Whisper (Whisper #1)(45)
Now anything could be possible.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Enzo asks.
I shake my head, knowing there’s no way for me to communicate what I’m thinking.
Enzo forges on regardless. “Try not to worry about Landon. He’s all bark, no bite. At least when it comes to you.”
What is that supposed to mean?
“You definitely have him all tied up in knots, JD,” Enzo continues, oblivious to my inner confusion. “He never stood a chance. Now he’s just gotta figure that out for himself.”
I blink, but the elevator door slides open before I can attempt to shape my expression into something depicting any of the three thousand, seven hundred and fourteen questions I want to ask.
“Enough of the deep stuff,” Enzo says, stepping out into the corridor. “It’s time to see what you’re really made of.”
He leads me down the dark hallway until we reach the entrance to the massive training room I saw yesterday. It’s eerie to see it so still and silent this morning, with the other recruits either sleeping or in the process of getting ready for the day.
In between our movie watching last night, Cami shared that there are fewer than thirty older-generation Genesis Speakers who populate the facility, along with around fifty younger-generation Exodus Speakers — with that number growing as new teenagers are discovered. The Exodus recruits who have passed through initiation — the ones who survived Vanik’s tests and Manning’s psych evaluations before proving their suitability to join the Speaking program — are assigned to bunk-like dormitories, while the Genesis Speakers and their families live in private quarters. Like Cami and me. And Ward. And Falon’s family.
Falon, Cami also shared, is not only the director of Lengard but also a Speaker in his own right. Esther, too, was one of the Genesis generation and has her own ability.
The surprises kept coming when Cami went on and I discovered that Falon didn’t tell me the whole truth yesterday — that it’s not just the Xanaphan drug that produces Speakers. They can also result when two Speakers reproduce. As such, Falon and Esther’s children will one day have abilities of their own.
All this Cami told me freely, along with sharing that she and Ward aren’t related to the Falons by blood but that the director and Esther took them in when their parents — their Speaker parents — died in a Lengard lab accident ten years ago.
Cami brushed over that part of her commentary, and I couldn’t blame her for the lack of details she offered. She would have been only eight at the time — much too young for such a loss.
Unable — or unwilling — to linger on her memories, Cami had gone on to share that she and Ward aren’t the only Exodus recruits born to Speakers — Keeda and Sneak were Xanaphan-free babies, as well, with their parents also tragically killed in the same lab accident. In the aftermath, Cami, Ward, Keeda and Sneak, along with a handful of others I haven’t yet met, all grew up together down here, knowing long before puberty arrived exactly who they were and what they could do. It was hard to push aside my jealousy when I heard that.
Even now, looking around at the vast underground room Enzo and I are walking through, I know I have to put the past behind me in order to focus fully on what is ahead.
It’s almost a relief to step into the smaller, Karoel-lined room, since it gives me a reprieve from the questions in my mind. But it also means I have to face Ward again and see the stone-cold look on his face as he stands there with the sadistic, metal-pierced Crew at his side.
“Cami?” Ward asks Enzo when the door closes behind us.
“You gave her ten minutes. She’ll be here soon.”
Ward nods and turns to me. “I’ve already told you this, but it bears repeating: Speaking isn’t so much about the words we use as it is about the intent behind them.”
I stand up straighter, realizing that he’s jumping straight into lecture mode and I had better pay attention. I wish I’d had a chance to eat some breakfast or something first; even one of my old nutri-shakes would have helped me concentrate more on his words and less on my growling stomach.
“I’ve asked Crew to help with this lesson since his abilities will help you understand exactly what I mean — and hopefully they’ll motivate you to learn quickly, especially if you don’t want to see Enzo in too much pain.”
“Don’t worry ’bout me, JD,” Enzo says. “I can handle a scratch or two.”
Crew smirks. “Is that so?”
Ward holds up a hand before Enzo can reply, causing me to think their banter must be a common occurrence. “Unless you two can contribute something educational to the lesson, do me a favor and keep your mouths shut.”
Enzo sends him a mocking salute. “Sir, yessir.”
Ward’s lips press into a thin line. “I figure we can start without Cami and she’ll patch you up when she arrives. You good with that?”
Enzo answers with a nod.
“Good.” Ward turns back to me. “You’ve already seen what Crew can do — that he can inflict physical injuries on people. Yesterday he used the word ‘slash’ to demonstrate. Today I want him to show you something different. Crew?”
At Ward’s go-ahead gesture, Crew cocks his chin to the side and focuses on Enzo. “Avalanche,” he says, and light streaks from him and slams into Enzo’s cheek. Almost immediately, the flesh swells to twice its normal size and a shallow graze opens, trickling blood down his face until it drips off his chin and onto the floor.