Nicky and Franklin(part 2)
Dinner came to an end in a strange, ringing silence. Nicky felt odd: the fullness in his stomach conflicted with the anxiety in his chest. Franklin rose first; his movements were fluid, almost silent. He did not summon the guards or the drones; he simply stepped forward, gesturing for Nicky to follow him.
They walked through the endless steel corridors of Robotropolis. Nicky stared at Franklin’s back, at his gaunt silhouette, thinking about the bizarre trap he had fallen into. This dimension was not Earth—at least, not the one Nicky knew. Here, the sky was scorched by industry, and reality itself felt like a mass of software code and rusted iron.
"Not... Earth?" Enzo muttered.
He was slightly unsettled by hearing the thoughts of the people on the screen. It felt like an invasion of privacy. But... that was a strange way to put it.
"A dimension?" Ivan raised an eyebrow.
April, like her son, frowned. The wording used by the future Nicky seemed strange: "not the one he knew," "was not Earth." It was as if this Robotropolis wasn't even in their... world, let alone on their planet.
But was that possible? The multiverse hypothesis was just that—a hypothesis. The existence of other dimensions was an unconfirmed phenomenon.
"Um... I take it the killer has lost his mind a bit?" Collin Jones asked aloud.
Nicky flinched slightly in his seat. He knew they were talking about him. They spoke as if he had already killed someone.
Would he really do it? Would he become the psycho everyone thought he was? Would he risk his parents' reputation? In Raven Brooks, everyone knew everyone. Everyone would see them as the parents of a murderer who failed to raise a normal son.
"Don't call him that," Maritza hissed, turning her head.
"Yeah. Nicky might be... strange. But he’s no killer," Ivan supported.
April frowned hearing her son’s words. She didn't want him hanging around this boy if everything being said was true.
"At least, not yet..." Jake Louise rolled his eyes.
No one responded to that.
Nicky felt hundreds of gazes pressing against his back. People were looking at him... with suspicion. With fear. With hatred.
Even Mya seemed to pull away slightly; she was no longer holding his hand. Though she sat beside him and disagreed with the crowd, he felt the lack of support.
"You want to ask how I created this world," Franklin said without turning around, as if reading his mind.
"But knowledge is currency, Nicholas. Let us save that conversation for the day when you are ready to offer me something in return. Your trust, for example."
Nicky frowned, clenching his fists. Trust? After everything?
They stopped before a door that stood out from the monotonous row. It wasn't cold and gray. It was yellow. Bright yellow, triggering a painful sense of déjà vu.
Nicky froze, staring at the signs attached to the inside of the door—he saw them when Franklin hospitably opened the way. A cardboard "STOP" sign, blue paper with a hand-drawn white gear, a brown sheet with "DO NOT ENTER" written on it. Nicky felt a lump in his throat. He had made those signs himself. And he, in his foolishness, had hung them on the inside instead of the outside, making them useless for "protection" against uninvited guests.
When the yellow door appeared on the screen, a silence so profound fell over the hall that one could hear heartbeats.
Nicky, in the front row, stopped breathing. He recognized those signs. "STOP." "DO NOT ENTER." His own stupid mistakes, nailed to the inside of the door. His little secrets, his sanctuary.
"...That's my door," he whispered, surprising Mya and Aaron.
"Wait... what?!" Mya cried out.
Nicky’s thoughts from the screen only confirmed it. This was a door identical to the one in the Roths' house. The one leading to Nicky’s own room.
"He couldn't have... moved his room to that place, could he?" Trinity asked aloud.
"Given his strange physique, I doubt he's an ordinary human," Lucy replied.
That guy... he terrified her. Instinctively, as if he were connected to something involving her, and... it was scary. She had never seen him before. Never...
"Um... with all due respect, Lu... Lucy," Ivan stammered.
God. His old friend, who had vanished during a lightning strike right before his eyes, was now sitting in the same row as him, albeit at the end. And she was alive... even though she had been considered dead for years.
