Authors: Stacey Wallace Benefiel
Wyatt’s sister curses, muttering something about “alerting the entire world they’re here” when a weak, lisping voice comes from the center of the room. “Are you…I told the other guy everything.”
She flips the headlamp back on.
Parker is seated, his wrists zip tied behind his back, his face bloodied and blistered. He squints in the light, relief and then fresh fear passing over his features.
Melody holds up a multi-tool. “I’m going to cut you free. You’re safe. Don’t freak, okay?”
He nods.
“Are you Parker?” she asks as she snips the zip ties. “I’m Melody, and my mute friend here is Ben.”
“Yeah,” he says, rubbing his wrists.
Melody clips the binding at his ankles. “How long have you been here?”
He thinks for a second.
“Four, five days? Little water and food and...” Parker looks down at his soiled trousers, on the verge of breaking. “The baton…I had to tell him. Don’t know why he wants my formula. It’s…nothing.”
“Parker,” Melody says, getting into his face to keep him from going into shock. “I hope you can walk, because we’ve got to go. We can talk all about your captor once we’re
outta here.”
Parker stands, his legs wobbly, and collapses back into the chair.
Melody addresses Ben. “Can you hear me in there? We’ve got to get him in a fireman hold.”
Ben nods once and approaches Parker. Melody and Ben each get an arm underneath one of his arms and then underneath his legs, picking him up. They take a step forward.
The door to the office slams shut.
A cloud of white gas blasts into the room, blinding Ben, blinding me.
His hand shoots out, dropping his side of Parker as he’s going for the rewind, but then he’s falling, we’re falling, falling, falling…
I wake up to Wyatt’s mouth covering mine, forcing air down my throat, his fingertips pinching my nose closed. Someone else’s palms are on my chest, hovering, poised like they’re ready to press down.
I turn my head to the side and Wyatt immediately backs off, holding his hands in the air. Kai, on my right, assumes the same posture. They’re both sweaty and pumped up on adrenaline. Elle stands at the foot of the bed, her eyes hazy. A frantic-looking Reed is backed up against the wall, Phoebe and Ty both comforting him.
“Shit, Penny,” Wyatt says, climbing off the bed. “You stopped breathing. You were gasping for air and then…nothing.”
“Her color’s coming back,” Kai adds. He sounds relieved, which surprises me for some reason.
I look down the bed at Elle. “Are they dead? Do you think…?”
She stares back at me and shakes her head. “I don’t know.”
Dr. Avery comes flying through the door, his eyes wide when he sees me. “Obviously she’s doing better than when Phoebe teched me.”
Wyatt gives the doc the low down while he checks my vitals. “Penny was starting to turn
blue, her pupils weren’t even when I shined the light in them like you showed me in First Aid class. Her breathing became erratic. Then halted. Her pulse completely stopped. Kai and I did CPR for six minutes before she responded and just…woke up.”
An oxygen mask is quickly strapped onto my face before Dr. Avery lifts my eyelids and flashes a pen light across my eyes. He leans over me. “I’ve got to palpate your torso. In the event that you’ve damaged your ribs
again
, it’s gonna hurt because you don’t want drugs and I don’t want Reed doing anything to your mind until we make sure you haven’t suffered any damage.” He looks over his shoulder. “Is Elle okay or does she need an exam?”
“I’m okay, Dr. Avery,” Elle says, her voice a little spacey.
“All right, then, everyone out of here.”
“Ave-” Wyatt interjects.
“You did a great job, little bro, but I need you out in the hall, please?”
Why is everyone concerned about me when there are three more important people in need of help? I wrench the mask from my face.
Wyatt gives me a regretful expression. “I wasn’t asking if I could stay. I want your permission to go after Mel and Ben.”
This makes me want to first-kiss him all over again.
Dr. Avery squeezes his eyes shut. “I can’t take that chance, Wyatt. Zellie would never forgive me if I gave the go-ahead and we lost you, Melody, and Ben in one night. If you want to help, go home and wait for Aunt Hazel’s call.” He turns his attention back to me as everyone leaves. Dr. Avery lifts my gown up and works in silence, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.
I feel nothing. There could be pain, but it doesn’t register in my brain so I don’t feel it in my body. My brain is working overtime, however.
Running through the dream, studying it from different angles and perspectives, calculating. One question cycling on an endless loop. ARE THEY DEAD? I can’t take this anymore.
He finishes and pulls my gown down. “Remarkably, your ribs don’t
seem any more worse for the wear. I’m going to run another Ultra-scan.”
“Dr. Avery, don’t.” I push myself up and he raises an eyebrow at me. “Don’t waste another minute fixing me. I’ll heal. I always heal. You should go be with your wife and baby. You should be ready to help Ben and Melody. I’m not…” I swing my legs over the side of the bed. “I put everyone in danger, and for what?”
