Chapter Twenty-Eight

Samuel's voice was still echoing in my ears about following the plan, but sometimes plans needed to change. Right?

The hallways inside NorthStar seemed too familiar for me to ignore the fact that I had been here before. How come I knew about this place, yet no one on my team remembered any of us ever coming here? What was I up to back then? Something wasn't right. There was definitely more to this story.

I pulled out my medallion and jumped into another part of the building. It was a large room with what appeared to be a glass floor. Hesitantly, I checked the surface with my right foot to make sure it wouldn't give way when I walked on top of it.

I looked down at the glass as I made a few, tentative steps. It took several seconds for me to finally realize what I was staring at. Underneath the glass were what looked like dozens of people covered in white blankets. Their eyes were shut. Maybe they were just sleeping, but there was a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. They weren't simply taking a nap, they were being held for when Troy would need them for his next mission. These were the normals Luther had taken before their time.

The sound of movement caused me to jump back behind a table. I watched as a dark-haired woman wearing a black jacket walked into the room. She swiped her hand against a plate on the wall and one of the glass floor panels began to move upward. The body beneath floated out.

"24-B," the woman said into the air, and the body glided on its own into an opening on the far wall.

The dark-haired woman then scanned the room. I wondered if she knew I was here, watching her. She paused for several seconds before turning and leaving through the same door by which she'd entered.

Suddenly, I felt the addition of a new energy source in the area. Someone from the team was getting closer; I could sense their presence. It was growing stronger and stronger. Every vein in my body felt like it had nothing but raw electricity coursing through it as I quietly slunk under a long metal desk, out of sight from my visitor.

A pair of feet with black military-style boots marched nonchalantly down the hallway, stopping near the desk.

"Gah!"

I gasped in pain as a pair of large hands clasped around my neck. I hadn't expected something so obvious.

"Hello, Esa. I knew you would be back. I've been watching you for a very long time and I've been anxiously awaiting this moment." Luther leaned down and pulled me out from underneath the desk by my neck.

The pain was unbearable. He was sending tiny bolts of electricity through my neck. I lashed out at him, but he seemed to know all my moves and was ready to counter my blows.

My right fist flew through empty space, failing to connect with any part of his body.

Luther dropped my limp body in front of his. I had to force back down the bile that was creeping up my throat. A woman's face stared up at me from underneath the glass. Her eyes were open.

Luther stalked around me with an evil sneer on his face. He was enjoying this moment. He was toying with me, and there was nothing I could do about it. "Do you like our reserves?" he asked, almost gloating.

"They're not supposed to be in this year. You're causing big problems for all of us," I said.

"We need them to survive. By tomorrow we'll all be gone and I won't have to deal with the team ever again."

"We've been your family," I choked out as I tried to get back onto my feet.

The body lying next to the woman now had its eyes open too. Both of them stared at me, as if I had woken them from a bad dream.

A bone chilling laugh escaped Luther's mouth and echoed in the silence of the room. There was something in the way he looked at me that made me feel nauseous. I wanted to throw up. Preferably, all over him.

"Luther, what are you doing?" I asked, fear creeping through me, causing me to shake. "Why are you destroying our team? We all trusted you, and you betrayed us."

"Esa, Theo is on his way," Samuel whispered into my ear. "Just keep Luther talking."

I continued to glare at Luther, hoping he hadn't heard Samuel.

"Destroying our team?" he replied with a smirk. "You left the team, Esa. You decided to go off on your own to 2010. It's just too bad you couldn't have stayed in that year. Everything was great without you. I was really enjoying our new team, even though Samuel and Theo were acting like they had lost someone soooo great."

"What in the hell does that mean?" I asked, lunging toward him. Every bone in my body wanted to make sure he felt my wrath, but Luther stepped to the right before I could come into contact with him. He then reached around and grabbed my neck, slamming me, face-first, into the glass. More bodies now had their eyes open looking at me.

"It means, our team was better without you," Luther hissed. His words cut to my very core. It felt as if the air had been punched out of my lungs. His hatred reminded me of some of the times I had been standing near Theo.

"I know you had something to do with my disappearance, Luther," I spat back before his hand closed tighter around my neck. There was no doubt in my mind that Luther knew what had really happened to me.

"Oh no. You don't get to blame me for your disappearance. That was your own fault. You got a little too big for your own head," he responded as he inched closer to mine. "Look at all of these faces, Esa. They're all watching you, wondering if you're going to join them underneath the glass. Maybe you will."

