Mia, Lexa and Mars were scattered around the room in various positions. For one heart-clenching moment, I thought they were dead. A quick empathic probe revealed that they were only sleeping. Lexa let out a sharp snore but didn’t stir, not even when Cash nudged her gently with his foot.
Cash looked up at me, but I was focused on something else, my senses wandering through the suite, hunting for Dozer's emotional signature. I found it emanating from one of the bedrooms. Dozer’s fury was glowing brightly, acting as a beacon.
“Over here,” I breathed, and Cash followed close behind.
I stepped into the bedroom and gasped. Jason was slumped against a wall, only half conscious and barely able to move. Blood was dripping from his nose and his right eye was blackened, nearly swollen shut.
Dozer was standing over him wielding the wooden leg of a broken chair. He raised it in the air and brought it down on Jason. He hit him once, twice, three times as we watched, too stunned to move. Then Jason’s eyes slid away from Dozer and met mine. Though they were unfocused, I felt every ounce of what he was feeling. My paralysis broke and I yelled Dozer’s name. Cash rushed forward too, grabbing Dozer’s wrist just as he was about to swing again, stilling his rage. At first Dozer struggled, spitting fury at Jason, but Cash pulled him away. Dozer stopped as though all the energy had been let out of him. Shaking, he dropped the chair leg and ran his hands through his hair as Cash murmured quietly to him, bringing him back down.
Headset came running straight through the wall of the next room and ran to Dozer, who knelt down and hugged him.
“Good job hiding, kid,” Dozer told Headset.
“You were just like Thor, Dozer!” Headset said, clearly in awe.
I turned away from them and faced Jason, and then stepped cautiously toward him.
As he slowly tipped his face up to look at me, I regarded him silently. Other than the wounds that Dozer had inflicted upon him, Jason just looked wrong. His skin was sickly, graying and sweating. His eyes were bloodshot, and a jaundiced film turned his blue irises a muddy green.
“Liv, I—”
My power snapped out, striking him across the face, effectively cutting him off. His head lolled on his shoulders as though he’d been drugged. He hadn’t even flinched.
“Don't,” I warned. I glanced back at Cash and Dozer. “Let’s go,” I said quietly.
As we were leaving, we passed by the others, who were just beginning to wake up. Lexa was groaning and Mars was struggling to lift his head. My gaze slid to Mia as she sat up. I noticed the deep scratches on her face.
"Now the outside matches the inside," I said bitterly.
Her expression immediately darkened and she raised her hand. The spark of a flame came to life in her palm. I instantly flung them all against the wall, my power pressing down on them. Mia’s flames smothered. They all struggled against me, but I clamped down on their throats, letting the pressure build.
“Liv—” Lexa wheezed, trying to plead with me.
“If any of you ever try to hurt my family again, I’ll come back and finish what Dozer started.”
I met each of their gazes steadily and as I got to Mia, I saw tears in her eyes. I didn’t have time to imagine why she was crying because, in the blink of an eye, they all disappeared. One minute they were there, and the next we were somewhere else entirely. Or at least I was.
I was suddenly standing at the edge of a desert cliff, peering out over an infinitely dark chasm; it was too black around me to be night, with not a single star shining. I whipped around and found that I was alone. Cash, Dozer and Headset were gone.
“Cash?” I called out, but there was no response.
Something prickly touched at my wrist and I looked down to see a large black spider slowly crawling up my arm. Horrified, I batted it away. Another telltale tickle kissed the back of my neck and I gasped, knocking away another spider. Yet another was clinging to the legs of my pants, and no sooner had I kicked it off, did another one slip over my hip, climbing north to my hammering heart.
My breath was leaving me in rapid, shallow hitches. I didn’t understand what was happening, how I’d gotten there. No matter how many times I threw the spiders off of me, more took their place.
“I think that’s more than enough, Liv.” Lux’s voice echoed all around me, echoing in my brain. Suddenly, it all made sense. None of it was real. I slowed my breathing and tried to focus my mind.