He stares at me.
“It’s my danger to deal with. I’m the only one. This all could’ve been stopped the other day, or hell, maybe wouldn’t have even happened if I’d never come the Society School. So either strap me down and drug me up, or let me out of here to do what I was born to do.”
Dr. Avery thinks for a moment and then goes into the bathroom and opens a cupboard above the sink, pulling out some scrubs. He tosses them on the bed. Bending down, he retrieves my shoes from under the chair Ben was sitting in earlier and sets them to the left of the door. Then he opens it, pausing to look back at me. “You sound like Zellie.” He gives me a sad smile. “Like every Retroact I’ve ever known. Stubborn. Selfless. And hell-bent on sacrificing yourself because you think you don’t matter.”
“I don’t. You’ll discover that soon enough.”
He shakes his head. “Try telling that to Wyatt.”
I jog out of the clinic area, through the infirmary, and to the guard station. I wave at Phil on the way out and he lets me keep going. I run up the stairs, wondering how I’m going to get out without an access code, but the door is propped open by a glass bottle of Dr. Avery’s Retro water. I snatch it up and guzzle it down.
I probably need a car, but in the vision it seemed like they didn’t drive for very long before they reached the airport. Still, whatever I can do to cut down on lag time, I should.
Out on Redwood, I assess the vehicles available to me. I don’t think I can manage the van. It’s an older model than I’ve ever driven and I don’t remember Wyatt using autodrive. That leaves Christopher’s green two-door parked in his driveway, or the beat up Prius or the motorcycle parked in the docs’ driveway. I have about equal experience stealing cars and motorcycles and motorcycles are definitely easier because you get on them instead of into them.
Motorcycle it is.
I approach it and get to work. The garage door opens to my right and I ignore it. Confident I can rewind whoever tries to get in my way, although I don’t really want to.
A key drops at my feet. “You know how to ride that thing?” I look up into the blue-green eyes of a man with long blond hair.
“Well enough.”
“Good.” He hands me a helmet and straps one on his head. “I’m Raleigh. Let’s go.” I open my mouth to protest, but he holds his hand up. “Melody’s all I’ve got.”
Who am I to deny him? “You stay outside. I won’t be responsible for you getting hurt.”
He nods okay.
Then it’s key in ignition, straddling the seat, and we’re off down Redwood. I drive east up a hill and turn onto the street I recognize from my last Parker dream. I had been so close. I run a light, paying no mind to Raleigh’s fingers digging into my arm. I wind the motorcycle through a series of parking lots until I’m at the back of the airport property, where all the hangers sit in a row. I start to ditch Wyatt’s brother-in-law and the motorcycle in front of the hanger next door, but he follows me.
I turn to him. “You can’t go in with me. You promised to stay outside.”
He nods. “I did. I lied.”
“Can you handle yourself? I can’t be babysitting you.”
“Sweetheart,” Raleigh says and then snorts, “don’t you worry about me.” He lifts up his shirt with his right hand, revealing a wide swatch of scarred, puckered skin all along his middle. “The only thing that scares me is losing my wife and that sure as fuck isn’t going to happen while I can do something about it.”
My eyebrows rise.
Damn.
“All right, badass, put your shirt down.”
I try the door handle and it’s still unlocked. Taking a deep
breath in and holding it, I push on through, my arms extended in front of me. I run full out toward the office, my body instinctively knowing the way through the dark. Raleigh follows close behind. I whip the door open. The office is empty, save for a piece of paper tucked underneath a battery-operated camping lantern, lit up I’m sure so that I won’t miss the paper.
Taking a tentative sniff, I test the air. Whatever the gas was that was released in here it’s dissipated. I breathe in and then snag the paper, unfolding it.
You can imagine my disappointment when instead of you I got the middle-aged pretty boy and his Lookout.
Yeah, I know all about that. I’ve known all about that my entire life.
Surprise.
I’ll trade the Lookout and Parker for you, provided you do as I say.
And I know you will. You were always so good at following my lead, Pen.
No deals on the pretty boy. He’s mine.
Meet me at 6141 Franklin in Hollywood at 8:00.
If you’re late, the Lookout dies.
Raleigh takes the paper from me and reads it. I look up at the clock on the wall. It’s 7:12. I have no idea where I’m going or how long it will take me to get there if L.A. traffic lives up to the legend.
This is why you need a Lookout, idiot.
“Dude, you need a Lookout,” Raleigh states matter-of-factly.
“No shi-” I hear footsteps behind me and turn, my arm extended.
“Don’t shoot,” Wyatt says in that droll way of his.
I wave the lantern in his direction and there, behind him are Reed, Phoebe, Ty, Elle, and Kai.
