Mania (20 page)

After that, Dad revealed the next name: Mason Butler.

I drew a quick breath. Mason was the man we'd saved from the prison at the Benton Air Force Base, who'd ridden out of the base in Parker's stolen van. What a twisted chase this was becoming, with the final clue to saving Parker and Chloe's lives hidden with someone we already knew. This ornery old man hopefully had the last piece of the puzzle that might bring some kind of peace to all of the Night Walkers.

And I'd had his phone number and address on a paper in my wallet for over a month.

Only six days remained now, but with two ingredients down and only Mason left, we were finally making progress. Maybe Parker would be okay. Maybe all of us would.

After checking us out of the motel and turning in the key card, I tried to calculate how long it would take to get to Mason's address. I'd tried calling him twice since waking up, but there'd been no answer.

I made my way alone through the parking lot, toward the end of the building where we'd parked the van. Quick footsteps sounded behind me, but before I could even spin around, I got hit from behind, hard and fast.

Thor and I were rolling across the ground before I even got a good look at him. His fist pummeled my face and I tried to get my arms up to block his blows. I'd been distracted by my own thoughts, and now I was paying for it.

Finally my instincts kicked in, and the next time he was on the bottom, I kicked up with my knees, shoving into his gut in an effort to push myself out of his reach. It was a little awkward because he grabbed hold of my shirt, but I got myself into a squatting position before he could pounce on me again. My eye was throbbing, but most of the other damage was superficial.

“Where's Chloe?” Thor growled out.

Something in me reacted violently to the idea of him coming here for her. “Why? Do you guys want to throw her away like garbage again?” I spat a little blood out of my mouth and onto the ground.

“I'm here to remind her where her loyalty should lie.” Thor moved in for another swing, but now that I was ready for him, his movements were lumbering and easy to avoid. I jabbed out and punched his side with two quick swings before he could back away. This was exactly what I needed right now: a good fight to take out all my frustrations in. I smiled when he gave me another opening and landed an uppercut against his jaw.

Thor winced in pain and staggered back a bit, trying to draw in a full breath. “All your family does is hurt my family,” he gasped. “You all lie and steal and kill.”

I stopped for a minute, dropping my hands in confusion because he seemed to actually believe what he was saying. “Whoever has been telling you
that
is the one you should be after … ”

Footsteps were approaching from behind and I didn't want to be surrounded, so I took two quick steps to my left. But it was Finn and Chloe who ran up. Finn looked like he couldn't decide whether he could help more by jumping in or by just staying out of my way. Chloe's skin had paled to the point where she looked like someone had drained all her blood into her feet.

My excitement for the fight dwindled. If beating up Chloe's brother would hurt her, then it wasn't worth it—not anymore.

“Thor stopped by for a visit,” I said with a grim smile, dabbing the blood dripping from my eyebrow with the bandage on my right hand.

“His name isn't Thor. You know that.” Chloe looked at me with eyes that begged me not to add fuel to this situation. “Please call him Joey.”

“Joey? Ah, yes … Joey, then.” I kept my tone even and calm. This would probably end better for everyone if Chloe could talk Thor down before he ended up getting hurt.

“Joey … ” Her voice was soft, like she was trying to be gentle with the hulk across from me. “What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

“That doesn't matter.” Thor's—Joey's tone lost a little of the bravado.

“Of course it matters. How did you know I was here?” Chloe sounded a lot sad and a little angry.

Her brother didn't respond this time, just glanced down at the phone in her hands. It was quick, but I noticed it and so did Chloe.

“You didn't … ” Chloe turned her phone over and pulled off the back, a look of shock crossing her face. She pulled a tiny metal tracker out, threw it into the gravel, and stomped on it.

Joey's posture shifted to defensive, and he grunted, “You expected me not to be worried about you? You're my sister—”

Chloe whipped up her head, her face twisted into a snarl. “Funny how you and Cooper only remember that when it's convenient for you.”

Joey flinched back like she'd struck him. “I came to bring you back where you belong. You shouldn't desert your family, no matter what.” He spoke forcefully, but there was a whine beneath his tone that made him sound surprisingly vulnerable.

I kept my hands up, waiting to see what he'd do, preparing in case he tried to grab Chloe and run. My jaw clenched tight enough to make my sore cheek ache. If she didn't want to go back, then he would have to go through me before he could take her away.

“Cooper doesn't want me there.” Chloe stood up straighter and a spark of anger fueled her words. “Besides, I think I'm doing more to help everyone from here.”

“But how can you want to help them?” Joey howled, pointing at me. “How can you want to help
him
?”

