Honesty (Mark of Nexus)

by Butler, Carrie

  Hold on. Salvageable? Implant? I didn’t read anything about that.

  “We haven’t had the best history with these experiments,” she went on, wiping the blood from her hands, “so we took measures to protect our investment, this time around. When Aiden’s body can’t fully absorb damage, the sensor acts as a kill switch—forcing his body into a comatose-like state while it recovers.”

  “So, he’ll wake up?” Wallace asked. “When?”

  Faye straightened with a shrug. “A couple of weeks, maybe. He might not wake up at all. It depends.”

  “On what?”

  “Me, mostly.” She crossed her arms. “As Rena suggested, I could use my ability to buy us some time—to reverse a small amount of that damage—but I’ve already exerted so much energy tonight. I believe you heard about the assault…”

  Rena pinched the bridge of her nose. “Enough with the bullshit, Faye. What do you want?”

  Reow.

  “You.” Faye didn’t hesitate—not that I expected her to. She’d been looking for leverage to use on Rena for months. “Though, from the looks of things, you’re already taken.”

  Wallace quirked an eyebrow. “You wanna fight me for her?”

  A slow smile stretched Faye’s lips. “No, but I expect an invitation to the wedding.”

  D’oh! I nearly smacked my forehead. That was why she had the watch. The dumbass had probably given it to her on loan, in lieu of buying a ring for his rushed proposal. Whew. Okay, I felt better.

  “Once upon a time,” Wallace began, snatching Faye’s collar with one hand. “I was a patient man. I stayed quiet, kept to myself, and yet somehow, you’ve killed that. So, I suggest you get to the point. Now.”

  Her smile didn’t wane. “Are you sure you’re not my grandson?”

  “Quit stalling.” He jerked her toward him, and she stumbled. “You think, if we wait long enough, he’ll die on his own, right? Hell, you’re probably hoping the same thing happens to Gail. I’ve felt your dissension more than once. But guess what? I’m giving you two minutes to produce a miracle, or you’re going back to ERA in a box.”

  There’s my twin!

  “My, my, what would Clara say?” She pried at his hand, but he didn’t budge. “Oh, fine. In exchange for the boy’s life, I want your—what? Girlfriend? Fiancée?”

  “Why?”

  “I need a boost, in case recruitment events go poorly with the other Dynari. Is that such a crime?”

  His jaw tightened. “Everything you do is a crime. Gail can’t manipulate them into joining your movement?”

  “Not long term. Some may need…persuasion.”

  “So, you intend on ruling with fear,” he retorted, and Rena did a double take. She’d only seen Wallace’s temper once or twice that I knew of, so this had to be a little unsettling for her. Oh well. Better to find out now. Blake blood runs hot.

  “I intend on leading society into an evolved way of thinking.” Faye lifted her shoulders. “But I could go on and on about that. Who’s wasting time now?”

  His nostrils flared, betraying a fraction of his frustration. “What’ll happen to Aiden after you reverse the damage?”

  “Naturally, we’ll need to keep up the guise of his death.” She gestured dismissively at the chaos around us. “Fabricate some burnt remains, leave them near where that pole caught fire—it won’t be much trouble, really. Afterward, he’ll return with us to headquarters, where we’ll monitor his condition.”

  “What about his family?” Corynn interrupted. “They’ll be heartbroken for no reason.”

  Faye didn’t try to turn around. “Regardless of what happens, the same boy won’t ever return to them. That’s done. The most merciful thing we can do at this point is grant them closure.” She paused and added in a softer voice, “Believe me.”

  This bitch is craaazy.

  “All right, here’s what’s on the table.” Rena gestured around, including everyone in the conversation. Total business mode. “Because these run-ins have to stop. No one else is going to pay the price for our differences, understand? I’ll join ERA, and I’ll use my abilities to assist your deranged cause, but it’s going to be on my terms.”

  Faye regarded her carefully. “Go on.”

  Rena took a deep breath. “Okay, first, nothing happens to anyone I care about ever again. I’m talking these guys, their families—anyone. You touch a hair on their heads, and we’re done.”

