I’d show him what I was capable of… just as soon as I rested. Finally alone, I let go, and sank into the welcoming darkness.
****
I dreamt of Lewis.
Lewis calling to me.Lewis’ sweet voice saying my name over and over. I wanted to dive into the dream, to never leave.
“Cameron,”
he whispered.
I tried to reply, but the darkness pulled me under and promised escape from my worries. I wanted this empty future full of nothingness. No pain. No worry. No fear of tomorrow.
“Cameron, wake up.”
But the voice called again and the words pierced my foggy reality, tearing me from the cocoon of slumber. Loud. Too loud. Startled, I pried open my lashes. My eyes were dry, painful. I blinked, attempting to clear the heaviness of slumber. The flickering fluorescent lights above throbbed against my head with every pulse. Where the hell was I?
Suddenly everything came rushing back on a wave of head-pounding pain. I groaned and brought my knees to my chest, curling upon the small cot. The cement walls wavered in and out of focus. There were no windows, only three walls of cement and one of thick metal bars. I was truly in a prison.
My home, until I found a way to escape. A narrow door interrupted the back wall. I shoved my hands into the cot and managed to sit up, setting my feet upon the floor. The room spun around me. My shoes were gone, although they hadn’t undressed me. Thank God for small favors.
I braced a hand against the cement wall and stood, my legs trembling like a toddler just learning to walk. Slowly, I shuffled toward the narrow door. It was a bathroom. A toilet, a shower and sink. No mirror. No door on the shower, and no door hiding the toilet, but I supposed I should be thankful that I even had one. I started to move toward the sink when I heard a shuffle behind me. I froze.
“Cameron.”
Had the stun gun made me crazy? Had I imagined him calling my name?
“Lewis,” I whispered.
“Cam?”
I spun around. Through the bars at the front of my cell, I could see him. Lewis, in another cell across from me. He stood half-hidden in the shadows where the fluorescent lights didn’t quite reach. But there was no mistaking that body, that face.
“Lewis!” I stumbled forward and grabbed the bars of my cell for support. “Lewis?”
He was alive. My knees went weak and I sank to the cement floor, still gripping the bars, afraid to let go, afraid this was all a dream. I’d never been so relieved in my life. I wanted to grab his hand and run. I slid my arm through the bars, but he was too far away. Defeated, I let my arm slump to my side.
“You’re here.” My throat clogged with a myriad of emotions, some of which I couldn’t even identify; had never felt before.
“Are you okay?” he asked, taking a hesitant step closer to his bars, acting strangely standoffish. He didn’t seem surprised to see me, and he didn’t seem exactly thrilled either.
He wore the gray jumpsuit that all prisoners wore, making him looked washed out and pale. But as the light hit his face, the circles under his eyes were so dark he almost looked like a football player trying to block the glare of the sun. It was his shaved head that startled me the most.
My happiness faded. “Yes…yes, fine. You?”
Maybe they’d shaved his head because they did it with all male prisoners. Or maybe, just maybe, they were going to go into his brain as they had with Nora.
He nodded. “I’m okay.”
For a breathless moment, we didn’t speak. I couldn’t help but notice how he had his left arm wrapped around his waist, his palm flat to his right side. He was hurt. I swallowed hard and shifted my gaze to his shoulder where that bullet had hit. “Your wound?”
He rolled his shoulders. “Good. It’s healing. Just a bit stiff.”
What was wrong with him, because I could sense that
something
was different? Did he blame me for putting him in this mess? “Why?” I snapped, gripping the bars more tightly. “Why did you step in front of that bullet? Of all the stupid things!”
He gave me a crooked smile, a smile I knew well. A smile that made my blood warm. “I couldn’t let him hurt you.”
I felt the sudden sting of tears, but was determined to ignore them. “You could have died.”
“I’m okay.”
But he didn’t look okay. He looked like a pale reflection of who he’d been; almost as if I talked to a ghost. I swore, even though it had been less than a week, he seemed thinner. And he was acting different. Something was definitely wrong.
“What is it?” I demanded, tired of the secrets, tired of the games.
He raked his hand over his shaved head, obviously flustered. “Why are you here? Did you not get my message?”
