Brady nods slowly.
“Is that…?” I’m hesitant to ask, but I want to see the picture up close.
“Our mom? Yeah.” He extends his hand out to me, and I gently take the wrinkled image. “She was pretty, huh.”
“Beautiful,” I say as I study the picture. Their mother has the same big smile as Brady, dimple included, but she is tall and thin like Seth. Her red hair is wavy and vibrant. She holds a guitar while she stands at a microphone. “She liked to sing?”
“In her journals it says people called her a siren,” Seth says. “I guess she had perfect pitch, to the point that sometimes people would become obsessed with hearing her. She could have been famous, but the stalking freaked her out.”
“Stalking isn’t fun.” My mind goes straight to The Phantom appearing in my jail cell, and I cringe. “Is that how she ended up in Madison? To hide?”
Seth nods. “My dad grew up here, and when she came into town he fell head over heels. Guess her voice was pretty powerful, because he’s still…well, you’ve seen it.”
“No talking about him here either.” Brady snatches the picture from me and stands up. “As I was saying, I feel like carrying this picture made it so Mom could watch over me. Maybe leaving it here will let her watch out for this place.”
“Then who will watch out for you?” Seth asks in his sarcastic tone. “You’ll be all alone.”
Brady rolls his eyes. “Don’t be a smart ass.”
“He’s incapable of being anything else,” I say.
Seth pulls me close, his lips on my ear. “Don’t make me throw you in the water.”
“Do you want me to be mad at you forever?” I poke his sides, and before I know it we’re on the verge of a tickle fight. He makes it way too easy to forgive him.
“You guys are weird.” Brady walks towards another pool, holding up his mother’s picture. “I’m gonna find a good place to put this.”
For some reason things feel weird between Seth and I when Brady is out of hearing range, as if we’re both waiting for the other one to apologize. It sure as hell won’t be me. Doesn’t seem like Seth is budging on it either. Finally, he lets out a long sigh. “You know Brady sees you as a sister, right? You’re like part of our family.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Um, random?”
“It’s just…I’m trying to say I…” He shakes his head and zips up the backpack. “Never mind. We should get these samples back to test.”
“Okay…” A familiar awkwardness comes between us—it seems to be doing that more often—and I’m not sure why. What’s his problem?
Seth calls for Brady, and then we make the trek back to town. When we get to Madison’s borders, we’re more careful to look out for Juan’s men. No way he’ll rat us out this time. I constantly feel like I have eyes on me lately, and tonight is no different even if the coast seems clear. By the time we reach their street, I’m ready for bed. But the test awaits—then the decision on what to do next.
Seth’s steps slow drastically, to the point that I have to look back to see what the hold-up is. His arms are spread wide, and he walks as if he just went blind. My stomach drops. “Again?”
“Just…um…” His voice is shaky, and I can tell he’s doing his best to look normal. “Shouldn’t talk out here.”
I walk back to him and put his arm around me, so I can guide him. “This is really not funny.”
“Tell me about it,” he says through gritted teeth.
“Do you need to go home?” Brady asks. “I can have Hector start without you guys.”
“Maybe that would be…” Seth trails off, his eyes on his house. By his expression, it’s clear he sees something he doesn’t want to be seeing. I’m starting to understand just how much his ability must have sucked when he was a kid and couldn’t control it well. “There’s someone in there with Dad.”
“What?” Brady is clearly confused. “Who?”
Seth closes his eyes tightly, but still I see tears at the rims. “It’s one of Juan’s guys.”
Brady shrugs. “So he’s buying more drugs, what’s the big deal?”
“No.” Seth looks at his brother. “Juan’s guy gave Dad money—not the other way around. Which means he’s doing something for the syndicate.”
Chapter 22
“No way…” Brady stares at his house as if he can see what Seth does. “He’s too drunk or high to do anything useful for anyone. You must’ve seen it wrong. Maybe he was giving him change.”
“A thick stack of bills is change?” Seth says through his teeth.
Brady shrugs. “All ones?”