  “Reasonable,” Faye admitted.

  “Right.” Rena pressed her lips together. “The second condition is that you send a check to Aiden’s family for his…his final expenses. All of them. I want the whole thing covered.”

  “That can be arranged.”

  Yeah, right after they spin it as local support from everyone’s favorite pharmaceutical company.

  “Third,” she went on. “Wherever I go, Wallace comes with. Nonnegotiable. I’m an independent contractor, and he is my bodyguard.”

  “I can see that.” Faye tried to laugh, but Sis cut her off.

  “Fourth, and this is an important one, no one else dies from this virus.”

  Faye recoiled. “Don’t you think that’s a little out of my hands?”

  “So, stop releasing it places. Don’t you have enough people now?”

  “Test subjects aren’t our only priority, dear. So, no, I can’t make that guarantee. Any other demands? Because I’ve come up with a few of my own.”

  Ah, hell.

  “In addition to being on call for our recruitment endeavors,” Faye pressed forward, “you will continue your monthly appointments and come in once a week for training modules. After all, you’ll be of little use to me unless you hone that ability.”

  A second slipped by before she added, “Oh, and your little crackpot team must agree to not interfere with my work.”

  I half-snorted, half-grunted, but didn’t say anything. Like they had any way of enforcing that.

  “Fine,” Rena said, matching her stance. “As long as you’re the one who trains me. I don’t trust your halfwit lackeys not to screw with me.”

  “Very well.”

  Sirens screamed in the distance, and I stifled an inappropriate yawn.

  “Then it’s settled.” Rena touched Wallace’s arm, and he released the old bat. “And as someone who doesn’t officially work for you, Faye, I have one suggestion.”

  “What’s that, dear?” she asked, leaning in with a raised brow.

  “Heal these two, and then get the hell off my campus.”

  Oh snap. I grinned and crinkled my nose. I couldn’t help it. My siblings were growing backbones, and it was entertaining as hell—despite the dreary, doom and gloom circumstances, of course.

  ~

  Wallace and Rena went off to help people, while Corynn and I supervised the show from afar. Same creepy shit as last time. A glittering moonlit cloud I hoped the humans couldn’t see and miraculous recoveries—for Gail, at least. Aiden stayed comatose.

  I demanded a ride up north afterward, insisting I stick around to make sure Faye lived up to her word. Really, I just had a feeling Jackie would ditch my Jeep in their parking lot and call a cab. But they didn’t need to know that.

  Yeah, talk about awkward. Try spending forty minutes in a van with your arch nemeses and their ex-employee sometime. It’s not fun. “So, when can they see Aiden Ross?”

  Faye didn’t turn around from her seat in the middle, even though Corynn and I were right behind her. “We’ll take care of the official reports tonight and let the authorities notify his parents in the morning. I assume they’ll have services sometime next week. Rena and Wallace may visit afterward.”

  “That sounds pleasant,” I lied, exhaustion filling my brain with static. “Maybe you can have a company picnic to celebrate.”

  “Your humor is wasted on me, Nicholas.”

  “That’s a shame.”

  I leaned back, and Corynn made a face at me. Apparently, my ill-intended jabs were not welcome road trip behavior. That,
or she was afraid I’d crack the thin ice she had to walk on around these people. She did stab one of them an hour ago.

  Thankfully, she didn’t have to worry long.

  As soon as we arrived, the three stooges bustled off to their respective hidey-holes. No goodbye. No apology for mass murder. Lackeys were sent to transport Aiden to the same room where he’d been experimented upon, and that was it.

  I followed Corynn to her room and leaned against the wall while she packed. “So, where are you going to stay now?”

  “In my dorm.”

  “Won’t ERA pull the plug on that arrangement?”

  She hesitated, mid-fold. “I don’t think my eviction will be top priority. You know, since a tornado flattened half of campus the week before finals.”

  “Valid.” I yawned and rested my hands on top of my head. “How ‘bout I drive you back to campus?”

  “Didn’t Jackie take your car?”

  “If she didn’t leave it here, I’ll just borrow someone else’s.”

