"So, does this mean...?"
"It means I've fallen in love with you, Lucy. As crazy as that sounds, it's true. And if you'll have me, I want to see where this leads."
Her heart swelled with warmth. She'd never felt this way before, never known this kind of love before. That empty place inside her filled with something new, and a tear trickled out of her eye. "I love you too, Hunter."
When they kissed again, it had a new edge to it, something deeper and more meaningful. The walls around their feelings had crumbled under the declaration of love, and they willingly laid themselves bare to each other.
Hunter's hand moved under her shirt, and she welcomed the advance. She wanted to give herself entirely to him, wanted to know what it felt like to make love to someone for the first time. Curiosity had driven her previous sexual experiences, more so than passion or desire. With Hunter, the passion and desire took over, making her body a slave to his.
He paused long enough to look her in the eyes. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "I want to be with you, Hunter. I need you."
They lost themselves in each other's embrace. Skin on skin, flesh on flesh, they became one.
Chapter 97 – Sam
The wind blew icy raindrops into my window, as if tiny bullets assaulted the mansion. I considered going outside just so the rain could blend with my tears and hide the evidence of my mourning. At least the thunder camouflaged the sounds of my sobs. I had failed at everything.
First I'd failed to save Mary without destroying Drake, then failed at helping Tommy and saving his mother, and finally failed at keeping my own daughter safe. Somehow, my bastard of a father had gotten to her, and I couldn't figure out how or when, or even why. I knew he wanted her, but had no idea what he planned to do with her once he got her. What was his end game?
I fantasized that somehow, once the sun came out and the rain stopped its incessant hammering, Ana would reappear, and I could hold her in my arms and never let go. Another sob racked my body, one of her baby blankets pressed to my face to absorb the tears. Oh God, Ana. I'm so sorry, baby. If you can hear me, or feel me, I'm here. I'll find you, I swear it.
My sketchbook lay open in front of me, images of Ana everywhere. I flipped through the pages, and a new wave of tears formed as Luke's and Lucy's faces assaulted my heart. I couldn’t lose them all. I just couldn't. On the next page, Drake stared back at me with those sexy eyes and chiseled features. Even a black and white sketch made my stomach do flip-flops.
Well screw him. I tore out the page, crumbled it up and threw it across the room.
I needed someone who would be there for me and my baby, not a coward who would run away when things got hard. Where was he now? He hadn't called, hadn't shown up as promised. He'd broken my trust again. I wished Luke and Lucy were back, safe. We would celebrate their birthday with a big cake and a fun party. They could sing their awesome song, and I could paint them a beautiful portrait to commemorate their adulthood. I'd have someone to talk to. Maybe it would even stop raining.
But they weren't here, and I couldn't stand another moment of being alone in my head—well, as alone as I could be with other peoples' thoughts flowing around in there.
Darren could offer comfort—had offered. "I'm here, night or day, if you need to talk," he'd said. I'd nodded, knowing I couldn't take him up on that offer.
But I had to do something other than sit here, moping and crying, while my daughter and all the people I loved most stood in harm's way. For two hours, I'd tried to channel my new powers, but all attempts to connect with Ana and Tommy fell flat. Their mental signatures eluded me, and I felt so empty and alone without my daughter.
I needed someone to talk to, someone who'd do whatever it took to help me. Darren. He'd already done so much, already proven how far he would go to help me and Ana.
Oh, what the hell. I'm not seducing the guy, just asking to talk. I set the sketchbook aside and headed to Darren's room the next hall over.
I paused in front of his door, fist poised to knock, but couldn't complete the action. No matter how I justified it, he would take this as a sign of hope for us, and a relationship didn't seem likely given my current state. Was that really fair to him?
It didn't matter. I needed an ally who would help me save my daughter.
Decision made, I braced myself again to knock, but before my fist hit the door, it opened, and Darren stood there, smiling.
His smile faltered at my puffy, bloodshot eyes. He opened his arms, and all of my resolve faded as I gave in to the comfort he offered.
No more tears would come, but I let go of the last of my self-pity with my cheek pressed against his chest.
I looked up at him, ready to tell him of my plan, when he leaned down to kiss me.
My body froze as I tried to decide whether to pull away or see what it felt like to kiss another man.
A knock at the front door made my decision for me. I pulled away. "Someone's here. It could be about Ana."
He nodded and followed me out of his room, the heat between us fading in the cold hallway.
I opened the front door, and my jaw dropped in shock.
Drake stood on the porch, dripping wet, looking every bit as wonderful as the first time I'd met him.
I slapped him in the face, hard. "How could you leave me?" My response shocked me, but all the tension and fear and anger sprang free of my heart now that it finally had a target.
He didn't stop me or defend himself, which very well might have saved his life in that moment. As quick as lightning, my anger turned to grief and relief, and those tears that I'd only recently pushed below the surface rose up to swallow me.
Drake pulled me into his arms, and I couldn't help but hold him close. To have him here, to finally hold him and lean on him—it was too hard to stay mad through all that.
When my tears died down, Drake wiped my eyes. "I love you, Sam, and I'm so sorry I ever left you and our child. I screwed up in the most unforgivable way, but I'm back now, and I'll never leave either of you again. I swear. Can you forgive me?"
