Thibault couldn’t see any cameras, either. A couple of prisoners weren’t as important as the parade float.
He stepped lightly along the hall. Up here on the second floor there wasn’t as much Curve, and each footstep summoned a subconscious shred of the guard’s attention. Thibault trimmed them all away, staying out of his direct line of vision.
The door had a keyboard on the lock. It also had a little lens at eye level – for iris scanning?
Great. So Thibault needed a code and an eyeball? Those Crashes knew how to complicate a rescue mission.
The guard was solid, muscle-bound. A rattlesnake tattoo crawled up out of his collar. Thibault was pretty sure that the first punch landed was going to be the end of the fight. Force was out of the question.
But maybe he could spook the guy.
Thibault leaned casually against the wall and whispered as softly as he could, ‘What’s your name?’
A shaft of troubled attention shot at him – Thibault snipped it. The guard turned away to look up the hallway. He was just the right amount of unsettled, confused.
‘Your name,’ Thibault repeated.
The guy froze, then spoke uncertainly. ‘Noah?’
‘Noah, I think you have a problem in there. You should check the prisoners to see if—’
‘I know what you are,’ Noah said softly, without turning. ‘We trained for people like you.’
Thibault felt his plan crumbling. But maybe if he kept talking…
‘What did they tell—’
The guy’s elbow swung back, catching Thibault in the ribs. The blow sent him stumbling back, sliding along the wall.
The guard turned, bringing the full glare of his attention to bear. Thibault tried to slice it away, but Noah’s eyes were alight with focus.
His fist shot out at shoulder height. Thibault half dodged it, but the shallow contact sent him staggering again, until the wall at the end of the hallway thumped into his back.
He sucked in air. ‘Wait, I can—’
Noah was still closing in, ready to strike again. His focus was the sharpest thing Thibault had ever seen – except for at a gym once, a woman pummeling a bag, her eyes like lasers.
And this time, Thibault was the punching bag.
‘NO EYES INSIDE,’ FLICKER SAID. ‘ARE YOU SURE THIS IS THE PLACE?’
Kelsie nodded. The building looked gloomier in the darkness, more like an old church than a home. But the handwritten sign welcoming everyone to the Clarity Circle was still on the door.
She knocked again, louder this time. No answer.
‘If anyone’s here, they’re fast asleep,’ Flicker said. ‘Do you really think this guy can change Piper’s mind?’
‘Definitely! He’s as powerful as Glitch, but inside out. He makes you recognize yourself. Piper has to see that what she’s doing is wrong!’
Flicker snorted. ‘You think that would’ve worked with Swarm?’
Kelsie winced at the name. She turned away and struck the door again – more of a blow than a knock.
She knew exactly how Swarm thought, in a way Flicker never would. But this was a different situation. One that needed to be resolved peacefully to keep Chizara safe. This had to work.
‘Okay,’ Flicker said. ‘Somebody’s eyes just opened.’
Kelsie stepped back, feeling a trickle of fear. Weird. The world was maybe ending tomorrow, but she was more afraid of seeing that stricken look on her mother’s face again. Guilt and sadness and loss.
Why care? She didn’t owe that woman anything.
This afternoon, it had all felt resolved. Kelsie had been okay with the fact that her mother had moved on. But that had been a Zero power at work. Was Oliver’s power any more long-lasting than a feel-good night of dancing, or being charmed by Nate, or Swarm’s madness?
And if so, how could it get through to Piper?
‘Get ready,’ Flicker whispered.
The door opened. Zoe Moseley stood there, frowning and sleepy, holding back her blond hair with one hand. When she saw Kelsie, a fragile smile touched her lips.
‘You came back,’ she said gently. ‘I hoped you would.’
A rush of pain ripped through Kelsie. The three of them weren’t enough for a feedback loop, but from the expression on Zoe’s face, she was hurting too.
Zoe’s gaze swung toward Flicker. She frowned, confused.
‘This is my friend,’ Kelsie said. ‘We need your help.’
Zoe swung the door wide at once.
