“Huh. I forgot about that. I guess you guys can go, just… you have to behave.”
I smile. “We have to deal with this first and then I’m game.”
“Hopefully Nolan can help,” Ellison says quietly.
“I don’t think I’m allowed to go to Disney,” Nolan comments as he holds his leg up and gestures at the device on his ankle. “I’m under very strict restrictions.”
“I can break them off for you!” Brandon says, and just like that, he grabs the device and snaps it in half.
Nolan drops down like a rag doll, collapsing on my lap as we stare in shock while the realization hits us all that Brandon has just caused Nolan’s tranquilizer to go off.
“What the fuck?! He was the only one who could control my illusions!” Ellison cries as he reaches for Nolan.
“Boy, he must have been sleepy,” Brandon says. “You think he was that excited about going to Disney?”
Landon is gawking at us from the front seat. “He’s not fucking sleepy, Brandon! Those monitors inject him with a tranquilizer if he tries to remove them and you just snapped one in half! Fucking hell! He was our only hope!”
“Huh,” Brandon says before giving Nolan’s face a little smack. “He’ll be fine.”
I watch in amazement while he pulls out a package of string cheese and opens it in front of Nolan’s nose like he’s cracking open some smelling salts.
The victim does not stir.
“Huh. I really thought that would work,” he says.
Ellison is a bit panicked now as he smacks Nolan’s cheeks. “Wake up. Wake up, please? Pretty please wake up?”
Lex is holding Nolan the best he can from his position on the floor and he seems to be in some strange bliss while he cradles his head.
“It’s okay. I got you,” Lex assures him.
“If we break the other one, do you think it’ll have the antidote in it?” Brandon asks as he eyes the monitor on his other leg.
“Do not touch the other one!” Landon orders.
He must call Valerie because I immediately hear Valerie over the speakers. “Why did Nolan break his monitor?” she demands.
“Valerie, funny story. Nolan is the only one of us who can control Ellison’s illusion… and even funnier story, the illusion is currently going after his father. And Brandon thought that maybe Nolan would like to go to Disney with him but Nolan told him he can’t because of the monitors on his ankles so, umm… Brandon just like… snapped one in half. Please tell me there’s something you can do to quickly wake Nolan up? We very urgently need his power.”
“How… the fuck… do you guys accomplishanything?” she hisses.
“It’s a very good question, Valerie!” Landon says. “Just please tell us you have like an antidote of some kind?”
“I do not! It’s going to keep him out for an hour or so, and then he’ll be too groggy to even use his power!”
“I mean… maybe your dad can last an hour or two, right?” Landon asks Ellison. “That’s notthatlong to be locked inside a building with someone who wants to kill you. Like I was locked in a house with Brandon for eighteen years of my life.”
Ellison is currently rolling the window down. I’m not sure whether he just wants to crawl out of it or is enjoying the way the wind is pelting his eyes. “I had hope… I had… dreams. It’s all gone. All of it. We practiced for hours. I was so happy. He had so much control. We were going to walk in, and he was going to stop him. It was all going to be over. Finally over.”
I reach past the unconscious victim and past the perpetrator and finally catch Ellison’s hand, which I squeeze. “Don’t be afraid… you have the rest of us.”
“There’s stopped traffic again,” August says.
“I’ll deal with it,” Landon offers as he waves his hand and the vehicles start parting. I’m not quite sure they’re supposed to go up on the sidewalk like that, but Landon seems proud of himself and August shrugs and drives through, which gets us close to the building. The look on Ellison’s face tells me that he’s a bit disappointed we’ve arrived so quickly.
When we reach the office building, there are already people gathered around it and Nolan is still snoozing away. Smoke is rising up from some of the windows that appear to have been broken. I can’t tell if there’s an active fire, but I can hear the alarms going off… and Nolan is still not with us.
Ellison rushes out, but it takes me a moment to scrape Nolan’s body off me and hold it up for Lex to exit the vehicle. By the time I’m out on the sidewalk, I look up just in time to see a man socking Ellison right in the face.