  That earned me a shrug. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, we were all worse for the wear, but she’d gone totally flat. “Okay.”

  “Okay,” I repeated. “I’ll meet you out front as soon as you’re done. I’m gonna go check on Freckles.”

  And none too soon. That apathy was choking the room. I mean, sure, the girl had just suffered a traumatic experience and inflicted her first mortal wound, but damn. It felt contagious.

  I jogged along the underground corridors in an effort to clear my mind. In less than twenty-four hours, my life had been turned upside down, and I didn’t know how to cope…

  My time in Columbus had slipped past me.

  Like a dumbass, I’d yet to seriously pack for my move to Cleveland.

  Arrangements to move Grandma’s house still had to be made.

  Wallace and Rena were going to get married and ride off into the sunset.

  ERA had made their first strike.

  We’d barely survived.

  We had no means of stopping them, short of killing some innocents of our own.

  Innocents…innocence. Ugh. Rachel must’ve been terrified during the storm.

  My heart squeezed so abruptly, it stopped me in my tracks. I clutched at my chest and traced the burn in my neck. “Damn.”

  I should’ve checked on her. Hell, I still could. We were headed back that direction. Living that close to campus, there was no way she’d be asleep with all those sirens…

  All the more reason to hurry. I looked around to make sure no one had seen my stumble and trotted the rest of the way to my destination. Just like any other visit, I had to wait for one of the lab nerds to activate their hissing fortress doors before I slipped inside. Not that it took long.

  From the looks of things, Faye’s lackeys had hooked poor Freckles up to every machine they owned. He lay there like a humanoid bomb—wires poking every which way, his face the color of his sheets. A straggler scribbled something in his chart.

  Too tired to waste any time, I closed the distance between us in an untraceable blur. Since Henry was still off visiting his girlfriend, Jaya, I figured it was my job to make sure Aiden Ross had at least one advocate in the organization. I flicked my knife out.

  “‘Scuse me.”

  The guy startled, stiffening as soon as I pressed the blade to his throat. “Y-Yes?”

  “You’re going to take good care of my friend, aren’t you? You’re not going to let anything bad happen to him?”

  “O-Of course,” he stammered. “We’ve been given very specific orders. He’s stable.”

  “Good.” I lowered my voice, leaning in over his shoulder. “Because I’ve always heard bad things come in threes. One…”

  I pointed to Aiden Ross.

  “Two…”

  I pointed in the general direction of the administrative offices.

  “Three.” I dug my knife in deeper at an angle, sparing him the edge. “Got it?”

  “Yes, sir. Yes. A-Absolutely.”

  “Glad we understand each other.” I released him with a shove and folded my knife on my pants before pocketing it. “Nice chattin’ with you.”

  He stayed frozen.

  I dipped my head toward the bed on my way out and bumped my fist on the doorframe. “Hang in there, Aiden Ross.”

  CHAPTER 21

  Riding back with Corynn was almost as awkward as the carpool with ERA.

  Oh well. At least the Jeep had been in the lot like I’d expected—intact, with the keys stuck in the tailpipe and the gun slid under the driver’s seat. I wasn’t about to complain.

  After I dropped off the British Bloodspiller, I fired off a text to Wallace. “Aiden Ross is stable and Corynn is back in her dorm. Faye said you can visit after the memorial service. Stay safe.”

  I tightened my grip on the wheel and looked around as I waited, letting out a deep breath. The campus had fallen eerily silent since I left. Flashlights crossed here and there, illuminating battered tents and worse-off figures.

  Come on, this place is creeping me out…

  My phone chirped, announcing a two-letter reply. “TY.”

  “Good enough,” I announced in a tired voice, putting the Jeep into drive. “One more stop.”

  Rachel’s place was only a few minutes from campus, but I had trouble finding it again. The neighborhood didn’t have any memorable landmarks, aside from graffiti, and I could barely concentrate.

  Stress, exhaustion—whatever it was, I felt every pound of it around my shoulders. The streetlights seared my eyes, making them tear up for no reason, and my pulse quickened.

  What the hell? Get it together.

