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Authors: Jessica Hickam

The Revealed (23 page)

BOOK: The Revealed
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“That’s why he was acting strangely. And you were the woman he was photographed with in the magazines.” It was all falling into place. I should have recognized Rory’s blonde hair from those pictures.

So Kai wasn’t dating a model. I stare at the ceiling and can’t help the laugh escaping my throat. I allow myself to enjoy that one shred of good news.

“Yeah. It was really hard for him. It’s hard for anyone to take in all of this information. Plus, no one wants to believe their own father is a murderer.”

I think about the turmoil in Kai’s eyes when he came to my room. It made sense now. He wanted to tell me everything that night. He wanted to keep me safe. All this time he’d been protecting me.

We walk into a gymnasium. It reminds me of Elias’s gym, in a way. There are punching bags hung throughout the room, along with assorted workout equipment. A cool breeze hits my face from the large vents tunneling along the ceiling. It smells like plastic and sweat. But this gym is different. It’s meant for people with unique abilities.

There are a few other people already working out. One snaps his fingers and repeatedly lights, then extinguishes the flame of a candle. The flame grows progressively larger and larger until it almost reaches the ceiling. I can feel the heat from where I stand. Others have lined random items against the far wall. They stand a measured length away and throw out their hands, freezing the items, melting them, and then repeating the process again from a greater distance. The last person in the room is standing in front of one of the bags; she doesn’t touch it, just stares with intense concentration. I watch her for a moment. Her hands are resting at her sides. She takes a deep breath and throws out her palms. The bag flies back so forcefully that it makes me jump.

My fists ball at my sides in anticipation. My muscles twitch with the desire to move in that way, to control the world around me as they do. I resist the urge to reach out and try right away.

“She’s using wind to increase her strength,” Rory explains when she sees me staring.

“Ah, Lily.” I jump again and turn to see Julia approaching. “Right on time. You’re going to train with me today if that’s alright?”

Rory takes a seat against the wall to watch. I wish she wouldn’t. I’m already nervous enough without her staring.

Julia doesn’t look like she’s messing around. She holds a glassy ball in her hands. “This is what we call a training orb. It’ll help you practice and learn to control your new abilities. Got it?”

“Okay,” I say, but I’m not sure I am. What if I can’t do this? Sure, I’ve done a few weird things since I got here, like creating that ice on the glass, but what if the procedure didn’t work? What if I can’t learn to control my abilities, and I’m some fluke of a failure? How am I going to get out of here to help my parents then?

Julia hands the sphere over to me.

“Now I want you to use wind to make the orb levitate,” she instructs.

I stare at her for a moment, then down at the orb in my hand, then back to Julia. My stomach knots. Levitate? Is she crazy? She watches me steadily. She fully intends for me to give this a shot. A helpless sigh escapes my chest.

“Just focus,” Rory calls out.

My brow furrows as I stare at the tiny glass ball in my hand. I don’t even know where I’m supposed to begin. I look hesitantly up at Julia again, and she nods encouragingly.

“Um,” I stare down at the orb. “Float!” I command, and I think maybe it shakes a little.

Rory snorts and my cheeks flush. Julia glares at her.

“I’m sorry,” Rory holds up a hand, not looking the least bit sorry with that dopey grin still plastered on her face.

“It doesn’t work like that.” Even Julia is smiling a little though. “The commands don’t come from here,” she points to my lips, “they come from here,” her finger taps my forehead.

“So I have to think what I want? I
was
thinking about it.”

“It’s emotional, Lily,” Julia lectures. “It’s more than just a command. You have to feel it. When you move your arm, you don’t say ‘move.’ It’s intuitive. This is the same thing. You must simply feel what you want.”

I’m not sure about what she’s saying, but I focus again on the orb, wanting it to rise from my hand so badly that I start to feel frustrated. But glass orbs aren’t supposed to float. If I snap my fingers, fire isn’t supposed to appear. Lifting my hands shouldn’t create wind. Having these abilities is counterintuitive. I can’t do this. I don’t understand. I drop my hand in resignation.

“You’re thinking about this too logically,” Julia says, her thin arm coming to rest against her hip. “Raise your hand again.”

I hesitate as the frustration begins to rise, but do as I’m told.

“Now,” she begins, “you aren’t trying to make this orb float, alright? What you are doing is connecting with everything around you. Think of yourself as part of everything here.” She waves her hand around the room. “This is not negative space. There is substance here whether you can see it or not, and you are going to grab it and use it just like you would move your arm. You know you can.”

I take a deep breath and close my eyes.

“The human mind, through evolution, disconnected itself from the particles around it. It separated itself instead of being part of the whole. The surgery brings us partly back in tune with everything around us so we can utilize its potential while retaining our selfness. Does that make sense?”

“Kind of,” I tell her.

“Feel it inside, not at your fingertips. Feel the warmth of it.”

When I think of warmth, I think of Kai, and my heart aches. All this time, everything he’s done has been to help me. When he handed me over to The Revealed, I assumed he was giving me over to the enemy. Instead, he was saving my life, and I can’t even say, “Thank you.” Rory told me it was too dangerous to communicate with the outside world. The Revealed send people directly if they ever need to communicate. With the surveillance technology available these days, there’s no doubt the government would be able to track any calls or emails, and locate The Revealed’s headquarters. So while I’m here, I am completely shut out from the outside world.

“Concentrate, Lily.” Julia snaps me out of my daze.

My hand wiggles unsteadily and the orb falls from my grasp. It shatters on the ground, spewing glass around my feet.

“I’m so sorry,” I blurt out, moving to pick up the pieces.