I don’t know what to say. On the one hand, I’d like to point out that their dad could be the spy who planted the bugs, so Seth shouldn’t be so harsh on Graham. But when I look at Seth, it’s obvious he already knows. And more than that, it’s tearing him apart inside. I want to take away the betrayal he must be feeling—I know all too well how deep a wound like that can go.
“Let’s go before that guy comes out,” I finally manage to say.
“They’re still talking.” Seth doesn’t take his eyes off his place. “Damn, I need to learn lip-reading.”
I grab his arm, worried he’ll overuse his already-unpredictable ability. “If Juan’s guy comes out and sees us we’ll be hosed. C’mon.”
Seth doesn’t move. “If he’s…I didn’t think I could hate him more. How could he do that to his own sons?”
“Stop,” Brady says, still seeming firmly in the denial camp. “You’re reading too much into it.”
Seth shakes his head, but tromps towards the Navarros’ house. Brady and I follow him in nervous silence. Sure hope he doesn’t take out his anger on Hector, Bea, and Carlos. Though I guess it wouldn’t be the first time they’ve dealt with a rampaging Seth. He opens the door without knocking, and we find them in the living room watching late-night TV.
Hector raises an eyebrow when he sees Seth. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Just stressed about this test.” Seth sets his backpack on the coffee table and pulls out the tubes. “You have everything ready to go?”
Hector sighs, as if he knows Seth isn’t telling him something. “Yeah, in my room.”
“Let’s get this over with.” I head for the hall. May as well find out once and for all if we have what everyone is looking for. After that we can figure out who bugged us and what Mr. Mitchell is up to, if anything. I’m still on the fence like Brady—I’ve never seen the man sober and can’t imagine anyone trusting him for reliable information.
Though, well, the information hasn’t been reliable, has it?
Hector has a hot plate set up on his desk. There’s already a beaker on it filled with a clear liquid. A thermometer sticks up out of it. He turns on the heat. “I’ve already mixed the right chemicals together for the test. Just have to heat it to exactly one hundred and thirteen degrees.”
“Why one hundred and thirteen?” I ask.
He shrugs. “That’s what it said in the formula. Merinite doesn’t like to bond with other substances, and apparently they found the temp helps.”
“Huh.” I’m glad I have smart friends.
“So are we actually cooking Radiasure?” Carlos asks as he plops on his brother’s bed. “Because if Mom and Dad catch us we’ll never see the outside of the confession booth again.”
Bea rolls her eyes. “Nothing new for you.”
“It’s not Radiasure, anyway,” Hector says as he checks the liquid’s temperature. “This is only part of the process for making it—the part that primes the merinite so they can use it.”
“How are we supposed to know if it’s right?” Brady asks.
“If it’s merinite, it’ll bond and the reaction will make the substance thicker and brighter.”
I nod. “That’s what their scientist girl said at the waterfall, too.”
“Good to know.” Hector doesn’t stop watching the temperature rise. “Do you know anything else about her? Maybe we can find some of her re
search, see what kind of stuff she studies.”
I clench my jaw just thinking of my one conversation with her. “She wouldn’t tell me anything—said even her name was classified and no one she knew in real life had a clue she was doing this.”
Seth gives me the look. “You never said she talked to you.”
“When I was locked up. But like I said, it was useless. She wanted me to talk. I wouldn’t. She left me to my impending torture. The end.”
Seth folds his arms, thinking. “If security on her is locked down so tightly, I wonder how Graham found out she was the best person to hold ransom. Unless he already knew.”
My eyes narrow. After what he just saw at his house, he still has the gall to imply that Graham is up to no good? “There are plenty of ways to get supposedly secure information, and that was pretty much my brother’s job since he was ten. So.”
“It was also your brother’s job to drag you back to Vegas every time you left.”
My jaw drops, but before I answer Bea stands between us with her hands out. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What’s going on here?”
“Oh, nothing,” I growl. “Seth just thinks Graham’s behind the bugs.”
