XXVI

Elodie had taken the stairs two at a time back up to her unit and arrived at her nurse’s station just as the MediCenter’s Emergency Violet Shield clicked on. Holly materialized in front of the elevator, hands folded against her pristine skirt now painted a light lavender as the Shield shone through her holographic form.

Goosebumps flashed across Elodie’s neck and her heartbeat quickened.

“Hello, Elodie. Please gather your things and exit the building as quickly as possible. This is not a drill.” As Holly spoke, the elevator doors opened behind her.

Elodie balled her trembling fists and attempted to calm her breathing. “What’s going on?”

“The Key has received a threat from a known terrorist organization and Key Corp soldiers are currently addressing the matter.” Holly tilted her head and smiled. “Please, do not be alarmed. The Key will keep you safe.” With that smile, she could make almost anyone believe almost anything. “Please take the elevator to the lobby and exit the building.”

Elodie slung her backpack over her shoulder and clutched her textbook against her chest. “My patients . . .”

Holly nodded and motioned toward the elevator. “Thank you for your concern, Elodie. The Corporation will look after your patients. The Key will keep all its citizens safe.”

Normally Elodie would have argued, demanded to speak with whoever was in charge of looking after her patients in her absence, but right now nothing was normal. Elodie rushed past the purple-stained hologram and into the open elevator.

Holly turned as the doors began to close. “Don’t forget to activate your Personal Protection Pod,” she said, her perfect smile firmly in place. “And, remember, no touching today for a healthy tomorrow.”

Encased in her own purple orb, Elodie wove through the surge of MediCenter employees all pretending to be calm as they made their exit. She couldn’t be in the building another second. Her legs itched to break into a sprint and carry her to the MAX stop as quickly as possible. She needed to be home, buried under her blankets until this day was over and the rising sun reset her world.

Elodie pulled on her beanie and kept her chin tucked against her chest as the train lumbered up to the curb. The pristine floor of the MAX glinted through the purple haze that coated the inside of the car. Elodie perched on the edge of the seat against the back wall of the MAX. Her clammy palms seemed to stick to the slick cover of her textbook as she rested it against her lap. By now, everyone knew about Eos’s MediCenter invasion. Everyone.

She flicked her gaze around the car and its Violet Shield encased occupants. Silence blanketed the MAX. The same thick silence that had invaded days earlier. But what happened at the MediCenter wasn’t the same as what occurred at Tilikum Crossing. There was no violence. No people laying with Xs across their chests. This was different. Didn’t they see that?

The MAX lurched forward, beginning its journey into Zone Two. Soon, Elodie would be home. She chewed the inside of her cheek. Was Aiden headed home too? Had he done what she had and left the MediCenter as if nothing had happened?

It’s still me. I haven’t changed.

Heat pricked Elodie’s eyes and she pressed her lids closed. She couldn’t think about him. She shouldn’t. Tears forced back, she cracked open her textbook to the dog-eared page. She needed a distraction.

“Meet Tanner Kerns,” Zane’s boot-clad foot clanked against the marble tile as he gave his best squinty-eyed, pensive Marlboro Man impression. With his squared jaw, broad shoulders, and the featherlight creases around his eyes, he wasn’t far off.

“Tanner Kerns?” Vi folded the Arts section of the New York Times and tossed it onto the velvet couch cushion next to her. “How does the Office come up with these names?”

Zane shrugged and his cowboy boots creaked as his weight shifted.

Vi ran her fingertips across her lips. “Those pants are . . . tight.”

Zane turned and wiggled his butt before completing his spin. “Nice, right? All that gym time paid off. Tanner has the firmest ass.”

Vi reached out and grabbed Zane’s hand. “And, right now, it’s all mine.” She yanked him down onto the couch. A wave of sandalwood and whiskey brushed against her as he cupped her cheeks and rested his forehead against hers. Goosebumps crested across her skin as she and Zane sat in a moment of sweet contentedness.

“Have I told you today how much I love you?” Zane’s lips grazed hers as he spoke.

Vi closed her eyes and brushed her nose against his. “How much?”

