My mind flashed back to that evening on the balcony when I felt how unnaturally hot his skin was against mine.
“And there was something else,” she continued. “His hands, his skin, his eyes...it’s like he’s changing.”
“Changing?”
She looked at me across the space between us, both solemn and fearful. “Changing into something else.”
A lick of ice slipped ominously down my spine, prickling my skin.
“Are they coming here?” I asked. “Jason? The others?”
“I know I shouldn’t have come here but, I have nowhere else to go.” She was distracted now, working on tearing up a second sheet of tissue paper.
I crossed the room and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her up to her feet. She flinched under my touch, her brown eyes suddenly wide.
“Mia! Are. They. Coming. Here?” I asked her again, urgently. If they had truly gone as crazy as she said, and they were coming after us, we had to leave immediately. We couldn’t risk it.
“No,” she said.
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay.”
“They're going to ACT tonight.”
At that, I tensed. I let go of her. “That’s not my problem,” I said darkly, turning away from her. I went to the dresser and leaned over, trying to ignore the heavy feeling in my chest.
I heard her move. She came up behind me slowly. Her worry was pressing down on me, nagging at my brain.
“Liv, please,” she whispered. “I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness or your help, but they do. I’m asking you as your sister.”
I snorted. “When have you ever done anything as my sister?” I snapped. I felt her recoil from my words, and I almost felt bad.
“They’re in way over their heads,” she continued. “The plan they had is completely screwed if I’m not there. Jason is too sick to think straight and the others are too scared and angry to go against him. If we don’t help them, they’re all going to be killed.”
I didn't want to give in. I didn't want to keep cleaning up after them, but I couldn't just shut them out. So, I exhaled a frustrated breath and said, "Fine.”
"Fine?"
"I'll help you." I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly feeling cold and vulnerable. "At least, I'll try."
Mia paused for a beat, clearly surprised by my answer, and then she flung herself at me and grabbed me up in a fierce hug.
“Thank you,” she said quietly, and I felt her relief wash over me.
“Get this straight though, Mia. I’m going to help stop them. I’m not risking anyone else to try to take down that facility or kill more ACT agents. Are we clear?”
Mia nodded. “We’re clear.”
I heard a door creak open and turned my head to see Charlie coming out of her room stiffly. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she immediately saw Mia and froze. Mia let me go, her face suddenly pale as she took Charlie in. I felt her fear in my gut and her guilt pummeling me.
The seconds ticked by. Charlie’s gaze lingered on Mia’s battered face. Slowly, Charlie limped up to us. Her expression was unreadable, but I could feel the contents of her heart; she was struggling. She was angry and afraid, yes, but there was something else there; something uniquely Charlie. All of that negative energy was pushed down and compassion rose to the surface.
“Had a bad night?” Charlie asked quietly.
Mia nodded, still uncertain of Charlie’s intentions.
“Me too.” Charlie nodded contemplatively, and then said, “I’m sorry I almost choked you to death and scratched up your face.”
Mia blinked, as though she hadn’t heard right. She looked at me then back at Charlie and replied meekly, "I'm sorry I tried to barbecue you."
"Want some hot chocolate?" Charlie asked.
Mia nodded slowly.
Charlie bid Mia to follow her to the stove where she pulled out the milk and powdered chocolate. Mia didn't say anything, but I felt her confusion ripple through me. I followed them into the kitchen and watched their interaction a moment.
Charlie took off the baseball hat and set it down on the table. "Too hot for all that," she said, smiling bashfully.
I felt Mia's guilt surge forward and tears stinging her eyes, but she swallowed it back down and tried to meet Charlie on the same level. "I could help shape that for you. I'm pretty good with hair," she said, then quickly recoiled. "Sorry, that was stupid. Like you'd let me near you with scissors." Mia's whole body deflated and she cringed.
Charlie looked up at her while stirring the pot. Her eyes searched Mia's for a moment and then fixated on Mia's hair. "Scissors would be fine. I wouldn't let you near me with hair dye, though."