“No way!” Bea says at the same time Carlos exclaims, “That makes perfect sense!” Hector is the ever-level-headed one with, “We can’t rule it out, though it doesn’t completely add up.”
“Ugh.” I don’t need more opinions on this topic, because I want to trust my brother. He shouldn’t be the first one I suspect every time something bad happens. “How long will this take? I’m tired.”
“Almost there.” Hector measures the right amount of cave water and pours it in. “The reaction takes about three minutes.”
Also like the scientist girl said. This comforts me because any way we can match her test means we’re doing it right. I may not know much about her, but I’m sure she’s brilliant. Otherwise she wouldn’t be so important to Major Norton. The seconds feel like they’ve stretched out as we all stare at the beaker. The liquid is slightly blue now, but not as much as the cave water on its own. Just how bright is it supposed to get?
“This must be how it feels to wait for a pregnancy test,” Carlos says about two minutes in.
Bea smacks the back of his head, though she bites back a smile. “Dumbass.”
“What?” Carlos seems genuinely surprised at her reaction. “If that thing glows blue in three minutes our lives will be changed forever! It’s the same.”
It takes surprising effort for me to suppress a laugh. “And how do you know so much about pregnancy tests?”
He tips his chin up. “I take health class very seriously.”
“It’d be nice if you’d take this—” Seth starts, but then he stops because something is happening to the stuff inside the beaker. The color has gone from barely blue to intense ultramarine, and a distinct aura of light emanates from it. It feels as if my insides have been flipped upside down.
We have merinite.
Hector takes a spoon and dips it in the substance. Sure enough, it coats the utensil like a thick syrup. “Well, I think it worked.”
“Really? What tipped you off?” Seth looks sick.
“I wasn’t sure until the glowing,” Carlos says sarcastically.
“What do we do with it now?” Brady says. “It’s not like we can pour it down the drain, and that stuff is bright as a lamp!”
Hector turns off the hot plate. “Good question. Didn’t think that one through. Guess now we have to figure out if it can be destroyed safely.”
“Great idea,” Seth says. “Small test before dealing with the cave.”
“That’s all nice, but what do we do about the Army and Juan now? We really do have what they want, and they already suspect us so much,” I say, putting my hands on my hips. Seth and I both told Brady that there’d be a way to protect the pools without burying them, but as the merinite swirls like a lava lamp I can’t help but think destroying them completely is the only way.
We gather in a circle on Hector’s floor to strategize. Maybe we could barricade the place—no, that wouldn’t stop them from using sensors to analyze the subsurface and finding the cave. Maybe we could empty the pools and take the merinite somewhere else—we’d just need a couple semi-trucks, a giant pool vacuum, and a new location. Not likely. Or we could guard it by making the area look haunted. Or booby trap the entrance. The longer we talk about it, the stupider the ideas get.
Brady leans his head back on Hector’s bed, sighing. “Let’s face it. There’s only one way to guarantee people won’t find it. I have to bury it.”
Seth purses his lips. “You’re probably right.”
“I hate to say it.” Hector stirs the merinite. “But if it’s safe to do so, caving in the place would contaminate the merinite with dirt and rock, which would make it a lot harder to find and extract. It may even destroy whatever process is happening there to create it in the first place. That’s probably the best we can do.”
“Are you sure?” Bea puts her hand on Brady’s arm. “That place…”
“It’s okay.” Brady gives us a big smile, and I’m surprised it’s not his fake one. He takes Bea’s hand. “I have you.”
A big grin spreads across her face. When she leans her head on his shoulder, Hector and Carlos make gagging sounds.
I roll my eyes. “We’ll have to meet up at my place tomorrow, see if my mom can help figure out how dangerous destroying the merinite might be.”
Hector nods. “She was a huge help with this test.”
After saying our goodbyes, I head to my car parked in front of Seth’s house. Miles took Mom to work so I could have it, and for once I’m glad to drive home by myself because I don’t know where Seth and I are at. He watches me unlock the car door, and when I glance at him our eyes meet.
“I don’t like fighting with you,” he says.
