Chapter 19

Chapter 19

          “Just because we fooled him doesn’t mean he won’t kill Rhapsody,” Rafe had said before leaving his own home. He had left Sloane and Jacen with Loqi. Loqi was asleep, sleeping off whatever drug Rafe had given him, but it had kept him settled. Rafe had figured that the men would not fight while Loqi was not awake to make smart comments. It did not keep Sloane from wanting to drive his thumb into Loqi’s shoulder and causing him further pain.

          “You know, he shot me in the head, I should hate him more than you do,” Jacen pointed out as Sloane stared out the window.

          “That was just an illusion,” Sloane pointed out.

          “Tell that to my head or heart,” Jacen said.

          Rafe opened his front door and came back into the house, looking at Sloane and Jacen who had not gone far since he had left. Both were watching him anxiously, holding their breath.

          “Rhapsody isn’t at the hospital,” Rafe said. “The director told me that she had been called to the manor and he was told it would be a few days before she returned.”

          “We either turn over Ellie or lose Rhapsody,” Jacen said. He glanced at Sloane and Sloane’s stomach dropped. Jacen had a strong moral compass and a stronger sense of loyalty. Unfortunately, his loyalty was primarily to the woman whose life had been threatened.

          “We are absolutely not turning Eleanore in,” Rafe said. The men before him looked surprised at his absolution. “That man was willing to kill us right there if he had to because he thought we had betrayed him. You saw Hako. Eleanore will be used to create more of that.”

          “We give her over until we can rescue her,” Jacen said. “Until we have a plan.”

          “Do you have one?” Rafe asked. “A plan to rescue her? Or is your plan just to rescue Rhapsody?”

          “I can’t let Rhapsody die,” Jacen argued.

          “Rafe, I think it’s time to abandon your plan,” Loqi said. How long he had been awake Sloane was unsure, but he was sitting up in the bed looking more awake than groggy.  “Honestly, I don’t even know what your plan was, but it’s obviously not working.”

          “To take down the presidency,” Rafe admitted flatly. “It’s just not that easy. Not when he can control an entire group using fear.”

          “You can stop people’s powers, though,” Sloane said. “How can you not just defeat people?”

          “I can, and I can’t,” Sloane said. “Remember, there’s a side effect to every person’s power. I deal with my own side effects. And Bastian is older and stronger than I am. All of these years I have been trying to find a way to defeat him, and he creates something stronger. We meddle, and he finds a way around it. We steal his plans, he has them memorized. We once blew up the entire lab and he had it rebuilt in days. I simply can not get around him.”

          “Then we run,” Loqi said.

          “Running is not an option,” Rafe snapped.

          Loqi pushed the covers off of him and stood. He was dressed in a white button down shirt Rafe had lent him that was a little too small on Loqi’s broader body, but Loqi made it appear like it worked so that no one would notice he was not wearing his own uniform shirt. “What do you suggest, then?”

          “If we run, we leave all of those people to Bastian,” he said. “Rhapsody, David, people like Hako who were simply unruly and in need of discipline not to have his whole being toyed with.”

          “You already left them to Bastian,” Loqi snapped. “He’s already doing what he wants because while yes, you have saved some, you have allowed more to be destroyed. You let Eleanore escape, but Bastian was smart enough to figure out that he needed her and is growing more suspicious because she has not come before him.”

          “We need to rescue as many as we can,” Rafe said.

          “No, we don’t,” Loqi said. “But I can save Rhapsody.”

          “Loqi-“

          “Rafe,” Loqi snapped. “I know you want to save the world, but you can’t even save these kids.”

          “Hey,” Sloane said.

          Loqi continued as if he had not even spoken. “Bastian is stronger than us, and we aren’t even fighting battles against him, much less at war. I will go to the manor and get Rhapsody. You three go to Eleanore and get her headed to the port. We’ll be behind you in hours.”

          “I’m going with you,” Jacen volunteered.

          “No,” Loqi said. “I really do not need a variable in this. I have to trick Bastian, which is hard to do, but not impossible to do. I can not have a loose cannon at my side.”

          “What if you get caught?” Rafe asked Loqi.

