Sophia snuck out again the next night. Sybill followed, curiosity overpowering her initial resolution to respect her sister’s wishes. She crept through a winding labyrinth of starless streets, keeping her eyes on Sophia’s darting back. The pull of this mysterious ability must be strong; Sophia seemed to know exactly where she was going, picking her way through the darkness with impressive expertise, until she finally came to a halt outside of a deserted office building. The windows were dark and silent, gazing solemnly down at the glittering city streets spread beneath them. Sybill ducked behind a parked car and watched, breathless.

She saw Sophia jerk her head upwards and stumble back; she thought she heard her yell something, but Sybill was too far away to hear it. The next moment there was a horrible crash and the sound of splintering glass. Shards exploded up into the sky. Sophia was staring at something in front of her, and even from this distance Sybill could see that she was shaking. She cautiously crept out from behind the car and ducked into a nearby bush, craning her neck to get a better look.

A crumbled body lay on top of the car parked directly in front of her sister; the metal roof was flattened beneath the corpse. The windshield had exploded, and a thousand pieces of glass streaked like shooting stars across the dark asphalt. Sophia fell to her knees. Her shoulders were hunched, her body quaking. Sybill watched her with interest, wondering what kind of life she was digesting. After what felt like ages, Sophia finally stood up. She smoothed back her hair and gave herself a little shake and then began to head home. Sybill felt the leaves of the bush stir as her sister passed, and thought she heard a small sob. But then again, it could have been the wind.

She followed Sophia for several nights, and each time, her understanding of her sister’s power grew. For starters, she seemed to be able to control people. Sybill watched her talk a burly security guard into letting her into a parking garage even after he had refused her twice; his face suddenly grew slack, he mumbled something Sybill couldn’t hear, and Sophia slipped by without further incident. On another occasion, Sybill saw her do what Evie had described to Doctor Reynolds: she moved an object without touching it. Specifically, she was sitting on a park bench after “dining,” staring down at her shoes, and the trash bin behind her lifted a few inches off the ground, hovered, and then crashed back onto the grass. Sophia had jumped up, startled, looked around, and then hurried away.

Sybill couldn’t understand why Sophia seemed so upset about being the vehicle for such a power. It seemed to her to be a wonderful thing. In fact, she became so obsessed with witnessing these trysts that her schoolwork suffered, and she only got a few hours of sleep each night.

***

“Nice to see you again, honey,” Felicity said when Sybill showed up at their smoking grounds after a prolonged absence. They had formed the habit of meeting in the same spot where they’d first smoked during orientation. It was a relatively isolated area, and they didn’t have to worry about anyone complaining about their discarded cigarettes on the grass.

“Hey.”

“I was afraid you’d started making healthy life choices.”

“Are you talking about quitting smoking or you?”

“Both?” Felicity said, her eyes sparkling as she offered her a cigarette.

“Sorry I haven’t been around. I’ve been keeping my eye on things.”

“And h ow is dear little sissy doing?”

Sybill took the cigarette from her. As Felicity lit it, she gave her the bullet points of what she had seen so far. When she stopped talking, Felicity was silent for a long time. Then she said:

“Has your mom said anything else about committing her?”

“Not that I’ve been able to tell. Maybe she decided Sophia is better off at home.”

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” Felicity said. She uttered an odd laugh; the hand holding her cigarette trembled. “When the patient starts to display more than one ability, they’re considered a higher risk to the public. You said Sophia digests memories. But now it sounds like she can exercise mind control and levitate stuff too. That’s some advanced shit. Once it becomes clear to your mom how much Sophia is truly capable of…” Felicity let the rest of her sentence trail away ominously.

Sybill fell silent, considering this. Then she said: “What about you?”

“Huh?”

“You have powers too, so why hasn’t your Dad committed you already? Is he only interested in locking up people with Sophia’s kind of powers?”

“If only.” Felicity gave a sour laugh. “He’ll come for me some day too. I’m just not far gone enough yet to justify it to his stupid board or whatever.” She stared off into the distance for a while, curls of smoke drifting from her barely parted lips. “My brother and I want to move out,” she said after a long pause. “He’s been working and saving up for a while. We’re almost at the point where we can do it. Maybe you and Sophia should consider it too.”

“You mean work and go to school?”

“Or drop out. Do whatever you have to if it means making her safe.” Felicity turned and looked at her with a fierce glint in her eye. “Do you fucking hear me, Sybill? Keep her safe.”

Sybill stared at her, a bit taken about at the sudden passion in her voice. Felicity threw her cigarette onto the ground and lit another. She glared at the tiny glowing ember which bloomed at the end of the white cylinder, and then she gave another strange laugh.

“I guess if I suddenly disappear, you’ll know where I’ve gone. Promise you’ll visit. You can stop by my room after seeing Sophia.”

“Fuck off it. Sophia’s not going anywhere.”

“That’s almost sounds like a threat, honey. Good. Keep that pioneering spirit. You’re gonna need it.”

Sybill turned and snatched the cigarette out of her hand, grinding it into powder beneath her heel while Felicity stared at her in open-mouthed surprise.

“Quit this shit. It’s bad for you.”

***

The adoption papers finally went through and Sybill took on the Montgomery name. Evie took them out to dinner to celebrate, although Sophia couldn’t stomach anything but water. But she laughed a lot, and gave Sybill tons of hugs, and told her with teary eyes how happy she was to officially call her a sister. Sybill felt something stir inside of her at Sophia’s words, a warmth and also an unbearable ache. Were they really going to be separated---now, when they had just become a family? She looked across the table of Evie, who was smiling. She raised her glass in a silent toast when their eyes met. This woman was her mother now. Sybill had been cautiously optimistic about that possibility all those months ago. Now the thought filled her with disgust rather than gratitude.

***

It had been a month since she’d last seen Felicity. Sybill tried texting her, but the messages came back as undeliverable. As the days passed, Sybill felt a pit of nausea growing in her stomach. Had Felicity already been taken to the Institute ? How long before Sophia met the same fate?

When she got home from her classes one afternoon, Sybill dumped her bookbag in the hallway and headed straight for Evie’s office. She spent a few moments outside in the hall with her ear pressed to the door. She didn’t hear any signs of life, so she took a deep breath and walked inside. The room was empty. She crept soundlessly over to the desk and began to pull open the drawers. After a few seconds she found what she was looking for: a stack of business cards. There was no address listed, but there was a phone number. Shooting a fervent look towards the door, she picked up Evie’s desk phone and dialed. After four rings, someone picked up.

“You’ve reached The Reynolds Institute of Health and Healing. This is Marissa. How may I help you?”

“I’m trying to reach a patient,” Sybill said.

“Certainly,” said Marissa. Her voice was thick and sweet like molasses. It was very unpleasant to listen to. “May I have the name of the patient?”

“Felicity Reynolds.”

There was a beat of silence. Sybill shot another look at the door.

“I’m sorry, but Miss Reynolds is in a healing session and can’t come to the phone right now,” Marissa chirped. “I can take a message if you like. Shall I have her call you back at this number?”

“No. Let me give you my cell.”

They exchanged information and then Sybill hung up. She pocketed one of the business cards and then crept back out into the hallway, closing the office door gently behind her.

***

A deep hum shredded her cobweb of dreams. She opened her eyes, blinking sleep away from her lashes as she sat up in bed. A cone of light shone on her ceiling. It was coming from her cell phone, which was vibrating on top of her dresser. Sybill swung her feet over the side of the bed and hurried over to it.

“Hello?” she said thickly.

“Sorry to wake you, honey. I decided to sneak a call when everyone was in bed. More privacy, you know?”