“Then stop.” I open the door, but he grabs me before I can get in. I don’t hug him back. “So you’re mad at me but hugging me?”
“Be safe. Keep your phone on.” He squeezes me tighter, then whispers, “I don’t want to sleep in the same house with him, but I have to, don’t I?”
I bite my lip, the frustration fizzling. My boyfriend is scared. Of his own father. Our lives are starting to be similar in ways I’d rather not have them be. I wrap my arms around him. “Yeah. You be safe, too. We’ll look into it tomorrow.”
“Okay.” He kisses me once, and there’s something sad about it, as if he’s unsure of whether I want his lips on mine or not. Then he heads for his house, and I watch him until he disappears behind the door.
As I drive home, I wish I could turn off my brain. I’m tired of thinking, of worrying, of making sure no one is following me. By the time I’ve pulled into my driveway, I feel like I could sleep for weeks. I drag my feet towards the front door, telling myself I need to be on my guard but knowing my reflexes are shot from fatigue.
So when a person wearing black emerges from the bushes pointing a gun at me, I almost expect it. It would be the perfect time for an attack. I pull out my phone and call Mom. “I’m dialing the person inside who can rip that gun right out of your hands, so if you’re gonna shoot you better do—”
“Fiona!” a feminine voice says from behind the mask. She puts the gun down. “Thought you were at Bea’s, sorry.”
I quirk an eyebrow. “Do I know you?”
She shrugs. “Miles might have mentioned me once or twice.”
Well, now I’m wide awake. “Spud?”
“Yup. Ah, there she is.” Spud aims the gun again. This time she pulls the trigger, and the silencer hides most of the sound. I turn just in time to see a person hit the ground. I stare at the fallen body, horrified that my brother’s girlfriend is a killer. Does he know this?
“What the hell?” I step back from her, scared.
“Oh, come on. You think I’ve survived this long without fighting?” Spud heads for the street, and I feel obligated to follow. Besides, maybe she’ll exp
lain what she did, because right now I’m not sure my brother should be with a girl like this.
“Sorry I had to do this in front of you.” Spud kneels down next to the corpse, typing something into a fancy-looking phone. “This bitch was too smart for her own good, going completely off the grid. It was the only way to intercept her.”
I don’t want to look at the body—the thought alone makes me ill—but when I finally get the courage to face whoever Spud shot, my eyes go wide with horror. This can’t be happening. Short brown hair, hazel eyes, perfect skin that can change to any shade she pleases—I know this woman. “Noelle.”
She used to teach me how to steal and hide. She’s from my dad’s syndicate.
Chapter 23
As I take in the reality, I don’t know what to feel. Noelle was like a mentor to me—as a chameleon, she could almost understand how I felt being invisible. She would tell me I’d find myself eventually. She taught me how to use my ability in ways no one else could teach me. But at the same time, if she was here tonight then it means she was on a mission for my dad. Finally, there is a hint that he’s not ignoring what’s happening in Madison—and Spud just protected us from him.
Maybe I should feel grateful. But it seems horrible to be grateful someone is dead.
Spud searches Noelle’s body, for what, I don’t know. All I can see is the blood pooling in the street. All I can feel is the urge to cry and throw up. Spud reaches into Noelle’s bra and pulls out a small box. “Always in the bra,” she says. “Is that protocol or something?”
It takes me a moment to find my voice. Still, it comes out weak. “Um, not that I know of.”
“You probably didn’t wear a bra on your missions, so how could you?” Spud opens the box, and even in the dark I recognize the contents: knock-out needles tipped in purple and killing needles tipped in red. And here I thought Dad only made those for me—another reminder of his lies. There is also a piece of paper, which seems to be what Spud is after. She smirks. “Written in code. Cute. I dream in code, idiots.”
“What does it say?” I ask.
“Directions to the mark: your address, best ways to break in, the location of Miles’ room.” She throws it in the blood. “Nothing about her superiors, though, damn it. I need to take out the puppeteers, not the puppets.”
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