The Executioner at the Institute for Contaminated Children (4 page)

The suited man placed the spider on my hand, and I jerked as it came to life, walking up my arm.

I uttered a sound of aversion and the principal said, “Nothing to worry about, Donna, it isn’t real. It will follow the pulse of your blood through your body and settle on your heart, where the vibrations are strongest.”

Dad watched it creep up my arm with hatred and horror in his eyes. He probably wanted to flick it off me and stomp it into a million pieces, but he sat there and swallowed it.

The spider’s metal legs tickled my skin as it crawled on my chest and I almost laughed. What started off as scary now seemed somewhat comical. It settled there and fell asleep, but I could tell it was working.

My eyes met the glint in the principal’s curious stare. He flipped the coin in the air. My first instinct was heads.

“Tails.”

The back of the spider blinked red and gave off a beep.

The principal looked down at the coin on the back of his palm. “Heads.” He showed the coin to the suited man in confirmation and he took note of its validity.

I shut my eyes. Next to me, my father bit his lip.

“Very impressive,” remarked the man in the suit.

Oh, shut up. Who are you, anyway?

“Lucky guess,” I said.

“We’ll see,” said the principal.

He tossed the coin again.

“Heads.”

The spider did not blink.

The principal’s mouth spread into a smile. “Heads.”

I licked my lips. How did I do that? Give me a break, did this really mean I was contaminated? What kind of ability was “probability” anyway? I would’ve preferred the Canary Cry.

He tossed the coin again and again and again. Sometimes the spider blinked, other times it didn’t; sometimes I lied, other times I told the truth. But whatever guess I announced, the spider and I were always right.

“Now that was impressive,” said the principal after thirty flips of the coin. The suited man came up to me and removed the Lieder.

“Indeed,” he added, and stared at me with a scrutinizing gaze.

The nerves all over my body switched to panic mode.

“So what are we supposed to do now?” Dad’s voice quaked. 

The principal exchanged a look with the suited man and he nodded. Did I mention this was probably the worst day of my life? So far. “Government protocol issues that since Donalie has officially turned sixteen as of today, she must immediately depart for one of the Institutes for Extraordinary Children. The one here in Wisconsin is called LeJeune.”

CHAPTER SIX—Train Ticket

Y
ou know the trope “flip a table”? If you were a hardcore gamer, you definitely would. Well that is precisely what my father did when he heard the principal’s words about me leaving for LeJeune.

“Do you have any idea what’s been happening at those schools?! You’re asking me to give my daughter a death sentence! I will not stand for this, do you hear me?!!”

I sat there stunned. I hadn’t been nearly half as much in denial as Dad.

“Most parents would be honored—” began the principal.

“Honored?! You call blowing up children an ‘honor’?!”

“The security at the Institutes has increased, I assure you,” said the suited man. “Those were merely unfortunate mishaps.”

“You’re the mishap! She’s my life, my everything! I won’t have you take her!”

He spat his words so fiercely in the principal’s face as he grabbed him by his creased suit and shook him that he turned lobster red. I had never seen my father assault anyone. Now I didn’t know if I’d ever see him again, because in the next moment police officers came into the room, restrained him by the arms, and pulled him towards the door.

“No! Donna! Don’t go with them!”

“Dad!” The word screeched through my throat. “Where are they taking him? Where are they taking my dad!? Answer me!” I almost pounded the suited man with my fist. I would have mauled him if I could.

All he said in his condemning voice was, “He will spend the night in jail for his display of violent behavior in a public institution. You’ll have your father back, Ms. Cassidy, but only if you board the train to LeJeune first thing tomorrow morning. If I were you, I’d start packing.”

He handed me the train ticket and I stared at it blankly. I clenched my teeth and my trembling hand finally gripped it. I couldn’t deny the justice of it, no matter how cruel.

“Who
are
you?”

“My name is Von van Vaughn.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. We will meet again at the Institute, Ms. Cassidy, if that is what you still call yourself.”

His cell phone rang and cut off my unvoiced question. “I have to take this,” he said. Confused, I watched him step out of the room.

