Avoidables 3 Read online

  Avoidables 3

  Jason’s Reckoning

  By

  Rachel Medhurst

  Copyright © Rachel Medhurst 2014

  Sign up for updates and fun at www.rachelmedhurst.com

  This novella is dedicated to the couples in the world that are willing to keep trying no matter what.

  CONTENTS

  Episode One

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Episode Two

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Episode Three

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Episode Four

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Episode Five

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Avoidables 4

  Author Letter

  Author

  Copyright

  Episode 1

  Chapter One

  Never before had I doubted my own mother’s intentions so strongly.

  ‘What’s the matter, Jason?’ she asked.

  We were standing in the guard’s room of the prison. Catherine, my mother, had ordered them to interrogate Sandor- again.

  ‘I don’t see why you’re doing this,’ I replied, keeping my voice low.

  ‘I like to watch her squirm, especially when she’s so desperate to use her powers and can’t.’

  I looked over to where she was sitting in front of the monitor. Her long back was straight. Her short blonde hair was immaculate. Her finger-nails were painted bright pink, standing out against her pristine light green suit.

  ‘She’s trying to sense what the guards are going to do next, but she can’t. Those scientists are genius. To give me a formula that dopes her up so much she can’t use her powers, was the best present I could’ve ever asked for.’

  I jumped from my seat and stood behind her. The small room was cramped with monitors and two chairs. But it was my mother’s ugly presence that filled the whole room. For years I’d lived in luxury as she’d helped to run the Perfect government.

  ‘You know what, I’ve never really noticed how cruel you can be,’ I said from behind her chair.

  ‘Don’t be silly, Jason, you’ve never loved me. The day you were born I could tell that there was something different about you.’

  She took her gaze away from Sandor’s interrogation and spun the black chair towards me. I shook my head and she laughed.

  ‘Oh don’t worry, Jason. I’m sure somewhere deep down, you love your mother.’ She stood and put a hand on my shoulder. ‘You’ve been spending a little too much time on the Lower Side. You’re scowling, just like they do.’

  ‘Can’t you see that what you’re doing is wrong?’ I whispered.

  ‘Not again. We’ve been over this your whole life. Jason, this is just the way it works. Now listen, the trial starts in half an hour. Let’s go to the court room.’ She almost skipped away.

  I followed behind as we made our way across the compound. I had to hold myself back from running after her and…

  ‘You have to try and stay disconnected,’ a soft voice said beside me. William, one of the Perfect government officials and the head of the angels that were secretly infiltrating the government, fell into step beside me.

  ‘I’m not sure how much longer I can do this,’ I muttered.

  His hand landed on my shoulder. A bolt of heat zapped into me and I felt my mood lighten. The angel was powerful and the more time I spent with him, the more in awe I became.

  ‘This is only the beginning, Jason. We’ve waited many years for a chance like this. When the angels decided to come and help the human race again, we had to make sure we could make a lasting impact. Perfects aren’t really that ugly and cruel on the inside, but they’ve allowed themselves to judge so harshly for so long, that they now hold the wrong type of power.’

  ‘It makes me so angry,’ I growled, looking directly at my mother’s back as she nodded at the guard outside the court building. I always wondered why there was a courthouse. The Perfects tended to execute Avoidables straight away, while other Perfects were usually let off the hook. They didn’t usually catch that many Perfects if they did commit a crime.

  ‘It makes us all angry. Just because we’re angels, don’t mean we don’t feel negative emotions whilst we’re in these bodies. Stop trying to be an angel, Jason. Stop trying not to be a Perfect. Stop trying to fit in with the Avoidables. Just be who you truly are.’

  William stopped me from walking any further. We were surrounded by the lush green gardens. I pictured Hope in the middle of the desert wilderness. Her straggly hair was blowing in the wind and she was being flown by Purple.

  ‘Do you feel her?’ William said.

  I closed my eyes briefly. I’d been seeing and feeling more and more of her. My mind’s eye would show me little snap shots of what she was doing.

  ‘If I ever get my hands on that Noland…’

  Will laughed hard and clapped me on the back as I turned.

  ‘Now that’s a natural feeling. Just remember that whatever happens, it’s for the right reasons.’ He started walking again.

  I noticed the Chancellor slip into the courthouse and felt my teeth grind together. That man was awful and I’d been keeping my distance from him.

  ‘Even if we’re not together…? Even if she goes with…?’ I couldn’t say his name. An image of the hulking Avoidable came into my mind. Noland was dangerous and as such, he suited Hope perfectly.

  ‘Yes, even if that’s the case.’

  William left me standing outside the courthouse as he went in.

  ‘Jason!’

  I turned when I heard her voice but I’d already sensed her presence. Hope was walking towards me with Purple, her best friend, whilst the guards were walking a respectful distance behind them. When our gazes met, Hope smiled slightly. I wanted to go over and run my hands through her hair. The shoulder length brown locks were fresh and clean, which was unlike Hope. She was usually doing something like running around in the dirt or fighting, so her hair was mainly unkempt. She nodded, and then lowered her gaze as the guards escorted them past me. Purple also nodded, only looking at me briefly.

