The Search for Artemis (The Chronicles of Landon Wicker) (18 page)

Without a word between them, Landon and Riley dropped the books in their hands, bolted from the History section of the Library, and headed toward the voice. It was hard to pinpoint where exactly she was because of the Library’s labyrinthine halls, but they soon emerged from behind a shelf to find Katie Leigh floating two feet off the ground, pressed against a bookcase, tears streaming down her face. They could hear laughter coming from a group of people, but they remained just out of sight.

As Landon and Riley approached, the source of the laughter emerged; the Crane twins were both hunched over, laughing like hyenas, and standing silently between them, with his hand outstretched, was Brock Holbrooke.

Even as roommates, Brock and Landon barely spoke to each other. They didn’t have much in common. Brock was a man of privilege. Raised in Connecticut by a well-to-do family, he was never for want of anything. His apocratusis occurred during a lacrosse game in which he was the team captain. He was then brought to the Gymnasium after someone from the facility visited his family at their estate. True to form, since his arrival he’d risen swiftly to be the premiere student, excelling in all facets of his training, particularly Telekinetics. Landon was none of those things, and he only knew these facts about Brock through other students. He was a living legend in the eyes of most—someone to fear or revere.

That aside, Landon found himself wondering about Brock’s whereabouts more often than he’d care to confess. Much like his first night in the dormitories, Landon would return to his room in the early hours of the morning to find Brock missing. Sometimes he would be missing for days on end leaving Landon with no clue as to where he’d gone or when he’d return. Many times Landon thought about asking him about it, only to dispel the idea, realizing they weren’t close enough to warrant such a personal question.

“Let her go!” Riley yelled.

Brock turned his head to the pair of them, glaring menacingly. Riley stopped in his tracks and took a slow, audible gulp, regretting his initial outburst.

“And why should I do that?” Brock asked, mockingly. “She offended me. She needs to learn a lesson on when it’s appropriate to speak to her superior.”

The Crane twins stopped laughing for a second and stared at one another. This peculiar exchange between the twins must have been what Riley was talking about after Landon’s orientation. Then, moments later, they erupted in another outburst of laughter.

“What could she have done to you?” Landon asked, dumbfounded by Brock’s air of superiority. Landon couldn’t stand to see someone act with such a level of elitism. He’d experienced it in high school during his freshmen year, and he couldn’t believe that a teenager could consider themselves so above their peers. “She’s twelve, and what could she have said?”

“I don’t answer to you, roomie,” Brock returned. “So mind your own business.”

“Yeah, mind your own business,” the twins echoed in unison.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t do that.” Landon’s reply was stern and confident, and a bit unsuspected by everyone in the room. “Katie Leigh’s our friend, and until you let her go, we aren’t leaving. Right, Riley?”

“Right,” Riley answered hesitantly.

“I’m Brock Holbrooke. You think you’re a match for me?” he continued. “Everyone in this place knows you’re good for nothing. And if rumor has it, I’m going to be living alone again before Christmas, since they’re gonna kick you out. If you must know, she was insubordinate. She corrected me. And I don’t do well with insubordination. Isn’t that right,”—he looked over to Katie Leigh and lifted her another foot off the ground—“little one?”

She was still crying and winced with fear as the books pressed against her back.

“Corrected you?” Riley interjected, after a sputtering laugh burst from his lungs. “Don’t you realize you’re talking about Katie Leigh Chapman? It’s what she does. If she didn’t correct you, she’d explode.”

Brock’s gaze focused on Riley. The muscles of his face tensed up around his eyes, forcing them into a threatening, predatory squint. The twins fell silent, and Riley backed up slightly.

“Now leave before I decide you two should join little Katie Leigh here as a permanent decoration of the Library,” Brock threatened.

Riley looked over to Landon, but Landon didn’t move. His unbroken gaze was fixed on Brock. Like two rams battling for territory in the wild, they were sizing each other up before attacking headfirst. What had gotten into Landon? Why was he so hell-bent on defending Katie Leigh and sending them both into the depths of social destruction?

