DAD REACHED FOR MY WRIST AND ATTEMPTED TO SIT UP. His hand was frail and bony. I helped pull him to a seated position and placed a pillow behind him so he could lean back. He struggled to speak. “They told me you were dead. All this time, I thought you were dead.”
I squeezed his hand. “They told me the same thing about you.” The fact that he sat here in front of me still wasn’t totally registering. I think it was a combination of shock and the drugs.
His sunken eyes were so different from the calm, confident gaze I remembered. He’d glance up from his notebooks to wave me into his study, and I’d curl up to read on the bench in his room while he worked, always feeling safe when he was near. Now, he didn’t look like he could protect himself, let alone anyone else. “What have they done to you, Dad? Have they had you all this time?”
“Ever since that so-called meeting back on Earth. I should have known it was a trap. They said they’d let me go as soon as I told them where the guns were. Later, they claimed they’d found the guns and that you were dead, so I might as well work with them.” His voice broke. “I still wouldn’t cooperate, so after they transported me to Caelia, they started experimenting with various drugs. Drugs to make me compliant.” He coughed. “I guess I’m still not very compliant, though.”
“Like father, like daughter.” I patted his arm. “They gave me different drugs too. Ones to make me forget. They thought if I lost my memories, I’d forget what burners they were.”
I remembered the last page of Mom’s journal, the one where Dad had written about how I’d locked Callie out of the bunker. How Callie had died and then Mom sank next to her by the boulder and let herself burn alive right outside our shelter door. A torrent of emotions overcame me. Guilt. Grief. Relief.
The reality of Dad being alive finally hit me, and I threw my arms around him. All those lonely nights after he never returned from that meeting when I thought he’d been killed. A sob tore from my throat. “I’m so sorry about Mom and Callie,” I said. “I read the journal. I never meant—”
“Shhh,” said Dad. “That’s not important now. What matters is that you’re okay.” Tears leaked from his eyes. “I can’t believe you’re sitting here in front of me.”
“We can’t stay here long. They’ll find us. We need to get you out of here.” I glanced around the room and back at Dad, who didn’t look strong enough to walk ten feet. Not that I was in much better shape.
The reunion was short-lived. The door flew open, banging against the wall. I stared openmouthed at the person standing next to the woman. Alec. The guy from Sector 2 who I’d talked Markus into rescuing back on Earth. How was this possible? The heavyset woman gasped for air, red-faced as she bent over with her hand to her chest. I might have a slight chance in hell of getting by her, but I’d never get by Alec.
Alec stared at me calmly as he spoke. “Tora Reynolds, you have violated Consulate Code 5223 by attempting to leave the premises.”
I wanted to kick myself for ever buying his act about being an abandoned survivor, though the dog thing was a nice touch. Where was Lucy? I should have saved the dog and left him to rot.
“Really? Is there a code for kidnapping and drugging innocent people, ’cause I’m pretty sure you’re in violation of that one.” I no longer considered his accent cute. My legs wobbled underneath me and I had to sit on the edge of Dad’s bed.
The large woman finally found her breath, along with her evil smile. “I believe you know Lieutenant Colonel Alec Hayes. He was instrumental in helping us to locate you on Earth.”
If I’d had an ounce of strength left, I would’ve launched myself at him and torn his eyes out. Instead, I glared with all the venom I could muster, which probably looked plain pitiful given my current condition. “You freakin’ burner.”
Alec stared back without bothering to respond. The woman pulled a syringe from her pocket and handed it to him. “You can do the honors.”
She smirked at me. “You will never, ever run away again. I’ll see to that.” Spit flew from her mouth and I pretended to wipe my cheek.
Alec came toward me and spun the syringe in his hand like he was playing with it. He wasn’t just following orders—he seemed to be enjoying himself. I hoped he injected himself by accident.
I let loose a string of every expletive I could think of but my words were hollow, and I couldn’t back them up with action. My legs were done. They felt like jelly against the bed.
“Please don’t do this.” Dad put his hand up weakly in Alec’s direction. “I’ll do whatever you want, but don’t hurt Tora.”
