Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy (56 page)

Brian’s lips wrinkled. “You’re not the leader of this group.”

“Neither are you,” I said, without looking him in the eye.

“We’ll be quiet,” he replied. “We’ll play it safe. Does that make you feel better?”

David shrugged and then nodded reluctantly. “
Really
safe. Okay?”

“I’ll go with you,” I said. “But give me a minute to wash my damn face. I just woke up, for God’s sake.”

“Yeah.” Brian rolled his eyes. “Hurry up, please.”

I rushed back inside my room and went into the bathroom to throw warm water onto my face.
My dark circles were apparent, too. Not enough sleep and too much shit going on. A few days into this whole mess and I already looked like hell.

The room door clicked open and then closed.

“Make sure Brian doesn’t do or say anything stupid, okay?” David said, poking his head into the bathroom just as I was patting my face dry.

“I can’t guarantee he won’t
say
anything stupid,” I replied, “but I’ll try to keep him from
doing
it.”

“Thanks. Let me know how it goes. I’ll wait here. Three’s already a crowd anyway.”

I heard the TV power on.
 

Chapter
12

“
L
et me handle it, okay?” I said, putting a flattened hand
up to stop Brian from following me any farther. “He’s already talked to me. I don’t want to freak him out or something. So just let me speak to him first, please.”

Brian’s lips crinkled to the side. “Yeah. Alright.” He backed
up and leaned against the wall adjacent to the elevator. Alice
did the same beside him.

I took a deep breath and continued down the hall toward
Taylor’s room. Last night, I had told him a little about the others and myself, but I didn’t tell him I’d be back with them first thing in the morning.

I knocked gently on the door with the back of my hand and waited. I heard steps and then the door unlocking.

“Nice to see you again,” Taylor said, smiling with his eyes. He had a pretty smile. It made me feel somewhat bad because I hadn’t come to see him for, well, fun.

“Hi. Can we talk?” I asked.

“Of course. Come in.” He opened the door wider and stepped back, gesturing for me to enter.

“Well, I can’t. I’m actually here for another reason.”

“Oh?” His eyes narrowed and he took a step out in front of his door. “Is… something wrong? Do you want to go somewhere else to talk about it or—”

“The others want to meet you. Now.”

“Oh.” His eyebrows lifted.

“I wasn’t going to say anything about you to the others until we had more time to talk amongst ourselves, but… Brian wanted to leave the hotel and I had to say something to get him to stop.”

“I see.” Taylor looked down. “It’s okay. What else could you have done? Really?” A small, understanding grin curled his lips.

“Thanks for understanding. They’re just down the hall.” I pointed behind me. “Do you want me to bring them here?”

“I’ll go with you,” Taylor suggested, turning to pop back into his room to grab a black blazer from the nearby closet. He shrugged it on and then closed the door to his room behind him.

“Don’t be nervous, okay?” I said, brushing my fingers against the back of his hand as we walked. “They might be intimidating at first, but we’re all in this together.”

“Whatever
this
is,” he added, lifting his right hand—the one where I could still see the purple color inside.

Brian came meandering around the corner as we
approached, then suddenly froze in place, his eyes widening.
“Oh, shit.” He locked eyes with Taylor and I watched them both tense up.

“Guys?” I said, noticing Brian make a fist. “Guys, what the hell?”

Brian scowled and bared his teeth a little as he sneered. “You son-of-a-bitch,” Brian growled, his nostrils flaring. He shot a quick glance at me and then went back to staring at Taylor like a wolf about to attack.

Taylor chuckled softly and raised both of his hands as if he were surrendering. “Hey. Come on, man. Chill, alright? I’m not here to—”

“Shut up, Taylor.”

I hadn’t told the others his name yet…

“Taylor?” I pulled on the cuff of his blazer to get him to back off.

“I’ve got this, Kareena,” he said, turning to me and grinning confidently. “Trust me.”

“Okay.” I released his sleeve. “I hope so.”

“Well,” he started, looking Brian over briefly, “you’re certainly not the little brother I—”

“Left behind?” Brian interrupted with an angry huff. I could hear his breaths growing heavier.

