Mania (13 page)

Seventeen
Jack

My fingertips felt numb as I knocked on Wendy King's door for the second time. I looked over my shoulder at Chloe and Finn, who looked even more nervous than I did. We'd left Libby still sleeping in the car. Chloe bounced forward onto her toes and then back onto her heels in a nervous kind of bob and weave. Her short hair swung with the motion: forward into her eyes, and then back out of them again. After a few seconds, Finn reached out with both hands and pushed down solidly on her shoulders until she settled onto the balls of her feet.

“Sorry,” Chloe muttered, and Finn went back to frowning deeply at the door handle.

This Wendy had to be home. We'd just called her. It was only nine o'clock at night. The sun had just gone down half an hour ago. One day gone already. If she wasn't here, we'd just have to wait until she came back home. And we didn't really have time for that …

The door handle turned and the door opened, but the face that greeted us definitely wasn't someone named Wendy. It was a man in his forties with neatly combed brown hair. He looked at us with a wary frown, the kind people wore when they didn't know what you were going to say but they were still relatively sure they didn't want to hear it.

“Can I help you?” he asked pointedly, as we all just stared at him without speaking.

“Yes.” I spoke up fast. “We're looking for Wendy King. Is she here?”

He took a step back like he was going to get someone, then hesitated and said, “You aren't selling something, are you?”

“No.” All three of us spoke at the same time, which only made him more suspicious.

“I think she might have known my—my dad.” I went ahead with the truth, thinking that we were desperate and it couldn't hurt anyone anymore … not in the same way, at least. No one could use him against me, or threaten to hurt me to make him do things. He was free of that now—I guess we both were.

The man nodded and partially shut the door as he turned toward the interior of the house. “Wen! There's a group of kids at the door for you!”

There was no response, and after a few seconds he looked back out at us. “I'll go get her.”

I nodded and Finn said “Thank you” as he shut the door.

A few minutes later, we heard voices coming from inside.

“Kids?” a hushed female voice said, and all three of us leaned closer to the door, listening.

“Teenagers,” the man's voice responded.

“What do they want?” she asked, sounding confused even through the door.

“I don't know. Did you want me to have them fill out a questionnaire?” The man was clearly exasperated. When I looked over at Chloe, she was grinning.

The door swung open and we all stood up straight, trying not to look like we were eavesdropping. Wendy was around the same age as the man and had jet black hair pulled away from her face in a ponytail. She had flecks of red on her hands and shirt, and it took me a minute to realize they were paint. I wondered if she was an artist like Mia, or if she was the one responsible for the green fence outside and was now working on some other project.

“My name is Jack, and these are my friends Finn and Chloe. I think you might have known my dad. I'm trying to get some information.” I smiled smoothly, trying to mimic the way Parker used his charm to convince people to see his side of things. It was a genuine talent … one I apparently lacked. She looked even more skeptical than before.

“What makes you think I know him?” Her words came fast. It was like she wanted us to know we were interrupting something and she needed to get back to it as soon as possible. She still stood in the doorway, her hand on the knob in case she decided to slam the door in my face.

I really needed her to not do that.

“He grew up around here and had your name written down in some old papers. His name was Daniel. Daniel Chipp.”

As soon as I spoke his name, her hand rose up to her chest and I knew we'd found the right Wendy. Suddenly it was more like she was holding onto the door handle for support.

“You remember him.” I stated it quietly, a fact, not a question.

“Yes, of course.” Wendy was slightly pale, but she looked much more welcoming now than she had before; definitely a good sign. She gestured toward a picnic table and chairs on one side of her front yard. “Why don't we sit down for a minute?”

Finn went to check in on Libby to see if she was awake yet. Chloe and I followed Wendy over to the table. Her husband, who she introduced as Aaron, joined us.

I studied them closely as they spoke. Could they both be Night Walkers? Which one was a Builder?

Wendy asked the question I knew was coming.

“You're talking about Daniel in the past tense … ” She didn't look like she wanted to finish the question.

“He passed away a few weeks ago.” My stomach rolled within me at the words I'd just uttered. It felt so wrong to use that phrase to describe an ending so violent. It felt like it dishonored him somehow.

