Mind Over Easy (15 page)

She'd gotten all the begging out of her system the previous night. If the damage had already been done, she knew it was just a matter of time before they set her free or killed her. Natalie refused to go down whiny.

She stalked around the room for what felt like the millionth time as she looked for potential ways to escape her prison cell. A rusty grate in the corner of the room was more likely to give her tetanus than it was to budge. A few kicks into a crack in the wall yielded nothing but a sore hamstring. The room was bare except for one hopeless escape route: the door to the hallway.

Natalie had been given the grand tour during the previous GHA meeting, and since her captivity she'd deconstructed exactly how she'd escape. If she could just get into the hallway.

As she stood at the opposite end of the room, a guard unlatched the lock and slid in a tray of food. Before Natalie could even plant her feet for a mad dash, the door was already closed and locked. The apple and buttered toast didn't interest her nearly as much as the newspaper on the other side of the tray. She took the items back to her bed and chomped on the apple as she scanned the front page. It didn't take long for her to lose her appetite. The Treasure Tribune, a paper that had listed her accolades since middle school, now cited her as the primary suspect in the bombing. The article sported a picture of Ted's house on fire and described the injuries of his mother. Natalie's muscles tensed and her brain told her it was time to punch somebody.

That's exactly what they want. No more getting jerked around with.

Natalie thought about her call to Erica, asking to be of some assistance to the cause.

"You've been distant." Erica sounded mad over the line. "I bet the kids at school think you hate him right about now."

Hearing Erica's voice say "kids" made Natalie think about just how many lifetimes the girl had led.

"I'm sorry." Natalie had known it was a bad idea to call.

"No." Erica's tone brightened. "It's perfect actually. Would you mind having people hate you for a little while?"

Natalie smiled. "I always play better in away games. I love it when they boo."

The girlish laugh on the other end made Natalie hopeful.

The prisoner didn't expect she'd be this hated, though. She could picture the town dividing into two. On one side, there would be the teammates, coaches and friends who knew the real Natalie. On the other would be the GHAers and people who believed everything they read or heard online. She hoped the one side would be louder than the other, but just in case it wasn't….

Natalie took out the paper's advertising section. She tested the hard, sharp edge of the paper before she used it to slice open her palms. It took a few tries, but before long, she had a faint trickle of blood running down to her wrists. Natalie had learned not to let pain get to her during years of knee-to-knee collisions and semi-intentional eye gouges. As she squeezed her hands, she watched the blood rush through the small lacerations.

"This oughta get their attention."

Natalie crept up to the door, staying low enough to avoid the guards' gaze. When she'd pushed enough blood out of her cuts, she rubbed it all over the window. Natalie wiped the rest on her shirt and screamed the highest pitch sound she could muster.

One of the guards spied the blood and opened the door. As soon as his leg crossed the entrance, Natalie kicked with all her might. His leg made a cracking sound as the heavy door smashed into his knee. He shrieked with pain.

"Your scream is way better than mine." Natalie kicked the door again in rapid succession until the guard had collapsed and wedged the door open.

With a running leap, Natalie sprung out of the room and into the other guard before he could draw his weapon. Both of them toppled to the ground and Natalie could hear an alarm sound. She looked up at a flashing red light.

"No time for finesse."

Before the guard could fully recover, Natalie kicked him squarely in the crotch and ran for the exit. She didn't even look back to see him crumple to the ground as she pushed her way through a door and out of the hallway. She ignored a cramp in her side as she used memory and instinct to move her from one room to the next.

"Almost there."

When Natalie reached the foyer of the building, she saw the door that would bring her freedom. She'd never run as fast as she ran right then, until she felt the bullet hit her in the back. She'd been moving so quickly that when she fell forward, her body skidded several feet on the painted cement.

The pain from the projectile was excruciating. When she reached back to feel for blood, she was surprised not to find any.

"Rubber bullet," Travis said. "Cobblestone says he's not quite ready to kill you yet."

