Inescapable (Talented Saga #7) (61 page)

“
Whether or not the treaty
is renewed, I do not plan on hiding on the islands. I will fight
for freedom for all of us. I believe that those of us with
abilities and without can coexist peacefully, as we’ve done for
decades. My kind is not the enemy. We never were. We are all allies
in the war against subjugation. I feel your doubt, and that is
okay. Doubt me. Hate me. Curse me to the ninth circle of hell. Just
remember that even in exile, my friends and I will continue to
fight for a free world. We will take down that elusive enemy. No
matter the costs.”

Miles and my other guards surrounded me as I
spoke the last words. The crowd was silent, captivated by my
speech. Even Victoria and the delegates were transfixed. Guilt
wafted off of many of them. They understood that I was really
speaking to them. I hoped they also understood that if any of them
were working with Nightshade or the mystery client, I would stop at
nothing to destroy them.

“
Jeez, kid. You’ve really
made a mess of it,” Miles grumbled, tugging on my sleeve. “Move. We
need to get you out of here before things get ugly. And I ain’t
talking about the protesters. Once Victoria comes to her senses,
she’s gonna beat yours out of you.”

It was that last glance into the crowd—that
was when I saw her: Talia. Standing in the center of a group of
people wearing t-shirts with my image on the front. A baseball cap
was pulled low over her curls, but those piercing violet eyes found
mine.

I yanked my arm free of Miles’s grip and
opened my mind.

“
Erik. I’ve missed you so
much. I love you.”
The voice that filled
my mind wasn’t Talia’s. It sounded like Talia’s, but the presence
sharing my headspace was not Talia’s. I squinted into the crowd,
desperate for a better look at the girl with the purple eyes and
freckles that was a carbon copy of my girlfriend.

“
What are you doing
here?”
I sent back.

“
I had to see you. I just
love you so much.”

Wow. If I’d had any lingering doubts, they
were definitely quashed. Talia did frequently tell me that she
loved me. In more intimate moments, she even shouted her love
openly. But this outpouring of love was mushy and sickeningly
sweet, and very definitely not coming from my Talia.

“
Kid, come on,” Miles
urged.

Penny and Brand started to rush forward. I
shook my head. I wanted the girl inside my head to keep talking.
Seeing Penny might scare her off. Casting my mental net wider, I
attempted to rope Penny into the conversation. I’d been part of a
three-way communication with Talia as the connector, but doing it
myself was a lot harder than she’d made it seem. Which was saying
something, because my girlfriend had been pretty drained after our
practice sessions. Also, I wasn’t a radio with different channels.
Having both Penny and the imposter inside my head at the same time
meant that they could both hear everything. There was no way to
warn Penny to keep her trap, or rather mind, on mute.

“
Aren’t you happy to see
me?”
the fake Talia asked.

Penny’s eyes bugged out of her face. Okay,
well, at least she understood she needed to be quiet.
Hopefully.

“
Of course I am. But I
thought we agreed to meet tonight, at the fountain,”
I sent back, improvising.

“
And we will. I just had to
see you.”

The closer I looked, the more differences I
saw between Talia and the doppelgänger. Physically they were
identical. But this girl lacked my girlfriend’s stubborn confidence
and steadfast conviction. The way she moved was more inline with a
run-of-the-mill athlete than a trained stealthy assassin. She was
aware of her surroundings, but only because she cared how people
viewed her, not because she was accustom to looking over her
shoulder at all times. This girl was a cheap imitation, a cubic
zirconia made in Talia’s unbreakable, sparkling diamond image.
Whoever made the doppelgänger had clearly not understood that Talia
was one-of-a-kind.

“
Midnight. The Queen Jane
fountain. I’ll see you there,”
I sent
back, and then broke the connection before my urge to kill the
imposter grew any stronger.

The Privileged

Besançon, France

One Day Before the Vote

As it turned out, Daphne was indeed a master
at clogging toilets. She somehow caused all four in the bathroom
she shared with Ritchie and Dina to overflow simultaneously.
Unfortunately, her efforts were for naught. Shyla Towers did not
show up for shower time that evening, nor was she at breakfast the
next morning in the commons. It wasn’t until Madame Brink appeared
with the 2P boys to start the day’s lessons that Shyla finally
materialized.

Overnight, the comfy
couches and chairs
had all been moved to
storage and replaced with desks. The shelves of board games and
approved reading material were gone, too.

“
We will continue having
lessons in the commons until further notice,” Madame Brink
announced, taking her spot at the front of the room.

Cressa, Daphne, Ritchie, and Nydia were
already seated in the back row of desks, where they’d eaten
breakfast. Nydia was still giving Cressa the cold shoulder, though
her icy resolve was beginning to show cracks.

Shyla shuffled to an empty desk in the back
row, on the opposite side of the room from where Cressa sat with
her friends. Gaze downcast, she refused to meet her classmates’
curious stares, and pointedly ignored the other girls’ taunts about
Lyla.

“
No talking,” Madame Brink
scolded the class. “Boys, hurry and take your seats. The Dame is
scheduled to address the school shortly, and you do not want to
miss the treat she has in store for you all.”

Cressa’s heart sank. At the Institute, the
word ‘treat’ was always followed by something that made Cressa sick
to her stomach.

“
Ugh, what now?” Daphne
whined. The events of the last few days were clearly taking a toll
on the little canary. Her once bubbly, albeit somewhat annoying,
nature was a thing of the past. Instead, Daphne was fidgety and
pale. Like Cressa, she just seemed to be waiting for the other shoe
to drop.