I pulled out of his arms and stepped back enough to gain perspective. Could I forgive him? Would he hurt me again? "I will," I decided. "I will forgive you, but not yet. I'm not ready. It will take time."
Darren coughed lightly behind me, intruding on what might have been an intimate moment if I hadn't been on the verge of kissing him a few moments prior.
Drake's face fell like a kicked puppy, but he nodded. "I understand. Let me show you, Sam, that I'll be here for you forever."
What could he show me while standing on the porch dripping rain into the house?
But then he got down on one knee.
Oh crap. No. Not now. It's too soon.
He pulled something out of his pocket and held it out to me. "Sam Smith, will you marry me?"
Chapter 98 – Drake
"No."
Drake shook his head as if that would make her answer differently. Her refusal hung in the space between them, building a wall even as he stood helplessly by. He'd screwed up, but he'd come back and wanted to make it right. They belonged together, Didn't she get that?
She frowned. "Drake, I'm focused on one thing right now: getting our baby back. I can't think of you or our future."
He squeezed her hand and pulled her closer. "Then don't think. What do you want? Right now?"
She pulled away. "I want Ana back. I want to find out what happened to my friends, and I want to save Tommy. That's what I want right now."
Her cold, hard stare made him wonder whether any chance remained to be together. He pushed the ring box into her hand, but she made no move to open it. "Just take the ring. Keep it with you as a symbol that I'm here for good."
She looked at the box, then back at him. "Are you here for real? Will you help me get Ana back?"
"Yes." He meant it. Nothing would pull him away from his family again.
She opened the box, and her sharp intake of breath made him smile. The silver
antique-style band dotted with diamonds would look beautiful on her hand. She didn't need to know where he'd gotten the money to pay for it.
"Thank you." She pulled off a silver necklace and strung the ring on it, then reattached the clasp. He hated that she didn't wear it on her finger, but maybe it had been too much to hope that she'd forgive him so quickly.
The wind blew a fresh wave of cold rain onto the porch, and they both shivered. Drake looked behind him, then into the house, and noticed the man standing behind Sam, frowning at him. "May I come in?"
She moved aside and gestured to the hall. "Yes, of course. I'm sorry, you must be freezing."
"There's one more thing. Wait here." He ran to the car, fetched Toby, ran back to Sam, and briefly explained how he'd acquired his wannabe sidekick.
"Toby, introduce yourself."
The kid smiled, offering his hand as he introduced himself, just as Drake had taught him.
Sam raised an eyebrow, but smiled warmly. "Nice to meet you. I'm Sam. Come in."
Toby turned to Drake as they walked into the mansion. "Yo, now I see why you want to marry her. That chick is fine."
***
Sam made Drake a bed on the couch in the game room, while Bernard found Toby a room with another boy his age. Toby wandered over to a shelf of video games. Drake thought about the boy and his new roommate, and could only imagine how two kids from such different worlds would get along. Still, Toby needed to acclimate, and sharing a room was the best way to do it.
Sam looked from his bags to the couch. "If you're staying, we'll find something more permanent tomorrow. You'll have to share with another guy. We don’t have enough rooms yet for people to have their own."
Ouch. He'd assumed they'd share her room. Then again, he really thought she'd be more excited to see him. I'm such a fool.
"Have you guys had dinner?"
Toby shook his head.
"Let's go to the kitchen, and I'll make something for you." She led Toby out, leaving Drake to follow if he wanted.
He chose to find Father Patrick instead. He'd never needed his old mentor more. If anyone could help him figure out how to fix things with Sam, it was the old priest.
Father Patrick hadn't been sleeping, despite the late hour. A leather-bound book lay face down on his desk, and his reading glasses perched on his head. "At my age, you barely sleep at all," he said as he brought them both a cup of tea. "I missed you, my boy."
"I missed you too. It's good to see you again. How have things been going?"
They sat at Father Patrick's desk. Hundreds of books lined the walls of the room, which served more as an office than a bedroom, and made the twin bed tucked in the corner seem out of place.
The old man sipped a bit of tea and smiled. "Life here is going well. I've been helping Bernard establish a curriculum for the kids, and we're looking at options for expanding our quarters, since this place is getting too cozy for comfort. But let's save the chitchat for later. What's troubling you?"
"I screwed up royally. I should've never left. Sam's never going to forgive me, and I've lost everything I ever cared about."
"Don't be too harsh on yourself, boy. We all make mistakes. That's how we learn. Let's look at this more closely. First of all, why did you leave?"
Drake blew on his tea and took another sip to give himself a chance to think. "I thought we were done. We'd been having arguments about my powers, about mind control specifically. She didn't want to use it on anyone, not even to protect herself. I disagreed."
"Do you still feel that way?"
The aromatic blend of herbs from the tea filled the air, and he took a deep breath. "Yes. Like you said, my powers aren't inherently good or evil. I used them to protect us, and it felt right."
Father Patrick nodded.
Drake waited another moment, hoping for some validation, but when none came, he continued. "Right before I left, I think Sam would have agreed with me. She realized mind control could be used for good."