"Magic isn't real," he finally finished.
Delroy decided to tease the nerd from his seat:
"Nah. I’m sure this guy puts on his suit and then wanders through the woods at night, looking for kids like you to eat. Half-raven monster vibes," he chuckled, and his joke had an effect on most of the teenagers.
Ivan cringed, imagining the situation.
"AAAA! MOM! MOM!" he screamed, lunging from his seat toward the second row.
Well... he tried. Before hitting the barrier and falling back into his seat.
"Oh god, Ivan..." Maritza shook her head, supporting her friend.
April turned red from her seat. Yes... her son loved her dearly. And he was quite the coward. Though she liked the attention. Ever since her husband left them, Ivan had renounced his father forever and followed his mother’s path entirely, wanting to become as smart as her.
"What is this?.." he breathed, stepping over the threshold.
It was his room. Exactly. Instead of oppressive metal—warm wooden walls. To the left of the window was his bed, with a poster of a video game hero hanging above it. To the right—a guitar, the symbol of his rocker ambitions. On a small table in the corner lay books and scattered sketches—his drawings, which he kept so carefully.
By the entrance stood the same nightstand with the toy spaceship and UFO. Above them hung the poster of frightened people looking at the sky.
"How?.." Nicky turned to Franklin, his voice trembling. "Did you steal it? Did you move it from another timeline?"
"Moved it from another timeline?" Murtaugh wondered.
More and more hints suggested that in the future, Nicky, at least, would learn about the existence of a multiverse. But was it really so? Or did Roth just make it up? Did only he know? Or a dozen people? Or everyone? Could they travel between worlds then? So many questions, and no answers.
"It’s... it’s impossible," Luanne Roth whispered, her voice breaking. She covered her mouth with her hand, staring at the exact replica of her son’s room. "How could he recreate everything down to the smallest detail? Down to the smell?"
Jay Roth sat gripping the armrests. His face had turned from confused to deathly pale.
"He wasn't just watching us, Lu," he rasped. "He was studying him. Every speck of dust. Every drawing. This Franklin... he is obsessed with our son."
Miguel nodded to his friend: "I agree, buddy. And it’s terrifying. I think we should go to the authorities for help and bring this to light."
Amanda coughed, drawing everyone’s attention: "Um, dear. I think everyone in town knows about this by now. Including the authorities," she pointed out.
"This entity kidnapped every single resident. No exceptions," Luanne muttered.
And none of the authorities will help us... Jay thought. He and Luanne knew why. A significant portion of the authorities actually served this Franklin.
Among the students, a whisper rose, filled with both envy and horror.
"Wow," Seth Jetkins breathed. "This Raven built him a whole paradise in the middle of hell. I don't even have a decent TV in my room, and here—a personal dimension."
"It’s not paradise, you idiot," Maritza snapped, though her eyes shimmered with tears. "It’s a museum display case. Look at Nicky’s face! He looks like he’s about to throw up."
Nicky did indeed feel nauseous. Seeing his bed on the screen, knowing that the Raven-Man was touching his things with those clawed fingers... it was worse than if Franklin had hit him.
He got inside my head, Nicky thought, feeling a chill crawl down his spine. He knows which poster hangs above my head. He knows I only feel safe there.
Trinity grimaced seeing this. Just... how? How could someone recreate a room so perfectly? Was this Franklin a stalker? It was some kind of obsession...
Franklin stood in the doorway, half-hidden by the shadow of the corridor. He looked almost sad, if that word could even be applied to the Raven-Man.
"My robots can recreate the structure of an atom if they have the blueprints," he replied calmly. "And in my head, I have very clear blueprints of everything dear to you, Nicky. I wanted you to have a place in this cold world where you wouldn't feel like a stranger. Where you can fall asleep without fearing the walls are closing in on you."
"Okay... that’s innovative," Ivan muttered.
"But creepy?" Enzo raised an eyebrow.
"But creepy," Torre nodded.
Aaron grimaced, watching as his apparently-uncle spoke to Nicky as if the boy were his own son.