I walk over to Wyatt and hand him the note.
Chapter Seventeen
Penny
We all pile into the van with Wyatt behind the wheel, leaving Raleigh’s motorcycle at the airport. Phoebe takes the note from Wyatt and finds the Hollywood address on her Ret-tech. “We’re twenty-five minutes out from the location,” she says. “Take Sunset all the way in Wy, it’ll be faster. The freeways are a parking lot right now.”
“Roger that.” Wyatt starts up the van, flips on the
autodrive, and wirelessly syncs it with Phoebe’s Ret-tech. The van drives forward and takes a right out of the parking lot.
“How’d you all manage to sneak out to meet me?” I ask from the seat behind Phoebe.
Wyatt turns. “My Great Aunt Hazel yelled at Avery and told him I was a hundred times more experienced as a Lookout than even Melody was at my age, and that they all needed to get their heads out of their asses.”
Raleigh laughs and shakes his head, muttering something about “good
ol’ Hazie.”
“She’s got a lot of pull in your family?”
“You’ve got no idea,” Wyatt says, chuckling. “You do not cross Aunt Hazel. She’s all the way up in Oregon and nearly ninety, but I wouldn’t put it past her to still find a way to kick my butt if I didn’t do what she told me to.”
I’ve
gotta meet this lady. “Guess we’re lucky she’s on our side then.”
“Definitely.”
We all fall into a comfortable silence, everyone psyching themselves up for what we’re about to do while we make our way to the rendezvous point. I stare out the window as twilight settles in over the sprawling city. What a shitty way to check sightseeing off my L.A. itinerary.
Twenty minutes later, the van pulls up in front of an abandoned club.
“Okay,” I say, suddenly very glad I’m not doing this alone. “Did Aunt Hazel happen to give us a plan?”
Wyatt cringes. “Uh, well, she posited that Darren would want to keep Uncle Ben for his powers, but that he’d got all he wanted out of Parker and Melody… and that he would want to trade your life for theirs.”
“She told you to give me up,” I say.
He nods. “She told me to give you up.”
I grin at him. “Smart woman.” I slide the van door open manually and hop out onto the sidewalk. Elle and Reed get up to follow. “Wait,” I say, holding up my hand. “Just Phoebe, Wyatt, and Raleigh. There’s no reason for Elle and Reed to get any closer to Darren. We don’t know what he wants with the formula – it could be Retroact poison or some shit.” Elle makes like she’s going to protest. “Thank you for the support, but I can’t let you get hurt. I’ve already messed up enough lives this week.”
Wyatt hands the key to Kai and joins me and Phoebe on the sidewalk.
“Alternate exits?” Wyatt whispers to her while he scans the building. “Cameras,” he says firmly to himself.
“Bringing up the schematics
nooooow,” Phoebe reports, “okay, two at the rear – one regular door and one larger rolling door for loading, one on the left that leads into an alley, double doors on the right that open into the parking lot. Also, there’s space underneath the stage area, just FYI.”
I head toward the front door. “Let’s do this.”
“Stay behind us, Raleigh,” Wyatt cautions. “Mel will have both our heads if you get hurt.”
From what I can see in the focused light of Wyatt and Phoebe’s headlamps, the lobby of the club is small and dirty, nothing more than a rectangular room with a single-window box office on one side and a dinky coat check on the other. Wyatt and Phoebe each take a room and make sure they’re clear anyway.
We move forward into a short, wide hall, bathrooms on either side. Again, Wyatt and Phoebe take a look. My instinct is to go in, psychic guns blazing, but I have more than just myself to worry about so I defer to their protocol. Not to mention, my earlier confidence that I can rewind without being asleep is faltering. Ben was right; it was stupid of me to try to go it alone. Sure, I could’ve made it to the hanger on my own, but what then?
Wyatt enters the main club area, then me and Raleigh, with Phoebe bringing up the rear. The space is an empty black box with a stage at the far end. A red, moth-eaten curtain is pulled closed across it. Dust motes float in the illumination from the headlamps as we all turn together and survey the balcony.
Nothing.
“What’s the point in having us meet him for an exchange if he’s not going to be here?” I huff.
A muffled groan comes from the stage area. Wyatt and Raleigh make it there first, parting the curtain and disappearing behind it.
“Oh, God!”
Wyatt yells.
Phoebe and I duck through the curtain together and find Wyatt and Raleigh on their knees next to Melody, working, fumbling to free her hands and feet from the metal chair she’s tied to. They’re kneeling in a large pool of blood that surrounds her chair. Melody’s head is slumped forward, her shirt soaked through and stuck to her chest. Phoebe helps them while I stand there stunned, unable to get my brain to work. I’m so much better at dealing when I’m in a dream.