Flicker went through, but Kelsie hesitated on the threshold, hope and fear mixing in her stomach.
This was the woman who’d hurt her when she was little. The woman her dad had run from. Who’d replaced her with two other children.
It was too much to process now, in the middle of the night. Kelsie felt like turning around and heading back out into the darkness.
But they needed to get Chizara and Nate back safe – not by fighting or calling in the police. This was the only option left.
She followed Flicker inside.
The room looked larger without people spread across the floor. In the dim light from the hall, chairs and cushions were still strewn around the walls. But it was empty of all the understanding, all the recognition, that Oliver’s power had called into being. Kelsie missed it.
Zoe switched on a lamp and took a seat on a low armchair. She gestured for them to sit. Flicker navigated to a couch, looking right at home.
Kelsie stayed where she was, standing near the door.
‘We need to find Oliver,’ she said.
Zoe frowned at her. ‘Oliver? Oh, I thought you came here to…’
‘Talk to you?’ Kelsie turned away. Suddenly it was hard to speak.
‘It always happens after your first jolt of clarity,’ Zoe said. ‘You feel like everything’s resolved, but then there’s backsliding. All those habits of thought creep back in.’
Kelsie stared at her. The words sounded smooth, as if Zoe had said them before to people knocking on her door past midnight.
‘Especially with an old hurt,’ Zoe said. ‘Like what’s between you and me. But what you need isn’t more of Oliver’s gift. You and I should talk.’
Kelsie felt her lips trembling.
She did want to talk to her mother, but not when Chizara’s life was in danger. Maybe later, if they survived Piper’s plan.
‘I’m not here for that,’ Kelsie said. ‘Something’s happening, something big, and we need Oliver’s help. Please.’
Zoe nodded sadly. ‘You lost hold of clarity, and you need it again right away. But I’ve agreed to protect his privacy. We all have, especially from—’
‘Your own daughter?’ Kelsie asked sharply.
‘That’s not it.’ Zoe leaned forward. ‘I’ve read about you in the news. You’re one of them, aren’t you?’
‘Yes, I have a power,’ Kelsie said. ‘If you’d known that, would you have stayed in touch?’
The words were out before she could stop them. But it felt good to flash with anger, to cause pain. Payback for the woman who’d never even sent her a letter.
‘I promised Jerry not to look for you,’ Zoe said firmly. ‘So I didn’t. I wouldn’t have known he’d passed except the papers said you were an orphan.’
‘An orphan,’ Kelsie said. ‘I guess you didn’t bother to correct anyone about that.’
‘I couldn’t bring attention to Clarity,’ Zoe said. ‘We can’t afford to have the FBI here. I had to protect Oliver.’
‘Like you protected me?’
Zoe looked away. ‘I failed you – you and Jerry both. But that’s no reason to break Oliver’s trust. You and your friends are dangerous.’
Kelsie’s anger was blunted by the words, and Flicker spoke up.
‘We’re trying to stop people from getting killed, Zoe. Oliver can help us. Will you get him over here or not?’
‘I can’t risk it, after all the good he’s done for us. Not even for my little girl.’
‘Don’
t call me that!’ Kelsie’s face burned.
‘Hush,’ Flicker whispered. ‘Someone else just woke up. Who’s here with you?’
‘Only my boys.’ Zoe looked wary, and like she was afraid of Flicker now. ‘And their father.’
‘Right. Three sets of eyes.’ Flicker got to her feet. ‘This is pointless. We should go.’
‘But…’ Kelsie stared at her mother. There had to be some plea Zoe would listen to, some guilty heartstring Kelsie could pull.
Then a voice came from the darkness.
‘Mommy?’
The word drove a knife through Kelsie’s chest.
In the hallway, one of Zoe’s sons stood, his hair shining in the hall light.
‘Theo!’ Zoe reached down and the child crossed to her at once. He stood in the circle of his mother’s arms, his head on her shoulder. Then he looked up at Kelsie in wonder.
‘This is Kelsie, honey,’ Zoe said.
