Raging Sea (Undertow, #2)

I tell my mother and father everything that has happened to us so far, filling in holes that Bex left out, and editing out a few things that will break their hearts. I explain what Spangler wants me to do. My mother doesn’t like it.

“I don’t have a choice,” I explain. “But I think it might give me a chance to get us out of here. If he wants me to train them to control the water, Spangler’s going to have to let me use it myself.”

“Will Fathom help you?” she asks.

“I haven’t asked, but I’m sure he will,” I say, then blush, thinking about him. I can’t help it, and it isn’t lost on Bex. She flashes me a curious look but says nothing.

There’s another knock at the door, and my spa ladies enter. Doyle tentatively follows.

“They’re here to take care of the rest of your family,” he says to me.

“You’re going to love this,” I tell them, then look at my mom. “Actually, you might want to supervise Dad.”

“Lyric, please,” Doyle says. “The team is waiting.”

“Let me get dressed,” I say. I walk to the closet, where a dozen fresh black White Tower jumpsuits are hanging. Putting one on physically repulses me, but there’s nothing else to wear. I snatch one off the hanger.

“Bex, feel free to steal anything you want from my closet.”

I head to the bathroom to put it on, with Bex in tow.

“Something’s different.”

Again, I blush.

“Fathom was here last night.”

“NO WAY!” she shouts. It’s so loud, I have to clamp my hand on her big mouth while she jumps up and down. “Oh, Lyric, you are like a trouble magnet.”

“What’s that mean?”

“You thought Arcade was pissed at you for having that picture. Wait until she finds what else you’ve had,” she says.

“Gawd, do you have to say it like that?” I groan, then eye her sheepishly. “Am I horrible?”

“You love him, right? This isn’t a Stevie Brinks thing?”

“That was the third grade!”

“You knew Heather Stamp liked him, but you kissed him by the bumper cars anyway. It was scandalous. Arcade is not Heather Stamp. She can break you in half.”

“I know.” I cringe. “But I do love him.”

“You have got to tell her, Lyric. Maybe not right now, when we’re locked up like this, but soon. They’ve been together since they were little. I’m not trying to make you feel guilty, but you need to be prepared for some of her hostility.”

“I am . . . I will be.”

“Still, you’re such a hussy,” she says with a giggle. “Shadow called it. The first time he saw the two of you together, he knew you’d be a couple.”

“Bex, back at the theater. Duck . . . did you—”

She shakes her head. “That was a hard day, and I really just wanted to crawl out of it, but no. I let him kiss me. I thought he might be a nice distraction, but it just made me sad. I miss my boy. He broke me for everyone else, Walker. He’s in my head, in my dreams. He’s hanging on more than he did back in the fifth grade.”

There’s a tap on the door.

“Ms. Walker, please!” Doyle calls from the other side.

I get dressed and say my goodbyes, making Dad promise to be nice to the spa ladies. I follow Doyle out into the hallway that leads to his park. Once we get there, we step onto the catwalk and descend a flight of metal stairs that lets out onto the lawn. The ground beneath me is as real as it looked from above, slightly spongy and cool, like the great lawn in Kaiser Park, back in Brooklyn. It takes me back to times when Shadow, Bex, and I would lie beneath a tree and smoke cigarettes she squirreled out of her mother’s purse. I reach down and let the tips of grass tickle my palms. I wonder if it will affect my allergies.

“Pretty cool, huh?”

“Shut up, Doyle,” I say, irritated at how proud he is of his battlegrounds.

“Put this on,” he says, undeterred by my tone. He hands me a black skullcap. “I think the bandages will scare the little ones.”

“These kids need to get used to being scared,” I say.

“This place is supposed to be pleasant, or at least as happy as it can be. They’ll see plenty of ugly things later. Here, they’re safe.”

I slip the cap over my head and tuck it down over my bandages just as I hear a buzzer sound. Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and tell myself to stay focused and wait for my opportunity. If you do everything right, you can destroy this place, and these kids will never know what they were being trained to do.