“She’s the one who’s been giving me food, and we needed something for Nia’s hand. I thought—”
One look from the man silenced him. “I didn’t ask you, boy.”
Nate stepped in front of me, and I didn’t think. I caught the back of his shirt and pulled him back so he was behind me. “Who are you?” I fired back, feeling the Source pulse to life in my chest.
The man threw out his arms, and I noticed several of the kids shrank back. A few even lifted their arms as if to shield themselves. Bruises and split lips appeared in my mind, and a shiver of knowing danced down my spine as his brows lifted, disappearing under the bill of his cap. “You in my house, asking who I am?”
“I am,” I replied coolly, vaguely acknowledging that I should feel some level of fear, or at least, the old Evie would have, but I didn’t. There was just cold, pounding anger.
“Name’s Morton. These are my kids, and I know damn well where you’re from. How did you get him to bring you here. Huh? Tell him you want to help? That those freaks up there in that community would welcome him? Welcome all these kids?”
Freaks?
“These kids may be a bit rough around the edges, but they aren’t dumb. Well, not all of them,” he said, and the Source pulsed once more. “They know better or should know better than to trust one of you. Bet you lied, didn’t you? That’s the only way they’d be standing here.” He stopped a few feet from me. “Bet you told them you’re human, didn’t you?”
There was no stopping the surprise that widened my eyes, and I couldn’t ignore how most of the kids backed even farther away.
Morton smirked. “You think I can’t tell? Oh yeah, I know. You came down here with no visible weapon on you. There isn’t a single human that stupid. One of them alien freaks? Different story.”
“Should I have a weapon?” I asked.
“You’d be dumber than I think if not.” He grabbed something propped against the other side of the table, lifting it—a bat.
Instinct took over, and I didn’t stop it. The Source buzzed through my veins, and as I lifted my hand, it happened like I’d willed it. The bat tore free from Morton’s hand and flew toward me, smacking against my palm. It stung, but I managed to hold on to it.
“You’re wrong,” I said. “I didn’t come without a weapon.”
Morton took a step back, and even if the kids hadn’t have gasped, I wouldn’t have felt like a badass. That took the wind right out of my awesome sails.
“What’re you going to do?” Morton asked. “Beat me?”
Man, if my blossoming suspicious were true, I wanted to, but I didn’t. Instead, I placed the bat on another table. “Why would I want to do that?”
Morton stared at me for several moments. “I told you all. Didn’t I? I told each and every one of you.” He scanned the groups of kids. “They can look like anyone. Even a harmless, little blond girl.” He took another step back. “We don’t need any help from your kind, and we don’t want it.”
“So, you’ve been going out and getting food and supplies, and not just one of these kids?” I asked.
The fingers of his right hand curled into his palm. “As I said, we don’t need or want your help. We don’t want or need to see you again, and if you think for one second of coming back here with any of your other freak friends, don’t bother. We won’t be here. I hope you remember the way out,” he said. “Because you need to get going.”
I didn’t move, not until Nate, surprisingly, tugged on my arm. “It’s okay. Come on.”
I held Morton’s gaze as Nate pulled on my arm again. I let the boy pull me away, turning just as I saw the man smirk once more. I didn’t trust myself to even speak until we were outside the building.
“Who is that to you all?” I demanded the moment we reached the middle of the barren street.
“You lied to me,” he shot back in return. “You said you weren’t an alien.”
“I’m not an alien.” I stared down at him. “I’m just not completely human.”
He threw up his hands. “And that makes a difference?”
“No, it doesn’t. Not really, because there’s nothing wrong with being an alien. Just because I’m not a hundred percent human doesn’t make me evil or untrustworthy or a freak,” I told him. “Who is that man to you all?”
Nate glared back at me for a moment, but then he shook his head as he stared back at the building. Jamal and Nia were standing there. “He’s one of the adults that’s still, you know, alive.”
Aware of the other two’s approach, I asked, “They were more adults?”
“My parents,” Nia answered, coming to stop a few feet from us, her fingers toying with the edge of the bandage Jamal had wrapped around her hand. “They got sick about two years ago, died one after the other.”
“My grandma was with me,” Jamal added, his throat working. “She got sick, too. Cut her hand or something, and yeah, it took her down.”
No wonder he’d been so attentive to Nia’s wound.
“There were a few others, some who I guess lived on the streets like Morton before,” Nate said. “But yeah, they’re all dead. Most didn’t last the first year.”
How convenient for Morton. “Does he ever go out and get the food? The supplies?”
None of them answered, and my suspicious were confirmed. This man was using them.
“Has he hurt any of you?” I looked at Jamal. “Did that to your eye?”
“No,” Nate answered. “It’s not like that.”
I wasn’t sure if I believed him or not. “What I’m about to say is probably going to come as a surprise, and it’s also going to be painful to hear, but it needs to be said. The Luxen can heal humans—things that aren’t caused by internal issues. Any single one of those Luxen who are right there, who aren’t evil freaks or whatever, would’ve healed your grandma’s cut on her hand, saving her life. Your parents? The others?” My gaze flicked to Nia and Nate. “They may still have gotten sick, but I can tell you that they would’ve had access to some care and would’ve been in a better place to recover. I hate saying that, because none of this is your fault, and I know all of you probably saw some horrible stuff during the invasion, but the Luxen and everyone who live there are not bad people. That man in there is feeding you all some bullshit.”