Confused, I frowned. “Message?” Suddenly it dawned on me…the dream when we’d kissed in that field. My eyes widened. “It was real?”
He nodded hesitantly, as if he wasn’t quite sure himself.
“How?”
He lowered his arm and shuffled toward his cot like a man decrepit and broken with age. “I don’t know, but when I stood in that field with you, I just knew it was real.”
This conversation was becoming way too personal. I glanced up and down the hall, looking for cameras but saw none. Still, I knew we were being watched; most likely they could hear us talking. I had to be careful about what I said. “I had to try and save you.”
He closed his eyes and hung his head so his chin rested near his chest. “It was stupid Cameron. There was no way you’d break me out. It was stupid to come here. You’ve only put yourself in danger as well.”
“Gee, thanks,” I said. His words stung. I couldn’t very well tell him that I’d gotten caught on purpose. I stepped away from the bars and paced, trying to work the numbness from my body. I still felt weird, off balance. My mind seemed too…silent. I paused, bemused.
“Oh God, my powers,” I whispered.
That’s what was different! I closed my eyes, took in a deep breath and tried to reach out to Lewis with a mental message.
What did they do to me?
The message went nowhere. I was like a person yelling into an empty room; echoing, bouncing back. It was…wrong. Frowning, I opened my eyes and looked at Lewis. My powers weren’t working. Fear chilled my veins; I’d never felt more insecure and alone. “What did they do to me? Why don’t my powers work?”
“I think it’s something newly invented.” He shook his head. “A type of stun gun. It messes with your brain and basically your powers. They seemed pretty excited about its success rate.”
Goosebumps formed on my skin. I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to draw warmth from my body. “How long does it last?”
He shrugged. “It took about two days for mine to return. I think. I barely remember arriving here, and I was in and out of it over the past few days.”
The guilt hit me hard. How badly I wanted to tell him everything; to promise him we’d escape. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t because the cameras would overhear us, but also because for the first time since taking this journey, my confidence wavered. I felt like I was slowly losing the life I knew, piece by piece. And Lewis… Lewis was disappearing from me. God, he could barely even look my way.
“What have they done to you?” my voice came out rough with emotion.
He stood and started toward the doorway of his bathroom. “Not much…yet.”
Not much, but something. I assumed they hadn’t invited him up for cookies and milk. He was putting on a brave face, trying to protect me. But they would eventually arrive, and then I’d learn the truth. I watched the way he hunched over his little sink and cupped water into his hands to drink. His back was to me, but I didn’t miss the flinch of pain that crossed his face when he’d moved.
Finished, he turned toward me, leaning against the door jamb of his bathroom. “They’re waiting for me to heal, I think.”
But he looked tired. So tired. I wanted to ask him if they’d been feeding him well, if they’d had a doctor to see to his wound. I wanted to slide my fingers over his face, press my lips to his and tell him not to worry; I would save the both of us. I would make it up to him.
“Why would they place us so close?” The cells next to Lewis were empty, and as I’d yet to hear another person nearby, I assumed the cells next to me were empty as well.
He glanced down the hall. “They want us to talk. They’re hoping to uncover information.”
Of course. I followed his gaze, scanning the empty corridor. It felt as if we were the only two people in the world, yet forever separated by our cages. “Is there anyone else down here?”
He shuffled forward and gripped the bars of his cell. “Two guards at each end.”
“Other prisoners?”
He nodded. “A woman with black hair. I saw her the first day I arrived. At least I think I did. Hell, maybe I was hallucinating.”
“Deborah,” I whispered, more to myself than him. It made sense that she would be high risk, but then where were the kids?
“Who’s Deborah?”
Startled, I glanced at him. He’d known her before I had. He didn’t remember, but I shouldn’t have been surprised. Aaron had erased his memory. I had been his only link to this crazy world. A link I should have cut. Instead, I’d selfishly pulled him back into this life.
“She works with Aaron.”
“The man who raised me?”
“Yes.”
