‘Then,’ Kit said, ‘why did he have Sissy locked in the cooler? Why not Theo? He was in the shower with her.’
‘You know why,’ Jessica said. ‘It was all her idea.’
‘Oh, so Theo didn’t have free will?’
‘Maybe not at that moment.’
‘Sissy led him on, you mean?’ Kit squeezed Jessica’s arm and stared into her eyes. ‘Ever have some guy say that about you?’
Jessica seemed to understand this. Then she lifted the burger sack and said a little too quickly, ‘Sissy needs to eat.’
‘Hurry up, everyone,’ Ike announced. ‘We’re heading out.’
The other kids headed for the truck. In that moment, with dim sunlight bouncing off them, Kit tried to imagine how these First-Year kids had looked and felt when their parents delivered them to Weaver’s camp.
She heard someone approach her from behind and looked up into Ike’s mismatched eyes.
‘What are you thinking?’ he asked.
‘That symmetry is overrated.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ He scowled. ‘Some kind of dig?’
‘Just looking at the way the trees overshadow this little place,’ she said.
‘Wait until you see the camp. It’s really remote.’
He was right about that. ‘I’ll bet,’ she said. ‘Mind helping me to the camper?’
‘I was just going ask.’ He put out his arm, and when she touched it she could feel the tension that his voice barely hid.
‘Ike,’ she said, as they walked slowly toward the truck, ‘you’re not what Lucas says you are.’
‘I’m fine.’ He barely moved his lips. ‘Here you go. Won’t be long now.’
‘You know what I’m saying,’ she said. ‘This is not who you are, Ike.’
‘Careful.’ He leaned his head down close to her ears. ‘Be really careful, Katherine. He doesn’t trust you. If he starts something with you when we’re this far away from everyone, I might not be able to stop him.’
Kit tried to ignore his words. Then she realized this was her only chance. She headed back for the convenience store, sprinting now, no longer caring about the pressure on her ankle.
‘Please help me,’ she gasped to the man behind the counter. ‘I need a phone, I need to call the police. My name is Kit Doyle.’
Ike thundered in the front door. ‘Come on, honey.’ His arm shot around her. He picked her up with one hand and tossed some bills at the guy behind the counter with the other. ‘My girlfriend gets a little nutty sometimes, friend. Don’t pay any attention to her.’
The moment they stepped outside, he slammed her feet to the ground.
‘Kit Doyle, is it?’
‘My nickname,’ she said, knowing that she had run out of chances and lies. ‘Kit’s my nickname. What are you going to do?’
‘Nothing, and neither are you.’ His cheeks blazed, but his voice was calm. ‘Let’s get out of here before Lucas asks what’s going on.’
‘Are you going to tell him?’ she asked.
‘Not if you hurry up,’ Ike said. ‘As far as Lucas is concerned, you just had to take a leak. Don’t pull anything like this again, though. Don’t keep testing me, because I can’t keep saving you every time you screw up.’ He grinned, but there was no humor in it. ‘Understand what I’m saying here … Kit?’
TWENTY-EIGHT
Once she was back in the truck, Kit remained silent as they took off. She knew the others must have seen her talking to Ike, and she couldn’t try to convince them of anything at this point. Sissy propped herself up next to Jessica, her fine hair matted to her scalp, and finished her hamburger. The fresh air that had filled the camper shell was soon replaced by the smell of grease and potato chips.
‘Want a cookie?’ Jessica asked, and Sissy snatched it from the box.
At least she was better, but she needed real food and undisturbed rest. Kit didn’t know how she could possibly arrange that, but once they were in a community with even the most basic technology, she was going to try.
Theo continued playing cards by himself. He didn’t seem interested in Sissy’s improving health, nor did she seem to recognize him.
They stopped again in Mendocino and let everyone out to stretch their legs. They were all exhausted, and the sight of this community of high cliffs, deep drops, and rushing blue-gray ocean revived Kit and made her more determined than ever to stop Lucas. The others also seemed to come alive. Jessica stood alone, apart from the others and stared at the breaking waves. Kit wanted to talk to her but knew Lucas would notice, so she left Jessica alone with her thoughts.
