Chapter 32
KAYE
I’ve never had such vivid dreams.
Of friends training together on the most perfect summer day, the scent of blossoms filling the air.
Of secret reveals, and stories untold.
Kitty hurt me.
The dank smell of dirt and refuse in a cold, claustrophobic cell. The tang of blood still fresh in the air.
You’ll know without a doubt that you can count on each other…
A wave of flames licking up warehouse walls in the night. I’m not alone. He’s there with me. Always there with me.
The shadow that follows me. The predator in the night.
Let me take you to safety, Checkmate.
Warm, coffee-colored eyes turning strangely alien. Violet and cold.
Stark whiteness, and a mask made all the more disturbing by its blank facade.
I wake with a jolt, the memory of that piercing pain new and fresh in my mind. I gasp with the ache of it, sitting up so quickly my head begins to throb and lights dance in my eyes.
“Easy, Kitty. Easy.”
Relief washes over me as I see him. Cooper. The world’s best big brother; a smile on his face that could light the city sky.
“How?” I let the question hang in the air. I close my eyes again as a fresh wave of pain descends in my head, radiating from frontal lobe to cerebellum. It passes after a moment or two, and I take the opportunity to study my surroundings.
The room is small and bright, filled with artificial light. Medical equipment lines the walls. The bed is plush. The linens surrounding me are real too. I brush my palm across the sheets, marveling at the texture.
“You had an accident.” Cooper shifts forward in his chair, his fingers reaching for mine where they are wrapped in the cover. “I thought I might lose you.”
An accident?
“What kind of accident?” I ask.
“We’re together now—that’s all that matters.” The corners of his mouth turn up in an almost-smile. He looks tired. Probably been working too many nights again, and here he is visiting me in the hospital.
Is that where I am? The hospital?
“I feel strange.” I shift on the bed, pulling my knees up to my chest. “What happened? Why am I here?”
The last thing I remember is putting on my suit and—
Shit! I’m still wearing it. Whatever happened was bad enough to knock me out in the worst possible moment. And Cooper—fuck, everyone!—must know my secret now.
My fingers wrap into the hem of the sheets, pulling them closer, up over my chest as if I could take back what he’s seen. What they all must certainly know by now.
“I can explain.” I cringe at how that must sound.
His palm folds warm and steady around my fingers, and all the unsaid excuses die on my tongue. He ducks his head, waiting patiently for me to overcome my nerves and look at him directly in the eye. “I already know.”
“You know?”
The corners of his lips fold up in the approximation of a smile. Something in it doesn’t quite ring true. “I’ve known for some time now. I have to be honest, Kitty. I don’t approve.”
I suck in a breath, a sharp ache piercing my chest. He’s my brother—of course he wouldn’t like anything that involves me being in danger, and there are plenty of Checkmate critics.
I’m still proud to do it, even if it is lonely work.
Of course there’s always been some part of me that wondered what my family’s reaction would be if they found out.
I just thought they would get it. They’d be proud too.
“Running around with Zane Maxwell. Causing trouble. What were you thinking?”
Zane. Maxwell.
The name conjures a hundred images in my mind. A rooftop and a cityscape. A journal. None of them make any sense, like sifting through someone else’s memories. Dreams from another life. Are they real?
A dark cell. The stench of death ripe in the air. Blood on my shoes.
But then—
—Nothing.
“Coop, how did I get here? Where are we?”
Thirty seconds pass. A minute. All while Cooper stares at the wall just beyond me, thinking God knows what, and the feeling in my stomach turns more and more sour.
Until it turns to anger. “What aren’t you telling me?”
He sniffs, looks down at the watch at his wrist. “Enough time has passed now. I’m surprised you don’t remember more. At least your injuries have healed nicely. We can thank your powers for that though. I gave them a little boost. You’re welcome.”
Cooper’s smart. The top of every class. He’s never thrown it in anyone’s face though. He was always the person who wouldn’t judge you if you asked to copy his notes or for a tutoring session. I’ve never heard him brag even once. This… This isn’t him.
“Coop—”
“I’ll show you,” he cuts me off. “But you have to promise to behave. I’d hate to have to put you back together a second time, and I’m not sure your body could handle the serum again so soon.”
I want to tell him exactly where he can put that threat, but my mind is moving too quickly to process. A serum.
Violet eyes glowing, electric.
“Besides, poor Zane is dying to say hello.”
I debate not going along with whatever this is but he’s already pulling me up after him, his grip firm on my fingers, choking them.
Dizziness immediately fills my brain so intense that for a moment all I can think about is staying upright even as my feet slip out from under me in my brother’s wake.
He’ll always look out for me.
There aren’t any windows here either. Rigid lines of cinderblock greet me on either side. They seem to go on and on forever. Antiseptic is strong in the stagnant air, burning against the sensitive skin on my nose.
“You can’t imagine how busy I’ve been,” Cooper comments as we walk. “The serum I gave you this morning was just a start. I’m changing the world.”
Doors dot either side of us, with only slim panes of glass to peer through.
I look into the next one and immediately need to take a step back, the urge to gag so strong that I retch from the sight within.
The deformed figure of the man in the room no longer looks like he was once human.
Layers of skin peel away from his form to leave long, infected gashes all over his body, green with puss.
Like someone had flayed the tissue with an old, rusty razor.
Every inch or so across his complexion a peek of the characteristic gray hue of skin gives away the cause of his suffering.
The putrid smell of the rot permeates through the door, like sulfur mixed with compost and burning hair, and when the man opens his eyes, there is nothing in them but two large, bloody holes.
“For a small percentage, negative side effects can go along with some of the benefits. Sometimes I encourage them.” Cooper pulls me away, toward the end of the hall where a large, open room awaits.
“There will always be casualties while progress is being made—that’s just a natural part of life.
How many people died while we were discovering the flu vaccine?
And I think you’ll agree that the results are highly beneficial, having experienced them yourself. ”
Dread and understanding sink into the pit of my stomach, the echo of the voices I thought I had dreamed ringing in my ears. “How could you?”
“Stop being so overdramatic. I used the purified version. Nothing was ever going to happen to you.” He rolls his eyes at me like I’m being a petulant child rather than having justified reactions.
“Besides, if I hadn’t done something you would be dead right now, even with your special powers.
Though, they’re what got you into this mess to begin with.
“Oh, and you’re welcome,” he snaps. “That’s twice now that I have saved your life already, little sis.”
“GET AWAY FROM HIM.”
Zane.
My eyes find him immediately, drawn like a magnet.
He is strapped to a sinister-looking leather medical chair.
Cold, sterile, silver instruments fill every inch of flat surface and menacing vials of gelatinous liquid in bright neon rainbow colors decorate the walls.
Small rolling tables litter the ground every few feet in the space.
The air crackles on my skin, so thick with chemical vapers that I imagine it would take very little to ignite.
Several computer monitors flash random numbers across their screens and a soft beep emanates from an IV monitor attached to Zane’s arm.
His eyes are wide open, angry and frightened.
The white mask that hunts my nightmares sits on a tray table beside him.
Blood drips slowly down his cheek from a long gash on the left side of his temple.
His normally pristine attire is covered with ichor and filth so thick it embosses the slick black fabric of his suit.
Several fingers are bent at sickening angles on his left hand.
“God, Cooper.” My voice cracks on his name. “How did you get involved in all of this?”
Zane groans, his expression turning pained and imploring. “He’s C.”
Cooper looks at me, his eyes dark and dangerous, like a farmer about to slaughter a sheep. Devoid of any humanity. And I know. Of course, I know.