The Power Within (9 page)

Somehow, Fiona managed to avoid spilling all the details of her theory during the drive back to Willow Cove. But by the time they approached her house, she was about to burst with the secret.

“Mack,” she said. “Do you want to study together for our math test?”

“Our math test?” Mack repeated, looking confused.

Fiona tried not to groan in frustration. “Yes,” she said, very clearly. “Our math test tomorrow. We can study together now. You could even stay for dinner, I'm sure. If you want.”

Mack still looked clueless, so Fiona gave his ankle a swift kick.

“Oh!” he said suddenly. “Right! That math test. I forgot. Jiichan, do you mind if I go over to Fiona's house to study?”

From the front seat, Mr. Kimura chuckled. “If you forgot you even had an exam, I think studying with Fiona is an excellent idea,” he said. “Call me when you are finished, and I'll come to pick you up.”

“Thanks, Jiichan,” Mack said as he and Fiona climbed out of the car. As his grandfather drove away, Mack turned to Fiona. “This better be good,” he said, leaning over to rub his ankle, “because that hurt!”

“Sorry,” Fiona murmured. “I didn't know how else to get your attention. Listen, I think I found a big clue.”

Mack looked intrigued. “Since we met with Ankur?” he asked.

“Actually, during,” Fiona corrected him. She held up her phone so he could see one of the photos of Jai.

Mack stared at the screen for several seconds. “Okay, what am I missing?” he finally asked.

“The wristband,” Fiona replied at once. “Check it out! I think it's identical to the one Darren was wearing in class today!”

A skeptical frown crossed Mack's face. “Are you sure?” he asked, zooming in on the photo. “It's similar . . . I think. To be honest, I didn't get a really
good look at Darren's wristband. It was leather, right?”

“Yes,” Fiona said. “With the same pattern imprinted on it.”

Mack continued to examine the photo. “Maybe,” he said slowly. Then he gave Fiona her phone. “But I'm not totally convinced. Leather accessories are really popular. A lot of people wear them. Even me.”

Mack reached under the collar of his shirt to pull out his fox-tooth necklace, a gift from his grandfather that hung on a sturdy leather cord around his neck.

“They probably even got their wristbands from the same store,” Mack continued. “It's not like those things are custom-made.”

Fiona shook her head. “I don't think so,” she said. “And the stories match up. Ankur said that Jai got his powers mysteriously under control right before he disappeared. And look at how Darren aced practice today—he was incredible! Like a complete and total reversal from yesterday and the day before!”

“Yeah,” Mack admitted. “That was . . . unexpected.”

“I don't know how to explain it, but I think there's a pattern here,” Fiona said as she started to pace back and
forth in the driveway. “Like . . . imagine this: A group of warlocks who are targeting Changer kids having trouble controlling their powers. Somehow, they slip them a leather wristband that . . . that . . .”

“What?” Mack asked.

“I'm not sure,” Fiona said. “Maybe it gives them a false sense of confidence. Maybe it controls their abilities for them. Maybe it's a tracking device. The thing is, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the other kids who disappeared were also wearing a leather wristband right before they vanished.”

“Why don't we tell Jiichan and Ms. Therian your theory?” Mack suggested. “Maybe they'll be able to fill in the blanks for us.”

“Yeah, I guess we should do that,” Fiona said. “But we have to reach Darren first. At the very least he needs to take that wristband
off
before something happens to him!”

With flying fingers, Fiona called Darren and then put her phone on speaker. One ring, two rings, three—and then, to her relief, Darren's voice crackled over her phone.

“Hey, Fiona, what's up?”

“Darren,” she began, skipping all pleasantries. “That leather wristband you were wearing today—where did you get it?”

“My wristband?” Darren said. “My brother gave it to me.”

Mack caught Fiona's eye and mouthed,
Told you so
, but a nagging, insistent feeling made her press on.

“I know this might sound weird, but would you mind if Mack and I came over to take a look at it?” she asked.

“You want to see my wristband?” Darren asked, sounding confused. “Yeah, that's fine, I guess. But I'm not home right now. Football practice.”

“Oh, right,” replied Fiona. “Well, how about after?”

“Sure, if it's so important to you,” Darren said. “I'll text you when I get home, and you can come over.”

“When will that be?” Fiona asked.

“Like, fifteen minutes,” Darren said. “Listen, I have to go before Coach catches me on the phone and makes me run drills for the rest of the week. I'll text you soon.”

And with that, he hung up.

Fiona and Mack exchanged a long look.

“He thinks I'm crazy,” she said.

“I wouldn't worry about it,” Mack told her. “Better safe than sorry, right? We'll head over to Darren's in a little bit, check out the wristband. When we see it in person, it will probably be completely different from the one Jai had.”

“I hope so,” Fiona said, but she didn't sound convinced. And she couldn't seem to stop pacing, even after she and Mack went inside to start their homework. Her phone was sitting right there on the table, but the text she was waiting for never arrived.

“It's been a half hour!” she exclaimed impatiently. “Why hasn't he texted?”

Mack shrugged. “Maybe practice ran long,” he replied. “Maybe he's still changing out of his gear. Maybe he forgot.”

Fiona shook her head. “I have a bad feeling,” she said. “I'm going to text him.” She typed as fast as she could:

Darren—All done?

Then they waited. And waited. An agonizing ten minutes passed before Fiona finally grabbed her coat.

“What are you doing?” asked Mack.

“I'm going over to Darren's house,” she replied. “Either he'll be there, or we'll be waiting for him when he finally gets home. I can't just sit around here worrying like this.”

