Enders(31)

“This is where they do all the data entry for the deceased, mostly from treatment facilities,” the clerk said.

She leaned over the shoulder of one of the workers and whispered to her.

The worker typed in the air my father’s name, birthdate, and address, and an image came up. A man, lying on a cot. A tented sign balanced on his chest showed his name and a long number. His face was white and frozen.

“Ray Woodland,” the clerk read from the screen.

My father. Dead. The hope I’d felt spring inside me vanished. It was as if he’d died all over again.

I put my hand to my mouth. Tears flowed down my cheeks. Hyden put his arm around my shoulders. The Ender clerk looked at me and nodded.

“It’s better to have closure, dear,” she said. “Now you know.”

The words stung like acid.

“Let’s go,” Hyden said quietly.



As we made our way to the stairs, Hyden kept his arm around me.

Inside the stairwell, he stopped and faced me. “You okay?”

“It’s my fault.”

He handed me a tissue. “No, it’s not.”

“I wanted to find out.” I wiped my eyes and struggled to get the words out. “I just didn’t think this would be the answer.”

“I know.” He wrapped me in a gentle hug.

I rested my head on his shoulder and let the tears fall. He held me tighter, as if he could squeeze away the pain.

He couldn’t.

And he couldn’t squeeze away the creepy feeling I had when the voice came into my head.

Hello, Callie. Sorry to interrupt.

I pulled away from Hyden.

“Who is this?” I said.

A friend.

It was a male voice; sounded like a Middle. I had a guess who it was. Hyden looked at me questioningly.

I put my finger to my lips. Hyden was disguised in Jeremy’s body. My jacker could see out of my eyes, but all he would see was Jeremy, a stranger.

And I see you have a friend with you. I’m guessing that’s my son in there.

I sighed. It was too late and he was too smart. Jeremy stood back, watching, his expression suggesting he knew what was going on.

“Why aren’t you using your electronic voice this time?” I asked Brockman.

It’s so pretentious. I decided to just be me.

“So was that also you doing my father’s voice?”

He was silent a moment. What do you mean?

The stairwell began to feel hot. Stuffy. I tugged at my top, airing it out. Maybe it wasn’t him pretending to be my father.

Hot in there? Why don’t you leave?

“Why?” I asked. “Do you want me to leave?”

Hyden was fuming. I shaded my eyes so they wouldn’t provide a view for his father.

Tell my son to stop fooling around in other bodies, will you?

“Tell him yourself,” I said.

I have another idea.

I looked at Hyden and pantomimed something was up. We heard footsteps at the bottom of the stairs. They continued, echoing in the hollow space. Whoever it was, they were coming up to where we were.

Ready?

The hair on the back of my neck rose. It was a girl on the stairs. We’d seen her before. It was the stunning Starter we had seen standing in line. But her eyes had a glazed, dead look. Something was wrong.

“She’s jacked!” I shouted to Hyden.

Smart girl.

“Look out!”

The girl—probably an Ender inside—rushed toward Hyden, her arms bent at the elbows in some martial arts stance.

Black belt expert.

“She’s a black belt,” I said to Hyden.

Hyden—in Jeremy’s body—stepped aside quickly, expertly. The girl ran up against the wall.

“So’s Jeremy,” he said.

The Starter turned and went after Hyden again. They locked arms and struggled, a battle of strength and wills.

She slammed Hyden against the wall, banging his head.

As they continued to fight, I felt something strange. I looked down at my hand. My right pinky moved up and down. Which would not have been so scary except …

I wasn’t doing it.

Did you see? That’s me, making you move. Like a puppet.

My heartbeat raced. At least that was my doing. I threw my hand down to my side. I focused my concentration as hard as I could to make my fingers like steel.

The Metal had a hold on Hyden’s neck. She was choking him. I ran over and came from behind, grabbing her around the waist with both arms. I pulled her off Hyden.

“Grab her feet!” I shouted.

She thrashed and kicked, but Hyden managed to get her ankles. She didn’t weigh a lot, so we carried her down the stairs.

“What should we do with her?” I asked.

“Take her underground.”

As we passed the first floor, we continued down the stairs that led to the underground parking structure. She stopped kicking and screaming.