The Darkest Minds: Red

Twenty-Eight

I impatiently pounded on Clancy's door, waiting for him to answer. When he opened it, he looked at me, surprised.

"Hi, Lily, are you here for your lesson?"

I forced a smile.

"Is this a good time?"

"Yeah, yeah. Let me just... clear this place up."

I looked around. Damn, this place was a mess. I sighed. Clancy was rummaging through the papers on his desk as I stood in my spot.

"Actually... I can come later if you like? I know your session with Ruby was a little..." I suggested, watching him throw papers everywhere.

"No, no. It's fine. Let's get started." He said, a little too quickly.

********

"Hey, Ruby. Are you alright? You seemed stressed earlier." Chubs asked, laying on his bed. Liam and she had returned to the cabin after their conversation.

"Yeah. Clancy was being an ass," She told him.

"Clancy? Didn't you say it was about Zu?" Liam confirmed.

"Well, Clancy said some stuff about Zu leaving. And then he..." She took a deep breath. "He said some things to me, too. I told Lily about it, then she went to find him. I tried to stop her."

Liam widened his eyes. "She went to find him? We need to go get her!"

"No, no, no. We need to get out of here. Goodness knows what Clancy Gray is up to." Chubs huffed.

********

"I thought you said you didn't want lessons? What made you change your mind?" Clancy asked.

I sighed. "Figured since it would make people less scared of me, you know? Is that...okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine." He stood up from his desk, then walked towards me. As soon as he was close enough, I pinned him against the wall.

"Now you listen here. I tried to be patient, I really did. But you couldn't even act like a decent human being, can you? You're busy, I get it, but it was your idea to work with Ruby, wasn't it? So if you want to teach her how to be an Orange, then teach her. Don't go attacking my friends if something doesn't go your way, got it?"

His eyes glowed orange as my eyes turned red, and we both stared at each other.

********

"Chubs, she is in there with an Orange! I know that she tends to be emotional, but she can't be in there by herself! Something's going to happen!"

Suddenly, they heard a loud crash from outside, as if someone suddenly rammed their car into another on a really busy road. They quickly turned towards the noise. Liam widened his eyes and ran outside to check before anyone can stop him. The others followed, given they didn't really have a choice.

********

I groaned in pain as I covered my ears, falling to my knees. Clancy, his eyes still glowing, towered over me. The more I tried to resist his powers, the more he pushed them into my head.

"Lily Anderson, I was wondering why we didn't see another Red in the system." He said in a sickly sweet tone, ignoring my cries. "So imagine how surprised I was when I heard that you used your abilities to help kids escape from Caledonia."

My breath quickened as he pushed the memories of what appears to be other Reds in my head. I felt buckets of water being poured on me, and although I knew it wasn't real, I gasped in shock. The intensity of Clancy's powers eventually overwhelmed me, and I stopped struggling. Clancy gave a small smirk as I looked up at him with glowing eyes.  

"You stay here unless I say so." He demanded, before walking out of his office.

********

"I think we need to talk," Clancy said to the group, his voice pleasant. "It seems like something dangerous is about to happen."

The three saw right past him. Liam glowered with anger, and Chubs pulled him back before he does anything he might regret.

"Where is she?" He demanded, struggling against Chubs's grip.

Clancy grimaced, not answering, which made Liam even madder. The entire camp was then illuminated with lights so bright, some of them had to put their hands over their eyes for a moment until their eyes adjusted.

"You're happy here, aren't you? There's no reason why you can't go back to feeling that way. There are rules here. You know them now, and won't break them again, will you?"

"Rules? Let me tell you what I think about your fucking rules," Chubs spoke up, his voice dripping with venom as he pushed past Liam. "You sit up in your room and you pretend like you want what's best for everyone, but you don't do any work yourself. I can't tell if you're just a spoiled little shit, or if you're too worried about getting your pretty princess hands dirty, but it sucks. You are fucking awful, and you sure as hell don't have me fooled." The full force of Clancy's cold gaze fell on Chubs, but he went on, undaunted. "You talk about us all being equals, like we're one big happy rainbow of peace and all that bullshit, but you never once believed that yourself, did you? You won't let anyone contact their parents, and you don't care about the kids who are still trapped in camps your father set up. You wouldn't even listen when the Watch kids brought it up. So what I want to know is, why can't we leave?" He took another step forward, cutting off Clancy before he could start speaking. "What's the point of this place, other than for you to get off on how great you are and toy with people and their feelings?"

Clancy chuckled. "Did you write that down first, or was it off the top of your head? Besides, you wouldn't leave your girlfriend behind, right, Stewart?"

Liam raised his fist, meeting Clancy's face. Again and again and again, on whatever surface he could find. Clancy fought back, roughly pushed him to the ground. He then tackled him, punching Liam on every surface. Chubs had to pull Liam away for both of them to stop. A light then sparked not far from they were located, but no one knew who did it. Everyone ducked and moved, but the three managed to escape. Chubs pulled Liam up, and they ran.

The PSFs stepped forward, but Clancy pulled them back.

"Let them go," he ordered. "I want them to think."