Heat met Violet’s lips as Zane pressed his mouth against hers. She relaxed against him as his tongue swept between her lips and explored her own. Vi didn’t need his words. This was answer enough.

Too soon, the kiss was over. Zane caressed her shoulder as his hand slipped from her cheek. Having him close felt so good, so safe, so comforting. For as long as Vi could remember, she’d been looking out for herself. It wasn’t until Zane that she’d learned what it meant to be taken care of, and she would never let the feeling go.

“We might have a problem, Zane,” Vi said. A soft smile creased her cheeks as she twined her fingers with his. “I might be in love with Tanner Kerns.”

The train car shook as it put on its brakes and approached its next stop, forcing Elodie’s attention from the butterflies that Vi’s romantic life had loosed in her stomach. Back when Death by Violet had been written, people spent so much time touching each other. Now, it was so wrong—illegal. Elodie smoothed her hand over her own goosebumps. But the thought made her breath hitch and her heart race, and not out of fear.

A bright beacon of sunlight had broken through the MAX’s windows and shone directly through her protective orb and onto Elodie’s textbook. She snapped the book closed. The light frayed her nerves and forced her to hide under her itchy beanie. She pulled it down past her brows to lock in the bomb of a secret ticking behind her eyes as the MAX’s Helper Holly continued to make a sport of giving “up-to-date” and “real time” alerts of “Eos’s attack on the MediCenter.”

Promise me you’ll take a real look at what happened here.

Had it been an attack? She’d seen no one harmed. As she raced back to her own unit, she’d seen that Eos had literally sealed employees in their offices and labs. If, as the Key continued to purport, Eos’s sole purpose was destruction and the perversion of the safe and right way of life, they’d definitely missed their mark. More than that, Eos, the terrorist organization that always left behind bodies, had gone above and beyond to ensure no one was injured. Even the explosion they’d used as an entry point had been in an empty storage closet.

As she clicked off her Violet Shield and trudged up the steps to her front door, Elodie’s hair stuck out from under the black fabric in sweaty clumps against her forehead. Her backpack thumped against her rounded spine as her shoulders sagged and she curled in on herself.

You’re safe with Eos, Elodie. Safe with me.

The front door opened noiselessly. Elodie filled her chest and waited for the click of her mother’s heels.

Nothing.

She closed the door behind her and let loose a relieved exhale as she freed herself from the sweltering cap.

Sharp clicks splintered her reprieve.

“Oh, Elodie, my darling, darling girl!” Gwen’s high-pitched hysterics reached Elodie before her mother’s pointed stilettos carried her into the foyer.

Elodie let her backpack slide down her arms and crash onto the porcelain. “Mom, I can’t right now.”

With a tissue, Gwen dabbed her own rouged cheeks. “I’ve been beside myself with worry. Simply beside myself.” She pressed the folded corner against her dry lashes. “Thank goodness Rhett was here.”

Of course he was.

“Everything’s fine, Mom.” Elodie’s attempt at cheerfulness fell flat. She couldn’t muster a fake smile. She barely had the energy to move forward.

Gwen wrung her hands, her bottom lip in a pout. “I was so nervous, Elodie.” She lowered her voice dramatically. “Eos was at your workplace.”

“You don’t have to whisper. They can’t hear you.” Elodie slogged past her mother, pausing before she reached the living room’s plush sectional, spotless glass tables and clear view to the kitchen. To Rhett.

“How can you be so glib at a time like this?” Gwen’s claws pinched her hips. “My only daughter was in mortal peril, and I couldn’t reach your father.” Her hands flew to the pearls draped around her neck. “You know how my nerves can get the best of me.”

Through the doorway, Elodie watched Rhett’s white hair, white shirt, and white skin ghost through the white kitchen on his way to the fridge. He disappeared for a moment behind the door before reemerging, thick hands full of snacks.

“Thank goodness Rhett was here,” Gwen repeated. As if Rhett needed anymore propping up.

Elodie dragged the damp beanie down her face, wiping away the residue of her real emotions and replacing them with a tight, forced smile. “Rhett, thank you so much for coming over,” she began as she mustered the strength to stride through the living room and meet him at the kitchen island. Gwen’s heels clacked behind her like a stalking reaper. “But you definitely don’t need to stay. I’m sure they’re desperate for your help back at the MediCenter.”