  Finally, I recognized a shabby little house at the end of the street. Same gold beater, same broken fence. I cut the engine a few houses down and walked.

  I just needed to see her. Once. Convince myself she was whole, even if I wasn’t. Memories of her previous apprehension didn’t occur to me until I was already mid-knock.

  The door opened a crack. “Cole?”

  I leaned around the opening, squinting into a dim room. “Rach?”

  She pushed a coppery tress behind her ear and crossed her arms over a baggy t-shirt. “What are you doing here?”

  “Checking on you. Sorry I didn’t call. Did you hear what happened?”

  She cast a nervous glance over her shoulder and nodded. “Yes, it’s terrible.”

  “I was there,” I admitted involuntarily. “It was bad, Rach. Really bad.”

  Her eyes rounded and she reached for me, hesitating an inch from my face. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded and swallowed a quick-forming lump in my throat.

  “Hold on a second.”

  The door closed, and I heard some shuffling around. A few seconds later, she reemerged wearing a flannel button-up over the oversized t-shirt and sweats. She slipped past me to sit on a chipped porch swing. “We can talk out here…if you want.”

  Again, I nodded.

  There was something about her, something about the air she carried, that made me want to start confessing things and never stop. To be someone else. To have other things to talk about, besides the messed up shit I had to carry.

  “Were you visiting Wallace?” she asked in a quiet voice, her skin ethereal in the moonlight. “Did…something happen?”

  I shook my head and sat beside her. “He and Rena were at the dance. I came to, uh, give him a message. Then it all just…”

  My eyes were doing that weird, burny shit again. I looked up at the ragged wood above us and felt her touch my leg. “They might’ve ended up with a few cuts and sprains, but their friend—that Aiden Ross kid—he didn’t make it.”

  She covered a gasp, absolutely horror-stricken over someone she didn’t even know. “Oh no.”

  It hurt me to lie to her. For once, I wished I had the kind of thing Wallace had—a loyal outsider to share the burden of all this knowledge. But I didn’t. Rachel wasn’t my anything. I couldn’t tell her anything but the press cop
y.

  “They’re really torn up about it,” I went on. “I guess they were all pretty close.”

  “I can’t even imagine.” She lowered her hand to cup the other one, both on my leg. “Cole, I’m so sorry.”

  I tried to pull my lips back into something resembling a smile, but I had a feeling I hadn’t pulled it off. “It’s okay.”

  “You must’ve been so scared.” She looked me over with glittering eyes, shaking her head back and forth.

  Her concern burned a hole in my chest. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had worried so much over me, my well-being, not what I’d done. My throat closed. Maybe it had been a bad idea to come here. I was off my game, shaken—

  She pulled me in, wrapping her arms around my neck. “It’s all right. You’re safe now.”

  My breath caught.

  Just like that, the dam broke. My eyes—treacherous bastards—burned streaks down my face, and I buried my face in her hair. It didn’t make a damn bit of sense. It wasn’t like I’d lost friends or gotten negotiated into ERA’s recruitment mission. Why was I shaking?

  Fuuuuuuck. I bit my lip hard, trying to stem the flow of emotion. If this was how I reacted to someone showing they cared about me, maybe my shrink was right. Maybe I did have issues. What had happened to my tolerance for pain?

  “Just let it out,” Rachel coaxed in a soft voice. “I’m right here.”

  You’re making it worse. I gritted my teeth. Distraction was necessary. I needed something, anything else, to concentrate on. I inhaled and breathed in the fruity scent of her hair. Strawberries?

  Ah, hell. Who was I kidding?

  It’d been a long, hard day—the first of many to come. We were on the verge of major shit going down, and for once, I didn’t have a plan. Everyone counted on me to bail them out, but I…I…

  An amber light flicked on overhead, and Rachel pulled back with a sharp intake of breath. Her wide eyes took in the door, seconds before some creep poked his head out.

  I scrubbed my face raw with my sleeve.

  “Why, Rachel,” the man’s lips wrenched back in some kind of sick pleasure, “I didn’t expect to find you out here at this time of night.”

  “I’m sorry.” She looked down at her lap. “My friend was on campus during the—”