The unadjusteds trilogy.., p.56
The Unadjusteds Trilogy: Boxset, page 56
The shelf above the sink rattles and a tin cup falls to the floor.
Delta half rises. “What was that?”
“What was what?” Eli pretends innocence. “I can’t see anything with the cloth over my eyes.”
She settles again, but he can sense her frown. “Maybe nothing.”
The smell of her closeness overwhelms him.
“Do you want me to stay? Until you fall asleep? I always used to like it when my mom did that.”
Eli smiles. There’s nothing he wants more, but he won’t be able to sleep with her around. He can’t tell her to leave either. “That would be nice.”
Neither of them talk. Eli listens to the small sounds of her shifting weight, her delicate sighs, and the gentle ruffle as she fixes his single sheet. After a few minutes, she strokes his head and he almost melts under her touch. Maybe she’s using some of her ability. She can turn any solid into its liquid or gas form. So he could be melting. Or maybe it’s him, like the shaking shelf.
He allows more time to pass before he pretends he’s asleep so he can deal with the headache. She plants a kiss on his cheek, a hot touch next to the cold of the cloth, and leaves the cabin. It is perhaps a small, trivial thing, but to Eli, to feel cared for is a certain type of heaven.
Nausea rises into his throat as he grits his teeth against the pain of the headache. It’s getting worse. His vision swims and he curls into a fetal position. He rubs his forehead and temples.
Scratch, scratch.
He grabs more painkillers from the crate he uses as a bedside table. If only Silver’s healing had worked. And why didn’t it? Is there something in his head that’s impenetrable and incurable? Does he have a tumor? But no, Silver would have been able to cure that. It’s something else.
Scratch.
It’s the sweet spot again, the one that makes him sigh in a combination of relief and bliss.
Eli tosses and turns in his small bed. The wooden walls of the cabin close in on him and the heat of the day builds, making him sweat, maybe hallucinate, until he is sure he is back on the storm-tossed boat of his dream. The dishes he left in the sink float in the air, along with the sponge, tea-towel and a stale roll he left on the counter. They position themselves in a circle above his head and rotate in a haphazard orbit as though riding an invisible carousal. But hold on, this isn’t a hallucination, this isn’t wonky vision, this is actually happening.
A coffee mug and butter knife join the other flying objects. They circle his head one more time and then collapse on the floor in a heap, a breakfast plate cracking down its middle. This is not a hallucination, but more likely one of his abilities manifesting itself. Telekinesis. One of the tamer powers Earl gave them both. Was he also responsible for the invisibly dug rows appearing in the unplowed field? In the few weeks he’s been here, in Camp Fortitude, he’s not manifested a single unique event. Until now. Why now? Maybe he’s shoved the metaphorical cork in the metaphorical bottle too deep and now it’s about to explode. A grim thought.
Telekinesis. Silver has it. Sawyer too. How much easier it would be to plow the field with his mind. But not if the headaches are the result. Or exposure. Or that weird look on Erica’s face the other day suggesting she thought he was “losing it.”
Perhaps the headaches are the result of using power. That makes sense. Silver always complains there are limits to her abilities and that each new one she acquires brings pain. Perhaps he is using powers and doesn’t even realize it. He can’t begin to list the number of abilities he possesses, so it wouldn’t surprise him if things happen unexpectedly, whether he wants them to or not. But if he doesn’t get the cork back in the bottle, then everyone will know. They will assume he is as bad as his father and cast him out, with nowhere to go. That can’t happen.
The lies are getting harder to keep straight. But it will be worth it. For a second chance. To become his own person, to delete the Landry name from his bloodline.
After plumping his pillow a little higher, Eli lies back on his bed and contemplates the enormity of the situation before him. He so desperately wants to belong to this new world. He also finds the power strangely compelling. Can he have both? With the cold, damp cloth draped over his forehead, Eli wrestles with these thoughts for the rest of the afternoon.
Closing his eyes against the un-curtained window, he realizes the headache has abated somewhat. The pain is more of a memory. But he continues to feel the probing, those scratching fingers digging deep within his brain, sifting through his coils of gray matter, searching. For what?
