Catalyst (10 page)

             
“The consequences are to leave the bunker, Danny. That was the punishment we set to detour people from doing this to each other
.” I sighed in
frustration and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Ok, we’ll deal with that later. For now, take off the compulsion. We’ve got to deal with Margo. She’ll only get worse and it’s cruel to let her suffer like that.”

             
With the mark, the patch, the Lighters control you with a compulsion as well. The patch just makes you their eyes but the compulsion does the deed they want done. Once the deed is done, the compulsion is still there because of the patch and can’t be reversed or removed wit
hout death to the subject. B
ecause the compulsion is still there t
o finish a task, but there’s no
task to be done anymore, it drives the subject crazy. Margo has been slowly degrading in t
hat back room and it’s only right
to end her suffering, though it me
ans her death. Technically, she was dead already, but it would
be hard for Celeste to understand that.

             
He nodded and walked to Celeste. He framed her face with his hands. She smiled
up
at him.

             
“I’m sorry. I did what I thought was best for you,” he said softly and then closed his eyes, his mind reaching out to hers.

             
Her smile changed and so did her eyes. If I hadn’t been so wrapped up in Sherry, I might have seen
the compulsion in her eyes
making them glassy and blank. She understood everything immediately. With D
anny’s kind of compulsion, that was how it worked
. Since he had to tell her to stop, it made her aware that something had happened. Therefore, he didn’t have to explain anything to her. Her mind was already aware.

             
“Danny,” she squeaked. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

             
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, baby.”

             
“I could’ve spent the day with her while you were gone. I could’ve gotten a few more hours with her! And now, they’re going to kill her!”

             
“She’s not herself, Celeste. She’s not your mom right now.”

             
“Yes she is! It’s not fair. I should get to say if she lives or dies!” She looked around at us all, all the Keepers standing around, to her looking very much like executioners.

             
Right then, I felt like one.

             
“Baby, listen,
” Danny tried again,
“
you know she wouldn’t want this. She wouldn’t want to be stuck in some Lighter compulsion making her do things that she doesn’t want to do.”

             
He tried to hold her, grabbing her upper arms
,
but she wrenched away.

             
“You don’t know! You don’t know anything about it. Sh
e wants to live.” Her tears streamed down her face. “That’s what she wants; to live and
not to be murdered by the people who claimed they were here to help us! Murderers!”

             
She collapsed despairingly on the floor, heaving and sobbing loudly. Danny sat next to her and pulled her close. She only fought for a few seconds and then clung to him and sobbed even louder into his neck. He looked nauseas and regretful, but it wasn’t his fault.

             
She was out of her mind over Margo, he was right about that.

             
I would never say anything to him about it, but l
ooking at the situation like that, I thought
he did the right thing. She was too grief str
icken to be left alone like that
. With all of us leaving, she needed to be stable
while we were gone. Now, she could
deal with her grief and Danny wa
s here to ferry her through it.

             
Kay came to kneel beside her and rubbed her back.

             
“Ok. Come on, Celeste. Let’s go see Margo,” she suggested and tried to coax her to stand.
             
Celeste looked up at her and nodded reluctantly. She let Danny pull her up off the floor and then pull her under his arm as we all walked together in a sad procession.

             
Margo was squatted down
leaning on the wall i
n a corner. H
er hair was all scr
aggly like she’d been pulling at it. She was scratching long lines down her arms and some of them were bleeding. Her hands twitched.

             
“Oh, mom,” Celeste said in a sob and then turned towards us with fresh tears rimming her eyes. “Oh
,
God
,
help her, please. I can’t- I was wrong. I’m sorry about all the stuff I said. Please, just help her.”

             
Merrick. Who?

             
I knew what Jeff was asking. Who? Which human was going to do it because the Keepers couldn’t touch the patch.

             
I’ll call Miguel.

             
I did and explained why we needed him. We waited for a minute while Celeste tried not to look at her mom. He came and looked at Celeste sadly for a second before coming to stand by me.

             
“Don’t look at her eyes,” I told Miguel, remembering he’d been scratched before by a Marker as well as Sherry.

             
It hurts the ones who had
been marked.

             
“W
ait,” Marissa materialized in the doorway, “m
aybe I can help.”

             
“Sweetie,” Jeff said slowly. “You can’t help this, don’t get Celeste’s hopes up.”

             
“No. No, I’m sorry, n
ot that. I mean...I can help with some
thing else. Remember at the M
ayor
’
s manor you told me that one compulsion overrides the other?”

             
I knew where she was going with it and so did Jeff, he shook his head.

