Inescapable (Talented Saga #7) (30 page)

The Privileged

Besançon, France

Three Days Before the Vote

Exhausting as the day had been, Cressa had
little appetite at dinner that night. She’d thought learning the
Institute’s secrets would be fun. She’d thought that being drawn
into the fold would make her feel like an insider in something big
and important. She’d thought the role of the Privileged was to help
people.

Watching Suzu take her exam had dispelled
every one of those ideals. Despite the initial awe she’d felt at
seeing powerful abilities in use, Cressa couldn’t get Damon’s face,
broken and hopeless, out of her head.

Judging by the animated conversations taking
place all around her, she was the only Two who hadn’t been
entertained by the demonstration.

“
Obviously her technique
worked,” Lyla Towers was telling anyone at the table willing to
listen.

“
Oh, I quite agree,” her
twin added. “Suzu has finesse. Just proves that brute force isn’t
always the best option.”

Weren’t they the ones
criticizing Suzu for being too soft?
Cressa thought.

“
I dunno, seems to me if
she’d been a little more forceful, Damon would have jumped the
first time,” Daphne chimed in, spearing a piece of broccoli with
her fork. She nibbled on the top, but left the stalk
untouched.

“
He did jump, in the end,”
said a girl with magenta hair and piercing green eyes. Cressa had
heard the other 2Ps refer to her as Ritchie. Whether that was her
first or last name, Cressa couldn’t be sure.

“
Right, but her lack of
conviction was the reason she needed to skip over that part in the
first place,” Daphne retorted. “He would’ve jumped the first time
if she’d been more assertive. Then he might not have freaked out
afterwards.”

Cressa tuned out her classmates, not wanting
to revisit the moment Damon had been dragged from the exam room by
two guards. The boy’s screams still haunted her.

“
I just want to go home.
Please, just let me go home!”
Damon had
wailed.

Suzu, on the other hand, had been
victorious, basking in the compliments and accolades. The Dame
herself even made a guest appearance of sorts to praise her
achievement. Leslie had been the one to explain that the Dame was
too busy to attend final exams, but she prerecorded congratulatory
messages for each of the 8Ps, to be played if they passed. It was
her way of showing the students how much she valued their
dedication and loyalty to her cause.

Listening to the Dame’s pleasant voice call
Suzu “daughter” and speak about her tremendous accomplishments,
with the soundtrack of Damon’s pleas playing in the background, had
almost been the worst, if not the weirdest, part of the entire
exercise.

To Cressa’s dismay, Suzu’s exam wasn’t the
only one they were to observe. Less than a minute after the guards
had finally taken Damon from the exam room, a young girl had taken
his place. Only, the girl turned out not to be a test subject at
all, but a 1P attempting to advance to Phase Two. A 7P boy named
Joshua Bizon had replaced Suzu’s holographic image. Leslie had
confirmed what Cressa wondered with a sinking heart; he was Damon’s
older brother.

Cressa was still contemplating whether
Joshua knew the cruel hand fate had dealt his little brother. And
if Joshua would have intervened if he did know.

Unlike Suzu, Joshua was
not ready to take his next advancement test quite yet. Instead, he
was simply practicing mental penetration on the 1Ps, guiding them
to flip the light switch using telekinesis. As opposed to Cressa’s
guide for her own exam—the angry guy who’d screamed profanities in
her head—Joshua’s tactics were gentle and persuasive.
Envision the switch by the door. Flip the switch
upwards. Turn the lights on.

Needless to say, Joshua’s subjects achieved
success much faster than Cressa had, with only a few exceptions in
the seemingly endless stream of 1Ps taking the exam. Two of them
simply didn’t possess enough strength to mentally flip the switch.
According to Leslie, this was most likely because they weren’t
suitable hosts for talents.

Another 1P, an extremely young and
overzealous boy, sent out a wave of power so intense that it
shattered the light bulbs in the exam room. He was removed by med
techs, to treat his minor injuries, while guards quickly replaced
the lights.

