CHAPTER 38 - YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, DON’T YOU?

The soft grass gently plays with the fresh breeze coming in from the sea just visible beyond the hills where the sun is rising. I lean my head back slightly and look to the sky, watching the solitary cloud enjoy it’s freedom while breathing in the salty air. This place is as idyllic as anything could be. If only it could last a little longer.

“There’s no need to look so worried,” uncle Howard says. “Things don’t always have to go wrong.”

“But nothing has. We didn’t even come across Joseph, we just walked out of the school like nothing was amiss. Something is bound to not go our way sooner or later.”

“You’re scared because nothing has gone wrong?” Marie asks as if I’m a complete idiot. Easy enough for her to say, she’s always doing things she’s not supposed to and getting away with it.

“The time bubble will be gone by now, unless you think you’re little mind trick is still working and they don’t have a backup operator, they should be coming after us by now. They should have us surrounded and locked down by now.”

“You’re like a deer trapped in the headlights of a car,” Criss complains. “You know it’s not safe, but you’re too scared to move.”

“Fine, we’ll move. Let’s go,” I tell him. “Where’d you like to visit next? Disneyland?”

“Why don’t we let the three of them go over this alone,” mother says with a glance at Howard. “They are after all the ones who have the information about the people coming after us, and explaining everything will only waste time we don’t have.” Criss and Nico both walk back to the cottage without argument, but mother has to put a hand on Marie’s shoulder and lead her away before she’ll obey.

“The teachers wouldn’t be caught in the same room as an Unassigned,” Brody remarks. “Not even caged up and weakened.”

“And we have 31 of them here,” I accept his premise. “You think that’s why they haven’t come for us yet?”

“They’re scared. Besides, for all they know we could have an army of Langdales here.”

“They’ll still come.” I’m sure of it, they wouldn’t just let the rebel Langdales win without a fight.

“From their point of view, this could just as easily be a rebellion as a breakout,” uncle Howard explains.

“The only things they know about the Langdales is what they’ve read about in the legends and myths,” I concur. “They have only theories and fear, they’ll be expecting a war.”

“You know what you have to do, don’t you?” uncle Howard says in a tone almost suggesting an apology.

“What?” I ask. What could it possibly be now? What else can we possibly do now? What could possibly be on me to handle?

“We can’t have a war,” he replies with a forced calm. “Joseph and the faculty might not be able or brave enough to take us on, but there are other schools, other institutions, and the InT has a special division for Unassigneds.”

“They’ve never handled anything this big before, not this many out of control children in one place, but we don’t stand a chance if they pull their resources together.” He paints a clear picture of the future. Fear will make them think we are stronger than we are, and pride will tell them they can’t let this go unpunished. If the family won’t even send a Cloaker there’s no way they’d help us fight.

“I get it, okay. We don’t stand a chance. What do you want me to do about it?”

“You have to go back,” Howard says softly.

“What would that accomplish? They’d just find a new cage to put me in, and they’d still come after the children, they can’t just leave them like this.”

“The children didn’t do anything, they’re just Unassigneds. You were the reason for the breakout, possibly the mind behind it too. They’ll see this as you rebelling against them, ruining their system.”

“They’d rather have you than a hundred Unassigneds,” Brody says. “The Unassigneds are kept contained so they don’t cause trouble, if they’re with the Langdales they’ll be their headache instead, possibly even take out a few of them. It’s you they want. You and me.”

“No, no way. That’s not gonna happen.” I turn around and walk back towards the house.

“Lizzy…” Brody starts. I don’t care, he’s not going back there. Besides, they need him here, he can handle the children better than even mother or Howard. He’s one of them, they trust him. If he goes back… I can’t imagine what they’d do to him, especially with Howard not there.

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“Lizzy, they have no proof you’re out of control, they’ll test you and you’ll pass, they can’t put you back in the basement. It will be school, like before.” There’re children everywhere on the grounds, and they all gather together like one big ant farm. I look around, but I can’t find any familiar faces, everything is swallowed up in children playing or crying or something else. I kick off from the ground, ready to simply get away from the horde. I stop only a few inches off the ground. If I want to get away that badly, then… I look up, and sure enough, Nico is sitting crossed legged above the roof.

“Where’s the sergeant?” I call up to him. “And mother?” He rises up higher and looks around. He points towards the other side of the house, so I give him a thumbs up and walk around.

