I tossed and turned for hours, knowing Bree was only feet away in the next room. After the restless night I’d had the night before, I would’ve thought sleep would find me easily. But I couldn’t get Bree’s words out of my mind. She thought I didn’t want her. She agreed that we were going in different directions. Because that was what I’d told her. I didn’t need to read her mind to see that she was confused about her own future, or that I’d only added to that confusion. As had her father, who was trying to dictate her life’s course.
The question haunting me at three o’clock in the morning was whether or not Dr. Howard had Bree’s best interests at heart. He was a friend to Lexi’s father, Peter Roslin, which hopefully meant he only wanted good things for Bree. And although their relationship was strange, to say the least, it wasn’t the worst I had ever seen. Yet at the same time, he was also tied to Dr. DeWeese and Mommy Dearest…
I rolled over, trying to squash the contradictory thoughts keeping me up. To almost everyone who knew Bree, she was a strong, passionate, impulsive woman who would fight hard for what was hers. But she’d let me see a different side—a vulnerable and loving young woman who cared deeply for the clones trying to find their way on an island in the South Pacific. Maybe I was wrong about her when I said she didn’t belong on Palmyra. I knew I was wrong to push her away, but I thought I was being unselfish in setting her free from a life in isolation on the atoll.
But none of that mattered now. I needed her to find the clones inside Howard BioTech. And I needed to return to Palmyra. I had a doctor to obliterate.
Sometime in the hour after I stopped overanalyzing everything, I drifted off.
~~~~~
I woke to the feeling of hands around my neck, and I couldn’t breathe. My eyes sprang open, but no one was there. I clawed at invisible fingers—a strong grasp that I couldn’t shake even as I bucked in the king-size bed.
Bree, I choked out in mindspeak. Lexi. Someone.
Knocking sounded at the door. Then yelling. Then Bree’s voice inside my head. Jonas. I can’t get in. Hold on. I’m getting help.
Finally, I got hold of the invisible figure straddling me and flung it across the room. It hit the dresser and then appeared in the form of a boy curled up in a fetal position on the floor. I stood from the bed just as the hotel room door flew open and in walked Lexi, Jack, and Bree. They looked at me, then we all stared at the lump of boy who rolled over, groaning.
“Boone?” Bree said.
The boy twisted his head toward Bree. Then he scrambled to his feet—and disappeared. Before any of us could react, an invisible someone shoved between Lexi and Bree, the door opened and closed behind us, and we knew the boy was gone.
“What. Was. That?” Lexi asked.
“That was a clone of my brother.” Bree looked as confused as I felt.
I brushed my cold fingers along my neck. I turned to the dresser mirror to find my neck covered in red, finger-shaped welts. “Jack, do you mind?”
I sat down on the bed so that Jack could do whatever he needed to do to heal the contusions. As he worked, Bree filled Jack and Lexi in on everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, including her decision to work for her dad and to find Palmyra’s missing clones.
“How did the clone get in here?” I asked. “And what, he not only has the gift of invisibility but also superhuman strength? I can’t believe I couldn’t shake off a ten-year-old kid.”
“How does Addison get all the places she gets?” Lexi asked. “Who knows?”
Bree looked on, chewing on a cuticle. Worry swam in the trenches of her forehead. “All I know is that I’m limited to altering what people see or don’t see.”
“Have you tried to make yourself invisible?” I asked.
She was slow to answer.
“Bree, honey,” Lexi prompted. “Have you?”
“I’ve been trying to do some different things. Like, I can make something disappear right in front of someone’s eyes. But I can’t hold it very long. Like I said, I’m limited.”
“What do you mean by limited?” I asked.
“Like, I can make you think you’re not seeing…” She looked around the room. “… That coffeepot, but I can’t prevent you from seeing it for long.”
“Have you only tried it on objects, or have you tried to make yourself disappear, too?” Jack asked. “Sometimes it just take practice to focus your powers.”
Bree cocked her head. “Don’t feed me this practice-makes-perfect crap, Jack. I’ve been trying ever since I discovered there was more to my abilities. I’m just not as strong as the rest of you.” She squeezed the bridge of her nose.
Lexi touched Bree’s arm, and I knew she was using her powers to elevate Bree’s bad mood. She turned back to me. “So you’re going back to Palmyra?”
I nodded. Bree looked past me to the hotel window, refusing to look directly at me.
“Bree’s going to investigate her dad’s labs?” Lexi continued. “And search for a group of clone kids that look like her dead brother? Including one little punk that’s running around loose in Portland choking people?”
“While she also evades the police, who think she’s involved in some creeper scientist’s murder,” Jack added.
“Don’t forget the IIA,” Lexi said. “She’ll have to watch her back for them, too.”
“Stop,” Bree said. “I know what I’m doing. I’ll be fine.”
“You keep saying that.” Lexi stood with her arms crossed. “But I don’t buy it. You need help.”
“I don’t need help.”
“You do, and I’m going to give it to you.” Lexi took out her phone and began typing.
“And just how are you going to help?”
Lexi typed for another thirty seconds before answering. “Jack and I are going to Palmyra. Coach Williams is meeting us there with an FBI agent. We’ll take care of Dr. Sallee.”