Sybill wondered if this was real or if she was still asleep. “Felicity?”

“The one and only.”

Sybill heard some kind of thrumming noise in the background on the other end. Maybe a heating unit?

“Jesus…I…it’s been a while. Are you okay?”

“I’m alive.”

“Not what I asked.”

“Then honestly? I feel like I somersaulted down three flights of stairs and then faceplanted into a concrete wall. In between the heavy onslaught of meds and the Coppulas, I don’t---”

“The who?”

“They’re my doctors. Real chuckle fucks when they aren’t injecting poison into my eyelids and beating up residents and locking people up into freezers.”

“What?” Sybill’s heart stopped.

“I’m telling you this place is fu--” Felicity abruptly stopped talking, and a second later she uttered a low curse. “I think someone’s coming. It was nice to hear from you, honey. I’ll be in touch.”

The line went dead before Sybill could answer. She tried to call her friend several more times after that, all on different days of the week. But she always got the same answer:

“Miss Reynolds is in a healing session.”

***

The moment Sybill entered Evie’s study she knew something was wrong. The first thing she saw was Sophia, sitting in the corner with her hands clasped in her lap. She was seated directly in front of a dark curtain, and her pale face stood out against it like a moon orbiting the black canvas of space.

“Good morning, Sybill,” Evie said brightly. “Have a seat.”

Sybill didn’t move. Evie’s dark, unfathomable eyes passed over her briefly, and the corners of her mouth pursed ever so slightly. But she went on in the same cheerful tone:

“Sophia has been telling me how supportive you’ve been lately regarding her---condition. I would like to thank you for that. My work allows me to see firsthand how difficult it can be for people like her, especially when their family members are not accepting.”

“Yeah, I know all about your work,” Sybill said tersely.

She heard Sophia stir in surprise, but she didn’t look at her. Evie’s eyebrows raised barely a fraction of an inch. The rest of her face remained frozen and smiling.

“Wonderful. That saves me a lot of time.”

“Mom wants to send me to the Institute after I graduate high school” Sophia said quietly. “I think I should go.”

Sybill stared at her, startled.

“What?”

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I---maybe it’s for the best. Besides, it won’t be permanent. Right, Mom?”

“That’s right,” Evie said, smiling.

Sybill glared at her, then turned her ire on her sister. “Are you kidding me? How can you be okay with this?”

Sophia raised an eyebrow at her acidic tone. “I can’t just Google ‘how to control your telepathic abilities.’ I need help understanding it.”

“You can’t go to that place. It’s a horror show.”

“What?” Sophia said, looking quickly at their mother.

“I just want you to be safe, dear. Nobody is trying to trick you.” Evie looked at Sybill; her eyebrows went up a little higher. “Where did you hear such things, Sybill?”

Sybill didn’t answer. She just stood there, shaking and glaring at the two of them. Beneath her fear was a swirling current of hatred towards----well, everything. Most of all herself, for daring to hope that things were getting better for her.

It’s not fair! She wanted to cry childishly. It wasn’t fair that she had been shoved from foster home to foster home, like an old shoe nobody wanted. It wasn’t fair that she had spent her life living in fear and hiding from angry words and flailing fists. It wasn’t fair that the only person she had ever felt any attachment to was going to leave her. And it wasn’t fair that Evie had ended up being like every other parental figure in her life, someone who forced their will on others.

Sybill ground her teeth together as she stared across the room at Sophia’s resigned face. You don’t want this either, she thought. You can’t. You’re just letting her bully you.

Felicity suddenly flashed through her mind. That was someone else she’d kind of cared about---and the Institute had swallowed her too. She couldn’t even get her on the phone. Once Sophia disappeared inside that place, Sybill knew she would never see her again.

A thought curled around her soul like a snake, gripping her with tight resolve.

I won’t let you leave me too.

***

Sophia started her treatments a week later. At first, she only went to the Institute twice a week. Then it was three times. Then four. Then the “check ups” turned into overnight visits, and it wasn’t uncommon for Sybill to go several days without seeing her sister. When she asked Evie when she would be allowed to visit her, she was given evasive answers that infuriated her.

One night, Sybill was startled awake by the sound of her cell phone vibrating on the bedstand. She groggily reached into the darkness and picked it up, pressing it to her ear as she mumbled,

“Hullo?”

“Are you sitting down, honey?”

“Felicity?” She sat bolt upright, all thoughts of sleep forgotten. “Where are you calling from? This isn’t the Institute’s number right?”

“I stole my dad’s cell. I didn’t wanna discuss this on the main line.”

“Huh?”

“I heard Sophia is coming here in a few weeks.”

“Yeah.”

“Sybill.” Felicity’s voice wavered for a moment. She cleared her throat and continued. “You can’t let that happen.”

“You think? But what the fuck am I supposed to do about it? They already decided on their own. Besides, it’s not gonna be a permanent arrangement.”

“Yeah, my dad was saying they were just going to keep Sophia for the summer. But that’s horseshit, Sybill. Everyone here at one point or another was told they would only be here for a week, or until Easter or Christmas or whatever. Then the visit is extended, over and over, until eventually we stop asking when we can go home. And they’re real nice at first to the new patients, but eventually the mask falls off.”

“What do you mean?”

Felicity’s voice climbed several octaves. Sybill had never heard her sound like this before. “The patients here are beat all the time; a few kids have disappeared and the staff won’t say where, but we all know they’ve been taken to a floor that’s only reserved for really fucked up treatments; I was locked in my room without food or water for days because I wouldn’t take medication that made me feel bad. This place is a nightmare. You have to get us out of here, Sybill.”

Sybill’s grip on the phone tightened. “How?” she said bitterly. “I haven’t even been allowed to visit her yet. Sophia won’t believe me anyway. Can’t you talk to her?”

“They don’t just let me just talk to whoever I want,” Felicity said snidely. “Especially not to the daughter of Doctor Evelyn Montgomery, gem of the human race and saint to the emotionally disturbed.”

The sound of Evie’s name sent a hot flush of anger across the back of Sybill’s neck. “All of this is her fault,” she snarled, half to Felicity, half to herself. “Is that bitch with Sophia all the time? There’s no point where you could sneak a chat?”

“It’s impossible. And even if your sister wasn’t shadowed by Evelyn all the time, she’d be guarded by someone else. The staff are scared of her. They don’t say that, of course, but they treat her differently than the rest of us. She’s dangerous because she’s basically an uncontrollable version of her mother, and they all know how powerful their darling Evelyn is.”

“What can she do, anyway?”

“There’s some kind of force field around this facility and she’s the one who controls it.”

“What kind of force field?”

“I’m not sure. I was unlucky enough to run into it a few weeks ago when I’d slipped past the security guards. I ran towards the woods thinking I was home free and then I hit what felt like an invisible wall of electric JELL-O. As I’m sure you can imagine, it was an incredibly unpleasant experience.”

“How do you know Evie made it?”

“I saw her project it the other day when she was taking a walk on the grounds. She sort of just waved her hands around and expelled what looked like heat waves from her body and they rippled around the whole property.”

Sybill’s heart was pounding, her brain working furiously. Felicity filled in the silence, speaking very slowly, like each word was heavy on her tongue:

“As long as your mother’s around, Sybill, Sophia is stuck here. We all are.”

Sybill was silent for a long time as she absorbed this. Jumbled thoughts scattered across her mind, darting like trout through dark water. When she finally grasped one and held it, she saw clearly the only path that made sense, the unspoken suggestion lurking between the lines of Felicity’s words. The only way to get her sister out of the facility was to remove the person who kept her inside.

“What’s to prevent your dad from just replacing Evie with someone else?”

