Page 87 of Victorious

“What happened?” she asked, but the answer, when it came, wasn’t what at all, but who.

“Dr. Gray,” answered the guard, as if that explained everything. It didn’t. But Rios had heard, and seen, and felt, enough.

“Okay, then,” she said, trying to mirror the guard’s calm as she backed away, then turned, and walked briskly out of the control room.

Run, said the voice in her head.

But she didn’t. Nor did she turn and plunge through the nearest wall, like a prisoner trying to escape. She forced her boots to keep their ordinary tempo, as if nothing was wrong, as she retraced her steps through the building, nodding politely at every guard she passed until she reached the front doors.

She swiped through, trying to hide her relief when the light flashed green, and the doors parted, and even then, Rios didn’t take off running. She simply crossed the gravel lot to her car, and sank into the driver’s seat, and started the engine, and drove, as calmly as she could, until EON was safely out of sight.

IXNOW. THEN.EON

NOAH Harris opened his eyes and frowned, blinking in confusion.

One moment he’d been sitting in the chair across from Dr. Gray, and the next, well, he was still sitting in the chair across from the doctor, but something felt different. Time had gone missing. Seconds, or minutes, or hours, he wasn’t sure.

“Noah,” said Gabriel, and the sound of his voice was calm and heavy. The weight of a hand on his shoulder. In his head.

Noah looked up. “Yes, sir.”

“How do you feel?”

He flexed his fingers. How did he feel? Strange. Not in a bad way, though. The way he felt after three or four beers, when the edges softened and the voice inside his head, the one that called him coward, failure, finally dulled enough to ignore.

He would never have admitted that, except when the doctor asked, that’s exactly what he did. The words just spilled out. Even if he’d tried to keep them in, he couldn’t have. But he didn’t mind. There was no reason to fight.

Just then, he looked down, and noticed a speck of blood on the back of his left hand.

He rubbed at the mark, surprised to find it fresh, still wet.

“Noah.” The doctor’s voice tugged his attention gently back. “Show me your power.”

The day he joined EON, Director Stell warned him to use his ability only when on a mission with his team and even then, only when necessary. He trained him to be cautious. To be careful.

And yet when the doctor told him to, Noah disappeared. He watched his edges blur, his body dissolving into the chair, the rug, the room, until he was invisible and—

“That’s enough,” said Gabriel.

Noah instantly let go of the illusion.

The doctor nodded, clearly pleased. “Well, this is very promising.”

“Sir?”

“Your power has remained remarkably intact, all things considered.”

He gestured at the reflective surface of the table. Noah leaned forward, caught his reflection, and recoiled at the sight of his face. His eyes. They had always been brown. But now, they swirled, the irises and whites both swallowed up by green and white and blue and gray—all the colors in the room. Panic rose like bile in his throat. He wouldn’t be able to hide what he was. He wouldn’t—

“Don’t worry,” said the doctor. The words landed like a blanket. Heavy. Welcome. And sure enough, the panic melted. Dropped away. He exhaled, suddenly, blessedly calm.

But the question lingered. “What happened to my eyes?”

“A minor glitch,” said Gabriel. “I fear I am responsible.”

“Why? What did you do?”

The doctor met his eyes, and smiled gently as he said, “I killed you.”