“So many things Dad told us weren't true, Joey. He was wrong in so many things he said, so many things he did. Think of the way he treated you.” Chloe's voice softened a bit and she walked over to stand beside me. “I'm helping Jack because I think it's the best way to help everyone else I care about—including you.”

Joey looked completely confused. I almost felt sorry for him … almost.

“You need to
trust me
,” Chloe pleaded, and her eyes were a storm of emotion.

I could see Joey's conviction wavering. He lowered his hands to his sides and looked at me again. Then, abruptly, his anger flared. His hands clenched into fists and he spoke from between gritted teeth. “I trust Cooper.”

He was about to run at me when I heard a solid thunk. Joey fell to his knees, grabbing the back of his head. Libby stood behind him, with a dark smile and a piece of wood she must've grabbed off the ground. I saw a trickle of blood dripping down Joey's neck, and he shook his head like he was trying to clear his vision.

Chloe ran to his side. But he staggered to his feet and backed away, eyeing all of us warily. Seeing that he was very outnumbered, he turned and ran.

“Joey!” Chloe yelled after him, but he got in a car at the other end of the lot and drove away.

Chloe turned on Libby, and I recognized the fire in her eyes. Before she could say a word, I grabbed her around the waist and guided her toward the van. “Thank you,” I mouthed over my shoulder at Libby.

Once we were several feet away, I spoke low into Chloe's ear. “Your brother is fine, and Libby didn't have a choice. Don't pick a fight with her for trying to protect the rest of us.”

She glared at me as we reached the passenger door of the van, but she seemed to be fighting to keep from saying anything she might regret. Her expression softened as she reached out to gently touch the puffy skin that was beginning to swell around my eye. “Does it hurt?”

I blew out a big puff of air and pulled her hand down, squeezing it inside both of mine before releasing it. I opened the passenger door for her and waited for her to climb inside. “No. Let's just go finish this. It isn't going to be easy … but you're starting to make me believe it may actually be possible to convince some of the Takers to think about a new formula. We can worry about getting everyone to play nice after we all survive the next month. Okay?”

She took a slow breath and then nodded. “Okay.”

I walked to the driver's door, but before I could open it Libby walked up and grabbed my shoulder. She looked in my eyes.

“You really think she didn't know her brother could find us at any time? She found that tracker awfully quick, don't you think?” Libby shook her head with a sigh. “I know there's something going on between you two … ” She trailed off, like she was waiting for me to argue with her.

But I couldn't. Mistake or not, mutual or not—I was definitely developing feelings for Chloe. And I wasn't going to lie to my best friend about it. I'd seen with Parker how many more problems that could cause.

When she realized I wasn't going to correct her, Libby's shoulders drooped forward. I almost regretted my decision to stick with the truth.

“Just don't let her make you a fool, Jack. You're smarter than that. You're better than that.” Libby's hand fell away from my shoulder and hung by her side. “Takers have done nothing but hurt us all our lives. Don't give this one a new way to do it.”

Then she left me and walked around to climb into the back of the van without giving me a chance to say anything in return.

Twenty-Six
Parker

My body suffered through tremor after tremor on the white tile floor. My eyes burned. Every muscle ached. In addition to trying to turn me into a Taker—which thankfully still didn't appear to be working—they'd also found ways to speed up the effects of sleep deprivation on Watchers. Our bodies and brains had been built to withstand being sleep-deprived longer than regular people, but eventually it would catch up with us. That's what was happening to me when I met Mia. And now, in
significantly
less time, they'd taken me from slightly tired to the worst I'd ever felt.

How long until I started to lose my mind? How long until sanity alone became something I couldn't reach anymore?

How long until I begged for them to just kill me?

The door to the white room opened and I recoiled against the wall until I saw it was Thor, carrying in an actual working cot and a blanket without any holes in it. When his back was to me, I noticed a lump and small cut on the back of his head. And he looked slightly off balance when he walked, like his ribs or back were hurting him. I wondered what had happened.

I knew better than to say thank you or look grateful, because those things would only make him angry. So I just rolled slowly out of the way and waited for him to finish setting it up.

Then Cooper appeared in the doorway. He was swaying from side to side with exhaustion, barely managing to focus on what Thor was doing. Once he did, he looked livid.

“What the hell is this, Joey?”

Thor—maybe, because he was my only ally, I should stop calling him that—
Joey
looked even angrier than Cooper. Instead of turning to answer his brother, he reached up and ripped one of the work lights in the room down from the ceiling. It went out immediately, the plug falling out of the hole. One corner of the room went a little darker than the rest and I did my best to slide into it.

