Psi Another Day (Psi Fighter Academy) (20 page)

Chapter Twenty
-
nine

Rinnie Unchained

“Bobby, get Rubric and Angel to follow you in here.”

“What are you doing?”

“Please, Bobby, before they get away. They can’t know I’m in here. Hurry.”

Bobby’s face became grim. “I’m all over it.” He rushed from the boiler room.

I opened my backpack and pulled on my mask and hoodie.

Bobby’s muffled voice came through the boiler room door. “Hey, the Idiot’s Convention came to town! They want you for mascots!”

Confident that Bobby had gotten their attention, I moved behind the boiler pipes, thinking he just might be Psi Fighter material one day. The boiler room door burst open and Bobby shot in. He flew around the boiler and out the other side.

Agatha Chew stomped in, followed by Tammy Angel and Rubric.

“Hey, pretty boy. We’re coming for you.”

I closed in behind them like a shadow, striking hard at a pressure point on Angel’s neck, then Rubric’s. They both dropped to the floor.

I concentrated, imagining my face to be a naked skull with burning eyes. I tapped my mask’s voice button and stepped into the light. Agatha’s eyes and mouth opened wide in silent fear. She gaped at Rubric and Angel unmoving on the floor, then at me. Her knees shook, and she covered her mouth with both hands.

“Don’t scream.” My electronically altered voice was haunting in that dark boiler room as I pounded delusions into her mind.

“I know,” Agatha whispered. “I saw what you did to Hollisburg when she screamed.”

“Who took the little girl this morning?”

“What g-girl?”

I drew my Amplifier and a Thought Saber burst out. I pushed the point slowly toward Agatha’s heart.

“I don’t know anything,” Agatha pleaded. “Please, you know I can’t lie to you.”

My free hand shot out and caught her by the jaw. Through my gloved hand, I felt fear. Concentrating, I drew Agatha’s memories. As her emotions poured into my head, I became her, feeling the things that she had felt. I felt pure horror as I watched Kathryn attacked by a man with a skull for a head. I felt disgust as Tammy Angel forced drugs on a little girl. I felt heartache when I shot Mummy’s Magic Mix into Peroxide’s mouth.

I pulled away from the Scan and became me again. It was totally weird to see myself in somebody else’s memories. Agatha liked me. That was unexpected. I tweaked a nerve on her neck, and lowered her to the floor beside the others. She was innocent. Spineless, but innocent. She didn’t like Angel, and hated when she forced her to hurt people. Agatha was having second thoughts about being on the Red Team.

I scanned Rubric and saw horrors…drug deals, violent bullying…all useless. He knew nothing about Susie.

Then I scanned Tammy Angel, allowing myself to go deep.

I did what you asked, Mr. Scallion. I made one of the boys plant the 10 in Blys’s locker like you told me.

Good girl, the skull replied. He’ll back off now. And thank you for arranging little Christie’s appointment with me. I trust you are enjoying your work.

I am. Business has been good. We have plenty of fresh recruits.

The skull nodded. And you’ve been well rewarded.

I pulled out in shock. Angel was the brawn behind the drug ring. She had made a small fortune getting people hooked. But she had no Mental Arts skills whatsoever. She set up Christie Jasmine, but didn’t kidnap her. She set Bobby up, too, but it wasn’t her idea. She wasn’t Scallion. She was simply Scallion’s pawn. He was still out there.

I quickly unmasked and left the boiler room. Running around the corridor, I found Bobby waiting on the other side.

“Get out of here, Bobby.”

Bobby disappeared down the hall, and the boiler room door screeched open. Rubric stumbled out rubbing his head, followed by Angel and Chew.

“Mr. Rubric!” Mrs. Bagley’s voice echoed down the hall. “The boiler room is off limits to students. Would you like me to extend your detention?”

Mrs. Bagley smiled grimly at me as she strode past, heading straight for Rubric and the Red Team, wielding her yardstick like a broadsword.