“There’s nobody in the world like Evie,” Felicity said coldly.

“How can you possibly know that?”

“I’ve eavesdropped on a lot of Dad’s meetings, honey. I know way more than I should about the sorts of things my father studies. Like how Evie is part of a family of abilities that deals with psychic powers. Some people get to read minds, others can levitate. But Evie’s power manifests in a way that has so far been unprecedented. At least I couldn’t find anything definitive on it, and my dad has all kinds of notes about how he thinks her powers work. In the end, though, even he doesn’t know. He thinks Evie can basically exert control over the atomic realm, but I think that brings up a whole bunch of other questions. Like, how many levels are there to her control? Can she just manipulate the air or something to project the shield, or could she literally create her own universe if she wanted to? Anyway, my point is that there is nobody on earth like your mommy dearest. She’s one of a kind. Irreplaceable.”

Sybill felt the weight of these words sink deep inside of her. She toyed with the cross pendant nestled in the hollow of her throat. Come to think of it, what would happen to them if Evie died? Sybill was a legal adult, but Sophia was still underage. Would Sybill get custody of her? That made the most sense, right? Maybe that’s why Evie had wanted to legally adopt her; it would be easier to make her Sophia’s legal guardian that way. After all, who else was there? Sophia’s father was dead. There were no aunts or uncles to speak of. And even if Sybill wasn’t technically her guardian, surely the courts would be sympathetic towards two sisters who had just lost their own mother? Yes…she would probably have no issues taking her sister under her wing…

“Is there no way around this barrier?” she asked slowly, in a last-ditch effort to perceive another way out of this.

“None.”

Sybill could hear Felicity’s tense breathing on the other end of the phone.

“Alright,” she said flatly.

“Be careful,” Felicity said quietly. Her words were innocent enough, but Sybill could sense how they sagged with understanding; a silent communication passed between them.

“I will.”

“Sybill?”

“What?”

The words came out broken, and so hoarse Sybill almost didn’t hear them:

“Thank you.”

***

Sybill stayed home from school the next day, complaining of a migraine. As she lay in bed feigning pain, she went through her mental checklist once more to make sure there were no gaps in her plan.

It was Wednesday. Evie would be working from home in her office. Wednesdays were also Hannah’s day off, which meant the cooking would be left up to Javier today. Sybill glanced at the clock. He should be preparing breakfast right about now; since he hadn’t counted on Sybill being home, it would probably take him longer than usual to work in another plate. Evie would know this, and thus, she wouldn’t think there was anything strange about her own meal being somewhat delayed.

Sybill lay in bed for about twenty minutes, making sure Evie had plenty of time to become engrossed in whatever work she was doing in her study. Then she kicked off her bed covers, pulled her pants down to her knees, took a deep breath, and urinated on her sheets. The rank odor stung her nostrils, but she only had to endure it for a few seconds. Hoisting her pants back up, she slipped out of bed and made her way downstairs, not bothering to wipe herself off. A wet crotch would make her story more sympathetic.

As she entered the kitchen, Javier was scooping coffee grounds into a percolating pot with frantic precision. When he looked up and saw Sybill, he regarded her with an expression caught between panic and irritation.

“Morning, Javier,” Sybill said, smiling in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”

“It is no trouble,” Javier said with a nervous smile, eyeing the steaming coffee. “What can I do for you?”

He was such a sweet boy, with a slight accent she could never quite place. He had big, soppy green eyes and an eager smile that showed his gums. This was going to be a real shame.

“Is Hannah around?” she asked.

“No, she’s off today.”

“Oh.” Sybill looked around the kitchen, as if at a loss, and then down at her stained pants. Javier’s eyes followed, and the blush that ignited his skin extended all the way up to his hairline.

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” Sybill said, avoiding eye contact and biting her lip, as if fighting back tears. “I was just going to ask Hannah if she wouldn’t mind changing my sheets. I-I’m not sure where she keeps them, and I, well---” Sybill gestured sheepishly at her lower body. “I’d ask my mom but she’s busy and…I think I had an accident while I was sleeping? I’m really sorry. This is so---I’m---” Her lower lip trembled.

Javier’s face relaxed into a smile, though his cheeks remained rosy. “Nothing to be ashamed about,” he said gently. “I can take care of it in a few minutes.”

“I’m sorry, but could you do it now? I’ll keep an eye on stuff down here if you want, make sure nothing burns. It just...it really stinks in my room.” She grimaced.

Javier hesitated, then nodded, stepped back from the stove, and removed his apron. “Sure.”

“Thank you so much, Javier. I really appreciate it,” she said, smiling at him as he hurried out. As soon as he vanished around the corner, Sybill began to look around the kitchen. The coffee pot? No, she thought quickly. That wouldn’t work. Even if she could somehow sneak milk into the coffee, Evie would smell or taste it before it barely touched her lips. Not to mention the fact that the milk would change the color of the beverage.

Then she spotted the skillet on the stove. It was sizzling with coconut oil, and next to it sat a bowl of vegan pancake batter---a classic breakfast in the Montgomery household.

That might do.

Sybill bent down and opened up the cabinet beneath the silverware drawer. She pushed aside the pans until she found what she was looking for: a little milk carton that was stashed on the bottom shelf. She had purchased it at a convenience store the other day. It was small, something a kid would’ve put in their lunchbox. But it would be enough. She added a trickle of it to the batter, whisking fiercely to remove any traces of white until she had emptied the entire carton. Then she crushed the carton in her fist, making a note to burn it later. She checked the clock. Five minutes had passed.

The oil began to pop in the pan. She went over and stirred it passively, humming to herself. The coffee was finished, and the kitchen was filled with warm, pleasant scents.

After a few more minutes Javier returned, looking pink-faced and winded. “All done,” he panted.

She looked up from the pan and smiled. “You’re a life-saver. That was probably really gross.”

“It was no trouble,” he said, coming over to check on the hot oil. Sybill stepped aside and surrendered the stirring spoon. “Thank you for keeping an eye on things.”

“It’s the least I could do,” Sybill said, hurrying towards the door. “Thanks again!”

She went back upstairs and shut herself in her room. After a few minutes, she heard the tinkling of cups and plates as Javier walked up the extra flight of stairs to Evie’s office. Sybill tip-toed to her door and pulled it open again, sticking her head out onto the landing. She caught bits of conversation drifting down from the floor above her:

“...trouble at all, Javier. Thank you.”

“Let me know if you need anything else, Mrs. Montgomery.”

“Thank you. Don’t forget to give Sybill something. She should stay hydrated at least. Oh, and leave the door open a bit, will you?”

Sybill ducked back into her room and listened to Javier’s footsteps die away as he went back downstairs. Then she sat on the edge of her bed and waited. The sheets were emitting a clean linen scent. He really was a nice kid. Just a bit frazzled---as would soon (hopefully) be apparent to everyone.

Sybill counted the minutes, listening for any noises of obvious distress coming from the floor above her. She thought she heard some thumping and a crash, but she wasn’t sure.

After twenty minutes, she heard Javier start up the stairs again. Everything seemed to slow down. Her apprehension mounted. Then she heard a scream, followed by a slew of incomprehensible words uttered in a language she didn’t understand.

She poked her head out into the hallway and called out:

“Javier? What’s wrong?”

There were frantic footsteps and his panicked face appeared over the banister.

“Call an ambulance!”

Sybill stared at him for a moment, as if in shock. Then, rather than following his instructions, she bolted up the stairs, pushed him out of the way, and burst into Evie’s office. She hoped her face was arranged into an expression appropriate for the occasion; internally, she was feeling nothing but excitement.