My heart thundered in my ears. What was I going to tell Mom? That Dad got thrown in jail because of me? That she might not see me again for who knows how long? That I was contaminated?

Tears slid down my cheeks. I stared at the silver spider on the principal’s desk.

“I wish you were broken,” I said, my voice bitter, and left the office.

***

T
he wind blew through my gray coat as I stood on the platform of the Superior Terminal, named for one of the Great Lakes.

My mother’s face was as cold as the wind, Lisa’s hand in one of hers, Torrey on her left.

I refused to meet her gaze, still angry about everything. The hidden truth about the contamination. Separating from my family. Leaving for a strange school full of weird kids “just like me.”

I came up to Torrey and took his chin in my hand. “Write to me,” I said. By that, of course, I meant text, AIM, email. Whatever way he could contact me, I wanted to hear from him. It would be the only way to know they were all coping. I’m not sure I could trust my parents to tell me the truth at this point.

“Aye-aye.” He tried to sound enthused, but his eyes were lonely. Of course, with Dad, Al, and me gone, how could he not be? My eyes lingered on him and then finally tore away.

I kissed Lisa on the forehead and smiled at her. She didn’t smile back for a while. Then a small pinch of her cheek appeared.

I stared at Mom again, stone-faced.

Her breath trembled. “I hope you understand…what you have lost, your school, your friends, your cat, your whole life here…cannot compare to the loss of a child.”

“I know, Mom,” I said, “it can’t. But since I have also lost my parents and my family…I’d say we’re even.”

Shadows overcast my eyes and I stood rigid. My mother’s lip quivered and she embraced me. I hugged her back. I didn’t want her grief. It wasn’t fair. They weren’t the only ones suffering. Couldn’t they see that? Their way or no way only resulted in no way. Why, why was it always about them?

“See you guys later,” I said and forced the most theatrical smile I could muster. Maybe it looked like a plastered magazine cutout on my face, but I didn’t want their last memory of me to be the face of disappointment.

I boarded the train and waved to them from the entrance, and then disappeared into the hallway until I walked to my cabin along the thin blue carpet. Number 137.

I pushed open the sliding door; someone was already in there.

“Excuse me, I think we’ll be sharing—”

I froze before the girl turned to look at me. She stared out the window with her chin rested on her hand, soft wisps of hair around her Hispanic features. No. This had to be a joke.

She finally turned to look at me with the same expression I gave my mother.

“Oh, hello, Donna,” said Eva Solontez. “What are the odds?”

CHAPTER SEVEN—Hangman

H
ad I known Eva would be my cabin mate, I would have asked for another ticket. I would have boarded a later train. I would have screamed. Now it was too late to do any of that.

I cleared my throat and went to sit across from her, not meeting her gaze. I fumbled with my suitcase and got out what I’d need for the ride, including a small blanket and a game to play. A whole eight hours before we arrived at LeJeune. Kill me now.

“Aren’t you gonna wave to your family?” she said dryly. She didn’t care. In fact, she mocked.

“No, that’s okay.” I still didn’t look at her. “We said our goodbyes.”

“Like that, is it?” she said. “Were they disgusted by you too?”

I finally looked up at her, shocked. Wait a minute…unless Eva was getting off at an earlier stop…was she going to…?

“Are you…?”

“Contaminated?” said Eva. “Yeah.”

My jaw loosened. Contaminated? With what?

My tongue flopped like a fish out of water, unable to form words.

“You must be wondering what my ‘extraordinary’ gift is,” said Eva, her tone still cynical. A sly grin spread across her face. “I won’t tell. Yet. Let’s see how long you last first.” Her grin faded completely and I swallowed. Oh, she must have heard how I told on her, all right. And she loved every minute of this.

“I don’t want to know,” I said quickly, and continued to fumble with my belongings, though it felt like a gnat sat in my stomach and fed. Where had I put my snacks?

“Of course you want to know.” Eva crossed her legs. I froze. Her voice sounded like it was right at the back of my ear. “You want to know why I’m the reason you’re here. Or if I am the reason, or part of it, how that happened.”

I stared at her, my mouth set and eyes fierce.

“Like I said. I don’t want to know—”

“What a shame. Because I owe you.”