“But—” I started to protest, but Lexi raised a hand to silence me as only Lexi Matthews could. And to think, if she had tried to pull that kind of move a year ago I’d have shoved her up against the nearest wall.
“Mom is coming too. She, Jack, and I haven’t been there in a while. We’ll make sure the last of the clones still in incubators are progressing, and we’ll check in on the other clones—give them all full checkups. And before you accuse me of overstepping… I know you’ve done an amazing job of seeing to the development of the children on Palmyra. It wouldn’t hurt to have my and Jack’s healing eyes on them as well.”
I hated that she was right. I’d grown so attached to the clones, and so hellbent on keeping Bree from getting involved, that I’d missed the tumors along Tamati’s and Tane’s spines. If it hadn’t been for Bree…
I didn’t want to think about the “what if.” By finding those tumors, Bree had been able to discover Addison, which had ultimately led to us being here together in Portland.
I observed the dark shadows under Bree’s eyes. I knew her well enough to know she hadn’t slept much. She looked sad, not like the feisty redhead I’d first met when I arrived at Wellington Boarding School. And by the way she continuously massaged her temples, I could see she was battling another headache. She wasn’t going to ask for my help, but she needed it nonetheless. “I appreciate your help,” I said to Lexi.
I watched Bree for a reaction. I wasn’t surprised when her eyes narrowed in my direction. Don’t fight me, I mindspoke. Someone needs to go to Palmyra. Lexi and Jack can handle that. You need me here.
I don’t—
“That settles that.” Jack clapped his hands together, unknowingly cutting Bree off. The silence grew between us. “Is it just me, or did it just get colder in here?” He shivered.
Lexi chuckled. “Come on, DeWeese. Let’s let them get some rest. Bree’s starting a new job tomorrow.”
Jack draped an arm around Lexi’s shoulders, leaned in, and kissed her temple. Bree followed them to the door.
Don’t leave, I mindspoke to her.
She said goodbye to Jack and Lexi. When the door was closed, she spun around and walked back toward me. “I—”
“Before you say anything, hear me out.”
Her mouth closed. She stopped on the other side of the bed from me and stood very still.
“I know you don’t need my help. You can take care of yourself. I’ve seen you do it. But I want to help you.” When she still didn’t say anything, I swallowed my pride and added, “Please, Red, let me stay and help you.”
Those luscious dark pink lips parted a couple of times before she finally spoke. “I was simply going to say, ‘Thank you.’”
I grinned. “You’re welcome.”
Suddenly the air grew thick and awkward between us. It had never been like that last year when we were just getting to know each other. We were much more comfortable around each other then, always able to joke and keep things light and casual. What had changed?
I was too tired to figure it out now. I needed sleep, and so did she.
“Look, Red, I don’t know what we have between us, exactly, but I know I won’t get any sleep with you in the next room. I want to hold you, and I want us both to get some needed rest. And maybe with both of us in the same room, you can protect me from getting killed in my sleep by some rogue clone.” It was almost humorous to talk about the clone attack out loud. I would have laughed if I couldn’t still feel the kid’s hands around my neck.
She nodded, and for the first time since she’d come to my rescue, I noticed she only had on a T-shirt and silky pajama shorts. I crawled under the covers, and when she sat on the edge of the bed, I tugged on her arm. When she finally gave in and lay down beside me, I folded her warm body into mine. And we slept.
~~~~~
I woke to the sound of knocking. Light poured into the room through the open hotel curtains. A soft moan came from Bree beside me, but she continued to sleep.
I crawled from bed and got to the door as quickly as I could, hoping to let her sleep a little longer. A man in a dark suit stood on the other side.
He held out a manila envelope. “You and Miss Howard are expected at Howard BioTech by eight thirty this morning. This is everything you need to get through the gate. Proceed to the third floor, where you’ll be greeted by Mr. Howard.”
I took the envelope, then closed the door gently in the man’s face. I returned to the bed and dumped the contents on the bed—two ID badges and parking instructions.
Bree stirred beside me. She pushed herself to a sitting position.
“How did he know where we were?” I asked, surveying the documents, surprised by the fact that he had included a badge for me.
“No idea. Maybe when we didn’t check in at the Hotel Sterling he did some checking around? It’s not easy hiding things from my dad.”
“Well, he wants us there by eight thirty.” I glanced at the hotel clock. “That doesn’t give us much time.”
“We’ll get there when we get there,” she said in defiance.
I slipped the items back inside the envelope. “You think it’s wise to make him angry on the first day of school?”
She chuckled. “No, probably not.”
Her red hair hung in an unruly mess, covering half her face, and it took everything in me not to reach out and run my fingers through it. I wanted to push her back into the pile of hotel pillows and kiss her the way a woman should be kissed by a guy who thought she hung the moon. To make her feel cherished.
She pushed the covers back and swung her bare legs around, letting her feet find the ground. “I’ll go shower. I’m going to need coffee before we face him.”
I stood in front of her, blocking her exit, and pushed her tousled hair from her face. “Thank you for staying with me last night.” I continued to let her think that I had asked her to stay with me for my own safety, instead of the real reason: I couldn’t stomach the thought that it could just as easily have happened to her instead of me. Not wanting to push my luck, I leaned in and kissed her forehead. “See you soon.”