Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy (60 page)

He jerked his face up toward me. “I did! At least, I tried. I don’t know what happened! She just screamed and fell over. I don’t know what the hell I did wrong.”

The crowd of people started pushing
back and forth against one another, snapping photos with their
smartphones, and fighting to get a better look at the suffering woman.

“Can you try it again?” I asked, my breaths quickening. My heart was thumping in my chest.

Taylor reached down to touch her hand and then snapped
back with fear. “Ah!” He pulled his hand in close to his chest and shielded it with his other arm.

“What happened?” I shouted over the rising voices of the growing mob.

“She… shocked me.”

Oh, God.
I took a second look at her light, which was now small and barely visible.

“It’s too late for her,” I said, my voice breaking. Adrenaline
made my hands shake. “She’s… fading. She’s going to die! Because of you, Taylor.”

“No!” Taylor shook off the discomfort of the shock and reached for the woman again.

“Taylor!”

Nothing happened.

The light inside her vanished.

She was dead.

“Just get away from her!” I started moving back from the crowd as quickly as I could so I wouldn’t get trapped.

Taylor straightened up and backed away as a mall security guard rushed to the woman’s side. He stood there, watching the guard check the victim’s pulse. For a second, Taylor’s attention wasn’t on me, so I did the only thing could think of.

I ran.

I knew I wouldn’t get very far, but I turned and hauled ass out of there. I ran as fast as I could through the mall, dodging
anything and anyone that came between me and the exit doors.

“Kareena!”

I heard Taylor roaring my name, but I didn’t look back.

I just kept running.

Through the food court.

Down the escalator.

My shins and even my chest started to hurt, but I didn’t slow down. Not while I had a chance to get away.

“Kareena!” I heard my name again, but this time it wasn’t Taylor’s voice; it was Brian’s. I stopped dead in my tracks and listened.

“Brian?” I called back, unable to see him anywhere. Then I heard
my name again. Now it was Alice calling for me.

“Guys! Where are you?” I darted off in the direction of the voices, calling for them and pausing between spurts to listen.

Then I heard
him
again, too. “Where are you going!?” Taylor was gaining on me and his voice was angrier than I’d ever heard.

“Brian!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as I shot through the crowded mall, pushing past people, knocking a
few people over. Anything to get where the others were. I had to make distance. I stopped for a split second and checked
behind me again. Taylor had gotten caught up in a crowd pouring out of some store. His purple light was glinting and
I saw him mouthing words at me I couldn’t make out. Whatever
they were, they were vile.

“Where are you guys?” I called out again.

Suddenly, I heard a high-pitched humming noise and turned my head. A flash of white blinded me and then it was as though the air had been cut open to reveal a swirling gouge of white light. I could barely see it at first as it faded
in and out of view
. I swallowed hard and froze in place, uncertain
of what to do next.

“Kareena!” both Brian and Alice called. Their voices resonated from the light as if they were only inches away. Another quick look behind me. Taylor was closing the distance between us, his anger making the violet in his arm outrageously bright.

I went closer to the thing that appeared to be some kind of portal and watched as rings of vivid white spun through one another, making the large oval shape pulsate.

“Go, Kareena!” an ethereal voice echoed in my head. I recognized it.

A quick swallow and then I held my breath, closed my eyes, and passed through the light.

A whirlwind tossed my hair all across my face and I felt a whoosh of cool, crisp air surround me. A second later, I was vomited back out onto solid ground.

Brian and Alice came rushing
over to me, their eyes
darting around as they searched for the thing that had dropped
me there. I turned and saw nothing. The portal had vanished.

“You’re back!” Alice said, as if she were happy to see me. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” I looked into her worried blue eyes and felt
relieved. Then I looked into Brian’s and my heart plummeted
again.

“Are you alright, Kareena?” he asked, quickly looking
me over. “Are you hurt?” His arm was already glistening with
soft blue light.

“No,” I replied. “Thank you for helping me get out of there.”

“Helping you?” Alice cocked an eyebrow. “We were just here and suddenly heard you calling for us. The next thing we knew, you came falling out of nowhere.”

