Mania (28 page)

Thirty-Seven
Jack

I sat straight up, gasping for breath at the pain in my head, and Chloe slapped a hand across my mouth. She stared at me, her gray eyes wide as she pointed across the room to the doorway on the opposite wall. She lifted one finger to her lips to signal me to be quiet.

Then I heard them. There were Takers inside the haunted house with us. I climbed silently to my feet, my head pounding, and Chloe mimicked my motions. From the amount of noise the Takers were making, it was clear they didn't know we were here. Reaching back for Chloe's hand, I led her into the next room. Thankfully, it was empty.

We made our way silently through a couple of additional creepy rooms, but when we got back to the one we needed to leave through, there was a single guard posted in the doorway. Chloe tapped me on the shoulder and handed me the blade I'd given her to protect herself.

Then she whispered, “Please don't use it unless you have to.”

I nodded slowly before peeking out again into the outer room. The guard stood there looking bored. He seemed pretty young … younger than us. I had to find a way to get us out of here without killing him. Gesturing for Chloe to stay behind me, I crept out. The guard didn't realize I was there until I had my knife at his throat. I placed my other hand over his mouth and his eyes went wide.

“I don't want to hurt you … but I can't let you stop me,” I whispered low in his ear. Chloe came around in front of him and pulled his gun from his belt, pointing it at him. She looked like she knew how to use it. I put my knife away but kept my hand over his mouth.

“Do you have something we can tie you up with?” Chloe asked him.

He didn't respond immediately, but apparently decided he'd rather be tied up than dead. He pointed to a pair of zip ties he had in his belt. Chloe took them out and we walked him back to the room where we'd just been hiding. We moved him to a corner and secured his hands and feet.

I leaned down close. “I need you to give us thirty seconds. If you start yelling before we get far enough away, then she might have to come back and shoot you. Neither of us wants that. Okay?”

The poor guy looked terrified as he nodded his head furiously. He didn't make a sound when I removed my hand—and he gave us a full minute, at least, before we heard the commotion and knew he'd alerted the others.

Smart kid.

By that time, Chloe and I had run across the amusement park and were circling around to the funhouse entrance. I desperately hoped that all the friends we'd left here a few hours earlier were still alive.

As we crossed the park, I filled her in on what had happened in Parker's mind.

“So you were just thrown out?” she whispered, her face pale. “Do you think he … do you think Cooper is dead?”

I shook my head and squeezed her hand. “I don't know yet, Chloe. I feel like we did a whole lot of damage … but I won't know until I see him myself.”

“Do you think Parker is okay?” She squeezed my hand back.

I held my breath and pulled her low to the ground as one of the guards passed twenty feet ahead of us, heading into the funhouse. Climbing to my feet, I shook my head without speaking. The fact that I couldn't answer that question was eating me alive. How could I have asked Parker to do something so dangerous? What if it killed him too? What if I'd lost him—not because of what Cooper had done, but because of what I did?

As soon as the coast was clear, we made our way to the funhouse entrance and slipped in, hiding in the shadows. There was a big crowd on the other side of the room but they all had their backs to us. No one saw us slip in.

I scanned the area, looking for an opportunity to somehow get to my brother. But then my eyes stopped and my gut wrenched with unexpected pain. There, on the same spot where we'd been shot at earlier, I could still see a red tinge to the ground. Libby had been shot right there. She'd died there.

I hoped Finn hadn't met the same fate.

Then I heard Cooper's voice, and all the blood drained from my head down into my feet.

“I need to talk to all of you. Something has to be done, whether you like it or not … ”

I knew that his voice alone would make these people afraid enough that they would agree to anything he demanded. As long as he was leading them, it would be nearly impossible to build up an opposition.

Then I saw him. What we'd done in the dream hadn't worked. I released Chloe's hand and slipped out my knife. Taking a few steps closer, I waited for the right angle.

This time I wouldn't miss.

Cooper kept talking, but I was so focused on his movements that I didn't listen to his words. I raised my hand to throw the blade just as he turned to face me. His eyes widened, and I realized I'd stepped up into the light. I pulled back my hand—and Chloe hit me hard from behind.

My blade fell to the floor as I staggered forward, but I immediately picked it up before spinning to face her. I couldn't believe she'd just betrayed me after everything we'd been through. Guards rushed over and pinned my hands behind my back.

Chloe's eyes were huge. She kept looking back at where we'd seen Cooper, and then at me like she was trying to signal me in some way. I didn't understand. How could she have stopped me? I knew he was her brother, but I'd thought she'd agreed this was the only way. Then she gave me a hard look that seemed to question my intelligence and mouthed one word:
Listen
.

