ã€ŠProud Machineryã€‹


 CHAPTER ONE

    There were stars on the palms of her hands. Two of them, one for each hand, two small dark-metal spots embedded in Kess¡¯s skin. They were set near the top of her palms where her heart line met her palm-reading-is-stupid-so-why-should-she-know line, and they each had five tiny points like stars in a kid¡¯s drawing.

    Kess hunkered over in the leather desk chair and scratched at the stars. The metal didn¡¯t come off, but the skin around it swelled red and angry. She gave up and tugged at her hair in frustration. Which was a bad idea, because now her curls were even puffier than usual and she¡¯d have to go down to the party looking like a blonde Raggedy Anne. Solution: never go downstairs.

    They were all down there. She could hear them through the floor¡ªthe big-footed boys and the girls with pink phone cases, all crowded together, talking too loud, filling the air with body heat and hormone stink and carbon dioxide.

    Kess¡¯s palms throbbed where she¡¯d scratched them. The stars weren¡¯t some speck stuck to the surface of her skin¡ªthey were embedded deep. How did that happen? Was she sick? That was stupid, sickness didn¡¯t give you stars¡ªOf course she was sick. The eating thing¡ª

    She¡¯d have to go to a doctor. She¡¯d have to tell him about the eating thing, and he¡¯d cut into her hand with a sharp, sharp blade.

    Ugh. Doctors.

    Maybe the stars would go away. Maybe they¡¯d be gone by morning and in the mean time she should just not think about it instead of freaking out like a freak. So she leaned back and put her feet up on the desk, like someone not freaking out would do.

    Her foot hit something on the desk that jangled, the sound of metal on metal. She snapped upright. There, hidden under one of the many boring documents on the desktop, was a little white bowl full of brown and silver coins. They glinted in the electric light, and they looked so¡ªso delicious and¡ª

    She resisted for maybe three seconds. Then she grabbed up a nickel and popped it into her mouth. It tasted good the way chocolate tastes good¡ªnot only sweet, but satisfying. Another nickel, a quarter, a penny. The penny smelled wonderful in a way that surprised her. Looking closer, she saw that it was from 1954, back when they were copper all the way through instead of just a coating on the surface. When she dropped it on her tongue it tasted so good her toes curled in her shoes.

    Someone turned the doorknob.

    Kess ducked beneath the desk. An instant later she realized that, if she didn¡¯t want to be seen eating someone else¡¯s spare change, she should have just dropped the coins. But now she was hunkered in the dark hollow beneath the desk, and there was no way she was crawling out until the person was gone. At least she had some metal with her. She swallowed a dime and waited.

    The person seemed to be checking out the books on the shelves. Then they walked across the room to the desk (probably realizing the books were terrible) and sat down in the chair. They¡ªhe, those were male legs¡ªdidn¡¯t seem to have seen Kess. She pressed herself back. Okay. She¡¯d just have to stay under the desk until he had to go the bathroom or something. Good plan.

    He stretched out his legs.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she blurted out. The boy leaped out of the chair, not gracefully, and Kess crawled into the open. The boy¡ªslim and dark-haired with thick eyebrows and deep-set eyes¡ªstood in front of her. He had caught her in deep weirdness. She was so embarrassed she wanted to take a break from being a person. She wanted to be a table for a few hours, or a chair or a rock, then go back to being human once the party was over and slink downstairs in the dark.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said again.

    ¡°You¡¯re forgiven, I guess?¡± said the boy. ¡°Why are you sorry? What were you doing under there?¡±

    ¡°Would you believe cat burglary?¡±

    For a moment he just stared at her. Those sunken eyes of his made him seem serious and intelligent and sort of wizardly. Wizard eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± he said. ¡°Cat burglars wear black. I¡¯m Elias.¡±

    ¡°Ksenya. Um. Don¡¯t call me that. It¡¯s Russian, and I haven¡¯t been Russian since I was four. Call me Kess.¡± And she still hadn¡¯t explained the desk thing. She grasped for something to say and settled on the truth-ish. ¡°I wanted to be alone. That¡¯s why I came up here and that¡¯s why I hid under the desk. I was waiting for you to go away.¡±

    ¡°Okay then. I¡¯ll leave.¡±

    ¡°No! No, I mean, if you came up here you must have hated the party too.¡±

    ¡°Pretty much.¡± He leaned back against the desk and folded his arms. ¡°Why did you show up at a party you hate?¡±

    Kess sighed. ¡°My sister. She¡¯s downstairs with a boy, who¡¯s the only reason we drove all the way out to Greenlake in the first place. She doesn¡¯t know anyone but him, so she made me come. She said if she didn¡¯t have a girl she knew she¡¯d be weird. Which isn¡¯t even true, because she¡¯s never weird.

    ¡°But I said I would come, right? And then we got here, and Danny¡ªthat¡¯s the boy¡ªhe tried really really hard to make me feel included, and it was really really obvious, and Priya was doing that thing where she laughs a lot more than normal but somehow it¡¯s not fake, and whenever Danny introduced us as sisters people looked surprised. And I mean, it¡¯s reasonable of them to be surprised. We¡¯re adopted, obviously. But the drunker someone was the more surprised they looked until with some of them it was like the most shocking thing they¡¯d ever heard in their life. ¡®You¡¯re sisters? Waaaaaaah?¡¯ It was annoying.¡±

    Elias laughed. Which was a good reaction, because it felt like Kess had just talked for a long long long long time.

    ¡°I¡¯m here with a cousin. He said it wasn¡¯t going to be loud and boring, but it was loud and boring. I came in here looking for a book.¡±

    ¡°All the books in this room are the worst.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Elias glanced around at the shelves. ¡°Is this guy an accountant or a lawyer?¡±

    ¡°I think he¡¯s either an accountant for lawyers or a lawyer of accountancy.¡±

    ¡°So either way, an unholy mutant hybrid of boring.¡±

    This time Kess laughed.

    When Elias smiled the corners of his eyes crinkled. When he was older, he was going to have spiderwebby lines radiating out from the creases of his eyes. Kess imagined it would make him look dignified and even more like a wizard.

    ¡°Are you sure you shouldn¡¯t be downstairs being your sister¡¯s wingman? I¡¯d go down with you, if you wanted.¡±

    ¡°Did you see her down there? The really pretty Indian girl with short hair?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±

    ¡°Well, if you¡¯d seen her, you¡¯d know she doesn¡¯t need my help.¡±

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    #

    Priya liked the way parties sounded. Not the kind of party with blaring dance music, but ones like this where lots of people were talking. If she ever played tapes to go sleep to, they wouldn¡¯t be babbling brooks and rainforests, they¡¯d be the sound of a dozen conversations going on at once. People-noise.

    ¡°Are you having fun?¡± asked Danny, sounding actually concerned.

    ¡°It¡¯s good,¡± said Priya. ¡°If I stayed home one more night I¡¯d explode. Thanks for inviting me.¡±

    Danny was a good guy. Priya had always liked good guys, guys without tempers who got excellent grades out of duty rather than competitiveness. Kess called them ¡°bottled-water boys,¡± which was a perfect example of a Kess-ism because it was uncannily descriptive if you didn¡¯t think about it but made little sense if you did. Danny also had pretty eyes (echoes of a Chinese grandmother) and soft light brown hair.

    Right now he sat beside her on the couch with his arm slung across the seat-back but not actually touching her shoulders, because bottled-water boys move slow. His friends from the soccer team took up the other spots on the couch.

    ¡°Pri-ya-ya-ya,¡± said Rod, the one sitting on her other side. He had broad shoulders and short, tight curls, and his face flushed red as he drank. He sat with his legs awkwardly far apart so that his knee poked into Priya¡¯s thigh. ¡°You drink too slow.¡± He reached over, took her cup from her hand, took a long swig of it, and gave it back to her.

    ¡°Dude.¡± That was Connor, the third member of the trio. And he definitely was the third member, the follower-behind. He was tall and good-looking in a red-headed way, but so far that night he hadn¡¯t said a word unless Danny or Rod spoke first. ¡°You got your disgusting germ spit on her drink.¡±

    ¡°My spit doesn¡¯t have germs. My spit has powers. If she¡¯s lucky she¡¯ll wake up pregnant with a good-looking baby.¡±

    ¡°Ugh, that¡¯s double gross. You should apologize.¡±

    ¡°What? You apologize.¡±

    Connor hit Rod on the arm, and Rod hit back, and soon they were wrestling on the couch and knocking Priya as they jostled.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get you a new drink,¡± said Danny. After he left, she scooted away from Rod and Connor. A few moments later they settled down, and it seemed like Rod had won the fight.

    ¡°Why do guys do that?¡± Priya asked. ¡°Why do you fight¡ªphysically fight¡ªwith your friends?¡±

    Rod rolled his eyes. ¡°We follow the ancient warrior codes. Women don¡¯t understand because they never took the oaths.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing,¡± said Connor. ¡°It¡¯s messing around.¡±

    ¡°You say that, but it¡¯s not true. It¡¯s not nothing. It really matters to you who wins.¡±

    Danny reappeared with Priya¡¯s drink and slipped into the seat beside her.

    ¡°It¡¯s better than what girls do,¡± said Rod.

    ¡°Oh, what do girls do?¡±

    ¡°Like, take that girl you showed up with.¡±

    ¡°You mean my sister? What about her?¡±

    ¡°Where is she?¡±

    ¡°She went to the bathroom.¡±

    He laughed. ¡°She¡¯s been gone for ages. No, she¡¯s mad at you about something, but instead of just bringing it up with you and dealing with it, she¡¯s off sulking like a girl.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not¡ª¡± No. Priya cut herself off, pressing her lips together. She could tell already that arguing with this guy was useless and would only make everyone involved stupider.

    ¡°I¡¯ve only known Priya and Kess for a little bit,¡± said Danny, ¡°but I can tell they¡¯ve got a really good relationship. It¡¯s cute, actually.¡±

    ¡°Oh, they¡¯ve got a really good relationship,¡± said Rod, as if he could make non-ridiculous things sound ridiculous by pitching his voice high. ¡°It¡¯s cute, actually.¡±

    Instead of arguing, Priya sighed like she was above it all, which she was. Then she leaned into Danny and kissed him on the cheek.

    Kess had been gone for a while, though. That was so exactly Kess. She was jealous of her sister¡¯s friends and boyfriends¡ªPriya knew she was¡ªand yet when Priya brought her all the way out to Greenlake to make a first impression on a brand new group of people, Kess slunk off alone.

    Priya craned her neck and looked around, trying to spot a puff of yellow hair.

    Huh. That was weird.

    A boy wandered through the party. But not a boy. He was older, too old for this crowd, in his twenties probably. He was also overdressed, in slacks and a button-up shirt, and his black hair was shellacked back against his skull. He drifted from group to group, never quite joining any of them, but standing a little away and holding up his phone for a long time as if he were taking video of them.

    Beside her, Rod smirked. ¡°So you¡¯ve noticed the pervert too, Ya-ya?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that guy. Don¡¯t say things about him.¡±

    ¡°Why do you think he¡¯s taking video of teenagers?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but I can find out. By asking. With words. Hey! Hey you, with the phone.¡±

    The man turned to them, and Priya waved him over. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Priya, and this is Danny, Rod and Connor.¡± And she smiled at him. Priya wasn¡¯t stuck up or anything, but she knew she had an amazing smile.

    It didn¡¯t seem to affect this guy much. ¡°Thank you for that information,¡± he said. Rod gave Priya a look that probably meant I told you he was creepy.

    ¡°Well it¡¯s wonderful to meet you,¡± she said. ¡°Who do you know here?¡± She gestured at Danny. ¡°He¡¯s the only person I really know. I¡¯m kind of crashing.¡±

    ¡°I know my friend.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s your friend?¡± asked Danny. ¡°We go to school with most of these people, so we probably know him.¡±

    The man nodded at a clump of people talking.

    ¡°One of them? Which one?¡±

    He nodded again.

    ¡°Okay,¡± said Priya. ¡°We were wondering what you were doing with your phone. Were you taking video?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said the man.

    And then there was uncomfortable silence. Priya figured it was time to kill this conversation out of mercy. ¡°Anyway, it was wonderful to meet you.¡± She¡¯d already said that, hadn¡¯t she? Whatever. ¡°I¡¯m really glad you came.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s funny,¡± said Connor, ¡°do you always make it seem like it¡¯s your party?¡±

    She wasn¡¯t sure what that meant.

    ¡°Yeah, nice to meet you,¡± said Rod. ¡°And before you go, let¡¯s see what¡¯s on the pervert phone.¡± He grabbed the phone from the stranger¡¯s hand. ¡°What is this? It¡¯s numbers and crap. This is even weirder than pictures. What¡¯s up with this?¡±

    The stranger didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°Come on, give it back,¡± said Connor. He grabbed for the phone, but Rod turned away and blocked him.

    ¡°Rod,¡± said Danny. ¡°Give him his phone back. Now.¡± It didn¡¯t sound threatening, even with the ¡°now¡± tacked on the end. And unlike Connor, he didn¡¯t begin with ¡°dude¡± or ¡°come on¡± like what he was saying wasn¡¯t a big deal. Danny sounded simply¡­ sincere. It was the sort of sincerity that gives you power.

    ¡°Fine,¡± said Rod. He tossed the phone to the stranger, and in the moment it hung in the air Priya saw the screen, which was black and covered in a moving stream of numbers in white and blue and red. The stranger caught it and then turned and walked away without saying anything else.

    ¡°So we went through that,¡± said Connor, ¡°and we didn¡¯t find out what that guy was doing?¡±

    Across the room, the stranger held up his phone.

    #

    Kess was pretty sure she and Elias were ¡°hitting it off,¡± something she¡¯d never experienced before but which seemed to happen to other people on a regular basis. He listened with apparently sincere interest to her story about the physics competition back in spring, and laughed at her impression of the kid who kept coming up to her between rounds trying to form ¡°an alliance.¡±

    Elias liked a lot of the same bands as her, though he liked them more, or at least more elaborately. He spoke at length and with big, happy hand gestures about Influences and Instrumentation and Which Band¡¯s Bassist Used to Be in Another Band and How That Affected the New Band¡¯s Sound.

    He also told her about how sometimes he went onto conspiracy theory forums and pretended to have been abducted by a UFO.

    ¡°They¡¯re so earnest,¡± he said. ¡°And they¡¯ll believe anything I say, even if I change details in the middle. The aliens were gray! The aliens were green!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s mean,¡± said Kess, but when she pressed her hands to her face she felt her own smile against her fingertips.

    They stood next to each other, leaning against the edge of the desk. She had these strange layered fantasies¡ªabout five minutes from now, when he would kiss her, and next week, when he would pick her up from her house, and next year, when they would break up before going off to college but still text sometimes.

    ¡°If you give me your number,¡± he said, ¡°maybe we can get together and tell the hollow earth people we¡¯ve been inside the crust.¡±

    ¡°Hollow earth people?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah. The earth is hollow and there¡¯s an advanced civilization living inside. We can say we¡¯ve been through the hole in the north pole. You can back me up.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s also mean,¡± she said. But she still put her number in his phone, another thing other girls always seemed to be doing. When she handed the phone back their hands brushed, and her face got hot and her palms prickled. It was the metal stars, she realized, or the skin around them. She tried to look down at her hands without his noticing, but when she looked up again he was standing very close, and that drove all thoughts of the stars from her mind. He smelled like boy, which smelled amazing.

    ¡°This is the best party I¡¯ve ever been to,¡± she said.

    And he kissed her, and it was something that happened to other people, and she almost wanted to cry, which was stupid. But she liked it? Yes. Her chest and throat were warm with liking it. It was good like chocolate or copper. Her hands moved without her willing them to, one to his shoulder and one to his neck where his pulse throbbed throbbed throbbed¡ª

    Something poured through her hands. Elias¡¯s head jerked back, his eyes wide, his face strained and terrified. There was a high buzzing in Kess¡¯s ears, a tingling in the skin of her palms, and Elias fell to the ground.

 CHAPTER TWO

    Elias fell to the floor with his back against the desk, and for a moment Kess saw him in too much detail¡ªhis shoulders pulled back so that his chest curved out oddly, the muscles in his neck strained and red and bulging, his face frozen around terrified eyes.

    She jumped back, her hands pulling defensively into her chest. She felt the buzzing in her palms again, and a flash of blue-white light sparked between her hands.

    Electricity.

    That¡¯s what was wrong with Elias. It was her, her hands. She¡¯d¡­ tased him.

    She drew in a hot, sharp breath of air, then pushed it out so fast her throat hurt, then in and out again too fast, too fast. Her lungs were a runaway machine, and she couldn¡¯t get control of them. The rest of her felt wrong, too. She was tired, body-tired as if she¡¯d run a long, long way.

    Elias groaned and stirred on the floor. Then he started to get up.

    He was okay. He was okay! But if he was alright, what would happen next?

    Something terrible. Something impossible to bear.

    She ran out of the room.

    #

    Eventually Rod left to, in his words, ¡°entertain a girl who¡¯s pretty easily entertained,¡± and Connor took his place on the couch next to Priya. When Danny left for the bathroom, Connor said, ¡°I want to apologize for Rod. He just likes pushing people¡¯s buttons.¡±

    ¡°Why do people say that like it¡¯s an excuse? Pushing buttons for no good reason is a bad thing.¡±

    Connor shook his head. His orange-red hair made him look like somebody¡¯s best friend. ¡°You¡¯ve only seen this one side of him because he¡¯s in an obnoxious mood tonight. Once you get to know him you¡¯ll see his positive qualities. He¡¯s the most loyal person you¡¯ve ever met, for one thing. We met playing pee-wee soccer when we were eight years old, and he¡¯s never let either me or Danny down since.¡±

    ¡°Loyalty is overrated.¡±

    He raised an auburn eyebrow. ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°Loyalty divides people up. It says ¡®You¡¯re mine, so I¡¯ll be good to you. Everyone else is not mine, so screw them.¡¯¡±

    Connor laughed. ¡°Of course you care about your friends more than everyone else. If you didn¡¯t, they wouldn¡¯t be your friends.¡±

    ¡°You can do good things or you can do bad things,¡± said Priya. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t matter which people you do them to.¡±

    He looked taken-back and amused at the same time. ¡°Look, let¡¯s say your sister does something wrong. Would you stand by her? Would you help her out?¡±

    ¡°What exactly did she do? Did she murder someone?¡±

    ¡°You would. You would stick by her no matter what. You can¡¯t do that for everybody, but everybody needs someone to do it for them. Like¡­ like a lawyer, you know. Like an advocate. That¡¯s loyalty, and that¡¯s what Rod has.¡±

    Just then, Kess came stumbling through the door from the next room. ¡°Priya,¡± she said, ¡°we have to go.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be ready¡ª¡±

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°Now, Priya. Please.¡± Kess glanced over her shoulder like she was being chased by something.

    ¡°Alright. As soon as Danny gets back.¡±

    ¡°No! No, no right now.¡±

    ¡°Danny invited us, Kess. We can¡¯t leave without telling him. You know that, right?¡±

    ¡°Text him on the way out, please. Tell him anything. Tell him it¡¯s your crazy-stupid sister¡¯s fault, because she¡¯s being so crazy-stupid.¡± Kess¡¯s eyes were wide, her pupils huge and round and black as bullet holes.

    Priya kept herself from sighing. ¡°I won¡¯t say that. But we can go now if you really want.¡±

    ¡°I really want.¡±

    They slipped through the clumps of partiers and out the front door into darkness. The party was at somebody¡¯s parents¡¯ ¡°cabin,¡± which to a Greenlake kid meant a very nice house that happened to be in the woods. As they drove away, the house behind them shrank down to a splotch of yellow light against the black and then nothing. Kess drove, and for a long while they didn¡¯t talk. Priya leaned her forehead against the cool glass of the passenger-side window and watched the car¡¯s headlights cut through the trees, casting long shadows that swung across the world as they drove by. Deep in the woods something moved. A deer.

    And for maybe the first time, Priya understood why Kess hated parties so much. Priya loved people and laughter and conversation, but this, this quiet, was nice too¡ªand much, much simpler.

    The inside of the car was dark except for the backscatter from the headlights. Kess was mostly a black shape, but Priya could make out a hunk of hair falling over one eye. Kess sucked in a long, audible breath as if she were holding off tears. Oh, darling.

    ¡°Why did you need to get out of there so fast?¡± Priya asked.

    Kess answered quickly, as if she¡¯d been waiting for Priya to ask and had her wording all prepared. ¡°There was a boy. We were talking and I really thought he liked me but I guess he didn¡¯t. I tried to kiss him, and he, um¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± said Priya.

    ¡°People shouldn¡¯t say sorry when something isn¡¯t their fault.¡±

    ¡°It just means I love you. That¡¯s all.¡±

    If Priya could, she¡¯d change the world around her sister. She¡¯d make people less mean. She¡¯d make them get Kess¡¯s humor. She¡¯d make every guy Kess ever liked like her back. But since she couldn¡¯t do that, she¡¯d have to change Kess instead.

    Movies always said loving someone meant never trying to change them. But that was a lie. The people you love are the ones you want to change the most. You want to keep all the good, important parts of them while tweaking them into a happier person. It was a good sign that Kess had made a move on a boy. Taking her to this party had been the right decision.

    ¡°It was good, though,¡± Priya continued. ¡°That you tried.¡± Kess didn¡¯t say anything, so Priya reached out and brushed her sister¡¯s hair away from her eye, tucked it behind her ear, the springy curls twisting around Priya¡¯s fingers. ¡°Can I tell you something weird and embarrassing?¡±

    ¡°I just told you my embarrassing story,¡± said Kess. ¡°Maybe it¡¯ll make us even.¡±

    ¡°You know how Mom¡¯s been missing her wedding ring?¡±

    ¡°Did you lose it somehow? You could have just told her to stop her freaking out.¡±

    ¡°Kess,¡± said Priya, ¡°I ate it.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I saw it on the kitchen counter. I guess she¡¯d taken it off to knead dough or something. And suddenly it was all I wanted. It was like sugar, but not even sugar now. Sugar when I was six. So I ate it.¡±

    ¡°Priya¡­¡±

    ¡°The Internet says people with pica will eat dirt or sand because of nutrient deficiencies.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you can be diamond-deficient.¡±

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s something else then. I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Priya, did it¡­ um¡­ Mom lost her ring a week ago, so you should, you know, have it back by now.¡±

    ¡°Nope. Which is one of the reasons I thought maybe it didn¡¯t actually happen. Like maybe I dreamed it. But it happened, I¡¯m pretty sure. And another weird thing is I had this feeling like I shouldn¡¯t tell anyone. That it was the most important thing in the world that I not tell anyone. Because I couldn¡¯t trust them.¡±

    ¡°Then why did you tell me?¡± asked Kess.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I just felt¡ª¡± Comfortable, and calm, and close to you, here in this car in the dark. ¡°I just felt like I could tell you.¡±

    ###

    <h2>TrueWorldOrder.net, forum post by user cleverhandle:</h2>

    I¡¯ve posted here before, and I know some of you could tell I was making fun of you. I¡¯m really sorry about that. That was jerkish of me. I thought of making a new account so you wouldn¡¯t know it was me, but I decided it would be less jerkish to be straightforward and apologize. So, sorry. Again.

    I need your help.

    I don¡¯t believe in ghosts or aliens or conspiracies or basically anything. But something happened to me tonight I can¡¯t explain. And maybe one of you knows something about it. If there really is something strange going on, there would be rumors, right? And you guys would have heard them.

    Tonight I think I met a superhero.

 CHAPTER THREE

    Priya leaned against the door frame and watched her sister kill a dragon in the snow. Kess¡¯s hulking computer, its tower whirring with cooling fans and glowing with blue spaceship light, made both her and her room look small. Kess hunkered in the desk chair, staring at the screen with unnerving focus.

    Giant, the family¡¯s ordinary-sized brown cat, was poking his nose at one of Kess¡¯s shoes, abandoned on the floor. The sole was riddled with little holes. Kess really needed to learn when to throw things out.

    ¡°You played that game all yesterday,¡± said Priya.

    ¡°That is a true statement.¡±

    ¡°So maybe today do you want to, I don¡¯t know, accomplish something?¡±

    ¡°I am going to accomplish something. I¡¯m going to level up.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not an accomplishment.¡±

    Giant, bored with the shoe, abandoned it and jumped onto the desk.

    ¡°Priya, Priya, grab him, he¡¯s going for the keyboard, Priya¡ª¡±

    But Giant had already jumped onto Kess¡¯s hands and gotten her character roasted by dragon fire. She swiveled the chair around to face her sister. In her too-large sweater with holes in the sleeves and her blonde hair standing on end, she looked like a twelve-year-old boy with a drug problem. ¡°So what specific thing do you want me to accomplish today?¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t suggesting a specific thing, I was suggesting a general thing.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t suggest general things. You always have plots. You have a plot a week, like a Saturday morning cartoon villain.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to lunch with Danny and his friends in an hour. You should totally come.¡±

    ¡°How is that accomplishing something?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s building human relationships.¡±

    ¡°Leveling up is more of an accomplishment than that. If I level up I can kill a blood dragon with one lightning bolt. That¡¯s progress. Besides, I can¡¯t go out. My eyes are burning.¡±

    ¡°Of course your eyes are burning. You¡¯ve been staring at a screen for forty-eight hours.¡±

    Kess waved at her own face. ¡°No, it¡¯s not like that. It¡¯s the surface of my eyes, the retinas. They¡¯ve been burning since the day after the party. I can¡¯t go out into the sun.¡±

    Priya sank to her knees and grabbed the arm of Kess¡¯s chair. ¡°I promise the sun will be good for your eyes. I promise you¡¯ll like Danny¡¯s friends, and they¡¯ll like you, and you¡¯ll have a good time. I swear.¡±

    ¡°Alright. Alright. You always get so desperate when your plots go awry.¡±

    Priya beamed. ¡°And you¡¯re going to wear a dress.¡±

    #

    A little later, Priya had to stop herself from cramming all the French fries in front of her into her mouth at once. She was hungry, a hunger so strong she could feel it in her feet. She¡¯d been eating too much for days, and she¡¯d hoped eating an apple and a box of crackers before they left would keep her from completely pigging out in front of Danny.

    But she was still hungry.

    This table was only meant for four people, but Priya, Kess, Danny, Rod, Connor, and the boys¡¯ friend Lorraine had all pulled up chairs. Their elbows knocked together.

    In Priya¡¯s peach-colored dress, Kess looked pretty like an orange cr¨¨me cupcake. Now if she would just open her mouth and speak and be funny like she was at home, Danny¡¯s friends would have to like her. Specifically, Connor the pleasant red-head would like her. Then she and him and Priya and Danny would go on double dates.

    ¡°So next time you come to my house,¡± Danny said, ¡°we have to go next door and see Lorraine¡¯s statues. She goes to thrift stores and gets tinker toys and erector sets and Legos and puts them together in, um, ways. It¡¯s really cool.¡±

    Priya didn¡¯t understand why Lorraine was friends with these guys. She was a tall, willowy black girl with long, indigo-blue braids and red-framed cat¡¯s-eye glasses. She¡¯d ordered a tofu burger for complicated reasons having to do with factories and hormones, which she¡¯d explained to Priya in a low-key, matter-of-fact way. She seemed like she should be hanging out with scrawny musician guys instead of Danny and his short-haired soccer-playing buddies. But apparently she¡¯d lived next door to Danny since they were little kids, and they were now two platonic peas in a pod. Even if Kess and Connor didn¡¯t go out, maybe Kess and Lorraine would like each other and the three of them could do girl things together.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sophisticated enough to get Lorraine¡¯s art,¡± said Connor. ¡°There¡¯s this one she says is a soccer player, but I can¡¯t see it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not supposed to look like a soccer player, dear heart,¡± said Lorraine. ¡°It¡¯s the essence of a soccer player. That¡¯s why it has moving parts.¡±

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Is it based on Danny?¡± asked Priya between carefully spaced-out bites of French fry.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± said Lorraine. ¡°Or maybe it¡¯s based on the barbarian spirit within us all. I haven¡¯t decided.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s making more of them,¡± said Danny. ¡°And she¡¯s going to tie them together with string so that when one moves, the others move. Like a team. Isn¡¯t that a cool concept?¡±

    ¡°Me and Kess would love to come look at your stuff. When we were little Kess had this erector set she was obsessed with. Right, Kess?¡±

    ¡°Right, Kess?¡± said Rod in his mocking-voice. ¡°She doesn¡¯t have to talk if she doesn¡¯t want to, Ya-ya.¡±

    Danny sighed. Connor ducked his head as if to excuse himself from whatever unpleasantness was about to happen. Lorraine leaned forward, interested.

    Beneath the table, Priya¡¯s palms tingled. ¡°Of course she doesn¡¯t have to talk.¡±

    ¡°Hey Kess,¡± said Rod, nudging her shoulder with his own. ¡°Your sister wants you to participate in the conversation. She wants you to be engaged.¡±

    Kess shrank into her seat.

    ¡°Leave her alone,¡± said Priya.

    ¡°What? I¡¯m drawing her out of her shell. It¡¯s a public service.¡± He reached toward Kess¡¯s face.

    It wasn¡¯t as if Priya made a decision. It was an automatic motion, like swatting a fly. She grabbed Rod¡¯s wrist and yanked his hand back, and to her surprise, she pulled him out of his seat. His whole heavy boy body lifted up, his elbow knocking Kess¡¯s soda over so that it gurgled out onto Lorraine¡¯s French fries. The two of them froze with Rod stretched out over the table and Priya holding his arm in front of her face.

    Her hand was tiny compared to his, her fingers not even close to ringing his thick wrist. But as she squeezed, her fingers sank into his flesh and she knew she¡¯d leave a circle of bruises. She could feel the hard ridge of his bones and suddenly knew that if she wanted she could break them.

    She looked up at his face, and he was staring at her. He had this strange smile plastered on, sort of angry and confused and curious all at once. She let go of his arm.

    Rod settled back into his seat, shaking his head. ¡°Danny, dude,¡± he said, ¡°your girlfriend has man-hands.¡±

    Priya looked down at her hands beneath the table. Her palms and the fronts of her fingers were covered in dots of dark metal, evenly spaced across the skin.

    #

    Kess felt stupid in Priya¡¯s peach dress. It was too short. It shouted ¡°Look at me and my legs.¡±

    At least she¡¯d convinced Priya to let her wear her own shoes. The metal was on Kess¡¯s feet now. It dug its way slowly through whatever shoes she wore, poking holes through the soles to reach the ground. If that happened with a pair of Priya¡¯s pretty colored flats Kess wouldn¡¯t know how to explain it.

    Rod and Lorraine had already gone, and the rest of them stood in the diner parking lot by Kess and Priya¡¯s car. Danny had his arm over Priya¡¯s shoulders. ¡°I¡¯m not saying I blame you for wanting to respond to Rod with violence. But in the end that just encourages him.¡±

    ¡°Everything encourages him,¡± said Connor. ¡°I thought it was awesome.¡±

    Priya leaned into Danny, but otherwise didn¡¯t participate in the conversation. She had her hands shoved into her pockets, and she stared down at the pavement with pursed lips and crinkled eyebrows. It wasn¡¯t like her, but neither was yanking a six-foot-plus guy out of his chair.

    Even without Priya joining in, Kess could tell the conversation wouldn¡¯t be ending anytime soon. Danny and Connor would stand there in the parking lot just¡­ just saying stuff until their feet hurt, and it would be hours before Kess could get home and put in eye drops. To help things along, she climbed into the driver¡¯s seat without saying anything and closed the door.

    Priya joined her in the car a moment later. ¡°You seem weird suddenly,¡± said Kess as she pulled out of the parking lot.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± said Priya.

    ¡°See. That was weird. You¡¯re normally talky. Do you think¡­ Does it have something to do with what you told me the other day, about Mom¡¯s wedding ring?¡±

    Priya shifted in her seat and squeezed her hands between her knees. Then she spoke in a bright, subject-changing tone. ¡°So Connor¡¯s pretty cute, right? I bet we could get him to ask you out.¡±

    Kess laughed.

    ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just that I¡¯m supposed to be the one who doesn¡¯t understand people.¡±

    Priya sighed. ¡°Sometimes I don¡¯t know what you mean.¡±

    Kess turned onto the highway, and suddenly she felt great.

    It was bizarre. She¡¯d been sitting there, concentrating on the road, and then a wave of wonderful hit her. Like chocolate or copper or kissing. She had to catch it, to keep it as long as possible¡ªshe squeezed the steering wheel until her fingers went white.

    And then Kess saw¡­ something¡­ out the car window.

    A power line ran along the road, cables swooping between towering wooden posts. And the wires were glowing. They shone with a light that was almost red. The cable itself was a dazzling bright line, and the light that washed from it thinned out and faded invisible in the air. She blinked, and it was gone.

    Kess turned off onto a smaller road, and as they drove away from the highway, the wonderful drained out of her body.

    The power line. That¡¯s what had felt so good.

    ¡°It¡¯s different than I always thought,¡± she said.

    ¡°What is?¡± asked Priya.

    ¡°Everything.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡±

    Suddenly, light flooded through the trees. It was almost red-gold and it came from some distant point and it poured through the tree trunks, turning them glassy and translucent.

    ¡°Priya,¡± whispered Kess, ¡°there are lights and colors.¡±

    There was a long pause as if Priya were thinking about that, and then she said, ¡°You know, sometimes your weirdness is more charming than other times.¡±

    The light flickered and went out, but then another appeared shining from a different direction and grew brighter and brighter until it hurt her eyes.

    ¡°Kess!¡± shouted Priya. ¡°Turn, turn!¡±

    The light blinked away just in time for Kess to force the car around a curve.

    Priya groaned. ¡°I¡¯m never going to let you drive again.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re mad today. Why are you mad?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not¡ª¡±

    A man was standing in the road.

    Kess yanked the car to the side and slammed on the breaks. She and Priya lurched forward, their seat belts snapping against their chests as they strained to hold them back.

    The man in the road didn¡¯t even flinch. Smooth as choreography, he shifted his feet to avoid the car. It rushed by him so close his tie and suit jacket flapped in the wind. When the car stopped he stood inches from the right front bumper with his hands behind his back. He was tall and very pale-skinned against his black suit. His hair was black and slicked-back, and he had a small-eyed, fine-boned, well-bred sort of face. He looked like he should be riding show horses or leading the hazing at a Harvard social club.

    ¡°I know that guy,¡± said Priya. She sounded as if she were still shaken from the sudden stop. ¡°How do I know that guy?¡±

    He walked around the hood and knocked on the driver¡¯s side window. Kess rolled the window down, but it was Priya who spoke. ¡°Is something wrong?¡± She¡¯d shaken off her shock and sounded, in true Priya form, polite and pleased-to-meet-you and not at all weirded out.

    The man pointed a gun at Kess¡¯s face.

 CHAPTER FOUR

    It was as if space shifted to put the gun at its center. It was as if the black gun glittered with invisible light. It was as if it was the most important thing Kess had ever seen.

    The man snapped his hand up and fired once over the roof of the car, the sharp thunder of the gunshot slamming into Kess¡¯s ears, and then lowered the gun to point at Kess again. The whole thing took less than a second. ¡°I¡¯ve made you afraid,¡± said the man. ¡°Fear is only useful in so far as it tells you what to do. In this case, it tells you to do what I say. Now that you know what to do, fear is no longer useful. Do you agree?¡±

    Kess nodded.

    ¡°Are you still afraid?¡±

    Kess shook her head.

    ¡°Why would you lie to someone you¡¯re afraid of? My name is Stone. Does it make you less afraid to know my name?¡±

    Kess shook her head.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re not lying anymore. Give me the car keys and your cell phone. Yours as well. And then you¡ª¡± He indicated Kess with a slight gesture of the gun. ¡°¡ªget out and lie on the ground and you¡ª¡± (Priya) ¡°¡ªcome with me.¡±

    They did what he said. Kess lowered herself stomach-down onto the grainy asphalt. Her thoughts were hot, fast, sharp, short. What do I do? What I do? He has a gun. Gun. Gun. I have to do something. Gun. What do I do?

    She craned her neck to see Stone leading Priya down the road at the point of the gun. Where were they going? She couldn¡¯t see a car. They were about twenty feet away now, and Stone wasn¡¯t looking back.

    Kess climbed to her feet. If she tried to run to them and grab him and tase him like she had Elias, he might turn around and see her and shoot her. She held out her hand with the star on her palm facing Stone.

    ¡°Lightning bolt,¡± she whispered. ¡°Lightning bolt. Lightning bolt.¡±

    Nothing happened, and her palms didn¡¯t even tingle. She imagined a tidal wave, an avalanche, and all of their energy crashing through her hands. Nothing.

    She had to she had to she had to she had to. ¡°Lightning bolt.¡±

    And then it happened. Like in a dream, it happened. Crackling blue-white electricity burst from her hand. But it didn¡¯t shoot out in straight line to crash into Stone¡¯s back like in a video game. Instead, it appeared all at once in an arc between her hand and the ground a few feet in front of her. It was gone in a split second, like real lightning, but it buzzed in the air. Stone and Priya both turned to look at the sound.

    She had to get him before he shot her. She had to get him before he shot her.

    Kess took three steps forward and shot another lightning bolt. This one curved down to the pavement only a foot or so from Stone. If he was surprised, he didn¡¯t show it. He turned the gun on Kess.

    Priya spun and slapped him down. She hit him across the face with one open hand and he slammed to his knees. The gun went off and Kess screeched and the bullet smashed into the pavement inches from her foot. When Stone looked up, half his face was red. And wet.

    Had Priya scraped the skin off his cheek?

    He started to raise the gun again, but Priya stomped on it and ripped it from his hand. She only hesitated a moment before kicking him in the head. He snapped back violently and fell flat on his back. His eyes were closed.

    Priya¡¯s hand hung at her side, the palm bright with blood. She held it up and stared at it.

    A wave of exhaustion hit Kess. She was so bone-and-muscle tired she had to close her eyes and concentrate to keep from falling down.

    When she opened her eyes, Priya¡¯s head was glowing with faint red light. It filtered weakly through her skin and hair and glittered through her eyes. She looked like an old religious icon, but with a halo in devil-red instead of gold. She was a strange and terrifying creature. Kess blinked and the vision was gone.

    She took a deep breath and approached her sister.

    ¡°Come on,¡± she said, reaching for Priya¡¯s arm, ¡°we have to get¡ª¡±

    Priya snapped her head around to face Kess, snarling. ¡°Don¡¯t touch me, you¡ª¡±

    And she raised her hand, her bloody hand, the one she¡¯d just used to knock a man to the ground and scrape the skin off his face. Kess shrank back and threw up her own hand, the one she¡¯d just used to send electricity burning through the air. They froze there with mysteriously dangerous hands raised to each other.

    ¡°We need to get the keys,¡± said Kess after a long moment. ¡°And our phones. That¡¯s all I wanted to say.¡±

    Priya¡¯s face was so tight and strained she was almost un-pretty for once. But she nodded and crouched beside the man on the ground. She wiped her bloody hand off on his suit jacket before reaching into his pockets. She tossed Kess her phone and had barely pulled out her own phone and the car key when Stone groaned and stirred on the ground.

    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    The two girls scrambled back to the car, Priya to the driver¡¯s seat and Kess to the back seat, and they roared away. Turning in the seat to look behind her, Kess saw Stone climbing to his feet. She stared at him standing in the middle of the road until the car careened around the corner and he was lost to view.

    #

    ¡°We should call the cops,¡± said Kess. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Priya gripped the steering wheel with cold hands. ¡°Or maybe no. I don¡¯t know.¡± The inside of her head was cold too. She flashed back to Stone and his gun, but the sharp new memory had already been chilled, dulled, wrapped in cotton. Her hands trembled against the steering wheel, but that was the only part of her that felt like moving. The rest of her body was still as an ice sculpture.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to, though,¡± said Kess. ¡°We¡¯d have to tell them about¡­ You know¡­ Whatever¡¯s happening to us. They¡¯d take us in to study us or something.¡±

    That was a disturbing thought. Priya was certain she didn¡¯t want the authorities knowing about her strange new strength. ¡°We don¡¯t have to tell them about anything except Stone.¡±

    ¡°If we tell them someone tried to kidnap you, we¡¯ll have to go in and give a report or something. We¡¯ll have to explain how we fought him off, and they¡¯ll see our hands.¡±

    ¡°Say he stopped us in the road, and he had a gun, and we drove off. That¡¯s enough to get them looking for him. Say his face was already bleeding. Except if they find him he¡¯ll tell them what I did.¡±

    Kess took out her phone and held it in her lap. ¡°So you¡¯re, um, strong¡±.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Even though Kess had seen Priya take down Stone, talking about her strength felt like betraying a secret. ¡°And you have lightning.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°No cops,¡± said Priya. ¡°But what about Mom and Dad?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯d call the cops.¡±

    When they got home, Priya slipped past her parents and up to her room. She opened the window over her desk and climbed out onto the roof. Sitting there, she could look out into the soft darkness of the woods behind the house. She took out her phone and called Danny.

    ¡°Something strange happened today,¡± she told him.

    ¡°Okay,¡± he said after a pause. ¡°Do you want to talk about it?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Haha.¡± That was Danny¡¯s good-guy laugh. It actually sounded like ¡°ha-ha,¡± with a clear ¡°h¡± sound.

    She really should be more upset about what happened. With everything, with Stone marching her off into the woods and she didn¡¯t know what he was going to do to her. Danny would be a great person to share your trauma with. But Priya didn¡¯t feel traumatized. She felt cold. ¡°Did I ever tell you about when I first met Kess?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°We were four years old. I¡¯d been in the U.S. for a while already, but she was straight off the plane. I can¡¯t remember not knowing some English, but she didn¡¯t know a word. And she had this huge yellow rat¡¯s nest of hair like I¡¯d never seen on a person before¡­ I remember thinking maybe she wasn¡¯t a person. I thought she was a goblin. And I mean that literally. I thought she was some kind of creature.¡±

    Danny laughed again. ¡°That¡¯s intense, Priya.¡±

    ¡°The day Mom and Dad brought Kess home she pulled my hair and then ran off to hide in a closet. She was always hiding in closets or under tables, and if I found her and tried to talk to her she would hiss at me. Like seriously hiss at me like a cat.

    ¡°But then we got older and she learned English and we became sisters. I can¡¯t even remember how it happened. I¡¯m sure it was gradual. But a year or so later she¡¯d come into my room when she had nightmares¡ªKess has always had terrible nightmares¡ªand she¡¯d sleep in my bed with me.

    ¡°Kess and I started out as strangers. More than strangers. Aliens. She was a monster to me, but now we¡¯re each the person who loves the other one the most in the entire world. And that¡¯s why I always thought it was possible. That someday we could make it happen like the cheesiest song you ever heard or those pictures of children around the world.¡±

    ¡°Um, what do you mean?¡±

    ¡°You know those pictures. Like, there¡¯s a globe, and there¡¯s multiracial children in a ring around the edge holding hands, and maybe one¡¯s a Dutch girl in wooden shoes and one¡¯s an Inuit boy¡­¡±

    ¡°No, I was asking what your point is.¡±

    ¡°I mean world peace. I thought that if two people so different could become sisters, then maybe we can really all get along someday. Brotherhood of man. Sisterhood of man. Someday we¡¯ll all get over hating each other and stop fighting and maybe die less stupidly.¡±

    ¡°I like that,¡± said Danny. ¡°I like that you believe that.¡±

    ¡°But you don¡¯t buy it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just not how people work. Everyone can¡¯t love everyone. That¡¯s not part of our equipment.¡±

    Priya was surprised, almost shocked, to hear him say that. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you were cynical, Danny.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really not. But to me, it¡¯s about what you do, not how you feel. You do the right thing by people, love or no love.¡±

    Something soft and furry brushed up against Priya¡¯s arm¡ªGiant. Giant slid into her lap, and he was warm and humming-purring and good to hold even if his fur was studded with crusty leaf-crud from the woods. Talking to Danny, together with Giant¡¯s pleasant cat-presence, was beginning to warm away Priya¡¯s cold mood.

    ¡°The strange thing that happened today¡­ Well, it happened, and at the same time something strange happened inside my head. I looked up, and I saw Kess, and I have no idea why but¡­¡±

    ¡°What happened, Priya?¡±

    Priya rubbed Giant¡¯s neck and chin and felt the tiny tremor of the cat¡¯s pulse. ¡°She was suddenly different. I looked at Kess and the goblin was back.¡±

    ###

    <h2>TrueWorldOrder.net, private message conversation between users powerisknowledge and cleverhandle:</h2>

    powerisknowledge: Who are you?

    cleverhandle: I¡¯m anonymous. That¡¯s kind of the point.

    powerisknowledge: What¡¯s your name? Where are you?

    cleverhandle: I¡¯m not going to give my personal information to someone from a forum for paranoiacs.

    powerisknowledge: If I can¡¯t verify your identity I can¡¯t give you information. You might be them.

    cleverhandle: ¡°Them¡± is the men in black or whatever, right? No, I¡¯m not them.

    powerisknowledge: I know about your electric girl. I know what she is.

    powerisknowledge: Give me your name and I¡¯ll tell you.

    cleverhandle: I shouldn¡¯t have to tell you who I am. You tell me who you are. How do I know you know anything?

    powerisknowledge: She has stars on her hands.

    cleverhandle: What does that mean?

    cleverhandle: Are you still there?

 CHAPTER FIVE

    Connor was dying. He was pretty sure.

    He lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. For the past week or so, he¡¯d been waking up in the middle of the night feeling numb all over and also incredibly hungry. The hunger kept pressing on his stomach no matter how much he ate. And yesterday morning he''d worked for twenty minutes tweaking a screw out of his desk and then ate it, and there was something seriously wrong with that even though so far it hadn''t torn his stomach open and killed him. So he was dying and also insane? And then there were his hands and feet¡­

    Someone knocked on the window. Connor didn''t say anything, but Rod came in anyway, swinging through the window feet first. "The day is late," he said, "and you are pathetic. You need to get up, man. You need to activate your vital energies."

    Connor sat up and pressed a hand to his head. "Have you seen Danny lately?"

    "Nah."

    "Do you think he''s still dating Priya?"

    "You mean that girl?"

    "I mean that girl whose name is Priya, yeah. Do you think they''re still going out?"

    "How should I know? Maybe she figured out he has no vital energies." Rod dropped into Connor¡¯s computer chair and put his feet up on the bed.

    Connor tried to blink his slept-too-late headache away. "Wait, how did you get up here?"

    "I climbed."

    "You climbed? Up to my second story room?"

    "Yeah. With my superpowers." And Rod held up his hands to show the small metal spots dotted across his palms.

    Connor was too stressed out to be as surprised as he might have expected. He uncurled his own hands on his lap. "You have them too.¡±

    ¡°I knew it!¡± said Rod. ¡°I knew it was both of us.¡±

    ¡°How could these give you superpowers? Where did they come from?¡±

    Rod shrugged. ¡°If you didn¡¯t know about the powers, what did you think was happening?¡±

    ¡°I thought I was dying.¡±

    Rod guffawed. "Oh man. Oh man. You are so intensely lame I can''t even stand it. The lameness is oozing out of your creepy ginger pores and filling this whole room with lame-stench so strong, if a girl walked in she''d instantly lose her ability to be attracted to men or women. She''d go straight to a nun house and get a nun hat and be a nun, and if they asked her why she was there she''d say, ''Connor McKenna was so lame--''"

    "Come on, dude, shut up."

    "But seriously. How long have you lain here ''dying'' instead of figuring out you have super strength?"

    "You''re lying."

    "I don''t lie about super strength. Look at this." Rod grabbed a soccer ball from a pile of clothes. He held one hand out flat, broad side parallel to the floor. The soccer ball hung there without him holding it, clinging to his palm.

    Connor stared. He couldn''t believe it. He couldn''t¡ª

    ¡°You try it,¡± said Rod, tossing him the ball.

    He tried to copy what Rod had done. Stick? he thought at the ball as he opened his hand. It fell onto the bedspread. He tried again. Stick? But no, he couldn¡¯t imagine Rod thinking question marks. Stick. And it did. It stuck to his skin and did not fall.

    "They''re on your feet too, right?¡± said Rod. ¡°Congratulations, you''re Spiderman."

    "You said strength."

    "Yes I did. Put on some pants, you pathetic excuse for a human. We¡¯re going out.¡±

    An image popped into Connor¡¯s head¡ªhimself, punching Rod in the stomach. He allowed himself to enjoy the fantasy briefly before folding it away. He rolled out of bed and pulled on his clothes. Standing up, Rod gave a sarcastic military salute and jumped out the window. Connor ran to the window and saw Rod standing below, grinning. He waved for Connor to follow.

    ¡°If I break my ankle Coach will kill me in August,¡± Connor shouted down.

