Chapter 13

The five of us took the underground entrance into Jewel's compound, via the security passes that Gazzy, Angel, and I had stolen during our escape.

When Jewel had betrayed the ICBG, he had taken all of their weapons as well as anything that they could use to build more weapons. One of the most efficient weapons they had designed was the "Vampire", a beam weapon that could be put to many uses, and allegedly could cause harm to Jewel. Jewel had already gone around the world and collected every sample of the alloy used to make the weapon, and only his seven trusted colonels were permitted to wield them.

Shooting Jewel with a Vampire wouldn't be enough to destroy him, but a mass explosion certainly could—if he was unprepared. The Vampire weapon, therefore, would have to serve primarily as a distraction.

"Me and Iggy know the place best," Nudge said. "We'll lead."

She confidently led us, weaving along through some of Jewel's other lieutenants, whips, and grunts. The place was a maze, but Nudge never faltered. Soon, we were in a series of hallways that were only traversed by other lieutenants.

"This is too easy," Balthasar muttered.

"You gotta learn to trust us," I said. "These kids know what they're doing. Sometimes I don't even know what they're doing. But it always turns out well."

A lone lieutenant turned to look at me. "Fang?" he said.

Instantly, all five of us had our guns aimed at the solitary soldier. "Relax!" he said hastily. "It's me, dude!"

I recognized the voice and lowered my weapon. "Niles?" I said. "What's going on, man?"

"Keegan snuck me in as a lieutenant so she could be with me," he said excitedly. "How did you escape the living cell? I've heard rumors about how you made Dr. Dwyer tell a story and it yawned… but that's impossible!"

"More impossible than my resistance to water pressure?" I said smugly. "The rumors are exactly right. Niles, we're here to take Jewel down. Can you get us closer to him?"

He frowned. "I'm just a lieutenant, but if I call Keegan down here, she can escort us."

"Great," I said.

Now there were six of us. We marched forward.

"Of course, Keegan could also destroy Jewel with her mind," Niles said, "but evidently that's not her line."

I caught the tone. Max had used it on Keegan a couple of times. Keegan had always seemed very emotionally effected by it. "Judgmental, pal?" I said.

"Kind of," he admitted. "I mean… Keegan is the greatest. Before I met her, I was this twisted, sick, perverted, thirteen-year-old horn-dog. I hurt a lot of girls. Ruined a lot of lives. Keegan saw something pure inside of me. She brought that piece of me out into the open… and then she fell in love with it. And what could I do but reciprocate? Keegan is a very good person, to the core. She's just very self-conscious and afraid. That's all."

Nudge sighed romantically. "Oh, that's a beautiful story, Niles."

"Where did Keegan get her powers?" Iggy grumbled. "Does anyone know that?"

"She attributes it to a hyper-enhanced creativity she has had since her childhood," Niles said. "But I think it's something more than that. We're from the same hometown; I used to hear rumors about a little girl who was kidnapped by werewolves, and Keegan says that her earliest memory is a dream about busting out of a cage using only her mind. I don't think it was a dream, and I think the rumor is connected to that."

"Werewolves?" Nudge said, frowning. "I don't think that's…"

"Not werewolves," I said, putting the pieces together. "Erasers."

Nudge's eyes popped open. "Oh! The School! So the same people who built us created Keegan?"

"They had a few experiments like that," I mused. "Enhancing little kid's minds… Keegan was already a genius, creative, imaginative, beyond any other human who had existed before. So when they enhanced her, they got more than they bargained for."

"The sons of bitches," Iggy muttered.

We had reached the end of the hall. Niles punched in a code.

"The code translates to 'N and K 4Ever'," Niles explained. "When it's transmitted, Keegan knows to view my intentions. The other colonels just dismiss it as an innocent love note."

The door opened promptly.

"Keegan gave us the okay," Niles muttered. "All right, now let's go."

We entered a great room. A balcony loomed high above, and a number of figures were staring down at us as we entered. Keegan, Brigid. Five Chinese people, one of whom I recognized as the middle-aged woman who had been present when the flock had met Jewel for the first time.

And on another balcony, even higher above, Jewel glared down at us with his enormous, sparkling eyes.