Evie was sprawled on the floor amidst a rubble of household objects: spilled food and broken dishes, papers, pens, and a breakfast tray. A coffee stain had spread through the carpet right by her head, giving her the appearance of bleeding out. Her limbs were bent at odd angles, like she was a doll somebody had pushed off a shelf. Sybill started to walk towards her, but then reconsidered. She shouldn’t touch the body.

Javier was running around the house, yelling at the top of his lungs. He ran from the door to Evie, rushed back to Sybill, pulled at her sleeve helplessly, all the while sobbing and screaming and clutching at his face. Sybill told him to stay with Evie and then she ran down the hall to fetch her cell phone in her room. She took a moment to work up some tears before dialing 911, and the woman who picked up the call seemed to buy it well enough.

For the next hour, the house was in chaos. It only took a few moments for the paramedics to pronounce Evie dead on the scene. As they gently rolled her over to lift her up onto the gurney, Sybill saw her face.

It looked like a mottled radish. Spittle was frozen at the corners of her mouth. She had died with her eyes wide open. They stared at the ceiling, glass marbles in a mannequin’s head.

Sybill and Javier were interviewed separately. The officer who questioned Sybill was a sweating, red-faced man shaped like a cookie jar. He took her statement patiently, letting her pause whenever she needed to cry into her sleeve or blow her nose.

“You’re doing great,” he said softly after she’d finished another burst of tears. She nodded, sniffing, doing her best to look brave. “Now, I need you to think real hard for me. Who was the last person to see your mother alive?”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Sybill paused. “Well, I guess it was Javier. He went up to serve her breakfast after he got done changing my sheets.”

“Where were you while he was changing your sheets?”

“In the kitchen. I made sure the food didn’t burn while he was away. It only took a few minutes. Then he came back down and took the food up to Mom and I went back upstairs to lie down. Then a few minutes later---” Her voice caught, and her lower lip trembled. The policeman patted her shoulder gently.

“Who actually made your mother’s food?”

Sybill stared at him, blinking in confusion. “Javier did. Our regular cook is off today.”

“I see.” The officer drummed his fingers on his knees for a moment, frowning. “Did you make anything yourself while you were waiting for Javier to come back?”

Sybill shook her head. “I’m pretty useless in the kitchen.” She smiled a watery smile. “Evie loves Javier’s pancakes. Or I mean---she did.” She paused to cry some more. The officer patted her shoulder again and stood up.

“Okay, sweetheart. Thank you. You did really well. Do you think you can call your sister and tell her what’s happened? I’m assuming she’s at school?”

“Yeah, I guess I should,” Sybill said in a shaky voice, not bothering to correct him regarding her sister’s whereabouts. The officer nodded and left the room to give her some privacy.

Sybill strained her ears to hear the conversation in the other room: she caught the deep rumble of another officer’s voice and the stuttering answers of Javier.

“What is your relation to your employer?”

“N-No relation, sir. I just work for her.”

“I see. Okay. And you said you were the one who prepared breakfast this morning?”

“Y-Yes but---”

“Did you know of her allergy?”

“Of course I did! I-I didn’t mean---I mean, I know I didn’t put it in, I was trying to do a bunch of things at once---”

“So would you say you were more distracted than usual?”

“Y-Yes--- I mean, no! No, not like that, not enough to where I could’ve forgotten to---I-I swear I---”

“I understand that the regular cook was off for the day?”

“Y-Yes, b-but….”

His words broke off in a symphony of blubbering.

Sybill had heard enough. He was playing the role far better than she’d hoped. She dialed the number of the Institute, retreating into a quiet corner of the living room so she could hear better. It took a few seconds for the woman at the front desk to transfer her call. When Sophia finally picked up, Sybill started the waterworks. It was awful, she told her sister in between theatrical sobbing. She had to come home right away. Something terrible had happened to Mom.

***

The funeral mass was held at St. Philip Catholic Church in Crafton, with a luncheon to be served at the Montgomery’s house afterwards. Sybill was disappointed to discover that the funeral was closed casket. She would have liked to see Evie’s face one more time before they lowered her into the ground.

Her sister arrived at the church early in the morning, accompanied by Felicity and a giant wall of a man whom Sybill deduced must be her father, Benjamin Reynolds. Sophia didn’t say much to them---or to anyone--- other than asking Sybill about Javier. Sybill told her he was under suspicion for having something to do with their mother’s death. Sophia only nodded and went back to staring at the front of the church, where Evie’s casket was displayed.

“Let’s stay here for now,” Sybill whispered when the organ music signaled the start of the funeral mass. They were standing in the vestibule of the church, and it began to empty as lingering mourners filed into the nave. “It’ll be easier than having everyone stare at us.”

Sophia didn’t respond or move. She continued to stare blankly forward, like a silent, white-faced statue in black attire. Sybill found herself growing impatient at her sister’s immobility, but then quickly reminded herself that she needed to put on the proper performance of the grieving daughter, lest other people---or worse, Sophia---suspect her. So she stood by Sophia’s side, and the two of them watched the mass proceed from a distance.

Evie’s funeral was packed with an assortment of wailing friends and acquaintances. There were barely enough seats in the church to accommodate everyone. About fifteen minutes into the service, she saw a guest, who was sitting near the back of the church, stand up. A blaze of red hair identified her in a moment, and Sybill watched as Felicity snaked out of the pew and made her way to the back of the church, directly towards them.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” she whispered, patting Sophia’s shoulder.

“Thank you,” Sophia said dully. “I’m glad you and the doctor could come. I know he’s busy.”

“Not for your family,” Felicity said with a smile. An undercurrent of resentment lurked behind her kind words.

“How long are you in town?” Sybill asked.

“Dad’s going to stay for a couple days,” Felicity said. Sybill noticed the tactful phrasing of the answer. Sybill briefly wondered where her friend would go now that she was free, but her curiosity was short lived. It wasn’t her concern right now. She had her own shit to deal with.

“I’m gonna go sit down, Sybill,” Sophia said dully. She moved through the front doors and into the church before Sybill could protest.

“This is actually a good point to tell you something,” Felicity said, looking around to ensure they were alone. “It’s about the will.”

“What about it?”

“Apparently my father is the Executor.”

The organ music had started playing again, but the notes fell strangled and distant on Sybill’s ears.

“He’s gonna meet with you two later to talk about it,” Felicity was saying.

Sybill didn’t respond. She couldn’t. Her prior confidence about their future dissolved like sugar in water. Feelings of shame and anger and helplessness swirled in an unpleasant cocktail in her stomach. She found herself staring at the coffin resting at the foot of the altar steps. Staring and hating the person locked inside of it.

Even when you’re dead, you’re still fucking us over.

***

“Hello girls,” said Doctor Reynolds, gesturing at some seats across from him. “I’m glad to have this opportunity to speak with you both in private.”

Sophia and Sybill exchanged wary looks as they sat down. They were in Evie’s study, and the luncheon had just ended. After the last guest left the house, the doctor summoned the two of them here, leaving Felicity alone in the living room. The study felt somber and haunted. The air seemed thick with death and mortality. The very desk Reynolds was leaning his arms on was the one where Evie had surely been sitting, moments before….

“What’s this about, doctor?” Sophia asked, wrenching Sybill’s morbid thoughts back to the present situation.

“I’m the Executor of Evelyn’s will. But before we get into that, I just want to take a moment to offer you both my condolences,” the doctor said in a tender voice. “There are grief counselors at the Institute. If either of you want to talk to someone, that can be arranged.”

“Thank you,” Sophia said hoarsely. Sybill didn’t say anything.

