Daughter of Zeus ✔

16.5

"We've been doing a sort of dance, haven't we?" Moretz finally asked.

"Yes, we have."

"It'll have to continue."

She focused on his surface thoughts. She had practiced reading the minds of strangers, and randomly, she would hear a scattering of words strung together non-sensibly. She couldn't yield any results from her father, who had layers of mental protection around him.

Moretz tapped a finger on his temple. "Stay out. Kressick'll make sure you remain uninvited, right?"

When Kressick didn't answer, Moretz repeated his question. It seemed Kressick was busy listening to something else, and the something else got Ada's attention. Underneath the silence, she heard the hum of a foreign electronic device. Kressick.

"Who's on the other end, Kressick?

Her arms lit up from the glow of her powers. Jagged lines appeared on her skin, like pulsating veins. Her eyes were alight, fingertips sparking. Ada had manifested into a physical agent of chaos. The lights in the house blinked and crackled. Outside, the rest of the lights winked.

"What are you?" Darcy yelled, backing out of the room.

"Same as him." Ada gestured at Moretz. "Same as you."

Darcy's surface thoughts jumped out at Ada, scattered at first, but clearer as they continued:

the hallway lights... The lights.... always flickered at home whenever her parents fought.

One night, their arguing had reached a fever pitch, and Darcy had cried and cried, finally finding release by screaming into a pillow. During that scream, the wall panel shattered. At the time, she thought nothing of it. Deep down, she blamed faulty technology for the break. Really, she knew. She felt a connection with the interface momentarily, and she recognized the intense peace which followed after she destroyed it.

Internally admitting these truths to herself, but unable to speak of them to anyone else, Darcy shook her head.

"Just stay away from me, all of you."

The small hotel room lacked many escape options. She fled to the bathroom.

The denial was familiar. Ada had experienced identical emotions upon discovering her powers. Later, she might be able to help Darcy accept herself, but with the way the meeting was going, Ada wasn't sure she would survive. With Kressick and Moretz both against her, her chances of escaping were declining every minute.

"Who's on the line, Kressick?" she asked again.

In answer, he shook his head. Moretz was still sitting, rubbing his wrists where the ropes had cut into his skin. He looked as if he waited for something. Probably for a few dozen Sammies to come through the door. Well, she wouldn't let it get that far. One burst of electricity to the chest incapacitated Moretz. Blue sizzling lines rolled over his body, and his face smoothed into a blank slate. He slumped in the chair. To anyone else, he could've been sleeping.

"Damnit, Ada! You didn't have to do that," Kressick said, rushing to his son.

"He has a couple of minutes to live. If I don't restart his heart, he'll die."

He checked Moretz's pulse. "You're not the only one who can re-start his heart."

She pointed a concentrated beam of energy near Moretz's body, burning a hole through floor. "Try saving the bastard, and I'll fry his heart for good."

The man who should have been her father was an inanimate doll. Gone was his pretense, gone was the angry man who despised losing the upper hand. In a minute, he would be nothing. The thought of his death meant nothing. No remorse, sadness, or joy. Ada experienced a flicker of emotion as she thought of Darcy. Her little sister wouldn't understand any of it, not at first.

Kressick grabbed her, and she lost the intense concentration needed to sustain the energy beam. "You've forced me to do this."

Ada didn't get to ask was "this" meant. Her mind became a white sea after he took hold. Everything just was. An unrecognizable voice in her head spoke, whispering instructions.

The voice told her to sleep, and she did.