Next, they drove to a nearby campground with coin-operated showers the kids seemed to take for granted. Ike handed out change, meeting Kit’s eyes with a look of warning.
‘Three minutes, max,’ he said. ‘You can go first. I’ll help you back to the truck when you finish – if you think you need help.’
‘I’d appreciate that,’ she said, and stepped inside. Other than the slot for coins, the shower looked only slightly better than the one at the Fowler compound.
She removed her shoes and stepped on to the ice-cold gray floor. As she turned on the shower, a dark shape shot out from the far right corner of the cubicle. Kit screamed and then slammed her hand over her lips too late to stifle the sound. Either a huge bug or a small mouse. She didn’t want to contemplate which.
‘Are you OK?’ Jessica called from outside.
‘Just a critter,’ she said. ‘It’s gone now.’
‘I should have warned you about these places.’
Another clue that Kit had never experienced the kind of life the others had. Ike already knew her real name. She didn’t have long before Lucas decided she was a danger. By then, she needed as many of the others on her side as possible – Ike especially.
The water had finally turned warm. It massaged her shoulders and shot heat into her muscles. When she got home, the first thing she wanted was a hot bath. She had forgotten how good it felt to be clean.
Just as she started to wash her hair, the shower snapped off. Three minutes gone, and she had barely started. She stepped on to the cold floor and tried to dry off with what looked like a hand towel. It smelled of bleach, but that didn’t comfort her. At least she was cleaner than she had been, and for a few moments she had felt the heat of warm water against her body.
Jessica waited outside next to Sissy. Angel stood behind them, her brown jacket wrapped around her waist.
‘How bad is it?’ Jessica asked.
‘The shortest three minutes you’ll ever experience.’ Kit pulled up her dripping curls and fastened the hair tie back around them. ‘At least the water is warm now, so you’d better hurry. Meet you over by the picnic table.’ Angel stood there as if knowing she wouldn’t be acknowledged. ‘You too,’ Kit said to Angel, and although she nodded, she couldn’t hide her surprise.
Once the girls had showered, the guys took their turn. Kit and the girls settled at a weathered redwood table overlooking the ocean.
‘Beautiful,’ Sissy said. ‘It was the first time she had spoken. Next to her, Jessica patted the arm of her jean jacket.
‘Yes, it is, Sissy.’
‘Have we been here before?’
‘No. Not here.’
‘Good.’ She stared out at the blue-white waves. ‘Can I have a cookie?’
Jessica blinked hard and motioned to Angel, who got up with a heavy sigh and returned to the van. ‘You can have all the cookies you want, Sissy,’ Jessica said.
Just then, Ike joined them, followed by Wyatt and Theo, who squinted as he wiped his glasses dry with his jacket.
‘Where’s Lucas?’ Kit asked.
‘He wanted everyone else to have their showers first.’
Meaning he knew the water would already be heated for him. Kit bet he wouldn’t shower for only three minutes.
Angel returned and slammed the tired-looking bakery box in front of Jessica. ‘Anything else your majesty would like before I sit dow
n?’
Jessica’s short burgundy spikes crisscrossed her brows, and the light brown eyes beneath them grew fierce. She handed the box to Sissy and then looked up at Angel.
‘If you got sent to the camp to get cured of anger management issues,’ Jessica told her, ‘your parents ought to ask for a refund.’
‘It’s none of your business what I got sent there for. At least my parents wanted me when I got out.’
‘Hey,’ Kit said, as if it were a joke now. ‘Remember to play nice.’
‘Guess I’m just tired,’ Jessica said.
‘At least,’ Angel shot back.
They were all edgy, and after that ride, Kit didn’t feel much better than they did. This was the time to take her best shot – before Lucas returned. She looked around the table at Jessica next to her and then Sissy and Angel. Across from her, Ike pretended he wasn’t worried about what she was going to do. Next to him sat Wyatt and Theo.
Kit rose and walked to the front of the redwood table. ‘You – we – we’re way too young to ruin our lives this way.’
‘That’s enough out of you,’ Ike said.