As much as it hurt to move, Natalie turned over to a sitting position and attempted to melt Travis' face with her eyes. She wondered if someday that trick would work. Natalie expected that Travis' face would be villainous and cruel. He actually looked more hurt than angry.

"Shooting someone in the back is kind of a dick move." Natalie tried to inch her way closer to the exit door.

Travis kept pace-for-pace with her, gun drawn and pointed directly at her head. "So is pretending to be someone you're not."

Natalie growled. "I think bombing a classmate and injuring his mother wins the psycho contest." Natalie stopped a few inches short of the door. "So congratulations to your and your hateful organization."

Travis fired another shot. This one whizzed by Natalie's ear and ricocheted off the door.

"I'm not afraid to shoot you again."

Natalie pushed past all the pain in her back and stood up. "You may not be afraid to shoot me from point blank range, but you are afraid. Afraid of telling the truth."

Travis cringed. "The truth doesn't matter."

Natalie stood as tall as she could manage. "You've got a room full of people who are going to cheer for Ted's mom getting injured. If they knew the truth–"

"It's too late." Travis face began to twitch. "You're going back in the cell."

"You know what happened to the Torellos. You know that Ted is a hero." Natalie noticed the two other guards enter the room. "You're a good guy, Travis. I know you'll do the right thing."

Natalie watched Travis' gun hand shake while the other guards used a plastic tie to bind her wrists. Even when they kicked her in the back of the knees to send her to the ground, Natalie never took her eyes off Travis. When the guards pulled her back to the cell, she saw her classmate over her shoulder, continuing to stand in the very same position. She wondered if getting to him was her only hope of making it out alive.

Chapter 25

Erica took careful steps into Beth's hospital room, which happened to be only a floor up from where Ted's mother was recovering. The room was sterile and smelled of rubbing alcohol. Erica had crossed over into several morgues in her time. Despite years of advances in technology, hospitals never ceased to be creepy.

Ted and his father were asleep in Mrs. Finley's room, but Erica was still full of energy. She'd already visited Beth since her friend had arrived at the facility, but the redhead had been more or less catatonic. This time, however, Beth looked directly at her when she walked through the door.

"Oh my God, Erica!" Beth squealed. She emphasized almost every other syllable she spoke. "What is going on? You have to help me." 

The hospital staff had bound Beth's wrists to the bed to keep her from trying to escape. Erica knew she'd have a hard time convincing the nurses to let her loose after 24 hours of raising hell.

"Hey, hun." Erica gave her friend a hug. "I'll see what I can do. How you feeling?"

The face Beth made reminded Erica of an angry reality show contestant.

"How am I feeling?" Beth did her best to gesticulate without the use of her hands. "I have doctors coming in every two hours treating me like a crazy person. I'm tied to the bed like some wild boar." She jerked her head to one side of the room and the other. "And I haven't even touched Facebook for two straight days. My life is the worst."

Erica sat down at the chair beside her bed. "I'm sorry." Erica forced a smile. "At least you'll probably drop five pounds from the terrible hospital food."

Beth started to cry. Erica did her best not to hate all teenage girls at that moment.

"You know, before your boyfriend got superpowers, everything was fine." Beth wiped a few tears on her hospital gown. "You were there to hang out with me and play 'Who Wore It Best' in the hallways. We were all everybody cared about. Now, everybody just wants to see Ted hover off the ground."

Erica considered telling Beth that she was worm food before Ted changed, but she caught herself. Erica took Beth's hand.

"We don't always have a choice of what happens around us. It's all about what we do with those circumstances that makes us who we are."

Beth looked at Erica for a moment before closing her eyes. "Ugh, I fell asleep. You were too boring."

Erica knew that her previous inhabitant was just as terrible as Beth before the crossover, but that didn't make her any less angry. She did her best to cover it up.

"Do you remember anything about the person who told you to start the fire?"

Beth opened her eyes and leaned back into the pillows. "The doctors seem to think it's some kind of voice in my head. I don't remember anything that happened after Redican's class on Thursday. Maybe someone told me in there."

