Psi Another Day (Psi Fighter Academy) (10 page)

“My timing is perfect,” the voice replied. “Do you believe yours is better?”

“I’d bet my life on it. Let’s find out. I’ll pull the trigger, and you try to take over my mind before the hammer falls.”

“You say draw, cowboy.”

Munificent clicked back the gun’s hammer.

“Before you kill me in cold blood, officer,” the voice said, “there’s something you should know. Something significant.”

Munificent’s eyes drew narrow. “I already know. I already warned them.”

Suddenly, the image on the screen shrunk and blurred and a familiar hallway came into focus. Students and teachers walked by, but it was like viewing them through a cardboard tube. Then a sea of students filled the auditorium. Suddenly, the tube narrowed, and seemed to peer around a wall, like it was spying on somebody. Dr. Miliron was talking to Mrs. Bagley. The screen blinked, and the backs of two girls appeared, one with gorgeous hair, the other, stick-straight white blond. Kathryn and me.

Another blink, and the Kilodan’s emotionless mask peered down.

The image opened up to full screen. A furious surge of emotion radiated from it for just an instant, then disappeared as quickly as it had come. The voice giggled and a gauntleted finger pointed at Munificent. “I’ll remember that for future reference. Oh, by the way, I’m not the kidnapper this time.”

“Of course not. And you didn’t murder the Morgan family ten years ago.”

“As a matter of fact, I did. But I had several excellent reasons. Can you believe they never returned the boy as I politely asked them to? Refresh my memory. Where did you send their little girl? She’d be, what, maybe fifteen, sixteen, about now?”

Munificent’s anger beat down from the screen. “She’s out of your reach forever.”

Cackling laughter filled the room. “Don’t be so sure. Now if you’ll forgive me, there’s a job opening I simply must create.” A ghostly shadow in the shape of a hand erupted from the gauntlet, and fastened itself on Munificent’s chest, translucent fingers splayed like a spider. They closed and pushed their way inside. Munificent dropped his gun, clutched his heart and struggled for breath, chopping at the misty arm that had embedded itself in his chest. His eyes rolled back. He dropped to his knees, and fell face down on the floor with a wet
thud
. His body convulsed, then lay still.

Munificent’s dead face expanded to fill the screen, like the killer was kneeling down for a closer look at him. The voice said, “Naive Psi,” and laughed like a jackal. Then the screen panned to the office door, and the reflection of a man wearing loose-fitting black, kneeling over Munificent’s corpse, flashed on the window. He didn’t wear the skull mask I had expected. He didn’t wear any mask at all. In the place where his face should have been, a nearly decomposed head with rotting teeth and shriveled red eyes grinned down at me.

I screamed and pulled my hand away from the electrode plate.

The screen went blank.

Chapter Nine

Return of Nicolaitan

“This is good.” Andy looked worried. “Good in a very, very bad way. It answers questions I would have rather not asked.”

An involuntary spasm shook me. I was so scared I could hardly breathe. “What are you talking about?”

“Egad! What do they teach in school these days?”

“How to avoid foul-smelling things in the locker room. Are you going to explain this to me, or do I have to figure it out for myself?”

“We don’t have that much time. I’ll ‘splain. That misty-looking hand is a Mental Arts technique. It’s called Handless Death. Only the Knights use it. Leaves no mark. They’ll think Amos died of a heart attack.”

“Are you telling me my memory really happened?”

“That wasn’t
your
memory,” Andy said. “But, yes, it happened. They found Munificent’s body this morning. He knew Skull Head’s identity. Something had just happened that gave it away. He died before he could tell us. I have a bad feeling about this.”

I was going to comment on Andy’s inappropriate use of a perfectly good Star Wars line, but at that moment everything clicked. “Mr. Munificent is
dead
? Andy, that can’t be right. I just saw him at the assembly. He smiled at me.”

