Ghost Hand (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 35, Jason Returns

"Liv," Emma said, glancing around the tent, "you're not actually going to go with them, are you?" Her eyes landed on The Other Olivia and she frowned. "I mean, are you sure they know what they're doing?"

"No," I said, sitting down in a chair and putting my head in my hands. "But I can't stay here, and I think I'm safer with them than on my own."

"What about your mom?" Emma said, sitting down in the chair across from me, just like Marcus had.

"I don't know," I said. "She won't believe any of this. She's been dating the guy who killed Marcus's sister and then kidnapped you. She might still be dating him."

"Yeah, that would be awkward," Emma said.

I looked up and realized that Passion was standing over us, a girl I didn't really know, and she was looking at me with some kind of weird worshipful awe in her eyes.

"What?" I said, staring back at her.

"I'm sorry," she blushed. "I just think what you can do is amazing. I wish I had something like that. Some special power."

I couldn't believe it. Passion Wainwright was some kind of groupie. My groupie. Was it possible she didn't know what my hand had done to her? Dr. Julian had said she knew. He'd said it right in front of her, but then again, she'd been drugged out of her mind. And he could have been lying. I looked up, searching her face. If she didn't know, then I had to tell her.

I looked across at Emma, hoping for some help.

She raised her eyebrows at me.

"I—thanks—it's not that great," I said to Passion, lamely. I couldn't do it. Not like that. The timing just wasn't right. At least, that's what I told myself.

That night we had a very awkward slumber party in Marcus's tent.

#

Jason came back during breakfast the next morning. One minute we were all eating bacon and eggs, and the next minute there he was roaring up on his ATV.

He got off the wheeler, marched up to the couch where I was sitting, and said, "What'd you do with him?" leveling his gun at my head. There was alcohol on his breath. A lot of it.

Next to me, Emma cringed against Yale, terrified.

Passion stood frozen, like a deer in the headlights.

Nose looked ready to jump Jason, but Marcus caught his eye and gave a little shake of his head.

I just sat, looking down the barrel of Jason's gun. It was becoming a regular thing. I was practically used to it.

"Put the gun down," Marcus ordered. "She didn't do anything."

"Oh, she did," Jason insisted, his finger hovering over the trigger. "She disappeared them. They weren't there. Nothing was there. It looked like they'd been gone for days."

"They have been gone for days," Marcus said.

"What are you talking about?" Jason demanded.

"He's talking about this," I said, reaching into my sweatshirt pocket and pulling out the cube.

"Olivia," Marcus warned.

"What the fuck is that?" Jason asked, lowering his gun a little.

"I don't know exactly," I said, "but I pulled it out of Dr. Julian. That's my ability. It isn't disappearing people. It's reaching into them and pulling things out." From the corner of my eye I could see Passion staring at the cube, hanging on my every word. Yale and Nose and Emma were listening too. Jason just looked confused. "My hand pulled those blades out of—someone." I could at least give Passion that much anonymity. "And when I needed something to protect me from the minus meters, they started blocking minus meters. They took on that power." This was harder to explain than I'd thought it would be. "Then I stuck my hand into you," I said, staring into Jason's eyes.