“That's terrible.” Wendy shook her head and reached out to pat the back of my hand. “I'm so sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you,” I mumbled. It was difficult to resist the urge to jerk my hand away. I knew she was just trying to be nice, but I didn't like accepting comfort from others. I didn't need their comfort … or at least, I didn't want it to look like I needed it.

Chloe was sitting beside me, and although I didn't see her move, I felt a slight squeeze of her hand on my wrist beneath the table. It was completely unexpected and caught me off guard. The warmth of her fingers felt like an electric current to my skin, sending tingles shooting up my arm that were incredibly distracting. But more than that, it was the way she was doing it that made my head spin. Under the table where no one could see and no one knew but me—the message of it had an impact on me. I didn't know how this girl could possibly understand me like she did … but she really seemed to. Did she get all this from, as she had put it, studying her enemy?

When did I stop being that enemy to her?

More importantly, when would she stop being mine? Or had she already?

I cleared my throat, surprised and embarrassed by the sudden confusing emotion I felt rising inside me. Immediately, Chloe's hand lifted away and my skin felt naked where it had been. I missed it … and I kind of hated myself for it. I forced my mind into motion. Parker was counting on me. “Do you mind if I ask how you knew him?”

“Not at all.” Wendy gave me a sad smile. “We went to school together. I would say he was my first love. We were young, only in middle school, and it was very innocent … but he was brilliant even then.” She turned and winked at Aaron. He reached out for her hand. “I've always been attracted to smart men.”

I calculated in my head—middle school. Dad would've developed his Watcher abilities around that age. She knew him at that time. Maybe she was another Watcher and Aaron was a Builder she'd ended up with later … or vice versa.

Wendy continued. “As we got a little older, though, we drifted apart and he moved away. I saw him the last time a couple of years ago though. I'm a pharmacist at a local pharmacy and he came into my shop. It's such a small world, and it was so great to see him again! He said he'd become a chemistry professor. I wasn't at all surprised.”

She stared off into the distance behind me, reliving some pleasant memory as I analyzed every word she said. Wendy was a pharmacist, and Dad wasn't on any regular medication. So unless he'd actually been sick and just happened to wander into her pharmacy—unlikely—he'd probably planned out seeing her again to reconnect and tell her about the ingredient. In fact, he often worked with pharmacists to obtain ingredients for his compounds and formulas that were difficult to get otherwise. Maybe she was even a source he'd used?

But then why not just come out and tell me? Why the act?

Maybe she didn't trust that I was who I said I was? Or maybe … her husband didn't know? Maybe he wasn't a Watcher; maybe he actually wasn't a Night Walker at all. He could be normal and married to a Night Walker and have no idea. That happened all the time. If she was a Builder, that would make perfect sense—Builders didn't need Watchers; some didn't even ever realize what they were. It was absolutely possible he had no idea what she was.

I gave a slight cough and put my hand to my throat. I deliberately looked away from Wendy and straight at Aaron. I knew she might volunteer to get it anyway, but I thought if I made it obvious enough, that he might do it. “I'm sorry. Is there any way I could bother you for a glass of water?”

He raised an eyebrow and then glanced at his wife. She started to stand, but Chloe reached out directly in front of her and pointed over Wendy's shoulder toward the fence. “I noticed you have paint on your hands. Did you do the fence? It's a beautiful color of green.”

Wendy froze in a half-standing position looking at Chloe's arm in front of her nose for a half a second before smiling widely and sitting back down. She glanced over her shoulder toward the vibrant fence. “Yes! I just finished that last week. It used to be white, but the paint was chipping and it really looked more gray than anything. I thought a splash of color could liven it up.”

Chloe nodded vigorously. “It's gorgeous! Are you planning to paint the house, too? I think it would look incredible with a brick red or something to compliment the fence.”

I turned my eyes on Aaron and gave another slight cough. He got to his feet and walked toward the house, mumbling, “I'll be right back.”

As soon as he was out of earshot, I turned back toward Wendy and knew I didn't have much time. “You know what he was, right?”

Wendy looked jolted by the sudden change in the conversation and her mouth was frozen in an odd half-smile in response. “I'm sorry, what?”

