Gypsy (The Cavy Files Book 1) (38 page)

We can help her. We
have
to help her.

“Okay, when’s the best time to try to get in? I don’t think we should leave her there any longer than we absolutely have to.” Mole’s insistence that Flicker’s time is short has never wavered. He doesn’t have any proof, just a feeling, but that’s good enough for me. For all of us.

“Tonight? In the middle of the night, when everything’s quiet?” Goose suggests.

Polly shakes her head. “I don’t think so. They’re the government, which means they’ve got the tech advantage. Night gives them the edge—they have night-vision stuff, plus if things go bad and they kill us, there won’t be anyone around to notice.”

“I think the fewer pedestrians, the better. Even though that part of town is mostly warehouses, it’s not far from the aquarium. The last thing we need is a bunch of tourists and their kids getting a front-row seat while we display our abilities. Think of the fallout.” Haint looks sick.

“Then again, if that happened, the government couldn’t hide the truth about us anymore.” It’s the first time I’ve thought about
not
hiding. Well, not the first time I’ve thought about it for me, but the first time I’ve wondered if we could
all
live without concealing what makes us unique.

“Don’t be stupid, Norah. Nothing’s changed, and even though the Philosopher might have lied about our mutations being an accident and who he worked for, I agree about what people would do if they knew about us.” Pollyanna’s knuckles turn white against her jeans. “They’d beg the government to lock us up and throw away the key.”

“Okay, so if we don’t go at night but still want to minimize visibility, what does that leave? Sunrise?” Athena ignores our argument, which in effect means he sides with Pollyanna and my argument isn’t even worth a reply.

I don’t expect it to be any different. They’re probably right, anyway, and if people find out the truth about one of us, they find out about all of us. I won’t be exempt because I’m not dangerous.

“Okay, so dawn tomorrow. Warehouse at the port.” Geoff raises his eyebrows. “But how do we get in? Even early, they’re going to have security, probably manpower and machines.”

“Lucky for us, we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves.” Athena flexes his muscles. Goose zips around the room in the blink of an eye, stirring up dust.

“I think we’ve got to be prepared for the fact that our mutations might not help.” Haint’s stomach is missing, leaving her chest and head and a pair of crossed legs. As we wait for her to continue, her stomach comes back and she erases her hands. “I mean, Dane’s ability to block us is weakening, I’m guessing because of the injections, but it’s not gone. Won’t the people handling Flicker have the same protection?”

“Why? What’s she going to do to them?”

“Think about it. All those years at Darley she had trouble staying put. Constantly teleporting without meaning to and taking days to find her way back. If she can’t use her ability, she can’t leave unless they want her to.” Mole’s lips press together.

I hate the way it sounds, too. Although I’ve spent a lot of time wishing to not be different, my mutation isn’t just something that happened to me. It’s
part of me, and even though I’ve felt relief at its loss around Dane, the lasting effect would be helplessness.

It has to be the same for Flicker. Like losing a security blanket.

“They didn’t count on the injections. They’re a wild card, making us stronger, if harder to control.”

“We’re evolving, passing up their countermoves,” Geoff muses. “But I still don’t think we should count on it. It’s too patchy.”

“I say we make a plan that utilizes our mutations to the best of our advantage, but make sure that at least some of us stay out of range in case we need backup.”

We agree with Haint and set to work, pulling up a map of Concord Street on her iPad. There’s no street view, which is frustrating, and there’s not much but a series of warehouses and a giant parking lot. The Port Authority has a few offices and checkpoints in the area, but they’re a little farther down the block.

“I think we should stick together as much as possible,” I say, glancing around for approval. “If Haint or Goose go alone again and get caught because they can’t perform, we’re just going to end up with two or three people to rescue instead of one.”

“Agreed.” Mole flashes a smile my direction, one devoid of all the stress and conflict of the previous few weeks, and it makes my heart grow three sizes. “The trick will be to stay far enough away to be able to use our abilities, but close enough to be able to step in.”

