The Embers Of My Heart (36 page)

"Because he has rights as a member of this Establishment!" Absynthe shouted. Her words echoed around the chamber. "He has rights, Shade! So did the man and woman you murdered!"

"I have rights too." Shade shot back.

"You're an admitted murderer!"

"And he's a monster."

"The majority has requested a ruling. If there are any final questions, please ask them now." My mother held a hand up again. "One final question, Shade. Can you explicitly, unambiguously prove that Kevin Parker is no longer loyal to this Establishment?"

"You know I can't. You're not even giving me a fighting chance. Question him! Bring him out, let me confront him in front of all you witnesses. The truth will be right there. Right there!"

Absynthe clenched her fists. "He is not the subject of this session. You are."

"Beowulf! Answer me!" Shade shouted. "Kevin Parker is a member of the Resistance. Tell them I'm speaking the truth! I demand that as my right!"

The demand silenced the room. "Shade is speaking the truth," Beowulf's deep voice announced.

"Shade is speaking the truth as he believes it," Absynthe said. "Or as he wishes it to be. Either way, Kevin Parker is a member of the Establishment, and Shade has openly admitted to wanting to kill him."

"Shade, you have not substantiated your accusations," my mother said. "A plurality finds that any ties to the Resistance that Kevin may or may not have lie outside the scope of this session."

"That's fucking ignorant. Who's going to bring him under control if you drum me out?"

"You are in contempt."

"I have nothing but contempt left!" Shade rattled the cuffs again. "This is all a show. You want to shut me down now because he's powerful, right? He's the key to the future, right? You're all wrong! He's corrupted. He's flawed. You failed, Alistair. You know it, but you're afraid you won't live long enough for the next generation to mature, aren't you? You're rushing it. You don't have enough time left. And you failed, Parker." He spun to face me directly. "Yes, I know you're there, Parker. You failed to kill me when you had the chance, you fucking coward. You had two chances. I won't let you have a third."

"Restrain yourself!" my mother shouted.

"You're a monster, Parker, and you still don't know it. You know what they're going to do with you, right?" He took a step forward and Absynthe's silhouette stepped between us. "Your kids, your progeny, they're the ones who'll take over a broken world, and you're going to be the one blamed for it. Alistair's setting you up. He'll throw you to the wolves as soon as he's done with you. Your name is going to go down in history with all the other monsters of humanity. Hitler, Stalin, Parker. Listen to me. Killing you now is a favor."

My mother's voice rose to echo through the chamber. "As you cannot seem to restrain yourself from conspiracy and open threats to murder a member of our Establishment, this session finds you guilty of all charges. Due to the irregularity of this situation and your open contempt for our procedures and ways, Establishment administration demands immediate termination. What say you?"

Shade froze in place and silence filled the chamber. Absynthe turned and walked toward me. Her eyes locked on mine and she nodded slightly. I didn't want to move in case he could still see me.

"It is found that a plurality has agreed to the administration's request." My mother's voice was clear and cold. "Shade, you are hereby sentenced to death. This session recommends and requires the sentence be carried out immediately. May you find peace as befits your beliefs. Wardens, attend your duty."

Another moment of silence filled the chamber. Two glows of green sparked to life, but then a third flashed brightly. Shade's eyes flickered green as well. "No deal, Patsy," he snarled. There was a thump and a scream from the other side of the room.

"Spectre is down!" someone shouted, and a sea of green light filled the room. Shields sprang to life all over, resonating against each other in sprays of energy and power. Another shout of pain echoed across the room, leading to a series of screams and flares of psionic attacks.

Shade snapped his handcuffs with a simple shrug and looked directly at me again, his eyes bright. He took a step, but stopped and shook himself with a snarl. Instead of coming for me, he pointed at me and his eyes brightened from deep green to a flat white. "I'll catch up with you later," he said, and then he vanished. The cuffs fell to the floor with a clatter. The room fell silent for a couple of heartbeats, but then I heard doors slamming open, people shouting, and an alarm started to blare in the distance. Someone called for medics. My mom was nowhere to be seen.

Absynthe pressed her back against me. Her shields wrapped around both of us. "Hold on," she said. "I'll keep you safe."

