Jay Budgett: The Indigo Thief

Sage had a theory that Miranda had wanted to use Charlie as a battery. The girl was skinny now, but Sage still felt her energy, and she guessed Miranda could too. It explained why they’d carted her back and forth between the chancellor’s chambers and her cell: they were prepping her for the procedure.

When Sage reached the doorway of the chancellor’s chambers, she heard Kai’s sobs emanating from within. She quickly joined him on the floor, and found that he was huddled over a body. Charlie—it had to be. The shot Sage heard must have been fired at her. Warm blood coated the floor—she was bleeding out.

Sage turned to Kai. “Does she still have pulse?”

Kai only moaned, inconsolable.

Sage squeezed her eyes shut tight. She didn’t have many friends to begin with, and she wasn’t about to just sit here as one died in front of her. “Does she have a pulse?” she asked again.

“It’s—it’s weak,” he whispered. “Soon, she’ll be—” His breath caught in his throat.

Sage jumped to her feet and searched the desk, hoping she hadn’t yet destroyed it. Nothing—it wasn’t there. She quickly reached her hand underneath—and there it was. The cardboard package—the other “paperweight.” Miranda hadn’t yet had a chance to destroy it.

It was a long shot, but Sage didn’t have any other choice. She lifted the orb from its box.

Just then the other two Lost Boys entered the room. They must have finally figured out where Sage had run off to.

“Oh my god,” said Mila. “Oh—oh my god—”

“I need help over here,” Sage said. Phoenix ran to her side. “Check the box for directions,” she instructed.

Phoenix sighed. “They don’t put directions in the boxes.”

“How do you know?”

“I just—I know.” She heard him grab something from the box. “But we’ll need these clips, and these metal nodes. They’ve got special salve on their backs. They’ll need to go on Charlie’s temples after we’ve attached the battery.”

Sage wondered how her new friend knew so much about it, but she was glad he did. She nodded and moved over next to Kai.

Mila was breathing hard. “She—she’s dying, Phoenix.” Sage could hear the hesitation in her voice.

“We can save her, Meels. Sage, hand me those cords attached to the ConSynth.” Sage passed him the two cords. They were hollow like tubing. “One for the current battery,” he said, “and one for when the battery needs replacement. The ConSynth can never be without power.”

Sage’s arm brushed his shoulder—she could tell he was strong. “How—how do you know all this?”

“Look—we don’t have much time. We have to find Charlie a battery. Are there guards in the hall?” Sage got the feeling he wanted to avoid the subject of how he’d known about the ConSynth.

There were no guards in the hall—they’d all disappeared. Gone to the roof, probably, to assist with Hackner’s escape copter. There was no more time. If they wanted to save Charlie, they needed a battery.

Sage felt along the length of one of the cords Phoenix had handed her. One end led to the globe—the ConSynth, Phoenix had called it—and the other end led to a needle wrapped in plastic packaging. Like an IV of sorts. But this kind didn’t feed you, she knew. You fed it , and it drained you to the bone.

She touched Charlie’s hand one last time, and then slid the needle into her own vein.

Phoenix grabbed her arm. “What the hell are you doing?”

Sage felt sleepy. She shook her head. “We both know there are no guards outside. This has to be done.” She’d failed Charlie once already, when they’d tried to escape. She wouldn’t do it again.

She’d lived a decent life. She’d had her share of sorrow, sure, but she’d also had joy and—now—hope. That was something that Charlie had helped her to see. It was all right, now, if this was how she spent the rest of her life. Sage was prepared to save her friend; perhaps because she knew her friend had already saved her.

Phoenix took her hand and pressed it to his head, holding two of her fingers and her thumb spread against the side of his face, her wrist turned outward, not inward like the federal salute. This was something different—something good.

“The Lost Boys’ salute,” he told her. “Open eyes, ears, and heart. I salute you, Sage.”

She smiled. A tingling sensation rushed up the length of her arm and filled her insides. She felt warm, the way she’d felt the first time she met Charlie. When she knew she’d made a new friend.

Miranda had never known Sage at all. Sage wasn’t dumb. She was brave.

And she had friends.

This was enough. This was more than anything she’d known in a long, long time. Her body was tingly and warm as the ConSynth’s drugs washed over her like a wave. It felt like she was being lifted in the air. Like she was basking in the sun’s warmth on a Kauai beach. Like Charlie was touching her hand against Sage’s cheek. Her whole body radiated warmth. There was a splintering moment of joy.

Rapture.

And then, nothing.

Phoenix slid the metal nodes over Charlie’s temples, and I watched as her body convulsed and Sage’s went limp. Charlie’s head rolled back and her mouth foamed, her whole body shaking.

Mila pressed my face to her shoulder. “Look at me,” she said. “Don’t think about anything else. Just look at me.”

What were they doing to Charlie? Oh, god, what were they doing to her? We were inside, but somehow it felt like it was raining. Everything in my world was falling down, like concrete chunks from the tunnel’s ceiling. I’d missed my one chance to kiss Charlie, and I’d never get it again. Soon, she’d be gone—if she wasn’t already.

A guttural moan escaped her lips and her chest lurched. She quivered and shook, then fell back to the ground, her skin cold and gray. Mila squeezed me tight against her shoulder. I reached for Charlie’s wrist. There was no pulse.

She was dead.

It felt like the floor had fallen out from under us. My heart plummeted in my chest. Miranda should have killed me. I guessed she sort of did. The glass orb glowed red next to Sage’s limp body. Swirls danced beneath its rounded glass.

The word CALIBRATING flashed across the sphere. A clock appeared amid its swirls, and it blinked 72:00 . I watched Phoenix peel the metal nodes from Charlie’s forehead.

“What—what did you do to her?” The words caught in my throat and I fought hard to swallow tears.

Phoenix lifted Sage’s body in his arms. “Sage saved her. Charlie’s going to be all right.”

The heat had gone out from the room. I looked at Charlie’s body: cold, lifeless. I pressed my hand against her cheek, caressed bones that stood out so easily. Her eyes were shut tight and her face looked peaceful, as if she’d merely dozed off for a brief nap. I’d never see her Charlie-blue eyes again.

Phoenix grabbed my arm. “We’ve got to get out of here, Kai. The others are meeting us at the top.”

I couldn’t stop staring at Charlie. Phoenix put his hand on my shoulder. “She’ll be okay,” he said. “She’s in here now.” I rubbed the red glass orb and stared at its blinking clock. “You’ve got to trust me, Kai.”

I nodded and tried to ignore the weight that settled on my shoulders like an iron coat.

“Check the desk,” said Phoenix to Mila. “Do you see anything?”

“Phoenix—we don’t—there’s no time.”

She, too, had been rattled by Charlie’s death. I glanced at Sage’s body, hanging limp in Phoenix’s arms. Her cheeks were rosy, her lips parted in a brief smile.

“Check the desk,” said Phoenix again.