I caught up with Bobby near the library. “I have to leave school,” I told him. “I need you to cover for me.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“I don’t know. Improvise.”

Bobby threw his hands in the air, then looked around like he would find the answer somewhere in the hall. “Oh,” he said slowly. “Okay, go. You’re covered.” He was staring intently at the fire alarm on the wall.

I shook my head. “No, Bobby, that’s a bad idea.”

“I’m not that stupid,” Bobby said. “Now go.”

I turned and sprinted down the hall, my feet never making a sound. Short of having my uniform with its Shimmer Mode, I would have to rely on pure stealth. I slipped around corners, watching and listening, making certain no one was near before speeding ahead. I slowed to a dead stop and slipped into an empty classroom next to the school’s back exit. Voices. I should have known better than to try that way out.

I quickly left the classroom and headed for my next option, the girls’ locker room. It had a back door to the track field. If I could get there in time, it would be empty and nobody would notice me leaving. The shortest route to the locker room was through the gym, so I cut through the open doors and walked quickly across the floor toward the locker room entrance.

Suddenly, the fire alarm blared. Seriously? I could have sworn Bobby said he wasn’t that stupid. His definition was obviously different from mine.

Since the gym’s side doors opened into the school parking lot, it was also a fire exit escape route. The gym quickly filled with students and teachers, and I found myself in a crowd. Plenty of people to hide me, but the locker room exit wasn’t good any more. Then another exit came to mind, one that I should have thought of in the first place. All I had to do was find it.

As I made my way through the crowd, I saw Egon pushing toward me, panic in his eyes.

“Rinnie, Bobby told me what happened.” Egon opened his arms, and I threw myself into them, resting my head on his chest. Hope washed through my anxiety-ridden body as he squeezed me tight.

“I knew you were involved in something dangerous,” he said, caressing my hair. “We’ll get through this. Together.”

That sounded so good. I desperately needed help. But reality smacked me hard between the eyes. Egon couldn’t help me against a Knight. It was too dangerous. I might have to become masked. As much as I wanted my lovable, understanding bodyguard, this was way out of his league.

My heart broke as I pushed gently away. “I have to go.”

He took my hand. “I’m coming with you.”

I needed an excuse to keep him from coming, but excuses required thinking. I didn’t have time for thinking. “No, Egon, you can’t. I’m sorry. I have to call the police.”

I kissed his cheek and walked away into the crowd of students. Egon stood dumbfounded for an instant, then tried to follow me. I was almost ashamed of how easily I lost him using my art-of-stealth training. From behind the bleachers, I watched him pass by, searching the gym. A frustrated sigh escaped my lips.

I would allow myself to feel bad later. I needed to move, quickly and alone. When he exited the far door, I took off, and worked my way back to the boiler room. I had to find that secret entrance Andy had told me about. It was the quickest way to the Academy, and I needed speed. The hall was luckily empty when I got to the boiler room.

I opened the door and entered into total darkness, hit the light switch, and made my way to the electrical panel. Somewhere on that wall, there was a hidden electrode plate that activated the secret entrance, but I couldn’t see it. I searched all around the panel, but turned up empty.

The plates in every other entrance Andy built were brass or silver. There was nothing that remotely resembled an electrode plate around that panel. Nothing but a stupid warning sign—which, I suddenly realized, was classic Andy.

Danger! Shock Hazard! Do Not Touch!

I reached for the hazard sign. Instantly, mental sparks jumped from my fingertips. I pressed my hand lightly against the sign, concentrated, and released a light stream of mental energy. The electrical panel collapsed into the wall, a section moved sideways, and a toilet slid into view. I made a mental note to buy Andy some chocolate, then eat it right in front of him.

I made it to the Academy in what seemed like minutes. The boiler room toilet didn’t plummet straight down like the one at the library. Andy must have been in a roller coaster mood, because this ride whipped over steep underground hills, down sheer drops, and around sharp bends. Thankfully, Andy had included a seatbelt. If you’ve never worn a seatbelt while on the toilet, I can’t even begin to explain how weird it feels.

