I sat and looked at him like he was a total idiot.
He nodded like my silence had been an answer and banged once on the wall with his fist. The door opened and a short, pretty little woman came through. She refused to look at me but came right to me and helped me off the floor. She placed me on the bed and motioned for me to lie down.
She then placed a hand on my forehead, like she was checking for a fever. That’s when I realized something was different. I wasn’t shocked or jolted by her touch. There was no offense mark.
“Why aren’t you burning my skin like they do?”
“Well, I’m not here to hurt you, dear. But also, I was human, like you. So I don’t produce those kinds of marks on others.”
Human? But Caleb has said there were only three humans. Could it be that they didn’t know about her?
She pulled out a needle and a couple tubes with labels and I felt sick. I turned, groaning and pressed the side of my face into the pillow.
“She needs more liquids,” the woman called out to her husband. “I won’t get much blood from these dry veins.”
He banged on the wall again and a young guy I’d seen somewhere before opened the door.
“Bring me two bottles of orange juice, unopened.”
He nodded and left quickly. She continued to poke the inside of my elbow with her fingers until he came back with the bottles.
“Drink one now, one after,” Sikes said as he tossed them to me. The guy who brought them stared at me with a little smile. His eyes roamed over me and I realized with chagrin I was still wearing the damp sheet. I pulled my legs up and placed my arms on top of my knees. He chuckled at my reaction but Sikes barked at him. “Get out.”
Then I recognized him, the guy who tried to help Marcus kidnap me. He had put a majority of the offense marks on me that night. I glared at his back as he left.
“Drink up, dear. I need to get this blood so we can let you rest.”
I wanted to laugh at her attempt at humanity. It was a little late for that now. I drank the orange juice eagerly, as I needed it. While she waited for the juice to hit my system I decided to small talk.“What’s your ability?”
I fully expected her to not answer, but she did.
“I can see through things. Skin, for instance. It’s why I’m so good at taking blood and things like this.”
That gave me pause and I was surprised I could follow and focus so well after everything that had happened to me. My body felt disoriented but my mind was sharp. I wondered if the ascension had anything to do with that.
“Wait. I thought the abilities were supposed to complement each other? But if he,” I pointed to the jerk still sitting, leaning on the wall, “can go into dreams, that doesn’t go together with seeing through things.”
“That’s only a Jacobson rule,” Sikes muttered. “The rest of us just have to make do.”
“Oh.”
“It’s time,” she chimed and began to get my arm ready again. I felt bile rise in anticipation of the stick. I hated needles. “Just relax. I’m very good at this. It won’t hurt. Lean back and close your eyes.”
I did what she said though I didn’t trust her, I had no other choice.
“I can’t believe I have to do this to this poor girl.” She took a deep breath. “It’s for the good of the clan, the good of the clan.”
“What?” I asked, wondering what she meant by what she said.
“I didn’t say anything, dear. Lie back.”
I looked at her curiously because I knew I heard her say something. Then her lips didn’t move but...I heard her.
“This better work. I’m not spending the rest of my life experimenting on teenagers, Sikes.”
I coughed a shocked laugh.
“What?” she asked out loud and began to look worried. She looked at her tubes in her hand. Then in her head she said, “Did I take too much? She’s acting funny.”
I watched her and listened to her inner monologue, sometimes to Sikes and sometimes with herself, until she was done.
“All done,” she chimed happily and took the rubber band from my arm. “There. You didn’t even know I was doing it, did you?”
“No,” I breathed because it was all I could do.
Holy crap, I could read minds. That was my ability? Somehow the way everyone had made such a fuss over me, I thought it’d be cooler than that. How the heck was that going to get me out of here?
“Ok, Maggie, drink your juice and put those clothes on. The next time I visit, we’re taking a little field trip,” Sikes said and left behind his wife.
I tried to process and think, reach out to Caleb but got nothing. I washed up in a bowl of water left beside my bed. The water was cold and it didn’t feel good but I did it anyway. I hurriedly put on the clothes left for me, a pair of old jeans and a black baby doll t-shirt that said ‘Bite Me’ with two red blood dripping vampire holes in the collar. Ugh and Eew.
