Homecoming Masquerade, The (21 page)

“Think about where you are,”
Melissa said. “In six short years, a little jackal from the streets becomes a
student in the Thorndike senior class? It just doesn’t happen that way.
Whatever path you think you’ve taken to get where you are, it has all been a
lie. Only a powerful force behind the scenes, an immortal from one of our rival
clans, someone like Falkon Dillinger or Fu Xi, could have orchestrated a rise
like this. How did you even get into Thorndike? Did you just fill out an
application and get a phone call? Did you even have to interview? Someone got
you in, Nicky. Someone wants you to do something while you’re here, and you
don’t even know what it is. Someone is getting you close to me or Renata or
Sergio, or maybe even Daciana. Perhaps you are gathering intelligence, or are
programmed to carry out a terrorist attack on the school. Maybe you’re here to
sabotage the Coronation contest. Maybe you’re going to do all these things and
more, and you don’t even know it. Whatever your purpose is, there are too many
coincidences in your life to assume that anything else is even possible. Tell
me, Nicky, do you remember what happened on the night you escaped from the
Farm?”

Did she remember running through
the swamp, getting bitten by a snake, collapsing under a tree and nearly dying?
Yes, she remembered all of these things, but she sensed this wasn’t the right
answer.

“No, I....” Nicky whispered.

Melissa smiled. Her fangs were
fully exposed now, as if she were ready to pounce on Nicky at any moment.

“When I tried to see into your
mind, your own reprogramming kicked in,” Melissa said. “That’s how it works.
I’ve replicated your case in the experiment. I’ve discovered the secret, and
I’m going to flush out whoever is behind you. You see, I’ve learned how to
crack open a mind that has been programmed to stay closed. My subjects opened
up when I spoke to them in the language that our inner animals understand.
Pain, anger, fear....so I’m going to ask you again, Nicky. Are you ready?”

“Ready for what?”

“Ten....nine...”

“Oh no,” Nicky said. “Not again.
I’ll cooperate. I just need time.”

“What you need is fear. When I
finish the countdown, I’m going to break another finger. I want you to think
about that. I want you to fear it.”

“Please,” Nicky said. “Please
don’t.”

“Seven...six...”

Nicky took a deep breath and
tried to calm herself. She had to make it out of here alive. She had to
convince Melissa that she was safe to let go. Frankie was alive.

Breathe in me breathe in me
.

“Five...four...”

Breathe in me...
it wasn’t
working. There were only three seconds left and it wasn’t working.

“Three...”

Breathe in me breathe in me
– she took a slow, deep breath through her nose, exhaled through her mouth. The
scent of the orchid corsage on her chest filled her nostrils.
Breathe in me
breathe in me
.

“That’s it, Nicky. Feel the
fear. I’m beginning to see something. Focus on the pain that will come when I
break your finger. Two seconds...”

Beginning to see something? Was
it fear? Was Melissa scaring her into opening her mind?

No, that wasn’t it. It wasn’t
fear. It was Sergio. She had smelled the orchid corsage when she inhaled
through her nose and it reminded her of him, of the trance he had put her in
when they danced.

“That’s it, Nicky. Open your
mind to me.”

She thought about the way Sergio
looked, the way his back felt in her hands, the way he smelled. She thought
about almost losing herself to his presence.

“One second left,” Melissa
whispered.

Nicky took a deep breath through
her nose. The scent of orchid filled her nostrils and she was all the way back.
Her heart slowed down. Her breathing became steady and deep. Her pupils
dilated. Her mind had taken her away from here, away from Melissa, away from
the limo. She was there again with Sergio. She was inside her own memory of the
dance.

“Very good,” said Melissa. “That
wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“No,” Nicky said. She said it
because she knew it was what she was supposed to say. Melissa’s voice had told
her so. Nicky was hardly even there, so lost was she in the memory of her
dance, but she knew enough to answer no to Melissa’s question.

“Now, search your memories. Tell
me who programmed you.”