“
Over here, Kev. I saved
you a seat,” Dina called. The boys were filing in to take their
seats, and Ritchie’s roommate gestured to the vacant desk beside
her in the front of the room.

Kev didn’t acknowledge Dina. Instead, he
continued towards the only empty desk in the back row—the one on
Cressa’s right. Offering her a small smile, he slid into the chair.
Despite her new concerns about Kev, Cressa blushed and ducked her
head, ignoring Dina’s scowling face.

Would a mole for the Dame
really reveal so much?
Cressa wondered.
Her gaze darted to where he sat. For some reason—and she prayed it
wasn’t just because of the inner fangirl Cressa was keeping under
wraps—she felt like she could trust him.

“
Hey, Kev,” Ritchie called
from Cressa’s other side.

Kev’s gaze flitted towards Ritchie, but
showed no signs of recognition.

“
Hi,” he mumbled, then
went back to staring at his desk.

Madame Brink cleared her throat to get the
attention of everyone in the room, effectively ending Ritchie’s
efforts.

“
As you all know, the
treaty vote is nearly upon us,” she told the class. “The Dame is
pleased with the progress you have all made, but she does worry
that our ranks are too small to ensure an easy victory.”

This announcement was met with boos from the
crowd.

“
Not to worry, not to
worry,” Madame Brink continued. “It seems the heavens have smiled
upon us.” The instructor clapped her hands together jubilantly, her
ear-to-ear grin more scary than reassuring. “A team of highly
skilled individuals has come to aid our cause. They are naturally
gifted Talented, trained in combat.”

Quiet murmuring broke out, spreading through
the common room like wildfire. The cadets’ reactions were mixed,
with some regarding this as excellent news and others seeming
upset.

Talented were both potential enemies and
possible allies. They were the only ones capable of hindering the
Dame’s rise to power. And yet, if the Talented joined with the
Privileged, their combined forces would be unstoppable.

The only question was—which side would the
Talented choose?

“
I’ve never met a
natural-born Talent,” Cressa heard one 2P boy whisper to another,
his voice full of awe and admiration. “I wonder if they are UNITED
defectors. Oh, or maybe they are ex-TOXIC? Yeah, they’re probably
ex-TOXIC if they have come to help us.”

“
We don’t need their
help,” his friend snapped. “They are Talented, not Privileged. They
only have one ability, two at the most. And they haven’t been found
worthy, like us. The Dame didn’t choose them, so they will never
truly be Privileged. At most, they will be one step above the
norms, and ten steps below us.”

Tuning out the boys’ conversation, Cressa
focused on Madame Brink instead. The instructor was once again
calling for quiet.

“
Each of these individuals
has already been tested and deemed worthy of source status. Their
track records with Talented organizations prove that they are all
capable of fieldwork. All that remains is for them to declare their
allegiance to the Dame, then they can be activated
immediately.”

Beside her, Kev Leon squirmed in his seat.
Cressa glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. The celebrity’s
complexion had gone stark white. His bottom lip trembled, and his
clasped hands shook in his lap.

Is this more
playacting?
Cressa wondered. If so, Kev
was outdoing even his most critically acclaimed
performances.

Cressa knew Kev was a whole lot more lucid
than he was letting on, but couldn’t decide whether the vid star
was truly scared. Once again, she had the feeling that Kev Leon
knew more about the inner workings of the Institute than any 2P
cadet should have.

“
How exciting, an
allegiance ceremony!” Daphne exclaimed, surprising Cressa. It was
the first time since the observation catacombs that Daphne had
expressed interest in anything relating to becoming Privileged.
“Gracia told me about them,” the little canary continued. “It’s
what happens after an 8P passes her or his final exam. You swear to
faithfully serve and protect the Dame and her cause, blah, blah,
blah. Then, you officially become Privileged.”

By the looks on her classmates’ faces,
Cressa realized that most of them had also heard about these
ceremonies. They all seemed exceedingly eager to witness one
firsthand. Even Ritchie and Nydia were excited for this
‘treat.’

At the front of the room, Madame Brink moved
to stand against the wall.

Countless holographic images—over a dozen,
by Cressa’s estimation—suddenly appeared in the open space, lined
up in two straight rows. They wore black military-style uniforms,
but there was no insignia to show who they served. Upon closer
inspection, Cressa saw that two patches of fabric had been torn
away from each uniform, one on the chest and one on the arm. Each
figure wore a bag over his or her face, and their hands were tied
behind their backs.

“
Welcome!” the Dame’s
voice boomed throughout the room.

Several of the holographic figures flinched,
making it obvious that they could also hear the Dame speaking.

“
Today, you all have the
honor of witnessing an allegiance ceremony. It is the final step
before officially becoming Privileged, and a rite of passage that
each of you cadets will take part in, in the not too distant
future,” the Dame continued.

Cressa relaxed, though was unable to muster
the same level of enthusiasm as her classmates. When she’d imagined
this moment, the one where she ascended to the highest honor the
Institute had to offer, there hadn’t been restraints or bags
involved; that stuff seemed like overkill on the cloak-and-dagger
front.

Either that, or these highly trained
Talented soldiers weren’t exactly there of their own volition.

Sir Tate and Suzu Mitsu appeared as
holograms behind the first figure in line, farthest to Cressa’s
left. Kev Leon began to gulp audibly. Though Madame Brink hadn’t
yet noticed his odd behavior, other 2Ps were starting to look at
him nervously. Like Cressa, they were probably wondering if he were
going to have a seizure.

Even though she knew better, Cressa scooted
her desk slightly closer to Kev’s, and then took his shaking hands
between hers.