Elevated (Book 1): Elevated (23 page)

“All he’s ever wanted is to get rid of both Jason and me.”

“But why?”

“Maddock heard of my research. There are so many things you aren’t being told, Rose. No one is. We can predict things. Vague right now, but we can prevent—”

“Prevent Unsounds.”

“How did you know?”

“I hacked into Maddock’s computer.”

Dad looks surprised, than laughs. “Mischief runs in the family I see.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Elliott says.

“So he kept me alive as bait,” Dad says. “Figured Jason would eventually try to break me out.”

“And so he had a whole team of people tracking him,” Aaron says. “Jex, I mean, Jason always said he was being hunted.”

Dad shakes his head. “Don’t think so. Not sure, but the only people who knew of my research were Jason and Maddock. Top secret. Hard to prevent it from leaking out if you don’t tell a lot of people about it.”

“So all the government conspiracies were a lie,” Elliott says. “Lies from Jason’s imagination to throw off the fact that his goal is to destroy the system from within.”

Aaron pounds the glass. “No, it’s not true. There’s more going on. How do we know that Maddock didn’t tell anyone?”

“Why can’t you just admit that you were duped?” Elliott says.

“Stop it!” I yell and stand between them. “There’s no point fighting about this now.”

“This is all my fault,” Dad says. “I tried escaping, I really did. But Maddock threatened to kill you if I did. He made sure I didn’t say anything in our conversations to let you know the truth. To arouse suspicion could end up causing an investigation. He told me he had someone watching you all the time, making sure I wasn’t giving you any secrets.”

“Mr. Roberts,” I say, the name like tar in my mouth.

Dad nods. “Mom told me all about him. He’s worse than you think. Anyway, you must have caught on to my secret messages because he cut me off.”

It connects in my head. The day after I told Mr. Roberts I suspected the messages, I was told Sad was dead. He didn’t love Mom, he was hired to spy on me. “I found the chip.”

Dad lurches up. “You didn’t give it to Jason, did you?”

“No of course not. You told me to keep it safe.” I pull it out of my pocket and hand it to him.

He relaxes and holds it to his chest. “It’ll be safe here.”

“We can work on it together when we get out,” I say.

“Rose, I don’t think that will be possible,” Dad says.

A loud alarm blares through the room.

“What is that?” Aaron asks.

“The building will implode soon,” Dad says. “Probably in about five minutes. Maddock has what he wanted. The only two people who hold the research will be dead.”

I clutch my dad closer. Holding onto him. It’s not fair. At last I found him and there is so little time left. I want to ask him his favorite ice cream flavor, or his favorite song. I want to show him the beautiful garden growing in my room.

Zach flies up to the ceiling. “Guys, there’s a door up here!”

“This room wasn’t designed for Fliers I guess,” Elliott says.

Zach pulls on the handle, but it doesn’t budge.

“It’s locked from the other side,” Dad says. “It’s just a narrow opening anyway. A machine spits out food down the chute.”

Zach stays up there, floating. “I hear something!”

We look up, and the door flies open. A strange blob rolls out, and unfolds into Shelly.

Aaron jumps back and braces against the wall. “What in the world?”

“A Squeezer,” Dad says. “Never seen one before.”

“How can I get you out?” Shelly asks

“There’s a panel on the wall, the code is 4-2-9-1. I’ve watched him punch that in so many times,” Dad says.

I watch in amazement as Shelly’s body stretches through the tiny gap between the windowpanes.

“No wonder Squeezers are Unsounds,” Aaron says. “How could anyone keep them from going wherever they want?”

Shelly runs over to the panel, hits the button, and drops the window. We race out of the room. Aaron turns around and looks at Jex, who is starting to get up.

I pull him into the hallway. “We have to go.”

Aaron shakes his head, but follows behind me.

“Hurry!” Zach says, flying in front of us.

“Hang on,” Aaron says, “I’ll lead. We want to get out of here after all.”

We take the same winding route as before, twisting past the empty beds and living rooms. The hallways feel smaller now, and the constant alarm reminds my feet to keep moving. As we twist and turn, I get the feeling that we’re traveling in circles.

“Turn left,” Zach says behind me.

“No, it’s the other way,” Aaron says.

“Zach’s right, look see, there’s the screen,” I say, pointing at the screen I activated earlier.