We were silent for some time, the only sound was the buzz of the fluorescent lights. There were so many things I wanted to say to him, but couldn’t. They would listen, and my powers wouldn’t work. Overwhelmed, I turned away and moved to my cot. I hadn’t expected the stun gun. I hadn’t expected to lose my powers. I was a helpless newborn.
“Who are these people?” he asked. “What do they want with us?”
I lay back on my cot and stared at the water-stained ceiling. “They call themselves S.P.I.; Society for Paranormal investigation. Some of them are normal humans, some of them are mind readers.”
“What do they want?”
“To use us.”
It was blunt, but it was true. I could hear him shuffle to his own cot, the creek of the frame as he settled on the small bed. I wondered what he was thinking. Slowly, I turned to face him. He was staring away from me, at the wall of his cell. How many hours had he spent staring at those cement blocks? How many hours had he wondered why he was here? Wondered how he had gotten pulled into this life?
“The man who runs this place is my father.”
He jerked his head toward me, the surprise evident although I could barely make out his features through the shadows. “Did you just say—”
“Yeah.”
He hardly moved; didn’t say a word. Did he hate me now? Did he blame me for this situation? It didn’t matter, I blamed myself.
“Will he eventually release you?” he asked.
In other words, did my father even care about me?
“No,” I whispered. I didn’t dare tell him the truth; my father would kill me before he’d let me go. “But it will be okay.”
Obviously that was a lie, but Lewis didn’t need to know that. I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes. I had the sickening feeling that Mom and Aaron had been right. I would never get out.
My father had tortured Nora. I knew I was next. I didn’t even have my powers.
Nothing was going to be okay.
The corridor went dark.
I had no idea what time it happened, but at some point the lights went out. There was no warning, no nothing. I’d been in the tiny bathroom, splashing cold water onto my face, attempting to clean away the fogginess of the stun gun, when it had gone pitch-black. With my hands extended, I managed to shuffle to my cot without slamming my face into the cement wall.
“They go out every night when it gets dark outside,” Lewis said.
We hadn’t talked since our first conversation, and I was beginning to worry he’d had enough of me and my crazy family. “How do you know it’s night outside?”
There were no windows, no doors that I could see.
“A few days ago they took me upstairs where I’d managed to glance out a window. When they brought me down here, I counted, keeping time. Not exactly accurate, but I know it’s night when the lights go out.”
So I’d only been captive about seven hours, although it felt like days. I’d been so exhausted I’d slept some of that time, but as I lay back on my cot, feeling way too tense to sleep, I wished I would have stayed awake to keep on track. I wanted to scream, hit something, anything. It wasn’t supposed to be this way; they were supposed to question me, take me to the torture rooms, anyplace where I’d have a chance to escape. Not leave me to rot in a prison.
I curled my hands. A weird tingling sensation swept through me, as if I’d been electrocuted. I froze, startled. Was it possible my powers were already returning? I closed my eyes, took in a deep breath and sent a mental message to Lewis.
Did you try to break out? Did you try to use your powers to unlock your cell?
It felt different this time, my brain open, the message free as it floated through time and space.
I waited with bated breath for one long moment.
Finally he replied. “I did, when I knew the mechanics of the locks. They’ve changed them since.”
“And?” I bolted upright, relieved.
And they caught me.
He didn’t say more, he didn’t need to. I could imagine what they’d done to prevent him from escaping again. I lay back down, and curled into a ball, wrapping my arms over my roiling stomach. If Lewis hadn’t tried to escape again, their punishment must have been horrible.
“How did we meet?” Lewis’ voice whispered across the corridor, so quiet that for a moment I thought I might have imagined his question.
I rolled on my side to face him. Although I could see nothing in the dark, I felt closer to him this way. As if it was just Lewis and me. I knew whatever we said could be heard. Most likely they had night vision cameras on us even now. But it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Lewis was here, talking to me.
“I’d spent almost my entire childhood with my Grandma,” I started, the journey of my life sad and pathetic, in my opinion. A story I’d dwelt on for way too long. “We traveled a lot and I knew little about my father and mother. I barely had friends and I was so desperate to belong, I would have befriended anyone. But it didn’t matter who I talked to, who I became close to, I still felt alone. And then I met you. I didn’t feel alone anymore.”