“Daniel, my father.” I spoke fast, leaning forward and keeping my eyes on the house in case Aaron came back. “You know he was a type 2.”

She stared at me blankly. No recognition in her brown eyes, no response from her lips.

“He was a Watcher?” I said the only other words I knew to identify it, but still nothing even hinting of understanding came from Wendy.

“What are you talking about?” She leaned backward, looking at both of us now with a newly suspicious quality to her expression.

“Forget about it.” Okay, so she either wasn't a Night Walker or she was an extremely good liar. I was getting desperate.

Through a window, I saw Aaron walking toward the front door with an armful of bottled water. “When you saw my dad, did he tell you anything important?” I asked quickly. “Did he ask you to remember anything or talk about ingredients at all?”

Wendy was frowning now and starting to look upset. “What are you talking about? No, he never asked me to remember anything like that.”

“Did you supply him with any drugs or chemicals from your pharmacy without a prescription?” I spoke the words hastily as I watched Aaron walk out the front door. When I turned my eyes back on Wendy's furious brown ones, I knew I'd made a big mistake.

“How dare you?” She got to her feet and glared across the table at me. “I don't know anything about you, but I know Daniel would've been ashamed to have raised someone so rude.”

“I'm sorry, Mrs. Ki—” I sincerely hadn't meant it like that and her words stung, even though it was clear she hadn't known Dad like she thought she did.

“No. Please go.” She turned and stomped back toward her house, just as Aaron dropped the water bottles on the table.

I picked one up and opened it without looking at him. “Thank you.”

Chloe stood, and I was a little surprised as she made apologies for us and shook Aaron's hand as I walked back toward the van. Why did everything have to be so difficult? I didn't know what to do now. How could Dad's clue have led to such a dead end?

I pulled sunglasses out of my pocket and put them on as a last ditch effort. I'd made eye contact with Wendy last. I would try to find out something from her dreams tonight. Maybe she was a Builder or a Watcher and she was lying about it. Maybe she wasn't either, but she was hiding something else. Either way, if there was anything she wasn't telling me, I would uncover it in her dreams.

No one could hide anything from me in there. It was the only place in the world where I had all the power.

Eighteen
Parker

Life came back with violent bursts of burning from my toes to the tips of every piece of damp hair. Each cell in my body screamed in unison in response to the vicious attack. There had almost been peace, and now there was nothing but agony. My stomach and lungs clawed at my internal organs, their contents eager to escape. I coughed and threw up every ounce of the liquid Cooper had forced down my throat. It seared, and the air gave intense relief in baffling bursts in either direction—liquid out, air in, liquid out, air in. I felt ill. My body had been poisoned and it wanted a way to force all of the toxin out … but it couldn't find one.

Cooper's method had been effective, I had to admit. My eyes had opened out of reflex. I'd had no choice. By passing a message to Libby that Jack shouldn't come here for me, I'd let Cooper use me exactly the way he wanted, without even recognizing it. And now my connection to Libby had been severed.

I rolled to my side again and clutched my stomach as another stabbing pain went through my gut. In the darkness of the room I heard someone laugh. I'd thought I was alone; I don't know why, but I had. I opened my eyes, trying to make them focus, but it took several blinks before everything wasn't cloudy.

Cooper was in here, alone. He leaned against the wall next to my threadbare cot.

“I thought I said we weren't going to kill you,” he said lightly.

“So did I,” I grunted out against another flash of agonizing pain.

“Then you shouldn't try so hard to die.” Cooper smiled and leaned forward until his face was in the shaft of fluorescent light coming through the window on my door. It was disturbing how much every passing hour affected him. He looked more exhausted now than he had when I arrived, which couldn't have been more than a few hours ago.

“If you want me alive … ” I tightened my hands into fists, dealing with the pain in that way instead, so my voice could come out with more strength. “If so, you should stop trying to drown me, or at the very least don't use contaminated water to do it.”

Cooper didn't respond, but he squinted and leaned a little closer to me. It was like he didn't hear or understand what I'd said.

“That water was bad and I think you've poisoned me. And this means I may have to reevaluate my position.” I leaned up on one arm and met his eyes. No reason to avoid the eye contact now that he'd already forced me to do it once.

