The MORE Trilogy

by T. M. Franklin

  Ava whimpered behind his hand.

  “Are you going to be a good girl?” he asked mockingly. “Nice and quiet?”

  Ava nodded slowly, terrified. He released her, taking a step back, and she caught her breath for a moment. Finally, she asked, “What do you want with me? And how do you know Caleb?”

  The man smiled humorlessly. “Caleb and I go way back.” He stepped over to the gate, peering out to make sure no one had heard her shout. “As for what I want with you. Nothing. But my job is to bring you in for testing.”

  Ava’s eyes darted to the open gate and the huge bulk of man blocking her way. If she could just get him to relax, maybe she could make a run for it. She shuffled slightly to the right. “Testing?” she repeated, eager to keep him talking.

  “If things are normal. You’ll be released. No harm done.” He backed away from the opening, pulling a cell phone from his pocket and tapping on the screen.

  “ ‘Normal?’ ” she repeated. “And what if they’re not . . . normal?” Another small step to the right. And another. He kept tapping away.

  “None of my business,” he muttered gruffly, not sparing her a glance. He stared at his phone, absorbed, and paced a bit toward the dumpster.

  It wasn’t a lot of room, but Ava feared it was her only chance. She lunged for the gate, grabbing the edge of the fence to pull herself through. A band of iron locked around her waist, and she felt herself thrown back against the wall, the huge man smiling wickedly as her head cracked against the brick. Her vision swam as she swallowed against the nausea bubbling inside her.

  “You didn’t really think you’d get away?” he taunted. “You’ll never escape me.” He stalked toward her, reaching out with a beefy arm, his massive form looming even larger in the dim light from the single bulb over the back door. He raised his hand, and Ava knew the strike was coming, as he’d threatened. She clenched her eyes shut, throwing her arms up in front of her face on instinct, a scream dying in her throat.

  Then, a muffled thud, and the blow she feared just didn’t happen. She huddled against the wall, trembling, only to wince as a hand closed on her arm.

  “No!” she gasped, her eyes flying open.

  “Ava, it’s okay.” Caleb’s eyes, warm and concerned, filled her terrified gaze. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”

  “Caleb?” she stared at him, shocked and confused. “What happened? How did you—?”

  “We have to go,” he said, turning away abruptly. “We need to get out of here. The others will be coming soon.”

  “ ‘Others?’ ” She stumbled slightly as he tugged her forward. “I don’t understand.” Her eyes widened as she spotted her attacker slumped against the far side of the dumpster, bleeding from a gaping wound at his temple. “Holy . . .” she breathed, glancing up at Caleb. “Did you do that?”

  “No,” he replied grimly. “I think maybe you did.”

  Caleb couldn’t believe what he’d seen, but the fact was, there was no longer any denying it. Somehow, Ava had disabled Tiernan—six foot six of solid muscle and she’d tossed him aside like a rag doll.

  And she had no idea she’d done it.

  It would not sit well with the Council. Besides exposure, their biggest concern had always been untrained abilities—those with power who knew neither how to use it nor control it.

  Ava, it appeared, fell under that category.

  He held her arms lightly, looking into her eyes. “I know you have a lot of questions,” he said, glancing over at Tiernan’s slumped body once more. “I promise, I will answer them. But Ava, we need to get out of here now.”

  “But how . . . ?” She couldn’t take her eyes off Tiernan, so Caleb shook her slightly.

  “Ava, focus,” he said firmly. “You have to trust me. I will keep you safe, but we need to go.” He stared into her eyes, imploring her. “Trust me,” he repeated, and finally Ava nodded slightly.

  He took her hand in his, peering around the corner of the fence before they took off running.

  Ava clung to Caleb’s hand as they raced across campus, still stunned and confused by what had just happened. Her mind swirled with questions, but she couldn’t even catch her breath to voice them. Not that Caleb would answer, anyway—at least not yet.

  He’d promised to tell her everything. And Ava meant to ensure he fulfilled that promise.