The Academy training room was empty. I searched the halls, hoping Andy would be there, even though I knew it was early and class wouldn’t start for hours. I sprinted to his technology lab, but it was sealed. Andy was nowhere to be found. He never taught me how to use his scanning equipment, but I was determined to fire it up anyway. How hard could it be? I placed my hand against the metallic plate, and released a powerful stream of mental energy. Something clicked, and a light came on above the K-Mart sign.

Andy’s voice boomed from a speaker hidden somewhere in the ceiling. “Please accept my humble apologies. My security is far too powerful for your feeble mind to break through. Besides, I’m not home right now. Actually, I am home right now, which is why I’m not here to open the door for you. This is a recording…this is a recording…please leave a message at the sound of the insult. That outfit
does
make you look fat.”

Batting down a new anxiety attack, I pulled the ransom note from my pocket. It was written in blue ink. I didn’t recognize the handwriting. It could have been anybody’s. Then I noticed a scribble at the bottom. A little doodle. I couldn’t be sure, but it seemed to be heavier, different from the handwriting. Like someone else had scratched it on the paper as an afterthought. And it was in pencil.

When I’d tried to scan the letter from Munificent, I’d been too exhausted to get anything. Hopefully, this time would be different. I concentrated and placed my palm against the letters.

Nothing.

Then I remembered how Andy had rubbed his fingers across the writing. I stared hard at the letters, and touched them. The ink smeared.

Still nothing. Then I rubbed the scribble.

I know where Susie is
echoed in my mind. Mason! I felt fright, I felt nervousness, but strangely, I felt no menace in his thoughts. Then a skull grinned at me and said
Deliver this
. Mason was still involved with Scallion. So much about Mason confused me, but I was very clear on one thing. He was going to tell me where Susie was if it was the last thing he ever did. And if she was hurt, it almost certainly would be.

It was 11:45. I had fifteen minutes to make it to the alley.

Chapter Thirty

Dead End Alley

I burst from the secret entrance of the Academy and sprinted straight for Dead End Alley, angry with myself for letting the Knights lead me down so many wrong trails. But that
was
their specialty.

Mason’s change of heart may or may not have been a ruse. He seemed so sincere before I overheard him calling Old Torrents, but the ransom note left no doubt that he was still doing the bidding of the Nicolaitan’s apprentice. Same M.O. as ten years ago—kidnapping and drugs.

One thing didn’t make sense, though. Scallion didn’t take Susie for LaReau. LaReau was dead. So why?

Then it hit me.

It was me he wanted. He knew I was the Morgan girl. Scallion would be waiting in Dead End Alley with Mason. The Knights were trying to lure us out. They wanted to finish what they had started ten years ago, and I was their key. Again.

Yeah, right. Not on my watch
. Scallion was going down. I knew I was walking into a trap, and I pitied the poor boy once he caught me.

I rushed through the back streets of Greensburg, planning to enter Dead End Alley from behind the Shadow Passage instead of from the rooftops. The main streets were empty, but soon would be filled with the lunch crowd. If anyone saw me, they’d mistake me for one of the hundreds of lunchtime joggers.

I had decided against wearing my mask and armor. Scallion was expecting me. If a Psi Fighter showed up, my identity would be needlessly revealed. He may have guessed who I was, but I wasn’t about to prove it to him.

When I was half a block away, I slowed to a prowl, moving without sound, careful to be unseen. I checked my belt for my Amplifier. Mental sparks jumped to my fingertips when I touched it. Last resort.

I sunk low to the brick street. My heart pounded as I peered cautiously into the alley behind the Shadow Passage. There was no movement, no sign of life. A pile of old crates and rubbish sat like twisted artwork against the wall at the dead end. The stench made me hold my nose.

