Alek glared, clenching his hands into fists as he took a step toward the scientist. “Then maybe I should make sure you can’t.”
Dr. Henrick shrugged. “You can do what you want as long as you don’t mind it all falling on Talia. She’ll be between you and some very powerful people. Police. Government workers. People who want you safe from the world and want any information they can glean from your blood. They will find you. They will take you. And she will be left with nothing. She will blame you for everything she lost.”
“She won’t. That won’t happen. I won’t let it,” Alek insisted.
But was Henrick right? Alek didn’t really understand this world. He’d been dependent on Talia. Could he really protect her from the forces that would descend on her to take him away?
Was he being egotistical as he had been in his own time, thinking he could do more than he could, that he was invincible? Maybe he was brought back here to show he wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
Instead of fighting, maybe sometimes the answer was to stand down.
Even if his heart ached at the thought of not seeing Talia again. He didn’t want to let her down.
“Has she even said she loved you? Has she expressed any feelings for you?” Henrick asked, poking at Alek’s last insecurity.
She hadn’t. But Alek hadn’t told her his feelings either. He thought he knew there was something between them, the way she looked into his eyes when they made love.
But he couldn’t be certain.
Perhaps if he talked to her just one more time.
“I can see your hesitation,” Henrick said. “I understand your predicament. But if you wait to see Talia again, you will simply see that she is going to fight for you, even against her own interests. She has always been softhearted. That’s why I left her here instead of taking her on exhibitions. She has a passion for science but also a tendency to get her heart too involved in her work.”
Alek thought that was a good thing, compared to the coldness this Henrick guy had shown.
“Think of it this way,” Henrick said. “If you go with me, you won’t only be saving Talia from a lifetime of running and fear and danger, but you’d also be helping the entire world. With your blood, we could potentially make amazing breakthroughs. We could heal millions, maybe the entire world.”
Alek didn’t know if that was a good thing, but more than anything, he cared for Talia in his heart. Even if she did care for him, he didn’t want to give her a life of danger and problems, knowing that people with more power would eventually catch up.
Besides, what if he couldn’t control his power still and he somehow hurt her one day?
He was glad he had met her. He was glad she had unfrozen his heart and given him a moment to enjoy a world free from the expectations of his father, the memories of his past.
But knowing what he did about his failures, he knew he couldn’t fail again. He couldn’t let other people continue to protect him when it led to them getting hurt.
“My friends… they aren’t special like me. Will they be left alone?”
Henrick nodded eagerly. “If you come with me, there’s no need for them. Besides, with no test results, there is no reason for anyone to seek them.”
If only Alek hadn’t given his blood. But then again, he would have given much more for Talia, and Talia, with her good heart and integrity, would never have believed her mentor would betray her by breaking into her computer the way he had.
Alek let out a sigh, knowing he’d already made his decision. “I’ll go with you. What do I need to do?”
Henrick turned away from him, rummaging in a drawer before pulling out and holding up some kind of needle a little like the one Iris had used.
Alek flinched. “What is that for?”
“It will simply make you sleepy,” Henrick said. “I need you ready for transport. I’ve already decided where to take you, though they have no idea what I’m bringing.” He came over to Alek, and Alek hesitated, then extended his arm.
“You’ll tell Talia I love her and I hope she does well with her work?”
Henrick nodded, sinking the needle under Alek’s skin. Alek didn’t even flinch at it. It was nothing compared to knowing he would be without Talia for the rest of his life.
But Henrick was right. Alek wasn’t normal. People would be after him. He’d seen enough on TV to know that much. Humans weren’t aware of anyone else on their planet and tended to react with force to anything they didn’t understand.
And Alek had no idea when he would again have the powers to protect those in his life.
Maybe he’d never be able to do more than cause flurries and freeze tennis courts. Talia deserved more than that. She deserved someone who could work alongside her. Someone smart and modern like her. Someone who wouldn’t put her in danger.
And Alek deserved to do the right thing for everyone else for once. Just one unselfish act.
He was grateful for the chance at redemption, to pay back his friends for what he’d done in some small way. Thanks to him, everyone could be safe.
And maybe, between experiments, Henrick would let him have updates on Talia.
As he felt the injection take hold and he started to become drowsy, Alek put his hand on Henrick’s shoulder. “Tell Talia I love her. Tell her I just want the best for her and my friends.”
“I will.” Henrick assured him.
And then Alek fell asleep, wondering why his heart wasn’t more peaceful if he was truly doing the right thing.
* * *
Talia paused on the way to the lab when she heard her phone buzz. When she saw it was Chelle, she ducked into the nearest building to answer, praying for info on Alek.
“Did you find him?” Talia asked quickly.
“No,” Chelle said. “But Dmitri and Luka did. They said he’s on his way to the lab now.”
“And he’s okay? He wasn’t acting weird?”
“Um, they didn’t mention anything really. Just said the three of them were fine and wanted to know where you were. I told them you were on your way to the lab. Are you there now?”
“No,” Talia said. “It took me a minute because I wanted to walk back by the forest. Then I checked a few other places as well. I know I wasn’t supposed to, but I was worried about Alek.”