"What the hell is going to happen in the future..." he muttered.
Franklin knew about Nicky's claustrophobia. Since he spoke of closing walls... that meant he could have been watching Nicky. How could he have known? Nicky didn't keep a diary where he wrote down his fears and phobias.
"Very clear blueprints of everything dear to you... the boy is in clear danger," Quentin said.
Maybe it would be a good idea to help him? He was Jay’s son, regardless of what the screen said. And if his colleague’s son was in danger, Quentin felt obligated to intervene.
Nicky walked to the table and touched one of the drawings. The paper felt real. The pencil strokes were his own. It wasn't just a room—it was Franklin's attempt to buy his feelings, to create an illusion of safety.
"The window, of course, does not show Raven Brooks," Franklin made a slight gesture toward the curtained opening. "But it is protected from external sounds. Here, you will not hear the factories working."
Nicky sat on the bed. The springs creaked exactly as they had in his childhood. It was both terrifying and comforting.
"Why are you trying so hard?" Nicky asked without looking up. "You know I'll leave anyway, as soon as I learn to control... this. To my friends. To my parents."
Luanne exhaled in relief. Nicky hadn't lost them. He still loved them. And he intended to return after this.
So he only came because Franklin could help him with something. Of course, it was Franklin. Но her boy at least hadn't lost his way.
"Is this guy... a psychiatrist?" Finch muttered.
"I doubt it. He’d be the last person I’d go to," Delroy chimed in.
Trinity snorted: "I don't think it's that simple. This wording... something mystical is clearly happening."
Ivan jumped from his seat: "I'm telling you! Magic isn't real!"
"Um... this guy literally copied Nicky’s room. I doubt that's the only thing that will be out of the ordinary," Aaron muttered.
"But he did it by recreating atomic structure. That’s science. Not magic," Ivan insisted.
Franklin was silent for a long time before answering. His voice grew quieter, stripped of all arrogance.
"Because I know what it’s like—when your home turns into a prison, and your loved ones into strangers. I don't want you to hate this place, Nicky. Rest. Shadow energy requires a calm mind. If you need anything... just call. I will hear you. Remember... Petersons stick together."
"You understand the point."
Theodore Peterson stared at the screen with an expression that was impossible to decipher. But when Franklin on the screen said, "I know what it’s like—when your home turns into a prison, and your loved ones into strangers" and "Petersons stick together," the neighbor shuddered.
"You’re lying..." Theodore whispered, addressing the image of his brother. "You’re using my pain to lure him in. You never cared about home."
Diane, sitting next to him, touched her husband’s hand for the first time. But Theodore didn't feel it. He saw his brother—the man he thought was dead—showing more "tenderness" to the Roths' son than he had ever shown to his own.
"Okay... so he officially considers Nicky his son? Or something like that..." Reuben asked.
"What did you expect? He’s a Peterson. They’re all psychos like that," Jasmine replied.
"Nicky isn’t a Peterson," Trinity spoke up.
"But he’s clearly on their level," Finch shrugged.
Nicky clenched his fists. He wanted to punch each of their faces a couple of times, but someone beat him to it.
"Repeat that..." Aaron muttered. Quietly, but loud enough for everyone around to hear.
Finch swallowed, realizing Aaron was right there.
"Well? I’m waiting... I didn't quite hear you," he yawned.
Jasmine shifted slightly in her seat. Reuben swallowed, beginning to shake. They knew the barriers would protect them. But something about Aaron... was terrifying. Specifically, they were haunted by the memory of what happened to Seth about two years ago when he started mocking the brunette, and Aaron broke his jaw in a rage with a single punch.
Nicky sighed in relief. Aaron always knew how to do that. To stand up. To intimidate. It felt good.
"Nice one, bro," Mya nodded.
Aaron turned to her. His eyes widened, his eyebrows rose, and his face depicted horror and... nervousness. Without a word, the boy returned his gaze to the screen.
