The Reckoning

“Let me guess,” Tori said. “You can only get to it by a magical train. How stupid do you think we are?”

“We don’t think you’re stupid at all. We think you’re special. There are people, as you’ve discovered, who think special means dangerous, which is why we’ve designed a school for your education and protection.”

“Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters,” I said.

He smiled at me, completely missing the edge in my voice. “Exactly, Chloe.”

Tori twisted to look at him. “And if we’re all very, very good, we’ll get to go there and live with Rae and Liz and Brady. Is Amber there, too?”

“As a matter of fact-”

“Liar!”

The venom in Tori’s voice made him flinch. The empty chairs rattled and the guards glanced over at them, and fingered their sidearms. I barely noticed. All I could think was: Rae. No, please, not Rae.

“Liz is dead,” Tori said. “We’ve met her ghost-seen her throwing stuff, using her powers. Even my mother saw it. She knew it was Liz. Or didn’t she mention that?”

Dr. Davidoff unclipped his pager and pressed a button, undoubtedly summoning Tori’s mom, while using the delay to find the right expression-regret and sadness.

“I wasn’t aware you knew the truth about Liz,” he said carefully. “Yes, I admit it. There was an accident the night we brought her in from Lyle House. We didn’t tell any of you because you’re all in a very fragile state-”

“Do I look fragile?” Tori said.

“Yes, Victoria, you do. You look angry and distraught and very vulnerable, and that’s completely understandable if you think we killed your friend. But we didn’t.”

“What about Brady?” I asked.

“Chloe saw his ghost, too,” Tori said. “Here. At the lab. He said he was brought in to talk to you, saw her aunt Lauren, and then poof, game over.”

His gaze flicked from me to Tori, assessing the chances that Tori somehow had proof of Brady’s death as well.

“Chloe was still experiencing aftereffects from her sedatives,” he said. “She had also been on a regime of drugs to keep her from seeing ghosts, either of which may have caused hallucinations.”

“How did she hallucinate a boy she’d never met? Do you want her to describe him, because he sounded an awful lot like Brady to me.”

“I’m sure Chloe saw a photo of him, whether she remembers it or not. Brady was close to Rachelle. She probably described him-”

“You have an explanation for everything, don’t you?” Tori said. “Fine. Brady, Rae, and Amber are all living happily ever after in your superspecial boarding school. You want to calm us down? Get them on the phone. Better yet, set up a video conference. Don’t tell me you can’t do that, because I know Mom has the equipment.”

“Yes, we do, and we will let you speak to them just as soon-”

“Now!” Tori roared.

Sparks fizzled at her fingertips. The empty chairs wobbled. One crashed over backward. Her guard pulled out his sidearm.

“I want to see them now! Rae and Brady and Amber-”

“You can want all you like, Miss Victoria.” The door opened and Tori’s mother walked in. “But your wants no longer matter. You lost that right when you ran away.”

“So you still recognize me, Mom? Whew. I thought maybe I’d changed so much that you’d forgotten who I was.”

“Oh, I recognize you, Victoria. You’re still the same spoiled princess who ran away from her responsibilities last week.”

“Responsibilities?”

Tori’s fists clenched and her restraints snapped open. My guard lunged forward, but Dr. Davidoff waved him back and motioned for the other to put away his gun.

Tori got to her feet. Her hair bristled, popping and sparking.

“Sedate her,” Mrs. Enright snapped. “If she can’t behave herself-”

“No, Diane,” Dr. Davidoff said. “We need to learn how to handle Victoria ’s outbursts without resorting to medication. Now, Tori, I understand you’re upset-”

“Do you?” She wheeled. “Do you really? You locked me up at Lyle House and told me I was mentally ill. You shoved pills down my throat. You murdered my friend. You made me into this genetically modified freak, and yet you tell me it’s my fault!”

She slammed her fists against her sides. Tiny bolts sparked off them, making her guard step forward.

“Does that make you nervous?” she said. “That’s nothing.”

She lifted her hands. A ball of energy spun between them, barely bigger than a pea at first, then growing and growing…

“That’s enough, Victoria,” Dr. Davidoff said. “We know you’re very powerful-”

“You have no idea how powerful I am.” She tossed the ball of energy in the air, where it spun, shooting sparks. “But I can show you.”

Behind Tori, her mother moved out of everyone’s sight as they all stared at Tori. Mrs. Enright’s lips moved in a spell. As I opened my mouth to warn Tori, a bolt shot from her mother’s fingertips, whipping past Tori and hitting the advancing guard in the chest.

The guard dropped. Dr. Davidoff, Mrs. Enright, and the other guard rushed to his side.

“He’s not breathing,” the guard said. He looked up at Dr. Davidoff, eyes wide. “He’s not breathing.”

“Oh my God.” Mrs. Enright slowly turned to Tori. “What have you done?”

Tori jumped, startled. “I didn’t-”

“ Get Dr. Fellows,” Dr. Davidoff snapped to the other guard. “Quickly.”

“I didn’t do that,” Tori said. “I didn’t.”

“It was an accident,” her mother murmured.

“No, I did not do it. I swear to God-”

“She’s right.” Everyone looked up sharply at the sound of my voice. I twisted to face Mrs. Enright. “Tori didn’t cast that spell. You did. I saw you cast-”

A sudden smack against my cheek, like an invisible slap, so hard my wheelchair rolled back. Blood spurted from my nose.

“Tori!” Mrs. Enright said. “Stop that!”

“I didn’t-”

Tori froze, caught in a binding spell.

Mrs. Enright turned to Dr. Davidoff. “Now do you see what I mean? She’s completely out of control. She lashes out at enemies and friends alike and she doesn’t even realize she’s doing it.”

“Restrain her,” he said. “I’ll take Chloe to her room.”

Forty

AND SO, AFTER A week on the run, I ended up exactly where I began. In the same cell. Lying on the same bed. Alone.

Dr. Davidoff had hustled me out before Aunt Lauren came for the guard. I thought he might want her to check my bloodied nose, but he’d just brought me a wet cloth and a clean shirt from my closet at Lyle House, telling me I could see my aunt as soon as I was calm and ready to listen. As rewards went, spending quality time with my aunt who’d turned traitor-again-wasn’t really the incentive he thought.

For the past week, I’d dreamed of the day I’d come back here and rescue Aunt Lauren and Rae. Now I was here and there was no one to save. Aunt Lauren had returned to the fold. Rae was dead.

I squeezed my eyes shut, but tears rolled down my cheeks anyway.

I should have tried harder to persuade Rae to come with me. I should have come back for her sooner.

Rae was dead. And Tori was next. Her mother had murdered that guard to frame her. I couldn’t comprehend the evil of that, but I knew what it meant. Diane Enright wanted her daughter dead. She’d become a liability, a threat.

Tori would die and I wouldn’t be far behind. And what about Simon? And Derek? I wiped away the tears and sat up. I had two choices: escape or accept my fate. I wasn’t accepting it. Not now, not ever.

I took stock of my surroundings and what I could use. As for the room, nothing had changed. As for me, all I had were the clothes I wore-the new shirt and my jeans, still stained with Andrew’s blood. I tried not to think about that.

I patted my pockets, hoping for my ever-present switchblade. Gone.

One pocket crackled, though. Paper. I tugged it out and unfolded it. When I remembered it was the picture Simon had made for Derek, I started to refold it, but I’d already seen what he’d drawn-a sketch of me, crouching beside a black wolf, my arm around its neck, and I remembered Simon saying “Give him that. And tell him it’s okay.”