As Kyle walked with Jessi through Seattle's industrial district, his cell phone began to ring.
"I should take this." Kyle put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"
"Hey Kyle."
"Declan, how are you doing?"
"I'm guessing not as good as you are. My lamp told me that you got lucky last night with Jessi. Unless… it was actually just a power outage from the storm."
"No, you were right the first time." Kyle grinned. "I did get lucky last night."
Jessi smiled and rolled her eyes at Kyle's comment as they continued walking towards the abandoned factory in the distance.
"Nice job, man. So I take it the two of you patched things up?"
"We did. And I have important news. Adam Baylin is alive, and we're going to see him right now."
"Are you sure you should be telling him that?" Jessi interrupted his conversation. "Adam said that people shouldn't know about him being alive yet."
Kyle nodded. "If all goes well, the threat will be dealt with and it won't matter who knows. And if things don't go well, we're going to need people we can trust to protect Adam."
Jessi nodded in agreement. "In that case, we need to let Foss know too."
"I already talked to Foss this morning."
"How could Adam be alive?" Declan was still on the line. "Foss told you he died."
"Adam faked his death to protect himself from Grace Kingsley," explained Kyle. "You were right to suspect that her motives were far more sinister that we had been led to believe."
"So I'm guessing you have a plan to stop her?"
"Not yet. But we're going to go talk to Adam right now. Hopefully, we'll figure out a solution. I have to go now. I'll let you know the whole story the next chance I get."
Kyle hung up the phone as he opened the doors to the factory and walked in alongside Jessi.
I knew that Adam might not approve of me telling Declan and Foss about his reappearance, after all, he hadn't even wanted me to know. Adam was used to being on his own, but I was used to relying on other people. I would have to prove to him that my way was better, even if it did put everyone at a greater risk.
Adam was there waiting for Jessi, but a look of dismay spread across his face as he saw two figures approaching him instead of one. As troubled as he was over the implications of Kyle knowing the truth, the joy of seeing his protégé again overcame his anxiety and he smiled.
"It's good to see you again, Kyle."
Adam extended his hand and Kyle shook it with a grin.
"I've missed you, Adam."
"I was hoping I'd see you again soon, although I wish it had been under better circumstances."
"I'm sorry I couldn't keep your secret," Jessi said to Adam.
"You didn't do anything wrong," insisted Kyle.
"Kyle, did she tell you everything?"
Kyle nodded. "I understand the situation."
"Then you realize why this complicates matters."
"I know. But I can help you with this if you give me the chance."
"The plan you gave me could be adapted to include Kyle," Jessi suggested to Adam.
Adam nodded. "Jessi's right, but now we're only going to have one shot at it. If we fail, Grace Kingsley will know the truth."
"What was the plan?" asked Kyle.
"I was going to sneak into the Latnok headquarters and find Grace Kingsley," explained Jessi. "Then I would connect my mind to hers and create a neural block."
"A neural block?"
"Yes," said Adam. "It would prevent key neurons in her brain from activating, effectively ensuring that Grace Kingsley would never wake up from her coma. No one at Latnok would notice any difference."
Kyle still had concerns. "Is that any better than killing her?"
"She'd still be alive and her mind would still be intact. I know it's far from ideal, but given the alternatives, it's the best option we have."
Kyle nodded. "I wish it didn't have to be that way, but you're right."
Jessi seemed concerned. "If Latnok doesn't know the difference, they'll still expect you to visit her and try to heal her."
"Then afterwards, I'll continue going and make them think I'm still trying to wake her. At least until Cassidy gives up and lets me go. As long as the threat of her waking up is over, I'll keep up my part in the charade."
Adam smiled in admiration at Kyle's commitment. "The procedure is somewhat complicated and it would have required more training on Jessi's part if she were to do it alone. However, if both of you go together, the task will be simple given the combined power of your minds."
"Then we can go first thing tomorrow. All we need is a way to keep Jessi undetected."
Jessi smirked. "You already showed me how to do that."
With that, Jessi began to focus, gradually bending the light around her. Kyle and Adam watched as Jessi's appearance became distorted and blurry until she finally disappeared altogether. For a few seconds, the spot where Jessi stood still appeared suspiciously wavy, but soon it was as though there were nothing there at all.
Kyle grinned. "Invisibility."
"Impressed?" Jessi's voice came from behind them.
Kyle turned around, but Jessi was still nowhere to be seen. Although he couldn't see her, now that he focused he could sense her presence in front of him. Kyle reached out for her until his hand touched hers, at which point Jessi reappeared.
"You snuck around me so quietly."
Jessi smiled proudly. "And as long as I don't move too quickly, no one will be able to see any distortion."
"And it's not too much of a strain on you?"
"Kyle, I'll be fine."
Kyle nodded and then turned back to Adam. "If something goes wrong—if somehow Latnok finds out about you—we're going to need to keep you safe. I told Foss and Declan about the situation and they can watch over you while Jessi and I go to Latnok."