I decided to take a chance, and walked slowly toward the mass of filth and waste. Then a tiny, pathetic voice froze me.

“Nothing, nothing, nothing…”

Mason Draudimon moved quietly through the piles of garbage, talking to himself, gently picking up crates and stacking them. Scallion was nowhere to be seen. Mason seemed to be searching for something.

Then suddenly, he shouted, “Here we go!” He picked up a long crowbar and started prying at one of the crates.

I saw the crowbar and lost it. A picture of the note taped to my broken locker flipped through my mind. “Where is my sister?” I screamed, running at Mason.

“You came,” he said, smiling, ripping the crowbar from the crate.

I was on him in an instant, and grabbed the crowbar with both hands, twisting it from his grasp. With a flick of my wrist, I threw it across the alley. It clanged against the brick wall and fell ringing to the street.

“I asked you a question,” I said, slamming a side kick into his gut.

Mason grunted and doubled over, holding his stomach.

“What did you do with my sister?” I dropped and swept Mason’s legs out from under him. He landed hard on his back.

“Rinnie, please, don’t.” Mason pulled himself to his feet, gasping for breath. “She’s here. I’m trying to help.”

“Then help.” My hands shot out like twin vipers, clamping on Mason’s jaw and the back of his head. I was prepared for a struggle, but Mason never moved. Big puppy-dog eyes locked on mine, then slowly closed. As his memories entered my mind, fear took me.

“Leave me alone,” Mason said. “I told you I want out.”

“There is no out,” Scallion said. He held up a sealed envelope. “Deliver this. No questions.”

Then Scallion was gone. Mason opened the envelope and read the note. He dropped to his knees. I have to find her, he thought. I have to stop him. He studied the picture. He took a pencil and started to doodle on the note. Think, think, where would he keep her?

Then despair overcame him.

A terrible foreboding washed over me. I pulled away from the scan, beyond panic now, almost beyond any feeling at all. I was no match for the Knights. I felt so tired, so utterly defeated.

“You can’t help me.” I sobbed quietly, my fingers caressing Mason’s cheek as I released him. “This time it really
is
my fault.”

Mason took my hand. “Rinnie, it’s okay, Susie is—” Then his eyes focused behind me and narrowed. His mouth twisted into a grimace. “
You!
”

I turned to see what Mason was glaring at, and hope filled my heart.

“Egon!”

I pulled away from Mason and flew into Egon’s open arms.

“I’m here,” Egon said, cradling my face in his hands. “You needed me, and I came.”

“Get away from her!” Mason growled. He stalked toward us, his sledgehammer-sized fists balled.

Egon snarled, pushing me behind him. “Go home, Mason.”

“I know who you are. I believed you. I trusted you.”

“Shut up and go home.”

“I don’t take orders from you anymore. Did you really think I wouldn’t figure it out? Get away from Rinnie, or I’ll rip you apart.”

Mason grabbed Egon by the arm and jerked him away from me, tearing his jacket open. Egon turned and caught Mason’s wrist in a lightning-fast lock. He twisted, and it snapped loudly. Egon was good, much better than I had expected. But it was Mason who genuinely impressed me. He shoved Egon away and shivered a little. He rubbed his wrist, and pulled it straight with a sickening crunch.

I almost heaved.

“Let’s see how tough you really are, Judo Boy.” Mason attacked like a panther, leaping straight for Egon.

Just when Egon was about to be slammed to the ground, he simply stepped aside and used Mason’s momentum to hurl him face first into the alley wall. Mason hit hard and slid to the ground, leaving a bloody splotch on the bricks.

“Tough enough,” Egon said.

Mason was out cold. Panic started to set in again, and I looked quickly around the alley. No Susie. I grabbed Egon by the jacket. “Please help me.”

Egon stood glaring down at Mason, hair wild like he had been in a wind tunnel. The buttons of Egon’s blue denim jacket had popped off. I noticed a secret agent pocket inside.

“You shouldn’t have run away,” he said.