"What the fuck just happened?"

"He had sympathizers himself," she said. "Just hold on until they give us the all clear."

"Did he just go second tier and go invisible?"

"Worse. He teleported." She shook her head and her hair brushed my face.

"I take it that's not a common ability."

"It's impossible for first tiers," she said. "And most second tiers. No one knew he could do that. He surprised all of us today, Kevin."

I shuddered. "That's scary, Absynthe."

"We're all scared now."

Chapter Twenty Four

The door closed and Andreas threw the newly installed deadbolt. Jess frowned and Kaitlyn flinched. "I believe we are all here," Andreas said as he sat down. "What do you wish to talk about, Kevin?"

We sat around Andreas's table. We spent hours here. We celebrated the end of trimesters here. We watched movies, played games, drank, talked, and shared with each other. Today, there was an empty seat between Jess and Drew. I looked at that seat and wondered what I would see if I used my Sight. "It's time to tell all of you what's going on," I said. All attention focused on me. "Andreas, do you still have that device you made for me? Could you get it and explain what it does?"

While he retrieved the sensor device, Max leaned in toward me. "You sure about this? I don't know if it's a great idea. You don't want too many people to know if you want to keep it secret."

"I'm done with secrets," I said.

Andreas sat down with the device strapped to his hand. There were some obvious improvements. The business end was sleeker and he had incorporated a small screen to the device itself. "This device senses fluctuations to certain constants and conditions. Distortions of reality, for lack of better terms. When there are localized changes exceeding a certain aggregate amount, the device alerts the user."

"Distortions to reality?" Jess snorted. "I bet you could point that at any of us and it'd go off. Especially Max."

Andreas pointed it at her. The device stayed silent. He pointed it at Kaitlyn with the same result. "Neither of you distort reality."

"Honey, you underestimate me," Kaitlyn said.

Andreas smiled before pointing the device at me. It chirped and a light on the top flashed. "Kevin, on the other hand, does distort reality."

"Well, he is weird," Jess said. "But what's the point here?"

"Some of you already know what's going on," I said. "Bear with me. This isn't easy to explain."

"Let me guess, you're some sort of secret agent." Jess crossed her arms and leaned back. "Seriously, Kev, get this over with so we can get out of here. I have a paper due tomorrow."

"You're actually not far off," I said. "I'm not the same as the rest of you."

"Stop being dramatic. Out with it."

I took a deep breath. "I have psionic powers. Telekinesis, telepathy, those sorts of things."

"Oh. I get it now." Jess rolled her eyes and stood up. "Funny. I bet you could pick up this whole building and shake it until we all fall out. Sure, I've had enough of this. Thanks for wasting my time."

Max grabbed her wrist before she could walk away. "Sit down."

"Are you serious?" She looked down at him. "Is this really the secret you've been hiding from me? Give me a break. How can you believe that shit? Everyone knows telekinesis doesn't exist. Go apply for James Randi's million dollar prize."

"He's got them." Eyes turned to Drew. "We've known for a while."

"Good job, Kev. You suckered a couple of drunks with some magic tricks or hypnotism or some shit." Jess shook her wrist free of Max's grip. "Look, Kaitlyn and I aren't drunk and we're not as dumb as those two. Right, Kait?"

I looked to Kaitlyn. She stared back, narrowed eyes locked on mine. She knew.

Jess sighed as she saw Kaitlyn staring me down. "Are you kidding me? Are you all insane? That sort of shit doesn't exist and you're all fucking gullible. Especially you, Andreas. I thought you were smarter than that. How can you believe in that sort of supernatural voodoo? Aren't you a skeptic?"

"I have seen it," Andreas said. "You know me, Jessica. I would not believe it if I had not experienced it firsthand. Kevin is not lying."

She turned back to me. "So let's see your demonstration. Bet you've got a million excuses to not show it."

I tapped my power and called up my Sight. She stopped talking abruptly. Blue-green light lit the room and the device strapped to Andreas's hand went berserk. "No excuses," I said. "Why don't you take a seat and let me explain?" I pushed her chair gently into the back of her legs. She sat down with a thump.