There’s a cohesion to our group that has only been present in fits and starts since we left Darley. It’s warm and comfortable, familiar and safe. Even though we’re about to walk into the unknown, perhaps ending up captured and used, at least we’re together.

“It’s still best if I try to stay invisible,” Haint argues. “And if Goose can, it makes sense for him to speed around and locate Flicker.”

“Right,” Geoff agrees. “But what if he finds her and she’s locked up, and we need Pollyanna to try convincing a guard to give up the keys or something?”

“We have Athena. He and Goose’s connection is strong and that shouldn’t be affected.” Mole seems confident that our ability to use our gifts on one another won’t be blocked.

“If Haint’s going to be invisible and Goose is going to try to sneak inside, the rest of us should create a diversion.” My mind whirrs and ticks, leaps ahead. “Geoff can throw stuff around, Mole can blow up a few crates or something. If guards show up, Pollyanna should be able to influence them in some interesting ways.”

It makes sense that their agents, the ones they know are dealing with us, will be prepped with whatever nullifies our abilities, but I wouldn’t think regular security would need to be. Outside the building, our chances for using them are much better.

“What about you?” Mole watches me, and there’s a tenderness in the set of his shoulders, as though he wants to protect me from the fact that I’m more liability than asset.

It makes me love him more than I ever have, but it’s also useless. I can’t be inconsequential anymore. I can’t put them at risk, and if I’m a Cavy, I do my part. “I’m going with Goose. Two heads are better than one.”

“You’ll slow me down.”

“That’s okay. You zip around, I’ll do a slower search. You find her first, come get me, and vice versa.”

He would find her first, and it wouldn’t take more than a couple ticks of the clock for him to get back to me. Then we could free Flicker together.

“I’m not convinced that making a scene at the outset is the best idea. What if Goose can get in, get Flicker, and get out before they even know we’re there? Haint can keep watch, warn us if they’re onto us.” Athena shrugs, the tips of his ears pink. “I mean, I’m not saying I’m not up for a fight, but why risk it?”

“Maybe, but we don’t know what kind of countermeasures there are going to be, or what variables we’re dealing with. Like, how many people will be inside? Will Goose lose his light-speed as soon as he steps through the doors?” Mole shakes his head. “We can’t risk it. We need to draw as many of them outside as we can and then keep them busy.”

Pollyanna nods. “Go on the offensive.”

It’s quiet for a few moments, then Haint looks around, meeting all our gazes in turn. We nod in response to her silent question, the one we all hear, all feel.
Are you in?

We’re in. For Flicker. For us.

For the chance to know the truth about where we come from and maybe, just maybe, what we can expect from our futures.

We don’t talk about what happens afterward, even though there’s no way we can return to these lives after we steal an Asset from the government. We won’t be able to go home as though nothing happened.

We all know that, even though we don’t say it aloud. I wonder if I’m the only one who’s sorry.

My phone rings in the middle of the night, but I’m already awake. I can’t stop sweating, for one thing, and am lying on the floor in nothing but shorts and a tank top, but mostly it’s the thought of the morning’s adventure that’s got me too riled up to sleep.

“Hello?”

“Hey.” It’s Mole. “You awake?”

“Yeah. What’s up?”

“I want to go and see Jeannie. Gills. Let her know what’s going down tomorrow, see if there’s anything she can tell us that we don’t know.” He pauses. “I don’t know why they never contacted us again, and maybe she’s going to be pissed, but I don’t really care.”

“Okay.” Dane’s veiled warning, the suggestion that the Olders are not what they appear, tickles my worry. Still, it’s not a bad idea. Nothing is more valuable than information right now. “You want me to come?”

“I was hoping you’d offer.”

“Give me half an hour.”

“Gypsy?” he says the second before I hang up.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t walk. Call a cab. It’s the middle of the night.”