I whipped my head around, trying to see Cooper again, but there were guards blocking my view. What was she talking about?

“Bring them up here.” Cooper's voice rang out above the noise, and everyone quieted down.

The guards pushed us up to the front of the room and then released us once we were surrounded. Cooper stared hard at each of us, but I saw that his hands were trembling. Up close he looked more like an animated skeleton than a person.

“As I was saying”—his gaze fixed on me like he was trying to pierce through me with his eyes—“I'm near my limit. I can feel it. And we've lost too many people.”

I felt my eyebrows raise until Chloe kicked my foot, and I forced myself not to respond. I didn't understand how or why, but either Cooper had had a change of heart, or …

“Joey has been helping me come to a decision, and I'm going to put him in charge. I think he and my sister, Chloe, should work together to come up with the best solution to avoid even more of our kind dying.” Cooper looked hard at me again, and I thought I caught the slightest twitch as the corner of his mouth. “Unless you just want to keep fighting, Jack, because this truce has to come from both sides.”

It was an expression that was so clearly Parker's that I felt like the wind had been knocked from my lungs. Parker had taken over a Taker? How?

Then I realized that was exactly what had happened when we'd destroyed Cooper. Parker was now a Taker, so he'd been sucked into what was essentially an empty shell. Now he was using it to our advantage—brilliant.

And I'd almost killed him with my blade.

Thank God for Chloe.

I realized Parker was still waiting for my response. “I will agree,” I said, “if you agree to release my brother and the others you've been holding captive.”

“And give me the chance to talk to you and the rest of your people about a new drug called Spectrum,” Chloe added before Cooper had a chance to respond. “I honestly believe it can save us all.”

Cooper looked like he was considering this for a moment before he let out an exhausted sigh. “Fine.” Then he looked over at Joey and his guards. “Get his brother and friends.”

Joey stepped up beside him as the guards walked off, confused expressions on their faces. Joey's face betrayed one other emotion, though—sadness. He looked at Chloe and she gave him a slight nod. He knew.

And he'd helped us anyway.

“I think I need to go rest for a little while.” Cooper looked up at Joey, his legs shaking beneath him. “You know what to do.”

“I do,” Joey said, and Cooper gave me a look before Joey helped him toward the door.

It was surreal to watch this walking, talking, living person and know that in reality he was just a shell. He disappeared from sight, and I knew that as soon as Cooper went to sleep, his heart would stop. It would only be minutes until his tired and sick body would be as empty of life as Parker and I had made his mind.

Thirty-Eight
Parker

The instant we woke up back in my body, Darkness told me he was done. I was back in charge, and he ordered me to stop bothering him so he could rest. That worked just fine for me. When I opened my eyes, I saw guards standing over me and cringed … half because I wasn't supposed to know what had just happened, and half because it was kind of an instinct now.

“We're here to bring you to your brother,” the closest guard said. He looked uncertain, and I wasn't sure if he was uncomfortable with releasing me … or with everything they'd done to me before this.

They escorted me to an office, where Jack and Chloe were waiting.

I limped toward Jack, but I was so tired that even staying upright was a serious challenge. Jack walked straight up and hugged me.

“I was worried. Glad you made it out all right.” Jack shook his head. “Also, you're a genius,” he murmured.

It was still surprising to have Jack acting this way, but I hugged him tight, whispering, “We did it.”

“
You
did it.” Jack pulled back and shook his head with a wry smile. “I helped, but this would've been impossible without you. Dad would be so proud.”

“It wasn't just me. But, he would?” The weight of everything I'd been through eased a little and my voice cracked with emotion.

“Absolutely.” Jack walked me over to a chair Chloe pulled out and I sat down. “And I can't wait to talk your ear off telling you all about him.”

“Does that mean you'll come live with us?” I tried not to show on my face how much I wanted him to say yes. I knew now that he had enough pressure on him without more coming from me.

Mom came rushing in with Addie and Mia in her wake. She hugged me and then reached out with her free hand for Jack, tugging him in too.

“I'm so happy you're both okay!” Mom pulled back, looking both of us over and wincing at how tired I looked. She turned to Jack.

“First, I heard what Parker just asked.” She actually looked nervous. “Will you?”

Jack looked between us both and then he smiled. “I would love to.”

Mom hugged us both tight again and her grin was as bright as I'd ever seen it.

Addie and Mia hugged me next, but I pulled Addie away and looked into her eyes. “I know Finn got shot … ” I couldn't even voice the question.

Addie had tears in her eyes, but her smile widened. “I had some help.” Then she walked back to the door and held it open.

