Exceptional (10 page)

Ally had heard that when you are about to die, your life flashes in front of your eyes.  She had never really thought about whether this was true, or what moments in her life she would see, but as she fell closer and closer to the ground, one thought was on her mind.

Luke.

Luke looked down at Ally, who was now motionless in his arms.  He had caught her.  He had saved her life.  He had heard her scream ring out across the lobby and was able to react in time to catch her.  But in the process, he had revealed something about himself that no one else knew.  Something he had never planned on sharing.

“Luke?”  Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at him, a confused expression on her face.  She peered to either side for a moment, giving Luke a chance to look up.  A few Exceptionals that had been too close to him when he had reacted were just picking themselves up off the ground.  They hurried away from him and into the crowd.

Aden appeared in the growing empty space around them, clapping loudly.  “That was some performance, Luke.  My
special
son.”

Luke’s muscles coiled through his body, and he kept a firm grip on Ally.  He wanted so badly to look down and explain things to her, but he couldn’t break his gaze with his father.

“You set me up,” Luke growled.

“I had no choice.” Aden smirked.  “You are doing the City a great disservice by keeping your special abilities hidden, son.”

“What happened?” Ally managed to croak.

His father seemed perfectly happy to answer this for her.  “When Luke saw you fall from the upper level, he rushed forward and saved your life, using a special ability that no other Exceptional his age has.”

She looked up at Luke, ignoring the large crowd gathered around them.

“You did?”

Luke answered her through gritted teeth.  “Yes.”

His father walked over to them, patted Luke on the shoulder, and then stepped back again.  “It seems our Luke here can cancel gravity in a small area.  Or maybe a large area as well.  The details will be discovered with some tests and assessments.”

“I don’t understand.” Ally eyes flitted around the room as she tried to make sense of what had happened.

“You were weightless, and floating above the ground, unable to fall to the ground.”  Luke finally looked down at her.  “When I told you that I had extra abilities, I down played it a little.”

Ally cocked her head.  “You think?”

“It was magnificent, really.” His father beamed at the crowd.

“Don’t you think this would be better spoken about at home?” Luke snapped his head up.

“I agree.” His father motioned to the Guards behind him.  Ally watched as they stepped past him, stopping next to Luke.  “But first, your Ordinary here is going to be taken to ORC and checked in.”

The whole lobby had been silent until now.  The hundred or so Exceptionals began to whisper amongst each other, their eyes on Luke and Ally.   He knew his father was going to be upset him with, but he didn’t expect this.

“What?” His voice came out almost a gasp.

“Oh, don’t worry.” His father waved his hand in Ally’s direction. “She’ll still be yours.  But I think it is time she had a proper induction into the City.  I also believe that you need some time to sort through your priorities, something I’ll be directly overseeing.  I’m sure you’ll be able to focus much better with out this Ordinary around.”

Luke’s eyes flicked to the Guards standing beside them.  After a long moment of suspenseful silence, he set Ally on her feet.  The Guards stepped forward and each took one of her arms.  She looked back at Luke, her eyes pleading.

“Please, don’t let them take me.”

He just shook his head, holding his hands out in front of him in apology.  “I’ll come for you.  I promise.”

He watched as one of the Guards pulled a silver syringe from a case in his hand.  He stepped beside Ally and shoved it into her arm while was still holding eye contact with Luke.  Her eyes rolled up into her head and she collapsed in the Guard’s waiting arms.  He threw her over his shoulder as though she were nothing more than a doll, and strolled through the lobby and out of sight.

For a moment he thought about going after her, but knew that it would do no good.  Several Guards had already stepped forward to block his path.  His father cleared his throat and waved his hand, motioning for the gathered crowd to disperse.   Conversations restarted and Exceptionals ran to their lessons, for which they could not be late to.

“I’ll meet you at home.” Aden said to Luke, clasping his hands behind his back and walking away.

Luke burst through the doors to the Institute, taking his trip home at full sprint.  With his primed Exceptional body, the people around him became blurs as he sped through the streets, arriving home in ten minutes.  He burst through the front door, almost pulling it off its hinges.  Most homes had been upgraded with stronger materials as to withstand the unusual strength of the Exceptionals, but they were not damage proof.

His commotion drew the attention of others in the house. Sabine and Asher made it into the foyer first, followed by his mother, and then Flint and Mazzi.  He paced back and forth from the piano to the front door, mumbling to himself.

“Lukin, dear.” His mother approached him, reaching his hand out.  “What’s wrong?”

“Your husband,” he spat at her.

“Don’t be so dramatic.” She pouted her bright purple lips.  “What has he done to upset you this time?”

“Don’t be dramatic, Mother? He is awful, and you know it.  You try to ignore it and pretend that you have a perfect life with a perfect family, but you don’t.  So, please, stop defending him.”  Luke regretted the words the moment they left his lips, but the damage was done.

