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The next two hours were spent in the claustrophobic underground meeting room, plotting strategy and checking in with Network contacts, integrating plans, and coordinating the attack. I listened and learned, memorized Chicago street maps, and studied the blueprints of the Navy Pier building where it was presumed Malevich would hole up.
Major renovations in the past ten years had turned the previously trendy entertainment district into a military installation and an impenetrable fortress. By land or by water, it would take time to figure out a way in. The old Sears Tower would have been infinitely easier. Previously used for the New Capitol’s main offices, the skyscraper was apparently only a front—a place to host parties and fund raisers, and wine and dine the elite. Malevich would definitely be making his move in a more secure location. I sighed.
“Why don’t you take a break?” said Sam, noticing my eyes were beginning to glaze over from mental fatigue.
“Another cup of Lita’s tea and some fresh air would be good.” I nodded to Will to join me and tried to ignore Sam’s sharp glances. I loved him for being concerned about me, but his mistrust of Will and his treating me like a child were grating on my nerves.
Will followed me out of the room, through a tunnel, and up a set of stairs. We came out a hatchway behind the horse barn into bright sunlight. I squinted, my eyes immediately assaulted. The sun, at its zenith, was beating down like licking flames. The temperature had risen to well over one hundred degrees already and the humidity was stifling. “So much for fresh air,” I said, even as sweat beaded on my forehead. We jogged the short distance to the tree line, several giant willows offering protection from the midday rays. Easily winded by the jaunt in the oppressive temps, we made our way back to the kitchen where our morning had begun. Neri and little Annie Slate were there packing the food Lita had put out for our journey. A tall pitcher of ice tea sat steeping on the counter top.
Neri greeted us when Will and I walked in. “Oh, there you both are. I was beginning to wonder if you’d left and forgotten about us.” She tucked two more apples into Annie’s pack and smiled down at the little girl, whose blond pigtails swung as she shook her head.
“Mommy and Ben aren’t ready yet,” Annie said. Then she grinned at me sheepishly. “Ben is getting a bath. He fell into the pigpen and got all stinky.” She crinkled her nose as if remembering the unpleasant odor.
“Don’t worry,” I replied, patting the girl’s head. “No one is leaving without you.”
“I hear Pennsylvania is beautiful,” said Neri, reaching for a glass jar of dried figs high on a shelf. “Rolling green hills and farms as far as the eye can see. It sounds like heaven.”
Just then, the glass jar slipped from her hand. Before any of us could catch it, the jar stopped inches from hitting the floor. It floated there, and then slowly rose up. At eye level with the magician who held it suspended, Annie reached out and grabbed it, a smile lighting her face. “I caught it!” Then she noticed our shocked expressions and her smile dimmed. “Sorry. I wasn’t supposed to do that, huh?”
Neri gave a reassuring pat to the little girl’s shoulder. “Don’t ever be sorry for using your gift, Annie. God made you special so you could be a help. You did fine.” Neri glanced at Will and me. We both smiled agreement, covering our surprise.
“Can you lift heavier things?” asked Will.
Annie shrugged. “In the...lab...I was able to move big things, but it made me tired.” Her expression had grown solemn. “If I did too much and they didn’t let me rest, I got sick.” Her face shadowed with an unpleasant memory and Will backed off on questioning her further.
I bent to one knee and took Annie’s hand, meeting her sharp blue eyes. “From now on, you don’t have to use your gift unless you want to—and only for a good reason, okay?”
A bashful grin slid across her face. “That’s what Mommy said, too.”
“Why don’t you run and find your mommy and your brother and tell them we’ll be leaving in a little while.” I wanted a chance to speak to Neri alone. Maybe she could explain more about Annie’s abilities and at the same time enlighten me further about our shared gift of healing. Annie handed the jar to me and darted off down the hallway.
“Before you start asking a lot of questions,” said Neri, “the answer is, I don’t know. Doctor Bartholomew kept us separated and confined when we were in testing. I’m not sure what the extent of her abilities are.” She turned from her task of wrapping a loaf of bread and leveled a gaze at each of us. “We all know that using our gifts comes at a price. Mrs. Slate is clear she doesn’t want anyone else to know about Annie, so let’s keep this between us, okay?”
Will and I agreed, although I knew if it came down to a matter of life and death, Will would break his promise in a heartbeat. The thought brought a renewed sense of frustration about all the issues that still divided us. His survival-at-all-cost approach to life had served him well and gotten us this far, but my doubts about our ultimate compatibility ran deep. Neri interrupted my thoughts when she took the jar of figs from my hand and continued.
“I wanted to go with you to Chicago, but Vanessa has convinced me to settle in Pennsylvania with her and the family. She’s asked me to stay with them at least until after the baby is born.” She rested a hand on her growing belly, her face lit with a healthy glow of happiness. “I’m sure it’s for the best, but I hate not being available to help if someone needs me. You’ll be there though, right?”