The woman’s lips curled back, revealing yellowed teeth. “You promised that before, remember? You don’t follow through so well.”
Alec reached my side.
“It’s okay, Dad.” I gave his arm an awkward hug. “I’ve made it this far. I’ll get you out of here, I promise.”
The woman laughed. “Over my dead body.”
I shrugged at her. “Have it your way.”
Alec pulled my arm out roughly. Tears pricked my eyes. Why was he doing this? He placed the syringe against the place where my bicep muscle used to be and pressed the button.
Everything swam before my eyes and then went dark. As I hit the floor, it dawned on me that though Alec had been holding my arm, he didn’t even try to break my fall.
James sat next to me on a cot. I looked past him toward the door. We were in my room in the containment center, and I knew we had to be careful. Someone wanted to hurt us. His hazel-green eyes stared into mine. “Please,” he said, then his lips were on mine. My body responded though my brain screamed for me to stop. His hands moved slowly down my arms. Then he tightened his grip. I tried to pull away but he wouldn’t let go. He started shaking me.
I gradually came out of the dream but couldn’t fully wake. The shaking didn’t stop. It wasn’t just my arms. My entire body quaked. Great. More withdrawal symptoms. I didn’t want to open my eyes. Maybe I could sleep through it. I tried to slip back into unconsciousness. The spasms continued. From a faraway place, someone called my name. Finally, I realized that I wasn’t shaking—someone was shaking me.
I fought the urge to wake up.
“Dammit, open your eyes!”
He didn’t have to be so rude about it. It took tremendous effort, but my eyelids cracked open to slits. “What? I’m trying to sleep here,” I mumbled. My eyes crashed shut again.
Cold water sprayed my face and my eyes flew open. Alec. I swung my fist at him but he easily caught my hand. “Knock it off, Tora. We have to go.”
I blinked. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Alec sighed as though I was acting like a petulant child. “I didn’t give you the dose. I switched the syringe with another one I had in my pocket.” He pulled on my arm.
I twisted out of his grasp with what little strength I had. “Do you think I’m stupid? If you didn’t give me the dose, then why have I slept like the dead for hours?”
He pulled out a pair of cotton pants and a T-shirt from a bag. “Not hours, ángel. Minutes. I gave you a quick-acting sleep agent, but had to make it look real.” He tossed the clothes at me. “We don’t have much time before Sylvia comes back.”
“You must be referring to the big-boned bee-atch.”
Alec nodded. “There’s a med to help with the withdrawal symptoms but Sylvia must have moved it. I didn’t have time to keep looking.”
I fingered the pants and frowned. “Wait, these are my pants.”
“Yes, from your things in storage.” He gestured for me to hurry.
Something about having my own pants made me insanely happy. I picked up the white T-shirt. “But this isn’t mine … it’s way too big—” No way. I held the shirt to my nose and inhaled. The scent of him was faint, but still there. Because what could be more romantic than wearing the shirt of the guy who shot you?
Now Alec looked impatient. “I don’t know what to tell you, but it was with your stuff. Can we please leave now?” He tossed me my satchel with the rest of my things. Callie’s wildflower painting was there. I resisted the urge to pull it out and nodded at him.
Alec waited outside while I changed. The T-shirt hung loosely over my pants—I had to admit it was comfy. My legs were still weak, but the thought of getting out of this place propelled me to the door.
Alec glanced down the hallway and motioned me forward.
I sniffed. “Just because I’m coming with you doesn’t mean you don’t have a lot of explaining to do.”
He placed his hand under my elbow to support me. “Don’t worry. We’ll have plenty of time for that.”
Dad’s door was just ahead. He was in much worse shape than I was—probably because he’d been imprisoned longer. I hoped he could at least walk. I slowed as we neared his room.
Alec shook his head. “Tora—”
“I’m not leaving without him.” I opened the door to an empty room. The cot was stripped bare, no evidence that it had ever been occupied by my only living family member. I swiveled to face Alec. “Where is he?”