Another boy had appeared in the hallway, nestled up against a bearded man in pajamas. They stood there patiently, as if they were used to nighttime visitors looking for another shot of clarity.
‘I’m…’ Kelsie began, but words failed her. She had to say something to convince Zoe to help them. The lives of her friends and everyone in the city might depend on it.
That included her brothers’ lives too. For the first time, Kelsie realized that what was left of her family lived right here, in the eye of the storm.
She could imagine what Chizara would say if she were there. Maybe Zoe didn’t deserve forgiveness for what she’d done. But she deserved a second chance. And to get that, she had to survive tomorrow.
‘Zoe,’ Kelsie said. ‘If you can’t help us, then please listen to me – you have to leave. New Orleans is going to be destroyed.’
Zoe looked at her like she might be crazy.
Kelsie felt crazy too. Torn between getting the help she needed for her friends and making sure her brothers were safe.
‘If you ever loved me,’ Kelsie pleaded, ‘put your boys in a car and get them out of here.’
As she spoke, the horror she felt reached out and took them all. There were six people awake in the house now, enough to form a feedback loop.
‘This is your power?’ Zoe murmured. ‘Making people afraid?’
‘No,’ Kelsie said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. ‘I share my emotions. You’re afraid because I am. Because I know something bad’s happening tomorrow.’
‘That’s what I’m feeling?’ Zoe put a hand to her chest, and tears came to her eyes. ‘What’s inside you?’
Kelsie took a step closer. She’d been in a thousand feedback loops – with strangers, with friends, with Zara. But this was something strange and new, being linked to her own mother in this small, intimate loop. Bound this way, if only by the fear of some uncertain nightmare.
But there wasn’t time to linger.
‘You have to go,’ she said. ‘Tonight, while there’s still time.’
‘Zoe?’ the man said, holding his son tight. ‘Maybe we should…’
Zoe stood up and grabbed a coat from the rack by the door.
‘Get some clothes on the boys! I’ll be with you soon.’ Zoe turned back to Kelsie. ‘If this city’s getting hit again, Oliver needs to know. I’ll take you to him.’
THIBAULT DUCKED, AND THE GUY’S FIST HIT THE WALL.
‘Ahh!’ The grunt echoed down the hallway, and that burning lance of focus flew apart into sparks.
Thibault pushed himself up and away from the wall. He grabbed the radio from Noah’s belt and sent it skidding down the hall.
Noah followed its motion, his focus narrowing again.
Thibault stood in the corner trying to breathe. His shoulder burned where he’d been punched; his heart thudded pain through bruised ribs.
He needed to slip away, to make a different plan. Maybe if he staged a break-in downstairs, Noah would be pulled from his post.
But the guy was still staring at the radio, his knuckles reddening and speckled with blood.
Go over there and pick it up! Give me some room.
Instead the guy spread his arms out, almost wide enough to span the hallway. He began slowly moving toward Thibault.
Thibault stayed where he was, ready to snip away any glimmer of attention that came his way. But Noah’s eyes were shut. His other senses coiled in the hallway, like Flicker’s when she was alone with Thibault.
‘We practiced with one of you,’ the man hissed.
Thibault froze.
‘Put her in a room. To see if we could find her and take her down.’ The guy smiled. He was getting closer, step by gentle step.
They’d used Rien for practice?
The world grew dark around the edges, started closing in.
‘It’s not that hard,’ Noah said, almost soothingly. ‘You just have to focus. Like she’s not really a person. Like it’s all just a video—’
Thibault struck hard and without thought, straight to Noah’s face.
The response came too fast to see – a kick that swept Thibault’s feet from under him, a punch that drove the breath from his lungs. Then he was on his back, Noah’s weight on top of him, a fist pulled back for a finishing blow to the face.
Thibault grabbed that fist. He channeled his anger, his horror at letting himself be driven to violence, into their connection. He pulled both of them into the Nowhere, throwing their bodies off like discarded costumes.