          “What if I don’t?” Loqi asked back. “You have spent too much time being cautious.”

          “I haven’t,” Rafe said. He straightened his back and Sloane saw it, he saw there was more to what Rafe had been doing all of this time than they knew. Rafe’s fight had been in the shadows from everyone for a long time, and he was still keeping secrets.

          “Sloane, Jacen, come on, we are going to head to Eleanore,” Rafe said.

          “I won’t go without Rhapsody,” Jacen said.

          “Now you decide to get bullheaded,” Sloane snapped at him.

          “Then stay here and wait for us,” Loqi said, “but it’s at your own expense. I am promising nothing but to do my best.”

          “Jacen, I implore you to just come with us,” Rafe said.

          “I will stay and wait,” Jacen said. “Go without me. I’ll be along when he gets Rhapsody.”

          “How did it turn out like this due to one girl?” Rafe demanded, for the first time not looking like the calm figure he usually cut. His face was dark and his mood darker.

“Because she’s an anomaly that needs to be kept away from Bastian,” Loqi said with as much seriousness as the man had ever shown, at least from what Sloane gathered. His smile, even while he was bleeding, told Sloane he did not take much seriously. He did not appreciate the protective nature the man had over Ellie, but at the same time Sloane also wanted to protect her from whatever Bastian had in mind. “She was able to take the flower test, she used her powers without knowing she had them in ways that always suited her benefit, and she can fight my illusions. Imagine what knowing how to control what she has will do. She could fight Bastian. Bastian will experiment on her, but the first time he shows she’s stronger than him, he will kill her.”

“If I run, I put a lot of people in danger,” Rafe said. “I can’t take that risk, not for just her.”

Loqi shrugged and said, “I’m going to go get Rhapsody, and then I’m going to get Eleanore out of here. If you want to continue to stick around, that’s fine. Same with all of you, but my mind is made up.”

Sloane pulled his gun out of his belt and counted the bullets that were left in it from what Bastian had given him. Five bullets, he had only used one out of the six. Bastian had been planning to kill anyone that was a betrayer, and if Sloane had had to shoot several times he would have let him. The spectacle had stopped Bastian from asking for more, he had been satisfied with that answer. Or had he been?

“You said you can’t always fool the president,” Sloane said. “I don’t think you did.”

Sloane proceeded to do the stupidest thing he was sure he had ever done before. He held up his gun with its five bullets and aimed for the spy. The gun went off and the bullet turned, the speeding projectile moving through the small room and driving itself through the back of Jacen’s shoulder until he hit the ground. Sloane did not move. He watched Jacen fall forward and to his knees, crying out in pain as blood dribbled down his shoulder to the wood paneling below him. Rafe and Loqi stared at Jacen, not quite sure what had just happened, but Sloane had known. Something had been bothering him about his friend’s actions. Yes, he knew Rhapsody and Jacen had been in a relationship, and that his loyalty would lie with her, but he had questioned nothing when Sloane came back. He had not attempted to truly get Sloane alone and talk to him. He simply had accepted everything as it had rolled.

“Your loyalty is with Rhapsody over me,” Sloane said.

“Yours is with Ellie over us,” Jacen hissed.

“You’re right,” Sloane said. “I loved you, you know.”

“No you didn’t,” Jacen hissed. “You loved pissing off your dad.”

“I told you that ended when I got to know you,” Sloane said. The bubble in his chest was a heavy weight on his lungs. He felt like he was losing his breath, but he was seeing clearly for the first time. Jacen would have been willing to go with Rhapsody without him. He was brought along for one reason, and it was mostly to give Ellie something else to do while Rhapsody and Jacen did each other.

Jacen barked out a laugh and said, “Are you going to kill me, Sloane?”

Sloane was tempted. He raised the revolver but Rafe stopped his hand. Rafe knew if he shot and wanted to kill Jacen, his aim would be true, but Rafe was only offering a small comfort. “Sloane, you will regret it. Jacen, why would you betray your friend? When did you even have time?”

“When Dr. Meridion tested Rhapsody,” Jacen spat.