Even with the dark, sunken circles beneath his eyes, he still looked fascinated. His eyes sparkled as he said, “What position is that?”

“I always assumed Thor was the dumbass in your family.” I grunted as an especially intense wave of pain hit and I couldn't hold it at bay anymore. I curled back onto the floor and my voice was strained as I finished. “Now I'm certain that it's you.”

Cooper's laugh was cold this time and I watched him stand up straight against the wall. “Oh, don't worry about contaminated water, Parker. It wasn't water at all.”

I raised my head slightly, a shiver going through me at the menacing tone suddenly filling his words. “Then what was it?”

“I'd call it … the beginning.” Cooper walked slowly toward the door and I saw his left hand start to shake with a tremor that went all the way up to his shoulder before he gripped it with his right hand and made it stop. He turned to face me, pretending like it hadn't happened even though we both knew it had. “We're just getting started.”

“The beginning of what?” I asked, and then my whole body started to shiver. The shaking only made the pain more intense and I couldn't stop myself from cursing against it.

“You can't fight it. We gave you our own special concoction designed to make your body react this way.” Cooper watched my agony with a wide smile on his face before continuing. “We may not be able to kill you, but while you're here, we're going to make you wish we could. You'll be begging for it before your brother gets back here with Eclipse. I guarantee it.”

Then he walked out and locked the door behind him. The room grew colder in the minutes after he left. No, the air around me wasn't colder,
I
was hotter. I had a fever. My body was fighting whatever they'd put in me. I just had to hang in there and keep fighting.

That's what Addie and Finn would want me to do. That's what my mom would want.

Another blinding wave of pain crashed through me and a hoarse cry tore free from my throat. Time passed, but it was impossible to tell how much. One wave of pain would be so intense I couldn't stay conscious through it. And the next would bring me back to awareness as it tore through my body with the force of a natural disaster. I could feel Darkness there. He lay beside me. He carried the pain too.

And I didn't feel as alone.

My eyes were closed during a point when the pain dulled for a minute. In the quiet, I thought I heard someone breathing. Opening my eyes, I saw a female figure outlined against the light that came through the tiny window in the door.

“Hello?” I croaked out, wondering what kind of twisted girl would choose to be in here watching me suffer through this.

“Oh, Parker.” She whispered my name but kept her distance. The voice, though … I would know it anywhere.

“Addie?” I tried to raise my head but couldn't. “How did you find me?”

She didn't answer. Instead, she moved over to kneel beside me in the quiet. A match flared and she lit a small candle she held in her lap. Her face was illuminated, looking ethereal by candlelight, and her hair glowed like dying embers around her.

“I'm here,” she said.

“You shouldn't be.” My protective instincts kicked in. “If they find you … you need to leave, Addie. Maybe we can both find a way out of here now. Is the door still unlocked?”

“No. We aren't going anywhere.” Her tone made my heart ache. Her expression looked distant, almost cold.

I tried to prop myself up on my elbow, but my head started pounding again and I lay back down. “What do you mean? How did you get in?”

“I came here to help, but I'm not sure what I can do with this … ” Addie gestured toward me. “Cooper was right. You're weaker than I thought.”

“Cooper?” My already feverish body filled with a new chill. “What do you mean, Addie?”

“You're too trusting.” She leaned over and ran one finger over my forehead and down my cheek. Near my chin, she suddenly pressed harder and scratched me. “You never even suspected me.”

I pulled back, watching her in complete shock. Shaking my head, my heart pounding in my throat. “No … ”

“Oh yes,” she whispered, giving me that vibrant smile I loved so much. “You're so easy to play. Almost too easy.”

My heart shattered into a million pieces and I asked the only word that mattered: “Why?”

I heard a thumping sound and the distant echo of someone yelling.

“You knew you weren't good enough for me, Parker. Now maybe your bad choices have rubbed off on me a little too much.” Her face twisted into a snarl and I was actually a little afraid of her. Closing my eyes, I tried to convince myself this was just a nightmare, that it couldn't be real.

Except I knew that I didn't have nightmares.

