricular excursion.
Verity’s power was catching a tsunami-level Curve.
‘Listen carefully,’ she said. ‘Have you heard anything about a secret meeting tomorrow? With a guy called Beau?’
A crushing weight came down on Ethan, and he didn’t even try to use the voice. ‘Never heard of any meeting, or him.’
‘Me either!’ Sonia practically shouted.
Verity gave her a bored look. ‘Yeah, you weird-hunters don’t know shit. Total waste of my weekend.’
Sonia glared at her. ‘Hang on. Your truth power is why I told you all about Timmy Hofferson in fifth grade, isn’t it?’
Verity chuckled. ‘Yeah, that was funny. So maybe not a total waste.’
Ethan took a step back. If looks could kill, Sonia’s expression was pretty much a flamethrower right now.
‘You should leave, Sonia,’ Verity raised her phone. ‘I’m calling in the freak collectors. You don’t want to get busted for aiding and abetting.’
She started to tap at her screen, and Ethan opened his mouth.
Voice, distract her! Freak her out.
‘You don’t trust Phan, do you?’it said. ‘That’s why you wanted this conversation to be private.’
Verity stared at him. ‘Pretty insightful for a guy with a C-minus average.’
Damn it. That was in his FBI file?
But at least her fingers had stopped moving.
Melt this girl’s brain, voice.
‘You don’t trust anyone,’ it said, totally sure of itself. ‘Pretty ironic, for a girl who’s never been lied to.’
‘You don’t know me,’ she said coldly.
‘The scary thing is,’ the voice answered, ‘I do.’
Verity sent a confused look at the kids, who were still right there and boosting her power. But the voice was telling the truth, after all.
It knew everyone.
As long as it kept her from calling in those bodyguards.
Go, voice!
‘When you were at school, no one ever lied about knowing how poor you were. Your secondhand clothes. Your shitty house. You heard about your father’s affairs when you were way too young to understand. You knew everyone’s awful secrets – until your whole family hated you for it. The truth is humiliation and pain,
isn’t it?’
‘That’s my power causing pain,’ Verity said softly. ‘Not me.’
Ethan swallowed. He hated it when the voice got all dark like this. But he also hated the idea of life in prison, so he let it keep pounding away.
‘People may not lie to you, but they still break promises. Phan says you’ll lead a team of superpowered agents one day. But you know it’s never going to happen. His bosses hate us. They’ll never trust you.’ Ethan managed to grab a breath. ‘And he’s putting you in danger for this meeting, isn’t he? You know you’re expendable. Because to the government, you’ll always be a superpowered freak!’
For a moment, Verity looked stricken. All her worst fears confirmed.
The voice had nailed it.
‘What the hell is your power?’ she asked.
The voice got all proud in Ethan’s mouth, coming out bigger than he’d ever heard it before. ‘It’s more than you can understand. More than anyone can grasp. You only have the truth. But I have knowledge, the annihilation of the unknown. Past, present, future. Thoughts, feelings, fears. I know all of it.’
‘Damn, Ethan.’ Sonia was staring at him. ‘I would not have called that.’
‘Well, I’ve heard enough.’ Verity raised her phone again. ‘Someone needs to shut you down.’
Ethan opened his mouth, wanting more than anything to keep distracting her, but nothing came out.
The voice was fresh out of diversions.
‘Here’s how this works,’ Verity said. ‘When I slip away from my guards, they scramble a team. Too many for you to get past. If you try to run, you’ll only get hurt. These guys don’t play nice with freaks. Understand?’
Ethan’s mind spun. The voice couldn’t just throw shade anymore. It had to say something that made Verity want to let him go.
And with that new desire, it came charging back up his throat.
‘If you do this, I’ll be working for the feds inside a week!’
She gave him side-eye. ‘Yeah, that’s kind of the point.’
‘Really, Verity? You want a government that knows everything you’re thinking? Everything you’re scared of? A government that knows about the pencil you shoplifted when you were seven, just to see if you could keep a secret? That knows how all you want is to keep Piper safe? That you still call her up some nights? That you still wish she and you—’
‘Shut up!’ Verity cried out, pushing him back with both hands, hard.
Ethan stumbled but kept his footing. The group of kids went silent, and suddenly all of them were watching. Like Ethan was in a play and didn’t know his lines.
But the voice did.
‘You don’t trust Phan to keep you safe tomorrow,’ it said. ‘Why would you trust him with omniscience?’
Verity stared at him for what seemed like a solid minute. Finally she lowered her phone.
‘Get the hell out of here,’ she said. ‘Both of you.’
Ethan turned away and started walking, fast. Sonia was beside him, tapping notes into her phone.
He wanted to tell her to stop, but his head was pounding too hard with what he’d heard the voice say about itself.
Omniscience really was scary, when you thought about it. Especially since Ethan didn’t know where all that knowledge came from, and was never really in control of what came out of his mouth.
But hadn’t Nate promised that New Orleans would be full of answers?
More than ever, Ethan wanted to find another Scam.
‘YOU’RE SPOOKING THEM, THIBAULT,’ FLICKER’S VOICE CHIRPED IN HIS EARBUD. ‘That place is crammed with cameras.’
‘My FBI jacket’s not fooling them?’
‘Maybe it’s your haircut. Or the fact that you’re sixteen? No alarms yet, but the guy at the security desk’s on the phone. Be ready to move.’
‘Great,’ Thibault said under his breath. He was halfway across the third floor of the FBI’s New Orleans field office, a rabbit warren of corridors kinking around offices and meeting rooms. It was a little after five, and the place was busy enough that chopping away attention was easy, but there was nothing his power could do against cameras.