Mia stared back at Charlie, unsure of how to react. A slow smile spread across Charlie's face and she let out a small laugh. Mia eventually understood that it was okay to smile back and even let out a small, yet uncomfortable, giggle. I felt the tension lessen and looked at Charlie from across the way. I nodded to her that I was going in the other room to get the boys. I wanted to be sure she'd be okay alone with Mia. Charlie gave me a gentle nod, and I left them there.
Cash had already woken Dozer and Glitch, and were waiting for me in the other room. I could feel Dozer's building fury spiking my blood before I even got into the room. When I opened the door, he was pacing with his arms folded. Glitch was wiping the sleep from his eyes, and Cash moved quickly toward me.
"Everything okay?" Cash asked.
"Yeah, she's with Charlie in the kitchen," I said with a nod.
"You left her alone with Charlie?" Dozer immediately pushed past me and into the other room.
We followed after him quickly as he burst into the kitchen area and rushed toward my sister. She turned sharply and Charlie gasped as he charged her. I lashed out with my power and grabbed hold of him before he could attack her.
Mia leapt backward and shielded herself with a quick rush of flames that crawled over her body.
"Woah, stop!" Charlie shouted, coming from around the island and putting herself between Dozer and Mia.
His eyes searched hers, too stunned to say anything. I felt him loosen up and stop fighting me. He just stood in front of Charlie, waiting to hear what she had to say.
"Mia didn't come here to hurt us. She needs our help," Charlie said.
"How can we trust her after what she did to you? She kidnapped Headset."
"She apologized."
"Oh, that's all it takes, huh?"
"That's all it took for you," Charlie said firmly, holding Dozer's gaze. She wasn't trying to make him feel guilty, she just wanted him to understand.
"I didn't kidnap anyone and nearly burn you to death." Dozer clenched his jaw. I felt his resolve crack, but he wasn't backing down just yet.
“If I could take that back—” Mia started.
“You can’t,” Dozer snapped.
Charlie took a step closer to Dozer and placed her hands on his cheeks "I need you to trust me, Dozer. If I can forgive her, you should be able to. She's hurt and she's alone. Like you said, after everything she's done, do you really think she'd come to us if she had any other choice?"
Dozer stared into Charlie's eyes. After a moment, he exhaled, took Charlie's hand and stepped aside, letting Mia come forward from the corner he'd backed her into. She smothered her flames and folded her arms, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.
"What do you want from us?" Dozer asked
"Jason and the others are going to try and take down the ACT facility tonight. We need to stop them before they get themselves killed. The plan was risky as it was, but without me, they've got little to no chance of pulling it off."
“They knew what they were getting in to. Why risk our lives to stop them?" Dozer asked.
"You don't owe me anything, I know that, but please? They aren't thinking clearly."
Charlie reached over and took Dozer’s hand in her own, squeezing gently to bring his gaze back to her. When he saw the pain on her face, he softened. “People are ca
pable of horrible things when they’re desperate,” Charlie explained. "We can’t just let them go off to their deaths. This is the right thing to do, and that’s why we’re going to do it. That’s who we are.”
"We aren't doing this, Charlie. You and Dozer are staying here with the Kids," Cash interjected. "You're in no condition for a car ride, remember? That means you're definitely not going to infiltrate a secret government facility."
"What makes you think we can stop them?" Glitch asked. It didn't sound sarcastic or fearful. There was hope blossoming inside of him.
Mia turned to me with that same hopeful look in her eyes. "Jason listens to you, Liv. You're the only one who can get through to him."
"I can't. I tried."
"Try harder," Mia said, frustration showing in her tight features.
"What do you want me to do? You said it yourself, he's not thinking clearly."
"I want you to stop being so damn meek and make him listen to you. I saw what you did at the hotel. If talking to them doesn't work, you can knock them out and float them back to the car. Anything! Anything to stop them from going into that place and getting themselves killed."
