by Leigh, Jena
“What?” Alex bolted upright, resulting in a rather painful rush of blood to her head. She fell back against the bed. “Ungh… Why did you let me sleep so long?”
“Trust me, it wasn’t my first choice.” Cassie sat down on the mattress beside her. “The others said you needed it, though, so I let you sleep. We’re only waking you up now because Mr. Grayson’s back and he wants to see everyone downstairs.”
“Family meeting,” said Declan, the words coming out at a crawl. She looked up. Declan was studying her from his spot across the room. His expression of boredom had morphed into one of confusion. “You feeling alright, Lex?”
“I’m fine. Why?”
Cassie appraised Declan. “What’s with the look?” she asked.
“Something’s… different,” said Declan. “Alex?”
“Yes?”
“If I told you to jump right now, could you?”
She’d managed a jump last night, just before she went to bed. Whatever that pulse had done to her in the parking garage, it appeared to have been temporary.
“Sure, I…” she trailed off.
Declan was right. Something was different.
The soft thrum of electricity she’d grown so accustomed to these last few days was missing once more. Her connection to Declan had been severed.
But it wasn’t just that.
Her thoughts were entirely her own again. Even without the mental walls in place, she couldn’t hear Cassie, or sense the presence of anyone else in the house. No matter how hard she concentrated, Alex couldn’t feel or hear any of them.
And even though she hadn’t made much headway practicing her telekinesis last night with Nathaniel, Alex was fairly certain that that had disappeared as well. For the first time in months, Alex felt almost…. normal.
She sucked in a ragged breath as panic set in.
“That’s what I thought,” said Declan.
Three days ago, Alexandra Parker would have given anything to be normal again.
Now, on the run from the government and a psychopath who’d already killed two people and kidnapped her best friend, Alex’s only means of protecting herself and the people she cared about had just vanished.
She was defenseless.
“It’s gone,” she whispered. Icy tendrils of fear were coiling inside her chest. “All of it… Just gone. How can it be gone? Declan, what do I do?”
“What’s gone?” asked Cassie. “Alex, what is the matter?”
“Hop up, Cassie,” said Declan.
For once, Cassie didn’t argue. She moved aside and Declan took her place, sitting down on the bed next to Alex.
Without saying anything more, he reached up and placed his hand on the side of her face, cupping her cheek.
“Declan? What are you doing?” Alex asked, but didn’t pull away. She sat perfectly still, transfixed by the look of worry in Declan’s hazel eyes.
After a few seconds, the heat radiating from Declan’s palm was joined by a second sensation—the familiar quiver of electricity.
It was back. Declan’s touch had reawakened her ability.
The look of relief that flooded his expression caused Alex’s breath to catch in her throat, but it was the smile that followed that threatened to do her in entirely.
“That’s better,” he said. “For a moment there, I thought I’d lost you.”
His gaze journeyed south, fixing on her mouth, before flickering back up to meet her eyes.
“Will one of you please tell me what’s going on?”
Declan dropped his hand, but made no move to get up.
“I don’t understand, Decks,” Alex’s voice was barely above a whisper. “What just happened?”
He surprised her again by offering his hand. “Just in case,” he said with a shrug. When she still didn’t move, he added, “You’re getting your abilities from touching other Variants. I don’t know how it works—or how long the contact needs to last—but I figure, better safe, than sorry. Now, hup to, princess. Grayson and the others are waiting.”
Alex looked down at herself, suddenly self-conscious. She’d collapsed into bed the night before in a pair of yoga pants and an oversized sweatshirt. Not exactly her best look. She swept her unruly hair up and into a messy bun using the elastic band around her wrist, stealing a quick glance at her disheveled reflection in the dresser mirror.
Great. She looked like an extra gone AWOL from the set of a Flashdance remake.
Alex supposed it could have been worse. At least she hadn’t ended up in the lake yet today.
Accepting Declan’s outstretched hand, Alex slid from between the sheets, cringing when her bare feet met with the frigid hardwood floor. For a split-second, she gave serious consideration to diving back into the warm, comfortable bed, settling in beneath the duvet, and spending what was left of the day hiding from the world outside her bedroom.
It seemed like a perfectly acceptable response to the mess she was in.
World got you down? Discovered you’re a mutant? Pesky psychopath on your trail?
The solution was simple: Go back to bed!
Alex was fairly certain that she could solve all those problems and more, if she could just have five more minutes of sleep.
Cassie led the way into the hall. Declan followed just a step ahead of Alex, arm twisted behind him, long fingers still entwined with hers. The longer the contact lasted, the more clearly she could sense the electrical currents in the people, objects, and air surrounding her.
Alex wondered, briefly, if Declan’s offer to keep hold of her hand had been given solely to ensure the return of her ability, or if he might have had another motive… And then promptly decided that that line of thinking couldn’t lead anywhere good.
Whether it was from the chill in the air, or the tingle of electricity flowing through their joined hands, Alex wasn’t certain, but she couldn’t hold back a shiver.
The currents surged.
Declan cast a quick glance at her over his shoulder. When their eyes met, the corner of his mouth quirked upward in a crooked grin.
