CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

"How do we know she'll be here?"

Ethel, leaning against the side of the car, arms crossed, directs her fierce blue eyes at me. "We don't."

We're at a small, fairly isolated park a little south of where the council meets. The area is hemmed in by trees and bushes on three sides and a side-street on the other. Everything is shrouded in dark and the wind makes the grassy ground ripple. It's a dark sea. It's a ghost possessing the earth, waving its fingers. Then it's just grass. I shiver.

"Just keep your eyes open," Katherine tells me. Annalise beside her has the look of a cat, scanning the park continually for movement. Her eyes twitch from spot to spot as every stray breeze stirs movement in the bushes. I don't bother.

A little way off, Harrison leans against the bark of a tree, arms wrapped around his chest as a defence against the cold. When I called him earlier, it was like speaking to an empty room. I told him he might see his sister and received silence on the other end.

When he did finally speak, it was only to say, "It's a school night. I can't stay out too late." No surprise. No excitement. No hope. I felt horrible.

Now I approach him carefully, tucking my hair behind my ears. Since cutting it, it's become a lot easier to look after, but much harder to keep in place. The wind gives it a slight tug and it blows in front of my eyes again.

"Cold?" I ask.

He looks in my direction, eyes vacant. Then it seems to click that I've asked a question and he shrugs. "I'm numb to it." He lowers his arms to his sides and tucks his hands into his pockets.

I don't know what else to say. We've been waiting for a half-hour. What if she never comes?

Harrison surprises me by speaking again. "I was going to tell my parents, earlier. After you called. I was so close to just...letting it all out. It doesn't feel right, keeping it to myself. But..."

"But you don't want to give them false hope."

He nods. "Exactly." A pause. "I don't think I really expect to see her tonight. I know you've told me she's coming but I can't quite wrap my head around seeing her here, in the flesh. It's like my brain is rebelling against the idea."

"It's too good to be true."

He looks down.

"Well, if it makes it any easier, I'm not sure how tonight's going to go, but it won't be good."

He laughs once, sharply. "Much easier. Thanks."

"I meant, if it makes it any easier to believe. I think knowing that it's not going to be like the last time you saw her makes the whole thing a little more real, don't you? A little more believable."

Harrison looks at me. In the dark, his eyes appear black. His face is stony. "What is it going to be like?"

I shake my head and look away. A streetlight a few paces away turns the grass nearest it to dirty gold. The colour is sickly and harsh. It makes me think of inner-city tunnels with graffiti on the walls. Concrete streets with rubbish in the gutters. Chain-link fences and midnight criminals. I close my eyes. My mind takes me straight to a memory: rich green grass, a field that extends to the horizon, nothing but the sky and the breeze and the sun.

When I open them again, nothing has changed. I can't change what's happened. I can't even change what has yet to happen. How can I tell Harrison what I've seen of his sister?

He exhales. "That bad, huh?"

I keep my eyes trained on the park.

"You know, when she went missing, I thought up a million things that could have happened to her. She ran away from home and went trekking across the state. She was kidnapped and locked away in a stranger's house. Someone killed her and put her body in a dumpster. Some days I thought up good things. Other days I sought out the bad. I thought the worst thing was not-knowing. But now..." He takes a deep, shaky breath. "If tonight works and we get her back, she won't be the same person, will she? She won't ever be the same."

I still can't meet his gaze. Instead my eyes linger on my feet. "I don't know," I say eventually. I'd like to think there's still hope. I'd like to think there's hope for everyone. But I can't stop thinking about something Sarah said: Hope always burns. And it burns you with it.

Maybe I should just be honest with him, then he can decide for himself whether there's any chance of getting her back. I've told him a lot about Lauren but I never told him about seeing her in my visions: the dark room where she was kept locked away and alone; the training area where she threw a spike at her trainer's heart. All he knows is that she's being held somewhere and she has powers and she may or may not use them to kill my friend.

I start, "There's something I should probably tell you about Lau-"

But when I look up, Harrison is staring straight out at the park, still as stone. When I follow his line of sight, it leads me to the far end, where a dark figure stands amongst the trees.

I spin back to the car. "Ethel," I say urgently.

She doesn't look at me, but she replies quite calmly, "I know. We see her."

"What do we do?"

"Nothing. Just stand there. She'll come to us."

Only she isn't moving. If I could see in this dark, I'd be able to find her eyes - I'd be able to understand what state of mind she's in, judge whether it's safe or not to approach her. But as it is, all I see is her outline. There's every chance it's not even her - it could be a drug dealer looking for new customers. Except a drug dealer wouldn't stand like that, not moving, staring at us from the dark. The night takes everything still human about Lauren and turns it into shadow.