“Gotcha.” His concern makes me smile as I hang up with him and dial a taxi company, requesting they meet me at the corner of Water and Meeting in ten minutes.

I get dressed, grab my coat, turn off the alarm, and slip into the hazy, cold December night. The streets are deserted, shiny from the fog, but even in the middle of the night, Charleston doesn’t feel dangerous. It takes fewer than five minutes to get to the end of the block, and thirty seconds after that, a taxi pulls up and verifies my name, like I arranged on the phone.

Mole’s waiting in front of his group home, wearing mismatched shirt and pants. We could walk from here, since we’re together, but we’re supposed to meet the other Cavies before dawn. There’s no time to waste.

The driver drops us on King Street; it’s glowing under the streetlamps, like a postcard. The dark storefronts peer at us like empty eye sockets, tracking our progress down the block and up the steps to Jeannie’s apartment.

She answers after five minutes of grumbling, but the half-ash cigarette between her lips makes me think we didn’t wake her up. The way she narrows her eyes at our appearance doesn’t convey surprise so much as annoyance, but she opens the door to let us in anyway.

We sit on the smoky couch in the living room this time. The place doesn’t seem quite so small with only three of us inside. She watches us in the glow of the television, which is tuned to some twenty-four-hour shopping network. “Well? You gonna tell me why you’re here in the middle of the night? You have questions about Cavy sex? Because let me tell you, you should.”

“What?” I shoot a glance at Mole, one full of mortification. “No.”

“Cripes, Gypsy, I can feel you blushing,” Mole snaps. “It’s not that crazy of a question.”

“No, it’s crazy.” I take a deep breath, trying to cool off my embarrassment, and turn back to Gills. “We found a building where the government might be keeping Flicker, the girl from our generation who’s been missing.”

“We’re going after her in the morning,” Mole adds, picking up the story. “One of the agents we’ve met has a kind of nullifying effect on our abilities, though, so we’re worried they won’t work. We were wondering if there’s anything you can tell us about this agency, or the serum you gave us, that might help us.”

She takes three long drags of her cigarette, until ashes hang precariously off the end. “Where?”

“Concord Street. By the Port Authority,” I supply. I hold my breath, only partly because of the smoke. “Do you know anything about it?”

“That’s one of theirs, all right.” Another two drags, then she stubs it out and lights another. “This agent you’ve run into… his name?”

“Dane Kim,” Mole supplies.

“The one at the fancy-pants high school? He blocks your gifts?” When we nod, my mouth open a little at how much Jeannie knows, she continues. “They developed that little trick several years back, but it’s hard on the system. Not everyone can handle it, and the Olders came up with a counteradjustment two years ago. The serum should have given you the ability to overcome it.”

“We’re starting to, but it’s kind of hit or miss.” Mole picks at his cuticles. “Why didn’t you get back to us after the other day?”

Gills is quiet for a long time, finishing her second cigarette before answering. “I’m not sure I should say, but maybe there’s no harm. We’ve been watching you, and listening, and Chameleon worries that you’ve been compromised. That you’re turning willing Asset, maybe already are, and they’re using you to lure the Olders into the open.”

My head shakes of its own accord. “That’s not true. All we want is to help Flicker. They’ve been hurting her, making her do things for them, keeping her trapped. Everything we’ve done since we found out is to find her.”

Her blank, steady gaze pins me down. “You’re one of the main suspects. Been running into that Agent Kim pretty often in the past two weeks.”

“Because his job is
spying.
He’s tried to recruit us, but don’t worry. He knows I’m not interested.”

She ignores me, taking a lengthy pause, but doesn’t light another cigarette. “Your gifts may work tomorrow morning, they may not. Can’t promise anything, including that your tenth is in that warehouse.” Another lengthy pause, but she doesn’t light up again, thank goodness. “It could be a trap, you know. They’re aware you took Agent Kim’s laptop and files.”