“Now then.” Reynolds leaned forward, pressing his fingertips together and regarding them both with a business-like stare. “The terms of your mother’s will are simple. She left everything to the Institute and appointed me as your guardian. Sybill, I understand that you are of legal age, but you’re currently in college, correct? I’m more than happy to continue to provide for those expenses, and for housing. Whether you want to live in the dorms or off campus is entirely up to you. I’ll cover it either way. As for you, my dear,” his eyes flicked over to Sophia and he smiled warmly, “I would like you to live at the Institute. You will be very well looked after, I promise.”

A deafening silence followed his words. Sybill felt like someone had stuffed cotton balls down her throat. Everything was thick and suffocating, she could barely draw breath, and the lights in the room seemed to contort and then blacken. Was she passing out? Was any of this even real?

“What’s going to happen to the house?” Sophia asked finally.

“I was thinking I’ll hang onto it for now. I know it’s been in Evelyn’s family for generations, and you may want to live in it yourself when you get older.”

“No,” Sybill said.

Reynolds turned towards her politely. “What’s that, Sybill?”

“You can’t lock her up. There’s nothing wrong with her.”

“I understand that originally, Sophia’s stay at the Institute wasn’t supposed to be permanent. But circumstances have changed.”

“I don’t give a damn.”

“What do you suggest then, Sybill?” he asked with maddening patience.

“She can live with me. I can go off campus.”

“What about her powers?”

“What about them?” Sybill snarled.

“Shall she continue to stalk the streets and devour homeless men?”

“If the only other option is being buried in your asylum, then yeah.”

“Sbyill, you’d be free to see her whenever you---”

“Bullshit. Nobody who walks inside that place walks out.”

“Who told you that?”

“Sophia isn’t going,” she said coldly.

“Sybill,” Sophia said. She placed a hand on Sybill’s knee. “You haven’t asked me what I want.”

Sybill turned to look at her, and the expression on Sophia’s face made her heart drop into her stomach. “Don’t you want to be with me?” she asked.

“Of course. But shouldn’t I get a handle on this power first? You heard the doctor. You can visit whenever you want.”

“I can even arrange for some people to drive you to and from,” the doctor added helpfully.

“I don’t want your goddamned people driving me anywhere.” Sybill stood up so fast her toppled over. She was hot and furious, conscious of an awful feeling bloating her stomach. An image seared through her brain: A stuffed green elephant being snatched from her clutching fingers.

She turned and walked out of the room without another word.

***

Reynolds and Felicity stayed overnight in the guest rooms. Sybill hated the idea of this man fouling up the house, squatting like a watchful spider in the dark corners, biding his time before snatching Sophia into his web. What she hated almost as much was Sophia’s willingness to go to him. How could she be this naïve? Didn’t she realize she was selling her freedom? Why didn’t that bother her? She hasn’t lived the way I have, Sybill thought, tossing and turning in her bed. She doesn’t understand how rotten people really are. They only want control. How can she just GIVE it to them without a fight?

She sat up, throwing back the covers. She went out into the hall, crept down the stairs, and stepped out onto the front porch. It was a cool night, and she gulped lungfuls of air in the hopes of soothing the bonfire of rage that was roaring inside of her.

“Fancy meeting you here.”

“Jesus!” Sybill almost fell over the railing. Felicity was sitting on the porch swing. Sybill saw the glow of a cigarette in the darkness and caught the familiar acidic scent of vaporous cancer in the air. “I thought you would’ve taken off by now.”

“Not until I’ve paid you back, honey. I don’t like owing people.”

“Paid me back?” Sybill repeated. “It’s already over. You’re free and we got Sophia out of that place.”

“But not for long, apparently. I heard from my dad.”

Sybill fell silent, seething.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said finally. “ I hate it.”

Felicity laughed softly. “Fortunately for you, I may have a solution, though it might be a bit…risky.”

“What is it?”

“You can come out now.”

There was a beat of silence. Then the bushes rustled and a silhouette emerged on the lawn. Sybill sprang back.

“What the fuck?” she gasped, panicking.

“Honey, relax. This is a friend of mine from the Institute. He managed to sneak away too. We came to a bit of an agreement. Like I said, I wanted to repay you, and he wants---well, I’m sure he can explain.” She cast an exasperated look at the darkness. “Nice of you to show up, Jack. You were supposed to meet me at the church.”

“You give shit directions, darling,” a voice drawled. A dark figure stepped into the porch light and Sybill could see that it was a tall, gangly teenage boy with dishwater blonde hair and an unnerving grin. He had tiny pointed teeth. Like a shark’s.

“I’m kind of surprised you didn’t just give up looking for me and fuck off,” Felicity said. “Would’ve been easy enough.”

“You know I’m a man of my word. Besides, it’s not like I’m doing this for free, right?”

“I’m sorry, but who the hell are you again?” Sybill demanded.

His toothy smile widened. “Like Fifi said, my name is Jack. I lived at the Institute until about two days ago, thanks to your generosity. It’s nice to finally meet you, Sybill. I’ve heard monstrously interesting stories about you from Fifi.”

Sybill turned and gave her friend a look of wide-eyed horror.

“How much does he know?” she hissed.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Jack interjected with a breezy wave of his hand before Felicity could respond. “Only that the force field dropped and you had a hand in it. Believe me, I didn’t want to know any more than that. Plausible deniability and all that.” His grin widened. “I’m just glad to be out and I’m here to repay your altruism, darling---if you’d like me too.”

“What do you want?” Sybill said gruffly. She hadn’t let her guard down, but she couldn’t deny that she was growing more interested with each passing second.

Jack licked his lips a few times, and then a smile oozed across his face like molasses.

“Sophia.”

“What the fuck did you just say?”

“Oh, not like that. Goodness. Don’t be vulgar. I meant I want her Time.”

“Her---sorry, what?”

“Just a little,” Jack said with a wink.

“What does that even mean?”

“My ability is time travel---sort of. I can take people or objects to anywhere in time and space. I can also create portals that allow for a limited degree of spatial travel. Cool, right?”

Sybill was silent. He went on with a little sigh, seeming disappointed that she didn’t respond in the affirmative:

“However, in order to do activate my powers, I need to take some Time from someone. It’s like fuel for the engine. And I would like Sophia to be the one to help me out with that. It tastes so much better coming from someone with an ability.” The shark grin returned. “Anyway, I promise I won’t take much, just enough to propel you two to wherever you would like to go. Ancient Rome? 19th century England? The world is your oyster.”

“Wait, you…you can send us anywhere, just like that?”

“Just like that. I’m pretty amazing that way.”

Sybill took a moment to process this information. Then she said: “How much Time would you take from her?” she asked.

“Not much, just a little smackroll, really.” He paused, then held up two bony fingers. “Two years from her lifespan. To be honest with you, I would take more if I could. But I’ve run into nasty consequences in the past with being too greedy. I wouldn’t want to harm you girls.” He winked. “So what do you say? Shall we run this little scheme of ours by Sophia and get the ball rolling?”

“Sophia can’t know you’re doing it.”

Jack raised his eyebrows. “I’m sorry?”

“She doesn’t know about the forcefield or the role I played in getting it to drop. She doesn’t even know I’m friends with Felicity. I’d like to keep it that way. It was all to protect her, but she might…misunderstand. ”

He was looking at her in a way she detested. It was like they were in on a private joke.

“I guess don’t mind. As long as you’re sure that’s how you want to do this.”

Two years wasn’t so bad, Sybill thought quickly. It wasn’t like she was allowing him to chisel away a decade. It was a small price for Sophia to pay for her freedom.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Jack said. “I should warn you about the side effects of taking Time. It’s likely Sophia will be rather disoriented. She won’t remember much of tonight, or possibly other things. At least that’s been my experience.”

