Hunted (22 page)

CHAPTER 32

Mrs. Vespa appears at the end of the aisle, her hand on her heaving chest. “Why couldn’t he see you? My god—

Caitlyn!” She rips off her scarf and holds it firmly against my nose to stanch the flow. The pink silk blooms into a deep red.

I’m using too much of myself, and I haven’t even faced Daniel yet. How am I going to get through this?

Mrs. Vespa makes worried sounds as she holds the scarf against my nose. I push it away.

“I’m all right.” I hate that my voice shakes.

“Does this happen often?” Mrs. Vespa asks.

I shake my head, then stop, dizzy. “No, just lately, when I . . . do too much.” Then I realize what she said.

“You
saw
me?” Was the trooper stringing me along the whole time? But there was too much frustration in him for his actions to not be real.

“Of course I did. You were standing right there. But why couldn’t the trooper?”

If he wasn’t faking it, why didn’t it work on Mrs.

Vespa?

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I reach for her mind. I don’t sense any psychic gifts.

She isn’t wearing copper. So why?

I look at the books around me. “Mrs. Vespa, you read a lot, don’t you?”

“Of course, dear. But what’s that got to do with anything?” Mrs. Vespa studies me. “And why did you expect me not to see you?”

I pull on my lip. Maybe books help everyone, not just Paras. I focus just on her.
“I used my mind to—well, to suggest that the trooper couldn’t see me.”
Mrs. Vespa’s eyes widen.
“I heard a faint voice telling
me that there was no one there—but it was like elevator
music, insistent and irritating. So I tuned it out.”
I stare at her. She heard me giving her a suggestion.

Other than my dad and mom in training, and Daniel since he reappeared, no one ever has. And Mrs. Vespa’s a Normal.

“It’s all the reading you do,” I say. “It has to be.”
“It
looks like books help Normals, too, not just Paras.”

“What do you mean?”

“Reading strengthens your mind, makes you less susceptible to Paras. To any influence.”
Mrs. Vespa puts the earpiece of her glasses into her mouth, sucking on it thoughtfully. “
Yet another reason to
read more. Not that I needed one.”
She takes the glasses out of her mouth.
“You may have eluded the troopers for
now, but I doubt they’ll give up that easily.”

“I know.”

The loudspeaker crackles. Mr. Temple’s voice booms out. “Caitlyn Ellis report to the principal’s office. Immediately. Caitlyn Ellis.”

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Right on cue. I wipe the sweat off my upper lip.
“Mr.

Temple sure hates Paras.”

“That he does. I think his ex-wife was one.”
“Now, let’s get you that book.”

I follow her down the length of the library, feeling exposed by the windows opening into the hall. We walk past students sitting at work tables, reading, writing, texting, whispering to each other. A few turn toward us—
“Don’t
recognize me. Don’t look at me.”
—and then turn back around.

The red exit sign blinks at me like a warning.

I reach out with my mind as I walk. The midlevel Government Para felt the surge of power I sent to the trooper.

She is narrowing in on me, but she hasn’t located me yet.

Every step I expect to hear a shout and have hands grab me.

. . . want to die . . . going to do it . . .

The despair is so strong I stop. A girl is sitting as still as if she’s part of the wall, her arms around her knees, her lowered face hidden by her hair.

Mrs. Vespa follows my gaze.
“She often hides in here.

I think there’s something wrong at home, but she won’t
open up.”

“Somebody’s got to get through to her. She’s planning
on killing herself. Soon.”

“I’ll talk with her again. I’ll make sure of it.” . . .

should have done more . . .

“You helped make a safe place for her. She comes here,
doesn’t she?”

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Cheryl Rainfield

“I suppose. Now let’s get you safe.”
Mrs. Vespa tugs me forward.

I look back over my shoulder. The hunched-over girl hasn’t moved. I send her comfort, as strong as I can.

Rage laced with the scent of metal shrieks through my skull, making my teeth vibrate.

Daniel must have been waiting for me to use my talent again.

I focus on the copper I’m wearing, draw it like armor around me. The shriek fades, but I know Daniel sensed me.

I feel a leopard-like presence nearby; the troopers are only a classroom or two away. I push up close behind Mrs.

Vespa, so close I’m almost touching her back with my nose, as if her wide body will protect me.

I follow her into a room I hadn’t noticed before, opening off the back wall.

