Homecoming Masquerade, The (20 page)

A
lvin’s database search took
longer than Jill needed it to – she’d have to talk to him about his setup. Jill
suspected half his processing power was going unused when he hacked into slower
systems.

Regardless, she had what she
needed now, and as she stepped back into the ballroom, it was clear that her
absence had gone unnoticed. The immortals were on the floor, the students were
drunk, the music was rolling along, and everyone was having a good time. She
walked to the bar, waited out the dance in progress, then got back on the floor
just in time for the opening notes of the school song, which would be the last
dance of the night. Jill partnered with Sam Featherstone and danced out the
number.

“Jill Wentworth, so nice to see
you,” said Sam.

Jill thought about diving into
her spiel but decided to let it go. She wasn’t in the mood to talk about Nicky
and her after-party right now. She just needed to get through this dance and
then find her way to Annika.

Her mind was swimming with
thoughts of what she might say, of how she might tell Annika that she knew
everything. She was so focused on that pending confrontation that she forgot there
were rules governing the way the dance came to an end, and as the school song
rolled forward, Jill realized she hadn’t paid enough attention to her position
on the ballroom floor. There was a proper, orderly way to exit the ballroom.
Everyone went arm in arm with their final dance partner of the night, snaking
around the ballroom and out the front door. The line moved counterclockwise.
Jill and Sam had just passed the door when the song reached its closing stanza.
They would be at the end of the line.

Sam bowed low and kissed Jill on
the hand, as was traditional for the dance’s finale. With all the boys bowing
low, Jill got an unobstructed view of the ballroom, and saw that Annika was on
the other side of the door. Fifty servants dressed in white jackets and black
pants appeared from the doorways on all sides of the ballroom and began
cleaning up. Sam held out his arm for Jill and they began their long procession
around and out. It took only a minute, but to Jill it felt like an eternity.

“See you at Kim’s?” Sam said as
they stepped outside.

Jill ignored him and began
running down the driveway to catch up to Annika.

“Annika, wait! I need to talk to
you.”

Annika was at her limo. Her
driver was holding the door open for her. She looked back at Jill, then got
into the car. The driver closed the door behind her.

 Unable to move fast enough in
her heels, Jill pulled them off and broke into a full-on sprint to Annika’s
limo, getting to the door right as the engine started.

“I don’t have anything to say to
you, Jill,” Annika called out from inside.

Jill reached for the door
handle, but Annika snapped the locks shut before she could open the door.

Jill banged on the glass.
“Annika, please. I need to talk to you now!”

“Go away. I’ve made my
decision!” Annika yelled back.

“I know everything, Annika.
About you, about Shannon, Zhang Li and Hong Chung. I know everything, now let
me inside so we can talk.”

Annika gave Jill a look of shock
and disgust. Jill imagined that if there wasn’t a pane of glass in between them
Annika might have reached out and punched her.

“Get me out of here, now!”
Annika yelled at her driver.

“Wait!” Jill yelled. “It was
easy to find you out! You don’t know what...” All around them, limos were pulling
out. It was noisy and chaotic. Still, Jill was aware she was making a scene and
people might be paying attention. She leaned in close to the glass and cupped
her hands on either side of her cheeks. “They know Shannon’s alive. They’re
waiting to see what she does, and they’ll kill you both when you get there. I
can help you.”

The car started rolling away.
Jill had to step back to keep her foot from being run over. She wanted to bang
on the window and scream as Annika left, but she held back.

She turned to go to her own
limo, thinking she’d call Annika as they drove, but as she took her first step,
Annika’s limo came to a halt and the back door opened.

“Get in!” Annika yelled. “Tell
me what you know.”

“S
hannon Evans is alive,” Jill
said. “She and her parents got in trouble with the Samarins and faked their own
deaths to get away. They are hiding out in Rio—”

“Stop,” Annika said, holding up
her hand. They were in the back of her limo. The sound-proof screen separating
them from the driver was pulled closed. They were leaving the mansion and
turning East on Country Road 6, headed for the highway.

“You asked me to tell you what I
know.”

“I meant, tell me why you think
the immortals know about Shannon. Tell me why you said they are going to kill
us both when we get there.”

“I hacked into a government
database and used facial recognition software to search for Shannon. It took
only a minute to find her. Whoever forged her identity did a piss-poor job of
it. The immortals would have found her in a few hours, max.”

“So you’re just assuming they
know where she is. You don’t actually have any proof.”

“The proof is that I did it. The
proof is, I was able to find her in just a few minutes and I’m a
seventeen-year-old girl using personal computing equipment. The immortals have
a thousand times as much computing power as me and they have full-time staff
who spend their days looking for fugitives like the Evans family. Shannon’s face
showed up right away. She’s got a fake ID under the name Isabella—”

“Quiet!” Annika yelled. “I’m not
supposed to know the name she’s using, in case the immortals question me about
it.”

