Kinetics: In Search of Willow (11 page)

"What, are… You said we were fighting
a 'what?'"

Dad nodded. "The Isiroan Legion is led
by…" Dad didn't seem to know if he wanted to tell me, but he pushed
the words out. "It's led by an alien we know only as
Isiro."

"An…alien?" First we have superpowers
and now aliens?

"He came to Earth many thousands of
years ago, and the Alliance has been battling his efforts to
enslave the whole planet."

"Why?"

"Why, what?"

"Why does he want to enslave
us?"

"Well, that's what's under a lot of…
debate. The most common opinion is that he is raising an army from
us to continue a reign of terror across the galaxy. It is said that
he was initially banished here for that very reason."

"But, it's been thousands of years.
How is he still alive?"

Dad shook his head, "To be honest no
one really knows why he has managed to keep living so long. There
are speculations but… we can't say for certain."

I took in a breath, trying to
understand this new concept. "How does Willow fit into all of
this?"

"She… well, it may not be my place."
Dad stood and tugged at my shirt. "Come along. There is someone you
need to speak to."

"Dad, what does Willow have to do with
this?" I asked again, pushing my way out of the chair.

Dad pursed his lips and avoided eye
contact. "I'm not the one who should explain."

The Pattersons stayed at the table.
Dad said someone was coming to talk with them about their options.
Mom gave me a reassuring smile and a shoulder hug as we left them
behind, but it did little to alleviate the worry filling my
mind.

We left the destroyed conference
center, cleared by the InfoCon to continue on without being
'wiped.' I had to look away when I saw a young mother and her small
son staring dazedly up at the InfoCon officer.

Behind us, dozens of Kinetics were
converging on the center where the building appeared to rebuild
itself. The walls and wood were clasping together in a 3D puzzle
worked by people with powers. We passed the threshold of the street
and the air around the building shimmered. A perfect image of the
building appeared behind us. I stopped and stared at it.

Dad looked back. "It's only an
illusion until they can rebuild."

"Weird." It was strange that something
so terrible had happened behind that illusion. People walked the
streets with no cares, no worries, and no idea that they were mere
feet away from some kind of battlefield.

We headed to our car that was parked a
few streets away from the convention center. A couple hours ago I
had stepped out onto the sidewalk not knowing what the day had in
store for me. I stepped up into the back of my parents car wishing
this day have never even started.

We drove toward home in near silence.
Mom flipped the radio from station to station, never quite deciding
what she was in the mood for. I wanted to ask them more questions,
and I really should have been writing them all down.

Dad stopped at the house to drop Mom
off. I sat in the car while they stood in the doorway of our house
and spoke. I couldn't look at them. They had each other always, but
I had just lost my best friend.

I closed my eyes against the sun that
was just beginning to fall. In the quiet of the car, all alone, my
thoughts became louder. I kept feeling something nagging at the
back of my mind. A thought that I couldn't capture, perhaps? But it
felt like Willow. Not just a thought about Willow, but some part of
Willow herself.

After feeling her mental presence
stripped away, I didn't think I would feel something like it again.
But there it was, a sensation at the back of my mind that I
couldn't quite grab ahold of.

I closed my eyes and reached out for
Willow's link. But the sensation of Willow in my mind was not the
same as the telepathic link. Perhaps it was my lack of training, or
because I was this Vunjika thing, but it felt like I was trapped
behind a mental wall. Where before, when Willow had her link open
for me, there was the feeling of wings flying free, but now there
was no such thing. I tried to visualize what the link might look
like if it were physical, like a cable connecting minds. For a
moment I thought I found it, but instead I was met only with my own
mind bricking me in.

I opened my eyes when Dad got back in
the car. He started up the engine and we drove off leaving the
house on a quiet street. Dad didn't turn on the radio and we spent
much of the drive in silence. I realized though, that I hadn't
really had the chance to talk to my father about this whole
situation. I didn't even know what his power was.

"Dad?" I looked over at
him.

"Hm?"

"What... uh... What's your power?
Ability?"

Dad didn't say anything at first. He
changed lanes to pass a slow driver and only then did he glance at
me. "Invisibility."

"Really? Cool."

The corner of his mouth twitched and
he fell silent.

"And mom's a… a
Non-Kinetic?"

"Yeah."

"But... I thought people who weren't…
Non-Kinetics, couldn't know about all this?"

"They can't. But sometimes exceptions
are made. And your mother deserves that exception. It's a story
I'll tell you when we have more time."

I looked at my hands where the marker
of a red X still stained the skin announcing me as a Vunjika. "What
am I?"

He considered it for a moment. "Not
sure. You switched between a few when you were younger, I don't
think..." He paused and I saw a thought pass over his eyes but not
manifest. "Either way, they will test you for your power when you
receive training."

"Oh." I covered the marking with my
other hand and looked out the window. Another thought occurred to
me. Flashes of memory from just an hour ago made me shudder. "What
about Jacob?"

At first I thought Dad wasn't going to
say anything. He was silent for so long I began to think he hadn't
heard me. He adjusted his shoulders and glanced at me. "Your
brother has a rare power, rare enough that it doesn't really have a
proper name. You will learn this when you train, but each power has
a proper name and then a common name. It's listed in textbooks as
Hutor's Will. But its common name is just...Fission."