He tugged on my arm to pull me toward the exit. “He’s fine. They moved him somewhere else. They didn’t want to chance another escape attempt. They figured you’d try to take him with you.”
I pulled my arm back. “Then we need to find him.”
Alec sighed. “We will, but not now. I don’t know exactly where he is, but I do know that we’re almost out of time. We’ll come back, but you can’t help your dad if you’re caught again.”
Alec had a point. I watched him pull a small metal object from his shirt when we reached the final door.
“What is that?”
“It’s a key from an old-school lock on Earth. The Consulate brought a bunch of this stuff from the archives building to hold them over until they got their technology up and running.”
I thought of my dad’s high-tech guns and wondered if they were still in Kale’s possession. Alec slid the key into the lock on the door and turned it. “I think they had a bit of a shock coming here. They had all the Earth money they could ever want, which didn’t mean anything once they landed. Everyone went back to survival mode.”
The door opened and Alec stepped outside. “Wait!” I shrieked. “Don’t we need suits?”
Alec put his finger to his lips to shush me but showed a hint of a smile. “Nope. There’s plenty of air on Caelia and the sun is, well, it’s different. Come on.”
I took a hesitant step out into the daylight. The sun was a gold color, much smaller than the huge red inferno that had ruled Earth. I stretched out my bare arm and the sunlight warmed my skin. Memories of blisters popping out on my hands, of Mom and Callie burning alive, reared up to haunt me. I tried in vain to pull my short sleeves down for cover. “My arm. It feels hot.”
Alec grabbed my arm and urged me onward. “You’re fine. It’s not going to burn. Have I mentioned we need to get out of here?”
I willed my legs to cooperate, but their plans favored sitting and resting. I hung on to Alec and stared down at my legs as though I could make them remain upright with the power of my gaze.
“Come on, hurry,” Alec said. “We just need to make it to the tree line.”
“The tree what?” I looked up from my feet and gasped. Trees. Real trees as far as the eye could see. We were in a clearing in the midst of a ton of huge, leafy, green trees. It was a far cry from the deadly, sharp cactus groves on Earth. I struggled to recall the word I’d seen on my Infinity and gestured at the friendly-looking foliage. “What’s this called again?”
Alec smiled but didn’t stop tugging at me. “It’s a forest.”
I tried it out. “Forest.” The word sounded beautiful on my tongue. “It’s my new favorite word.”
“I think there’s a word you’ll like even better, but we’ll never get there if the Consulate catches us.”
As though on cue, loud shouts echoed from inside the building we’d escaped. “Guess Sylvia just figured out I’m missing … again,” I said.
My legs churned sluggishly beneath me, but I was determined to get to the forest. It killed me that I had to leave my dad so soon after discovering he wasn’t dead. Sorry Dad, I thought. I’ll be back for you as soon as I can. I would get him out of there somehow, and the Consulate was going to pay for what they’d done to him.
Alec didn’t let go of my arm. My feet tripped over themselves as I tried to keep up.
We hit the tree line just as the building door opened. Alec pulled me behind a large tree and we looked into the clearing. Sylvia was bent at the knees and looked as though she was about to throw up. Next to her was the shiny-coated, fake-glasses-wearing Dr. Sorokin, who had treated me on the Consulate ship. He turned around in a slow circle, peering into the trees that surrounded the building.
I stared at the ugly, bleak building in the center of the lush forest. They’d obviously cut down some of the trees to make room for their makeshift prison. Leave it to the Consulate—they’d found an amazing, beautiful planet and had already started to wreck it.
After a minute, Dr. Sorokin reached into his pocket and pulled out a tele-com device.
Alec tugged at my sleeve. “He’s calling for Consulate backup. We have to go,” he whispered.
Cold sweats, fatigue, and nausea warred for control of my body. Though another visit with the shiny coats was the last thing I wanted, I was pretty positive I couldn’t move another step.
“Where are we going?” I asked, swaying.
Alec’s eyes bored into mine as he steadied me. “Somewhere I know you’ll want to see. Callie City.”