Sparked (The Metal Bones Series Book 1)

by Snow, Sheena

  She’s what Mom always wanted.

  “How did you meet her?” His voice lowered.

  Darkness.

  A florescent light stuttered from the ceiling. Blond and black locks of hair. Unveiled pale blue eyes, staring at me, from my own face.

  So like me and so unlike me.

  “I . . .” I took a deep breath. “S-Sh-Sh-She . . .” My voice trembled. I pressed my lips together and swallowed.

  Breathe.

  My heart thumped around in my chest and I rubbed my hands on my jeans.

  “She . . .” Tears sprang into my eyes.

  “Vienna.” Alec enclosed me in warmth, and I dissolved in his arms, my body shaking, my heart shuddering, and my soul aching.

  Wh-Wh-what’s . . . w-wr-wrong with me?

  I squeezed my eyes shut.

  Why . . . Why am I doing this?

  Breathe.

  I inhaled and exhaled, stuttering and mumbling, inhaling and exhaling, trying to calm the beating of my heart, trying to still the quaking of my shoulders, trying to quiet the quivering of my lips.

  Breathe.

  His scent mingled into me.

  I can do this.

  I took in one last shaky breath.

  “It-It-It wasn’t . . . It—” My words tripped over each other, and I collapsed. Sobs raked through me. I convulsed in his arms as tears choked me and images blinded me.

  Traitor!

  If there was a sweet candy-colored-pink side of me, you’d be it.

  “Shh . . .” Alec rocked me, diluting the voices. “This is normal. It’s aftershock.”

  No.

  I choked on another sob, gasping in his arms.

  I shook my head.

  Th-Th-This is not normal. Th-This . . . This is not me. This . . . is not who I am.

  Alec nuzzled me, nipping my ear, tasting my neck, teasing my lips. And desire flared, soft and slow, unfurling within me. I looked up into evergreen-lust filled eyes and kissed him. His hot lips plummeted into mine, absorbing my cries, and I moaned into his mouth. I thrust my hands into his silky raven hair and breathed him in.

  God. I sighed. So good.

  My tears bathed his cheeks, my hands cradled his face, and my lips devoured his.

  Mine.

  “You’re going to kill me if you keep doing that,” he said, his lips tasting my ear, and his heart pounding with mine.

  I leaned my forehead against his. “You started it.”

  He smiled, erasing the haggard lines around his mouth, the dark pooling circles beneath his eyes, and the heavy creases between his brows.

  Oh, Alec.

  My heart sank as I traced the deepened lines on his face.

  What have I done to you? What have I done?

  He brought my finger to his lips. “I have you back now. That’s all that matters.”

  My heart purred in my chest and I felt heat rise into my face.

  “There’s something I need to tell you,” he said, and the light left his eyes.

  I snorted. “At this point, it doesn’t even matter. I don’t care. If you were an alien—”

  “I called your parents.”

  My stomach fell, sinking below my feet. I moved to lean over the railing, letting the wind cool my face. “My parents?”

  Mom?

  Dad.

  A lump welled in my throat.

  I must be the worst daughter imaginable.

  I didn’t even think about them, not one time since I got out.

  Alec wrapped his arms around my waist, fitting his body to mine. “They’re glad you’re okay,” he said into my ear.

  “I’m such a bad daughter,” I choked out, “I didn’t even think of them. I should have called them. I should have—”

  “I’ll never understand why you always do this to yourself. You’re the total perfect daughter.”

  I stifled a laugh and leaned back into his warm chest. “If only. If only. If I was the perfect daughter I wouldn’t have been hunted by the government and placed in a . . .” I swallowed, not wanting to say the words aloud.

  “I told your parents we could take you back home now,” Alec said. “You can go back home.”

  Home?

  Was it even home anymore?

  “I can’t,” I said.

  “But your parents can’t wait to see you.”

  I vaulted out of his arms. “What about London? And after everything’s that happened, you’re just . . . going to send me back home?”

  “That was the promise, Vienna.”

  “So what? You think I can just go home and pretend this never happened? Pretend everything never happened?” My voice and my arms started to rise in unison. “You think I can do that? Pretend”—I hissed through my teeth—“as if nothing’s happened? When everything’s happened. I’m just supposed to go back to normal life after this? Not knowing what’s become of Paula? Not knowing . . .” My voice shook. “. . . what happened to London? Am I supposed to go on living, like this never happened?”

  “And what do you propose to do?” He crossed his arms. “Go storm the place?”

  “They have taken something from me.” I pounded my fist on the railing. “Something that I can never get back.”

  They have taken my joy. They have taken my happiness. They have taken my blood.

  “That is what they do.” His eyes saddened. “They take and take and take until there’s nothing left to take.” His shoulders hunched. “Don’t let them do that to you, baby.” He reached out and his index finger traced my jaw. “Don’t let them win.”

  London . . .

  My lip trembled.

