by Rachel Caine
“Medical researcher. He used to be involved with, of all things, a fertility clinic in New Mexico.”
Katie was tired, and it took her sluggish brain a few seconds to catch up. “Zuni, New Mexico?”
“That’s the one.” Allison looked gratified. “You understand.”
“So Teal and Lena—they weren’t random. They were chosen deliberately—harvested.”
“We think so. It would explain what you told us about the videotaping of Teal’s abilities. They did something similar to Lena, too—took video of her lifting heavy objects. Apparently, Lena bench-presses like an NFL linebacker.” Allison fell silent for a few seconds, clearly debating something, and then said, “There are things I can’t tell you, Katie. Things it wouldn’t be safe for you to know. But the point is that the secrets of Athena Academy are coming out, and we should all consider ourselves potential targets now. Especially those of us with—”
“Abilities,” Katie supplied. “Like Teal.”
“Like Teal,” Allison agreed. “Like Lena. Although all of us, to a lesser extent. We don’t know what he wants, but he wants it badly enough not to care about the cost in human lives. I just wanted you forewarned, Katie. Watch out for yourself. You’re one of the best investigators I’ve ever seen—if you can find out anything about Loschetter, contact me immediately.”
“I will,” Katie said. Allison cleared the image from the PDA and put it away. “Do you want to see Stefan?”
Allison busied herself with the straps on her purse. “I’d love to, but I can’t. I’m on a schedule. But believe me, I wish him the best. And you.” She pulled in a breath and looked up. “When Stefan wakes up, I’m going to need to talk to him about his connection with Teal. I’m going to have to try to take advantage of that.”
“You can’t. You don’t know what it costs him.”
“I can’t not do it. She’s still in danger, and it’s up to us—all of us—to see that we get her back safely. I’m going to need you to understand that.”
“Understand? Well, understand this, Ally, you’re going to get him killed. I saw him walk out into the path of a bullet because he cared too much about that girl. He’s not one of us. It’s not even his fight!”
“It’s yours,” Allison said, and her eyebrows raised slightly. “From the little I’ve heard about him, evidently that makes it his fight, too. Think about it, Katie. Are you really going to walk away from this girl now? Do you think he will?”
She couldn’t answer that question. Even trying to made her want to hit something. Allison, sensitive to her anger, quietly gathered her things and walked away. Katie hated it, but Allison was right. Stefan wouldn’t quit, if he had any way of being useful. And neither would she, however much she hated putting him at risk.
A group of people passed in front of her, chattering and happy; they were escorting a young girl in a wheelchair who had a huge flower arrangement on her lap, trailing a heart-shaped balloon. Katie stared at it blankly for a long moment, then felt a jolt of surprise.
Funny, she hadn’t realized it was St. Valentine’s Day.
Waking up was a real disappointment for Stefan because the one person he’d wanted to see most of all when he opened his eyes…wasn’t there.
“Kiddo,” his father said, leaning forward in the chair near the bed. His smile was enough to melt a glacier. “I knew you could hear me. Welcome back.”
Stefan’s mother stood up and kissed him on both cheeks, wet smacks that were theatrical enough to almost conceal the glitter of tears on her round cheeks. She hated to cry, his mother; she claimed it gave her wrinkles.
She had never looked more beautiful to him…until she hit him lightly on the cheek. “That’s for scaring your mother,” she said. “I told you, didn’t I? I told you I was seeing darkness. Why don’t you ever listen to me?”
“Mom,” he complained, and struggled to sit up. That was a bad idea, and he decided that maybe lying flat was a better one. Yes, much better. His head felt clouded and luminous at once…. Good painkillers, he was guessing. Once they wore off, he probably would be a lot less cheerful. “How long…” Because his muscles felt lax and weak, and he had a bad moment wondering if months had passed, or years, and maybe that was why Katie wasn’t here…
Or something worse. Maybe after he’d gone out, she’d been hit….
“Five days,” his father supplied. “You had surgery five days ago. I know you like to sleep, but this was getting ridiculous.” He was still smiling, but there were tears in his eyes. “Doctors say you’re going to be fine.”
“Yeah, they always say that,” Stefan said, and decided to give sitting up a second try. It took more effort than scaling Everest, but he managed it. “Katie…”
His father immediately looked contrite. “She left about an hour ago. Here, she said to give you this.”
It was a red envelope with his name scrawled on the front in a bold, sprawling cursive. Stefan opened it and pulled out…a Valentine. It was brisk and unsentimental—very Katie—and the verse was routine. He fixed on the words she’d written beneath.
In case you wake up before the day’s over, Happy Valentine’s Day. I’ll see you soon.
That was it. No I love you or I want to spend my life with you. This was…businesslike.
He remembered her walking away from him at the warehouse, and felt the day grow colder.
And colder still when he remembered Teal, standing motionless on the airport tarmac, refusing to come with them. His head was aching and blurred with the drugs, but he felt no sign of her presence. If she was trying to send, he was no longer receiving. Maybe that would change, but he couldn’t know when, or how.
All he knew was that he’d failed, and if it was bitter for him, it had to be worse for Katie. Maybe that was why she’d left him. Too sharp a reminder of what she hadn’t managed to do.
Lena . Lena’s safe. That was something, a spot of warmth in a frozen landscape.
His father was watching him, frowning, but Stefan turned his head away, put the Valentine down on the table beside the bed, and said, “I think I need some time.”
His parents exchanged looks. “Of course, peanut,” his mother said, and kissed him again, then laid her warm hand on his cheek. “Don’t be sad.”
He closed his eyes and tried to breathe against a knot in his chest that had nothing to do with stitches, or bullet holes.
“Hey.”
He opened his eyes with a start because he’d been sure—absolutely sure— that there had been nobody else in the room. But there was Katie Rush, sitting in the armchair across from him, with a gigantic cup with a spill-proof lid.
“Coffee,” she said, and lifted it. “It’s still hot. Your mother gave me a heads-up prediction on when you’d be waking.”
He felt the cold dissolve in the warmth of her smile. He eased cautiously up on the pillows and took the coffee from her, sipped, and his eyes almost crossed in ecstasy. His body had been five days without caffeine. It was like giving a starving man Godiva chocolate.
He reached over and picked up the Valentine. “You said see you soon.”
“Well, this is soon,” she said.
“You going to tell me how you did that?”
“Did what?”
“Hid in plain sight?”
Katie’s smile was pure brilliance. “I thought magicians never revealed their secrets.”
“For you? I’ll make an exception.”
He put the card down and captured her hand in his. Warm, strong fingers that trembled slightly; her pulse was racing, and he dreamily measured it with his fingertips on her wrist. “I love you,” he said and closed his eyes. “I thought I’d better tell you now, because you’re going to be angry.”
“About what?”
“I’m going to keep looking,” he said. “And when Teal contacts me, I’m not going to shut her out. No discussion, Katie. I have to be there for her when she needs me.”
Her fingers pressed tighter on his. “No argu
ment, Stefan. And by the way, I love you, too.”
“I know,” he said. “I’m psychic.”
Not psychic enough to anticipate the emotion in the kiss that followed…but more than human enough to revel in it.