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Chelle chided. “It’s freaking cold.”
Talia looked at the sky, which was still gloomy but clearing. “It’s not as cold now. The snow stopped anyway.”
“Well, go find your man,” Chelle said. “I’ve got to make up enough hot chocolate to unfreeze some cold giants who were kind enough to find him.” Talia could hear the amusement in her friend’s voice.
“He’s not my—”
“Be in denial all you want, but go get him,” Chelle retorted. Then she hung up.
Talia stared at her phone, heart pounding. She was glad that Alek was safe, but she still didn’t know why he’d run from her.
Why he’d looked so pained when she’d talked to him. Why he hadn’t let her come when he was clearly not doing well.
And why had simply telling him about the test results made him anxious?
She wouldn’t know until she talked to him again, so she made her way to the lab as quickly as she could without slipping on the newly fallen snow.
She couldn’t wait to see his face, to confirm for herself that he was okay. But when she reached the door to her lab and saw something was wrong with it, her heart sank.
She ran to her lab and skidded inside. “Alek?”
She stopped when she saw several undergrad students working to close up a large metallic pod that was on top of a rolling table. It was suspiciously Alek-sized.
Dr. Henrick was standing in front of it, a pleased grin on his face. “Talia. It’s nice to see you. You know, you really shouldn’t have meddled in my samples, but I’m grateful you did because we never would have known what we have here otherwise.”
“What do we have?�
�� Talia asked, hoping beyond hope that Alek wasn’t in that pod.
Dr. Henrick put his hand on the metal surface, waving the undergrad students away. When they had left the room, he sighed. “I planned to use this to preserve dead bodies, but it works fine for freezing live ones in solid ice, too.”
Talia let out a cry of shock. “You wouldn’t! Dr. Henrick, he’s a person!”
“Of course he’s a person,” Henrick hissed. “But you’ve seen the blood results. You left your computer on, and I saw them as well. You know as well as I do that he’s anything but normal. The world isn’t going to just let him be.”
She swallowed. She was pretty sure she would never have left her computer on, and she also was beginning to not trust Henrick, given what he’d done to Alek. But it didn’t matter now, because regardless of how it happened, Henrick knew.
And that made it harder for her to protect Alek.
“Don’t worry,” Henrick said. “I explained the situation to Alek. He wanted to go. He said things were getting too complicated.”
Talia bit her cheek, not knowing what to believe anymore. Henrick could be aggressive about science, but she’d never known him to lie. Not to her. She folded her arms. “Why would he want to do this?”
“He said it was too confusing to be here,” Dr. Henrick replied. “Talia, he belongs in a lab, not in the world. He’s hundreds of years old. He could be the find of a century. And it’s best for him to be with people who can keep him safe. Besides, he said the two of you were getting too involved. Tsk-tsk, Talia, falling for a science project.”
She flushed angrily, too caught off guard by the situation to respond. She had just wanted to find Alek, to know he was okay. She hadn’t been expecting to see Henrick or for Henrick to know anything or for Alek to already be frozen in ice.
“He’s not a science project,” Talia said, regaining her voice. “He’s a human, with rights.”
“Is he human, though? You saw his blood,” Henrick said, and Talia couldn’t ignore the gleam of greed in his eyes.
“He’s human in all the ways that matter,” she said.
“And as for rights,” Henrick said. “This is what Alek wanted. You’ve seen him. Do you really think I could have subdued such a man if he didn’t want to go along with my plan?”
Talia eyed short, portly Dr. Henrick. The thought of him or anyone forcing Alek to do anything was laughable. “No, I guess not. Did he… have any message for me?”
Henrick shook his head. “No. He simply said that he wanted to get out of here. That he regretted waking up.”
Talia swallowed, feeling as though her heart had been sliced in half. That didn’t sound like the Alek she had been spending time with. The Alek she knew was cocky and honest and hilarious. He wasn’t the type to just roll over for some higher goal.
And he’d… Well, she’d thought he loved her. The way he’d made love to her. Held her. Protected her. Had she been wrong in having those thoughts?
“You aren’t experienced with men, Talia,” Henrick said, walking over to her and putting a creepy, unwelcome arm over her shoulder in a gesture he probably meant to be comforting. “You don’t know them like I do. Did he get physical with you? Of course he was curious about sexuality in this new world. He’s male, after all.”
She pushed Henrick’s arm away, her heart still stinging while her mind tried to catch up. “Alek isn’t like that.”
“Do you really know that?” Henrick asked. “After only a few days?”
Talia couldn’t push away the uncertainty. She’d thought everything had been wonderful with Alek, but he had run from her in the cab. Something was going on with him, though she didn’t know what.
She crossed to the metal pod, wishing she could see his face there. Somehow, she did know he was inside. And at least, based on his blood, she knew he was fine there. She stroked her fingers over the cold steel.
If this was what he wanted, she could at least go along with Henrick and make sure things didn’t go wrong for Alek.
She would just have to push away everything else in her heart.
