The Untouched: THE UNSEEN SERIES, #2

by Sheldon, Piper

  “What is it? What’s wrong?” His cool fingers press lovingly around my face.

  I glance to the corner of the room again and back at Nathaniel.

  “I’m hallucinating that James Roe is standing in the corner of my hospital room.”

  I squeeze my eyes shut and peek one eye back open.

  He’s still there. The world-famous actor gives a bashful wave before he smiles at the floor.

  Nathaniel frowns.

  Then I notice a beautiful blonde woman holding his hand.

  “You’re not hallucinating,” Nathaniel says. He turns to the two new occupants and waves them forward.

  “You’re probably right. I wouldn’t hallucinate him having a beautiful woman on his arm. Or with a shirt on,” I mumble.

  The blonde snorts with an appreciating nod of understanding. “Hi. I’m Maggie May.”

  The name rings a bell in the back of my mind. Maybe because of her relationship with James Roe. James freaking Roe. Standing in my hospital room.

  “You would tell me if I looked horrible, right? What’s going on with my hair?” I ask Nathaniel in an attempt to whisper.

  He smiles dopily. “You’re the most beautiful woman in the room. Just like always.”

  “Nice of you to say, but I have eyes. And she is a knockout.” The drugs in my system are clearly making my tongue loose.

  Maggie May laughs. “You look great. And don’t worry about Roe. He’s just an actor.” Maggie crosses her arms. “He doesn’t even have any cool abilities.”

  I freeze at the mention but nobody else reacts. Except Roe. He nudges her and raises a flirtatious eyebrow but I catch the sneaky gesture. A blush spreads and she chews her cheek to keep from smiling. There must be some things he’s good at.

  At the mention of abilities, I look to Nathaniel. He shakes his head once like even he is still processing. “A lot has happened.”

  Maggie steps forward. “We have a mutual friend.”

  I don’t understand. I don’t have any friends except Angel …

  “Angel?” I ask.

  “I refer to him as O.G. You call her Angel,” she nods. “To be honest, I don’t know why I assumed O.G. was a man. I’m not sure what it says about me.”

  “To be fair, I assumed Angel was a woman,” I say, wondering now if Angel ever explicitly said one way or the other, and for the life of me, I cannot recall.

  “Well, until we get some answers, I’ll be using gender inclusive pronouns,” Maggie announces with finality.

  “Good plan. Wait. So you know Angel?”

  Maggie shakes her head. “Sort of. O.G., your Angel, reached out to me when I first developed my abilities and has been helping me ever since. When everything happened with Zebulund, they got me out of a tough situation. But nope. We’ve never met. Nothing more than texts and a shady phone call.”

  I tense with recognition and then regret it because the action hurts my bruised body. “That’s how I know you. You’re Ms. Mayday! You brought that asshat to justice.”

  James Roe says with a grin, “Just sentenced to forty-seven years in prison.”

  “Let’s hope he can’t weasel out of it,” Maggie says. “He’s part of the reason we’re here.”

  “You mentioned you had powers?” I’m afraid to show my hand too soon but she talked about her abilities so openly that I can’t help myself.

  “Yeah, check it.” Maggie glances to the door and James closes it.

  A second later, the lines around her profile goes fuzzy and Nathaniel gasps.

  “Whoa,” he says and now I’m frowning at him. He is looking at her the way I did when I first saw James Roe.

  “I can see you,” I say.

  Suddenly she snaps back into focus. “Dammit! Really? That’s two people now.” She thumbs to the actor. “He can usually see me too.” She crosses her arms and pouts.

  She looks so put-out I try to explain. “Well, it’s weird. I can’t see you with visible light. I see your heat signature—like an impression of you. Your energy. It’s like a pretty marigold color.”

  At this, she relaxes into a half-smirk. “Sweet.”

  Nathaniel leans forward and examines her shirt. “Your clothes didn’t go away.”

  Roe frowns at him and Nathaniel leans back.

  “The clothes stay. Unless I’m soaking wet,” she explains.

