Seeing Chase made every memory I ever made with him hit me all at the same time. I could feel Nell reeling, floors below us, as she was hit with the full force of my visceral reaction to seeing that man again.
Chase had introduced me to a world of monsters, led me on a grisly hunt, and then bled me out on the side of a country road with zero remorse. If that had been the end, at least I wouldn’t have had to see his terrifying smile again.
Meanwhile Daria seemed to be getting the same treatment as Nell. She kneeled next to the huddled Neve, eyes growing wide, seeing things through her connection that weren’t here, but in the past.
Chase cocked his head and one eye slid back into the black mist. He stared at Neve with the remaining one. “She clearly knows me, but I’m afraid I’ve forgotten her face,” he said, amused.
I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t force the words out.
His gaze was like being deep underwater, the pressure cracking down on me. “Are you that surprised to see me, Nick? Well, I’ll admit I didn’t expect to see you here. Happy coincidences… or perhaps you’d rather think of it as fate? Regardless, I heard about what happened in Sillwood. It makes me wish I had stuck around, but alas, I wasn’t in the country. You probably prefer it this way. After all, I’m not much for watching, I like to get involved.”
Questions, retorts, hurled insults, they all slipped out of my head until I could only muster a single word. “Why?”
Chase crossed his arms and tapped the knife against his upper arm. “Hmm? Why what? Why am I here? Why did we meet? Why did I slit your throat? Boring questions with boring answers. A better question is: After we’ve played our games and humanity curls in on itself and rots, what comes next? I think the answer to that question will be very interesting.”
“No.” I finally found my voice. “I don’t know what you’re talking about but any future that you have a hand in isn’t a good one.”
Chase chuckled. “What are you so afraid of? The new? The different? Things change, Nick. You shouldn’t need to look further than yourself to know that. You’ve made changes. What’s one more?”
The sound of footsteps grew louder behind us.
“Ah, the H.E.S.P. squad. You’re working with them. Of all the sides to choose, Nick, you went with the ones that want to keep the status quo? What do you think happens when they run out of targets? Do they let you go free? Do they let her go free?” Chase spoke while taking a step backwards, shrouding his eyes.
He knows about Nell.
“Not another step,” Daria growled, taking a step forward. “You have some answering to do.”
“Another dog following orders?” Chase asked her mockingly. “You fit right in with Nick.”
I could see Daria tense.
“Wait!” I shouted. Too late.
Daria sprung towards Chase.
Like a switch had been flipped, Chase’s smile dropped. The room grew still and my emotions drained from me, like a plug had been pulled. It was a chore to even stand up straight.
Daria slowed and then stopped. She stared at Chase, unsure what she had been about to do.
Neve’s tears dried and the fear left her face.
This has happened before. The thought was there, but what of it? Why did I care?
There was a glimmer of a feeling, but it was far away. A person crying out my name, not through my ears but through my head.
Someone grabbed my hand. Looking back, I saw that it was Nell. She looked confused, lost. Like she had grabbed me without knowing why.
“There she is, we were just talking about you. The much lauded Witch. You know, the strangest people have been talking about you. People I didn’t know could even hold a conversation. I would call you the key to this whole thing, but that’s what they’ve been calling Nick.”
Nell stared at him for a moment. “You did this?” she asked.
“Emotional dampening,” Chase explained patiently. “My Cast power. It even works on Witches, which is a nice little cheat code. I could only guess that because I’m not a Witch, I can still Shape you. Funnily enough, this effect is only a side-effect of my Shape’s true purpose.”
Nell processed the answer.
She opened her mouth. “Then die.”
A red flower bloomed violently in Chase’s eye, like a slow motion spray of blood. He cried out, falling to his knees as he held his hands to his face. Someone else darted out from the fog and pulled Chase backwards into the darkness.
Our emotions returned slowly. Colour seemed to return to my surroundings. Nell’s face slowly came to the realization of what just happened and then she buried her face in my arm. She was warm.
I let you a shuddering breath. “Okay. I’m okay. How did you do that?”
She just shook her head.
Daria punched the floor and then stood, clearly fuming. “Fuck! Fuck!”
Neve rubbed her eyes and stood slowly, keeping her eyes downcast.
Daria rounded on her. “That was him, right? The man from Kirkbride.”
“Yeah,” Neve whispered, hugging herself.
“You need to tell us about him. Anything I can use to destroy that bastard.”
I raised my hands. “Hold on. Dredging up the past can be-”
“Hey.” The look in Daria’s eyes was dangerous. “I’m talking to my partner. Don’t butt in.”