"Then your argument was over. So what drove you away?"
The truth, the real truth. Could he admit to his shallowness? "She took my powers, even after everything I'd done for her."
The priest steepled his fingers, nonplussed by this revelation. "How did you feel?"
"Angry. I didn't understand why she'd betrayed me, but now I realize she'd stopped me from making a huge mistake." From killing Mary. "But at the time, I just couldn't see it."
"And so you left, feeling betrayed by the person you love most of all. It's no easy thing. Did you remain angry after you left?"
He hadn't thought about that. "No."
"Then why did you not return?"
"I'd lost my powers. Without them, what help could I be?"
"You were gone awhile. Did you work?"
"A little, at first, but I wasn't much use to anyone."
Father Patrick chuckled. "I'm no psychologist, but I believe they call that an inferiority complex."
Inferior? Yes, that's what I felt.
"What changed? What brought you back?"
"I got these." Drake showed Father Patrick two purple vials, the last ones he had left. "They give me my powers back, temporarily."
Father Patrick raised an eyebrow. "And how did you procure this potion?"
Drake didn't want to say. He'd literally made a deal with the devil. "I acquired them from Sam's father, Mr. Steele." He then told the priest everything that had happened from the time he'd met Toby until he'd arrived at Sam's doorstep, including his deal with Steele.
Father Patrick took another drink of tea. "What will you do next time he calls?"
"I hope to have Ana back by then."
"And if you don't?"
"I will." He didn't have a choice, and couldn't even consider the other options.
Father Patrick sat in silence for several minutes, rubbing his chin. "You face both an internal and an external challenge. If Sam loses the baby, she may never recover. But even if you save Ana, can you, my boy, accept yourself?"
Drake nodded. "I accept what I did."
"And who you are?"
He clutched the vials tightly. "Yes."
The old cleric finished his tea, and his eyes glazed over in a faraway look. "When that is true, you'll be together again." He looked back at Drake, his eyes clearing. "There is greatness in your future yet. But to achieve your full potential, you have to let go of who you think you are, and embrace the truth of yourself."
"I don’t understand."
"In time, you will. Look into yourself, boy. What defines you? What gives your life meaning? Is it that purple drug? Is that the full extent of your worth? If that were true, we wouldn't be talking. You have to look deeper."
"Where did you get your powers?" Drake hadn't intended to ask that question, but once it popped he didn't take it back. "You have powers. I've always known it. How? If we were bred for powers, where did yours come from?"
"There are many mysteries in the world, son, more than the mind can fathom. The doings of humans are but a microscopic fraction of the whole. Now, if you'll excuse me, we should both get some rest."
Drake stood and said goodbye. Just as he was about to close the door behind him, Father Patrick stopped him.
"Drake, what will you do when the vials run out?"
"I'll get more."
"And if you can't?"
"I will."
Again, he had no choice. He'd find a way to get more drugs, or get his powers back forever. Then he'd save Ana, and Sam would want to be with him again.
Chapter 99 – Sam
Drake's proposal had rattled me, and Darren couldn't look me in the eye as he slipped off to bed. I could tell Drake hoped to sleep with me, but I refused to even allow the question to come up. He had no right to waltz back into my life and expect so much from me, not after everything he'd put us through.
Sleep evaded me for hours, until emotional exhaustion pulled me into slumber.
A voice on the wind haunted my dreams, and a
vision gripped me, tearing me from my room and throwing me into the space between. Images overlapped each other, beaches and trees and a compound with kids. Tommy screamed for me, and another presence settled in my heart once again.
Ana had found me, and now I knew how to find her.
I leaped out of bed, heart pounding as I sent out a group text. "Meet me in the library in thirty minutes. I know where Ana is."
***
Around me sat the people I trusted most at the school: Brad and Desirai, Greg and Gary, Norm and Robyn, Darren, Father Patrick, Bernard, and of course, Drake. Toby had wanted to come, but I couldn't let him. He was too young and this was too dangerous.
We sat in an empty classroom, closed to the students. Everyone waited for me to speak.
"I'm going after Ana. I know where she is."
Bernard nodded. "At the facility Luke and Lucy are assigned to take down, yes?"
"Yes."
Father Patrick wrinkled his brow. "But we don't know where it is. Lucy had the address and handed it over to the IPI agents the night of the escape."
I smiled. "My new powers finally kicked in while I was sleeping. I connected with Ana and Tommy. I felt them and saw where they were—at a compound on one of the islands in Hawaii." I pulled out a map and pointed to a small cluster. "Right there."
Norm raised his hand as if we were in class, then lowered it when we all looked at him. "Sorry. Habit. But wouldn't Luke and Lucy still be on the assignment? Aren't they working that angle?"
"Yes, but I spoke to Simmons. Their plane went down. They're alive, but missing." The words tore out of me, but I stayed strong, firm in my resolve.
Desirai bobbed her head. "I haven't been able to find them in my dreams."
Greg spoke for the first time. "Have we heard anything more from IPI?"
Bernard shook his head. "We've left more messages, but they are clearly giving us the run around."
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