“Lizzy, you will be fine there, you’re the Langdale girl, you will ace your classes until there’s no more they could possibly ask you to do, and they’ll have to say you finished your education. You’ll be there for no more than a year tops, and then you’ll be out.” I keep walking. “You were willing to help me,” he accuses. “What makes these children different? I might have learned other abilities, but make no mistake, I’m just as Unassigned as any of them.” I spot mother sitting under a tree with a few of the youngest kids. “I could handle myself, I didn’t need your help, but you offered it anyway, you practically forced it on me. These kids need you, and now you won’t lift a finger for them because of a minor personal inconvenience?”

“He stays here,” I tell mother. “You got that? No matter what, I don’t care what it takes, he stays with you.” He will not go back to that place. He will not be poked and prodded, subjected to that kind of torture. Not if I have any say in it.”

“It’s not your choice, Lizzy,” Howard has caught up.

“He said it himself, he’s still an Unassigned, and you’re not there to protect him anymore. He’s not going, if I have to chain him down like Britt I will, he’s not going back there. They can have the Langdale girl to decorate their collection, but that’s it, no one else.”

“The Langdale girl? Is that what you were calling yourself there?” I turn around to the newcomer.

“This doesn’t concern you, Marie, go back to the others.”

“No, I want to know about this. You’re talking about the school, I want to know. What was it like?”

“Hell,” I tell her simply.

“I know you didn’t approve of a lot of things there, but don’t you think that was a bit harsh,” Howard buds in. Fine then.

“It was like people telling you what to do all the time, where to be, what to do, when to eat, which books you can read. It’s an island, completely cut off from the world, no way in or out, you just stay there and do as you’re told, and if you don’t they send Joseph after you, and he’ll give you a migraine to send you to eternity. In other words, exactly the things you’d hate most in the world. Still interested?”

“You don’t have to be rude about it,” she sulks.

“Lizzy,” Nico calls out from his rooftop. I look up, and he points to Selma and three others walking over from where she last saw us. Selma, rather than walking all the way over to us, decides to transport instead.

“Victor, Rupert, and Rose,” she introduces her companions. “Victor will cloak the old school, if we’re still using that?” mother nods, but I have no idea what they’re talking about. “He can hide our energy, Rupert can disguise the building so no one will notice anything unusual going on in there. Rose is here to see the children first hand. Once we’re all set up Trevor will come by and compartmentalize the whole thing.”

“He’ll what?” Brody asks.

“He’s a minder,” mother replies. “And a strong one. He can read people’s abilities, interact with them - similarly to what Joseph does, only he doesn’t hurt people. He works for the council, whenever they have something big they need constant they call him. He locks in on the energy keeping everything in place, and he keeps it steady. It’s kind of like he locks it in a box and throws away the key. The energy will stay constant, and the only thing that can break down the guarding will be if he’s no longer keeping it safe.”

“A Permanenter?” Brody asks, still not convinced that is actually possible.

“What do they do at the school?” mother asks.

“At the school, they train people to keep up the shield, and they go in rotations. They can’t make it permanent,” he explains.

“Really? So they have people who simply spend all their lives holding up a shield? What if no one with that ability volunteers?” Rose asks.

“They did have a shortage in the fifties, it wasn’t pretty,” uncle Howard replies.

“What did they do?”

“Recruited from other schools.”

“So the shield stayed up?”

“Yeah, but the new recruits didn’t understand a word of English, it caused them a whole lot of trouble.”

“Well, that’s great, but I think we need to get a move on,” Selma interrupts story time. “I have a few others lined up to help so we can transport you all in one go this time. I’ll take Brody with us now so we can find the place, we’ll set up the protections, have the children ready when we come back.” She holds out a hand for Brody to take. He looks at me as if wanting to say something, but he changes his mind and goes with her quietly.

“How long do we have?” I ask Howard.

“Before they come back? Shouldn’t be more than a few minutes.”

“Before the InT comes knocking,” I correct.

“It’s possible they’re waiting for us to move, or it’s possible they haven’t gathered their forces yet. They haven’t done anything of this size before, they don’t have a SWAT team ready to go.”

“But when they come, they’ll come here.”

“We should be out of here by then,” he reassures me.

“Yes, you will,” I agree. I look over the open, completely unprotected field with children spread out like flowers. Mother had the right idea with making a border, but Brody isn’t here. I sit down and cross my legs. I can do this. Howard, Professor Holt, says I can master this. The sergeant raised us with the notion that we could do anything with enough willpower. I’ve already done it once when Pam was bitten. This is on a larger scale, yes, but size was never my problem. I imagine the air is like a blanket, tangible and thick. I grab a hold and shake it up. Higher and higher it rises, further and further it spreads until it’s like a giant balloon spread over us all. I take a deep breath. Either I’m frantically holding on to nothing, or it actually worked. I don’t know which is which.