Big letters on the display read:

Defense Sequence: Unsound

2 minutes remaining

Aaron yells. “Two minutes!”

We keep going, but the hallways seem longer than ever. I feel my lungs packing up; I won’t be able to keep up this pace much longer. I hear a crash behind me and see Zach stumble to the ground.

“Zach!” screams Shelly, turning around.

Dad and Elliott pull her out of the building. “Keep going!”

I turn around, grab for his hand, and try to yank him up. But he won’t budge.

“I’m stuck!” he says. “Get out of here!”

I fumble with my flashlight to find his wings pinned between two bars in the wall. His attempt to fly through wedges him further. “Stop flapping!”

Grabbing his wings, I thread them through the bars.

“Hurry, Rose!”

 There’s a lurch as he scoops me up and I float off the ground. Zach holds me in his arms.

“We’re almost there, hang on,” he says.

I see it. Outside. It’s so close. But how much time do we have left? The blue walls sparkle from our flashlights. If this has to be the last thing I see, I could choose worse.

We burst out of the building, trying to put as much distance between it and ourselves as possible.

It’s quiet. The alarm has stopped.

“RUN!”

We dash together into the forest. As we reach the tree line, an enormous explosion behind us blows through my eardrums and catapults my body out of the air. I land on the dirt with a hard thump. Dad hits a root and topples to the ground. He lies there for a moment.

“Dad, are you ok?”

I hear him laughing, as he grabs some dirt and lifts it up in the air. “You know how long it’s been since I’ve gotten dirty?”

“Everyone ok?” asks Elliott.

I hear groans of approval. Zach picks himself off the ground, his wings looking bent, probably from trying to force them through the bars. Then I hear Aaron screaming in pain. A huge tree branch landed on his leg. We pull it off him as he moans.

“We need to get him to a hospital,” Dad says. “It might be broken.”

Zach and Elliott lift him up and stagger towards the car.

A horrible thought occurs to me. “We don’t have keys to the car.”

“Oh, we don’t, do we?” Elliott says, jingling some keys as he pulls them out of his pocket. Must have swiped them from Jex when he was knocked out. “I’ll drive.”

“Good idea,” Dad says. “I haven’t driven in twelve years. Probably get us killed in minutes.”

I scan the area, remembering the horrific creatures we encountered on the way to Sapphire Ward.

“We’d better go now,” I say as we enter the car. “There’s a pack of something or other heading this way.”

“How do you know?” my dad asks, buckling his seatbelt.

“I’m a Scanner,” I say.

His face lights up. “Wow, that’s great.”

Elliott cranks the engine and the car charges into the forest. I turn back to look at Aaron, who’s still wincing in pain. He’s looking out at the rubble of what is left of Sapphire Ward.

“I thought I knew him,” Aaron says.

Dad reaches over and takes Aaron’s hand. “I thought I did too.”

***

It’s a rough ride, but we make it back the perimeter wall. We start to jump out of the car and walk over towards the tall fence.

“Now what?” Aaron says, still sitting in the car.

Zach unfurls his wings, grunting in pain.

“No, Zach, you’re hurt,” Shelly says.

“I’m just a bit tired.”

He lifts himself off the ground, and floats upwards. After a minute or two, he lands.

“I’m not 100 percent, but I should be alright,” Zach says. “Aaron, how about you first?”

“Why me?”

“If I can get you over the wall, I should be able to get anyone.”

Aaron smirks. “I think he’s insulting me.”

Zach leans down in front of the car and Elliott and Dad lift him onto his back. Zach grumbles and moans but takes off and soon they float over the wall.

“Thank you,” Shelly says.

“For what?” I say.

Shelly’s mouth quivers. “For saving his life.”

I don’t know how to respond. So I nod.

“Oh, good,” she says, as he comes back over the fence.

We take turns sailing over. Dad goes first, followed by Elliott, then me. I savor the moment of flying with Zach. With his strong arms around me, I feel completely at peace. The flight is over far too soon. And I have to endure Shelly's disgustingly dreamy expression as he picks her up and they fly down together.

“Now what?” Aaron asks, entertaining himself on his phone.

“Now we get you to an ER,” Dad says.

“Sure thing,” Aaron says, distracted by his phone.