I didn't ask any more questions after
that. I let it all sink in and let myself ponder what my power
might be. I didn't know what all of them were, or what I had seen
before Willow got kidnapped. I could only really understand the
ones that were common in regular movies and games. Like
telekinesis, and Willow's healing ability. Jacob’s powers… the
images from the conference where he straight up made a woman
explode… Jacob's power was frightening. I couldn't imagine having a
power like that. What could you do with a power that destroys and
kills except destroy and kill?

We drove all the way through town
until we reached an office park near the airport. The office park
was labeled only with a sign for Intent Securities. This was the
work I had thought Dad did. "I thought you worked for a corporate
security contractor?"

"It's a front for the intelligence
sector of the Alliance." Dad replied.

"Oh, what do you do then?"

"We have agents everywhere in the
world who feed us reports and intel on the activities of the
Isiroans. I lead and manage their activities." Dad parked the car
and we got out. The Intent Securities building was made of some
weird brown concrete with a straight line of glass wrapping around
the whole complex. The majority of the doors and windows were
unmarked and darkly tinted. There wasn't really any way to tell
which of the dozen or so doors I could see would give entrance into
the building.

We entered through one of the doors,
and I'm not sure how Dad knew which to pick. They all looked the
same to me. What little stenciling there was on the door gave no
hours--only a cramped "Intent Securities" over the door
handle.

The reception area was clean and
bland. A single desk and a couple fake plants decorated the room.
Two fold-out chairs sat along the wall.

The woman at the desk was unfazed by
us entering. She greeted Dad like she had done it every day of her
life. She pushed a button on the desk and a door along the back
wall clicked open. Her brightly colored fingernails waved us
along.

We passed through the door which
locked behind us firmly and entered a hallway filled with endless
doors. Dad knew the route through the featureless halls, with only
numbers to indicate a change in location. I tried keeping track of
the twists and turns but after a while I lost where we
were.

Finally, after going down two flights
of stairs and going around blank walls and through unmarked doors
we reached a set of doors made out of some kind of dark, expensive
looking wood. Dad pushed open the door and inside was no average
office but a huge auditorium-sized room with rows of monitors going
down tiered platforms. At the very back of the room was an enormous
screen taking up a whole wall. On it was projected a map of the
world with little multi-colored dots freckled
everywhere.

Dad didn't let me stare at the whole
thing for long, before dragging me off toward the side of the room
where we pushed through another set of doors into a conference
room. The room was adorned with a long table and lots of empty
chairs. At the head of the table sat a blond-headed, pale-as-death
woman. Her fingers were lightly steepled over her lap.

A man stood behind her chair watching
us with intense dark eyes.

Dad sat me down at a chair not far
from the woman's and then bowed politely at her. He squeezed my
shoulder firmly and then stepped to the other side of the room with
his back against the wall. The woman leaned forward slightly and
smiled at me.

"How are you feeling, Mr. Yoshida?"
The smile on her mouth wasn't reflected in her eyes. I had to
resist the urge to look away.

"I've been better." I
muttered.

She chuckled. "I'm sure that you have.
I heard about your friend Willow. I am very sorry that happened. We
are doing everything we can."

"You can save her?" I asked. Hope
fluttered in my chest.

She sat back and shook her head.
"Eugene--may I call you Eugene?" She didn't wait for my answer and
continued. "At this point saving her may not be possible. Few
people have ever be found after the Isiroans have taken
them."

"Why?"

"The Isiroans are cowards, and cowards
are the best at hiding." Her soft voice never faltered.

"There must be
something..."

"There is, actually. But
first, I seem to have neglected to introduce myself and my
colleague." She stood up and touched the shoulder of the man. "This
is Joseph Carmichael, and I am Miriam Lancaster. I am the Chief
Minister of the Anyan's Alliance, second only to the Council of
Anyan. Mr. Carmichael is 
my
 second-in-command."

"Uh, nice to meet you, I guess." I
followed her with my gaze as she began pacing from one side of her
end of the table to the other.

"Yes, I wish we would have met under
better circumstances, but what is done, is done. You were brought
here because it is time for you to decide if you will take the
remedial training, or if you want to live out the rest of your life
as a Non."

I considered for a moment. I didn't
really know what would happen with either, but Lancaster appeared
to be willing to answer that for me.

"Choose carefully. If you decide to
give up Kinetic life, then you will forfeit not only future access
to your powers, but also all knowledge of our society."

"I was told you could tell me why
Willow was taken?" I forced the question out, my forehead was
sweating and the seat was increasingly uncomfortable. I fidgeted as
Lancaster considered the question.

"What we know is that Willow is one of
the few people left in the world that Isiro can bond with. And
unfortunately, if what we know is true, then your friend will not
be herself after a month's time."

"What do you mean?"

"The Isiroans will be making her one
of their own in the worst way possible. She will become the host of
an alien parasite. Has anyone explained what Isiro is?"

"A little."

"In order for Isiro to influence
people, he requires a host to live through. He has no physical body
and has to make a parasitic bond with a human. He has been doing
this for thousands of years. As one host begins to die, he seeks
another. And unfortunately, Willow is the next on his
list."

"You can't let that happen!" I stood
up. Lancaster's second-in-command, Carmichael stepped forward and
uncrossed his arms from his chest.

Lancaster held her hand out to stop
him.

"In war, sacrifices have to be made."
She said quietly and looked down at her hands.

"But..." I sucked in a breath to
protest.