I smiled sadly. “When no powers showed up at 12, they weren’t too worried. Most people don’t start showing an affinity until 14. But still, I knew they expected it. After all we had the same parents. I had to be special too – that’s just genetics.”
“So what happened?” he asked.
“I was taken away from my peers. I was told to stay inside more. Like I was in a holding cell. Like they were waiting for me to develop and it could happen any day. But months went by – and still, I showed no progress. Nothing. I was about to be labelled a null. I was a disgrace to my family.”
“Then what?”
“Well, what happened was I finally took the test. The APA. I took it early at age 14. Because my father made me. It was like he was trying to prove something – that maybe the test had meaning. And I would do anything he needed.”
“What did the test say?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing? What do you mean nothing?”
“I mean my powers made no register at all. Nothing. I had nothing.”
“But as a null you would have shown at least a 5L or D right?” Dev said.
“I’m telling you I showed nothing. Zero. I didn’t even register on the scale.”
“That’s not possible.” Dev said.
I laughed. “That’s what my father said. But he helped design the test, so it had to be right. If I didn’t register, everything ourwhole society was rated on would cease to exist. Because I defied category. So, he made a deal with Dr Marr.”
Dev stilled. “What kind of deal?”
“Dr Marr and my father were working on a bunch of different serums they believed could kick start someone’s polarity. In a way it would give them a chance to increase or decrease certain levels of light or dark magic. And since I was a zero, I was a clean canvas.”
“So they experimented on you.” Dev looked sick.
“Every week. Like clockwork. I would be injected with one thing or another and they would test me again to check my polarity.”
“He used you as a guinea pig?” Dev looked pale.
“It wasn’t so bad sometimes. Sometimes it would hurt, but I got used to that. My arms were scarred and riddled with needle marks, like I was some kind of junkie. I hated that. I hated the needles. But they would come. Every week. And father would assure me each time – this was the one. The one that would finally fix me.”
“What did the serums do?” Dev asked quietly.
“It wasn’t until the last one that something changed. It was a new formula – something nasty. And when my father injected me with it, something changed.”
“It gave you powers.”
“Not powers, Dev. I have no powers. Not really. I wasn’t lying when I said that. No, all I can do now is take. Energy, lives, whatever. Something in me takes over. It pulls them. It empties people.”
“That’s what you did to the monster.” Dev breathed.
“When I touched him I was flooded with his very essence, as corrupt as it was. When I do what I do – the power sits in my chest, unwelcome and sickening. And I feel the life I have taken like I’m collecting souls. If I don’t expel it, it eats me alive.”
“So you’re a siphon?”
“I guess you could call me that. The truth is I don’t really know what I am now.”
“Does K know?”
“He was there all those years ago when the experiments began. But I don’t know how much he understands. I do know, the moment he caught wind of what was done to me, he ran. He was scared of me Dev. He didn’t want to be around me.”
Dev looked thoughtful. “Why didn’t you tell anyone what your father was doing to you?”