Jamal shot a nervous glance at Nate, but Nia’s lips twitched when I cursed.
“You all don’t know me. Not really, but believe me when I tell you that if the Luxen in that community wanted to hurt you—if I wanted to hurt you—none of you would be standing here.”
Nate’s eyes shot back to me. “Is that a threat?”
“No, it’s me pointing out that if I were going to hurt you, I would’ve already done it. If I wanted to hurt that man—and I use the word man generously—I would’ve already done it. And if I don’t want to hurt you and want to help you, why in the world would you think the others wouldn’t feel the same? I would get down on my knees and beg you all to believe me when I say not all Luxen are evil body snatchers. Just like not all humans are bad people.” I took a deep breath. “We can help you.”
“We’re fine here,” Nate replied.
“Really?” I arched a brow.
The other two looked away, but Nate nodded, and I swallowed a truckload of curses. I wanted to run back in there, grab all those kids, and run off with them. Their lives could be better, even if they didn’t believe it at first, but I saw the truth in how they’d reacted when they realized I wasn’t exactly human. I was shocked that these three were out here, still talking to me. If they were forced, it would take a lifetime to undo that damage. I had to give them the chance to see it themselves before I was a part of deciding what was better for them.
“I know you think things are bad, but you can’t come back here, and you can’t bring anyone with you. We don’t need your help. Not like that,” Nate said. “Don’t even waste your time, because I’m sure we’ll be gone tonight.”
“And what if I did come back
?” I challenged. “Would he hurt you guys?”
“I told you, it’s not like that.” The heat in his words was barely there. “You saw how the others acted. They’ll run. And you saw how young most of them are. It will be all over for them.”
I exhaled long and slow. “I won’t come back, and I told you I wouldn’t bring anyone here. I haven’t lied, but I still want you to come to me if you need something, and if you ever decide that you want to give living in the community a chance or if you need my help to make that happen, you come to me. Okay?”
Nia dipped her chin, but she nodded.
“Yeah,” answered Jamal.
I stared at Nate. “What do you think?”
“Okay,” he muttered.
“Promise?” I persisted.
His gaze lifted to mine. “I promise.”
Really hoping he meant that, I nodded.
“Do you know your way out?” When I said yes, he added, “You should get going. The ones who check this area will be back through soon,” he said. “You can’t get caught.”
“I know. I won’t.” Not wanting to leave them with a man who treated them like his own hunting-and-gathering tribe of children, I lingered for another moment. “Be safe. All of you. Please.”
After another round of promises, I started to turn. Jamal stopped me. “If you’re not completely human and you’re not one of them, then what are you?”
How did I answer that question? I had no idea, so I said, “I’m just Evie.”
I left after that, darting between the two tall and dark skyscrapers and following the road out, doing my best to not think about how quiet and empty everything was. The moment I neared the exit ramp, I felt the presence of a Luxen.
“Shit,” I muttered, dropping down behind some kind of bush. The feeling increased, and my muscles tensed to run. I could be fast—probably faster than a Luxen could see. I could—
The crunch of gravel under a boot too close snapped my head up.
Grayson stood above me, face impressively blank in the silvery moonlight.
“Shit,” I repeated, slowly rising from my crouch. Part of me knew better than to be surprised that he was there. After all, he was on babysitting duty. “I didn’t feel you until now.”
“That’s because I stayed far enough back that you wouldn’t feel me until I wanted you to.”
My lips thinned. “That’s not fair.”
“Fair or not, do you want to know what’s stupid? You running off in the middle of the night with some random guy—”
“Random guy? You mean random child.”
“Into a city you’re unfamiliar with,” he continued. “Without telling anyone, by yourself.”
“Well, obviously, I wasn’t by myself,” I snapped. “When I was with a random child and you were following me like a Grade A stalker.”
White flashed from his shadowy eyes.
“And I get it—you’re going to want to yell and lecture me, but can we please not do this here? I—well, now we—need to get back before we’re seen.” I held up my hand when he started to argue. “I’ll explain everything, and I will also sit still and be quiet and let you rant to your heart’s content, but can we please get back to the community now?”
Grayson simply stepped aside, extending an arm.
Stalking past him, I shot him a look, and then I took off running and I dug in deep, picking up speed. Grayson stayed close as I raced across the clearing, straight for the tree line. I didn’t slow down as we reached the broken section of chain-link fence, signaling that we were now back in the community. I didn’t slow down until the row of houses came into view.
Still surprised by my own speed, I brushed several strands of hair out of my face as I stepped onto the asphalt of the road Eaton lived on.
Grayson caught the backpack, bringing me to a stop. “It’s time for you to let me rant to my heart’s content.”
Pulling myself free, I faced him. “Before you do, let me explain what I was doing.”
“I don’t think that’s the deal we made.”
