by Sophie Davis
Ian selected a file folder labeled McDonough.
“Danbury knew because his family vacationed on Paradis as well,” he shared. “That’s how whoever made these observational notes learned, or at least suspected, there was something different about these people.”
“But none of the McDonoughs were Talented prior to the Contamination,” I pointed out.
“True,” Tals agreed. “I doubt all the people who ever visited or even lived on Paradis were Talented, though. Not every child born right after the spill was Talented either.” She looked over at Kip and Emma. “Not everyone on Pelia has powers, right? A lot do, but not everyone?”
“Not everyone,” Kip confirmed.
Emma’s response was a little less confident. “Not everyone has powers like you guys do,” she corrected her boyfriend. “We are all stronger and healthier than norms, though. Our senses are better. Our reaction times quicker.”
“Were people on Pelia Talented before the Contamination?” I asked her.
“Not that I know of.” Again, Emma didn’t seem confident in her answer.
“There are stories, but not like the tales of Paradis,” Kip told us. “It’s more stuff about people like Andromeda. You know, people who mix up healing potions or teas that let you see into the future. That sort of thing. My dad always said they were just really advanced doctors.”
From what Talia had told me of Pelia, nothing there could be considered advanced. I still understood what Kip meant.
Our abilities came from within. They were powered by our blood and our will. Someone who mixed healing potions didn’t need any special abilities, just knowledge of the human body and the plants, minerals, or whatever else went into the concoctions. If there was any truth to these rumors, the inhabitants of Pelia prior to the spill were more like scientists and doctors than Talented.
“Okay, so there were two islands divided by this Strait of Oppose. Only one had Talents before the Contamination. What does that mean?” Penny asked.
The subtle but rapid back-and-forth movement of her eyes was a telltale sign that Penny’s brain was processing the information. She was likely forming theories at a rate thousands of times faster than a computer could. No one answered her question, we just waited for Penny to provide insight.
“If we assume the Great Contamination did create Talents on a global level,” she said finally, “there must’ve been some similar event on or near Paradis before that happened. More contained, though.” Wrinkling her nose and pursing her lips, Penny tipped her head to one side. “It would’ve been much more contained, since Pelia’s residents weren’t affected.”
Talia’s brow furrowed as she thought it through. “Right, but for visitors who weren’t procreating with Paradis natives, to have children born Talented….”
She was onto something. I could feel it. Neither of us were able to wrap our minds around the entire scope, and the answer remained just out of reach.
“You are saying that these people, such as Ferdinand Lyons, did not receive their abilities genetically?” Alpha asked for clarification.
The Clearwood girl hadn’t said much aside from filling in gaps during Talia’s explanation of Paradis and its bizarre history, and I’d nearly forgotten she was there. How did she even know so much about the island? When I started to ask, one look from Talia silenced my curiosity. The two of them were holding something back.
Later, I thought. When I finally get Tals alone, I’ll ask her what’s up.
“Are we sure about that?” Brand wanted to know. “Maybe Jacques and Marie Bordeaux’s parents were Talented.”
Ian nodded, as though Brand made a fair point.
“It is possible,” he said. “Kenly and Epsilon can’t find any evidence of that, but perhaps there isn’t any evidence to be found. It doesn’t mean that their ancestors weren’t Talented, just that no one followed them around and observed them.”
“In my opinion, the island caused their Talents,” Penny announced.
Given her abilities, the theory was more than a simple belief or guess. It was the most probable scenario given the facts we had.
“I think so, too,” Talia agreed. “For what it’s worth.”
She turned to Ian before continuing. “These aren’t the only families who owned property or lived on Paradis. We only have knowledge of the ones Mac knew about and those known to possess powers.”
“What makes them so special?” I asked, picking up on Talia’s train of thought. “Are they notable because they had powers? Is it their specific powers? Or is it how they came to have those powers?”
“They were born with abilities,” Penny continued, sitting up a little straighter.
Even with Emma’s presence dampening my ability to read people, Talia, Penny and I were on the same page. Everyone in the room was looking between the three of us as though hanging on our every word.
“What are you guys saying?” Kip demanded, too impatient to wait.
I directed my next words to him. “So, it isn’t these people—Ferdinand, Jacques, Marie—we should be looking at.”
“No, it’s their parents,” Tals agreed, taking my hand. Her smile was soft and sweet. In that moment, I wanted so much to kiss her. That could wait until later, too.
I squeezed her hand. “The parents are the ones who were exposed to whatever caused the talents in the children. The McDonoughs were looking in the wrong place.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Talia
It was well after midnight before the briefing with Crane ended. Though I wanted to dive right into the intel about New Mexico and Nightshade’s mountain facility, I was in the minority. Crane promised we could start early the following morning and sent instructions to those involved with the mission to meet in his study before dawn. I relented, but only because I was craving some alone time with Erik.
“Where are you taking me?” he sent as we exited Crane’s house through a basement passage.
Penny had tipped me off about a treehouse on the back of the property. It had supposedly been built by none other than Margaret Anne McDonough for her grandson, Daniel. I didn’t plan to tell Erik that part. The details weren’t important and had no bearing on why I chose it.