Scratch, scratch.
If his headache continues to improve, Eli will tend the fields tomorrow. Tend the fields and develop his blossoming relationship with Delta. The only downside is President Montoya. She has traded her suit for a pair of shorts and a shovel and is actually tending the fields herself. Lead by example and all that. She’s watching him, a look in her eye that contains more wariness than Matt’s. Why can’t everyone leave him alone?
Interfering bitch. She’s always around, prying, checking, asking questions - where he came from, what his life was like, does he have information about Earl - like she’s got nothing better to do. Before he was allowed to live in the cabin, he spent hours in an interview room in the presidential compound, answering questions, telling his “story.” President Montoya asked the questions. Also present were a therapist and some security guy called Claus. The questions were designed to catch him out. But he hasn’t done anything wrong. Apart from the obvious white lies. Does the president know he is lying? Perhaps he possesses a power within somewhere that will shut her up once and for all.
The headache comes back to knock on his skull, once, twice, and then vanishes like a whispering wind.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Silver
I try again to heal my mother. Bolts of white electricity leave my fingertips and dance across her face. They fill the immediate space between us. Like mischievous sprites made entirely of light, they bend and flicker and produce a beautiful show. Mesmerized, I can only watch.
My mother remains asleep, a smile on her face, but stays in her catatonic condition. My healing power has grown, is still growing, and I sense there is more to come. Perhaps then it will be powerful enough to heal her. I must understand this power and what it can do. Test its new boundaries, which seem limitless.
Today, I will elicit Eli’s help. He may have picked up more information than he realized while he lived in Earl’s mountain. Maybe he can tell me why I’m so much stronger.
Feeling a thread of hope, I leave my mother with the nurse and rush downstairs to where Matt is waiting in the jeep. We travel the short distance to the fields and Matt parks outside the red barn. I hop out of the jeep and head to the path leading to Eli’s cabin.
“Silver?” Matt calls after me. “Where are you going?” He pauses in the unloading of equipment and waits for me to return.
I step back toward him. “I need to talk to Eli,” I say, unable to meet his eyes. I can’t maintain a lie when staring into those piercing blues, so I pick a spot on the bridge of his nose.
“Oh, okay. To see if he’s feeling better?”
“Yes!” I agree, a little too quickly. “Exactly. I want to make sure the headaches are gone.” Truth be told I forgot all about Eli’s mysterious headache.
“Okay,” Matt says. “But don’t be long, I know the scientists are eager to see if your tampering yesterday has shown the desired effects.”
“Yes boss.” I chuck him a mock salute as I turn back down the path.
“Silver! Don’t be like that—” But I’m too far along the path to hear his words.
I put distance between us before my lie can catch up with me. I can’t tell Matt the truth. He believes we’re living in a time of peace and powers are unnecessary, he won’t understand me wanting to get to the bottom of the abilities I possess. He thinks I should forget about them. But how can I? My emotions affect my abilities. I can’t let them fly all over the place the moment I’m having a bad day. I tell myself I’m doing this for everyone else. For everyone’s safety. I remember when I burned Lyla’s leg and singed her hair. I can’t live with myself if I do worse.
I head down a dirt path bisecting one of the fields, my boots kicking up dust, the sun already uncomfortably hot. Insects buzz in the undergrowth and I cast my glance warily at the ground, looking for the snakes of my dream. Last night I woke screaming, shaking, and sweating. Matt was unable to console me and I spent the rest of the night staring out my window at the moon’s progression, wondering why the night holds such terrors for me. Having the dream again has put me on edge.
I shake it off. If it was a vision, it doesn’t mean it’s the future. The dreams Adam and I share are open to change, are affected by choices and new situations. They change all the time. The future doesn’t have to be black.
Before I reach Eli’s cabin, I come across Claus leaning against a fence that borders the main field.
“Oh, Silver, there you are.” He taps the dirt path with his cane and makes his way to me.