  It didn’t make any sense. Why would anyone want to take her? What kind of testing had the monster-man been talking about? And what happened to him anyway? Caleb said he thought she had incapacitated him, but Ava never touched him. If Caleb hadn’t done it, who did?

  Ava’s breath caught, her stomach turning wildly, and she came to an abrupt stop.

  “Ava?” Caleb tugged on her hand. “We have to keep going. My car’s up ahead.”

  “Just a second,” she said, holding up a finger. “I . . . I think I’m going to be sick.” She bent over, pulling free of Caleb’s grip and resting her palms on her knees, breathing deeply.

  Caleb muttered something under his breath and she felt a cool hand slip under the hair at the back of her neck, fingers pressing softly. “Just listen to my voice,” he said quietly, soothingly. “Breathe in and out. Relax.” Caleb continued to murmur, his voice a hypnotic buzzing in Ava’s ears. A strange warmth flowed from his fingers, trickling along the surface of her skin and deep into her muscles, and after a moment, the tightness in her stomach loosened, the nausea ebbing away as her breathing slowed. With another deep inhale, she straightened, and Caleb’s hand fell back to his side. “Better?” he asked.

  “What did you . . . ? How did you . . . ?”

  Caleb shrugged, not meeting her eyes. “It’s kind of a relaxation technique.” He scanned the area behind her, grabbing her arm as he turned away. “Now, come on. We have to go.”

  They came to a black sedan, and Caleb yanked the keys from his pocket, unlocking the doors with the fob in one motion. Ava fastened her seatbelt as Caleb pulled out onto the street, tires squealing slightly.

  “Where are we going?”

  Caleb ran a hand through his hair, checking the rearview mirror. “I’m not sure yet.”

  “You’re not sure?” Ava repeated. “Caleb, maybe we should go to the police. Nick, at least.”

  “Nick can’t help you,” he snapped. “The police aren’t trained to deal with these people. I am.”

  “ ‘These people?’ ”

  “Please,” Caleb barked, only to close his eyes briefly, taking a deep breath. “Sorry,” he said in a lower voice. “Just . . . let me think for a minute, okay? I need to think.”

  Ava nodded and turned to look out the window, lost in her own thoughts. She still couldn’t make any sense of what had happened or why. Several times she turned to Caleb to give voice to her questions, but one look at his tight jaw and white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel made her re-think her intention. They drove out of town and onto the Interstate, heading west. Ava glanced at Caleb in question.

  “I thought we’d find a room for the night,” he said. “I need to make some calls and figure out our next move”

  “And then you’ll tell me what in the world is going on?” she asked, irritation growing with every mile. Caleb swallowed thickly, and for a moment, Ava thought he was going to try and put her off again.

  “Yes,” he said finally. “I’ll tell you once we’re somewhere safe.”

  Ava nodded, unable to hold back a yawn. Her adrenaline fading, fatigue set in, and she could barely keep her eyes open. Her head fell forward, jerking back as she fought to stay awake.

  Caleb’s cool hand touched hers. “It’s okay,” he said quietly. “Just rest. I’ll wake you when we get there.”

  Ava found herself too tired to respond. Instead, she curled up sideways on the seat, cheek pillowed on the headrest, and was asleep before she’d drawn two breaths.

  “Ava?” Caleb’s voice came to her as if in a dream. “We’re here.”

  She tried to wake up, tried to force her body into conscious
ness, but for some reason, she couldn’t manage to surface through the dark warmth enveloping her. It pulled her down, holding her tight, like comforting arms carrying her through the night.

  “It’s okay,” he said, the words pooling on her skin. “I’ve got you.”

  Something stirred in her memory, but Ava couldn’t be bothered to figure it out. She snuggled into the warmth, floating along for a moment before she was lowered onto a pillow of softness, something cool and fresh against her cheek. She shivered slightly, curling into herself as the warmth returned, and drifted down into beautiful oblivion.

  Caleb turned from the window to glance at Ava lying curled up in bed, cheek pillowed on her open palm. He hadn’t been able to wake her when they finally reached the motel, so he’d picked her up and carried her in, putting her to bed with another quick push of peace to ensure a dreamless sleep.

