Pretty Monster Read online

  “Look,” she said. “I’m a self-healer. Do you see any bullet wounds?”

  “I see that your surface wounds have healed. That’s not where my concern lies. Quinn, you’ve been exerting your abilities at an astronomical rate—one that would put anyone here in a coma. You need to be careful.”

  “Careful?” Quinn repeated. “What would you have had me do, Doc? Run faster from the bad guys shooting at me? Not attempt to bring down the helicopter that, to my knowledge, was leading me to my permanent imprisonment? Not that I was necessarily wrong about that…”

  Haley and Charlie glanced at each other, clearly stifling a mixture of laughter and shock. The doctor didn’t look amused.

  “Quinn, I understand the situation you were in. But you have to understand that you aren’t a victim of those circumstances any more. I’m sure you spent a long time not being able to take good care of yourself, but now you’re in a position where you can. And you even have help doing so. It’s not the rest of the world that’s hurting you here. It’s you.”

  Quinn understood what she was being told, but that didn’t mean she had to like hearing it. “I’ve been taking care of myself my entire life. I don’t need anyone to help me now.”

  The woman sighed, looking over at Reese. “She’s cleared on my end. Take her to get some food. Try reasoning with her where I can’t.”

  Reese nodded, saying nothing.

  “And you two,” the doctor said to Haley and Charlie. “Back to class.”

  Haley and Charlie both rose, pouting. Haley made a move to give Quinn a hug, then thought better of it. “Good luck. I’ll see you at home.”

  Home. The word sounded so wrong, and yet just a little bit right.

  • • •

  “What you told Dr. Donovan,” Reese said to her over bread and soup a few minutes later. “Was that true? Do you really think you don’t need help from anyone?”

  Quinn glanced around the café, frowning. Breakfast rush was over, and most everyone was either at school or work. But she didn’t feel much more comfortable then than she had the last time she was there.

  “I guess it’s not that I don’t need it,” she admitted, nibbling on her bread. “I just don’t think it’s worth the risk.”

  “The risk,” Reese repeated. “What do you mean by that?”

  She crossed her arms, dodging the question. “Don’t you have law to be enforcing? Why were you there, anyway?”

  “The criminals aren’t awake yet,” he joked. “Haley was a little worried that you might not be in a good way when you woke up, so she came to me for backup. She mentioned that she thought you had taken to me.” Seeing Quinn’s alarmed face, he added quickly, “I think she just meant I’m one of the few people you don’t hate. You know—unlike my brother.”

  “Your brother?”

  “Yeah—Dash. Which, by the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you about.”

  She gasped, coughing and sputtering soup at him in a less-than-graceful way. “He’s your brother?”

  “Yes,” he said, seeming almost as confused as her. “I thought you must have known that. You seemed like you knew him pretty well…”

  “But… Haley said he was one of the teachers. I thought your brother worked with you and your mom.”

  “Right—when he’s not out in the field doing power stabilization. I think she mentioned that…”

  Power stabilization? That was the ‘class’ he taught?

  “He also teaches special seminars, here and there,” Reese said. “He likes showing off his very random, specific knowledge.” He rolled his eyes.

  Quinn could hardly believe her ears. How could Reese, someone so unassuming, easygoing, and gentle, be directly related to Dash, the most striking, alluring… cold person she had ever met?

  “Sorry,” Reese said; “would have told you if I’d known you didn’t know. Like I said, the whole thing was on my list of questions to ask you.”

  She shook her head, floored. “Well, what else were you going to ask?”

  “I guess, just… what happened between you two. I’ve seen powers tied to emotions before, but never like that. I thought you were going to bring the whole building down.”

  If he were anyone else, she would have snapped at him, None of your business. But she wasn’t bothered in this instance. If he wanted to get to know her, it was valid for him to wonder what had happened between her and his brother.

  “It’s stupid, honestly,” she said. “I’m just an idiot. He probably hates me, huh?”

