by Ginna Moran
I swallow the lump in my throat. “Get up and go to the door. If you mention us, I’ll kill you. You don’t even know what I’m capable of. We just want to leave, all right? You can ask Hunter about us if you have any questions.”
The doctor nods and I pull her to her feet and guide her to the door. She walks into the hallway where a dozen people loiter. My heart is pounding so hard, I bet anyone can hear it. I expect Dr. Agatha to give us up, but instead she rushes away and out of sight.
“Let’s go,” Jacqueline says. She drops the chair and it clatters on the floor.
She holds up her fingers and counts to three before bolting out. I’m gliding on her heels, pushing her to move faster. We race past the clerical counter and down the empty corridor to the double doors.
It requires the access card to open and I fumble in my pocket to pull the card out. My hand shakes as I slide it and then Jacqueline punches in a few numbers, but instead of opening, the lock blinks red and displays the words ‘Access Denied’ across the screen.
“Try again,” I say. “You hit the wrong number.”
“Hey!” A feminine voice rises above the resonating murmurs of the crowd around the corner. “Stop! Don’t move!”
I glance over my shoulder at a young woman dressed in an all black uniform. Her black hair is pulled tight into a bun at the back of her head and she wears black eyeliner around her eyes.
Jacqueline punches the buttons again and the keypad beeps as the double doors swoosh open. I push her hard and we run to the elevator and press the button to take us up. The agent runs down the corridor, her combat boots echoing with each thud. She’s going to reach us before the elevator arrives.
It’s over.
I reach up and grab the talisman and yank it from Jacqueline’s neck. She cries out, but doesn’t resist. “I’ll hold her off. Tell Alyssa that I’m sorry.”
And I am.
But I regret nothing.
HUNTER
I thrash on the bed. I yank all the wires off and rip the IV out. I pick up the metal stand and swing it at the wall. Mason stands in the doorway, glancing at me and then to the hallway. My body is weak, but I gather my strength from my determination.
“Get me out of here!” I yell. I have to make enough commotion to get the attention of everyone. If they’re all distracted by me, Nadia and Jacqueline will have a chance. If they can’t get out of here, there won’t be anything I can do to save them. I’d do anything to protect Nadia, even die for her, but that’s exactly what will happen if she gets caught. I want us both to live. We need to live.
“Help!” Mason yells again. “He’s confused and in shock.”
I pick up the metal stand again and charge at my brother. He steps out of the way and I charge into the hall. People gasp and I spit and cuss and swing the IV rod at anyone too close. I hit a guy I’ve never seen before on the shoulder and he reflexively grabs the pole from me and yanks it away.
“Hunter,” a familiar voice says.
I jerk my head and meet Dr. Agatha’s eyes. She was my mother’s mentor and the doctor who recruited her to join the HPA in the first place. She looks me up and down and my jaw twitches as I hold back my embarrassment. I didn’t even bother to grab a robe or anything.
She reaches out her hand to me. “It’s okay, Hunter. Everything’s going to be okay.”
“Is it? Is it really, Dr. Agatha?” I ask. My voice lowers a pitch and I narrow my eyes. “Are you going to continue to drug me? I’m not an experiment!”
The hallway goes silent and everyone stares between me and Dr. Agatha. She steps closer. “You’re confused, dear. Please calm down and we can talk about it.”
“Talk about how this is all a lie or how you’re okay with turning against your own kind?” It’s not really a lie. My mom was the one who willingly offered my life force to Jacqueline, but unfortunately she’s not here to take the fall, so Dr. Agatha will do.
“It’s about the girls, isn’t it?” she says, her voice lowered. “You’re protecting them?”
Blinding, red rage slashes through me. How does she know about Nadia and Jacqueline? This isn’t right. They were counting on me and I’ve let them down. I clench my hands into fists and charge at Dr. Agatha. I slam into her and we tumble to the tile and I roll on top of her.
I tilt my head down and breathe into her ear. “If anything happens to her, I will kill you.”
