The Pyramid Chronicles: Tyche Point (#1)

Chapter Eleven: Two Sides

"Read...minds?" Eric asked.

Sam nodded.

Summer's face lit up. "Seriously? That's awesome!"

"Really?" Sam's shoulders sagged with relief.

"Well, that'll be useful for figuring out what Scorpion's really up to." Eric managed a weak laugh. "I wish I'd been able to do that when I was talking to their leader."

And just like that, Sam's anxiety was gone. He was surprised to feel relief overtake him so quickly. It was nice to talk about his powers with excitement for once, to speculate about what he might be able to do with them. "I don't know how good I am," he warned. "I think it'll take a lot out of me, at least at first."

"That's okay. You can practice." Summer started walking again. "Wait, Eric, you said something about Scorpion. Is that what those people call themselves?"

Eric nodded. "I'll tell you everything I saw once we get back."

"But they are all humans, right? Not aliens?" Summer teased.

Eric chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Actually, they aren't all humans. They've got androids for guards."

"Oh, good, something for me to fry."

"So, after all that, are we just going to go back to class?" Sam asked.

"Well, we'll see what my mom says," Eric said. "You guys probably should go back to school. I might have to give a statement to the police or something."

"What are you going to tell them?" Summer asked. "That a bunch of superpowered kids are hiding out under the arcade?"

Eric shrugged. "I guess."

~

The soldier's dark visor reflected Ash's own face back at him. If he didn't know it was just wires and computer chips underneath, he would've sworn it was...judging him? Starting into his soul? He folded his arms and leaned back in the chair he sat in.

The door opened, and Claudia finally entered the office. "You're dismissed," she told the soldier with a wave of her hand. It left the room without a word.

"How many did you say there were again?" Claudia asked as she sat down in her desk chair. Her gaze was fixed on her computer monitor as she turned it on.

"Two," Ash answered. "You didn't get any camera footage?"

"Cameras didn't come back online until they were gone." Claudia began typing. "Seems like an electrokinetic's doing."

"The girl had electrokinesis," Ash told her. "The boy was able to take a gun from a soldier, so I thought he was ferrokinetic." Like Seth. "But he said something about being able to sense people while the power was out."

Claudia looked up, but her expression was distant, as if she weren't really looking at Ash. "Sam Martinez." She let out a cold laugh. "I always wondered if he was still alive."

"What?"

"Sam doesn't have ferrokinesis, he has telekinesis and telepathy. He has the potential to be extremely powerful, except for—well, that's not important now. Our primary concern is tracking down as many altered as we can." Claudia's attention returned to her screen. "And repairing that pipe you broke."

"I was trying to stop them from getting away," Ash muttered.

"You didn't exactly succeed, did you?"

Ash looked down at his hand and turned it over so that his palm faced up. If he'd been more focused, more ready for a fight, maybe he could have stopped them, even though they outnumbered him. Hydrokinesis wasn't the most powerful ability, but that just meant it was underestimated. The altered Ash trained with learned the hard way just how strong a weapon water could be in the right hands.

He should've taken the girl's shock better, too. He was usually prepared for that kind of pain.

"Where's Eric's phone?" Claudia asked. "Maybe we can use it to locate other altered, if he knows any."

It took Ash a moment to respond. "I—don't have it."

"What? I thought you took it from him."

Ash looked up. "I did, but I don't have it anymore," he said. "I left it sitting around somewhere, and I think they took it back while we were distracted."

Claudia's cold stare lingered on him for a long moment. "Fine," she finally said. "Then you'll go back to taking small teams into town to search for kids. Remember, you're supposed to be focused on gathering information, not starting fights."

Ash nodded and rose to his feet. "Anything else?"

"That's all, for now."

Ash left Claudia's office and made his way through the halls, ignoring looks from the other altered he passed. He cut through the hallway he'd last seen Eric and his friends in.

The lab director stood in the middle of the hall with his arms folded, watching Seth force the pipes Ash had separated back together. The Director didn't even look Ash's way, but Seth decided to acknowledge him.

"Nice job on this pipe, Ash!" Seth called sarcastically as Ash passed by.

Ash ignored him, too. He took the corner at the end of the hall and entered the section of the basement they'd set aside for altered to live in. His room was at the very edge of the area Scorpion had taken over. The space was just large enough for a cot and a couple of suitcases.

Ash hadn't brought much along besides clothes and bedding. He had his phone and headphones, as well as some random comic books he'd collected over the years stacked on the floor. That was all he needed, really. When he wasn't in here, he was either training or leading a mission.

Ash sat down on his cot. Claudia insisted they wouldn't be here long when they'd arrived a week earlier. But it was clear she was after something, something besides more altered.

In addition to the altered that had been around since the beginning, there were a few recruits Scorpion had brought in more recently. They were all kids who'd previously lived in Tyche Point but moved away at some point in the past decade. Whenever Claudia's sources—whoever they were—tracked one down, Ash was sent with a small team to bring them in.

Ash reached into the front pocket of the suitcase at the foot of the cot and pulled out Eric's cell phone. The screen lit up, displaying a photo of Eric with a taller but similar-looking boy and an older woman. His brother and mom, Ash guessed. The brother was another possible altered.

The phone was locked. For a long moment, Ash stared at the photo of the three smiling together, at the house behind them and the small garden in the front yard and the sunshine lighting it all up. Then, he shoved it back into the suitcase. Scorpion had technicians who could get into the phone's contents with ease. But what would be the point? There were only so many places to hide in this town.

Ash would find Eric and his friends and bring them in to join Scorpion's army. Just like all the others he'd recruited before.