“That’s because we didn’t make a deal.” Before he could say another word, I launched into the briefest, shortest version I possibly could about Nate and the kids. I even told him that Luc knew about Nate. “You can’t say anything, not to anyone but Luc,” I told him when I finished. “If we go in there, the kids could scatter, and that guy I saw—”
“Let me stop you right there.” Grayson stepped forward, dipping his chin. “I don’t remotely care about those kids, some guy, or their hunger and cuts and bruises.”
My mouth dropped open.
“The only thing I care about is keeping you alive,” he said, and my mouth then snapped shut. “Which is something that continues to be a full-time job, because only you would do something so incredibly—”
“If you say stupid, we’re going to have a problem,” I warned.
“Thoughtless,” he growled. “You want to help all the lost children in the world. Awesome. But you don’t ever just run off without telling someone.”
There was a tiny part of me that got what he was saying, but a much bigger part of me dived straight into irritation. “I don’t have to tell anyone what I’m doing. No one is my keeper, Grayson. Not even Luc, and certainly not you.”
“Like I said, thoughtless.”
“Thoughtless?” I gaped at him while I wanted to wing the backpack around and smack him with it. “I’m trying to help kids.”
“Do you really have any idea what Luc would do if something happened to you? Again?” he demanded. “What it would do to him? And anyone in his path?”
“I know—”
“I don’t think you really do,” he cut me off as his pupils flashed diamond bright. “Because if you did, you would’ve stopped for one second and thought about the possibility of this being a trap. That you could’ve been led somewhere or to someone who had the Cassio Wave. That you could’ve been immobilized any hundred other different ways. You’re not a hundred percent safe here. No one is, and yet, you just roamed right off without thinking twice.” He was even closer, the heat of his anger radiating off him in waves. “Did you forget that I would be watching? Or was that why you felt safe enough to just leave?”
“I didn’t forget.” I stared up at him. “I just didn’t think you were sitting around, watching me.”
“Maybe you need to start thinking some more,” he snapped.
“And maybe you could be less of a jerk?” I shot back, hands balling into fists. “And why didn’t you intervene? If you’re so worried that I could’ve been walking into a trap, why did you let me just roam off?”
“I wanted to see what you were doing.”
“Oh. Yeah. That makes complete sense.” I laughed. “Maybe you were hoping it was a trap.”
The shock that rolled across his face was possibly the most emotion I’d seen from him. It was brief, but he’d been momentarily stunned before his jaw hardened and those luminous eyes narrowed. “You may hate me, Nadia. You may think I hate you. I wouldn’t blame you for either of those two things, but do not ever insinuate that I would allow something like that to happen.”
Heart pounding, I took a step back without realizing that I was doing it.
Grayson tipped his head back. “Do you really think for one second Luc didn’t warn me about this kid?”
My mouth dropped open.
“That I didn’t know the night I was outside that you were bringing out food for him?” he continued. “There isn’t much Luc doesn’t share with me, and he trusts me, even with you. I wouldn’t fail him or—” He cut himself off, his chest rising in a deep, unsteady breath. “Go home, Evie. Just go home. Please.”
There were a lot of times I would’ve flat out refused to do just that, but instinct told me to listen. More importantly, though, it was how unnerved I was by the fact Grayson had said please.
33
The following morning, I watched the angel figurines I’d collected from one of the spare bedroo
ms move up and down over the coffee table as if they were jumping hurdles.
I wasn’t sitting around and entertaining myself. I was working on the Source instead of fretting over Luc and Zoe, Daemon and Dawson, or those kids and that guy.
Or thinking about what Grayson had said to me. I’d done enough of that when I’d lain awake half the night. I hated that he’d had a point. It wasn’t like I didn’t know there was a risk. It was just that I was willing to take that risk, and maybe that did make me thoughtless or, at the very least, reckless.
One of the figurines started to fall, and I cursed. I had no idea why, but using the Source to move lightweight objects was far harder to control than moving heavier things.
The figurine of a sea turtle with wings had just swooped over the winged rabbit when a knock on the door startled me. The figurines started to fall, but I managed to slow them down before they landed. Popping up from the couch, I hurried to the door. Since I hadn’t felt anything, I knew whoever it was, was human. I also figured it wasn’t Nate knocking on my front door in broad daylight.
Dr. Hemenway stood there, long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. I hadn’t seen her since everything had happened. Immediately, my stomach sank. “Is everything okay?”
“What?” Confusion swept across her face and then was quickly replaced by understanding. “Oh! Of course it is. Well, at least I think it is. I haven’t heard anything.”
I relaxed. A little.
“I stopped by to see if you would like to shadow me for the day,” Viv explained, much to my disbelief. “That probably entails us just sitting around and doing nothing for the majority of the day and maybe bandaging a minor cut or two, but you did really well with Spencer. You stayed calm and made a great assistant. Thought that maybe you’d be interested in helping out.”
Another wave of surprise rolled through me and then gave way to eagerness. “Yeah. Yes! That would be really cool. I’d love to.”
Viv grinned. “Great. We can head over now. I brought the UTV, so it’s a quick ride.”
The Brightest Night Page 40