Rhett stuffed a handful of baby carrots into his mouth. “Gosh, El,” he managed around the orange chunks. “I’m surprised you’re doing so well.”

Gwen rounded the island to stand next to Rhett. “But you do look dreadful,” she told her daughter, “which is to be expected after the absolute fright you’ve endured.” She plucked a carrot from the bag and rolled it between her fingers. “But it is odd that you’re so—” She waved the carrot around. Her inflated lips pressed into a straight line. “Well, we know how sensitive you are.”

Why did they keep saying sensitive like it was something to be ashamed of? Empathy was never a bad thing.

Gwen pressed the tip of the carrot against her lips, thought better of it, and set it back down on the counter. “But this time you have every right to be. The attack was right in your building. Merely floors beneath yours.”

Elodie stiffened. “It wasn’t an attack,” she countered.

Rhett popped another carrot into his mouth. “Everything from Eos is an attack. An act of terror. That’s what they do. It’s their whole purpose.”

Elodie’s fingertips dug into the thick beanie limply hanging from her balled fist. “Then why aren’t you at the MediCenter? Isn’t dealing with Eos your whole purpose?”

Rhett stopped chomping. He and Gwen blinked at her, slack jawed.

Rhett pushed his plate away from the edge of the counter and brushed off his hands. “I was wrong. This has you shaken up more than I expected.”

“I, for one, did expect this.” Gwen wagged her finger in the air. “We watched the attack live. There were soldiers crawling all over the MediCenter. Rhett was expertly fielding calls, managing his subordinates from afar. The attack—”

“It wasn’t an attack!” This time Elodie spat the words. She was tense and ready, armor coated.

Gwen slowly rounded the island. “You are in denial. You’ve been traumatized and your mind has blurred the entire event so you don’t . . .” she waved her hands in the air like she was batting flies, “end up with a terrible mental disorder. You’re not seeing this clearly.” Her stilettos whispered against the marble as she cautiously approached her daughter. “You can’t be. I know you are no sympathizer.”

Rhett huffed. “Of course she’s not,” he said, each word punctuated by a crunch as he resumed eating. “She’s confused. The whole mess has her rattled.”

Elodie was confused. Very confused. But she knew one thing for sure—what she’d witnessed was not an attack. “Maybe neither of you know me well enough to know what I am.”

Add that to the list of what she knew to be true.

“El—” Rhett began.

“No! I don’t want to hear it.” Elodie’s heartbeat clapped inside her ears.

Gwen stiffened and opened her mouth to speak.

“From either of you.” Elodie spun around and marched toward the stairs.

Gwen clicked frantically after her. “Elodie!”

Elodie stopped short of the top of the stairs and steeled herself before she faced her mother.

Gwen’s eyes glistened with tears. Real tears this time. “I worry about you so much. I want to be sure you’re safe. The Key is safety—the right path. Please don’t disappoint me and turn down the wrong one. Think first, my darling. Think.”

“Disappoint you?” Her mother’s display of honest emotion would have been sweet, touching even, but Elodie saw the snake coiling just beneath the surface. “How? By having my own opinion?”

“Dammit, Elodie!” Gwen snarled and struck the bannister. “When your father and I made the decision to bring you into this world, the lead in the Gestation Unit asked if there were any traits we wanted enhanced or stunted. I told him to let nature run its course.” Gwen climbed two steps at once, her long legs flicking out like a praying mantis. “Of all the things you’ve done, and you’ve done plenty, becoming a sympathizer is the one thing that will make me regret turning those natal programmers down!”

Her mother’s words hung in the air, stifling Elodie’s breath and eating away at her flesh.

Rhett leaned into the stairwell, still chomping away.

Elodie’s soul retreated, curling into the depths of her heart. “I need to go change.” Her legs were putty as they carried her up the final few stairs.

