Endgame (Book 3)

Chapter 18

You don't know the whole story.

That line kept replaying over and over in my head.

Ashley knew more than she told me. There was some other factor that I couldn't see yet that would answer all of my questions, something that she could tell me.

But what was it?

I couldn't very well go back to talk to her. Not with Ben there. However, he, too, had made a comment that rung inside my head like a bell.

Zero may be down in that cell right now, but the evil twin is alive and present.

The first part, not the last part.

I could go down there myself and force Zero to tell me everything. And now was the perfect time, since Jeremiah was gone.

There was just one problem. I didn't know how to get to the cells.

I asked one of the agents still heading to the dining hall, but he told me he was under strict orders not to tell me where the cells were.

Jeremiah was one step ahead of me.

The agent gave me more information than he intended too, though. Wherever the cells were, they weren't easily accessible and probably required some sort of security code to access. I could only imagine one person for certain who would have that sort of clearance.

But that wouldn't stop me for looking for a way there.

The cell I myself had come from was in a different part of the facility, but it wasn't much of a cell so much as it was a landing dock. Even still, I thought I should start there. It would make sense for the high-security metahuman containment to be directly under the low-security metahuman containment, right?

I recalled the path to my cell and altered my direction so I wasn't going to my room anymore.

I tried to look inconspicuous. Walking with a measured pace, waving at all the people I passed, and trying to look nonchalant added up to nothing with the sweat gathering around my neck and forehead. I wiped off my face and kept straight ahead to my cell.

If I was caught, that may have been my permanent residence.

I began to search the adjacent wall for hidden indentations that led to a secret passageway. This would be the place to copy a cliché movie.

Much to my disappointment, after several minutes of walking back and forth across the same empty hallway, I found nothing to indicate that anything in the wall was of interest to me.

Well, that was my whole plan right there. How else was I going to talk to Zero?

I entered my room and plopped down on my bed. The only other way to find a way in would be to follow Jeremiah until he went himself. That would take days, though, maybe even weeks to happen. I had to get to the bottom of why he betrayed my friends. Why I betrayed my friends. It might have just held the key to beating me.

I assumed his reluctance to tell me before was because of an emotional problem, but what if he was playing me? What if he didn't want me to know because it would give me power over him somehow?

I fiddled with my fingers while I thought, stringing them together into a triangle, and then a square.

Smiling, I pulled my hands up, still in the square, and pointed them at the far corner. I imagined I was taking a picture of Cassie.

"Click," I said. Then, I pretended to examine the picture, imagining her face inside the corners of my fingers.

"I really miss you, Cass," I said said wistfully.

A cold breeze blew into the room, and I rubbed my arms vigorously to keep them warm.

"Who turned on the A.C.?" I asked aloud.

I snapped my fingers. "That's it!"

The source of the cold air was the vent in my room. Although it was silent, I could clearly distinguish its grey metal from the natural look of what my place looked like at home. It was in the same corner I had taken a fake picture of moments earlier.

I gazed at the vent in wonder. It had to branch out into the whole facility. If I had enough time, I could search the whole place. There was no doubt I would find Zero's cell eventually.

However, enough time had passed for me to guess that Jeremiah would check on me soon. I didn't want him knowing about my plans, so all I could do was wait.

In the meantime, I needed to write something down.

I rummaged through one of the drawers in my dresser for a notebook. In the very back, I found what I was looking for: a black spiral notebook with a pen already in it. I remembered throwing it in there a long time ago after having no use for it.

I turned to the first page and bit the cap off the pen with my teeth. Then, I scrawled a brief note at the top of the paper. Next, I wrote the date in the margin- at least, what I thought the date was.

I miss you, Cassie. It's been less than a day now, and already my heart clenches in anticipation of when I might get to see you again. I desperately want to talk to you now, but I have to handle a problem first. Just know that I'm thinking of you every waking moment. Love you, always.

When I was done, I made sure the ink had dried and wouldn't smear, then closed the notebook, stuck the pen back where I found it, and stuffed the notebook under my mattress.

I promised myself that I would do that every day until I saw her again. I would give it to her so she knew I never forgot about her.

I also promised myself something else.

I wouldn't rest until Zero was put down by my hands. I would not allow myself to see my family or Cassie until then. I owed the world that much.

I put you in this world, and I will take you out of it, I thought fiercely.

Even if it costs me my life.