“What ‘other things?’” Sybill asked cautiously.

“The hole my power creates in a person’s memory varies. But it won’t be anything major.”

Felicity uttered a low whistle.

“It’s up to you, Sybill. But like I said, this is risky. What’re you gonna tell Sophia once she starts asking questions about those missing pieces?”

“If it’s only a bit here and there, it’ll be fine. I’m good at thinking on my feet. And she trusts me. She’ll believe anything I tell her.”

Felicity stared at her wordlessly for several seconds. Sybill knew she sounded nonchalant, but she was actually taking the matter quite seriously. Sophia had to be protected from the Institute. Period. She could worry about the finer details once the larger goal had been accomplished. She was running out of both energetic fumes and practical options. Did she trust this string bean looking mother fucker? No. But she could use him, and that was at least something.

“All right then.” Jack squared his shoulders. “Where would you like me to send you then? Paris? Japan? Or maybe somewhere romantic like Florence? And when would you like me to send you? I wouldn’t recommend anything pre-nineteenth century on account of all the diseases and hideous clothing. But it’s your party.”

“What’s the point of going where we can’t understand the language?” Sybill said scornfully. “No, let’s stay in the country, and I want it to be...six years from now. That’ll be enough time for things to quiet down here. And I want to be somewhere far away. How does San Francisco sound?”

“Sure thing. I’ll have to dump you in a random spot, though. I’m afraid I don’t know the city very well. I’ve only been there once.”

“That’s fine. We’ll take it from there.”

Jack shrugged, looking disappointed by her lack of vision.

“Oh, before I forget,” Felicity chimed in. She reached into her pocket and withdrew a wad of bills, which she pressed into Sybill’s hand. “For the road.”

“Where’d you get this?”

“Don’t worry. It’s not mine.” Felicity grinned. “My father will be paying for our escapes.”

“How generous of him.”

“Isn’t it though?”

Sybill grinned and pocketed the money. “Okay, let’s go. And make it quick—before she has time to fight you or argue with me.”

“Wait, now?” Felicity asked, startled. “It’s the middle of the night.”

“You think I’m gonna wait for tomorrow morning? To help Sophia pack and have Reynolds watch me like a hawk?”

“She’s very pragmatic, Fifi,” Jack said, whispering loudly behind his hand.

“Quit calling me that. I’m not a poodle.”

“Let’s go,” Sybill said irritably, cutting into the banter she saw brewing between them. She turned and led the way back into the house. The three of them crept noiselessly up the stairs. They stopped in front of Sophia’s room.

“I’m gonna make sure she’s asleep,” Sybill said. “Stay out here for a sec.”

“Wait. Jesus, Sybill, you’re gonna do this when she’s not even conscious?”

“Fifi, if you’re going to nitpick every little thing, we’ll be here all night,” Jack drawled.

“But this is----”

“Felicity, if you fucking talk again, I’m going to kick you down the stairs,” Sybill hissed, which shut her up real fast. She slipped into the darkness of her sister’s bedroom and crept towards her bed. Sophia was fast asleep, curled up like a shrimp. Her face still looked swollen from crying. Sybill went back over to the door and pulled it slightly open, ushering the other two inside. They came and stood next to her, and the three of them peered down at Sophia’s sleeping form.

Then a blood-red light bloomed in the darkness. A portal was opening like a bleeding gash in the air in front of them. It grew to the size of a large mirror. Jack smiled at her.

“Go on then.”

“We have to walk inside?” Sybill whispered, horrified. She felt a stab of fear and remorse. Maybe she was being reckless. What if this didn’t work? What if this weirdo just left them in some time vacuum?

Sophia stirred on the pillow and blearily opened her eyes.

Sybill froze. Her brain jammed.

“Sybill?” Sophia’s voice was thick from sleep. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. “What’re you doing in here?” Then Sybill saw her go rigid. “Who are they?”

“You feel like standing up, Sophia,” Felicity said in a voice that could have commanded an entire room.

Sophia stared around at them, and then a glossy look came into her eyes, and she climbed out of bed.

Sybill looked over her shoulder at her friend, surprised and impressed. “How’d you---”

“Get out of here. Quick. She won’t be obedient for long. See you around, honey.”

“Hopefully not.”

Sybill gave her friend a final wave before she seized Sophia’s hand and dragged her into the red portal. She took a deep breath and braced herself.

Everything was snuffed out. For an agonizingly long second, she found herself swimming in utter darkness.

Then there was light, a dizzying whiteness, and she was being hurled down a tunnel so fast her neck felt like it was going to snap. Incoherent noises broke over her, shredded bits of syllables that surrounded her in a balloon of sound that meant nothing. Her head was being squeezed from either side; she felt like her skull was collapsing. Something was wrong. Something was surely going horribly wrong---

She slammed into something cold and hard.

The shock of it sent the wind flying from her lungs. She was on her hands and knees trying to breath when she looked over and saw with relief that Sophia was still with her. She was also on the ground, retching and shaking.

It seemed uncharacteristically chilly for California; the night air whipped against her face and made her cheeks sting. They were in a deserted alleyway and it was raining heavily. The distant sound of car horns blared. She craned her neck and saw tall buildings looming over her, meeting the stormy sky with their majestic spires, the rain forming a glowing ring of mist around the streetlamps.

For a moment she felt a giddy rush of joy. They had made it. They were out in the sweet, liberated evening, years and years away---then dancing yellow lights caught her eye. Her glasses were dusty, and she had to clean them on her shirt and put them back on before she could make out where the lights were coming from. They seemed to be radiating from somewhere in the street up ahead.

“Soph, stay here,” she said. She hurried forward until she could stick her head out of the alley and get her first look at the streets of San Francisco.

She found herself looking instead at the yellow bulbs illuminating the sign across the street: Benedum Center. It was advertising in bright flashing letters a show for that weekend: September15-16, 2017.

Jack had sent them across town and only a week into the future.

The city lights blurred into a single blob of pulsating energy as rage consumed her, blotting out her surroundings and making her forget everything else---even Sophia. She stood there shaking, clenching her fists while the rain pummeled her head and shoulders. When her vision finally cleared, she turned and went back to the alleyway, Sophia was lying on her back, her eyes closed. Her pale face was stamped with nausea. Sybill reached down and gave her a gentle shake.

“Sophia?”

Her sister blearily opened her eyes, which looked glazed and distant. A sudden chill gripped Sybill’s stomach. She knelt down and put her hand on Sophia’s forehead. She felt normal, but why did she look like that? It must be the time travel…what if that nutcase had killed her? She should’ve thought more about this---

“What happened?” Sophia moaned, rising on her elbows and squinting around. “Why the hell are we downtown?”

Sybill’s initial rush of joy after hearing her sister speak was quenched in the fear which flooded her at the question. She had to think fast.

“Soph, are you feeling okay?”

“What?” Sophia’s face was becoming increasingly frightened. Sybill felt a worm of guilt unfurl in her stomach, but she hastened to squash it. This had to be done.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” she asked.

Sophia swallowed. “I...I don’t know. I guess…I was just talking to Mom about school or something and then I was…here…then…the funeral…’’ She looked up at Sybill, her eyes widening. “Why are we in our pjs?”

“You fell and hit your head just now,” Sybill said, thinking quickly.

Her mind was working furiously and her heart was hammering in her chest. Felicity, Jack, the Institute…was it all gone? Did Sophia even remember that she had powers?

“Sybill,” Sophia said, looking increasingly pale. “What do you mean I hit my head?”

“Yeah, uh, we were out here because you had to…eat.”

“So what’s that got to do with hitting my head?”

