“Poor Redmond.” I wiped my face and the rest of my exposed skin.
“If it helps,” Hyden said, “he would have taken himself out before he’d ever work for my father.”
A hollow feeling ate away at my insides. It was like when our building was smoked and we lost everything, including the last pictures of our parents. A desperate feeling came over me to go to my little brother immediately, grab him, and hold him tightly.
“I need to be with my brother,” I blurted out.
“You’ll lead my father’s men right to your cabin.”
“He’s right, Cal,” Michael said.
Hyden opened the scanner.
“What’re you doing?” I asked.
“Scanning.” He said it like it was obvious.
He punched a button and the car went into autodrive, allowing him to let go of the wheel.
“Is it really the time for this?” Michael asked.
“I’m trying to see if we can grab their signals,” Hyden said as the airscreen came on. “They’ve got all our Metals. This thing should light up like Christmas.”
“You mean we might get them back?” I asked.
“That would be the idea,” Hyden said.
I watched the screen as Hyden plucked it, widening the search area. Michael leaned forward from his backseat so he could also focus on the screen.
But the grid was quiet. After a bit, Hyden ran his hand through it, sending the display into disarray for a moment.
“They’re too smart,” Hyden said with an edge of cynicism in his voice. “They’ve got protection the way we have.” He sighed. “They’re gone.” He slapped the steering wheel. “All those Metals, they depended on me.”
“What’re we going to do?” I asked.
“I don’t know. We can’t go back to the lab.”
He took the autodrive off and we continued for a few miles. I turned and saw that Michael had fallen asleep.
“Can you raise the panel?” I whispered to Hyden.
Hyden glanced in the rearview mirror, then pressed a button. A plexi-panel slid up to meet the roof, making it impossible for Michael to hear us if he woke up.
“What’s up?” Hyden asked me.
“Back at the Hall of Records, when your father got in my head, he did something new.”
“What?”
“He was able to control me.”
“How?”
“He moved my little finger. Against my will.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“We haven’t exactly had a quiet moment, you know.”
“But it shows he’s advanced. I need to know these things.”
“Well, now you know.” I touched the back of my head a moment and then stopped. “And there’s something else I haven’t had time to tell you.”
“What?” He looked at me with narrowed eyes.
“He didn’t claim to be doing my father’s voice, when I confronted him.”
“That’s just him.”
“No, he always takes credit for what he’s done.”
“He’s messing with you. Forget about it.”
Hyden got off the freeway. After a short time, we drove alongside the dry riverbed of the L.A. River. Hyden pulled his SUV over the curb and through a hole in the entrance. We drove down a steep embankment until we were on the cement of the riverbed.
“Hyden?” I asked, holding on to a hand grip.
Michael woke and banged on the panel between us. Hyden lowered it.
“What are you doing?” he shouted.
“The Department of Water and Power built us this nice little ramp years ago. We’re going right down it.”
He drove down an auxiliary shaft in front of us.
“But why? Where are we going?” I asked, holding on even tighter.
“Someplace low and safe,” Hyden said as he wound his way down, level by level. “With a restroom.”
When we got to the bottom, it was like another world. There was a large makeshift market with all kinds of Starters and Enders.
A scrappy Starter ran up to our car with a bottle and rags in his hands.
“Look out!” I said to Hyden so he wouldn’t hit him.
“It’s okay,” Hyden said. “He’s getting rid of any possible spore dust.”
The Starter wiped down Hyden’s car, wetting it with his spray while we were still moving into a parking space.
We got out and Hyden gave him a dollar.
“What is this?” I asked.
“The People’s Flea Market. We’re only going through it because of the restroom at the end,” Hyden said.
“What are we waiting for?” Michael asked as he walked toward the entrance.
An Ender woman wearing a head scarf in a green flowery print sat at a table with a sign reading Pay Here. Hyden put three bills on the table and she held open the entrance gate, made from a No Right Turn sign.