by Jena Leigh
Things like exploding computer labs, for example.
For that reason, it was crucial that Alex temper her emotions as best she could.
You okay down there? Kenzie’s projection echoed in the silence of Alex’s watery prison.
Who, me? Alex replied. I’m just peachy, thanks for asking.
Maybe you should try thinking about something hot, said Kenzie. Like Chris-Hemsworth-on-the-beach type hot. The steamier the better.
At Kenzie’s prompt, Alex’s thought-process immediately bypassed her imagination in favor of her memories instead.
She was in the lake with Declan. He had one hand at her waist and the other buried in her hair as he pulled her closer and deepened their kiss…
Alex broke the surface of the water, gasping for air.
“Nice, Alex.” Aiden stood on the deck just above the pool’s deep end, looking amused. “Though you didn’t have to heat the water that much.”
“Is that steam?” Cassie was stretched out on the lounge chair next to Kenzie’s, a second-year French textbook in her lap. She was pointing at the thin layer of fog now coating the surface of the water.
Whoops.
Looks like the memory she chose worked a little too well.
This was exactly why Alex was getting fed up with her stupid emotions.
“Instant jacuzzi,” confirmed Aiden. “Superheated to roughly a hundred and fifty degrees, thanks to Alex here. Now do you see why I said no one was allowed in the pool with her today?”
Cassie leaned forward in her chair. “Why isn’t the water hurting her? I thought the human body couldn’t stand water that hot without it instantly burning the skin?”
The answer, of course, was that Alex had instinctively created an area of cooler water around her body to protect herself from the overwhelming heat. She’d done it reflexively in the same instant she’d felt the water grow too warm for comfort.
But Cassie never got an answer to her question, because instead Kenzie burst out with, “You kissed my brother?!”
“Wait, what?” Cassie slammed her textbook shut. “You kissed Declan? When? And when the crap were you planning to tell the rest of us?!”
Oops.
One of these days, Alex was going to remember to keep her mind clear of any and all incriminating thoughts while she was in the presence of a telepath.
This was obviously not that day.
Aiden made a face. “Personally, I was getting along just fine without that piece of information. Now can we get back to—”
Cassie shushed him. “When did this happen?”
“Cass,” Aiden’s tone was beseeching. “I really need Alex to focus right now. Can’t this wait?”
Alex resisted a sudden urge to sink to the bottom of the pool and stay there for the foreseeable future.
There was a reason she hadn’t told her friends about the kiss yet.
She hadn’t actually seen Declan in person since that night in the lake, and until she did, she couldn’t be sure about anything.
After setting a personal record of 22 straight hours of sleep, Alex woke up Friday evening and immediately threw herself into preparing for Saturday morning’s AP chemistry exam.
According to Aunt Cil, Declan stopped by to see Alex earlier in the day, but she was still down for the count.
When Saturday crept past without word and Sunday grudgingly replaced it, she convinced herself that what happened between them at the lake was a fluke. A mistake.
Something Declan regretted.
Alex could have called him, of course, but what would she have said?
And besides. This was hardly a conversation to be had over the phone.
She needed to see his eyes—the expression on his face when she brought up the lake. Declan was hard enough to decipher on his most expressive days. She’d never be able to get a read on him unless he was standing right there in front of her.
It was now Sunday afternoon, and she had secretly hoped Declan would be there when it came time to meet with Aiden for training.
No such luck.
Earlier that morning, Grayson had a vision that prompted him to send Declan and Nathaniel to Zürich on a job.
His vision had apparently been pretty detailed, but there would still need to be Variants present at the scene of the crime if they hoped to keep Grayson’s prediction from taking place. This wasn’t something they could just turn over to the local police.
Their target Michael Eastley was no ordinary thief, and Eastley’s target was definitely no ordinary financial institution.
The bank in question was a safe haven for the world’s social elite, a place where the richest of the rich could go and pay obscene amounts of money to ensure that their valuables remained secure.
Eastley was a mimic with the ability to take on the appearance of virtually any person he touched, right down to the unique patterns and pigmentation in their eyes.
Something that would come in handy once he gained access to the high tech safe deposit boxes in the back room, the same ones that required a biometric iris scan to be opened.
Eastley’s plan was to pose as one of the bank’s customers in order to gain entrance. Once inside, he planned to shift into a dozen different forms, stealing the contents from multiple boxes in one fell swoop.
It was the culmination of four months of work for Eastley. Time spent researching his would-be victims and collecting their different pin numbers, along with information regarding the contents of their individual boxes.
Unfortunately for Eastley, Grayson saw it all coming. If everything went according to plan, Declan and Nathaniel would be there to stop him.
Unfortunately for Alex, the boys weren’t expected back until late that night. Her talk with Declan would likely have to wait until school the next morning.
Above her on the deck, Kenzie made a gagging noise. “So that’s what I interrupted when you were down at the lake. It’s times like this I wish I could just bleach my brain.”
“So?” Cassie prompted. “Details?”