Nowhere good.
As they reached the landing, Alex gazed down upon the living area below.
Brian and Nate were seated on the couch on either side of Kenzie, laughing at something the redhead had said. Grayson, meanwhile, stood near the front door, arguing in a low voice with Aiden. It was the most dressed-down she’d seen the patriarch thus far, in a pair of dark jeans and a pressed, white button-down shirt. He turned his head when he heard them descending the stairs.
The skin surrounding his left eye gleamed a nasty shade of purple, and had nearly swollen shut. Alex felt a wave of guilt wash over her. That one must have hurt.
“Ah, Alex, you’re awake,” said Grayson.
Aiden’s black look was replaced with a soft smile and a nod in Cassie’s direction.
Well that was an interesting development. She’d have to corner her friend later and grill her for details.
“How are you feeling?” asked Nate.
The trio reached the foot of the stairs and everyone moved to find a seat in the living room.
“I’m alright,” she said, releasing Declan’s hand and settling in next to Nate in the last open space on the couch. Declan sat on the arm of the couch beside Alex, as Cassie claimed the love seat, Aiden the ottoman in front of it, and Grayson returned to his spot on the hearth. “I had an unpleasant surprise waiting for me when I woke up, though.”
“What, you mean my brother?” said Kenzie. “I suppose waking up to his face would be a shock to anyone’s system.”
“Kenzie,” said Grayson. It wasn’t so much a warning as it was a subtle reproach. “What happened, Alex?”
“I woke up and my abilities were gone.”
“What, all of them?” asked Kenzie.
“All of them,” she said.
“Alex’s ability—her real ability—seems to be the power to absorb another Variant’s abilities through touch,” said Declan. He looked pointe
dly at Grayson. “And I can’t help but wonder how she wound up with an ability that only one other person on the planet has ever laid claim to.”
Grayson’s jaw clenched.
“What? There’s someone else out there like me?” she asked. Something akin to hope stirred within her chest. Somewhere out there was someone who could understand what she was going through.
Alex wrung her hands. Declan reached down, first stilling her movements and then reclaiming her hand in his.
Declan’s voice was overflowing with accusation. “You going to tell us how Alex wound up with Samuel Masterson’s ability, Grayson?”
“Wait… What?” Alex yanked her hand from Declan’s grasp and climbed unsteadily to her feet. “Masterson? The same Masterson that went crazy and murdered all of our parents? I have his ability?”
She spun around to confront Declan. “You’ve known this since last night… and you didn’t say anything?”
Even Declan couldn’t handle the surge that followed. The lamps on the end tables and the overhead lights blew out simultaneously, leaving the room lit only by the darting flames of the fireplace.
“I didn’t want to say anything until I knew for sure,” he said in the silence that followed. Even in the dim glow of the fireplace his expression appeared earnest, a silent entreaty for her understanding in his eyes. “I needed to be certain.”
Unable to look away from Declan, Alex sank into a seated position on the coffee table.
How cruel the universe could be.
It wasn’t enough that her strange gift separated her from her aunt. From Declan, Nathaniel, Kenzie and the others…. But now she knew that the only other person to ever have been like her—and the only one who might ever have been able to help her understand what she was—was the same man who had brutally murdered her parents.
A man who had been dead for years.
“But I thought…” She closed her eyes and tried to steady the funny tremor that had worked its way into her voice. “Grayson, I thought you said abilities were inherited. Please tell me Samuel Masterson isn’t… Tell me that he isn’t…”
“No, Alex,” said Grayson, with finality. “Samuel Masterson isn’t your father.”
“Then how—” she began.
“Samuel Masterson was not born with the ability the two of you possess,” said Grayson. “He made the both of you what you are today.”
“I don’t understand,” said Cassie. “What do you mean he made them like they are?”
Declan frowned at her. His earnest expression had been replaced with annoyance… And what appeared to be righteous indignation.
He was angry that she was so angry.
Didn’t he get it?
Didn’t he realize that he’d crossed a line when he decided to keep the truth from her?
She’d had enough of being lied to. In her mind, Declan was no better than her aunt.
“Is that why he wanted her, Grayson?” asked Declan, his voice low. “Is that why our parents died trying to protect Alex?”
“What?” Alex choked out.
She flashed back to what Grayson had told her on the first day she’d arrived. One day, a powerful Variant named Masterson got it in his head that… Well let’s just say, he came after one of our own. The team tried to stop him.
Alex felt sick to her stomach.
It was all her fault.
They were all dead… Had all died protecting her.
With his back to the fire, Grayson’s face rested in the shadows, his words traveling to them through the darkness. “I’m sorry, Alex,” he said. “We should have been honest with you from the beginning. I should have been honest with all of you from the beginning… And it’s time you all knew the truth.”
A flash of violet light illuminated the large room.
Alex turned to face the new arrivals.
Her aunt had appeared behind her, and stood in the faint light on the other side of the coffee table, leaning heavily against none other than Carson Brandt.
Alex rushed to stand, but misjudged the location of Declan’s feet in the darkness and, after a creative two-step, fell into a seated position… in Nathaniel’s lap.