A guy a little older than Jack came in, pushing a wheeled office chair. Finn was slumped down in the seat. His pants were torn and there was a clean white bandage on his leg. His face was pale, but other than that he looked okay. He grinned up at me even though he was having a difficult time keeping his head up.

“Parker! I haven't seen you in forever, man. Where you been?” His words were heavily slurred and his head fell to one side. I hugged him as he tried valiantly to lift it again.

“I'm glad you're all right,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder.

The man escorting Finn had clean hands, dirty clothes, and was carrying a large medical kit with him.

Addie gestured his way. “This is Shawn. He was that crazy doctor's medical assistant.”

“You're real?” I blinked at him, and Shawn laughed at the look of complete shock that must've been on my face.

Jack threw me a confused look, so I explained how Shawn had talked to me through the wall of my cell.

Shawn extended his hand to me. “I'm so sorry for what Cooper and Dr. Rivera did to you. I wish I could've helped more.”

“You did.” I rubbed my hand against my neck and stretched. Every muscle ached and I was so tired. “I would've lost my sanity without you there to talk to me … well, even more than I did, I guess.”

Shawn smiled. “I'm just happy to have done something good for a change.”

“You helped Finn?”

Addie answered, “I managed to slow the bleeding, but they threw us into the same cell as Shawn. And then Thor—”

“Joey,” Jack, Chloe, and I corrected simultaneously, and then laughed. Chloe reached out and Jack took her hand.

Both Addie's eyebrows shot up to match mine, but then she continued with a small smile, reaching down to squeeze my hand. “So then
Joey
brought in a medical kit and Shawn got out the bullet and stitched him up.”

“As you can tell, the kit had a painkiller in it. The bullet just missed his femoral artery.”

“The feral artery is a big one.” Finn stopped trying to hold his head upright and just rested it against the back of the chair with a huge grin. “It missed it because I'm so lucky!”

I laughed. “Sure you are.” Then I pulled Addie in for another hug and shot Jack and Mom a smile. “And so am I.”

Thirty-Nine
Jack

We all waited while Joey went to gather the Takers together so Chloe could talk to them. So far, there had been very little resistance to the new plan. Chloe said she wasn't surprised by that, but I stayed on edge, waiting for something to go wrong.

Joey had locked up Dr. Rivera and a couple of the guards who'd started to disagree, but on the whole the transition was going smoothly. I had a feeling they were all just waiting to hear about Spectrum before they made their decision. I could only cross my fingers that our new drug wouldn't be as dangerous for people who weren't as old as Mason.

He'd survived, of course, but if the Takers witnessed someone's heart stop multiple times, it would really be bad for morale at this point.

I looked over at Parker and noticed his eyes twitching before he leaned forward and covered them with his hand.

“You look pretty rough. I think we should ask Joey and Shawn if they can look for the drug that'll switch you back to a Watcher … assuming it exists. Or would you rather just stay a Taker and we could try Spectrum on you?” I asked, watching him carefully for his response.

“I'd like to be back to normal again at some point, but right now I think I'm up for anything that will let me get some sleep.” As Parker slumped farther down in his chair and closed his eyes, Addie stepped up to me.

“I can't help him through my dreams anymore?” she asked, the sadness clear in her eyes.

“Not if he remains a Taker.” I squeezed her shoulder. “But we'll help him. I promise we'll figure it out.”

Addie didn't respond, just walked over to Parker's chair. She smiled when he looked up at her, kissed him on the cheek, and took his hand in hers.

Joey was behind me in the doorway when I turned around. “I'm sorry about Parker.”

“You didn't do it, but you can help us make it right. We need Chloe to show them about what this new formula can do.” I looked at him and then back at Chloe. “That's all I want.”

“You sure this Spectrum stuff will work?” Joey looked genuinely nervous.

“I'm sure they'll die without it.” I tried to sound as confident as I wished I actually were. “It's worked for one Taker already, and he's much older than all of you. His body was long past even normal Taker limits. I hope that means it will be a smoother process for everyone else.”

“How did he live that long?” Joey frowned.

“Some kind of herbs and meditating all day,” Chloe answered. “Probably not our best option, but still good to know about.”

These details seemed to make Joey feel better. “Then let's get started.”

He led the way back toward the main room, but I grabbed Chloe's hand and kept her with me as the others followed him.