Sloane rocked back on his heels. Dr. Torrow had taken Rafe with him to test Ellie, and then Dr. Meridion had handed Sloane a key and told him to meet them out back. Sloane could meditate or practice until they came for him.

Rafe and Loqi were staring down at Jacen, neither knowing what to say or do. They had not been expecting that. Loqi looked as if he should have been expecting it.

“We were sent for you,” Loqi finally said. “They told us to return you without harm, all of you. They knew exactly where you would be. It had all been a test, from the very beginning.”

“President Gentile knows you are betraying him, Rafe,” Jacen said. “He knows about the metals you have been stealing, he knows about your poisoning the people, and he knows about Ellie. He’s known about Ellie for months, because she’s manipulated David every time she’s met up with him. He just didn’t know how deep that manipulation and betrayal went. Loqi, he suspected you were ready to betray him, after what happened to David, you never acted the same.”

Rafe looked to Loqi, who shrugged his shoulders, giving no answer which was answer enough. It was not untrue.

“Why are you telling us all of this?” Sloane asked.

“Because I was told you to kill you all,” Jacen said, and while kneeling on the ground he let his hands touch the wooden floor. The room around them began to ignite, quickly. “Do you wish you had shot me now?” Jacen taunted, disappearing behind the flames.

Sloane held his arm up, ready to shoot the man he had once called friend, but Rafe stopped him. “Don’t,” he said. “There is too much fire, it might just backfire. No gunpowder.”

Loqi nodded in agreement, but what Sloane was seeing was different than what Loqi had agreed to. Sloane stepped away from his own body, which was a surreal vision, and held up his gun. The version of Sloane still holding up the gun said, “Shoot Jacen in the heart,” and let a bull ring. Loqi glanced at the real Sloane and realized he still needed him to aim the illusion bullet. Sloane wasn’t sure how he did it, but he held out his own hand to give the bullet a trajectory. The scream from the other side of the flames told them the illusion had found Jacen and that he was likely bleeding out on the floor, or at least thinking he was dying. Loqi’s lips quivered from the thrill and Sloane would have continued to hate him that excitement, but in that moment he would have loved to have seen Jacen writhing in pain. It was the second time Loqi had killed Jacen. He only hoped if there had to be a third time it was in reality. Sloane would hate himself later for the thought.

Loqi pushed them out of the burning house, leaving Jacen laying there, not truly dying, but if the flames separated from him he would die in the fire. Sloane had only a moment of regret before turning away from the friend who had betrayed him, in more than one way.

          “We have to go to Dr. Torrow,” Rafe said. “I have to see if he is safe.”

          “I am going back to my place,” Loqi said. “There are things I need to get.”

          “You are going to risk it for material possessions?” Rafe asked in an exasperated tone.

          “There is something there I have to keep away from Bastian. Sloane, aim.” Sloane aimed and a scream was heard as Loqi’s illusion took over the rest. “I will either see you at the gates, or meet you at the burned ruins of Eleanore’s house.”

          “Burned ruins?” Sloane asked.

          “Not the time,” Rafe said. “Go, fast, we’ll go check on the doctor. We’ll find each other soon.”

          Rafe gave Sloane no choice. He grabbed his arm and dragged him forward. Sloane was staggering, physically and mentally, but he kept pace with Rafe. Rafe shook him slightly and Sloane realized that without Loqi’s illusions and with them out in the open, he had to be aware.

          “I will destroy the powers of anyone near us but you,” Rafe said, “but you still need to be alert. A gun can still kill us.”

          “I’m paying attention,” Sloane said, even if it meant he was only paying attention after being reminded. Most people that they ran past were more focused on Rafe’s home burning down than the people running past them. In the dark of the night they were mostly brushing it off as the two of them were escaping the flames. Whoever else was watching them did not bring attention to them, nor did they need to. In front of them there was a hissing sound, something coming from the doctors’ building was letting out the sound. While it was a hiss, it was loud enough that it was heard by both Rafe and Sloane, slowing them down before they came to a full stop.