“What the hell are you two doing?” I demanded, shoving off another spider. I tried to search for their specific locations around me, but their glamour was somehow confusing my emotional radar. They were everywhere and nowhere all at once.
“Honestly, I’m getting sick of your whining,” Nyx said with a scoff.
As though to punctuate her hatred of me, the spiders doubled in size. Now I could see their eyes, like tiny gleaming gems. They snapped their pincers menacingly at me. I closed my eyes, concentrating on my breathing.
The more I focused, the more I could feel the twins. Lux's smugness and Nyx's sick satisfaction came shining through. I could sense Cash, Dozer and Headset too. They were close and nervous, but not afraid. They must have also realized it was an illusion too.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked.
“We've decided to help them take down the ACT facility,” Lux admitted surprisingly.
A sneer curled on my lips. “I thought you weren’t afraid of ACT,” I taunted.
"Careful, Liv,” Nyx began. “You of all people know what I can do, Liv. How easily I could put you back in that lighthouse at the bottom of the ocean."
I swallowed hard and grit my teeth. The mere thought of the water rising made my knees weak, and my heart race, but I clenched my hands into tight fists and stood my ground.
“Nyx and I have decided that it’s in our best interest to get rid of this Devereaux character you all are so afraid of. We can’t enjoy our lives if there’s someone out there that can see through our glamour, can we?”
I felt them receding, getting further away. The hold they had over me was slipping.
“You’re making a huge mistake,” I whispered.
I could sense their collective grins.
“Goodbye, Liv,” Lux replied, sounding amused. Then they were gone and their glamour lifted from me. I was back in the suite at the Islander. Cash and Dozer were next to me, frantically brushing off their bodies. Thankfully, Headset seemed unaffected.
Looking around, I sighed. The Hawthorn Anomalies were gone and so were the twins.
"Did you hear all of that?" I asked Cash and Dozer. They nodded.
"Idiots." Dozer shook his head. "We can't stop them. I say we get out of here before the fallout of their plan hits us too."
Cash and I agreed.
Headset tugged on Cash's pants. “Is my sister okay?”
Cash took his hand. “She's alright, buddy. Let’s get back and you can see for yourself.”
We left the Islander without a second glance.
Chapter Nineteen
Charlie was still lying in bed when we arrived, with Bebe sleeping soundly at her side. Bebe had been busy; Charlie looked a little better. Her burns were now shiny pink scars. Given time, Bebe could heal even those.
As we entered, Charlie looked up. Dozer was the first person she laid eyes on.
Seeing her sitting upright, Dozer froze in the doorway. They stared at each other for what felt like a lifetime before he crossed the distance between them with quick, sure strides. She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off as Dozer captured her face gently in his hands and kissed her fiercely, without reserve.
Glitch let out a little whoop and Cash elbowed him in the ribs playfully.
When Dozer finally broke the kiss, Charlie was breathless.
“Hi,” she whispered.
“I thought I lost you.” He leaned his forehead against hers. He kissed her lips lightly again and then, realizing that everyone was staring, cleared his throat. “What are you all looking at?�
�� he chuckled. “You knew this was coming.”
I held my hand out to Glitch and he groaned. “Damn it!” He slapped a ten dollar bill in my palm. Charlie laughed, and held her arms out to Headset.
He leapt up onto the bed and immediately hugged her. She cradled him close, raining down kisses on his cheeks. Happy tears formed in her eyes.
“You’re okay?” she asked, giving him a detailed once-over.
“Yeah. I was just a little scared and a lot worried about you.” His blue eyes returned her study. He frowned at her wounds. “You’re hurt.”
She brushed it off and motioned to Bebe’s sleeping form. “I’m alright. Bebe’s been working her magic on me.”
Headset studied Bebe with a tilt of his head
"Let's let her sleep though, okay, bud?"
Headset nodded and curled between Bebe and Charlie.
Charlie's lips pulled into a smile and I felt her heart mirror mine as she looked at the two of them happy and safe again. She looked up, eyes shimmering and asked, “So what are we doing, now?”