Franklin slowly closed the yellow door, leaving Nicky alone with his memories, recreated from digital ash. Nicky lay on the bed, staring at the UFO poster. He was fifteen years old, in another dimension, a guest of his arch-enemy, and for the first time in a long while, he didn't want to run.
“He caught us in a golden cage...” rasped the voice of the Thing in the corner of the room, where the shadows seemed thicker. “But here... it’s soft here, isn't it, Nicholas?”
Nicky closed his eyes, trying to drown out the voice.
"It’s talking to him," Ivan Torre feverishly wrote something in an imaginary notebook. "This entity... it’s not just in him. It’s alive. And it agrees with Franklin."
"Of course it agrees!" Trinity shouted, jumping up. "They both need Nicky to relax! To stop fighting! Franklin gives him a soft bed, and the Shadow gives him peace. It’s a trap! Nicky, don't close your eyes!"
Nicky in reality flinched at her cry. He looked at Trinity—the new girl he barely knew, but who was now defending him more fiercely than his old friends.
"Well... isn't it just his schizophrenia? So it agrees with Franklin because the weirdo agrees with him. No?" Delroy shrugged.
Lucy frowned: "Stop talking as if mental illness makes you abnormal."
"Is it not? It’s not normal," Seth rolled his eyes.
"She doesn't mean it like that. And that’s not how schizophrenia works," Enzo muttered.
Someone else was occupied...
"He’ll break him," Aaron said quietly, looking at the floor. "If Nicky accepts this room... he’ll accept Franklin. And then Franklin will try to make him forget everything else."
Nicky turned to his best friend, his lips trembling.
"I won't forget," he whispered. "I’ll never forget any of you, Aaron. You know that, right?"
Aaron shot him a look, and sighing, he nodded. "Yeah... even when you probably should."
Franklin stood on a small ledge, arms crossed over his chest. His cloak billowed slightly from shockwaves. This forest—a pathetic imitation of nature, a graveyard of deadwood and gray dust—had become the perfect testing ground. Here, nothing distracted from the pure kinetics of combat.
"Where is this? What’s happening?" shouts were heard. "Why are we here?"
But no one had time to answer.
A cyan streak flashed across the screen, so fast the eye could barely track it. Again and again. Shockwaves shattered dry trees into splinters, and the ground beneath Franklin’s feet trembled.
"Is that... is that a robot?" Seth muttered, leaning forward. "Some kind of new drone? Look at how it slices through the air! It’s breaking the sound barrier!"
Franklin’s eyes, bright green and unnaturally keen, tracked every micro-movement of the creature. The screen seemed to slow down for everyone, finally allowing them to see who it was...
His hair sparkled, his eyes glowed with pure neon light, and his jacket smoked from the friction of the air. To the ordinary eye, Nicky had turned into a blurred blue line, a series of electrical discharges that crackled as they tore through the stale air. "Lightning Boost" was working at its limit: the boy was literally balancing on the edge of the sound barrier.
The silence in the hall was absolute. People forgot how to breathe.
"Is that... me?" Nicky’s real-world voice sounded like the rustle of dry grass.
His jaw literally dropped. He stared at his on-screen self as if seeing a ghost.
Ivan Torre jumped up so sharply his glasses slid to the tip of his nose. He wasn't just surprised—his worldview, built on physics textbooks, had just burned in a blue flame.
"This... this..." he gasped, trying to find words. "Nicky! Do you realize what you did?! You didn't just run; you tore the air density! Where does the energy for ionization come from?! Your cells should have burned out!"
He looked at Nicky as if he were an alien dissecting his brain.
"This isn't technology..." Ivan whispered, his voice a battle between admiration and horror. "This is magic clothed in the form of electricity. Or an evolution we aren't ready for."
"Is that... are those special effects?" Seth Jetkins was the first to speak, but his voice cracked. "Tell me it’s movie tricks. A person can't move like that."