    ¡°Dude,¡± Rod shouted back. ¡°You¡¯ve got super-ankles now. Stop being lame and jump.¡±

    So Connor jumped. He was surprised by how solid he felt as he landed on two feet. His knees barely bent, and it didn¡¯t hurt at all. They drove off in Rod¡¯s car, a brick-red and badly-bruised box of metal he called ¡°Soldier.¡± When Connor asked where they were going, Rod ignored him, and when he tried to discuss where these superpowers had come from, Rod called him ¡°Sally¡± and told him to calm down.

    They ended up outside town, off the road, in a clearing. A line of cinderblocks was sunk into the dirt, mostly-covered with grass.

    ¡°I remember this place,¡± said Connor. ¡°This is where we came that one time¡­ That time with the gun. What were we, twelve?¡±

    ¡°Around there. And Danny was trying so hard to be cool but he didn¡¯t want to do it.¡±

    Connor laughed. ¡°Yeah. He didn¡¯t want to come out and say that he didn¡¯t want to take your dad¡¯s gun, so he kept suggesting other things we could do. I don¡¯t really remember, but none of it sounded fun.¡±

    ¡°He wasn¡¯t as good at navigating the line between good guy and killjoy back then.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯d we finally get him to go along with it?¡±

    ¡°We invited Lorraine.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Yeah, he¡¯ll do anything Lorraine does.¡±

    ¡°Not just Lorraine,¡± said Rod, jumping up to balance on a cinderblock. ¡°Any girl. You see, Danny has this thing about girls where he thinks they have extra goodness in them. Like goodness and rightness is part of their nature, so if a girl is going along with something it can¡¯t be that bad. It¡¯s a very condescending attitude if you think about it. I¡¯m not like that, which is why I¡¯m such a good feminist. Can you imagine how Danny would have freaked if you¡¯d actually shot me?¡±

    ¡°I did almost shoot you. I can¡¯t believe I forgot that.¡±

    That was back when Connor was starting to get tall but the others hadn¡¯t yet, and Rod was making fun of him for it, calling him ¡°Stretch¡± and stuff like that. Ninety percent of the time nothing Rod said really bothered Connor, but that day it did, because¡­ Because why? Because that was during the worst, most frustrating part of his year-long crush on Lorraine. Yeah, that was it.

    Rod was making fun of him in front of Lorraine, and that made him so mad, and so instead of shooting the cans and bottles they¡¯d lined up on the cinderblocks he shot the ground by Rod¡¯s feet. It was all he meant to do. He didn¡¯t want to actually hurt Rod or anything. But Lorraine had screamed (and, later, laughed, which was worse) and Rod had called him ¡°psycho¡± and Danny had been disappointed. Twelve-year-old boys shouldn¡¯t be disappointed in other twelve-year-old boys.

    It made Connor sick thinking about it now, imagining what would have happened if he¡¯d actually hurt Rod.

    ¡°What did you say,¡± Connor asked, ¡°when I offered to be your slave for a month? I know somehow the whole thing wasn¡¯t a big deal after that.¡±

    ¡°I said, ¡®It¡¯s cool, man. I don¡¯t believe in slavery.¡¯¡±

    ¡°And then we all just forgot about it.¡±

    That¡¯s how you could tell the difference between Rod¡¯s friends and everyone else. He¡¯d mock his friends, but if it ever boiled over into an actual fight he¡¯d end it with a sentence.

    ¡°So what are we doing here?¡± asked Connor.

    ¡°Okay, so what I want you to do,¡± Rod waved at a tree with a trunk about as big around as Connor¡¯s circled hands, ¡°is punch this tree.¡±

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Punch the tree, man.¡±

    Connor punched the tree, and nothing happened.

    ¡°You¡¯re holding back,¡± said Rod, ¡°because you think it¡¯ll hurt. The secret to super strength is knowing it won¡¯t hurt.¡±

    So Connor punched the tree again, as hard as he could. And it didn¡¯t hurt, and the bark split under his knuckles, and it left a star of cracks like a rock hitting a window shield.

    ¡°Again,¡± said Rod.

    Again. The wood split deeper.

    ¡°Again. Take it down like a karate lumberjack.¡±

    Connor punched the tree over and over and then he leaned back and kicked it as hard as he could. His foot stuck. He wobbled on his other leg, but managed to brace himself and rip the foot out. There was a groan and the tree tilted. He kicked it again and it fell backwards with a thundering crack.

    Connor looked down at his hands. The skin over his knuckles was scraped and bleeding.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Rod, holding up his own hands to show the scabs on the back of his fingers. ¡°We don¡¯t have super skin, but you don¡¯t really feel it. Do you wanna see how climbing works?¡±

    Climbing worked, it turned out, about like Spiderman in movies. If you wanted your hand to stick to something, it did. The bottoms of your feet too, wherever the little metal dots were. Connor was suddenly flexible as well, so he could twist his ankles to set the bottoms of his feet flat against a tree trunk. Connor reached the top of a tree and then dropped all the way to the ground (another solid, satisfying landing), leaving Rod up in the branches. Rod leaned back against the tree trunk, looking out like he was contemplating, like he wasn¡¯t paying attention to his friend for the moment, which gave Connor a great idea.

    He yanked one of the cinderblocks out of the ground. It didn¡¯t feel light, exactly. It felt like something that might get uncomfortably heavy if you had to hold it up all day, like a textbook maybe. He swung it at the end of his arms and flung it up at Rod.

    It didn¡¯t quite make it all the way up, but it did hit the branches below Rod¡¯s feet and make him jump and almost fall out of the tree, which was hilarious. Rod leaped to the next tree over and grabbed a branch and swung from it and soared through the air in an arc to the ground, which looked pretty cool except that he stumbled when he hit. He grabbed up the cinderblock from where it had landed and threw it back at Connor who dodged, laughing. They ran back and forth, shouting joking insults and insulting jokes, ripping up cinderblocks and tossing them through the air, not trying to hit each other, not really, until Connor¡¯s muscles ached like he¡¯d been lifting serious weights.

    He leaned against a tree. ¡°I¡¯m so hungry I could eat a horse. Or a¡­ elephant? A big animal. Are you hungry?¡±

    ¡°Brother,¡± said Rod, ¡°I could eat the world.¡±

    #

    They went to Jodie¡¯s Diner and sat at the same table they had a couple weeks before, the last time Connor had seen Priya. Rod stared at the tabletop while they waited for their food. ¡°I think I know how this started.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Danny¡¯s girlfriend grabbed my wrist.¡±

    ¡°And yanked you out of your seat. It was awesome.¡±

    ¡°She was freaky strong. And her hands felt weird, man. Later on I noticed this nick on my arm. I think she scratched me.¡±

    ¡°So it catches, like a disease?¡±

    ¡°Maybe. Where else could we have gotten it?¡±

    ¡°So now you want to talk about where it came from? Whatever. It could be a mutation, like the X-men. There could be radiation in the water.¡±

    Rod rolled his eyes. ¡°That¡¯s not how real mutations work, genius. And radiation just gives you cancer.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not how diseases work either.¡±

    After eating, they headed out. Danny was at the counter, picking up a brown takeout bag.

    Connor froze, and Rod froze beside him. The two of them stared at Danny and he stared back. Connor was surprised to feel his fists clenching at his side. Finally Danny nodded, a bare minimum gesture of recognition, and left.

    Connor felt as if someone had punched him. Or, maybe, shot the ground by his feet. "I think I hate Danny. When did that happen?"

    "When you were dying," said Rod. "Duh."

    #

    Most nights, lately, Priya met Danny at Mill Park. The park was at the edge of Woodburn, which meant that it wasn¡¯t quite as well-funded as the parks in Greenlake and the playground equipment was still made of metal instead of smooth-edged plastic in daycare colors. Once the sun was almost down and the light started to go, the two of them usually had the playground to themselves.

    Tonight, Priya saw Danny from a distance. He was sitting perched at the top of the jungle gym like a guard on duty.

    She liked liking boys. She always had, ever since first grade when she¡¯d ¡°married¡± Taylor Madden at recess and Kess, her bridesmaid, had thrown dandelions at their feet. And Priya especially liked liking Danny.

    She walked around the edge of the weed-speckled tennis court, getting closer to him. He still hadn¡¯t seen her. And then¡ª

    Between one step and the next, something changed. It was as if she hit a wall or crossed a line or remembered something. Her eyes were still fixed on Danny in the middle distance, but suddenly he¡­ scared her?

    Strange man, said some basic, brutish segment of her brain. Not one of your men. He¡¯ll hurt you. Get away.

    But Danny didn¡¯t hurt people. She knew that.

    He moved on top of the jungle gym¡ªhe¡¯d seen her. He stood up, bracing himself on the metal bars.

    Getawaygetawaygetaway.

    Priya ran back to her car at full, furious speed. On the drive home she tried to process what had happened. She liked Danny so much. No. She had liked Danny so much, and now her feelings were gone, evaporated. It left her queasy with hormonal whiplash.

    This wasn¡¯t something that happened to people. She was sure of that. This had something to do with her freakish new strength, and the metal nubs on her hands and feet, and the odd cravings (she¡¯d eaten every coin in the purple piggy bank her parents had given her for the first anniversary of her adoption), and her numb body when she woke up in the night, and¡­

    Her phone buzzed. It was a text from Mom telling her to be sure to make it home in time for family dinner. If she had met up with Danny she would have had to leave after barely any time with him. That was funny in the almost-entirely-not-funny way of small coincidences.

    When she got home, the dinner table was already laid out with saucy lasagna and garlic bread and grapes. Despite everything, Priya was glad to see the food. She was hungry all the time now, yet another strange symptom.

    Mom was setting out silverware. ¡°You got here quick,¡± she said when she saw Priya. ¡°How¡¯s your boy?¡±

    ¡°Healthy. Can we eat soon? I¡¯m starving.¡±

    Mom nodded and shouted up the stairs that it was time for dinner. Dad came in humming a song that had already been old when he was born. Kess came in¡ª

    Priya almost shrieked.

    Almost. But actually she made no sound at all. She didn¡¯t even breathe.

    Kess was one of them.

    Who? What ¡®them¡¯? Priya¡¯s mind stubbornly refused to supply the answer. All she knew was that her sister was dangerous. Bad. Like Danny.

    And from the way Kess was looking at her, she saw Priya the same way.

    They all settled around the table. Mom and Dad didn¡¯t seem to have noticed anything strange about their daughters. ¡°We wanted to talk to you about my Colorado trip,¡± said Mom.

    Priya forced herself to look away from Kess and speak normally. ¡°Has Aunt Mary gone back to saying she doesn¡¯t want you to come? Because ¡®negative energy¡¯ is bad for newborns?¡±

    ¡°Actually, she wants me to stay an extra week. I told her I¡¯d do it. Also, your father is coming with me.¡±

    ¡°Um,¡± said Kess. ¡°Don¡¯t tell her I told you but Aunt Mary doesn¡¯t like you, Dad. The negative energy will be overwhelming.¡±

    Dad laughed. ¡°No, I¡¯m just sharing a plane ride with your mother. I won¡¯t be helping with the birth or the baby. Grandma¡¯s not doing well.¡±

    Priya stared across the table at Kess and remembered the lightning flying from her sister¡¯s hands, back on that road when they faced off against that strange stone-faced man. Was something wrong with Kess? Was she possessed? Corrupted? Maybe Priya had somehow gotten the good version of superpowers and Kess had gotten the evil version.

    No. That was stupid. There were diseases that made you paranoid, weren¡¯t there? Priya tried to will herself to feel about her sister the way she¡¯d felt since they were little girls.

    Love her. Love her. Love her now.

    ¡°You know I like Danny,¡± said Mom, ¡°but he still can¡¯t come over while we¡¯re gone.¡±

    Priya nodded. ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡°And Kess,¡± said Dad, ¡°if you do something other than play video games all day until we come back, we will be very proud of you.¡±

    ¡°He means get some sun,¡± said Mom. ¡°And maybe work on college essays. You too, Priya. You¡¯ll be glad once school starts if they¡¯re already done.¡±

    Priya realized, with a small embarrassed shock, that she¡¯d been absentmindedly scratching the table surface with one of the metal dots on her fingertip. She¡¯d left a small white circle scratched into the wood. She tried to pull her hand back but her fingers stuck, somehow, and wouldn¡¯t come free from the table surface. She concentrated and the¡­ suction, or whatever, released, allowing her to hide her hands underneath the table. She noticed that Kess was doing the same.

    Kess.

    Priya couldn¡¯t do it. She couldn¡¯t force herself to love her sister again. Her head was full of switches she hadn¡¯t known were there, switches that turned emotions off between one moment and the next and replaced them with new, poisonous ones. Switches that she had no access to, that she couldn¡¯t even touch.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about us,¡± said Kess. ¡°We¡¯ll only burn the house down if we get really, really bored.¡±

    ###

    <h2>Text message conversation between Ksenya Carpenter and Elias Kaplan:</h2>

    Unknown number: Hey. This is Elias.

    Ksenya: Seriously?

    Unknown number: Yeah, seriously.

    Unknown number: I know you didn¡¯t mean to shock me. I saw your face. You had no idea what was going on.

    Ksenya: You¡¯re right. I didn¡¯t. I¡¯m sorry.

    Unknown number: Would you like to?

    Unknown number: I mean would you like to know what¡¯s going on?

    Ksenya: Well yeah.

    Unknown number: Are there stars on your hands?

    Ksenya: You saw them?

    Unknown number: No. I don¡¯t even know what that means.

    Unknown number: There¡¯s this guy I met online. It sounds stupid but he says he knows what¡¯s happening with you. He said you have stars on your hands. He¡¯s probably crazy.

    Ksenya: He¡¯s not crazy.

    Ksenya: I have these metal stars on my palms. The electricity must have come through them.

    Ksenya: Are you going to say anything?

    Unknown number: I didn¡¯t expect him to be right. But he is, and I can find out what¡¯s happening, and I¡¯ll tell you.

    Ksenya: There¡¯s metal on my fingertips too. Coating the pads of my fingers. That only happened a few days ago.

    Ksenya: I¡¯d been exhausted for days. Just tired all the time no matter how much I slept. I only felt better around powerlines. And then I woke up with this stuff on my fingers and I felt like I should stick my finger in an electric socket. So I did. And it felt great. I think it recharged me.

    Unknown number: Wow.

    Unknown number: That¡¯s awesome.

    Ksenya: It¡¯s scary.

    Ksenya: Thank you. It feels good to tell someone. I can¡¯t tell my parents or doctors or anything. My sister knows but I can¡¯t talk to her.

    Kesenya: You know what¡¯s happening?

    Unknown number: No. But we¡¯ll find out.

 CHAPTER SIX

    For three nights in a row, Kess dreamed about following. Sometimes she followed the computer-voice of the map on her phone, and sometimes she followed Giant and sometimes she followed Danny. (He never spoke, and when she woke up she wondered why he was floating around her subconscious since he hadn''t been around in a while. She wasn''t sure he and Priya were even going out anymore.) They led her down suburban sidewalks or forest paths or city streets crammed with abandoned cars. They led her to a merry-go-round, or to a nondescript building that hummed like live electric cables, or to nowhere at all. She woke several times in the middle of her dreams, and sometimes when she woke the room was full of colored light that flooded through the walls as if they were made of glass.

    When she woke up at 2 a.m. on the third night, she knew which direction to go.

    She didn''t turn the headlights on until the car was down the street, just in case the light would shine through her parent''s window. She was grateful they were leaving the next day. The sooner they were gone, the sooner Kess and Priya could stop hiding their hands and pretending they still liked each other. Kess couldn¡¯t even imagine what would happen after they came back and discovered what was going on, that their daughters had superpowers and that Priya had somehow turned bad.

    Kess drove. Navigating was tricky. She seemed to hold in her head a Direction and a Distance, but there wasn''t always a road going in the Direction. Several times she picked a road that seemed to be headed the right way until it curved unexpectedly. Eventually, after taking three u-turns in a row on a black road through the woods near Greenlake, she parked on the curb and got out of the car. The Direction pointed into the woods.

    She reached for her phone to use the flashlight, but her pocket was empty¡ªshe¡¯d left it on her bedside table. Could she see the strange lights on purpose? She glared at the darkness. Nothing happened, but the moon, once she got used to it, was actually pretty bright. She continued walking in the Direction as the Distance dwindled smaller and smaller.

    Lights appeared through the trees. She couldn¡¯t tell whether they were regular lights or lights like the ones she¡¯d been seeing, that no one else could see. There were three of them, white glowing spots flickering between dark branches. As she watched them come toward her, she realized they were also converging on whatever point she was headed for.

    Ahead, something loomed out of the trees, dull in the moonlight. An old water tower. She emerged into the open space around the tower. The white lights in front of her floated at waist level, so bright she could barely see anything else.

    Stop seeing them, she said to herself. Stop now.

    And she did. With the lights gone she could make out dark human figures, one standing where each light had been a moment before.

    The figures stood between the trees like witches. For a strange moment Kess thought maybe they literally were witches and they were about to take their clothes off and dance in the moonlight. Even stranger for someone so uncomfortable with nudity she wore an awkward t-shirt over her suit when she went swimming, Kess could almost imagine herself joining them.

    One of the figures stepped out into the moonlight. Danny.

    For a moment, she thought he¡¯d forgotten her name and was about to call her something like ¡°Priya¡¯s sister.¡± But no. Bottled-water boys always remember names.

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    ¡°Kess,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯re here too?¡±

    The other figures stepped out beside Danny. One was his friend, the black girl with the long blue braids¡ªLaura? Luanne? The other was a short boy with a bit of a weasel face. (She remembered to be nice and added ¡°poor dear¡± to the end of her thought. A short boy with a bit of a weasel face, poor dear.)

    ¡°Kess, this is Samuel. He works at the grocery store with me. Samuel, this is my friend Kess. And you¡¯ve met Lorraine, obviously.¡±

    Bottled-water boys, it seemed, could sense when you couldn¡¯t remember someone¡¯s name, even at strange times and places, and were always prepared to tactfully remind you of it. They had probably evolved this trait on the Serengeti.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got the hands?¡± asked Kess.

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Lorraine. In the moonlight her hair was silver-blue and her glasses shone like real cat¡¯s eyes. ¡°We¡¯ve got the hands. Here.¡± Stepping forward, Lorraine grabbed Kess¡¯s arm. Kess tensed, but Lorraine didn¡¯t seem to notice. She pulled up Kess¡¯s arm and held up her own hand with palm facing Kess¡¯s.

    A blue spark flashed between the stars on their hands, and Lorraine grinned.

    ¡°Okay,¡± said Kess, shaken. ¡°Okay. So what do you think is happening? What do you think the lights are?¡±

    ¡°Magic,¡± said Danny. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s probably magic, right?¡±

    ¡°No, not probably. Magic isn¡¯t a thing.¡±

    Lorraine cocked her head to the side. ¡°You¡¯re awfully close-minded for someone in the dark, dark woods after midnight.¡±

    ¡°What lights?¡± That was Poor Dear, whose real name Kess had already forgotten. ¡°You said something about lights.¡±

    ¡°The lights. The weird lights around power cables and in the sky.¡±

    ¡°None of us has seen any weird lights,¡± said Danny.

    ¡°But they even came from you, from your hips, your¡ª¡± Pockets. The white lights had come from their pockets.

    ¡°Do you have your cell phones with you?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Danny as the other two nodded.

    That¡¯s what was happening. Kess could see electromagnetic radiation¡ªradio waves and cell phone signals. Figuring that out was so satisfying she laughed.

    ¡°What¡¯s funny?¡± asked Poor Dear. He sounded worried that he was missing something important, and the insecure expression on his face made him look weaselier.

    ¡°Do any of you guys know what¡¯s going on?¡± Kess asked. ¡°At all?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Well isn¡¯t that hilarious?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­¡±

    Lorraine put a hand on her hip. ¡°I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s funny,¡± she said. ¡°But it¡¯s definitely going to be fun.¡±

    That made Kess laugh too, and the laugh jostled something loose in her. Suddenly, the other kids¡¯ heads glowed with blue light. It was a bright, clear blue, and it made them look magical and beautiful like sorcerer-angels.

    ###

    <h2>TrueWorldOrder.net, private message conversation between users powerisknowledge and cleverhandle:</h2>

    cleverhandle: I still don¡¯t want to give you my name. For all I know *you¡¯re* ¡°them.¡±

    powerisknowledge: You make a good point.

    powerisknowledge: You don¡¯t sound like them.

    powerisknowledge: The electric girl¡ªdo you like her?

    cleverhandle: What does that have to do with anything?

    powerisknowledge: Tell me what you like about her. Do it or the conversation is over.

    cleverhandle: Okaaaaaaaaaaay.

    cleverhandle: I¡¯ve only met her once in person. But yeah, I like her. She¡¯s funny. She has good taste in music. She¡¯s weird without being too weird *or* weird-on-purpose. She¡¯s blonde with brown eyes.

    powerisknowledge: Why do you like that?

    cleverhandle: I don¡¯t know. Maybe it¡¯s that blue-eyed blondes are clich¨¦? I just really like it.

    powerisknowledge: You¡¯re not one of them.

    cleverhandle: Good to know.

    powerisknowledge: Holifeld Company.

    cleverhandle: That it?

    cleverhandle: That¡¯s your information?

    cleverhandle: That¡¯s all you¡¯re gonna say?

 CHAPTER SEVEN

    Connor didn¡¯t wake up feeling numb any more. He¡¯d also lost the mysterious constant hunger, and his cravings for metal didn¡¯t flare up as often. He figured the transformation, however it worked and whatever it meant, was pretty much finished. So he definitely wasn¡¯t going to die, and now he was in Woodburn to see if Rod was right and they¡¯d gotten their powers from Danny¡¯s girlfriend Priya.

    Priya¡¯s house wasn¡¯t as nice as most of the homes in Greenlake, but even from the outside Connor could tell that the inside would be comfortable and probably smelled good. Houses flanked it to either side, each separated by a stretch of grassy yard, and brown woods pushed up behind it.

    He could do this. What was ¡®this¡¯? Something. Something he could do. He rang the doorbell.

    After a moment, a girl¡¯s voice came through the door. ¡°Go away.¡±

    That must be the puffy-haired sister. ¡°I¡¯m here to see Priya.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Her muffled voice sounded annoyed. ¡°And I said go away.¡±

    ¡°Does she know I¡¯m here?¡±

    The sister didn¡¯t answer. Connor looked through one of the narrow windows to either side of the door, thinking maybe he¡¯d see Priya that way. The sister was there in an instant, filling the window. He didn¡¯t remember her seeming so¡­ creepy. The two times Connor had met her before, he¡¯d thought she was quiet and kinda cute, if not nearly as attractive as Priya. Now she looked almost threatening in a light-weight way, like a horror movie scarecrow. Even though her eyes weren¡¯t actually twitching, it seemed like they were going to start twitching at any moment.

    ¡°Priya¡¯s meditating,¡± she said. ¡°She can¡¯t see you right now.¡±

    ¡°She is not meditating.¡± He craned his head back and shouted, ¡°Priya! Priya!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to be sorry when you keep her from reaching enlightenment.¡±

    Should he kick in the door? Should he charge past the sister?

    ¡°I¡¯m up here!¡±

    Priya stood on the roof. Connor held his arms up to her. ¡°Look at my hands!¡± he called up. ¡°Do you see?¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± She hesitated before shouting again. ¡°Come up.¡±

    So Connor kicked his sandals off and planted his hands on the wall and climbed up the side of the house. He was a super-mutant, and he could move in three dimensions. It was awesome. He pulled himself over the side of the roof and stood up beside Priya.

    ¡°How did you know about me?¡± she asked.

    ¡°You grabbed Rod. He says you were really strong. He says you nicked him, and we think maybe he caught it from you like a zombie virus. But, you know, cooler.¡±

    ¡°Rod? Rod has superpowers? That¡¯s scary.¡±

    ¡°What do you think it is?¡±

    She shrugged. She had kind of a sexy shrug. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Cosmic rays. Voodoo. Mass hallucination. Come on.¡± She led him over the peak of the roof to a shallow-sloping section overlooking the woods. There was a pillow there, a bag of apples, a box of crackers, a laptop. ¡°I don¡¯t like being inside with Kess in there,¡± she explained.

    ¡°Don¡¯t your parents think it¡¯s weird?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re gone. My mom¡¯s sister in Colorado is having a baby, and she¡¯s on bedrest because something¡¯s complicated with the pregnancy, so Mom went out to help. And my grandma, Dad¡¯s mom, lives out there and she¡¯s really really really old and probably going to die soon, like this month soon, so he decided to fly out with Mom and be with Grandma. They both took off their whole year¡¯s worth of vacation time¡ªwe¡¯re probably not going to get a family trip this year.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I can¡¯t imagine going on a road trip with Kess, being in a car with her.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s up with her? Your sister, I mean. I saw her through the window. She seemed¡­ different.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s one of them.¡± Priya frowned, frustrated, maybe, at the words coming out of her own mouth. ¡°What I mean is, I think there¡¯s some other people who got powers too, different ones. And somehow the powers make us feel like¡ªlike enemies, or something.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Connor, realizing she was right. ¡°Danny¡¯s one of them too.¡±

    ¡°I know. I saw him.¡± She sighed. ¡°A few weeks ago I had a sister and a boyfriend. Now I¡¯ve lost them. I can¡¯t even like them any more¡ªmy body won¡¯t let me. I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°Are they strong too?¡±

    ¡°No. They shoot lightning out of their hands. At least Kess does.¡±

    Connor shuddered. ¡°You think Rod¡¯s scary? Rod can¡¯t electrocute you. That¡¯s scary.¡±

    ¡°Lots of things are scary, Connor.¡±

    It was hard to hear her sounding so sad, because they were strong now and that was awesome and she should realize it. He remembered the week he¡¯d spent thinking there was something wrong with him, and how Rod had found him and brought him into the woods and showed him how powerful they were.

    He looked over at the house next door. There was a maybe twenty-foot gap between the roofs of the two houses. ¡°I bet I could make that jump,¡± he said. ¡°I bet you could, too.¡±

    She followed his line of sight. ¡°How far can you jump now?¡± she asked.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve climbed walls and I¡¯ve thrown things and lifted things and punched and kicked things, but I haven¡¯t jumped.¡±

    ¡°We should go down to the ground and experiment.¡±

    ¡°Why go down?¡± He backed up to get a running start.

    ¡°Connor¡­¡± Priya sounded worried, but that just meant she¡¯d be even more impressed when he made it, when he made it, when he¡ª

    He ran and launched himself into the air. Empty space opened beneath him and gravity pulled at his stomach. He landed on the other roof, stumbling just a little as his feet adjusted to the slope. He bet it still looked pretty cool. He turned and waved for Priya to join him.

    She hesitated for just a moment, and then she ran and jumped. She soared and landed on the roof several feet past Connor.

    ¡°You went farther than I did,¡± he said. ¡°I think you went higher too.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m lighter,¡± she said. ¡°That must be it. We both got stronger, but you¡¯re still heavy.¡±

    ¡°So it must have been even more fun for you than for me. Right? Let¡¯s keep going.¡± He ran again and jumped again to the next house, and this time Priya didn¡¯t hesitate. This time she was right beside him. She landed ahead of him with her feet perfectly adjusted to the roof¡¯s angle, and the moment she hit she was running again. A moment later she jumped to the next roof. She was running faster now, covering each roof in only a few steps. Each step was a leap. She looked like a gazelle or a lion or some other fast, pretty animal.

    She glanced back at him and laughed. He¡¯d done it. He¡¯d shown how cool this was. Now he wanted to catch up to her, to get close enough to hear the details of her laugh. He pushed himself faster until he was barreling along with terrifying roller-coaster momentum. Once, twice, he almost didn¡¯t push off before the edge of a roof.

    Priya reached the last house in the row. She turned, and given how fast she was moving it was bizarre how sharply she changed directions. Connor tried to do the same, but he was too massive. He stumbled at an angle and plummeted off the side of the roof.

    There was a brief, zooming mid-air moment, and then he plowed shoulder-first into the ground.

    There was pain, and a terrible crunch.

    ###

    <h2>From the home page of holifeldco.com:</h2>

    Passion.

    Commitment.

    Unparalleled.

    Holifeld Company: Meeting the needs of today, for tomorrow!

    ###

    Priya ran across the rooftops of her street, springing from house to house, and for the first time she loved her body¡¯s strange new properties. She was light and fast, and her muscles did exactly what she wanted them to. To someone watching from the ground, she must have looked spectacular.

    From behind her, she heard Connor shout. She turned just in time to see him hurtle to the ground.

    Oh no.

    She sprang to the edge of the roof and jumped down to land on the ground beside him. And even as panicked and worried for Connor as she was, she couldn¡¯t help noticing how beautifully she landed, how smooth and Catwoman-like.

    Connor groaned. Oh no. His arm was wrong¡ªbent at an angle that made Priya sick to her stomach. Oh no. She squeezed her eyes shut and deep-breathed for just a moment before pulling out her phone.

    ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± he said. ¡°Don¡¯t call yet. It¡¯s going numb. Is that normal?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve never broken anything.¡±

    He sat up, wincing. ¡°Straighten it out.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Take it and push it back to where it should be. Straighten it out.¡±

    She almost laughed. ¡°Are you crazy? The paramedic will do that.¡± Even as she said it, though, Priya realized she didn¡¯t want to call a paramedic. No outsiders, something inside her said. This is our business.

    ¡°No no no no no,¡± said Connor. (Did he have that same strange intuition?) ¡°I think you can do it. I believe you can do it. Just do it.¡±

    So she took his arm in both hands and forced herself to keep her eyes open and pushed the bone into place. His arm was a straight line again.

    ¡°That didn¡¯t hurt,¡± he said. He reached over with his other hand and cupped the injured stretch of arm. ¡°I mean, it hurt, but not as bad as you¡¯d think. A lot less then when I hit the ground. It¡¯s all gone numb and tingly now. I think it¡¯s the superpowers. I think they¡¯re doing something in there.¡±

    He was alright. Good. But it was stupid that he got hurt in the first place. Just stupid.

    ¡°It was your idea to go running on the roofs,¡± she snapped.

    And suddenly he looked more confused and offended than in pain. ¡°I didn¡¯t say it wasn¡¯t.¡±

    He was right. Crap. She raised her hands in surrender. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry! I do that sometimes. I¡¯m terrified that things are my fault, even when they can¡¯t be, even when they¡¯re nobody¡¯s, and so I push them on to other people. It¡¯s all because I want to make things better and so I have to believe I have the power to make things better, but that also means I have the power to make things worse and that freaks me out.¡±

    ¡°That was very, um, self-aware?¡±

    Priya looked at him closely to make sure he wasn¡¯t still in horrific pain and hiding it to be stoic and manly. He didn¡¯t seem to be. ¡°I think it¡¯s important to understand what your mind is doing. That¡¯s the only way we¡¯re going to get better.¡±

    ¡°Better at what?¡±

    ¡°Just better.¡±

    Connor looked at her, looked into her eyes, and for a moment his excessively non-threatening, best-friend-y face changed. She wasn¡¯t sure how it changed, just that it did.

    But then he looked down at his arm again. ¡°The numbness is going away.¡± He raised his damaged arm and waved it back and forth in the air, and then he put his hand on the ground and leaned his weight on the arm, and then he laughed. ¡°It¡¯s better. Totally better. I mean, it¡¯s sore, but it¡¯s definitely not broken. I¡¯m Wolverine.¡±

    Priya felt herself smiling. ¡°I was thinking earlier that I¡¯m Catwoman.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re Wolverine-Catwoman-Spiderman. That¡¯s pretty cool, right?¡±

    She helped him to his feet.

    ###

    <h2>Text message conversation between Ksenya Carpenter and Elias Kaplan:</h2>

    Ksenya: I just don¡¯t get it. Why would you even have a website if it doesn¡¯t say what the company does? It¡¯s just empty slogans and pretty smiling people in business suits. I bet those people don¡¯t even work there! That website is a lie. A LIE.

    Elias: You said that yesterday.

    Ksenya: You don¡¯t have to tell me when I said things yesterday.

    Ksenya: So did you figure out where the website¡¯s coming from?

    Elias: I looked up the ip. It comes from just across the state border.

    Ksenya: That close to us?

    Elias: Yeah. It¡¯s actually mostly trees and horse farms in that area, one real town called Johnston. I looked up the satellite images of Johnston. They¡¯re low resolution, but there¡¯s a big building that looks like a factory or maybe an office park. So I found it on street-view. There¡¯s the link. See the sign?

    Ksenya: That was very thorough and impressive. You are a good junior detective and I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll make senior detective soon.

    Ksenya: ¡°Holifeld Company. Exploration. Impossible. Wonder. Since 1975.¡± That¡¯s a different set of random stupid words than the website. We still don¡¯t know what they do.

    Elias: No. But the local paper has a website, with older issues archived. They¡¯re all scanned images, so you can¡¯t search them, but I looked at the ones for 1975, and I found this.

    Ksenya: Wow. I was joking earlier, but that really is very clever and detective-y of you. What did you find?

    Elias: I sent you the link.

    Elias: I assume you went quiet because you¡¯re reading it and not because you spontaneously combusted.

    Elias: ¡­

    Elias: So what do you think?

    Ksenya: Wow. *That¡¯s* interesting.

 CHAPTER EIGHT

    Of the many strange things that had happened to Kess in the last few weeks, suddenly having friends was, if not the strangest, the most strangely strange. There were all these people who weren¡¯t family and yet seemed to want to be around Kess (and she wanted to be around them too, even) and this shouldn¡¯t feel unnatural in the same way as all the lightning and the lights, and yet¡­

    Most of her days, these days, were spent out at the house-in-the-woods where that party had happened, where Kess had met Elias. It turned out to belong to Poor Dear¡ªsorry, Samuel (Kess had noticed how annoyed the boy got when people called him ¡°Sam¡± or ¡°Sammy¡± and so she was guiltily trying to train herself out of thinking of him by her own, less well-intentioned nickname). His parents, he¡¯d informed the rest of them, probably wouldn¡¯t want to use the ¡°cabin¡± until August. The Blues drove out to the woods in the day if they didn¡¯t have jobs, in the evening otherwise, carpooling when convenient, sometimes spending the night if they could get away with it.

    Kess called them ¡°the Blues¡± after the color of their glowing haloes. Priya and her friends she called the Reds. The other Blues had picked up the terminology. There were a lot more of them now. Every few nights, the Signal would start up again, calling them out. They would end up somewhere random every time, though usually in the general vicinity of the watertower in the woods. Fortunately, you could get to that spot from the cabin in under ten minutes. Whoever was staying out there would go to meet the newcomers, and there would be one or two newly empowered teenagers each time. Now the Signal seemed to be slowing down¡ªno one had felt it in four nights¡ªand there were eight of them: Kess, Danny, Lorraine, Samuel, Samuel¡¯s cousin Bradley, Samuel¡¯s neighbor Greg, and two freckly girls named Marlie and Breanna who were not sisters even though they looked and acted like it.

    ¡°Now!¡± shouted Bradley from the next room.

    ¡°Left,¡± Kess shouted back. ¡°I mean my left. You moved toward the door.¡±

    ¡°Yep,¡± came the reply. ¡°Right again.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s amazing, Kess,¡± said Danny, beside her.

    Kess grinned and popped up onto her tiptoes in a sudden burst of happy-wonderful.

    Kess could see through walls.

    She was getting better at cycling through the available electromagnetic frequencies and stopping at the one she wanted to see, though if she went too fast it made her dizzy and hurt her head. The frequency she was currently viewing showed only a very, very faint blue-green light coming through the ceiling from the general direction of the sun, like light under deep water. She could only see it if she cut off visual light, which was another trick she had learned (it had been disorienting, at first, standing in pitch darkness in the middle of the day, but she was getting used to it). The blue-green glow bounced off of metal things like cars and the cabin¡¯s fancy stainless steel fridge, and off of people. Nothing was very detailed, in the light, especially the people, who were smudgy blue ghosts, but what did resolution matter when you could see through walls?

    She blinked daylight back on.

    Everyone was there for once, which felt nice. The¡­ bonding, or whatever it was, didn¡¯t make you like each other, exactly. Greg and Breanna obviously annoyed one another, and when Greg was out of the room Breanna would roll her eyes and make fun of him. But it made you feel like you belonged together, somehow, so that when all eight of the Blues were in the house it felt comfortable and, for lack of a better word, secure. And everything outside the house became a little more outside, a little scarier. (Though maybe that part was just Kess. None of the others ever mentioned feeling that way.)

    Bradley came back in to the room with the others and flopped onto the couch beside his cousin.

    ¡°Impressive,¡± said Lorraine, from the couch. The blue-haired girl always had the same quirked almost-smile on her face no matter what she was feeling. She showed emotion with her eyebrows, which were like calligraphy strokes¡ªsharp and black and elegantly expressive. Kess had been getting better at reading Lorraine¡¯s eyebrows and she was pretty sure the other girl was jealous.

    ¡°Why do you think you got this power,¡± asked Lorraine, coolly, ¡°and none of the rest of us?¡±

    Kess congratulated herself for correctly deducing the meaning behind Lorraine¡¯s expression. Having the unbearably cool Lorraine be jealous of anything about her¡ªeven if it was unexplained magic powers she couldn¡¯t really take credit for¡ªmade Kess feel almost as good as seeing through walls. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe because I was the first. None of you noticed anything weird until after the party, right? So maybe you¡¯ll get the sight later. But anyway, the next test applies to everyone.¡±

    ¡°Do we have to do it right now?¡± asked Breanna. ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t take long, I promise. And it¡¯s important. Without this test you won¡¯t always be able to use your powers right.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s do it guys,¡± said Danny. ¡°Kess says it¡¯ll be quick, it¡¯ll be quick.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Can I get a volunteer?¡±

    ¡°Oh me!¡± said Marlie. Breanna gave her friend an annoyed look for further delaying dinner, but Marlie didn¡¯t seem to notice.

    ¡°Alright,¡± said Kess. ¡°Where did I put that crate¡­ Yeah, that one. Marlie, send the current out of your hand.¡±

    ¡°Um, okay.¡± Marlie held her hand away from her body, spreading her fingers out parallel to the floorboards. A bright line of buzzing burning electricity snaked from her hand, though instead of hitting the floor like Kess expected it jagged to the side and hit the metal coffee table. Marlie must have been surprised as well because she jumped and squeaked and made the spectators laugh.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± said Kess. ¡°Now step onto this and try it again.¡±

    She took the blue plastic crate she¡¯d found in the laundry room earlier and set it on the floor in front of Marlie, who hopped onto it.

    ¡°What is this going to show?¡± asked Greg, his voice thick with skepticism.

    ¡°We¡¯ll see when it shows it,¡± said Breanna.

    Marlie held out her hand again, flexed her fingers again. Nothing happened. She closed her eyes and tried once more. Nothing.

    Kess beamed. ¡°I was right. The plastic insulates you from the ground.¡±

    ¡°Um, so why can¡¯t I lightning?¡±

    ¡°I told you, you¡¯re insulated. When you shoot out a lightning bolt, the electricity goes to ground. You have to be grounded or it doesn¡¯t complete a circuit.¡±

    Lorraine was watching with her arms crossed and a general aura of hard-to-impress-ness. ¡°Does this have anything to do with my favorite shoes getting ruined?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Yes, exactly. The metal on our feet tries to get to ground.¡±

    Marlie was looking down at her hands, turning them over and over, when a thin white line of electricity formed between them. ¡°Oh,¡± she squeaked.

    ¡°You said she couldn¡¯t do that,¡± said Greg.

    ¡°I said she can¡¯t make a circuit with the ground while she¡¯s insulated. You can still complete a circuit between your two hands. That¡¯s why if you touched someone with both hands, even if you weren¡¯t grounded you could¡ª¡± Kess suddenly flashed back to the moment she shocked Elias, one hand on his neck and one on his shoulder, the horrible look on his face. ¡°You could shock them,¡± she continued, recovering. ¡°The electricity would go through their body to get from one hand to the other.¡±

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    Marlie hopped down off the crate and returned to Breanna¡¯s side.

    ¡°See?¡± said Kess. ¡°I told you it would be useful information. So for the next test¡ª¡±

    Everyone groaned.

    ¡°You did tell us that would be the last one, Kess,¡± said Danny. ¡°Everyone¡¯s getting hungry.¡±

    ¡°But this will be really cool. I want to see what happens if we hold hands in parallel or series. I bought a voltmeter!¡±

    No one else was excited about her voltmeter. Kess finally relented and agreed to go eat, feeling the hollow hungry knot in her own stomach. And after all, this would be eating with friends, which would be different and better than normal eating. Somehow in the foodward-rush they ended up unevenly distributed between cars, with five in Samuel¡¯s car and three¡ªDanny, Lorraine, and Kess¡ªin Danny¡¯s.

    ¡°We really need to recruit someone with a van,¡± said Lorraine as they pulled out of the driveway.

    ¡°If you figure out a way to recruit people, let me know,¡± said Danny.

    ¡°It seems to spread like a disease, right?¡± said Kess. ¡°You could probably just lick them. Or drink out of the same glass of water, that¡¯s less gross.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe we have to go back to school,¡± said Lorraine, charging forward with the conversation. ¡°Really can¡¯t believe it, I mean. Everything that¡¯s happened feels more like genuine reality than school ever did. And what, are we going to hide our hands from the teachers? Are we going to sit in the same classes as Reds?¡±

    ¡°Maybe.¡± Danny glanced up at Kess¡¯s reflection in the rearview mirror. ¡°What were you going to say, Kess?¡±

    ¡°Oh. Just that¡­ I had it first, and then it went to you and Lorraine, who are some of the only people in Greenlake I know, and then it went to Poor¡ª, um, Samuel, who works with Danny, and then to Greg who lives by Samuel, and then to the girls¡­¡±

    ¡°That is what happened,¡± said Lorraine. Kess couldn¡¯t see her eyebrows and so wasn¡¯t sure how to take that statement. ¡°We should make Kess club historian.¡±

    ¡°It moves between people who are around each other, that¡¯s what I¡¯m getting at. Which means it must spread in some understandable way, like a disease. If we understood how, we could do it on purpose.¡±

    ¡°We could cough on people,¡± said Danny.

    ¡°Or bite them,¡± said Lorraine.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Kess nodded even though they couldn¡¯t see her. ¡°We just have to figure it out.¡±

    ¡°But where did you get it?¡± asked Danny. ¡°You¡¯re patient zero.¡±

    ¡°She was blessed,¡± said Lorraine, ¡°by a pagan girl goddess of lightning. Who showed up out of nowhere and blew sparks in her face.¡± Lorraine looked around her seatback at Kess, and her eyebrows were arranged in a way that meant she was partly joking and partly putting words together for their own meaningless sake. ¡°That was it, wasn¡¯t it, hon?¡±

    Kess hesitated. She¡¯d been worried about sharing Elias¡¯s findings with the Blues, but Lorraine and Danny seemed, well, smarter than the others, and more open to ideas.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know where it came from, but I¡¯m trying to find out. There¡¯s this friend of mine, a kid from Lawrenceville. He¡¯s trying to find out too. He found this company he thinks is involved somehow.¡±

    ¡°A kid from Lawrenceville?¡± asked Lorraine. ¡°Is he a Blue? Is he turning into a Blue?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. He¡¯s a normal, non-powered person. We mostly text.¡±

    ¡°You should bite him.¡±

    ¡°So what¡¯s this company?¡± asked Danny. ¡°What do they make?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just it. We can¡¯t tell.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s where the lightning goddess came from,¡± said Lorraine. ¡°They manufacture false gods.¡±

    ¡°My friend did find an old newspaper article about the guy who founded the company. Vance Holifeld was his name, and way back in 1975 he¡¯d inherited some money, so he started a business with it. But even back then he didn¡¯t say what the company was actually supposed to do, just that it would ¡®address many of the pressing concerns of the modern day.¡¯ And the interesting part, the really interesting part¡ª¡±

    ¡°You should pause for a second here,¡± said Lorraine. ¡°To build suspense.¡±

    ¡°He was into magic. He traveled everywhere and collected objects that were supposed to be cursed or charmed or whatever. He was obsessed with hypnotism, too, and he even had this necklace charm he said would keep him from being hypnotized against his will.¡±

    ¡°You know, Kess,¡± said Danny, ¡°you were very judgmental when I said it was magic.¡±

    ¡°I know. And I still think magic is silly. But I know Holifeld Company is connected to our powers, and when I read that article¡­ It was freaky. He did spirit writing, which is when you hold a pen and go into a trance and the writing writes itself, supposedly. He wrote these long shaky treatises full of theories of magic and what he claimed were spells.¡±

    ¡°This Holifeld guy,¡± said Lorraine, ¡°is the girl lightning god in disguise.¡±

    Just then they reached the restaurant. The other car pulled in right behind them, and they all piled out to sit at one of the tables outside in the sun (Marlie and Breanna sat on the table). They ordered food to share and talked and laughed and Kess could get used to this, yes she could.

    And then suddenly everything went quiet.

    The Reds had just shown up. They had all come together in one truck, with most of them in the back.

    They would thought Kess, scornfully.

    That was a weird thought. They would what? Disobey seat belt laws? Kess didn¡¯t care enough about seat belt laws to scorn people over them.

    The Blue boys stood up from the table and turned to face the Reds as they jumped out of their truck. The Red boys¡ªthe redhead, that guy Rod, and two others¡ªwere at the front of the pack. There was a thin, singing tension in the air between the two groups, and it gave Kess goosebumps. ¡°I think this is why gangs have territories,¡± she whispered to no one in particular. Though in this case¡­

    She cycled through wavelengths until she could see the Reds¡¯ halos. Ruby-red light streamed from their heads, their faces glowing at the center. They were broadcasting some sort of signal, and the Blues must be able to sense it while also sending out their own. The tension in the air wasn¡¯t normal human rival-tension. It was more. It was¡­ magic. And it was literally in the air.

    ¡°Danny!¡± said Rod, grinning. ¡°We have to stop meeting like this.¡±

    Danny frowned. ¡°Did you follow us here?¡±

    ¡°You guys are paranoid.¡±

    And what was Priya doing? She was standing beside and a little behind the redheaded boy and looking deeply, deeply annoyed. That was probably why she was hanging back and not saying anything¡ªPriya didn¡¯t like to speak if she was too irritated to speak convincingly.

    ¡°We were here first,¡± said Samuel.

    ¡°This is a public place,¡± said the redhead.

    ¡°Connor,¡± said Danny, ¡°you don¡¯t have to be like Rod. Seriously, did you follow us?¡±

    ¡°How could we have followed you?¡± asked the redhead, Connor, his voice rising with indignation. ¡°We were hungry. Are we not allowed to eat?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Rod, still smiling. Kess wasn¡¯t good at seeing what was in other people¡¯s eyes, but Rod¡¯s eyes sparked with wild energy even she couldn¡¯t miss. ¡°Are we not allowed to eat, Danny? Huh? Huh? Huh, Danny? Huh?¡±

    ¡°Sure you can eat,¡± said Greg. ¡°It doesn¡¯t mean you can eat next to us.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not the kings of us, Gregory.¡± Rod held his hands out to the side in an ambiguously aggressive gesture.

    ¡°Guys,¡± said Danny. ¡°We don¡¯t have to be stupid. You know you should leave, Rod. You know that¡¯s best for everyone.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re so noble,¡± said Connor, ¡°why don¡¯t you leave?¡±

    ¡°Because we were here first,¡± snapped Samuel.

    ¡°We won¡¯t leave,¡± said Danny, raising his voice but not yelling, ¡°because we¡¯re not establishing that pattern. You guys can¡¯t show up wherever we are, expecting us to leave. We don¡¯t want any trouble, but we don¡¯t want any trouble later, either.¡±

    Rod stepped forward. Now he was very close to Danny, and though he wasn¡¯t enough taller than the other boy to loom over him, there was definitely a looming quality to the way he stood. ¡°Danny Boy, I think you¡¯re being unreasonable.¡± He pronounced the word ¡°unreasonable¡± as if it were made of sharp metal.

    Kess felt something push at her. It felt almost like an actual, physical shove on her back but she knew it wasn¡¯t. It was a push on her mind, telling her to step up next to Danny, to support him, so that if Rod even twitched she could reach out and grab him. Resisting the impulse made her dizzy.

    But the others didn¡¯t resist. They moved to stand around Danny, and it looked almost as if they were falling into formation. Kess could even sense how she should move to lock into place.

    ¡°Have you been practicing?¡± asked Connor, incredulous.

    Lorraine lifted one hand, not all the way to full lightning-bolt stance, but noticeably. She waved her silver-tipped fingers as if to show how much energy was waiting behind them. More than the bristling boys, Lorraine had internalized the reality of their powers enough to know how Blues should intimidate people.

    Kess raised her hand above her head.

    It was Rod, of all people, who noticed her. He laughed a deep, wide laugh. ¡°Oh lookit! Ya-Ya¡¯s sister has an interjection.¡±

    And then everyone was looking at her. Kess¡¯s breath froze in her throat¡ªshe couldn¡¯t even imagine speaking.

    ¡°Oh come on,¡± said Lorraine.

