Barcode: Legend of Apollo (38 page)

As I hold on to my last few seconds of consciousness, Dennis sits next to me and says, “You have every right to hate who we are. I wish I had been the one to fight Kode, instead of Arnold. Death is our only freedom from this sinful world. But when you wake up, it’s up to you to decide who you want to become. There’s so much darkness in your heart already, and you still don’t know half of this world. I don’t think there’s much hope for you, and maybe I’m to blame. But truthfully, the moment Talib handed you to me, and begged me not to enter the delivery room to see Beth,” Dennis weeps openly, “I never thought you were my son. I thought he’d switched you. You hated me from the moment you saw me because I couldn’t protect your...” Damn. That’s all I have the energy to hear.

My eyes fade into a deep dark blackness. I don’t think I’m unconscious. I chose the darkness.

***

After spending most of Christmas morning alone in the hospital’s pile of cement, I take a note from Kode’s book and use the pressure to break the pillar. My wounds are fine enough to make it through the rest of the day, so I roam the halls until I think of a plan. The cement seems to have dehydrated me.

In order to get cleaned and find water, I break into a nurse’s room and take a shower. Unlike Kode, I use my senses to find an empty room. I drink half of the water streaming from the faucet.

Once I’m done with the shower, I sneak into the dormitories. I’ve never actually visited this side of the second floor. They’re much like the visitor chambers, apartment-like rooms that stretch down a long corridor.

The walls are a faint beige and the lights are creepy as always. During the holidays they use dimmers to reduce the energy everywhere.

The décor is fairly simple. The Resident Advisor might have gone out of her way posting musical notes everywhere. I guess the theme for this hall is international pop artists. I see various band names like Terrible Twos and The Artistic Party. I even see an album cover of Angie’s favorite Japanese band, B’GM.

I don’t sense Michelle’s tattoos. It seems she’s on a different floor, stealing food from one of the kitchens. I sneak into an empty room and wait for Hannah to find me. I strengthen my aura enough for her to sense it. After a few seconds, she races into the room and slams the door behind her.

“Merry Christmas,” she says with a smile. She’s so happy that I’d sneak into the dorms to see her that she doesn’t notice the expression on my face. However, before she hugs me, Hannah jumps back as though I were about to attack her. I am.

I grab her hand and fling her on the bed. A terror stretches across her eyes.

“That scar on your stomach. I knew it had a dark energy when I first saw it in Hades, but I couldn’t distinguish between different auras then. Now I know, that scar has Eli’s dark presence written all over it.” I raise my voice, “Why?”

A determination covers Hannah’s face. Like a beast, she leaps from the bed towards me, both hands aimed for my neck. Grabbing her arms, I pin her down to the ground and throw my body on top of her.

She screeches frantically, “Get off of me! Get off of me!”

“Not until you tell me why Eli’s aura is on your stomach.”

Hannah’s arms glow and she pushes me back. It seems my data hasn’t fully recovered and she is easily overpowering me. She sits up and shoves me off of her. Then, Hannah creeps to the back of the room, onto a table. She timidly holds herself, but the threat in her eyes dares me to approach. It’s like watching an animal in the wild.

I walk towards her until she yelps, “Don’t come closer!”

“Tell me or we’re going through all of this again.” I take a large step towards her, shouting, “Why?”

“Do you really want to know, or do you want to blame me for your own issues that you can’t address?”

“Don’t flip this back on me. You’ve been hiding a secret all this time. I sense Helios on your stomach and traces of Kode all over your body. You owe me the truth.”

“I don’t owe you anything. You don’t want the truth. You want to blame me,” she sneers while holding her stomach.

“I don’t trust you, or care about your anger.” I have an out-of-body experience and watch the words flow from my lips before being thrown back into my own vessel.
Who am I? Or what am I becoming?
“Just tell me why Eli’s aura is on your stomach.”

“Because he can’t have kids! He goes around raping girls. He killed my father in front of me and locked my mother and me in a dungeon. He raped us, daily, and my mom was the first to show signs of pregnancy. Then, me. I was only thirteen when I watched my stomach blow up to the size of a basketball.” Hannah screams but she doesn’t cry. Empathy causes me to take a step forward but she scowls, “Don’t come closer, and don’t ever touch me again. I don’t want you if you’re going to hold me down like him.”

