Page 85 of Anarchy Missing

“They were doing something fishy up on floor twenty-one, remember? We never did find out what that was,” Molly says.

“Yeah,” Linc says, mostly to himself. “They were in the middle of something. All those scientists”—he stops to look at Lulu, wary about saying too much—“the ones who committed suicide—those guys were all from Prodigy.”

Which is why he took them out during his crazy vigilante killing spree.

“They must’ve had something up there,” Thomas says. “Something ready to go, obviously.”

“They could’ve been doing anything up there,” I say. “Hell, they could’ve had—” But I stop it mid-sentence. They could’ve had kids up there. They could’ve restarted Prodigy and they could’ve done it right there in the main spire of the Blue Tower.

“If it’s technology-based shit, then Lincoln might be able to reprogram it,” Sheila says. “I took a sample of Case’s spinal fluid while he was unconscious and I’ve got it set up for you, Lincoln. That’s the only thing I can offer right now.”

“There’s something inside me?” I ask, my skin crawling. “Controlling me?” It might explain the voice. And the heat. But the light? Why do I glow?

“Fuck,” Linc says, scrubbing a hand up and down his jaw. He doesn’t have his gloves on, but there’s no light leaking out from his palms. He’s slowly gotten more control over that.

“Why is it red?” I ask, watching his hands for clues. The vents are a tightly woven mesh of metal. Flexible, but strong enough to withstand the heat. His arms are bulging with the weaponized attachments that Sheila and Thomas added while he was recovering from when Blue Boar attacked him out at the SkyEye maze. He’s wearing a black, long-sleeved thermal shirt. So I can’t see all the details of his enhancements. But clearly it was a good move to make those alterations. Lincoln has never been saner. Never been more in control.

I’m the unstable one now. Not him.

“The light?” Linc asks me.

“Yeah. What is it?”

He screws up his face, like he’s confused. “What do you mean, what is it? It’s fucking violence, you know this. The patterns reprogram people’s emotions. It’s a way to control people. Mess with their heads. Make them angry, and tired, and fed up. Make them—”

“Riot?” Lulu says. “Like those people downtown?”

I shake my head. “No. The Blue Boar is dead. He can’t—”

“Atticus isn’t,” Thomas says.

“It’s not Atticus,” Molly interjects, angry. “No. I refuse to believe that.”

“You don’t even know him,” Thomas growls. “He’s my fucking brother. I know what he’s capable of.”

“Well, he’s my brother too,” Molly snaps back. “And he warned me that day I went to see my mother at the asylum. Why would he do that if he just wanted to come back and mess with us again? Why?”

“Because he’s his father’s son, Molly Montgomery.” It’s an insult to call Molly a Montgomery, and Thomas knows this. It shuts her up, which was probably his only goal. And then Thomas reaches into his pocket, pulls something out, and throws it at me. It bounces off my chest and falls to the floor in front of my feet.

A prescription bottle.

“Take them, Case,” Thomas says. “It helps.”

I pick up the bottle, rolling it around in my hand as I read the instructions. Take two a day, every day, for the rest of your life. “Yeah, I’ll do that, Thomas. The next time I want to turn into an emotionless dick I’ll pop a few and become you.”

I’m about to toss it back to him when he says, “Emotions, Case. That light inside you is used to control emotions. Did it ever occur to you that you and Linc are not the only ones with that power? Is that getting through your thick fucking skull, brother?”

I glance at Lincoln, who does something like a nod and shrug at the same time. That gesture says, Don’t be hasty.

I sigh and shove the bottle in my pocket.

“I’m gonna grab some coffee,” Thomas says. And then he looks at Lulu. “Talk some sense into this asshole, would you? Because he’s about to fuck up some major shit.” And then Thomas glares at me one more time and leaves.

“Come on,” Molly says, tugging at Lincoln’s sleeve. “I need coffee too. I’m sure Case and Lulu want some time alone.”