    ¡°Kess,¡± said Danny. ¡°Say what you want to say. Really. Please.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­ I think we should have territories.¡±

    ¡°Territories,¡± repeated Danny.

    ¡°Yes. Like when a Jet goes into the wrong malt shop, or whatever, and then everybody glares at him because it¡¯s Shark territory. Territories. There should be some restaurants and stores and things that belong to the Blues¡ª¡± (she indicated herself) ¡°¡ªand some that are the Reds¡¯¡± (she waved at Rod and the others).

    Rod laughed again. ¡°Reds and Blues. Those are good names, Ya-Ya¡¯s sister.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s right,¡± said Priya. She stepped up beside Connor and the other boys. ¡°There should be some places we go and some they go, and we should set it up so we can avoid each other easily.¡±

    Connor looked skeptical. ¡°Didn¡¯t we just say we weren¡¯t going to let them tell us where to go?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re not going to tell us,¡± said Priya. ¡°It¡¯ll be negotiated.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a good idea,¡± said Danny. He looked around at the crowd. ¡°You all know it¡¯s a good idea. You know if this keeps happening¡­¡± He sighed. ¡°If this keeps happening someone will get hurt. This¡¯ll help us live with each other.¡±

    Everyone waited for Rod to say something, and the way he smiled he had to be deliberately dragging out the pause. ¡°If we have territory,¡± he said, finally, ¡°we can defend it. I like that.¡±

    And so they negotiated.

    Eventually, food came.

 CHAPTER NINE

    Sometimes Rod thanked God or Fate or whatever that he¡¯d grown big. If he¡¯d topped out at five foot two, if he¡¯d had to walk around underneath other guys¡¯ noses, if he¡¯d ended up with narrow birdy shoulders or stick-arms or creepy little hands, he didn¡¯t think he could have taken it. He¡¯d probably have become a serial killer or something.

    Now he had something new to thank God-or-whatever for¡ªthat he¡¯d ended up on the strong team instead of the sparky one.

    The strong ones (they really needed a better name) had made Stephanie Barnaby¡¯s house their unofficial headquarters. Stephanie¡¯s parents were a highly useful combination of rich and crazy. They were rich enough to design and build their own house, crazy enough to make it sprawling and weird, with diagonal walls and curvy walls and dead ends and game rooms and movie rooms and music rooms and yoga rooms and guest rooms.

    They were also rich enough to spend the summer in Europe for no particular reason, and crazy enough to leave Stephanie behind by herself just because she asked.

    Stephanie, eager to play hostess, had put out snacks¡ªbowls of chips and dinner rolls and stiff, store-bought cookies, and one bowl of metal washers she¡¯d brought up from the basement. Rod had taken a handful of these to the comfortable den where he and Connor were lounging on fat leather sofas. He tossed a washer into the air and caught it in his mouth like a grape.

    ¡°So do you think we¡¯re stronger than we are tough,¡± asked Connor, ¡°or tougher than we are strong?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean, Ginger?¡± Rod worked the metal washer around his mouth with his tongue, enjoying the taste.

    ¡°We can punch a tree hard enough to split the wood without breaking the bones in our arms, right? So we¡¯re tougher than we used to be. And we bruise and scrape, but it doesn¡¯t really hurt.¡±

    ¡°Yah.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something in us that supports our bones, and fixes them when they break. So if you hit me in the face as hard as you could, would you break my jaw?¡±

    Rod swallowed the washer. ¡°Well, there¡¯s only one way to find out.¡±

    Connor laughed. ¡°I¡¯m curious, dude, but I can live with the mystery.¡±

    ¡°Ah, come on. How about you hit me first? I¡¯m serious.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­¡±

    ¡°Hit me, Ginger, and if it hurts too much I won¡¯t hit back.¡±

    Connor blinked, and probably realized that Rod wasn¡¯t going to let this drop. ¡°Okay, man, okay.¡±

    They faced each other in the middle of the room. They stood with their feet apart like fighters in a video game, which now that Rod thought of it was where their only combat knowledge came from, and Rod pondered whether they¡¯d learn to really fight in the next weeks or months. He was excited by the prospect and wondered why he had never looked into it before.

    Connor punched Rod in the face, and Rod staggered back before assessing the damage. ¡°Not too bad.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I hit you as hard as I really could,¡± said Connor.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s a problem,¡± said Rod, and punched Connor as hard as he really could.

    Connor reeled back from the momentum. When he straightened up again he seemed fine, though he was glaring at Rod. ¡°That hurt a little. Not much.¡± He touched his chin and jaw with one hand. ¡°Nothing¡¯s broken. So I should do you again, right?¡±

    ¡°Oh please do.¡± They exchanged several punches, none of which did more than twinge. It was almost getting boring. ¡°Kick me,¡± said Rod.

    ¡°I¡¯ve kicked down a tree, Rod. You remember how I kicked down a tree?¡±

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    ¡°Just do it. I can take it. I¡¯m mature for my age.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to¡ª¡±

    ¡°Kick me, you sad excuse for a¡ª¡±

    Connor kicked him. His foot landed on the side of Rod¡¯s stomach, and there was an audible crack and a stab of hot red pain, and Rod toppled back onto the floor.

    ¡°You broke my rib. You magnificent specimen. You broke my rib!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be okay,¡± said Connor, frantic. ¡°It¡¯ll heal. Just¡­ give it a second. It¡¯ll start to go numb. It didn¡¯t break the skin, did it?¡±

    ¡°Nah.¡± Rod winced. The pain was honestly pretty bad. ¡°You may be a magnificent specimen, but you¡¯re not good enough to make me bleed.¡±

    The pain faded off, replaced with tingling numbness, and Connor helped Rod to his feet. It was only then that Rod noticed Priya in the doorway, leaning against the frame.

    ¡°Oh, Priya,¡± said Connor, embarrassed like a fool. ¡°How long have you been watching us?¡±

    ¡°Oh, a while. I didn¡¯t want to disturb you when you were having fun.¡± Priya, Rod suspected, was carefully controlling her face and voice. She was smart about people and knew she had to parcel out her disapproval in small doses to keep it effective. If she wasn¡¯t going to stink-eye their punching game, she probably had some other issue to discuss.

    ¡°What¡¯s your problem, Ya-ya?¡±

    ¡°My problem?¡± She smiled and cocked her head, all prettily confused. ¡°What makes you think I have a problem, Rod?¡±

    ¡°What do you think of our little run-in with Danny and the, uh, what did your sister call them? The Blues? Heh. Great name.¡±

    Priya had already committed to this ¡°Problem? I¡¯m too chill to have a problem¡± tactic, so she barely flinched when Rod mentioned Danny. ¡°I thought it was funny,¡± she said.

    ¡°Really? Because I¡¯ve known you for a couple months now and I never noticed you having a sense of humor. Maybe you developed one at the same time as the grippy hands.¡± He raised his eyebrows and wriggled his metal-studded fingers in the air.

    ¡°Guys¡­¡± said Connor.

    ¡°It was funny,¡± said Priya, biting out each word, ¡°because a few weeks ago Danny was my boyfriend and Kess was my best friend and my sister, but now they¡¯re on the other side. But the other side of what? There¡¯s no conflict! There¡¯s nothing we¡¯re competing over. There¡¯s no issue we disagree on. It¡¯s just my brain¡ªsomething that¡¯s been done to my brain.¡±

    ¡°Your brain¡¯s all you are, Ya-ya. My brain says Danny¡¯s my enemy, he¡¯s my enemy. That¡¯s how brains work. Also enemies.¡±

    ¡°Well, and¡­¡± Connor spoke up and trailed off.

    ¡°Yes?¡± said Priya. ¡°Connor? What were you going to say?¡±

    Connor looked seriously uncomfortable. ¡°Whatever happened to our brains happened to theirs too. They feel the same way about us, so even if they haven¡¯t done anything to us yet they¡¯re probably going to. So we should probably, you know, keep our eye on them. Be ready to strike back the second they make a move.¡±

    ¡°Connor,¡± Priya practically gasped.

    Rod laughed. She¡¯d been expecting Connor to agree with her. ¡°Excellent point, my rib-breaking bud. You know, Danny makes a better enemy than he did a friend.¡±

    ¡°Come off it,¡± said Priya. ¡°Danny¡¯s the best person you know, and you know it.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. With him, everything¡¯s about duty and honor and Boy Scout crap. When you¡¯re his friend, that means he¡¯s boring and lectures you a lot, but when he¡¯s your enemy it makes everything more epic. It¡¯s not a fight, it¡¯s a field of battle. You feel like the black knight or something. It¡¯s awesome.¡±

    ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is you¡¯re having fun.¡±

    ¡°More or less. And I¡¯m going to continue to have fun, Ya-ya, because you can¡¯t always control people by being hot and smiling.¡±

    Priya¡¯s last attempt at a poker face melted away to flashing anger. ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°It means I know your deal.¡±

    ¡°My deal is not controlling people, Rod. My deal is persuading people, partly because I¡¯m nice but mostly because I¡¯m right. Like now, when my position is we should not get sucked into gang warfare, and I¡¯m so obviously right you don¡¯t even have a real argument against me.¡±

    ¡°Eh. Let¡¯s just see what happens.¡±

    Priya sucked in a breath so hard and sharp Rod could hear it hissing through her teeth. Then she turned and stormed out of the room.

    Connor groaned and pushed his hands through his freaky-bright hair. ¡°What do I do now?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, man,¡± said Rod. ¡°You did have an opinion different than her opinion. That¡¯s pretty bad. You might have to kneel in front of her like a dog.¡±

    ¡°Dogs don¡¯t kneel, Rod.¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°Human ones do.¡±

    ###

    <h2>TrueWorldOrder.net, private message conversation between users powerisknowledge and cleverhandle:</h2>

    powerisknowledge: It¡¯s time.

    cleverhandle: I¡¯m not going to ask just because you want me to ask.

    cleverhandle: Alright.

    cleverhandle: It¡¯s time for what?

    powerisknowledge: It¡¯s time to meet in person.

    cleverhandle: You don¡¯t even know where I am.

    powerisknowledge: You are within a day¡¯s drive of Holifeld Company.

    powerisknowledge: You want to know how I know.

    powerisknowledge: You want to know many things. The only way to know is to meet me in person.

    powerisknowledge: You are not like other people. You are reasonable.

    powerisknowledge: You will meet me in person.

 CHAPTER TEN

    Kess sat in her car outside the coffee shop in Lawrenceville where Elias had agreed to meet his Internet mystery person. She thought about how Elias had kissed her.

    He¡¯d kissed her, and she¡¯d shocked him, and he¡¯d gotten over that for some reason, and he¡¯d turned out to be so¡­ so smart. And now he was inside the coffee shop, waiting for Kess. It made her want to drive back home at two-hundred miles an hour. But instead she got out and went inside. It helped to think of it as ¡°possibly deadly intrigue¡± rather than ¡°meeting up with a boy.¡±

    Elias was slouched in an armchair in a back corner. He looked up at Kess when she got close. She¡¯d forgotten how much she liked his deep-set wizard eyes.

    ¡°So he¡¯s not here yet,¡± she said.

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s probably a murderer. You know he¡¯s probably a murderer, right?¡±

    ¡°If he looks like a murderer, you can leave.¡±

    Kess sat in a chair next to Elias. There was one more chair in this corner. Kess¡¯s eyes flickered between the empty seat and Elias as her anxiety flickered between Potential Murderer and Boy.

    How did her mind classify Elias, given that he was neither a Red nor a Blue? Now that she saw him in person again, there was something¡­ strangerly about him. He was other, un-Blue, not to be trusted. But he also didn¡¯t inspire the bitter, insurmountable antagonism she felt towards the Reds. And if she thought about all the conversations they¡¯d had, the information he¡¯d shared with her, she could push past the fact that he wasn¡¯t a Blue and the vague uneasy feeling that gave her. Then she could see him as himself. Elias. Her friend. She remembered feeling something similar about her parents before they left on their trip.

    ¡°Has anyone looked at your eyes since you started seeing waves?¡± asked Elias. ¡°Studied them, I mean.¡±

    That snapped her out of her anxiety loop. ¡°Ugh, no.¡±

    ¡°Then you don¡¯t know how it works.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how any of it works.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but electricity comes out of your hands because your hands changed. You can see strange things, so your eyes must have changed.¡±

    She hadn¡¯t thought of that, which embarrassed her a little. That old newspaper article about Vance Holifeld really had shaken her disbelief in magic. She was half convinced that her powers were a divine blessing, like Lorraine had joked, or a curse or a possession or something.

    ¡°You¡¯re right, you¡¯re right.¡± She gripped the edge of her chair. ¡°Okay. Do it.¡±

    Elias laughed. ¡°You look like you just asked me to punch you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like¡­ eyes. And the looking into of them.¡±

    ¡°Pretend I¡¯m the optometrist.¡±

    ¡°I hate optometrists. I hate doctors generally. They ask questions and touch you and look in your eyes.¡±

    Elias held up his phone. ¡°Just look at this.¡±

    And she did, holding her eye wide open, and he took a picture and showed it to her.

    ¡°There¡¯s little things,¡± she said.

    ¡°They look like beads. Little clear beads in the whites of your eyes.¡±

    ¡°My eyes burned before I first saw the lights. They burned for days. It must have been those things, growing.¡±

    ¡°I can sort of tell, now that I know they¡¯re there. When the light hits your eyes just right, it glitters off of them. And they look sort of blue-ish gray-ish. They¡¯re usually brown, right?¡± He got a funny look on his face for a moment. ¡°After this, you should show me what they can do.¡±

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    He didn¡¯t sound jealous of her powers, like Lorraine, or supportive, like Danny. He sounded curious. He sounded like he wanted to know what she could do just so he would know.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you happened to me,¡± she said. And then she cringed, hearing herself, and pulled away from him back into the furthest corner of her chair.

    ¡°Kess,¡± said Elias. ¡°Kess¡ªKess¡ªhe¡¯s here. I mean¡­¡±

    A woman loomed over them. Somehow Kess hadn¡¯t noticed her walk up.

    She had the stretched-out look of a fashion model, though she wasn¡¯t dressed fashionably¡ªher slacks and button-up shirt were both business-like and business-appropriate. Her face was long and narrow and nosily attractive, and her hair was pulled high and tight into a glossy dark ponytail. She was, more than anything, composed. She looked as if someone had sculpted a Tribute to the Professional Woman out of acrylic.

    Kess disliked her the way a dog dislikes a person¡ªinstantly, stupidly, and with nervous anger.

    ¡°Power is knowledge?¡± said Elias, like a test.

    ¡°Indeed. Though my real name is Silver. Clever Handle?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s me,¡± said Elias. ¡°But my real name is Clever Handle.¡±

    ¡°It is reasonable of you not to reveal your true identity,¡± she said. ¡°I will not press the issue.¡±

    Something about the way she spoke¡­

    Silver sat primly in the third chair¡ªthough ¡°primly¡± was the wrong word, too feminine. She sat with perfect posture, her back rail-straight, balanced near the front of the seat as if poised to leap to her feet at any moment.

    ¡°So are you going to explain everything?¡± asked Elias.

    She nodded. ¡°I will explain chronologically. In 1975, Holifeld Company was founded by Vance Holifeld.¡±

    ¡°We know,¡± said Elias.

    ¡°How do you know?¡±

    And so Elias explained how he had traced clues on the Internet to the 1975 newspaper article about Vance Holifeld.

    ¡°Clever,¡± said Silver. ¡°And resourceful. We like the way you think.¡± Her face did not show approval or otherwise waver from neutral.

    ¡°Who¡¯s ¡®we¡¯?¡± asked Kess.

    ¡°I represent a consortium.¡± (Kess had to stop herself from sarcastically repeating, ¡°Oh, a consortium.¡±) ¡°We are highly concerned with Holifeld Company and its products.¡±

    ¡°What are its products?¡± asked Elias. ¡°We haven¡¯t been able to figure it out.¡±

    ¡°As a young man, Vance Holifeld wanted to believe in magic. Many people want to believe in magic. For most of them, that desire is not useful. Holifeld made his desire useful. He is admirable in that regard.¡±

    Useful. The word chimed a sour chord somewhere in Kess¡¯s head.

    ¡°When he inherited his fortune, he first used his money to travel the world, to consult shamans and magicians. After some time, he realized that he did not believe in any of it. He only wanted to believe.¡±

    Elias nodded as if that made sense. Which maybe it did a little.

    ¡°He used the rest of his inheritance to found a company dedicated to creating things which Holifeld considered to be as good as magical.¡±

    ¡°Technology,¡± said Elias. ¡°It¡¯s a technology company.¡±

    ¡°Yes. The human desire for magic and the supernatural is rarely useful. Vance Holifeld¡¯s case was unusual.¡±

    Kess shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t get it. If it¡¯s technology that¡¯s giving¡­ these kids superpowers, then what technology is it, exactly? There¡¯s nothing like this out there. I¡¯ve looked. There¡¯s no one researching anything like this. There¡¯s no one saying, ¡®Oh, we¡¯re five years out from developing superstrength.¡¯ And it¡¯s doing things to their brains too and no one even understands brains.¡±

    ¡°Vance Holifeld has many skills. One is the ability to identify and attract brilliant scientists. Another is a remarkable intuition as to which projects are likely to be successful. Or perhaps he was lucky. Either way, over sixty years his company has made many advances, only some of which were shared with the broader community. Remember, Vance is not entirely motivated by the chance to boast or to sell. And when he does sell, he likes the uniquely powerful bargaining position afforded him by completely unmatched technology.¡±

    ¡°But that would take a sixty year conspiracy with nobody talking,¡± said Elias. ¡°That doesn¡¯t happen. Secret technology doesn¡¯t happen, not like that. The Manhattan Project was secret, but everyone and their brother was trying to develop nuclear weapons, and they knew everybody else and their brothers were trying too.¡±

    ¡°Another of Vance Holifeld¡¯s skills was inspiring loyalty. Loyalty is often useful. Perhaps someday you will be loyal to me and my colleagues, Clever Handle. Then you will waste less time on suspicion.¡±

    Useful again. The way Silver used the word reminded her of something¡­ someone¡­ Not something pleasant. ¡°Elias¡­¡±

    ¡°May I ask why you brought your friend?¡± asked Silver.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Based on our conversations, you have considered me paranoid. Did it not occur to you that a paranoid person might be put off by seeing that you had brought a third party to the meeting without informing them?¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± said Elias. ¡°That makes sense. I didn¡¯t think of that. I guess I knew she¡¯d have wanted to be here.¡± Silver cocked her head to the side, and though her expression didn¡¯t change Kess suspected she didn¡¯t quite understand what Elias was saying. He continued. ¡°Anyway, you don¡¯t seem paranoid in person.

    ¡°Paranoia is rarely useful.¡±

    Fear is only useful in so far as it tells you what to do.

    Kess jumped to her feet. ¡°Elias,¡± she said. ¡°We have to get out of here. We have to get out of here right now.¡±

    Silver lunged out of her chair. There was something in her hand¡ªwhere had it come from, her sleeve? A plastic syringe with a sharply gleaming silver needle, and the stuff inside was gray. She grabbed Elias¡¯s hand, yanked him forward, and plunged the needle into his arm.

 CHAPTER ELEVEN

    Elias cried out, and the other customers turned to look, but it was too late¡ªhe was already hurting, his face already twisted. Kess grabbed Silver¡¯s shoulder with one hand and poured electricity into her. Silver froze, locked in place by the current¡ªbut so did Elias, his body rigid and unable to pull away. For a split-second they all stood like that, a horrible three-person statue. Then Kess yanked her hand back. Silver swayed on her feet, and Elias fell backward, the needle no longer in his arm, and hit the floor.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± cried Kess without thinking. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± She grabbed Elias and tried to pull him away from Silver, but he was heavy and she was weak and tired from having expended so much of her charge, which had been low when she walked in. She should have charged up first, she should have known it would be dangerous¡ª

    Silver, calm and seemingly recovered from the shock Kess had given her, looked around. They were in the back room of the coffee shop, so there weren¡¯t many other customers there, but every single one was looking at them. Most were confused, but one¡ªa large man¡ªwas headed towards them with the look of someone about to sort something out.

    Silver pulled something out of her pocket. What was it¡ªa tissue? Some sort of gauzy fabric? She pressed it to her face, where it covered her mouth and nose and clung to her skin.

    Without meaning to, Kess squeezed Elias¡¯s shoulder so hard her nails dug in. ¡°Cover your mouth,¡± she whispered in one panicked breath. ¡°Hold your nose.¡± He did so, and so did she, just as Silver held up a glass orb the size of a golf ball and threw it to the ground. It smashed at the feet of the concerned citizen marching towards them, and he stopped and stared down at it.

    Silver walked out of the room at a business-like pace.

    Elias struggled to get to his feet one-handed, his other hand holding his nose. Kess had to help him by pulling his shirt with her free hand. Then they ran, charging in the opposite direction from Silver. Running while you couldn¡¯t breathe, even just a little way, was torture. Elias drew ahead of Kess (why was she so slow?) but he reached back and grabbed her free hand, pulling her along. They reached the back door and slammed it open, stumbling out into the sunlit air.

    They let themselves breathe.

    Kess collapsed against Elias. He put his arms around her to hold her up, and his heart beat against his chest against her ear, and his heavy, gasping breaths moved through her hair.

    ¡°That stuff in the syringe,¡± she said when she¡¯d caught her breath. ¡°Did she manage to inject you?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± said Elias, ¡°at least not with much of it. Before we ran I saw it on the floor mostly full.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Okay. We have to go. She might circle around for us.¡±

    ¡°But what about the people inside? What did that gas or whatever do to them?¡±

    ¡°It already happened, whatever it was.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but we have to know. We have to know what she¡¯s capable of.¡±

    Kess sighed and pulled away from him. As he let go of her, some part of her mind realized that this was the first time a boy had ever held her like that, and that she felt thinner and shakier standing on her own. She approached the shop with three wary steps and looked through the little window in the backdoor. ¡°They look¡­ fine.¡±

    ¡°How could they be fine? She did something to them.¡± He reached out as if to push the door open.

    ¡°No, it might still be in the air in there. Look, that big guy is getting up to leave. We can meet him at the front and ask him what happened.¡±

    ¡°She might be there.¡±

    ¡°Our cars are there anyway. And I think if she were coming for us she¡¯d be here already.¡±

    So they walked around the side of the building, and despite what Kess had said she couldn¡¯t stop looking for Silver. She never saw her, however, and they caught the big guy on his way out.

    ¡°Excuse me, sir,¡± said Kess. ¡°What happened in there?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked the guy, looking taken aback by the sudden question, but friendly.

    ¡°After that woman broke that thing,¡± said Elias. ¡°What happened? Did you feel different or notice anything¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. A woman broke a thing? Maybe that happened before I got here.¡±

    Kess frowned. ¡°But it broke right¡ª¡±

    ¡°That must be it,¡± said Elias. ¡°Thank you anyway.¡±

    ¡°Sorry I couldn¡¯t help,¡± said the man, and he walked away.

    ¡°It broke by his feet,¡± said Kess.

    ¡°I know,¡± said Elias. He looked around as if scanning for spies, and then turned his face down to hers. ¡°It erased his memory.¡±

    #

    Elias drove Kess to his house. On the way, she told him all about her and Priya¡¯s encounter with the man called Stone, and how he spoke and acted and even dressed (now that she thought of it) exactly like Silver.

    ¡°What do you think their game is?¡± asked Elias. ¡°Why did they contact me on the True World Order forums? Why did they give me that lead about Holifeld company?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    They reached Elias¡¯s house, and he pulled into the driveway and shut off the car.

    ¡°We should go to the hospital,¡± said Kess, not moving to get out. ¡°Right now we should go.¡±

    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°And tell them what?¡±

    ¡°That a strange woman jumped out at you and stabbed you with a syringe.¡±

    Elias shook his head. ¡°They¡¯d call the cops.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯d tell the cops that a strange woman jumped out at you and stabbed you with a syringe. I know they won¡¯t believe you about the conspiracy, but you don¡¯t have to give any details.¡±

    ¡°I feel fine,¡± he said. ¡°Really. She was only injecting me for a second before you, uh¡­¡± He laughed.

    ¡°What?¡±

    He laughed again, louder.

    ¡°Is this how you deal with shock?¡± she asked.

    ¡°No. I mean, maybe, but also it¡¯s actually funny. You¡¯ve accidentally electrocuted me twice.¡±

    ¡°I said I was sorry!¡±

    ¡°I know. It¡¯s just not the sort of thing you expect to happen two times.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said again, realizing with horror that she was about to cry. She turned her face away from Elias and bit her lip.

    ¡°No¡ªKess¡ªI don¡¯t care. You know that. You know I wouldn¡¯t think it was funny if I was holding it against you.¡±

    She took a second to breathe to make sure she could speak without getting all squeaky. ¡°Every time I do it, there¡¯s a chance I¡¯ll seriously hurt you.¡±

    ¡°But you didn¡¯t, and you got Silver and her scary needle off me.¡±

    Alright. Maybe that had been the right thing to do. Kess let herself look at Elias again.

    ¡°I¡¯m just worried I¡¯m going to Pavlovian condition you into hating me.¡±

    In one smooth motion, he unbuckled his seat belt, leaned over, and kissed her.

    ###

    <h2>TrueWorldOrder.net, forum post by user cleereyed:</h2>

    I hve been VISITED!

    My memry has been ERASED!

    Lucky I was TRAINED to know the SIGNS!!!

    I know WHY I was TARGTED I must be CLOSE to something TRUE!!!!!

    ###

    Having kissed a boy twice was a peculiar and glittering state entirely distinct from having kissed a boy once. There must be a point of diminishing returns to kisses, after which each was only as pleasant as the last and caused no permanent changes to a person¡¯s mental state. Kess wondered when that point would be. Perhaps she should make a chart.

    Winding between and around those thoughts were admittedly more important concerns. She had to tell the other Blues about the¡ªwhat should she call them? Not the Consortium. The Grays. Silver and Stone were both named after gray things, and besides, there seemed to be something gray about them, about the way they stood and spoke and looked at you.

    She had to warn the others about strangers in business clothes, whose faces didn¡¯t move enough and who might try to kidnap you or stick you with needles.

    And should she warn the Reds too? The thought seemed bizarre and scandalous and even traitorous, but who knew what would happen if the Grays tried to kidnap Priya again or did some other nefarious thing to one of the Reds?

    When she got to the cabin, everyone was there. They were all in the living room, sitting on the floor in a line and holding hands. It seemed strange and childish until Kess saw that Breanna, on one end of the line, had her finger stuck into an outlet. On the other end of the chain, Danny had one hand in Lorraine¡¯s hand while his other rested palm down on the floor. All of their faces looked¡­ content.

    ¡°There¡¯s something I have to tell you all,¡± she announced. ¡°It¡¯s important. Could you please, um, take a break while you hear me out?¡±

    They started to grumble, but Danny cut them off. ¡°Later, Kess. I promise we¡¯ll all hear what you have to say. But please, sit with us for a minute first.¡± He took his hand off the floor (Lorraine sighed as his palm left the wood) and held it up to Kess.

    Awkwardly, Kess settled to the ground beside him and took his hand so that their metal stars rubbed together. She put her other hand on the floor.

    Wonderful ran through her. A wire. There must be an actual physical wire winding through her body. It would need to bypass her heart, to be safe. And whatever changed her body had also changed her mind so that she loved it, this bright shock running through her, slowly charging her up. She glanced over at the others. The same lightning ran through each of them, tying them hand to hand. It was intimacy better and purer (Kess could only assume) than the sexual kind.

    Of all the friends in all the world, of all those who had ever been friends and were now dead, Kess¡¯s friends were the only ones to ever share like this.

    #

    When they were alone in Stephanie¡¯s parent¡¯s huge master bedroom, Priya explained what she wanted from Connor.

    ¡°I want you to hold me still, and I¡¯m going to try to break away from you.¡±

    If Rod knew how Connor¡¯s mind caught on the words ¡°hold me,¡± he would have mocked him for an hour straight. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I need to see if you¡¯re as much stronger than me now as you were before.¡±

    ¡°When me and Rod did something like this, you thought we were idiots.¡±

    ¡°I never said that.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not actually an idiot, so I knew you thought it anyway.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t for fun,¡± said Priya. ¡°This is to be prepared. Does our strength even have anything to do with the size of our muscles? If you don¡¯t help me experiment, we won¡¯t know those things when we need to.¡±

    Connor wanted to say something flirty about ¡°experimenting¡± but his mind drew a blank (he never knew what to say to girls). ¡°Alright,¡± he said. ¡°For science.¡±

    ¡°Really try as hard as you can to keep hold of me, alright? I know I can¡¯t hurt you badly so I¡¯ll try anything to get away. No holding back for either us.¡±

    ¡°Got it. No holding back.¡±

    Priya turned her back to him and waited.

    Connor had grabbed girls before, you know, playfully. But he¡¯d never held a girl as hard as he could, never really tried to keep her from getting away. The thought was so uncomfortable his mind scattered off of it. He told his arms to grab Priya, but some other part of his brain canceled the order.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to do it, I¡¯ll ask one of the other guys. It¡¯ll just be weird.¡±

    ¡°And it won¡¯t be weird with me?¡±

    ¡°Just grab me, Connor.¡±

    And so he did. He pulled her into his chest and pinned her arms to her side and didn¡¯t think about the curve of her waist or how nice she smelled or anything in that entire neighborhood of thoughts because that would be too creepy to bear under the present circumstances. She pushed back at his arms and of course she was strong but he kept his grip.

    She kicked back at his leg, and her foot connected with a sharp jolt of pain. Connor¡¯s breath left his mouth with a hiss.

    ¡°Was that too much?¡± asked Priya.

    ¡°It hurt,¡± he said, ¡°but you know something like that doesn¡¯t hurt long for us. Keep going. No holding back.¡±

    But instead of kicking him again, Priya kicked the floor, sending them both flying backwards off their feet. It wasn¡¯t a move that would have worked for normal girl Priya¡¯s size against a normal guy Connor¡¯s size, but while they were heavier than they used to be (Stephanie had insisted everybody weigh themselves to establish that she wasn¡¯t the only one to suddenly gain fifteen pounds) Priya¡¯s new strength was enough to compensate, and more. Connor¡¯s back hit the carpet, his breath thumping out of him, and Priya managed to yank one arm out of his grasp before his hand flicked up and grabbed her wrist.

    He rolled over, tugging her with him, until it was her with her back to the floor. He couldn¡¯t rely on his weight to pin her, she was too strong for that, so he had to use his muscles and push her down with his arms and his knees.

    She was strong, but he was, still, stronger.

    She gave up and lay back against the floor, beneath him, and the part of Connor¡¯s brain that had skittered away from the whole idea of this ¡°experiment¡± caught up with the rest of him. He leapt off of her, backed away. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± he said.

    She sat up and smoothed down her short hair with one hand. ¡°Don¡¯t be sorry. You did what I asked. The point of the experiment was to find out.¡± She sighed. ¡°This isn¡¯t fair. Kess and Lorraine aren¡¯t lower voltage than Danny.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think ¡®fair¡¯ is really an option with this stuff.¡±

    Priya pulled her knees up and rested her head on them, looking thoughtful, and Connor wished he¡¯d never agreed to this.

    #

    Some part of Priya told her that she shouldn¡¯t worry, none of their boys would ever hurt her and she should relax. Priya ignored that part and thought up ways to bring down someone stronger than her.

 CHAPTER TWELVE

    Priya was always worried she¡¯d run into Kess when she went back home to take care of Giant, but she never did. It annoyed her that Kess didn¡¯t seem to have even thought about Giant and what would happen to him once no one was staying at the house. But Giant had always been more Priya¡¯s cat than anyone else in the family¡¯s¡ªshe¡¯d been in charge of feeding him since she was eleven and cleaning his litter box since she was fourteen.

    Kess, on the other hand, should really never be trusted with responsibility for any animal. She wasn¡¯t the sort of person who had a hard time making friends with humans and so befriended animals instead. Rather (she had explained to Priya once), whatever psychological quirk made it difficult for Kess to bond with people made it even more difficult to bond with things that weren¡¯t even human. Kess appreciated animals, but she didn¡¯t form relationships with them. Before the Red and Blue situation, this was something that annoyed Priya about Kess, but that annoyance and others were swallowed up by affection. Now that the affection had been wiped away by some strange magic, even thinking about Kess¡¯s difficulty with animals made Priya weirdly angry.

    Today, Priya brought Connor with her to the house. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯d spend every night at Stephanie¡¯s even if my parents were gone,¡± said Connor, stroking Giant from his ears to the tip of his tail. ¡°You guys are my¡­ something¡­ now¡ª¡±

    ¡°Tribe,¡± said Priya as she filled Giant¡¯s food bowl. ¡°Clan. Pack.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that. But my home¡¯s still my home.¡±

    ¡°Mine is too.¡± She looked around the laundry room where Giant¡¯s stuff was kept. Even this, the ugliest room in the house, shone with the beauty of familiar things. ¡°But me and Kess couldn¡¯t stay here together any more. We didn¡¯t talk about it, but I think we both decided to stay away to avoid fighting about who would leave.

    ¡°But you have to live here together when your parents get back, right? When is that?¡±

    ¡°Three weeks.¡±

    ¡°Man, they really trusted you two.¡±

    ¡°We were good kids,¡± said Priya. ¡°We were really, really well-behaved up until we suddenly joined rival gangs.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still good kids,¡± said Connor. ¡°You haven¡¯t done anything bad. None of us have. You keep calling us ¡®gangs¡¯ but we haven¡¯t actually done anything wrong. We just hang out and play with our superpowers.¡±

    ¡°Give us time.¡±

    That stopped the conversation for a while. Priya petted Giant for a minute while he ate, just to make sure he remembered her smell. Then she asked Connor, ¡°Do you want something to eat?¡±

    They weren¡¯t as hungry as they¡¯d been at first. The transformation into a Red seemed to require a lot of food as fuel, but after it was finished they only ate a little more than they used to, more on days when they used their strength a lot. Still, it felt good to cook in her own kitchen and not Stephanie¡¯s, which had a chandelier and appliances as shiny (and possibly as expensive) as a sports car. Priya got out the ingredients for grilled cheese sandwiches.

    Connor sat on one of the stools at the counter. He looked natural there¡ªsomething about his red-headed harmlessness went well with kitchen cabinets. ¡°Priya,¡± he said, ¡°can I ask you something?¡±

    She froze for a second with the cheese half sliced. His voice when he said her name had a quality that foretold coming awkwardness.

    ¡°Of course you can.¡±

    ¡°Why did you like Danny?¡±

    Awkwardness was coming and could not be diverted. Any attempts to avoid the awkwardness would only make it worse. It was like being Oedipus Rex. In a way.

    She assembled a sandwich and slapped it onto the frying pan with a sizzle. ¡°He was a bottled-water boy.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s something my sister came up with. Bottled water, you know, it¡¯s clear, and it¡¯s good for you. It basically means he¡¯s a good guy.¡±

    Hearing herself say it, she realized that wasn¡¯t the real reason she had liked Danny. Or rather, it wasn¡¯t all of it. After all, Connor was a good guy, wasn¡¯t he? Maybe Priya had been too generous with herself, all those times she thought she liked ¡°good guys.¡±

    ¡°And it wasn¡¯t just that he was good,¡± she said slowly. ¡°It¡¯s that he was good in a¡­ big way. A way that other people want to follow. That¡¯s why I wish he¡¯d become a Red. Not just for me. For all of us. I wish that we had Danny and the Blues had Rod.¡±

    Connor nodded. ¡°Priya, do you think you could¡­ like me?¡±

    And there it was.

    ¡°Of course I like you, Connor. I wouldn¡¯t have asked you to come here with me if I didn¡¯t.¡±

    She expected him to look dejected, which would have been bad, but instead he leaned back on his stool and sort-of smiled, which was worse. ¡°You should have just said no.¡±

    ¡°If I had just said no, you would have looked at me like you were blaming me for something.¡± She could hear the snappishness in her voice, but couldn¡¯t manage to iron it out.

    ¡°You¡¯re mad at me for asking.¡±

    ¡°I am not¡ª¡±

    ¡°Priya, you once told me you think it¡¯s important to understand what your mind is doing. Are you mad at me for asking whether you could like me?¡±

    She glared down at the frying pan until she could answer honestly. ¡°Yes. Yes I am. I just hate awkwardness. I guess communicating is better than not communicating, so I shouldn¡¯t be mad. I still am, but that will go away soon. Food¡¯s done. Eat.¡±

    #

    When they got back from Priya¡¯s house, Rod was in Stephanie¡¯s back yard throwing rocks into the woods. He had a bucket of them which he had probably gathered from the fake waterfall near the house.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°You okay there, sport?¡± he said when he saw Connor. ¡°You¡¯re looking almost as vague as my mother.¡±

    ¡°Shut up. I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°In that case, come take a rock. And let me know if your aim¡¯s better than it used to be. I can¡¯t tell with myself because I¡¯ve always had the aim of a minor god of aiming.¡±

    ¡°My aim¡¯s as good as yours.¡±

    ¡°Then hit, uh, that tree.¡±

    ¡°Which?¡±

    ¡°The one with the branch like a thing.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°The one¡ªugh.¡± Rod took another rock from his bucket and threw it straight and fast as an arrow. It hit a tree maybe sixty feet away. ¡°That one.¡±

    ¡°Wow.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. We can throw small objects very far.¡±

    Connor took a rock of his own. He missed the tree.

    By the time the rock bucket was almost empty, Connor thought his aim really was better than it had been before, if only because his strength gave him more control over his body. Rod could break off specific branches, pointing each out beforehand and then snapping it off with a straight-flying stone.

    ¡°So hooooow¡¯s it going with Ya-Ya?¡± asked Rod. He dragged out the word ¡°how¡± in a tone of exaggerated curiosity like a prying mother in a sitcom. ¡°Still obsessed with her?¡±

    ¡°You know, Rod, could you just be a normal friend for ten minutes?¡±

    Rod looked at Connor¡¯s face long enough to see that he was serious. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, man. I didn¡¯t know things were going that badly with her. I thought you were making progress.¡± Rod actually did look sorry.

    ¡°Priya would go for you before she goes for me, and she hates you.¡±

    Rod shrugged as if that they may or may not be true, he hadn¡¯t decided yet. ¡°Why do you think that is?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re more important than me.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s ¡®importance¡¯ that turns her crank?¡±

    Connor chose a tree deep into the woods, concentrated, and for once hit it square in the center of the trunk. ¡°Just think of who she chose when she had all her options.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± said Rod, ¡°I wish I could tell you what to do to get yourself into her, uh, confidences. But¡­¡± He tossed a rock up and down in one hand, following it with his eyes like it was something pretty. ¡°I do know what will take your mind off it.¡±

    #

    <h2>Text message conversation between Ksenya Carpenter and Elias Kaplan:</h2>

    Elias: I ate three pennies today. And a bolt from my dad¡¯s toolbox.

    Ksenya: I¡¯m sorry.

    Elias: Don¡¯t be. I kind of wanted this.

    Ksenya: I guess I might have wanted it too, if we were the other way around.

    Elias: Maybe I¡¯ll shock *you* someday.

    #

    It embarrassed Kess how badly she wanted Lorraine to like her. She knew exactly why. Lorraine was tall and confident and had blue hair. She wore semi-ironic cat¡¯s eye glasses and totally ironic mood rings. She carried around a sketchbook like a girl in a story.

    Right now, Lorraine was at the cabin¡¯s dining room table with her sketchbook in front of her. Kess slouched up beside her to see what she was drawing. At first it seemed to be nothing but black scrawls, but when Kess let her mind slip into dreamy-artsy mode she saw something else, something like a girl with a waspish waist and a skirt blowing in the wind and her hand held out straight in front of her.

    ¡°It¡¯s plans for a sculpture,¡± Lorraine explained, not looking up. ¡°It¡¯ll be made of wire, mostly.¡±

    ¡°The girl-goddess of lightning.¡±

    That earned Kess a brief glance of acknowledgement. ¡°Yeah.¡± Lorraine squinted at her sketch and then drew a few more lines, these ones different from the others¡ªjagged and branching like lightning, surrounding the sculpture¡¯s hand. ¡°You¡¯re the local electricity expert, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I just pay attention in class.¡±

    ¡°If I wanted to put lightning in my sculpture, real lightning, how would I do it?¡±

    ¡°You could try to make a Tesla coil, maybe. People do that, make them themselves. They¡¯re not very useful, but they look really cool, electricity going everywhere. You can find instructions online.¡±

    Lorraine nodded and then pushed her sketchbook away, apparently satisfied.

    Kess sat at one of the other dining chairs. ¡°Can I ask you a question?¡±

    ¡°If you want to ask a question just ask it. Don¡¯t ask to ask.¡±

    ¡°How did you get to be friends with those guys? Danny and them. It seems like you should be friend with more¡­ boys with beards.¡±

    Lorraine laughed. ¡°Beards. Danny is the only one of those guys who can grow a real beard.¡±

    Kess considered that. ¡°Huh.¡±

    ¡°Seems like it should be Rod, right? But no. Rod tried to grow a beard last semester, and it was pathetic. But Danny, if he goes a weekend without shaving it comes out like ah.¡± Lorraine made a motion with her hands around her chin to illustrate hair growing. ¡°Anyway, Danny¡¯s very careful about shaving every day. It¡¯s important to him to civilize himself. To scrape the mannishness off.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a sad way to think about hair.¡±

    ¡°Not really. Nothing makes Danny happier than civilization.¡±

    And there was a sound. A thump. It made both girls flinch in their chairs.

    ¡°What was that?¡± asked Kess, sounding even to herself like a girl in a horror movie.

    ¡°Something hit a wall. We¡¯re the only ones here, aren¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°I thought so. Which wall?¡±

    Lorraine was up from her chair, waiting for silence or another sound.

    Thump.

    Thump thump.

    ¡°It sounds like hail,¡± said Kess. ¡°Is there a storm?¡±

    Thump.

    Lorraine moved in the direction of the sounds. The outside wall¡ªit was definitely the outside wall along the back of the house, facing the concrete patio with the basketball goal and, beyond that, the woods. Something was hitting that wall hard. Lorraine approached the sliding glass doors to the patio but halted before she stepped in front of them and held out a hand to stop Kess. ¡°Don¡¯t let them see you,¡± she said.

    And so they waited. But the thumps seemed to have stopped. After what felt like a painful amount of time, Lorraine edged the doors open. She stepped out onto the concrete, and a second later Kess followed. They looked around, stared out into the woods.

    ¡°They must be gone,¡± said Kess.

    A rock flew past Kess¡¯s head and crashed into the wall behind her. She gasped and jumped away from it. Lorraine whipped her head around to see what had happened, her blue braids snapping. Another rock hit the concrete near Lorraine¡¯s feet. She shrieked.

    A second later the two of them were back inside.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see them,¡± murmured Kess. ¡°They must have been back in the trees. I didn¡¯t think about how far they must be able to throw things. That¡¯s bad. That means they have range. That means¡ª¡±

    Lorraine¡¯s face was twisted up¡ªher emotions were beyond ¡°enigmatic half smile¡± territory now. She looked furious, scary even. And maybe a little embarrassed, because she had screamed.

    ¡°What do we do?¡± Kess asked. ¡°They could really hurt us. Or maybe they just want to freak us out. Maybe we should ignore them.¡±

    Lorraine didn¡¯t answer. Instead she growled, loud enough for Kess to hear, and charged back outside.

    Kess felt the same mental push she had days before at the restaurant. It shoved her stumbling outside even as she called out, ¡°Don¡¯t! Didn¡¯t you hear me? They have range!¡±

    The blue-haired girl let out a wordless fighter yowl and raised her right hand. Blue-white electricity flashed between her hand¡ªone branch from the star on her palm, one from her silver fingertips¡ªand the metal post of the basketball goal two feet away from her. She marched forward, past the goal, and tried again, but the blue lightning arc jagged up around her and over her shoulder and hit the goal again.

    A rock hit the goal post with a ring of metal.

    Lorraine stormed back inside with Kess behind her.

    ¡°I told you before,¡± said Kess. ¡°Our lightning can¡¯t go far horizontally. It goes to ground.¡±

    Lorraine spun to face her. Her eyebrows were terrifying, curved and sharp like scimitars. ¡°Why¡± she said, her voice all frozen venom, ¡°would you say that to me now? Do you not understand how angry people work?¡±

    And then the glass door shattered.

    #

    Rod and Connor ran through the woods at break-neck speed, though of course they had no chance of breaking their super-necks.

    ¡°No telling Priya about this, right?¡± yelled Connor.

    ¡°Of course not, man, I don¡¯t do sabotage.¡±

    That made Connor laugh¡ªtheir lungs were bigger than they used to be, or stronger. ¡°Seriously though, you shouldn¡¯t have broken the glass.¡±

    ¡°They weren¡¯t near it. Besides, it was an accident! My hand slipped.¡± But Rod was grinning like white fire.

    ###

    <h2>Text message conversation between Ksenya Carpenter and Elias Kaplan:</h2>

    Ksenya: Still no super-hands of any kind?

    Elias: Still no super-hands of any kind.

 CHAPTER THIRTEEN

    Kess should probably have cleaned up the broken glass. She realized that as she watched Marlie and Breanna doing it instead. The second those girls had seen the dangerous mess they had rushed off to find a trash can and broom. Kess should have thought to do it before the others got there, but apparently her instinct was never to do something useful.

    Of course Lorraine didn¡¯t have useful instincts either, apparently.

    ¡°What am I going to tell Mom and Dad?¡± asked Samuel, and Kess thought that maybe everyone who had ever said those exact words had sounded exactly the same when they said them.

    ¡°They don¡¯t know we¡¯ve been hanging out here, right?¡± asked Lorraine.

    ¡°No. When they ask I say I¡¯m out somewhere with Bradley.¡±

    ¡°Then don¡¯t tell them anything. They¡¯ll find it when they come here themselves and it will be a mystery. Or ask permission to have another party and then tell them you found it this way.¡±

    Samuel nodded, though he still looked uncomfortable.

    Danny, who had been staring at the glass-edged gaping doorway and looking thoughtful, spoke up for the first time. ¡°We¡¯ll have to cover it up for now. Is there a tarp around here somewhere, Samuel?¡±

    And so the boys had something useful to do as well. By the time the glass was cleared up and the open doorway was covered with an electric-blue camping tarp, everyone was there including Paul, the new guy who had shown up near the water tower the night before.

    ¡°So what are we going to do about this?¡± asked Bradley.

    ¡°I think we¡¯re good now,¡± said Danny. ¡°The tarp should keep out rain.¡±

    ¡°I mean about them.¡±

    ¡°You said, Danny,¡± said Samuel. ¡°You said we can¡¯t let them walk all over us or they¡¯ll keep doing it. You said we¡¯re not establishing that pattern.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± said Danny. He didn¡¯t look straight at Samuel or anyone else. Instead he was looking at the empty doorframe again, and seemed to be thinking very, very hard.

    ¡°They¡¯re at Stephanie¡¯s, right?¡± asked Marlie.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Greg. ¡°Her parents are in Naples.¡±

    ¡°Who are ¡®they¡¯ exactly?¡± asked Paul, who everyone ignored.

    ¡°How many of them are there now?¡± (That was Samuel.) ¡°I think we have two more.¡±

    ¡°We need to have ten more,¡± grumbled Breanna. ¡°They can rip our faces off. Like chimpanzees.¡±

    Kess was surprised Lorraine didn¡¯t say anything. She¡¯d been so furious before, but now she just watched everyone else.

    Danny spoke up again. ¡°How about we don¡¯t do anything?¡±

    ¡°You said we had to do something.¡±

    ¡°That was before we were doing a headcount. Any plan that depends on us outnumbering them is a bad plan.¡±

    ¡°They attacked us.¡±

    ¡°They broke my parents¡¯ door.¡±

    ¡°They could have killed Lorraine.¡±

    ¡°They came to our place. We agreed on territories, didn¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°They broke my parents¡¯ door.¡±

    Kess tried to decide if she was really as angry as the rest of them and was just burying it. She had more reason to be angry¡ªthe other Blues hadn¡¯t been there when the rocks hit the wall. They hadn¡¯t been scared. And when she looked for it there was a sort of shocked horror that the Reds had trespassed on their land, that they could have hurt her badly if they wanted to. But she wasn¡¯t angry. Maybe she didn¡¯t get angry at things that scared her. She hadn¡¯t been mad at Silver when she attacked Elias or at Stone when he had threatened her and Priya with a gun.

    ¡°We don¡¯t know which of them it was,¡± said Danny.

    ¡°So?¡± said Marlie. ¡°Who cares which of them it was. It was them.¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t retaliate against all of them if it was only one or two of them.¡±

    ¡°If one of them did it, the rest of them know. Just like how it is with us.¡±

    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°If we don¡¯t do something, they¡¯ll come back.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ll break all the windows.¡±

    ¡°We can go right now. There¡¯s two more of us.¡±

    ¡°Stephanie never locks her back door.¡±

    ¡°Guys!¡± Danny raised his voice above the noise. ¡°You have to calm down.¡±

    ¡°Did we hold an election?¡± asked Greg. ¡°Is Danny president?¡±

    Lorraine took Danny by the elbow and pulled him away from the circle. Kess lost track of the rest of the conversation as she tried to watch the two of them without looking like that was what she was doing. Lorraine whispered something to Danny. He said something back, but she shook her head.