Spotty memories slowly come into view. I was yelling at Luther. We were in an office somewhere here in NorthStar.

"Luther, what did you do to me?" Another image came back to me. This time I was talking to a beautiful woman who resembled an older version of myself. Instinctively, I knew her name. It was Dr. Marie James, my mother. I could hear her telling me, "Esa, you can save us."

Then the image was gone. She was gone, and I was back to staring at the eyes of dozens of lifeless bodies. The memory of my mother was so real. It felt like it had just happened. My mom had just been talking to me.

"You need to learn how to stay out of other peoples' business." Luther's voice cut through my thoughts. "Little Miss Perfect, the Chosen One, always had to know everything. Captain Esa James always had to be the leader. What a crock."

My head suddenly exploded with more images of Luther, and Troy. It was all coming back to me. Someone had tried to make sure I wouldn't remember, but Luther's sick voice, and this place, were causing some of my memory to return.

"I was here at NorthStar, before. You lured me to this building three years ago," I said to him as he pushed my face harder into the glass.

"Well, well, it looks like Esa is finally getting her memory back. Is that all you've got?" Luther asked.

Deep down, I knew he was a little more surprised than he was letting on that my memory was returning.

"My mother figured it out first, didn't she?" I asked. A wave of sadness washed over me at the thought of my mother, the mother who, at one point, I'd known, but of whom I now only had a few faint memories.

Luther yanked me up. "Figured what out, Esa? Come on, say it!" Luther's face had turned a deep red.

"She figured out you were working for Troy. You are a traitor... and a murderer." My voice was strong. My memory was coming back. I was the leader of this team. "What did you do to my mother? Are you responsible for her death?"

An evil laugh came out of his mouth. "You killed her, Esa. You did it. At least, that's the rumor on the street."

I lunged at him. A bolt of electricity sprung from my palm and hit him on the knee.

"You'll pay for that." He hunched over briefly before swinging his right fist into my face, knocking me back to the floor.

More bodies were staring at me. It was almost as if the commotion was waking them. I tried to fling my arms back to hit Luther.

"You know why we use glass, Esa?" Luther asked as he put his large boot on my lower back.

I didn't respond. I wasn't going to play any of his games.

"Because electricity can't go through it. You are defenseless right now, and I'm going to kill you."

"No, I'm going to kill you," I mumbled as I pushed myself up. This moron thought he could outsmart me and insinuate I was to blame for my mother's death?

Luther laughed again. "I wish you could see yourself right now. Your always perfect ponytail is a mess, and I like the addition of blood on your face."

My eyebrows shot up. "That's all you've got to say?"

"You say we were part of a team, but you're wrong, Esa. The team doesn't care about me. They've never cared about me. I was insignificant," Luther said. "I could have been the leader, but your mother thought differently and sent me on the Line before I was ready. She destroyed my future." He ripped open his shirt, exposing a chest covered in a web of thick white scars. His skin looked as if it had melted from exposure to severe heat, like wax dripping down the side of a candle.

I gasped. "What's that?"

"This is what happens when your body can't handle the radiation and slowly burns."

"You and Samuel were spared this condition because I was the sacrificial lamb, but maybe you should try it out. How would you like to have these pretty little babies cover your body?" he asked, rolling his hand over his skin.

I shook my head. "That doesn't make sense. You're a liar!"

"No, Esa. You know I'm not lying about this. If your memory is really coming back then you know I'm telling you the truth. Don't you remember? I was the first soldier to volunteer for the project. I was still a teenager, but already I had a bright future and quickly rose through the ranks." He clenched his fists. "I was the first, but I didn't realize I would be used as another experiment. I was supposed to lead the team. Your mother did this to me, and now she's set the bar a little higher by going back and trying to kill off my ancestors. I knew she would probably do that."

"How did you know?"

Luther laughed. "You really should give me a little more credit. The minute you and your precious mom disappeared, I knew she had something up her sleeves, and I took measures to make sure my existence would be protected. Why do you think my grandfather didn't go so easy? I had warned him about you. I had visited many of my family members and told them to be on the lookout for a woman with white hair. I let him know you were dangerous. Very dangerous."

"Now, now, Luther. Simmer down." A tall man with thin-wired glasses came down the narrow hallway in our direction. His hair was bright blue and pulled back into a long ponytail. "Hello, Esa. It's been a while. I'm glad to see you finally made it back."