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Riley said under his breath to Landon before clutching his lower lip with his teeth. Riley looked green with anxiety.

“Not really, but we can’t stand for this,” Landon whispered in reply before directing himself back toward Katie Leigh’s aggressors. “We’ll leave when you let Katie go.”

“Well, if you’re set on staying in the Library,” Brock said, “then it’s time for you to go and read a book.”

The words were like a dart, piercing Landon’s brain. He could instantly feel sweat building up over his body and a strange heat on the back of his neck.
Go and read a book.
He’d heard those words iterated by his mother hundreds of times, a code she used to tell him to leave the room so she and his father could argue. But since the drug-induced reliving of his apocratusis on the day he was brought to the Gymnasium, he only heard his father’s voice echo them through his mind. Moments before he had attempted to slap his powerless mother across the face, his father arrogantly said those five simple words to Landon as if he was a dumb child. Every day since, he wondered if things would have been different had he not listened to his mother’s request all those times.
Why didn’t you tell me he hit you?
he thought to his mother.
Why was I so stupid not to see?
What would have happened if he’d stayed to protect her earlier rather than allow his father to beat and abuse her?

Brock swiped his hand through the air and a stack of books resting on a nearby table rose off their surface and jetted toward Landon and Riley. It happened in a fraction of a second, but to Landon, it was in slow motion. Each book slid off the pile, one after the other, flecks of dust flicking into the air, and they grew in speed as they moved closer and closer to his body. He watched Riley hunch over and raise his arms to protect his face. Landon instinctively raised his hand to block them from meeting with their intended target, and then, inches from his outstretched hand, they stopped.

Time returned to its normal speed. The books floated in he air motionless, suspended as if cast in a vat of clear gel. Surprised, Landon released his power and let the books fall to the floor. He couldn’t believe he’d been able to access his abilities in such a high-stress situation. Everyone in the room was standing silent. Even Katie Leigh, still suspended above the ground, had stopped whimpering and looked at Landon in shock. Brock’s menacing scowl shifted; his lips were now slightly parted, and his eyes were wide. Both the Crane twins’ jaws had dropped. Riley looked as if he was going to be sick.

How had
he
done that? Landon wasn’t even sure how he’d managed it, and the others in the room were noticeably just as shocked. Brock had powered the books across the room with lightning speed and for someone—anyone—to have the ability to react before they connected with their target was unbelievable.

Unknowingly, Landon had done more than just stop a few books from hitting Riley and him. He’d laid down the gauntlet, challenged Brock Holbrooke through this blatant act of defiance.

Brock’s face returned to its aggravated grimace, and he started to walk toward Landon and Riley. The twins followed suit, walking a pace behind their leader. Raising his arms and widening his stance, Landon tensed up and entered into the starting position Dr. Brighton had taught him. He anticipated a flying fist or swift kick to come at him, for which he would need to defend himself, but Brock and his minions just walked by, heading toward the exit.

“We’ll settle this later,” Brock said just before passing through the doorway. “You’re lucky I’m in a good mood.”

Once Brock and the twins disappeared through the door, Katie Leigh’s body released and fell in a heap onto the floor. Without blinking, Riley darted over to her and attempted to comfort her and make sure she was okay.

“I’m all right. I’m all right.” Katie Leigh rose to her feet and pushed Riley away. She instantly started to tweak and flatten her clothes, attempting to collect herself from the ordeal. After pressing a final unruly crease out of her shirt and releasing an audible huff, she looked like her usual pristine self.

“That was embarrassing,” she said, nonchalant. “And Landon, I’m impressed. It would appear that since Riley’s and my little breakfast altercation, you’ve improved dramatically. It seems your sessions with Dr. Brighton have been enlightening, to say the least. I’m very happy for you, but I really must be going. I—”

“Hold up, Katie,” Riley interrupted. “You need to tell us what happened.”

“No time right now, Riley. I have to be getting back to . . . to my studies. We can talk more tomorrow at breakfast.”

