Zoe stopped on the bottom step, in her nightgown, with her curls wild and a toy shark clutched in her arms while Gemma slipped out of sight at the top of the stairs.
“Get off him!” Zoe’s voice was shaky but ripe with warning.
Shade’s gaze dragged over her. “Sweet,” he drawled. “But not the one I want. Where’s the other girl?” When I didn’t answer, he bore down with his foot so hard, I choked with pain. “The one from the docking-ring.”
“Stop it!” Zoe yelled.
“Tell me,” he warned. His pupils widened until his eyes were entirely red. “Or I’ll ask the angel over there.”
“Go ahead and ask me, jerk face.”
“Zoe!” I croaked while waving her away, only to cry out as one of my ribs cracked under Shade’s heel.
“Where” — the outlaw spat each word—“is she?”
“Here!” Gemma stumbled down the stairs and stepped in front of Zoe, blocking her from the outlaw’s view. “Please don’t hurt them.” She threw down her jade knife.
With a curl of his fingers, Shade coaxed her forward. When I squirmed with renewed effort, he glanced down as if deciding whether or not to kill an insect. Shade was going to take Gemma and there was nothing I could do to stop it…. But someone else could.
“Zoe!” I gasped. “Do it!” Between Shade’s legs, I saw her scoot around Gemma. “Now! Touch the —” My words ended in a scream as Shade’s foot bore down and cracked another of my ribs. Despite my agony, I forced my eyes open to see Zoe kneel next to the puddle that had spread across the wet room floor. She dipped her finger into the water.
A second later, a tsunami of pain hit me as electricity blasted through me, frying every nerve ending in my body. Above me, Shade spasmed as if caught in a lightning storm, and then stiffened. When he collapsed, a second wave of pain crashed over me and my world went black.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
I woke with a burnt taste in my mouth and an awful toothache. Someone was sobbing nearby. It had to be Zoe. I didn’t have to see her to know that she was rocking on the balls of her feet with her head thrown back and her mouth wide open. No one else in the world could howl like that. One of her pets must have died. I opened my eyes to tell her I’d help her catch a new monster if she’d just quit making that awful noise.
I blinked against the harsh light and abruptly Zoe’s howls stopped. Closing my eyes, I decided to use my sonar instead but as I turned to send out clicks, my side burned with pain. Groaning, I squinted at Zoe, who gaped back at me in astonishment. Then she slid out of sight as my bed rolled forward.
Not a bed—a gurney, I realized as the fog lifted from my mind.
“You’ll need to leave the room now,” a voice said. Doc’s voice.
Something was binding my chest so tightly, every breath was a shot of pain. Still, I tipped my head back, only to see that I was being pushed into a metal cylinder.
“You’re awake,” Doc said. “Lie still. This won’t hurt at all.”
As the cylinder drew closer, strange lights flickered inside of it. Panic seized me as memories shrieked like ghosts in my head. I was headed into an MRI scanning machine. Thrashing onto my side, I set my broken ribs on fire.
“Ty, don’t move,” Doc commanded.
Lifting my head, I saw him, tight-lipped with determination. I tumbled off the gurney, gripping the edge in case my legs wouldn’t hold me — but they did. Wearing nothing but a hospital gown, I ran for the door. “Come back!” he shouted after me.
Pushing through the swinging door, I burst into the infirmary to find my family gathered by a row of beds. Gemma, too. When my parents saw me, they rushed forward. Pa got to me first and eased me onto a bed before I collapsed.
Doc shoved through the door, eyes on me. “Are you crazy?” Turning to Ma and Pa, he said, “He ran out like I was killing him.”
“Give him a minute, Doc,” Pa said, giving my neck a reassuring squeeze.
Ma sat down on the bed next to me. Her fingers trembled as she gathered one of my hands into hers and rubbed my knuckles down her cheek. Across the room, Gemma nervously rolled the infirmary’s crash cart back and forth like she was rocking a cradle.
“Who knows how much electricity surged through him?” Doc said. “I need to check his brain for damage and —”
“No!” I said.