“Okay,” Mack replied. “Let's go.”

Fiona told her father that she and Mack were going for a quick ride and then grabbed her bike from the shed. Mack borrowed her father's bike. Then they rode through Willow Cove as the sun began to set and one by one, the streetlights flickered on. The unsteady buzz as they first illuminated reminded Fiona of the trouble Darren experienced with his powers—until he'd suddenly shown up with that unusual wristband.

She pedaled faster.

As Fiona and Mack turned the corner on to Darren's street, they saw even more lights. But these lights were not the steady, golden glow of the streetlights; they were red and blue, flashing in a rapid pattern. They were warning lights.

Police lights.

“Oh no,” Fiona said breathlessly as she saw the police car parked in Darren's driveway. “No, no, no.”

“Come on,” Mack urged her, a frightened look in his eyes.

They dropped the bikes onto the sidewalk and ran up the driveway, past the patrol car where one of the officers was on the radio. “Yeah, probably a runaway. Problems at home. You know the type,” he was saying.

“A runaway”? “Problems at home”?
Fiona wondered. There was no way the officer could be talking about Darren—he didn't even
know
him. But before she could interrupt, another officer approached them.

“Hey, kids,” she began.

Just then, Darren's mom ran out of the house. “Fiona! Mack!” she cried. “Have you seen Darren? Is he with you?”

“No, he isn't,” Fiona replied. “He— We were supposed to meet him here. Like an hour ago. You mean he's not here?”

Mrs. Smith's whole face crumpled up as she shook her head. “No,” she said, choking on a sob. “He never made it home.”

Darren wasn't sure where he was. He wasn't even sure whether or not he was awake. It was like a third state, somewhere in−between, where everything was filtered through a hazy glow: sound and sight; touch, even. A sludgy weakness oozed through his body, making him feel heavy and dull. Darren was aware of all this, but the funny thing was that he didn't really care. Everything was fine. It was all fine. Maybe he should sleep a little longer. That would be fine too.

But something inside him—some small, ferocious spark—didn't want to do that.

Open your eyes,
it hissed.
Open your eyes.

Darren didn't see the point. Besides, his eyelids felt as scratchy as sandpaper. That small, insistent voice wouldn't quit, however; not until he forced his eyes open, blinked a few times, and waited for everything to come into focus. He was in a strange room, a library of sorts, with built-in bookshelves that held thousands of books. The books weren't the strange part, though. No, it was the tall pedestal in the center of the room—marble streaked with steely gray veins—that made Darren feel cold all over, despite the roaring fire in the fireplace.

Now, move your arms,
the voice inside told him.
Move your legs.

Darren tried. Failed.

What . . . ,
he wondered as the power of thought slowly returned to him. He looked down, and that's when he realized that he was tied up. Heavy ropes as thick as his wrist had him bound to a wooden chair.

No way,
Darren thought as that spark inside him flared, bolder and brighter this time. He strained against the ropes, but they wouldn't budge. That wasn't a problem, though. He would just transform, or blast his way out with a blazing bolt of lightning.

But nothing happened.

Darren tried—again and again and again—but it was almost as if his powers were gone. Completely, totally, and utterly gone.

A thin film of sweat formed across Darren's forehead as he glanced around the room. That's when he noticed at least three other chairs arranged in a circle around the pedestal. Each chair had a motionless kid tied to it. Perhaps most disturbing, the kids were all breathing with the same slow, steady motion:
in
and
out
,
in
and
out
, as if even that was being controlled for them.

“Pssst.”

The whisper was so faint that at first Darren wondered if he had imagined it. He turned his head to the left and noticed that another boy next to him was awake—and he was staring at Darren.

“Hey!” Darren said. “What— Who—”

“Don't struggle. It'll just make things worse.”

“Where are we? Who are you?”

“I don't know—I woke up here too. I'm Jai,” the boy said.

Jai.

Darren sucked in his breath sharply. He'd found Jai! He had no idea how he'd done it. Actually, he had no idea how a lot of things had come to pass. But here was Jai, the missing boy whom they'd been searching for.

Darren's entire body went rigid with tension.

Jai. The missing boy.

If Darren was with
him
, did that mean that he was missing too?

Darren's mouth was very dry, but he finally managed to ask, “What's going on?”

“I'm not sure,” Jai whispered back. “But I think it's for a spell.”

“A spell?” Darren repeated, trying to understand. If only his brain didn't feel so foggy and cluttered.

“We're all Changers,” Jai whispered back. “I mean, you are one, right?”

“Yeah,” replied Darren.

“I think they needed to gather all the elements,” Jai said. “That much I could figure out. See, I'm water, and that girl on my other side is a phoenix, so she has fire. The other girl—she's been knocked out for a while—but the phoenix said she's a
púca
, so earth. And that guy across from you?
He's a
tengu
, a bird with power over wind. What are you?”

“Lightning,” Darren said, feeling a little sick.

Jai nodded knowingly. “Of course. Energy to bring the elements together.”

“But what do they want from us?” Darren asked.

“I don't know,” Jai replied. “Every time I start asking questions, they knock me out again.”

“Is that what happened to them?” Darren said, nodding toward the other kids, who were all still breathing in perfect, unsettling unison.

Jai shook his head. “No. It was worse. They tried to escape.”

Suddenly, Jai's shoulders stiffened, and even in the dimly lit room, Darren could see the fear flash through his eyes. “They're coming,” he murmured. “Be careful!”