“What? But I-I heard you two calling my name. I know I did.”

Brian shook his head. “We weren’t the ones calling you, Kareena.”

“Prism,” I whispered. “It must have been the Prism. It said it would try to help us. Maybe it found a way. Neither of you could see that thing at all?”

“No,” replied Alice. “We couldn’t see anything until you appeared.”

“It was as big as me. A swirling line of light just floating in front of me like someone cut a hole in the air and the sun was shining through it.”

“We definitely didn’t see that,” Brian said. “Let’s get out of
here in case anything or anyone else
tries to come through that thing.”

. . .

I sat down on a bench near the hotel parking lot. It was a different hotel than the one we were at before. Rundown, but safe enough for now.

Brian sat beside me. His troubled expression put my stomach in knots.

“Now that you’re back and settled down a bit,” he started, “I have to ask you something.” His jaw tightened and he narrowed his eyes at me. “Why would you abandon us like that? Why did you leave without even saying a damn word about it?”

“I… I’m sorry.” I entwined my fingers together in my lap
. “I just—”

“Didn’t think about anyone but yourself,” Brian cut me off. “You only thought about poor Kareena and what she wanted, right?”

“Well, I—”

“You thought that if you couldn’t have me, you’d have my brother.” His judgmental gaze made me feel so small. I looked down and hunched over. “Right?”

“I’m sorry,” I murmured beneath my breath. “I’m… sorry, Brian,” I whispered, my voice breaking.

Brian took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. The drawn-out
silence made my chest tighten.

He leaned closer to me. “Don’t be,” he said, his voice much softer than usual.

“What?” His swift change of tone caught my attention. I lifted my head and looked him in the eye. “Aren’t you pissed at me?”

“Yeah,” he answered, scoffing. “Of course I am. But by the looks of it, you’ve been through more than enough hell already.” He touched my shoulder gently. “You don’t need to be instigated by us, too.”

I felt like shit, but I forced a little smile in reply. “Thank you, Brian.” His forgiveness was all I could ask for.

“So… did Taylor try to hurt you?” he asked.

In more ways than one.

He pressed his lips thin. “Well?”

“Yes.”

“I tried to warn you about him, you know. But…” He
sighed. “Never mind. Like I said, I won’t rub it in.” He patted
me on the back and tried to grin. “At least you’re back.”

“I don’t know for how long,” I replied.

His brow furrowed. “What do you mean? Do you think they’ll take you again soon?”

“They need me.”

“They needed Alice, too.”

“Not anymore.”

“What?” Brian drew back, surprised. “What do you mean
? Are they… done with us?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Probably not, but now that they have Taylor, they only need the two of us to do their dirty work. He’s… even more powerful than David.”

Brian’s eyes widened. “What? But how can that
be? What the hell does he have that’s
more
powerful than
David’s fluorescence? What can Taylor do with his?”

“He can steal mine.”

Brian gasped. “Shit,” he muttered beneath his breath.

“He can steal my powers as a Seeker, and… he can start people.”

“No!” Brian’s jaw dropped. “No. No.” He ran his hands through his hair. “This… can’t be happening.”

“It is. And we have to stop him. We have to put an end to this before he finds us. Where the hell is David, anyway?”

Brian stared at me. “He left,” he said. “He told us he didn’t have
a reason to stay. What did you expect him to do?”

“I don’t know.” I crossed my arms and leaned back against
the bench. “I thought he was overreacting. I didn’t think he’d
actually
leave you guys.”

“We’re getting on fine without him,” Brian huffed.

“Still, it’s us against the world. And David’s one of us, even if you two didn’t get along.”

“That’s what you said about Taylor, too.” Brian tipped his head to the side.

I nibbled my lip. “That was before I learned he was a psychopath bent on infecting everyone. He doesn’t care if it means killing people or not.”

“How many people have you two started since all of this began?” he asked.

“Hundreds. Thousands. I don’t know. Taylor does something to me at night. I can’t even remember what the hell I’m
doing, where I am half the time, or what happened the night before. I wake up fatigued and blurry eyed. Then I black out again until morning. It’s happened almost every night since I left.”

