Sacrifices (5 page)

“Just the building covers ten acres,” Dylan said excitedly. “The business park covers at least fifty. They’ve nicknamed it ‘The Fortress’—I was talking to one of the guys who’s going to work there, and Clark said it’s capable of being completely sealed off and locked down so nobody can get in from the outside—it’s completely self-contained—you could live in there for weeks! That’s why they put the outside walls up first, to hide the fact they’re digging massive cellars that go down for miles—”

Clark. That’s Clark Howard, the Breakthrough codehead who tried to make trouble for Loch at the Sadie Hawkins Dance
.

“And it probably has its own nuclear power plant and an antigravity device and if they want to relocate it can fly,” Kylee said derisively. “Dylan, you are so full of bull.” Cold as it was out here, their first sight of The Fortress had stopped all of them in their tracks.

“It’s got its own generators,” Dylan said, unabashed. “Solar panels instead of a regular roof. It’s like a whole city in there! Clark said they’d probably be able to sell electricity to the town once it’s up and running.”

Spirit wasn’t sure how much of Dylan’s information was true and how much was pure fantasy. She was sure he was repeating what Clark had told him, for whatever that was worth—Clark Howard would say anything Breakthrough wanted him to, and every sentence would be calculated for maximum damage.

They were still staring at The Fortress when a car—and not just
any
car, but a stretch-Humvee limo with a custom pearl-gray paint job—pulled up to the curb beside them and stopped. The back door opened.

“It’s too cold to walk anywhere,” Teddy Rider said. “Hop in! I’ll give you a ride!”

“Oh, wow, you’re about to save my life!” Maddie said enthusiastically. There was a chorus of agreement from the others. The last place Spirit wanted to go was into a limo with the chief Shadow Knight’s baby brother, but if she didn’t, she’d be the only holdout. Teddy pushed the door open wider, and they began to clamber in. Spirit went last. The door shut behind her automatically (or maybe by magic, how did she know?) as soon as she was in.

In the last six months she’d been in more limousines (three) than she had in her entire previous sixteen years, but even so, the inside of the Humvee was luxurious beyond her wildest imaginings. As she looked for a seat that wasn’t too near any of the others, she felt completely intimidated by the opulence.
I can’t believe people really live like this
. The floor was carpeted in a thick rug that gleamed like velvet. The back seat was a U-shaped couch upholstered in soft gray leather. There were jump seats along the interior walls between the doors, and a bar with a refrigerator in the middle.
What, no swimming pool?
Spirit thought, sitting down.

“Library,” Teddy said into the intercom on the wall. It was part of a whole control panel—probably how he’d closed the door. The car moved off.

“Wow,” Chris said, not bothering to conceal his admiration. “This is—”

“Fully armored,” Teddy said, smiling. “Customized by Grovemount International, the firm that does the limos for the oil sheiks. Armored glass, special tires—that’s after the stretch customization—did you know they told me there are seventeen coats of lacquer involved in the paint job? I would’ve blinged out the wheels, too, but Grovemount wouldn’t go for it. Hey, anybody want a Coke?”

There were enthusiastic sounds from the Oakhurst students. Teddy pointed something that looked like a TV remote at the bar, and the refrigerator doors opened on two sides. He gestured for them to help themselves.

Play along with the forces of evil, kids, and you too can get a car like this,
Spirit thought crossly. She took the red-and-silver can Chris handed her.
It’s even diet,
she thought in irritation,
most guys wouldn’t think of that.
Chris was a nice guy, and smart, and if she could only be sure he wasn’t a pawn of evil, he was the kind of guy she’d like to have for a friend.
Too bad you can’t tell the players without a scorecard.

“You never forget your first limo,” Teddy said, with an engaging grin. Whatever he was selling, Spirit could tell Kylee and Dylan couldn’t wait to sign up. Maddie and Zoey looked more doubtful. Spirit didn’t know what Zoey’s Gift was—though from her ring she could tell it was something from the School of Fire—and Maddie was a Water Witch. It was clear neither of them could imagine what Breakthrough could want with them. Chris was just quiet.