“I'm in." Glitch stepped forward.
“So we're really doing this?” Cash asked.
Glitch nodded. “They may be messed up, but my friends are still in there somewhere. I'm not going to turn my back on them. Let’s do this thing.”
Cash smiled nervously. “Alright. Let's do this thing.”
Suddenly, I was worried. I guess I hadn’t counted on Cash coming with us. Although I didn’t necessarily want to put Glitch in any danger, at least he had his speed working for him. Mia had her fire. I had my telekinesis. But Cash...
If he saw the look I was giving him, he chose to ignore it.
Mia let out a deep breath, clearly relieved. “Thank you. All of you.”
Cash held up his hand. “Don’t thank us yet. A lot can still go wrong,” he said, and then locked eyes with me. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
I nodded and followed Cash out on the balcony.
"What's going on with you?" His eyes pinned me, subtle hints of fear and worry swirled inside of him.
"What do you mean?" I pulled my gaze away from his.
"You're always trying to run off alone." Cash took a deep breath and paused for a moment, considering his next words very carefully. "The night the lighthouse went under, you were packed and ready to leave without saying a word, and you would be long gone by now if Devereaux hadn't stopped you."
"And it never would have gone down if I'd left," I said almost defensively. Tears stung my eyes and I felt my power pulsing inside of me, pushing to the surface.
"You don't know that. What if he'd found you on the road, alone? He would have just taken you in and maybe no one would have made it out."
"At least you all wouldn't have been dragged into this."
"We were always in this, Liv." Cash put his hands on my shoulders to steady me. "We even had an ACT agent living with us undetected. You didn't put us in danger. We were born into this fight just like you were."
I pushed my power deeper inside of me and focused on Cash.
"Even after everything we went through, you saw the glass beach, and your first instinct was to tell Dozer you'd come here alone. You wanted to go after Dozer and Headset alone, and you asked me to leave you behind if things went wrong. Like I'd just cut and run." His eyes searched me frantically, trying to figure me out, trying to see if anything he was saying was sinking in. "Hell, the day we met, you were running from something with the weight of the world on your shoulders. What is going on in that head of yours that you think you're alone in this?"
I didn't speak for a moment because I honestly didn't know how to answer. I'd never asked myself what drove me to separate myself from the people I loved.
"Making my own decision to leave is better than having the people I love ripped away from me. I've been alone a long time, Cash. I've learned to protect myself."
Frustration bled out of him and he pulled me into his arms and rested his chin on my head. "You're not alone anymore. You're never going to be alone again."
I squeezed him tighter and tried to siphon his resolve and confidence for myself, but I suddenly felt like I was unraveling.
"You're shaking," he said. I felt worry rippling through that perfect pool of certainty he had only a moment before. "Liv, we are going to be fine. We're going to go there and stop them before anything bad happens."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Don't underestimate the power of positive thinking. He grinned. Mind over matter. I'd think you'd know a little something about that."
That managed to draw a smile from me. "Fake it till you make it?"
"That works too." Cash took my hand and we headed back inside. Mia and Glitch were ready to go.
Chapter Twenty Two
Cash, Glitch, Mia and I arrived at the ACT facility within the hour, thanks to twin's Mustang and the maps she'd stolen. It took some convincing to leave Dozer behind, but we couldn't leave Charlie and the kids unprotected.
The facility itself was a large building made of steel and concrete at the far edge of town, surrounded by a chain link fence. It hardly looked like a secret government agency, but I suppose that was the point.
We parked a block away and walked onto the property to avoid unnecessary attention. Although the last few days had been hot, the night was surprisingly cold. My breath left me in quick, chilled puffs.
I realized how nervous I was. I kept glancing over at Cash. He took my hand in his and squeezed it reassuringly. When we got to the fence, we debated how to get in. Glitch suggested climbing over until Cash pointed out the gleaming barbed wire on top.
Mia bit her lip contemplatively. “I could blast a hole in it, but the light from the fire would give us away.”
