The Dominion Key (21 page)

We were stuck like insects in a spiderweb.

Only Dr. Fleming was left standing where he’d been before. His hand hovered over the touch screen. Light glinted off his silver headband.

“What’s going on?” Sophie’s skin glowed as she struggled to pull herself free. But even her superstrength was powerless against the unseen force. “What is this?”

“I call this my antimagnet room,” Dr. Fleming said. “I devised the technology myself. It works like a heavy-duty electromagnet. Except instead of attracting metallic objects, the wall attracts everything that
isn’t
metal. Like
you
, for example.”

Dr. Fleming loosened his sleeve and pulled it back. Silver gleamed underneath. He was wearing a metallic undershirt. He bent down and rolled up the bottoms of his pants. Same thing. Silver underneath.

All of a sudden, I understood why he’d put on the silver headband when we entered the room. It was to match the rest of the metallic outfit he had on under his regular clothes.

The magnetized gear was keeping him from sticking to the wall like the rest of us.

Meanwhile, my friends and I were pinned to the edges of the room like magnets against a fridge.

I concentrated on summoning my Gyft. Spontaneous combustion quivered through my veins, but it didn’t make any difference. I couldn’t move.

There was no point in screaming. We were in the middle
of nowhere.
You could detonate five hundred pounds of heavy artillery in my backyard and nobody would notice
. That was what Fleming had said about his safe house yesterday.

We were completely alone.

“Have you lost your mind?” Cassie narrowed her eyes at Dr. Fleming. “Why are you doing this?”

“It’s quite simple, really.” A creepy smile spread across Dr. Fleming’s lips. “I saw an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. A chance to finally possess the Dominion Key.”

“What’re you talking about?” Milton asked. “I thought you already built it.”

“Not exactly. You see, my invention isn’t technically the Dominion Key. It’s actually”—Dr. Fleming squinted, searching for the right words—“an apparatus for harnessing the power of the Dominion Key. More like a big electrical socket. And the thing you plug into this socket—well,
that’s
the Dominion Key.”

“So why don’t you get something else to plug into your stupid socket?” Sophie said.

“It’s not that easy. The Dominion Key cannot be constructed of metal and circuitry. It’s not like the other parts of The Device at all. In fact, it’s right here in this room.”

Cassie glanced frantically at the blank walls and floor. “What do you mean? What is it?”

“Not what.
Who
.” Dr. Fleming’s gaze focused on me, and I felt every inch of my body turn to ice. “Joshua Dread—you
are
the Dominion Key.”

I felt like I’d just swallowed a hand grenade. Everything inside me shattered. Burst to pieces. And I was left with …

A memory.

Dr. Fleming’s words catapulted my brain to the last time I was face to face with Phineas Vex. Or maybe I should say face to
knee
. Vex had towered over me in his indestructible bionic suit. He was enormous. His booming voice had rattled my skull.

The only reason I’m sparing your life is because I have something much bigger in store for you
.

The memory fast-forwarded past other events. The confrontation with nFinity and his goons in the food court. The attack on Alabaster. All along, I’d been unable to figure out why Vex was going to so much trouble to capture
me. Vex wasn’t a guy who ordinarily valued human life. So why spare mine?

What did he want with me?

The question had been hanging over me for months. And finally, I had an answer. The reason Vex would stop at nothing to track me down and keep me alive.

I was the Dominion Key.

I was the one thing that could deliver Phineas Vex world domination.

Dr. Fleming was looking at me with a gleam in his eyes, as if he enjoyed watching me put it all together.

“And then yesterday, you kids came into my office with tales of rare components getting stolen from high-security labs,” he said. “Phineas Vex was after The Device. Naturally, I was afraid. I knew that my invention was essential to harnessing the Dominion Key. Which meant Vex would be coming after me. And then came our encounter with your wolfy classmate, Winston. At that moment, I recognized who you really are.”

After Winston’s attack, Dr. Fleming had stared at me in the strangest way. As if he knew something about me that I didn’t. Now I understood why.

“The power of spontaneous combustion is extremely rare, extremely volatile,” Dr. Fleming said. “And it comes with a little-known side effect called TPIS. Temporary Particle Immobilization Syndrome. The ability to freeze time and space. Usually accompanied by an illuminated string of pure energy capable of destruction on a massive scale.”

TPIS
. Was it supposed to make me feel any better that my freaky condition came with its own scientific name?

“You, Joshua Dread, are capable of freezing time and space. Which is precisely what The Device does. Except on a much,
much
bigger scale. That’s why Vex has been chasing you all this time. Somehow, he must’ve witnessed your power in action.”

Suddenly, I remembered the first time I fought Phineas Vex. In his underground lair. It was also the first time my Gyft went haywire. The world stopped. My power took control. And Vex was front and center for the display. He’d been trying to capture me ever since.

Dr. Fleming stepped toward me.

“It was only a matter of time until Vex tracked me down,” he said. “I would’ve never been safe. Even here. But now I have something Vex needs. Something he’s been looking for all this time. I have you.”

Dr. Fleming was standing close enough now that I could’ve reached out and strangled him if it weren’t for the antimagnetized wall. I strained every muscle, trying to free myself, but it was useless.