“I know you’re all thinking about what you’re going to do when you’ve finished at Oakhurst,” Teddy said. “Worrying about the future, yadda. And I know you’ve all heard Doc A’s speeches about you being ‘part of the Oakhurst family.’ I got them when I was there, too—and that stuff might have been great when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, but personally, I don’t buy all that chick-flick crap. But there’s one thing I
do
believe, and that’s magic is thicker than water. If somebody has a Gift, they’re a part of
my
family—mine, Mark’s, Madison’s, everyone at Breakthrough. And families take care of each other. None of you has a thing to worry about. My word on that. We’ve got a place for you. And if we haven’t got one that fits you, we’ll make one that does.”

How can we fight that?
Spirit thought with a sense of growing despair.
I can’t even be sure Muirin’s still on our side.
And Teddy was so handsome, so earnest, and so sincere. Who wouldn’t believe him?

Dylan snickered. “In that case, we should make Spooky get out and walk.
She
doesn’t have any magic.”

Spirit gritted her teeth at the hated nickname. This was a perfect chance for Teddy to turn the others against her, playing the same Us vs. Them game Oakhurst played so well. But to her surprise, Teddy gave Dylan a stern look. “I didn’t have a Gift while I was at Oakhurst, either. I didn’t get my powers until I was twenty. But Doc A knew they were there, and Mark always believed in me. You all have to believe in each other.” He smiled at Dylan, softening the lecture. “Doc A doesn’t make mistakes.”

It would be nice if that were true,
Spirit thought. But there was no reason to think it was any more true than anything else Breakthrough was saying.

Because if “Doc A didn’t make mistakes,” where had all the Shadow Knights come from?

*   *   *

“A new town library’s next on Mark’s list of building projects,” Teddy said as the Humvee pulled into the parking lot behind the Radial Association Library.

That was another thing Spirit would like to believe, because even by her old standards, the Radial library was a small and squalid place. It had obviously started life as a house; now the white clapboard siding was desperately in need of paint, and the clear plastic sheeting nailed up over all the windows was tattered and fogged.

Teddy looked out the window, frowning, then snapped his fingers as if he’d just thought of something (Spirit bet he hadn’t). “I don’t see any reason for you to be stuck here. Hey guys, are you up for a little adventure?”

“Hell yeah!” Dylan said, and even Chris nodded.

“Why don’t you go on in and get the rest of the Dance Committee, Hailey?”

“Yes, sir.” The voice of the chauffeur came over the intercom. Spirit watched as the woman walked into the library.

“What’s the adventure?” Dylan asked eagerly.

“Hey, big guy, it wouldn’t be much of an adventure without a surprise,” Teddy said. “Patience!”

A few moments later, Hailey returned with seven Radial kids in tow. Spirit only recognized two of them: Juliette Weber and her twin brother, Brett (who was
so
not a member of the Committee). Brett and Juliette were clearly the king and queen of Macalister High, and they weren’t really happy about being upstaged. Everyone scurried across the gravel and tumbled into the back of the limousine, which was big enough to seat all of them without crowding.

As soon as Hailey got behind the wheel again, she drove off. She obviously knew their destination without being told.

So this is what “normal” looks like.
Even though she’d been to Billings only six weeks ago and Brett and Juliette had tagged along on that field trip, it had been a shock when Spirit realized the “magical” Oakhurst students really
were
different from “ordinary” kids, and the Radial Dance Committee might have been chosen to illustrate the difference. After she’d spent so long seeing nothing but other Oakhurst kids, the Radial kids looked as though they came from the cheap knockoff version of real life.

“Hey, wow, this is great!” a plump girl with terminal acne said.

“Big enough for your fat ass, Couch.” The speaker was a skinny dark-haired girl, the only one of the seven Townies not dressed for the weather. She wore a denim jacket, and she must have been freezing. One of her eyebrows was pierced, and her makeup was as heavy as Muirin’s—heavier. Her foundation and concealer were obviously worn to cover the pitting of acne scars.

As the Macalister High Dance Committee settled in (half of them overawed and trying not to show it, the other half chattering nervously) Spirit was able to match names to faces. “Couch” was Veronica Davenport—plump,
spectacularly
acne’d, and with a permanent nervously hopeful expression that made Spirit’s stomach twist in sympathy. Veronica clearly knew the only way she could be included in anything was to agree with everything anyone else said. The girl who’d called her “Couch” was Kennedy Lewis. She was evidently the closest thing to a “bad girl” Radial could offer. (She did her best to be rude to the Oakhurst kids, but Teddy was pretending not to notice and everyone else was following his lead.) Erika Bass was the kind of pale sandy blonde who looked as if her eyebrows and eyelashes were invisible. She had a high nervous giggle—and she giggled
constantly
.