    ¡°I know what we should do,¡± said Danny, returning to the circle. ¡°They freaked out Lorraine and Kess and broke something. So we should freak them out and break something. An eye for an eye.¡±

    ¡°Really, Danny?¡± said Greg. ¡°You¡¯re not going to be all ¡®An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind¡¯ at us?¡±

    ¡°An eye for an eye,¡± said Lorraine, ¡°does not make the whole world blind. It makes the whole world have one eye, instead of us having no eyes and them having two. So what are we going to do?¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± said Kess, ¡°if all we want is to scare them and do minor property damage, it¡¯s easy.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh. If you think about it, our powers are almost designed for this exact situation.¡±

    She explained her idea, and the others agreed it made for appropriate retribution. Forty minutes of excited, hand-wavey brainstorming later, it had expanded into a detailed plan complete with escape routes and designated lookouts. They would do it once it was dark. Everyone sort-of awkwardly drifted apart to entertain themselves elsewhere.

    Kess stopped Lorraine before she left the room. ¡°What did you say to him? I thought he was going to go down fighting on principle.¡±

    ¡°I told him that if he didn¡¯t let them retaliate in a way he could control, they would do it on their own and someone would end up electrocuted to death.¡± Lorraine pressed a hand to her chest, her ironic mood ring a probably-inaccurate happy blue. ¡°I understand how angry people work.¡±

    ###

    <h2>Text message conversation between Elias Kaplan and Ksenya Carpenter:</h2>

    Elias: When you turned, did music start to sound different?

    Elias: Kess, you there?

    Elias: Never mind. I¡¯m probably just imagining it.

    ###

    The Blues approached Red Base, also known as ¡°Stephanie¡¯s house,¡± under cover of darkness. They wore black, like spies, and Kess¡¯s hair puffed out from beneath a black knit burglar hat. Marlie and Breanna had even painted thick black lines on their cheeks with mascara, and Kess sort of wished she¡¯d done it too, just to complete the look. Lorraine and Samuel had surreptitious little pencil flashlights to show the way.

    Even though Kess hadn¡¯t been angry like the others after the Red attack, she had to admit that this¡ªall the Blues together, sneaking around to enact vengeance or justice or whatever¡ªfelt really good. It felt sort of like when they had all sat on the floor holding hands and let electricity run through them in a line. It was like they were tied together, somehow, there in the dark.

    Stephanie¡¯s house was on a winding street lined with similarly spacious homes. Each house was set back far from the road surrounded by wide swathes of green grass and trees that, behind the houses, melted into the same woods that surrounded the Blues¡¯ cabin twenty miles away. Paul¡ªwho despite being new had instantly become highly-valued member of the team when he revealed, during their earlier planning session, that he owned a van¡ªwas parked on the street with his headlights off, ready to come pick them up at a moment¡¯s text.

    They found the closest telephone pole, pointed their flashlights at the transformer high on the post, and followed dark cables down to an electrical box on the side of the house.

    Without really talking about it, everyone understood that Kess, as the one who came up with the idea, had the honor of leading the assault. She stood beneath the electrical box and turned to the others. ¡°We want a nice high voltage,¡± she said, ¡°so we need to link up in series. Somebody hold my hand.¡±

    #

    Rod was bored.

    He didn¡¯t deal well with boredom, partly because he refused to watch TV, ever. At the moment he was slouched on the leather sofa in Stephanie¡¯s living room (not to be confused with the sitting room or the den. Steph had a lot of rooms.) stewing in his own thoughts, which was almost as much a waste of blooded living minutes as watching television.

    He was considering (in an admitting-defeat sort of way) going to find Stephanie and see if she wanted to fool around when the lights flickered.

    Was it storming? He glanced at the window, but there was nothing out there but solid, boring darkness.

    The lights flickered again, and Rod began to suspect that something really interesting was going on.

    Connor and Harry and some of the others who¡¯d been watching a movie in the next room came running in. ¡°It¡¯s them,¡± said Connor. ¡°It has to be."

    The lights were blinking on and off in an epileptic frenzy, and Rod couldn¡¯t help it. He got to his feet, jumped onto the coffee table, threw up his hands and shouted in his best Mad Scientist boom: ¡°IT BEGINS!¡±

    #

    With every strike to the electrical box, the lights in the windows flickered. Kess decided it was time for the climax. ¡°Okay,¡± she said. ¡°Now everyone grab on.¡± They linked hands in a chain, all of them, and Kess could feel the power available to her, a great force waiting to crash out like water behind a dam. She lifted her arm again and let the lightning fly. It hit the box, which exploded into sparks, and every light in every window of the house went out.

    They let go of each other as Lorraine laughed. ¡°Do you think we fried any computers?¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± said Kess.

    ¡°Aaaaaand let¡¯s go,¡± said Danny. ¡°Go go go go go.¡±

    They ran, laughing and war-whooping and generally defeating the purpose of wearing dark clothing. Paul¡¯s van came roaring up the long driveway. The yellow headlights revealed the Reds spilling out the front door of the dark house. One of them¡ªin the dimness at the edge of the headlight glow, Kess couldn¡¯t tell which¡ªswung his arm with the weighty snap of a baseball pitcher and threw something.

    The front right tire of Paul¡¯s van popped audibly.

    ¡°Oh, crap,¡± said Breanna. ¡°Crap crap crappetty¡ª¡±

    The Blues spun to face the Reds. Danny had been in the back when they were fleeing, making sure nobody slowed down, so now he was in the front. He positioned himself with legs apart, straight-backed and solid, ready for another tense confrontation.

    But instead of stopping to argue, Rod punched Danny in the face.

 CHAPTER FOURTEEN

    Rod punched Danny in the face, and a split second later Lorraine slapped Rod on the shoulder and he collapsed to the ground.

    Danny flew back from the punch and crashed into Kess, knocking her down. She scrambled to her feet and turned to help Danny, but he was already getting up on his own, blinking woozily.

    (How did that work? She had seen how hard the Reds could hit. One of them had hit Danny in the head¡ªhe should be unconscious or maybe dead. The Blues must be tougher than regular people, even if they weren¡¯t as tough as Reds. That was nice.)

    Kess felt the push, the strange instinct that had made her run after Lorraine when the rocks were flying at the house. She spun around and tossed out her hands without thinking. They hit the Red right behind her, and electricity flowed as he jerked back and collapsed.

    She hadn¡¯t known he was there.

    But another Blue had seen him.

    The push was telepathy.

    That was awesome.

    Kess could only dwell on this discovery for a moment before the push was pushing again. This time, she ducked, and the punch from a blonde Red girl flew over her head.

    Most of the Blues were running low on charge after dumping power into the transformer. That should have meant they couldn¡¯t last long in this fight, but that didn¡¯t seem to be the case. They dodged every hit the Reds threw at them. It was the push, which once you gave into it wasn¡¯t much of a push at all. It was reflex. It was easy. Every Blue was watching every other Blue¡¯s back, and so they always moved out of the way just in time. And while the Reds seemed to flail about, each independent of the others, the Blues moved together.

    Kess grabbed Connor the red-headed Red boy and released all her remaining charge into him. It wasn¡¯t much, so he spasmed without falling. But that was enough that when Danny shoved him in the chest he went down. And then Danny¡¯s eyes went wide, looking at someone behind Kess, and the push told her to move but she wasn¡¯t quite fast enough and whoever was behind her picked her up and threw her. She landed bruising-hard on her knees.

    She scrambled around to the see the van door open and light spilling out. The other Blues were climbing inside. Danny ran to Kess and yanked her to her feet, and the two of them ran and leaped into the van. It started to move with the door still open. It charged backward down the driveway, in reverse gear and lurching on its flat tire. Inside, the Blues bounced and jostled and Kess managed to slam the door shut.

    When the van had pulled far enough away from the house and the Reds, Paul turned it, driving over the grass, and launched onto the street.

    ¡°Is anybody hurt?¡± asked Danny.

    ¡°We all hurt,¡± said Lorraine.

    ¡°Is anybody hurt seriously?¡±

    ¡°Stephanie elbowed me in the stomach,¡± said Breanna. ¡°Stephanie wears glitter nail polish. Stephanie has a Hello Kitty backpack.¡±

    ¡°And did you rupture something?¡± asked Kess. ¡°Do we need to go to the hospital?¡±

    ¡°Boo,¡± said someone. ¡°No hospitals.¡±

    ¡°No. It just hurts. It¡¯s gonna bruise.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ll be hurting too,¡± said Marlie. ¡°I shocked myself plugging in a lamp once. It felt terrible.¡±

    ¡°I need to stop and put on the spare tire,¡± said Paul from the front seat. ¡°Are they following us?¡±

    ¡°Not that I can see,¡± said Bradley. ¡°The road¡¯s dark. No headlights.¡±

    ¡°Tonight was stupid,¡± said Danny.

    ¡°Danny,¡± said Lorraine in a low voice, though the rest of the van could hear. ¡°This was going to happen eventually.¡±

    ¡°Next time will be better,¡± said Greg. ¡°We¡¯ll be all charged up.¡±

    #

    The Reds agreed, after some discussion, that they would have absolutely smashed the Blues, if they hadn¡¯t been holding back.

    The Blues had dropped their flashlights on the lawn during the fight and left them behind when they roared off in the van. This was good, because the house was pitch black. Stephanie sat on the living room couch with one flashlight in her hands, Rod had the other flashlight and sat across from her, and the rest of the Reds squeezed together around them.

    Connor was mostly in the dark. Priya, beside him, was mostly in the light.

    ¡°Oh, we were holding back?¡± asked Priya. ¡°Because we sort of started the fight.¡±

    ¡°We?¡± asked Connor. ¡°You stayed in the house.¡±

    But she didn¡¯t hear him, because everyone else had exploded into noise. We didn¡¯t start it, they all said pretty much at once. They came to our house. They knocked out our power. What am I going to tell Mom and Dad? (That was Stephanie.)

    Rod pointed his flashlight directly in Priya¡¯s face, making her squint and shrink away. ¡°Ya-Ya thinks we¡¯re bloodthirsty,¡± he said. ¡°She should give us some credit. We taught those guys a lesson about trespassing and left them lightly bruised. We could have killed and crippled them if we wanted to.¡±

    Connor wasn¡¯t actually sure about that. He was still sore from when Priya¡¯s sister with the big yellow hair had shocked him. And Danny had shoved him off his feet, which made him furious and ashamed whenever he thought about it because Danny was weak now, compared to Connor, he shouldn¡¯t be able to do that.

    The way the Blues had moved¡­ It had been actually scary when Connor first saw it. They seemed to react to things before they even happened, twitching away from Connor faster than he could think. They moved together as well, in eerie coordination. It was as if the Reds were a bunch of bears who happened to hang out, and the Blues were a pack of wolves.

    Eventually it was decided that everyone would just go home, since there wouldn¡¯t be electricity again that night. Connor walked Priya out to her car, lighting their way with his phone.

    ¡°I was angry too, you know,¡± she said. ¡°When we realized they were messing with us. I felt violated, too. It wasn¡¯t easy to stay inside. But I realized it was just a prank and I didn¡¯t overreact. It¡¯s not like we don¡¯t have a choice.¡±

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    She drove away, and he watched her red taillights until they were gone. And then he got into his own car. When he got home, his sister Lily was at the kitchen table working on one of her puzzles.

    He flicked her orange ponytail. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be in bed?¡±

    ¡°Mom said I could stay up until I finished the sky.¡± She picked out a blue puzzle piece with a corner of cloud. ¡°How was the movie?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Did it have violence?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, lots.¡± For the first time, Connor wondered whether Lily would become a Red when she was older. It didn¡¯t seem to affect anyone younger than about fifteen, but she¡¯d get there eventually.

    What if she turned into a Blue, and they were split up like Priya and her sister? Was there a way to make sure she got the Red virus (or whatever it was) instead? The thought made him uncomfortable¡ªhe hadn¡¯t really considered how the whole Red/Blue superpowers thing was going to affect his life a year from now, five years from now, ten. He bet Priya had thought about that.

    ¡°Can I help?¡± he asked.

    ¡°If you help with the sky it¡¯ll get finished sooner and then I¡¯ll have to go to bed.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do this corner down here with the waterfall.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Connor did a puzzle with his sister and tried not to think about his aching muscles or the future.

    ###

    <h2>Text message conversation between Elias Kaplan and Ksenya Carpenter.</h2>

    Elias: We should go to Johnston.

    Ksenya: Johnston? The Holifeld Company town?

    Elias: It¡¯s only a two- hour drive. We can do it tomorrow.

    Ksenya: The length of the drive isn¡¯t the problem. The problem is there¡¯s people who know we were looking into Holifeld and they jabbed you with a mysterious needle and wiped the memories of a dozen people.

    Elias: Yeah, and we still don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on. We can¡¯t just give up on the investigation.

    Ksenya: Can¡¯t we?

    Elias: Look, Kess, I think something is changing in me. Not my body. It¡¯s all in my head. I can¡¯t even tell if it¡¯s real or if I¡¯m imagining it because I expect it.

    Ksenya: What do you mean? Why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier?

    Elias: We have to find out, okay?

    Elias: We have to find out what the powers are and where they come from.

    Elias: It¡¯s important.

    Elias: It¡¯s only a two-hour drive.

    ###

    The drive to Johnston took two hours and forty minutes.

    Kess, in the passenger seat, plugged in her phone and played music from the car¡¯s speakers. She started to sing along automatically, without thinking about how embarrassing it would be, but Elias joined her. He seemed to have problems with rhythm and timing, though, the words he sang cutting off short or holding too long. The lumpy, unmusical effect messed up Kess¡¯s singing too. He gave up after a couple of songs, scowling.

    They reached a ¡°Welcome to Johnston¡± sign and Kess checked the map on her phone. ¡°Holifeld Company isn¡¯t marked. I think it must be this place at the edge of town. There¡¯s buildings from the satellite image but no map marker.¡±

    ¡°We shouldn¡¯t go straight there,¡± said Elias. ¡°First we go into town and ask questions.¡±

    ¡°Ask who questions?¡±

    ¡°The humble townsfolk.¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t that be suspicious?¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°We¡¯re here to do suspicious things, Kess. We have to start somewhere.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so which somewhere do we start? It¡¯s a pretty small town¡ªthere¡¯s not many businesses on the map.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s there to eat? I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    ¡°You want to double-task and question a waiter or something?¡±

    ¡°That would work. People in the town might know exactly what Holifeld makes, or might know someone who works there, or might know where Vance Holifeld lives.¡±

    ¡°What would you do if you knew where Vance Holifeld¡¯s house is?¡±

    ¡°Go there.¡± He glanced over at Kess. ¡°I told you, we have to figure this out soon.¡±

    ¡°Why? Why soon?¡±

    He didn¡¯t answer her. That made her low-grade angry, so she set the computer-voice on her phone to give him directions to a restaurant and turned away from him to stare out the window.

    They drove to Johnston¡¯s Main Street, which was charming in the same way as a vintage bottle cap collection, and stopped at a burger joint. Inside they slid into a booth. Kess tapped the corner of her laminated menu against the table as she looked around the restaurant.

    Kess had always thought she¡¯d been born without an intuition. But now, she was pretty sure, she was having one of those ¡°bad feelings¡± people talked about.

    ¡°Elias,¡± she said in a low voice. ¡°Look around. But be subtle.¡±

    He did so. ¡°Uh, what am I looking for?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t see it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about, but probably not.¡±

    ¡°Everyone in this restaurant is eating a salad.¡±

    ¡°So?¡±

    ¡°So this restaurant is called ¡®Big Betty Bubble¡¯s Burgers and Fries.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Salads are on the menu, though.¡±

    She raised an eyebrow at him. ¡°This is not the type of place where everyone orders a salad. It¡¯s not the type of place where even one person orders a salad.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t get where you¡¯re going with this.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s sort of¡­ sinister?¡±

    Elias laughed. ¡°Salads aren¡¯t sinister.¡±

    ¡°They are in some circumstances.¡±

    ¡°Which circumstances?¡±

    ¡°These circumstances.¡± She leaned over the table so that she could speak even more softly. ¡°Look, it¡¯s not just the salads. I only noticed them because I was feeling¡­ weird. I have this feeling something bad is going to happen.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t want to come here when I first suggested it,¡± said Elias, also leaning in. ¡°So now you have this ¡®feeling¡¯ which justifies what you thought before, and that makes you overreact to salad. It¡¯s not rational to make decisions based on it.¡±

    Fear is only useful in so far as it tells you what to do.

    ¡°Paranoia is only useful in so far as they¡¯re really out to get you,¡± she said.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say you were paranoid.¡±

    ¡°Please, Elias.¡± She reached out and grabbed his hands. ¡°When the waiter comes, don¡¯t ask them anything about Holifeld. Don¡¯t make them suspicious. Just trust me, please.¡±

    He stared down at her hands on his with an odd look on his face, as if he were confused by something he nonetheless knew was important. ¡°I already told you you¡¯re not making sense.¡±

    ¡°And I already asked you to trust me.¡±

    Elias looked at her for a long time. The way he did it didn¡¯t seem romantic, at least not in a straightforward way. Normally, Kess hated people looking into her eyes. But this moment with Elias didn¡¯t make her uncomfortable. If anything, it made her sad, and she wasn¡¯t sure why.

    When the waiter came by, Elias ordered a burger and didn¡¯t say anything else. Kess ordered sweet potato fries. They ate for a while without talking, which made Kess realize¡ª

    ¡°Elias, nobody¡¯s laughing.¡±

    ¡°Is this like the salads?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but more so. Nobody¡¯s laughing, nobody sounds excited, nobody¡¯s talking loud. Nobody¡¯s talking much at all.¡±

    ¡°They could just be hungry.¡±

    Kess rolled her eyes. ¡°If they were all that hungry they wouldn¡¯t be eating lettuce.¡±

    Elias sighed. ¡°Is it okay if we check out the company itself or would you rather we head back home?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t pretend you¡¯d turn around and leave without finding anything out just because I want to.¡±

    He blinked. ¡°No. I guess I wouldn¡¯t.¡±

    They finished eating. Two or three times Kess attempted to start up a conversation about the sort of things they would have talked about if superpowers and mysteries weren¡¯t an issue. The words came out stilted from both of them. She could tell Elias was thinking hard about something.

    ¡°When the waiter brings us our check,¡± he said at last, ¡°can I ask him something? I promise it won¡¯t be about Holifeld.¡±

    ¡°What do you want to ask him?¡±

    ¡°I just need to test a theory.¡±

    ¡°By asking him what?¡±

    Elias looked up from the table. ¡°He¡¯s coming.¡±

    ¡°Oh alright.¡±

    The waiter arrived at the table with their checks. He was a boy their age, gawky and freckled.

    ¡°Hey,¡± said Elias. ¡°My sister thinks you¡¯re cute.¡±

    Kess felt her eyes pop wide open. The waiter didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°So what do you think of her?¡± continued Elias, nodding at Kess. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment.

    The waiter, oddly enough, did not look embarrassed at all. His face was totally neutral. He seemed to puzzle over the question for a long moment before answering. ¡°She seems nice.¡±

    ¡°What do you think of the way she looks?¡±

    ¡°She looks nice.¡±

    ¡°What do you like about the way she looks?¡±

    That was too much for Kess. ¡°Elias.¡±

    ¡°She looks nice,¡± repeated the waiter. And then after a pause, ¡°She has a nice face.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± said Elias. ¡°That¡¯s all we were wondering. Put it all on my card.¡±

    Kess held her tongue until they were out of the restaurant. Then she grabbed Elias¡¯s arm. ¡°What was that about?¡± she asked, not sure whether she was more embarrassed, outraged, or confused, and trying to keep all those emotions out of her voice.

    ¡°You were right,¡± said Elias. ¡°He¡¯s a Gray. They all are.¡±

 CHAPTER FIFTEEN

    ¡°What?¡± Kess was so startled she reflexively leaned back away from Elias. ¡°They¡¯re all Grays? How could you possibly tell?¡±

    ¡°That is what you were hinting at, right? You noticed that no one in the restaurant was laughing or talking loud. We know that¡¯s what the Grays are like with their, um¡­¡± He waved his hand in front of his face to indicate a blank expression. ¡°Their grayness.¡±

    ¡°Well, I thought maybe¡­ I wasn¡¯t sure. I just knew something was wrong.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t think they were Grays?¡±

    She almost had. She had hovered on the edge of thinking they were Grays. To actually all-the-way think so would have been¡­ too much. To bold a conclusion to rest on something as silly as intuition.

    When she didn¡¯t say anything, Elias continued. ¡°That¡¯s what the salads are about, too. Grays don¡¯t care how things taste so they just eat what¡¯s healthy.¡±

    ¡°How do you know that? And what did telling the waiter I thought he was cute have to do with anything?¡±

    ¡°You have to admit he didn¡¯t react like a normal person.¡±

    ¡°Well, no.¡± She remembered the waiter¡¯s calm, composed face. ¡°I imagine that¡¯s how Silver would have reacted if you¡¯d tried to flirt with her.¡±

    ¡°Back when my anonymous Internet friend first contacted me, he said he was worried I was ¡®one of them.¡¯ He must have meant the Grays. To prove I wasn¡¯t one, he asked me what I liked about you.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Um¡­ What did you say?¡±

    ¡°Grays must not understand what makes people like people. They can¡¯t even fake it.¡±

    ¡°But wasn¡¯t your anonymous Internet friend Silver?¡±

    ¡°Maybe not. Maybe the Grays hacked his account or something. He never seemed like a Gray all the time I was talking to him, and the Grays don¡¯t seem able to pretend very well.¡±

    Kess started walking down the sidewalk toward the car, which they had parked at the street corner. She tried to move quickly, tried not to look like she was moving quickly. ¡°We have to get out of here. I know we said we¡¯d stay and keep investigating, but we know they¡¯re here. I don¡¯t know if they filled that place because they knew we were coming or what, but we have to¡ª¡±

    ¡°Kess.¡± Elias grabbed her arm. ¡°Kess, look.¡±

    A cop waited by Elias¡¯s car. He was a mustached middle-aged man, perfectly cop-like in every respect, leaning against the hood of the car. He looked very different from Silver and Stone with their business attire and calm twenty-something faces, but now they knew that Grays could look like anyone. They could look like awkwardly-proportioned teenaged boys. Which meant everyone on the street could be a Gray. Everyone in the town.

    Elias took her hand and pulled her closer. He whispered in her ear like he was whispering something nice. ¡°We walk the other direction. We walk until we find somewhere to wait for a few hours, then we come back. He can¡¯t stay there forever.¡±

    ¡°I get the feeling Grays can be patient,¡± she whispered back at him.

    He put his arm around her shoulders and moved away from the car and the cop. Her eyes were drawn to every person they walked past. A middle-aged couple. An older man. A boy maybe thirteen. Not a single one was smiling.

    #

    Kess leaned into Elias and turned her face toward his shoulder, not watching where they were going, letting him lead her. That made it easier not to look at people.

    ¡°Maybe we¡¯re wrong,¡± she murmured. ¡°Maybe the waiter was just weird. Maybe those people in the restaurant were just healthy. Maybe the cop is just a cop.¡±

    He rubbed her arm, and they kept walking. They turned off of the main street and found that a residential neighborhood pressed up against the backs of the businesses.

    ¡°They could have hurt us already,¡± she said. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to stop them, if they¡¯re everyone. They must not be everyone, or they must not know who we are, or they must not want to hurt us.¡±

    He kissed her on the top of her head, and they kept walking.

    A dozen people jogged past on the street, all running in step, in neat rows. It was unnerving, how their feet all hit the pavement at the same time.

    ¡°Well, if we don¡¯t learn anything else today at least we know they¡¯re not all bad,¡± said Elias. ¡°They at least understand the importance of good cardiovascular health.¡±

    Kess held down a laugh, not wanting to draw attention. The aborted laughter still felt nice bubbling in her throat. And maybe they really were being paranoid. Maybe nothing bad was going to happen.

    Elias stopped walking. There was a little girl in the middle of the street.

    The girl was drawing on the asphalt with white chalk. She was probably four years old, and she looked a lot like Priya in Kess¡¯s earliest memories of her sister¡ªbrown skin, fine black hair, big black cartoon eyes.

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see any parents,¡± said Elias.

    Kess looked up and down the street for cars. She didn¡¯t see any, but that didn¡¯t make her any less nervous. The little girl was staring down at the pavement and wouldn¡¯t notice anything coming.

    ¡°Hey,¡± said Kess. The girl didn¡¯t look up. Kess walked out onto the street.

    The girl was drawing squares. Tiny, white squares in neat rows, each white line of chalk running perfectly straight across the bumpy asphalt. She looked up at Kess with sweet-beautiful eyes. She blinked once and didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°You need to get out of the street,¡± said Kess. ¡°It¡¯s dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Not really,¡± said the girl. ¡°People here always watch out when they¡¯re driving.¡±

    ¡°Why do you need to be in the street, anyway? You can draw on the sidewalk.¡±

    ¡°My head is small.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°My head is small,¡± the girl repeated. ¡°There¡¯s not enough room for a complete network.¡± Those words didn¡¯t fit in her small girl voice. The effect was eerie. ¡°That causes artifacts,¡± she continued. ¡°Sometimes I want things for no good reason.¡±

    ¡°You want to draw in the middle of the street.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Elias stepped forward next to Kess and stared down at the white chalk drawings. ¡°You like making straight things, don¡¯t you? And things with corners.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Where are your parents?¡± asked Kess.

    ¡°Probably at their jobs.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re probably at their jobs? Don¡¯t you know? Do they know where you are? Should you be in daycare?¡±

    The girl blinked again. ¡°Yes. No. No. No.¡±

    Kess could feel something inside of her pulling tight against itself. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Cara.¡±

    ¡°Cara, can you come out of the street?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Will you?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think your parents would want you to get out of the street?¡±

    The girl shook her head. ¡°Their heads are big. They don¡¯t want things for no reason.¡±

    Kess couldn¡¯t stand it anymore. She turned away.

    ¡°Kess,¡± said Elias, horrified, ¡°are you crying?¡±

    When people ask ¡°are you crying?¡± like that, with an incredulous stress on the word, they¡¯re not asking. They¡¯re accusing.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said, pressing her voice down to the bottom of her mouth to avoid squeaks. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s just¡­ I have a thing about little children.¡±

    Ahead of them, a black car came around the corner.

    ¡°Cara,¡± said Kess. ¡°A car¡¯s coming. You have to move now.¡±

    The girl turned her eyes back to the asphalt and resumed drawing.

    The car kept coming.

    ¡°Elias.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s actually right,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯re standing right here. It¡¯s not like it¡¯s going to run over us.¡±

    ¡°Elias.¡±

    He grabbed the girl by her shoulders, lifted her, and hauled her onto the sidewalk. She didn¡¯t squirm like you would expect a kid to, just hung limply from his hands. When he let go of her she immediately sank to the ground and started drawing squares on the sidewalk as if she¡¯d never been interrupted.

    The car stopped, just feet away from them, and Silver and Stone got out.

    #

    Kess raised her hands toward Silver and Stone, ready to let the electricity flow.

    ¡°We are not going to touch you,¡± said Stone, ¡°or hurt you in any way.¡±

    ¡°Sure you¡¯re not,¡± snapped Kess.

    ¡°If it would calm you down,¡± said Silver, walking around from the passenger side of the black car, ¡°we could raise our hands in a symbol of surrender.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not necessary,¡± said Elias. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°We would like to know why you are here.¡±

    ¡°We want to figure out what¡¯s going on with¡­ everything,¡± said Kess. ¡°You knew that already.¡±

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you going to hurt us?¡± asked Elias.

    ¡°We have no reason to hurt you,¡± said Stone.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t have a reason before,¡± said Kess.

    ¡°Yes, we did. When we tried to take custody of your sister, Miss Carpenter¡ª¡±

    ¡°You know my name?¡±

    ¡°When we tried to take custody of your sister, we thought she was the only subject affected. We thought they hadn¡¯t yet spread from her.¡±

    ¡°They?¡± Elias¡¯s tone was suddenly aggressive. ¡°What are they?¡±

    ¡°The machines,¡± said Silver.

    Machines. The powers came from machines. But what kind of machines? How did they work, how did they ¡°spread,¡± how¡­?

    ¡°But capturing or harming you now, Miss Carpenter, would do nothing to stop the spread. There is no point to it.¡±

    ¡°As for Mr. Kaplan,¡± said Stone, ¡°everything we wanted done to him we have done already.¡±

    ¡°You should go home now,¡± said Silver.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because if you don¡¯t, we would have a reason to hurt you.¡±

    Kess felt a cold shot of fear mixed with anger. She wouldn¡¯t let them hurt her. She was fully charged, she would shock them unconscious. But¡ªshe glanced down at Cara, who was ignoring them to draw neat patterns on the sidewalk¡ªshe didn¡¯t have enough charge to knock out the entire town.

    ¡°Alright,¡± said Elias. ¡°We¡¯ll go home.¡±

    ¡°But we still don¡¯t know anything,¡± said Kess in a low voice, leaning toward Elias. ¡°You wanted so bad to figure this out.¡±

    ¡°If we¡¯re in a corner we¡¯re in a corner,¡± said Elias. He looked at her but spoke loud enough for the Grays to hear. ¡°We¡¯ll go. And we won¡¯t come back.¡±

    Stone held out his hand, and after a moment¡¯s hesitation Elias took it. They exchanged a solid, businessman handshake.

    We¡¯re in a corner, thought Kess. We¡¯re cornered. Like wild animals.

    #

    On the drive home, they played no music. Kess¡¯s body was heavy with the exhaustion of defeat. She felt like she was melting into the car seat. Neither of them spoke until they were back on the other side of the state line.

    ¡°So why did you cry?¡± asked Elias. ¡°When we were talking to that girl.¡±

    ¡°I, well¡­¡± It made her too uncomfortable to say real things while she was looking at Elias¡¯s face. She stared straight ahead at the road instead. ¡°I was in an orphanage until I was four years old. You know. In Russia. Sometimes I have nightmares where I¡¯m back there. Isn¡¯t that crazy? Nightmares still? And I barely remember the place. I remember this one gray-green wall. I remember this light that wouldn¡¯t come on. I remember being cold.

    ¡°They say I wasn¡¯t touched enough. They say everything would be different, if I had had people who paid attention to me, touched me. They say I would probably even be smarter.

    ¡°So now it gets me when I see little kids who can¡¯t find their mothers, or who look like someone should be holding them and no one is. It gets me in the... in the getting place. Do you¡­ understand?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said Elias. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe.¡±

    Kess looked over at him, then. She liked the way he looked so much.

    ¡°You¡¯re turning into a Gray, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I think so, yeah.¡±

    She reached out and touched Elias¡¯s face. She stroked the fine dark hair on the back of his neck with her fingertips. She remembered the night when she had met him, and kissed him, and shocked him, how in the car afterwards Priya had touched her just like this. ¡°We¡¯ll stop it.¡±

    Elias sighed. ¡°The only reason to say something like that would be to comfort me.¡±

    ¡°That was the idea, yeah.¡±

    ¡°Grays aren¡¯t comforted by lies.¡±

    ###

    <h2>Note passed from Christopher Stone to Elias Kaplan:</h2>

    DO NOT SHOW HER THIS.

    If what you want is knowledge, call the number on the back of this note. Ask your questions. If it is something you can know, I will tell you. If it something you cannot know, I will tell you that you cannot know it.

    If you tell her about this, you will learn nothing.

    - Jonathan Akiyama

 CHAPTER SIXTEEN

    The lights were back on in Stephanie¡¯s house. She¡¯d called her parents in Naples about the power mysteriously going off she had no idea why it was freaky, and they¡¯d advised her to call the electric company and, once that didn¡¯t help, an electrician.

    Now the Reds sat around the living room. Priya wished they could go back to the child-like golden innocence of two days ago, when they would gather at Stephanie¡¯s to watch movies or play super-powered soccer in the backyard. Now they were all together and there was no chance that anything harmless and fun was going to happen.

    Rod was talking. Of course.

    ¡°If we wait too long,¡± he said, ¡°they¡¯ll do something else. Then they¡¯ll have made two moves in a row. The balance will be thrown off. Chaos will reign. Dogs and cats will live together and make gross dog-cat babies.¡±

    ¡°The Blues might not do anything else,¡± said Priya. ¡°Now they know that even a prank will lead to a serious fight.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying we were right to fight back with physical violence? That¡¯s very wise of you, Ya-Ya.¡±

    ¡°So what are we going to do to them?¡± asked Harry. This set off a new barrage of chatter, with Rod responding to every suggestion as if someone had put him in charge.

    ¡°We could, um, t.p. their house.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not twelve, Steph, and this isn¡¯t mischief night.¡±

    ¡°We could play music outside their window when they¡¯re trying to sleep,¡± suggested Miguel.

    ¡°Better. That¡¯s part of how they get confessions out of terrorists.¡±

    ¡°We could egg their cars.¡±

    ¡°What did I say, Stephanie? What did I say?¡±

    ¡°We could knock down a telephone pole,¡± said Jessica. ¡°Take out their electricity.¡±

    ¡°Or,¡± Priya interjected before Rod could pass judgment on that idea, ¡°we could not do anything.¡±

    ¡°Priya,¡± said Stephanie in the tone of a girl arguing about color schemes for a school dance. ¡°Why do you keep saying things like that?¡±

    ¡°Because you all keep refusing to consider the obvious option of leaving the Blues alone.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re not going to leave us alone,¡± said Connor.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that.¡±

    ¡°But we do know,¡± grumbled Harry. ¡°The Blues don¡¯t have a Priya.¡±

    She stood up. That was a good idea. Now they all had to look up at her, including Rod. ¡°Guys,¡± she said. ¡°Stop for one second and think. They knocked out our power, we attacked them, they fought back. If we do something to them, it¡¯s not like we¡¯re going to win. They¡¯ll attack us, we¡¯ll fight back, and so on and etcetera until someone gets hurt or we all get arrested.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like to see them try,¡± muttered Rod. Was he talking about the cops?

    ¡°But if we leave them alone,¡± Priya continued, ¡°maybe they¡¯ll get the hint and leave us alone and we can all just live. Now, at the beginning, is when we can change the pattern. Please, all of you, think about it. Think about just living, not being afraid of the Blues. Electricity can stop your heart, you know. But that won¡¯t happen if we just let each other live.¡±

    Man. That felt good. The more Priya talked the more the words flowed, and when she glanced at her reflection in the window she saw that she looked good too¡ªstanding above everyone, obviously passionate. Nobody said anything, which was a good sign. If they weren¡¯t at least a little bit convinced they¡¯d all have erupted with comments. She really liked persuading people. Maybe she should become a politician or something.

    ¡°She¡¯s right,¡± said Rod.

    Priya had to fight to keep the surprise off her face.

    ¡°If we leave the Blues alone, maybe they¡¯ll leave us alone too. Maybe they¡¯re just that gentlemanly.¡± The chair he was sitting on was too small for him, but he leaned back in a way that made him seem comfortable in it anyway, his long legs sticking out in front. ¡°Maybe the Blues won¡¯t come to our home. Again. In the night. Again. And we can ¡®just live¡¯ like Priya Carpenter wants us to.¡±

    There was something about Rod¡¯s attitude that Priya had never seen on him before, and she didn¡¯t like it. He still oozed ugly charisma, but now the tone of it was lower, more subdued. He had even used her actual name.

    ¡°But that puts it all on them, doesn¡¯t it?¡± he continued. ¡°They can come after us, or they can not. And we¡¯ll have to wait. When the next fight comes¡ªsorry, Priya, if the next fight comes¡ªit¡¯ll be their timing. It¡¯ll happen where they choose. But we can deal with that. We¡¯re the Reds, yeah? We¡¯re the strong ones. We can take them even if they take us by surprise.¡±

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    There were nods from the others, though no smiles.

    ¡°What I wonder, though, is what Priya will do.¡±

    She blinked. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just wondering if you¡¯ll fight with us when¡ªsorry, if¡ªthe Blues attack us.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think they will. Danny¡ª¡±

    ¡°Because you didn¡¯t fight with us, last time. You stayed inside while we were getting ganged up on and shocked. Weren¡¯t you worried about us, Priya? Electricity can stop your heart, you know.¡±

    For a moment, she couldn¡¯t breathe. Suddenly being the only person in the room who was standing up didn¡¯t feel powerful or leader-like. Instead she felt examined, judged. ¡°We weren¡¯t¡­ authorized to attack them like that. They played a prank. We¡¯re the ones who made things violent.¡±

    ¡°She didn¡¯t help, and afterwards she lectured us. That¡¯s Priya¡ªthe one who wants to drain our blood away.¡±

    ¡°What? Rod, don¡¯t be melodramatic. Guys, don¡¯t let him manipulate you into being stupid by talking about blood like some sort of¡­¡±

    But no one would look at her. No one but Connor. She met his eyes. Say something. If just one person supports me I won¡¯t be the designated wrong-girl. Come on, say just one thing. Before it all sinks in and they start yelling at me, because they will, any second now they¡¯ll finally open their mouths. She could feel the shouting hanging in the air like a storm about to break. Connor didn¡¯t say anything.

    She walked out of the room.

    #

    For a while Connor looked for Priya all around the house without success. Her car was still parked on the street so she hadn¡¯t left. He was beginning to think she was hiding in a closet or something when he realized.

    He found her on the roof at the back of the house facing the yard and woods. It looked a little bit like the view from the roof back at her house, and Connor wondered whether she found that comforting.

    ¡°Hey Connor,¡± she said without looking at him. She must have heard his footsteps on the shingles.

    ¡°Can I sit with you or is this a leave-me-alone-with-my-deep-thoughts situation?¡±

    ¡°Sure. Sit.¡± She sighed. ¡°That came out snappy. I¡¯m feeling bitter and bitter is a bad emotion on me. Please keep me company, Connor.¡±

    He settled down beside her. They sat in silence for¡­ a while. Minutes, or merely long awkward seconds. Finally Priya spoke. ¡°I had a really good life, you know. If it had been up to me and not to random magic or whatever, I never would have ruined it.¡±

    Connor hesitated¡ªhesitated¡ªput his hand on her shoulder. That seemed to have been the right move, because he felt her tense muscles relax. He rubbed her back, felt the hard bones of her spine through her thin shirt. Was it weird to find something sexy about a girl¡¯s spine?

    After a minute or so of that Priya sat up straight and stretched like a cat. Connor pulled his hand away. She met his eyes for the first time since he¡¯d joined her on the roof.

    ¡°Kess once spent three days trying to beat one monster on a video game. I normally never watch her play because it seems like such a waste of time, but she was getting so frustrated it was bleeding into the rest of her life, making her touchy, and so I decided to watch and see what all the fuss was about.

    ¡°The monster was this gross tentacle thing. She told me one of the hardest parts was it didn¡¯t have a front and back side like the other monsters so she couldn¡¯t get behind it. She kept trying different tactics, different combinations of weapons, but every single time it slapped her down. I remember wondering why she didn¡¯t just give up and spend some time outside instead.¡±

    Connor considered that. ¡°So right now, is it the situation as a whole that¡¯s the video game boss or is it Rod?¡±

    ¡°I wish I could let it go,¡± she said. ¡°I wish I could just spend some time outside.¡±

    ¡°Um, Priya?¡± He pointed at the sky above them.

    ¡°Metaphorically, Connor. But I can¡¯t let him take us all where he¡¯s going. I can¡¯t. And it¡¯s just¡­ I¡¯m asking people not to pointlessly fight each other. I¡¯m self-evidently right, but people act like I¡¯m saying something stupid. It¡¯s sexist.¡±

    ¡°If you were a guy saying those things they¡¯d be meaner about it.¡±

    ¡°So you say.¡± She shook her head. ¡°The worst thing about Rod is he knows I¡¯m not being stupid. He knows I¡¯m right when I say his way is going to end with people getting hurt, he just doesn¡¯t care. The worst thing about everyone else is that they go along with him without thinking. That¡¯s what most people do, you know. Most people are just fitting-in machines. One loud person who actually chooses his own direction, like Rod, makes it seem like the way to fit in is to go his way, and everybody¡¯s gears spin until they click on that direction. They don¡¯t even think about it until we¡¯re all marching off a¡ª¡±

    The words Connor had been holding in broke out, and the sound of them burned in his own ears as he said them. ¡°Is that what you think of me, Priya?¡±

    She blinked. ¡°I wasn¡¯t talking about you, Connor.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t lie. You know you were. You definitely don¡¯t think I¡¯m someone who ¡®chooses his own direction¡¯ like Rod. Or yourself. Or Danny. So that makes me a fitting-in machine.¡±

    ¡°Well¡­¡± He could tell she was uncomfortable lying right after he¡¯d called her out on it. ¡°You do go along with Rod a lot of the time.¡±

    ¡°If I went along with you would you think I was a fitting-in machine¡¯?¡±

    ¡°Connor¡­¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t want me to make my own decisions or to be my own man or any of that. You want me to agree with you.¡±

    ¡°Connor, if you really think about it you know things would be better if everybody listened to me instead of him.¡±

    ¡°Maybe so,¡± he said, ¡°but then don¡¯t pretend what you want is for everyone to be independent thinkers.¡±

    And he stood up. If Priya had said something then he might have stayed, but she didn¡¯t. He walked to the edge of the roof and stepped off of it.

    ###

    <h2>Phone call between Elias Kaplan and Jonathan Akiyama (transcript)</h2>

    [E.K.] Um, hello?

    [J.A.] Hello, Mr. Kaplan.

    [E.K.] You¡¯re Akiyama?

    [J.A.] I am, Mr. Kaplan.

    [E.K.] So are you the Gray Boss or something?

    [J.A.] I am no one¡¯s boss. We that you call ¡°Grays¡± all want the same thing, and so we have no need of dominance hierarchies. I am more the center than the head.

    [E.K.] Did you think that was informative? Because it wasn¡¯t. If you¡¯re not the boss, who are you?

    [J.A.] I coordinate. When a decision must be made, I consolidate analyses to finalize a course of action.

    [E.K.] So you¡¯re the boss.

    [J.A.] You are quibbling over terminology in an attempt to exert dominance.

    [E.K.] Am I?

    [J.A.] Soon enough, you¡¯ll no longer want to.

 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

    ¡°Everybody!¡± Danny called into the backyard, where a scraggly basketball game was going on. ¡°Kess wants to do a test.¡±

    ¡°Oh come on,¡± said Greg, holding the ball between his hip and arm. ¡°The game¡¯s almost over.¡±

    ¡°Is it, though?¡± asked Lorraine.

    ¡°We can end the game,¡± said Samuel. He was red-faced and sweating and clearly wanted the athletics to be done already. ¡°You guys are winning, anyway.¡±

    ¡°These ¡®tests¡¯ always take forever,¡± said Greg.

    ¡°I like Kess¡¯s tests,¡± said Marlie, who had been sitting to the side watching the game. ¡°They¡¯re interesting.¡±

    ¡°What are we doing?¡± asked Paul, the new-ish guy.

    ¡°Kess helps us understand our powers,¡± said Danny. ¡°She knows about physics and stuff, and she sets up tests. That¡¯s how we know how much charge we can hold, and where our lightning strikes will hit, and exactly what happens when we hold hands.¡± He gave Kess an encouraging smile. ¡°I bet the Reds don¡¯t have anyone this smart.¡±

    ¡°Um, sure,¡± she said. ¡°What I want is to test out our mind-reading.¡±

    ¡°Wait, mind-reading?¡± That was Greg, looking suddenly interested.

    ¡°Oh, that makes sense,¡± said Marlie. ¡°Like when we were fighting the Reds and for some reason I felt like I should spin around and I did and me and Breanna got Harry Evans at the same time and we were like zzzz and he was like aaah and then I ducked and Jessica Bronson went over me which meant she must have jumped really really high and she would have tackled me if I hadn¡¯t ducked.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­¡± said Greg.

    Kess nodded. ¡°Yes, Marlie, exactly like that. We clearly have some sort of sense that helps us fight as a team. It lets us react to things that happen behind our back, as long as another Blue is looking. At least I think that¡¯s how it works. Thus the test.¡±

    ¡°Okay, Kess,¡± said Danny. ¡°What do we do?¡±

    ¡°I need a volunteer.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, and you¡¯re going to saw them in half.¡±

    ¡°Shut up, Greg,¡± snapped Breanna.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± said Paul. ¡°The rest of you have done test-stuff before, right?¡±

    ¡°Okay, Paul,¡± said Kess. ¡°I want you to stand with your back to me and close your eyes.¡±

    He did so, and the rest of the basketball-players shifted away to form a circle around Paul and Kess. ¡°How many fingers am I holding up?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Um¡­¡±

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s do it like this. Answer as fast as you can. How many days in a week?¡±

    ¡°Seven.¡±

    ¡°How many weeks in a month?¡±

    ¡°Four.¡±

    ¡°How many things in a dozen things?¡±

    ¡°Twelve.¡±

    ¡°How many fingers am I holding up?¡±

    ¡°Three.¡±

    He spun around, his eyes flying open. ¡°That was right, wasn¡¯t it? I can read minds. I can read minds!¡±

    ¡°It was six,¡± said Lorraine. ¡°Six fingers.¡±

    ¡°Maybe Kess was wrong about the mind-reading thing,¡± said Breanna. ¡°Maybe we just have good, you know, reflexes.¡±

    ¡°Kess has thought about this,¡± said Danny. ¡°She¡¯s sure.¡±

    Behind Paul, Greg frowned.

    Breanna nodded. ¡°I did feel something, back at the Reds¡¯ house. And maybe before. A sort of¡­ pull.¡±

    ¡°Maybe that¡¯s what reflexes feel like.¡±

    Greg threw the basketball at Paul¡¯s back. Paul ducked, and it flew over his back and bounced off the concrete.

    ¡°What was that, man?¡±

    ¡°I thought maybe the mind-reading only works in, like, combat situations. And I was right, right? You ducked.¡±

    ¡°He might have just seen it out of the corner of his eye,¡± said Lorraine.

    ¡°This is what we do,¡± said Kess. ¡°He turns around and closes his eyes again. Maybe we blindfold him, even? Then someone¡ªum, let¡¯s make it Greg¡ªhe stands behind Paul with the ball. Greg, if I hold up one finger, you throw the ball at Paul. If I hold up two fingers, you think really hard about throwing the ball, but you don¡¯t actually do it. Three fingers, you think ¡®duck¡¯ at him, but don¡¯t think about the ball. Four fingers don¡¯t do or think anything in particular. Do you think you can do that?¡±

    Breanna and Marlie turned out to be very enthusiastic about finding a suitably thick blindfold for Paul. Kess felt a little uncomfortable¡ªthis experiment was messy and not really very scientific. But she was too excited to let that slow her down. She held up two fingers.

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    A couple minutes later, it seemed clear that Paul moved when Greg actually threw the ball, but not when he only thought about it. Paul always missed the ball, too, sidestepping it surprisingly gracefully given the blindfold.

    ¡°He hears the air moving,¡± said Lorraine. ¡°That¡¯s what¡¯s happening.¡±

    Kess frowned. That might actually be it. How could she tell? Could she have Greg pretend to throw the ball by waving it in the air? Could they try something else, like punching? Or¡­

    She blinked, and everybody¡¯s cell phones glowed white from their pockets. She cycled through wavelengths until she could see the magic-blue color radiating from their heads. She held up one finger.

    Greg drew his arm back to throw the ball, and the blue light flared from the heads of the people watching. An instant later, the light from Paul¡¯s head flared. The ball came whooshing towards him, and he hopped out of the way.

    ¡°It¡¯s telepathy,¡± said Kess. ¡°It really is. I can see it. But it doesn¡¯t work on command, it works on instinct. Can we control it at all? What if¡ª¡±

    ¡°Um¡­¡± said Samuel. ¡°Guys¡­¡±

    ¡°Can we do me next?¡± asked Marlie. ¡°I want to be a cool blind mind-reader ninja.¡±

    ¡°Guys¡­¡±

    ¡°This was really cool, Kess,¡± said Danny, smiling. ¡°I can¡¯t wait to see what you want to test next time.¡±

    ¡°Guys they¡¯re here.¡±

    Samuel was staring up at the roof of the house. Everyone else followed his gaze to see¡­ people on the roof, two or three of them. Reds.

    ¡°Do you think they can jump off roofs?¡± asked Lorraine.

    The Blues raised their hands, ready for the Reds to come pouring down and attack. But that didn¡¯t happen. Instead, one of the Reds waved at them¡ªif Kess had to describe that wave she would call it ¡°jaunty¡±¡ªand disappeared over the peak of the roof. The Blues ran around to the front just in time to see two Reds jump off. They fell like rocks and landed on their feet in the driveway with a crunch of gravel. An instant later, they had leapt into the back of their huge pickup truck while it was already moving, roaring away into the woods.

