The Ghetto is a lot larger than I expected it to be.
We walk through a couple of small tunnels, heading for the main room where everyone was as I arrived here. They are all still arm wrestling and playing card games, but there are a couple of more people this time. Some are just wrestling, trying to push the other down. A couple of them are using their abilities—mostly just to move things around or make electricity balls larger and larger until the Freak can't handle it anymore. By the look of the female and male spectators' faces alike, it seems like they're showing off.
I'm watching all these Freaks have fun so intensely I almost walk into a wall.
Nox pulls me away from it with a small tug of my arm. I snap my gaze away from the Freaks to stare at him. I open my mouth to mumble an apology, but Nox beats me to it by saying, "There are more walls in this place then there are people." He turns to look at me, a bored half-smile forming across his lips. "Watch out."
I don't say anything back; I just give him a small nod and keep my eyes on the floor and the walls around me. The voices of the other Freaks dissolve as we enter a couple more tunnels. I keep my eyes on Serena's back as we follow her, not realizing when we enter a platform with another train, unattended, in front of us.
"Why don't they work anymore, then?" I ask Nox as Serena stands in front of another door. It's very much like the one we were at a few minutes ago. This one has the ∑ scratched on it like the other door.
Nox turns to face the train next to us, and then me. "The trains?" he asks. "Yeah, they stopped working years ago."
I remember hearing stories about how the radiation that plagued the earth many years ago made the Underground too hot and dangerous to visit. Therefore, people were unable to use trains for transportation. The public were restricted from entering because of the dangers. Then the radiation got worse, killing off the children and adults, leaving the teenagers in its wake.
I must've been staring at the trains for too long because I almost miss Nox continuing, saying, "There's no power for them anymore."
I stare up at the ceiling, at the lights surrounding us. "How are the lights on if there's no power?"
"The lights run on a different set of generators," Nox explains, keeping his eyes fixed on Serena's back as we wait at the door with the symbol on it. He slowly turns his head to look at me. "It takes too much energy to run the trains. Plus they are so loud, it's ridiculous."
I don't have time to react to what he says as the door swings open, revealing who I'm going to assume is Winston. He's a tall guy, easily clearing six foot, with long curly brown hair that falls over his eyes so much that I can hardly tell who he's looking at. He moves a few strands of his thick hair away from his face, a light sheen of sweat visible on his dark skin.
"Serena," he says, a large smile spreading across his thin face. Then his eyes glance over towards Nox and his smile fades slowly. "Nox." He smiles again, but it looks fake. He nods once, a greeting. "How can I help you guys?"
Nox moves out of the way as Serena slowly grabs hold of my arm, pulling me in the line of Winston's sight. The restraints rub against my skin painfully, and I cover up a wince as I stand in front of this tall boy. He stares in my direction for a moment like he doesn't know what to make of me, then over at Serena, a question written clearly across his face.
"This is Luca," Serena says, lifting my hands up to show it to Winston. "Do you know what you can do with these?"
Winston slowly takes my arm in his loose grip, moving it this way and that, inspecting the restraints from all angles. As I continue to stare up at his face, I can almost see the cogs moving in his head. What kind of Freak is he?
"I know what to do," he says, and ushers me into the room.
It looks exactly like the one we were in a few minutes ago, just a few things put in the opposite direction. There's hardly anywhere to stand, since there are broken pieces of technology, screws, bolts, screwdrivers, anything and everything you can think of is on the floor right now. It's slightly better on the round table; it's not as messy, but there are more built objects on top that I can't seem to name.
"Sit down, guys. Make yourselves at home," Winston says, indicating a chair with very little mess on it. I move a screwdriver off the seat and place it on the table in front of me as I sit down, watching the tool roll towards the centre of the wood. Winston takes the screwdriver from the table and sits down in the seat next to me, taking my arm again and pulling my clasped hands closer to his body. He peers down so he can see it better as he presses the end of the tool into a small hole in the cuffs, and I wonder, briefly, how his back doesn't hurt from the unnatural position.
In a matter of a few seconds, the magnetic force binding the cuffs together disconnects, my hands slowly rolling away from each other on the table like I've lost the ability to do anything with them at all. I squeeze my fingers into a fist, trying to find the spark of something running through my veins, but I still feel nothing. The restraints still work, even when the force disconnects. The urge to break the metallic surface on the edge of the table is almost overpowering, but Winston is still working on them.