Dozer eased himself onto the bed next to her, their hands linked.
“I don’t know,” I said quietly. “But we can’t stay here.”
“We’re going to do what we always do,” Cash stated, looking purposefully at Dozer. “We’re going to find a new place to stay and keep our family safe.” I felt Cash's apology singing in those words.
Dozer nodded, and I felt him swallow whatever discord divided he and Cash.
“Should we leave now?” Dozer asked. “Nyx and Lux might come back.” His brow furrowed, and I felt his shiver; most likely recalling the spiders.
"What do you mean? I thought they left?" Glitch asked, hopefully.
"They showed up at the Islander," Cash said, patting Glitch's shoulder. "They're going to help Jason and the others break into the ACT facility."
"Why would they do that?"
"Devereaux," I said pointedly. "They know he can see through their glamours."
"I don't think I'm up for a car ride just yet, but we should get out of here as soon as possible," Charlie said nervously. "Tomorrow maybe?"
Dozer brushed his hands through her hair and leaned into her. "We'll go as soon as you feel ready."
Charlie reached up and touched the frizzled, burnt ends of her once golden locks and cringed. Heat rushed to her cheeks and I felt her blush whoosh through me.
"Let me see what I can do with that," I said. I went to her bedside and started twisting the strands upward and back, but it was a full seven inches shorter on one side. She was going to need a drastic cut.
She saw the look on my face and gave me a worried look. "It's bad, yeah?"
Dozer shushed her immediately and kissed her temple and whispered, "you're beautiful."
Glitch zipped out of the room and back in with a baseball hat and placed in on Charlie's head. "Don't listen to them, bubbles. You look like Two-Face did your hair. A real friend wouldn't let you go out into the world like that."
Charlie's eyes widened and I felt her heart kick a little. We all stood silently, waiting for her to burst into tears. Dozer was glaring at Glitch, while Cash and I just stared with mouths agape, until Charlie lowered her head and I felt this growing tickle erupt from within her. She tossed her head back and laughed in long gasping breaths. We all joined in and I felt the strings of tension in all of us go slack. After the laughter had died down, the invisible threads that wove the Nomads together were stronger than ever.
Chapter Twenty
Cash found me out on the balcony after everyone had gone to bed. I was leaning against the railing, looking out over the little city. Off in the distance, the moon hung low over the ocean, almost kissing its own reflection.
We stood in comfortable silence for a bit before he spoke.
“You know what I think we need?” Cash asked, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder. “A vacation.”
I laughed. “Cash, our lives are a vacation.”
“Yeah, we’re really kickin’ back and relaxing right now, huh?”
When I looked over at him, he was smiling softly at me. “Well, no, not right now.”
“I’m serious. I was thinking somewhere tropical, like Hawaii. Or we could even go to the Bahamas. Why not?” He sounded so hopeful, and yet, the undercurrent of exhaustion within him was hard to ignore. He was just as tired of running as the rest of us. My heart ached for him.
“Or! We can do a complete one-eighty and head up to the mountains or someplace snowy. I know this great old hotel in Colorado. It’s supposed to be haunted. Think of how much fun we could have scaring Glitch.”
I turned to him. “As tempting as that sounds, I really just want to go home. I miss the Lair,” I admitted wistfully.
Cash sighed and kissed me softly just below my ear. “I know. Me too.”
We watched the moon hover over the sea a moment longer, then headed to bed together.
Chapter Twenty One
The sound of banging on the hotel door jarred me from my sleep. Curled up against my back, Cash also jerked awake. Bleary-eyed, but with every nerve suddenly on edge, I glanced at the clock. It was just past midnight.
“Who is it?” Cash mumbled groggily.
I climbed out of bed and Cash’s followed after me as I padded quietly to the door. Another round of knocking came, more urgent this time. Cash and I exchanged a look.
“Who does it feel like?” He whispered.
I nodded and closed my eyes, immediately opening myself up to our uninvited guest. The imprint I found both caught me off and put me on guard.
