Barcode: Cavern of Youth (2 page)

“Who’s his mom?”

“My wife.”

“Who is Rachel then?”

“My sin.” Tony’s gun falls to the ground as he stumbles to his knees. “Hey.”

“Yeah?” There’s no longer a need to hide. I slowly and quietly approach Tony as he trembles and gasps for air.

“This hurts.”

I hasten Tony’s death with Andrew’s Mac XII.

Though I hate to disrespect her corpse, I step on Rachel in order to tear the weapon from her body. It doesn’t help that Shiva produces electricity to shock me. She always zaps me whenever I’ve picked up another weapon.

“I’m sorry, alright?” Once her fit is over, I convert Shiva back into the wrist guards I’ve worn since I killed Spencer. Though I loved my signature gloves, Dennis changed my image to help me go unnoticed.

I run past Tony’s body, and dash into the dark, up what feels like an infinite spiral, stone staircase. It takes two minutes to sprint all the way to the top.

The second I resurface, Dennis wraps me in his arms, like always. I’m quite a bit taller than him. Two grown men hugging seems strange, but I’m not going to complain. I didn’t even know what a hug felt like until he gave me one last year.

Dennis analyzes my situation with the barcode on his pinky finger. Once he processes the data, the big man in a nice black suit asks, “Why’d you try that hard to get Tony to turn around?”

“You can read my thoughts with that code. Why do you always ask obvious questions?”

“I can read your situations and do my best to interpret them, but I have no insight into thoughts.”

“Didn’t seem like that the first time you touched me.”

“I had both you and Spencer’s corpse to get a lot of information from. Not to mention, I shook Blake’s hand before seeing you.”

I take a seat directly next to his table. I practically have to stand all night because I’m too paranoid to sit in the dungeon. There are all types of nasty creatures on the floor.

“Did you convince your brother to wrap me in the bandages?”

“Yeah. It came with a hefty cost, but I let him know it was you. He’d get the information from the ring anyway.”

“What cost?”

“The arena.”

I stand abruptly. “What the hell, Dad?”

Since Dennis adopted me, he’s never done more than smile. But right now, his face twitches. “Trust me.”

“It doesn’t make sense. Why can’t I just stay the same?”

“We’ve been through this. Too many people saw you fight with Spencer on my floor. If one of them pointed you out, it could cause me serious problems.”

That’s still not logical. He has to have another reason. No one saw me actually kill Spencer and not many people know about his death. I scrutinize his face, searching for the real reason, but he has an excellent poker face. My body aches and I’m too tired to fight something he seems so adamant about. I wipe my face and find my seat again.

“But this is your entire legacy. It’s everything you’ve built.”

“I still have control of Yang Arena, though the people don’t want me there. If I need to start another stadium, I can. For now, I’d like to remember what it’s like to experience life. Travel for leisure, not business. Smoke a cigar without paperwork in front of me. Maybe being a real dad.”

“I’m eighteen years old. It’s a little too late for that.”

“I’m thinking of having another kid.”

“If you even try getting at Hayley, I’ll kill you. There’s no way I’m letting you have a relationship with my mom without telling her the truth.”

Dennis grunts, “Are you ever going to call her mom to her face?”

“I didn’t call her
mom
. I said Hayley.”

He smirks briefly, but the joy doesn’t last long enough. Dennis is an expert at reading my facial expressions. Once he notices my slight head turn and scrunched eyebrows, his shoulders tense up.

“What do you see?”

“Someone’s about to die on your campus.”

“Who? I’ll have security tail them.”

My eyes trace an unfamiliar guy as he stalks a group of female gladiators near the front of the school. The suspicious-looking student casually peeks over his shoulders nearly every fifteen seconds. Two strange men in armor are also on the premises. They’re pretending to be students, but the one checking his phone hasn’t changed his screen since I’ve exited the dungeon. The other is hiding in an empty room.

I’m not sure who they’re after, but something’s not right. Unfortunately, the phone conversation hasn’t revealed enough yet.

The hitman is heavyset but wears sleek brown armor. He has short, greasy hair that shines as though he moisturizes with petroleum jelly. Judging from his demeanor and swag, he’s a cook for a food truck from East Los Angeles. The Spanish and Indian accent tradeoff is a dead giveaway.