"I think one of us needs to go over there," I say.

"We can't risk it," Ethel says.

"If I go, I can talk to her. She'll listen to me." This is Harrison, finally free from his prison of stone.

I shake my head. "No. You're what she's here for. You're the incentive. If you go to her it will defeat the purpose."

Katherine steps away from the car. "You go," she says, looking directly at me. "She spoke to you last time. Whose to say she won't speak to you again?"

"Last time," Harrison echoes. "You didn't tell me there was a last time."

I glance at him, swallowing. "There's a lot of things I didn't tell you." Then to everyone else, "I'll do it. I'll go. She won't hurt me, and if she does I can protect myself. I'll be okay."

A couple moments later, Ethel nods, albeit reluctantly. "Alright."

I turn towards Lauren and start my approach across the dark field. It's like walking towards my nightmares instead of away from them - every fibre of my being rebels. Still, I go on.

It's quiet here, or maybe it's always been this quiet and I haven't noticed. Everything seems to slow down. This close, the rest of the world might not even exist. I stop a few metres away and now I can see her.

It's definitely Lauren. Curly hair the shade of brown that sometimes look blonde. Of course, tonight it just looks dark, and she has it pulled back into a strict-looking ponytail. Her eyes are dark and sharp and not entirely human. She's wearing pretty much the same thing as the last time I saw her - a pants and jacket ensemble done entirely in black. For a second I think of the polka-dot skirt she wore once to school, in rebellion of the uniform policy. It hits me hard; she is not that girl anymore.

"Lauren," I say. It comes out like a question. Lauren? Are you in there?

When she speaks, her voice has the strange, unnatural quality of someone with no discernible accent. "I'm told you have something I want."

"Not something. Someone. Your brother."

"My brother," she repeats dully, like she hates the sound of it in her mouth.

"Harrison," I say carefully. "He misses you. Your family misses you."

She seems to ponder it. I think, Is it working? Then she says, hollow-voiced, "Why am I here?"

Slowly, I say, "You're here because we asked you here."

"Don't be condescending," she snaps. Not angrily. Just sharply, like she's biting at me with her words. "Why have you asked me here? What do you want?"

There's some kind of shout back by the car but I can't turn around to see the disturbance. I get the feeling that the moment my eyes leave Lauren, she'll disappear. Or pounce.

I choose my words carefully. "We want to help."

More shouting. Footsteps, too. Someone's definitely running.

"Help," she echoes. "What makes you think I need help?"

"Do they treat you well? Do you like it there?"

"You want information about Keon. I'm not a spy."

"No, we don't want to know about Keon. We're here for you."

She doesn't reply. Her gaze drifts off past my left shoulder. The footsteps I heard earlier have grown closer, slowed. Whoever it is, they have Lauren's attention. Her gaze darkens.

I risk a quick look back. Harrison is a couple steps behind me, approaching carefully. His eyes are wide and locked on Lauren, disbelieving.

"Harrison, what are you doing?" I hiss. "You can't be here."

I look back to Lauren. Danger rolls off her in thick, black waves.

Harrison ignores me. "Lauren," he says, stepping closer. He's right beside me now. "Lauren, it's me. It's Harrison."

"Harrison," she says. The word is full of ire, as if to her it means something different, something like revenge or enemy.

I don't think he notices. He takes another step. "What have they done to you?"

It's the wrong thing to say.

She draws her hands together, fuming. In the darkness I see only a wink of silver between her hands, like she's holding a dagger. By the time I realise what's happening, it's too late. The metal hits the air. It zips through the night, fast and silent.

When it hits its mark, the force of it bowls Harrison off his feet. I can't see where it got him. I can't move to make sure he's okay. Her focus moves from Harrison to everyone else in a split second, as if she didn't even have to think about it. She's all instinct.

Now that Lauren's been triggered, she goes off like an automatic gun, shooting round after round into the air. She throws out her left hand and at least a dozen silver spikes fly over my right shoulder.

I spin around in time to see them heading for everyone by the car. At the last second, they ricochet off an invisible wall. A nearby streetlight illuminates Ethel, hand's raised as she holds up the force field.

"Melissa!" Ethel shouts, voice strained. Another round of silver slams into the air before them. "Get away from her!"

I look back at Lauren. It's like she's forgotten I'm here. She has her eyes narrowed and latched onto Ethel, Katherine and Annalise. She's relentless in her attack. With every spike that bounces harmlessly off the shield, her anger grows.