“Are you sure about this? We saw how hard it was on Mason.” I spoke low in her ear. “We're trying to be positive here, but what if his reaction was the good option? Yours could be much worse … ”

“Yes. I'm absolutely sure.” Chloe looked me in the eyes and put her hands on each side of my face. She gave me one more kiss. “All we can do is hope it goes well. If I don't take it, I'll die anyway, and I'd rather go down fighting. You of all people should understand that. This war has to stop. You know that. We've only paused it for now, but without convincing all the Takers to take Spectrum, this truce won't last. This is the first real chance I've had to make it happen—I can make a difference here. I have to end it, Jack.”

I kissed her again and then crushed her against my chest, smelling her hair and feeling how good it was to hold her close. I felt her breathe; I kissed her neck and felt her heartbeat; then I spoke low, my voice unsteady. “You fight to live. You hear me?” I pressed my forehead against hers and stared in her beautiful eyes. “You fight to come back to me.”

She gave a fierce nod and a tear fell down her cheek. “Always.”

We walked out to the main room of the funhouse. It was packed, but there was a spot in the center where a mat had been spread out for Chloe. Addie had retrieved a vial of Spectrum from the van, which she handed to Chloe as she sat down on the mat.

Shawn walked up behind me. He had a defibrillator in one hand and a pack of needles and a medical kit in the other.

“Go ahead. We might need you.” I stepped aside and put my hand on the blade of the knife in my belt. “I'll make sure no one interferes.”

Shawn looked me in the eyes and smiled. “Changing the way everyone thinks isn't going to be easy. I never expected it would be. Just don't use that unless you have to.”

I'd been thinking about nothing but finding a way to stop the fighting for months now … but holding still, with Chloe at risk, was one of the hardest things I'd had to do. Fighting came much easier to me than having faith or trust. I wasn't sure why I hadn't recognized until now that this might be a challenge for me.

“I won't,” I answered quickly. “I've fought too hard for this to get in the way of it now.”

“Good.”

Chloe spoke to the Takers. “This is going to look scary at first, because it's a huge change for our bodies. I'll have some tremors, and there may be some more serious reactions.” She gestured over to Shawn. “That's why we have someone with medical training ready. But those initial reactions should only last a few minutes.”

Chloe moved like she was trying to display confidence, but I knew her better. She was scared … and I was terrified.

“After that part, I should sleep,” she continued. “Really sleep, with dreams and everything. That's it for now. Any questions?”

Everyone in the room watched her intently, but no one appeared ready to ask anything yet. Chloe turned to look at me and winked, but I saw her hand tremble as she downed the blue liquid in one swallow.

Chloe's heart never stopped. She had a seizure, and stopped breathing for a few seconds, but then it was over. She looked so peaceful in her sleep it helped me feel like everything might just be okay. When she woke up the next morning, eight hours of precious sleep later, Shawn said her vitals were stable. You could already see a bit more color in her cheeks.

The next week was a blur of activity and planning. Except for a small altercation at Cooper's funeral, the Takers seemed eager to embrace the idea of a new future. Nearly all of them had signed up to take Spectrum, and Shawn had been put in charge of the schedule and administering the drug. Randall volunteered to donate his blood, as a Builder, to make more Spectrum and end the war, and a few other Builders joined him. Since we wanted to give it a few days before bringing any other Builders into the Taker camp, Shawn and I went to Cypress Crest to collect it.

One of the things we'd done the first day after Chloe woke up was to bring in two doctors that Mason knew and trusted, to check her and Mason out for any possible negative side effects from Spectrum. So far, there were none. From the early blood work we'd run, it looked like the drug's benefits would last for roughly one month. Not bad, but Mason had already come up with some ideas for herbs that could be incorporated into either the Takers' diet or the drug itself, to make it last more than twice that long.

Dad's formula was everything he'd hoped it could be.

The majority of the Takers had agreed with “Cooper's” decision to appoint Joey the new leader of the NWS. He only agreed to do it if the groups would select one of each type of Night Walker to act as advisors. Joey had initially pushed for an actual Night Walker to be the leader, but Chloe convinced him that it would be better for someone who wasn't biased toward a specific type to unite and lead this very broken group. Mason was selected as the Taker advisor, Randall was the Builder advisor, and they chose me to advise on behalf of the Watchers.

I wished Dad could be here to take on the role he deserved, but in his place, I agreed to do my best.

Parker's body was healing well from all the physical abuse it had endured. He'd taken Spectrum for himself shortly after Chloe had woken up, and his body had reacted more violently. We weren't sure whether it was related to him not being a true Taker or the exhausted state of his body, but he suffered through the convulsions for over an hour. I wondered so many times during that hour if I'd made a huge mistake in agreeing that he should take it. But since then he'd gotten several solid nights of sleep and looked like a different person.

Actually, since Parker was back in charge all the time instead of Darkness … he
was
a different person.

