Page 21

21

More Hyde than Jekyll

A wareness swooped in, and it took several groggy, disoriented moments to recall where I was and what I was supposed to be doing.

Right. Hypnosis.

Kind of, anyway. Whatever it was, the process would be Jackie’s modified version of it.

Was it over already? I didn’t feel any different, but I guessed that was the point. The adjustments happened in the unconscious mind.

When I attempted to open my eyes, my lashes rubbed against soft, slick fabric. One of the pretend-parents must have found an eye mask for me after the process started. My arms rested beside me on the med bed beneath a warm blanket. I was so cozy I didn’t want to move.

“You think that disrupted the process?” my dad whispered softly yet insistently.

“No, no, I’m sure the quake wasn’t enough to interrupt the signal,” answered Brady and Layla’s mom. “The reprogramming is proceeding as normal. The recording still has nearly half an hour to go.”

And yet, no sound was coming through the headphones still pressing against my ears. I prepared to open my mouth to let them know—but wait . Not my dad. Not my friends’ mom.

We were trusting the proven liars to get a leg up on the “devil we know.” Good God, when had life turned to such shit?

“You’re a hundred percent sure?” Jude pressed.

Jackie tsked . “Of course I am, Jude. How many times have we done this to them already? You’d think you’d trust me by now.”

“I do trust you,” he whispered. “It’s just that it really needs to take.”

She tutted. “Of course it’s going to take. It always takes. They always believe everything from the procedure without a single problem. And you can talk normally, you know. They won’t absorb a thing we’re saying.”

Suddenly I was twitchy all over and eager to rip off my headphones, flip them all the finger—double-fister, for good measure—and get myself and my friends the hell out of there like rabid hounds were chomping at our heels.

Instead, I made very sure that my breathing remained deep and steady, and that I did nothing that might reveal I could indeed hear every single traitorous thing the rat-turd bastards were saying.

“You and Lynne must’ve put on quite the show to get Joss to agree so readily,” Jackie said conversationally, sounding like she was preparing to chat it up to pass the time till the recording ended. “She’s usually much more resistant.”

“Yeah, well,” Jude said, “I really hope this is the last time we ever have to do this. It’s getting harder and harder to pretend with them.”

“Really? I find that every time it gets easier. I’ve gotten to the point that it’s almost easier to believe the lie than the truth. Though it doesn’t help that Magnum keeps making us mix things up. It does get tricky to remember some of the details. Like this time, he wants to try Joss and Griff remaining just friends, and for Zoe to get closer to Hunt. They’re supposed to be dating this time. And the kids are supposed to think his nephew Rich is a nice guy.” She snorted softly but didn’t follow up, suggesting that even though she was unaware I was hanging on to her every crappy word, she didn’t believe she had the same immunity from Magnum’s pervasive observation.

“And Magnum’s going to be a long-time family friend, right? He was a TA grad student when we were all undergrads. That’s the story?”

“You did read the memo, right?”

“Of course I did,” Jude said huffily. “How else would I know the details? Come on, Jackie. Don’t treat me like I’m a novice at this. Just making sure I have it all straight. It really is a lot to keep track of when the stories keep switching.”

Holy fuckballs , how many times had they altered our understanding of our lives and our pasts? Nausea roiled deep in my gut, and I had to force myself not to grimace. Only my eyes and ears were covered.

“That’s all that’s new this time though, right?” Jude pressed. “I’ll have to read through the memo again.”

Jackie hummed as if distracted—perhaps checking her equipment. “Ah, yeah. Oh wait, no. They won’t have any memory of Kitty Blanche.”

“The reporter?”

“Yeah, she’s gone.”

Gone . Meaning six feet under, not on vacation, I was guessing.

“Good,” Jude said. “She was a pain in the ass.”

“For sure she was. I’m surprised Magnum let that go on for as long as he did before dealing with her.”

“He had his reasons, I’m sure. He always does.”

“Doesn’t he just?” Jackie said. “As usual, they won’t remember they died, and since none of their other powers revealed this time, we don’t have to deal with any of that.”

Other powers ? OhmyfuckingGod, what other powers?

“So I guess that’s it. Oh, nope, never mind. Just thought of something else. Griffin’s getting a new car that’ll look like one they worked on. They couldn’t get his other one done in time. Too much damage from the crash.”

“Makes sense.”

Makes sense? Makes sense? I was ready to shank a bitch. Any one of the lying, two-faced assholes I’d believed to be our parents would do at this point. I wasn’t going to be picky.

How could they? How fucking could they? This was so much deeper and worse than I’d ever imagined. This was next level shit, that’s what this was.

Minutes of silence passed during which my rage grew to such levels that I had to focus on calming myself so my body’s reactions wouldn’t give me away.

Jude, sounding pensive, asked, “You really aren’t bothered by all the lying?”

Jackie sighed loudly enough that I thought there might be a chance she was actually burdened by their awful behavior. “I used to be, at first. Now, it’s just normal. At least we have plenty of good reasons for it.”

“We do.”

“That’s what I think of any time Layla or Brady do something cute or loving. I just focus on the why of what we’re doing, then I remind myself it’s probably the only way to get them to do what we need them to do, so …”

So ? That was it?

And why , for fuck’s sake, WHY were they doing this? Don’t leave me hanging now, Jack-fucking-ie.

Eventually, Jackie added, “But yeah, I hope this is the last time I have to do this too. It’s going to happen at some point. Everything’s going to eventually line up, so why not this time?”

“It’ll be so incredible to finally get to move on to the next stage, after all this time,” Jude said.

“We’ve devoted the last twenty-plus years of our lives to this. We deserve it.”