Taking advantage of the distraction, I hurry over to Harrison. He's pulled himself up into a sitting position, and at first I think that maybe he's okay - maybe she missed. But then I see the glint of silver imbedded in his upper left arm. His right hand hovers over the wound. I can see he wants to pull it out, but he's in too much shock to touch it, to do more than simply stare at it.

I don't ask if he's okay. He's clearly not. He looks up at his sister, horrified and broken, and suddenly I wish I hadn't brought him into this. Whatever he thought of his sister before, it's ruined now, decimated in less than a minute. I want to take it all back: tonight, visiting him on Sunday, telling him about Lauren. Somehow, it all feels like my fault.

I stand up. "Lauren, stop this." My voice is as firm as I can manage. She's sent out another row of spikes, but this round is different: this time, she holds them at the brink of the Ethel's shield and pushes. Alarmed, I watch as she slowly tries to force them through.

"Lauren!"

She looks at me. Her left hand remains in the air, pressing the spikes down on Ethel, Katherine and Annalise. A thought occurs to me: I'm the only one left who can do anything. Whatever happens now, it's up to me.

"This isn't you. Please. Stop."

She doesn't say anything.

I continue. "We can help you. You don't have to go back to them. You can stay here, with your family. Don't you want that?"

Still no reply.

From the other side of the park, Ethel says, "Melissa, hurry!"

My heart is beating furiously. "Think about before. Think about your family. Think about your friends. Don't you remember? That was taken from you. Not by us, but by Keon. Keon did this to you. Keon is responsible."

I take a breath, try again. "You hurt your brother. That's on Keon."

And then suddenly, I break through. Lauren's eyes go wide. She stares down at Harrison, a look of genuine horror spread across her features. "Harrison?" she says, afraid. "Did I-"

And just like that, the emotion is washed away, consumed. In one sharp move, so fast I barely see it happen, she tosses a silver spike at my face. I react instantly. My telekinesis flares to life and the spike stops a foot from my forehead.

Her eyes have grown dark again. It's like there are two different Lauren's trapped together, two personalities in one body. "Liar," she seethes.

I start tiring. As my body expends more and more energy using telekinesis, my legs give way. I fall to my knees and the spike moves ever closer, now only inches from the skin between my eyes. "I'm not lying," I gasp.

The spike creeps closer. I strain to keep it in the air, away from my face, but it's like trying to run through waist high mud. I can keep going, but only just barely, and not for long.

"Keon said you'd be tiring but I never thought you'd be this weak," Lauren says with a tone full of malice. My heart is thudding so loud I can barely hear her, blood rushing in my ears. Ethel and Katherine and Annalise are still pinned down across the park and Harrison is in no condition to help, nor would he be able to. There's no one coming to rescue me.

Somehow, I manage a thought, a response. "Keon...? How - does he...?"

"How does he know, right?" Her lips part as if she's about to laugh but fall shut at the last second. "You should have listened to him, Melissa. You should have ended this. You can't win a battle if you don't have all the facts."

She sounds as though she's repeating something he's told her, as though she's just a messenger, a telephone for Keon to speak through.

The spike comes closer. I start to feel light-headed.

Lauren steps close and crouches down beside me. She cocks her head to one side. "I love seeing people bleed, don't you?"

I suck in a sharp breath and she moves closer, her ice-cold breath against my skin. In my ear, she whispers, "Consequences."

I feel as though she's just slammed a fist through my chest. She stands up, turns on her heels and disappears through the trees.

Even after she's long gone, the spike remains. I watch it grow closer, centimetres to millimetres. The cold point touches the skin of my forehead. Just when I think I can't hold it off anymore, it falls to the ground. I collapse to the side, overcome with relief.

At the other end of the park, the metal pieces that had been making their way steadily through Ethel's force field bounce harmlessly to the dirt. Ethel releases the shield and the three of them immediately come running over.

Harrison stares at me from a few metres away, looking pale and shocked. His jacket sleeve is dark scarlet. "What's happening to you?"

He hasn't even seen abilities in action before and he knows something's wrong. I can't deny it any longer. But I can hide it, at least until I know what it is. I think of Sarah fainting after using her powers and go cold. Surely I'm not becoming like her, an Anarkk...

"Don't tell anyone," I say, and seconds later, Katherine drops to my side, all motherly concern.

In the sudden flutter of bodies and worried voices, Harrison meets my eyes and gives an almost imperceptible nod. Yes, he'll keep my secret.

My energy begins trickling back in again. I let Katherine help me to my feet while Ethel takes care of Harrison's arm. "What do we do now?" I ask.

"Melissa..." Katherine says, clearly wanting to keep me off the topic.

"What happens now?"

Ethel's the one who finally answers. She looks me straight in the eye. "Now, the next time we see Lauren, it won't be to have a conversation."