"It’s not tricks," Murtaugh cut in. The biologist inside him was in horror and delight simultaneously. "Did you see how the air molecules around him ionized? Ivan is right. This is pure energy. Nicky... my boy... what are you turning into?"
People looked at the kid in the front row as if lightning were already rolling under his skin. He sat gripping the armrests so hard his knuckles turned white. He looked at his palms, expecting blue light to burst out at any moment.
"I’m... I’m a superhero?" he whispered, his voice a mix of delight and raw, primal fear.
"A hero?" Amelia Sato, Finch’s mother, cried out. "Did you see what you did to that forest?! You turned the woods to dust! You’re no hero; you’re a walking bomb!"
"Now it’s clear why Franklin fusses over him so much," Quentin muttered, quickly scribbling in his notebook. "He doesn't need an heir. He needs an enforcer. A private army in one person."
Mya and Aaron involuntarily moved away. Even if they wanted to support their friend, the instinct for self-preservation screamed: "DANGER!".
"Nicky, do you... do you feel it now?" Mya asked cautiously. "You know, sparks or heat?"
"No! I don't feel anything!" Nicky snapped, jumping from his seat. "I’m ordinary! I just climb fences and steal binoculars! I can't move faster than sound and create shockwaves."
Luanne and Jay looked at each other. Their son... would be able to do such things? It seemed like a miracle. They were immediately overcome by relief—if their son was in danger, he could likely get himself out. But that feeling was quickly replaced by fear. How did he get these powers? Was it painful to use them? Did it have side effects?
"Faster, Nicholas," Franklin whispered almost inaudibly, a shadow of pride playing on his lips. "Your body is capable of more if you stop pitying it."
"Pitying?!" April Torre shrieked, clutching her head. "He just moved at three hundred and forty meters per second! A human body should have turned into mincemeat from those g-forces!"
Nicky was magnificent in his frenzy. He wasn't just fighting—he was calculating trajectories. From his shoulder blades, right through the scorched fabric of his jacket, two massive, semi-transparent energy claws burst out with a crackle. They were clawed, blue, and pulsed in time with his heart. Nicky swung them, and they swirled around him in a mad whirlwind, creating an impenetrable defense—the "Energy Guard."
As the attack swirled around him, reflecting laser blasts back into the machines' lenses, Franklin nodded with satisfaction. Nicky was learning to use the enemy’s strength against them—a trait Franklin valued above all else.
"Oh... my... god..." Trinity broke into a sweat. She looked at those spectral hands Nicky used as extra limbs. "This isn't technology anymore. This is... monstrous."
"Hands of light grew out of him..." Finch muttered, her face contorted with horror. "He’s not human. He’s a monster! Do you see?! He’s a mutant!"
Someone among the women in the back rows fainted.
"Is that his soul?!" Maritza screamed, covering her mouth. "Or is the Thing manifesting like that?"
"It’s the 'Energy Guard'," Aaron said, his calmness amidst the general madness being terrifying. "Franklin called it that. It’s protection. But look at those claws... they are made to tear steel. And not just steel."
While most trembled, Valeria Abanante and a few others from the "Forest Protectors" looked at the screen with a different gaze. There was no fear in their eyes—only cold calculation.
A power source... Valeria thought, feverishly rubbing her fingers together. If this pulse is part of his DNA, then Nicky is the most valuable resource on the planet. Whoever controls the boy controls energy capable of powering cities. Or destroying them.
She glanced at Nicky. Now, he wasn't a "troubled student" to her. He was a jackpot.
Nicky vanished. Again. But now it wasn't just a streak. A phantom rush caused the space to "explode" with dozens of images of Roth. The robots, whose processors couldn't keep up with such speed, fired into the void, at the residual glow, while the real Nicky was already punching through their titanium hulls with concentrated lightning strikes.
People began pressing into their seats. Apprehension had turned into animal fear.
"Franklin..." Jay Roth whispered, watching as the Raven-Man calmly followed his son’s mad movements with his eyes. "He’s not even blinking. He sees every movement. How strong is he, if Nicky is just a student to him?"