His mother clasped her lips together, fighting the quiver that was running through them.  Her garishly painted eyes filled with tears and she swept her robe around, disappearing down the hall and into her office.

“He took Ally,” Luke finally said out loud, looking to the remaining people in the room.  

Sabine stepped forward.  “What? Where?”

“He set me up, and he took Ally.  He sent her to ORC.  And now she’ll know who I am, and why I’ve brought her here.”

“The ORC doesn’t change who you are.  Ally knows you care about her, I’ve tried to make it clear,” Sabine answered.

“If it wouldn’t change anything between us, I would have told her the truth about the ORC from day one.  I’ve had plenty of opportunities.”  Luke hung his head and then looked up slightly.  “Did you really tell her I cared about her?”

She shot him a smile.  “Yes, I really did.”

He went back to staring at the piano, holding onto the hope that Sabine had just given him.  She and Asher eventually slipped out of the room, leaving him to his thoughts.  Luke started to pace again, caught between the point of extreme anger and overwhelming sorrow.

The front door opened and his father stepped into the foyer.  He glanced at Luke and then walked away from him and into the dining area.  Luke followed behind, knowing he had been given a silent command to follow.

His father took a seat at the large dining table and motioned for Luke to do the same.  In the only form of rebellion he could think up at the moment, he sat down at the opposite end of the table from his father.

“When were you going to tell me?” Aden folded his hands together on the table.

“Never,” Luke answered honestly.

“You would have lied to me for the rest of your life, like you have been lying to me all these years?”

“I never lied.  When you asked me about my abilities ten years ago I told you that I could sometimes move objects by raising my palms toward them.”

“Yes, but you omitted the best part.  You omitted your more powerful ability.” Aden struggled to keep his voice calm.

“I didn’t think it mattered.” Luke shrugged.  “How long have you known?”

Aden smirked.  “I’ve suspected it for almost a year now.  You’ve always been so unaffected by my threats and punishments and I was starting to believe I would never find a way to get through to you, until recently.  I saw the way you looked at that Ordinary girl when you introduced her to me.  You found someone you truly cared about, which meant I finally had something to use against you.”

“Such a fatherly thing to do.” Luke spoke to the table.

“And I’m disappointed in you, Lukin.  Your powers will be of such use to us in the future, and they could have been of use to us before now.”  Aden’s face turned into a scowl.

Luke gripped the table, attempting to control his anger.  “And if I refuse?”

“Oh, I don’t think you will.” Aden smirked.

“Why is that?” Luke gripped the table.

“I already said that I have something to hold over your head.” Aden stood, stepping over to the large computer screen he had hung on the wall for business dinners and meetings.  He flipped a switch and a picture of Ally popped onto the screen.  She was lying on the white hospital bed, her dark hair fanned out around her.  Her eyes were closed and tubes ran into her arms, a monitor beside her bed blinked random numbers off and on.

“What did you do to her?” Luke started to stand, leaning on the table with the palm of his hands.

“It was such a shame that the Exceptional Guard transporting her gave her a Class A tranquilizer instead of a Class B.  He will definitely be punished for his actions.” He made a
tsk-tsk
sound with his mouth.

Luke pushed away from the table and charged at his father.  “If you hurt her—”

He was stopped mid-run, an invisible force holding him back.  He felt his neck compress, as though an invisible rope had been wrapped around it.  He clawed at the source, sputtering for air.

Aden, whose hand was raised toward Luke, shook his head.  “Did you really think you could bring harm to me?  You may have a unique ability, but I am ten times stronger than you will ever be.  I identified my powers at a young age and harnessed them, getting into the training center as soon as I was permitted.  I was a son a father could be proud of.”

The invisible force released Luke and he took a few deep breaths.  “What will happen to Ally?”

Aden shrugged.  “It depends how well you cooperate.  She is on the brink, floating somewhere between life and death.  She can easily be brought back with a quick injection into her IV.  But she can also be easily put to sleep, for good.”

“All I need to do is cooperate?  To go to the training center and learn to use my abilities?” Luke asked.

Aden smiled, but the effort always made him look more menacing.  “That, among a few other things.”

Luke clenched his jaw, looking up at his father.  “I’ll go.”

THE NEXT MORNING Luke arrived at Institute early, attempting to seem completely devoted to entering the program.   Pax came to the training center three days a week, and to lessons only one day a week.  He was training to be an Exceptional solider, and had told stories about the process he had gone through when he first started his program.

Luke would undergo physical evaluation.  The doctors would run tests on his endurance and his statistics in speed, jumping, and so on.  He would have his blood drawn as well, so they could study his DNA and see if they could pinpoint the extra ability, although it had yet to be done.  Luke figured that Aden had plans to duplicate the most powerful abilities in some sort of serum if he could ever manage to find their source.