Witch and Wizard - James Patterson [21]
I snorted. “Yeah. Kids with wings. That’s likely.”
Wham!
Whit and I jumped about a foot in the air, then whirled toward the door. It had swung open and smacked the wall like a hard kick. We waited, both of us as tight as coiled springs.
One thing we’d learned: anything that came through that door wasn’t good.
Chapter 34
Wisty
“BREAKFAST IS SERVED! Poached eggs with bacon, fresh fruit, waffles, and syrup. Just kidding, kiddies.”
The Visitor appeared, dressed in black again, his icy green eyes glittering as if he had a fever. I thought that if he looked at me long enough, the blood would start to freeze in my veins.
He stepped farther into the room, examining everything like he was some anal-retentive crime-scene investigator, tapping on the walls, testing the strength of the wire-glassed window in the door.
“Keeping you here is a waste of time, space, and money,” he muttered, not bothering to look at us. “Waiting until you’re eighteen is arbitrary. You’re a drain on the taxpayers’ money… feeding you, housing you.”
“Um, I’m no economics expert, sir,” Whit said with a smile so fake it made my teeth hurt, “but even I know that it’s not costing the taxpayers more than a dime a day to keep us here.”
The Visitor glared at us from the entryway to the bathroom. “I thought that you’d learned not to talk back to me, idiot.” He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out an ancient toothbrush. “As punishment, you will scrub your bathroom with this cleaning utensil. When I return, it better be operating-room hygienic.” The Visitor wrote something down on a clipboard. “There’s no place in the New Order for your kind,” he muttered.
“Excuse me, sir”—I finally spoke up—“but what exactly is the New Order?”
The Visitor wheeled and stared at me. His black riding crop dangled menacingly from one arm.
Then he began to speak—all singsongy: “The New Order is a bright new future. It is a future that replaces the corrupting and illusory freedoms of so-called democracies and replaces them with a higher discipline. It has taken many, many years of planning, strategic political postings, scientific polling, demographic research, precise messaging, and carefully monitored elections.
“For this rare moment in human history, those who have values and principles are in a position to do what is best. And part of what is best, of course, is taking steps to eliminate the deviants, the criminals, and all those who threaten prosperity and the New Order way.”
He smoothed a hand over his slicked-back hair. “Like you two.”
“But… what’s wrong with us, sir?” I asked like I was the resident classroom dunce.
The Visitor’s icy eyes narrowed, and he stepped closer until I could faintly smell mothballs and hair syrup.
“You know what’s wrong with you. You’re a virus,” he hissed. “You two are the worst kind of deviants. Performance artists. Illusionists.”
My jaw almost dropped. “But we’re just kids!”
“Kids,” he spat, as if he were saying “pus-filled blister.” “Many, many, many children are unacceptable in the New Order.”
Right then I should have shut up, wiped my face clear of any expression, and stood quietly till he was gone.
Instead, I stamped my foot. “We. Are. Just. Kids!”
The last word was practically a shriek, and as the Visitor raised his riding crop over his head, a maniacal look of delight on his face…
Whoosh! I was aflame for the first time since we’d gotten to Camp Alcatraz. Big flames. Impressive, even to a fire starter like me.
Whit cheered. “Thatagirl!”
Through the veil of dancing flames, I saw the Visitor staring at me in horror, backing away hurriedly toward the door. I opened my arms and stalked him like a zombie. “How ’bout a hug, big fella?”
“Freak!” the Visitor yelled just before he slammed the door to our cell.
“Way to prove we’re just kids, inferno girl,” Whit said. “But very cool anyway.”
Chapter 35
Wisty
I DIPPED THE