  “I wouldn’t know. We aren’t exactly on speaking terms, my brother and I.”

  She raised her eyebrows, interest piquing. Now that she thought about it, Reese had mentioned being the black sheep of the family… What did that make Dash, then? Savannah’s right hand?

  The thought made her want to vomit all over again.

  “What happened?” she asked him.

  “I asked first.”

  She sighed. “The night of the event, I was alone. Seven years old. Scared shitless. This guy came over to me, stayed with me, told me everything was going to be okay. When I woke up, he was gone. I never saw him again. When I saw your brother…”

  “You thought it was him.”

  She nodded. “Which, really, doesn’t make any sense at all. He would have aged ten years since then. He’d be in his thirties at least. Besides, I saw the guy for ten minutes of my life ten years ago. I don’t know how I could possibly have thought I still had an image of him crisp in my mind.”

  “All true. But you seem like the type of person whose instincts are rarely wrong. I can see how that could have gotten to you.”

  She smiled a small smile. “Thanks.”

  He straightened, clearing his throat. “Dash and I have been estranged for a long time. I mean, we exchange pleasantries in the office on the days he comes in, but I wouldn’t say we’ve really talked since before the event. Long as I can remember, he’s been on her side. Savannah’s. Wanted to be just like her when he grew up. Political. Wealthy. Influential.”

  All of the things she hated in people.

  “He’s gotten better, I think, since we came here,” Reese continued. “Working with students, and the public, it’s helped him. But he’s never been good with people. Most of the students would agree with me, I think. His mind just never really worked the same way as everyone else’s.”

  It was hard for her to judge anyone for that; her own mind also worked differently from everyone else’s. But not like Reese was describing.

  “Anyway,” Reese said, “enough about my little brother. How are you feeling?”

  “I’m alright. I could use some rest, though. Are you going to force me to go straight to class on your mother’s behalf?”

  He chuckled. “I’m sure she’d like me to, but I think you deserve a free pass, just this once. Our little secret.”

  • • •

  When she got back to her room, Quinn realized she wasn’t sleepy at all. In fact, for the first time in a long time, she felt well-rested and, thanks to her outing with Reese, well-fed. Still, she didn’t intend to return to class. Not when she had a free pass from the man in charge of the law.

  She pulled open the cell phone Haley had given her. It was a standard smartphone, complete with all the apps and games that they had back on the mainland. There were even social media apps, though she was sure there was some sort of Siloh web bubble that kept the rest of the world out. But Quinn had never had much interest in any of that.

  She glanced around the room, taking in the details for the first time. If she hadn’t already known Haley was smart, she would have deduced it from the decorations. Maps, globes, diagrams, statistics. Photographs, some of her traveling the world, some of her with family. Quinn wondered what had happened to Haley’s family—where they were now.

  Finally, her eyes settled on the bookcase. She couldn’t remember the last time she had read a real book.

  She skipped over all of the classics, the authors w
ith an initial or two followed by a too-long, made-up sounding last name, the textbooks, the dictionaries. She would have to start small, she knew. Her gaze found its way to a smaller, simpler book. It was bright blue; hardcover. An electric yellow title embedded in the spine. STARGIRL.

  This was the book she chose.

  She wasn’t sure what speed she was reading at or how much time was passing. She became absorbed in the book so completely, everything else seemed to disappear. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to be hungry, or thirsty, or anywhere, or nowhere. She wasn’t sure of anything at except that she was finally doing something normal—something other kids got to do whenever they liked.

  She probably would have read well into the night if not for the knock at her door that tore her from her trance.

  She glanced over at Haley’s alarm clock. 4:47P. Classes were probably just about over, but Haley had a key. Who else would be knocking?

  She rose and stepped over to the door, peering through the peep-hole. It was Ridley.

