Initiation of the Lost (Book 1) (9 page)

"Well, that's encouraging. The only reason we even discovered he was a symp was because of the test we ran after his accident. But now...you're telling me he's invincible."

"No. Not yet anyway. He was working off sheer instinct and breakthroughs are often intense. When potential manifests it is often an explosive glimpse of the possible. But it will settle, he will be calmer. He'll have to work to reharness his new capabilities. But having evidence of his brilliance will make his work all the more easier."

Daniel fell back: "Their powers are getting odd."

"That's what you wanted."

"I know, I know. It's just–it's a lot of power."

"That's what I've always told you. Years of nothing, and then boom–superheroes. You brought me on for this very result."

No more sips, he polished off his drink. Cassandra uncrossed her legs, then crossed the other leg. She smirked–she had saved the best for last:

"You want to know about August?"

He smiled, broadly. His eyes brightened, reminding Cassandra that once upon a time her employer used to be a charmer, before the boardrooms and international politics. She fixed herself another drink, taking her time. Daniel was on the edge of his seat:

"Is there a report? I didn't read anything."

"It's not something he'd want known. He's a bit insecure about his sympathy."

"Go on, Cassandra. It's getting late." The authoritative tone. A not so subtle hint she better stop biding her time.

"Subconsciously," she said, "he blocked me from reading him. During  his evaluation. He wanted to keep a secret from me, concerning the progress of his powers. I'm sure without his awareness, he psychically manipulated my reading."

"So he can alter perceptions?"

"More than that. He can plant suggestions in people."

"You said–"

"I said he knew the exercises but couldn't apply them. I said if he advanced in his visualizations that the sheer psychic energy and concentration developed to execute the visuals would probably suffice in the achievement of suggestions and psychic links."

"And he did it all."

"He did it all. Unfortunately, his power of suggestion is very weak. The kind of knowledge he needs of the target is too intimate for spontaneous use. And it only works in extreme situations, I'm deducing. As symps are psychic by nature, they may be naturally resistant to that use of his abilities. Also, August is very sensitive to people's right to privacy which will place limits on his development."

"But still..."

"Yes, it's tremendous. And not even everything."

Daniel laughed: "Cassie."

"Daniel."

"You're killin' me."

Dr. Farling inspected her French tip nails, then looked to Daniel: "He projected his consciousness into a psychic body that existed on the cusp of the astral and physical planes." She stood. "Then in the psyform, he released a blast of psionic power that exploded Derek's potential into reality, incinerating the emotional blockages and mental defenses holding him back."

"So August caused Derek's breakthrough?"

She walked away, through the slit, out of negative space, leaving her employer to bathe in his glory. And he did, pouring himself another drink. He took his first sip with self-satisfaction and pride, thinking, "That's my boy."

Alone Together

Morning. Derek sprung out of the chamber. Looking about: Julian asleep on the floor with a pillow and blanket, Constant snoozing as he floated in circles around the incubating August–he was alive. Burying his face in his arm as he gasped, he ran to the door. It opened with a reading of the palm he pressed against it, and he stumbled through the lab onto a table where he sobbed into his arm. The Benzai...Abbey...Connor...August's ghost...He needed to find Abbey and Connor.

Out the lab, down the hall, and through a great metal door into the academy, he headed for Connor's room–just furniture. There were no fighter jet models on the dresser. No poster of the smiling redhead on the pick-up. No books–no
Heart of Darkness, Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter
. On the mattress, his jacket. On the jacket, a note:

"Don't just look at it, Derek. Wear it. Love, Abbey."

He knew it–had felt it. There was a moment in Japan where he knew, deep down, only three of them were fighting for their lives. He put the jacket on. Two of his best friends were gone; maybe one would come back...someday.

"She was very brave. They both were very brave." Dr. Farling's voice. "Abbey fought very hard, pushed out what happened to her, to Connor, so she could fight. But it caught up to her. She couldn't face you all."

Derek turned to Dr. Farling: "She had nothing to be ashamed of."

Cassandra stepped into the room. She had never seen Connor's room until she helped Abbey put all his things in boxes. How quickly someone could be lost, just gone. But he wasn't. This room was so empty–blank–but an eeriness lingered, a feeling that the room was...wrong, that things were not the way they were supposed to be. Cassandra wished they could've left, talked downstairs in the sitting room, or the lounge, anywhere.

"It wasn't shame," she finally said. "Heartbreak. It was heartbreak. To have seen you would've been like reliving last night, but this time she wouldn't be able to repress what happened. She'd feel every moment." She went to the window, looking out to the grass and trees. "She's taking her brother home sooner than planned. I am sorry you all didn't get to say goodbye."

"Who will lead the team now?"

"You will lead your team."

"Perhaps Quake–"

"No." She faced Derek: he was looking to her. "You know what's at stake in a way Quake doesn't now. Lead in Connor and Abbey's name. She left you that jacket for a reason. It belonged to their father, then to Connor, and now you. So you will gather your team and meet with Silby for your next mission. After that, you will meet with Coach O'Brien, who will explain to you what happened on the cliff. I will do the same with August."

Derek went to leave.

"Wait," she said. "I don't know what coach will say. But remember to creatively use the mental and physical tools I've taught you to explore and maneuver the range of your sympathy." She smiled.

Derek nodded, a seriousness had come over him. He understood what Dr. Farling was telling him: she would always be his true teacher, the principles she taught him were his core.