“I gave them a head start,” she whispers. “Now get off me and let’s talk like rational people.”
I push off her and glare at our audience. “What? You’d better get out of here if you know what’s good for you,” I say to no one in particular.
“It’s under control. I have it under control. Go back to what you were doing,” Dr. Agatha says. She turns to me. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”
I nod. I’m not promising to say anything true.
NADIA
Jacqueline shakes her head. “I’m not leaving you. We’ll fight together.”
The elevator door slides open and I grab her arm and pull her in. I hit the button for the ground floor even though I have no idea where it will let us out. I should go back the way we came, but I’m sure the agents will have locked down the hospital by then.
My heartbeat slows down as the door starts to close, but then the agent’s arm darts in, and it slides back open. The agent rushes in and yanks a knife from her belt and aims it at me and then to Jacqueline and back to me. “Put your hands where I can see them,” she says.
The elevator door slides shut behind her and she glances over her shoulder with furrowed brows. I’m guessing she wasn’t prepared for that to happen because her back stiffens and she grips the knife tighter.
I fist my hands. “Let us go and we won’t hurt you. We don’t want to cause any trouble.”
She glares at me. “That’s what all supers say.”
“What are you talking about?” I know exactly what she’s talking about referring to us as ‘supers.’ It’s a catch-all phrase that the HPA uses to define people of the non-human variety.
“Don’t play stupid, monster. I saw the way you ran. Your feet weren’t even touching the floor.”
I should’ve listened to Alyssa when she told me to be aware of how I move. Fear took control and my will to survive was my driving force. I’m faster when I float. All I was thinking about was getting away.
“I’m not a monster,” I say.
The elevator shakes as it comes to a halt and the agent hits the close door button. I charge at the agent. The only way to escape is to fight her. She thrusts her knife out, but I swivel sideways and she catches the blade on my jacket and rips it. I knock her into the wall and the force sends me stumbling back and I trip and fall into the opposite wall.
The agent growls and dashes at me, knife up, but then Jacqueline rams into her. They hit the wall together and Jacqueline cries out. The agent pulls the knife back and it’s covered in blood. Jacqueline slides to the floor, clutching her stomach.
I scream.
I’m blind with tears and rage and I swing my arm out and hit the agent in the face. Her free hand flies up and then I knee her as hard as I can in the stomach and she rams her knife into my shoulder blade.
Pain bursts in my shoulder and another scream rips from my mouth. The knife is stuck in my back and I can’t reach it to pull it out and the agent rushes at me again. I duck before her hands wrap around me and grip her legs, pulling her to the ground. I roll on top of her and pin her down with one hand and use my other one to punch her in the nose.
Blood runs from her nostrils and she groans through gritted teeth. I slide my hands around her head and slam it into the elevator floor as hard as I can and her eyes roll back in her head.
I pull myself to my feet and trip over the agent’s body to get to Jacqueline. She’s slumped over, covered in blood, and unconscious. I hit the open door button and the elevator door slides open to reveal an empty lobby with a glass sliding door that leads to a well-mani
cured courtyard. It’s a private entrance to the hospital.
“Jacqueline, come on, wake up.”
“It’s too late.”
My blood runs cold when I hear the voice. It’s the agent. She lies propped on her elbows, but doesn’t move. Strands of black hair hang over her face, pulled from her bun, and her dark eyes stare at Jacqueline’s body.
I stumble back and out of the elevator. Tears burn my cheeks and I’m so angry and sad and scared, I just want to run back in and kill the agent. I want her to feel the pain I feel. I want her to regret ever coming after us. I want her to regret signing up with the HPA in the first place. I want revenge. But, I don’t move.
I can’t bring Jacqueline back. She’s dead.
She died saving my life.
I bring my hand to mouth and whisper. “I’m so sorry, Jacqueline. You weren’t supposed to die. I’m so, so sorry. It’s all my fault.”