  ‘Come on, Jason,’ William called from the doorway.

  I turned to him, unsure whether to just abandon the whole plan and leave. Could I watch this trial? Would they really take an Avoidable seriously? I doubted it. I was expecting a huge joke and spectacle to be made out of Sandor.

  In the end, we all knew what her punishment was likely to be.

  Chapter Two

  ‘For the benefit of the court, can I just remind you that Avoidables are dangerous, so can everyone please keep a safe distance,’ my mother called over the whispers.

  The Perfect government had allowed a handful of Perfects to watch the proceedings. They were even recording it live and broadcasting it across the television network on the Upper Side. The Perfects lived in luxury. Most Avoidables had never even seen a television. I shook my head as the jury filed into their seats. Unlike the courthouses of old times, this one was more like a living room. There were sofas littered about. There was a balcony above so that the Perfect spectators could see what was going on below. There was a wooden dock, similar to the old fashioned ones used centuries ago, when the world had been more peaceful. But there was no judge. The Perfects were the judges. I gritted my teeth as they read out instructions to the live television crew.

  ‘So this is the first Avoidable trial we’ve had in ten years. You’ll get to h
ear everything that happens in this courtroom and then you get to have a say in the outcome.’ The presenter spoke loudly over the noise of the excited people around me. I was sitting in the balcony above. My mother had insisted I sat with her, but there was no way I was being a part of this.

  ‘You will not be able to call in until the last piece of evidence has been given,’ the pretty, busty blonde presenter said.

  My jaw started to ache and I released the pressure of my teeth. Hope and Purple were brought in and everyone fell silent. It was the first time that some of the Perfects had seen an Avoidable in the flesh.

  ‘Oh, come on!’ I whispered as they were seated on the opposite side of the jury.

  ‘The Avoidables will be seated next to the jury, Catherine, please,’ William called. He was sitting on a panel at the head of the room. The table was long and had the five main government officials seated behind it. My mother was one of them. There were three Perfects and two angels at the head of the government. Not that the Perfects knew that they were angels. Only a very select few of us were aware of what they were trying to do. I could feel that it would all work out in the end. The whole affair was more positive than anything that had happened in recent history. The Avoidables would never have been allowed a trial before William had taken his role as head of the Perfect government.

  ‘Very well,’ my mother muttered, gesturing at the guards to allow Hope and Purple to join the main jury on the sofas.

  ‘This is so exciting,’ said a young man next to me. He must have been about eighteen. I had to resist the urge to punch the dark haired boy in the head.

  ‘Really…?’ I muttered instead, ‘Why do you think it’s exciting?’

  ‘I’ve never seen an Avoidable before.’

  ‘They’re no different from us, you know that don’t you?’

  The woman sitting next to him gasped and took his hand. She started to pull him up, but the boy pulled free.

  ‘I’m staying here, mum, it’s about to start,’ he said, glaring as she huffed and went off to find another seat. ‘Mothers are so annoying,’ he added, shaking his head.

  ‘I know,’ I muttered, glancing down at the woman who had given birth to me.

  A hush fell over the room as the door at the back opened and Sandor was brought in. Considering she’d been in prison for a few weeks, she was looking remarkably well. My mother had obviously made them put make up on her. I heard Hope giggling and found her gaze. She waved and everyone on the balcony turned to look at me. My heart tried to get my hand to lift and wave back, but my mind stopped me. I looked down at William. He was smiling at me. Catherine, my mother, was scowling and looking between Hope and I. When my gaze found Hope’s again, she nodded once. Purple had grabbed her hand when she’d been waving and I could see that he hadn’t let it go. My chest squeezed and I fought the urge to call out.

  ‘Okay, it’s time to get started,’ the Chancellor, Harry, announced.

  I wondered how they were going to play this. I’d seen films from hundreds of years ago depicting courtroom dramas, but when it came to sentencing Avoidables, I couldn’t see the Perfects actually using any laws.

  ‘As you all know, the government compound was bombed a few weeks ago. We lost ten people in the bombing. Sandor Meridian was the bomber, but we think her entire rebel group was behind it.’ The Chancellor was sitting straight as he read from a piece of paper in his hand.

  ‘It wasn’t the whole group,’ Hope called out.

  The sound of her voice caused noise to explode around the room.

  ‘Please would the jury be quiet. This role is a silent one.’ The Chancellor glared at Hope and Purple. The rest of the jury were looking at them too. My chest tightened when I saw Hope falter for a second. I’d never seen her anything less than confident, so to see her turn red made me want to hurt someone.

  ‘Let’s get this started shall we?’ William said, standing.

  The audience of Perfects cheered and the vibration ran around the whole room. These people only wanted to see some drama. Were their lives so boring that they had to find some gory entertainment?

  ‘Enough!’ William shouted. ‘You may not be used to being at a trial but this is a court room.’