My whole body was numb with disbelief. Then another impossible thought pounded into my brain. “Mr. Munificent connected Mason to the stalker, and now he’s dead. I suspected that Mason was a Knight, and knew he was a jerk. But I never thought he was a murderer.”

Andy put his hand on my shoulder. “Rinnie, Mason has killed before.”

Horror shot through me. My stomach heaved. I tried to talk, but didn’t have words. I just stared up at Andy.

“He had a very abusive mother. He killed her with a shovel. His father covered it up. The Kilodan saw it in the mayor’s mind.”

“A shovel? Oh, that’s— Wait, I thought she was in a mental hospital.”

“Part of the cover-up,” Andy said. “But you’re right.”

“About what? My friends at school are in more danger than I realized.”

“Did you notice subtle differences in Skull Head between the two memories?” Andy asked.

“Yeah, he wore different skull masks.”

“I said subtle.”

“He acted like a used car salesman in one and a psychopath in the other.”

Andy touched his fingertips together and made a tent. “Can you be a tad more specific?”

I thought about it. “Mason was calm when he was with LaReau. Like he was bored. He was a lot nastier when he killed Mr. Munificent. He felt so powerful. Then he was back to normal, spying on me at school.”

“You have good instincts,” a voice boomed behind me, and I spun so fast I nearly broke Andy’s machine.

“Where did you come from?” I said, trying to catch my breath.

“God made me,” the Kilodan said. “Do you know what this means?”

“He has a sense of humor.”

“Thankfully. Whose mind were you in when you projected LaReau?”

“Norman LaReau’s, compliments of the Memory Lash,” I said.

“Whose mind were you in when you projected Munificent?”

“Mason’s, I think. But I don’t know how I got that memory.”

The Kilodan looked at Andy, then at the blank screen. “You believe Mason Draudimon is the man with the skull mask.”

“I’m around him enough. It’s possible that I picked up his memory fragments. Ooh, I remember! I saw the vision of Mr. Munificent’s murder right after Mason handed me a smiley face and gave me a noogie in Algebra!”

“Memory transfer by noogie,” Andy said, slamming his fist into his open palm. “Happens all the time.”

I turned to the Kilodan. “Is he serious?”

“That would be a momentous occasion. No, memories do not transfer simply because someone touches us. Nor do visions pop unasked into our consciousness.” The Kilodan moved in front of my chair. His expressionless mask peered down at me. “Some memories are filled with extremely dark emotions, too violent to be contained. They can force themselves into the mind of one as sensitive as you. It is unlikely that the mayor’s son is the one called Scallion. However, Munificent’s evidence suggests that he has connections to Scallion. LaReau has been paying Scallion for drugs and victims. I would like you to learn whether Mason can lead us to Scallion. If we find Scallion, I am certain we can convince him to lead us to LaReau.”

No doubt. I would
not
want to be on the Kilodan’s Naughty List.

Okay, so Mason wasn’t a Knight, but he was involved with a Knight, which still meant he was a filthy marsupial.

“I’ll find the other one,” Andy said. “I’ll stop him permanently this time.”

Other one? “What other one?”

“Scallion didn’t kill Amos Munificent,” the Kilodan said. “You correctly sensed that the man in the skull mask felt more powerful in the second memory. If we were to replay the memories, you would notice other subtle differences. There are two Knights. The one who calls himself Scallion tries to imitate the older, more powerful Knight. But it is an unimpressive imitation. He is the apprentice we’ve been looking for.”

Andy leaned toward the Kilodan. “Is this what Munificent knew that he didn’t tell us?”

I was confused. “Okay, who is the other Knight? The one who killed Mr. Munificent?”

The Kilodan took me by the shoulders and eased me out of the chair. “Amos was murdered by Nicolaitan.”

I was instantly numb. The man who murdered my parents. “He was spying on me in that memory.”

Andy shook his head. “That was a memory of several memories. Nicolaitan scanned Munificent right before he killed him. The school, the assembly. When you felt the flash of anger, that’s when he saw Munificent’s memory of a meeting with our beloved Kilodan. Ol’ Nic doesn’t like the Big K.”