"I'm jealous that you never need a flashlight," Max said.

"It comes in handy. So, Jess, believe me now?"

"Let's just say I've temporarily suspended my disbelief," she said. "The jury's still out on some sort of elaborate prank. So what's your story?"

"Your twin sister, Sarah," I said. "Her nickname is Star. Three or four years ago, she staged her own death with some help."

Jess tapped her fingernails on the table. "And she's involved with these magic powers or whatever you want to call them? Is that what you're claiming?"

"Yes," I said. "I've met her a few times now. In Washington, when we stopped there on our way to Florida last year. In New York City over winter break. In Seattle during the last break."

"Wait, in Washington? No way!" Max said. "I know I would've remembered meeting her if she looks anything like Jess. You didn't meet her in private, did you? I don't remember a damn thing about this."

"I don't remember either," Drew said.

"There's a reason for that," I said. "Let me give you a little background. There are organizations of people with psionic powers. I'm in one. Star's in another. There's another major one centered on Washington. That one tried to use us to get to Star. I helped her. You both saw too much, so your memories were modified."

"Oh shit," Max said. "Shit. You didn't tell us about that."

"Yeah. I'm sorry." I swallowed hard. "I didn't want you to remember it. I still kept things back from you because I thought they'd be too dangerous to know."

"So you can fuck with people's memories?" Jess cut in before Max or Drew could respond. "That's fucked up, Kev. How do we know you people aren't fucking with our brains on a regular basis? How do we know you yourself haven't fucked with us?"

"Whoa," Max said. "That's a shitty thing to ask."

"Yeah. It is." She stared at me. "But I have to know. How can we know our memories are our own, if there are people like you out there?"

I nodded. "Not going to say it doesn't hurt to hear that, but three reasons. First, it's hard to do well. You have to make sure it's consistent with that person's other memories and you have to make sure it's not something they'll question too much. You also have to make sure it meshes with what other people remember. I bet Max and Drew feel like their memories of Washington aren't too clear now, right?"

"It's a little fuzzy," Drew said. "Kind of like I was drunk the whole time, even before we were drinking."

"Second, I'm not great at it, personally," I said. "We've all got our own talents and that's not one of mine. Third, we have ethics too, you know. I wouldn't take advantage of my powers on my friends."

"What about people who aren't your friends?" Jess demanded. "What about people you don't give a damn about? What about assholes and people you hate?"

"What about them?" I asked.

"You'd use those powers to fuck with them, right?"

"Sometimes I do," I said. Her head snapped back. "I've borrowed cell phones from strangers to make untraceable phone calls. I've used my powers to enhance my memory. I've had accidents that almost killed people. I've used my power to help my friends. I'm still human, Jess. Sometimes I do good things. Sometimes I do shitty things."

"Like cheat on your girlfriend." Kaitlyn spoke for the first time since I revealed my power and her words silenced the entire room. "Right? The timing works out. You really did cheat on her."

Eyes turned to me. I wanted to deny it, but I couldn't. "I met Star in New York City over last winter break," I said. "Yes. I stayed with her."

"And then you dumped Nikki months later."

"Nikki dumped me, technically," I said.

"Bullshit. That's not what she told me."

"Kev told us differently," Max said.

Kaitlyn shook her head violently. "You believe him after he admitted to cheating just now? Give me a break."

"Hey, hold on," Drew said. "Let him tell us his side of the story too."

There was another silence. "She came to see me after I had been attacked that evening," I said. "A revenge attack by that Washington based organization. I'll spare you the details, but in short, I was exhausted and hurt. Max and Drew can vouch for that. Nikki confronted me and I didn't have the patience to deal with her. I didn't try very hard to defend myself. Yes, I was with Star over the break. She left me over that."

"She didn't want to leave you! She loved you, but all you did was take advantage of her!"

"That's not true at all," I said. "I never took advantage of her. I'd never do that."

"So why'd you cheat on her then? Was it just because Jess's sister is more powerful than she is?"

This silence didn't last long. Kaitlyn snapped her mouth shut and covered it with her hands while I covered my eyes. "Wait, wait wait wait!" Jess stood up with her palms flat on the table. "Nikki's one of you too?"