    The Blues turned and craned their necks to see what the Reds had done.

    There were bright red spray-paint x¡¯s scrawled on the roof.

    ¡°No¡ªno¡ªn-n-noooooo,¡± said Samuel. ¡°No no no no no no. What am I going to tell my¡ª¡± He cut himself off with a grimace, as if reminding himself that he had parents who would eventually need to be told about this was too painful to bear.

    Lorraine put her hands on her hips and squinted up through her glasses. ¡°I know this is offensive¡ªoh no how could they do that to our place and grrr and everything¡ªbut is it just me or is that also,¡± she waved at the red X, ¡°sort of lame.¡±

    ¡°Eh,¡± said Danny. ¡°We knock the power out in their house, they mark up our house. Seems about the same maturity level. Though this is probably going to cost a lot more to fix.¡± (Beside him, Samuel quietly choked on the air.)

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I mean,¡± said Lorraine. ¡°I mean they clearly don¡¯t have any artists.¡±

    #

    When he pulled up to Stephanie¡¯s, Rod was surprised to see Steph and Priya sitting side by side on the front steps. Was Stephanie crying?

    Yes, she was crying. And Priya was rubbing her back. Seeing Steph¡¯s shoulder¡¯s shake made Rod itch. One thing Rod liked about Priya was that she didn¡¯t seem like she cried much.

    Rod walked up to them slowly. ¡°So, uh¡­ What¡¯s going on here?¡±

    Priya glared at him for a second, but then her face relaxed. Like maybe she couldn¡¯t be bothered to hate him right then. ¡°I¡¯m going to show him,¡± she said to Stephanie in a soft voice. ¡°You wanna go inside?¡±

    Steph nodded, sniffling.

    ¡°Come on,¡± said Priya to Rod. She led him around the side of the house. ¡°It¡¯s not like¡­ Bad bad. It makes sense¡ªwe vandalize them, they vandalize up. But in a way it¡¯s worse than the fuses and electrical stuff, because Stephanie could blame that on freak occurrences. This might get her in real trouble.¡±

    This side of Stephanie¡¯s house was high and wide and flat. One side was dominated by a tall window that looked in on the living room.

    Rod whistled. ¡°Wow. How¡¯d they even do that? Did they haul ladders out here?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s tire tracks on the grass. They must have driven up in that van of theirs while Stephanie and me were asleep and stood on top of it.¡±

    The graffiti sprawled up the wall and onto the glass of the big window. The picture was splashy and abstract, but it showed a girl. Her hair and dress were smudgy black and blue spray paint, and electricity came out of her hands. The electricity was thick crooked lines of white outlined in black to make it pop. The lightning jagged over the window and up above the girl¡¯s head.

    Rod had to hand it to Lorraine¡ªshe was a dirty Blue and all that, but the girl could make a mighty fine scribble.

    ###

    <h2>Phone call between Elias Kaplan and Jonathan Akiyama (transcript)</h2>

    [E.K.] You said the Grays all want the same thing. So what is that? What do you want?

    [J.A.] We prioritize health, comfort, and safety.

    [E.K.] So you tried to kidnap Kess¡¯s sister?

    [J.A.] Do you deny that many people would be much safer if we had prevented the spread of the machines?

    [E.K.] That¡¯s¡­ defensible, I guess. What¡¯s your excuse for turning me into a Gray?

    [J.A.] You will be healthier, safer, and more comfortable as a Gray.

    [E.K.] I¡¯m gonna guess you don¡¯t ¡®prioritize¡¯ happiness? Self-determination? Fulfillment? None of that?

    [J.A.] No.

    [E.K.] Where do these priorities come from? Do you have a manifesto? A rulebook?

    [J.A.] They are built into the basic structure of our transformed minds. To maximize the health, comfort, and safety of the human species is our most basic directive.

    [E.K.] Like the First Law of Robotics.

    [J.A.] What do you mean by that, Mr. Kaplan?

    [E.K.] A robot may not injure a human being or through inaction allow a human being to come to harm. From I, Robot and the other Asimov robot stories. You people don¡¯t read?

    [J.A.] I did read those books, before. But fiction loses its appeal, in the transition, as you become more focused on reality. It becomes hard to remember the details of imaginary worlds.

    [E.K.] That¡¯s sad.

    [J.A.] I have not felt sadness in a long time, Mr. Kaplan.

    [E.K.] That¡¯s sad.

    [J.A.] And that is a foolish sentiment. Sadness is only useful because it changes peoples¡¯ behavior as they try to avoid it. We bypass that inefficient system. Unlike others, we do not need to approximate morality. We do not help others because it makes us happy to do so, or because not doing so would make us sad. We are not more likely to help a person because they are similar to ourselves, or because we like the way their face looks, or because they have helped us in the past, or because we hope they might help us in the future. We work for the health, comfort, and safety of all without prejudice or ulterior motive, subconscious or otherwise.

    [E.K.] Congratulations?

    [J.A.] Soon enough, you¡¯ll understand.

    [E.K.] Are you going to turn everyone into Grays?

    [J.A.] No. Not every brain is suited for the transition. Conversion of a non-ideal brain can create artifacts. We discovered this during the conversion of Johnston.

    [E.K.] How did you know my brain was¡­ ideal?

    [J.A.] We studied you thoroughly. We observed the methodical manner in which you undertook your investigation. We read your grades, your teachers¡¯ evaluations of you. When we understood your thought processes enough to be sure you were an acceptable candidate, we made our move.

    [E.K.] Creepy.

    [J.A.] Your friend Ms. Carpenter would likely also have been well-suited for conversion, if her brain hadn¡¯t already been altered.

    [E.K.] So if you¡¯re not just spreading Grayness, what are you going to do?

    [J.A.] We are going to take over the world, Mr. Kaplan. And we are going to run it sensibly, for a change.

 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

    Rod didn¡¯t crave metal as much now as when his powers were growing, but sometimes he still got hungry for it. The easiest metal to eat that they¡¯d found so far were bolts bought in a big, inexpensive bag. Rod swung the bag onto his shoulder and brought it up to the hardware store¡¯s front desk.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been seeing you in here a lot, lately,¡± said Gary, behind the counter. ¡°What¡¯re you building, Rod? A treehouse?¡±

    ¡°I think you¡¯re going senile, Gary. I think you think I¡¯m seven.¡±

    The older man rolled his eyes. ¡°Boy, someday someone¡¯s going to smack you.¡±

    ¡°Oh, Dad does that all the time. That¡¯s why I have such poor self-esteem.¡±

    ¡°And if you keep talking like that, you¡¯re going to get your father in trouble. Not everyone understands your sense of humor.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡±

    Rod headed through the store toward the back door. He should probably start going to some big box hardware store for his metal needs, where there would be no one to notice how often he came in and get suspicious. But he¡¯d wanted to throw Gary a bone. He knew from Dad the store wasn¡¯t doing that great, lately, and Stephanie had plenty of money to throw away on metal, which is why they hadn¡¯t bothered to find a cheaper source of it.

    There was someone in his way, blocking the back door. Rod blinked in surprise. People didn¡¯t normally get in his way.

    It was Sammy Lecker, one of the most annoying kids in Rod¡¯s schoolyear and now definitely the most annoying Blue. ¡°Wh¡ªWhat are you doing here?¡± he asked, annoyingly.

    ¡°You understand that¡¯s an idiotic question, right? I assume you¡¯re here for the same reason. Do me a favor and tell Gary you¡¯re building a treehouse.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t¡ªyou can¡¯t come here anymore. This is where we come.¡±

    Rod couldn¡¯t help laughing. ¡°Dude, maybe try that again later when you¡¯ve got the big boys with you. Because as it is it just comes across as adorable.¡±

    He surged past Sammy, knocking him with his shoulder, and out the back door. It opened onto a parking lot shared between the hardware store and the Indian restaurant next door. The restaurant didn¡¯t open until noon, so the parking lot was empty, and the road wasn¡¯t visible from here.

    ¡°I¡¯m serious,¡± said Sammy from behind him.

    Rod stopped and turned to face the kid. ¡°No you¡¯re not.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not serious. Unless you¡¯re genuinely stupid. You genuinely stupid, Sammy?¡±

    Sammy¡¯s face got very red very quick. ¡°You don¡¯t come here anymore. None of you. We¡¯re not¡ªwe¡¯re not establishing that pattern.¡±

    Rod thought about that for a second. Then he leaned back and kicked the brick wall next to Sammy. He kicked it hard enough that it cracked, and when he put his foot down bits of brick crumbled off and fell to the ground. ¡°See you later, Sammy-lammy,¡± he said as he turned and walked away.

    Something hit Rod square in the back. Buzzing, metallic pain roared from the center of his back down through his legs, and he collapsed, convulsing, to the ground. His cheek hit the hard, rocky asphalt. He tried to push himself up, but his arms weren¡¯t working right. He hurt. He hurt. He hurt.

    Finally he got his body under control again and pushed himself to his feet.

    Sammy was almost out of the parking lot, and when he looked back and saw Rod getting up he started to run.

    With Rod¡¯s super-legs, it only took a moment to catch up.

    #

    Connor and Stephanie were playing a flower-colored video game meant for little girls when Rod got back from the hardware store. ¡°I come bearing scrap metal,¡± he said, dropping a jangling bag on the floor by the couch. ¡°Do you wanna get lunch and have some of these for desert?¡±

    ¡°Rod,¡± said Stephanie. ¡°You¡¯re bleeding.¡±

    Connor¡¯s eyes flickered to his friend. ¡°Your knuckles. Your knuckles are bleeding.¡±

    ¡°There was a complication. I left out the back entrance and ran into Sammy Lecker. We might have fought a bit.¡±

    ¡°You ¡®fought¡¯ Samuel Lecker?¡± Samuel was probably the least intimidating kid in their schoolyear. He was a full head shorter than Connor (and therefore Rod) and he¡¯d worn a bow tie to the last school dance. He insisted on going by ¡°Samuel¡± like a pilgrim or something.

    Rod rolled his eyes. ¡°I can hear those quotemarks. What do you think I did with him if I didn¡¯t fight him? Join his sewing circle?¡±

    Connor thought about giving up, then, and leaving for lunch already. But he remembered how Priya didn¡¯t just fold and pretend to agree with the rest of the Reds, even when it made everyone mad at her. Connor might not so much agree with Priya, but there was definitely something admirable about that. ¡°I think maybe you beat him up,¡± he said.

    Something flashed across Rod¡¯s face¡ªoffended anger?¡ªbut he was smiling again a split second later. ¡°Would I do anything so ungentlemanly? It¡¯s a fair fight or nothing for this man of honor.¡±

    ¡°Samuel Lecker is tiny. Samuel Lecker is a gecko.¡±

    ¡°Samuel Lecker has electric hands. Super powers are the really great equalizer, Connor.¡±

    ¡°If you took him by surprise at the beginning and grabbed his hands, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to hurt you.¡±

    ¡°You were not there, dude.¡±

    ¡°You have blood on your knuckles. Did you break any bones?¡±

    ¡°You were not there. But sure, keep fantasizing. What does the blow by blow matter anyway?¡±

    ¡°It matters whether you got into a fight or you beat a guy up.¡±

    Rod clapped Connor, briefly, on the shoulder. ¡°Connor McGinger O¡¯Freckle-neck, your finely tuned moral sense is an inspiration to us all.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not pretending to be righteous or something, Rod. I¡¯m just saying we can be fighters without being bullies.¡±

    ¡°Cool. Do you want burgers or tacos?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not getting tacos with you.¡±

    ¡°Or burgers?¡±

    ¡°Rod, I¡¯m not going to go out and eat with you and pretend I¡¯m okay with you smashing up Samuel freaking Lecker.¡±

    ¡°Your protest refusal-to-get-tacos has been noted. What do you want to eat, Steph?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­¡±

    Rod¡¯s phone rang, playing one of those stupid fuzzy rock songs he liked, the ones that sounded like they¡¯d been recorded on a broken microphone. He looked surprised when he saw who was calling, and put up a finger to keep Connor and Stephanie from saying anything.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    ¡°Yeah?¡± he said, answering the phone. ¡°Uh-huh. More or less. I agree with that statement in the abstract. Fine by me. We don¡¯t want any of the normals to see us. Sure, that¡¯ll work.¡±

    He slipped the phone back into his pocket and looked back up at the others. ¡°That was Danny. He wants to meet up.¡±

    ###

    <h2>Phone call between Elias Kaplan and Jonathan Akiyama (recording)</h2>

    [E.K.] So what¡¯s happening to me exactly? You said machines. What kinds of machines? They¡¯re obviously altering my brain somehow, but how exactly? How do people even know how to do this? Holifeld Company made the Grays, right? Why? And what do the Reds and Blues have to do with anything?

    [J.A.] I will answer those questions for you soon enough.

    [E.K.] Soon enough? That¡¯s the third ¡°soon enough¡± in like five minutes. What¡¯s the point of giving me your number if you aren¡¯t going to answer my questions?

    [J.A.] If we sated your curiosity now, you would tell Miss Carpenter.

    [E.K.] Why shouldn¡¯t I tell Kess?

    [J.A.] Call me again, Mr. Kaplan. When you are more advanced.

    ###

    Priya rushed to Stephanie¡¯s as soon as she saw Connor¡¯s message. When she got there, Connor, Rod, Harry, and Stephanie were waiting out front. ¡°Where¡¯s everyone else?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Me and Danny agreed on five people each,¡± said Rod. ¡°So no one¡¯s outnumbered.¡±

    Priya frowned in confusion. ¡°And you chose me as your fifth?¡±

    ¡°No, I chose Harry. Connor and Stephanie voted you in.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to fight with us, Priya?¡± asked Harry. ¡°If there¡¯s a fight?¡±

    She ignored the question. ¡°So why exactly does Danny want a meeting?¡±

    ¡°Actually he called it a summit.¡±

    Connor raised a skeptical eyebrow. ¡°A summit? Like we¡¯re Greece and they¡¯re Turkey or something?¡±

    ¡°Maybe we¡¯re Turkey and they¡¯re Greece,¡± said Stephanie. ¡°Which one of those is the bad guy?¡±

    Rod half-smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s an official bad guy there, Steph.¡±

    ¡°So why exactly,¡± repeated Priya, ¡°does Danny want a summit?¡±

    ¡°Rod beat a guy up,¡± said Connor.

    ¡°What?¡±

    Rod shrugged. ¡°If you say so, dude.¡±

    Stephanie leaned closer to Priya. ¡°All Rod said was that he got into a fight.¡±

    ¡°It was Samuel Lecker,¡± said Connor. ¡°Did you ever meet him, Priya?¡±

    She shook her head.

    ¡°Well, he¡¯s not a fighter.¡± He glared at Rod. ¡°And you were a jerk to him before all this even happened. You know that, right?¡±

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t judge me by my past, Ginger. I¡¯m a new man. A man with superpowers.¡±

    ¡°Jerks with superpowers are no good for anyone.¡±

    Rod just rolled his eyes at that.

    Priya had seen Connor and Rod squabble before, but she¡¯d never witnessed Connor hold his ground like that. It was surprisingly¡­ sexy? Wrong word. Probably.

    She squeezed Connor¡¯s elbow, just to show she was on his side, and said, ¡°So where are we summiting?¡±

    #

    Priya had only started hanging out with Danny and his friends a week or so before summer vacation, so she¡¯d never seen Greenlake High School. It was nice, all brick and glass and clean green landscaping. ¡°Property taxes, you know,¡± said Connor when she commented on it. He seemed embarrassed. Art classes were held in a squat brick outbuilding which also housed band and music classes. Lorraine had a key. ¡°She¡¯s Ms. Lyman the art teacher¡¯s favorite human being,¡± Connor explained. ¡°She had Lorraine lock up once last semester and forgot to get her extra key back.¡±

    On a summer Saturday, the campus was deserted. The only other car in the parking lot was a familiar silver sedan¡ªDanny¡¯s. The four Greenlake kids led the way to the art building, where they found the door unlocked. Inside was a pretty standard high school art room¡ªlinoleum floors, plastic chairs lined up along tables arranged in u-shape, a paint-spattered sink, a table weighed down with paint bottles. Inspirational posters on the walls¡ªYou Miss 100% of the Shots You Don¡¯t Take and etcetera.

    The five Blues sat on one side of a long table, facing the door. Danny, Lorraine, Kess, and two boys Priya didn¡¯t know, one of whom¡ª

    ¡°Rod.¡±

    ¡°You should see the other guy,¡± said Rod. Though for once he wasn¡¯t smirking. It was hard to tell, but he looked as if he might actually regret giving this short, slight boy two ugly black eyes, a swollen nose and a split lip. That was something in Rod¡¯s favor, Priya supposed.

    Except no, she affirmed to herself a moment lataer, it wasn¡¯t. Regrets did nothing for anyone, least of all this poor beat-up boy, and Rod got no points for them.

    Rod nodded at each of the Blues in turn. ¡°Danny, Sammy, Blue-Hair, Big-Hair¡­ You.¡±

    ¡°This is Bradley,¡± said Danny. ¡°Samuel¡¯s cousin. He¡¯s homeschooled, so you might not have met him. Why don¡¯t you guys sit down.¡±

    Connor looked briefly annoyed¡ªmaybe he didn¡¯t like how Danny assumed he was in charge of the meeting. But the Reds sat down anyway, taking seats opposite their counterparts. Priya sat across from Lorraine. Lorraine, who had Danny on one side of her and Kess on the other, which deeply bothered Priya for unreasonable reasons.

    Kess raised her hand.

    ¡°Let¡¯s hear from Big-Hair,¡± said Rod.

    ¡°So,¡± said Kess. She was clearly nervous. She had that round-eyed, close-to-panic look she got last summer when Priya convinced her to wear a bikini to the beach. ¡°Since we¡¯re here and we come in peace and everything, I have a question.¡±

    ¡°Kess,¡± said Danny gently, ¡°we came here to talk about Samuel.¡±

    ¡°I know. But first. First before anyone gets angry, how do you find new people?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Priya.

    ¡°How do you get new Reds?¡±

    Stephanie spoke up. ¡°We see someone and we know they¡¯re a Red and they know they¡¯re a Red. Like with me I ran into Rod at the grocery store and it just sort of clicked and I knew we belonged together. Not belonged together belonged together. You know what I mean.¡±

    ¡°Steph,¡± snapped Rod. ¡°Why would you just tell her that? You don¡¯t know why she wants to know.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just curious,¡± said Kess. ¡°I have theories about what¡¯s happening to us and where it came from.¡±

    ¡°Now that we¡¯ve gotten that out of the way,¡± said Danny, forcing the conversation away from Kess. ¡°We need to talk about what happened at the hardware store. Samuel?¡±

    The swollen-faced boy gave Danny a do-I-have-to look. Lorraine fixed him with a yes-you-have-to glare.

    ¡°Rod,¡± he said, his voice strained. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I lightninged you in the back. That was wrong of me.¡±

    Connor looked as surprised at that as Priya felt.

    ¡°I accept your apology,¡± said Rod. ¡°Can we go now? I¡¯m pretty hungry.¡±

    ¡°We all accept your apology,¡± said Priya. ¡°And we¡¯re sorry that Rod reacted with violence.¡±

    ¡°Reacted with violence?¡± repeated Rod, indignant. ¡°You don¡¯t think their lightning bolts are violence?¡±

    ¡°We wanted to meet,¡± said Danny, ¡°to apologize and make sure this was resolved, so nothing has to escalate from here.¡±

    ¡°We realize it must be hard to explain this to your parents,¡± said Priya.¡± She nodded at Samuel and his messed-up face. ¡°We¡¯re sorry about that.¡±

    ¡°Wait wait wait,¡± said Rod. ¡°So, you guys assume I beat up Sammy Lecker for kicks. You find out he attacked me and yet I¡¯m still the bad guy and the Blues are still our moral superiors?¡±

    ¡°Not all the Blues,¡± muttered Connor barely loud enough for Priya to hear the sharp undertone of sarcasm in his voice. ¡°Just Danny.¡±

    ¡°I told you guys not to bring her," said Rod. "I told you she¡¯d undermine our position.¡±

    ¡°Can we not do this in front of them?¡± Priya nodded at the Blues.

    Lorraine grinned. ¡°Oh please do. This is better than TV. I¡¯m excited for when Rod and Priya eventually kiss.¡±

    Priya¡¯s whole body went suddenly hot. She shoved the table. The table edge hit Lorraine in the stomach and she snapped forward, her blue braids flying. Her elbows hit the tabletop with a thud. Priya jumped to her feet. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m sorry.¡± She put out her hands in a way she hoped seemed submissive

    Lorraine snarled and lunged forward to grab Priya¡¯s wrist. Priya froze, every muscle in her body threaded with pain and locked in place. She couldn¡¯t move. She had to move. She couldn¡¯t move.

    Connor stood up and turned the table over. It clashed to the ground and the Blues jumped back, including Lorraine, who let go of Priya. Priya wavered on her feet but didn¡¯t fall. The electricity left her with an odd, hollow, ringing feeling, the aftertaste of pain.

    Lorraine started to raise her hand again. Priya jumped straight up, her strong legs sending her all the way to the ceiling, which she grabbed with her grippy hands. She kicked her sandals off and swung her feet up to crouch Spiderman-like, upside-down.

    Below her, the two groups stood on opposite sides of the overturned table. The Blues had drawn together, covering each other¡¯s sides, while the Reds had spread out, each one standing like they were ready to either jump forward or run away.

    For a moment no one said anything. Priya¡¯s chest felt stiff and heavy and unable to take in air.

    Then Samuel gave a wordless yell and charged at Rod.

    ¡°Sam,¡± said the other boy, Samuel¡¯s cousin, ¡°seriously?¡±

    Before Samuel could put his hands on Rod, Rod grabbed his arms and forced them back and over his head. A moment later he let go and shoved Samuel away, hard. Danny and the cousin caught him. Harry jumped over the table to tackle the cousin, but he¡¯d barely touched the boy before Kess slapped him on his arm. Harry cried out and fell to his knees, clutching the arm with his other hand.

    Priya darted forward across the ceiling and dropped behind Kess. She grabbed her sister¡¯s wrists and pinned them to her sides. Kess struggled but Priya pulled her in tighter to her stomach. Kess¡¯s blonde curls were in Priya¡¯s face, smelling like vanilla shampoo.

    Everyone else was in stand-off poses again. ¡°We¡¯re even,¡± said Danny. ¡°We¡¯re even.¡±

    ¡°Ya-ya,¡± said Rod, ¡°keep hold of her until we¡¯re out. Steph and Connor, you get Harry.¡±

    The Reds backed out of the room. Priya pulled Kess with her to the door, then let go and followed the others.

    They were almost to Stephanie¡¯s car before anyone spoke. Priya avoided looking at Rod. ¡°I¡ª¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m¡ª¡± She couldn¡¯t. She couldn¡¯t apologize to him. ¡°I didn¡¯t know how much it hurts when they do that.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± said Rod. ¡°I¡¯m sure it won¡¯t be the last time you get zapped.¡±

 CHAPTER NINETEEN

    ¡°So, um, this is my house,¡± said Kess. ¡°As you can see, it¡¯s, um, a house.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ nice,¡± said Elias. ¡°Nice cat.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s Giant. He¡¯s mostly Priya¡¯s.¡±

    They¡¯d just climbed out of Elias¡¯s car, which he had parked on the street. Giant had leaped onto the car the moment it had stopped and was now lolling on the metal roof.

    ¡°Is there a reason we¡¯re not going in?¡± asked Elias.

    ¡°Before Mom and Dad left they told Priya she wasn¡¯t allowed to have boys over while they were gone.¡±

    ¡°What did they tell you?¡±

    ¡°Nothing. They didn¡¯t think it would be a problem with me.¡±

    ¡°So I can come in, then.¡±

    ¡°I guess it¡¯s kinda silly to be worrying about their approval at this point anyway.¡± She frowned. ¡°I call them every other day at least. I lie to them every time. They¡¯ll be home week after next.¡±

    There was a package on the doorstep, but Kess ignored it when she saw it was addressed to Priya. Inside, Kess wasn¡¯t sure what to do. Boy-over. Boy-over. She had a boy over. Granted, they were there for non-romantic reasons.

    ¡°You were the first Blue,¡± said Elias. ¡°We¡¯re positive about that, right?¡±

    ¡°As positive as I can be. And Priya was the first Red I¡¯m pretty sure. Me and Priya were infected, but no one else in the whole town of Woodburn was as far as I know. So whatever got to us, there¡¯s a good chance it came from this house.¡±

    ¡°Do you or your sister have friends in this town?¡±

    ¡°Priya does, but her best friends are all away for the summer, and the rest of them she hasn¡¯t hung out with since school got out, mostly because of Danny. None of Priya¡¯s friends are acting unusual as far as I can tell from online.¡±

    Elias nodded. ¡°Are we sure it spreads on contact?¡±

    ¡°For the Blues I¡¯m pretty sure. Priya¡¯s boyfriend Danny and his friend Lorraine got it first after me, and they know me, and from there it went to Danny¡¯s coworker, and then to that guy¡¯s cousin. Always to people who know each other and have contact with each other.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s funny,¡± said Elias without laughing or smiling. ¡°Becoming a Blue or Red sort of compels you to hang out with each other, right? So once the first people are infected they spend less time around other people and the rate of infection slows.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know whether Redness spreads the same way. They seem to get new members differently. We wake up in the night and go out to meet new people where the signal tells us to, but apparently they just randomly bump into each other and then stick.¡±

    ¡°Water,¡± said Elias. ¡°You and your sister could have gotten it from the water. Or¡­ Did you get any mysterious packages or envelopes full of powder or anything before you started to turn?¡±

    ¡°No. Maybe Priya did.¡± Kess looked back at the front door. ¡°Priya just got a package. Should we get it and see what¡¯s inside?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see what a package now would have to do with anything.¡±

    ¡°Or maybe it was in our food.¡± She moved into the kitchen. Opened cupboards. Peered inside a cereal box. What was she expecting to find in there? ¡°Oh, chocolate!¡± She pulled a thick, oversized chocolate bar from the snack cupboard. ¡°Do you want some?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    She broke a piece of chocolate off for Elias and then leaned against a counter, nibbling at her own. ¡°This was dumb, wasn¡¯t it?¡± she said. ¡°There¡¯s no way we¡¯re going to figure out where the machines came from just by looking around here.¡±

    ¡°It was worth a shot. And there¡¯s not much else we can do to investigate since the Grays won¡¯t let us look further into Holifeld Company.¡±

    Elias, she noticed, had set down his chocolate with one bite taken out of it.

    ¡°Are you not a chocolate person? I¡¯ve heard tell of such strange folk.¡±

    He shook his head. ¡°No, that¡¯s not it. It tastes¡ªit doesn¡¯t taste different. It¡­ feels different. In my brain.¡±

    ¡°You feel chocolate in your brain?¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah. So do you.¡±

    ¡°And how does it feel different? In your brain?¡±

    He wrinkled his eyes, as if trying to find words. ¡°Normally you eat chocolate and it doesn¡¯t just taste good, it feels good. It¡­ excites you. Now it doesn¡¯t. Now I taste it, I chew it, I swallow it. It¡¯s nothing.¡±

    And something about the way he said it made Kess feel, weirdly, scared. ¡°So it has to do with¡­¡± She tapped her finger on her forehead.

    ¡°Yeah, I assume. I noticed it before, a couple days ago. I thought maybe I was just tired. I guess not.¡±

    ¡°And is there anything else you¡¯ve noticed?¡±

    He shrugged. He seemed to be shrugging a lot, lately. ¡°Maybe. Hard to say. I haven¡¯t laughed out loud in three days. I think it¡¯s getting harder to surprise me. I think that¡¯s why nothing makes me laugh.¡±

    Kess fidgeted. ¡°Aren¡¯t you bothered? You don¡¯t sound bothered.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s happening. Being bothered won¡¯t stop it. And¡­ it¡¯s not necessarily all terrible.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean? What¡¯s not terrible?¡±

    ¡°I feel smarter.¡±

    ¡°Are you actually smarter or do you just feel smarter?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. But my memory¡¯s getting better. Do you want to hear me recite two hundred digits of pi? I memorized it yesterday, as a test. It was easy. It didn¡¯t even take that long. And I think it¡¯s getting harder to annoy me. I¡¯ve always been easy to annoy. You waste a lot of energy, being annoyed with stuff. If they could have done all that without the other parts, the losing important things apart, it would have been wonderful technology. Good for the world. I wonder why they didn¡¯t? Or couldn¡¯t? Or maybe this was all a mistake.¡±

    ¡°Elias¡­¡± Kess drummed her fingers on the counter. She opened her mouth, couldn¡¯t think of something to say, closed it again. She must have looked stupid. ¡°Elias¡­ am I never going to hear you laugh again? I barely got to hear it at all.¡±

    And then the front door opened. Kess walked out of the kitchen just in time to see Priya come in.

    #

    Priya¡¯s package had arrived. It was sitting on the doorstep.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± asked Connor.

    She almost told him. ¡°Nothing,¡± she said, instead. ¡°Just something I ordered.¡±

    He squinted at the label. ¡°Noquestionsasked.us?¡±

    ¡°Yep. Well, technically n-zero-questionsasked.¡±

    ¡°Well, I guess I¡¯m not allowed to ask any more questions then.¡± He smiled and didn¡¯t seem to be offended that she wouldn¡¯t tell him what was in the package. It was getting easier and easier to be around Connor. The only other time she¡¯d brought him to the house he¡¯d made everything awkward, but she didn¡¯t think he¡¯d do that again. And if he did still like her¡­ The idea didn¡¯t seem as awkwardly terrible anymore. She could work with it, now. She pushed open the front door.

    Kess was there.

    Kess was there, and there was a boy with her. He wasn¡¯t a Blue, though Priya wasn¡¯t sure how she could be so certain of that just by looking at him. He was thin and dark-haired and not especially tall, with sunken eyes and eyebrows like fat Sharpie marks. Kess had always been hesitant and embarrassed about describing the kind of guy she liked, even to her sister, but Priya thought this boy might just be Kess¡¯s type.

    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Priya and Kess stared at each other for what seemed like a long, long time. Then Kess spun on her heel and quick-walked into the living room. She dropped into an armchair and put her head down, clasped her hands behind her neck. She obviously didn¡¯t know what to say, or she didn¡¯t even want to look at Priya, or both.

    The dark-haired boy watched Kess. After a second he turned back to the two Reds and said, ¡°I¡¯m Elias. I¡¯m Kess¡¯s friend. You must be Priya.¡±

    ¡°Um, yes. And this is Connor.¡±

    He shook Priya¡¯s hand, then Connor¡¯s, like they were adults. ¡°Are you a Red too?¡± he asked Connor.

    ¡°You know about Reds and Blues?¡± asked Priya.

    ¡°Yeah. And Grays.¡±

    ¡°What are Grays?¡± asked Connor.

    ¡°Kess, do they not know about Grays?¡±

    Kess lifted her head from her hands. ¡°That guy who attacked you on the road was a Gray, Priya.¡±

    Elias possibly expected Kess to explain more, but she didn¡¯t. So he went on instead. ¡°They¡¯re like Reds and Blues but different. They¡¯re involved somehow in how you guys got powers. Me and Kess have been trying to figure it out. That¡¯s why we¡¯re here, actually.¡±

    ¡°This is still your house, Kess,¡± said Priya. ¡°You don¡¯t need a reason to come here.¡±

    Kess shook her head¡ªnot in a negative way. More confused. ¡°What are we going to do when Mom and Dad get back?¡±

    Priya didn¡¯t know the answer, so she didn¡¯t say anything. Giant, coming up from behind her, slid around her ankles and went straight for Kess. The cat had always liked Kess, which made it even more annoying that she was so cold to him, really what was wrong with her, she¡ª

    ¡°Elias,¡± said Kess, staring down at the cat rubbing against her legs. ¡°Elias, Giant has metal in him.¡±

    ¡°The cat?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s not much but it¡¯s definitely in him, in his head mostly.¡±

    ¡°Metal?¡± asked Connor. ¡°How can you tell?¡±

    ¡°X-ray vision,¡± said Elias.

    Priya shook her head. She realized she was doing the same confused gesture Kess had done a moment before, and a moment later realized that they¡¯d both picked that mannerism up from Dad, and a moment later pushed those realizations away to make room for more important thoughts. ¡°Wait. What?¡±

    ¡°It was Giant,¡± said Kess, her eyes widening with dawning understanding. ¡°Giant started all of this. He infected me and Priya.¡±

    ¡°Giant can¡¯t be the start,¡± said Priya. ¡°Where did he get it?¡±

    The cat, recognizing that Kess wasn¡¯t going to start petting him or maybe sensing that the humans were getting anxious, headed down the hall towards the back of the house.

    ¡°Come on,¡± said Elias. He said it to Kess, clearly, and grabbed her hand, but Priya and Connor followed the two of them as they followed Giant.

    Giant slipped out the cat door into the backyard. Priya and Kess were supposed to be taking turns mowing the grass while Mom and Dad were gone, but neither of them had been bothering to. The grass was long and ragged-wild and Giant moved through it like a tiger. They could just barely track his progress by the tips of his ears as he slid across the yard and sauntered into the trees on the other side.

    ¡°Where¡¯s it going?¡± Elias asked.

    ¡°He spends a lot of time back there,¡± said Priya. ¡°It¡¯s not deep woods. You can walk across to another neighborhood in twenty minutes.¡±

    Kess started after Giant before the others moved. Elias was about to go after her, but Priya put her hand on his arm to stop him.

    ¡°One second,¡± she said. ¡°I just want to know¡ªare you my sister¡¯s boyfriend?¡±

    He gave her a puzzled look. ¡°I am, yeah.¡±

    She nodded. She had always wanted that for Kess, and now she was almost happy for her. As happy as she could be for a Blue.

    ¡°He¡¯s getting away,¡± Kess shouted back at them. Elias trotted to join her, and Priya and Connor followed.

    Connor leaned in close to Priya and spoke in a low voice. ¡°What are we doing?¡±

    ¡°Giant has metal in him just like we do, so they¡¯re trying to figure out how he got it because that¡¯s where our powers come from.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I get that, but what do they expect to find by following this cat? It¡¯s just gonna eat a squirrel or something.¡±

    ¡°Maybe not. If they actually discover something, don¡¯t you want to be here with them?¡±

    ¡°Your sister makes me nervous.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just the magic talking. Ignore it. Concentrate on the boyfriend if it bothers you too much.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s up with him anyway? He¡¯s our age and everyone our age turns into either a Red or a Blue.¡±

    ¡°Apparently not.¡±

    And they almost ran into Kess and Elias, who had stopped and were staring at something heaped on the ground.

    ¡°What is it?¡± asked Priya, moving so that Elias was between her and Kess. ¡°Did Giant¡ªOh.¡±

    Connor stepped up beside her. ¡°Skeletons. Those are skeletons. Are those monkey skeletons?¡±

    ¡°Chimpanzees,¡± said Elias. ¡°At least I think so. That makes them technically apes. Probably both female. Males are bigger, I¡¯m pretty sure.¡±

    Two monkeys (technically apes) lay in the grass and old leaves. Or rather, two bodies. The flesh and fur were gone, rotted away or eaten by animals, leaving nothing but bone. And metal. And plastic. Giant sat to the side twitching his tail and looking pleased with himself, as if he knew he had brought them to what they wanted.

    Kess knelt down and tugged at one of the skeletons.

    Priya winced. ¡°What are you doing? That¡¯s disgusting.¡±

    Her sister looked up at her through a hunk of blonde curls. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to see what we look like inside?¡±

    ¡°I¡ªI¡ª¡±

    ¡°Elias, help me.¡±

    The dark-haired boy leaned down and helped Kess to clear leaves off the monkey bodies and straighten them out to lay side by side on the ground.

    ¡°A Red and a Blue,¡± murmured Connor, as if to himself.

    He was right. It was obvious which was which.

    The Red monkey still had muscle clinging to its bones. The muscles were dark gray streaked with black and with threads of something silver-shiny.

    ¡°Some kind of polymer?¡± said Kess. ¡°With carbon fiber. And whatever this metallic stuff is.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s not enough muscle here,¡± said Elias. ¡°This stuff must have been combined with regular muscle, but now that¡¯s gone.¡± He squatted down next to Kess and prodded at the dark artificial muscles, which made Priya queasy¡ªit might be made of weird stuff, but that was still a dead body. ¡°Flexible,¡± he said.

    The bones visible through and around the strange muscles were covered in thin lines of dark metal in a grid pattern. In some spots the metal circled the bone in a band. There was also some sort of semi-transparent rubbery stuff at the joints. Kess picked up one of the monkey¡¯s paws. Each of its finger bones was ringed with dark metal just above the knuckles. Thin fibers grew from the palm, looking a bit like hairs, but when the monkey still had meat and skin those fibers must have made little dots across its paw, just like the ones on Priya¡¯s hands.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± asked Kess, pulling away the gray muscles to show the bone of the monkey¡¯s left forearm. This bone was covered in a sheath of metal and hard-looking black stuff. It didn¡¯t match the other arm.

    ¡°The bone was broken,¡± said Elias. ¡°You can see a little bit of a crack here.¡±

    Connor touched his own arm, which had been broken and repaired.

    ¡°I want to see inside its head,¡± said Kess. ¡°Can you shine a light?¡±

    Elias didn¡¯t act like the request was at all strange or gross¡ªmaybe these two were meant for each other. He flicked on his phone¡¯s flashlight function and directed the beam into the eye sockets of the monkey¡¯s skull.

    ¡°There¡¯s definitely metal in there,¡± said Kess. ¡°A sort of liquidy metal soup pooled in the bottom. And that back there looks a little like regular circuitry. Some of us ate gold; maybe that¡¯s what it was for. What¡¯s that amber-colored stuff?¡±

    ¡°Some kind of artificial tissue?¡± guessed Elias. ¡°It looks soft. Should we break the skull open to get a better look?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said Connor and Priya together.

    Elias glanced up at them. ¡°It¡¯s just bones.¡±

    ¡°We know,¡± said Priya. ¡°Please don¡¯t break them.¡±

    Elias shrugged and turned back to Kess.

    ¡°Okay,¡± she said. ¡°Now the Blue.¡± She sounded excited.

    The Blue monkey didn¡¯t have fake muscles. But there was a grid pattern on its bones similar to the other one¡¯s, and thicker dark wires that ran up and down the arm and leg bones. Kess scratched at one with her thumb nail and shiny copper showed through. On the monkey¡¯s hands, the wires connected up to metal caps on its finger tips and a tiny metal disc dangling from its center.

    ¡°A star,¡± said Elias.

    Kess nodded and touched one finger to the palm of her other hand.

    To Priya, the most disturbing part of the Blue body was the lumpy, soft-looking nodules distributed throughout, clinging to chestplate and pelvis and ribs. They were organic-looking and deeply gross. Kess poked her finger into one. ¡°Batteries. There¡¯s still a little charge.¡±

    ¡°I bet those batteries are amazing,¡± said Elias. ¡°Considering how much charge you can hold, Kess, and how quickly you recharge. I wonder why they didn¡¯t just sell that technology? Why stick it inside of people?¡±

    ¡°Why do any of this?¡± asked Priya.

    ¡°Point. Turn the head for me, will you Kess?¡±

    She did, grabbing the skull and positioning it so he could shine his light inside. ¡°It looks mostly the same as the other one,¡± he said, ¡°but there¡¯s something coating the inside of the skull.¡±

    Kess nodded. ¡°To protect against blows to the head. I knew there had to be something like that. And this cable here reinforces the neck and spine. Except¡­ Hmm¡­¡± She trailed off, looking uncomfortable for the first time since she started poking around in these monkey skeletons.

    ¡°What does this all mean?¡± asked Connor.

    Kess didn¡¯t look at him, but she did answer. ¡°We¡¯re cyborgs. This is amazing. It¡¯s like you grow up thinking it¡¯s 1920 and then you find out it¡¯s been 1980 all along and there are computers. It¡¯s the future.¡±

    Priya was dizzy with the shock of new knowledge. ¡°But where did they come from?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡± said Elias. ¡°They¡¯re lab animals. And they escaped.¡±

    ¡°And how did they die?¡± asked Connor.

    Kess and her boyfriend were silent for a moment. Then Elias said, ¡°Well, the Blue¡¯s neck is snapped. See? The Red must have done it. There¡¯s no mark on the Red¡ªthe Blue must have shocked it to death.¡±

    #

    The four of them walked back to the house in silence, Elias acting as a buffer between Kess and the Reds. Standing outside by Priya¡¯s car, Kess drew up the strength to say something directly to her sister.

    ¡°See you when Mom and Dad get home.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Priya started to open the car door, but hesitated. ¡°How long do you think it¡¯ll take them to figure out something¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Kess sighed. ¡°A day. If we¡¯re lucky.¡±

    ###

    <h2>TrueWorldOrder.net, forum post by user genjitsu:</h2>

    The French poet Charles Baudelaire said, ¡°The devil¡¯s finest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist.¡± The same principle holds for the various shadow governments and devilish entities orchestrating events in actual fact, but with a twist. It is certainly true that the greatest protection of conspiracies is the stubborn, unscientific insistence by all the best sort of people that conspiracies cannot and do not exist. However, I believe that this insistence is not in fact a clever ¡°trick¡± carried out by the powers which are benefited by it.

    We have all experienced the frustration of carefully reasoned arguments and flawlessly marshalled evidence dismissed with the tired canard, ¡°Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity,¡± or other similar sentiments which foolishly assume that malice is in short supply in this world. However, I think a version of this aphorism is accurate.

    Call it Genjitsu¡¯s Law: ¡°No conspiracy is required to convince mainstream culture to dismiss conspiracies out of hand. Natural primate social dynamics will more than do the trick.¡±

    Evolution has gifted each of us with a veil, a powerful shroud which we can use to separate our conscious mind from the simple, obvious truth of things. If we use our veil well, we may never need to acknowledge any of the truths our friends and girlfriends and parents and bosses similarly hide with their similar veils. In this way, we all go along and get along. What else could a primate possibly ask?

 CHAPTER TWENTY

    Connor was surfing the Internet in a bored, only-half-paying-attention way when someone knocked on his bedroom door. Before he could respond there was another knock, and then a wild flurry of knocking like someone was truly desperate to get inside.

    ¡°You can come in, Lily.¡±

    His little sister flounced through the door and hopped onto the bed. ¡°Good morning. Did you have dreams?¡±

    ¡°One or two.¡±

    ¡°Were they about girls?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Connor lied, ¡°they were about yellow elephants.¡±

    ¡°Yellow elephants. Yel-low el-e-phants. Yeeeeelllow Elephaaaaants. Danny¡¯s here for you.¡±

    Connor leaped up from his chair. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say that first?¡±

    ¡°I wanted to hear about your dreams. Why are you¡ª¡±

    But Connor was already out the door and on his way down the stairs.

    Danny was in the kitchen, and Connor¡¯s mother was serving him breakfast.

    ¡°Thank you so much, Mrs. McKenna,¡± said Danny after taking a bite of scrambled egg. ¡°You didn¡¯t have to.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I was making a batch anyway. And I haven¡¯t seen you in a while. Connor keeps disappearing off to your place.¡±

    ¡°I think my mom is getting sick of us.¡±

    ¡°Hah. Morning, Connor.¡± She handed him a plate already heaped with eggs. ¡°When does soccer start up again, by the way?¡±

    Danny smiled, but shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m actually not sure I¡¯m going to do soccer this year.¡±

    ¡°What? Why not? Connor needs you.¡±

    ¡°Connor¡¯ll have Rod.¡±

    Mom¡¯s lip twitched the way it always did when someone reminded her of Rod and she had to keep herself from looking disapproving.

    ¡°Can I have the red pepper?¡± asked Lily, taking the stool at the bar next to Danny and pulling close a plate of eggs.

    ¡°It¡¯s cayenne pepper, sweetie,¡± said Mom. ¡°Here you go, but you won¡¯t like it if you use too much.¡±

    ¡°Have you done any good puzzles lately?¡± Danny asked, and Lily launched into a detailed description of the 3d puzzle she wanted for her birthday.

    What if Danny infected Lily? He was breathing Blue breath on her right now.

    ¡°Come on,¡± said Connor, clapping Danny on the shoulder.

    ¡°Thanks again for the food, Mrs. McKenna. Good luck with that puzzle, Lily. It sounds really cool.¡± Danny followed Connor outside, past the chicken run and rabbit hutch and behind the big grayed-wood storage shed.

    As soon as Connor was sure no one could see them he spun around to face Danny. ¡°What was that with my Mom and sister?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Why are you being so nice-y nice to them?¡±

    ¡°I like your family. I¡¯ve always liked your family. The way I feel about them hasn¡¯t changed.¡±

    Connor huffed in a way he meant to come off as dismissive and cool. He realized too late that there really is no cool way to huff. ¡°You¡¯ve gotten better at lying, by the way.¡±

    ¡°I could always lie, Connor. I just didn¡¯t do it because it was wrong.¡±

    ¡°And it¡¯s not wrong now?¡±

    Danny sighed. ¡°No, it still is. But now we do wrong things. It¡¯s how it goes.¡±

    ¡°So why are you here?¡±

    ¡°Our formal group summit ended badly. I thought a friendly one-on-one meeting might work better.¡±

    ¡°Work better at what?¡±

    ¡°At making sure nothing stupid happens. Here.¡±

    Danny kneeled down and held his hand out a few inches above the ground. Blue-white electricity crackled between his palm and the dirt and kept crackling for what seemed like a long time. When it fizzled out, Danny swayed and almost fell over and caught himself. He wavered a little as he got to his feet. ¡°That¡¯s all my charge. Getting rid of it like that tires me out¡ªnow I¡¯m two kinds of harmless.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you expect, Danny. And I don¡¯t know why you came to me.¡±

    ¡°I believe they¡¯ll listen to you, Connor. You¡¯re everyone¡¯s friend. You think I should have gone to Rod?¡±

    ¡°No. I meant¡­ What about Priya?¡±

    For the first time since he¡¯d shown up, Danny looked uncomfortable. ¡°I don¡¯t like seeing Priya, now. It¡¯s weird.¡±

    ¡°Because you two used to¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah. But anyway, what I want from you is a promise that you guys¡ªthe Reds¡ªwon¡¯t do the next thing.¡±

    ¡°The next thing.¡±

    ¡°No breaking stuff, no graffiti, no attacks. No¡ªI don¡¯t know¡ªkidnapping? Libel? Whatever.¡±

    Connor frowned. ¡°Why do you assume it would be us doing the libel and graffiti? This whole time it¡¯s been you just as much as us.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, it has been. And if the Blues do the next thing, you guys are free to respond.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re doing it again, Danny.¡±

    ¡°Doing what?¡±

    ¡°Assuming you¡¯re better than us. Assuming we¡¯re the ones who have to be reined it, and if it¡¯s up to you and your Blues everything will be fine.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not what¡¯s happening. I¡¯m giving you the opportunity to help me¡ª¡±

    Connor pushed him. He didn¡¯t mean to.

    Well, he didn¡¯t mean to mean to.

    Danny¡¯s back hit the shed wall with a sound like a door slamming shut. It had to have hurt. He winced as he hit, but then relaxed against the wall as if he meant to be standing there. He looked freaking casual.

    ¡°So what do you say?¡± Danny asked.

    He was going to tell people about this. Lorraine, probably. He was going to tell the whole story and he¡¯d look level-headed and noble and Connor would look¡­ Connor wanted to run away or yell or rip the shed down with his bare hands or something.

    ¡°Fine,¡± he said instead. ¡°I promise we won¡¯t be the ones who do ¡®the next thing.¡¯ It¡¯s all on you.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± Danny stuck out his hand.

    Connor shook it and added, in a low voice, ¡°Sorry about, you know¡­¡±

    ¡°Forget it.¡± Danny started to leave, but before he did he turned back in a one-more-thing sort of way. ¡°Look, I don¡¯t want to offend you, so just take this how I say it. Why spend a lot of energy worrying about someone else thinking they¡¯re a better person than you when you can spend that energy just being a good person, and then it doesn¡¯t matter? Say goodbye to your mom for me.¡±

    Connor waited until Danny left. And then he punched the shed. The old wooden board splintered beneath his fist. He let his hand drop, and bits of paint crackled away and fell to the ground. He shook the stiffness out of his hand and went inside.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    ###

    <h2>E-mail from Elias Kaplan to Ksenya Carpenter.</h2>

    I lost music today, all of it. It¡¯s just sounds now.

    ###

    Elias¡¯s mom answered the door. Kess had met her once before, the day they met Silver and Elias got injected with the goop that was now turning him into a Gray. After that encounter, they¡¯d gone back to his house to listen to music and pretend nothing weird or scary had happened. His mother was a tall dark-haired woman who radiated intelligence and smiled wide with crooked teeth.