“Okay, when I say you had to eat, what does that mean to you?”

“Huh?” Sophia stared at her. “Are you talking about my power?”

“Yes,” Sybill said eagerly. Okay, so she at least knew that much. She was hesitant to provide further details. If Sophia really didn’t remember anything else about Reynolds or the Institute, she didn’t want to jog her memory. “We were out here because of that and then they found us, so we ran, and that’s when you fell and hit your head.”

Sophia looked around uneasily. “Who found us?”

Sybill arranged her face into what she hoped was an expression of pensive concern. “You don’t remember? The men Mom sent to take you away because of your power.”

“What? Take me where? What men?”

“Look, we don’t have time for this now.” Sybill glanced around. “Let’s get out of sight. I’ll tell you later.”

“But---”

“Come on.” She took her hand and began to pull her down the street. Her heart was thudding in her ears, her mind already spinning tapestries of tales to feed her later. She just needed time to think. For now, they had to get out of town.

That was the first step towards them finally being free.

***

Sophia let the next several memories wash over her. She had been there for most of them and had little desire to relive it. A sharpness---cold and cruel---was growing in her heart the longer she watched this nightmare play out in her sister’s dead brain. After a while she couldn’t bear to focus on the pain anymore; she closed her eyes and forced herself to concentrate on the memories again. Anything was better than the agonizing pinpricks of betrayal and disillusionment that were spreading across her soul like black mold.

***

They checked out of the motel at dawn. Sophia sensed the death of someone nearby, and so Sybill left her to her “breakfast” as she ambled down the street to the convenience store. She was hoping to find something edible. If nothing else, she would settle for a donut.

The place was bright white industrial madness. People stopping in before work milled about the aisles like ants. She had to duck to avoid getting knocked on her ass by a hairy man wearing a greasy baseball cap who was groping for something on one of the shelves. Her head still thick from sleep, Sybill grabbed a few items and headed to the register. There were a couple of people in front of her. She turned her gaze absently to the T.V. hanging behind the cashier’s head. The words flashing at the bottom of the screen caught her eye. Suddenly she was wide awake. She managed to catch the last half of the announcement just before it vanished from the screen:

…COPPULA SHOT AT UNION SQUARE. PERPETRATOR STILL AT LARGE.

Coppula. Something stirred deep within the caverns of her mind. It took some extensive mental rifling before Sybill realized where she had heard that name before. As she hastily paid for her breakfast and hurried back out into the dewy morning to meet Sophia, a swirl of thoughts bounced around in her head. They all kept landing on the same mark: It couldn’t be a coincidence that the man who was shot dead was one of the doctors who had tormented Felicity. Had he been trying to bring her back to the Institute? Were the people from that place looking for Sophia too? Sybill felt an insatiable curiosity overwhelm her. God, she hadn’t felt this kind of rush since Evie died. She wanted to stick around and see what happened with the shooting, but she knew they couldn’t afford to. She had to get Sophia out of town as quickly as possible.

***

Francis Coppula, Sophia was saying. The man’s name was Francis Coppula. Sybill stared at her. Come to think of it, hadn’t Felicity talked like there was more than one Coppula? Was this the dead guy’s brother? Was Felicity trying to kill this one too? Maybe they would run into her in his house. Wouldn’t that be hilarious? They would just be sitting there having tea with her arch-nemesis when she came in to kill him. Though it quickly became less funny when Sybill wondered if seeing Felicity would trigger any memory in Sophia. It was possible.

She heard herself agreeing to the plan before she could properly formulate a better one in her mind. Curiosity won out over caution and Sophia was already ringing the bell. Sybill felt a surge of excitement. She had spent so long planning their every move. It was nice not knowing what was going to happen next.

***

Xavier---not Francis, fuck---Coppula was standing there, his mangled head dropping hideously to one side. She screamed and jumped to her feet, and then noticed that he was flickering. He wasn’t real. Furious, she turned on her sister.

“Stop it!” she yelled.

“What’s wrong?”

“What---did you---why did you do that?”

“Do what? Are you okay?”

“I---yeah.”

“What happened?”

Sybill took a moment to think. Was Sophia’s power growing?

“I think we should call it a night…” she found herself saying. Sophia was looking at her, stormy-eyed and red-cheeked, still angry from their argument, but Sybill refused to engage. She turned her back to her and got into bed.

Her last thought before she dropped off to sleep was that by killing that other Coppula, she had actually done Felicity a favor. Maybe she could cash in on that in the future.

***

Reynolds. Holy shit balls.

She stared incredulously at the young police officer sitting across the table. She felt like an early Christmas present had been dropped into her lap. He looked just like Felicity, although—she sat up in her chair and scrutinized him with narrowed eyes. A thick, palpable, mysterious quality hung about him like smog. When he blinked and averted her gaze, she suddenly realized what it was. Sophia had the same quality. It was difficult to label. She groped for a word. It was easy to mistake it for loyalty or kindness, but it wasn’t either of those things. Then it hit her.

Gullibility.

She gave him her biggest smile. Asked him if his name had Viking roots. He blubbered some response and left the room with his partner. Would he repeat their encounter to his sister? She hoped so. She wanted Felicity to know that Jack had fucked up. She wanted her to be nervous that Sybill might say something that could oh, incriminate her in the recent death of a prominent doctor.

She wanted her to come and visit her.

Sybill sat in the brightly lit interrogation room, staring at her reflection in the one-way glass. She smiled at herself. She knew the cops were watching her on the other side.

***

She was alone in a windowless concrete box, stretched out on an uncomfortable bed. It was getting cold. She thought about Sophia, trying to go over all their options, wondering if they were going to charge her officially with something or if she was just going to sit here and rot for the rest of her life…

Her pondering was interrupted by a door slamming. Hurried footsteps approached her cell.

She looked up, bored, expecting to see another cop. She found herself staring instead at Felicity’s thin, pale face. They gazed at each other for one long minute, two rattlesnakes reared up, waiting for the other to strike first.

“Sweet of you to visit,” Sybill said at last, swinging her legs around to sit on the edge of the cot. “I take it your brother told you I was here?”

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Do you really wanna know? It’s a long and tragic tale.” Sybill glanced around her cell and spotted a camera in the upper right corner. Felicity followed her gaze, and then said curtly:

“Nate switched it off. We have five minutes.”

“What did you do to get him to be such an obedient lapdog?’’

“This isn’t a social call, Sybill,” Felicity snapped. “Explain. Do you have any idea how risky it is for you to be back?”

“Back? I never left in the first place.”

There was a beat of silence. Felicity blinked several times.

“But I thought Jack sent—"

“Nope.” The sound of his name made her blood boil; every word that fell from her lips bled with cold fury. “That human shit-stack only sent us across the fucking city, a week into the future. That’s funny, isn’t it? In fact, I was so busy laughing I forgot to watch my ass, and now here I am. So thank Jack for me, will you? Preferably with a machete and some rope.”

Felicity’s face was a mask of pallid stone, but Sybill saw several emotions flit across her eyes; they passed before she could determine what they were.

“So was smashing in Xavier’s head part of an anger management plan or what?” Felicity said.

“Who cares? I did you a favor.”

“Favor?” Felicity said incredulously. “Do you get what’s happening right now?

Because of what you did in that house, you’ve put me in the middle of a major shitstorm. Not only is my brother on this case, but now he’s wondering how we know each other. I can’t keep avoiding his questions.”

“I’m sorry. Has all this been hard for you? Poor baby.”

Two red spots appeared on Felicity’s cheeks. “I risked a lot helping you get away that night. I could’ve just fucked off when the barrier fell and left you dangling in the wind. But I helped you because I thought we were friends. And that’s why I’m here now. Do you have any idea how worried I was when I heard you were in here?”

