The Shrink Program

Chapter 129

With one last smirk towards us, Doctor Cassandra Floid turned to address the room of eager onlookers, swinging her arms out in a dramatic flurry.

"Greetings, my fellow members of the Underground, and our invited guests." She bowed, balancing expertly on what had to be the tallest pair of heals on the planet.

"Please do excuse the delay in tonight's events, I fear that, once again, I may have gotten a little caught up in my games." The suggestive way she spoke sent a twitter of laughter through the room.

"So...." I murmured as the woman formerly known as Rachel Fredem continued to greet the room with all the charm of a tacky T.V host, turning to Alan with a blank stare.

"Yo mamma's so crazy, she used her genius intellect and nanotech superpowers to turn herself into a teenage girl... So that she could go to high school and stalk someone who has to be at least half her age?"

Alan just gave me a small, rueful smile, straightening up so that he towered over Apollo and I.

"I'm not one to throw stones in glass houses, Maddison." He murmured back cheerfully.

"After all, what my mother does is not so dissimilar to the role Alex, and I play in the King of the Hill. Where we scout out the talented fighters, Mother looks for the minds. The future leaders of our organisation."

"So that she can kiss them," I concluded bluntly.

At this, Alan visibly winced.

"Mother is very passionate about her work." His gaze shifted, looking over our heads, presumably to where Vain stood. "But is more interested in causing trouble than anything...romantic."

So Vain is here with the woman in charge of recruiting evil little masterminds. A woman who likes to test and torment everyone around her. A woman who had quite obviously threatened to hurt me if Vain didn't cooperate.

All this pointed to her being the driving force behind Vain's actions.

What better way to test the intellect and will power of a person, than to have him tear down the Hill, with the hostage still inside it.

Feeling sick to my stomach, I climbed in as close to Apollo's ear as I could, hiding under as much as his black emo hair cut as possible.

Apollo noticeably stiffened, obviously uncomfortable with the invasion of personal space. Archenemies aren't supposed to get so cuddly after all.

Before he could demand that I back off or move me away from himself, I spoke into his in his ear.

"I'll forgive you," I said, and I think it was the way my voice trembled, more than the actual promise of forgiveness, that made Apollo hesitate.

"For everything you did to me. No more revenge, no more bad attitude and snarky words. I'll give you a blank slate if you just give me five minutes."

Apollo didn't speak, and I took his silence as confirmation.

But now that I had some privacy, my depressing train of thought went full speed ahead.

She had been there the entire time after all.

The bus, the classroom, even the day he defeated the Hill.

Rachel had always been close by, watching.

A proximity I had mistaken for obsession on her part.

Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.

It was possible.

That Vain hadn't... Betrayed me just because he couldn't handle the person I had become. That he had done what he did because Rachel had forced him to. Had stood over his shoulder, threatening him through every betrayal.