The Academy: Book 2 (88 page)

Roxanne turned and smiled at the other Multipliers—her eyes communicated an unspoken challenge.
Asa wondered if the Multipliers were aware of Roxanne’s unique super strength.

“You dirty bitch,” Rose said, and she sprinted towards the Sharks, along with Ned. Michael stood still for a moment, and Joney was still on his knees, staring into the water where
Edna had disappeared.

Asa quickly surveyed the room and considered the humans’ odds of defeating the Multipliers. Of those who were conscious, there were now four Multipliers and six humans, including Asa. If the Sharks were typical humans, they wouldn’t have a chance, but Asa believed that with their different mutations a victory was not outside the window of possibilities.
Especially if they don’t take out Roxanne early,
Asa thought.
She’s the only one of us who may even have an advantage against the Multipliers.

Asa and Jen caught eyes for a moment across the room, and he was mentally brought back to when she caught him kissing Charlotte at the dance a few hours ago. He hoped that he would be able to explain—to make her understand—and for a moment he forgot about the ongoing fight, the crows that surrounded, and was consumed with a cold, empty feeling in his chest.

Jen turned to face Rose and Ned, who were charging her and the other Sharks, and Asa forced himself to concentrate.

Asa looked over to his right to see a series of crows slam into Michael’s face, making him bleed. He had his knife out and was slicing at the crows with one hand while using the other to guard his face, but there were so many of the black birds that
guarding them all was impossible.

To Asa’s left, he saw that Joney was still crying over the dark water, looking down as though he expected Edna to emerge. His face was inches from the surface, and the bobbing waves almost touched his nose. Asa looked up and saw that fifty five seconds had passed since Edna was pulled under. The second hand was about to make a
nother round.

Asa wasted no time. He ran forward and planted the bottom of his foot on
Joney’s buttocks, sending him splashing over the edge. The second hand passed his mark on the clock, and the long tentacle wrapped around the Multiplier and pulled him under.

Asa stood there for a moment,
staring at the empty water, breathing. He was about to turn around and attack where he was needed when he heard footsteps quickly approaching. Asa felt hands wrap around his throat, and he was thrown onto the ground. He tried to gasp, but his airway was restricted. The pressure on his throat was unbearable.

He looked up to see Michael staring down at him. Michael straddled Asa’s abdomen, and his big, hairy hands were squeezing down on Asa’s neck with bone breaking force.

Asa tried to inhale again, but still found it impossible.

Michael’s face was covered in bleeding gashes, and crows continued to ram at him, tearing at his flesh, but he acted as though he didn’t feel the pain. “Teddy told us you wouldn’t change,” Michael grunted through bloody, clenched teeth. “He said that there was
somethin’ different about you. Now I’m gonna kill your cocky ass. You think you can trick me, boy? Do ya?” Michael’s hands squeezed even harder.

Asa tried to pull at Michael’s wrists, but this did nothing. Michael’s skin was slick with blood, sweat, and Salvaserum, and Asa was not strong enough
to pull him off. Asa looked up into Michael’s rage-filled eyes and hoped that this wouldn’t be the last image he saw before he died. He kicked his legs. Michael sneered. Asa’s vision began to tunnel down.

BANG!

There was a flash as bright as lightening, and then the side of Michael’s head exploded in a shower of blood and tissue. His decapitated body rolled off Asa and he fell into the dark stone pool in the middle of the room.

“You okay?” Viola asked. She was standing above him, lightly blowing on the explosive nails on her right hand, which were smoking.

Asa wheezed in a couple of breaths and sat up enough to watch a tentacle pull Michael underwater. “I’m alright,” he said, and he hauled his body to a standing position with great effort before taking in the surrounding sights.

Rose looked dead. Her face was caved in and deformed; she was limp and slumped against the wall.
Roxanne appeared severely injured as well. She was face down in a puddle of blood. Boom Boom laid beside her, his leg twisted in a grotesque manner.

At some point in the fight, Ned had acquired Michael’s long hunting knife. He held Jen roughly by her blond hair and had the sharp edge of the weapon pressed against her throat. His short hair was matted with blood, and his nose was swollen and crooked. Crows continued to slam relentlessly into him.

“PALMER!” Ned called, his eyes bulging and wild. “Call the birds off!
Call the birds off or I cut through her pretty neck!”

Viola looked at Asa, and he stepped forward. Lilly backed away from Ned, not sure what to do.

“CALL THEM OFF! Don’t play dumb with me; I know what you can do! Teddy told me about how the crows listen to you! You’ve got three seconds. ONE! TWO!” Ned’s eyes were bloodshot and bulging. Asa believed that he was serious.

Asa whistled, and then called for the birds: “
Crows, be still!”
He felt silly saying the words, but the crows were just as obedient as they had always been. The black birds landed on the stone floor and looked up at Asa, waiting for another command. Asa felt like a magician. The room grew incredibly quiet as soon as the crows stopped cawing and flapping. Asa could hear the soft waves of the water in the middle of the room; he could hear Viola breathing beside him.

Ned smiled and then spat blood on the floor. He was pulling Jen’s hair so hard that her eyes were filling with tears and she was biting her lip so that she wouldn’t cry out.