A movement at the end of the bed caught my attention. It was Zoe, clutching her toy shark as if her life depended on it, still in her nightgown. “Please don’t die,” she whispered.
“I’m not going to die,” I scoffed.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you.” A sob broke her words, making them hard to understand.
In a blinding flash, the events of the night burst into my mind. My fear, the searing pain as my ribs cracked … and Shade. Most of all Shade. Towering and terrifying with his glowing-ember eyes. “Shade,” I gasped, throwing my legs over the side of the bed. Ma’s hand tightened around mine, holding me back.
“He’s locked up,” Pa assured. “Ranger Grimes will take him to the coast within the hour and we’ll never see him again.”
My gaze flew to Gemma, who looked as wracked as I felt. What had she told everyone?
“What’s this?” Ma asked, sounding alarmed as she touched my arm.
Glancing down, I saw an odd feathery mark that started on the inside of my elbow and bloomed upward over my bicep. It looked as if someone had traced my capillaries in purple ink.
“A Lichtenberg bruise,” Doc said. “Ranger Grimes says Shade has one just like it.”
Running a finger over the intricate pattern, I winced as pain erupted along my skin.
“People get it after being struck by lightning,” Doc explained. “But any kind of electrical shock can cause it.” His gaze settled on Zoe.
She squirmed and opened her mouth to speak, but I got the words out first. “That was really smart of you, shrimp,” I croaked. “Putting the shockprod in the puddle. Really smart.”
Across the room, Gemma stopped rolling the cart and frowned.
“Yes,” Zoe whispered, backhanding her tears away. “I did that.”
“You said you didn’t remember what you did,” Doc corrected.
“She was scared,” I cut in while keeping my eyes pinned to my sister. “She picked up the prod from the floor. Probably didn’t even realize what she was doing.” Zoe nodded, lips pressed into a tight seam. “I told her to put it in the puddle,” I added.
Doc crossed to stand in front of Gemma. “Did you see what happened?”
“Is there a problem, Doc?” Pa asked.
“I’m gone for good in forty-eight hours.” Doc’s gaze bored into me. “If there’s something wrong with you, now is your chance to find out. After that, you’re on your own.”
I stiffened with anger. “There’s nothing wrong with me.” As if I’d trust him anyway after he’d purposely misled us into thinking Seablite was a prison.
“Let’s give Ty a little time and then see how he’s doing,” Pa suggested.
“He’s a kid!” Doc turned to Pa. “He doesn’t know what’s for the best. Don’t you have some control over him?”
“Some,” Pa said wryly.
“Not to have him examined is negligence. Pure negligence.” With that, Doc stalked out of the room.
“Now that Shade has been arrested,” Ma said quickly, covering the awkward silence, “everyone thinks the rest of the gang will clear out of here. I thought you’d want to know, we’re reconsidering our move Topside.” She smiled and handed me a pile of folded clothes. “Maybe the ‘wealth will even offer a reward for his capture.”
I looked at Pa, who smiled back. It was enough to make my ribs stop hurting for a moment.
Once they left the room, I hurriedly stepped into a pair of drawstring pants. As I tore off the paper gown, the feathery bruise caught my eye. I sank to the bed as I faced the fact that this bruise was the second thing that Shade and I had in common. There was no denying it an
ymore, not after what I’d seen. Shade had a Dark Gift.
Cheers and applause broke out when I swung open the door to the dining hall. Jibby, Raj, and the Peaveys raised their tankards. “To Ty!”
Jibby thrust a cup into my hand. “We’re celebrating Shade’s capture.”
“What time is it?”
“Middle of the night,” Shurl replied, beaming at me.
Sidling close, Gemma whispered, “We need to talk.” She led me to an empty table.
Good, now we could get our stories straight.
“You have to tell them Dark Gifts are real,” she said once we settled on top of the table.
“What? No!”
“People need to know that Shade can camouflage himself.”
“Why? He can’t break out of jail by changing the color of his skin.”
“You’re setting an example for Zoe and Hewitt,” she scolded. “Probably other kids, too. They watch you because you’re older. And what are you telling them? To be ashamed of themselves.”