“No,” said Aiden. “No details. I don’t want to hear about any details.”
“Hush, Aiden,” said Cassie, holding up her hand. “Lexie, answer my question.”
Alex grimaced. “Hey, Aiden? How about you chain me to the drain again? That was fun.”
“More than happy to oblige,” he said, raising his right arm.
A cool rush of water, a swift tug at her ankles, and Alex was pulled once more into the silent depths of the crystal clear waters.
She wouldn’t be able to avoid Cassie’s questions forever.
But at least it was quiet down here.
— 23 —
“Hey. Can we talk?”
Alex traded the chemistry book in her hand for the history textbook she’d be needing second period, then closed the door to her locker.
Aaron Gale stood awkwardly beside the dark blue wall of lockers, his wiry frame and curly mop of hair practically vibrating with tension. He still looked exhausted from the events of the previous week.
In fact, he looked like he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in at least a week.
“Sure,” she said. “Walk with me toward homeroom?”
Aaron shook his head. “Need someplace a little more—” he glanced around surreptitiously, “—private, if you catch my meaning.”
“Oh. Um, okay.”
She surveyed the crowded halls, looking for one face in particular. Ten minutes until the first bell and still no sign of Declan.
Alex led Aaron through the Commons and down the curved corridor to Bay View’s library, figuring it was one of the few places on campus where they could talk without being overheard. Slipping unnoticed into a far corner of the stacks, Alex deposited her bag in the seat of a study carrel and leaned against the table top.
Aaron paced nervously back and forth in front of her, but showed no signs of speaking.
“Is everything alright?” she asked, finally.
“No,�
� he said. “No, Alex, it’s really not. I spent the entire weekend trying to figure out what the hell I’ve gotten myself into. I’ve got so many questions and I just…” He stopped. “I don’t want to be my father, Alex,” he said, more to the nearby bookshelf than to her.
Alex blinked at him, confused. “What?”
Aaron’s brow furrowed and he sighed. “When I woke up on Saturday, you were gone and somehow I had made it back to Bay View.”
“Right,” Alex winced. “I’m sorry to have just left you like that. Things went a little crazy after we got back—”
“No, no,” he said quickly. “It’s alright. Kenzie filled me in on everything that happened. She also filled me in on what’s happening between you and the Agency and… and with Samuel Masterson.”
The whispered name felt like a shout in the silence of the library. A silence that was soon replaced by the familiar rattling of the air conditioning kicking on.
“You know I grew up thinking you were dead?” he said. “I mean, it’s what my dad always assumed had happened, anyway. That you would have died before Masterson could be stopped.”
“What your dad assumed?”
Aaron frowned. “My dad used to be a member of Grayson’s first team. Back when the Agency was still just being formed.”
“Whoa, wait.” She pushed off the table. “Your father worked with Grayson? With my parents?”
Aaron nodded. “When the shit hit the fan with Masterson, Dad left. Took me and my mom and hid us away in the Appalachians. Even when he got word that Masterson was dead, he still refused to leave that damn mountain.”
“I don’t… I don’t understand,” she said. “How did you end up here, in Bay View, if you didn’t already know who I was and what was happening? Why here? Why now?”
What were the odds that Aaron had just stumbled into the middle of a situation that his father spent so many years running from?
Aaron rubbed the back of his neck. “Because I was hired to.”
“What?”
“A guy… Dr. Edward Li. He showed up at my home six months ago and offered me a job. Work for him, move to Bay View, and he’d set me up here and pay my way through college after I graduated.”
She eyed him warily. “What sort of job?”
He registered her apprehension. “It wasn’t to spy on you, if that’s what you’re thinking. I didn’t even know you were here until I ran into you in the parking lot that day. But I’m starting to think Li sent me here so that I would meet you, eventually.”
“This Li,” she said. “What did he look like?”
“In his thirties. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Asian features. Rich… I’d never seen him before the day he offered me the job.”
“What sort of work have you done for him so far?”
“Nothing.”
Alex arched a brow. “Six months of living on his dime and he hasn’t given you a single thing to do?”
He shrugged. “I just figured he didn’t need me yet. That he’d sent me here and put me on a sort of retainer, so that he’d be able to call on me in the future.”
Alex pinched the bridge of her nose. A dull thudding sounded in her ears. The information overload was bringing on a headache.
“Thing is, Li’s stopped returning my calls. I haven’t been able to reach him since last week. I’m almost positive, now, that you’re the reason he brought me here. I just can’t for the life of me figure out why.”
Well that made two of them.
“I do know one thing, though.” Aaron said, looking her in the eye, his expression earnest. “I’m not my father, Alex. I can’t just run from this. Not when I finally have the chance to make up for his mistakes.”
The bell for homeroom sounded.
“I don’t know why Li brought me here,” he said. “But I wanted to be honest with you about all of it. I want you to know that—no matter how suspect the circumstances were that brought me to Bay View—you can trust me. I’m not my father. And so long as I’m able, I’m going to help you in whatever way I can.”
