by Jena Leigh
“He needs a doctor,” said Alex as he helped her lay Aaron flat on the tiled floor. Her voice was rough and her eyes wet with tears. “But I was too scared to bring him to a hospital. There were agents at his apartment earlier. I think they were trying to take him in.”
Kenzie edged past the others and knelt beside Alex, pulling her into a hug, before pushing her away again to give her a once-over. “Are you hurt?”
The girl before her looked like she’d just walked headlong into a hurricane.
Kenzie wondered how close that was to the truth.
Her bright red skirt was now a muddy shade of crimson, torn in places and stained in others. She’d obviously been drenched earlier, then dried quickly somewhere with an abundance of pale dirt. Much of which had been left clinging to her clothes afterward.
Alex wiped at her cheeks, but didn’t answer Kenzie’s question. Instead, she watched intently as Aiden examined Aaron.
“He’s unconscious,” he said, finally. “But I think he’ll be okay. Judging from the looks of him, he just pushed his ability too far. Should be alright after a few days of rest.”
Mutely, Alex nodded. “He was trying to teach me. I took too long,” she said, then added angrily, “I didn’t figure it out right away and by the time I did, Aaron was… he was…”
No one spoke.
Climbing to her feet, Alex walked to the door behind her. Opening it, she stepped outside—right into the raging storm.
Declan was half a step behind her. “Alex, what the hell do you think you’re doing? Come back inside!”
Alex shook her head. “I have to do this first, Decks,” she said, the winds howling past her as the falling rain soaked her to the skin once more. “I have to stop this storm.”
Declan took a tentative step closer.
“And you can’t do that from inside?” called Cassie.
“I need to see it,” said Alex, still with her back to the house.
“Yeah, you know,” said Aiden from just over Kenzie’s shoulder, “they have these fancy things called windows and, I gotta say, they’re pretty awesome for doing exactly that. Now why don’t you come back inside, Lex?”
Ignoring him, Alex leaned her head back and stared up at the clouds above… and, almost immediately, the storm began to weaken.
The violent winds became a soft breeze, the deluge of rain transformed into a light sprinkle—by the time thirty seconds had passed, even the dark ceiling of clouds vanished, replaced by the brilliant colors of a post-rain sunset.
Kenzie half expected to see a rainbow somewhere.
And then Alex collapsed.
Lunging forward, Declan managed to catch her before she could hit the ground. Nate jogged out to help him.
As they carried her past Kenzie, she could see that a steady stream of blood was flowing from Alex’s nose, drenching the front of her formerly white tank top.
She’d dissolved the storm alright, but at what cost?
— 21 —
“So where do you think Alex went while she was gone?”
Declan tore his gaze away from the window and the battered landscape that had once been their front lawn. The storm had scattered palm fronds and other assorted debris across the property but, structurally, there was no damage to the house or the surrounding buildings.
He wondered how the rest of the town had fared.
Brian stared up at him, his features turned owlish behind his too-large glasses.
“The desert, probably. We’ll have to ask her when she wakes up,” Declan ruffled his hair. “Speaking of interrogations, where’s your dad? He’s going to want the details of what happened before he meets with the Director.”
“He went to find Alex’s aunt. She wasn’t answering her phone.”
“Yeah,” said Nate from across the room. He’d been standing guard beside Alex’s inert form since they’d brought her in fifteen minutes earlier. “That might have had something to do with the agents I saw parked out front of her house.”
Aiden and Kenzie walked back into the living room from the kitchen, steaming mugs of coffee in their hands.
His cousin placed the second mug he carried on the coffee table behind Cassie. She paused in her efforts to clean the blood from Alex’s face and neck to thank him.
Declan left his spot at the window and crossed the room, sinking into the cushions of the only sofa not currently being occupied by an unconscious body.
“Okay, so I don’t get it.” Cassie gestured toward Alex with the wet cloth in her hand. “This nosebleed. She’s never had that before, right? So why now?”
“She’s never tried to do so much at once before, either,” Kenzie replied. “Some abilities require more control than others. Letting them run rampant is easy enough, but reining them in again after you’ve lost that control? It puts an incredible amount of strain on the body.”
“So doing too much at once is dangerous,” said Cassie. “How dangerous? I mean, could it ever…?”
“Hurt her?” finished Nate. “Yeah, it could.”
“All Variants have their limits,” said Aiden. “We learn early on not to push past them.”
“And what happens when you do?” asked Cassie.
“Your blood pressure spikes, your head aches, your vision starts to go,” listed Declan. “Most people end up with a nosebleed. Then, once you’ve really gone and done it, you pass out.”
“And that’s the worst that happens?” asked Cassie. “You just pass out?”
No one answered her.
Probably, none of them wanted to be the one responsible for saying it out loud. Because if there was ever a Variant likely to blow right past their body’s limits, it was Alex.
“That is the worst that happens, right?” asked Cassie.
Kenzie sighed. “No. If we can manage to stay conscious and keep pushing ourselves hard enough, eventually we develop a cerebral aneurysm.”
“A brain aneurysm?” asked Cassie, aghast. “You mean, that Alex—that all of you—could die if you tried to do too much at once?”