“Still working on that awful blog?” I ask.

“It’s gotten a ton of hits,” Aaron says.

“Don’t come crying to me when the Elevateds come after you,” I say.

“Shouldn't we be going?" Elliott says, gesturing towards the car.

We file into Elliott’s car. Zach and Elliott pick up Aaron and sit him in the back. Elliott, Dad and me cram in the front, packed so tight I can't move my arms.

“Should have brought a bigger car," Elliott says as we drive out of the forest. "Where to?"

 Dad clears his throat. “First thing is to get Shelly to a place where she can split off and go home.”

“B-b-back home?” Shelly says.

“Yes,” Dad says. “You need to act like nothing has changed.”

“How can I do that?” Shelly says, eyes tearing up. “My dad just tried to m—”

“Your dad is dangerous, but only if he knows you were involved. He has no reason to suspect that. If you were to suddenly disappear, on the other hand—”

“So I just walk in like nothing’s happened?”

“That’s exactly what you need to do.”

“You’re leaving for college in a few months,” Zach says. “It won’t be long.”

Shelly nods.

“There’s a turnoff up ahead near Maddock’s house,” I say.

“You’ve been to Maddock’s house?” Dad asks.

“I’ve been busy,” I say.

"What about us?" Aaron asks.

"You guys need to see a doctor," I say.

“I want to help,” Aaron says.

"Me too," Zach says.

"You're going to the ER," Dad says. "No options."

"I'm fine," Elliott says.

"You need to help, Aaron," Dad says. "Rose and I can't go inside. We can't even be seen. I'm an escaped Unsound."

"What about us? We helped," Elliott says.

"Maddock doesn’t know you, Zach, or Aaron, right? He saw you for a few seconds. Doesn’t know your names or anything. And as far as he’s concerned, everyone in Sapphire Ward was killed.”

"Yeah," Aaron says, "that's true."

“So the best thing is for you to split off.”

“What will happen to you two?” asks Elliott.

“You’ve done enough,” I say. “All of you have. I can’t ever repay you.” 

“I don't want to leave you," Elliott says.

“Me neither,” Aaron says.

“You guys can stay,” Shelly says. “I’ve had enough fun for a while.”

After a few turns in the forest, Elliott stops the car.

“Good luck, Rose, Mr. Williams," she says as she opens the door.

"Before you go, can you do that shrinking thing, one more time?" Aaron asks.

"What?" Shelly says

I try to turn around, but I'm stuck.

"Do you think it's wise?" Dad asks.

"For all I know,” Aaron says, “they are going to arrest me when I reach the ER. Just one more time, please? Besides, you're going to have to stop doing it if you don't want to get caught."

"I'd like to see it too," Zach says.

"Well, ok."

I look at the side mirror and catch her morphing out of the car. Aaron giggles.

"What was that about?" I ask.

"Sorry, I just think it's kinda hot," Aaron says. "No offense Zach."

"None taken. I agree."

Boys.

Shelly knocks on the window and I roll it down. She holds her hand out. “A secret for a secret right?”

I nod.

She reaches in and hugs me. “You get out ok, alright?”

Elliott revs the engine again and we drive off. As I watch Shelly disappear behind us, I can see her wipe a tear from her eye. I wonder what kind of life she has in her future. Her powers will have to remain a secret. She won’t be able to slip up for a moment living under the roof of the head of GEMO Control.

We reach the ER and it takes a few more minutes to convince Elliott to leave us behind.

“As soon as you get your mom, you’ll need a place to stay,” he says. “I want you to come to my grandma’s house.”

“Elliott, you know we can’t do that.”

“Where else are you going to live? You need to hideout somewhere.”

Dad leans over. “I appreciate it, but we can’t endanger you anymore.”

"You'll let me know if anything happens, right?" he asks.

"Yes, yes, now help Aaron," I say. "And come up with a good reason for his broken leg.”

"I'll tell them that Zach and him were trying to create a video for his stupid blog," Elliott says.

I laugh.

As Aaron is pulled out of the back seat, he leans over and hands me his phone. "Take it. You might need to call someone."

"I have a phone, Aaron."

"But you might need one not in your name."

He places it in my hand and closes it. I'd like to think he's being melodramatic, but the idea of having a phone that doesn't trace back to me actually sounds quite clever.