The Executioner at the Institute for Contaminated Children (11 page)

“Yeah. As soon as possible. Hopefully I can sneak off tomorrow morning around 6 am.”

“Woah, early for you.”

“No kidding,” I said. Just the thought of it gave me dark circles under my eyes. Eva smiled.

“You must really want to check on your family, huh? Wish I could say the same.”

My lip twitched and I immediately felt guilty. I still didn’t know much about Eva’s family, but from what I could tell, they weren’t the most understanding people around. “Sorry.”

“Nah, we each lack our own. It’s not like I can do anything about you not being able to land a boyfriend.”

“Hey!” She laughed as I tossed a pillow at her and she dodged. She and Dan shared an evil streak. “When do you want to do the night watch, today?”

“No way, tomorrow. You have to get up early, and it can wait. But you’ve gotta promise me you’ll do it, okay? I’m afraid I’d fall asleep.”

I nodded. “Pinky swear.”

After we got ready for bed and lay in the dark, I heard Eva say, “Wonder what kind of dining plate Lenora will cook up this time.”

I snorted. “You don’t actually think she makes them, do you?”

“Highly doubt it. She doesn’t seem like the cooking type. The whipping type, maybe, haha.”

We spent the next hour or so naming random gourmet and exotic dishes as to what the next dining plate would entail. Eva kept asking me if my senses tingled on any one of them. I confessed the lamb and lobster were likely dishes, and the caviar and venison were not. Our laughter echoed through our dorm room and carried us into what should have been a sound night.

Except, around 3 am, I woke up to the sound of Eva sobbing. I turned to wince at the light which flooded from the bathroom and grudgingly peeled off my sheets.

The sobs got louder the closer I came to the door, and woke me with each raspy breath and wheeze. By the time I got to the door, I was fully awake, my breath clogged in my throat. I knocked softly on the door. It was ajar, but I wanted to respect her privacy.

“Eva? Are you…?”

I couldn’t finish with “okay,” because as I looked down, I realized my feet stood on something red and wet. I didn’t need to guess that something was blood. 

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO—Missing

T
he door creaked open slowly with the prod of my shaking hand to reveal Eva’s trembling form crouched by the toilet, her pajamas stained with excessive blood. She didn’t dare to look at me. At first I thought she had just gotten her period, but there was far too much blood. Then I remembered. About her ability. About her miscarriages.

I couldn’t find anything to say. I had never dealt with anything like this before.

Without a sound, I picked up one of the extra towels and wet it under the tap. Still soundless, I proceeded to wipe the blood from the floor and Eva’s feet. I rinsed the towel and continued until I had gotten most of it. Eva wept, her face hidden in her arm, until I sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her form. She seemed so fragile, so hesitant to rely on me. I waited for her to turn to me, when she was ready, and rocked her slightly back and forth.

“I-It’s starting to h-hurt more,” she murmured, her face behind mangled hands. “And h-happening later. I-I’m scared. I’m so scared.”

I nodded against her head. “I know. I’m scared for you too. But you’ll be okay. I don’t know how, and I don’t know when, but I can feel it. You’ll make it.”

Eva’s shaking diminished a little. Pride and gratefulness overwhelmed me for having the ability to quell her. I don’t think I knew what it really felt like to be a superhero until now. No points or recognition could replace it; it came from within. I wanted to thank whoever had given it to me. Really the only one who deserved to be thanked for bringing Eva and I together was God.

I stayed with her the entire night until morning. We didn’t talk much anymore, just sat there listening to the wind howl outside. Must have been the Lake’s wolf head. Did that mean it wasn’t shaped like a demon claw? Maybe my imagination played tricks on me, but it felt like it rocked LeJeune a little.

“Aooooo.” I tried to match the sound and Eva chuckled.

Somehow time seemed to fly by so quickly. Probably from the exhaustion, or because nothing we could think of seemed very significant in comparison.

“It’s 6 am,” I heard Eva say weakly. “Aren’t you gonna go?”

We hadn’t changed positions. My entire back was sore, leaned against the bathtub. I shook my head. “No. Let’s stay here a while longer. We should try and get some sleep before we need to train again, before breakfast. I’ll go later this afternoon.”

“Mhm,” she said.