He didn’t want to leave. There was information here, and he was the Zeroes’ boots on the ground. It kept him real, being on a mission.
And he liked having Flicker in his ear, guiding him. It made him feel safe, connected.
‘Is Phan coming back to his office?’
‘He’s headed for the security desk,’ Flicker said. ‘Maybe they always call him when weird shit happens.’
Thibault froze, wondering if Phan knew about Stalkers. If so, this mission just got a lot trickier.
‘You’re right in front of a camera!’ she said. ‘Move! Or at least turn your back to it. They might have your face on file from the Dish photos.’
Thibault moved. A bell pinged as he passed the elevator doors. They hissed open behind him, and someone’s attention zotted into the back of his head.
‘Hold up, buddy,’ a nervous voice said, and a radio spat and squawked.
Thibault turned to see a portly man standing, hand on his gun. He severed the man’s sightline with a swipe of his hand.
‘Uh…’ The security guy blinked and looked around.
His radio crackled again: ‘He was five yards in front of you, McEvoy. What’s the problem?’
‘He who?’ The guard’s gaze swept the corridor.
Thibault stood back and let the guy stride past and around the corner, his attention whipping around, his radio exclaiming on his hip.
‘Still want to stay in there?’ Flicker asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Okay. Head to room three seventy-eight.’
Thibault walked, the numbers climbing to his right. He passed an open door, and a woman in a blue suit glanced up from a monitor.
‘Looking hot in that raid jacket, Anon,’ Flicker murmured.
Thibault grinned, chopped the agent’s attention away, and kept going.
There was no wood paneling along this hallway, and the doors were closer together. Like these were temporary offices.
Behind him, Thibault heard McEvoy: ‘You see a kid come past here? Tall, dark hair, raid jacket?’
‘A kid? Nope.’
The hallway turned left and left again. Thibault hurried along it, still checking door numbers. ‘I’m at the three seventies… here it is.’
The squawk of a radio was coming around the loop in the hall.
‘You aren’t on camera,’ Flicker said. ‘Go!’
Thibault pushed through into 378, closed the door behind him.
The office was a mess, a chaos of folders and binders. Thibault stood with his back against the door, taking it all in.
‘Man, these guys print everything out.’
Two tall file cabinets were jammed up against the back wall. An ancient PC was pushed back to one corner of the desk, the keyboard on top of the monitor to make room for more papers and files.
The security radio squawked past outside the door.
‘You’re clear,’ Flicker said. ‘Let’s get some photos, Anon.’
‘You got it, boss.’
‘That still sounds weird,’ she said. ‘I prefer “Your Magnificence” or “Your Worship”.’
‘Whatever, boss,’ Thibault said, smiling. Flicker owning her place as the group’s leader was the only pleasant surprise in his return to the world. She might be uncertain about being in charge, but that only made him want to support her more.
He started with a panorama of the grubby, Blu-Tack-marked walls, the beat-up desk, the veneer peeling off the cupboard doors.
Phan must be at the bottom of the pecking order of this place. The local agent in charge couldn’t be taking his crowd theories that seriously.
Then he saw it on the wall. ‘Whoa, there’s a map.’
‘Of what? New Orleans?’
‘The whole US.’ It took up most of the wall opposite the desk. Thibault leaned back against the desk to fit all of it on t
he phone screen. ‘It’s got pins all over it – red, white, and blue.’ ‘God bless America,’ Flicker said. ‘That’s so FBI.’
He took the picture. His hands were shaking, so he took a few more.
‘One problem,’ Thibault said. ‘There’s no key to what the colors mean.’
‘Let’s Rosetta Stone this,’ Flicker said. ‘Find Cambria.’
‘Right.’ Thibault leaned closer, lifted an unsteady finger to the California coast. ‘Yep, there’s a bunch of pins there. All three colors, mostly white.’
‘Count them.’
‘Um, sixteen white. Two blue, just one red.’ He scanned the area. ‘Also a red and a white out in the Arizona desert.’
‘Arizona? As in the Desert Springs Mall?’
‘Right. Whoa.’ Thibault felt sudden nerves in his stomach.
He ran his fingers back to Cambria. So many white pins. They couldn’t all be Zeroes.
One red. Two blue.
He looked from Cambria to Desert Springs and back again. Then down at Houston. Another cluster of white.
Of course. Training sessions, pranks, crimes.
‘White is crowd-psychosis events, Zeroes screwing around,’ he said, and took a step back. ‘The whole map is full of it.’
‘What about the other colors? Actual Zeroes?’
‘No, there’s just two blues in Cambria, not the famous five. None at the mall. And one red in each place.’
A chill passed through Thibault at the sight of the single red pin at Desert Springs.
Davey.
The guy they’d called Coin. The guy they’d watched being torn to pieces. The fellow Zero who he, Thibault, had handcuffed to a sculpture right in the swarm’s path.
Thibault swayed on his feet.
And the single red pin in Cambria. That had to be Quinton Wallace, collapsing in front of Thibault’s gun.
Both red pins were his doing.
Darkness fringed his sight and began to close inward. The shape of a pistol grip filled his hand. That smell of shooting, fireworks gone sour, prickled his nostrils. Blood spread on the asphalt, its edges gleaming in the sun…
‘Anon?’ Flicker’s voice came from a hundred miles away. But it stopped him from fading out, pulled him back to his body. This was important. The Zeroes needed him to stay in this blood-soaked world.