    ¡°Kess!¡± she said when she saw the girl on her doorstep. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you again. Elias will be so happy you¡¯re here. He¡¯s been¡­ Anyway, I¡¯m glad you came. Elias!¡±

    She disappeared into the back of the house as her son came down the stairs. He wore a short-sleeved dark shirt, and his left forearm was covered in pen markings. He¡¯d drawn neat squares in black ink across his skin up to his elbow. It was just like the pattern the little girl, Cara, had drawn on the pavement in Johnston.

    ¡°So,¡± he said, ¡°why are you here?¡±

    ¡°You sent me an email.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°It said you lost music.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°And when you first played me your favorite song, you acted like a missionary sharing the key to life eternal.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°So I thought you¡¯d be sad.¡±

    ¡°You thought I¡¯d be sad,¡± said Elias. ¡°So you came here to see me.¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ yes.¡±

    He nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± And he stepped out of the house and took her hand and led her away from the door. He took her around the corner of the house to the backyard and through a gate in the wooden fence, all without saying anything else. Now they were in a long alley facing backyards on either side. The ground was grass and gravel. Elias hadn¡¯t said anything in long enough that Kess didn¡¯t want to ruin the hushed mood by speaking.

    He led her down to the end of the alley, where the houses stopped. A deep, cement-lined ditch stretched out perpendicular to the alley, with a thin dark trickle of water running along the bottom. On the other side was unruly long grass and a chain-link fence. Elias helped Kess hop down into the ditch. They walked along it with the soles of their shoes squelching in the shallow water.

    Finally they came to the end of the ditch, where it disappeared into a large cement block set into the ground. Between the block and the corner of the chain-link fence, two trees grew at odd angles that made it clear they hadn¡¯t been planted on purpose. Elias climbed out into the scraggle-grass and helped Kess up after him.

    She found herself in an odd, forgotten piece of the world. There was a patch of dirt surrounded by long ragged grass. The sight of nearby houses was obstructed by the bulky cement block and the two ramshackle trees. On the other two sides, the chain-link fence made a corner. Beyond the fence a wild field stretched off to the road, which was far enough away you couldn¡¯t hear the cars.

    ¡°What is this place?¡± she asked.

    ¡°This is where I come to be emotional. You know¡ªwrite in my diary, weep softly, listen to music by guys who dye their hair black.¡±

    ¡°No, really.¡±

    ¡°This was my hideout when I was a kid. I¡¯d come here and read. I haven¡¯t been in years.¡±

    ¡°So why¡¯d you think of it now?¡±

    ¡°I thought you might like it.¡±

    Kess turned around, taking it all in. ¡°I do,¡± she said. ¡°Like it. It¡¯s private.¡±

    ¡°I know it¡¯s ugly. Sorry about that.¡±

    ¡°Privacy is beautiful, Elias.¡±

    He smiled, but didn¡¯t laugh. She thought he would have laughed at that, before.

    ¡°There¡¯s something I want to show you. Let me see if it¡¯s still here.¡± He kneeled on the ground and pushed apart the long grass at the base of one of the trees. This revealed a rusted metal box sitting between the roots. He pulled it out and opened it, red rust rubbing off onto his fingers. Kess kneeled beside him to see what was in the box.

    An action figure in black and purple plastic. (¡°Captain Neutrino. I wasn¡¯t sure what a neutrino was, exactly, but I knew it was sciencey.¡±)

    A white cassette tape with GOOD MUSIC written on it in permanent marker. (¡°I was just learning that retro is cool.¡±)

    Twenty-seven dollars sealed in a plastic bag, though water had gotten in anyway and the dollar bills stuck together with their green dye splotched and running. (¡°I was going to buy a telescope.¡±)

    Kess looked away from the stuff in Elias¡¯s box to Elias himself.

    His deep-set eyes were serious and tired. He had missed a spot shaving, and coarse dark hair bristled from his chin. His black shirt wasn¡¯t tight, exactly, but it did follow the lines of his chest and waist.

    And it occurred to her that, well, lust was a lot like music or laughter or chocolate. And maybe Elias had already lost it, and he didn¡¯t particularly want to touch or kiss her, not anymore. She knew it was self-centered and silly to worry about that when Elias¡¯s entire life was in the process of turning upside down, but it had made her really happy, knowing he thought she was pretty.

    He met her gaze, and then he put his hand on her leg above her knee, and then he kissed her like he really, really wanted to.

    She hesitated for a moment before touching him back, remembering the electricity flowing from her hands the first time they kissed, but she was in control now, wasn¡¯t she? She wrapped her hands around his sides, her fingers following his angles. He leaned forward, pushing her back until her shoulders hit the cement block.

    This was the third time they had kissed, and if Elias kept changing it might be the last. And so Kess kissed his neck, even though that wasn¡¯t the sort of thing she thought she did. He made the most wonderful sound.

    But there was another sound. A sort of whir. She opened her eyes and looked up into the air above them.

    She screamed. Just a little scream, but enough to make Elias jump back from her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Did I¡ª¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a flying robot helicopter thing!¡±

    He leaned back and craned his neck to look up. ¡°A drone. That¡¯s a drone.¡±

    Kess glared up at it. ¡°It has a camera.¡±

    The drone hovered about ten feet above them, near the top of the scraggly trees. It was painted black like it was meant to be stealthy, though of course in the middle of the day the black was stark against the blue sky. The drone had a round body and five arms that stuck out starfish-like around it, each arm tipped with a whirring helicopter fan.

    A tiny hatch opened in the central body and a slip of white paper slid out. The paper drifted about, fluttering like a white moth, until Elias caught it out of the air.

    ¡°Need to talk in person,¡± he read. ¡°Very urgent. Follow messenger. I am on your side. Power is knowledge.¡±

    ¡°Power is knowledge. That was the name of your Internet conspiracy friend.¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    They both looked back up at the drone. It started to fly off across the field on the other side of the fence. When it had gone about ten feet it stopped, waiting for them.

    ¡°It wants us to climb the fence,¡± said Elias.

    ¡°It is overestimating our athletic abilities,¡± said Kess.

    ¡°Come on. I¡¯ll help you over first.¡±

    Getting over the fence wasn¡¯t actually that hard, though Kess did rip her jeans above her right knee. The two of them followed the drone across the field. Kess knew she should feel excited about the prospect of getting answers and making progress on the big mystery. Instead she felt pettily put-out.

    They had been having a really nice moment.

    When they got to the road on the edge of the field, a black car with tinted windows was waiting for them. They got into the backseat, just like the kids in a Very Special Episode about kidnapping. From the outside the windows had looked like normal tinted plastic. From the inside they were jet black, even the front windshield. The effect was claustrophobic.

    There was no driver. The car drove away anyway.

    ¡°Huh,¡± said Elias. ¡°This didn¡¯t look like a self-driving car.¡±

    ¡°How do those look different?¡±

    ¡°They have sensor dealies on top. I didn¡¯t see anything like that on this. How does it see?¡±

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t want us to know where we¡¯re going,¡± said Kess, putting a hand on the opaque window beside her. She pulled out her phone. ¡°And look at this. No signal and no GPS. He¡¯s blocked it somehow. This is¡­ This could be really bad. Should we have gotten in here?¡±

    Elias shrugged. ¡°The point of fear is to tell you what not to do,¡± he said. ¡°We already got in the car, so fear isn¡¯t useful anymore.¡±

    She stared at him, speechless.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what Stone said.¡±

    ¡°Stone? That Gray guy who looks like the scion of a privileged east coast family?¡±

    ¡°Yes. When he first stopped me and Priya in the road, he held a gun to my head. He said¡­¡± She closed her eyes, remembering. ¡°He said, ¡®Fear is only useful in so far as it tells you what to do. Right now it tells you to do what I say. Since you know what to do, fear is no longer useful.¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ he was right.¡±

    ¡°He was Gray. That¡¯s what they say, stuff about emotions being useful or not useful.¡±

    Elias didn¡¯t say anything. But he did take her hand, cautiously, as if maybe he did have a little fear left in him. She was stiff for a second, but then she let herself relax. Elias may have been transforming into a Gray, but he wasn¡¯t turned yet, and there was no point wasting time freaking out about the transition. She leaned against him and put her head on his shoulder.

    They couldn¡¯t see where they were going, but Kess felt it when they turned off of smooth pavement onto some kind of much-bumpier road. They followed this for ten shaky, winding minutes until the car stopped and released them. They¡¯d been driving for about an hour in all.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing here,¡± said Kess, standing beside the car. There were trees to one side of the dinky dirt trail they¡¯d driven here on, a nondescript field to the other. ¡°I¡¯m not just not seeing it, right? There¡¯s nothing.¡±

    ¡°Underground,¡± said Elias.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s rich, and he has access to technology that shouldn¡¯t be possible yet, and he¡¯s paranoid. He¡¯s underground.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve figured out who it is?¡±

    ¡°I bet you know too, if you think about it.¡±

    Sure enough, there was a faint hissing sound, and a square section of grassy ground pushed up, supported by spindly metal arms. It revealed a set of concrete steps leading down into a hole. Once they were inside, the ground closed up over them, cutting off the sun. Small white lights flickered on, revealing a door at the base of the steps. The door and its frame were covered in some kind of ugly greenish-gray material patterned with overlapping diamonds. On a hunch Kess switched on her super-vision.

    ¡°It looks exactly like the dirt,¡± she said, cycling slowly and methodically through wavelengths. ¡°Not like metal or anything. The stuff that bounces off the dirt bounces off it, the stuff that goes through the dirt goes through the door. Or it looks like it does. It can¡¯t actually, because I don¡¯t see anything on the other side. It must be absorbed somehow.¡±

    Elias nodded as if he had expected her to say that, which he couldn¡¯t possibly have done.

    There was a click, and orange light pulsed from a point above the door, washing across Kess and Elias for a moment before blinking away. There were more blinks of light in different colors, more signals Elias couldn¡¯t see in flashing rainbow sequence.

    Then the door opened. The man on the other side looked seventy-ish or older, with untidy gray hair and a pale, papery face. ¡°Come in,¡± he said. ¡°Quickly.¡± His voice was pale and papery as well.

    As soon as they were inside, the door shut behind them. They were in an entry-way with concrete on all sides. Kess guessed that the outside of the walls, facing the dirt, would be covered in that green-gray camouflage stuff. The floor was set with small white lights that shone up at the three of them and gave their faces unsettling shadows. The old man stepped back, his eyes flickering between Kess and Elias. Elias stuck out his hand for a shake. ¡°Pleased to meet you, Mr. Holifeld.¡±

 CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

    ¡°Holifeld,¡± repeated Kess. ¡°Vance Holifeld. Don¡¯t you live in Johnston?¡±

    The old man did not answer Kess or take Elias¡¯s offered hand. Instead he squinted at him, suspicious. ¡°How did you know me, Clever Handle? There are no photographs of me online.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a major player in all this and you hadn¡¯t shown up yet. It seemed obvious.¡±

    Holifeld¡¯s eyes moved too much. He blinked a lot and kept glancing in every direction including up, as if something dangerous might be ready to drop on him from the ceiling. ¡°And you¡¯re her. The Beta 2.¡±

    ¡°Excuse me?¡±

    ¡°Can I see them? Your hands?¡±

    Kess looked over at Elias, but he didn¡¯t look back at her. Kess wasn¡¯t really the sort who exchanged looks with people, but she used to do it with her sister and she¡¯d been getting used to it with Elias.

    She held out her arms to the old man. He took her right hand in his thin, pale, wrinkled one. A thin dark line, some sort of cable, ran out of his sleeve at his wrist and across the back of his hand. It split into tendrils that coiled around his fingers. Kess desperately wanted to know what that was about, but figured she couldn¡¯t afford to ask questions before knowing how willing Holifeld was to answer. He ran a finger over the star on her palm. ¡°And it works? Of course it does. But show me.¡± He blinked three times, quickly, like an insect flicking its wings. ¡°Please.¡±

    Glance at Elias. No look in return. ¡°Alright.¡± Kess held her hands in front of her face, palms facing each other, and let it flow. Blue lightning danced between her metal stars. She let it go for a second or two, thinking about how impressive it must look to someone who hadn¡¯t seen it, before she dropped her arms. ¡°So I guess by Beta 2s you mean Blues, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what you call yourselves?¡±

    ¡°Yes. And so the Reds would be¡­ Beta 1s? Or Alpha 2s?¡±

    ¡°I assume you¡¯re talking about the Beta 1s. And the Alphas you call Grays. Charming.¡± He looked at Elias. ¡°You should know it took a tremendous amount of trust to allow one of them¡ªa Gray¡ªinto my home.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not totally Gray yet,¡± snapped Kess.

    ¡°I know. I scanned you both when you were on my doorstep and determined his progression. My computer estimates that it will be another week at least before Clever Handle can no longer to be trusted. That¡¯s why I¡¯m going to let him leave. Let¡¯s sit down.¡±

    He led them further into his¡­ home? His base? His home base?

    The lighting got brighter and less creepy past the entryway, though there was still a depressing amount of concrete everywhere. Holifeld took them down a hall and into a wide room with blocky black leather couches around a glass coffee table. One entire wall was covered in screens (blank, for now), and to one side was a hulking piece of metal equipment, the purpose of which wasn¡¯t clear, thought it had lots of little blinky bits on it. All together, it looked like a supervillain lair.

    ¡°When did my life get so weird?¡± Kess muttered to herself.

    ¡°Three and a half months ago,¡± said Holifeld.

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s when I arranged for two test animals to escape from the Holifeld Company facility in Johnston. Please, sit.¡±

    Kess and Elias settled onto one of the stiff-cushioned black couches, and Holifeld sat across from them.

    ¡°Why did you bring us here?¡± asked Elias. ¡°Are you just going to tell us everything? Why? When we were talking on the forum I had to drag every speck of information out of you.¡±

    ¡°I need someone,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s why I contacted you in the first place. You know about my company? You know the sort of projects we worked on?¡±

    ¡°Magic,¡± said Kess. ¡°You wanted to do things that might as well be magical.¡±

    ¡°I was born to great fortune. Solid, practical fortune. Steel money. After my father died I used my inheritance to seek out wonders. I soon learned that the world was less wondrous then I had hoped. It was¡­ disappointing.¡±

    ¡°So what was all the spirit writing and spells then?¡± asked Kess.

    Holifeld shrugged. ¡°In time, after other disappointments, I realized that the mind can do things to itself. But I decided that if wonders do not exist, they can be created. I returned to America and sought out projects to sponsor.¡±

    He pursed his thin pale paper lips. ¡°Rubbish. For years my company pursued rubbish and nonsense. But then someone came to me, a scientist. Jonathan Akiyama. He was young, almost as young as you two. And brilliant.¡±

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Elias raised an eyebrow. ¡°Much more brilliant than us two?¡±

    Holifeld smiled¡ªa thin, wry expression. ¡°Yes. He had an idea, like everyone else, but he had more than that as well. He had a prototype. A glass vial filled with something wondrous. He called it a liquid computer chip.¡±

    Leaning forward, Holifeld tapped on the glass surface of the coffee table. One of the screens on the wall flickered to life, a glowing rectangle in the center of the dark glassy wall. The screen showed a many-faceted, three-dimensional gray shape, with spiny legs radiating from it like a spider. A spider or¡­

    ¡°It looks sort of like a virus,¡± said Elias.

    ¡°It is ¡®sort of like¡¯ a virus. The design is based off of viruses. This is Holifeld Company¡¯s principal project. Our¡ª¡± blink-blink-blink ¡°¡ªmagic. Nanomachines. Self-replicating and, when gathered in large enough numbers, capable of complex programming. In recent decades, we have directed the project towards the nanomachine-enabled cybernetic enhancement of human beings.¡±

    Kess looked down at her metal-tipped fingers. ¡°There are little robots inside of me.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Once inside the body, they perpetuate themselves, building more nanomachines out of fat and food. Then they begin to make changes. They alter the brain, drive subjects to eat materials needed for further modifications.¡±

    ¡°What was the point?¡± asked Kess.

    ¡°To begin with, for financial reasons¡ªsoldiers. Mercenaries.¡± Blink-blink-blink. ¡°Etcetera.¡±

    ¡°So what¡¯s with the weird tribal thing? The Red vs. Blue.¡±

    Holifeld made a few tapping, dragging motions with his fingers on the tabletop. Two other screens lit up. One showed sunny green video¡ªa jungle, with dark-furred chimpanzees gathered in the trees. As Kess watched, the video point of view blurred, swinging from the vantage point of one branch to another. The other screen showed a 3-d model of a brain, though it looked subtly different than pictures Kess had seen before. Not a human brain, she realized¡ªchimpanzee. Parts of the brain lit up green and red and violet.

    ¡°Years ago we realized that a potential application of our machines was brain mapping, brain augmentation. We seeded¡ªyou might say infected¡ªa group of wild chimpanzees. Highly expensive operation. We recorded their behavior¡ªtdsxhat video is from a camera implanted in a chimp¡¯s brow¡ªand matched it to brain recordings. The process is not straightforward, but we began to understand some of the machinery of the brain, including those parts governing loyalty, group membership.

    ¡°The possibilities were immediately apparent. Imagine ensuring a person¡¯s absolute loyalty. Imagine knowing they would never betray you.

    ¡°Jonathan¡ªhe wasn¡¯t like many scientists, he had a tremendous eye for the profitable applications of his discoveries¡ªenvisioned bands of soldiers, physically enhanced and united by brain augmentation. They would fight for each other as fiercely as you would for your family. The army spends considerable time and resources trying to inculcate a similar dynamic. So we developed our machines to utilize the brain¡¯s existing architecture. There are codes that tell you who your tribe is. Who to trust, who to protect. In here.¡± Holifeld tapped his forehead with one long, bony finger. As he did so, his hand began to shake. He grimaced at it and pushed up his sleeve with his other hand. The dark cables that twisted around his fingers ran up his arm to a sort of wide bracelet just below his elbow. He tapped it a few times and his hand stopped trembling.

    Kess had a horrible vision. With this technology you could forcibly rip people away from their families, like she¡¯d been ripped from her sister. You could convert spies, make them loyal to you and not their home nation. You could play around with love and hate, reach into people¡¯s brains and rearrange their circuits against their will. Instead of bringing up any of that she said, ¡°I could betray the Blues if I really really wanted to. It would feel terrible, but I could do it.¡±

    Holifeld shrugged. ¡°The project was complicated and highly ambitious. We don¡¯t understand the brain well enough to fine-tune the changes we want. The brilliance of the nanomachines is that they are self-directed and self-correcting. We could alter the brains of a test subject, record the results, and the new generation of nanomachines would program themselves accordingly.¡±

    ¡°How many monkeys did you go through?¡± asked Kess.

    ¡°Not enough to finish the project goals,¡± said Holifeld. ¡°Particularly after we tried to integrate different aspects of the project. Each Beta type was designed to transmit a unique signal so that they might recognize each other. That technology was thoroughly understood. But when this signaling process interacted with the changes to the brain¡¯s loyalty centers, it caused the Beta 1¡¯s and Beta 2¡¯s to react to each other¡¯s signals with distrust and antagonism.¡±

    Elias nodded. ¡°So red tribe hates blue tribe.¡±

    The flood of answers coming so quickly after they had spent so much effort looking for them made Kess dizzy. ¡°Okay. So why are only teenagers affected? And why can I see radiation and the others can¡¯t? And how do the Grays fit in?¡±

    ¡°The adolescent brain is mostly-matured, but still growing, radically altered by hormones in the recent past. This makes it more easily converted than those of either children or adults, especially when the machines are spreading like a disease, through contact, rather than being deliberately administered. As for your enhanced vision...¡± Holifeld made some more adjustments to the coffee table/control panel. Now one of the screens showed a computer rendering of an eyeball, a round white orb trailing bloody red fibers. Holifeld tapped his finger and the picture changed. Metallic cables wound around the thick red sinews stretching back from the eyeball. The white surface of the eye, and its round blue iris, were coated in what looked like clear beads.

    ¡°This feature was meant to be included in all Beta 2¡¯s. However, the visual processing involved is quite complex. It requires coopting some of the brain¡¯s natural visual systems. Only some brains are well-suited to the process. It¡¯s a quirk. Random. The machines realized your brain was an appropriate candidate¡ªI say the machines, though by the time they began to modify your eyes the machines had already altered and coopted much of your own brain for processing power.¡±

    Kess had too much to think about already, so she put that aside for later.

    ¡°And do you have any questions, Clever Handle?¡± asked Holifeld, turning to Elias.

    ¡°Lots of them. But only one urgent one.¡±

    ¡°And that is?¡±

    ¡°You said you needed us for something.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Holifeld leaned forward, his cable-covered hand on his narrow old-man knee.

    Blink.

    Blink.

    Blink.

    ¡°I need you to break into Holifeld Company.¡±

 CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

    ¡°Us?¡± asked Elias. ¡°The two of us? Me and Kess?¡±

    Holifeld nodded. ¡°Yes. I need you two to get something for me, something inside the Holifeld Company compound.¡±

    ¡°But we¡¯re teenagers. We have not yet reached the age of our majority.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯ll be gone soon.¡±

    ¡°What will?¡±

    ¡°The snark.¡±

    That startled Elias into silence.

    ¡°Seriously, though,¡± said Kess. ¡°We¡¯re two random kids. Get anyone else to do it. The cops. Mercenaries. A world-famous cat burglar. Whoever.¡±

    ¡°The Alphas¡ªthe Grays¡ªhave infiltrated the police, the FBI. Sometimes with their own people, though they find undercover work difficult. Sometimes with bribery, blackmail. In a few cases utilizing brain augmentation more limited and specific than the transformation into an Alpha or a Beta. They hack, they thieve, they extort. You two are already involved in this business, and you are confirmed as the Alphas¡¯ enemies. You are as trustworthy as anyone in this world. And besides, you¡ª¡± He pointed at Elias. ¡°¡ªwill be recognized by the security system¡¯s sensors as an Alpha. And you¡ª¡± Kess. ¡°¡ªas a Beta are immune to one of the Alphas¡¯ greatest resources, a weapon originally designed to strike against the Alphas themselves. A brain altering substance known as the purge.¡±

    Kess realized what could be described as a ¡°purge.¡± She grabbed Elias¡¯s arm. ¡°That stuff, that gas that erases memories.¡±

    ¡°Exactly,¡± said Holifeld.

    Kess remembered that day in the coffee shop and the moment that glass ball smashed at Silver¡¯s feet. Apparently she hadn¡¯t needed to hold her breath.

    ¡°Okay,¡± said Elias. ¡°It makes sense to send us. I guess. What is it that you want us to get?¡±

    Holifeld sat back and stared at Elias. He stared at him for a long time. His hand on his knee began to quiver, but he didn¡¯t do anything about it this time, and it made Kess so uncomfortable she almost felt like shaking herself. She had to do something about this, had to break the awkward silence¡ª

    ¡°Mr. Holifeld,¡± said Elias, ¡°the Grays are after you, so it¡¯s rational for you to distrust everyone you talk to. That¡¯s useful. But you already brought us here. You already weighed the risks and rewards and brought us into your home and began to let us into your plans. So your distrust isn¡¯t useful anymore. There¡¯s no point in hesitating now.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no point to impatience, either, is there Clever Handle?¡± Holifeld finally raised his arm and adjusted settings on his glove until his hand stopped shaking. Then he leaned forward, put his elbows on his knees. ¡°The Alpha project was focused on civilian applications. No soldiers. They changed nothing but the brain, and we had high hopes for them. Depending on programming input the machines could potentially improve memory, cure addiction. Animal testing was highly promising, and it was time to progress to human tests. Dr. Akiyama volunteered.¡±

    ¡°Your lead scientist?¡± said Kess. ¡°Your lead scientist volunteered to be your first test subject? That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s stupid. Scientists don¡¯t experiment on themselves. Not real ones.¡±

    Holifeld smiled again, and Kess decided she hated that smile. For some subtle reason, looking at it made her angry and sad. ¡°We never did anything properly,¡± he said. ¡°We were sorcerers, demon-summoners.¡±

    ¡°The Invisible Man experimented on himself,¡± said Kess. ¡°In the old black and white movie. He injected himself with invisibility juice and went crazy and burned stuff down and was all like ¡®There are things man was not meant to know!¡¯ But I always thought that was stupid. It¡¯s not that there¡¯s things man wasn¡¯t meant to know, just things man was not meant to inject himself with without knowing what will happen. There are things man was meant to learn intelligently.¡±

    ¡°We only intended to improve Jonathan¡¯s memory. We thought it worked. It did work. For weeks he seemed like nothing but a slightly improved version of himself. It grew slowly in him.

    ¡°It was his assistant who first noticed signs of strange behavior. You¡¯ve met her, I believe¡ªNatalie Silver. She was a very intelligent woman. Not a scientist, but she made an effort to understand Jonathan¡¯s projects anyway. She was that dedicated to her job. That¡¯s why she suspected what exactly might be wrong with Jonathan. Very intelligent woman. But I never liked her.

    ¡°Jonathan I liked. Jonathan made me this, to help with my tremors.¡± He held up his arm wrapped in its strange dark cables, then set his arm down again and continued. ¡°He told me that nothing was wrong with him, he¡¯d been having some anxiety problems lately, that was all. But he was seeing a therapist.

    ¡°Trusting the people you like, distrusting those you don¡¯t¡ªit¡¯s not a very good heuristic. I trusted you, Clever Handle, because I liked you. No one ever learns anything.

    ¡°At that point, Jonathan was already beginning to convert others. Fortunately, he began with security personnel like Christopher Stone, leaving both me and Natalie Silver for later. Natalie went to some of the lower-level scientists, claimed to be passing on orders from Jonathan. She turned out to make a brilliant project manager. I should have promoted her earlier. But I didn¡¯t like her. As I said.

    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°The purge was developed at her direction. Since the Alpha nanomachines already targeted memory, it was relatively simple to develop an alternate model which erased memory instead. The other project she spawned was more complex. An inoculation. She called it the Nox.¡±

    That made Kess sit up straight in her seat, woken by a sudden electric rush. ¡°An inoculation against Gray-ness? That¡¯s what you want us to steal, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Holifeld nodded.

    An inoculation. That was big. That was beautiful. That could save Elias. Elias¡¯s face was blank even though he must have realized the implications. He seemed stubbornly unexcited. Kess was about to say something when Holifeld started talking again.

    ¡°Over the next months, I noticed for myself the strange things that were happening. For me, it was the way they moved that finally got my attention. You know you can recognize people from far away, by the way they move? The Alphas move like machines.

    ¡°I approached Natalie and learned of her plans, and then I came here.¡± He indicated the room around him, the screens and blinking supervillain equipment. ¡°I¡¯d had this built the year before, out of general caution. I offered to bring Natalie with me, but she needed to stay. The Nox was designed, but the first batch needed to be produced, and this base wouldn¡¯t be secure until all knowledge of it had been erased from Jonathan Akiyama¡¯s memory.

    ¡°I watched Holifeld Company from here. This is the last I saw of Natalie Silver before she lost her mind.¡±

    He tapped and dragged his finger along the glass tabletop. The entire wall of screens blinked alive at once. A single image stretched across the wall¡ªgrainy black-and-green security footage showing what looked like a laboratory with counters and sinks and metal cabinets.

    Silver walked in.

    Even though she was expecting her, it took Kess a moment to recognize the woman, mostly because of the way she was dressed. Both times Kess had met Silver, the Gray woman had worn drab, unflattering business clothes. This Silver wore a skirt and a blouse with a lace-trimmed neckline. Her feet were bare, as if she¡¯d been wearing heels but had taken them off to hurry through halls. Her dark hair was down and styled in a way that would have been fashionable when Kess was in middle school, her lips were lipstick dark, and her earrings were big and glittery enough to show up on camera. Kess realized that, just as Elias had lost music in his transition to Grayness, Natalie Silver had lost lipstick and lace.

    Silver was holding something in a balled fist. She looked around the room, strode over to a closet, opened it, and shoved the thing in her hand somewhere inside. Then she closed the door, walked over to the security camera and fiddled with something on it.

    She¡¯d turned the sound recording on.

    ¡°Holifeld,¡± she said, her voice fuzzing from the cheap microphone. ¡°Perelli finished the Nox, but they got to him. Christopher¡¯s after me¡ªif I took the Nox myself he¡¯d kill me, so I hid it¡ªyou saw where. I asked Yang to erase everything important off the servers and I think he managed most of it. He says your line into the system should still work and shouldn¡¯t be detectable unless you do something drastic with it. I released the purge into the ventilation system. It should work through the building in the next few minutes.

    ¡°Good luck, Mr. Holifeld.¡± And Silver nodded like Kess would imagine a soldier would nod, or an astronaut.

    The lab door opened behind her and Silver turned to face Stone.

    Stone had a gun. Silver put her hands up in surrender. Stone didn¡¯t say anything. Instead, he pulled something out of his pocket¡ªa syringe. He tossed it to Silver, who caught it out of the air.

    For a strange moment, Kess felt as if she were being pulled forward into the screen, as if she might stumble into that soft-edged green world.

    Silver shoved the needle into her elbow.

    #

    The screens went dark, leaving Kess feeling shaken.

    ¡°The original version of the purge wiped out the last year of memory of every Alpha in the building,¡± said Holifeld. ¡°Only a few low-level employees who were outside at the time were spared. It meant they didn¡¯t know about this bunker, and it severely hampered their efforts on both the Alpha and Beta projects. That was five years ago. I monitored their computer systems from here but didn¡¯t use my administrative override because I didn¡¯t want to tip my hand until I saw an opportunity to weaken their operation. And then they installed automated locks on the animal pens. Terrible idea.

    ¡°Since then, the Alphas have been so pre-occupied with the Beta situation¡ªthe Red and Blue situation¡ªtheir security is stretched thin. Now is the time to procure the Nox.¡±

    ¡°Will the Nox cure Elias?¡± asked Kess.

    Elias shook his head. ¡°An inoculation isn¡¯t a cure, Kess.¡±

    ¡°It should stop the Alpha machines from progressing further in converting his brain,¡± said Holifeld.

    ¡°Then we need to get it as soon as possible,¡± said Kess. ¡°Today. Right now. Your robot car can take us there.¡±

    ¡°Not yet,¡± said Holifeld. ¡°The right time is very, very soon. I¡¯ll let you know.¡±

    Elias should be upset by that. He should be as eager to get to the Nox as Kess was. Instead he said, ¡°What would the Grays do if they knew where you were, Mr. Holifeld? Would they kill you?¡±

    ¡°How would that be useful, Clever Handle? They¡¯d convert me, if only to keep me from interfering in their operations. And to access my overseas accounts.¡±

    And Elias finally looked over at Kess. She wasn¡¯t sure what he wanted from her, so she gave him a reassuring smile. He gave a quick, faltering smile back.

    ¡°Okay then,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯ll do it.¡±

    ###

    <h2>Phone call between Elias Kaplan and Jonathan Akiyama (recording):</h2>

    [J.A.] Why are you calling, Mr. Kaplan?

    [E.K.] You can fix me, right?

    [J.A.] You are already in the process of being fixed, Mr. Kaplan.

    [E.K.] Very funny.

    [J.A.] I did not intend that statement to be funny.

    [E.K.] I was being¡ªnever mind. I want you to put me back to what I was before you jabbed me with that needle, or at least stop the changes. I know you won¡¯t just do it, but you¡¯re reasonable. Can we make a bargain? Is there something you want from me?

    [J.A.] We want you to become one of us. That is why we made you one of us.

    [E.K.] There¡¯s things I know you want to know.

    [J.A.] That is true. We want you to become one of us, but there are things we want more urgently, including information. Do you have any of that information, Mr. Kaplan?

    [E.K.] Maybe I¡­ I mean to say, maybe I could find something out. That¡¯s what I mean to say.

    [J.A.] Our reach is wide. How do you propose to discover information that we could not?

    [E.K.] Never mind.

    [J.A.] Mr. Kaplan? Mr. Kaplan, are you there?

 TWENTY-THREE

    Priya liked Connor¡¯s house. It was big and made of painted wood and had both flowers and vegetables growing out front. ¡°Connor,¡± she said, pointing at the window beside the front door, ¡°I think someone¡¯s watching us.¡±

    He knocked on the glass and called through, ¡°Lily, don¡¯t be creepy.¡±

    The door opened and a red-headed girl¡ªabout nine¡ªpopped out. ¡°I¡¯m not creepy, I¡¯m preclocious.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re precocious, and you can be both at the same time.¡± Connor grinned and flicked the girl¡¯s ponytail. ¡°This is Priya, by the way. She¡¯s the friend I told Mom was coming by this morning. Priya, this is my sister Lily.¡±

    ¡°Ooooooh,¡± said Lily. ¡°Oh! You have to meet the rabbits.¡± And she turned and raced through the house. Priya and Connor followed her, pausing briefly to introduce Priya to Connor¡¯s mom as they passed.

    The rabbit hutch was in the backyard, a pleasantly foul-smelling wooden box with a wire grille. Connor pulled out a rabbit, a nut-brown ball of fur. ¡°This little guy¡¯s name is Jerkface. I really shouldn¡¯t have answered Lily when she asked what ¡®ironic¡¯ meant.¡±

    He held the rabbit to his chest, cupping its soft brown body in one hand and stroking its quivering ears with the other. Priya thought of all the strength he was restraining to touch it so soft. It was the most attractive thing she¡¯d ever seen him do.

    ¡°What¡¯s your favorite color?¡± asked Lily. ¡°I mean your favorite animal color?¡±

    ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought about it before,¡± said Priya. ¡°I guess I like black animals. I like how they seem simple.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± said Lily, reaching into the hutch. ¡°This is Snowball.¡± She grinned. ¡°Her name is ironic, too.¡±

    Priya held Snowball in her cupped hands. The black rabbit was soft and warm and quiet, and its small wet nose trembled against her fingertips.

    ¡°Do you think lunch is ready?¡± asked Lily.

    ¡°How fast can you find out?¡± asked Connor.

    ¡°So fast!¡± she shouted, and headed back to the house in a goofy pre-adolescent sprint.

    Priya laughed, and Connor stroked the back of the rabbit she was holding, and she moved one hand on top of his and said, ¡°I think I had a brother. When I was really little, in India. A big brother.¡±

    She looked up at his face, and she could tell he didn¡¯t know what to say, and he said, ¡°You think?¡±

    ¡°I came here when I was very young. It¡¯s hard to remember. I don¡¯t think I had parents, living parents, but I¡¯m pretty sure there was a boy¡ªI don¡¯t remember his name¡ªand I thought he was the most wonderful person in the world and I was absolutely certain he would take care of me.¡±

    ¡°What happened to him?¡±

    ¡°I think¡­ he died.¡±

    Just then, Lily came out to tell them that Dad had managed to take his lunch break at home, and everyone was waiting for them.

    #

    Coming back to Stephanie¡¯s after spending the morning with Priya and his family felt like waking up from a dream. It made Connor want to be grown up already with a wife (not necessarily Priya, that would be creepy, just a general wife) and children and animals and maybe he¡¯d learn how to cook.

    Did he have to come back to Stephanie¡¯s? It surprised him to realize he hadn¡¯t even thought about that question before. It was an assumption, buried deep as breathing, that you came back to base.

    Rod was perched on the roof at the front of the house, his legs dangling over the side. When he saw Connor getting out of his car he shouted for him to come up and join him. Connor clambered up the wall to sit by his friend.

    ¡°Just come from Ya-Ya, huh?¡± asked Rod.

    ¡°How could you tell?¡±

    ¡°Your inner glow.¡±

    Connor rolled his eyes. ¡°Shut up.¡±

    ¡°No, I mean it. You¡¯re like a young child who¡¯s just seen their first sunset or a veteran returning home right as the snow begins to fall on the rocky hills. Or a pregnant lady. How are things going with Ya-Ya, anyway?¡±

    ¡°Better, I think. She seems to be liking me more lately.¡±

    Rod nodded. ¡°So this, uh, new attitude of hers, it started after the whole Sammy Lecker deal, right? When you laid into me about it?¡±

    ¡°About then, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Figures.¡±

    Rod didn¡¯t say anything else, because if he could make Connor ask what he wanted him to ask it would mean he had won this conversation. Whatever. Connor might as well go along with it. ¡°How does it figure, Rod?¡±

    ¡°Remember that night at the party when you and I first met Ya-Ya?¡±

    She had been wearing lip gloss. She had asked what position he played. He had wondered why Danny always got the best girls.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°At one point, I was saying something about her sister¡ª¡±

    ¡°Something obnoxious.¡±

    Rod nodded, acknowledging the point. ¡°Anyway, Danny spoke up on the side of the sister and Ya-Ya kissed him on the cheek.¡±

    That made Connor raise an eyebrow in surprise. ¡°You make fun of me for being obsessed with her, and you remember that?¡±

    ¡°I noticed,¡± said Rod, ¡°because kissing people on the cheek is sort of awkward and no one really does it. I remember because it¡¯s when I learned something about her which has come to form the basis of my deep understanding of her character. Namely, that when a guy does what she wants she awards him with affection.¡±

    ¡°Oh come on.¡±

    ¡°She thinks you listen to me too much, you chew me out, she starts to warm up to you. Those were the steps.¡±

    ¡°Listen to yourself, Rod. I did something she liked, and so she liked me more. That¡¯s how liking people works. It¡¯s natural.¡±

    ¡°What she does is not natural. It¡¯s technique.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah, she¡¯s manipulating me with her feminine wiles.¡±

    ¡°Pretty much.¡±

    ¡°I was joking.¡±

    ¡°And I wasn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Rod, you just¡ªYou shouldn¡¯t think that about girls.¡±

    ¡°Even if it¡¯s true?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not true.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh. How do you know?¡±

    ¡°Because¡­¡±

    ¡°Because if you thought she was manipulating you, that would make you a bad guy. Good guys don¡¯t think girls are manipulating them, even if all signs point in that direction.¡±

    ¡°What signs? There¡¯s no signs.¡±

    ¡°Pay attention, dude.¡±

    ###

    <h2>E-mail from Elias Kaplan to Ksenya Carpenter:</h2>

    This time I lost food. I eat and I taste things, but I don¡¯t care how they taste.

    Remember that burger place in Johnston with all the Grays and their sinister salads? (Sinister Salads = band name.)

    I can remember everything on that menu, and the prices, dollars and cents. That¡¯s some stupid stuff to remember. Do you think there¡¯s a way to wipe it off? I need an erase button.

    ###

    The Blues were gathered in the cabin¡¯s absurdly large kitchen. Marlie and Breanna had decided to make donuts, and they had littered the room with white drifts of spilled flour and piles of sticky eggshells and popping, snapping pans of oil. All the boys except Danny were helping out and/or getting in the way (Danny had been sent to the store for milk, which had been declared necessary for dunking purposes). Lorraine, who disapproved of donuts on a deep spiritual level, sat at the table. She¡¯d found one of those brain teaser toys with the interlocking metal bits you have to untangle, and the pieces clicked together as she worked on it. Kess sat next to her and read Elias¡¯s last e-mail over again for the third time.

    She wished he could tell her whether he¡¯d been in contact with Holifeld, and whether he knew when they¡¯d be making their move against the Grays. She knew why he couldn¡¯t¡ªHolifeld had explained that the Grays were possibly reading their e-mails and texts. He¡¯d given Elias a little black device that could receive messages from Holifeld¡¯s secret base, but there hadn¡¯t been one for Kess.

    It still ate up at Kess not knowing how long they had to wait. All she got from Elias were these horrible progress reports. How much of Elias would degrade before they got their chance to save him?

    ¡°You texting that boy?¡± asked Lorraine.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°That boy you¡¯re investigating with, or whatever.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Yes, sort of. Just reading an e-mail from him.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s funny he hasn¡¯t turned into one of us yet. The Blueness seems to spread pretty easily as long as the person¡¯s around our age.¡±

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°It¡¯s complicated,¡± said Kess. Why hadn¡¯t she been telling the other Blues about the Grays and all the things she¡¯d discovered with Elias? Because it seemed somehow private or separate from her life with them? That was a dumb reason. ¡°There are these people¡ª¡±

    Just then, Danny came in, back from the store. ¡°Lorraine! I got you a thing.¡± He handed her a bun wrapped in plastic. ¡°It¡¯s made with honey and grains and stuff. That makes it healthy, right?¡±

    She looked down at the pastry in her hands and smiled a little. ¡°Yeah, Danny. That makes it healthy. Thanks.¡±

    With all the bodies and the stove burners on high, the kitchen was getting hot. Curious, Kess switched to heat vision.

    Kess¡¯s heat vision didn¡¯t look like the heat-vision-goggle views she¡¯d seen on TV. It wasn¡¯t color-coded, for one thing. She saw heat as purple-red light, with higher heat glowing more intensely. Right now, in the kitchen, each person became a shining violet figure, with the brightest light glowing from their chests and stomachs. The stovetop blazed with deep maroon, and the air above it was a shifting colored haze. This was what friendship looks like, Kess realized. Like a room of warm, wine-colored light.

    She cycled back to normal vision. Many of the wavelengths didn¡¯t show anything at night. Without the sun shining there were no faint x-rays coming through the ceiling to bounce off the appliances. Everyone¡¯s phones were shining from their pockets, of course, and¡ª

    ¡°Guys,¡± she said in a small voice. ¡°There¡¯s someone outside the house.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± asked Lorraine. ¡°How can you tell?¡±

    ¡°I can see their cellphone through the wall. It¡¯s hard to say how far away they are. Maybe in the woods, but they might even be right there in the backyard. Let me get a better look.¡± She stood up and moved so she could see through the window. ¡°Right at the edge of the woods. They¡¯re hiding in the dark, behind a tree.¡±

    Danny just nodded. Then he stood up and clapped to get the Blues¡¯ attention. They stopped in the middle of dripping white glaze over hot donuts and turned to him.

    ¡°Everybody,¡± he said. ¡°Kess has spotted a Red outside, watching us. Speaking one-by-one, what do you think we should do about it?¡±

    They did not speak one by one.

    ¡°Is spying allowed?¡±

    ¡°We should throw rocks at them!¡±

    ¡°I know Kess says it¡¯s impossible to aim our lightning, but what if we could?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think spying¡¯s allowed.¡±

    ¡°Just like they threw rocks at us, you know? It¡¯s poetic.¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t throw rocks hard enough to hurt a Red,¡± said Danny. ¡°Also we don¡¯t throw rocks. That¡¯s not our style.¡±

    ¡°Just zap them when they don¡¯t even expect it.¡±

    ¡°Why haven¡¯t we been spying?¡±

    ¡°Zapping them is our style.¡±

    ¡°We capture them,¡± said Lorraine. ¡°And take them to the Reds and dump them at their feet and gloat.¡±

    ¡°I like that idea,¡± said Breanna. ¡°That¡¯s classy.¡±

    ¡°I like it too,¡± said Danny. ¡°Thanks, Lorraine. Now let me think for a second.¡± Everyone erupted into chatter again. It took a moment for Danny to calm them down when he wanted to talk again.

    ¡°Okay,¡± he said. ¡°The Reds are faster than us, so we have to be careful. Marlie, Breanna, Bradley, come with me. Greg and Paul and Samuel go with Lorraine. Lorraine¡¯s group will come at them from the left side, along the edge of the trees. My group will circle around the other side and come back behind. Hopefully, if he runs away from Lorraine he¡¯ll smack into us.¡±

    ¡°And what about me?¡± asked Kess.

    ¡°You¡¯re the most important part. You stay here and watch everybody¡¯s cellphone signals. You¡¯ll help my group get in position behind the Red, and then tell Lorraine so she can make her move. And of course you¡¯ll tell us if the Red moves. Does anybody have some of those earbuds that work as microphones?¡±

    Two sets of microphone-earbuds were dredged up from purses and backpacks. Lorraine and Danny each plugged one into their cellphones, so that they could talk with their phones in their pockets. Lorraine, Danny, and Kess connected to a group call. And then all the Blues but Kess left the house through the front door.

    Kess stood by the kitchen window and watched the white lights in the darkness. The light marking the Red¡¯s cellphone stayed still, thankfully. The Red didn¡¯t seem to notice as the Blues creeped through the dark trees. Kess directed them from the kitchen. It seemed fake, watching the small white stars that moved when she told them to. Like a video game.

    ¡°It¡¯s funny,¡± said Danny through her phone. ¡°I almost know where to move before you say. Maybe the mindreading thing works all the way out here.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± she said. ¡°We can experiment later. But for right now, you¡¯re all set up. Lorraine, you can move.¡±

    As Kess watched the four white lights that were Lorraine, Samuel, Greg and Bradley move towards the intruder, she had a sudden, terrible thought:

    What if it wasn¡¯t a Red out there? What if it was a Gray?

    A Gray would have a gun.

    ¡°Lorraine! Lorraine, wait¡ª¡±

    But it was too late. There were already shouts coming from outside. And the intruder, instead of running back towards Danny¡¯s group like they¡¯d planned, ran towards the house.

    Towards Kess.

    She sprinted out the door. In the soft yellow light coming from the kitchen window, Kess saw a Red girl, the skinny blonde one. She was dressed in black with her hair pulled back in a braid. The girl met Kess¡¯s eyes for a split second and then jumped. She soared over Kess¡¯s head and hit the wall behind her, sticking to it like a frog. Kess spun and jumped and grabbed for the girl¡¯s leg. Her fingers didn¡¯t quite touch the girl¡¯s bare ankle. But blue sparks jumped in the black air, and the girl fell backwards. She hit the ground and sprawled at Kess¡¯s feet.

    She started to get up, so Kess shocked her again.

    Then the other Blues showed up. ¡°Good job, Kess,¡± said Danny, just barely out of breath from running.

    ¡°Stephanie,¡± said Marlie. ¡°She wouldn¡¯t come alone for an attack or anything. Definitely spying.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do with me?¡± the blonde girl asked.

    ¡°That is a difficult question,¡± said Lorraine. ¡°Don¡¯t make it easier by trying to get away.¡±

    ¡°Lorraine,¡± said Danny.

    ¡°Don¡¯t say ¡®Lorraine¡¯ like that,¡± said Samuel. ¡°Now she knows we¡¯re not going to do anything.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not not going to do anything. We¡¯re not going to hurt her, but we are going to take her back to the other Reds.¡±

    ¡°Should we tie her up?¡± asked Bradley.

    ¡°That sounds good. Somebody get rope.¡±

    But Kess shook her head. ¡°She might be strong enough to break out of ropes. I¡¯m not sure how strong they are exactly, but¡­¡±

    Danny sighed. ¡°Alright. Stephanie, we¡¯re not going to tie you up. We don¡¯t need to, because you know you¡¯re surrounded, and we¡¯re watching you, and one of us will be able to shock you before you get away.¡±

    ¡°How is that different from what I suggested?¡± asked Lorraine.

    Danny didn¡¯t look away from Stephanie. ¡°We don¡¯t want to hurt you more than we have to, but we don¡¯t want you to get away before we can turn you back over to your friends and have a talk with them about what you were doing here. Do you understand?¡±

    In the light from the kitchen, Stephanie looked very pale. Kess couldn¡¯t tell if she were frightened or angry. Either way, she nodded.

    ###

    <h2>Secure communication between Elias Kaplan and Vance Holifeld:</h2>

    VH: Trusting you is out of character for me, and they know I would never approach their facilities myself. They won¡¯t expect this form of assault. That is our greatest asset.

    EK: Why wouldn¡¯t you approach the facilities yourself?

    VH: Because I am old and it is dangerous.

    VH: You knew that I was old. Did you not know that this operation is dangerous?

    EK: I know. So does Kess.

    EK: Kess really wants to do it though.

    VH: And what do you want, cleverhandle?

    EK: I want to do what she wants. Still seems like a bad idea though. If I was a little Grayer I probably wouldn¡¯t do it, just out of rationality.

    VH: The Alphas will remake the world. They are already breaking it down behind the curtain of public ignorance.

    VH: This bad idea is necessary.

    ###

    Rod slouched in the armchair in Stephanie¡¯s living room and read a fat book about paratroopers. Most of the others were with their parents tonight, but Connor and Priya were on the couch across from him. Priya had her feet propped up on Connor¡¯s leg as she painted her toenails.

    ¡°Dude,¡± said Rod. ¡°She literally has you under her feet.¡±

    Priya rolled her eyes. Connor grinned. ¡°You¡¯re just jealous because you don¡¯t get to experience the joys of lady-feet.¡±

    That actually made Rod laugh (good job, Connor). ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve got all the lady-feet a guy could ask for. When the girls see me, they can¡¯t help themselves. They just¡ª¡±

    ¡°Kick you?¡± said Priya, smiling.