“
This
would be me making sure we have something to trade when the ten days are up.” Joey gestured angrily back at Cooper and said, “What about you? What the hell is
this
, Cooper?”

Cooper frowned in confusion and his nose started bleeding. He wiped it on his sleeve as though nothing had happened. “What are you talking about?”

“What you're doing here isn't going to accomplish anything. You're going to kill both yourself and him before we even get a chance to make the trade for Eclipse!” Joey glanced over at me and then pulled his brother out the door, closing it behind him. I breathed as quietly as possible and listened to his voice, which still carried through the closed door. “You have to know you aren't thinking straight right now.”

And here was my main consolation in all of this. Cooper was in bad shape when they'd first brought me here, and he wasn't getting better. Overseeing the experiments, and all the battles we had in our minds every night, were having much the same effect on him as on me. Breaking me down like this was a lot of work, and he'd already been nearing the end of his path. Every time I saw him he looked worse and worse …

Just like me.

The only new plan for escape that I'd been able to come up with actually hinged on that fact. If I could just find a way to hold out longer than Cooper, then maybe Joey would be put in charge and I might have a better chance of surviving.

Cooper's tone when he answered was cold, stubborn, and tired. “I'm doing what Dad would've done.”

“I know you are!” Joey's voice rose, loud and clear with desperation. “Don't you see? This is
exactly
what Dad would've done.
That
is the whole problem with this situation!”

Cooper's words became positively acidic. “You don't understand. You've never understood because you aren't one of us and you hate that.”

I heard one set of footsteps walk away, and I wasn't sure who'd left until I heard a groan and then Joey mutter, “Well, at least my weak human genes aren't going to kill me.”

I had to stop myself from physically reacting to his statement. From the moment I'd found out about Cooper and Chloe, I'd assumed Joey was a Taker too. We all had. And apparently we'd been wrong.

Jack had told me that having a Night Walker parent didn't guarantee a Night Walker child; it just increased the odds a lot. It looked like their family was two for three—which actually explained quite a bit. Joey wasn't that much younger than Cooper, but he had none of the telltale signs of exhaustion that Cooper did. Those symptoms should've been showing up by now if Thor—Joey—was a Taker.

It took a lot of effort, but I managed to pull myself over onto the cot. I sighed as the material eased the ache in my muscles after so many hours on the hard floor.

The door opened again suddenly, and when Joey looked my way, I thought about saying something to him. Something to let him know that not all Night Walkers thought humans were weak or inferior to us. But it was like he could see that I was thinking about talking to him and wanted to make sure I didn't get a chance. Careful not to actually make direct eye contact with me, he tossed a new paper bag with food at my chest, hard enough that it definitely squished my sandwich. Then he dropped the water bottle on the cot beside me and hurried back out of the cell, closing the door behind him.

I opened my bag and brought out the slightly decimated sandwich. Even if I couldn't thank him, I hoped he knew how much I owed him. My vision shook as my eyes had one of their mini seizures, so I closed them tight in an effort to make it stop.

Taking another bite, I chewed slowly for a full minute before opening my eyes again. Relieved to see that the shaking had stopped, I watched the newly dim corner of the room where Joey had torn the work light down. It started to darken, shadows gathering together.

I focused my gaze on that spot, my head pounding, but it was already gone. Nothing.

I released a shaky sigh.

I'd lived through this before. It was only a matter of time before it all happened again. No one else had ever put themselves back together after being Divided the way I had. It was pretty safe to assume that no one knew what would happen if a person became Divided twice in one lifetime. Given how awful and terrifying it had been living with Darkness the first time around, I didn't want to face that again. Not now, when I was already this weak.

Lying back on the cot, I closed my eyes and rested one arm across them, trying to soothe the pounding ache I'd had behind my eyeballs for hours—or days now. The pain never stopped anymore. It just moved from one location to another and changed intensity. I was so tired … and every movement was becoming so hard.

I didn't move when I heard Joey come in later and collect the garbage from my lunch. As he left, he reached into the hallway and hit switches to turn out every light, one by one. The relief from the heat and the cool darkness on my aching head was too much. A grateful sob escaped my chest. I decided I didn't care if it made him mad. This one time I had to say it.

“Thank you, Joey,” I whispered into the quiet.

“Get some rest.” His tone wasn't angry. He just sounded surprised and confused, and then the door closed behind him.

With Joey helping me like this, the Takers might even be less of a threat to me than what I had lurking within my own mind. After everything Cooper had done to me, I'd lost so much of my strength.

If Darkness came back again now … I doubted I'd have anything left in me to keep him from taking over completely.