“You’re insane.” My voice shook with rage. “Phineas Vex will never bargain with you.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. With my unique expertise in high-grade weaponry, I’d make a wonderful asset for any evil billionaire with an interest in world domination. In fact, Vex has already promised to make me his chief adviser. He’s on his way now. Should be arriving any minute.”

My heart skipped a beat. The situation was bad now,
but once Vex arrived, things would only get worse. Much worse.

Dr. Fleming walked to the other end of the room. He fiddled with the touch screen until a surveillance video showing the front of his house appeared. Still no sign of Vex. Or anyone else.

As Fleming cycled through more surveillance footage, I glanced at my friends. I could see my own fear reflected in their expressions. Then I caught Milton’s eye. He wasn’t speaking, but I could tell right away that he was trying to say something to me. His eyes flicked down to the pocket of his shorts. Just barely poking out was a corner of plastic.

It took me another moment to recognize what I was seeing. The sealed plastic bag Dr. Fleming had given us yesterday. And inside was—

The peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Correction: the
exploding
peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

The way Milton was stuck against the wall, there was no way he could reach it. But one of my hands was less than an inch from his pocket. If I could move just a little, I might be able to crack the seal open.

I strained, flexing the entire left side of my body. Shoulder, arm, fingers—anything that would bring me a little closer to the bag. But nothing happened. It was like I was glued to the wall.

I could see Dr. Fleming out of the corner of my eye, still inspecting the screen. Turning my attention back to the
sandwich in Milton’s pocket, I focused my Gyft. I concentrated all my energy on my left hand. Spontaneous combustion surged through my chest and crackled down my arm.

And it worked! The blast was powerful enough to knock my hand free of the wall. It wasn’t much, but it did the job. A split second later, the antimagnetism yanked my hand back. My palm smacked the wall with a
FWUMP!

Dr. Fleming whirled. “What was that?”

He scanned the four of us. I did my best to look innocent. Then Dr. Fleming’s eyes narrowed. He was looking right at the spot where my left hand had just been. In my peripheral vision, I could barely make out what he’d spotted.

My charred handprint on the wall. A leftover of spontaneous combustion.

Luckily, Dr. Fleming was too distracted by the burned wall to notice where my hand had landed. My fingertips were at the edge of the plastic bag. If I could wiggle them a little bit, then maybe, just maybe …

Dr. Fleming made a
tsk-tsk
noise. As if we were back in first period and I’d just flunked a quiz. “I understand you’re upset, Joshua,” he said. “But really—
must
you leave marks on my wall?”

He calmly walked toward us. His shoes clicked on the floor.

“Your spontaneous combustion won’t do any good here,” he said. “The antimagnetic force is far too strong.”

“We’ll see about that.” Gritting my teeth, I set off
another pulse of spontaneous combustion. This time, as my hand blasted away from the wall, I squeezed the plastic between my fingers. Just like the last time, my hand shot outward … and was immediately pulled back again.

My knuckles collided with the wall. I winced, pain shooting up my hand.

“What did I tell you?” Dr. Fleming took another step my way. “You’re just hurting yourself now. So why don’t you act like a good little hostage and wait patiently until—”

He went quiet suddenly. His eyes widened. And I knew exactly what had caught his attention. I’d managed to pull the sandwich free from Milton’s pocket. It was lying on the floor at Dr. Fleming’s feet. The seal was ripped open.

I looked from the sandwich to Dr. Fleming. “Hope you’re in the mood for peanut butter and jelly.”

Dr. Fleming tried to turn, but he was too late. In the next instant, the sandwich exploded. Peanut butter and jelly flew everywhere. A bunch of it got on Milton and me. But most of the brown and purple goo blasted across Dr. Fleming.

His clothes, his face, his hair—he was covered in PB&J.

With Fleming distracted, Cassie vanished into smoke. The force of the antimagnet didn’t seem to affect her in that form. The wisp of silver streaked across the air and transformed back into Cassie. As soon as she was herself again, the invisible force yanked her toward the wall—but not before she knocked the silver headband off Fleming’s head.

Without the band, Dr. Fleming was suddenly vulnerable
to the antimagnet. He surged forward. His arms flailed. Peanut butter splattered all over the place. And—

WHAM!

He head-butted the wall.

The impact caused his body to go limp. His eyes rolled to the back of his head. His tongue lolled out of his mouth.

“Nice job, guys,” Sophie said. “Now we just need to find a way off this wall.”

“I’ll take care of that.” Cassie transformed herself again. The smoke whipped across the room. When it reached the touch screen, a finger emerged from the cloud. It looked half human, half smoke. The vaporous pale finger seemed to struggle against the pull of the antimagnet. But because she wasn’t fully formed, Cassie could resist enough to tap the screen.

It was kind of like watching a ghost play with an iPad. Soon enough, she managed to disengage the antimagnet. All at once, the force vanished. My friends and I collapsed to the floor. So did Dr. Fleming. Sophie rushed to him. She ran a hand along his wrist. After a second, she glanced up.

“He’s alive,” she said. “Should we tie him up?”

“No time.” Cassie was in full human form again, staring worriedly at the screen. Dark shapes moved across the surveillance video. “Looks like Vex has nearly reached the safe house. And he brought an army with him.”

We raced through the futuristic house. Down the stairs, into the hall, across the dining room. Empty bowls and cereal boxes were still scattered across the table. Less than an hour had passed since the last time we were here. The world had completely changed since breakfast.