Jacqueline wasn’t an honest person and she was selfish and stubborn, but she didn’t deserve this. No one deserves to bleed out and die on the floor of a rickety elevator with no one there to hold them while they go. She shouldn’t have died at all. If she had just left like I told her to, she’d still be alive. She could’ve lived her life in a safe place away from the danger of the board and the influence of the council. She could’ve had a normal life.
But her life ended so tragically and I’ll have to live with the guilt that it should’ve been me. I was the one willing to risk everything to save Hunter, but that didn’t mean killing someone else even though Jacqueline was the one who put me in that situation in the first place. I should hate her and be glad it was her, but I can’t. The ache in my chest is so painful that I’m not sure it will ever go away.
“Don’t cry, Nadia. It was just a body.”
I blink my tears away, my mouth hanging open, and I step forward. “Jacqueline?”
“This isn’t ideal, but it is what it is.”
“How?” My voice cracks as I ask the question. I stare into the agents dark eyes and then suddenly they shift to a lighter color. Jacqueline’s eyes look different against the fair complexion of the agent’s skin, almost human.
“The same way we taught Hunter to do it. I didn’t know I could do it, but here I am, and since this agent wasn’t pure, I get her body and memories as a token. She had a lot of blood on her hands. She kidnapped, tortured, and murdered dozens of people. She’s lucky I saved her. She was lucky to move on without a guilty conscious. She’s been redeemed.”
My eyes widen. “That makes you pretty invincible.”
She smirks. “I’m guessing if I didn’t touch the agent, I would have died. I still had to make physical contact. Instead of pulling her soul into me, I pushed mine into her body.”
This entire situation is crazy, but I don’t have time to think about it. I offer out my hand and help Jacqueline get to her feet. “We need to hurry.”
“Help me with my body. I need you to take it with you so the HPA doesn’t get their hands on it. Give it a nice resting place.”
My mouth dries. “You’re not coming with me?”
She shakes her head. “I’m tired of running. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life hiding. I can make them believe I’m still one of them. I can help Hunter figure things out.”
I hug Jacqueline. “I won’t forget you. You saved my life.”
“You have to save who you can,” she says.
I smile hearing my own words come from her. “Thank you.”
HUNTER
“You knew about this, Mason?” Dr. Agatha asks.
He shakes his head.
“But you haven’t visited your brother once since he was transferred here,” she says.
He shrugs. “It was luck.”
She turns to me. “How are you alive?”
“What do you mean?” I ask. They were the ones keeping me alive. She should know that answer.
“You were brain dead,” she says.
“No I wasn’t,” I say.
“We haven’t seen any brain activity for weeks,” she says.
“Then why all the hassle?” I wave my arms around the room. Dr. Agatha doesn’t know about the deal my mom made with Jacqueline. The board was keeping it secret. I’m not going to be the one to tell her, though—not yet.
“Your mother had plans for your body.”
I turn to Mason and he looks away. “Are you kidding me? After everything she did to me, she was going to experiment on me?”
“You were dead.”
I stand up and lace my fingers together on the back of my head. “She knew I wasn’t, though. I’m through talking to you. Call my mom. Call the board. I’m done. I’ve had enough and I want out.”
Dr. Agatha smiles. “Sure, Hunter, whatever you want. Just know, dear, that nothing is that simple.”
NADIA
I wrap my fingers around the body’s ankles and Jacqueline grabs its arms and together we drag it out of the elevator, leaving behind a bloody trail. The glass doors automatically slide open and warm air swirls around me. Birds chirp and the sun shines, and if my shoulder wasn’t stinging so bad, or if I wasn’t struggling to get Jacqueline’s body out of here, I’d think it was a nice day. A beautiful day to die.
“I can’t go far. Can you manage?”
My eyes sting in the bright light of the sun. It feels warmer than it actually is, but I don’t say anything. My energy is fading fast and soon it’ll hurt to stand in the sun.
“Yeah, just help me pull it up.”
Jacqueline helps tug her old body up and I wrap my arms under hers so I’m half dragging it and half carrying it.