“Falkon Dillinger,” she said,
lying with a name Melissa had already given her.

“Yes,” Melissa hissed. “I knew
it was him. He can’t seem to leave us alone. First the Evans family, now this.”

The Evans family? Nicky
struggled to maintain her composure. Was Melissa telling her why the Evans family
was killed?

“What is Falkon having you do?”
Melissa asked.

Nicky had learned from her time
on the streets that the best lies were the simple ones.

“My job is to observe and
report,” she said.

“Yes, intelligence. Go on. Why
did you enter the Coronation contest?”

“As a girl wearing black, I can
get closer to the immortals and report more of what is happening to Falkon.”

“But why does he want to know?
What does he plan to do?”

“I am not to concern myself with
that,” said Nicky. “My job is to observe and report.”

“Interesting,” said Melissa.
“Nicky, I want you to listen to me. Starting now, Falkon Dillinger is no longer
your master. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Your mission is no longer to
give intelligence to Falkon Dilligner. It is to fool him. You will now only
report to him what I tell you to say. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” said Nicky, a part of her
thinking this was all so familiar, so much like the night on the Farm.

“I am your master now. But you
will remain unaware that you have been programmed. You will continue as a
student at Thorndike, completely ignorant of the fact that you now work for me.
Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“You will remember nothing of
this conversation. Starting from the moment your driver opened the door for you
until now, you have been riding quietly to your party, by yourself. Do you
understand?”

“Yes.”

“What happened between us six
years ago is now erased from your memory,” said Melissa. “You have never met
me. You never came to the Farm. You never escaped my reprogramming. Do you
understand?”

“Yes.”

“You are going to lose the
Coronation contest, Nicky. You will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure
you finish dead last. Your mission will be over when you are in the cage next
spring. The moment before you die, you will remember everything I have told you
to forget, and you’ll realize you’ve just been a pawn to my will all this time.
Do you understand?”

This command complicated things.
At some point in the near future, Melissa would see that Nicky had no intention
of losing the contest and would know this reprogramming session was just as
fraudulent as the last one.

If the mission was to continue,
the Network would have to kill Melissa Mayhew.

“Yes,” Nicky said.

“We’re almost done here, Nicky,
but you now have a broken finger. We need an explanation for that.”

Melissa pressed a button on the
wall, giving her intercom access direct to Julien.

“Driver, please take the next
available opportunity to get us into an accident. We’re looking for a fender
bender, nothing too dangerous. We still wish for Nicky to go to her party
tonight. We just want her to be a bit late.”

She turned back to Nicky.

“Or maybe a lot late. It’s tough
to get your supporters excited when you miss your own after-party. You better
buckle your seatbelt.”

Melissa buzzed Julien again.

“Driver, after the accident, I
want you to stay until medical help arrives, to insist on a full and truthful
report, and to have the paramedics give a thorough evaluation to everyone
present. Even if Nicky wants to go to her party, you are to make her wait. Her
safety comes first.”

On some level, Nicky felt
herself starting to grow nervous. What Melissa proposed was a terrible plan
that might result in innocent people getting hurt. But now wasn’t the time to
indulge such thoughts.

Breathe in me...

Nicky sat back in her chair, her
body cool and composed, and she buckled her seatbelt.

Julien waited until they took
their exit from the freeway, and then plowed into the line of cars stopped at
the first traffic light, rear-ending whatever driver was unlucky enough to be
at the back of the line. The crash was swift and jarring, beginning with the
collision of bumpers followed by sounds of squealing tires and folding metal.

There was a second of silence,
then another crashing sound, this one right next to Nicky. She turned to find
that Melissa was gone, having thrown open her door with such force it had
broken from its hinges.