  London?

  “But it feels like they already won.”

  Alec drew me into his chest and my arms slipped around his waist.

  “When they . . .” He swallowed against my hair and his voice lowered. “When they released me, after-after all the testing, it was like they took something from me, too. Like they ripped something apart deep inside of me. I understand. You feel like you’ve become undone.” He rocked us together in an embrace. “You should know your parents are desperate to see you. They almost bought a plane ticket here.”

  “But I don’t know what to tell them about . . .”

  Say it, Vienna. Say it.

  About Bacchart. About the room of doors. About the darkness. About the stuttering light. About the smoke steaming out encircling me.

  My lips stilled, my tongue along with it.

  “You tell them whatever you want. Whatever you feel comfortable saying,” he said.

  But what do you say when you don’t feel comfortable saying anything?

  I gingerly brushed my mind over the thin crack of my soundproof wall.

  I want to see you, Mom. I squeezed my eyes shut.

  You are my blood. And you are part of me.

  My lips quivered, finally working. “When-when do we leave?”

  “As soon as you’re ready. The car’s been packed.”

  Everything’s ready to go, to go home.

  “London?”

  “We’re already working on a plan.”

  “What?” I shifted. “Why didn’t you tell me? What is it? Can I have a look at it?”

  “The less you know about everything, the better.”

  I frowned. “I find that odd considering I know more about the place than anyone.” I pursed my lips. “Who else do you know that’s been inside?”

  No one’s seen its depths—not like I have.

  “Whenever you’re ready, we can talk about it,” he said.

  But I was ready. “I—”

  “No.” He pressed a finger firmly against my lips, silenc
ing them. “You’re not.”

  I swallowed. But I . . . I was.

  I was.

  I was.

  Chapter 43

  I reached into the bag at my feet and hustled out one of the books Alec bought me. I propped both feet on the dashboard, stretching them out. The ride with Alec had so far been peaceful and calm, and my aching body was convinced it had been way longer than fourteen hours.

  The lines around Alec’s eyes eased immeasurably since he picked me up, those two days ago.

  Two days.

  London.

  Ago.

  “Vienna?”

  I snapped my eyes to him. His midnight disheveled hair teased the tips of his long eyelashes framing the emerald green of his eyes. He was too good looking for his own good. And for mine.

  “You doing all right?” He raised his eyebrows.

  No.

  “Yes.”

  “Everything’s going to be okay.” He brushed a strand of hair behind my ear.

  I gave him a smile and looked out my window, watching the snow blow past us.

  Snow.

  Cold.

  Freezing.

  And just like that, my thoughts bled into one another like a river, flowing from one to the other until it reached the endless pit of foreverness.

  Darkness exploded around me.

  A flickering florescent light.

  Boots echoing along cement floors.

  Latches clicking.

  Doors swinging.

  “It’s the link.” Her blue eyes. “It’s the one thing everyone in here has in common.”

  Her laugh—

  “Vienna?” Alec placed a hand on my leg.

  “Yeah?” I swallowed.

  He squeezed my knee. “How you holding up?”

  “Fine. Just fine,” I whispered.

  “When we get home, what are you going to do? Any plans?”

  I sighed, trying to send all my frustration out with it. “I don’t even know where to start with coming up with a plan. It’s so weird.” I leaned back in the seat. “I don’t understand. They said I was the first successful completion and they were so happy about it. Everyone was.”

  But it wasn’t even that the pieces didn’t fit together.

  It was that I had no pieces.

  Chapter 44

  Instead of a red and dark gray trim, the house through the car window was now a cream-colored caramel trim house with arched windows.

  I squinted against the sun setting from behind the house. Maybe it was all a trick of the light. Maybe the glare of the sun was playing with my eyes and messing with the colors and style of the house that was supposed to be mine.

  I shielded my eyes, trying to see past it, to where the house I grew up in used to be.

  Alec ran his thumb along the pillow lines that formed on my face. “You’re so beautiful when you sleep.” He kissed the corner of my mouth. “But then, you’re always beautiful.”

  My stomach flipped and I turned back to look out the window.

  “Are you sure that’s the same house?”

  “It’s the same address. Isn’t it?” He tugged a strand of hair behind my ear.

  I pursed my lips.

  It didn’t look like a house Mom would ever live in.

  “They didn’t move, Vienna. People change, and sometimes it’s for the better.”

  “Humph.” I slumped in my seat. I wondered if the contents—and the people—were as different inside as the outside appeared. I wondered if Alec was right. If people could change.

  “Stop it.” Alec lifted my chin. “They love you and they missed you.”

  Would they still love me the same if they knew what happened to me? What I did? After Paula? After Dean?

  After London?

  “Come on.” Alec helped me out of the car, and my body suddenly decided to side with gravity and give out on me. Alec grabbed a loop in my jeans and picked me up into his arms. He rested his head against mine and pinecones permeated my body. “They’re going to be so overjoyed.” He folded his hand in mine. “Don’t make them wait any longer.”