But the most interesting part began when Nicky soared upward. Franklin leaned forward, narrowing his pupils. He saw Nicky forming the "Fear Attack." A blue sphere pulsed in his palms, pure and bright like a cloudless sky... and suddenly, for a split second, its core turned a thick, poisonous purple. The shadow of the Thing touched the energy, trying to sprout through it.
Nicky cried out—not from pain, but from effort—and suppressed the surge. The sphere became blue again, but Franklin had already seen what he wanted. The potential was colossal. The Thing didn't just coexist with him; it was ready to resonate with his every attack.
"Look at his face!" Mya shouted. "He’s in pain! He doesn't want this!"
But the crowd could no longer be stopped.
"I don't care if he's in pain or not!" Delroy yelled. "Did you see what he did to the forest? One such 'surge'—and only ashes will remain of our Raven Brooks!"
"We have to do something about him now!" Mayor Tavish’s voice thundered through the hall. "Before he grows up! Before he learns to summon those... claws!"
Nicky in reality shrank back. He saw more than just dislike in their eyes. He saw a sentence. They looked at him like a monster that needed to be put down before it woke up.
"It all makes sense now!" Ruben Smith shouted, his face twisted with envy and fear. "That’s how he killed that wolf! He just fried it in a second! And Adelle? Maybe he just miscalculated his strength and evaporated her?!"
"Does everyone possess this?" Quentin asked, his journalistic mind feverishly searching for clues. "If in the future every teenager can break the sound barrier, then that’s war. And if it's only Nicky... then he’s an experiment. Whose experiment, Jay? Do you know?!"
Jay Roth didn't answer; he only hugged Luanne tighter, feeling dozens of suspicious eyes directed at him.
Theodore looked at the screen with a strange expression—it wasn't hatred, but... recognition?
"So that’s what you became... are you really one of..." he said quietly. "No... the it is with me. He couldn't..."
Aaron looked at his friend with unhidden pain. He understood Franklin’s words: "Your friends will fear your gift."
"Nicky..." he called out, but Nicky didn't even turn. Aaron saw that the whole hall—all the neighbors and acquaintances—now looked at Nicky not as a neighbor, but as an exotic and dangerous animal.
The beam of the "Fear Attack" slammed into the remnants of the robots like divine wrath. The earth shook; nearby dry trees simply crumbled into dust from the pressure. The explosion sent a pillar of dust and soot into the air, hiding Nicky’s figure.
As the dust began to settle, Franklin jumped down from the ledge. His feet touched the scorched earth softly. Nicky stood in the center of the crater, breathing heavily. His hair still glowed blue, and faint sparks ran down his arms, but he looked exhausted. His jacket was singed, and a fresh scratch graced his cheek.
When the on-screen Nicky delivered the final blow, a real shockwave swept through the hall—not physical, but mental. People literally pressed into their chairs when they saw the earth turn into a molten crater.
Ivan feverishly rubbed his temples, trying to process what he had seen.
"This... this isn't just an energy discharge," he muttered so quietly only those nearby heard. "He changed the molecular structure of the air. He created a vacuum clap of such force that trees crumbled into dust. Nicky... you aren't just 'strong' in the future. You are a walking singularity."
Enzo, sitting next to him, nodded silently. This... was terrible. Terribly destructive, to be precise.
Maritza breathed heavily. The actions on the screen had frightened the girl. Her friend was tearing through metal robots as if they were made of cardboard.
Enzo grabbed his head. His brain refused to process the image.
"This... it’s not magic, it’s high-order physics!" he shouted, almost hitting an ultrasonic pitch. "But Nicky! You... you can't even do 30 pull-ups! We played console yesterday, and you complained about a blister! Where did THIS come from?!"
Enzo looked at his friend in the front row. Nicky sat there, slumped in his t-shirt, looking like the most ordinary guy from Raven Brooks. And that scared Enzo most of all. Between "our Nicky" and "that Nicky" lay an abyss filled with lightning.