I straightened up and stared at her across the red-toned cabin in surprise. “Why?” I said slowly.

She smirked. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

Whatever Eva owed me, I had a feeling it still didn’t outweigh what I had done.

I let my black hair curtain my face and stared resolutely at the game in my hands. An advanced version of hangman with several words intertwined. I owned it. Now I knew why.

Suddenly I didn’t feel like playing anymore. But there was nothing else to do. How stupid of me. Of all the things I could take aboard, I brought games! They’d only remind me of my contamination, the one that took my family and life away. Was I some kind of masochist?

I could sleep. But what if Eva did something to me? I wasn’t afraid of her, yet…I didn’t want to get pranked either. I cherished my eyebrows, thank you very much.

Eva lay down on her side of the cabin and turned away for a nap. I couldn’t trust it. She might wake up while I slept. Maybe I could run for it, but go where? I couldn’t just slip into a stranger’s cabin and whisper, “Save me.”

I stared out the window at the scenery. This area used to be a forest with some low-key mountains. They’ve almost doubled in size now, though still coated in trees. You’d think we were in Montana. Such drastic reconstruction of topography might seem like an impossible feat, but after the Thorton Plant incident, let’s just say faith moved mountains. Kind of like placing a cone over a spill and pretending it never happened. Smooth, guys, very smooth. Just keep messing with nature until it bites back
.

After a few hours, my eyes shut automatically. I wouldn’t be able to stay awake much longer. I sighed, about to confront her and call for a truce, when Eva turned on her back and said, “Have you chosen your name yet?”

My eyes opened. “A name?”

“When you get to the institute, they’ll ask for your new name. You can change it completely, or keep some semblance of it. Either way, it should sound like something related to your ability.”

“Why would they make you do that?”

“So they can track what students are capable of, duh. Hmph. I thought you were smart.”

The side of my mouth twitched. As much as Eva annoyed me, she had a point. We weren’t nobodies anymore. We had unique talents. No one could call us average now. And that scared me more than anything.

“What about you? What’s gonna be your name?”

She didn’t smile. “You’ll find out later. After I tell you everything.” Eva stared me dead-on and I gulped. What was up with her? Don’t tell me her ability was somehow involved in what I’d done. 

Probability? High.

“I really need to stop doing that,” I mumbled to myself. She didn’t hear me, or pretended not to, only observed me with a fascinated gaze.

“What?” I said, scowling.

Her smile turned wicked. Uh-oh.

“Your hair is awfully dull, Donna. I think…I’ll cut it for you. Right now.”

I gulped. Oh no, she was
not
going to touch my neatly trimmed hair. “Uh…but…we’re on a train. Moving. What if—?”

“—my hand slipped? You’re just going to have to trust my reflexes.” She reached in her bag for a pair of scissors and a brush. Who brought scissors on a train?! Wasn’t that considered a weapon or something?

My back pressed into the cushion and the hair on my arms stood up when she snipped the long scissors through the air.

“Listen, they would have found out anyway.” I said, growing angry. This had gone far enough. She couldn’t scare me.

Eva smiled, her head slightly shaking side…to side. “And you would have
told
on me anyway. Am I wrong?” I bit my lip so hard it bled. She did that eerily well. Reading people. “Now, how about that cut?”

CHAPTER EIGHT—Mind Cut

M
y eye twitched for the final time. I lost count about 30 snips back. It wouldn’t shock me if I developed a permanent twitch after this so-called “hair cut.” More like a mind cut. Especially when my heart would lurch every time the train jumped on the rails and Eva uttered a careless “oops.”

The last thing I wanted was to look in the mirror. She must have deformed me real good.

“All right, payback’s over,” Eva announced. “You can look. Go on. Promise it’s not that bad. Doubt it’s what you wanted, but I like it.”

I winced with one eye. Wait…so she didn’t want to gouge my eyes out?

Night had fallen, and the reflection of the window showed only my face. And my hair, or what was missing of it.

I screamed. Not out loud, but oh, how I screamed on the inside. If Eva hadn’t gouged my eyes out, I would’ve done it myself. This couldn’t be happening… I looked like…like some kind of rebel!