Melody lifts her head slightly, catching my eye.
“Come closer,” she whispers, every word punctuated by the hissing sound of air leaving her lungs.
“Mel, we don’t have time,” Wyatt says, removing his shirt and pressing it to his sister’s stomach to staunch the bleeding. She’s got multiple jagged stab wounds across her chest and midsection. There’s so much blood I don’t know how Wyatt is choosing which weeping gash to focus on. He and Raleigh move together as Raleigh lifts Melody up into his arms, holding her tight to his body.
We ignore him and I go to her, putting my ear near her mouth.
“Parker didn’t tell Darren everything. The formula-” Her eyes start to droop, her mouth going slack.
“Wait! What did Parker not tell Darren about the formula?” I demand, taking her face in my hands.
“Penny, we have got to-” Wyatt starts.
Melody’s eyes get wide as her body tenses up. “Two doses,” she manages to say before her breathing stops.
Instantly, Raleigh pushes past me. “There’s Cryo-stat in the van.”
Phoebe, Wyatt, and I are on his heels. We burst out of the club and Elle opens the van door; Kai’s in the driver’s seat with the engine running. Raleigh sits on the bench seat cradling Melody in his lap as Wyatt gets on his knees and is pulling something from between the front seats.
“No Parker or Ben?” Reed asks just as I’m stepping into the van. Instead of answering him, I squat down at Melody’s feet and ask, “What’s Cryo-stat?”
“Oh, shit! Melody’s dead?” Reed says, gripping Wyatt on the shoulder. Back to me: “It freezes the body from the inside out.” He scans the van. “Where’s her spirit?” No answer. He turns to Elle.
She shakes her head. “Mel must be confused and hasn’t figured out how to get here yet. Or she went to the ligh-”
“I don’t see it, Raleigh!” Wyatt yells, as he rummages through a large metal box. “Someone must have used it and not restocked.”
The two men look at each other over Melody’s body, both panicked, their eyes wild. They lean over her, sobbing.
I search the faces in the van, each grief stricken. All the shit we can do – the powers and abilities – and no one can save her? Nothing can be done?
“Her body can’t be saved and her spirit isn’t here,” Phoebe whispers from behind me, explaining. “We’ve gotten used to never
really
losing anyone anymore.” Her voice collapses into a cry. She closes the van door behind her. Kai pulls from the curb. My heart breaks; I feel so helpless.
Reed leans over the seat and gets in my face. “Wait!” Kai stops the van. “There have been
Retros who could do the same thing – halt time within the body to keep it from deteriorating. Well, not Retros, plural. One. Maud.”
“How do you know this shit?” Kai asks, reaching for Elle, fear in his eyes.
Reed shrugs. “It’s common knowledge. I’m just the only one paying attention for once.”
Elle’s eyes meet mine and we stick our right arms out.
We don’t need to discuss our plan, just like we didn’t need a test to know we’re blood.
Wyatt
I’ve been wrapped up in a rewind more times than I can count. By letting my family, friends and classmates practice on me over the years, my one and only ability has developed. I can keep my mind in the present, fully aware, no matter what my body is doing.
But it’s never been like this. It’s never happened in a blur.
At double speed, Raleigh, Mel, Phoebe, and I reverse into the club. Penny and Elle propel us up onto the stage. I feel my previous words crawling backward between my lips. Then I’m down on my knees, my sister’s blood wicking away from my pants legs. Up and over, my t-shirt unwads and slides back down my chest. My hands are just about to tie Melody’s wrist again, when Penny and Elle calmly say, “Stop.”
Raleigh, Phoebe, and I remain suspended in time, our bodies unmoving, held fast by Elle’s left hand. Melody’s head flings back, a raspy breath filling her lungs. “I wasn’t ready!”
Penny shakes her head. “No one ever is.” With her right palm, she presses down on my sister’s chest. Elle covers it with her right.
Melody nods. “Do it.”
Penny and Elle jam their hands down on Melody’s chest and her body jolts, becomes rigid, frozen. Elle releases us and Raleigh jumps to his feet.
“That son of a bitch Darren is going to pay,” Raleigh
says, his voice oddly feminine. Then he giggles, muttering to himself. “Yes, Ral, this is the ultimate inside joke. God, that was bad. You gotta spend less time with Roger on the weed farm.”
“Melody?”
I ask, staring into my brother-in-law’s eyes. They brighten and his smile inches up on one side.
“That’s more like it!” Phoebe says, laughing. She elbows a zoned-out Penny.
“Two people in one body? That we can deal with.”
Raleigh/Melody picks up Melody’s body. “Come on, let’s get my surprisingly heavy ass back to Avery and then figure out where Ben and Parker are.”