The hallway turned black around them. They were deep in, teetering dangerously on the edge of nothingness. All Thibault wanted to do was dive into the darkness ahead. No one fought there. No one was used for combat practice.
‘What is this?’ Noah had gone slack with fear.
‘This is where Piper wants to take the world. This is where you’ll be living tomorrow – unless you open that door for me.’
‘The hell I will!’ Noah said, but his voice quavered. ‘This is just some superpowered trick!’
‘This is reality,’ Thibault said with utter conviction. ‘This is how things are when you disconnect from other people. This is what Piper wants – a world like this.’
Noah took Thibault by his jacket, clinging like a terrified child.
Thibault drew him further in, further down, colder. The Nowhere pulled at the light, at their lives, like a strong tide, tearing away their connections with the world. There was only the two of them, and soon even they would start to dissipate.
‘What’s your name?’ Anon asked in a freezing whisper.
‘I don’t know,’ Noah whimpered.
‘Scary, isn’t it? Do you ever want to know it again?’
The guy nodded.
‘Then do exactly what I say. Stand up.’
Noah’s body, way back in the real world, clambered upright.
Distant Thibault stood too, shaky and hurting. ‘Put the code in.’
A faraway hand punched plastic keys.
The iris scanner blinked, and Noah lined up his eye without being told.
The door clicked and eased open.
‘Now walk down that hall,’ Anonymous said. ‘You need to get out of this building. Away from its evil. Don’t try to remember what just happened, but know in your bones that you never want to see this place again.’
Noah nodded, as if remembering any of this was the last thing he ever wanted.
As he pulled away, though, the predatory focus flickered in his eyes again. He scanned the hallway, ready to attack. But Anon was a million miles into the darkness.
The big guy gaped, and a shudder went through his body. Then he shoved his fists into his pockets, hunched his shoulders, and staggered away down the hall.
‘Who the hell’s out there?’ came a voice from the open cell door.
Anonymous turned, racing back from the darkness into his hurting body. Verity sat inside the cell, cross-legged on a slab of bedding on the floor.
She was looking off to his left a little, her eyes not quite finding him.
‘Are you…’ he began, then shook his head. ‘How can you hear me?’
‘You’re a Stalker, right?’ She stood up. ‘I heard you shouting when the power shield was closed. Come in and let me see you.’
Of course – she’d been inside the cell, his anonymity blocked from her. He saw now that the walls were lined with a hexagonal mesh.
He stepped inside. The cell grew lighter as he pulled back from the edge of the Nowhere, as being seen pulled him into reality.
‘He knocked you around pretty good, didn’t he, Stalker?’ she said.
‘My name’s Thibault Durant. I’m from Cambria—’
‘Ugh. One of you guys. You working for Piper yet?’
‘No,’ he said eagerly. ‘I’m here to rescue you.’
Thibault blinked. It was just like Ethan had described – an itch to tell the truth. Even with only two of them in this power-shielded cell.
‘Then let’s get out of here. Piper wants to use my power to fuck up the world.’ Verity was already walking past him.
He stood in her way. ‘Wait. We have to find my friends Nate and Chizara. Piper’s got them, too.’
‘Saldana and Okeke?’ Verity shook her head. ‘Piper doesn’t want another Charismatic, and she’s got two dozen Electrokinetics. They’re not part of this.’
‘But she’s got them locked up.’
‘We’ll just get caught!’ She elbowed him aside and stepped into the hall. ‘I’m the one she needs. Come on.’
Thibault grabbed her arm, the cold surging in him again. The hallway darkened around them.
Verity stared down at his hand. She let out a little grunt as the Nowhere claimed the two of them.
‘Almost forgot about this trick. Rien used to…’ She sighed sadly and murmured, ‘Shit. I’d forgotten her.’
‘She’s still around. I saw her yesterday. But you need to help me find Nate and Chizara, or I won’t help you escape.’
Verity stood there a moment, teeth against her lower lip.
‘Whatever,’ she finally said. ‘But if it’s them or me, I’m out of here. Piper doesn’t care about them.’