  “I wonder if it—” Nathaniel rambles words like hydro and suit, staring at her until I gently pull him back to my side.

  He can geek out later. I need to learn more about this mutual friend. To think I’ve known Angel all these years and never had a clue about who they really are.

  “O.G., I mean, Angel wishes they could be here. They have been wanting us to meet. All of us.”

  My heart races and it’s embarrassingly obvious thanks to the machine next to my bed. “All of us?”

  Maggie smiles brilliantly. “I don’t have all the info yet. Our friend is painfully cryptic. All I know is that we are not the only ones like us. With powers.” She wiggles her fingers dramatically. “And the sooner we find each other, the better.”

  “More of us …” I whisper in awe. Inexplicably, tears gather in my eyes and I snort a sob. It’s humiliating but nobody seems to judge. In fact, Maggie gently takes my hand.

  “I know. I was all alone too. But you aren’t anymore.” She puts her free arm through James Roe’s and lowers her head to his shoulder for a moment. “None of us are.”

  My lip quivers too much to respond so I shoot a little tickle of appreciation into her hand.

  “Ah! Warn a lady.” She shivers dramatically. “Actually, that was sort of nice.”

  Her partner pulls her back under his arm.

  “A superhero team?” Nathaniel says excitedly. “I knew there had to be more people like you. We can all get together and—Oh! Please let me be the tech guy. Is there a tech guy? I call dibs on the tech guy. I’ll be like Q. Just call me N. Okay, that doesn’t have the same ring to it. I will work on it.”

  I smile at my adorable boyfriend. Roe raises an eyebrow.

  Maggie shrugs. “I’m for it. Hell yeah! We can be super SHE-roes! Or Empow-HER.”

  “That’s not very inclusive,” I tease.

  “No boys allowed,” Maggie says with excitement in her eyes. Then when I laugh, she adds, “No, seriously. As far as we know, this is an XX chromosome thing only.”

  “Wait, really?” I ask.

  Maggie puts her hands up. “From what I’ve been told. I barely know more than you, I’m afraid to say.”

  “All we know is that William Moore wasn’t acting alone.” James Roe, People’s Sexiest Man Alive, says from the side of my hospital bed. Seriously, why is nobody else more freaked out by him?

  “William mentioned Marty when he was monologuing,” I say, focusing back on the conversation. “He must have been referring to Zebulund.” I shudder in disgust. To be in league with a guy like that … well, actually, it doesn’t come as a surprise at all.

  “We don’t have much information, but Angel is looking for others like us, before Will and Zebulund’s little club can find us,” Maggie says seriously.

  “Is that how Angel found me?” I ask.

  “They weren’t sure. They suspected that you might be one of the Lost Children.”

  “Lost Children? I don’t understand.”

  Maggie glances to Roe, her face apprehensive. “I wasn’t sure how much you knew. Angel guessed not much.”

  My head shakes, dumbfounded.

  “Bad people are looking for you. And me. And at least a couple of others. Getting info out of Angel is tricky. But what I understand is that you have been hunted, just like me.”

  They will find her.

  My grandparent’s conversation snaps into focus, all those years ago. They were afraid that whoever these people are would find me. It was never about me being out of control.

  “You are powerful, that much I know,” Maggie says. Glancing at Nathaniel she adds, “And I’m kidding a
bout ladies only. We can use all the help we can get. The bad guys have loads of money and a deep-seated hatred to fuel them.”

  Nathaniel nods and the wheels turn behind his eyes.

  “We’ll do whatever we can,” I say.

  There are so many unknowns. What about Nathaniel’s team? Lite-Brite? What does that mean for us?

  But my head is throbbing again. “I’m not moving anymore. Let them come and find me. They have no idea who they’re messing with.” My voice is weak but the vehemence is there.

  Nathaniel smiles sadly. “They don’t stand a chance.”

  “We’ll figure everything out. Don’t worry right now. Just rest,” Maggie says. “We’re up in LA for a bit while Roe finishes his movie. We’ll be in contact. Just be on the lookout. And check in with Angel when you can.”