  She reached for the handle, but hesitated. Her instincts had liked his personality from the beginning, but that didn’t change the fact that he had been on the helicopter that brought her there—a helicopter that had also carried two men from the DCA. Didn’t that have to mean he was in on the capturing of deviants? Didn’t that mean she should hate him?

  Looking around the room, she had to remind herself that even if he was, maybe it wasn’t the worst thing. In a strange way, her life had improved since she her arrival at Siloh two days earlier. She wasn’t free, something she wasn’t bound to forget any time soon. But for the first time in ten years, no one was hunting her.

  She decided to open the door.

  “Hey,” Ridley said, offering her a kind smile. “I hope you don’t mind that I came by. I visited you once in the medical wing, but you were still out cold. I heard you were discharged and I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  “That’s nice of you,” she said, smiling guardedly. Everything in his words seemed genuine; there didn’t seem to be a drop of ill will in him. She backed up to let him in. “Come in.”

  He seemed surprised by the invitation, and glanced around as if unsure whether to accept. But, after a moment’s hesitation, he stepped in. She closed the door, taking a seat on her bed and gesturing for him to do the same.

  He shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other. “I’m okay standing.”

  She shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

  “So… you’re okay?”

  “Yeah. Just forgot to eat, I guess. Exerted myself a little too hard. Wasn’t really sure how long it was that I was, you know, drugged up and stuff. Do you know? How long I was on that helicopter? And whether I was on a plane before that?”

  “Oh, yeah.” He sounded amused. “We were on the helicopter for about two hours, but you had twenty hours of flights before that. Do you even know what part of the world we’re in?”

  “I guess I hadn’t given it much thought.”

  “We’re north of Australia—east of Papa New Guinea and Indonesia. About as far from New York City as it gets.”

  “Good riddance,” she muttered. No love lost there.

  He chuckled.

  Both of them fell silent, and she hesitated before asking her next question, but decided she had to. “Look. You seem like you want to help me for some reason. You seem like a good person. But I’ve been proven wrong before, and I keep coming back to the same question… Why were you on that helicopter?”

  He didn’t seem surprised; if anything, he looked relieved that the ice had been broken. “I’m sure it’s confusing for you. As you probably know, I work in security for Siloh. To me, my boss is Savannah, and I’m here to protect everyone inside our wall. But to the DCA, I’m here to protect them and everyone outside. It’s one of those lies we have to go along with to keep everyone out there in the dark.”

  This made some degree of sense, she supposed.

  “When we’ve worked in security long enough,” Ridley explained, “we rotate being members of what we call the ‘greeting party.’ None of us are allowed in the States, or anywhere close. But we are allowed, with special permission, to go to Fiji and meet the airplane that brings newcomers in. They usually ease the sedatives when they switch the newcomer from the plane to the helicopter, and use people like me to keep them calm when they wake up. Probably not the best idea in your case.”

  She grinned slightly at that, but she was surprised what had happened with her didn’t happen more often. Sure, Ridley’s friendly face might have calmed her in some subconscious way, but her mind had been reeling with a thousand other thoughts at the time.

  “Do people not usually panic the way I did?” she asked him. “Does that panic not usually… cause problems?”

  “Well, for one thing, the average deviant isn’t quite as powerful as you. But I will say your abilities seem particularly tied to your emotions. You’ll really benefit from Dash’s—” He saw her wince at the name, and he seemed to know why. “I heard about that. I didn’t want to ask.”

  “There’s really not that much to say,” she assured him, not wanting to repeat the story all over again. “But from what I hear, he’s a pretty loathsome guy to more than just me.”

  “Don’t believe everything you hear. A lot of the students will grumble about him, sure. He doesn’t exactly have a way with people. I’m sure you can relate to that.”

  She frowned.

  “But Dash is very good at what he does,” he continued. “And he cares. It’s evident from how hard he works to help people. I know he would have a lot to offer you. Were you planning on going to his class this evening?”

  She glanced at the clock, surprised that classes were still going on. It explained why Haley wasn’t there. “What time is his class?”