After hanging his cane on a fencepost, he takes his time examining me. I’ve known Claus for years. He trained me in karate all the way to black belt and beyond, and yet his silent gazes always make me uncomfortable. It’s like he can see into my soul. But he possesses no abilities.
Impatient to get to Eli, I push a smile onto my lips, hoping this won’t take long.
“I have a message from your father,” Claus says. “It arrived at the presidential building in the middle of the night.”
Hope ratchets up my heartrate. I hope Dad has found the person he’s looking for. My healing abilities aren’t yet strong enough to help my mother. Maybe they never will be.
“It’s not the news you were looking for,” Claus says, resting both hands on the top of his cane.
My hope crashes around my feet and a black mood engulfs me.
“He hasn’t found her yet. But he has a new lead,” Claus says. “He’s traveling further north.”
North. What about his heart? All the traveling, all the worrying, will it be too much for him? The virus is still out there. Yes, he’s vaccinated, but viruses mutate and I have no idea if he’s safe. But there’s nothing I can do. I drop my head into my hands and rake my fingers through my hair trying to ignore the intensive tingling in my fingertips.
“Breathe, Silver,” Claus says.
The words irritate me. I hate that someone still needs to tell me to relax. But if I don’t and my powers hurt someone…I sigh.
Claus leans over the fence, one of his hands twiddling his mustache. “Perhaps you should stop by my house later and train with Evan and me.”
I nod, even though I have so little time for karate at the moment. But Claus’ instructions go beyond mere fighting. Most of his lessons are about life, meditation, accepting things we can’t change. All the bumper stickers I used to see on cars aren’t mere platitudes. They do mean something, and Claus has brought that meaning home to me. But I’m too agitated to relax. I need my guard up.
“I’m serious, Silver. You need to take time for you too.”
“I know,” I say. “I have something important to do right now. I’ll stop by later.”
He searches my face. “This, too, will pass.”
I dip my chin. “I hope so.”
I leave him at the fence and hurry down the path. As I approach Eli’s cabin, the front door swings open and he emerges into the morning sunlight. He wears a pair of army combat trousers with a belt dangling loosely from the loops and no shirt. His chest is sculpted to perfection, his eight-pack rippling with every intake of breath. My eyes roll over his body. I have no complaints about Matt’s body, but this, this is something else. This is straight out of an air-brushed movie. But it’s real. Stop drooling, Silver!
“Morning, Silver,” Eli says around his toothbrush. He spits the paste into a coffee cup and steps toward me.
“Uh...morning,” I stammer. “How’s your head?”
“Much better. Thank you. Maybe your treatment worked after all, just a little delayed.” He places the coffee cup inside the cabin and pulls the belt closed on his trousers. He wears a beaming smile and I find myself staring at his lips. “What can I do you for?”
“I could use your help,” I say. “If you’re up for it.”
He turns his attention from his belt and looks at me, catching me staring. “Okay.”
Heat floods my cheeks. I look away from his chest and concentrate on why I’m here. My mother. My abilities. Getting control. Preparing for an apocalypse, just in case.
“I’m not sure how to ask this, but...” It occurs to me Eli might not want to help, he might not want anything further to do with abilities and power, let alone see me exhibit the same powers responsible for his torture.
“Spit it out.” He smiles, revealing perfect teeth. At least his father didn’t damage those.
I bend a knee and stick my hands in the back pockets of my shorts, wishing I had some acorns with me. I think clearer when I hold a few acorns. “I need to know what Earl’s abilities are. All of his abilities. I mean, the physical ones are pretty obvious; the venom-spitting fangs, the changing bulk, the impressive strength, the morphing into other species, I can see what they are. I saw him, I saw what he could do. It’s the mental ones I don’t know about which might produce a key to helping my mother. She’s still catatonic. I need to help her. Until she’s back to normal I’m not sure I can think about much else.” My words come out in a rush, fearful he might refuse.
Eli looks me up and down, a small frown puckering the middle of his brow. Then he glances at the middle of the field where people are gathering to commence the day’s work, Delta, Sawyer, Carter, Mason, Matt, and other new members of Camp Fortitude. The bulks pull an old plow, the engine having rusted; it’s up to them until a new machine can be located. “Okay, Silver. I’ll help. If something good can come from those awful powers,” he pauses. “Then I’ll help.”