He was right, and I felt awful about it. But I had to. “I know. I’m sorry. Please, I need—”

“Please help me,” Egon said mockingly, waving his hands and shaking his head. “Now that your sister’s missing, you need me. And you see I came. I dropped everything for you. I make time for you, Rinnie. I
always
make time for you.”

“Egon, you—”

“You’re into something that got your sister kidnapped.”

“I know, and I need your help.”

“And I want to help. But you don’t trust me enough to tell me what’s going on. How can I help if I don’t know what kind of trouble you’re in? What will it take for you to trust me? I came. Doesn’t that prove anything to you?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t hang out as much as you wanted. Please, help me find my sister,” I pleaded. “I trust you, Egon. I do.”

“Okay, then. Listen to me.” He took me by the shoulders. “I’m working with Dalrymple. I’ve been trailing Mason. Susie’s kidnapping has something to do with your kung fu school. My information says they’re holding her there. If you want to save her, I need you to take me there.”

I looked up into his eyes. Egon was an informant, too? How many of these people did Dalrymple have? And how clueless could they be? If Susie was at the Academy, I’d know it.

Egon brought his face close to mine. “You want to know what really bugs me?”

“No. I don’t. I want to find Susie.” This was not the time for a needy boyfriend, and I felt the first twinges of becoming majorly annoyed.

“Okay, I’ll tell you,” Egon said as though I had never spoken. “Every time I want to be with you, you hit me with an excuse—not allowed out on a school night, not feeling up to it, being late for something—always an excuse. I know it’s that school. Why is it so important to you?”

“What I am worried about,” I said, growing suddenly angry, pulling out of Egon’s grip, “is my sister. The Academy is a part of my life I was starting to regret. I was planning to quit. Because of you. I thought we had something special. But if that were true, you’d be more worried about where my sister is than about how neglected you are.”

“You
are
special,” Egon said, reaching for me. “And if we have special feelings for each other, we should trust each other.”

I felt anger for only a second, until Egon took my hand in both of his. Warmth and calmness washed over me. All I could feel was his soft touch, all I could see were his beautiful green eyes. Such a nice touch. Such loving eyes. So special. We belonged together.

Just like Romeo and Juliet.

Who, it occurred to me, both woke up dead.

I pulled out of Egon’s grip and my mind instantly cleared.

“How did you find me, Egon?”

Egon’s eyes narrowed. “Bobby.”

“I never told Bobby where I was going.”

“He must have read the note.”

“I never told him about any note.” I stared at Egon’s open jacket. A pen poked out of the secret agent pocket. I did a double take. Red and silver barrel with a white rectangle.

Suddenly, I understood. I backed away.

“That’s how Mason knew,” I said quietly. “Scallion hands him a ransom note, and Egon shows up. You’re the Knight.”

“Yeah, right from King Arthur’s Court, babe,” Egon said. “You’re out of your mind with fantasies about shining armor, and I love it.”

I stood up tall and straight. Mental energy rampaged through my body and concentrated in my palms. My hair poofed. “Tell me where my sister is.”

“At your school. She’s probably frightened out of her mind.”

I had never faced a Knight before, but the idea didn’t bother me anymore. In fact, I looked forward to it. My patience was below zero. Susie might already be dead. I needed answers and Egon had them. He had one more chance to tell me what was on his so-called mind before I surgically removed it. I took a menacing step toward Egon, and he backed against the alley wall.

“Babe, don’t do something we’ll both regret.”

That did it. Last chance officially withdrawn. “Don’t call me babe.” I thrust my palm forward, straight at his chest, and discharged the Mental Blast of all Mental Blasts. Egon’s hand shot out like lightning, deflecting my attack. My hand smashed into the wall, and the Blast exploded. Dust and brick shards flew everywhere.

“Is that all you got?” Egon asked, smiling at the gouge in the bricks.

I drew my Amplifier. “Not really.”

Egon laughed.