The last girl, a petite blonde, with a thick
Slavic accent, refused to even try. Evidently, she didn’t want to
be at the Institute, and had no desire to become Privileged. She
sat on the bench, arms crossed over her chest, and glared at the
mirror. Every time Joshua spoke gently inside her head, the girl’s
only response was a one-fingered salute.

Cressa had been torn between enjoying the
shenanigans and the much-needed levity, and wondering if the
obstinate 1P was dooming herself to share in Damon’s fate. Irate,
Leslie had stormed from the classroom and joined the guards as they
half-carried, half-dragged the unyielding blonde from the room.

“
Finish up, all of you,”
Gracia ordered, interrupting Cressa’s thoughts. “Be quick about it.
The Dame has one more treat for us today.”

“
Oh, what is it?” Daphne
asked excitedly.

Cressa almost didn’t want to know the
answer. If the evening’s special event was anything like the
morning’s, then she thought maybe the Dame needed to look up the
definition of “treat.”

“
A movie,” Gracia
announced.

The 2Ps instantly broke into enthusiastic
chatter.

“
Oh, I hope it’s the new
Kev Leon movie!” Lyla exclaimed. “It was just about to be released
when we left home, I’m dying to see it.”

“
He’s so hot,” Shyla
agreed.

The twins wore identical
expressions so full of hope that Cressa couldn’t bring herself to
tell them that probably wasn’t it, since
My Heart to Break
had never been
released. Did they even know about Kev Leon’s death? Or, his
alleged death. Cressa briefly considered telling them that, as long
as the entire Institute was gathering for this supposed treat, the
twins were more likely to get the real Kev Leon, in
person.

In fact, Kev should have been in the
cafeteria at that moment, since all cadets took their meals
together. Cressa glanced around. Searching the sea of faces for the
movie star, she didn’t see the mop of blonde hair anywhere. Most of
the tables had cleared out already, so it should have been easy to
spot Kev. Then again, the dining area was four stories tall, with a
lot of nooks and alcoves, so maybe it wasn’t surprising she
couldn’t find him.

“
I hope it’s something
funny,” Daphne declared. “We could all use a laugh, I
think.”

“
Quiet, all of you,”
Gracia said, before anyone else could add to the commentary. “It
doesn’t matter what you all want to watch. The Dame has selected
something appropriate and educational. What’s more, the entire
Institute will be watching together. Now, clean up. We’ll be late
if you all don’t get moving.”

With that, Gracia spun on her heel and
marched over to the conveyor belt to deposit her own empty tray.
One by one, the rest of the girls followed her lead.

“
When she says the entire
Institute, do you think she means the boys will be there, too?”
Daphne asked no one in particular.

Cressa hoped so. She wanted to see Kev Leon
again. Contrary to what Gregor had said the night before, the 2P
boys hadn’t been present during the day’s lesson.

Probably because it was an
oh-so-special favor to Gracia, and only Gracia,
Cressa thought, hiding a snicker.

“
Of course they will,”
Lyla replied. She gave Daphne a once-over, then grimaced. “Though
you should be hoping the guys
won’t
be there.”

Daphne scowled, though she seemed more hurt
than angry. Cressa shifted her tray to one hand and put her free
arm around the younger girl’s shoulders.

“
You’re not even a
teenager yet, you have plenty of time to worry about boys,” she
told Daphne kindly.

This only made the younger girl turn her
glare on Cressa.

“
Just think, by the time
you’re old enough to date you’ll be Privileged. I bet tons of boys
will be interested in you once you’re Privileged,” Cressa hastily
added.

“
If not, you can always
compel them,” Shyla chimed in.

The other 2P girls all laughed like this was
the greatest joke they’d ever heard, but Cressa found it
unsettling. Was that really why the others were becoming
Privileged—to make people do whatever they wanted?

Something her mother said to her at the
airport surfaced in Cressa’s mind.

“
Once you are Privileged,
you will be extremely powerful, my love. You must be careful. Power
can be a very addictive drug, and you will be tempted to use it for
the wrong reasons. You must fight that temptation. Once you dip a
toe in that pool, it will not be long before you are in over your
head. If you do not fight your way out, eventually you will
drown.”

