To Overthrow the Guardians

Chapter 4: The Strengthening of Corruption

Mallory stood outside the door to Matt and Haven's office. He wanted to go in, tired from the extra work while they were gone but eager to tell them what had happened and that he had fired Howard and Flynn. Something stopped him, however: the voices in his head.

"Don't go in there," they said. "Now is not a good time. Run while you still can and avoid Matt and Haven. Bad things are coming, Mallory." But unfortunately, the door opened without his input. And there stood Whisper, hand on the doorknob, and Matt and Haven behind her.

"Come in," Whisper said. "We were just looking for you." Something was off. She was staring at his feet instead of at his face.

"Don't," the voices warned Mallory. "Bad things lie in there."

What "bad things," he thought.

"Your doom."

"I have to go to the bathroom," Mallory lied.

"This is important." Whisper grabbed his wrist and pulled him in, shutting and locking the door. "Sit."

"Please, it's an emergency," Mallory said.

"Oh, you can..." Haven began.

"No," Whisper said. "We can't trust what he says." At that moment, Mallory became suddenly aware of all the pairs of eyes watching him, each mind thinking him insane, likely.

"Leave."

"I really have to go," Mallory said, fidgeting to "prove" it.

"And we really have to tell you something." Matt glanced over at Haven, whose shoulders were slumped in her chair. Mallory looked back at the door. Whisper stood in front of it, her arms crossed. Surely he could get past her. He was bigger than she was.

"It can wait." Mallory got up from his chair and made an attempt to push through Whisper to the door. Whisper shoved him back, and he suddenly saw only blackness.

"Sorry, instinct. Still hasn't gone away after years of not having my power," Whisper said, then, "Wait..." Mallory's vision came back to him, and she just stared with big round eyes at her hands. "Did I..." In her moment of surprise, Mallory tried to overtake her and unlock the door, but she blackened his vision again, and people pushed him back into his seat. Then Whisper removed the darkness from his eyes.

"You have your powers back," Haven mumbled to Whisper as Matt sat back down.

"How long have I had them and just not used them?" A smile crept up the Prophecy Person's face. "Probably not very." Her grin fell. "Now I'll be more dangerous..." She looked away from her arms and back at Mallory, who frowned in confusion. "We really need to tell you something." Mallory knew he wouldn't be able to escape now, though he didn't like it. "But first..." She positioned her hands as if she were holding a ball to her chest, one hand hovering over the other, and she grimaced and appeared to concentrate hard. Drops of sweat appeared on her forehead, but then she dropped her arms.

"I can't take the darkness out of Haven or Mallory," she said. "I'm sorry. It's much too strong this time. It's too stuck in there, and it's likely the same case with me and the other cured children." Haven's gaze fell to her desk, and Matt narrowed his eyes, though not at Whisper. Mallory didn't know what to think. There was darkness inside Haven, Whisper, and the other cured people? What kind of darkness was it? Probably not the good kind unlike his, if it had anything to do with that faulty cure.

"I have some things to tell you," he said. Maybe if he stalled for as long as possible, he could derail the conversation and get them to forget about telling him whatever the voices thought would lead to his doom. "First: while you were gone, the Indicator did something strange. It screamed and said, 'If both times exist at once, then both will fall,' twice. And it changed. Look at it."