Katie Leigh bolted straight for the door and left Riley and Landon standing in the Library, confounded by her strange behavior after what had just transpired.

“That was weird,” Riley said once he’d returned to Landon’s side.

“What can you do?” Landon replied while keeping his eyes on the now clear doorway.

• • • • •

“I mean she didn’t even say ‘thank you,’” Riley said through a mouthful of French toast. “And now we’re doomed to be outsiders. There’s no way around it. We’re doomed.”

When they left the Library, Riley was overflowing with excitement to the point that he flew around Landon, darting from side to side, performing exaggerated reenactments of the heart-pumping “fight” to every person they came across. He was a consummate showman, regaling each with a consistent, exuberant routine, never missing a single detail of their valiant rescue of Katie Leigh. Landon laughed to himself when he pictured Katie Leigh erupting into a fit of rage and punching Riley in the eye if she ever heard him call her a “damsel in distress.”

By that night, Riley had drawn a crowd. The women of the Gymnasium couldn’t seem to get enough of the story. It was understandable, as not much in the way of teenage intrigue happened in the facility, so they circled around Riley as he provided another repeat performance of the story in the Rec Center. Riley seemed to love the attention—he basked in it.

However, now that it was breakfast, Riley’s sentiments on the event appeared to have changed. With a night to sleep on it, he seemed to realize with utter anxiety that they may have destroyed their slim chance at popularity in one foolish moment of valor.

“I mean, what were we thinking? It’s Brock Holbrooke! We’re doomed!”

Riley’s worried ramblings over their perceived social suicide had started the instant they met up in the cafeteria, and they hadn’t stopped yet. It didn’t much matter, though, because Landon wasn’t listening. He’d nod and attempt to express the appropriate amount of horror at their new social plight, but his mind was on other things. It’d been three months since he’d come to the Gymnasium, and yesterday was the first time he’d ever managed to use his abilities without concentrating on it first.

“Good morning, gentlemen,” Katie Leigh said in a somewhat bubbly manner as she sat down beside Landon. She seemed back to her normal self, but Landon noticed a look in her eye that said much more than her words.

She seemed grateful. Katie Leigh’s intellectual prowess made her much too proud to acknowledge ever needing help, and to add insult to injury, Riley, her least favorite person for the past month, was one of her rescuers. For her to say “thank you” would be like her admitting she was wrong—it would never happen. Landon accepted this subtle gesture of appreciation with a gentle nod.

“All right,” Riley started, “spill. I’ve been dying to hear what you did to kill any chance we had at being accepted here.”

Katie Leigh turned her attention to Landon. “I see not much has changed.” She keep her attention on Landon and looked to be ignoring Riley altogether. “But I did say I would tell you at breakfast, and I always keep my word.”

Katie Leigh leaned in slightly. Landon and Riley followed suit and hunched over the table until they were all at a fairly close proximity to one another. Katie Leigh continued a moment later in a soft voice.

“So I was in the Library reading, obviously, when Brock and the Crane boys blundered in. I minded my own business until I could hear them talking to one another. They were trying to look something up . . . poorly, I might add.”

“What were they looking for?” Riley asked.

Katie Leigh stopped for a second and glared at Riley scornfully before turning back to Landon and continuing. “Anyways, I don’t know if you noticed, but we were in the Folklore and Mythology section. Because of the obvious influences antiquity had on this place, I’ve developed quite an interest in the subject since I arrived here. So I was sitting in a chair, reading the
Iliad
, when Brock ordered the twins to look for anything they could that talked about Artemis.”

“Artemis?” Landon asked. “Like the Greek goddess, Artemis?”

“Really?” Riley interjected, sounding almost ashamed of Landon. “You know who she’s talking about?”

“What? My mom told me all about ancient mythology.” Landon tried to defend himself. “She got a minor in Classics in college so she liked teaching me about it.”

After another rather disdainful look at Riley, Katie Leigh moved on with her story. “Exactly right, only just after they split up, Brock said, and I remember it clearly, ‘He’s got to be mentioned in here somewhere.’ So you can see why I had to say something.”