I glanced at Zoe, who seemed younger than usual, curled in Ma’s lap, clutching her toy shark. I looked away and ignored the guilt seeping into me. “I’m sick of people watching me. The settlers watch to see if I’m healthy, because if I am, they think they don’t have to worry about their kids. Topsiders watch to see if the water pressure is affecting me. I don’t want to be a prototype—I want to be normal.”
“But you’re not,” Gemma said. “You’re different. Special. You may as well admit it. And just so you know, it’s not normal to want to be normal. People who are normal want to be special.”
“Yeah? Down here, you’re special. So special, an outlaw wanted to steal you away. But just so you know, the opposite of normal isn’t special. It’s abnormal. And I’m not admitting that to anyone. Ever. All it would get me is a one-way ticket Topside and more medical exams. No, thanks.”
“I need you, boy,” said a voice from behind us. I turned to see Ranger Grimes standing nearby. He smirked at Gemma. “You think you fooled me yesterday? I ain’t been out here so long I don’t know a female when I see one. Young or not.”
I stepped between them. “I thought you were taking Shade to the coast.”
“That’s right. But first”—he clapped my back— “I want you to ID him as the lowlife who almost killed you.”
“I was there, too.” Gemma hopped off the table. “And conscious the whole time. Isn’t my ID worth something?”
“Sure,” the ranger said with a shrug. “Come have a good long look.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
“Where are we going?” Gemma asked when the elevator stopped at the Access Deck.
The elevator doors opened facing the huge window of the exterior corridor. The ranger’s skin took on a greasy sheen as he stepped into the passage. “I put him in the storage bay.”
“Shade’s dead?” I asked with a start.
“No,” the ranger scoffed. “If the shock didn’t kill a stringy bit of jerky like you, you think it’s going to kill that hunk of meat?”
“Why put him in storage?” I asked as Gemma and I trailed behind Grimes.
“Had to keep him somewhere,” the ranger muttered, glancing uneasily at the sea outside the window. “The ‘wealth gives Doc all the fancy medical equipment he wants. But do I get a jail?” He took a bottle of pills from his coat pocket and downed two without water.
“Are you okay?” Gemma asked.
With shaking hands, Grimes pulled out another bottle of pills. Capsules this time. He broke one apart and poured the powder onto his tongue, wincing at the taste.
I stopped short. “You’re seasick!”
“So?” The ranger wiped the beads of sweat from his brow. “That’s how a normal person feels when he’s forced into an underwater death trap.” Hustling around the corner, he headed for the storage bay.
I followed him. “That’s why you wouldn’t check out the Saloon yesterday. Because you’re scared to come down to the lower station.”
“Sick don’t mean scared,” the ranger snapped.
Maybe not always, but going by his expression, sick sure meant scared in his case.
He slipped a key into the large padlock on the double doors. Pushing open the door, he waved us inside. I dropped my arm in front of Gemma, blocking her way. “Is Shade walking around loose in there?”
The tips of the ranger’s ears reddened. “You think I’m an idiot, boy?”
I met Gemma’s eyes and we both pressed our lips tight to keep from smiling. “No, sir.” We stepped into the cavernous room. Maybe the ranger wasn’t an idiot, but he didn’t know about Shade’s Dark Gift—hadn’t seen him blend into the background so thoroughly he was nearly invisible.
“Keep moving,” the ranger directed as the doors swung closed behind us. “He’s way in back.”
Lightbulbs dangled from the ceiling in widespread intervals, casting barely enough light to see the fronts of the cages that lined the walls. “Settlers rent the stalls for storing extra stuff,” I explained to Gemma as we headed down the center aisle.
“Not just settlers.” The ranger directed us around the end of the aisle. In the far corner was a freestanding cage, half in shadow. “I’m sure the marine biologist who’s storing it won’t mind us putting it to good use,” he chortled. “The bars are made of pure titanium.”
A shark cage.
Gemma hung back in the shadows. “I don’t want him to see me.”
I nodded. Shade would probably haunt her dreams as it was. I followed the ranger into the pool of light.
“Show yourself so this boy can ID you,” the ranger called into the cage.