Serena and Nox come to stand behind me, but Serena takes the seat to my left, shifting it closer so she's near me, leaning her arms on the table. "Winston is a tech genius," she explains, quietly so Winston can concentrate on whatever he's doing. "He has the ability to take a piece of technology, dismantle it, and put it back together to make it do something else completely." She nods down to the bindings around my wrist. "Hopefully he can take these off and make them into something useful."
I hear Winston laugh. I turn to look at him, watching as he presses the business end of a thin screwdriver into the restraints again. "Hopefully," he echoes, still laughing. "That's funny, Serena."
And that's when the binding snaps open.
I let out a small sigh as I slowly lift my hand away from the metal, leaving the other half to roll along the table. I rub at the raw, red skin where the binding used to have me trapped. I wince when I brush over sensitive flesh.
I almost accidently punch Winston in the chest as I shove my other hand towards him, indicating for him do the same thing to the other cuff. In a matter of seconds, the other binding snaps off with the same hiss and clank as it drops onto the wood of the table.
"See?" Serena says, pointing towards Winston. "Tech genius."
Winston blushes and pulls the useless restraints closer to him, examining them closely, his eyebrows furrowing slowly. "Interesting," he mumbles, but doesn't say anything else.
Nox comes and stands behind me, pressing his hand against my shoulder. I flinch and tense at the touch, letting him slowly remove his hand. "And now for the moment of truth," he says, going around to sit in the seat across from me. He nods down towards my hands, his eyes saying one thing only.
Use my abilities.
It's been so long since I've had these cuffs off, that I'm almost afraid nothing will happen. But if it weren't for the power I suddenly feel deep within me, like a spark just waiting to blaze into something more, I would think I have no abilities.
So I move my hand back down onto the table, palm facing up as I stare at Nox. "Give me your hand," I say, because I know I can't do what he can.
Nox stares at my palm a moment too long before finally looking back into my eyes. "Do you think I would just give up what's mine?" He shakes his head and crosses his arms over his chest, leaning back in his seat.
"Why?" I ask. "Do you have something to hide?" I tilt my head at him. "Are you afraid I'll uncover a deep, dark secret of yours?"
Nox has the nerve to smile, even laugh a little at my words. "You think you're so smart, don't you, Luca?"
I stare at him and don't say anything.
Nox leans forward again, pressing his chest into the corner of the table. "I can't read people's minds, dumbass," he reminds me. "I can only put my thoughts into someone's head."
"Then you shouldn't have a problem with sharing what's yours." I smile and move my hand closer to him. "Give me your hand and I'll show you what I can do, if you're so interested."
He considers this, really considers it. I can almost see the questions swimming around inside his head. He blinks a few times at my hand, then down at his own, curling his fingers into a fist and uncurling them.
"Come on, Nox," Serena says softly, leaning closer to her brother. "Once he has your ability, you can show him how to use it properly."
He stares at her for a few seconds, thinking her words over. Then he looks back over at me and I can almost see the decision in his eyes.
And that's when he presses his palm against mine.
I feel the new power course through my veins like the rainwater that's still seeping down my back. It's powerful; I can feel it flow through me, but it's too much that I sense myself swaying forward. I feel my mind slowly detach from everything that's around me—
Then a pain shoots against my back and I gasp lowly.
"Did it work?" Nox asks as he removes his hand from mine.
"I—" I swallow the dryness in my throat and try again. "I don't know."
"Try to put a thought into my head," he says.
Is it working? I try to send into his mind, but I can't find a hold anywhere. It feels like I'm just saying it into a black void, into nothing so no one can ever hear it. Is it working? I try again.
And then I see Nox flinch. "What the hell?" He clutches at his head like I just shouted inside his mind. Without the proper training, I probably did.
"I'm sorry," I say, still wincing at the pain on my back. "I won't try that again."
"Thank God," Nox says, still rubbing at his head and wincing. His voice drops lower when he says, reluctantly, "I'll teach you how to control it."
"You will?"
He looks up at me and clenches his jaw. "Yes."
Nox removes his hands and looks me over, like I just took his most prized possession. I guess, in a way, I did.
But I ignore the look he's giving me as I say, as sincerely as I can, "Thank you."