I tried to pull my hair back in a twisted bun but my arms ached so bad, I couldn’t make it work. I hurt all over, like I’d been hit over and over, my muscles refusing to cooperate. I needed Caleb.
By then Sikes had returned to find me sitting on the bed’s edge.
“Ah, you look like a new girl.”
“I’m sure I do,” I muttered sarcastically.
“Come on. We have work to do.”
He didn’t touch me but beckoned for me to follow him. When I came out of my cell, I saw that there were other cells, too, but no one was in them as we passed. We did pass a few people out of cells though and they gawked openly as we passed them every so often. Some looked like they wanted to spit on me, others wanted to put me in their bag and run with me like I was the Holy Grail. I didn’t like either of those options.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere.”
“Hilarious,” I muttered and tried to stretch out the ache in my back.
“Keep your questions to yourself for now.”
I rolled my eyes at him but he didn’t see. I kept shuffling along through the pain. I considered the karate I’d learned from Kyle’s dad, but I was so weak from withdrawals, I was barely dragging myself down the hall. And the meds they were giving me probably had something in them to keep me from something like that. I’m sure Marcus told them what happened the first time he tried to kidnap me.
Speak of the devil. I heard someone behind me and turned to see Marcus smiling cruelly behind me. Then Sikes started spouting something ahead of me.
“Maybe we should try to test the blood first. Maybe we could pair her with one of ours and see if we can break the imprint or trick it.”
“What?” I asked him, confused and terrified.
“I didn’t say anything. Be quiet.”
I realized I’d heard his thoughts. I decided to test it since we were apparently headed down the longest hall in history. I tried to open my mind, my ears, my senses and listen to a group of three people as I passed them in the hall.
Plan backfire.
I heard all kinds of voices at once and it was too much as my head stung and buzzed. I collapsed with a scream to the floor, cupping the sides of my head as I felt like I’d black out. A couple of them tried to run to help me but Sikes held up a hand to stop them.
“Wait. Don’t touch her! No offense marks!” Then I heard his thought.
Other than the one Marcus already put on her hand.
“What’s wrong, Maggie?”
“I, uh...” It was all right if I didn’t push it, so I eased myself off the floor on shaking, achy legs. “I’m ok, just a sharp pain in my head, headache, I guess.”
“Well, come on. Fresh air will do you good.”
“Outside?”
“No tricks, Miss Masters. You are still pumped with meds. Your Caleb will not save you.”
“Not like he could even if your heartbeat was blaring like a foghorn,” Marcus remarked snidely.
I ignored them and tried again to focus on hearing someone’s thoughts. If I focused on one person it worked. It was strange how my body just seemed to know what to do. Just like Caleb had described. There was no denying it. We were meant for this.
There was a man by a door with a gun. I opened my mind and focused on only him, thought of his face only and it worked. He thought this was ridiculous and they should just kill me. Then the imprint would break and Caleb would never ascend. Problem solved. I inched against the wall around him, eying him warily. He smiled sweetly and reassuringly at me which completely contradicted his thoughts and I wondered if my whole life had been led this way; with people saying or acting one way and then thinking and believing a complete other way.I kept at it. I discovered that if I was hearing a thought, my head felt a little fuzzy, like I was talking on the telephone with a metallic connection. I had to focus to notice it, but it was there. I’d have to master that skill so as not to answer something that wasn’t asked out loud.
We came to a ladder at the end of the hall, or tunnel. It went straight up so Sikes went up and unscrewed the bolt on the lid and lifted it straight up and over. He went out and I assumed I was supposed to follow. I climbed the steep ladder slowly and with labored breaths and bare feet because they’d taken my shoes. I knew I couldn’t make it. I was going to fall the short distance I’d made but then felt a hand on mine. I looked up to see Sikes’ wife smiling.
“Come on, dear. I know it’s hard, but you can do it. Let me help.”