Brian’s eyebrows crinkled. “Taylor and I never got along well,” he started, “but I never would have known he could be so vicious. A liar and a jerk, yeah, but a killer? That’s just twisted.”

“Yes. Yes, it is.”

I hadn’t even told him about the second infected person I had to watch die.

Chapter
18

“
I
hope you can get some rest now that you’re back with
us,” Brian said, ushering me to my room. This hotel was nicer
than some we’d stayed in before. Maybe he’d learned a thing
or two from David in the short time we were with him.

“I’ll try.” I sat down on the crisp beige duvet and lifted a bleach-scented pillow to my face to nestle my cheek against it. It wasn’t home, but it was clean and comfortable enough.

Brian headed for the door.

“Brian, don’t leave,” I said, just as he wrapped his fingers around the handle. “Please.”

“I have to go back to Alice. I can’t stay with you. You know
that, Kareena.”

I did, but… I didn’t care.

“Please? Just for a few minutes? I’m…” I hesitated. “I’m worried they’ll take me again.” My voice was shaky. “I’m… scared, okay?” My throat tightened and tears started to well in my eyes. I didn’t want to cry in front of him. Brian didn’t like it when I complained. He’d probably hate it if I started whimpering like a child.

Still, my heart was so tangled up in everything that had happened, with all of the fear and anger closing in on me. I wanted to believe I was safe now, but… I couldn’t.

Brian paused and turned away from the door to come
back over toward the bed. He sat on the edge beside me and cupped a hand over mine. An eager breath caught in my lungs
and I tried not to seem overzealous.

“I’m sorry you’ve been through so much, but we’re all living in hell right now,” he said. “We have to keep fighting back any way we can. Okay?” He reached for a tissue from the nearby dresser and handed it to me.

I nodded and took the tissue.

“What you did back there—running away with Taylor—was stupid. But… we all make mistakes. We’ve
all
screwed up.”

I sniffled. “He’s nothing like us. He’s… evil.”

“The powers the Saviors gave him are messing with his head, probably,” he replied. “You said it yourself, he’s more powerful than any of us, and it sounds like he can do a lot of damage. I’ll do what I can for you. I’ll try, but I have Alice to think about, too.”

Sometimes I wish you didn’t…

“Thank you,” was all I said.

Brian looked down at me, a frown weighing on his lips.
“I’m sorry for whatever he did to you.”

Then he left the room.

I
kept my eyes closed and tried as hard as I could to sleep, but every
few minutes they were wide open again. Staring at
the clock beside the bed. Counting dots in the spackled ceiling.
Listening intently to muffled, indistinct conversations of people outside.

My heart was racing. I was exhausted, but I was also terrified
the Saviors would grab me at any moment. Closing my
eyes for a second made me vividly recall Taylor’s breath close to my neck. I whined in fear and finally sat up in the bed, pulling my
knees close to my chest, then dragging the blankets up over them toward my neck.

“Damn it, Kareena!” I groaned. “Why the hell aren’t you able to sleep!?”

Brian was just next-door… but he couldn’t stop Taylor by himself.

What if me being back with the others would put them in danger of being abducted?

“Ugh!”

All I wanted was one single decent night of rest. I’d been
on a full-blown adrenaline rush for days. At least while I was
conscious. At night, whatever Taylor was doing to me that was causing spontaneous blackouts kept me sleeping until midday
. He’d wake me abruptly, just moments before we were teleported somewhere.

I clicked on the lamp on the side table and dropped my
head back, staring blankly at the ceiling. I stayed like that until
I
started seeing odd shapes in the spackling. Stars. Birds. Squiggly arms and legs without bodies. Twisted little creatures
missing heads and limbs. Some of the simpler patches reminded me of scars—David’s scars. I remembered one that
I
could have sworn was from a bullet. I couldn’t guess anything
about the rest, but that one in particular gave me chills. To think of all the shit he’d been through, and there I was fighting just to get myself to go to sleep.