The small barcode imprinted on his cheek means he’s a mortal-level student, but he’s received training from somewhere special. For being so overweight, he’s extremely light on his toes.

His fat tongue looks as though it’s dripping with fish oil as it rolls off his lips and he wheezes into the phone, “No. I see her...She’s not alone, but she’s never alone...Yes. I can make it seem like an accident...I told you,
yes
. I’ll do it now...You’ve known me for a year. When have I ever messed up a hit? It’s you that kills off everyone I work well with...Dustin of course. If he were still around, she’d be dead by now. The weak tramp couldn’t put up a fight if she tried.”

Dennis removes his phone and pulls up the contact page to his head of security. I cover his screen with my hand. “No time.”

“Tell me, and I’ll stop them.”

Zipping up my hood and closing my eyes, I repeat, “No time.”

“Kay, if I let you do this, you have to be subtle. Don’t kill him.”

I frown with disgust. “Are you serious?”

“Try bringing him in safely.”

“He has a team of two guys. You want me to bring all of them in safely? Give me a break.”

“I’ll help.”

“You can’t come. One sight of you, and they’ll run. I want to know who they’re chasing so I can protect them.”

“You think it’s a cute girl, don’t you?”

Frowning, I turbulently question, “Why would you say that?”

“Just the other day, you listened to a ten-year-old girl get beaten to death, but you didn’t interrupt because I told you to lay low. You still need to do that, and you’re only minutes away from making sure you’re never exposed. We can walk upstairs right now, and no one will ever know you’re Kode. But you’d rather risk it. She must be very easy on the eyes.”

“If I’m correct, it’s a really cute girl, and I’ll gladly volunteer my protection services.”

“Alive, Kay.”

I stand and stroll out of the room. “We’ll see, man.”

Two

By any standard, this school is massive. Planning an assassination here should be perfect.

Plenty of rooms are empty since enrollment lowered after Helios’ attack in May. In spite of the lack of corners, the pseudo-museum offers plenty of places to hide. The Colt family never throws anything away; the collection of artifacts in this place seems limitless. The historical armor and large cases displaying memorabilia from various wars line the walkway and walls. The blind spots they create make this arena an assassin’s playground. Someone could kill ten students and leave unseen.

It’s happened.

A few weeks after Spencer’s death, I showed Dennis nooks and walls where students were murdered and hidden. The oldest body was nearly two centuries old. He was killed and tucked inside a casket next to the father of the first Colt that built this arena.

I miss everything about campus. This is the first school day after Christmas break, but no one seems excited. It looks like just another day.

I’ve been dying to get back to campus, and I finally have that opportunity. If I screw this up and show my face, Dennis will never let me return to classes. Sadly, stealth isn’t my greatest skill.

The group of beautiful international girls laugh openly. Two, I assume, are from China. The thin armor is a dead giveaway. Chinese gladiators are known for speed and precision shooting in the arena. One punch normally ends their matches, if you can catch them.

Three other girls are from various Latin countries. I can only tell by their accent. The last beauty is the most stunning. Her gear probably costs the same as Dennis’ armored suits. She’s only said a word or two, so I can’t determine where she’s from, but I plan to find out.

Their stalker continues his phone conversation while seeming uninterested in their walk. I try thinking of a plan to speak with who I assume he’s after—the wealthiest looking girl of the bunch—but a small and round freshman stands in front of me.

“Aye. Where’d you get that hood? I’ve heard about the tech, but never actually seen it myself.”

I’m not used to people asking me questions directly. It takes me a few blinks to respond. “It was a gift.”

“Nice.”

His head only reaches my shoulders. I assume he’s fifteen, the typical age for freshmen, but he could be younger. If it weren’t for his beard, I’d think he were a child.

The freshman has blonde hair, a full face, and a squishy body. He’s a human teddy bear. Even with his round size, he’s small compared to me.

“I’m Richard Ellington. Nice to meet you,” he says while extending his hand.

“The pleasure would be mine, Rich, but I’m busy right now. Maybe another day.”