  I’m so thrilled to know there are others like me. But I am also worried about the future. I feel so many things but my brain is mushy and needs rest. Maggie and James say their goodbyes and leave as I fight to keep my eyes open.

  I’m fading fast but reach out for Nathaniel’s hand. “What are we going to do?” I ask, the words slurring.

  “We’re going to take it one day at a time. Me and you. Forever,” he says, gently brushing my hair back.

  My eyes drift closed. I mumble, “Forever,” and drift off to sleep.

  35

  Nathaniel

  A week later, Lincoln and I move Julia’s stuff into our house. Our house. The house I share with my brother and my girlfriend. It’s a gift. I don’t need the cane anymore and feel totally fine unless it rains. She’s still a little bruised but healing fast. It doesn’t take long to get her moved in. She didn’t have much except Ginger and her collection of sad plants. It will take some getting used to us living together, but we have time. Time.

  There was no hesitation in our decision to move in together. We haven’t left each other’s side since the hospital. It may be the honeymoon phase but I think more than anything it’s the understanding that everything could be lost at any moment. We aren’t willing to lose even a second.

  I’ll never forget the fear that flooded me when I saw that gun pointed at her head. The look in my father’s eyes. He was going to kill her. If that room hadn’t collapsed around them … I can still feel her lifeless body in my arms as I carried her out.

  I shake my head to clear away the visions that still haunt my nightmares.

  There is concern about the looming, unnamed threat that whoever was working with Zebulund and Moore are still at large, but the immediate trouble with my father has been taken care of. They found his remains. Lincoln and I did not go to the memorial.

  I stand in the kitchen window looking out at the small patch of asphalt where Lincoln and Julia are playing basketball.

  “HO!” Julia yells at Lincoln and I shake my head with a smile.

  “You better be playing HORSE,” I yell out the window, but they just ignore me with a smile.

  I unload her teacups and mugs from a box and place them on the shelf next to mine. Seeing my assorted collection with logos of tech companies next to her blue phone box mug on the shelf together makes me ridiculously happy.

  Neither one of us have been back to the labs since the attack. The explosion in the abandoned mines in the mountain caused enough structural damage to some of the old areas of the campus that they have shut everything down until the structural integrity of the buildings can be confirmed. That means everybody gets a paid two-week vacation.

  The Lite-Brite contract was put on hold. Ken decided to come forward about his involvement in the damage. He has been fired but I don’t know anything more than that. With William Moore’s sudden death, the town is in a state of flux. The board of directors has hired an interim CEO for Moore Investments Inc., but in light of the most recent allegations against the former CEO, the stocks aren’t doing well. Who knows what will happen. Hopefully the town will be fine.

  I miss the team. I even miss working. I’m happy for the break and to be with Julia and Lincoln all the time, but I think about my friends. I wonder where they’ll go now. I miss coming up with insane ideas with Jared and Kate. I miss seeing how Dylan and Febin make it a reality.

  Julia misses them too. I told her about the conversation with Ken and how they came to her defense. She was happy to hear it but since she hasn’t heard from anyone, I can tell she still thinks that they are mad at her.

  I didn’t tell her that they may know more about her than either of us told them.

  It is still impossible to believe that Will is dead. My father is dead. I’m an orphan. I can’t quite wrap my mind around it.

  Later, after Lincoln goes out with friends, Julia and I thoroughly christen our shared bed. It’s gentle and luxurious and I take care to make sure she’s okay. But she’s healing at an amazing rate. Just like the flourishing plants that clutter our home. She has made some sort of breakthrough with her plants, and I often find her whispering or singing to them.

  I hold her in my arms as we quietly breathe the same air. Every once in a while she shudders and a little harmless spark flies off her.

  “Mm, that was nice,” she says.

  “Agreed,” I say.

  I kiss the beauty mark on her shoulder and inhale her deeply.

  “What are you thinking about?” she asks me.

  I love how she always wants to know what’s on my mind just like I want to know what’s on hers. We can’t seem to get enough of each other. Our relationship is one neither one of us thought we could ever have, and we feel lucky every single day.

