Free Remnants 14 - Begin Again by Katherine Alice Applegate Page A

of what he felt radiating from the Alpha girl, Echo, when she cuddled her child to her breast.
    Pride. A fierce protectiveness. Power
    “Love.”
    “Billy?” Sanchez stepped closer to the boy, vaguely surprised that he hadn’t lost consciousness this time.
    “What else?” Sanchez whispered. “What do j’ou need from us? What do j’ou want us to do?
    We want to be reborn. Billy, why won’t j’ou talk to me?”
    “Three elements.”
    “Yes?”
     
    “Three elements are needed for Earth to be reborn.”
    “Tell me, Billy.”
    “The Source. The Five embodied in me. And —”
    “Yes? And what?”
    “And—”
    Sanchez waited, hoping, but Billy said nothing more. After a while, he sensed that Billy was
    — dormant. That whatever energy he’d had was gone.
    Sanchez left the ship, fervently hoping Billy’s energy would return. Soon.
    The Source. The Five embodied in me.
    What kind of mumbo jumbo was Billy spouting, anyway?
    2Face crept through the shadow. Claw was on guard, the idiot. Everyone else was asleep. She had no trouble sneaking away from camp and toward the ship.
    Sanchez and his stupid messages. Couldn’t he see that the whole thing was a big farce? That Billy was just yanking his chain — everybody’s chain? Was she the only sane person left on Earth?
    Don’t answer that, 2Face told herself. The truth is too depressing.
    With a quick glance over her shoulder, 2Face stepped into the ruined ship. The interior was only slightly darker than the perpetual gloom outside. In a moment, her eyes had adjusted to the dimmer light.
    Good. Because she needed to find something. Some damning evidence against Billy. If only she had a camera! Then she could catch the jerk in the act of climbing out of whatever invisible contraption he’d erected to make it look like he was suspended in midair. No strings, my foot, 2Face thought angrily. At best, Billy was a magician. At worst, a complete and total fraud.
    Hey, she thought, maybe I’ll even find a weapon, something I can use to destroy Billy right on the spot. The freak seemed indestructible, but 2Face had no doubt she could find a way to eliminate him. Once and for all.
    A shudder ran through her then. Unexpected but… Okay, she was scared. She’d admit it. A teeny bit. Actually, more creeped-out than scared. Tate — or what was left of her — was lumped only twenty or so feet away. Back before the Rock, 2Face hadn’t been one for those stupid Halloween movies about teenagers too moronic to stay away from haunted houses and psycho killers. She was not at all down with the notion of ghosts and such. Even after being stranded on this freakish dead planet, what Violet called “home to seven billion ghosts.”
    Please. 2Face had never sensed any dead person’s presence.
    Still, 2Face couldn’t help but make sure Tate’s skeleton was still where they’d found it, falling out of that old Shipwright’s chair. Yeah. It was there. Gross as ever.
    With one final sneer at Tate, 2Face headed toward the alcove and was genuinely surprised to find Billy still suspended in the humming golden glow. His eyes were open and unblinking; his chin rested on his chest; his hands and feet hung limp.
    The sight of him made 2Face sick.
    “Come on, you freak, say something!” she taunted. Images of when she and Billy had been close stabbed at her mind’s eye and made her wince.
    In the next second, full of revulsion, 2Face lunged at Billy, fists flying — but her flesh never touched his. The golden aura was alive with power and repelled her assault. 2Face was thrown back several feet and came to a crash landing, flat out on her back.
     
    It took a few minutes for her head to clear. Finally 2Face struggled up onto her elbows and tried to quell the whirring of her stomach. And then she saw it. The smirk on Billy’s face.
    Yeah, no doubt about it. He was laughing at her.
    “It’s not over between us,” she swore, climbing awkwardly to her feet.
    But even as she swore final