Mrs. Vespa flicks on the light. “It’s all yours.”
“I’ll let
you know if anyone comes looking for you.”
I don’t remind her that I’ll know first.

She leaves, closing the door behind her.

The room is small and cramped, with a clunky, outdated computer, a water cooler, and stacks of papers and books fighting for space on every surface, even crowding around the pot of a giant aloe vera. Everything looks old or in need of repair; even the chair is stained and faded, echoing the years of librarians who used it.

I sink down on the squeaky chair. Pain bores through my skull.

They are searching every room in the school. They already checked the library. But once they finish and come up 292

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empty, they’ll start all over again. And Daniel—he’s planning something; I can feel it, in the pressure building against my skull. I think he’s planning on setting off the re-volt today. It makes a sick kind of sense. To so many others, the Para Cleansing is just a holiday, but to Paras, it’s a day of grief. To strike back today would be to make tomorrow different. But I don’t want his kind of different.

I draw my knees up to my chest. Daniel has strong allies, and they’ve all trained a lot longer than I have. I have no doubt that Daniel knows many more techniques that can be used as weapons, ones he didn’t bother to teach me, but I have to find out what he’s doing.

But it’s a fine line between becoming aware of him and letting him become aware of me, or of tipping off the Government Para, with all the ParaTroopers waiting on the side-lines. I have to do this carefully, like the gentlest caress of a breeze, while I’m protected by my copper armor.

I lightly reach out for Daniel. The lust for power shudders all around me; the air itself has become heavy with it.

He’s trying to pinpoint where I am, sending surges of his power outward. He’s furious at my ability to hide from him, and he briskly maneuvers the troopers, suggesting they go here and there, all in the hopes of flushing me out.

I’m scared I’ll alert him to my presence, but I have to know what he’s planning. I push deeper.

Daniel’s seething rage tears through me. His desire to swallow my power and use it for himself almost overwhelms me.

. . . The two of us could have been so great—with our
combined power, we could have made the entire world safe,
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not just our country. But I’m not ready to give up on Caitlyn yet . . . .

. . . maybe if I give her another taste of the power, the
thrill of it . . . and if not, I’m willing to hurt whoever I have
to, to make her see the way . . . perhaps that Normal boy she
likes; that’s her most vulnerable link . . .

I want to fly screaming from Daniel’s mind. But I force myself to stay longer. “Hurt Alex . . . ,” I prompt softly.

. . . choke off his air from the inside, make him die a
slow death. Make her watch the things I can do to that Normal, make Caitlyn beg to join me. Gotta send a ParaTrooper to pick him up, get him within my range . . .

I pull out of Daniel’s head, gasping, and visualize pricking a hole in my copper armor.
“Alex?”

“Damn it, where have you been? I thought you were
going to listen for me!”

“Alex—you need to leave the school! Get away from
here! Daniel’s sending troopers after you. He wants to kill
you.”

“I’m not leaving you here to fend for yourself. You
know that. Besides, what can the troopers do to me? I’m a
Normal.”

“They can torture you, kill you! You know that—anyone suspected of helping a Para can be tortured. You have
to leave now!”

“No!”
The answer is hard. Definite, coming from deep inside him.

“Okay, then at least make sure you don’t get stopped
by the troopers.”

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“Now that I know they’re coming, I’ll be okay,”
Alex thinks.
“They won’t want a Normal. You’re the one who
needs to get out of here.”

“No. Daniel wants you; weren’t you listening? He
wants to kill you and make me watch.”

“To get to you. To force you to join him. You’re the one
who needs to get out of here, Caitlyn. Get someplace safe.”

“I can’t; not before I stop him.”

“So what’re you going to do—just wait for them to find
you?”

“I’ve faced these guys before. I’ll be all right.”

“Damned right you will. I’ll make sure of it,”
Alex thinks, shoving confidence at me. Fear threads beneath it.

“Alex, no. I can handle it.”

“You can’t. You’re holed up somewhere, and you’re
scared and hurting.”

Shit. I can’t believe I let him see that.
“I’m fine. I don’t
want you to—”

“Help you, the way you helped me? Protect you? Show
you I love you? Too late.”

He closes himself off from me.

“Alex, what are you going to do? ALEX?”
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“Damn it, Alex, talk to me!”

But all I can hear is a kind of chant—
it’s all good, it’s
all good
—and nothing beneath it. He’s shut me out of his thoughts.