“They don’t need to question
you, Annika. They know exactly where she is. The only reason they haven’t
pounced is they want to see what she and her parents do when they think they
are safe. They’re watching Shannon’s every move, especially what she does
online. They know all about your secret email relationship. They’ve read
everything you sent.”

Annika crouched against the wall
and looked out the window, as if her enemies were looking in on them right now.

“We tried to be careful,” she
said.

“It’s not your fault,” said
Jill. “Shannon’s parents didn’t know what they were doing. Whoever they
contacted to get them phony identities was an amateur.”

“Can you help her get someplace
safe?”

“I can, but the minute she
disappears, the immortals will come after you. We’re going to need the Evans
family to stay put until we can get you out too. When the time comes, we’ll
hide all of you at once. For now, what’s important is that you and Shannon
don’t say or do anything stupid. They’re reading your emails. We’ve got to make
sure you’re saying what we want them to hear.”

“Who’s we?” Annika asked.

We?
Instantly, Jill
realized she was being careless with her language, saying ‘we’ in reference to
the Network, talking with Annika as if she were already in the fold.
Eventually, Annika would know more. She would have to if they were going to get
her out. But not until Jill knew she could trust her.

“I told you,” said Jill.
“There’s a whole group of us working together on this. I have contacts who will
do whatever is necessary to ensure Nicky wins Coronation this year, and right
now, what is necessary is getting you and your friends to Nicky’s after-party.”

“So that’s the deal, isn’t it?”
said Annika. “You don’t help me until I help you.”

“That’s the deal, Annika,” said
Jill.

“It’s so late. We’re already on
the road. Everyone’s going to Kim’s. I don’t even know what I’d say to them at
this point.”

“I’ve taken the liberty of
writing something up for you,” said Jill. “Pull up your phone. I skipped out of
the mansion near the end of the dance and went to my limo. I sent you a text.
Read it.”

Annika opened a compartment in
the arm rest and retrieved her phone. She pulled up the text from Jill. It took
her a few seconds to read it.

“You think this will work?” she
asked.

“Yes, I do,” said Jill. “It’s
coming from you. They’ll all listen. Forward it to everyone, and get ready to
take their calls.”

N
icky’s last dance partner of
the night was Andrew Muller, who escorted her all the way to her limo before
wishing her luck and going on his way. Julien opened the door for Nicky, saying
nothing as she got in the back seat.

Later, as Nicky thought back on
the events of the next few minutes, she realized that these seconds from the
time when Julien closed the door and was walking around the front of the limo
were when she messed up. It made no sense for Julien to walk around the front
of the limo. The design of the limo made it much faster for him to walk around
the back.

It was the sort of observation a
seasoned agent like Gia would have acted on right away. But Nicky didn’t think
anything of it. She didn’t wonder why Julien was taking the long way, didn’t
think that someone else might be coming up from behind the limo and Julien was
staying out of her way.

When the back door opened again,
Nicky thought it was Julien, coming back to tell her something. Her mind was
still in a fog after the dance with Sergio, and her reaction time was terrible.
Had her enemy intended to kill her, Nicky would have been dead.

“Hello, Nicky,” came a familiar
voice. Nicky looked up just in time to see Melissa Mayhew push her way into the
car, scooting Nicky along the bench seat with one arm, as if she were a toy who
weighed only a few pounds.

Julien got into the driver’s
seat and locked all the doors with a frightening click. The automatic window
blinds began closing on their own. Julien started the car and pulled out of the
driveway.

“Your driver and I had a talk
before you came out,” said Melissa. “He and I are in agreement now about how
this evening will proceed. Would you care to know our plans?”

Melissa was the same girl Nicky
had seen six years ago. All that had changed was the hair. When they had last
met, Melissa’s hair hung just low enough to cover her ears. Now it was cropped
into a tight pixie cut with long bangs that angled down her forehead. Much
closer to her than she was the last time, Nicky couldn’t help but admire how
perfectly attractive Melissa was. Her face, her eyes, her skin – everything was
a reminder that this was a being who possessed the flawless beauty of eternal
youth.

“What’s the matter, Nicky? When
I saw you last time, you knew just what to say and when to say it. Have you
forgotten that trick?”

“What do you want?” Nicky said.

Melissa smiled, and Nicky caught
just a glimpse of her fangs showing, which was unusual, and probably didn’t
bode well. Vampires only allowed their fangs to grow when they were angry.

Or about to eat.

“I simply want to talk to you,”
Melissa said. “I mean, really, how long has it been? Six years? That’s too
long. I can tell you truthfully, I’ve thought about you many times since then.
I was so pleased to see you at the dance tonight. I never thought this day
would come.”