I mutter, “I’m sorry,” but there’s little sympathy in my voice.

“That’s what he said, all the time. Apologizing like it wasn’t his fault. I watched my mother rip the baby from her stomach with her bare hands. She’d rather die than to have the man that killed her husband get life from her.”

“You did the same?”

“Not at first. I was too scared. I waited a month, with that bastard apologizing to me every day. He showered me with gifts and said he loved me.” She slows down her words and stares at a corner. “Honestly, I was happy when you said you didn’t. Though I couldn’t be with you when I thought you were in love with me, the moment you said you weren’t...” she trails off.

“Hannah.”

“Hannah’s what you call me, but you call my best friend Meesh still. No nickname or affection for me.”

Tired of the attacks I snap, “Do you want me to love you or not? What the hell? Make up your damn mind.”

“You love her. She was in your code before I got there. Even in Hades I could feel more of her data in you than anything else.”

Staring into her eyes I grimly snarl, “So what?” I say it with such antipathy, she accidentally flashes her barcodes. Whatever aura she noticed frightens her. Contempt for what I’ve become wipes across her face. “You couldn’t admit you loved me either. That makes us even. I’m a jerk. It’s not an excuse, just who I am. But don’t confuse me when you don’t know your own emotions.”

“I do want you to love me,” Hannah blurts passionately, “but I don’t want it to be why you hold me down.”

“Where’s Eli’s baby?”

“In a grave in New York,” she says happily. “I ripped my stomach apart. Then, a demon approached me applauding my efforts. He had come to kill me before the birth, but wanted to know what I’d do first. Then, he asked if I wanted to live or die. I chose death, but he sealed me up and bonded me with his blood anyway. He said I deserved to find happiness or pain. I was too young for death. I didn’t know until recently that he was only a year younger.”

I watch her eyes as they slowly burn a fire into mine. She wants to unleash her anger on me, and I don’t blame her. I didn’t know her story was this bad.

“But you don’t live. You sit at home and wait for others to bring you joy. You never search for pleasure, sneak out, or find something that you love.”

“I found you!” The words ring in my ears. “That was good enough for me.”

“I don’t want your love if you’ve got something to do with all these innocent people dying. You’ve joined up with Kode, haven’t you?” Hannah’s mouth drops. “You never look at him directly, and now I know about his aura on you.”

“You’re the one who has the blood of innocent men smeared on your skin. You killed them while fighting in Hades, didn’t you?”

Anger overwhelms me. I hate the very thought of what I’ve done. Instead of admitting my faults I assert, “Answer my question!”

“Kode is the demon that brought me back to life. He used his blood to mend mine. His has healing properties. I felt the surge of energy vibrating through my bones. Before I met him, Athena wouldn’t lend her power to me. Though my womb was strong, I was weak. I was hardly able to tear at my own flesh, but I did. Kode saved me and because of him I was able to love again.”

Whipping my body around, I swing at the wall. It’s reinforced. Damn.

I feel more pain than relief, but I continue bashing it until I’m out of energy. My body’s already tired, so it doesn’t take long.

Somehow, Kode’s found his way into every area of my life. The only person he’s yet to corrupt is Michelle, and she just found her way into the room. Instead of watching her taken as well, I decide to end it here.

“Michelle, I love Hannah,” I say, and the words seem to break her heart. It’s not like she didn’t know, but hearing’s different than sensing. “Hannah, I love Michelle.” Hannah’s body jerks suddenly. “I don’t deserve either of you, so please stay away from me.”

***

I spend the rest of my day alone. There was one point where Hayley brought me a cake. We ate together. She never said a word, but we put on our favorite movie and she held me like I imagine my mom would have. Before leaving my Christmas gifts, which someone brought up in a large basket, she said something I needed to hear.

“I love you.” Then, she kissed me on the head and walked from the room. Her words were a Christmas gift all in the themselves, so I decided to leave the presents for the next morning.

Halfway through my favorite Christmas movie, two fists nearly destroy my door. Using my sensors, I can tell that Hannah and Michelle have found their way into my building though I specifically made sure Michelle’s passwords wouldn’t work. I’m sure she called Hayley, which explains why my door flies open. I decide to ignore them.

Michelle’s carrying Hannah under her arm. They’re both beaten worse than I was after fighting Eli.

