The Awakening (Darkest Powers 2)

“How far have you gotten?” I asked.

“You set on beating me, girl?”

“Absolutely. ”

I had lunch with Rae. Pizza. Unlike Lyle House, here they seemed more concerned with keeping us happy than keeping us healthy.

Maybe because they aren’t planning on keeping us alive?

Talking to Rae, hearing her excitement, I had enough distance from the pain and betrayal to face a very real, very disturbing possibility.

What if I was wrong? About everything?

I didn’t have any evidence that the people here had actually killed Liz and Brady. Liz had “dreamed” of being in some kind of hospital room, restrained. For all I knew, she’d died in a car crash when they were bringing her he

re. Or she’d committed suicide that night. Or, in trying to restrain her, they’d accidentally killed her.

Liz and Brady just happened to both die accidentally after leaving Lyle House?

Okay, that was unlikely.

Rae’s birth mom and Simon’s dad both happened to have a falling-out with the Edison Group and fled, taking their study subject kids with them?

No, there was definitely something wrong here. I needed answers and I wasn’t going to find them locked in my cell. Nor was I eager to meet that thing in my room again.

Just as I thought that, Dr. Davidoff arrived to take me back there. As I followed him down the hall, I scrambled for an excuse to go someplace else in the building, any way to add details to my mental map of the place.

I considered asking to speak to Aunt Lauren. I’d have to pretend I’d forgiven her for lying to me my entire life, betraying me, and tossing me to the mercy of the Edison Group. I wasn’t that good an actor. And Aunt Lauren wasn’t that stupid. There was a reason she hadn’t tried to see me. She was biding her time, waiting until I got lonely for a familiar face, desperate for excuses. Until then, she’d stay away.

There was one other person I could ask to speak to….

The thought made my skin crawl almost as much as the thought of seeing Aunt Lauren. But I needed answers.

“Dr. Davidoff?” I said as we approached my door.

“Yes, Chloe. ”

“Is Tori here?”

“She is. ”

“I was thinking…I’d like to see her, make sure she’s all right. ”

Six

DR. DAVIDOFF DECLARED THAT a “splendid idea,” meaning he had no clue I’d figured out that Tori was the one who’d tipped them off to our escape. As for getting a better look at the place—that plan didn’t work so well. Her cell turned out to be only a few doors from mine.

The doctor ushered me in, then locked the door. When the bolt slid home, I inched back, ready to scream at the first sign of trouble. At my last up-close-and-personal encounter with Victoria Enright, she’d knocked me out with a brick, tied me up, and left me alone in a pitch-black basement crawl space. So I could be forgiven if that locked door made me nervous.

The only light in the room came from the bedside clock. “Tori?”

A figure rose from the mattress, her short hair a halo of spikes. “Huh. I guess if stern lectures don’t work, they can always resort to torture. Tell them I surrender, as long as they take you away. Please. ”

“I came to—”

“Gloat?”

I stepped toward her. “Sure. I came to gloat. Get a good laugh at you, locked in a cell, just like I am down the hall. ”

“If you say ‘we’re in this together,’ I’m going to hurl. ”

“Hey, we wouldn’t be in this at all if it wasn’t for you telling the nurses on us. Only you didn’t count on getting locked away yourself. That’s what we call dramatic irony. ”

A moment of silence. Then she gave a harsh laugh. “You think I ratted you out? If I’d known you were running away, I would have packed your bag. ”

“Not if I was leaving with Simon. ”

She swung her legs over the side of the bed. “So in a fit of jealous rage, I spill your plans, getting you and the guy who rejected me sent away to a mental hospital? What movie is that from?”

“The same one where the cheerleader knocks out the new girl with a brick and leaves her in a locked crawl space. ”

“I am not a cheerleader. ” She spat the word with such venom, you’d think I’d called her a slut. “I was going to let you out after dinner, but Prince Not-So-Charming got to you first. ” She slid from the bed. “I liked Simon, but no guy is worth humiliating myself over. You want someone to blame? Check the mirror. You’re the one who stirred things up. You and your ghosts. You got Liz sent away, got Derek in trouble, got me in trouble. ”

“You got you in trouble. I didn’t do anything. ”

“Of course you didn’t. ”

She stepped closer. Her skin looked yellow, and purple underscored her brown eyes. “I’ve got a sister just like you, Chloe. She’s the cheerleader, the cute little blonde, bats her eyelashes and everyone comes running. Just like you at Lyle House, with Simon tripping over himself to help you. Even Derek rushed to your rescue—”

“I didn’t—”

“Do anything. That’s the point. You can’t do anything. You’re a silly, useless Barbie, just like my sister. I’m smarter, tougher, more popular. But does that matter? No. ” She towered a head above me, staring down. “All anyone cares about is the helpless little blonde. But being helpless only works when there’s someone around to save you. ”

She lifted her hands. Sparks leaped from her fingers. When I fell back, she grinned.

“Why don’t you call Derek to help you now, Chloe? Or your little ghost friends?” Tori advanced, the sparks swirling into a ball of blue light between her raised hands. She whipped her hands down. I dove. The ball shot over my shoulder, hit the wall, and exploded into a shower of sparks that singed my cheek.

I got to my feet, backing toward the door. Tori raised her hands and swung them down, and an invisible force knocked me over again. The room shook, every piece of furniture rocking and chattering. Even Tori looked surprised.

“Y-you’re a witch,” I said.

“Am I?” She bore down on me, her eyes as wild as her hair. “Nice for someone to tell me. My mother insisted it was all in my head. She shipped me off to Lyle House, had me diagnosed as bipolar, and gave me a cartload of meds. And I gulped them because I didn’t want to disappoint her. ”