* * *
When Alex finally made it to homeroom—nearly five minutes late for what was only a ten-minute class—she was surprised to discover that someone was already occupying her usual desk.
Sandy Bleaker was seated at an angle, her long bronzed legs stretching out into the aisle. Her arms were folded atop the desk behind her and she was focusing her full attention on Declan. Though that didn’t stop her from flashing Alex a smile when she spotted her standing at the back of the room.
Alex froze. Something dark and empty twisted in the pit of her stomach as she watched Sandy cut her brown eyes coyly up at Declan.
But then Declan did something Alex hadn’t expected. He leaned back in his seat, distancing himself from Sandy’s advances.
His head tilted slightly toward the aisle and Alex could finally make out his expression. The puckish grin he so often wore when flirting with Alex’s classmates—and which she’d fully expected to see—was missing.
Instead, he seemed entirely unfazed. Even a bit bored.
Blowing out a slow breath of relief, Alex finished her trek down the aisle.
Declan finally noticed her approach.
His gaze immediately locked on hers, and he smiled. Her heart constricted inside her chest when he said simply, “Lex.”
Alex stood awkwardly, at a loss for what to do next. The only open seats remaining were at the very front of the class and at the back by the door.
Looking up at Alex from the stolen desk, Sandy’s smile was almost a sneer. Her expression projected her message to Alex loud and clear.
Thanks for being late, freak. Now get lost.
Declan turned back to Sandy. His smile evaporated. “You’re in her seat.”
Sandy’s grin faltered. “Excuse me?”
Declan didn’t reply. Instead, he stared her down with a look of utter disinterest.
Alex bit back a smile, certain that she was witnessing history in the making. No one told Sandy to leave. Especially if said person was in possession of a Y chromosome.
Huffing in annoyance, Sandy scooped up her books and retreated to the back of the classroom.
Alex slipped into the now empty seat, still trying to hide her amusement—and her relief.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, leaning forward.
“Better,” she said. “How was Zürich?”
“Rainy.” Declan narrowed his eyes at Alex for a long moment, as though something were bugging him. “Hey, which ab—”
Before he could finish his question, the PA system buzzed to life and a tinny female voice began reading the morning’s news. As soon as she finished reading off the announcements, the bell rang.
They’d nearly reached the door to the hall before Declan spoke again.
“Who have you…” Declan once again cut himself short, this time sending a pointed glare over his shoulder. Sandy was walking directly behind them as the class filed out and into the hallway, eavesdropping on their conversation. “Who have you borrowed from lately?”
“Oh.” Alex looked down at her hands. “I’ve only really borrowed from Aiden, I guess.”
Currently, Aiden’s ability to manipulate water was all that she still possessed. And even that was starting to fade.
They exited into the hallway and Declan took a left instead of their usual right, guiding her to an empty corner next to a row of lockers.
“Uh, Decks?” Alex managed. The words felt like a major accomplishment, what with the way that rakish grin on his face was short-circuiting her thought process. “History is… um… well, it’s that way.”
“I’m aware.” He leaned in a little closer and lowered his voice. “But we should really do something about your jumping ability.”
From the look in his eyes, he was waiting for something. An answer, maybe? But an answer to what?
Alex was excruciatingly slow to take the hint. For a long moment, she just stared up at him blankly.
As the seconds ticked by, Declan’s grin began to fade. He was starting to pull away from her when realization finally dawned.
Oh.
Oh.
Before he could step back, Alex grabbed hold of his dark gray jacket. She answered his raised eyebrow with a smile.
His unspoken question having finally been answered, Declan leaned down, cupped Alex’s face with both hands, and kissed her.
The fluorescent lights of the hallway blew out simultaneously, resulting in an explosion of pale blue sparks.
Alex and Declan broke apart as the packed hallway erupted with cries of surprise from passing students.
Whoops.
The pitch black hallways were soon illuminated by the brilliant white glare of a dozen cell phone camera lights, as students attempted to maneuver their way through the darkened halls.
Alex winced in embarrassment.
Declan only laughed, taking her hand in his as he led them back down the hall and toward AP History.
* * *
For Alex, the next few days passed in a blur.
With her chemistry exam finally out of the way (she’d passed the test with an A and the class itself with a C-) and with only a few short days before summer break, Alex’s workload for school virtually evaporated.
Their classes were now filled with movies instead of lectures, end of the year parties instead of assignments, and general relief from both the students and the teachers.
Summer was coming.
Alex wished she could be more excited.
While her classmates talked and did as little work as possible, Alex found herself increasingly lost in her thoughts.
She spent Tuesday and most of Wednesday learning all she could about Kenzie’s ability during the day. Her evenings were spent manipulating water and catapulting rocks with her thoughts.
As for her jumping ability… well, thanks to Declan, it never had the chance to fade.
Not that much had really happened since the fireworks in the hall on Monday morning.
He was still there with her during the day, his arm around her shoulders as they journeyed through the halls, cracking dumb jokes to make her smile.