Klutziness: 204,231, Alex: Zip.
Declan and Aiden were on their feet in an instant.
“It’s alright, everyone,” said Grayson. “I told you. Brandt’s a… friend. Of sorts. Anyhow, you can relax. He’s on our side.”
“Harmless as a kitten, me,” said Brandt, helping Cil over to the love seat. Aiden stepped aside as Alex’s aunt settled onto the ottoman.
“Aunt Cil?” Alex squinted to see her aunt better. “What’s happened to your leg?”
“I see you haven’t gotten to that part of the story yet, Jonathan,” said Brandt. “Why on Earth are you lot sitting around in the dark, anyway? Someone forget to pay the electric bill? Ah, well. No matter.”
Brandt drew a small flame away from the fireplace and looked about the room. He found what he was searching for on the mantle and sent the flame sailing toward it.
After the hurricane lamp was lit, Nathaniel floated it from the hearth to the coffee table at the center of the room.
“Thank you, Mr. Palladino,” said Brandt, smiling at Nate in a decidedly creepy manner. Then again, everything about this man struck Alex as creepy. He settled onto the ottoman next to her aunt. “My, my. You do have your mother’s eyes, don’t you?”
His arms still around her, Alex could feel Nate’s shoulder muscles tense as he scowled at the newcomer.
Alex’s attention slid past Brandt and onto Cassie, who was curled up in the love seat, staring nervously at Brandt. Alex wasn’t the only one who’d noticed her friend’s discomfort. Aiden settled back onto the love seat beside Cassie, surreptitiously taking her hand in his. She relaxed only slightly and inched further back into the cushions, as far from Brandt as she could get.
Despite Grayson’s assurances, Declan made no move to sit down. Everyone else remained seated quietly, staring uncertainly at Brandt.
The tension in the room was almost palpable.
“Honestly,” Brandt muttered. “D’you see what I mean about the ruination of my good name, Jonathan? It wasn’t me! It was Samuel Masterson and only Samuel Masterson. I had none to do with it, I promise you.”
In the silence that followed, you could have heard a pin drop.
“Are you saying Masterson’s alive?” said Kenzie, finally giving voice to the question Alex had been too stunned to ask.
“Well,” Brandt said with a smile. “Now that I’ve gone and spoiled the ending… Jonathan, I suppose you’d better start at the beginning.”
“Yes, I suppose I should,” said Grayson, annoyed.
Declan finally turned around, intent on resuming his seat. He paused at the sight of Alex and Nathaniel, arching an eyebrow.
“Are you two comfortable?” he asked quietly. The low tone stripped his observation of any inflection, but the look in his eye more than made up for it.
Alex slid off of Nate’s lap without another word and Grayson began his tale.
— 22 —
Declan’s boots sank into the muddy grounds of the training field. The heavy rains from that afternoon had transformed the darkened clearing into a mire.
She wasn’t here, either.
He jumped.
After Brandt had shown up, Grayson had spent the next twenty minutes providing them with a rundown on the history of one Samuel Masterson.
The guy had been something of a whiz-kid. A boy genius that had joined Grayson’s unit at the age of 17 with doctorate’s in both genetics and biomedical engineering already under his belt.
Grayson hadn’t wanted to put him in the field on account of his youth and relative inexperience, so instead, they had created an entire research and development team around him.
Masterson had immediately set to work on the development of gene therapies that specifically targeted Variant DNA. Therapies that, they had hoped, would one day help Variants who po
ssessed some of the more debilitating abilities lead normal, productive lives.
It hadn’t taken long for Masterson to make a breakthrough.
Declan landed on the cement drive that led up to Alex’s home. The lights were out and he couldn’t see any signs of movement within the house.
Another dead end.
He jumped again.
While at the Agency, Masterson created two treatments. The first was designed to completely strip a Variant of their ability. The second allowed one Variant to absorb the abilities of another.
It was the second therapy that he’d become obsessed with.
But there was a catch. The second treatment wouldn’t work on just anyone. Certain characteristics needed to already be present in the subject’s DNA before the treatment would take. As fate would have it, only two people on the team carried those traits.
Masterson… And James Parker, Alex’s father.
Within a year, Masterson had developed trial versions of both therapies.
Parker had refused the testing. He was happy with his ability, and had no desire to change himself—even if it would make him more powerful.
Masterson, on the other hand, was desperate to try it.
Grayson had warned Masterson to wait until the initial tests had been completed, but he hadn’t listened. He’d tried the therapy on himself, the first chance he got.
In the end, Masterson became the Agency’s first successful trial… If you called making himself batshit crazy in the process a success, anyhow.
Declan reappeared on the dock where they’d met Masterson the day before.
The jetty was empty. Declan wasn’t surprised. The place had probably lost most of its charm for her, after all that had happened.
He hesitated before making another jump, taking a moment to think back over the series of events that had led them to this point.
Shortly after Masterson completed his treatments and knew that the therapy had worked, the contents of his lab had been destroyed in a fire. Grayson claimed ignorance as to how the blaze broke out. But Declan had his theories.
In any case, not long after that, Masterson set his sights on Alex.