    ¡°Yeah. Kicks of passion.¡±

    Priya laughed. Rod wasn¡¯t sure he¡¯d actually heard her laugh before, though she did get this face when she realized something was funny but still disapproved of it. She looked nice laughing. But then her face fell.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Ya-ya? You look ever-so-slightly concerned, like my father trying to add double digit numbers.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just wondering where Stephanie is.¡±

    ¡°Oh, she¡¯s off spying on the Blues.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°And now you¡¯re going deaf like my dad, too. She¡¯s-off-spy-ing-on-the-Blues.¡±

    ¡°Why would you do that without telling the rest of us?¡±

    ¡°This wasn¡¯t even my idea. You should have known that¡ªmy ideas are more aggressive.¡±

    ¡°Spying isn¡¯t aggressive?¡±

    ¡°No. It¡¯s not. Spying is the opposite of aggressive¡ªit¡¯s cautious. It was Harry¡¯s idea, actually, but Stephanie volunteered for the first night.¡±

    ¡°So when did you guys discuss this?¡±

    Connor sighed. ¡°Everyone knows but you and me, Priya. Because they knew you wouldn¡¯t like it and they knew I¡¯d tell you.¡±

    Rod nodded. ¡°Pretty much, yeah.¡±

    Priya¡¯s face went rigid, and her lips pressed together, and she was probably holding back tears.

    Oh charming. She was upset at being defied.

    ¡°Even allies spy on each other, you know. England has little James Bonds wandering around Washington faking American accents and wiretapping the First Lady.¡±

    Priya glowered. ¡°It makes it look like we don¡¯t trust them.¡±

    ¡°You trust them?¡±

    ¡°No. But if we act like we trust them maybe they¡¯ll act like they trust us and that¡¯s almost as good as trusting each other.¡±

    ¡°No it¡¯s not.¡±

    ¡°Connor,¡± said Priya, turning to him with a look so obviously demanding it would have been over the top even if they were actually going out. ¡°What do you think?¡±

    ¡°I think¡­¡± said Connor. ¡°I think we could take the Blues if they tried anything.¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with¡ª¡±

    ¡°So we can afford not to spy on them, it won¡¯t hurt us. And if they figure out what we¡¯re doing it will make us look bad.¡±

    Rod rolled his eyes. ¡°It will make us look bad to our enemies. Somehow I think we¡¯ll survive the shame.¡±

    ¡°We can afford to take the moral high ground,¡± said Connor. ¡°That¡¯s all I mean.¡±

    Rod was about to say some amusing yet incisive things about moral high grounds when the doorbell rang. ¡°If you¡¯ll excuse me,¡± said Rod, hopping to his feet.

    Danny was at the door. The rest of the Blues stood clumped behind him, with Stephanie standing awkwardly at the center of the clump. None of them said anything.

    Rod should have gone instead of Stephanie. Yeah, she¡¯d wanted to do it, but he could tell it was because she wanted to wear black and pretend to be in a spy movie. She didn¡¯t think she¡¯d actually get hurt. It should have been him.

    ¡°Yeah?¡± he said, leaning against the doorframe.

    ¡°We caught Stephanie spying on us,¡± said Danny.

    ¡°Uh-huh.¡±

    ¡°Rod, come out here and we¡¯ll talk about this.¡±

    ¡°No thank you. I like it here, not out there surrounded by creeps.¡± Something moved behind him¡ªConnor and Priya had come over to see what was happening.

    Now that Rod had loudly refused to move, his moving became a Thing. If he managed to stay put in the doorway, the Reds won, if he walked out into the night, the Blues did. Danny clearly recognized this. ¡°Come out,¡± he said, ¡°and discuss, and then we¡¯ll turn Stephanie over to you.¡± And just for emphasis, he held his hand out from his side and shot a bright flash of cracking blue lightning to the ground.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to get me out there by flashing your one and only trick.¡±

    ¡°Oh really?¡± said Lorraine. And she reached out and poked Stephanie in her side. Steph squeaked and jumped¡ªshocked, but not badly, or she¡¯d have fallen. Some of the Blues laughed.

    Before Rod knew what he was doing he was out of the doorway with his arms thrown out to the sides. ¡°How about you do that to me, Lorraine?¡± Moving in that creepy all-together way of theirs, the Blues closed around him, and one of them even got between him and the door.

    ¡°You guys did this,¡± said Danny. ¡°You sent someone to look into our window. Did we do that to you?¡±

    ¡°No, Dan, you didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°And at the summit, when we were trying to calm things down, did you attack us or did we attack you?¡±

    ¡°We attacked you, Dan.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t spy on us again. We¡¯ll know if you do. We do have more than one trick, Rod, even if you don¡¯t know all we¡¯re capable of. It¡¯s how we caught Stephanie, and it¡¯s how we¡¯ll catch you if you try this again. We stay off each other¡¯s territory, alright? If we don¡¯t do that what¡¯s the point of territory?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t know, Dan.¡±

    Danny nodded. ¡°Stephanie, you can go.¡±

    Steph ran past Rod into the house, where Priya intercepted her. The two of them went off somewhere to talk about Steph¡¯s trauma or whatever. The Blues, as one, peeled away and walked back toward that big ugly van they¡¯d picked up somewhere. Lorraine, turning and walking backwards, wiggled her fingers at Rod in a mocking goodbye. Sparks popped between her silver fingertips.

    Connor came out and stood next to Rod.

    ¡°So,¡± said Rod, ¡°you sided with your girl in the Great Debate, huh?¡±

    ¡°I meant everything I said. The moral high ground¡¯s what lets Danny talk to us like that.¡±

    ¡°The only thing letting Danny talk to us however he wants is us. Anyway, you made a good tactical decision, siding with her. That¡¯s gonna work out well for you.¡±

    ###

    <h2>E-mail from Elias Kaplan to Ksenya Carpenter (unsent):</h2>

    I¡¯m still afraid, that¡¯s not gone yet, though it¡¯s going.

    I¡¯m afraid of losing my parents like I lost music, that they¡¯ll turn into just people like all the other people. That¡¯s already started too. And I¡¯m afraid of losing you.

    When I remember meeting you, the memory is covered in lights.

    I¡¯m afraid that meeting you will become just something that happened.

 TWENTY-FOUR

    Learning that the others had decided to spy on the Blues and purposefully kept it from her had made Priya feel left-out and lonely. The feeling had come on so powerfully she¡¯d almost committed the unpardonable sin of crying in front of Rod.

    This had never happened to her before. Priya had always fit in sweetly with any group she found herself with¡ªassigned study groups and summercamp kids and boyfriends¡¯ friends. That night, however, lying in bed in Stephanie¡¯s guest room, she realized that this was the first time fitting in had come in conflict with her principles. Once she thought of it that way, it was actually pretty impressive that she¡¯d chosen her principles.

    That sounded like a self-serving myth, but she was pretty sure it was true anyway. It made her feel better, though she was still faced with the depressing thought that if she embraced having enemies, she¡¯d have more friends.

    The next day she woke up past noon. She thought about going home¡ªshe¡¯d have to move back before her parents returned anyway. But instead she lolled in bed watching movies on her laptop. When Connor texted, she asked him to leave her be for the day. She didn¡¯t want the reminder that he was the only one who liked her.

    Two and a half movie-lengths later, someone knocked on the door.

    ¡°Connor, I told you¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not Connor,¡± said Stephanie¡¯s muffled voice. She inched the door open and stuck her head inside. ¡°I was worried about you. Normally you just pop up in the morning. Like a daisy.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. For worrying, I mean. I just didn¡¯t feel like a daisy today.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been really fun, having you live here. Like being in college and having a roommate. You like it here too, don¡¯t you Priya?¡±

    ¡°Steph, why didn¡¯t you tell me about the spying?¡±

    ¡°I knew it would make you upset.¡±

    ¡°And then I¡¯d try to stop you.¡±

    ¡°Well yeah, that. But mostly I just didn¡¯t want you to be upset. I don¡¯t think anyone should be upset if they don¡¯t have to be.¡±

    ¡°Then why did you agree with the spying idea in the first place?¡±

    ¡°If the Blues surprise us again we¡¯ll all be upset.¡±

    ¡°That¡­ makes sense, I guess.¡±

    Stephanie smiled. ¡°Come on. Everyone¡¯s out back.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d really rather stay here and finish watching this movie.¡±

    ¡°Seriously, Priya. You have to come out. Can¡¯t you feel it? This is gonna be one of those good nights, when¡ªwhen¡ª¡± Stephanie shook her hands in the air as she tried to come up with words ¡°¡ªwhen everyone¡¯s ready at the same time.¡±

    ¡°Ready for what?¡±

    ¡°For fun.¡±

    #

    Priya had to admit, when she got outside, that Stephanie was right. She could ¡°feel it.¡± The Reds gathered in the backyard were talking and loud-laughing and there was electricity in the air (should she be using electrical metaphors these days? It seemed vaguely disloyal.) This was the sort of atmosphere she usually appreciated more than anything, a bunch of people wanting and waiting and willing to enjoy themselves. Connor grinned when he saw her.

    People were doing tricks. Somersaults, backflips¡ªwith their strength, the Reds could all jump at least as high as they could on a trampoline. To get bigger reactions from the crowd, boys threw themselves higher and higher until Harry crashed to the ground, which got the biggest reaction of all, whistles and applause and stomping.

    Rod threw Stephanie into the air. She flew up startlingly high, but she was too busy kicking her feet and laughing to do any actual flips. Rod caught her on the way down. ¡°Come on, Steph, I wanted to see you twirl.¡± For once his smile didn¡¯t seem to have any aggression in it.

    ¡°Priya used to do gymnastics,¡± Connor announced.

    She pushed at his arm, but not too hard. ¡°I told you that in confidence, Connor.¡±

    ¡°Ha. You¡¯re smiling because you can¡¯t wait to show off.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t done it since middle school¡­¡± But even as she said it she stepped out in front of the crowd.

    And even though she really hadn¡¯t done gymnastics seriously in years and years, it came back to her smooth and easy, like her strong new body had been waiting to show what it could do. She ran and jumped¡ªso high!¡ªand did a double flip. She landed neat and solid on her feet and immediately jumped again, whirling in the air.

    ¡°Yeah, Ya-ya!¡± Rod shouted. Then he threw back his head and yelled ¡°Ya-ya-ya-ya-ya!¡± like a battlecry. Soon everyone was yelling it, and it was actually kind of cool.

    When she went back to stand beside Connor again, she was so energized she couldn¡¯t keep from bouncing on the balls of her feet.

    ¡°You know what we¡¯ve never done since we moved into this place?¡± asked Rod, who was standing next to Connor with his arm slung over Stephanie¡¯s shoulders.

    ¡°What?¡± asked Priya. She was surprised to realize that yes, she actually thought Rod might have a good idea. It felt like that kind of night.

    ¡°We¡¯ve never had a fire.¡±

    ###

    <h2>Text message from Elias Kaplan to Ksenya Carpenter:</h2>

    It¡¯s time. I¡¯ll pick you up in forty minutes.

    ###

    ¡°Is Danny around?¡± Kess asked Lorraine.

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    ¡°He and the other guys are at the store picking up supplies. Why do you ask?¡± Lorraine was in the living room, sitting on the floor with her back against the couch and her sketchbook propped against her knees. Kess walked up next to her so she could see what she was sketching. Whatever it was had lightning in it, along with lots of wonky M.C. Escher angles.

    ¡°Um, that looks physically impossible. I don¡¯t think anyone could sculpt that.¡±

    ¡°Not even with your super-smart science skillz?¡± (Kess could hear the sarcastic ¡®z¡¯.)

    ¡°I¡¯ll just text him,¡± said Kess.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± said Lorraine.

    ¡°What?¡±

    The blue-haired girl sighed and set her sketchbook down. ¡°I know I should be friendlier to you. You¡¯re a nice person. And your freaky eyes really helped us out last night. And by ¡®freaky¡¯ I mean, you know, awesome-cool.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Thanks.¡± Kess perched on the arm of the couch. ¡°It¡¯s cool that you apologized like that. Most people wouldn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Well, there shouldn¡¯t be tension between two of us, you know?¡±

    ¡°Two Blues?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Why do you want to talk to Danny?¡±

    ¡°I need advice.¡±

    ¡°I can advise,¡± said Lorraine, not looking up from her sketch.

    ¡°Um¡­¡± Kess hadn¡¯t even considered asking the other girl for help. ¡°Okay. My friend¡ªyou know my friend¡ªwants to go out tonight.¡±

    ¡°How romantic.¡±

    ¡°No, not like that. It¡¯s about, you know, investigating things. We¡¯ll be driving pretty far and it¡¯ll probably take all night. I wanted to ask Danny if he thought I should go, because I know he was worried the Reds might do something to retaliate for us taking down that Stephanie girl.¡±

    ¡°So when you said you wanted advice you actually wanted permission.¡±

    ¡°I guess you could put it that way.¡±

    ¡°Is Danny the boss of you?¡±

    Kess considered the question. ¡°Yes?¡± she said, tentative. ¡°Is he the boss of you?¡±

    ¡°Probably.¡±

    Kess laughed. Lorraine looked¡ªsurprised, maybe? And gratified, like she hadn¡¯t expected Kess to get her sense of humor? ¡°Just stay here tonight, alright? Don¡¯t ask Danny, he¡¯ll tell you to follow your heart or some crap like that. We let Danny be the boss of us because he¡¯s a good person with an air of gravitas, but goodness and gravitas don¡¯t actually give a person a command of tactics.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯re a tactician? Lorraine, you¡¯re going to art school.¡±

    ¡°Ha. No I¡¯m not.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You really think any of us are going to college?¡±

    ¡°I am. I¡¯m going to study physics at MIT.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really not, though.¡± Lorraine leaned her head back to look at Kess, and her blue braids flopped across the couch cushion. ¡°How long do you think we can keep this up? How long do you think we can keep our families from finding out about our powers? Have your parents noticed your hands?¡± Lorraine held her hands up with her palms facing outward, showing off her silver-coated fingertips and the two darkmetal stars.

    ¡°They haven¡¯t been around.¡±

    ¡°Well, mine have, and so have Danny¡¯s, and so have most of the others¡¯. I told mine they¡¯re a body modification thing and they¡¯re temporary, like getting a spray-on tattoo. I told them it¡¯s the latest trend. My mother tried to look it up online and couldn¡¯t find anything and I told her that¡¯s because it¡¯s so cutting edge.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been pretending that life is normal, just with this extra element layered on. It¡¯s amazing we¡¯ve kept it up so far, but it can¡¯t keep on forever. Do you think we¡¯re going to go back to school and sit beside the Reds in class and infect the entire student body without anybody noticing?¡±

    The things Lorraine was saying¡ªall that horrible future stuff¡ªmade Kess feel like she was falling down a bottomless pit. So she pulled the conversation back onto its track.

    ¡°I really do need to go, though. I can only stay here tonight if I really, really have to.¡±

    ¡°So when you said you wanted permission you actually wanted vague affirmation.¡±

    ¡°I guess you could put it that way.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what will happen if we end up needing your eyes and you¡¯re not here? Do you know what that will do to Danny?¡±

    ¡°No one¡¯s gotten really hurt so far. You guys will be fine.¡±

    Lorraine frowned, more with her eyebrows than her mouth. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s do storytime for a minute. When the boys and I were ten, my brother Ollie¡ªhe¡¯s off at college right now, that¡¯s why he isn¡¯t involved in all this¡ªhe persuaded Danny to help him steal my plastic pony, Princess Twiggy. To get her back, I had to sing a song that Ollie wrote. But before they gave her back to me, they drew a skull and crossbones on her side with a marker which Danny definitely and Ollie probably thought would wash off. It did not. I was truly and deeply devastated. I used to have bad dreams about it. It took me a while to get over.

    ¡°A couple months ago¡ªthis is seven years after the pony incident¡ªDanny told me that it comes back to him sometimes, in a flash, and he feels just as bad as he did that day. Danny regrets things like no one you¡¯ve ever met. And now he feels responsible for all the Blues, so anything bad that happens to one of us will cause him pain his entire life. I just don¡¯t want him to regret anything else, okay? Something bad and dangerous is going to happen tonight.¡±

    ¡°Um, how do you know? Have we been spying on the Reds, too?¡±

    Lorraine sighed. ¡°No. Danny wouldn¡¯t let me. But I can feel bad things coming.¡±

    Before, when Lorraine had seemed impossibly cool and Kess was desperate for her approval, she might have simply accepted that. But now they were maybe actually starting to be friends, and Kess felt she could push back a little. ¡°You¡¯re not psychic, Lorraine. You¡¯re just artsy.¡±

    Lorraine didn¡¯t seem offended, but she did fix Kess with a stare that pierced through the lenses of her cat¡¯s-eye glasses like hot light. ¡°Stay here, Kess. And don¡¯t call Danny.¡±

    #

    Danny thought she should go. ¡°It¡¯s obviously important to you,¡± he said.

    #

    The fire filled Stephanie¡¯s backyard with shifting red light. Priya stood looking into the flames, and Connor had the stupid thought that the moving light made it seem like she was dancing. She looked up and saw him staring at her, and then she smiled. She glanced around, probably noticing that no one else was paying attention to them. Rod was in the middle of a story and was getting laughs, which got him talking louder and making bigger, wilder hand gestures, which pulled in more laughing people in a social loop.

    Priya smiled again and walked away from the fire, to the trees behind the yard.

    Did she want him to follow her? What was the point of all the smiling if she didn¡¯t want¡ª

    She looked back at him over her shoulder. She wanted him to follow her.

    They walked into the trees. They were alone, in the dark, together. He could barely see her in the spillover firelight, but when she clutched his t-shirt in her hand he felt her fingernails through the fabric.

    This is happening, said a voice in his head. Why is this happening now?

    Because she¡¯s rewarding you, said another voice that sounded a lot like Rod. For taking her side in that argument last night. That¡¯s what she does. That¡¯s how she makes sure you agree with her and do what she says.

    Priya pushed his chest, not hard, and his back hit a rough tree trunk. She hooked her hand around his neck and pulled herself up and kissed him. All the voices of Connor¡¯s mind dropped dead.

    Someone shined a bright white light in their faces. It shot through Connor¡¯s eyelids.

    ¡°Looks like you two are enjoying yourselves,¡± said Rod. ¡°But we had an idea for something even more fun.¡±

    Connor blinked in the glare of Rod¡¯s flashlight. The rest of the guys¡ªHarry, Jason, Miguel¡ªwere standing around him. Priya didn¡¯t jump away from Connor or act embarrassed at all. In fact, she leaned into him and put her arm around his waist. ¡°Rod,¡± she said, ¡°this really isn¡¯t the time.¡±

    ¡°But it is, Ya-ya. It¡¯s the only time.¡± He grinned and flicked his flashlight off and on like he was trying to give Priya a seizure.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to hit the Blues,¡± said Harry.

    ¡°Hit them how?¡±

    ¡°Probably with our fists,¡± said Rod.

    ¡°We¡¯ll break some windows or something,¡± said Harry.

    Priya rolled her eyes. ¡°Connor¡¯s not going with you.¡±

    Connor felt his neck go stiff. ¡°I didn¡¯t say I¡¯m not going.¡±

    ¡°What? No, Connor, you¡¯re staying.¡±

    ¡°Come on, Ya-ya. Let him go. You saw what they did to Steph.¡±

    ¡°Steph was spying on them.¡±

    ¡°And after they caught her,¡± said Rod, anger flashing across his face, ¡°they shocked her. Just because.¡±

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t have to ¡®let¡¯ me go,¡± said Connor.

    ¡°Exactly,¡± said Priya. ¡°There¡¯s no point trying to persuade me because he doesn¡¯t want to go.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say I didn¡¯t want to go.¡±

    Priya pulled away from Connor, looking confused. ¡°You want to stay, right? I¡ªI assumed.¡±

    She assumed he¡¯d do what she wanted, and when he didn¡¯t she stopped touching him.

    Connor turned to Rod and the others. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

 CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

    One thing Connor was never, ever going to admit to another human being was that he hated how fast Rod drove and that it scared him actually quite a bit when Rod¡¯s car hurtled around corners. He was proud that he¡¯d hidden that fear so well that Rod had never picked up on it.

    Rod was driving even faster than usual now, his car Soldier shuddering as it flew along the dark, narrow road leading to the Blues¡¯ cabin. The trees blinked by to either side. A particularly sharp turn slammed the guys in the back seat together, and they shoved each other away, laughing.

    Red taillights appeared in the darkness¡ªa silver car, the first sign of life they¡¯d seen since they¡¯d left Stephanie¡¯s, headed in the same direction they were.

    ¡°That was Danny¡¯s,¡± said Connor after they¡¯d rushed past.

    ¡°Oh,¡± said Rod. ¡°Was it?¡± And he slammed on the breaks. As the car squealed to a halt, Rod angled it so that it blocked both lanes.

    Danny¡¯s silver car came around the corner. Its horn roared as it jerked to a screaming stop. Danny climbed out and shouted something.

    Rod rolled down his window. ¡°Could you repeat that?¡± he shouted. ¡°Didn¡¯t hear you!¡±

    ¡°Move your car, Rod.¡±

    ¡°Because you tell me to?¡±

    ¡°Because someone¡¯s going to run into it in the dark and kill themselves.¡±

    ¡°We wouldn¡¯t want that to happen. You better make me move.¡±

    Rod got out of the car, and so did Connor and the others. The Blues were stepping out of Danny¡¯s car too¡ªSamuel and Bradley Lecker and a guy Connor didn¡¯t know very well, possibly a sophomore, possibly named Greg. The Blues moved towards the front of the car, falling into formation like fighter jets.

    ¡°Nah,¡± said Rod. ¡°That¡¯s not how we¡¯re going to do this.¡±

    He bent his legs and launched himself over the Blues¡¯ heads onto the hood of Danny¡¯s car. Then, while they were still confused, he hopped off to the side, grabbed Samuel, and flung the smaller guy over his shoulder like a sack of something. He charged off into the dark woods at full Red speed.

    Samuel¡¯s cousin Bradley ran after them, cursing. Danny ran beside him, not cursing. Possibly-Greg started to follow them, but Jason and Miguel each grabbed one of his arms and carried him off into the trees on the other side of the road. Harry, on the other side of the car from Connor, let out a hoarse wordless shout and headed after Rod and the other Blues.

    No. Connor could not be the last one left standing by the cars.

    He jumped and slid over the hood, came down on the other side, and with a burst of desperate energy caught up and passed Harry so that he left the road slightly ahead of the other guy.

    They¡¯d left the cars with the headlights on. The yellow light sliced through the forest, though the farther Connor got the more it was blocked by black branches and the more often he stumbled on unseen roots and rocks. Where were the others? He wasn¡¯t going to find them. He was going to miss it. Blue-white lightning light flashed somewhere off to the left, and Connor changed course towards it.

    He was reminded, suddenly, of the pretty-much identical woods behind Stephanie¡¯s house, in fact they were the same woods, weren¡¯t they, it was unbroken trees from here to there, which meant this was the same place, sort of, where Priya had pushed him up against a tree.

    He still didn¡¯t see or hear anyone, not even Harry who had come in to the trees with him. Had he shifted direction again without realizing it? If Connor didn¡¯t find them, Rod and Harry would be outnumbered.

    But then he heard something, coming from behind him, actually, back towards the road. He spun on his feet and ran and burst into a space where the car lights came through relatively clear.

    Danny stood there in the light. His back was to Connor, and he leaned one-armed on a tree for support. His shoulders rose and fell visibly¡ªhe was panting, catching his breath. The Reds had gotten improved lung capacity along with their suite of superpowers, but apparently the Blues hadn¡¯t. For a moment, Connor had the wonderful thought that maybe Danny had run away like a coward and left Samuel to Rod¡¯s mercy. But Connor had been Danny¡¯s friend for a lot longer than he¡¯d been his enemy, and he knew that wasn¡¯t true. Danny was like Connor, lost in the dark woods and trying to find the fight.

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    Connor couldn¡¯t do anything, obviously, not when Danny¡¯s back was turned. Danny really should have heard Connor come up behind him, but maybe he was breathing too hard.

    Should Connor say something? To be, like, sporting?

    But before he could, Danny straightened up and looked around. There was a black tree-shadow stripe across his face, so it was hard to make out his expression when he saw Connor. Connor twitched, bringing up his arm in a move which he was maybe-sort-of planning to turn into a punch.

    Danny grabbed Connor¡¯s arm with one hand and pressed the other hand into his chest.

    The familiar, shuddering pain flowed through Connor¡¯s chest and shoulder. But this time it was even worse than before. This time his chest burned, and his vision swam and turned dark at the edges. Danny let go of him and he fell hard onto his knees. His head was light. He gasped.

    And then he was¡­ okay? The burning in his chest lingered, but his vision steadied. His breath came in hot and ragged, but he was breathing. He pressed a trembling hand against his forehead.

    ¡°You stopped my heart.¡± His voice was hoarse. He didn¡¯t know whether it was his cyborg powers that had started his heart again or whether that just happened sometimes. ¡°You¡­ You stopped my heart.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for that,¡± said Danny, standing above him. He didn¡¯t sound sorry. Really sorry people sounded desperate. ¡°The things we can do are dangerous. That¡¯s why we should stop playing with them.¡±

    Connor surged up onto his feet, grabbed Danny by the neck with one hand, and carried him forward, slamming him against a tree trunk.

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to do this,¡± said Danny, his throat moving against Connor¡¯s hand. ¡°You want to let me go.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not above this,¡± said Connor. ¡°Do you know how much it hurts every single time you people shock us? And also, you stopped my heart.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to do that, Connor, but I did mean to shock you. You know why. And you know why you¡¯re doing this.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Why I am I doing this?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say I know. I said you know. And you know it¡¯s not a good reason.¡±

    ¡°Stop doing that. Stop trying to be wise. You are my age.¡±

    Connor lifted Danny up so that his feet weren¡¯t quite flat on the ground. The metal nubs on Connor¡¯s palms pressed into the skin of Danny¡¯s neck, and blood seeped up around Connor¡¯s fingers, a thin trickle from tiny broken blood vessels.

    Danny grabbed Connor¡¯s arm above the elbow, and furious bright agony ran up Connor¡¯s arm and down one side of his body to his foot. His muscles locked in painful place, but that just meant his hand froze around Danny¡¯s neck. Danny dropped his hand, and Connor tightened his grip.

    ¡°Come on, Connor,¡± said Danny, choking out the words. ¡°You¡¯re better than¡ª¡±

    Something cracked. It sounded just like when Connor had fallen off the roof while chasing Priya and broken his arm, just like when he had kicked Rod and broken his rib. But this crack was different. This crack divided his life into two pieces¡ªfrom the day he was born until the moment he heard that sound, and every second after until he died.

    Danny¡¯s eyes unfocused. At the same time, his body went limp so that his legs weren¡¯t holding him up anymore, nothing was holding him except Connor¡¯s hand at his throat. All of his weight tugged down at Connor¡¯s wrist. Connor let go.

    Danny collapsed and lay on his side. His neck was bloody red where Connor¡¯s hand had scraped the skin away. His eyes were open.

    Connor¡¯s palm was coated with a thin layer of blood. In the uneven light it looked black. He held his hand away from himself. He wasn¡¯t sure how long he stood there staring at his own hand before he heard something and looked up.

    Rod stood between the trees. His eyes flickered down to Danny¡¯s¡­ body and up to Connor and down and up again.

    Connor finally managed to say something. ¡°I didn¡¯t do it. I mean¡­ I didn¡¯t mean to.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± said Rod. He moved to stand by Connor. ¡°You didn¡¯t do it. I did.¡±

    Connor was numb and stupid. He hadn¡¯t heard Rod correctly. ¡°What am I going to tell them?¡±

    ¡°Listen to me, Connor.¡± Rod put his hands on Connor¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Look at me, man. Look me in the eyes. I killed Danny. I did it. It¡¯s obvious.¡±

    ¡°No. No, Rod, I just have to... to call... the cops?¡± No, not that. ¡°I have to call Priya.¡±

    ¡°Let me take it,¡± said Rod. ¡°Just let me take it.¡±

    Connor didn¡¯t say anything else. Rod grabbed Connor¡¯s hand at the wrist and, when Connor didn¡¯t resist, rubbed the bloody palm across the front of his own pale gray t-shirt. Connor thought about Priya and how she had grabbed his shirt. He should have stayed with her. He should have never left.

    Rod looked down at the reddish brown streak on his shirt and then shook his head. Next, he kneeled down beside Danny¡¯s¡­ body. Danny¡¯s body. And he pressed his hand against Danny¡¯s neck. When he raised it again it was smeared with blood. He wiped the blood on his shirt again, and then wiped another handprint¡¯s worth on the side of this face. Standing up, he held out his arms and looked down at his bloody chest.

    ¡°That looks about right.¡± He pulled his phone out of his pocket with his red hand.

    ¡°No cops,¡± said Connor. He knew that they should call the police, that that would be the right and proper thing to do. But the more primitive part of his mind was screaming that they couldn¡¯t trust anyone who wasn¡¯t a Red. And the less primitive part of his mind, now that it had caught up, realized that if they called the cops they¡¯d all get arrested and he¡¯d go to jail for a long time and the government would discover their powers and cyborg parts and he didn¡¯t even know what would happen then.

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± said Rod. ¡°No cops. I¡¯m calling the other guys. The first thing we do is bury the body.¡±

 CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

    Some people, when they were very, very sad, wanted to die. Lorraine didn¡¯t understand that.

    Because at this moment, she was sadder than she had ever been¡ªa great, roaring sorrow, a horrible heat melting away the future, a ringing in her ears, a physical pain like a stitch in her side, an acid pill unwinding in her stomach¡ª

    And what Lorraine wanted was to kill someone.

    #

    Stephanie suggested that, since the guys were gone, they should watch a chick flick. As if the boys were off bowling or getting steak or something, as if this were an appropriate occasion for a Girl¡¯s Night.

    So Stephanie and Priya and Jessica lounged on leather couches watching two pretty people hate each other and then gradually not hate each other and then misunderstand each other and then kiss. And then they did it again, with a different movie, because the boys still weren¡¯t back and Stephanie decided to turn the night into a marathon. Priya drifted into sleep about the time the pretty boy was trying to keep himself from staring at the pretty girl when she wasn¡¯t looking.

    Priya floated through dreams without storylines, drifts and drips of images, bonfires and lightning storms and the occasional music-swell-end-of-the-movie kiss. She woke to the sound of muffled male voices from the other room. The boys were back.

    She got up, blinking away the after effects of her nap. The doorway to the next room was a bright shape in the darkness. Priya made her way over to it and stood in the opening.

    The other Reds were clumped on the far side of the room. The boys looked dirty and rumpled, the girls anxious. Rod¡¯s back was turned to her, but she could see Connor¡¯s deeply exhausted face. He noticed her watching him and looked away as if he were ashamed. And he should be ashamed, shouldn¡¯t he? The way he¡¯d run away from her.

    Rod turned around. His face and shirt were streaked reddish-brown. When he saw Priya he gave her an ironic soldier-salute.

    She could swear she¡¯d seen it before¡ªRod, swaggering and bloody. It was like something she¡¯d dreamed of every night for months and then forgotten every morning.

    She had to cross her arms to keep her hands from trembling as she approached them.

    ¡°What happened?¡± she asked.

    ¡°What was going to happen eventually,¡± said Rod.

    Priya felt cold, felt hollow. She felt it in her body and her head. It was the same sensation she remembered feeling when that guy Stone had held her at gunpoint all those weeks ago. Apparently this was how she reacted to horrible things. ¡°Someone died.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Someone died.¡±

    ¡°Danny,¡± said Connor. He still wouldn¡¯t look Priya in the face. ¡°It was Danny.¡±

    ¡°Rod had to do it,¡± said Stephanie. ¡°Danny almost electrocuted him to death. He would have done it. Rod had to.¡±

    ¡°Are we all going to get arrested?¡± asked Priya, because it was the only thing she could think to say.

    ¡°No,¡± said Rod. ¡°We took care of it.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    Harry was standing by Stephanie. He shifted, uncomfortable on his feet. ¡°Do you really want to know, Ya-Ya?¡± He was the first person besides Rod Priya had ever heard use the nickname, and it came out awkward, as if he were trying too hard to copy Rod¡¯s characteristic nonchalance.

    ¡°I want to know whether we¡¯re going to jail.¡±

    ¡°We buried him,¡± said Rod.

    ¡°How? With what?¡±

    ¡°I keep stuff in my car. Flashlight, shovel, useful stuff.¡±

    ¡°And what about his phone?¡±

    Rod pulled a phone out of his pocket and wiggled it in the air. ¡°We¡¯ll get rid of it tomorrow. Throw it in the lake or something.¡±

    ¡°Can the police tell it was here?¡± asked Stephanie. ¡°Can they tell it was in my house?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± said Jessica. ¡°I saw it on a murder show¡ªit pings the tower when it¡¯s turned on, so they can tell the general area. Not down to a house.¡±

    ¡°Can they read the texts off it if they don¡¯t have it with them? Are the texts still in the cloud or whatever if we delete them?¡±

    Nobody knew the answer to that one.

    ¡°Give it to me,¡± said Priya. ¡°I want to see the texts, whether he¡¯s talked about the powers and everything.¡±

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    Rod hesitated, but not for long. He didn¡¯t even comment as he handed the phone over to her.

    A little while later, in the privacy of Stephanie¡¯s guest bedroom, Priya called Lorraine.

    #

    The negotiations went smoothly. It helped that they took place over the phone. Whatever strange force made Lorraine Priya¡¯s natural enemy didn¡¯t seem to work as well when they couldn¡¯t see each other¡¯s faces. The worst moment was when Priya had to explain that she¡¯d gotten Lorraine¡¯s number from Danny¡¯s phone.

    After hanging up, Priya got down on her knees and pulled the package from n0questionsasked.us out from under the bed. It was tough opening it without scissors and she ended up tearing the cardboard flaps at ragged angles. Once it was open, she dug through crunching green packing peanuts to bring out the object she¡¯d ordered back when she first realized she might need to take down another Red¡ªa tranquilizer gun. The gun was heavy, but fit in her hand. It had a wooden handle and a slim barrel of dark metal, and it came with a pack of thin silver darts.

    Looking at the tranq gun, Priya realized what a bad idea it would be to try to shoot Rod. She hadn¡¯t practiced with it, had never shot any kind of gun before. What if she missed or he dodged or he saw it before she had a chance to shoot at all?

    She took two of the darts¡ªeach had a cap you were supposed to pop off before you loaded it into the gun¡ªand slipped them into the pocket of her jeans. Now she had to figure out a way to get Rod alone.

    That part turned out to be easier than she expected. As she headed down the hall towards the stairs, she heard voices coming from Stephanie¡¯s parents¡¯ room, drifting through the barely-open door. Rod, she discovered, was sitting at the foot of the bed watching the television fixed to the opposite wall. It was showing a sit-com populated by people only slightly less pretty than the people in Stephanie¡¯s movies, and whenever the tinny laugh track sounded Rod scowled at the screen.

    He shut the TV off and tossed the remote to the side as if he didn¡¯t care where it landed. ¡°What do you want?¡± he asked.

    He was a Red. He was one of her boys, and now that she could see his face the thought of betraying him was sickening. But that was just her loyalty talking. Priya was a person, not an animal, and she could betray when betrayal was needed. She came in to the room and shut the door behind her. ¡°We should talk about what we¡¯re going to tell the cops when Danny¡¯s parents report him missing.¡±

    ¡°Well that¡¯s obvious, isn¡¯t it? ¡®Sorry, officer, we haven¡¯t seen Danny lately.¡¯ What really matters is what the Blues say.¡±

    ¡°Do you think they¡¯ll rat us out?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe? They¡¯d get caught up in it too, if they did. They¡¯d get dissected by the government or whatever, just like us.¡± He frowned at her. ¡°You want to talk to me about this? That¡¯s, uh, not like you.¡±

    The suspicion in his voice made her neck itch, and she felt the smooth shape of the tranquilizer darts against her leg, through the cloth of her pocket. She had to get him to relax, somehow, to feel as if it was perfectly natural that she had shut herself in alone with him. Her only hope of sedating him was to take him by surprise.

    ¡°It¡¯s not just that,¡± she said. ¡°I wanted¡­ Was Danny really going to kill you?¡±

    Rod stood up, a quick short movement, and she jumped a little. Not good. Not natural.

    ¡°You don¡¯t believe me?¡± He smiled a hard, humorless little smile. ¡°I don¡¯t blame you. Doesn¡¯t sound like Danny, does it?¡±

    ¡°No, it really doesn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°What if I have one of the other Blues pinned? What if it¡¯s little Sammy Lecker? Let¡¯s say I just mean to mess with him a bit, but Danny, he doesn¡¯t know that. As far as Danny¡¯s concerned I¡¯m capable of anything. Would he try to kill me then?¡±

    Priya took a deep breath. ¡°Yes. He might try to kill you then.¡± She couldn¡¯t lunge at him. She had to prick him with a dart before he even knew what was happening, which meant getting closer. She took a step towards him so that they were standing close¡ªweirdly close, really, for two people who hated each other so much. He frowned again, this time looking more puzzled than anything. A reason. She needed a natural reason to come so close. ¡°I just wanted¡­ I just wanted you to know that, if he was really going to kill you, then¡­ I understand, for once. I won¡¯t blame you for any of the bad things that are going to happen to us now.¡± And she touched Rod¡¯s arm just above his elbow.

    He shifted even closer to her, and though that was what she wanted it freaked her out so much she stepped back and hit the wall.

    He followed her, and his hand formed a fist at his side, and he was going to hit her, he¡¯d guessed somehow, he was going to kill her like he killed Danny¡ª

    He pressed his right fist into the wall above her shoulder, moving slowly, deliberately. Then he leaned on it, angling over her.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± he asked. And he didn¡¯t seem angry after all.

    Or rather, he seemed differently angry. It occurred to Priya that she had never, not even once, heard Rod speak without anger in his voice. But the anger changed forms and sometimes hid itself. Now, it sounded as if Rod was angry at someone who wasn¡¯t in the room.

    His face was close to hers, now. She could see the fine hairs of a patchy, end-of-the-day beard fuzzed across his chin. ¡°What are you doing, Priya?¡±

    She put her hand on his chest, because when you do that to a guy he doesn¡¯t look away from your face. With her other hand she worked a dart out of her pocket and popped the cap off with her thumbnail. She kept her eyes on his eyes, and didn¡¯t blink, and put the hand holding the dart on his waist. With three fingers she pushed his shirt up, just a little, just enough to expose the skin above his jeans. She tilted the dart, brought the thin sharp needle to his skin.

    But suddenly she felt his hand on her hand, and he was pulling it, gently, away from his side. She panicked. She tried to jerk her hand out of his grip. That¡¯s when he looked down and saw the dart.

    In Rod¡¯s brief moment of confusion, Priya kicked his shin. That made him let go of her hand, and she swung the dart at him, wildly, not aiming. He jumped back and slapped her arm. The dart tumbled out of her fingers.

    Rod snarled and lunged at her. She jumped, soaring above his head, and grabbed the ceiling with Spiderman-sticky hands to swing herself. She landed on her knees on the bed but didn¡¯t hesitate before rolling off onto the floor. She fumbled for the second dart in her pocket.

    He was already standing over her, trying to stomp her to the floor. She wriggled out of his way and grabbed the wall. She scrambled along, pulling herself past Rod, then pushed herself off the wall and rolled onto her feet. She barely had the second dart in her hand with the cap off when Rod slammed into her, his shoulder to her chest. They crashed into the wall. (Would the others hear? They were all downstairs.)

    Rod grabbed for her arms, trying to pin them back, but she was already driving the dart into his neck.

    He growled. Actually growled, like a bear. He pushed her shoulders against the wall again, but there was no strength to the push. Then he staggered back a step, wavered, fell to his knees. He was kneeling in front of Priya, looking up at her, for what seemed like a long, long time. She didn¡¯t know what to do or what sounds to make. Finally he toppled sideways, unconscious, to the floor.

 TWENTY-SEVEN

    Getting Rod out without the others seeing was tricky. Priya slung his bulky body over her shoulder¡ªgiven her unnatural strength, the hardest thing to deal with wasn¡¯t his weight but his awkward size. She jumped off the balcony outside the master bedroom and hit the ground hard, and then she carried Rod all the way down the long driveway to where Lorraine¡¯s car was parked. But not Lorraine¡¯s car. Danny¡¯s. That realization made Priya sick to her stomach. Lorraine leaned against the hood with crossed arms and a face like metal.

    When she saw Priya, she popped the trunk of the car open. Priya slung Rod inside and slammed the trunk closed over him. Then she turned away and found Lorraine with her hand stuck out waiting for a handshake.

    The moment their hands touched, Lorraine could shock her to the ground.

    But this whole plan required trust. So Priya shook Lorraine¡¯s hand, and then Lorraine got into her car and drove away.

    Through the entire exchange, neither of them had said a word.

    Back at the house, Priya returned the same way she¡¯d left, crawling up the wall to the second-story balcony outside Stephanie¡¯s parents¡¯ room. She lay on her back on their bed and considered her next move. The rest of the Reds had to find out eventually, but if it came from Priya they¡¯d hate her for it. They¡¯d crucify her. So she had to first convince one person it was the right thing, someone the rest would listen to.

    Connor was with the others. They were passing around a bowl of metal bolts, eating them like M&Ms, and talking about things that didn¡¯t matter. Priya came up behind the couch where Connor was sitting and put a hand on his shoulder. ¡°Come with me?¡± she said to him, voice low.

    She led him to a room the Reds hadn¡¯t really used so far, a study decorated with pictures of Stephanie¡¯s dad posing with captain-of-industry types.

    ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡± asked Connor. The question made Priya unreasonably angry, because it reminded her of Rod asking ¡°What do you want?¡± and ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Did you see when Rod¡­ did it? I mean when he killed Danny?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Yeah I did.¡± Connor visibly shuddered. ¡°It was the worst moment of my life. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m ever going to have a worse one.¡±

    Maybe it was the red hair, but Connor could look extremely vulnerable sometimes. If he knew that about himself, he probably hated it. Priya¡¯s unreasonable anger simmered off to nothing.

    ¡°So you understand why I had to do something about Rod.¡±

    ¡°Um, what?¡±

    ¡°You understand that we couldn¡¯t just let it go. We couldn¡¯t pretend¡ª¡±

    ¡°You did something about Rod? Past tense?¡±

    Priya leaned back against the edge of the heavy desk and did not look away from Connor¡¯s eyes. Avoiding eye contact was for the weak and the guilty. ¡°I turned him over to Lorraine.¡±

    Connor¡¯s eyes flew open. He moved, turned, paced, as if he couldn¡¯t look at her or even stand still. ¡°They¡¯ll kill him.¡±

    ¡°I know. That¡¯s the point.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the point?¡±

    ¡°He has to die, Connor. It¡¯ll solve all our problems.¡±

    ¡°How does that solve any problems, Priya? You¡¯re the nonviolent one, Priya.¡±

    ¡°If Lorraine kills Rod, we¡¯ll be even. It stops the escalation. And it puts us all on the same side.¡±

    ¡°The same side against who?¡±

    ¡°Against the police. Once Rod is dead, we¡¯ll have killed one of them and they¡¯ll have killed one of us. We¡¯ll need to work together to get our story straight with the police. And then, if anyone else gets hurt it¡¯ll bring the cops down on all of us, so we¡¯ll have to leave each other alone. It will all be over.¡±

    ¡°Get our story straight? What story could we possibly tell that¡¯ll explain two missing people?¡±

    ¡°Lorraine and I talked about that. They were best friends. We¡¯ll say they were always talking about running off and traveling the country. We can make a call from Rod¡¯s phone to Danny¡¯s before we get rid of them both, so there¡¯s a call on record the night they disappeared. We¡¯ll say Rod thought college was stupid, which is exactly the sort of thing he would think, and everyone knows how much he hates his parents. We¡¯re surprised Danny went with him, though. Danny would talk but he was such a¡ªa respectable guy we never thought he would go through with it. I guess you never really know someone. We¡ª¡±

    ¡°Rod doesn¡¯t hate his parents.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You said Rod hates his parents. He doesn¡¯t. He thinks he¡¯s smarter than them, yeah, but he doesn¡¯t hate them. Last year, his mom wouldn¡¯t talk to him for some reason I can¡¯t remember, he was a punk about something. She¡¯d been mad for weeks and it was bothering him bad. You could tell because he was being mean to everyone else but not in a funny way.

    ¡°So finally he bought her a bracelet. Silver with little black bits on it. It was obvious he felt stupid doing it, but he couldn¡¯t think of any other way to make her not mad anymore. She wears it all the time, now. Except sometimes when she¡¯s mad at him she takes it off.¡±

    Priya shook her head. ¡°Connor, I know Rod is¡ª He killed Danny, Connor.¡±

    ¡°No he didn¡¯t. I did.¡±

    For some strange reason, Priya laughed. ¡°No you didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I did, Priya. I killed Danny. I didn¡¯t mean to, but I did. We¡¯re stronger than we think, you know. Rod took the blame so it wouldn¡¯t be on me. But it is on me. And now, because of you, Priya, Rod¡¯s on me too.¡±

    Priya could feel hot, frustrated tears trying to force themselves out of her eyes. ¡°But you¡¯re¡­ you¡¯re not¡­¡± Connor killed Danny. Connor killed Danny. She couldn¡¯t wrap her mind around it. She knew she should hate him, now, like she hated Rod, but instead all her feelings were still about Rod, about what she had done to him, about what Lorrain was going to do to him. She grabbed her hair with both hands so tight that her nails scraped her scalp. ¡°What if we just don¡¯t say anything?¡±

    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Priya, they¡¯re going to kill him.¡±

    ¡°I know. And then he¡¯ll be gone.¡±

    ¡°¡¯He¡¯ll be gone¡¯? That¡¯s it! This isn¡¯t about the police. This isn¡¯t about a truce. This is because you hate Rod and you want him dead.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll all be gone. That¡¯s what I meant. This whole situation will be gone, and no one else has to die.¡±

    ¡°Then trade me for Rod. If someone has to die, it should be me.¡±

    No. Connor wasn¡¯t a martyr. He didn¡¯t want to die. He wasn¡¯t¡­ well¡­ bold enough for that. But that wasn¡¯t true, was it? That tentative, fragile look to him she¡¯d noticed earlier was gone. His confession seemed to have wiped it way. Now he was standing tall, straight-backed. Unlike her, he didn¡¯t seem anywhere close to crying. His face was set, determined. He was transformed. It made him look a little like Danny, and that broke Priya¡¯s heart.

    Worse, he was right, wasn¡¯t he? She gave Rod to Lorraine for the reasons she¡¯d said, to stop the feud. But if she¡¯d known it was Connor who killed Danny she wouldn¡¯t have done it. And when Connor had told her the truth and she¡¯d suggested they simply leave Rod to the Blues, she¡¯d meant it, at least for a moment. Now she knew that her true heart, or part of it, would rather an innocent person she didn¡¯t like die than a murderer she did.

    She always tried to be honest with herself, so she could become better, but this was the bitterest piece of honesty she¡¯d ever swallowed. It burned her throat like battery acid.

    Priya sank to the floor and leaned back against the desk.

    ¡°So we trade me for Rod,¡± said Connor.

    She wiped a tear off her cheek and took a deep, steadying breath. ¡°No, we don¡¯t. We break Rod out.¡±

    ###

    <h2>TrueWorldOrder.net, forum post by user manofwar57:</h2>

    Proof of alien life disguised as human.

    This happened yesterday in my hometown. I saw it with my own eyes. I always knew and now I saw it with my own eyes. My wife saw it too. She¡¯s never listened to me but now she¡¯s seen it with her own eyes.

    PICTURES.

    ###

    When Elias picked Kess up, the sky was a silky, sun-down, deep blue. He didn¡¯t say hello or even look at her as she settled into the passenger¡¯s seat.

    They rolled out in the direction of Johnston and drove in silence. Kess pushed her hands far into the pocket of her gray hoodie (actually Marlie¡¯s hoodie. Marlie had let her borrow it because it was relative-to-summer cool outside). Without conversation, Kess had nothing to distract her from thoughts of the impossible and possibly-deadly thing they were going to attempt. For the first time, she was beginning to get scared, not of Elias losing his humanity or of the Grays coming after the other Blues, but for her own sake.

    She called her mother. ¡°Hey, Mom. How¡¯s the baby? How¡¯s Aunt Mary?¡±

    ¡°The baby is adorable. Healthy. Pink. Aunt Mary is dramatic.¡±

    ¡°Well, she did just give birth. I¡¯ve been told that¡¯s very difficult.¡±

    ¡°I have heard that as well. Anyway, I can be patient with Mary for a while longer. Has Priya had Danny over to the house?¡±

    ¡°You know I wouldn¡¯t tell you if she had, right?¡±

    That made Mom laugh. ¡°Hard to blame you for that.¡±

    ¡°Besides, she broke up with him pretty soon after you left.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s too bad. He seemed like a nice boy.¡±

    Kess nodded even though her mother couldn¡¯t see her. ¡°He is. He¡¯s a really good guy.¡±

    ¡°Well, I trust Priya not to get too broken up about it. She gets over boys so quickly. Really, it¡¯s a talent.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Priya¡¯s going to be alright.¡±

    ¡°And what have you been up to?¡±

    ¡°I¡ª¡± Have friends now. Have my own boyfriend. Have superpowers. Might die tonight. ¡°You know. I¡¯ve been wasting time. Reading, playing games. Being a general degenerate.¡±

    ¡°Well, enjoy it while you can. Soon you¡¯ll be in college and you won¡¯t be able to spend the summer lying around.¡±

    ¡°I love you, Mom.¡± Kess didn¡¯t normally say it like that. Even the word ¡®love¡¯ felt cottony and awkward on her tongue.