They deserve it? I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had to work so hard to resist the desire to kick someone’s ass.

“We really do,” Jude said, and I could feel the smile in his voice.

The fucking fuckers!

It was a good thing they weren’t monitoring my vitals now, because they were certainly spiking.

The bed beneath me shook enough to make my limbs, purposely loose, wobble.

Jackie huffed. “What is going on ? How long can it possibly take to immobilize one kid on his own? It’s not like it’s rocket science. I mean, come on already. You juice him or tranq him till he’s out cold. It’s not that complicated.”

I was struggling to reconcile this woman and what she was saying with the Celia Rafferty I’d known growing up. Were the whole lot of them more Hyde than Jekyll?

“Maybe it’s a different one,” Jude suggested. “Magnum’s been bringing new ones in fast.”

“Hmm, maybe. Go find out what’s happening.”

“Why? I’m sure they’re on it. They’re not going to let any of them out on the loose.”

“Because I don’t want to have to re-drug the kids and start over. I’ve already dosed them pretty heavily to make them properly susceptible. If I do it again, they’ll sleep forever.”

Nothing, then Jackie insisted, “Go.”

“The others are right there,” Jude complained. But then I heard the door open and close anyhow.

My bed shook again, this time much harder. My blanket slid across my body as I restrained the natural urge to reach out and catch it before it could slip to the floor.

“What the shit?” Jackie muttered, again making it difficult to reconcile this cussing woman with innocent-looking Celia Rafferty who enjoyed homemaking when she wasn’t in the lab. Was any of it real? At this rate, probably not. For all we knew, in her spare time, Jackie might rock shiny black pleather and ball gags.

Yet another quake rattled my bed, and when it did, Jackie’s voice, pitched to be soothing, suddenly sounded through the headphones in a lulling monotone.

“—preschool with Ms. Gail. Then I attended Ridgemore Elementary, then Ridgemore Middle School, and then Ridgemore High School, where my friends and I are currently seniors. I love the town of Ridgemore and have no desire to ever leave it. It feels happy and comfortable here. I love my home with my parents, Monica and Reece Bryson—”

Ah, so we each had our own individualized brainwashing recording. Peachy .

“—in the Periwinkle Hill neighborhood. It’s the only home I remember. I love my parents and trust them implicitly. With them, I am safe. I trust their guidance.”

How much of this hogwash drivel had my poor, abused gray matter been subjected to over the years?

On and on the recording droned, listing out basic facts of my life I’d long taken for granted—but never would again. The asswipes apparently didn’t leave anything to chance. There were even comments about how much I enjoyed keeping up my physical fitness and eating my freaking vegetables. Was my love of brussels sprouts and lima beans all just another lie? I mean, seriously? What the actual fuck was wrong with these people?

Few facts differed from what I remembered—and I had no way to tell whether or not those were true memories. Jackie didn’t mention our time at the lab at all. I had no way of knowing what scintillating tidbits of programming I’d missed out on while she and Jude discussed deceiving us as if it were any ol’ ordinary part of their job.

I was coming to realize it was.

They were indeed superspies, ones with a fully outfitted laboratory primed for all sorts of evils, plus unlimited funding. A winning combination.

From what I was gathering from the partial hypnosis, we weren’t to remember any of our time here at the facility, but would experience a new enthusiasm for attending the Institute for the Advancement of the Gifted, a new school soon opening in Ridgemore. How lucky we were! They were already planning how to get us back right where we were, just with a different backstory.

Before today, I hadn’t believed I could grow any more shocked by our circumstances. How very, very wrong I’d been.

With minor—yet crucial—deviations, we were to proceed with life as normal. Unless our parents and Magnum had even more devastating secrets stuffed up their sleeves, we’d likely simply be biding our time until they killed us again. Only we were supposed to believe we were dying for the first time, and to experience that terrifying panic at the possibility of losing one of our dear friends forever.

These weren’t scientists. They were monsters.

In the headphones, Jackie rambled on with a final litany of thoughts:

“I only practice safe sex and am very careful to avoid pregnancy.” (If my mom’s previous theatrics were to be believed, that was probably her addition.)

“I accept my parents’ regular checkups as a normal part of my care.”

“I never enter my parents’ office when they aren’t present.”

“Ridgemore High School is lucky to have a newly built gymnasium for us to use. Magnum Chase is a generous donor and we appreciate all he does for our community. We’re very fortunate he moved here years ago to share time with our families.”

“When I wake, I will feel well rested. I will believe I went to sleep in my bed last night in my bedroom at home, as always. I will get up and go to school for the day. I will greet my friends as if no time has passed and everything is as it always has been.”

I was in the middle of wondering how the fuck they were going to pull off this kind of production when no one in town was likely to forget the resurrection of the “Miracle Kids” anytime soon when, without warning, the blanket was pushed back to expose my arm and immediately something wet and cold swiped my arm. Another alcohol swab, I guessed too late, after I’d already flinched at the touch before instantly relaxing again. A stool swiveled with a soft whir of metal against metal as I focused on not holding my breath, on not doing anything else to indicate I was alert when I shouldn’t be.

The whir came again, and then a pinch that told me I was getting another injection.

No one said anything, allowing me to hope that Jackie had already been mid-turn away from me to reach for the syringe when I jerked. If she was the only one in here with us, and it seemed like she was, and no one was reviewing the footage of us to catch my tell, I might’ve just gotten away with the first real advantage any of my crew had ever had.

Jackie’s footsteps scuffed along the floor as she presumably injected my friends as well. My need to pretend ended as the second shot she gave me pulled me completely under, at the mercy of the devils we apparently didn’t know at all.