  I breathed him in and allowed him to lead me up the trail to the house, to my parents’ house. The landscaping was still the same, same old barren trees, same old evergreen bushes, same old . . . door?

  I frowned.

  The doorknocker had been replaced, and a shiny new doorbell had been installed in the wall against the new cream-colored paint . . . and caramel trim.

  “Where’s the rest of the crew? Didn’t they come with us?”

  “Nope. Just you and me, babe. Now stop trying to delay, and ring the bell.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “They didn’t want to be here for this ‘reunion’?” I air quoted the last word.

  Alec leaned against the wall, giving me that lazy smile and letting his black hair sweep over his forehead. “They wanted it to be special.”

  I huffed.

  I had a feeling this would be anything but special.

  I steeled my shoulders, lifted my finger, and rang the bell.

  A skittering sound came from the other side as locks slid, chains unhooked, codes were entered and then the door opened and I saw . . .

  Mom?

  My heart leaped in my chest.

  Mom.

  Her yellow eyes paled. “Vienna.” She reached for me and then her eyes rolled back into her head.

  “M-M-Mom?”

  My heart cantered in my chest as she fell, gracefully careening into my outstretched arms.

  “M-Mom?” I shouted her name again, cradling her and falling to the ground with her. The color slowly slipped off her face.

  “Mom?” I whispered. Blood froze in my veins and my eyes focused on her lifeless face. “M-Mom?”

  Oh god. Was she dying?

  I choked and hunched over, unable to breathe looking at her stony face.

  Oh god.

  Oh god.

  Oh—

  “She’s fainted.” Alec lifted his fingers from her neck and brought them to mine, stroking and caressing my cheek. “Easy. Easy. She’s going to be okay and so are you. Here”—he took her from my arms and carried her over to the couch where he laid her and crossed her hands over her body. She looked like Snow White after eating the poison apple.

  Oh God.

  Then Dad barged into the room. A triumphant cry strangled his lips when his gray eyes locked on mine.

  With Dad, it was like I could do no wrong. And more importantly, it was like I never left.

  “Dad,” I whimpered, and we collapsed into each other. He embraced me in his soft arms and I tightened my fingers around his button-down shirt.

  Dad.

  Old Spice engulfed me.

  It’s you.

  I buried my face in his shoulder.

  It’s you.

  “Vienna. Vienna,” he said, and squeezed the air out of me. “You’re home, you’re home, you’re home. Finally.”

  Mom struggled, waking on the couch. My name pierced her lips and my heart thundered in my chest.

  “She hasn’t been the same,” Dad said, and his eyes roved my face. “Since you left.”

  I hadn’t really expected my leaving to have this much of an impact on Mom. I hadn’t really expected Mom to—I swallowed—to miss me.

  But she did, Vienna. She did miss you.

  Dad held me out, looking me over. He was still as tall and reddish-brown-haired as I remembered.

  Still Dad. My dad.

  I knelt beside Mom, and she raised a hand, touching my face. Tears formed in her eyes. Her fingers, soft and clean, rested against my skin, smelling of Dove Soap.

  “I
can’t . . .” Mom’s throat worked. “I can’t believe . . .” She threw her arms around me, paralyzing me.

  My mind went numb. Was Mom . . . was Mom hugging me?

  She missed you, Vienna. She did.

  My hands went around her and brushed against the silk of her blouse.

  Alec smiled at me over her shoulder as if telling me, I told you so.

  “I . . .” I pressed my lips together. “I missed you, too. Mom.”

  I did.

  “Oh, Vienna.” Her arms tightened. “Oh, my darling.”

  Darling?

  I was Mom’s darling?

  “You’re going to bruise her.” Dad gently plucked Mom’s fingers off my arms and I eased back onto my knees in front of her.

  Dad’s eyes shone. “You made it. I honestly.” He swallowed. “I didn’t know—”

  “If you’d come home,” Mom whispered, her fingers flitting through pieces of my ponytail as if she couldn’t stop touching me.

  “I’m here.”

  But not all of us are.

  “I met her,” I blurted.

  Mom’s eyes cleared. “What?”

  I clasped my hands over my mouth and looked at Alec.

  Crap! I didn’t mean to. Not so soon.

  “Vienna?” Dad shook his head. “Who did you meet?”

  “London.” The word escaped my lips before I could recall it.

  Mom sucked in a breath.

  “Who?” Dad asked softly again.

  “A girl . . .” I swallowed and looked at Mom, straight into her wide yellow eyes. “Who had a face identical to mine.”

  “No.” Mom’s voice trembled and her skin turned to white ash. “It—”

  “She’s Aunt Tamera’s daughter.” My heart cracked, falling in broken pieces. Aunt Tamera’s fingers pushed against the fracture of my interior wall.