Since Dr. Rivera wasn't answering my questions, I resorted to my tried-and-true method. It only took me one night in his dreams to sort out where he kept his experimental vials, and which one could help turn Parker back into a Watcher. We'd given it to him three times now with no results, but Parker said it had taken time for them to turn him into a Taker, so we shouldn't expect the opposite to be any different.

At the end of the week, as Randall, Joey, and Mason walked me out of the amusement park to say goodbye at the van, we passed an old, kid-sized bumper car ride that I hadn't noticed before. Each cart sat still and silent, vines and weeds threatening to eat the metal alive. Even in full daylight, the whole place just creeped me out. I was happy to hear that Joey had no intention of staying here permanently.

Randall chuckled at something Mason said behind me. Those two had hit it off from their first meeting, when Randall and the other rebels came to officially meet Joey and the other new NWS leaders. Since then, Randall had been at the Taker base more often than not. The leadership had even discussed moving some of the rebels from Cypress Crest to a new permanent base … once we found one.

I'd been thinking a lot about the old one, Benton Air Force Base. It hurt so much to think about it or even look at—it was the place where Dad had died. But that base might feel different to me if we were moving back to set up an organization that would honor him instead of imprison him. That idea felt right.

“I've been thinking … I went back to visit the old Taker base a couple of weeks ago. It's huge, and more than two-thirds of it was completely undamaged.” I could feel all their eyes on me, and I deliberately didn't meet them because I was fighting off difficult emotions already. “The buildings are sound, and it would fit so many more people than anywhere else I can think of. Plus, I think my father would—I think Dad would like to know it eventually ended up as a place that helped Night Walkers, like he'd always hoped it could be.”

Joey nodded, then extended his hand and shook mine. “That sounds like a good plan … we have so many things to fix after all the fighting. I would be the perfect place to start. Many mistakes were made there, including what happened to your dad. I'm sorry for that.”

“Thank you. But we need to stop looking back and move forward. Now seems like the right time for that.” I smiled and Joey smiled back. It was the first time I'd ever seen him look happy. It was nice. I hoped in the future he'd have many more reasons to smile.

“Are you sure you're not interested in coming back to Cypress Crest, Jack? It will be safer there now … ” Randall looked a little hurt, expecting I'd again reject his suggestion. I knew he missed Libby as much as I did, and that was part of the emotion behind his question, but me moving back there wouldn't bring her back.

What I was planning to do, I did in honor of everyone I'd lost. I was trying to move forward with a normal life—the life we all might have had if we hadn't been surrounded by war. It felt like the best way to thank those I loved for what they'd sacrificed.

“Thank you.” I clapped my hand on his shoulder. “But I think it's about time I lived with my brother permanently. We'll come and visit. I'd like to bring flowers for Marisol and Libby—and my mom.”

We both knew that the graveyard across the street from Cypress Crest was too full of people we'd known and loved—even more so for Randall than for me.

He gave me a sad smile. “You'll both always be welcome.”

I missed Mom, Dad, Libby, and everyone else I'd lost. They'd left holes in me that wouldn't ever go away, but I knew that losing Parker too would've been more than I could have ever recovered from. Now that I knew he was going to be okay, I was learning that those holes don't have to be left vacant and gaping forever. Every step toward new people I cared about filled them up just a little bit.

When we got to the van, Parker and Chloe were already there, just finishing loading up their stuff. Mrs.
Chipp had driven home yesterday, with a plan to set up
a room for me. I'd told her I would be just as comfortable in a sleeping bag in the backyard. She'd given me a hug and shook her head before carrying on with her “new bedroom” planning.

Joey dropped one big arm across Chloe's shoulders and she fell against him under the weight of it with a laugh. “You sure you don't want to stay here?”

“No.” She shook her head and gave him a hug before ducking free. “I have school this fall, remember? I'll stay at the house in Oakville and come out whenever I can.”

Joey rubbed the back of one hand with the other, looking distinctly uncomfortable with the idea. “Maybe I should go with you?”

“I'll be fine.” Chloe put one of her hands on top of his giant ones. “They really need you to stay with them. You need to make sure they don't go back down Dad's road.” Joey had said from the beginning that the Takers didn't have to take Spectrum unless they wanted to.

He still appeared to be thinking about arguing with his sister's plans. “Promise me you'll keep me updated and I can come visit?”

She stood on her tiptoes and lowered her brow as she gave him a stern look. Even at that, she still only came up to his shoulders. “I promise.”

He sighed in resignation and then shot a look over at Parker and me. “And you two will keep her out of trouble?”