JACKIE:

Out of nowhere, Alpha snuck up behind me and pricked my neck.

“Ow,” I cried as I grabbed at the pain. A small amount of blood came off on my hands.

“Stand down, Alpha,” Beatrice commanded, but it was too late. It already got another sample.

I looked up and saw my blood being synthesized in Alpha’s belly, which had only recently protruded like an eye with a sty on it. My blood mixed with the green radioactive liquid already running through Alpha’s veins. The biochemicals created an ethereal cocktail that scared me.

“Way to show your true colors, grandma.”

“Don’t call me that. Alpha was acting on old programming. I promise, Jackie. I come in peace,” Beatrice said with her hands up in surrender.

Firestorm yelled, “You come in peace? Your fire portal murdered someone from the village and hurt a dozen more! It’s time to throw you into that volcano again!”

“What’s the point of that?” Beatrice asked. “I’ll rebirth, and we’ll be back where we started.”

Firestorm started toward Beatrice anyway. Her drone pricked him in the neck, stopping him temporarily.

“A little tranquilizer on that dart should give us some time to talk without your… pet,” Beatrice said to me.

Firestorm’s legs fell out from under him, and he stumbled to the floor.

I ran to him. “Dad, are you all right?”

He nodded lazily. “Stay strong against her, Jackie.”

I looked at Beatrice with hatred in my eyes.

“Dad?” Beatrice squinted to examine Firestorm. “Is this what’s become of you, Zayne? Fascinating. How long did it take for you to morph fully? Clinical trials showed that your blood type is extremely effective at staving it off for much longer than your fellow villagers.”

“He’s not your science experiment.” I curled my hands into fists, ready to fight.

“Oh honey, no need to get violent. When we all have the ability to rebirth, that’s not the most interesting way to spar. Sit and see if you can outsmart me another way.”

Her invitation startled me. Had I re-birthed after that gun-shot wound… Was I capable of that as a gene carrier?

Beatrice pointed at two chairs and a table on the far side of the large balcony. A chess board sat awaiting us. She took a seat and motioned for me to join her. I did, not because I wanted to play, or spar with her, but because I might faint if I didn’t sit down. It was all so overwhelming.

“Jackie, don’t get suckered by her lies,” Firestorm said sleepily.

“What a lovely little family reunion we have here.” Beatrice smiled and clapped her hands. She was enjoying this.

I reminded myself that she was pleasant on the outside, but cold and calculating underneath the facade.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“We’re all searching for something,” Beatrice said. “We can enter the slipstream and experience different probabilities, but only one physical reality is written for us. If we work together, we can all win.”

“I’ll never help you,” I said with spite. “You’re a nut job who only cares about herself.”

“That’s not a nice way to speak to your dear grandmother, Jackie.”

I rolled my eyes. “You don’t care about anyone but yourself. You treat other people’s lives like pawns in your game.”

I angrily swept my hand across the chessboard, knocking the pieces everywhere. Not only was it an excellent metaphor, it ensured she wouldn’t try to play a game with me. I didn’t need her showcasing my lack of knowledge in a trivial game. We both knew she had me beat on every level.

Beatrice laughed. “You’re so enmeshed, dear. With so many probabilities to explore in the slipstream, how can you care about any one person or thing in the physical world?”

“You cause so much suffering, Beatrice. In the slipstream and in this world.”

I pointed at the smoke from the burned island, as if I needed an actual example. I looked at Firestorm, half asleep behind me, and thought of how handsome he once was as Zayne.

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“You’re quick to blame, but those people would suffer anyway,” Beatrice replied. “I’ve seen the future, and if I didn’t create my fire portal, a seismic event would spill lava on them, anyway.”

I scoffed. Beatrice could justify anything.

“How convenient,” I said sarcastically.

“The slipstream, and life, works on probabilities,” Beatrice explained. “The probability of things is determined by who we are. Rich people will almost always be rich. The poor will almost always be poor. You are an exception to that one in this life, but you can’t escape the truth. If you have an addictive personality, you’ll almost always become an addict. If you don’t have any fashion sense, well dear, even though we’re related, there’s not much I can help you with in that department, either.”

She looked me up and down with a judgmental gaze.

I could take the jab about my clothes. After all, I had taken them off a clothesline in mid-flight. But was I rich in more probabilities than not, since we’re related? Was she also insinuating something deeper about me having an addictive personality? She didn’t even know me…

“If you’re evil, you’ll always be evil,” I retorted.

“That’s a subjective word, my dear. Isn’t a girl murdering her loving parents evil, too?”

“Ha!” Firestorm added. “Grace knew you imprisoned me. You create mutants so you can —

“Silence!” Beatrice slammed her fist against the table, cutting Firestorm off. I saw a glimmer of pain in her eyes for the first time, but she quickly hid it and regained her composure.