“Arch enemies tend to have that relationship,” the Kilodan said. “We have never faced off, but someday soon, we will. On that day, one of us will have no more secrets.”

“Okay, then who was spying on me in Nicolaitan’s memory?”

“Nicolaitan took that memory from Scallion,” Andy said. “It proves that Scallion’s alter ego has been in your school. It doesn’t prove who he is.”

“Makes perfect sense if Scallion is Mason,” I said. “I don’t understand why you say Mason is not a Knight.”

Andy’s expression turned deadly serious. “Mason is the boy your parents rescued. We have had him under surveillance ever since. Nicolaitan never came back for him. If he had returned to train the boy as his apprentice, we would have known.”

The only part of that conversation I heard was
the boy my parents rescued
. That meant… “Mason is the reason I was kidnapped?”

Andy nodded.

“If I didn’t have an excuse to hate that miserable wombat before, I sure do now. My parents died because of him, and he thanks them by working for their murderer. Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“You weren’t ready.” The Kilodan gently took my face in his hands. “I feel your anger toward Mason. Do not let it misguide you. The only thing we know for certain is that Mason was a victim, just like you. Now, listen to me. We know that Nicolaitan has placed his apprentice in your school. What we do not know is
why
. But I fear the worst. You must learn quickly who he is and how he is connected to Mason. Your mission is more critical than we knew. There is only one way you could have absorbed a memory powerful enough to push itself into your head. You have been in contact with Nicolaitan himself.”

“But how?” Kathryn wasn’t totally off base, then. Mason was connected to Scallion,
and Scallion was connected to my parents’ killer
. My mission just took on a whole new urgency. Hopefully that included permission to engage in wombat pummeling. “Where do I start?”

“You have to get very close to Mason,” Andy said.

“I plan to,” I said, punching my fist into my palm.

“And when I say close, I do
not
mean beating him to death. You have to get into his head, and you have to do it without him knowing you’re in there. You can’t scan him, because if he is in contact with the Knights, they can scan him as well and may see you. Mason wouldn’t know that you are a Psi Fighter, but the Knight who scans him would.”

“And how exactly am I supposed to do that?”

Andy grinned. “The way that women have gotten into men’s heads since the days of Adam and Eve. Let him take you on a date.”

I laughed. Only Andy would make such a stupid joke at such a critical time. “I know, right?
Hey, Mason, ol’ buddy ol’ pal, wanna take in a movie?
Seriously, what’s the best way to go? Okay, how about this? I’ll recon his house. Masked and armored of course, and I’ll stay in Shimmer mode. Sooner or later, he has to do something to reveal his mission. Right?”

Andy and the Kilodan stared silently. Andy’s face was totally blank.

“What? Am I missing something?” I looked back and forth between them. Andy slowly turned his palms up and got a slightly pained expression.

“No,” I said. “You have
got
to be kidding. You actually want me to ask Mason out?”

The Kilodan sighed and said, “I believe we have just witnessed a momentous occasion.”

Chapter Ten

Mission Undesirable

The next morning, I stood outside the chemistry lab wishing I’d been assigned something easy, like ending world hunger. I mean, it’s not like there’s not enough food on the planet. All I’d have to do is get people to share, and boom
—
no more world hunger.

But
my
mission was complicated. First, I had to suck up my disgust for Mason, which was considerable. Then, I had to trick him into taking me on a date. Finally, I’d have to actually show up for said date and not pound Mason’s head off the tabletop. The self-control requirements were borderline unreasonable.

However, I had a duty as a Psi Fighter to take advantage of any opportunity, no matter how loudly every ounce of me screamed against it. And, I must admit, Mason had already laid the groundwork for me. After all, he
did
threaten to ask me out the day he tried to give me a new hairdo. It definitely seemed like the most straightforward approach. But it was far from a perfect plan, because I saw two gaping holes in it. First, did Mason mean it? I mean, how embarrassing would it be if I told him I’d go, and he said, “Silly girl, did you honestly think I was serious?”

