Out of the shadows, Margaret grabs a chair, the legs scraping against the floor.
She sits down in front of me so that our knees are only mere inches away. “Faith, you’re a cog. You’re a very small cog in a very big machine. What’s one flying fat girl going to do for a world that’s burning?”
I sneer and say nothing, but really, I think she might be right. Big whoop. I can fly. Grandma Lou’s dementia will still get the best of her. Ches has a criminal record and her shot at getting scholarships is basically nonexistent and I don’t even know where she is. Colleen still went missing. Gretchen is still comatose. Some silly little flying isn’t enough to save any of them. Maybe all I am is a fandom blogger with a neat party trick.
Behind Margaret, Dakota folds her arms over her chest. “But you could be a part of something so much more.”
Margaret’s expression darkens. “Faith, my sister, Morgan, was special.”
Special. The way she says it reminds me of that first time I met Peter.
She continues, “If you think what I’ve created with The Grove is incredible, you wouldn’t believe what she could have been capable of. She was always smarter and funnier and quicker. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that the Harbinger Foundation plucked her from my life too soon. A girl as special as she was? Surely there was something there beneath the surface. Just waiting to be activated.”
Memories of the Harbinger Foundation crash over me. Did I meet Margaret’s sister? Was she one of the adults in charge? “Wh-what happened to her?”
“She died,” she says in a sharp, matter-of-fact way. “She died as a normal teenage girl. No superhuman abilities. Just a normal girl whose body was destroyed by the activation process. Didn’t you ever wonder what happened to all the other people who were brought to the Harbinger Foundation with you, Faith? Did you think about them when you returned home to your sweet little grandmother while their families looked far and wide for them, hoping for just a clue? Just a hint that their loved one was alive and well.”
I’m speechless. Of course I thought of them, but sitting here with Margaret, the reality of their fates seems so much more real. I’d assumed something awful happened to them, but some part of my brain tried to protect me by never connecting the dots.
“There’s nothing special about us, Faith,” Margaret continues. “Me, Dakota, everyone who works for me. All of this. It’s just normal, everyday people looking for solutions to really big problems.”
“I don’t understand,” I say. “How is it all linked? The A+. The disappearances. Why?”
Margaret chuckles, shaking her head. “The A+ is just paving the way for the real solution. A+ is just a harmless street drug, but we needed something like A+ to get us into towns, communities, and neighborhoods. The future is Honor Roll, and with just a little more time, we’ll be able to use it to safely identify young people like you, Faith. Imagine it. You could take a tiny little pill—harmless to most people—but with just a few symptoms, we could find more like you and your friend Peter. Then you could make a decision for yourself whether or not you want to be activated. The power would be in your hands.”
It all sounds good, especially when I consider what Harada was trying to accomplish with Peter by manipulating him into making an army of psiots to do his bidding. But the reality of what she’s saying . . . “What about people like Colleen? She wasn’t given a choice. Can she even open her mouth without—without wreaking havoc? All those animals! The town’s homeless population! What about them? They don’t deserve a choice? What about their families? And if this stupid drug is such a miracle, why not do things the right way?”
Behind Margaret, Dakota trains her eyes on the floor, refusing to make eye contact with me.
“The right way?” Margaret scoffs. “You think Big Pharma is the right way? Or better yet, how about all these anti-vaxxers? You think they’re going to get on board with this? Doing the right thing doesn’t always look pretty, Faith. Wake up.”
A door creaks open in one of the dark shadows of the room, and one of the security beefcakes—Remi, I think—who showed up at my house with Dakota says, “Ma’am, we’ve got a situation.”
Margaret stands and the man whispers in her ear.
I stare long and hard at Dakota until she’s forced to face me, but she quickly looks away. She joins Margaret and Remi.
After a moment, Margaret says, “Make sure she’s not going anywhere and then meet me outside, Dakota.” She points to Remi. “You, do one quick sweep. Be fast.”
“What about . . .” Dakota tilts her head in my direction.
“Leave her.”
“But—”
“You heard me,” Margaret says, no room for interpretation in her voice.
Whatever’s happening on the other side of that wall isn’t good, and Margaret has no interest in letting me go.
Margaret and Remi leave quickly, and I’m alone with Dakota.
“You heard her,” I say. “Leave me. That shouldn’t be too hard for you. Leaving people. Abandoning them. Betraying them.”
Dakota grits her teeth, pacing back and forth for a minute before spinning toward me. “Listen very carefully. I swear to God, if I ever see you again, I will kill you, and if I don’t, Margaret will. If you make it out of here alive, say nothing. It’s that simple, Faith. You want to enjoy the rest of the time you have with Grandma Lou? Keep your mouth shut. That’s it.”
She squats down in front of me so that we’re practically nose to nose.
She exhales.
I inhale.
“We could’ve been really happy,” I say.
She runs a hand through her hair. “I guess we’ll never know.”
A crash rattles the entire building, and I nearly lose my balance.
She reaches behind me and presses a cold piece of metal into my palm.
And then she’s gone.
I fidget for a moment with whatever she left me, before my thumb runs over it and—“Ow!” I hiss. My palm immediately pools with blood, but that doesn’t matter because Dakota left me her pocketknife.
There’s no easy way to do this, and my wrist feels like it could snap, but I begin to saw into the ropes.
Something outside the door crashes, small building fragments and dust rain down on me, and I begin to saw faster until one arm is free.
The moment I have one arm free, I instinctively hold it to my chest before trying to shake the ache out of my wrist. I don’t have any time to waste, though, so I swivel around and free my other hand.
I cradle my other wrist for a moment while I examine the pocketknife Dakota left me and then wipe the blood in my palm on my jeans. The knife is heavy with a wood handle and Dakota’s name carved into the side. I race to the door just in time for another vibration to rock the whole building.
I whip the door open and quickly realize that the building wasn’t just shaking. It was collapsing. Flames lick the walls and black smoke escapes through whatever gaps and windows it can find. I cough into my cape after inhaling a lungful of smoke.
“Faith! Go!” Dakota shouts as she races up the steps to where the labs were.
“I need to find Ches!” I yell back. “I know she’s here!”