When Derek returned to the lab for August, he found him awake, surrounded by Julian and Constant. Julian glared at him like he didn't belong there. August could tell by Derek's look he wanted something. When he left the lab, August followed, brothers in tow, knowing Derek was leading him somewhere.

They trekked to The Summit, the highest hill under the dome. Derek and August wore linen, Derek in his coat, the two stripped of their mission suits to be prepped for incubation. Julian and Constant wore matching flannel pajama bottoms and white t-shirts. Julian walked in fluffy slippers, Constant flew about barefoot. Once at the peak, the boys sat in a moment of silence. Then:

*Augie? Hear me?*

*Yes.*

*You're alive.*

*Evidence would suggest.*

*Connor–*

*I know. He's and Abbey are gone. Julian told me. He woke up last night and heard Abbey. She was hysterical.*

*He doesn’t trust me.*

*It’s nothing against you.*

The holographic sun was warm, the temperature cooler than the sweltering heat outside the dome. Clear skies, manufactured breezes, yet Derek longed for the great tree and plains of grain. To be alone. Together.

*Everything that happened last night...I'm happy it happened. I meant every word.*

August looked to him and smiled.

During the night, slipping into dream state, their minds had reached out for one another. They laid in their special place, under the tree. Derek thought August was dead, this August some last strands of his consciousness, a psychic residue, that lingered inside of him. He wanted to hold on forever. For the first time, he had clarity; he was free, nothing was keeping him from feeling and knowing how he felt. So in their shared world, he said:

"I love you." He had to get it out in case August went away forever.

"I love you too," said August.

Their sky had changed. Day and night occupied the same heaven: the sun and its blue sky to the west, the moon and its celestial night to the east, melded together by the hues of sunrise and sunset.

"You can stay here forever," said Derek. "I'll come to you every day."

August laughed: "I don't need you to protect me. But we need to talk..." He told Derek about the rapport that had been forming between them. As more people came to Hyperion Academy, people of different backgrounds with different mentalities, he had become more self-conscious and more afraid of his power, fearing how people would feel being around someone who could see inside of them.

Derek trusted his love: "Complete the rapport."

It was done, finished when Derek had reached for August as they slept in their chambers. He had made up his mind to never let go, to keep August with him forever.

They had stayed in their world, lying under the tree, August in Derek's arms, until the thought-dream was over. When Derek had awakened, he was afraid it was a dream, just a dream. He felt a terror about to overcome him, the awareness he was all alone, but then he saw August and his brothers next to him. He cried. The dream was true, but still, even now at the top of The Summit he had to make sure.

Julian took a ball out of his pocket. When August saw the ball, he broke contact with Derek, but Derek could still feel August's perturbance through their rapport.

Derek shook his head–Meghan. He remembered Meghan. He had to talk to her. But there was no anxiety, no fear. He had lost his best friends and admitted his feelings. He cared about her, but it was time to let go, to grow, to be the man and woman they both needed to be, for themselves and their team. If she could understand, then she could've been as happy as he was in his special place. If there was something special for him right here, then there had to be something special for her out there. Somewhere.

Constant shot down the hill after the bouncing ball. August gave up with Julian, now looking to the sky, a holographic reflection of the Earth's sky, real to August. Even if simpler than the cosmic sky in his own world, this sky, Nature, was magic to him.

He felt tears, the tears he had cried holding Connor's body. But he also remembered Connor's smile, how good he was with people like when he met Susie. He should've been more like Connor, friendly...or something.

Derek remembered when he and Connor raced up this very hill, climbed trees in the forest, and the first time they sparred in combat training. They didn't talk a lot. So what? They were brothers.

<<>>

Quake stood in the doorway to the lounge. Meghan was looking out the window. He placed himself behind her, watching Derek and Ellington leave the academy, heading to The Summit.

"He even talk to you?"

"Shut up." She left the window and sat on the sofa. He sat next to her.

"You're not dressing like the tool anymore."

Instead of Derek's red and black suit, she wore a new design, a scarlet jacket that buttoned at her chest, draping around her over a gray mission suit. Her brown knee high boots had three inch heels (the maximum allowed by Hyperion protocol). She was silent. And discussing Derek wasn't why Quake had searched the academy for her.

He put his arm along the back of the sofa, behind her. She scooched away, but just a twitch of a finger and he could touch her hair. He resisted. After a moment, he said:

"Uh, what happened to Connor. It should've never happened."

"You can't be serious?" she said.

"What?"

"Now? Of all times now? You're gonna make another 'I-should-be-leader' pass at me now? And let me guess, I should be by your side as you take over."

"He ain't here for you."

"I'm not there for him."

"He didn't ask you to go out there with 'em." Again, this isn't what he wanted to say, to talk about.

"Screw you." And she marched out.

Quake ran his hands over his hair, resting his head in his palms. He didn't know what he had said. He didn't know what to say. A kid he went to school with was dead. He woke up, and the kid was gone. He always saw him, but he never knew him. And he'd never see him again. Maybe it was too late–he didn't know–but he wanted to know something about him, Connor. His favorite color, his favorite food...something. He couldn't go to Derek. Probably not August–he didn't know. He and Meghan were friends–she put up with him. He just didn't know and he wanted to know.

Everything was falling apart. Coach didn't see him as a leader, and now his own team was turning against him. They used to respect him, but Flare, the only person he trusted with his life, had upstaged him, taking over the trials for team leader. Why'd he betray him? Why was it the closer he got to getting everything he wanted–friends, Meghan, team leader...family–the more he became an idiot and screwed it up. Now Connor. He would've leveled Japan to dust before letting a teammate fall.