Shit. I didn’t know he was Brian’s…

“If you want to call it that,” Taylor replied, shaking his head. “But I call it saving my ass. I got the hell out of there before—”

“You could have taken me with you,” Brian said. “You didn’t have to leave me alone with those… bastards.”

“Who? Mom and Dad? How are they anyway?”

“Dad’s dead. Mom’s not doing much better. She lost her damn mind and tried to kill herself.”

“Damn.” Taylor’s eyes widened. “Well, I’m sorry to hear that, Brother.”

“Don’t call me that,” Brian hissed. “Kareena, go tell David
we’re leaving right now.”

“But…”

“Or we’re leaving without you both.” Brian grabbed Alice’s
hand and stepped backward toward the elevator, not breaking eye contact with his brother.

“Brian, please.” Taylor walked after them, but Brian took a
defensive stance and coiled both hands into fists again.

“Don’t come any closer,” Brian growled. “I swear to God I’ll—”

“Stop.” I came between them and took Taylor’s hand. “Just let him go, okay?” I said, looking him in the eye. His fingers were cold and clammy.

The elevator dinged and Brian and Alice disappeared behind the metal doors.

Taylor took a deep breath and exhaled loudly.

“What happened between you two?” I asked, squeezing his hand gently.

“It’s a long story. To make it quick, our parents were horrible, and when I turned eighteen, I got out of that house as fast as I could and never looked back. Maybe
I should have done something for Brian, but I couldn’t. I j
ust couldn’t take him with me. He would have been a liability since he was so young at the time.”

“Your mom went crazy last year. Tried to kill herself and everything. It was scary shit for Brian to go through all by himself, you know? He’s got a lot of problems and a lot of weight on his shoulders now, not even counting those nut jobs up there who…” I lowered my voice. “Who put this stuff in us.”

“They haven’t said much to me yet,” he said. “I don’t really know what’s going on or what this stuff is doing to me.”

I could see light flickering in his right side and all the way down into his fingertips in arcs of white and violet energy. Same overall look of Brian’s, but light fluorescent purple, and in his right arm instead of his left.

“Do you want to go sit at the café?” I motioned toward the lobby. “We can talk there for a while.”

“Sure.”

“Brian will cool off eventually,” I said, trying to sound optimistic. “He’s… hotheaded.”

“Same old Brian.” Taylor laughed quietly to himself. “He hasn’t changed at all, apparently.”

I smiled. Brian wasn’t known for making the best choices, but I knew he had good intentions.

The two of us exited the main hall and passed the receptionist desk where I caught a glimpse of the lady with the weird darkness crawling inside her. I stopped walking and looked her over briefly.

“What is it?” Taylor asked.

“Uh… nothing. Sorry.”

“You’re looking at her like there’s something wrong with her. Can you see something I can’t?”

“Yes. Well…” I turned toward him and looked up into his eyes. “Um, Taylor. Can I…” I looked down at my hands and then back at him. “Would you forgive me if I did something to you that might cause some slight pain, but… well, it will help you see what I’m seeing. It will be temporary and the pain won’t last. I promise.”

“Uh, I guess.” His eyes wandered. The lobby was fairly
deserted for the time being, so I wasn’t worried about people
seeing us. That didn’t mean he wasn’t concerned, though. “What are you going to do to me?”

My hands were already level with his temples. “I can
touch you and let you see what I’m seeing for a few moments
. It will be quick. I promise.”

He just stared at me like I was crazy, clearly unable to process my peculiar request. Even though he was still uneasy, he nodded in agreement. I pressed my fingertips against the sides of his face and he squeezed his eyes shut, wrinkles of pain crinkling his brow as pink fluorescence invaded his body through my fingers.

I removed my hands and he grunted, shaking his head.

He opened his eyes. “Oh my God,” he said, staring at the receptionist. Magenta glinted across his pupils. “What is that inside her?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” I said, pulling him past the desk so we wouldn’t draw any more attention. “Let’s keep moving. I’ll explain more after we sit down.”