  It wasn’t unusual for such a use of power to drain the user. It happened to him all the time.

  Caleb had been sitting at the window for a few hours now, watching for any signs that the others had tracked him. So far, they were in the clear.

  So far, he reminded himself.

  Caleb had to admit he was flying by the seat of his pants at that point. Stealing Ava from Tiernan, after Ava did what she did, clearly violated the Council’s mandate, and he knew he’d have hell to pay once they caught up with them.

  And he knew, eventually, they would catch up.

  Unsure what else to do, he turned back to the window and pulled out his cell phone, dialing a familiar number. It rang twice before a sleepy voice picked up.

  “Caleb? What the hell are you doing calling me in the middle of the night?”

  Caleb smirked. “Good to talk to you, too, Bel.” He could make out a light rustling sound, then the creak of a door opening and closing. “I take it you’re not alone,” Caleb said, grinning.

  “None of your business, creep,” she replied, but he could hear the smile in her voice, as well. “Now, I assume there’s a reason you’ve wakened me at, crap, is it three in the morning?”

  “Sorry,” Caleb muttered. “I need help, and you’re the only one I trust.”

  “What is it?” she asked, her slight accent thickening with concern. “Something to do with the girl you’ve been assigned?”

  “You know about that?”

  Caleb shouldn’t have been surprised. Maribel Castro knew pretty much everything about everything. A trusted associate of the Council, Bel was privy to conversations most would never hear, but she also had a few secrets of her own. Frustrated with the infighting among Council members, she’d become an active member of an underground movement to protect people like Ava. The Guardians, as they were spoken of in hushed tones, operated—if not above Race Law—at least a little to the left of it. They stopped short of openly defying the Council, but they also functioned under their own set of rules.

  Caleb was the only one who knew of Bel’s connection to the Guardians, and it was only by accident that he learned of her involvement. The two were close friends, growing up together in a colony in the Rocky Mountains, and were as close as siblings, truth be known. When Caleb took up his calling as a Protector, Bel stood proudly beside his mother at his induction ceremony—his father absent, as he’d been most of Caleb’s life.

  Caleb knew of Bel’s growing disillusion with the Council’s decisions and had inadvertently walked in on a conversation between her and a known Guardian one day. Bel had pleaded with him for secrecy, and Caleb granted it, no questions asked.

  That was what you did for family, after all.

  “There’ve been rumblings in the Council,” she said in answer to his question. “Rumors that you’ve crossed the line when it comes to this girl. They’re talking about sending someone else after her.”

  Caleb sighed. “They already did. I ran into Tiernan tonight. And I’ve seen Katherine around, as well. I’m assuming they’re working together.”

  “They always do,” Bel said quietly. “You said you needed my help?”

  Caleb rubbed his forehead slowly. “I kind of . . . took Ava.”

  “Took her?”

  “From Tiernan.”

  “Oh, no.” He could almost picture Maribel shaking her head, her dark curly locks swinging wildly around her face.

  “Yeah.”

  “The Council won’t take that lightly, Caleb,” she said softly.

  “I know. I just . . . I couldn’t let them take her,” he replied. “You know what they’ll do if they decide she’s a threat.”

  The line was silent for a moment. “That’s never stopped you before.” It had been the only thing they fought about—Caleb determined that the Council, no matter how flawed, was the best hope for their people, Bel arguing that things needed to change; the Law, at least parts of it, was archaic, even barbaric.

  “Can you help me, Bel?” Caleb said quietly. “Please?”

  He heard Bel open a drawer. “Where are you?” she asked finally.

  “Motel on Interstate 71. Just outside of Dawson.”

  “Okay,” she murmured, the sound of rustling papers carrying over the line. “There’s a safe house in Mead, that’s about fifty miles north. It’s cloaked, so the Council won’t be able to find you. Can you get her there?”

  “Yeah. We’ll get there.”

  “I’ll text you the address. It’ll be in code. Do you still have the key I gave you?”

  Caleb nodded and realized Bel couldn’t see him. “Yes. I have it.”