“I didn’t want to say any of that, but someone had to tell her the truth,” Gwen loudly whispered to Rhett. “You’re naïve, Elodie,” she said, descending the stairs, “but I love you. I’m trying to protect you.” Her mother’s voice echoed within her, far away and paralyzingly close at the same time. “I had to tell her, Rhett. I had to.” Gwen’s heels clicked on the marble as she slipped past Rhett and made a noble retreat to the kitchen.

At the bottom of the stairs, Rhett cleared his throat and flicked an orange chunk from his pristine white tee. “We can, uh, go someplace when you’re ready, El. No rush.”

Elodie’s chest heaved a dry sob as she reached the second floor. She forced herself to walk in slow, even paces to her room. Tears breached her vision as she closed the door behind her and ran to the window. She threw it open and inhaled the sun-warmed evening. The branches of the pink magnolia tree reached out to her, its verdant leaves whispering with each gust of crisp air.

She couldn’t go back downstairs. She wouldn’t. But it would only be a matter of time before Gwen’s impatient footsteps brought her to Elodie’s door. Her mother wouldn’t let those words stain her home. She’d wring her hands and click her stilettos and pout those lips until the need to cleanse the space overtook her desire to ignore the distressing blemish. Elodie had seen it over and over again between her mother and her father until the only things that proved he lived there were his clothes and the faint scent of cedar that haunted the hall outside of her parent’s room.

Daniel Benavidez was in a constant state of leaving. Elodie understood the impulse all too well.

Rhett’s laughter wafted into Elodie’s room in muffled bursts. Her stomach soured, and she caught another refreshing breath of fresh air. Her fiancé had stood there, watching as her mother chipped away at her. Then he’d offered to take her someplace after she changed. And where was he now?

Elodie’s eyes burned.

He was supposed to love her.

They were supposed to love her.

But this didn’t feel like love.

The narrow peaks of distant pine trees pierced the sun as it drained golden orange into the horizon.

Someone had to tell her the truth.

The truth was a funny thing. Like a pond during winter. Safe, stable. Until it wasn’t. And the ground tumbled away, dropping you into an existence so cold the maw of death could look like a refuge.

Elodie wouldn’t wait around for anymore of Gwen’s truths. She had her own to determine. And from now on, Elodie would make sure her feet were always on solid ground.

Quickly, Elodie stripped out of her scrubs and pulled on her favorite pair of black leggings and a cotton tee before stuffing her feet into her tennis shoes. She shoved aside the row of rocks she’d collected on the banks of the Columbia and climbed onto the windowsill. She studied the tree’s broad limbs, her cheeks puffing as she inhaled a large, contemplative breath and let it out slowly.

Violet Jasmin Royale would do it. Vi would leap out, spring-
loaded, shimmy down the big magnolia, and be gone, vanish, never to be heard from again.

Elodie flexed her fingers and reached out. She grabbed the fat tree limb and pushed off the windowsill. Air squished out of her torso in a wheeze as her stomach hit the massive branch.

Not quite spring-loaded, but a leap toward freedom, however temporary.

Elodie swung her leg over and straddled the branch before shimmying backward down its sharp pitch toward the trunk. She winced as the rough bark clawed through her leggings.

She should have climbed more trees when she was younger. She should have climbed any trees when she was younger.

The trunk met her back, and she peered over the branch she straddled. When she’d looked up toward her window from the ground, the first of the tree’s many branches had never looked this high. But now, sitting on top of it, she was pretty sure she was fifty feet in the air.

You’re naïve, Elodie, and I’m trying to protect you.

She huffed.

“Your eyes are five and a half feet higher than your feet, so it’s not actually as far as it seems. Stop scaring yourself and jump off the damn thing.” Without another thought, she did just that.

Pain flared for an instant as her ankles complained, but she stuck the landing.

Elodie didn’t give the nagging echo of her mother a chance to pull her back to the house. Instead, she jogged down the street along the same path she took every morning. The familiarity of the walkway and each house lining up between her and Gwen buffered a bit of the pain, but her mother’s words were branded across her flesh, and no amount of I love yous would buff away the scars.

No one looked up as she leapt through the closing doors onto the MAX and skidded to a stop in the middle of the train car. Bursts of purple light from the other passengers bobbed around her. She looked at the button on her cuff.

Elodie had left the house without putting her shield up.