Melissa raised her hand to
Nicky’s face, gently placing it on her cheek. With great care, she lifted
Nicky’s mask from her face.

“Oh yes, it is you, and what a
woman you’ve become,” Melissa said. “I mean...look at you! The last time we were
together you were a scrawny little jackal in need of a bath. Now you’re one of
the girls wearing black. How did this happen?”

Nicky pondered her options. Her
best bet at this point was to play along, to convince Melissa that it was in
her best interest to let Nicky go.

“Life’s been good to me,” Nicky
said.

Tossing Nicky’s mask to the
other side of the car, Melissa laughed. “I’d say so. I was so certain you were
dead. My greatest fear was that someone was going to find your body in the
swamp and I’d have to answer for it. But you never turned up, and now I know
why. You got away. I can’t believe it, but you did. Of course, no little girl
could make it out of the swamp by herself. Someone was helping you. Who was
it?”

Nicky didn’t answer the
question. Her mind was replaying just a few words and ignoring the rest.
Greatest
fear....someone was going to find your body...I’d have to answer for it
.
Melissa had never told anyone. Daciana, Renata, and the other immortals – none
of them knew that one time a little girl got up after reprogramming and walked
right out of the Farm.

“I don’t like being ignored,
Nicky,” said Melissa. “Shall we do this the hard way then?”

“I’m sorry,” Nicky said. “I...don’t
know where to begin.”

“How about the time you sat
there in my office and answered all the reprogramming questions, even though
you weren’t being reprogrammed at all. Do you remember that day?”

“Yes,” said Nicky.

“Did you know it wasn’t working?
When I asked you those questions, were you aware of what was supposed to be
happening?”

“I don’t know,” Nicky said

“Look at me when I speak to you!
Look me right in the eyes or so help me, I will rip out your throat!”

Nicky wondered what was going to
come of this. Her encounter with Sergio had left her doubting everything she
thought she knew about herself. On the one hand, Sergio hadn’t gotten in. On
the other hand, he clearly had some sort of effect on her.

But as Melissa’s pupils grew
large and inviting, just like Nicky remembered from the Farm, she knew that
Melissa wasn’t getting in. Nicky felt nothing at all. To her, Melissa was just
a girl with unusually big eyes right now, staring at Nicky as if trying to see
through to the back of her head.

“I’m going to ask you again,
Nicky, and I want you to tell me the truth. Did you know that reprogramming
wasn’t working when I was doing it to you?”

A part of Nicky wished that
Melissa could hypnotize her. It would almost be a comfort if she did. If
Melissa could get inside Nicky’s brain, that would relieve Nicky of the
responsibility of figuring a way out of this mess.

“Yes, I knew,” Nicky said.

“How did you know?”

“I understood that you were
trying to control me, but I felt nothing.”

“Do you feel anything now?”

“Yes.”

Melissa turned her head to one
side, gently. Nicky wondered if she was supposed to turn with her.

“I know you’re lying,” Melissa
said. She spoke the words in a voice that was overly sweet, a voice that made
Nicky think about her own death.

“Sit up, please,” Melissa said.
“Turn your whole body toward me.”

Nicky did as Melissa asked and
now they sat together on the bench seat of the limo, their bodies facing each
other, their knees barely touching. Melissa took Nicky’s hands in her own. It
was a motherly gesture, holding onto both of Nicky’s hands, a show of affection
that in another context might have been one girl bringing another close so she
could tell her something important.

But inside that motherly gesture
was an absurd, inhuman strength. Nicky felt it radiating through Melissa’s
hands as they touched, the sense that, at any moment, Melissa could crush
Nicky’s hands into powder if she wanted to.

Outside, the limo had pulled
onto the highway, and was driving away from DC. Whatever happened next, Nicky
apparently wasn’t going to her own after-party. How stupid she had been, the
whole Network had been, not to expect this. They knew it was possible that
Melissa Mayhew would be here tonight. But they had convinced themselves that
Melissa wasn’t going to recognize Nicky now, that it had been too long and
Melissa saw too many kids in the interim.

It was delusional on all their
parts. Nicky and Jill together had given the Network a once in a lifetime
opportunity to break into Thorndike, and they all had deluded themselves into
thinking it would be okay. They were so desperate for this night to go well
they willfully disregarded the danger that Melissa Mayhew posed.

Now they were paying for it. Now
Melissa was ruining everything.

“We’re going to try again, Nicky,”
Melissa said quietly. “I’m going to look into your mind. If you shut me out, I
will break one of your fingers, then I’ll try again. Every time I try and fail,
I break a finger. If I fail ten times, I’ll assume you are a lost cause, and I
will rip out your throat. Are you ready?”

