Chapter 3
Something in Common
Willow waited until she felt people walking away from them before finally opening her eyes. Concerned that someone could be watching from a room elsewhere – and very aware that people had appeared not long after she had woken up the last time – she stayed still and scanned the room for cameras. When she realized that there was a wall beside her and just above her head, Willow moved her arm just enough to touch the wall next to her side. Once she was connected, she could tell where the electrical components were and which direction they were heading. Following that, she found the outlets along the wall. She managed to confirm all of the connections, and there were no monitoring devices along that wall. She closed her eyes, then raised her arm to touch the wall at her head. That assessment had the same results.
Opening her eyes again, she scanned the ceiling for cameras or implements that might alert people that she was awake. She also made sure to pay attention to reverberations that would indicate people were coming back down the hall. When she didn’t detect either monitoring tools or people coming her way, she finally sat up. Willow looked down at the metal surface and saw straps dangling down the side. It was like the gurney she had noticed in one of the rooms when she had been crawling through the facility. There weren’t the same instruments around it, though. The room was actually fairly empty. There was a trolley that was empty and a small area that she thought might be a restroom. There was nothing else in the room.
Next, she looked at the door. It had a window that people could look through to check on her and a small slit near the bottom. She guessed the slit was for food, and that suggested that the door only opened when people entered. There were no other windows or openings.
But I heard someone talking to me. How did he talk to me? He was trying to explain that, wasn’t he?
Before touching the floor, which she thought might have a trigger that would alert people that weight had shifted in the room, Willow decided to try to talk to the other prisoner.
“Hello? Are you there?”
There was no response.
“Are you okay over there?” The words mimicked what he had asked her after she had woken up. Again, there was no response.
Now she had to make a choice. It seemed fairly likely that the floor had specially made plates that would register movement. That would explain why people had reacted to her getting sick. Her eyes moved down to look at the spot where she thought there should be evidence of that event. There was nothing. It seemed that the people in the hazmat suits had done a good job of getting rid of her.
Before touching the floor, she looked around the room one more time. There was no sign of any kind of monitoring devices on the walls or in the ceiling, leaving her deciding that touching the floor would almost certainly trigger a response.
Willow removed her shoes and held them in one hand. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she lowered herself to the floor. When her feet touched the cold surface, she began trying to sense any type of plate or trigger. There was nothing. She opened her eyes and looked down at the floor.
If it wasn’t a weight trigger, how did they know that I was awake and that they needed to clean up in there? She shut her eyes again and let her senses move further along the floor. Sure enough, there was a very small trigger, and it was going off at that moment.
Her eyes flew open, and she knew that she didn’t have long before they came into the room. In the back of her mind, she wondered how the trigger hadn’t gone off when she had been crawling through the rooms. But it was hardly the focus of her thoughts since she knew that people would be marching toward her.
She turned and quickly moved toward the room where she knew the man had been left. Stepping up to the wall, she began to fade through, and it clicked in her mind. As long as she stayed in that state, the floor probably couldn’t pick up her presence. Praying that she was right, Willow walked through the wall.
It was like entering an entirely different place. There was more in the room than in hers, including a toilet, a small table, a comfortable-looking chair, and a lamp. It was more like a small hotel room than a place where prisoners were kept.
This must be where Nolan is being held. Of course, even when he’s been abducted, he’s treated so much better than everyone else.
She looked down and noticed the rug on the floor. Since she hadn’t allowed herself to fully materialize in the room, she hadn’t felt the change. It was possible that this room didn’t have a trigger, but she wasn’t about to test that theory and set it off.
Annoyance began to rise in her as she looked at the comfortable-looking corner with the comfy chair, lamp, and … a small bookcase. A part of her was curious as to what books were on it, but she knew it didn’t matter. The room was dimmer as if they didn’t want his eyes to be uncomfortable.
She closed her eyes and looked away for a moment.
Then she heard it. The people rushed to her room. Moving quickly, she hid near the door. If they were to check the window, they wouldn’t be able to see her. There was screaming and the sound of something being thrown around the room.
The doctor came back , she smirked. Guess you’ll be waiting a lot longer for your next victim. If I have any say, you’ll never have another chance to torment people who are different.
When she heard a commotion just outside the door, Willow moved over to hide behind the chair. It was incredibly uncomfortable as she had to hold herself in a state where she was actually in the chair because there wasn’t enough space behind it. Naturally, people looked toward the chair after they entered, but she was well hidden. If they had dropped to the ground and looked under the chair, they would have seen her, but of course, no one would think of that. No normal person would be able to hide there, so they would never think to look for her there.
They walked around the room, and then quickly left. As the last couple of people left, one of them muttered to the other, “There is no way she could have gotten into any other room. Why are we being forced to look through them?”
His words were cut off when the door slammed, but the sound of his screams let her know that the doctor had heard the guy’s complaints. She gritted her teeth because that meant that there would probably be people standing just outside the room. Unable to remain in the mixed state, she stood up and stepped forward. Carefully sitting on the chair, she hoped that no one would enter the room again. The only good thing about the people having been in the room was that she was able to add her own weight to the floor as they were leaving. All she could do once she was fully present in the room was wait to see if people re-entered the room.
While waiting, her eyes moved around the room, taking in more details. This time she noticed something that looked more like a bed. And there was a form under a blanket on it.
That must be Nolan. If it is, that should make it easier to get out of here because I won’t have to look for him. It’s a shame that he was the one expressing concern, though. The odds of him actually listening to me are slim. I guess the best I can do is tell him what I’ve done and let him decide what he wants to do. He’s probably not going to trust me after he knows, but he isn’t likely to listen to me even if he doesn’t know. Best to come clean and let him make an informed decision.
