Abnormals/Apprentices

I teleported us to a billboard, and immediately tried to read it.

“I think they wanted to help,” Vessel said, using the sound of cars beneath us.

“What?” Carbon asked.

“Nightingale was in my head.”

“She got in your head?”

“It didn’t hurt.”

I was still trying to read the billboard.

“What did she call me?” Carbon asked.

“She didn’t call you anything.”

“Not her, the other one, who my powers didn’t work on.”

“Faraday,” I said, “She said you were just like Faraday something.”

“Maybe that’s who I am,” he said, “Maybe I’m Faraday.”

“Good name,” Vessel said.

“I like it,” Faraday said, “We should find them, if they were trying to help us.”

“You’re too trusting,” I said, “We need to find my dad.”

“Who’s your dad?”

“He knows things.”

“Who is he?”

“He knows what we are, and he can help us.”

“Who is he!?” Vessel held her hands at either side of Faraday’s head to increase his volume.

I looked at the billboard again. It was for a circus not too far from here.

“There,” I said, “We’ll find him there.”

I grabbed the other two’s hands, thinking of my destination, and nothing happened.

“Huh?”

“You’re tired,” Faraday said, “Let’s get down and find somewhere to sleep.”

“We can sleep up here,” I insisted. I didn’t want to lose my clue.

“And fall off?” Vessel asked.

I didn’t feel like fighting.

“I’ll keep you safe,” Faraday promised, squeezing my hand.

I’d never climbed down a ladder before. I’d never done much before. I guess I could say that I climbed down a ladder before I did much else in my life.

Faraday added just enough shock anytime I seemed tired so that I couldn’t let go and die. It was kind of a jerk move honestly. Now I associate ladders with electric shocks.

I needed a minute after we got down. The shocks got to me.

We didn’t find a good place to rest immediately, and just walked on the side of the road.

After I reached the point where the others had to carry me, someone stopped by the side of the road and rolled down their window.

“You kids need any help?” A woman with bright red hair asked. I didn’t like her.

“Our friend’s looking for her dad,” Faraday said.

“What’s your friend’s name?”

“Hy—”

“Hillary,” I said, regretting the choice immediately, but I knew it would be worse for them to hear my designation.

“Want me to take you to the nearest rest stop?”

My companions agreed, taking me to the car before I had any ability to object.

Once we got in, we saw that she wasn’t alone. There was a man with tan skin and hair the same red as her, and a black woman with black hair, along with a man who looked a lot like the first woman, but with black hair.

I started looking for a way out, until the red-haired man turned his gaze toward us, and I felt myself calm down. Things would be fine.

Wildcard will get worse, much worse. The dreams become hallucinations, and even Berserker won’t able to comfort her.

It will all come to a head after the other kids take her away from her companions, and push her around. The panic will set in, and Wildcard will burst, sending 8 children to the hospital, including herself.

That is where Circe and Berserker will wait day and night. The staff won’t question their presence, even when they’re in a room full of power suppressants to keep Wildcard from bursting again.

“It’s their fault,” Berserker will say.

“They shouldn’t have hurt her,” Circe will agree, “But we can’t avenge her.”

“Why not?”

“It’ll get us kicked out.”

Berserker will groan. Circe will agree that the people who hurt their friend deserve to be punished. They both will know that the fact they’re also in the hospital is punishment enough.

“You hid well,” the shadow-man will say. He is not really shadow, not anymore, and he stopped being fully man long before the trio was made. Circe and Berserker will remember him as kind, but kindness is subjective. They will know he is there to cause them harm.

“What do you want?” Berserker will ask.

“I bring an offer of help,” he will say, not admitting what he wants, “We can stabilize her, if the three of you return to us.” He will watch Circe as he says this because she is the one they care about.

“No,” Berserker will answer for them, “Better dead than imprisoned.”

“Rare words,” The man will clap, “What I want is to tell you that the only way to survive is gain allies, and use your resources.”

He will leave the room, then disappear. Circe will note that he didn’t give a time limit, then Wildcard will show they didn’t need to as she begins convulsing. It’s not healthy to suppress powers this long, and they’ll be suppressed for longer.