“It was difficult to rebuild the project without your grandfather, Jackie. The promise of Life Rite was almost lost when Mark died. This is his legacy, and I rebuilt it in his honor. If only he could see how far I’ve come… Now, we not only cure diseases, we offer eternal life!”

“To the rich!” I said with another scoff. “At what cost to others?”

“What can I say? It’s an expensive endeavor.”

She was so cavalier about it all.

“If Life Rite can cure anyone, what about Baxter? Did you save him? Is he safe?”

Beatrice seemed caught off guard by the question.

She sighed. “I’m sorry, Jackie. We tried to save him, but his gunshot wound was too deep. It hit a major organ, and after days of intense care, he finally succumbed to his injuries.”

The news felt like a gut-punch. Tears swelled in my eyes and streamed down my cheeks. It was all too much now.

Firestorm took over. He stood, sluggish, and walked toward Beatrice. He fought the effects of the powerful tranquilizer as he said, “You kept me in a cage. You tested on me, mutated me. And now you’re burning the sacred lands of my people. Enough!”

He towered over Beatrice with rage in his eyes. A spark of fire dripped from his mouth and singed her dress.

Alpha flew around the tense standoff with its familiar clicking, but Beatrice shooed it away with a calm wave of her hand.

“You’re right, Zayne,” she replied quietly. “I’ve played the villain for long enough. Time to make some new decisions. See the story unfold in new ways. It’s easily within our power with the slipstream. Let’s do things your way now.”

Firestorm and I exchanged confused glances. We weren’t expecting that and had no clue what she had planned. Did she truly see the error of her ways?

“How can we trust you?” I wiped my dripping nose.

“Shall we consult the slipstream to find out or let it play out in real time?” Beatrice asked smugly.

“What are you proposing?”

“Jackie, I need your blood,” she said.

I instinctively yelled, “No way!”

Beatrice paused, containing her irritation. Then she continued.“It’s funny. I never wanted to have a child. I only did it to make Mark happy. It devastated me to have a girl, but now I see how valuable it was. Grace… and that creature, birthed a richer bloodline. You’re a natural gene carrier, Jackie. Your blood could take Life Rite to the next level.”

Was my blood truly that special? It was hard to imagine. My brain quickly pieced together the hole in my heart that I’d carried around my entire life. Everything started to make sense.

“You’ve been after my blood my whole life, haven’t you?” I asked. “That’s why Grace gave me to Baxter. So you couldn’t find me?”

Tears welled in my eyes again as a wave of forgiveness swept over me. My mother didn’t want to abandon me, she was trying to protect me. Firestorm nuzzled his beak into my arm, and I hugged him back. He was all I had left now.

Beatrice said, “I can’t speak for Grace’s choices.”

“You can’t have my blood.”

“Jackie, let’s run Life Rite together.” Beatrice reached over and grabbed my hand.

“You can’t be serious!” I pulled my hand away.

“Think of all the good we can do with the company. We can make a fortune on wrinkle creams to keep us living in luxury, but we can also cure so many diseases. That’s what got this whole thing started. Mark cured me.”

“You can do all that without me.”

“Absolutely, but it’d be more fun together. We’re family, after all. Plus, you’ll keep me on the straight and narrow.”

“What’s the catch?” I asked.

“A monthly blood donation from you. That’s it.”

I grumbled.

“Your blood would erase the need for the carrier. I’ve created enough mutants already. It’s a gruesome business with an expensive overhead. This is a cleaner way. A win/win. You won’t have to live in squalor anymore. You deserve better, Jackie. After all, you’re a Claudi.”

Firestorm fought through his drowsiness and said, “She’s a Deere, a part of the sacred people you’ve tormented here.”

Was I a Claudi or a Deere or… Cooper was the name I grew up with. I never realized how crucial a family name was until now.

I thought back to all the mutated boys in those polaroids and mourned the loss of Grace and Zayne as parents. I yearned to see Baxter again. As much as I wanted to be related to the rich head of a powerful corporation, the boys in the cages were my family, too. I was part of both lineages.

“I can’t help you,” I said.

“Suit yourself,” Beatrice replied. “If you won’t join me, you’ll what? Try to kill me instead? But in doing so, you’ll give me even deeper access to the slipstream where I’ll find new ways to enact my narrative. I will rebirth. I will outlive you, outsmart you. Make no mistake about that.”

I looked at Firestorm, then back at Beatrice. I didn’t know what to say. She made a lot of interesting points.

“Think about it,” Beatrice added. “Drink from my fire portal to awaken yourself to the probabilities.”

She stood and walked away with her signature confident swagger. Alpha followed, leaving Firestorm and I alone on the balcony overlooking the volcano. We sat in silence, trying to process all Beatrice said. There was a lot to unpack. Should we seek revenge or call a truce?