"Too much control, Nicholas," Franklin approached him, ignoring the smoking wreckage of the robots. "Did you see it? That purple flash?"
Nicky raised a heavy gaze to him. His brown eyes still shimmered blue.
"I suppressed it," he answered hoarsely, wiping sweat from his forehead. "I didn't let it out."
Franklin stopped a few steps away and slowly shook his head.
"That is your mistake. You waste half your strength fighting what is inside you. Imagine the power of that explosion if you had allowed the Shadow to merge with the Lightning. You wouldn't have just destroyed those tin cans; you would have evaporated them."
Nicky straightened up, his gaze turning cold.
"And turn into what you want to see? A monster that doesn't distinguish friends from enemies?"
Franklin laughed—quietly and almost kindly.
"You still fear labels. Monster, hero... those are words for those who do not understand the nature of power. You are my student, and today you took a giant step."
He reached out, and a small sphere of dark energy materialized in his palm. It wasn't frightening; it beckoned with its calm, deep color.
"Rest. Your body is overheated. Но tomorrow... tomorrow we will try not to suppress the purple color. We will try to negotiate with it."
Nicky looked at Franklin’s hand, then at the destruction he himself had just caused. He hated to admit it, but that second when the energy turned purple... he had felt truly omnipotent. And that taste of power scared him more than all the robots in Robotropolis.
"Let’s go to the citadel," Nicky said dryly, deactivating the "Lightning Augmentation." "I’m hungry. And I won't train tomorrow unless you tell me more about how this pulse works."
Franklin smiled contentedly, falling into step beside him.
"Agreed, Nicholas. I will tell you everything you want to know... over dinner."
A real roar broke out among the adults. If they had doubted before, the fear was now tangible.
"Did you hear that?!" Finch shrieked, pointing a finger at Nicky, who was frozen in the front row. "He 'suppressed' it! He could have evaporated everything if he hadn't held back! Do you realize what he’ll do to our houses when he’s in a bad mood?!"
"And this Raven?" Delroy spoke up, his usually cocky face now pale. "He’s teaching him to 'negotiate' with the shadow. He’s raising a monster! Now it’s clear how he killed that wolf... he probably just burned it with a glance!"
Luanne and Jay Roth sat paralyzed with horror. They saw their son on the screen breathing heavily, standing in the center of destruction.
"He looks so... lonely," Luanne whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks. "He’s in pain, Jay. He’s fighting himself, and that monster is pushing him to the edge."
Mya couldn't take it and turned sharply to Nicky in reality.
"Nicky, look at me!" she shouted, ignoring the barrier. "Do you hear? Don't agree! On the screen, you’re going to dinner with him, you’re asking about that pulse... don't let him get inside your head!"
Aaron remained silent. He looked at Franklin. He saw that "kind" smile of his uncle and understood: Franklin had already won. He gave Nicky the power he had always secretly craved while being an outcast. And now he was selling him answers for "dinner."
Though he hoped Nicky would have the will to resist the temptation.
Nicky in reality felt as though he were on trial before the whole world. He felt the gazes—greedy, terrified, hateful.
"He agreed!" Reuben Smith breathed. "He’s going with him to eat! He’s selling us out for a bowl of soup and a lecture on the 'pulse'!"
"He’s not selling out, he’s surviving!" Trinity yelled fiercely, jumping up. "Don't you see? He’s alone against a whole city of robots! What’s he supposed to do—die in that forest?!"
"All of you..." Nicky rasped, finally lifting his head. "You only see the explosion. But did none of you notice that I said 'no'? That I didn't want to let the Shadow out?"
"For now, Roth!" Seth Jetkins shouted. "But on the screen, you’re already following him, wagging your tail because you’re 'hungry' and you want to know more about your superpowers! You’ve already sold out!"
Nicky in reality closed his eyes. He felt the walls of the hall closing in on him. On the screen, he had the power to protect himself. Here, in reality, he had nothing—only the hatred of his neighbors and a ringing void inside.