“You’re full of shit.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re not here because you’re worried about me. You’re here because you’re afraid of what I could say to your brother.” Sybil moved closer to the bars, holding her friend’s gaze. “You know, now that I think about it, it sure is hard keeping all these secrets. Maybe we should just come clean to your brother. I can tell him the details about the night you escaped your dad’s facility and what led up to the barrier falling down in the first place. I’m sure he’ll find it all very interesting. Call him in here, won’t you? I suddenly feel a strong urge to confess.”

Felicity’s face went even whiter, and she made a movement, as if she wanted to lunge forward and strangle Sybill through the bars. Then she swallowed. A muscle in her jaw twitched.

“I can try to talk to Nate,” Felicity said through gritted teeth. “Have they charged you with anything yet? I can ask him to hold off until---"

“That’s not good enough.”

“What?”

“We made a deal with Jack and he didn’t hold up his end of it. He took Sophia’s time but fucked us over. I normally wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him, he clearly has little control over his powers, but my options have become kind of limited at this point. Get him back here. Make him hold up his end of the bargain.”

“But I don’t even know if he’s still in the area. He took off after---”

“Not my problem.”

Sybill was becoming aware of something stirring inside of her, a current of vibrating energy that was hard to define. Her excitement over their exchange---with her in utter control---was skyrocketing, but she felt like this strange force was trying to pull it OUT of her. She suddenly remembered feeling something similar once in their Smoking Corner, on a cold day that seemed very long ago now. The she recalled how easily Felicity had ordered Sophia out of bed that night, telling her that she “felt like standing up.”

Felicity was trying to use her power on her---and given the look of frustration on her face, it didn’t seem to be going well.

“You okay?” Sybill asked in mock concern. “You seem strained. Maybe you should take a spa day.”

A vein throbbed in Felicity’s forehead. She exhaled loudly. “Just tell me what you need.”

“First things first: find Sophia. Make sure she’s safe.”

“Are you fucking joking? What am I supposed to tell her? What if she remembers me and---”

“Scrambling her memory is the one thing Jack did right. She won’t know you. Just tell her you’re an old friend of mine. That’ll be good enough for her.”

“Then what?”

“Come back and see me once she’s safe. Then we’ll talk about how we’re going to make round two of this clusterfuck work.”

Sybill could feel Felicity flexing her power again, desperate to gain some foothold, some semblance of control. Her frantic shuffling only made Sybill smile, and after a few seconds the connection snapped. Felicity’s expression was decidedly sour as she turned on her heel and stormed from the room.

***

Sybill got the biggest shock of her life when she was sitting in her cell and the cop that she now knew was Felicity’s brother suddenly appeared on the other side of the bars.

“Follow me,” he said tersely. “You’re going to the bathroom down the hall.”

Sybill didn’t stop to ask questions. She jumped to feet as he led them down a back hall and to the public restroom.

“You have fifteen minutes,” he muttered.

Sybill opened the door, walked inside, locked it, and looked around. Her eagerness quickly turned to annoyance. What was she supposed to do in here? There was no window. Was she supposed to just take a shit and wait for a miracle? Then again, what other options did she have? She went and sat down on the toilet. After about five minutes, a familiar-looking red gash appeared in midair. Sybill felt a knee-jerk reaction of rage right before Jack’s head popped through. He looked around, appearing confused for a moment, and then his eyes fell on her.

“Hi there,” he said with a shark-toothed grin. “Hurry up. I’m taking you back a few minutes but I can’t hold this forever.”

“If you don’t do it right this time I will personally hunt you down and rip off your nuts.”

He reached out his hand, grinning in an entirely insincere way. Then he yanked her into the gaping red jaws of his hellish creation.

After what felt like an eternity of rushing noise and crushing pressure, they stepped out of the portal and into a hallway. Sybill staggered, panting, while Jack seemed largely unaffected. He stepped coolly out and then knocked directly on the door in front of them. It flung open and there was her Sophia, staring in wide-eyed wonder. Their eyes met; they rushed towards each other and embraced. But Felicity---emerging from a dark corner in the hall Sybill hadn’t even noticed before---curtly pulled them apart and said to hurry, there wasn’t time for that.

“Jack, can you get us there?” she asked.

He shook his head grimly. “I’m a bit wiped out right now. We’ll have to be old fashioned and walk.”

The four of them went down a flight up steps, through a hallway, another flight of steps---then there were outside and hurrying down a dark and silent road. It was almost over, she thought. She was scared of the relief surging through her. It suggested hope, and she wasn’t used to hoping for anything.

Felicity was walking to her left. Sophia was on her right. Sybill slowly eased over to Felicity, making sure Sophia out of ear shot, before she muttered out of the corner of her mouth:

“Where are we headed?”

“Bus station. I have money. It should cover at least two transfers.”

“Wait, Jack isn’t gonna use his power to transport us?”

“You heard him. He used up everything he had getting you out of that cell. But no worries. We can still get you out of here. You may not be going to San Fransciso, but the bus will at least take you out of the city.”

Out of the city. The words made her feel lighter. They could worry about getting more money later. Maybe Sophia could use her powers to make a stranger suddenly feel generous.

The four of them walked for a long time, stopping often to rest their feet. Sybill was on edge; she kept shooting nervous looks around, half-expecting to see a trail of police hot on their heels. By the time they reached Station Square, the sun was beginning to set.

“Where are we going to go?” Sophia asked as they stepped into Bessemer Court. The area was empty; the only sound was the gurgling of the water fountain.

“As far away from here as we can,” Sybill said, smiling. ““We’ll just borrow some money---Felicity? What’s wrong?”

Felicity had stopped dead in her tracks, and Jack tilted his head to the side, like he was listening for something. For a moment there was silence.

Then chaos exploded around them.

Someone was screaming. Actually, it sounded like a lot of people were screaming and then her heart dropped into her stomach when she saw that someone else was here, they were running at Sophia. For a wild second she thought it was a moving tree, and then she saw that it was a man. He had thousands of branches protruding from his skin. Several vines flowed from beneath his clothes and wrapped around anything within reach; the tendrils hurled the snatched objects through the air: rocks, bushes---Sophia.

Without thinking, Sybill took a running leap, using a jutting piece of moving earth to propel herself up into the air and onto the freakish tree-man’s shoulders. She wrapped her arms around his neck and began to claw, bite, tear into his flesh. Her frenzied fingers lunged towards his eye sockets, hoping to feel the gelatinous eyeball pop beneath her fingernails---

Then there was a hot, searing pain between her shoulder blades. Something was tearing into her skin, slicing through bones and tendons as if they were warm butter. Blackness exploded before her eyes, great splotches of it spreading over her vision. She was falling and then she crashed onto a hard surface, every jolt sending a fresh wave of agony through her body. She lay there gasping in a warm pool of some unseen substance. A sharp, rusty smell assaulted her, and she knew that it was her own blood, slithering out of her veins and ushering her into the grim arms of death.

Panic seized her---not at the thought of dying, but at the realization that her memories would be exposed to Sophia.

“When you see them...please...please...”

She didn’t know if she was actually speaking the words, or merely thinking them. Would Sophia understand? Everything she had done was to protect her. She loved her. She was the only person who really did.

The world was fading. She could no longer feel the warmth of her own blood or the hard earth beneath her. She was lying on nothingness and going towards oblivion. As she felt the last remaining shreds of bodily sensation succumb to fragile mortality, she was seized with a new fear: that maybe there was an afterlife after all.

She heard a rushing sound, and then darkness overcame her.