Julia waves me off. “Don’t bother. Do you know how many broken orbs we’ve had? If you hadn’t broken this one today, you would have made history. Why don’t we move on to something else and get back to the orb tomorrow?”

We clean up the pieces, and then Julia guides me over to the candle where we practice fire skills until I manage to make the edges of the wax melt on command. I’m not quite at the point where I can create a real flame, but it’s a start.

At the end of the lesson I’m exhausted, though Julia tells me I’ve done well. My body hurts as though I’ve run a marathon.

“Let’s get some food,” Rory says, taking my arm and leading me to the cafeteria. “You need to keep your strength up. If your body isn’t alert, neither is your mind, and your abilities will suffer.”

The dining hall is set up like a high school cafeteria. There are long tables in the center and round tables around the outside. The food line is run by a group of kitchen staff, all preparing fresh dishes. Behind the service counter I can see the kitchen. Chefs in black aprons work on a line that reminds me of my kitchen at home. The grill sizzles with meats and fish. The charred smell hits my nose. The air is circulated quickly in the building though. I’ve noticed how efficient the vents are, streaming in fresh air so smells are whisked away and replaced by others. Now I can smell potatoes in the fryer. Then the scent of something sweet after that.

Rory leads me past a full salad bar, stocked with four different lettuce options and over a dozen vegetables. My eyes light up with the myriad colors, from purple beets to orange carrots.

At the end of the cafeteria is a sandwich station. The sandwiches are displayed on top of the case, each labeled. Rory grabs a turkey sandwich on wheat bread. It’s exactly the sandwich I want. She puts it on my plate knowingly. “It’s important you always take care of yourself, otherwise you might get into a position where you temporarily lose your abilities due to lack of energy.”

“Good to know.” I take a bite of the sandwich.

“The food here isn’t super-gourmet—nothing like the creations from Ilan’s kitchen—but it’s good,” Rory continues. “We won’t be spending a lot of time here though,” she warns. “Most members are in and out. We’re always going on missions around the world, helping out where we can. A group just went to the Western European Sector, actually. They’re going undercover to help develop clean drinking water supplies. It makes a big difference when you can draw water out of the atmosphere with a flick of your wrist. We have to be discreet about it, though, otherwise people get suspicious. But we do what we can.”

She finds a table and sits down. “Eat up,” she pushes the tray closer to me until it nearly teeters on the edge of the table.

“We have less than three weeks until the election,” Rory says.

And that hits home.

Time is running out.

I take a deep breath to steady my nerves, the weight of my decision bearing down on me. Nineteen days until The Revealed stops Westerfield, or I watch my parents get killed.

 

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The next morning I shower and put on the black pants and tank top, grazing my thumb along the silver symbol over my heart as I do.

Before I begin my training again, I sit in front of the computer, reading up on the election news coverage. By now, I am sure my father and mother have discovered I’m missing. But the media isn’t reporting it yet. I picture Jet scrambling to come up with some sort of cover story. This is not the kind of press my parents need just before the election.

I can’t help but wonder if they are more concerned about the press or the fact that their daughter has gone missing. Is Dad calling out the troops? Is Mom conspiring with Jet to keep my disappearance under wraps? Will they assume I’ve been taken by The Revealed? I have little doubt the answers to these questions are “yes.”

And then my fingers find their way back to the keyboard, clicking open my email account. My hands hover over the keyboard. Where do I begin?

I’m breaking all the rules Rory laid out for me yesterday. No email. No texting. No phone calls. I must be cut off from the outside world. But surely that doesn’t apply if someone on the outside already knows about our existence. Surely, there’s an exception if that person on the outside is already helping The Revealed and supplying them with information.

I need news of Kai. I’m already desperate to hear from him. My body aches with the constant realization of his sacrifice for me. He is no doubt struggling to accept that his father is a sociopath. But in the midst of all that, he managed to save my life and ensure my safety. How can I be satisfied to just let that go without a word? I can’t. I won’t just leave him alone. He didn’t leave me when I needed him the most. He has to know I’m here for him. I may be at the bottom of the ocean, but my thoughts and my heart are in his hands.

So I type out the email.

 

Kai,

 

Has it really only been a few days? It feels like only moments have passed and, at the same time, an eternity if that makes sense. The Revealed want my trust. And I think the only thing that is holding me to them, forcing me to consider putting my faith in them, is that I know you did. You threw everything you knew away in order to save my life so I can at least give them a chance, can’t I? Please tell me I’m making the right decision.

I know I shouldn’t be writing. Rory told me it’s dangerous, but right now, without you, I’m all alone. I don’t know how to do this on my own. I think about you every second, and I need to know you think about me too. I can’t stand the way we left each other.

 

There’s noise in the hallways. I’m running late. My hands hover again before I sign off.

 

Always,

Lily

 

I click send before I lose the guts to.

Then I walk into the same gym I used yesterday and meet Julia and Rory, who are waiting for me.

There is a boy with them, and I stop when I see him. He’s staring at me with these striking blue eyes, his stare intensified by his jet-black hair. His body is that of a fighter—lean muscles honed by months of training. He’s young, maybe only a year or so older than I am, yet I’m intimidated.

He stands on the mats of the gym, stretching his lean muscle, throwing an arm over his head and swinging his shoulders around. I watch the way his limbs move so gracefully, fluid with every motion he makes. He’s in touch with his body, every gesture controlled into a dance-like pattern.

His eyes never leave mine, though my line of sight goes from the padded mats, back to this boy, to the padded mats again. I know this setup. I’ve trained at Elias’s gym and know what this means. My eyes search for the boxing gloves but I don’t find any against the walls.

BOOK: The Revealed
13.54Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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