             
“Normally, yes, but not this. The patch is...i
t’s like it’s hard wired into their brain. We’ve tried
before
. There’s no way to reverse it or stop
the compulsion. You might be able to
stave
off the pull for a few seconds i
f you concentrated all your focus on it, but-”

             
“Yes! That’s what I’m tal
king about. I want to do that; l
et Celeste and Margo have even a few seconds where Margo is coherent. To say goodbye.”

             
It’s worth a try.

             
Jeff apparently didn’t agree with me. He looked at me sharply.

             
I still think
it’s getting Celeste
's
hopes up. And it’ll drain Marissa of a lot of energy to pull that off.

             
She wants to. She wants to help.

             
Would you let Sherry?

             
Could I stop her?

             
His mouth pursed and he quirked an eyebrow.

             
Touché.

             
He looked at Marissa for a long minute.

             
“You know what this will do to you, don’t you?” he asked her softly.

             
“Yes. It’s worth it.”

             
“What are you talking about?” Celeste asked fretfully. “What can you do?”

             
Marissa looked to Jeff and he nodded, then sh
e explained it all to Celeste; a
bout how compulsion works, about one compulsion canceling out the other. About what she thought she might could do so she could have a minute with her mom before we had to let her go.

             
Celeste nodded, understanding and stepped towards her mom a little bit.

             
“Ok, why don’t we give them some space?” I said and we all started to move out.

             
“Merri
ck, Kay, s
tay,” Danny said, not looking our way.

             
“I’m staying, too,” Jeff said and took up a stance near Marissa
that dares someone to tell him otherwise. Marissa
knelt beside Margo on the floor.

             
So, Miguel, Danny, C
eleste, Kay, Jeff, Ma
rissa and I
watched and waited to see if Marissa could pull off what she proposed.

             
She
touched Margo’s hand carefully
so as not to scare her. Margo looked at her like she didn’t know her at all. Then she looked at Celeste with the same expression.

             
“Mom?”

             
“Who are you? I need to...
I’m supposed to tell someone. I’m supposed to... I’m important. To save her. To catch her. To take her,” Margo mumbled and Celeste whimpered.

             
“Do it,” Celeste ordered in a whisper.

             
Marissa closed her eyes and her whole body convulsed as she tried to undo the compulsion on Margo. You could almost se
e the energy surrounding them, t
he power of it. Marissa began to breathe heavy. Jeff moved forward to stop her.

             
Wait. Just a few more seconds. I think she’s onto something. Can’t you feel that?

             
I could literally feel a little current on my skin and a hum of static in the air. Jeff looked pained
,
but listened to me and held off. He moved to sit behind Marissa and steadied her as she began to sway. Then, what we’d all been waiting for happened.

             
Margo sat up straight and looked right at her daughter.

             
“Celeste,” she breathed.

             
“Mom
ma
?”

             
“Oh, Celeste. I’m so sorry.”

             
“It’s not your fault, M
om
ma
,” Celeste said crying and sniffling. “None of this is.”

             
“But I hate it just the same.” She grabbed Celeste’s hands. “It’s coming back. I can already feel it. Listen-”

             
“No
, M
om
ma
, just hold on, ok?”

             
“I can’t, honey. It’s coming. I need to tell you some things. I’m s
orry for what I did to Sherry…s
o very sorry.” She let the tears fall from her eyes and didn’t wipe them. “But, the Lighters didn’t see. They put too many patches on too many of us, all spread out. They didn’t know which location we were at, they didn’t know what they were seeing. You’ll be safe here.”

             
“Mom, no,” Celeste croaked.

             
“Did you find Sherry?
” she asked me.

             
“Yes. She’s here. She’s ok.”

             
“Oh, thank God. Ok.” She nodded and swallowed, then pressed on. “Also,” she look
ed at Celeste and held her gaze,
“I don’t want this. Let them let me die.”

             
“No!”

             
“Yes. Baby, you don’t know what it’s like with this thing in my mind. I’m being pulled in two, trapped inside myself. Please. I know I screwed up. I’m so sorry. I thought I was protecting you.”

             
“Mom
ma, just
wait.
We can figure something-”

             
“No, Celeste. I want you to be happy. I don’t want you to be angry and resentful. You know where I’m headed and I’m ready.” She turned and took Danny’s hand. “I’m so glad she met you. I couldn’t have asked for a better son-in-law. Be good to each other.” He nodded and she reached up and hugged Celeste tightly. “I love you so much. I am sorry. I want you to know you were the most precious thing in my life. You were so...” She trailed off and the glassiness and blankness returned to her eyes instantly, she looked up at Celeste. “Must be afternoon. I feel a nap coming on, but I’m so busy. So very busy. The store. Must save her. Must take her.”