Some of the resentment was bubbling up and the memories of high school were making her rethink helping him. Nolan had always made it clear that he was superior to the other privileged kids in their school. His parents were incredibly wealthy and had deep roots in the community. In a school full of kids from wealthy families, he was still considered vastly superior to nearly everyone else. Neither of his brothers had the same attitude, as far as Willow could tell. She had just had the misfortune of being in the same grade level as the snobby son.
Apparently, even the abductors held him in higher regard as he had a much nicer room than she had. She couldn’t help but feel he would have an even worse opinion of her now that she had been disowned.
Well, you wouldn’t have to deal with his condescending attitude if you didn’t let money convince you to bug him.
The thought shut down her negative emotions toward Nolan, mostly because it was much easier to blame herself. And she wasn’t entirely wrong to do that since her actions were the reason they were in the current situation. At the very least, she had made it easier for them to take both of them.
Judging by what the doctor had said, they had other reasons for taking her beyond a ransom or to tie up some loose ends. Based on what her would-be tormentor had said, it didn’t even sound like they cared who her family was.
How did they know I was different? I never made my abilities known to anyone besides my parents and a couple of servants. And those people were entirely loyal to the family. That’s the only reason they knew. So … how could anyone know?
As she pondered this, Willow looked at the figure on the bed. If they had taken her because she was abnormal, did that mean that Nolan had other abilities? The thought was bizarre and not something she would have suspected back in high school. Then again, looking back, it made sense on some levels. He managed to break a number of records in sports and academics, excelling well beyond what his two older brothers had done. Perhaps he was able to manipulate things or somehow had an advantage that normal people didn’t have. She quickly shook her head. For all of his faults, it seemed impossible to think he had abilities that would make him more agile or clever than everyone else. She had seen him working hard at school, in the library, and at the computer long after everyone else had left. He continued studying rather than going home.
Nolan was a lot of things, but Willow didn’t believe he was a cheater.
His family’s money and power gave him advantages, but he was a really hard worker. The standards he had for others always seemed below the standards he had for himself.
As she considered these possibilities, Willow watched the figure under the blanket sleep. Not quite ready to talk to the guy who had taunted and belittled her when she was younger, she looked around the room again. She remembered the sound of fighting coming from this room and looked for signs of that. There weren’t any. Nothing was knocked over or appeared to be out of place. She had been fading in and out of consciousness, so it was possible that people had already cleaned up after the fight. Judging by how clean the place was, as well as how spotless the floor was in her room, this seemed likely.
Did they send in people in special suits for him, too? Or was it just for me?
She was yanked back to the present when she heard a voice outside the room directing people to the elevators to search for her on different floors. Willow strained her ears to hear what they were saying. It was good to know they were in the building. As far as she had seen, there weren’t windows, not that that indicated much. She had seen rooms that were cells, a torture room, and now a luxurious room that was still in a prison. Given the state that the other prisoner was in, it didn’t seem that they had spared any punishment and had potentially tortured him.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t hear well enough to determine where in the building she was.
As the people in the hallway seemed to be heading in different directions, Willow decided she needed to face what she had done. She flinched at the memory.
If only I had done something differently. I should have told him about the bug or warned him that people were after him. If I had, things might have turned out differently. But I did what was easiest. And now I’m being punished for that. I need to apologize before people come back and drag him away again.
Resolved to move forward, she silently approached the bed. Then she heard a soft groan, which made her stop and steel herself for what would happen next.
When she got close enough, Willow stifled the gasp at the sight of his face. Until that moment, she would not have believed it was impossible to feel sorry for Nolan Woodward. Now, she felt both incredibly guilty and upset because he had been badly beaten. Horrified, she turned away and glared at the door, almost hoping that someone would come in so that she could pay them back for what they had done. It didn’t matter if they had actually been a part of the attack – what mattered was that she felt that everyone who worked there was guilty. Nor did it matter that it was Nolan who was hurt – not even he deserved to be tortured. But what was really getting to her was the fact that she had had a hand it.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. It was supposed to be a prank. Now it looks like they are trying to kill him.
There was no point in getting angry. If anyone were to come into the room, she didn’t know how long she would be able to last. Her abilities could inflict harm but resorting to violence was not something she liked to do. And there was another reason to keep her abilities secret – it gave her a distinct advantage when it came to escaping. She figured it was only a matter of time before they realized what her ability was, and Willow wanted to cling to that advantage for as long as possible.
Deciding the best thing she could do at that moment was to tend to Nolan, Willow went to the sink and filled a small basin with water, then grabbed a washcloth from a shelf, shaking her head at how even as a prisoner, Nolan was treated better than others. However, she was thankful for that since it meant she could actually start to tend to his wounds, even if she had an adverse reaction to blood and gore. She had learned some first aid basics, and Willow was hoping that would be enough to help until she could get him to safety.
She placed the basin down near the bed and soaked the washcloth, then twisted it to squeeze out the excess water. As carefully as she could, Willow began to wipe away the blood on Nolan’s face.
Suddenly, a hand shot up and grabbed her wrist, and pain shot up her arm. She cried out, knocking the basin over as a pair of cold blue eyes glared at her.
“What are you doing?” Nolan’s cold voice was everything that she remembered from her past, and she tried to pull away from him, but his grip was like a vice, and trying to escape made the pain worse.
“Please let go,” she said, the pain in her wrist almost as bad as the fear she felt confronting the person who bullied her in high school.
His eyes moved to her wrist, and he let go. Willow crouched down, hugging her wrist to her chest, fearing it might be broken. Too afraid to look at it, she barely heard him talking to her as she turned and ran out of the room.