  “Good,” she said firmly. “Keep it on you at all times, and for God’s sake, don’t let Tiernan get his hands on it.”

  “I won’t.”

  “If you can get her there, we can move her out of the country to a Guardian colony.”

  Caleb sighed. Ava was not going to like that.

  “Make sure you’re not followed, Caleb,” Bel warned. “I don’t need to tell you what will happen to these people if you lead Tiernan to them.”

  “I understand,” Caleb said shakily, clearing his throat. “Thank you, Bel.”

  “Don’t thank me yet,” she said with a laugh. “You still have a long road ahead of you.”

  Caleb hung up, sliding the phone in his pocket as he scanned the empty parking lot again, reaching out with his mind as well as his eyes. Seeing nothing, he let the curtain fall back into place, staring blankly ahead, his thoughts muddled and confused.

  Maribel was right. This open rebellion—because Caleb bore no illusions that it wasn’t exactly that—went against everything he’d always stood for. He’d turned a corner and to be perfectly honest, he still wasn’t exactly sure why. He still believed in the Law and, at least in its purest form, the mission of the Council. He believed in the structure, the order, the strict adherence to rules of conduct. But perhaps . . . perhaps it was a bit too strict, as Bel always said. Maybe things did need to change. Caleb had always seen the alternative as a kind of horrified chaos, ruled by the anarchy of the Rogues—or someone like them—but he was beginning to wonder if there might be a middle ground where both the Race and the humans were protected.

  And people like Ava could be safe.

  At the thought of Ava, he crossed the room, walking quietly to the side of the bed. Ava hadn’t moved, so deep in sleep, thanks to her exhaustion, as well as a little help from Caleb. Her brow creased and her eyes flickered behind her lids, making Caleb frown.

  She shouldn’t be dreaming.

  He reached out, touching her forehead softly with his palm and sending another slight push her way. Ava’s face relaxed, her breathing deepening a little, and Caleb tucked his hands in the pockets of his jeans, his head tilted to the side as he watched her, satisfied. This was the easy part, he thought. Once she woke up, Ava was going to want some answers, and he’d promised he’d give them.

  But how do you tell someone their life, as they know it, is over?

  Caleb sighed and moved back over to the window, pulling back the curtain and staring out into the night.
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  Chapter 8

  Ava woke slowly, her body feeling thick and heavy as she drifted back to consciousness. It took a moment for her to recognize her surroundings. Actually, she didn’t really recognize her surroundings at all, but when she spotted Caleb slumped in a chair near the window, asleep with his head leaned against the glass, they at least made a bit more sense.

  She stretched, feeling surprisingly refreshed after her exhaustion of the night before. Fuzzy memories of being carried into the room and put in bed flitted through her mind, bringing with them the tug of something forgotten. Caleb stirred, shifting slightly, but his breathing remained deep and steady, and Ava took a moment to look at him a bit closer.

  He seemed different. Taller . . . broader, even, his skin a deeper hue and almost glowing with vitality. His lashes fluttered on his cheeks, long and thick, and Ava realized he wasn’t wearing his glasses. After a moment, they opened slowly, as if he could feel her watching him, his gaze unfocused for a moment until it locked with hers. She stared at him, strangely compelled and unable to look away.

  “I’ve got you.”

  Last night. But not only last night.

  “I’ve got you.”

  The first time she was attacked, when a dark figure interceded, someone she thought she knew.

  “I’ve got you.”

  “It was you,” Ava breathed finally. “That night. You saved me. You carried me home.”

  Caleb blinked, but didn’t look away. “Yes.”

  Then, just like the day when she’d found her pepper spray, the images came flooding back in a rush, stealing her breath with their intensity.

  Caleb shielding her with his body as he tried to protect her from Tiernan. Whirling images as they moved faster than was possible—somehow from the tree to the wall, in the blink of an eye.

  Caleb rushing her into the dorm to keep her away from the police.

  Finally, the memory that had been the most elusive—lying on the ground, bleeding and dizzy, only to be swept up into Caleb’s arms.