Crane’s house was so big that we could’ve found any number of places to be alone, including the bedroom we were sharing. But there were so many people roaming the halls, and I just wanted one hour of uninterrupted time with my boyfriend.
Is that so much to ask? I wondered. Immediately, I felt guilty and selfish for thinking I deserved quality time with Erik when children like Amberley’s nieces were being held hostage.
“Should I be nervous?” Erik amended when I didn’t respond to question about our destination. Excited, I was moving quickly up the path. He lengthened his stride to catch up with me.
When I smiled, even in the darkness, Erik’s superior eyes noticed.
“You should be very nervous,” I replied, slamming my mental shields down so he couldn’t read the plan from my thoughts.
“Good nervous or bad nervous?” Erik pressed.
I darted off the walking path. He followed me through a narrow passage between two trees, down a ravine and into the stream. Icy water swirled around my thighs as I turned and grinned at Erik.
“Let’s play tag,” I sent.
“Tals, really? This isn’t the time for games,” he replied, torn between amusement and exasperation.
Afraid of his reaction, I considered my next words carefully before sending them. He’d freaked on me earlier, and that anger—no, it was fury—still simmered just under the surface. One wrong move, and the powder keg that was my boyfriend might explode.
“We both need this, Erik. Just an hour. I’ll settle for half that.” I waited for his reaction. When he didn’t protest, I continued. “Let’s blow off some steam. We’re no good to anyone if we’re not focused.”
My lower extremities were numb from the frigid stream, but I refused to move. From where I stood, I
could see Erik still standing on the bank. Silence stretched between us. It felt like eight lifetimes passed as I waited for him to say something.
“Is it that bad?” he asked finally.
It took me a minute to understand his meaning. Again, I chose my words with caution. Erik was calm on the surface, and I didn’t want to disrupt those still waters.
Inhaling deeply, my shoulders sagged. “I just don’t want it to get ‘that bad.’”
A blur of motion disappeared into a mass of shimmering light. Erik vanished completely. I spun in a circle, my hunter’s training kicking in.
“Where are you?” I sent.
“That’s not how tag works,” he said. His response echoed in my ears, as though coming from all around me rather than inside my head.
That’s just an illusion, I told myself. He agreed before we left, only mental communication on this adventure.
A whoosh to my right had me throwing punches destined for nothing more than air. Erik’s laughter danced through the trees, filling the quiet night.
“Come and get me, Tals,” he taunted.
Again, the words pierced the darkness and engulfed me. Kicking up a spray of chilly water, I wrapped it around myself like a shield. I morphed into a small black bird and dove into the stream to wash away my scent.
The air beneath my wings ruffled my wet feathers. It was liberating, a feeling of freedom I desperately needed. As I flew through the trees at dizzying speeds, it felt like each droplet of water I sprayed was a problem being whisked away. That feeling wouldn’t last, so I reveled in it.
Relying on my heightened senses, I followed Erik. He zoomed between trees, looped branches, and alternated between deep dives and hairpin turns. Though he was much faster, I was sneakier and better acquainted with the layout of the property. Plus, I knew Erik.
By unspoken agreement, neither of us left the cover of the woods. It was simply a precaution, in case one of the soldiers patrolling the estate’s perimeter got trigger happy. The guards knew we were out there; Crane had told them to prevent a friendly-fire incident. That still didn’t mean two highly intelligent ravens might not draw suspicion and create a shoot-first-ask-questions-later scenario. Our boundary restrictions made it easy to anticipate Erik’s path, and I quickly gave up following him in favor of cutting him off.
Only one problem remained: he was invisible.
Only a shift in the wind and a gust that swept through the trees alerted me to his scent. He wasn’t moving, I realized. Erik was perched on a tree branch, watching me fly in circles as I tried to locate him. I heard the whoosh of air a millisecond before a yank on my tailfeathers sent me tumbling backwards.
“That’s cheating!” I cried.
Erik cawed nearby. I righted myself and darted toward the sound. Laughter filled my head. Big mistake, buddy, I thought.
Minds were easy for me to track, and his was the easiest of all. Erik had chosen a different tree. Once again, he was watching me chase nothing. I played along a little longer, allowing him time to get comfortable and let his guard down. Abruptly, I changed directions. Flipping backward midflight, Erik was caught by surprise when I snapped his perch with my mind.
His yelp was entirely human as he plummeted to the forest floor. Using telekinesis, I slowed his descent and landed beside him on bare feet.
I tapped him on top of the head. “I win,” I said softly.
Erik grabbed my hand and pulled me down into the dirt and leaves. His lips found mine in the first moment of true harmony we’d experienced all day.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” I sent. His hands ran up and down my sides.
“Me, too. I overreacted.”
His mind wasn’t really on our fight, and he barely knew what we were talking about. I let it go. There wasn’t really anything left to say. Promising I wouldn’t read his thoughts without permission would’ve been a lie. We both knew I was too curious to exercise such restraint.