          “I know that sound,” Rafe said. “Get back, Sloane.” He pushed him back in time for a loud boom and then a rush of flames coming through one of the windows. The soldiers who had not left the barracks either took off running or hit the ground. Sloane reached his hand up and covered his head, but he did little more than stare at the fire in front of him. There was an internal debate of going to see if Dr. Torrow was all right or running the other way. He realized this said a lot about him and took several steps forward about the same time Rafe held his arm out and told him, “Don’t be a hero.”

          “It feels wrong doing nothing,” Sloane said quietly, hoping Rafe could hear him over the roar of the fire, over the sound of glass breaking, over the cries of surprise and fear.

          “I know,” Rafe said. “Trust me, I know, but sometimes you have to cut your losses. Dr. Torrow did not live through that if he was in there. It was set up deliberately.”

          “Shouldn’t be try?” Sloane asked.

          Rafe looked at Sloane and asked, “Do you want to?”

          “No,” Sloane answered honestly. “I want to run. But it feels wrong to leave someone who could be alive and in pain and in need of help.”

          “I can’t follow you in,” Rafe said. “I’m sorry.”

          Sloane knew that meant Rafe would stay out there, trying to help him from the outside, while he went inside in hopes of finding Dr. Torrow. Sloane did not manage to go far before the flames became a detriment. He opened the door to fires that were burning the equipment, the samples, and the body in the center. Sloane risked it, because the man might have still been alive, pushing through the flames as they licked at him, continually swiping at himself to make sure he was not on fire, or putting a small fire on his clothes out.

          Dr. Torrow was dead, but it was not from the flames licking at his body. There was a syringe in his neck that had the remainders of a light blue liquid within it. Sloane was not positive if the liquid was meant to kill him or trigger a reaction, but he was dead before the flames were eating at him.

          Sloane said a word in honor of the body and the gods, not knowing what Dr. Torrow’s religion would have been but not wanting to just leave him without something being said. Sloane quickly reached through the flames and grabbed the syringe, pulling it from Dr. Torrow’s neck and breaking the needle on the ground before sticking it into his pocket. He did, though, leave the body behind. He was not going to risk his life further for a body.

          A shadow in the fire moved. Sloane jerked his head up to the figure moving closer to him and Sloane stood from the flaming body, fire continuing to burn and erupt around him, threatening to smother him in the smoke or burn him to death if he did not move.

          “Hako,” Sloane shouted through a cough. “Hako, you don’t have to stay here in this.”

          Hako, the silhouette of burning fire, was under control of the fire now. Though he was burning, his skin was only dark from the shadows the darkness and fire were casting, not from the burns. He looked almost whole, except for those eyes that still looked as if they did not truly understand what was happening to him.

          Hako stayed amidst the flames. Sloane took that as his opportunity, that the experiment seemed to have little interest in Sloane other than watching him closely.         Sloane rushed out of the building, feeling sweat dripping down his back. Rafe was still standing outside, his back to the burning building, watching people run in confusion. Someone was trying to throw water at the building, which might save the buildings around it. The building itself was going to be a loss by the time the flames were burnt out.

          Rafe looked to him and Sloane said, “I found a syringe in his neck, I brought it with me.” Rafe nodded and Sloane suddenly felt the need to ask, “Are either of them gifted?”

          “You mean did Dr. Meridion do this with a gift? No. They are just scientists.”

          “Just scientists,” Sloane repeated, feeling the ache of the burns along his skin. He was going to regret going into that building tomorrow.

          “Don’t be pedantic,” Rafe said. “I personally thought a lot of Dr. Torrow and am sad he died.”

          “You don’t look it,” Sloane snapped.

          “Sloane, I understand you are having a rough night, but one day you will learn you can not let your emotions rule you.” Rafe stepped forward. “Come on, we can’t wait for Loqi. They are going to come and try to kill us soon.”

          “Are you sure they aren’t going to just use us for experiments?” Sloane asked.

          “Yes,” Rafe said. “Bastian made a mistake earlier by keeping us alive. He won’t make that mistake again, he needs to save face.”

          “For who exactly?” Sloane asked.

          “That’s the question, isn’t it?” Rafe grabbed Sloane on the wrist and dragged him forward.