Erica exchanged some cheek kisses with Beth. "You're wonderful. Feel better soon." Erica walked to the door. When she turned back, Erica felt the room grow dark.

While Beth was still sitting on the bed, Erica could tell that another person had taken control. A look of hatred washed over Beth's face.

"You can't keep him from the truth, protector." Beth's voice had changed from bubbly to devilish. "Or is there too much blood on your hands for you to even care?"

Erica glanced into the hallway. She waited to step back into the room until a nurse moved out of earshot. "Who are you?"

Beth smiled like she knew all the secrets in the world. "Someone with nothing to lose." The redhead leapt toward Erica, but her restraints snapped her right back down into the bed. Beth growled and pulled at her shackles with all her might.

"It doesn't have to be like this." Erica moved closer to the bed. "You've lost people. So have I. That's what happens during a war."

The rage on Beth's face changed into pain. "It wasn't our war. The dark souls wouldn't have even bothered us if you'd given them Earth."

Erica pursed her lips. "Give someone an inch and they'll take a mile."

Whoever was in control of Beth's facilities ignored Erica's response. "Consider this your last warning. Give the boy access to all his powers. Let him end this war and bring peace to all the conquered realms."

Erica stood her ground. "And if I don't?"

Beth's confident smile sent a chill down Erica's spine. "Then I'll make everyone you know and love suffer. Including your boyfriend."

As the message ended, Beth collapsed back down to the bed. Erica ran back over and attempted to rouse her. Beth opened her eyes and looked through Erica as if she wasn't there.

Erica shook her head and felt tears come to her eyes. "Damn it."

She wanted to run to Ted right away to tell him what happened, but she remembered that he was still waiting for his mother to wake up.

It's not the right time.

Erica sighed.

Not that there's ever a right time. 

Erica decided on the next-best person to talk to.

She found Sheriff Norris typing away on a laptop in the cafeteria. The room was so white, the light reflecting in through the window threatened to blind her. While the rubbing alcohol scent was absent from the room, the aroma of food that replaced it certainly didn't make her want to order an early breakfast. The sheriff had stayed in the hospital all night with the Finleys. Erica sat down next to him with two cups of coffee.

"Catching up on fan mail?" Erica handed him one of the cups.

"Thanks." The sheriff took a large gulp and continued typing. "I wish. What do you want, Erica?"

She feigned surprise. "I'm just trying to be of assistance to the hardest-working lawman in all of the U.S.A."

The sheriff closed his laptop and leaned his chin onto one of his hands. "Uh huh." He took another sip of his coffee. "Just don't put another whammy on me, OK?"

Erica had promised Jennifer she wouldn't use her powers on Sheriff Norris again. It was mighty tempting to get everything she wanted without much asking, though.

Erica handed over a list of names to the sheriff. "Long story short, someone on this list may have put a spell on Beth to make her start that fire."

The sheriff took the paper and glanced it over. "Fifth period English?" He gulped his coffee.

"One of these people may have a book that lets them control a person's mind."

The sheriff shook his head. She imagined he liked it better when he was dealing with jaywalking and parking tickets instead of the strange and mystical.

"Should this really get priority over whoever bombed the Finley house?" the sheriff asked.

Erica sipped her own coffee. "What scares you more: a cult or the possibility of 1,000 brainwashed students walking around starting fires?"

Sheriff Norris let out a long sigh. "I can start making some phone calls about a magical brain book."

"Thanks, Sheriff."

As she left the cafeteria, Erica walked past a wall of photos that showed the hospital under construction. The image of girders and a cement foundation brought her back to memories of screaming, the crunching sound of a tumbling building and an overwhelming sense of loss.

It had been many years since Erica had seen a living soul reach the height of his powers. The light souls had given the power to a man in his early 20s named Adam who had lived a relatively humble life before he was granted the new responsibilities. They sent Erica to guide and protect him.