I also wanted this time to be about us. There was still a lot to discuss, most of it touchy subjects that were going to set off one or both of us. Instead, for those few minutes, I only thought about the way his hands felt on my body. The way Erik always took his time, even when we were both desperate to lose ourselves in one another.
When Erik’s mouth moved to my neck, I pulled back slightly and wiggled out of his grip.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing. We’re just sort of out in the open. Come on, follow me.”
I morphed, knowing he’d follow. Never one to disappoint, Erik was on my tail immediately. The treehouse wasn’t far. We flew in through one of the open windows instead of climbing the ladder. There wasn’t a bed or any other furniture, but blankets and pillows were spread across the wooden floorboards that had stood the test of time. Vanilla scented candles and red roses were scattered throughout, and I tried not to think about the reason Penny kept the treehouse decorated like a romantic hideaway.
Despite the late hour and exhausting few days, there was nothing lazy about our one-on-one time in the treehouse. If anything, it seemed we both understood how dangerous the mission to New Mexico would prove. After that, the inevitable battles with Gretchen and her army of Privileged. We both considered that every chance to be alone could be our last, and both knew how precious our time was together.
How many will die before this ends?
“We’re alive now, Tals.” Erik’s fingers trailed up and down my spine. Laying on his chest, I stared down into his beautiful, calm face.
“I know.” I leaned down and kissed him lightly. “But for how long?” The words were murmured against his lips.
Erik smiled wryly. “Tomorrow isn’t the day you die. Me neither.”
“How do you know?” I asked, feigning suspicion. “Been talking to Epsilon?”
He rolled his eyes. “I’d rather not know if he’s seen our deaths. I know because I just do. Our story doesn’t end on some mountain in New Mexico. It doesn’t end on a mission or in some obscure fight with norms.”
The whispered promises were dangerous to make. They were even more dangerous to believe.
“How does our story end?” I asked softly.
Erik’s turquoise eyes sparkled. “Probably in a totally random cooking incident where you set fire to our house.”
I laughed. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“You’re good at a lot of things, Tals. Cooking and minding your own business aren’t two of them.”
It was meant to be a joke, but I didn’t find it funny. Not after earlier, where failing to mind my own business had nearly sent Erik over the edge.
“I am sorry,” I said again.
“I know.” He squeezed me tightly. “So am I.”
The silence that followed was comfortable and held none of the tension that had been building between us. It couldn’t last forever. It wouldn’t last forever. Before Dr. Patel found a cure, Erik and I would probably have fights that were even more explosive. We both knew that. I just prayed there was a time for us after the doctor figured out how to reverse created talents. The fights would likely be just as bad—we were both passionate—just not as likely to cause Erik to lose his mind. That was all I wanted—a time when Erik and I could fight over normal stuff like my atrocious domestic skills.
“So…,” Erik started, twirling a piece of my hair around his pointer finger. “Want to tell me what secret you and Alpha are hiding?”
It was only a matter of time before he asked, I thought with a sigh. My thoughts of mundane bliss dissipated.
The “secret “was one of the reasons I’d wanted to talk to him alone. It took me several long minutes to choose my opening words. Once I started talking, I couldn’t stop. Alpha’s claim that she and Phi were descended from Ferdinand Lyons didn’t bother me that much, even though it raised questions that might remained unanswered forever. Even if we captured Gretchen and took her into custody, she was never going to tell us everything.
She’s ne
ver going to let you capture her, either, I thought.
The only way to end this was to kill Gretchen McDonough. I had no problem having her blood on my hands.
Alex. The doubt brought an image of the angelic little boy skirting through my mind. Could I kill the only relative he had left?
She isn’t, though. I assured myself. Emma and Alex are related. In fact, through distant and tenuous connections, we were all sort of related. The intermarrying between the nine families was pretty crazy, like a cult keeping its bloodlines contained within the group.
“You think that’s why Phi can heal?” Erik asked after I finished conveying what Alpha had told me.
“Yeah, I do. I think there are probably other healers in his family, whether he knows it or not.”
“Do you think Gretchen knew what his talent was when she took him to Clearwood?”
It was one of the few questions I had an answer for.
“Definitely,” I said, nodding. “He’s so strong. The testing would’ve identified him easily. Though, I doubt she had any clue about his familial roots. None of Mac’s files indicate that Ferdinand had a mistress. Even if he did, there would’ve been a record if she and her child escaped Paradis before it was destroyed.”
“Yet, you believe Alpha?” Erik asked.
“Why? Don’t you?” I countered.
Erik considered the question. “I do, actually. The connection would explain why they’re both so deferential to you. You should have heard Phi when I asked why he healed Frederick and Bryn.”
I sat up. “What do you mean?”
“He did it just because it was what you wanted. Tals, the kid sounded like he would do anything for you.” Erik shook his head in amazement. “He basically worships you.”
“Worships me?” I raised both eyebrows and gave him a doubtful look. “That’s a little intense, don’t you think?”
“Phi is more than a little intense,” Erik answered.
“I doubt it has anything to do our common relative,” I said, my forehead wrinkling. “That connection is in the distant past. It’s probably just….”
