Endgame (Book 3)

Chapter 29

What does he mean? I thought.

The answer was probably the same it always was: Zero.

I had to let him know that those plans weren't mine, but I needed to do this the right way. I didn't want to antagonize him more than I already had.

"Let me see those," I said in disbelief. I reached out for the folder, and a worn, blue and black multicolored journal fell out.

Jeremiah gestured to the journal, and I tentatively picked it up.

Slowly, I rifled through the pages. Nothing was there. Everything was blank.

"It's empty," I said dubiously.

He calmly handed me a sleek metal pen with a light on the end. "Invisible ink," he said, his voice taught with impatience. "But you already knew that, didn't you?"

I ignored the jab and skimmed over everything in a couple of seconds, but when I got to the last page, I dropped the book again. My gaze moved from Jeremiah to the journal now on the floor.

"Jeremiah, I didn't write this," I said. "Why would you think that?"

"Jay, I'm not an idiot. I know what your handwriting looks like. Just because you and Zero have the same body, it doesn't mean you have to have the same characteristics. You've been hiding out as him all along, haven't you, Zero?"

He looked into my eyes, searching for a remnant of evil. I couldn't help looking away, but not for the reason he thought. Because...

What if he was right?

I couldn't be sure if we weren't really the same person or not. That was the grey area of the whole ordeal. After whatever happened with Zero occurred, what would that mean for me?

I wasn't evil. I knew it, felt it. I had to show him that.

I redirected the conversation. "This is Zero messing with you, Jeremiah. I have nothing to do with this- well, I didn't write this, and these aren't my plans. But they do explain some things."

"How can you be calm about this?" Jeremiah thrust his face into mine. "The fate of the whole damn world is at stake, here!"

Ashley quietly moved forward and slipped between us to grab the journal and the pen. She removed herself from our conversation quickly.

"Because I know him," I argued. "He wouldn't do this without telling me. Inviting me to challenge him, or something."

"He's going to use the energy from the rocks to overdose us on Energy X and kill us," Jeremiah said. "And he left his plans out in the open. How do you know that wasn't him inviting you?"

I bit my tongue. He had me on that one. The deadline, the sickness; it was beginning to make sense. He wanted me to try to stop him before he annihilated the entire human race. 

Zero was dying. He wanted to go out with a bang. 

At least I knew we didn't have an ego in common.

"I didn't even know we could overdose on it," Ashley said from the corner.

"I bet Jay did." Jeremiah poked his finger into my chest. "You can forget going to see your family. We're keeping you under strict lock and key from now on. You will not leave this facility until all of this is settled- hell, you should be grateful I'm not putting you into a cell right now," he sneered.

My eyes began to glow a brighter blue. How dare he prevent me from seeing my family. I was asking politely out of respect, but if he wanted to do it this way, I would run out of there and not look back. He was a real ass.

"Don't you think that's a little much?" Ashley asked hesitantly. I turned to give her an approving nod.

"Do you think I care about his personal life when billions of people could die?" Jeremiah said ferociously, his voice rising. When Ashley didn't reply, he said, "Exactly."

"Don't talk to her that way," I said strongly. Ashley had become timid ever since we entered this room. Why?

Jeremiah turned his gaze on me. 

A force pushed me back a little. A large thud sounded to the wall behind me.

I looked back. A large crater had formed in the wall roughly covering the outline of my body.

Did Jeremiah do that? Was he telekinetic?

"What has Zero talked to you about?" Jeremiah demanded me to tell him.

With no other reason not to, I told him about our most recent meeting in my room, including the new scorch on my wall, which he would probably have to pay for.

"He looked sick," I finished. "Like he was dying. He doesn't have a whole lot of time left."

His anger appeased, for the time being, Jeremiah addressed me with a more reserved approach. "Green. I wonder what that means...Both of you were originally blue, right?"

I held back on the comment I wanted to make on him knowing his colors. "Yes," I said. 

He gestured for Ashley and I to look at the computer screen on his desk. "I discovered something that may be of our interest."

Before I could see the monitor, he moved in front of me. 

"If you want to prove your loyalty, then you'll make sure you abide by our rules," he warned. "You have to listen to us for us to listen to you. Mutual trust. Understand?"

"Loud and clear," I affirmed.

His piece made, he relaxed and moved aside. 

"What's this?" Ashley asked. 

On the screen, a bird's eye view held a large-looking blue object surrounded by a wall of gray. Green pixels surrounded the surprisingly detailed shape centered in the frame. This was probably live.

"That's the place where you kept me in the pod," I said lowly.

"Yes," Jeremiah agreed. "We've been keeping an eye on it ever since..." he trailed off, not wanting to put Jake's death in ugly terms. "You know."

"Gotcha," I said. 

The object on the screen flared green for a brief second, then returned back to blue. It kept the steady natural color for minutes afterward.

"What was that?" I asked, glancing at Ashley, who had caught my gaze. Jeremiah answered.

"We think it's Zero. You didn't spot him in his cell, did you?"

"Yeah, but he can't do that," I said in disbelief, motioning towards the screen with my hand. "I can't do that."

 "His increased abilities as compared to yours have been noted, yes?" Ashley's strong, sarcastic tone momentarily returned. 

"We think he's trying to convert the rock into whatever he's made up of," Jeremiah said. "But, unfortunately, we didn't know what he was trying to do until now, and we still don't know how he's doing it. He hasn't been sighted there, and as you can see, our satellite isn't picking up anything."

"You need to start telling me this stuff," I said, agitated by my lack of knowledge.

Jeremiah snorted. "You don't know any more than we do!"

He had a point.

"At least I don't get my information by going through other people's belongings," I shot back.

"It's our job to get in people's business. Besides, Ashley did all the work."

I glared at her.

She shrugged, her cheeks turning pink. "Following orders."

I shook my head. I wasn't sure which one was worse.

Jeremiah began to speak again. "Regardless of who did what, we need to figure out what to do with Zero immediately. If he becomes successful-" The giant blue stone flared green again for emphasis. "-We're facing total extinction."

Then, we all looked up as the light behind the door flared green, and a familiar cackle rang down the hallway. 

"He's back," I said.