“I won’t let you sell us out,” Berserker will insist.

But Circe will not think about Berserker’s wants. She will think of what the shadow-man says. If they can stabilize Wildcard, then maybe something from there is the key.

Circe will remember the feather, and wonder how stable Berserker is, because she will only have one chance to use it.

Alyssa cautiously entered the tent.

“You’ve come for a reading,” Circe observed, impressed. Alyssa wasn’t sure she liked the idea of impressing her clairvoyant friend.

“I, uh, saw something,” Alyssa admitted.

“Saw what?”

“I saw somewhere else, but then Berserker got a call, and it mentioned kids, so I had to know.”

“Of course you would only come to me to help someone else.”

“I come to you all the time. I’d only use you to help three lost kids, and even then, I’ll buy you lunch.”

Circe smiled, shuffling her cards.

“Cut the deck.”

Alyssa watched the deck for a moment. She’d only had a reading once, when Circe was first starting out. There was a reason she never planned to get a second one.

Berserker trusted Circe implicitly. Alyssa didn’t consider their friendship a love triangle by any means, but it wasn’t hard to feel like she had something missing around the two of them. She sometimes wondered if Berserker would have gone to the circus with Circe if she never needed help.

Jealousy wasn’t useful here. She shook her head and leaned back.

“I trust you,” she insisted.

“No, you don’t,” Circe said.

“You’re not that kind of psychic.”

“If you actually trusted me, you would at least touch the deck, even if you didn’t cut it.”

Alyssa took the top half off and leaned back again.

“You’ll have to touch the cards again.”

“Of fucking course I will.”

The things she did for kids she didn’t even know were real.

Circe dealt the top three cards.

“Reveal the past.”

Alyssa didn’t think too hard, selecting the far left one. It was upside-down.

“Three of Pentacles,” Alyssa said. The pentacles looked like scarred flesh on the necks of three children, first her, Berserker, and Circe, then the three kids from her vision, except that the white-haired one had shorter hair than in her vision, not that she could be sure since all she saw was the backs of their necks.

“Usually this is about creativity,” Circe said, “But those pentacles mean—”

“Our asses.”

“And new children,” she looked closer, “Your ability to locate them is limited.”

“Good thing I came to you.”

“I can’t promise—”

“I know what you can and can’t promise.”

Circe nodded.

“Reveal the present.”

Alyssa grabbed the middle card. It was also reversed, showing a woman with bright red hair, with an extended hand as if inviting someone. Her eyes kept switching between normal eyes and the same red as her hair.

“Who is she?”

“The reverse—”

“Not the card. Who is she?”

“I only know what’s on the card.”

Alyssa rolled her eyes.

“That may work on your clients, but I’ve known you since before you had the cards. Do you know who she is?”

Circe shook her head.

“The reversed King of Pentacles. Watch out for a person whose only priority is their selfish desires. She can’t be trusted.”

“Why is she in the present? Does she have the kids?”

“I don’t know!” Circe insisted, “If she doesn’t have them she’s probably looking for them. The Coven probably hired her to get them back.”

“What can she do?”

Circe just offered a frustrated expression.

“Right, you don’t know. What’s the future?” Alyssa flipped over the rightmost card as she asked.

It showed the kids in three different places, drinking different things. The blondie had a mug with some kind of logo on it, the one with white hair was drinking what Alyssa hoped was grape juice from a wine glass, and the black-haired one held rippling water in a clear class.

“The three of cups portends healing, celebration, friendship. They’re going to be okay.”

“But they won’t be together.”

“Is that always a good thing?” Circe asked.

Something in Alyssa dropped. That wasn’t something she needed to hear.

She turned her focus back to the present. The woman’s eyes kept changing, and she had a car behind her.

“They probably don’t know about white vans.”

“Probably not.”

She pulled out her phone.

“No photos,” Circe blocked the camera.

“Seriously?”

“Sorry. It’s just they won’t work.”

Alyssa pushed her hand away and took a photo to see. It still showed the same image on the card.

“What’s this then?”

“No one else will see it. The cards don’t work on two people at once.”