  Everyone fell silent again. I glanced over the people in the balcony and froze when I saw Gina. My fiancé. I’d been avoiding her since coming back from Lower Side, claiming that the trial was taking up my time. She smiled at me shyly and I nodded back. My skin prickled. Gina was gorgeous. She had long styled blonde hair, bright red lips and tons of eye make up on. She had the perfect figure and was actually intelligent for a Perfect. So why was I finding it so hard being engaged to her?

  ‘Sandor, you have been accused of bombing the Perfect government compound. How do you plead?’ William walked over to the wooden stand where Sandor sat.

  ‘Guilty,’ she replied, smiling as the room erupted yet again.

  William held up a hand without taking his gaze away from her. Silence resumed.

  ‘So what was the point of this?’ Catherine called. My mother was smiling into the cameras as they panned in on her.

  ‘However…!’ Sandor called. ‘I’m not guilty of killing anyone.’

  I bit my tongue to stop my laugh. Hope giggled below and the sound carried around the room. Everyone fell completely still.

  ‘But when you bombed the compound, you killed people.’ William held up a board that had photos of the Perfects killed. There were ten. My gaze caught Hope’s as she glanced away from it. One of the main angels had been killed in the bombing and we’d not had much of a chance to talk about it. William had explained that every death on earth was for a reason. People, no matter their race, were all of consequence and caused a ripple effect. Hope smiled at me slightly before looking away. Ever since she’d found out about Gina, she’d been completely cold with me. She’d even claimed to have read the journals but it hadn’t seemed to have helped.

  ‘Yes, I’m sorry about that. I didn’t want to hurt anyone,’ Sandor said.

  More noise, more talk, more cameras.

  ‘Of course you meant to kill us,’ Catherine grumbled. When I looked down at her, she gestured for me to go down to the main floor. I ignored her. She probably wanted me to get her a drink or something to eat. That was all she ever got me to do.

  ‘Sometimes we all take action. Sometimes people get caught up in the consequences. I’m sorry that Perfects were killed. I’m not guilty of killing them, though. You are.’ Sandor was talking to Catherine. My mother paled and jumped to a stand.

  ‘Sit down, Catherine, or you’ll have to leave the courtroom.’ William came over and put a hand on her shoulder. She obeyed, but her face was bright red and she had to fan herself to calm down.

  ‘Sandor, you’re pretty open about what happened. Can you tell us why you decided to bomb the compound?’

  ‘I wanted you to feel what we’ve been feeling for many years.’ Her voice was strong and the look that passed between the three Avoidables in the room was obvious. Purple nodded and Hope lowered her head. It was a good tactic. Some Perfects in the room, especially the younger ones, may be feeling a little guilty now.

  ‘And can you describe how you’ve been feeling for many years?’

  ‘Don’t be stupid! I don’t see the point in all this. Just sentence her to death and be done with it!’ The Chancellor spluttered. His usually straight back was slumped in his chair. The audience were watching. Even Gina was transfixed on what was going on below. Catherine did a fake laugh and kicked the Chancellor under the table. I saw it because she missed, hitting the table and wincing. My mother really was a heartless woman. She’d taught me to look beautiful, act beautiful, but never to be beautiful. William gestured for Sandor to continue.

  ‘Discriminated against. Being told you’re not good enough just because of the way you look or the powers you have – well, it’s heart breaking. Imagine if I told you that you were ugly,’ Sandor called the last sentence while looking around the room, m
aking eye contact with several Perfects. Some glanced away, while others stared back, but most gasped. They’d never associated that word with themselves. Most of them had been through the test and had government approval.

  ‘Who told you that you were ugly?’ William was pacing in front of the panel now. Sandor was small on the chair she sat in. She was playing the victim and it was working.

  ‘The Chancellor, the Perfect government…the whole of the Perfect race.’

  It was amazing how one moment was complete silence and the next was shouting and calling. Perfects claiming that they’d never even met her. I had to laugh but stopped when the boy next to me shook his head.

  ‘Why are you laughing?’

  ‘Do you not see that she’s right? We allow the government to treat Avoidables like they’re scum, so that means we’re guilty too.’

  A flash of something showed on his face, but I couldn’t tell if it was a spark of truth resonating within him or madness that I’d even said it.

  ‘So you’re saying that the whole of the Perfect race called you ugly?’ William said.

  ‘You can’t disagree can you?’ Sandor said, looking directly at him.

  William spun away from her and looked over at Catherine.

  ‘My turn,’ my mother said in a sing-song tone.

  I wanted to get out of there, but I stayed. This trial was so important to the Avoidables and the angels, but I felt useless. William had told me that I would play a vital role in the mission of bringing the Perfects and Avoidables together, yet here I was sitting in the balcony, not considered important enough to do anything.

  ‘Sandor, you killed people. Does it really matter whether it was Perfects or Avoidables? You are a killer,’ Catherine said, getting in the prisoner’s face.

  ‘So are you,’ Sandor hissed. The room was silent as Catherine smiled gently. ‘You’ve played with Avoidables for fun for years. You’ve killed them just because you’ve felt like it. You try to pretend that you’re all perfect but then your evil side comes out. You have flaws and you deny them. At least we accept each other exactly as we are.’