Jacqueline touches my shoulder. “Take care of yourself, Nadia.”
Before I have a chance to respond, she dashes away and back into the hospital. My head pounds and it takes everything in me to glide forward through a small courtyard. I’ve exited from the side of the hospital with the parking lot to the right. It’s a straight shot down the path to it. I hope I can make it.
The body’s blood soaks into my shirt and if anyone saw me, they’d force me back inside. I take one step at a time, my body lagging and fighting to stay up with my determination. Heat runs over my skin as I walk out from the shadow of the building and into the sunlight.
The fight and my injuries have worn me down. I’ve lost almost all my energy and if I don’t take cover soon, I’ll start to get a horrible sunburn.
“You can do this.” I don’t know why I say the words out loud, but I do. It helps me focus.
I hobble my way to the wall and slide to the ground, half landing on the body. I sit it up and I kneel next to it, pressing my bloody hands to the wall. I bow my head and gulp in a few deep breaths. I can’t go on any farther. I don’t have the strength or energy. I have to leave the body behind if I want to make it out of here. I don’t have a choice.
I close my eyes and listen to the sound of the cars in the parking lot. I need to pull myself together. I need to keep moving. I shift, my body aching, and then I slump on my knees. I’m so exhausted.
I hear footsteps, but I can’t open my eyes to see who’s coming.
I blink through blurry tears and watch as a silhouette hovers over me. I cringe and cower against the building when hands grab my arms and tug me to my feet.
I moan. “I don’t want to die.”
“Stay with me, Nadia. I’m here. Stay with me okay?” Alyssa’s soft voice wraps around me and I lean my head against her shoulder as she helps me walk to the car.
I can’t believe we did it. I can’t believe we survived.
I’m alive.
I’m really alive.
27. HOPE FOR CHANGE
HUNTER
Mason sits next to my bed. I’m not allowed to leave the hospital until I’m granted clearance. If I’m granted it at all. I’m starting to believe that I have a destiny and it’s to be incarcerated for the rest of my life—whether in someone’s mind or locked in a room without access to the outside world. I know
too much and if anyone finds out how much I actually know, I’ll be a dead man.
“You want to talk about it?” Mason asks.
“No.”
“I can help you.”
“Just keep your mouth shut. Play stupid or they’ll kill us both, Mason.”
“Mom won’t let that happen.”
“She’s the reason I’m in this mess. Now just forget everything and trust no one.”
Mason stands up and crosses his arms. His brown hair is longer than the last time I saw him and sticking up at the back of his head. His plain, blue T-shirt is wrinkled and his jeans have been worn a few times too many without being washed. He’s usually better kept than this, but I don’t mention it. I just want to be alone.
“What do you want me to do with your stuff?” he asks. He motions to a small rolling suitcase and pulls out my car keys from his pocket.
“Hide it somewhere. Not at home, though. If I find the opportunity to leave, I’m taking it and I don’t want to have to stop at home first,” I say. I swing my legs off the bed and sit up. “It’d be too easy for them to find me.”
He lifts an eyebrow. “Who?”
I press my lips together. “Doesn’t matter.”
He glances at the floor and back to me. “I’ll leave your car behind Billy’s. Will you tell me before you go?”
I shrug. “I honestly don’t know.”
NADIA
I’m standing in the middle of a rainbow. The vibrant colors shimmer around me and glimmer against my porcelain skin. I run my hand through the misty air and it swirls and moves like it’s alive. The dream world is a magical place and I expect it to abruptly shatter at any second.
But it doesn’t.
It’s my dream.
It’s the first one I’ve ever had.
“Nadia?”
I spin on my feet and peer through the rainbow mist. I can hear Hunter, but I can’t see him. I just want him to hold me. It feels like it’s been days since I’ve seen him, but it also feels like I’ve only been asleep for minutes. I’m disoriented and confused by what is happening to me. Dreamers aren’t supposed to be aware that they are dreaming, but I am. I feel almost stuck in my own head.