Taking care of Eva reminded me of Lisa and even my friend Maggie. How were they right now? It’d be so nice to speak to them again. But Eva came first.

I got to my feet, my legs aching, and offered her a hand. “Can you stand?”

I helped her up and she cringed. One hand grasped her stomach.

“I should shower.” She sounded like she did not want to. I shook my head.

“Let’s sleep. You can shower later. Here,” I grabbed a towel, “just wrap yourself in this.”

She nodded, her face a mask I did not recognize. I did not know this Eva. This distraught and destroyed person could not be the confident, attractive, and kind girl who was my roommate. And yet…

Eva and I slept until 8 am, only two more hours.

“We still doing the night watch tonight?” I asked Eva, now dressed in her uniform, her face clean with a fresh dab of makeup, hair groomed. Back to her regular self.

“I couldn’t ask you to…not two nights in a row.” Her gaze fell, face tormented. For a moment, the mask returned, but I grabbed her hands and squeezed them.

“Oh, come on, it’s no fun having a monitor watch on my own. We do need to go shopping together at some point, right?”

She smiled and I grinned back. Good. Stay that way, Eva. And don’t ever change back.

***

A
round four, I made my way down the beach, back to the waterfall. Eva was still sore from last night, and I told her to get some rest.

No one was around.

The tone dial rang in my ear as I waited for Torrey to pick up. It seemed to jump start my heart. What if something bad had happened to Mom? Had she simply been sent back or did they throw her in jail like Dad? Or worse…

I swallowed and clung the phone tighter in my hand.

“Hello?”

“Torrey! How are you? Where’s Mom? Is she all right? She didn’t make it to the Institute.”

“Wh-What?”

“What d’you mean, ‘what’?! Isn’t she with you?”

“N-No…we thought she was with you, but you had no service.”

My mouth turned dry. My jaw unhinged and I inhaled a raspy breath.

“Tell me you’re lying.” My heartbeat deafened Torrey’s voice, but I still knew what he said. If she wasn’t with them, and she wasn’t here, then… Every fiber in my body felt like a coin tossed to land on its head in confirmation. I just couldn’t believe it. Mom was…Mom went missing!

I hung up the phone and ran. Right into the forest, through the stream, past trees, I didn’t care where. Mom was somewhere out there, she had to be. Maybe if I made it through this forest I’d be able to escape and find her. What if she got in an accident and her car fell off the road? Or what if…what if they took her away someplace?

 “MOM!” I screeched into the woods. My voice ripped and sent crows flying into the sky. My breath appeared before me as I ran. If only my abilities were different. If I could fly or run really fast, or jump over trees, or send brainwaves to communicate with others. Any of that would be better than my stupid ability to guess.

The wind tossed my hair about and it blurred with their wings. I must have run for a good fifteen minutes until I tripped over a root, sent tumbling through the brush. My hands shielded my face, but it felt like every thorn and branch in the forest pierced my body. I collapsed at the base of the hill, bloody and scraped. My foot throbbed. I must have pulled it. I lay still, helpless, hopeless. Motherless.

Tears slid down my cheeks. How had any of this happened? My life had been nearly perfect. I couldn’t even describe this awful mess. Why?

I bit my lip and covered my eyes with my arm. “Eva…Dan…. Somebody…help me.”

An hour passed and no one came. My limbs were so numb I didn’t feel the soreness anymore. No one would come. I had to realize that. I had to get up.

I don’t know how I did it, but I finally found the strength to get up, limping. Pain pinched my every nerve. The world shook as I stood up and fell onto a tree. I felt like a giant bell someone had gonged. Thanks to the leaf bedding and the cold, nothing seemed broken or swollen. At least, all my limbs could bend. There was worse pain; I had to keep reminding myself of that.

My hand fumbled for my phone. Good thing I still had service. Not that I could call the school, but I didn’t have to. All I needed was the GPS signal so I could get out of this maze. I followed the map out of the woods and grinned half-heartedly at the sight of the waterfall. My knees fell into the water and it stung my wounds, but also washed away the blood. I got up again and kept walking out onto the beach. I followed the shoreline until I stopped at the figure who lay in the sand, staring up at the sky. Why was he here? Did he always come out here, or was this some sort of coincidence?