Turning to hit play on my movie again, I say, “You’re spilling blood on my carpet. Oh. I also told you to leave me alone.”

Michelle throws her phone at my head and drops Hannah on the ground, which partially wakes her up. She’s shifting in and out of consciousness.

Michelle drags her bloodied boots across my floor until she lands playfully in my arms. She wipes her blood on my shirt and looks up at me with a face only someone madly in love could want.

By now, my swollen lip has healed, but several scratches remain on my face. Michelle, on the other hand, has swollen lips, a black eye, and blood on her teeth. We’re the perfect couple.

“So,” she says out of breath before reaching over and grabbing some of my kettle corn. “We argued all day about coming over here. When she didn’t want to talk with you, I did, and when I didn’t want to, she did. After a serious intervention,” Michelle chokes on the kettle corn and coughs blood on my lap. “Hmm. I’ll clean that later. I swear,” she giggles.

“No need,” I reply, turning up the volume.

“Okay! We decided to work things…” I turn down the television to give my ears a break. “Thanks babe. We talked it out and discovered we were so confused over coming here because we both wanted you.”

“Heartwarming.”

“I know, right? Tearjerker.” Michelle moves her hair from her face, but smears more blood. “Hannah came up with the idea to fight for you. Whoever won could have you, and the other has to support her, no matter how much we may want to kill the other.”

“Let me guess, Hannah won.” I say sarcastically.

“Actually yes.” I’m honestly a bit disappointed. “We both passed out and I woke up first.”

Looking at her battered face I say, “But what if I wanted you?”

“I know you do, but I wanted to hear you say it.” Michelle sniffs and blinks her eyes widely. She’s trying to stay awake. She may have a concussion. “Actually, I won. In fact, I beat the hell out of her. You’re my little trophy.” Turning around to see Hannah still motionless on the ground, Michelle says, “Seriously though, we should get her to a hospital.”

Hannah suddenly crawls across my floor, “Nah. I’m good. Let me get some popcorn though. It smells sweet.”

“Kettle corn,” I correct.

“Hmm. Even better.” Hannah seems to faint for a second then returns to the bowl, which is already sullied from Michelle’s vital fluids.

Before Hannah can contaminate the bowl any more, I carry her to the tub and turn on the shower. Then, I walk back to Michelle, kiss her bruised lips, and throw her in with her friend. After all the blood’s washed off, I leave as they strip their armor and take a bath together.

I rush in when I hear Michelle slapping Hannah saying, “Don’t go to sleep sweetie. I don’t think you’ll wake up,” but Michelle throws soap at me and yells, “I don’t want you looking at her body.”

“I can sense her body in the tub anyway.”

“I don’t care. Get the hell out.” Though she’s laughing the entire time, I know she’s serious, and that’s fine by me.

Thirty Nine

Before the new term begins, I bolt into Dennis’ office demanding to receive training to fight Eli. He looks at me with his head tilted and claims he’ll arrange for something within a week.

I don’t move.

“Spencer, I’m too busy to set it up right now. If you don’t have anything else, let me get back to this mess with Yang Arena. I won’t have time to sleep with the demands from the city’s people. It’s my responsibility to take ownership, but many businessmen want control of it.” He massages his temples and sighs.

As though I’d lost my mind (because let’s face it, I have) I begin tearing his office to shreds. He watches in amazement as I bounce off walls and stick my foot into furniture.

Once he stands to his feet, I stop, and mind my manners at the door. Clerks from his floor and even chefs in his kitchen come out to see a room hit by Tornado Spencer. The only thing remaining, a very calm boy whistling and doing a few calf raises.

“As you can see, I can’t wait that long. You’ll make arrangements, right now, for every single professor, including Gonzales, to help.” I shiver at the thought of that lunatic locking me in a room. “They’ll train me daily, between their classes and after hours. If they have a problem with it, they’re fired.”

“Honestly, what’s gotten into you?”

“I made my decision when I woke up, and I want to protect someone special. Maybe a few mortals if they’re in the way. So, make a phone call
right now,
or type something up. Otherwise, I promise to rip that worn tie you have with mom’s aura all over it.” Dennis raises his eyebrow, “Yeah. I know it’s hers. She has a pink aura, like Michelle, and she hated it so there’s a red one creeping into each fiber, but she couldn’t change who she was completely.”