The second hole was deeper. And slightly more pathetic. How does a girl actually ask a boy to go out with her?
Hey, big guy, wanna party?
Okay, that would work for Angel, but she’s hot, and I’m me. Even if I figured that part out…once I got there, what would I do? I asked Kathryn for advice, but the best she could come up with was “Be yourself.” Right. Myself had zero dating experience.

Heck, I had zero experience with a real social life of any kind. The Academy had been my social life for as long as I could remember. I practiced with Andy every night after school. Even my weekends began with practice. Friday night Psi Weapons, followed by Saturday morning kung fu, followed by Saturday afternoon Mind Scanning. I spent Saturday evenings hanging out with Kathryn at the movies or the mall or wherever our mood took us. Sunday was church and homework. In this single aspect of my life, I was like every other teen I knew—totally booked. Only the details were different. When would I possibly squeeze in a date? No way I was giving up Saturday with Kathryn. A girl’s got to have her priorities.

Theoretically, since I had a mission, a Friday night date would count toward the assignment. I could skip out on Psi Weapons. On second thought, not a date. Hanging out. I knew how to do that. Oh, I was
so
out of my comfort zone.

“Hey,” a voice said.

“YAH!” My hands flew into the air, launching my books into the ionosphere.

“And I thought you didn’t drink coffee,” Mason said, his head poking out of the lab door. “Why are you out in this empty hall all by yourself when I’m alone in this dark and dreary lab? Are you stalking me? ‘Cause if you are, I’m okay with it.”

“No, no,” I shook my head, too mortified to admit how on-target he was. “I knew you’d be here. You know, working on the Class Project. I wanted to…talk about it.”

Mason raised an eyebrow. He looked up the hall, then down, then back into the lab. “To who?”

“Umm…you.”

Mason seemed confused. “I’m sorry, who are you and what have you done with Miss Noelle? Hey, I have to get to class. If I see anybody you’d actually want to talk to, I’ll tell him you’re waiting. Toodles.” Mason started walking away, then spun on his heel and bent down in one fluid motion, sweeping my scattered books together. “Here you go. Be careful. They’re hot.”

I took a step back.

Mason pursed his lips. “You might need these.”

“What’s wrong with you, Mason? You’re being nice.”

“I’m always nice.”

“What about last week, when you tripped me coming out of the girl’s bathroom? The week before that, you tossed a ketchup-covered hot dog bun at me in the cafeteria. During history, you shot gum wads at me and knocked my books out of my hands. And this week, you threatened to ask me out, then gave me a new hairdo.”

“I did not give you a hairdo.”

“Then you admit you asked me out?”

“Why, do you want to take me up on my offer?”

“What?”

“You want to hang out Friday after school?”

“Um. Sure.” Choke! Gag! Vomit!

“You do?”

…

Once Mason recovered from the shock that I was willing to hang out with him (which, for the record, I was
not
—I had a mission, and not all missions are cotton candy, okay?) he said we should meet at the Shadow Passage. No surprise there. Kathryn said the gym-turned-video arcade was Mason’s hangout. Most of the kids from school hung out there. I suppose it could have been worse. I could have been meeting him in a dark alley.

Walking to the Shadow Passage Friday night was torture. I felt like a mastodon dragging itself through a tar pit. Every inch of my flesh had its foot on the brakes, every nucleus of every cell dropped its anchors, every endoplasmic reticulum screamed
I do not want to do this
. By the time I arrived, I was exhausted from the struggle.