I pound the arm of the chair. I can force myself into Alex’s mind, but that might hurt him. And I can’t go screaming for him, not without tipping Daniel off. Daniel and the Government Para.

I make another pinprick in my copper armor.
“Rachel,
have you seen Alex? I think he’s about to do something stupid.”

“He got a rest room pass; he just left.”
Shit!
“Can you stop him? He’s got this crazy idea that
he’s going to save me, but he doesn’t know what Daniel’s
like. He could really get hurt.”
Or worse.

“I’ll try. . . .”

How can I ask her to put herself in danger for someone she doesn’t even like?
“Forget it, I shouldn’t have asked.

I’ll find another way.”

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“It’s all right; I’ve got a pass.”
I grip the chair arms.
“Don’t draw attention to yourself. And Rachel—watch out for the troopers. Daniel might
send them after you, too.”

Rachel gasps.
“Troopers are running down the hall!

They’re heading for the stairs—”
Cold sweat beads on my skin. Did Daniel hone in on my location after all? I hear their boots thundering on the stairs and feel the floor vibrate beneath them as they near the library.

And then I feel them running past, hear them shout, their radios squawking. Their voices grow fainter. The floor stops vibrating.

I can’t breathe in.
“Do you see Alex?”

“No.”

Damn and double damn. I take a breath, then another, forcing myself to be calm. Alex knows there’s danger. He’ll be careful.

“Emily saw Alex, though. She went screaming to the
troopers that she saw you run outside; Alex asked her to. He
got other students all doing the same thing, but with different locations to different troopers. Some troopers are interviewing us now, and they’re really confused. They’ve
never seen anything like it.”
She giggles.

I don’t know what to say.
“Thank you. Tell Alex—tell
them all—thank you.”
That’s blown my cover. But it’s given me more time. Time that I must use wisely.

I clench and unclench my hands. I don’t know what to do, don’t know if I should look for Alex, focus on Daniel, or figure out what to do about the Government Para.

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Cheryl Rainfield

I strengthen my visualization of copper armor, then reach for the midlevel Para-slave.

She’s scouring the school for other Paras. I feel the urgency of the Para’s search, the fear of being tortured, of never seeing her family again. I coat my own thoughts with hers, then reach deeper.

. . . Found two low-level Paras, and one midlevel—

strong enough for that power surge earlier—but no high-level Para like the girl would have to be to send thoughts to
that many at once. Don’t know why they thought she’d still
be here. I hate this!. . .

I feel her stiffen, feel her catch awareness of another Para—because she’s looking for me. Feel her focus on a boy I’ve nodded to before in the halls.

I dig my nails into my hand. I have to divert the Government Para’s attention from this boy. But how?

Daniel edges into my mind, his lust for power so strong that it blots everything else out for a moment.

That’s it! I pull Daniel’s lust for power forward, and push the Para student’s back, dimming his energy with my copper shield.

The Government Para is still intent on the student. I yank Daniel’s presence into her mind with every ounce of energy I have.

She gasps at the strength of his gift, the overwhelming essence of it. I can feel her choking on it, can feel Daniel become aware of her—of me—

I pull back even further until I am as far above them as I can be and still observe.

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“You have been hiding what you are truly capable of!”
the Government Para scolds.
“I must report—”

“No!”
Daniel’s voice sounds like rifle fire. He reaches into her mind, crushing her memory. She falters, and I know he’s thinking of killing her.

I gather up my energy to strike, but Daniel retreats like mist. The Government Para staggers, not remembering why she is here.

I reach inside her, knit her fragile strands together until they vibrate again the way they should. She gasps, remembers her name, her lost family—but she does not remember Alex, or Daniel, or me. She walks unsteadily out of the school.

I pull back to the room around me. I wince away from the torture I know she’ll endure. I feel guilty for setting Daniel on her—but I couldn’t let her take another Para. Not because of me.

I lean back in the chair. Daniel’s been able to fool Government Paras into thinking his talent isn’t so strong as it is.

He’s more powerful than I even thought.

I reach toward him again—lightly, so he won’t sense my presence. Lust and power and glee rush through me like a drug. Daniel is feeding off energy from the Paras that the Government Para already caught, sucking their energy out of them so fast that they shudder in shock, their legs unable to support them anymore. I feel them age faster than should be possible as Daniel ingests their life force, draining it completely.

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