I scrunch my nose. “You were just going to throw it away.”
“Exactly.” He wads it up and tosses it across the room. It lands on top of the others in the trash.
I’m more disappointed than I should be that I can’t keep his drawing. It would’ve looked good on my wall. I make it a goal to acquire at least one of his drawings. It shouldn’t be too hard, since the floor of his car is littered with them, but then I realize I want him to willingly give me one. Better yet, I want him to draw one for me. That is my new goal.
When we get back into the game room, Rowan says, “Okay, everybody. Come over by the couches. I have a surprise for Trevor.”
Trevor glances at me like I should know what is about to happen, but I’m clueless. Rowan stands in front of the group. “This next weekend is the first anniversary of Trevor’s injury. It also happens to be the weekend that Lincoln High dares to show their faces again in our stadium.”
Heat slowly creeps up my face.
“I was able to get my hands on a poster of this year’s Lincoln High football team.” He runs to the corner and comes back with a rolled-up poster. He unfurls it and lays it on the coffee table in front of us. My eyes travel over all the familiar people, stopping on the smiling face of Duke. “We all know how impossible it is to get information on any of these people. It’s like their school is some sort of national secret. But I say we each pick two members of the starting lineup and find out as much as we can about them when they’re here this Friday.”
“Mr. Buford would be proud,” Liam says with a laugh.
Rowan points at him. “Exactly. We know something weird is going on at that school. Trevor’s injury was not an isolated incident—there have been players at other schools. Trevor was on the road to college stardom, and they took him out. We can’t just sit back and let them get away with it.” He jams his finger onto the poster. It lands right on Duke’s face. I flinch.
Rowan will never find out anything. It’s why the Compound has a Containment Committee. Information never gets very far. But I find myself wishing he could discover who’s behind the injuries. I wonder if Laila has gotten the list of abilities from the front office and if it will shed any light on who’s to blame.
Trevor laughs, but it sounds forced. “All right, Rowan. That’s enough. How about if we just hang the poster and throw darts at it.” He stands.
“I’m dead serious. We have to do surveillance. Some of their students come and watch the game. We can place spies in their student section.”
Trevor grabs the poster, rolls it up, and whacks Rowan on the shoulder with it. “Sounds like a plan.”
CHAPTER 21
preP-A-RA-tion: n. precautionary measures taken to be ready for future events
Duke, Laila, and I sit in his car after the football game. I haven’t stopped shaking since Poison showed me his power, but I’m trying to keep it under control because I’ve never seen Duke angry before. The muscle in his jaw twitches several times as he clenches and unclenches it.
“So, what do you think Poison’s ability is then?” Laila asks. “I’ve never heard of anyone who can take over a nervous system.”
I’ve been trying to figure out his ability since the moment he walked away from me, finally allowing me to control my own movement again. Taking over a nervous system is an ability I had never heard of either. Is it something that can be learned, like Thought Placement and Light Manipulation, or is it something a person is born with? “Maybe people can do it, but we’ve never met anyone who would.”
“So you think he can manipulate mass then, like Bobby?” Laila asks.
“It was definitely manipulation, but I had no idea Mass Manipulators could do that.” I free my phone from my pocket. “I should call my dad. This is crazy.”
“No.” Laila’s voice stops my finger just before I hit the call button. “Your dad is going to ask questions. He’s going to wonder how we know him. You’re going to have to tell him about my dad. They’ll take him in.”
“I’m pretty sure my dad already knows about your dad’s drug problem.”
“Yeah, but this has gone further than that. What if this guy does something to my dad because we talk to the authorities?” Her voice is hard and confident, but the look in her eyes is sadness mixed with desperation. “Please, Addie, let’s just see if we can figure out something first.”
After coming face-to-face with Poison behind the stadium, I have no doubt he can make good on a threat. I put my phone away. “Okay.”
“I’m going to kill him,” Duke finally says.
“Oh, don’t be dramatic,” Laila says. “We all know you’re the type to defend Addie’s honor. Now let’s think of serious ideas, not extreme ones.”
“I am serious.”
I reach over and grab Duke’s hand. He tenses again before he relaxes. As he exhales I relax as well. “He didn’t hurt me, Duke. He didn’t even threaten me. It was Laila’s dad he was making threats against.” I turn toward the back. “How much money do you think your dad owes him?”
She rolls her eyes. “Who knows? But no matter the threat, my dad can’t produce something he doesn’t have. It would be like trying to pull an ability out of a Norm.”
“So what are we supposed to do?” Duke practically yells. “Ignore him?”