No, she wasn’t ready, but she
could have been. It was a depressing truth about her situation. Gia had tried
to prepare her for just this moment, and she’d never completed the training.
She’d given up on Abbot Schneider and his meditations, choosing instead to
spend her time on things that she now knew were far less important. Had she
mastered Abbot Schneider’s skills, she might have been able to fool Melissa, to
earn her trust and make her think she was reprogramming Nicky for real this
time.

“Give me a moment, please,” said
Nicky. She began reciting the mantra in her mind, trying desperately to make it
work.
Breathe in me breathe in me
...

“You may have ten seconds,” said
Melissa.

Fine. Ten seconds. Breathe in
me breathe in me – come on now, calm the mind, make the connection, open up to
this girl.
Nicky looked in Melissa’s eyes. Her pupils were enormous now.
There was something there, something going on behind them, Nicky could tell,
but it wasn’t having any effect.

“Nine....eight....seven...six...”

Melissa’s counting wasn’t
helping. Nicky couldn’t focus on her mantra while Melissa was talking.

“Five...four..”

Nicky focused on the countdown
instead, as if this were a traditional hypnosis session, as if Gia were asking
Nicky to relax so they could have a look into her past.

“Three...two..”

It wasn’t working.

“...one.”

Melissa grabbed the little
finger on Nicky’s left hand and twisted it backward at the knuckle, cracking it
like a wishbone.

The pain was excruciating and
instant. Nicky cried out in anguish and leaned forward—her body’s natural
response was to curl up.

With a finger on Nicky’s chin,
Melissa pulled her up straight and held Nicky’s face to hers so they were once
again staring in each other’s eyes.

“We’ll move to your ring finger
next,” Melissa said. “Shall I begin the countdown anew?”

“No,” Nicky gasped. “The
countdown doesn’t help. I’m trying to let you in, I swear.”

“I believe you, Nicky. Since our
last meeting, I’ve given considerable thought to what happened. I even engaged
in a research project to try and understand how a simple human might resist my
reprogramming. More than fifty slaves were used for the research, including
your father. ”

“My father?” Nicky whispered.

“Evidence that your talent isn’t
genetic,” said Melissa. “Your father took to reprogramming as easily as anyone
else.”

“Where is he?”

Melissa laughed. “My dear, when
I get done with you tonight, you’ll either be under my control or you’ll be
dead. There’s no reason to worry about your father.”

“So tell me then,” said Nicky,
“since it doesn’t matter if I know.”

“Your father is dead.” Melissa
said the words in a casual voice, as if she were talking about the weather.

Tears filled Nicky’s eyes.

“How?”

“In a way it’s your fault,”
Melissa said. “The fact that you just walked out of the Farm made me wonder if
all these years I ever knew what I was doing. So I took some time to find out.
I used your father and many others to really understand how mind control works,
to try and learn how a little girl could look me in the eyes and just walk
away. They were participants in a grand and useful experiment. I took them in
and out of hypnosis. I placed powerful commands deep in their subconscious to
lock off their minds, then asked my bond to try and get in and see what was there.
I experimented with emotional and sensory extremes. Of course, I couldn’t send
my participants out in the world. I had messed with their minds so much they
might be unpredictable as slaves. All participants, including your father, were
disposed of when we were done.”

“Disposed of,” Nicky whispered.

“I spared your friend, you
know,” said Melissa. “That boy who was sleeping in the RV with you and your
father. He became our control in the testing. We gave him standard
reprogramming and compared his behavior to that of the test subjects throughout
the experiment. He was quite useful and still made for a very fine slave. I
just released him from the Farm tonight, in fact. Renata was in need of some
new slaves, and that boy is almost ripe. He will be quite delicious in just a
few months.”

“You gave Frankie to Renata?”

“Amusing, isn’t it? We had our
own little reunion at the Homecoming Masquerade. You, me, and your friend,
together again in the ballroom, six years after your improbable escape. And
now, to top off our reunion, we’re going to learn the truth about you, Nicky.
I’m excited, aren’t you?”

Nicky said nothing. So much to
process in so little time. Her father was dead, mistreated in the most horrible
way imaginable and then discarded, but Frankie was alive. All that time she’d
been looking for him across the country, and he’d never left the Farm. He’d
been locked inside that drab gray building for six years, and now he was in
Renata’s mansion.

She had to make it out of the
limo alive. No matter what, she had to make it out alive. She felt her mind
coming into focus with the purpose of it. If she got out of this alive, she
could finally rescue Frankie.

“In the experiment, I learned
that there is a way to bore so deep into the subconscious the subject can be
locked off from further reprogramming. That’s what has happened to you, Nicky.
You are already a slave. The reason I can’t get into your mind is that some
other immortal has programmed you to shut me out.”

Nicky put a puzzled look on her
face, a look that wasn’t entirely a ruse, as Melissa was really going to a
strange place with this one. Melissa thought she was already enslaved?