Jaden, on the other hand, knows exactly what I am and why he’s here. His story doesn’t come to me in dribs and drabs. More like it’s under pressure, whooshing out like whipped cream from the can.
For as long as he can remember, Jaden has seen flashes from the future. When he was a kid growing up near Boston, they were short flashes of something that would happen within the next few hours or a day at the most. Kind of like déjà vu, but he’d remember things in full detail. Once he hit his teens, the flashes started to get longer and usually further into the future. Sometimes one a week. Sometimes one a month. It might have been an asset if he could schedule the flashes—who hasn’t wondered what would be on a biology quiz?—but they were random.
You couldn’t change anything?
Nope. Believe me, I tried.
Everything anyone said or did in those visions, that’s what happened when the time rolled around. Including his own actions. He simply couldn’t do anything else. Occasionally, he’d predict something that would make his parents kind of wonder if his claim wasn’t true, but mostly he saw stuff like eating lunch in the school cafeteria, watching a video, or tae kwon do practice. When the flashes hit, he’d go into an almost catatonic state. His parents put him in a psychiatric center close enough for them to visit. And they probably think he ran off, because a few months later, he woke up in The Warren with all of the other Fivers and hasn’t been able to contact anyone.
Fiver? That’s from Watership Down, right? The rabbit who had visions?
Yeah. The name’s a good fit—we live in tunnels underground and they don’t let us out. Run tests on us like we’re rabbits. And most of the rabbits down here get visions like Fiver did. Not sure who named it, but everybody’s called the place The Warren as long as I’ve been here. Just not in front of the Fudds.
For a second, I think he said fuzz, and that it’s some weird 1970s throwback name for the police. But then I get an image of Elmer Fudd, holding a taser instead of a shotgun, dressed in the khaki uniforms all of the employees wear.
Yep. And we’re the wabbits.
Jaden kept getting flashes after he arrived at The Warren, but at least now he wasn’t alone. Everyone else here had some kind of weird ability, so except for not being able to let his parents know he was alive, he was happier than he’d been in years. Until people started disappearing. “Transferred to another facility” was what the Fudds would say if you asked, but there are no secrets in this warren. It’s like a small town—everyone knows everything, and not just the stuff you tell them or the stuff they observe. What you’re thinking is fair game too, for wabbits like Will, and most of them aren’t mute. So all it took was a few of the Fudds knowing what was happening or even having suspicions. The info zipped through The Warren faster than a forest fire.
Then two months back, Jaden got his final forward flash. Well, not exactly his final flash . . . because this one, unlike the others, kept repeating. He was in a room with Will, Oksana, and some kid he didn’t know—Deo, as it turned out. Then Lucas comes in with a gun. He skips the kid, but shoots Will and Oksana. And the last thing Jaden sees each time is the gun pointing at him.
I got as far as him pointin’ that gun at my face. After that, same damn vision every time. I’ve had maybe two hundred of these in my life. But never the same vision twice. I had this one nine times. And I knew . . . if the visions were repeating, then I don’t go beyond that time. Couldn’t change it, so I decided to make my peace with it and hopefully make it count for something.
But, if that’s the last thing you saw, how did you know about me? You told Deo that I should pick you up first.
Girl, you been in The Warren—what? Two days now? Any secrets you had are long, long gone.
My thoughts rush to my second wall.
Yeah. Will’s circle said you had some stuff hidden. Not easy to hide anything from that crowd, so I’m impressed. They do know you got some allies on the outside, but they didn’t get that from you. Came from one of the Fudds. And that blonde nurse, Ashley. She has a sister here—at least, I think it’s a sister.
Deo puts a bottle of water into my hand, startling my eyes open when the cool plastic hits my skin.
“What took you so long?” I ask.
I can tell from his expression that I’m talking crazy talk. That look, along with a tiny, almost imperceptible headshake, reminds me that my chat with Jaden isn’t exactly happening in real time.
“Sorry,” I tell him. “Still a little disoriented. Give me a minute.”
“Take your time. I’m not going anywhere.” He grins and sits on the floor a few feet away. That’s one of the things I love most about him. Even if hell is breaking loose all around us, Deo can still manage to smile.
My eyes briefly land on the door, and I remember that I can’t take my time. That they could come in at any moment and wipe that grin off Deo’s face, unless they think I’m putting forth a solid effort, and there’s not much I could do to stop them.