No reply.
The ranger banged a white stick against the bars. “Step forward or I’ll taze you twice as long as last time.”
There was a sound of someone getting to his feet. A crate flew across the cage, into the light, and crashed into the bars. With a yelp, the ranger jumped back.
“Just moving my seat,” a deep voice said. Then Shade stepped into the dim light. His skin was once again coffee brown and badly pockmarked. Black tattoos wound up his neck and over his skull. He wore only pants, having left his vest on our wet room floor. He probably preferred being bare chested—the easier to camouflage himself. Just as long as he didn’t do it in front of Grimes.
Blood seeped through the bandage wrapped around Shade’s left arm. If his wound hurt, he sure didn’t let on. Dropping a heavy foot onto the crate, he rested his right arm across his knee, revealing the feathery bruise etched on his forearm. “How are the ribs?” he asked in a mockingly pleasant tone.
“Yes.” I faced the ranger. “He’s the one who broke into our house.”
“You sure you saw me, kid?” Shade asked.
“Yeah, he’s sure,” the ranger snapped. But then Grimes stumbled backward, teeth bared in a grimace. “What the —”
I reeled to see Shade’s eyes frost over until they were solid white. He threw himself against the bars, sending me skittering back. “Are you sure you saw me?” he demanded as his skin burst into a million pinpoints of light.
The ranger shouted out. Or was that Gemma, who was still hunkered in the shadows?
I peeled my gaze from Shade’s dazzling light display to see Ranger Grimes scrambling for the aisle. As he rounded the corner, his uniform caught on the edge of a storage cage. Frenzied, he ripped his sleeve free of the wire and disappeared. His running footsteps echoed through the storage bay until there was a distant swoosh of the door opening. When it slammed shut, I felt my carefully constructed reality crack like a seafloor rift.
Now everyone would know that Dark Gifts were no myth. Irrefutably. My jaw clenched as tight as my fists and I whirled on Shade. “Did you have to show it off?”
With his skin still radiant, he leaned casually against the bars of his cage. “Why do you hide it?”
I glared at him without answering.
“What do you care what people think?” he asked.
br /> “You’re going to care when the ranger comes back, bringing the others.”
“That worries you,” Shade observed. “Know why?” he asked softly.
I braced myself for another one of his tricks. Sure enough, his face smoothed out and his pockmarks disappeared. Then every inch of his skin began to shimmer until it was reflective, like liquid mercury. Even his eyes. He’d turned himself into a human mirror. Now my own reflection stared back at me — scared and intense — superimposed onto Shade’s skull. That’s crap, I wanted to yell, but my throat closed off. I was nothing like him. Nothing. The man was a violent outlaw. He’d killed Gemma’s brother.
“Flaunt it, kid.” Shade’s skin darkened and his tattoos reappeared. “Make ‘em get used to it.”
“You’re giving me advice?”
“You make a good poster boy.” His tattoos spread like spilled ink until every inch of him turned black — even the whites of his eyes. “That helps all of us. Including you.”
“I don’t need help. I’m not the one in a cage.”
“Not all cages have bars. A reputation can cage you.” He was nothing but a rumbling voice now. “So can a secret.”
“So can being an outlaw.”
His snort of amusement rang in the darkness. “We tried to make it Topside. But the boys lack social skills. Had to get them away from civilized people.” The outlaw’s smile floated inside the cage like the Cheshire Cat’s. A grin without a face. “Mostly we hit government ships. I figure that while we were in Seablite, we dug up a million dollars’ worth of black pearls. Never saw a penny of it and got nothing in return. Not even schooling. The ‘wealth owes us.”
“You nearly destroyed the Peaveys’ farm.” I paced in front of the bars. “Did their homestead look like a government ship?”
“I said ‘mostly.’”
Rustling told me that he was moving away as if finished with the interview.
“You’re good at making excuses,” Gemma said from her hiding place in the shadows. “Got one for killing my brother?”
The instant she spoke, Shade’s skin rippled with light. She’d startled him. I felt a tinge of satisfaction. The outlaw wasn’t superhuman; he hadn’t sensed her presence.