Declan stared at the unconscious girl across the room.
Alex might be the second most powerful Variant on the planet, but so long as her body was vulnerable, it didn’t mean jack shit—she could still die, same as the rest of them.
During those rare times when she possessed more than a handful of abilities, it could easily end in disaster.
“Don’t worry, Cass,” said Aiden. “It’s damn hard to do, which is why we usually pass out first. You can think of it like a self-defense mechanism. Blacking out keeps us from pushing ourselves past the point of no return.”
Declan narrowed his eyes at Aiden.
His cousin was only saying that to make Cassie feel better.
In reality, if Alex were to use three or more abilities at once, her body probably wouldn’t have time to use that mechanism. She’d be dead before she could hit the ground.
Kenzie met his eye. Judging from her expression, something similar had just occurred to her.
We should probably have a talk with Alex once she’s awake, projected Kenzie. I don’t think anyone’s even thought to warn her about this yet.
Never thought she’d progress this fast, he replied. And until tonight, I didn’t really think about what might happen if she ever absorbed an ability this powerful.
Or if she tried to use more than one ability at a time, Kenzie added. Yeah. I heard you earlier. That worries me, too.
He raised an eyebrow. Stay outta my head, Kenzie.
Though, truth be told, it served him right for being so lazy with his walls.
Kenzie held up her hands in mock surrender, only to drop them again as her attention shifted to the front door.
“The boss is back,” she said. “Looks like he brought Alex’s aunt.”
No sooner had the words left Kenzie’s mouth, than Grayson and Cil came striding through the front door.
Catching sight of Alex, Cil hurried across the room to kneel beside her
. “Is she…?”
“Just unconscious, Ms. C,” answered Kenzie. “Getting rid of the storm took a lot out of her.”
Grayson gave the room a once-over and sighed. He nodded toward the couch adjacent to Alex. “And the boy?”
“Aaron Gale,” Declan answered. “Student at Bay View and a weather manipulator. Alex absorbed the ability from him.”
“I assume he’s now aware of who and what she is?” asked Grayson.
“Won’t know for certain until they wake up,” answered Kenzie. “But, yeah. He probably got a crash course in the basics while they were gone this afternoon.”
“What a bloody mess.” Grayson rubbed tiredly at his forehead before dragging a hand through his short hair
“Did the Director find you?” asked Nate.
“No. Not yet.” Satisfied that Alex was alright, merely unconscious, Cil stood and returned to Grayson’s side. “She had agents surveilling my house waiting for Alex to return home. Now that I’ve left to come here, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before she pays us a visit.”
Grayson grunted his agreement. “We need to get them out of here,” he said. “Alex and Aaron, both. Cil, if you would be so kind, please take the children to the cabin in New York and return here after they’re settled. I’m assuming you’ll want to be a part of this conversation.”
“Yeah, and she’s not the only one,” said Alex. She’d come to at some point and pulled herself into a seated position on the couch. “You’re letting me stay, right?”
Declan appraised the girl where she sat, gripping the back of the couch with one hand and the back of her head with the other.
Between her tattered clothes, her damp, frizzy hair, and the spots of blood still visible on her neck, Alex truly looked like hell.
If Grayson’s goal was to convince the Agency that Alex had reestablished control once she realized what was happening and that it had been an easy enough task to accomplish… Well, this probably wasn’t the image he’d want to greet them with.
“Declan,” said Grayson.
“Sir?”
He nodded toward Alex. It was all the instruction Declan required.
“Wait—!” Her protest was cut short by the jump.
Christ, was Declan ever going to catch hell for this one.
He just hoped that lake water had warmed up a few degrees since the last time. Alex was going to be unbearable, otherwise.
* * *
Funny thing was, Alex Parker usually enjoyed being in the water.
The smooth, seamless feel of the liquid as it glided across her skin. The sensation of weightlessness as she lay flat on her back and watched the clouds drifting slowly across the sky. The way the world above—with all its troubles and its heartaches—disappeared in the instant she slipped beneath the surface and into the silent realms that lay below.
She’d been drawn to water for as long as she could remember.
It’s why she’d spent her first two years in high school on the swim team. Why her favorite refuge had once been a disused dock on an equally forgotten lake.
But right now?
Well, right now, she kind of despised it.
There existed only one thing in nature that could prevent a jumper from teleporting—and Alex was, once again, neck deep in it.
“Dammit, Declan!” she said as he broke through the surface of the water, a few feet to her right.
Unlike the first time he’d dropped her in this particular lake, Declan wasn’t smiling.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, making for the dock. “I know. I’m an asshole.”
Still weary from the day’s events, the chilly waters shocked her more fully awake. The rush of adrenaline from their crash down filled her with a renewed purpose—and an anger that would easily keep her moving until she reached the dock.
“I can’t believe you!” she said, swimming after him.
“It was for the best, Lex,” he said. “Trust me.”
“Trust you… Trust you? You just dropped me in a lake!” she said. “Again!”