“Nah. It’s good. You’re probably one of the cool kids, and I know how things go here.” Richard speaks with a slight slur and an urban tone. The way he holds himself reminds me of gangsters in New Orleans. They’re my favorite people.

“Cool kids? I’m in the dungeon a lot and don’t know how things are. You up for a challenge?”

“Yeah.” Though he only nods his head slightly, his racing heart tells me he’s as excited to speak with someone as I am.

“In sixty-three seconds, I need to stop someone from dying. Why don’t you give me the rundown of the school this year?”

For some reason, the dungeon blocks off sound. I can hear within the actual cavern, but I can’t hear above, unless Dennis opens the door. I’d like to know how things are before getting back to classes.

“I’m down, but I can wait until you help the person.”

“Nah. I’m more interested in what’s happening here.”

Richard scrunches his eyes and tries to see inside of my hood. He’s probably wondering if I’m joking. Initially hesitant, he mumbles, “Everyone’s judged by their performances. Abby’s one of the top ranking because of her skill as a mortal-level student. Malik, Wesley, Selena and Patrick run the school as the gods and demigods.”

Richard turns around to check the clock behind him. There are forty-four seconds remaining and he’s now nervous about finishing in time. He speeds up, “They set the standard for how students should be treated. People like me are ignored. Since the final exams in December, things have gotten worse. If you were top ranking, but lost your match, you’re pretty much hated. I was already one of the weakest and I lost. Now, I’m one of the only gods in a demigod class, along with Seth and a really weird girl named Jamie. Was that fast enough?”

“More than.”

“Well, I hope to see you around. Good luck with stopping the whole killing thing.”

“Thanks. And Rich...”

“Yeah?”

“When you hear about my friend Kay, do me a favor and show him around.”

A quiet chuckle echoes under his breath as he shakes his head at me. Smiling, he waves and heads towards the cafeteria.

I step to the side and bump into the prettiest girl out of a group of transfer students. Her lipstick is a faint red. Strangely, I can’t hear her barcodes, not even under her clothes.

None? That’s weird.

The thick eyebrows resting neatly against her light-caramel face make me want to trace a line down to her perfect nose. Her dark-brown eyes are both innocent and seductive. She’s the same height as Richard, but her long neck makes her appear taller. Her cheeks are round, and she nearly has dimples when she smiles hard enough.

Artists don’t sketch images as priceless as this peculiar girl. I desperately hope the men are trying to kill her. Judging from the hitman’s reaction—he ducks behind a set of armor and pretends to read a message—I’m quite sure they are.

The goddess softly, but aggressively, says, “Hey, papi, you could at least say excuse me.” That’s a Puerto Rican accent that’s really popular in wealthy areas of the South. Their Spanish is generally very clean and proper, but their English is snappy in an alluring way. Even the guys sound appealing.

“When we bumped...” Shocked, I point at her mouth. “Did you just lick me?”

The nameless beauty looks up with a smile. “Yes, Kay, and you’re cute. Can I see you without the hood? The image in my head is a bit hazy.” She swiftly licks her full lips, and they immediately turn red, nearly the color of blood.

Found her barcode.

Slowly, her face appears long and dreary. Her eyes water and scatter from left to right. She’s still processing the data she received from licking me. “Why do you need to protect me?”

Her saliva is drying on my shoulder. “Now that’s an interesting power. You can learn about the last few minutes of my day with your tongue and lips.”

Her friends draw near and listen. With a flirtatious attitude, she contests, “How do you know it’s the last few minutes? What if I know everything about you, Kay?”

“If you did, you wouldn’t call me Kay, and you’d know the seriousness of your situation.”

Her eyes shift to the floor as one of her friends interrupts, “What’s going on? Is he bothering you, Carmen?”

Carmen? A chill zips down my spine.

“He’s fine, Tina. A friend.”

The hitman impatiently moves closer, but stops when his partner hiding in the dark calls him on the phone.

“Ahmed, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know. I can’t hear what’s happening. Some guy just bumped into her.”

“You think he knows?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll listen in.”

As he slams his phone shut, I close the gap between Carmen and me. “You’ll have to decide real fast,” I whisper. “Can your barcode read thoughts too?”