“Well, my dad—the Sheriff—says a one-industry town can have problems,” Brenda Copeland said, and Spirit realized that she was continuing a conversation that the Radial kids must have been having when Teddy’s driver went and got them. She was wearing a heavy shearling coat instead of a parka. “He says we should take a wait and see attitude.” It was difficult to tell whether she was pretty or not, because she wore glasses with lenses so thick they could probably start fires. They made her brown eyes huge—and not in a good way.

“Well, I’m going to apply there just as soon as school’s out,” Bella said. “I’m class valedictorian, you know,” she added, for the Oakhurst students’ benefit. “I’m studying programming, too.” She had frizzy brown hair, pale eyes, and braces—the full-on “Alien” kind, with the retaining wire and the neck brace. “I’ve always gotten straight As—I guess I could get a college scholarship if I wanted one, you know?”

“Oh yeah. Like an A
+
in Home Ec is going to impress Breakthrough,” Kylee said cuttingly.

“Well, I think having Breakthrough here is a wonderful thing—for us and for Breakthrough,” Veronica said, her voice high and nervous. “Everyone knows they’ll bring jobs into the county, right?”

“‘They’ is sitting right in front of you,” Dylan said with a sneer, waving toward Teddy.

“Well, it’s still true, right?” Veronica said plaintively.

“Whatever you say, Couch. You better hope they hire you—maybe they could pay enough to afford even
your
grocery bills,” Kennedy said.

Spirit watched Juliette’s mouth settle into a thin angry line as the others did their best to impress Teddy. She wasn’t sure whether she was more embarrassed
by
the Radial teens, or
for
them. At least everyone stopped sniping at each other to stare out the windows when they arrived at their destination—the Breakthrough construction site.

“Oh
awright
!” Dylan cried, bouncing up and down on the seat. He’d said the complex covered fifty acres. Looking at it now, Spirit thought it might even be larger. There was a gravel road leading up to the building in the distance, and as the limo drove along it, she could see foundations being laid for a wall that would probably extend around the entire park. Despite the weather, construction was going full speed ahead. Trailers were clustered like a besieging army at the foot of The Fortress’s walls, and the roar of heavy machinery filled the air.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg,” Teddy said, waving. “Once The Fortress is finished, we’re going to start work on the apartment complex—I think Mark wants to put that right in town, if he can get zoning approval. Have to have places for everyone to live, right? We’re relocating everyone who wants to come, of course, but we’ve really been romancing our key R&D staff. And Mark has plans for expansion, too. Come spring, we’ll be able to start the landscaping, too. It’ll look less like a big empty field then.”

“Oh, you’re so smart!” Veronica said.

Erika giggled.

“Mark knows all about the dangers of a one-industry town,” Teddy said, smiling at Brenda charmingly. “Look at what happened when IBM crashed. He has plans to invest in the county’s infrastructure in a big way. That way, even if Breakthrough goes bankrupt”—he laughed deprecatingly—“which isn’t likely as long as people want to play electronic games of
any
kind—we’ll be leaving behind us something of value.”

Spirit glanced around at the limo’s other passengers. She had the odd feeling Teddy was lying (but why would he bother with a big elaborate lie to a bunch of kids?) but she noticed none of the others looked as if they disbelieved him.

“That’s where we’re going today,” Teddy said, waving off toward the left.

About a half mile from the main construction site were four high-end RVs—the Greyhound bus conversions like the ones rock stars used on tour. There were cars parked around them, mostly luxury SUVs, but Spirit saw a regular limousine too. The closest RV had the tower-and-dragon logo on the side. It was obviously the “office.” Behind the RVs was a gigantic tent—the kind with inflatable walls and ceiling. A flag with the Breakthrough logo flew from its roof.

The Humvee drew up to the RVs and stopped. As it did, Mark Rider came out of the “office” RV. He was wearing a black leather stadium coat, but no hat. His dark hair whipped in the wind. As he looked at the Humvee, his face was expressionless, and Spirit was sure he was furious. But then he smiled.