“It’s Mia.” I took a deep breath. I did a quick assessment of her emotional grid and was surprised to find no aggression, but sheer panic sizzling through her.
Not privy to the information I had access to, Cash bristled. “I’ll get the others. We need to get out of here before she—”
“Liv! I know you’re in there! Please, let me in!” Mia’s muffled voice unsteady and then longer she stayed outside, the more I felt hysteria rising inside of her.
I put out a hand on Cash’s arm to stop him before he roused the others. He arched a brow and looked at me like I’d gone crazy.
“She hasn’t come to hurt us,” I told him.
He watched me for a moment. I could feel him weighing his options. “You’re sure?”
I nodded. “She’s scared.”
With another uncertain glance at the door, Cash relented. “Let her in, but if she tries anything...”
“I’ve got her.”
I unlocked the door and pulled it open. Sure enough, Mia stood there in an oversized hooded sweatshirt and torn jeans, her cheeks wet with tears. She’d somehow acquired a black eye to match the scratches Charlie had given her. It hadn’t been there when I'd last seen her at the Islander.
A subtle pang of regret sliced through me at the sight of her swollen, bruised eye.
“Mia, you can't be here.” I started to shut the door on her but she threw her arm out, stopping me.
“Please Liv, don’t,” she begged. Her chest hitched as she began sobbing harder. Somewhere deep inside me, I felt a twinge of sympathy.
After a moment’s pause, I asked her, “what happened?” I nodded to her black eye. “Who did that?”
“Jason.”
My jaw tensed.
“I never meant for these things to happen,” She cried. “He’s…they all…I just wanted to…”
With a sigh, I pulled the door open and stepped back. “Come in. You’re going to wake up the neighbors if you keep up out there. We can’t have them calling security on us. Lower your voice. I don’t want the others to wake up.”
Gratefully, she entered our room. She saw Cash as she walked in. He remained silent, watching her warily.
“Take a seat,” I offered. She nodded and sat down on the couch, wringing her hands in front of her. Tears slipped down the bridge of her nose as she looked down at her feet. Cash went to the kitchen came
back with a box of tissues, and offered them to Mia. She looked up in surprise and slowly took them.
Cash turned away, but caught eyes with me. "Do you think they'll come for her?" he asked.
"I don't' know," I whispered back.
He looked past me at Mia. "You're safe here, okay?"
She didn't say anything. She only nodded and gripped her tissues tighter.
"I'm going to leave you two alone, but I'm in the next room if you need me." Cash looked at me reassuringly.
I nodded, my heart swelling with love for him. He hadn’t owed her that kind gesture but still, he offered it. Despite how much he disliked my sister, he didn’t like to see another person in pain.
He went into the adjoining room where I could sense that everyone was still sound asleep.
“You really care about him, huh?” Mia asked quietly. When I arched a brow at her, she glanced away. “It’s the way you two look at each other. Must be nice…”
I didn’t respond. For a while we both just sat there.
Eventually, she let out a deep, shuddering breath and looked up at me. “Thank you. For letting me in. For talking to me. I know…I know you didn’t have to.”
“You’re right, I didn’t.” I stayed standing, my arms crossed over my chest. She started tearing a piece of tissue paper between her fingers, shredding it methodically.
“I wouldn’t have come to you, except…” she paused and I felt her indecision wavering.
“Except what?” I demanded.
She seemed to mull over something, then blurted out, “they did something to him, Liv. To all of them. The ACT tests were different this time around. They screwed with Lexa’s mind, and now she’s gone completely insane. And Mars is like her damn puppet. But Jason is the worst, and he threw my power back at me and hurled me across the damn room—”
I held up a hand to stop her. “Wait, hold on a minute. Slow down. What did ACT do to them?”
Mia sighed. “Because Jason’s mind was already proven to be capable of adapting to other abilities, ACT was harder on him. They pulled him out of the water after Hawthorn and started running tests on him. Whatever they pumped into him, Liv...it changes him. It makes him explode out of nowhere. And he’s adapted elements of all of our powers…”
Collide (Anomaly Book 3) Page 13