  I sigh. “Nothing.”

  She props up to look at me. “Don’t lie. Is it your dad?”

  Yes. More than I thought I would think about him. “Not exactly.”

  “Because it would be okay to miss him. Or at least what you wanted him to be. What he had the potential to be.”

  I never thought for minute he would change but a little part of me hoped he would be better for Lincoln. I worry she feels guilty about his death. We’ve gone over and over how he was responsible for his own destruction but there was that moment … That moment I try not to think about. When I was so close to ending his life.

  I answer honestly, “Sometimes I’m thankful the choice was taken away from me. Sometimes I’m angry about it. But mostly I don’t think about him. That alone is a gift.”

  “Good. He isn’t worthy of your thoughts. But I know it’s not easy.” She shivers and I pull the blanket over her shoulder.

  “I think about you and Lincoln and our life together. I think about our future. I don’t worry about him anymore.”

  She lowers her head to my chest. “You’re a better man than he could have ever dreamed to be.”

  “Hmm.” I kiss her shoulder.

  She sits up again, this time all the way, wrapping the blanket around her chest so I’ll focus on her words.

  “I’m serious. Your legacy is more than his could have ever been. Already. The lives you touch. The people you love. You are a gift to this world because you have taken a childhood overshadowed by violence and learned how to love. That’s a miracle. You are a miracle.”

  She touches my cheek and I lean into her.

  “And you are nothing like him. People love you. They never fear you.”

  When she says that, I frown. “I’m worried about what Roe and Maggie told us. I can’t lose you.”

  I feel her tense slightly. “You never will. Whatever happens, we will deal with it when the time comes.” She sighs. “I can’t believe I spent all these years running, not understanding why. My grandparents were trying to protect me. I understand that now. Angel says they think my parents weren’t killed in an accident. I think that’s why they didn’t tell me. Or maybe they didn’t know. I still have so many questions.”

  I pull her closer. “Me too. Hopefully we will know more soon.”

  She fidgets with the blanket and lets out another sigh.

  “Is that what’s got you down?” I as
k.

  “I guess … I miss the team. Now I’m wondering what lies Will spread about me. What he made them think about me. I haven’t heard from any of them.”

  I sit up suddenly. “What time is it?” I ask, already moving to collect myself.

  “Almost five?” she says, glancing at the alarm clock. “Hungry for dinner?”

  I shoot out of bed. “Crap. We’re late.” I scramble to our closet and grab a dress and toss it at her. She dresses more freely now and I love it. She doesn’t live in fear of hurting people. She’s free with her affection, like she’s making up time for all the years she missed.

  She kneels on the bed, her beautiful naked body full on display. “What’s going on?” She looks worried but I’m highly distracted now.

  “I love your body.” I grab her thighs, trying to tackle her back into the bed.

  “No. Gah! Seriously what are we late for—”

  The doorbell cuts her off.

  “Who is that?” she asks, gently pushing my head off her stomach where I pepper her with kisses. My head shoots up and I collect myself, tugging on sweatpants and a T-shirt.

  “Get dressed and come out in five minutes.” She throws a shirt at me before shimmying into her panties.

  “Who’s at the door? And don’t you want to do something about your head?”

  In the mirror, my hair is actually scary. The brown curls are everywhere so I pat them down with water. I look like a mad scientist but I’m into it. It’ll fit when I start helping out the SHE-roes or whatever they decide to call themselves. I’ve already been thinking about Maggie May. Her abilities seem to be tied to water. I need to run more tests, but I think if I can make her some sort of wetsuit that consistently circulates water, then maybe …

  “Nathaniel!” Julia calls out from the closet and I realize I’ve been woolgathering.

  The doorbell rings again and I run to get it.

  I open the door to Febin, Kate, Dylan, and Jared talking excitedly.

  “What a sight for sore eyes,” I say with a huge grin. “Come on in. She’ll be right out.”

  We all talk over each other as we greet and hug.