Neve touched Daria’s shoulder. “It’s fine, I can talk about it. But there isn’t much I can tell you. I learned about my powers early on, but they were fairly easy to hide. Growing up, my mom was terribly manipulative. She isolated me, made me distrustful of others. When that distrust finally turned on her and I ran, there was no safety net to catch me. Clearly that made me a target for Organ. They kidnapped me and brought me to Kirkbride.”
Neve’s gaze was distant. “They locked us in rooms and forced us to inject ourselves with Dice, dangling the opportunity for escape as an incentive. But they didn’t know I was a Witch already. It was probably the only reason I’m still alive. It was pure chaos in there. Newly created Casts running around, trying to find a way out and just as many Aberrants hunting them. I met with other groups of test subjects around the asylum and Chase was often around. He was creepy and he didn’t seem scared, but he wasn’t the weirdest thing out there, not by far.”
“But then something must have happened, because the next time I saw him he was different. Maybe it was the Dice. He claimed to have found a way out and gathered all the surviving test subjects together. He was clever, he had found ways around the Aberrants and Organ’s security measures. It took longer than I’d like to admit to figure out that he was bringing us deeper into Organ’s lair. He didn’t want out. He wanted in on whatever they were up to. And he was willing to sacrifice all of us to accomplish that. More than willing, he enjoyed watching us suffer.”
“Was he working for Organ?” Daria asked.
Neve shook her head adamantly. “No. He took pleasure in hurting them too.”
“I got him good,” Nell said. “Hopefully that makes you feel a little better.”
Neve clenched the fabric of her sleeves into her fists. “It’s not enough. Nothing will give me peace except knowing that he isn’t out there anymore.”
“Well then,” Daria said. “We have a target to hunt.”
“Hold on.”
It was Mac. He had arrived, leading his squad of soldiers into the room where they fanned out. Some of the soldiers held some sort of scanner that they pointed into the fog.
Mac spoke into his headset. “Command, contact was made with Chase, the unknown variable we suspected to be in town.” He gave me a look. I knew what it was about. It said: I was going to tell you.
A voice replied. “Understood. A boat was just seen leaving the west side of the building. It’s headed towards the evac site.”
“Evac site?” Daria asked. “Whose?”
“Seth Grance. The billionaire founder of Nentech whose building we’re standing in right now,” Mac said.
“Is Chase after him?”
“I don’t know why he would be. And that isn’t a dismissal of the idea, I just can’t figure out his motive.”
Chase’s words were still at the front of my mind. The why wasn’t important. What mattered was that Chase was planning something, and catastrophe tended to follow.
Everyone headed down to sea level to get into the boats that would carry us over to the evac site. Tom and Kay were here, while AJ and Zola were with a different division, checking out fog by the arena. Nell patted my arm and went over to fill them in on what had happened. They were hanging back for this mission. Tom’s Shape wasn’t meant for the frontlines anyway, and Kay’s Shape was only going to be fish food if she went into the fog.
“See what happens when we don’t communicate?”
Cold anger caught in my throat as I heard Mac speak. I pushed it down with effort and kept my voice level as I turned to face him, “Why wouldn’t you tell me that H.E.S.P. knew about Chase being around here?”
Mac was busy tightening the straps on his tactical vest. “I didn’t want you to seek him out.”
I gaped at him. “I would’ve preferred to never see that man again.”
He bent down to check his boots. “Then maybe consider listening to me. I’m not trying to be controlling. I’m trying to keep you safe.”
I ground my teeth in frustration. “I don’t believe you. I think if you could, you’d keep me locked up, far away from any danger.”
A pained look crossed his face. “Because I care about your well-being. How are you framing that as a bad thing? But I understand that seeing Chase again was probably traumatizing. I’m sorry for that. Maybe we should have this talk when you aren’t hurting-”
“I was already hurting!” The words exploded out. Others turned to give concerned looks at my outburst.
I struggled to lower my voice. “My life before this wasn’t free from pain. I didn’t belong anywhere, Mac. Not in school, not in a job. I knew deep down that I wasn’t cut out for life as things stood and I was miserable because of it. The only difference now is that some of the hurting is physical. And honestly I prefer it that way. Cuts, bruises, and the occasional threat to my life is preferable because at least I’m moving. At least I’m doing something to fight back against the fear that’s inside of me.”
Mac took that in, his expression softening. “It just sounds like… Chase has plans specifically for the two of you. Organ does as well. I just hope that self-preservation is still being heard through all the emotions I’m sure you must be feeling now that you’ve seen him again.”
“Of course. But I can’t just sit still. That will destroy me in a worse way. In comparison, this task feels like self-preservation.”
Mac was quiet.
“I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing. That’s how I got this far. I’d appreciate it if you were hands-off about it. And if you can’t do that without keeping information from me, fine.”
I brushed past him to rejoin my friends. “I’m used to being in the dark.”