Alyssa sent the photo to Nightingale with a message to look out for the woman.

She clicked the call button. Nightingale picked up quickly.

“Listen, Birdie, I know you don’t necessarily buy what I’m about to tell you, but this woman is dangerous, and I think she may be looking for the kids. Can I give you a description?”

“Yeah, fine, it’s not like we have any other leads.”

“Okay, she’s got red hair and her eyes keep glowing the same color. She’s—”

“Shit.”

“That was all the description you needed?”

“Pentacles is a normal suit too, isn’t it?”

Alyssa turned to Circe.

“What normal suit is Pentacles?”

“It’s equivalent to the French suit of Diamonds.”

“Diamonds, yeah.” Alyssa said.

“Fuck.”

“I take it that’s a bad sign.”

“You were right,” Nightingale said, “She is dangerous.”

Nightingale took a deep breath, focusing all her senses on the house they traced the Four Suits to. Tesla Coil stayed beside her, sending a recording through her mask to any Abnormals choosing to watch.

She couldn’t see the kids. She could see the Suits crowding in a particular part of the house until Spade exited. She focused on him. If he got far enough then she might be able to get some info out of him.

“Can you hear me, Songbird?”

She flinched.

“Whatcha doing?”

She instinctively punched the person who asked the question behind her. It turned out to be Berserker.

“Why are you always hitting me?”

“Because you keep deciding to startle people who are trained to fight!”

She took a deep breath, trying to ignore him as she tapped into Spade again.

“Three windows from the west.”

She needed better info, but this was clearly a Hail Mary.

“Can you hear me, Songbird?” he asked, identical to the last time.

“This is insane. Do you know the fucking—” his sigh sounded strange, “I don’t know if you know anything about the kids, but I don’t think they’ll be safe with our client, so I’m only going to say this once: The kids are in a room on the north wall three windows from the west.”

He said it more than once, or…

She wracked her mind for any information gained from her earlier connection to Vessel. The girl had some amount of sonokinesis, but to replay so much sound, while letting it reach this distance twice, showed prodigious skill.

“You annoy people, which is sometimes helpful…”

What a place to return to the closer conversation.

Berserker gasped.

“After I saved your boyfriend?”

“Electron isn’t my boyfriend,” Coil said.

“Congrats! I knew you two would make it.”

Tesla Coil scowled, turning to her.

Can I kill him?

I certainly won’t stop you.

“What can you do to help?” Tesla Coil asked, then raised a warding hand, “That isn’t using my mask.”

“That depends,” Berserker reached forward, “What can you do?”

In a rush of movement Berserker was on the ground as Tesla Coil held back a fist.

Berserker’s right hand had turned to the same dark metal Coil hid under her glove and jacket. His mind, which Nightingale already avoided, was suddenly silent. She could sense the static electricity held in his arms, and the slight shimmer of the same forcefield that constantly surrounded her sister.

“Where’d all this come from?” Berserker asked.

“I already said I was a quaternary empowered at the first Guild meeting,” Coil explained.

“This doesn’t feel like four,” Berserker seemed to be vibrating, “I might explode.”

Nightingale tried to kick him away, but the forcefield stopped her. Berserker was focused on Coil.

“How long have you had this? I don’t thing you had it the first time.”

What first time?

Nightingale took a breath. She didn’t need to, nor did she want to, know about Berserker’s drama, especially when they had more pressing concerns.

“I know where they are. I’ve got a friend on the inside.”

“Oooh,” Berserker slid next to her, “Who?”

“A friendly Stranger.”

“How?”

“Spade,” Coil surmised, “The one with a crush on you. He knows about your senses, doesn’t he?”

“Someone likes you?” Berserker exclaimed like a teen girl.

“Why don’t you act as distraction,” Nightingale proposed instead of responding, “Keep their attention while we save the kids?”

“Only if I’m on my own after that.”

They couldn’t leave him to die, but this was Berserker; death wasn’t particularly effective against him.

“Works for me,” Tesla Coil said.

Berserker stole one of the hoverdiscs and abandoned them.

“The others will bail him out in about 15 minutes,” Coil revealed, “Let’s help the kids.”