Something felt off. And, suddenly, anger boiled inside me. This had gone on long enough. I demanded justice. Dan was going to tell me about his abilities whether he liked it or not.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE—Tyrant

D
an didn’t acknowledge me as I stormed up to him until I stopped a few feet away in the sand. Even then, he continued to stare up at the sky, the lake breeze stirring his bangs. And when he looked at me, his expression was hostile. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

No matter, the question burst from within me in my rage and ache, “What is your ability? I don’t care if I don’t get the stupid points. I’m your partner, I have a right to know.”

My fists were taut and I cast a shadow on him from where I stood.

He looked angry. Lazy, but angry.

“Sit,” he said.

“What? I don’t want to—” My stomach lurched as my body moved on its own. Wait…how did that happen? When did I decide to obey? No, I didn’t. I’m absolutely certain I didn’t.

“Lie down.”

My upper body fell backward and I stared up at the sky. My heart plummeted at well over a hundred beats per second. Why? How?

My eyes widened as his hand came down on my right and he hovered over me. I stopped breathing.

“Now kiss me.”

My fingers dug into the sand. No…No…NO!

Tears slid down my cheeks when my mouth was less than an inch from his and he said, “Stop.”

I panted and sprang away from him on all fours, like a backwards spider.

“Wh-What the hell was that?!” I screeched and then shot up to my feet. “What
are
you?”

But I knew what he was. This was just like what Eva had done to that cashier. Only, he was unconscious of what he did while under her trance, and I felt and witnessed everything. Way more surreal than my abilities; his could affect others.

Dan lay back down to stare up at the sky again and completely ignored me.

“S-Stay away from me.” My voice shook. How could I even dare sound brave? Dan could make me do anything he wanted. What if he had
already
made me do something against my will?

“I’m afraid it only works one way, Donna.”

I didn’t reply, only sprang across the sand towards the institute with the last of the strength left in me. I didn’t care if my ankle stabbed into my leg. I didn’t want to come near Dan ever again.

When I shut the dorm room door behind me, thankfully Eva wasn’t around. There stood another dining plate on my bed. I came over to it with a severe scowl and knocked the blue crab and sliced pineapple straight off the tray. It scattered on the floor and I fumed over it.

How stupid could I have been? Tyrell…tyrant. What else could it mean?

My fist dug into my forehead. Unforgivable. To think my ability would have failed to detect such a thing. No, I must have known. Deep down, I always knew, but I chose to ignore it. I wasn’t ready for it, not strong enough…but…just how strong was Dan?

***

T
hat night, Eva and I were to do the night watch. We vowed to check on each other every fifteen minutes to make sure we didn’t fall asleep, even as we patrolled the floor. It took about ten minutes to pace around the entire fourteenth floor, so we’d pass each other in the hallway and wave to make sure we were still awake. They left the emergency lights on at night, so we didn’t walk in darkness. The moon, a white orb, hung in the sky and I took note of it every time I passed a window. Even if we caught students sneaking around, it’s not like we could do anything (the cameras would take care of not awarding them points), but it was more to check that someone
other
than students wasn’t walking around the dorms. Eerie as that sounded, I couldn’t blame Eva for not wanting to patrol alone at night. This was a job for more superpowered students who could take care of themselves. I guess even Eva could take care of herself better than me, at least in the case of men.

Around the corner, I saw Eva come into view and waved at her again with a grin. She waved back. Only just as we were within feet of each other, a dorm room opened and, out of reflex, I pulled Eva into a doorway so we hid from sight.

“What’s going on?” she whispered.

“Shh!”

The dorm room belonged to Dan and Todd, but three voices carried, one of them Hailie’s.

“I can’t believe you had the nerve to tell him and not me!” said Hailie.

“Sorry, dude, I thought she knew.”

“Stay out of this, Todd!” snapped Dan.

“Hey, what’s your problem, man?”

“What’s
your
problem? I told you not to tell
anyone
, didn’t I?”

“I didn’t tell her! I just asked if you told her or not.”

“And that was none of your damn business!”

“Just shut up, both of you!” Hailie’s voice tore. “I can’t believe he knew all this time! You had three years to tell me. And even after we came here, I respected…I respected that you didn’t want to. And I was okay with that. I trusted you.” She inhaled a trembling breath and pushed Dan in the chest. “Who else knows, huh? Urgh, we are so
over
!”