The Forbidden Trilogy(104)

Luke balled his fists and hopped up. "I'm going to kill him, right now. I'm going to smash his face in until it isn't a face anymore."

"Bro, believe me, no one wants to bash his skull in more than me, but we can't. It'd be a suicide mission, and then we'd lose all chance of helping our friends." She reached for his hand and pulled him to sit next to her. "It's time for another meeting. Do you think you can do that shield thing again? You know, the way you blocked the bullets with your new power? Because I have an idea."

***

Lucy wore her black eye and not-quite-healed bruises in front of the group like badges of honor.

When the room quieted, she began. "It's time. We can no longer stay within the walls of this school and survive. Look what they did to me." She gestured to her bruises. "When have we ever been beaten for the way we completed a mission? And look at our school? We've become prisoners. We have to act fast and hard, take them by surprise before they have a chance to prepare for us.

"Luke, can you come up here?"

Luke met her at the front.

"There's more to our powers than we realize. You all know my brother, Luke, and his para-power of walking through walls, right? Well, I'd like you to see something." She turned to Gary, already prepped for this demonstration, and nodded her head.

Gary flicked a penny at Luke, and Luke raised his hands. The penny stopped in midair, held there by some unseen force.

The students gasped, and whispers rippled throughout the room.

"As you know, he's never been able to do that before. I think it's connected to his original power, but its inverse—a shadow power. Luke can separate the molecular structure of something in order to pass through it. Now, he can enforce that same structure outside himself, creating barriers and fields. We discovered this while on our assignment. In addition to detecting lies, I can now coerce someone to lie. I have a theory that each of us has a shadow power to complement our normal para-power. We just have to tap into it and practice it. Then, we will be twice as strong."

Everyone in the room smiled openly. For the first time in a long time, hope filled them. The shift in energy was palpable. Her mind flashed to Adam. They owed him so much and they would never know it.

"We need a bigger meeting place, somewhere secret where we can train and improve our powers."

A girl stepped forward. "I could start looking. I know this school well. Someone once showed the blueprints of the entire campus, and I have a photographic memory."

Lucy frowned. "What's your name?"

"Linda."

Gary nudged Lucy and whispered to her. "She's been a close friend of mine for a long time. We can trust her."

Lucy nodded but still had to check. "Linda, can you come up here for a second?"

Everyone watched as Linda approached. She was a slight thing with eyes too big for her head. Lucy softened her tone. "You're new. Everyone has to pass a lie detector, just to be safe. It's not personal."

Some of the tension eased out of her. "Oh, right. Gary told me about that. Sure."

After a few questions, some standard, others new, Lucy trusted that Linda wouldn't betray them.

"Great. Everyone, consider what your shadow powers might be, but don't get caught practicing them. We aren't safe here anymore. We'll reconvene when Linda has found us a spot."

***

Lucy eyed her computer with evil intent, but resisted the impulse to throw it through the window. After all, it wasn't her computer's fault she couldn't crack the damn code on the damn disk she'd copied from her damn assignment.

The scientist had said something about viruses. Were they creating some kind of biological warfare to wipe out humans? A virus to infect people with para-powers? A virus to control those with para-powers? The possibilities were endless, which was why she needed to crack the code.

She stretched her back and stared out her window at the moon. The campus looked so peaceful at night; it reminded her of life before the men in black turned it into a prison.

The sphere in her pocket pulsed with energy of its own. Lucy took it out and examined it again, tossing it back and forth in her hands. There didn't appear to be a way to open it or use it—no buttons or triggers. Still, some power surged through it, and Lucy could feel the same power rushing through her own body.

The sphere mesmerized her and drew her in. It unlocked her mind's secrets—

"Lucy!"

The sphere slipped from her hand, and she glared at the interruption. Gary stood at her door with Greg beside him. "Sorry to bug you, but we found a place to train. It's perfect."

Anger filled Lucy with a ferocity she'd never felt before. "Haven't you ever heard of knocking?"

The boy's head dropped. "We... did. You didn't answer, and I thought you'd want to know, because of the timing and everything."