“Do you see any alarms?” I asked, scanning the fence.
We looked around for a few moments, but saw no wiring and no indication of electricity running to it. Concentrating hard, I sent out my power, using it to tear a large hole in the chain links so we could walk through. The metal yielded to me as easily as if it were paper.
"That'll work." Glitch quickly ducked through the hole.
We slipped through the fence and quickly ducked behind an overgrowth of bushes.
“Glitch and I will do a quick search of the perimeter,” Cash said, leaving a kiss on my forehead. “You two stay here. We’ll be back soon.”
“Be careful,” I pleaded as Cash's lips left me.
Cash winked, and then he and Glitch slipped off into the dark.
It was eerily quiet outside. A breeze rolled over the grounds and I shivered, rubbing my arms through the hooded sweatshirt I wore. Mia shifted awkwardly beside me. There was still tension between us and I knew she could feel it too.
Finally, she sighed. “Do you hate me, Liv?” she asked, unfolding and refolding the map of the grounds in her hands. She wouldn’t look at me.
“I don’t hate you,” I said carefully.
My answer seemed to surprise her, but she tried to hide it. Her efforts didn’t matter. I could read her as plainly as the map she was fiddling with.
“I just want you to know I’m sorry about what happened at Hawthorn. I freaked out. If I hadn't, I could have gotten to you before...” She raised her eyes to mine and they were full of sorrow; something I hadn’t expected to see. An arrow of regret pierced her heart, grazing mine.
Looking at her then, feeling her open up to me in even the slightest, was like a fissure had opened and I could feel her more deeply than ever before. Mia may not have had to endure a childhood at Hawthorn or had her memories erased, but she'd lived through more than her fair share of pain, loneliness and heartache. I felt it slice into me. She was just trying to heal and find her place in the world and I was a huge part of why she had struggled to do that. Hawthorn had taken me from her as a child and left her with a sick, grieving mother. Then, when she thought she'
d made a home for herself, Hawthorn pushed her aside to make room for me again. She was constantly being uprooted.
“Don't apologize, Mia. The building was about to collapse on us. Anyone would have paused. As for everything before that, I kind of understand why you treated me that way,” I said, offering her a small smile.
My gaze swept over the grounds, waiting for Cash and Glitch to show up again. I turned back to Mia, my breath partially held. “Do you still hate me?” I asked.
Mia bit her lower lip. “Kind of,” she finally admitted.
It felt like a punch to the stomach. The blood rushed from my face. “Wow.”
“Well, you’d know if I was lying,” she said apologetically.
“I can sense feelings, not read thoughts, Mia.”
“You know what I mean. It’s just…” Mia trailed off, indecision waging war inside her as she struggled with her words. “Ugh! Liv, you left us.”
My mouth dropped open. "I didn't leave you, Mia. I was taken from you. It definitely wasn't my choice."
"I was only seven years old. It didn't matter how you left. You left and I was alone. I know you say you don’t remember anything before they took you away, but I remember everything,” she explained, her brow knitting tight. “You were my big sister, half of my whole world. You promised me you’d come back and you never did. Then mom went nuts after she couldn’t get you back from Stone.”
My voice was soft as I tried to squeeze breath out of my tightened chest. The memories Nyx revealed to me were only snippets of the truth I was looking for. Mia could fill in the blanks.
"Why did she bring me to Hawthorn?"
“Mom couldn’t handle you,” Mia said softly. From the way she was looking at me, it was almost like she felt sorry for me. “You weren’t like you are now. You were less stable, you know? I guess you were more like me.”
“So she just got rid of me?” Anger bubbled in my stomach.
“Your powers started getting stronger and you were using them in public. There was this really big incident when Mom worked at one of the casinos back in Vegas. I guess you went there looking for her and something really bad happened because after that, mom had her first breakdown. I don't know. I was with the sitter." She looked at me as if I could tell her what happened.
Collide (Anomaly Book 3) Page 14