Declan stopped a few feet ahead of her. His eyes narrowed. “If I let you out of this lake, you’re going to jump right back to the beach house, aren’t you?”
Obviously.
“No,” she lied, treading water in front of him. “I’ll stay here in New York until Grayson says it’s okay to come back.”
“Right,” Declan scoffed.
He shifted his gaze to the orange sky above.
The sun was setting in the Adirondacks, bathing the lake and the surrounding forests a hazy golden hue. The water had warmed up in the few weeks Alex had been away, but not by much. Declan couldn’t hold her captive in the lake forever.
She tried to swim around him and make her way to the dock, but Declan reached out and grabbed her around the waist as she passed.
Their heads dipped beneath the water and Alex pinched him hard on the arm until he let her loose and she surfaced again.
“Ow,” said Declan, coming up beside her.
“You deserved that.”
Alex made to go around him a second time and the same scene played out, all over again.
Declan coughed as he surfaced. “Stop, Alex. I swear I’m only trying to save you from yourself, here. You can bitch all you like, but you’re not getting out of this lake until I’m certain you won’t go running back to Bay View to dig yourself a hole you won’t be able to climb out of.”
Alex sighed in frustration. “You can’t hold me hostage in a lake, Decks. I can only tread water for so long. I’m exhausted. Eventually, my arms are going to give out,” she said. “Can we at least swim close enough to the shore that my feet can touch the bottom without going under?”
Declan couldn’t argue with that. Turning his back on her again, he appeared to relent.
“Fine,” he said. “But you’re still not getting out of this lake before I say so.”
We’ll see about that, she thought to herself.
They made their swim toward the shore in silence, Alex struggling to catch her breath as her muscles burned in protest.
When she made it home tonight, she was going to sleep for at least three days straight. No way school was happening tomorrow. She’d more than earned a sick day.
Thirty feet from the shore, Declan cut off her forward movement by snagging her wrist beneath the water.
“That’s far enough,” he said.
Where they’d stopped, Alex’s boots could just reach the bottom with her chin resting at the top of the water. Declan, being a good eight inches taller, could stand with his shoulders well above the waterline.
Alex pretended to acquiesce—but only for a moment. As soon as Declan’s stance relaxed, she made a desperate break toward the shore.
Five feet later, he’d grabbed her around the waist and tugged her beneath the water. A few seconds after that, she returned to the surface with a gasp.
“Why can’t you just let me go back? God, Decks, you’re such a… such a…” Alex huffed, unable to come up with a suitable label.
“Yeah, well, maybe I am. But if you could have seen yourself sitting there on that couch, with your bloodstained clothes and your knotted hair—looking for all the world like a twice-drowned bag lady—you would have thanked me for stopping you.”
Most of Alex’s clothes were far enough submerged beneath the black waters that she couldn’t see them, but there was a telltale dark smudge on the neck of her white tank.
The nosebleed.
She’d forgotten. Her hand went to her upper lip, but found nothing. Someone must have cleaned her up after she passed out.
God. How bad did she look right now?
As Alex ran her hands over her wet, tangled hair, Declan kept talking.
“If you’d faced down the Director looking like that, she would have—” he cut himself short.
Alex’s brow furrowed. Her boots were sinking into the muck of the lakebed and she shifted, dragging them back to the surface.
; When he didn’t continue, she asked, “She would have what, Decks?”
He set his jaw and glared into the setting sun, just over her left shoulder.
“She would have taken you, alright?” he said. “And I can’t… I couldn’t…”
Alex stared at Declan as he stared at the horizon. She noted his frown, the creases in his forehead, the angry way he held his mouth.
He was worried.
No, it’s more than that, she thought. He’s scared.
Declan O’Connell—the toughest, most reckless, bravest and most stubborn man she’d ever met—was actually scared of something.
He turned to meet her gaze just as the sun dipped beneath the mountain ridge, taking with it the warm light of the sunset and offering in its place a deepening veil of shadows and a chilly breeze.
“I wasn’t going to lose you,” he said. “Not tonight, and definitely not like that. I made a promise to keep you safe, Lex, and I will. Even if it means that, occasionally, I end up having to save you from yourself.”
Alex swallowed, her earlier frustrations now warring with a growing urge to grab the front of his black shirt and pull him toward her.
Instead, Declan swam closer, bending at the knees so that his shoulders disappeared beneath the water and he was once again on Alex’s level.
His breath warmed the air between them.
Alex’s own breath was caught in her throat. Every trace of the anger she’d been clinging to since their arrival at the lake had withered beneath the weight of honesty she’d found in Declan’s eyes.
“So get mad,” he said. “Scream. Curse. Yell at me until your voice turns to a whisper and you run out of breath, if it’s what you think I deserve.” Declan reached a hand out of the water to gently cup her face. He dragged his thumb over her cheek. “But know this, Alex Parker—if dropping you in a lake is what it takes to keep you safe and keep you free, then I’ll drop you in this lake as many times as I have to.”
“Declan?”
“Yeah?”
“Shut up.”
Alex closed the distance between them, her lips meeting Declan’s with a shock of electricity that traveled straight to her core, causing her heart to take flight in her chest.