At the time, Cressa hadn’t really understood
her mother’s warning. After all, she was a good person, and she
knew right from wrong. She’d assumed that being Privileged wouldn’t
change that. But hearing her classmates talk so easily about using
their abilities for trivial matters made Cressa realize that right
and wrong might not be as obvious as black and white.

Most of the other cadets were already seated
when Gracia led the 2P girls to their assigned seats near the back
of the auditorium.

“
You all
will
behave,” Gracia
told them, her faux violet eyes blazing. Her face was pinched, and
her words seemed heavy, as if they had physical weight.

An odd sensation washed over Cressa. It was
sort of like a dream, and sort of like the one time she’d been so
drunk at her parents’ holiday party that she threw up in a potted
palm. Cressa felt detached from her own body, like it would take a
great deal of concentration to speak or move.

“
You will not embarrass me
or yourselves,” Gracia continued. “Most of all, you will not
embarrass the Dame. Do you all understand?”

Ten voices that resonated as one replied,
“Yes, ma’am.”

A genuine smile crossed Gracia’s lips.
“Good. I am going to sit with my class in the front row. You will
wait here for me when the movie has ended. Do you all
understand?”

“
Yes, ma’am,” the girls
chorused.

As soon as Gracia left, the odd sensation
faded. The room came into sharper focus. The quiet conversations of
those around them became audible.

Cressa turned to Nydia, who was sitting
beside her. “Did you feel—”

The overhead lights went dark, cutting her
off. A spotlight appeared in the center of the stage at the front
of the auditorium, followed a moment later by a tall, blonde
woman.

Murmurs spread through the audience like a
game of telephone, every student wanting to know the same thing: Is
she the Dame?

“
Welcome, cadets,” said
the woman on stage, spreading her arms in greeting. She walked
forward, almost to the edge of the raised dais, and smiled warmly.
Her eyes were a clear, vibrant blue that shone more brightly than
any star in the night sky. Her skin was smooth and flawless, not a
wrinkle in sight, and the ends of her sleek blonde bob curled
perfectly under her chin. The woman wore a calf-length navy dress,
belted to show off her trim figure.

If this is the Dame, she
is much younger and much prettier than I imagined,
Cressa thought.

“
For those of you I have
not had the pleasure of meeting in person, allow me to introduce
myself….” The woman paused, and the suspense built. “My name is
Dame de Glace.”

There was a collective intake of breath from
the audience.

“
I thought she’d be older.
She can’t be more than, what, twenty-five?” Cressa heard Lyla
say.

“
Thirty, max,” Shyla
agreed.

“
To the 1Ps who have just
joined our illustrious ranks recently, welcome to the Institute,”
the Dame was saying.

Nydia shushed the twins. “Listen.”

“
To the 2Ps,
congratulations on your progress,” the Dame continued. “Advancing
from Phase One to Phase Two is the most trying.”

Someone at the front of the auditorium
scoffed loudly.

The Dame’s cerulean eyes zeroed in on the
individual instantly, but her smile didn’t falter.

“
I did not say the most
difficult, simply the most trying. The Phase One advancement exam
has the lowest passage rate of all eight phases,” she explained,
not seeming the least bit cross. “But enough talk of exams. Tonight
is for celebration. I received very exciting news today from one of
our field operatives. I am so pleased with the work that individual
has done, I want all of you to share in the reward.”

This pronouncement was met with deafening
applause. While Cressa joined in, she wasn’t entirely sure why they
were all clapping. The Dame hadn’t even told them what this good
news was or why this particular accomplishment was so
important.

Maybe it’s the treaty
vote,
Cressa realized excitedly, clapping
harder.

The Joint Nations had been scheduled to
decide whether or not to renew the Coexistence Treaty just before
Cressa started at the Institute, but then they’d postponed it
another month. Cressa had been disappointed; she’d really wanted to
know the verdict before leaving, since it would have such a large
impact.