He shook his head and cupped his forehead with his hand. “Ugh… my head.” He grimaced and blinked several times. “I feel like I’ve got a migraine.”

“I’m sorry. I had to do it to
let you see what I was seeing.”

“I’ll be fine. It’s only a headache, right?” He squinted. The pink light quickly faded from his eyes.

“Yeah. It’s only a headache.”

. . .

“The Saviors told me there were others out there, but I had no idea one of them would be my brother.” Taylor lifted a cup to his lips and took a sip of black coffee.

“It must be because you have similar genetic makeup,” I said. “They told us they needed us because we were compatible with them.”

“That makes sense, I guess.” He set the cup down and it clinked against the glass table.

We’d been talking for nearly an hour. I’d quietly told
him about what had been happening to us over the past year and a half. I didn’t tell him about Alice’s pregnancy, but
I did tell him about David’s early attempts to overpower us. I told him about the man at the diner who had dropped dead mysteriously and how the receptionist at this hotel looked as though she had the same messed up light inside her.

I stirred my cherry cola with a straw to blend the grenadine and soda together. The café had been quiet and nearly
all of the patrons had taken their drinks to go. I wasn’t concerned about being overheard, though. How many people
would have thought we were telling the truth if they actually had been listening to our outrageous conversation about aliens and glowing super powers?

“So, do you have any idea what your fluorescence does?” I asked.

Taylor used a napkin to wipe a smudge of fingerprints off the clear glass table. “No.” He shrugged. “I just got it a few months ago and I’ve been so busy flying back and forth between business trips, I’ve hardly thought anything about
it. From what you told me, I don’t think mine flares up like everyone else’s
. I’ve hardly seen it since the beginning.”

When he ran away from his crazy parents, he went to Canada of all places. Taylor was now a public relations consultant for a printing company in Calgary.

“Do you think you should go check on my brother and the others?” he asked, adjusting the cuffs of his blazer. “They haven’t come back down yet.”

“No. He’s probably starting shit with David—the one I’ve been
staying with. David won’t take any crap from Brian, that’s for sure.”

“Ah.” Taylor nodded. “It would take a lot of guts to do that. Even as a kid, Brian would get riled up about little stuff.”

“Now more than ever,” I chuckled. “Especially since his girlfriend is with him constantly.”

I had also told Taylor how the two of them had run away from home. I told him almost everything, but I didn’t tell him about the earthquake or that the Saviors had ripped out my implant. I made up a lie about the injury, and I kept my knowledge of the Prism out of the conversation.

“That’s one thing I’ll give Brian credit for—he’s determined,” Taylor said. “I try to stick with something, too, when I commit to it, but learning all of this really changes the game. I can’t go back to work and pretend none of you are out here fighting for your lives and that my own brother isn’t in danger. I need to do whatever I can to help out with the mess we’re all in now.”

We?
I perked up. “Oh?”

“You’re in trouble, too, aren’t you?” he asked, cocking his head to the side. “I mean, technically we both are. It seems those aliens haven’t been very nice to you four in general. I’m probably next on their list, so we should start working together before it’s too late. Before… something really bad happens.”

I was surprised by how quickly Taylor seemed willing to
join us in our fight against the Saviors, but we could use another ally and I didn’t want to question his motives.
Taylor may not have taken part in everything we had thus far, but he had been infected for a reason. It wouldn’t be long before the Saviors started pulling his strings, too.

Chapter
13

“
S
o you’re the new one?” David asked. He’d just wandered into t
he café and had come over to our table. “Name’s David.”

“Nice to meet you,” Taylor replied, offering out a hand.

David half-grinned and shrugged. “Not to be an ass, but I don’t know what your fluorescence does just yet and… well, I don’t want to find out the hard way, if you know what I mean.” He tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Anyway, I didn’t come down here with any news. I was going out for a smoke and a walk. I’ll be back later.”

“Alright.” I wanted to wave goodbye, but it seemed childish, so I didn’t. “See you, David.”

“Isn’t he worried about the others leaving without him?” Taylor
asked, leaning over the table so I could hear his hushed voice.