A huge baby blue awning covered the entrance. Above the mirrored front door, a sign in spidery script read
The Shadow Passage, Hidden Gateway to Adventure
.
I pulled the door open. Hard music and the bleeps and pings of video games blared into the street. Inside was brightly lit, and decorated like no arcade I had ever seen. Posters plastered the wall advertising free workshops on Self-esteem, Positive Self-talk, Respecting Others’ Feelings, Ways to Handle Anger, The Golden Rule, and The Benefits of a Positive Attitude. An old-fashioned pizza stand filled the center of the expansive room. Tables and booths were arranged along each sidewall. A series of monitors attached to exercise equipment occupied the majority of the room. Flashing neon signs identified each activity—Crown of Kings, Ferocious Beast Hunter, Grand Theft Bazooka, and a dozen other popular video games. Players wore visual reality headgear, wired up like patients in intensive care.

I took a seat in an unoccupied booth in the back corner where I could comfortably watch the entrance. Behind me, a long, lone table sat in front of a closed door. A sign on the door said
SSA
in bright gold letters. Across the arcade, I recognized Tish and Whatsisface. I slid down in my seat, hoping they wouldn’t notice me. Several other kids from my school were at various stations, running, pedaling, battling virtual enemies…the simulators reminded me of something Andy would concoct. I watched the station closest to me in amazement. The screen character’s motion mimicked the player’s movements. If they had a kung fu game, I would have totally thought about blowing off Mason and hooking myself up.

While I fantasized about pitting my skills against electronic opponents, Mason came through the front door. My first instinct was to disappear out the back, but I forced myself into Psi Fighter mode. It occurred to me that this was my first time out without my mask and armor. This mission was very different from my last one. My objective was to gather intelligence about a wombat who was connected to this Scallion person. I needed to know what said wombat knew. To do that, I had to pretend to be a girl who didn’t despise him. Even worse, he had to leave convinced that I enjoyed his company.

As he crossed the room, I noticed that Mason moved like a panther—disciplined, graceful—not a fighter’s walk, more like a hunter. His eyes fixed on me almost immediately.

“Hey,” Mason said, taking the seat across from me. A huge smile spread across his face. “You showed. Cool.”

“Were you worried?”

“A little. Okay, a lot. Nobody ever asks me about the Class Project. It’s usually me doing the asking.”

“So I’ve heard.”

Mason didn’t respond. He just sat there staring at me. I dropped my eyes to the tabletop, my nails tapping away nervously. Say something. Insult me. Call me Peroxide. I really did not want to be there. I would have preferred a dodgeball game. Or Mummy’s Magic Mix. In desperation, I asked the only thing that came to mind. “So, what’s with this place?”

Mason swept his hand around the arcade. “Welcome to the twenty-first century. Some genius decided to take the old health club and turn it into a gamer’s paradise. Dance games, laser tag, simulators. The controllers are built right into the exercise equipment. The longer you go, the more weapons you get. The faster you go, the more speed or power. Builds endurance and strength. The idea is to make exercising a blast. Great concept. Wish I’d invented it. I’d be rich.”

Okay, Small Talk initiated. Good start. But I needed to get him pontificating on the pros and cons of hanging out with Knights. Mason continued to stare at me, an odd expression on his face. I hated awkward, and this situation was the epitome of it. I stared at the table, then the ceiling, wondering how to lead the conversation in the right direction. At one point, I made eye contact with Mason, but quickly looked away. I tried to focus on the music, or the beeping of the arcade, but the discomfort wouldn’t leave. I needed my mask. I needed a hole to fall into. Suddenly Mason laughed. He was obviously enjoying this.

“What?” I asked, a bit more harshly than I intended.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that…well, I never thought I’d be this nervous around you.”

I gave him a ‘huh?’ look.

“I don’t have to make fun of you to get you to notice me. You came on your own. I’m in uncharted territory.”

“You pick on me to get my attention?”

Mason nodded. “So what do you want to know?”

Jerk. Where do I start?
Do you know a Knight? What’s he looking for at school? Is it true that the Class Project is turning out Psychedone 10?
“Oh, I’m just curious. I mean, I’ve been in Dr. Miliron’s chemistry class all semester, but he hasn’t mentioned the Class Project yet.”