‘No, it’s not. You need to listen to me, all of you. I realize that Weaver harmed you. There are better ways to get even – lawsuits, the media. So many ways.’
Sissy finished chewing her bite of cookie and looked up at Kit. ‘Why not just do what he did?’
‘Who, honey?’ Jessica asked.
‘He tried to kill us. Lucas said so.’
‘Hold on a minute,’ Kit said. ‘The Weasel wasn’t the one who put you in that cooler.’
Sissy pouted and glanced over at Ike. ‘You did that.’
‘Don’t confuse her like this.’ He glared at Kit. ‘Sissy, I told you I’m sorry.’
‘I know.’ She smiled. ‘You let me out too, but I can’t tell.’
For a moment, only the calling of gulls and the answering rush of the ocean filled the air.
‘That’s how you got out?’ Jessica finally asked. ‘Does Lucas know?’
‘We talked it over.’ Ike stood and walked up next to Kit. He shoved his navy hoodie to the back of his head, and she saw that his hair was still damp. ‘Lucas would have made the same decision if he’d been out there, but I was, so I did what I thought was right.’
‘He might have decided to do that,’ she said, ‘or he might have let Sissy die. He wasn’t in any hurry to go looking for her.’
Sissy whimpered, and Jessica put her arm around her, which seemed to upset Angel even more.
‘This is First-Year business,’ Angel told Kit. ‘Originals only.’
‘Yet here I am with you.’
‘You’re still a no-year. No one says you have to understand what we’re doing.’
‘Do you understand it?’ Kit asked her.
‘Of course I do. You weren’t the one who got chained to a tree and told you were an animal.’ Her face turned ruddier, and she looked away, toward the ocean, as if she could see into the past.
‘But you aren’t chained to a tree now,’ Kit said. ‘Remember the rules of the compound. Take no chances. Live your truth. Don’t ever go back. What Lucas is planning goes against every one of them.’
Kit took a breath and waited until all of them around the table looked up into her eyes.
‘Lucas is going to convince you to harm the Weasel,’ she said. ‘Maybe kill him. You can’t do that. It will ruin your lives.’
‘The Weasel already took care of that,’ Sissy said. ‘Didn’t he, Jessica?’
‘I don’t know about you, honey, but I was pretty messed-up before I got there.’ Jessica looked down at her long fingers and ragged cuticles. ‘He just made everything worse.’
Angel stood, and for a moment Kit thought she might attack her the way she had that night in the shelter. ‘I still don’t get it,’ Angel told Kit. ‘Why are you trying to protect the Weasel? What’s he to you?’
‘I’m trying to protect you, not him,’ she said. ‘From what you’ve told me, he treated you like laboratory animals. I’ve heard about other so-called camps where kids were abused that way. But committing a crime is just playing into his hands.’
‘Not if he’s dead.’ Angel smiled and glanced over at Theo, who nodded.
‘Especially if he’s dead,’ Kit said. ‘Then you live up to the crazy label, and you just get put back in the system, for good this time.’
‘Not necessarily.’ Angel paused, as if making sure the others were all paying attention. ‘Not if we get away.’
‘You won’t. Lucas has convinced you that you can get away with anything.’
‘So far, we have,’ Angel said.
‘At what cost? His compound is no better than the Weasel’s.’ Kit looked around the table into their eyes. Beside her, Ike squinted and shook his head. Angel jutted out her chin and pretended to be bored. Wyatt and Theo both seemed curious. Jessica looked down. ‘It’s not too late. We can all walk out of there together the minute we’re in town. Tell them, Ike.’
‘I don’t know.’ He took a step back as if to distance himself from her statement. ‘We just have to see how it plays out. Shit, here comes Lucas.’
He hurried over to Lucas, and Kit hoped he wasn’t sharing the conversation they had just had. She walked back to her place beside Jessica but did not sit down.
Lucas hadn’t bothered to dry his hair. It looked as if he had squeezed out the water in front. Under his jacket, he wore a blue T-shirt the color of his eyes. It looked new, and Kit wondered where he had gotten it.
‘That sure felt good,’ he said as he approached the end of the table where Kit stood. ‘Did you have a nice shower, everyone?’