    If Mom thought it was odd, she didn¡¯t say anything except ¡°I love you too, darling.¡±

    Kess hung up. The sky had gone from blue to black during the call. ¡°I can drive,¡± she told Elias, ¡°if you want to call your parents.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°So you said goodbye to them before you left?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    How Gray was he? Holifeld had said they had another week before Elias was Gray enough not to be trusted. That was three days ago. If the two of them succeeded in getting the Nox, they could freeze Elias in his current state, even if they couldn¡¯t cure him.

    ¡°I really think you should call your parents, Elias.¡±

    ¡°The point of parents is little kids. Making sure they don¡¯t starve to death.¡±

    ¡°When I was a little kid I was in an orphanage. I told you that.¡±

    ¡°Did they not feed you enough?¡±

    ¡°No, they didn¡¯t touch me enough. I told you.¡±

    Elias didn¡¯t reply. Kess didn¡¯t think he understood what she was trying to say. So she said something else.

    ¡°When Holifeld was first figuring out whether you were Gray or not, he asked you what you liked about me.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡±

    There was a long pause. Elias didn¡¯t look away from the road, not even flicking his gaze over to make split-second eye contact with Kess. That was probably smart, safe driving and everything, but it also made the conversation feel uncomfortable, cold. Finally, Elias said, ¡°It¡¯s hard to remember.¡±

    ¡°I thought you had a perfect memory now.¡±

    ¡°Only for things that happened after I started my transformation. And even then more so for certain things. Numbers, lists. A lot of before is hazy. I think my Gray mind, as it grows, is pushing out stuff it doesn¡¯t think is important. Certain details, and how I felt about things as they were happening. It must be part of why Grays are so bad at pretending to be not-Gray. I had a best friend when I was little. I know that yesterday, for some reason I was thinking about him, I remembered things¡ªour secret code words and the things we¡¯d do together. Today I can¡¯t remember what his face looked like. So no, I don¡¯t remember what I told Holifeld about you.¡± Elias still didn¡¯t look away from the road, but he did frown just a little, as if thinking a difficult thought. ¡°I do remember the night I met you. I remember your brown eyes.¡±

    After that they drove in silence, and darkness wrapped around the car, and there is something about being in a dark car that¡¯s like being alone in the world.

    #

    Eventually, they turned onto a road that appeared to have been abandoned a long time ago. Kess assumed Holifeld had told Elias where to go. Ahead of them, the headlights showed pavement broken and rumpled and shot through with living stuff. Trees pushed in on either side. They drove bumpily along until the road was nothing but disconnected pavement pieces and then stopped the car and stepped out into the darkness.

    Elias walked into the trees without saying anything. (He didn¡¯t use any of the connecting words anymore, ¡°hey¡± or ¡°yeah¡± or ¡°this way.¡±)

    They walked for quite a while without any illumination except watery half-moon light, Kess stumbling on bits of underbrush. She saw the lights of Holifeld Company before anything, yellow stars in the distance that, as they got closer, turned into windows in a hulking shadow of a building that rose above the trees. They came to a chain link fence and Elias brought a wire cutter out from his pocket.

    ¡°You and Holifeld must have talked a lot on that little communicator thing he gave you.¡± Kess kept her voice low, not sure where guards might be.

    ¡°Just about strategy.¡± Elias cut wires as he spoke and pulled away a smallish section of fence. Now there was a hole big enough to crawl through.

    Elias put his hand on her elbow and squeezed a little too hard.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Reassuring you.¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡±

    He dropped his hand, and a moment later he was on his knees going through the hole in the fence. Kess watched him crawl and decided that instead of being scared she was going to be cool and numb and focused on the immediate task.

    There should be a control panel for your mind, a set of switches on an armband.

    She followed Elias.

    ###

    <h2>Secure communication between Elias Kaplan and Vance Holifeld:</h2>

    EK: In.

 CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

    Rod realized, slowly, that he was awake. Then he discovered just how hideously uncomfortable he was. His arms were twisted back behind him and awkwardly stretched out and up, secured by what had to be one of those chains you use for big dogs. His legs were also pulled back at a weird angle that didn¡¯t allow him to touch his knees to the ground. Whoever had chained him had been clever about it, twisting him up so that he couldn¡¯t get the purchase to use his full strength. All he could do was twitch.

    He was outside, on concrete, chained to some kind of metal pole¡ªthat basketball goal behind Sammy Lecker¡¯s cabin. Light came from the moon, which was half full, and from some of the windows in the dark cabin wall.

    He twitched for a while to see what good it would do. It did no good. He finally relaxed and let himself hang.

    That¡¯s when white outdoor lights switched on and Lorraine came out.

    With the backyard lit up, Rod saw the wire for the first time. It ran from the concrete several feet away from him, where it was pinned by a rock, to somewhere up above his head. Craning his neck, he saw that the wire hooked through one of the loops of the basketball net and then ran down along the post. Now that he knew it was there, he could feel it. A thin, flimsy circle of some cool metal wrapping around his wrists, a weight so slight he hadn¡¯t noticed it before.

    Lorraine kicked away the rock and picked up the wire. The black insulating outer layer had been scraped away from the end, revealing shiny brown strands of copper. Lorraine twisted the copper around one of her silver fingertips.

    Meeting Rod¡¯s eyes for the first time, she smiled.

    #

    ¡°You stay back,¡± Elias whispered. ¡°There¡¯s a scanner, and it only opens the door for Grays.¡±

    Kess stayed back. Elias stepped into the dark doorway at the corner of one of the buildings. Whatever scanner examined him there didn¡¯t produce visible light, and Kess didn¡¯t bother to check other parts of the spectrum.

    She worried that Elias didn¡¯t really want to do this, that he was breaking into Holifeld Co. because of momentum, because the plan was already planned. She was worried he didn¡¯t want anything much at all. It was absurd how much she wanted him to want things, and to get what he wanted. She felt that desire more powerfully than she feared getting caught by the Grays. She felt it stronger than anything she could remember feeling.

    The door in front of Elias opened and he disappeared inside. He didn¡¯t look back at Kess, and she had to hurry to follow him before the door swung closed. She stood in darkness for a moment before Elias switched on a dim, discrete little light¡ªit was clipped to his sleeve, and she supposed he¡¯d waited to turn it on until he absolutely had to. He spoke, then, in a low voice. ¡°Can you look though the walls? Check for Grays?¡±

    ¡°Only if they have cell phones,¡± she said back to him, making sure to speak just as quietly. ¡°There¡¯s no radiation that goes through walls and bounces off people, not at night, so it has to¡ª¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± he cut her off. ¡°Check for cell phones.¡±

    There were no cell phones except Kess¡¯s own and Elias¡¯s secure communicator thing. Not close enough for Kess to see. So they started to move. Holifeld had, apparently, sent the floor plans to Elias, who had, apparently, memorized them. (Kess was beginning to get seriously annoyed that she hadn¡¯t gotten a communicator of her own.) Elias¡¯s faint light showed hallways, open areas with desks. The Holifeld Company offices appeared to be standard office drab, the sort of place where Kess might end up working someday if she didn¡¯t die first.

    Kess followed Elias down a hallway, farther into the dull gray belly of the beast. Up a dark concrete staircase. Down another hall. Through a door. And suddenly Kess recognized where they were. This was the lab she¡¯d seen in the grainy security footage back at Holifeld¡¯s place. This was where Natalie Silver hid the Nox.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    Kess ran to the closet and threw the door open. Inside was boring storage. Not chemicals¡ªnotebooks and markers and sticky notes. She felt a rush of singing hope at the same time as a surge of nauseating doubt. What if the Nox wasn¡¯t there? What if it was? She shoved aside office supplies.

    And there¡ªthere was a glint of glass. She grabbed the vial and spun to face Elias. ¡°Here. It¡¯s here. Take it now. Drink it.¡±

    He was insufferably calm. ¡°Kess, it¡¯s probably not meant to be taken orally. It¡¯s probably injectable, like the Gray virus itself.¡±

    ¡°But it might work. I became Blue by petting a cat. Come on, try.¡±

    ¡°If we waste it there will be no more. If we take it to Holifeld now he may be able to duplicate it.¡±

    ¡°But Elias¡­¡± She held the vial to her chest. ¡°You¡¯re almost gone.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said, and walked out of the lab.

    Kess was so shocked she didn¡¯t follow him for a moment. But then she saw something, a sickly greenish signal shining from some other room, but close. Not a cell phone, a different frequency¡ªa walky talky? And the center of the green light, the source of the signal was moving. It was headed in Elias¡¯s direction.

    Kess stuffed the vial of Nox into her pocket and ran out of the lab. Elias was already a good ways down the hall¡ªhe hadn¡¯t waited for her. She ran to him and grabbed him by the arm. ¡°They¡¯re coming that way.¡± But when she looked the other direction down the hall another green signal had come into view.

    She pulled him back into the lab. He broke away from her and headed towards the back of the room on the other side of the various counters. There was a second door there, Kess realized, going out the other way. They burst through into another dark hall. And there was another signal. Three of them, all moving, criss-crossing, converging. Running down the hall would get them caught. She opened another door at random and ducked inside, Elias right behind her.

    He switched off the light on his sleeve and they waited in darkness.

    The green signal came closer. Kess felt as if her heart was about to explode. When she couldn¡¯t stand it anymore she fumbled for Elias¡¯s hand in the dark. It was cool and perfectly still. She wanted his skin to be warm and trembling, she wanted to feel his heartbeat pounding through his palm. She wanted him to be scared, for the two of them to be scared together.

    The green light came closer, closer. There were soft footsteps, almost no sound at all. The signal was outside the door.

    It moved on. Kess¡¯s heart cooled and slowed.

    ¡°They don¡¯t know we¡¯re here,¡± said Elias. ¡°They¡¯re not looking for us. They¡¯d check every door.¡±

    ¡°Could you turn on your light please?¡± Kess whispered. ¡°They¡¯re gone. They¡¯re so far away I can barely see them. I¡¯m not sure we can leave yet, though. The others are still in our way to the stairs.¡±

    Elias switched his light on to show a small, cluttered room, a bit larger than a closet but with most of the space taken up by a desk. It seemed as if the room hadn¡¯t been used in a long time¡ªthere was dust and cobwebs and gray grime everywhere.

    Kess picked up one of the photos on the desk and wiped the dust off the glass. The fine-boned face of Christopher Stone smiled back at her. He was on a snowy mountainside, dressed warm and holding a pair of those stick things you use for skiing. Another smiling skier stood next to him, a man with blonde hair sticking out of his knit hat. And here was another picture, Stone at a wedding, a best man with a carnation stuck to his tux and his arms flung around the other groomsmen.

    This must have been Stone¡¯s office before he became a Gray. Tiny, with no place for anyone else to sit, no computer, lots of photographs, it must have been a spot for him to take a few minutes away from work, to relax and be himself. He must not have used it in a long, long time.

    Kess opened one of the drawers.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± asked Elias.

    ¡°I¡¯m curious.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because he was a person.¡±

    And as she pushed the drawer back in, her hand brushed something¡ªan unseen button¡ªand speakers hidden somewhere spit out a crackling sound. Kess jumped back. What had she pressed? Had she called every Gray in the building to them?

    But no, someone was talking.

    ¡°How close are they?¡± asked the someone, a male voice.

    ¡°Minutes,¡± said the other voice, female.

    There was a connection between this office and somewhere else in the building (a wire running down through the desk and into the floor, probably.) Perhaps the Grays had forgotten about it when the purge wiped years of their memories away. Perhaps they had no idea someone might be listening in.

    ¡°And all precautions have been taken?¡± said the male voice on the other side of the line.

    Elias pressed his mouth to Kess¡¯s ear and whispered, his warm breath moving her hair: ¡°Jonathan Akiyama.¡±

    Jonathan Akiyama? The former Holifeld Company science director? But how did Elias recognize his voice?

    The female voice fuzzed through the speakers once more. ¡°The Betas will be in custody within the hour.¡±

 TWENTY-NINE

    Rod screamed, but he didn¡¯t think he could be blamed for that. It was like when they hit your knee with that little hammer and your leg kicks out. Just something your body does on its own.

    The pain (and the noise) dropped away. Rod let himself hang on his chains for a moment before working up the energy to raise his head and face Lorraine. She stared back at him, her face hard as metal, the wire still wrapped around her finger. He wasn¡¯t too surprised that she was doing this, even though he never would have guessed it, before. Lorraine seemed to have accepted what Priya never could, that the coming of the Reds and the Blues had changed everything.

    She also seemed entirely willing to stand there all night pouring electricity into Rod¡¯s body. She¡¯d even run an orange extension cord out of the house to give her unlimited power. He could (almost) feel it already, pain piling on pain. He wondered if he would want to die. It was hard to imagine, given how much Rod enjoyed being himself, but he didn¡¯t see any reason why he would be different than everyone else ever tortured in the history of torture.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get why you and I never went out,¡± he said. ¡°Our chemistry is palpable.¡± It took an unpleasant amount of energy, but he managed to say ¡°palpable¡± like it was the best kind of dirty word.

    In response, Lorraine sent a quick pulse of electricity through the wire, just enough to make Rod twitch. Lorraine always had been resistant to his tremendous wit. If it were Connor torturing Rod, Rod would have had him worked up by now. He¡¯d be all hilarious and red.

    The black tarp, the one hung over the broken glass door into the house, flapped aside, and two of the other Blues came out. Sammy Lecker, his face still bruised, and Breanna Mulroney. ¡°Lorraine,¡± said Breanna. She opened her mouth again, but words seemed to fail her.

    Lorraine cocked her head to the side. ¡°Yes, Breanna?¡±

    ¡°We were all just saying,¡± said Sammy. ¡°We were inside, and we were saying¡­¡±

    ¡°You were saying?¡± said Lorraine.

    ¡°We were saying he¡¯s making a lot of noise,¡± said Breanna.

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Sammy. ¡°He¡¯s making noise and someone¡¯s going to hear and my parents own this place, Lorraine.¡±

    ¡°So what are you suggesting, Samuel?¡±

    ¡°Maybe instead of you doing this to him, we should go ahead and, um¡­¡± He glanced over at Rod. ¡°And, you know¡­¡±

    ¡°Kill me?¡± said Rod. Sammy flushed. Rod wondered whether he could goad Sammy into killing him quick, and whether he should. After all, if you were being rational it was better to die before you hurt badly enough to want to. ¡°Make sure not to get my blood everywhere. Sammy¡¯s parents own this place.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not going to kill you, Rod,¡± snapped Breanna.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Lorraine.

    ¡°Um, what?¡±

    ¡°Rod killed Danny. What do you think he deserves?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I, um, I thought that what you¡¯re doing to him now was his punishment. You know. Hurting him.¡±

    ¡°He didn¡¯t hurt Danny. He killed Danny.¡±

    ¡°Exactly,¡± said Sammy, ¡°so why drag it out? It¡¯s dirty, how you¡¯re doing it. Just get it over with.¡±

    ¡°Or not,¡± said Breanna. ¡°You could just keep doing what you¡¯re doing, and actually it¡¯s fine if it¡¯s noisy, whatever, and then before the sun comes up we¡¯ll drive him out into the middle of the woods somewhere and leave him. We could do that.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take that into consideration,¡± said Lorraine.

    Breanna and Sammy slunk back into the house.

    ¡°Finally,¡± said Rod, managing a grin. ¡°We¡¯re alone.¡±

    Lorraine lifted her finger, wrapped in wire, and shattered Rod¡¯s sense of humor into electrified pieces.

    #

    ¡°The Betas will be in custody before morning.¡±

    A chill ran through Kess when she heard the words. She was a Beta 2, a Blue, they must know she was in the building. They must be on their way to her.

    But no, the woman had said ¡°Betas,¡± not specifying which type. They were going after both the Reds and the Blues, her Blues. And they were close.

    She fumbled for the button beneath the desk, because she couldn¡¯t let them hear her, and then she pulled out her phone and turned it on and called Danny. No one answered. She called him again. The call went straight to voicemail.

    ¡°Danny,¡± she said, leaving a message. ¡°They¡¯re coming for you¡ªthose people I told you about. Get everyone inside and¡ªand¡ªlock the doors. Call the police? I know we don¡¯t want to involve them but they¡¯re dangerous, these people that are coming for you. They¡¯re close. Danny, be careful.¡±

    Who else could she call? She didn¡¯t have everyone¡¯s number. Samuel? Lorraine?

    ¡°Kess,¡± said Elias.

    The door opened and Natalie Silver stepped inside.

    There was no greenish light coming off her, no signals of any kind. Was that on purpose? Had she known? Kess threw up her hand and sent out a lightning bolt that split in two, one sparking branch bending to the floor, the other hitting Silver in her chest.

    Nothing happened. And now Kess saw that Silver¡¯s white shirt was unbuttoned and that, beneath, she wore a shirt of some tight dark material. Her hands were gloved in the same stuff. It must absorb electricity, or direct it to the ground or something. But her face was uncovered. Kess threw herself at Silver, reaching for her cheeks, sending out another jolt of electricity. But the white energy only angled down to hit Silver¡¯s protected chest again. That dark stuff must go to ground, like a wearable lightning rod. Silver slapped Kess¡¯s hands away, then hooked a foot behind her ankle and jerked. Kess stumbled back and fell against the desk.

    ¡°Kaplan,¡± said Silver, not looking at Elias. ¡°Is there any use in fighting me?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said Elias. ¡°There are other Grays down the hall. They¡¯re coming now.¡±

    Silver nodded, turned, and walked down the hall. Elias followed her. What was he doing? If he had helped her, Kess could have reached Silver¡¯s unprotected face. If she actually touched Silver¡¯s skin she could bypass that lightning-rod suit and shock her. Maybe then they could have gotten away. There was a chance. But instead of helping he had stood aside like a¡­ like a fish, and now he was following Silver all blank-faced and fish-meek, so that if Kess ran the other way she¡¯d have to leave him.

    Kess went with them. Of course. What else could she do?

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    #

    Connor was back in these stupid woods. Again.

    He and Priya crept through the trees, trying to make their way by moonlight like peasants or cavemen. The last time Connor had been in this particular patch of these stupid woods he and Rod had come to throw rocks at Samuel Lecker¡¯s cabin. That seemed like a long time ago now, a story he would start with ¡°When I was a kid¡­¡± Priya was quieter than Rod had been, stepping over twigs and things, so quiet that Connor had to keep checking to make sure she was still with him. She was a dark slight silent shadow.

    Until she spoke.

    ¡°Connor,¡± she said, voice low. ¡°Do you think the Redness makes us vicious?¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°I think the Redness gave us enemies and no one knows whether they¡¯re vicious or not until they have enemies.¡±

    ¡°No I mean more than that. Those machines made us stronger, and they changed our brains. Maybe they made us more aggressive, like steroids. Maybe that¡¯s why I was so ready to get Rod killed. Do you think that could be it? Could the machines be making us act this way?¡±

    He remembered Danny, how angry the other guy¡¯s condescension had made him. He remembered the crack of Danny¡¯s neck. ¡°I think that would be an awfully convenient thing for us to believe.¡±

    Connor saw the light the same moment he heard the sound¡ªthe hoarse groan of someone too exhausted to scream. He would have run ahead toward the sound if Priya hadn¡¯t put her hand on his chest to keep him back. They edged forward until the trees thinned enough to see the cabin, the rear patio lit up by lamps flanking the back door. Lorraine stood in the center of the concrete, her blue braids muted in the soft light. She was facing the basketball goal. And Rod, who was chained to the post. There was a thin black line outlined against the light, running from Lorraine¡¯s hand to the goalpost. A wire.

    Rod groaned again and shuddered in his chains. Lorraine must have sent another shock down that black line.

    Just then, Breanna Mulroney came out of the house and said something to Lorraine. The two girls talked back and forth for a little bit. They were too far for Connor to hear what they were saying, though Lorraine seemed annoyed. Finally she gestured at Rod before turning and going inside. Breanna stayed where she was. Apparently Lorraine had told her to watch the prisoner.

    And then Priya¡¯s phone rang.

    Connor jumped, and Priya fumbled the phone from her pocket and switched it off fast as she could and whispered ¡°It¡¯s Danny¡¯s. I forgot I had it.¡±

    They looked back to Breanna, who was staring into the woods, in their direction.

    Before Connor could think what to do, could think at all, Priya charged out of the trees.

    A moment later Breanna was on her back on the ground with Priya straddling her, holding both her hands pressed palm to palm so the electricity couldn¡¯t get out. Priya taking down the other girl had been so quick and controlled it was practically beautiful. It reminded Connor of earlier that evening (or an eternity ago), when Priya had done showy gymnast flips by the bonfire, and even earlier when she had run and leapt across rooftops so graceful-fast that trying to follow her had sent Connor careening to the ground. Really Priya deserved these superpowers, given what she could do with them. Connor came out of the trees to stand over the two girls.

    ¡°Don¡¯t call out,¡± Priya told Breanna below her.

    Breanna shook her head. ¡°You came for him, right?¡± she whispered soft enough that Connor had to lean down to hear her. ¡°I don¡¯t want him here either, I swear.¡±

    Rod blinked at the girls on the ground in front of him. ¡°Am I hallucinating?¡± he croaked. Connor had never heard his friend sound so beat, not when he was sick or sad or mad. ¡°You¡¯d tell me if I was hallucinating, right?¡±

    Instead of answering Rod, Priya spoke to Breanna again. ¡°If you don¡¯t want him, let him out.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t. Lorraine and Samuel are the only ones who know the combination to the lock.¡±

    ¡°If we went to Lorraine, and explained that the deal is off and we¡¯re taking Rod with us, what are the chances everything will end peacefully?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯d fry you. And the others might help, I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Priya nodded. ¡°Connor, break the chains.¡±

    He stared at the substantial iron dog chains wrapped around Rod¡¯s body. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I¡ª¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re stronger than we think. Just try, Connor.¡±

    So he tried. With a bit of difficulty because there wasn¡¯t a lot of slack to the chain, he found a spot where he could get a handhold. He braced his feet against the concrete and pulled, pulled. Rod grunted as the chain tugged against him but didn¡¯t say anything, which just showed how worn out he must be. ¡°I¡¯m hurting him,¡± said Connor, stepping back.

    ¡°This is what we¡¯re going to do,¡± said Priya. ¡°I¡¯m going to help break the chain. You,¡± she nodded down at Breanna, ¡°are going to sit up and put your hands flat on the ground. We have you outnumbered two to one, three to one in just a second, so you¡¯re not going to call out or try to run or anything. Alright? Alright.¡±

    And Priya got up and arranged Connor¡¯s hands on the chains, actually grabbing them and placing them where she needed them. Then she placed her own, and when the two of them pulled back, straining against each other, the chains didn¡¯t cut into Rod¡¯s chest, at least not so badly he made a noise. The metal links dug into Connor¡¯s hand, and it hurt, but Priya was pulling so he pulled too.

    There was a snap, a flash of flying chain, a sharp pain across Connor¡¯s hand as he staggered back. Rod fell forward and landed crumpled face-down, his back heaving with loud breaths. Connor helped him up and found that Rod¡¯s face was red and glossed with sweat. Connor glanced over at the door into the Blue¡¯s cabin. No sign of anyone coming through the tarp curtain.

    ¡°You¡¯re hurt,¡± said Priya.

    Connor. She was talking about Connor.

    He looked down at his hand and saw that the broken end of the chain had left an angry red cut across his palm. He wiped the blood away on his jeans. ¡°It¡¯s not bad. It¡¯s shallow.¡± The worst part of the injury, as far as he could tell, was that some of his medal studs had been partially pulled away from the skin. ¡°You okay, man? I mean, obviously¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± said Rod, his voice still hoarse. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°Rod,¡± said Priya. She looked him straight in the eyes. ¡°What I did to you was wrong, and I am truly sorry.¡±

    ¡°I get it,¡± said Rod, nodding. And she was forgiven with a sentence. That¡¯s how you could tell the difference between Rod¡¯s friends and everyone else.

    Beside her, still on the ground, Breanna gasped. ¡°I have to go to them.¡±

    ¡°After we leave,¡± said Priya.

    ¡°No, now. It¡¯s important. They need me.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± asked Connor.

    ¡°They need me,¡± the Blue girl repeated. Her face looked almost anguished, if that was the right word. ¡°I have to go to them. Please. It pulls.¡±

    ¡°After we leave,¡± repeated Priya, ¡°and after you give us a few minutes to get away.¡±

    Breanna squirmed, and a tear rolled down her cheek. ¡°I won¡¯t tell them you¡¯re here. I promise. It pulls.¡±

    Priya sighed. ¡°If you tell them and we find out, you won¡¯t like it.¡±

    Breanna scrambled to her feet and ran around the side of the house at serious, stumbling speed.

    ¡°What was that about?¡± asked Connor

    ¡°Dunno,¡± said Rod. His voice was already beginning to sound better. He pulled away from Connor and stood on his own feet. ¡°Are we going?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Priya. But she glanced back at the corner of the house where Breanna had disappeared. She looked curious, and a little worried.

    ¡°You two go,¡± said Connor. ¡°I¡¯ll stay and find out what¡¯s happening.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said Priya. ¡°No, you take Rod home. I¡¯ll stay just a little longer.¡±

    With an exasperated groan, Rod broke away from the other two, strode to the house, and grabbed the wall. A moment later he was climbing. Priya and Connor ran to catch up with him, Priya quickly clambering up beside him. Connor had a bit of trouble¡ªhis hand that had been cut wouldn¡¯t grip right, and he had to use his other hand and his feet in a slower, clumsier climb up the wall. By the time he got to the roof, Priya and Rod were already standing at the opposite edge, looking down.

    Two police cars were parked in front of the house. There were policemen¡ªsix of them, Connor counted¡ªstanding by the cars facing the Blues, who bunched up in front of the house with Lorraine standing out closer to the cops. All of the cops had their guns in their hands. And one, the one in front, pointed his gun directly at Lorraine. From up on the roof, Connor couldn¡¯t hear what they were saying.

    Even from up here Connor could feel it. That Blue feeling, the boiling¡ªAnger? Disgust? Fear? Mistrust? Hate? It felt bad being so close to Blues, especially after Danny. But he was curious. What horrible things had the Blues done to bring those cops out here?¡±

    ¡°I recognize him,¡± said Priya. ¡°That one, the guy at the front. His name is Stone. He tried to kidnap me. Remember Connor, I told you.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± said Rod. ¡°Someone tried to kidnap you?¡±

    ¡°He knows what we are, what the Blues are. That has to be why they¡¯re here. They¡¯re not real cops.¡±

    Connor stared down at the scene below, but Rod seemed to have registered what Priya was saying. He grabbed her arm. ¡°Come on, we¡¯ve got to get back to Stephanie¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°No, we have to stay here.¡±

    ¡°Those people might be at Stephanie¡¯s right now.¡±

    ¡°I know they might be. But we need to help the Blues.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Rod¡¯s eyes bulged in disbelief.

    Connor couldn¡¯t believe it either. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because maybe it will make everything alright.¡±

    Rod scowled. ¡°Nothing ever makes everything alright, Ya-Ya.¡±

    ¡°Well, maybe this will.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re insane.¡±

    Connor could feel his own heart beating. What if they wasted time now and something terrible happened to the other Reds? And he agreed with Rod that helping the Blues wouldn¡¯t make what Connor had done to Danny (what Lorraine had done to Rod) go away. But Priya seemed so certain.

    She stepped to the edge. ¡°It¡¯s the right thing, so if doing it for me is the only reason you¡¯d do it, do it for me. And if that¡¯s not enough¡­ goodbye, boys.¡± And Priya jumped off the roof.

    Connor didn¡¯t hesitate. Not even for a moment.

 CHAPTER THIRTY

    Elias felt gray.

    The graying process had gone faster than Holifeld had predicted. Elias could feel it. He knew that by tomorrow, at the latest, he would be entirely transformed and would in all likelihood call up Akiyama and ask to join his cause. (Elias now realized that Akiyama had won every argument the two of them had ever had. Elias had been irrational and Akiyama had made sense.) That¡¯s why Elias had sent Holifeld a message insisting the break-in happen that night.

    It wasn¡¯t bad, being gray. For the first time in his life, Elias didn¡¯t have to think any thoughts he didn¡¯t want to think. His mind did all the work he needed it to¡ªsolving problems, predicting dangers¡ªwithout sidetracking, daydreams, or sudden, irrelevant remembrances.

    Well, only one.

    Honestly, Elias could easily have made the switch already, that morning, driven to Johnston by himself and walked up to the front door of this building instead of sneaking in the back, turned himself in. He would have been a Gray, simple as that, and would never have to go back to anger and anxiety and all that other useless pink clutter.

    But it would have made Kess so sad.

    He shouldn¡¯t put this much value on Kess¡¯s feelings. She was only one person, as irrational as any un-Gray. And she was infatuated with Elias, making her particularly unreliable when it came to deciding what should happen to him.

    And yet he remembered the night they met. It was a warm, bright spot in his cool gray mind. There was her face, relaxing after a burst of laughter, and there were the lights hung all over, shining through her yellow hair.

    He looked at her now. Silver had led them to an elevator with shining mirrored walls and a keypad by the call buttons where she tapped in some code. Kess stood with her back to a corner. In his memory (that memory), Kess¡¯s eyes were brown. Now they were gray and glittering.

    The elevator opened onto a large, long room. Two more Grays flanked the door, waiting for them. At the end of the room were tall, broad windows, and a desk, and a man sitting at the desk. The window frame made an angle. The sides of the desk made an angle. The man¡¯s shoulders made an angle. The man had Asian features and black hair going silver at the temples. He dressed in a suit of the same cut and color as the one Christopher Stone had worn the one time Elias had met him, when he passed him that note, the note from Akiyama, the note that said not to tell Kess.

    ¡°So you¡¯re the boss,¡± said Kess to Jonathan Akiyama.

    ¡°No he¡¯s not,¡± said Elias. ¡°The Grays don¡¯t have dominance hierarchies.¡±

    Kess looked at him with her brown eyes. Eyes are all curves without angles. ¡°Um, what?¡±

    ¡°You are here,¡± said Akiyama, ¡°to find something. We are unaware of anything within this building you would want, and so it is likely something we are not aware of. That would indicate something which was erased from our minds by Silver¡¯s memory purge.¡±

    Standing on the other side of Kess from Elias, Silver spoke up. ¡°It is possible that I commissioned other projects at the same time as the memory purge. Indeed, this would have made the purge a more appealing strategy.¡±  And then, quick and sharp, Silver reached into Kess¡¯s pocket with her black-gloved hand and pulled out the vial containing the Nox. ¡°It is likely that one of these projects is contained here.¡±

    Kess made a sound and grabbed at the vial, but it was already leaving Silver¡¯s hand, arcing through the air toward Akiyama, who caught it one-handed and set it on his desk. ¡°Given that you knew about whatever is in this vial, and its location in the building, it is likely that the two of you are in contact with Vance Holifeld. Are you willing to disclose any information you have regarding his location, intentions, or capabilities?¡±

    Informing on Holifeld would make Kess sad. ¡°No,¡± said Elias.

    ¡°Then we have nothing else to say to Miss Carpenter.¡± Akiyama indicated the two other Grays in the room. ¡°Black and Richards will escort you to your new living quarters. You will see your Beta friends soon.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t do this,¡± said Kess, her voice distorted and strained. ¡°The Reds and Blues haven¡¯t

    done anything to you. We haven¡¯t done anything to anyone but each other. Just leave us alone.¡±

    ¡°You seem to believe we want to punish you. Since we are hoping to keep both your Betas¡¯ abilities and our involvement a secret from the wider populace at this time, punishing you would have no purpose. There is no one whose behavior would be changed by your example. We are simply trying to maintain our schedule for the Beta project.¡±

    ¡°Maintain your schedule¡­?¡±

    ¡°The release of the test animals disrupted our timeline. What¡¯s more, every moment you and your confederates spend outside of our custody threatens to spread the unfinished product, further disrupting our projections. Containing you contains the spread of the product, and also gives us human subjects for an accelerated testing schedule.¡±

    ¡°Human subjects? So you want us to replace your chimps.¡± Kess¡¯s face twisted in a way Elias couldn¡¯t quite interpret, not anymore. Then she said, ¡°You don¡¯t think your timeline will be disrupted if you kidnap a dozen teenagers? You don¡¯t think anyone will notice? You don¡¯t think the world will figure you out?¡±

    ¡°You are trying to persuade me, Miss Carpenter.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°A Gray, as you call us, can be persuaded by new information. We cannot be persuaded by arguments.¡±

    ¡°You say that like it¡¯s a good thing.¡±

    ¡°Miss Carpenter, you come from a cultural tradition that celebrates the ability to be persuaded as a sign of rationality. However, this view is fundamentally flawed. An argument attempts to arrange the facts of the world into an illusion. For example, at the moment I am attempting to persuade you to cooperate with us. I do this because your cooperation will make our plans for you go much more smoothly. However, since your goals are not aligned with ours, I must create an illusion that the world is a different place, one where you want to help us.¡±

    ¡°Um, explaining that isn¡¯t very persuasive¡­¡±

    ¡°Fortunately, the illusion I am presenting to you is no flimsier than the illusion you currently labor under. Alphas, Grays, are not like you in that regard. We know our priorities, and their rank. We cannot be made to see things in a different light because we see things one way¡ªthe way they truly are.¡±

    ¡°Congratulations?¡±

    Something chimed in Elias¡¯s head when Kess said that. He thought that, perhaps, he¡¯d once had a similar exchange with Akiyama. But his memory of it was unclear, because that was back when he was stupid, and it was difficult to remember what stupidity felt like. And now Kess was stupid, not realizing what would be best for her, what would keep her safe.

    ¡°Kess can make a deal,¡± he said. ¡°Deals are rational when two parties have opposing goals. Kess will cooperate and encourage the other Beta 2s to cooperate. In exchange, you will provide her with the comforts she wants while in your care, no matter how irrational. No experiments will be performed that might harm or damage her. Those experiments will be performed on other Blues instead.¡±

    ¡°What? Elias, why would you say that? Elias.¡±

    But before he could speak, Akiyama answered instead. ¡°He says that because of an artifact. We had suspected the existence of this artifact before, but Kaplan¡¯s behavior tonight confirms it.¡±

    An artifact¡­ An error in the conversion of Elias¡¯s brain.

    ¡°Silver,¡± said Akiyama. ¡°Is the analysis from the scan complete?¡±

    Silver nodded, and Akiyama reached out and touched something on the surface of his desk. The windows behind him went opaque, transformed into flat black screens.  On the glass above Akiyama¡¯s head, a human brain appeared. Or something like a human brain. It had clearly been altered in the same way as the chimpanzees¡¯ brains which Elias and Kess had examined in the woods behind Kess¡¯s house, with hints of the original flesh and traditional electronics among the other, stranger machinery. It was all rendered on the screen in semi-transparent gray-ish white, all except for one spot that shone gold.

    The artifact.

    Silver spoke next. ¡°Our theory is that Miss Carpenter infected you with Beta machines when you first met. The shock she subsequently gave you retarded their replication rate, and the urge to consume raw materials never triggered. That changed when you were injected with Alpha machines.¡±

    Looking more closely at the image of the brain¡ªhis brain¡ªElias saw that the golden spot sent out thin, tentative tendrils into the rest of the machinery.

    ¡°The computer has determined that your mind¡¯s transformation is complete. The components that would allow you to detect and react to Beta allegiance transmissions never developed. In their place, the Beta machines keyed their allegiance coding to those memories formed the night you were first infected.¡±

    The night he was first infected. Kess.

    Akiyama turned away from the image on the window behind him to face the others. ¡°Your new mind, Kaplan, consists of an almost complete Alpha network with a major artifact caused by the rudimentary Beta network.¡±

    ¡°So,¡± said Kess, ¡°Elias is a Gray with a piece of Blue at the center? What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°It means, Miss Carpenter, that he is devoted to you, and will be indefinitely. This is somewhat inconvenient for our plans, since we believed he would make a suitable Alpha. However, this experience has been useful in identifying a hitherto unknown failure mode to guard against in the future.¡±

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    While Akiyama was talking, Elias looked away from him, back at Kess. Her eyes were round as coins, and she would never sacrifice another Blue for her own safety. He wanted her to be safe. He wanted her to have what she wanted. She did not want to be safe. He felt conflicted, which was not a Gray feeling. It came from that warm golden spot in his brain.

    ¡°Let Kess go,¡± he said. ¡°And leave the Beta 2s alone.¡±

    ¡°Your artifact also causes you to make arguments you know are useless.¡±

    ¡°A Gray can only be persuaded by new information. I have new information.¡± Elias pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Silver. ¡°Look at the pages I have opened there. That forum post shows a photo of someone climbing on a wall in a city an hour away from here. And there¡¯s a report of a man found dead, seemingly electrocuted but with no apparent electrical source available. His fifteen-year-old daughter is missing. That¡¯s the next state over. There¡¯s more. The Beta machines have already spread. I assume you took this long to move against the Reds and Blues because you were developing Beta-neutralizing technology, like that electricity-proof clothing Silver¡¯s wearing. But you¡¯re too late. Taking the Reds and Blues in Greenlake into custody won¡¯t contain the spread; you¡¯ll be expending effort and risking exposure for no use.¡±

    For a moment, Akiyama was silent. And then he said, ¡°If the Beta machines have spread, the need for Beta test subjects is even more pressing. What¡¯s more, this original hive of Betas are the only ones who know of the Alphas and our involvement. Our plans to contain ythem were based on faulty information about the pace of their advancement and the likelihood of spreading Beta machines. With better knowledge, we would never have shown ourselves to you and your sister, Miss Carpenter, or tried unsuccessfully to take you into custody. However, our new plans must take these failures into account. You must be contained after all. Silver, Black, Richards¡ª¡±

    He must have meant for the other Grays to escort Kess and Elias away, but he was interrupted by the ring of a phone. He picked it up off his desk and listened quietly. Then, without saying anything, he held the phone away, ended the call and dialed another number.

    ¡°Miss Carpenter,¡± he said into the phone. ¡°My name is Jonathan Akiyama.¡±

    #

    Priya landed on her feet. A moment later Connor landed beside her.

    Stone turned and fired his gun.

    But Priya had expected this and was already in the air. The bullet or tranq-dart or whatever it was whizzed below her feet. She touched down and immediately launched herself at Stone. He stepped out of her way, and it was annoying how quick he was, and Priya hit one of the cop cars with a jolt. She turned around to see Blues all around her, struggling with the (fake) cops. But they didn¡¯t seem to be using their electricity. Why not? What were they¡ªRight in front of Priya, that Blue, Samuel, planted his palm on a cop¡¯s chest.

    Nothing happened. No spasm, no electric jolt, and he must have been trying. These people were Blue proof.

    The cop grabbed Samuel and flipped him around in some sort of karate move and he was down on the ground, and the cop was kneeling over him doing something to his hands. Priya ran to them, narrowly avoiding Stone, yanked the cop off Samuel and threw him to the side. He flew several feet through the air and hit the edge of the cop car¡¯s hood. The arm that hit the car hung strange and Priya was sure she¡¯d broken or dislocated it, even though the cop made no sound. His face didn¡¯t even lose its steady expression.

    And all the while Samuel lay prone on the ground at Priya¡¯s feet. She had the sudden urge to kick him, stomp him, make sure he couldn¡¯t get up. That¡¯s how you stayed safe from a Blue. Don¡¯t give them a chance to shock you.

    Why hadn¡¯t he gotten up already? And then she noticed there was something on his hands, some sort of sticky, gluey clear stuff. He was freaking out, trying to pull the stuff off his fingers, but it refused to come off, and now it seemed to be hardening, freezing his hands into a twisted mess.

    Something else to stop electricity, probably. These guys came prepared to fight Blues. But not Reds. They didn¡¯t expect Reds here.

    Everything was chaos, noise. Connor punched a cop in the face, turned and tackled another to the ground. One of the Blues was lying on the ground with an arm stretched out in front of her and her hair in her face. Unconscious? Others were struggling with the sticky stuff on their hands. Two cops were trying to force Lorraine into the back of their car, but she was kicking and scratching and lashing out with bright blue lightning that made the whole thing hard to look at.

    Somebody grabbed Priya¡¯s shoulder from behind and there was the prick of a needle in her neck. Priya spun around and kicked the cop in the stomach and the needle fell to the ground between them and hopefully she hadn¡¯t gotten the full dose of whatever it was but she was getting a little woozy, woozy, and she stumbled, almost fell.

    There were three cops on her, one of them Stone, one a woman, grabbing at her, and she thrashed her arms around but she was too unsteady to aim or even think.

    Something flew out of the shadows beneath the trees and struck the head of one of the cops. He collapsed to the ground. Stone immediately heaved Priya around, putting her in between him and the direction the thing had come from. But that didn¡¯t stop another rock from whizzing through the air, missing Priya by an inch, and making a solid sound as it connected with Stone. He let go of Priya, and she was able to grab the woman and twist her arms behind her back.

    The world around Priya whirled and roared and in the confusion she realized¡ª

    They were winning.

    Stone made some sort of gesture with his hand and the cops retreated, shoving and kicking Blues away as they ran back to their cars. Priya let go of the woman she was holding and she belted towards the others. They piled into the cars, managing to look professional, almost military, even as they ran away. The cars roared off.

    And there they were, Priya, Connor, and the Blues. Three Blues were on the ground, seemingly sedated, but the other Blues helped them up and propped them on their feet. They blinked with bleary, stoned-looking eyes.

    There was something on the dirt by Priya¡¯s feet, something that must have been knocked away from one of the cops. Priya picked it up. A glossy, dark cellphone.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    It was Lorraine, her voice thick with disgust.

    For a moment no one said anything, just stared at the blue-haired girl.

    ¡°We helped you,¡± said Connor finally.

    ¡°That¡¯s not why you came.¡±

    ¡°Rod¡¯s gone,¡± said Priya. ¡°We already let him go.¡±

    ¡°How could you?¡± Lorraine snarled. ¡°We had a deal. He killed Danny.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said Connor. ¡°We told Samuel and Bradley that he did, but it was a lie. I killed Danny.¡±

    Lorraine blinked. Priya hoped she was realizing what she¡¯d done, that learning Rod was innocent changed her as much as it had changed Priya.

    ¡°We were fighting,¡± said Connor, ¡°like we have before. I didn¡¯t mean to. But it was still my fault.¡±

    Lorraine lunged at him. Her hands grasped at his neck, but nothing seemed to happen. She was out of charge. Connor pushed her off him and she went flying back, hitting the ground with a splash of gravel. In an instant she was on her feet, but the other Blues grabbed her arms and restrained her.

    She screamed.

    ¡°Danny¡¯s death was a terrible thing,¡± said Priya. Connor knew she felt the same thing he did when she looked at a Blue, the same rush of distrust. Yet she kept it out of her face and her voice as she made eye contact with each in turn. ¡°Ever since I learned about it I can¡¯t stop wishing I could turn back time and make it not have happened. I know Connor feels the same way. But it did happen, and none of us can bring Danny back, not me or Connor or Red or Blue. Please, let¡¯s decide now that no one else has to die and we don¡¯t have to go through this again. Come on, Lorraine. Just let it be over.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s over,¡± said the freckled girl Priya had tackled earlier behind the house. ¡°It¡¯s over. We¡¯re going to leave each other alone now. Right guys?¡±

    The other Blues nodded, all but Lorraine, who looked from face to face, trying to find someone who would stay with her, Priya guessed, who would keep fighting. Then she collapsed, hanging off her friends¡¯ arms with her blue braids straggling across her face.

    And then the strange phone in Priya¡¯s hand buzzed, vibrating against her skin.

    Everyone stared. After three rings, Priya answered. ¡°Hello? Who is this?¡±

    ¡°Miss Carpenter,¡± said the voice on the other end. ¡°My name is Jonathan Akiyama.¡±

    #

    Kess¡¯s breath was cold in her throat.

    ¡°Miss Carpenter,¡± Akiyama had said into his phone. That had to be Priya. If Akiyama was talking to Priya something must have gone wrong with the Grays¡¯ plan, there must be hope, there must be something Kess could do¡­

    She ran to Akiyama¡¯s desk.

    Silver would have stopped her, but Elias grabbed Silver around her middle. Good¡ªhe wasn¡¯t giving up anymore. The other two Grays, Black and Richards, moved too, but Kess was already across the room. She scrambled onto the desk, her knees banging on the hard edge, and grabbed Akiyama around his exposed neck. Electricity roared from her hands, and Akiyama spasmed as he dropped his phone to the desktop with a clatter. She grabbed it up and shouted into it.

    ¡°Priya! Listen to me, the man who attacked you, Stone, this is how you beat him¡ªyou tell everyone about him okay? Tell the police and the FBI and the news. Some of them are in on it so tell everyone! Show them your powers, tell them he¡¯s involved. I know you don¡¯t want to. Do it anyway!¡±

    Either Black or Richards was on her, pulling her off of Akiyama¡¯s desk. He pried the phone out of her hand, but she kept shouting. ¡°And spread your Red machines as far as you can. Kiss people, bite people! Tell Danny to have the Blues do it too! You¡¯ve got to! Priya!¡±

    Black or Richards tossed the phone onto the desk in front of Akiyama, who was recovering from his shock, breathing deeply and leaning over the desktop. And then they were still, all of them. Akiyama at his desk, the Gray holding Kess painfully tight with one hand over her mouth now, Silver and the final Gray each holding one of Elias¡¯s arms. The only sound was Priya¡¯s voice coming through the phone¡¯s speakers. Kess couldn¡¯t make out her words, only her confused tone.

    ¡°The Betas have somehow rebuffed Stone and his team,¡± said Black or Richards.

    ¡°They will be able to follow Miss Carpenter¡¯s counsel before we can stop them,¡± said Richards or Black.

    ¡°Remaining relatively unknown is more important than obtaining human test subjects,¡± said Silver.

    ¡°We will see what the other Miss Carpenter has to say,¡± said Akiyama. And then he reached out and tapped his phone. Priya¡¯s voice filled the room. ¡°Are you there? Please, Kess, just talk to me. Are you still there?¡±

    ¡°Your sister is here, Miss Carpenter. She¡¯s come to make a deal with us. We have agreed to leave her Blues alone. In exchange, she¡¯s agreed to help us take your Reds into custody.¡±

    Kess struggled and tried to scream against the hand over her mouth. For a horrible long moment there was silence on the other end of the line. Priya believed him. Of course she did. She was a Red, and Reds were so full of hate it made them stupid. Kess had almost saved them all and Priya was going to ruin it, because Reds ruin everything, because¡ª

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t make any sense,¡± said Priya¡¯s voice through the speaker. ¡°I¡¯m with the Blues now. You people just attacked them.¡±

    ¡°That was a feint, to improve our negotiating position with Kesenya. We have completed our deal with her, which is why our operatives retreated.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think¡­¡± Priya sounded unsure, almost wobbly. Kess didn¡¯t remember her ever sounding like that.

    ¡°If you do as she says, and try to inform the police of our existence, you will not find the experience pleasant. You will be arrested, or perhaps more likely, the government will come for you in the night. Kesenya tried to trick you because she is a Blue, and thus avoids straight-forward dealing. I, however, am a Gray. Consider that we have only moved against you and your Reds once, Miss Carpenter, when Stone tried to take you into custody on the road. Consider how straightforward that encounter was, how un-Blue. It would be much better to make a deal with us now.¡±

    There was another pause, and the hand over Kess¡¯s mouth was hot, and her heart beat. (She thought suddenly, randomly, about how it takes electric signals to keep your heart beating, about how electricity keeps you alive.) And then Priya¡¯s voice sounded through the room again.

    ¡°You, what¡¯s your name, Breanna, call 911. And Connor, look up the number for the news. No, never mind, call Steph, get her to do it. And is there, like, a tip line for the FBI? Somebody look that up. Everybody else, make social media posts. Connor, tell Steph to get the Reds to do that too. Call your parents, call¡ª¡±

    ¡°Miss Carpenter,¡± said Akiyama. Kess realized, with a jolt of surprise, that this time he was talking to her. ¡°Call your sister off and we will make a true deal, all of us.¡± He pushed the phone across the desktop towards Kess. The Gray holding her let her go, and she pulled in a deep, cool breath.

    ¡°Priya,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s me. You¡ªyou¡ª Thank you. I think we can get them to leave us all alone, at least for now, if we leave them alone.¡±

    Silver had, apparently, let Elias go, and was now standing beside Kess. ¡°You are not our highest priority. We know our priorities, and their rank.¡±

    ¡°These,¡± announced Akiyama, ¡°are our conditions.¡±