"They know?"
"Adam, you're going to need to rely on other people to protect you. People you can trust."
"Kyle, the more people we bring in on this, the more likely it is that Latnok will trace everything back to us. My sources tell me that Declan has been spending time with a girl who's a junior member. And Latnok won't underestimate Foss like Zzyzx or even MadaCorp did, they've always kept tabs on him. One wrong move and either one of them could be compromised."
'Then we won't make any wrong moves. Trust me, they can help keep you safe."
Jessi tilted her head and raised her eyebrows. "They both already know about you being alive. It would just be stupid to ignore their help now."
Adam finally nodded in agreement. "Then let them both know that they can meet me here. We'll go ahead with the plan, just as you said."
Kyle nodded. "We won't let you down. I promise."
Lori walked across the steps leading up to U-dub, glancing back and forth as though she were looking for someone. Finally, she spotted Mark with his backpack, just as he was heading back from class.
"There you are." Lori waked up to him. "I was wondering when I'd see you again."
Mark looked over. "Hey Lori. Listen, I'm kind of busy at the moment…"
"You know about Kyle, don't you?" Lori cut right to the chase, uninterested in playing games.
Mark adjusted his glasses. "Kyle?"
"You know, six feet tall, good at math, sleeps in a tub?
"What about him?"
Lori had an annoyed look. "You were asking to see him earlier. Perhaps you found something out about him? Maybe about how he's different from most other people?"
"Hold on." Mark tilted his head. "You… you know about how he was gestated in one of those artificial pods?"
Lori finally smiled and nodded. "There we go. I was wondering how long it would take us to get here."
"You knew about him this whole time? When were you planning on telling me?"
Lori laughed. "Try never."
"Never?" Mark didn't think it was funny.
"Come on, Mark. It's Kyle's secret and it's not my place to tell anyone, not even you."
"Only his secrets seem to have something to do with Latnok, which I'm a part of. If I want to continue being a part of Latnok, I need to know what I'm getting myself into."
"Well, what matters is that you know his secrets now and we can be open with each other again. I already had to go through this with Declan and I really didn't feel like going through it again with you."
"Declan knows? You could tell Declan everything, but you can't tell me?"
"No." Lori rolled her eyes. "Actually, Kyle told him, not me."
Mark thought for a minute. "It all makes sense now. That time when you and I had dessert at the Rack with Declan and Jackie, the two of you kept pressing us for information. You really don't trust me, do you?"
"Mark, I didn't say that."
"Whatever Lori." Mark shook his head and backed away. "You and Declan and Kyle can go off and have a good life. Because I don't have to put up with this."
As Mark turned around and walked away, Lori sighed to herself. "And… there's drama anyway. Great."
This was the day I had been waiting for my whole life. Today, if everything was to go as planned, my life might finally go back to normal. Maybe 'normal' was the wrong word—as I knew that afterwards, Jessi and I would continue to build our abilities and prepare ourselves to one day change the world—but if we could successfully keep Grace Kingsley in her coma forever, the threat of Latnok would be over. The last time I felt this way was the day I stopped Latnok from restarting the experiment—only to find out afterwards about Grace Kingsley and to learn my task wasn't over yet. I hoped more than ever that no similar revelations awaited me this time. Hopefully, Grace Kingsley truly was the last piece of the puzzle.
I was also nervous knowing that everything had to go according to plan. Our plan was simple, but if one mistake were made, if anyone at Latnok were to realize that we were plotting against them, all of this would have been for nothing and we would have a whole new set of problems.
Kyle stood at the entrance to the Latnok headquarters, deftly hiding his nervousness. Jessi stood alongside him, completely invisible. After waiting for a minute, Kyle was greeted by the doorman.
"Come right inside. Mr. Cassidy is already waiting for you."
Kyle nodded and walked through the door and up the stairs, with Jessi close behind him. He kept his senses sharp, making sure that Jessi was still there with him and listening for any approaching members of Latnok. Their voices echoed in Kyle's head as he checked their conversations for any clue that someone might be on to them:
"Have you seen the latest test results?"
"The new students from the sigma branch show great promise."
"You need to augment the formula to account for cell degeneration."
No one made any comment about him or Jessi. Kyle shook his head as he tried to convince himself that he was just being paranoid.
After climbing the stairs for what seemed like hours, they made it to the top floor and walked down the hall to Grace Kingsley's room. Kyle stepped through the door to see Cassidy standing next to his unconscious mother.
"Kyle, glad to see you again. For a moment there, I was worried you had decided not to come back."
Kyle shrugged, trying not to arouse suspicion. "You didn't really give me a choice."
Cassidy smiled. "We all have a choice, mate. And I for one am very grateful to have your help and cooperation."
"Cassidy… is that you?" The soft voice came from Grace Kingsley.
Cassidy looked down at the woman and his eyes met with hers. His face filled with wonder and his eyes sparkled.
"Mum?"