No one answered. Theo seemed distracted by polishing his glasses with a paper napkin. Jessica picked at her nails. Even Angel appeared distracted by a gust of sea air. Although the weather was warmer now, she pulled her too-small jacket closer.
Lucas’s eyes were so startling in their color and depth that, at first glance, they would be considered beautiful if only because they were his only noticeable feature. But his blue irises and large dark pupils held no depth, no life.
‘You’re awfully quiet.’ He maintained eye contact with Kit as easily as if he were staring at a wall. ‘Did you enjoy your shower, Katherine?’
‘I don’t enjoy any of this,’ she said, and saw Ike shake his head as if in pain. ‘I thought you cared about these kids.’
‘Oh, I do, Katherine. The challenge will be to see how much you care about them.’ He looked at the others. ‘You certainly got quiet when I approached. What were you talking about? Anything I should be aware of?’
No one answered.
‘Ike?’ he asked.
‘Nothing much.’
‘Angel?’
She glared at Kit and then said, ‘Jessica was ordering me around, as usual. We kind of got into it, and this one tried to break it up.’
Thank you, Angel. Kit met her gaze but didn’t dare smile.
‘Sissy?’ Lucas asked.
She stood beside the picnic table looking like a waif in the jean jacket and long floral skirt.
‘Come on,’ Lucas said in a voice so soft it barely carried over the sound of the waves. ‘What were you talking about, Sissy?’
‘Cookies,’ she said.
‘All right, then.’ He glanced at the truck parked at the edge of the hill. ‘Into the front, please, Katherine. I’m sure you’d like an opportunity to enjoy the scenery.’
Jessica shot her a desperate look. Kit sensed that she had almost convinced most of the others. Lucas probably guessed as much.
‘I don’t mind riding back there,’ Kit told him.
‘And I don’t mind if you ride in front.’
Wyatt stood, his black curls blowing across his face and his scarred neck, his hands out, as if asking what he had done. ‘What about me?’ he asked.
‘Join the others. It won’t be long now.’ Lucas marched toward the truck, and then turned around to face them. ‘Everyone in, pleas
e. Ike, you help Katherine.’
‘Wait,’ she said. ‘Just a moment.’
‘Now, please.’ He opened the truck door. ‘We need to hurry.’
TWENTY-NINE
On the road again.
Jessica could still hear that country song from the convenience store all those hours ago. Yet she didn’t feel on the road moving toward anything better. She felt as if she were strapped to a ticking bomb. That’s what this truck was. She needed to talk to Wyatt alone. Good luck with that. The others in the back with them stared at them as if she and Wyatt had done something wrong.
Sissy curled up to Jessica’s left and went to sleep. If she ever got away from these people, she would take Sissy with her. Camp gossip had always been that the Weasel had treated Sissy with the drugs and not the placebo, but Sissy had been almost as young as Lucas when her rancher parents had her picked up as a runaway and slammed into the camp with the rest of the Originals. No one had been all that nice to the little blond girl who arrived too late. Lucas had pretended to be, but Lucas wanted to build his power, and in order to do that, he needed people.
Jessica sat next to Wyatt. He stretched out on the worn carpet beside her where Katherine had sat all of those bumpy miles.
‘My butt will never be the same.’ He grinned at Jessica.
‘Welcome to the rat hole,’ Angel said from her place against the back of the cab.
‘It’s not that bad,’ Theo said, without looking up from his card game.
‘Didn’t mean to complain.’ Wyatt leaned closer to her, and Jessica breathed his scent as clean as the ocean, as safe as any shelter she had ever known. She wrapped her arms around his neck.
‘Get a room, you two,’ Angel said.
Jessica shot her a look. ‘Let me know when you find one for us.’
The others laughed, and Jessica placed her lips to Wyatt’s ear.
‘What?’ he asked softly.
‘We can’t do this,’ she whispered.
He pulled back from her and smiled. ‘Yes.’ That’s all he said, but in his eyes Jessica saw something far different.
She leaned into him again. ‘What?’ she asked.
Goodbye Forever Page 21