“Dammit,” Nicky whispered. She
reached up to press the intercom button and speak to Julien and cried out in
pain with the movement. Her neck, her shoulders, the little finger on her left
hand – all were in various states of agony. Looking down at her finger, she saw
that it was angled sideways at the knuckle and starting to swell. With her
right hand, she undid her seat belt, then she started going through the array
of cabinets and drawers along the wall and underneath the seats. After finding
two drawers stocked with various free samples of expensive makeup and another
six stocked with liquor, she found a first aid kit in a compartment under the
armrest where Melissa had been sitting. Using her good hand and her teeth, she
cut off a long stretch of medical tape and hung it from the ceiling. Then,
taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she grabbed her little finger and
pulled it straight, hearing the bones grind inside as she did so. The pain was
worse than when Melissa had broken it, but it was over, and there was no one in
the car threatening to break the rest of her hand.

Pulling the length of tape from
the ceiling, she wrapped her finger tightly, and ripped off the excess with her
teeth. Then she crawled out the door Melissa had left open.

They had smashed into a white
sedan and pushed it into the next car, sandwiching the poor driver on either
side. It was a middle-aged man, who was now kicking at his door to get it open.
Nicky ran to help him pull. Together they got the door open and the man
stumbled out. He appeared to be unharmed.

“What the hell—” the man began,
but seeing that Nicky was in formal wear, in black formal wear, changed his
tone. “Are you okay, Miss?”

“I’m fine,” Nicky said.

“We’ll let the medics be the
judge of that,” came a voice behind her. It was Julien, who was walking toward
her with a limp.

“I’m so sorry,” Nicky said to
the man. “My driver was being reckless. He—”

“No, no,” said the man, holding
up his hands. “It’s all good, I’m sure. Did you just come from the...?”

“Yes, I was at Thorndike’s
Homecoming ball,” said Nicky, “and I’m afraid—”

“Let’s wait for the police to
arrive, Nicky,” said Julien. “We can give them a full report. Rockwell
Transport will make sure that everyone who was involved is fully compensated.”

“I’m just glad you’re alright,”
the man said to Nicky.

“What happened back here? I have
children in my car!” came a voice from farther down. It was a woman. Her
minivan had been parked at the light. The limo had pushed the white sedan into
her back bumper.

“Everything’s fine,” said the
man. “This limo was on the way from the Thorndike Homecoming.”

It was a warning to the woman to
cool her jets, that this was a girl wearing black who, for all they knew, might
be an immortal in nine months. The warning worked. The woman instantly went
from angry to helpful.

“Oh, my,” she said. “I’m so glad
you weren’t hurt. What happened?”

“Just a little accident ma’am,”
said Julien. “I’ll be giving a full report to the police. You have nothing to
worry about. My company will ensure you are compensated for any damages.”

Nicky felt sad for all these
people. They were the ones whose lives were interrupted, but they were
kowtowing to her, the girl wearing black, as they had been trained to do. It
was all so ugly and rotten.

And Nicky would have to just go
with it.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” she said to
the woman from the front of the line. “I’ve got to get to a party, and my
limo...well..”

“Are you asking me for a ride?”
the woman said.

“You can’t leave, Nicky. The
police are on their way. We need to complete the accident report.”

“I need to get to my
after-party,” said Nicky. “The police will understand. If you have a problem
with that, send them to the Hamilton.”

“The Hamilton then?” said the
woman. “Yes, I’ll take you. My car...it’s such a mess. I’m so sorry. It’s the
children.”

“No one is leaving!” Julien
snapped.

“Ignore him,” Nicky said to the
woman. “He’s forgotten who he works for. I’ll be having a chat with his boss
tomorrow. Nothing is more important than getting me to my after-party right
away.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” said the
woman.

Julien ran in front of her and
put his hands on Nicky’s shoulders. “Nicky, I can’t let you leave.”

Nicky sighed. Her finger was
throbbing with pain. Her neck was jacked up from the accident. She was in a
formal dress and high heels. She really didn’t want to fight her way past
Julien right now.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to.

“Get your hands off her,”
shouted the man from the white sedan.

“Stay out of this, it isn’t your
business,” said Julien.

“You’re making it his business,”
said Nicky. “I need to go to my party, now let me go.”

“I said, get back in the car,”
Julien commanded.