“Addie … this isn't you.” Tears ran down my face now and the pain rushed back with them. “You can't mean this. What did they do to you?”

“I chose this, Parker. I chose this over you … and now you have to deal with that.” She spoke low, near my ear, but it didn't sound like her. I'd never heard Addie filled with so much hate. Had I known her at all? Had this been buried deep inside her all this time?

I heard the thumping and distant yelling again, but this time I recognized it. Shawn … the guy I'd spoken to earlier, was yelling at me.

“Hey man, can you hear me?” he bellowed as if from a mile away, then said, “I wish I'd gotten your name.”

He kept yelling. Another wave of pain hit and made me cry in agony. “Parker,” I finally spat out when it improved slightly. “My name is Parker.”

Shawn didn't speak for a few seconds, then said. “Damn, they finally got one of you.”

I opened my eyes and saw that Addie now stood at the window looking out, her back to me. Every time I'd held her, kissed her, looked into her eyes—they all came rushing back and I couldn't believe they'd all been a lie. Was this another cruel trick of my mind?

“Addie, please … ” It was all I could say and all I had to say.

She turned to face me and then shook her head and turned away.

“Parker.” Shawn's voice was urgent and sounded closer, like he'd moved along his wall to the spot where I rested against mine. “They forced some nasty liquid into you, right?”

“Yes,” I said, but I only half heard him.

“Listen to me. Whatever you're seeing in there, it isn't real,” Shawn yelled, and this time a shadow crossed past my small window and someone pounded on his door.

“Quiet!” a voice shouted from the hallway.

“That stuff causes hallucinations,” he continued, this time speaking at a more normal volume. “It messes with your head. Don't believe it.”

Addie turned to face the wall Shawn was hiding behind and frowned. I watched her, blinking as the truth fell into place. Of course it wasn't her. In my feverish haze of pain I'd actually believed it, but I knew her better than that. It made no sense for her to be here … and she would
never
say these things.

Not
my
Addie.

She shot me a rueful look, like she knew I'd figured her out. Then she shrugged and dissipated into a million shards of shadow.

I lay there alone, catching my breath. “Thanks, Shawn.”

“No problem.” He sounded relieved even through the wall.

“One question, though … ” Exhaustion swept me and I hoped to pass out again because at least it would give me some relief from the pain.

“Yeah?”

“How do I know that you're real?”

It was silent on the other side of the wall for a few seconds, then said, “You might not know … but I was here before, if that helps. And I won't disappear.”

“Fair enough,” I grunted out.

“Hang in there, man.” He sounded miserable. “It'll pass.”

But it didn't feel like it ever would. Waves of pain went on endlessly, easing here and there but never going away. My feverish brain argued with itself. Ten full days of this and I wouldn't be begging for death—it would be surprising if I survived. I'd probably be actually dead. But Cooper said this was the beginning. What else did he have planned? Could it be even worse than this?

I heard movement in my room. Someone else was here again. Would it be someone real this time? I prayed it wasn't Addie. Even knowing she hadn't been real, having her say those things to me was so painful. She seemed so real.

Something touched my mouth and poured more liquid down my throat. I fought to push them away. No more poison. No more pain. But then I stopped fighting. This was definitely fresh water and it had a medicinal tang to it. It brought an instant relief so sweet I nearly cried.

My visitor moved away and I tried to blink as my pain continued to fade. I tried to focus my eyes before this person got away. Whoever this was had helped me, maybe even saved me. They were a friend, and if I had a friend in here, then I
had
to know who it was. When I finally got my eyes to focus, the door had closed and locked.

Several minutes later my shivering had almost entirely stopped and the door opened again. This time Thor came in. I watched him, unsure if I should fake the kind of pain I was probably supposed to be in. I moaned and shivered for effect. He never met my eyes, but as he walked past, he kicked my leg hard enough that I was sure it would leave a massive bruise. I grunted and considered kicking him back, but my body literally wasn't capable of that movement. Rubbing at my newly injured thigh, I rolled into a tighter ball. I pretended to close my eyes and waited for him to finish whatever he was in here for.

Once he thought I wasn't watching him, Thor grabbed a garbage can from the hall, shoveled the dead rat into the can, and then left.