              “
Don’t hurt her!”
Asa cried.

             
Ned laughed without humor. “Don’t hurt her? Kind of like you
killed
all my friends?” He jerked at Jen’s hair and she cried out.

             
Asa felt helpless as he looked at Ned and Jen.
What does he want?
Asa wondered. Viola, Asa, and Lilly were standing ten feet away from Ned and his hostage.

             
“Let me tell you something that bothers me about you, Palmer—you always think you’re in control.” Ned licked his lips with a black tongue. “You woke up on that stretcher a few hours ago, and you knew you hadn’t changed. But did you freak out? No. You kept on. You lied. You kept your cool. And when I caught you trying to shoot Allen’s head off, you brushed it off. You think that you’re untouchable, don’t you? DON’T YOU?” he roared.

             
Asa shook his head. All those times he had felt so helpless—he had been the furthest thing from feeling in control. “No,” he said.

             
“LIAR!” Ned yelled. “I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. Because here is the God-honest truth, Palmer, you’re not in control anymore. I have you. For reasons beyond me, Allen thought that he could turn you into a Multiplier. To be honest with you, I think he was a bit crazy. Teddy told us that you wouldn’t change. But I know the truth. And you’re about to pay.”

             
Asa saw that blood was trickling down from Jen’s neck. He didn’t know what exactly Ned meant by saying that he was
about to pay,
but he didn’t want to find out. He wanted to keep Ned talking, so that he could have more time to find a way out of the current situation. “Why did Teddy say that I wouldn’t change into a Multiplier?” Asa asked.

             
Ned spat. “It’s that stupid riddle your daddy made up. Teddy says that the riddle suggests your dad hid some secrets in your DNA. Teddy told Allen that this whole mission wasn’t necessary; whatever is hidden in that room back there is coded into your genetics. Teddy advised that we gather some of your blood and take it back to the Hive for testing.”

             
“My blood?” Asa asked.

             
“Yeah, that’s what I said. The riddle says that there are two places where the weapons and solutions are hidden. ‘One is metal, it’s locked away,’ that’s that back room. That part is obvious. But listen to the last part of the riddle.” Ned recited it by memory:

“Solutions and weapons that are known

Can be used, or worse, destroyed

Best keep them in the void

There are two spaces that these secrets are maintained

One is metal, it’s locked away

The other, though, isn’t so easily disposed

You can’t see it, it doesn’t say hello

It doesn’t make a difference

It’s never seen

It doesn’t affect any pedigree

Where two come and give half each

This is where it will be

You’ll find that I’ve only stolen from me

              “Do you see?” Ned asked, still pressing the knife into Jen’s neck. The crows watched him patiently. “Do you understand what the riddle means now? ‘The other, though, isn’t so easily disposed.’ That’s you. You’re not easily disposed, and I think your time in the Academy has proven that. We’ve gone through hell trying to kill you. And then there’s the part about ‘you’ll find that I’ve only stolen from me.’ Teddy thinks that means that your father changed your DNA to code for the serums that your father made. But, he only altered the genes that he gave you, not the ones from your mother. ‘Where two come and give half each,’ that’s just sexual reproduction. I don’t get the part about not affecting pedigree, but Teddy said something about ‘turned off’ DNA. Anyways, the serum that we’ve gone through all this trouble to get is coded in your DNA. Allen was unstable. He was so stubborn and hard headed that no one could convince him that he was wrong. So when Teddy came to him with this evidence, he still wanted to come down here and get the vaccine. And even though he was warned that you might not have changed into a Multiplier, he didn’t believe it.”

             
“I still don’t get it,” Asa said. “So why didn’t I change into a Multiplier?”

             
Ned sighed. “Because you have things in your DNA that code for ‘weapons and solutions.’ The weapon is the serum that allows Multipliers to Multiply more often. The solution is a ‘cure’ for being a Multiplier. Your dad made this just in case Multipliers started taking over the world. Some scientist could synthesize something out of your blood, inject me, and I’d turn back into a human again. Whatever is in your DNA prevented you from becoming a Multiplier.”

             
“And Teddy knew this?” Asa asked.

             
Ned nodded, then said, “I bet it hurts to have such a backstabbing friend.”

             
Asa didn’t respond, but in truth, it did hurt. Teddy knew this secret, but had never shared it with Asa. Even when they had had pleasant exchanges in Conway’s basement, Teddy was always plotting against Asa.

             
And then Asa remembered something that brought another piece into the puzzle. He recalled the time when he had gone into the enormous mansion that Teddy had carved out of the safe room above Asa’s dwelling. There had been a huge wall across from a massive fireplace that was covered in math equations, diagrams, and writing. Asa remembered seeing his father’s riddle written upon the stone, followed by a long series of mathematics, and then a circled double helix, as though that was the answer to Asa’s father’s riddle. Asa did not know as much about biology as Teddy did, but he was aware of the most important double helix known to man—DNA. Asa felt sick with hatred and distrust for Teddy. He reminded himself, though, that Teddy had been sweet, kind, and loyal before turning into a Multiplier.

             
“So now that we’ve gone through our little song and dance, Palmer, here is what I want. I want your blood, or I kill the girl. Do you understand?” Ned smiled.