Mason folded his hands and leaned toward me. “He’ll only schedule one lab to do the Class Project. He wants to show each class what it’s all about, and then whoever is interested can continue after school for extra credit. I’m the lab assistant. I keep the reflux condensers running until they’re reacted and ready to go. It’s a great program, Rinnie.”

Yeah, great if you agree to do Mason’s bidding. Otherwise, face the wrath
. “Why is it so important to you? I mean, you
are
a little obsessed, don’t you think?”

He called me Rinnie. Why did he call me Rinnie?

Mason looked off into some distant horizon that I couldn’t see. “I’ve been studying mental illness, sort of as a hobby, since I was pretty little. Some types are curable. Others…well, it’s a fascinating science. Dr. Miliron told me about this project that the mental hospital at Old Torrents sponsored. He said we would contribute to medical research and raise public awareness of a disease that affects millions of people. He convinced me to help, and here we are today. It really didn’t take much. Old Torrents is cutting edge. They’ve been testing different versions of a new miracle drug, and have had a lot of success fighting mental illness. I’m going to get my doctorate. I’ll cure it.” A pained expression flashed across his face. “You asked why this is important. My mom had problems. I want to help people like her.”

“I heard she lives in Old Torrents.” As soon as I said it, I wished I hadn’t.

Mason smiled, but I could tell he forced it. “That’s the rumor, isn’t it?” His eyes became moist, and he glanced away.

I was officially ashamed of myself. Mason was totally a jerk, but even he didn’t deserve to be reminded about his mother. I knew she was dead, but I couldn’t blow my cover. Should have just kept my mouth shut. “Mason, I’m sorry, I should have never brought that up.”

“It’s okay. Hey, tell me about you. What do you do with your spare time?”

The least I could do was allow him to change the subject. Maybe it would lead somewhere useful. “Me? Not much. Do homework. Hang out with Kathryn.”

“I don’t think she likes me.”

“You beat up her boyfriend. What do you expect?”

“No, I really like Bobby.”

“You have a funny way of showing it.”

“He just frustrates me sometimes. He’s brilliant. I really wish he’d help with the Class Project.”

Crud. Mason was as annoying as ever, but I was learning nothing. I needed to get into his head. Andy was right, I couldn’t risk scanning him. My only option was to keep him talking. Maybe he’d slip and reveal something. I wasn’t sure why Andy thought I could pull this off, because the Adam and Eve thing totally wasn’t working for me. Maybe if I’d worn fig leaves.

I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder. “What’s that door labeled
SSA
?”

Mason sighed. “Tammy Angel’s dad fronted the money to build this arcade. She talked him into building a back room just for her. It’s called the
Star Ship Angel.
Members only.”

“How do you get to be a member?”

“Invitation only.”

Like the Psi Fighters. Go figure. “And who does the inviting?” As if I didn’t know.

“Angel, naturally. She rules the cool, right?”

“Right. What goes on behind the door?”

“Nothing much. Mostly storage. Angel sits at that table outside the SSA door selling her wares.”

Ha! Now we were getting somewhere. School wasn’t the only place Angel pushed drugs. “Wares?” I said, in my dumbest blond accent. “You mean like Tupperware?”

Mason shook his head. “No, she’s into health food. Powders, natural herbs, other stuff that tastes like crap. Her dad owns Nature’s Nutrients. It’s a health food supplement processor in town.”

Wait, did he mean… “She actually sells supplements? All natural nutrients?” Then Angel was telling the truth in the locker room. She had threatened Erica with an improved diet? That meant Tammy was just a twisted, health-conscious bully, not a Psychedone 10 pusher.

Of course, that’s what a lying, corrupt friend of a Knight would want me to believe, wasn’t it?

“Yeah, if you think I’m obsessed with the Class Project, Angel is
way
overboard with being healthy. She even tries to get Dr. Captious into the machines when he’s here.”

“I heard he hung out here with you.”