“He said he didn’t want you there when he woke up, but I don’t mind if you want to drive with me and make sure he gets there intact. On the way, you can tell me everything you’ve observed about your friend.”
He didn’t even want to see her? She supposed that made sense, since he hadn’t even said good-bye.
Talia watched as Dr. Henrick began pulling the pod toward the lab door, ready to take it outside.
“Now hurry up and help. I’ve already contacted my friends at Harvard Medical, and it’s a several-hour drive there, right through the snow. And chin up. You’re about to be famous.”
She blinked at him, still in shock and not really caring about anything he said. The past few wonderful days were over, and for some reason, Alek had abandoned her to go back into ice.
Did he even understand how people were going to treat him? Not that it was her place to protect him anymore now that he’d made the decision to go with Dr. Henrick instead.
Still, she could at least go with him to his next destination and try to make sure he was safe. And argue for fair treatment for him.
So she helped Dr. Henrick get Alek’s pod loaded, but as her mentor went on and on about his amazing discovery and the money and fame that would come with it, all Talia could feel was ice in her heart.
It felt as though the cold Alek had left with her would never end.
Chapter 19
Light snow fell from the sky, blurring past the van, as night fell on their way to see Dr. Henrick’s contacts. Small towns and rest stops disappeared into a blur of endless forest, looming ominously around them, a mass of leafless, tangled brown branches stretching on forever.
“Can’t you just see it? Me, the keynote speaker at every conference. Everyone will know my name,” Dr. Henrick said, muttering to himself, the van’s headlights peering into the increasingly colder darkness before them.
But Talia couldn’t shake the incredible uneasiness in her stomach that had been there since she’d walked into the lab. Slowly, her entire chest had become a knot of pain and uncertainty.
Nothing about this whole situation made sense. Why had Alek chosen to make this decision without her?
What was Dr. Henrick not telling her?
She knew she couldn’t fully trust her mentor, even early on during her work. But with Alek asleep, frozen, in the back, she had no way of dispelling her suspicions.
The van hit a bump, making the whole thing jolt for a minute as they sped toward Henrick’s promises of fame and fortune. At least for himself.
But Talia didn’t care about any of it. Not the money. Not the acclaim. Not the notoriety. Especially not the notoriety.
Everything she’d wanted was behind her now, literally.
But even if there was academic value in the secret of what Alek was, even if somehow science or society could harness whatever special powers he had for use by the greater good, this wasn’t ethical. It flew in the face of her values to sacrifice someone’s future, their livelihood, their wants and needs and hopes just so others could selfishly benefit.
The last glow of purplish red slowly faded over the horizon, washing them in total blue darkness. Around them, the tendrils of aged oaks and spruces passing by reached out to catch them, the silent road before a looming maw of black.
Talia rubbed her arms, feeling cold inside and out.
No. She wasn’t going to stand by and do nothing.
Even if Alek wanted this. Even if all the horrible things Dr. Henrick had said were true—about her, about Alek, about them—she couldn’t stand idly by and just let things happen anymore.
Not until she made sure Alek understood exactly what he was signing up for.
Alek deserved a second shot at life. Not to be rudely awoken from his past to be poked and prodded and experimented on.
“You’re being awful silent over there, Talia. Granted, you were never much good at conve
rsation, but this is downright dull,” Dr. Henrick muttered, peering at her from behind his glasses.
Then something just snapped in Talia.
Without warning, she reached over and grabbed the steering wheel, trying to force them to pull over.
“What are you doing? Stop it!” Dr. Henrick yelled, trying to push her off. But her grip was iron, and as she yanked the wheel, Henrick slammed the brake pedal. The brakes squealed in agony from the effort, causing the van to skid back then forth.
Talia held on, fighting the vehicle’s urge to flip. Then, with a jerk, the van careened left, off the road.
It leapt over the edge where asphalt met dirt and snow, thumping as the uneven ground rattled the entire vehicle. Then, before she could do anything else, they plowed into a heavy snow embankment ten or so meters off the side, forcing them to an abrupt stop that jolted her body from the inside out.
There was an eerie silence for a moment as everything seemed to spin around her. Next to her, Dr. Henrick just stared blankly forward, heaving great breaths in sheer shock.
But she had no time to lose. Gradually, as her vision cleared, Talia regained the strength to undo her buckle and push the heavy passenger door open, making her way to the back of the truck.
Alek, I’m coming to get you. The thick snow made walking difficult, and she trudged as fast as she could, avoiding branches from the forest around her. With no other traffic on the quiet roads, only the residual light from the van’s headlamps gave her the ability to make her way.
When she reached the double doors at the back, she tugged at the handle. It wouldn’t give, and she heaved with all her might, begging for it to open.
“Talia? Talia!” Henrick’s voice called out from the other side of the van.
Trying one last time, the door flew open, followed by the other. Inside, the pod that held Alek appeared unharmed, secured safely to the bed of the van with a number of mechanisms.
She had to free him immediately.
Talia leaned forward to undo one of the heavy canvas straps on the side, when suddenly a hand grasped hers, yanking her away from her goal.
“Stop that. What are you doing?” Henrick’s face was grim, appraising her with disbelief.
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