Relief drops my shoulders a couple inches. Then I feel a rush of excitement. I know Eli will be able to help me. I will find something to help my mother, and I will determine the scope of my abilities. All of them. It’s not something I’ve ever allowed myself to do before. Now, I get to finally understand who I am.
Eli throws on a T-shirt and sneakers and together we walk away from the fields. Ignoring my friends working with the crops, I lead him quickly along the path, almost jogging, until we’re hidden from view.
He chuckles. “What’s the hurry?”
We approach a small thicket of trees which will hide my desertion. “I want to get to the bottom of it, that’s all.”
Slowing my pace, I let my fingers skim the tops of the tall wildflowers, sometimes plucking a flower and shedding its petals as we walk. In the shade of the forest, insects buzz and I’m glad of the temperature drop. After a few minutes we emerge into the backyard of an abandoned farmhouse. A simple wooden structure, the red paint peeling from the cladding. It shields us from the fields and watchful eyes, and we’ll have privacy to test my powers.
Eli leans against a rotting fence post and crosses one foot over the other. “So, where do we start?”
“I don’t know.” I sit on an old tactor tire, staying in the shade of the bordering trees. A frayed rope trails from its girth. It used to be a tire swing. This would have a been a peaceful place once, living in the middle of the fields, surrounded by trees and animals, swinging on the tire underneath a huge beech tree. It’s still peaceful. I discovered it a few weeks ago when I was walking alone. Now I consider it my private sanctuary. And I’ve invited Eli in. “One of the things that’s freaking me out is I can use two powers at the same time, and my stamina lasts longer. Much, much longer. I spent a whole day with my wings last week. I’ve never been able to do that before. I’m used to fatiguing quickly, the power draining before I can be useful. But now I’m getting stronger.”
Eli is still leaning against the fence, a couple yards away, his hands in his pockets. “How do you feel about that?”
No one has asked me that before. Thinking, I run a hand through my hair, lifting it away from my neck. “I feel…” I cock my head. “Curious. Excited. Terrified. Hopeful. Guilty.”
Eli raises both eyebrows. “Guilty?”
I shrug. “The battle is over. We’re rebuilding. I don’t need my abilities. Most of them, anyway. And yet, I don’t feel ready to shove them away. So, yeah, guilty. Everyone expects me to forget about everything inside me, like I can flick a switch. But it doesn’t work that way.”
“It doesn’t?” Eli asks. Concern rests in his pupils. It touches me.
“No. It doesn’t. Unlike the others, except maybe Erica and her wings, my abilities are tied to my emotions. Especially my black lightning and healing power. I’m not always in control of my emotions, and so I’m not always in control of my abilities. So no, I can’t just flick a switch.”
Eli rubs his sneaker in the dirt, darkening the white leather. “That makes sense.”
“It does?”
“Of course. I’d want to know too, if I were you. And you can’t be expected to contain something if you don’t know how to contain it.”
I launch to my feet. “Exactly!” I pace a small area in front of me. “Why can’t other people understand that?”
“Seems pretty basic to me. Who doesn’t understand that? Are your friends giving you a hard time?”
Matt. But that’s not entirely fair. He sees things differently. But the lens he uses to view life affects me and how I feel. In truth, I haven’t told anyone else how I’m feeling. Paige has her own issues with the pregnancy and Jacob. Erica, well, she’s appointed herself protector of all lost souls and I don’t want to be added to her list. The bulks are busy in the fields and Carter, who I spoke to a lot on the last mission, keeps an unapproachable look on his face and a bottle of something in his pocket. I need to check on him. He goes home each day and stays alone, drinking, until he passes out. He hasn’t been able to put his brother’s death behind him. Dad isn’t here. Mom can’t hear me. Sawyer and Lyla are too caught up in their own relationship. Which leaves Koko or Claus. But I can’t talk to them either. I wouldn’t be able to take their scrutinizing looks, their suspicion that I don’t want to give my abilities up.
