Suspicious Minds (Stranger Things Novels #1)(45)

Ken rubbed his lip. “The papers are already saying it wasn’t as random as it should’ve been.”

“Like I said before,” Gloria said, “they’re people with resources.”

A surge of emotion washed through Terry, overwhelming. “So it’s my fault?” she asked in horror.

Gloria jumped in immediately. “No, no one is saying that. It’s definitely not your fault.”

Cold comfort. “I have something else to tell you guys, but, Alice, do you want to go first?”

Alice’s head bobbed. “I saw something that may be worse than the monsters.”

“What?” Ken, with interest.

“Brenner was with this little girl…” Alice recounted to them a story about Brenner and a young girl in a gown with a weird helmet on, a tattoo on her forearm that read 011. And then Alice had seen her using powers, throwing a man with just a gesture. “It looked like an experiment. I can’t be sure, but it seemed so real.”

The 011 reminded Terry of the numbers on the files she had found in Brenner’s office. Did that mean Kali had a number, too?

“Kali came to see me today. She has powers. There’s no other way to describe it.” Terry briefly outlined their encounter and the abilities she’d demonstrated. To Alice, she said, “I believe what you saw.”

“Hmm,” Gloria said and tugged on her lip. “What did your girl look like, Alice?”

“Short brown hair—really short, like one of my brothers, or like it had been shaved and only just started to grow back. My aunt had cancer once…Maybe…She was too thin, but she looked healthy.” Alice shut her eyes and then reopened them. “Maybe around twelve or thirteen? Pale skin. Big, piercing eyes.”

Terry frowned. She’d just assumed that Alice had seen a vision of Kali.

“And your Kali?” Gloria asked.

“No,” Terry said. “That’s not her. Can’t be. She’s younger.” She rolled onto her knees and held up her hand to roughly indicate Kali’s height. “Five, I’d say. Dark skin. Black hair to her shoulders. I guess this confirms that there’s more than one child there. How did you know to ask?” she asked Gloria.

“The powers you’ve both described…Obviously I’ve never heard of anything like that really existing, but if they did…They don’t seem the same. Like the same person wouldn’t have both of those sets of powers.”

“You got that from reading comic books,” Ken said.

“So?” Gloria asked.

“It’s odd that you saw the number 011,” Terry said, still puzzling over that. “I only remembering seeing files up to 010.”

Gloria pointed out the obvious. “Maybe he’s still bringing in new subjects.”

“We have to stop this,” Alice said with heat. “He’s using these kids. I know it.”

“Agreed.” Terry felt like they were missing something crucial. “Alice, do you think you’re astral projecting?”

“You think Alice saw this as it was happening,” Gloria said. “The girl and Brenner.”

Alice shrugged helplessly. “It could be. I haven’t given enough thought to how it works.”

“There’s only one thing to do.” Terry wished they understood how any of this worked. They were in uncharted territory. “We need to figure out how many children there are, find out what exactly Brenner is doing with them. Kali said Brenner doesn’t hurt her, but she’s only five. We may need to mount a rescue mission.”

“We still don’t know that he isn’t ‘Papa,’?” Ken said softly. “That would be kidnapping.”

“I said maybe,” Terry said. “But fair point. In the meantime, Alice, you see what else you can see.”

“I can’t control it,” Alice hedged.

“Try. He’s got all the advantages. We need to use whatever we have.” Terry sounded more confident than she was. “He’s not going to make it easy for us to get answers.”

Alice gave a short nod. She rose to her feet and put out a hand. “If we’re the Fellowship, I want to be Galadriel,” she declared.

Terry got up, too. “Galadriel isn’t in the Fellowship.”

“I don’t care,” Alice said. “There’re not that many women to choose from in the books. I want to be Galadriel.”

Ken stood. “And Brenner’s the Enemy.”

Gloria shook her head and hopped down to join them. “Am I the only one who hasn’t read these books, whatever they are?”

“Yes,” Alice and Ken said together.

Alice gave him an approving nod. For once. “Put your hands in, everyone…” Alice said.

They did.

“Now what?” Ken asked.

“Now, on one,” Terry said, thinking back to high school football games and the huddle. “To the Fellowship of the Lab!”

The laughter was uneasy. The kind of laughter that comes when nothing is actually funny.





6.


Terry closed her eyes a week later and waited patiently for the drugs to kick in. She’d been tired for a few more days, and then some sort of renewed energy had filled her during the past two. Almost like anticipation. Could she find the void like last time?