  “Five o’clock, every day.”

  It was 4:56. She’d never make it in time. “I don’t know. Reese told me I was off the hook for classes today. And there’s no way I’d make it there by five—I don’t even know where it is.”

  “I’m sure Reese knows what he’s talking about,” he said in a somewhat disingenuous way, “but if you’re feeling up for it, I say you try to make it. I can take you there, if you’d like. I can say something to Dash so he doesn’t give you a hard time. I know the guy very well—he trusts me.”

  Quinn was surprised to learn that Ridley and Dash were, from what she was gathering, friends. She wasn’t sure whether it made her like Ridley less or Dash more. But she was pretty sure she liked Ridley, and she was curious about this mysterious power stabilization class. Besides, she would be forced to take it every day for the rest of her life. She might as well start now.

  “Okay,” she said. “Let’s go.”

  • • •

  It was a farther walk to Dash’s class than to anywhere else she had traveled on the island. It was deeper than the school and the dorms, back toward the smattering of forests and river, not far from the horse stable.

  “Hey,” she said to Ridley as they walked, reaching into her pocket and surfacing her cell phone. She handed it to him. “You should put your number in here. In case I’d ever like to see you again. You know, other than in a security setting.”

  He put his number in, looking genuinely surprised. She wasn’t totally thrown by his surprise, but it did make her a little sad. It reminded her of Kurt, who always used to ask her, Why do you even talk to me?

  Because you’re one of the few good ones left in the world, she would tell him. And, looking up at Ridley, she had a feeling it was true of him, too.

  They reached a large clearing about the size of a football field. Scattered about the clearing were various pieces of what could only be described as training equipment. Obstacles, balance beams, even weapons. The YA were gathered around Dash in the center of the clearing, listening to him give some sort of speech.

  Dash stopped speaking the moment he saw her and Ridley. As usual, everyone turned to look at her. As usual, all
fell silent.

  Dash’s initial expression was the same glare he had worn when he encountered her the day she had arrived. When he saw Ridley next to her, though, his expression softened, and he came over to them.

  “Everything okay?” he asked Ridley, not looking her in the eye.

  “Quinn’s had a rough start here,” Ridley explained. “I’m sure you heard about her stint in the medical wing and why she missed class yesterday. She was discharged this morning. Reese told her she could take the rest of the day off, but she wanted to give your class a try. She got lost on the way and I helped her find the place.”

  Quinn appreciated the lie he had tagged onto the end on her behalf, but she wished he could have avoided the ‘wanted to give your class a try’ bit. She had already led Dash to believe she had an inexplicable fixation with him; she didn’t need any icing added to that cake.

  Dash glanced from Ridley to Quinn, this time making eye contact. He held her gaze for a moment, and as much as she wanted to look away, she refused to. Finally, he nodded, breaking contact.

  “Okay,” he said. “Thanks, Ridley. I’ll take it from here.”

  Ridley nodded, turning to Quinn and offering her a parting smile. “You gonna be okay?”

  “Yeah,” she said, and, before she could stop herself, she hugged him.

  She wasn’t sure who on the field was the most surprised. They were both beet red as they pulled away. Ridley gave her an awkward wave before leaving.

  Dash stared at her for a second, curiosity clouding his eyes, before clearing his throat. “Electricity. Fire. Ice. Light. Am I missing anything?”

  She crossed her arms. “Sorry?”

  “Your abilities. The ones I had the pleasure of witnessing, at least. What other abilities do you know of?”

  She glanced behind him toward the rest of the class, all of whom were standing impatiently several meters away from them, watching.

  “Don’t worry about them,” he told her. “Answer the question.”

  “I’m a seer,” she snapped at him. “Is that what you’d like me to say? So you can run and tell Mommy?”

  Any semblance of kindness he might have had towards her for arriving with Ridley was gone now. He glanced back at the rest of his class for a second, then, with no warning whatsoever, attacked.