Neri closed the flap on a second rucksack and before she could lift them from the counter Will stepped in and took the packs, flashing an affectionate smile at the girl. My insides twisted with a pang of jealousy and maybe even regret. His protective nature was one of the things I loved most about Will, but having him dote over Neri made me realize how important having a family was to him and what a great father and husband he might make one day. I shook the image out of my head, unwilling to even consider the possibility.
“Yes. I’ll be on site in case a healer is needed, and I agree, you should definitely stay in Pennsylvania with the Slates.” I hid behind the cup of tea I’d poured, my ears burning as I studied Will. He cleared his throat, sensing the tension.
“I’ll load these onto the Condor,” said Will snatching the two bags and ducking out the kitchen door, obviously favoring the heat of the day to the heat currently rising in the kitchen.
When the door closed behind him, I decided now was as good a time as any to get my questions answered. “How are you feeling...I mean...is the pregnancy going all right?”
Neri poured herself a glass of the ice tea and slid into a chair across from me as we both sat. Her eyes smiled over the top of her glass. “Other than being tired and dealing with all the craziness of the escape, I’ve never felt so strong and...alive.” She gazed down as she rubbed the small round bump. “Doctor Bartholomew and the fertility team at the Industry lab checked up on me daily. If there were any problems with the baby, I would know by now.” She studied me with concern. “You’re wondering about you and Will, aren’t you?”
I met her gaze squarely. “I’m just not sure I want to bring any new life into this world when everything is such a mess. Not that Will and I are considering kids right now, but...”
“I understand. You must be curious.”
“Not to mention terrified,” I said with a halfhearted snort.
Neri chose her words carefully. “Believe me, if I’d had a choice, I wouldn’t be a mother at this point in my life. I mean, I’m only fifteen...and the way...the way this came about was all wrong.” I could see the strain in her face and tried not to imagine what she’d been through as part of the breeding program, but the shadowed expression passed as she rubbed her belly again and a smile spread across her face. “But now...I’ve never felt so much love. This little one is the future. Imagine the abilities she’ll have and what she can offer the world.”
“You’re sure it’s a girl?”
“Tests confirmed it early on. She’s perfectly healthy and so far, perfectly normal.” Neri grinned again as she patted her belly and I suddenly understood the bond. I sensed the pride, the affection, the protectiveness, and the love, pouring off Neri like a tide rolling in. Still, I shuddered to think of the possibilities. Since I didn’t want to project my own fears onto Neri, I changed topics to one equally as difficult. I couldn’t help but ask, “What about—Marcus?”
Her smile faded and a pained expression took over—which quickly gave way to anger. “I don’t care if he is this baby’s father. He can rot in a cell for the rest of his life for all I care. He’s a bully and a creep.” Her grip visibly tightened around her glass and I worried it might shatter.
“Are you afraid he’ll come after you?”
She took a deep breath. “I can’t worry about him. I just need to focus on keeping me and my baby safe.” I nodded in agreement.
“What more can you tell me about my healing abilities?” We’d had only a few brief conversations in which I’d told her about my limitations, how draining multiple healings could be, and that I couldn’t heal those who I shared DNA with.
“Well, for me, the more I use my abilities, the stronger they get. When I was younger, I had to have my hands on someone directly to heal them. Now I only need to hold them above the person. In some cases, I can even do distance healing. The ability to project my energy has grown since I’ve been pregnant.”
“You can heal someone remotely?” My eyes widened and I considered the implications. I’d noticed for myself that I no longer needed to have my hands directly on a person to heal them, but I hadn’t thought about trying it from a distance.
“I only need a name and an image of a person. It helps if I know what’s wrong with them ahead of time or if I can sense their injury or illness. But even if I have little information to go on, I can cause an effect. Oh, and I’ve also been working on healing plants and animals, purifying water, and regenerating nerves and soft tissue. We had some success with curing spinal injuries this way.”
“That’s amazing! I’ve never had the opportunity to try healing someone with that kind of debilitating condition. Most of the time, I’m healing acute injuries and illness. So, you’re saying I could do all these things too?” My mind struggled to grasp the possibilities.
“I don’t see why not. But everyone is different. There were others at the lab who had similar healing abilities to you and me, but it seems everyone has their own unique set of skills. We were learning to focus our energies together to collectively heal larger populations. In one study we healed an entire town that had been overrun with dysentery. We were put in a room, shown pictures of the town, the people, and the water purification plant that had been contaminated. It took us days, but we were able to turn the whole thing around. Removing toxicity from water or even from soil isn’t so hard once you know how to connect your energy to the bacteria that are causing the destruction.”
She glanced down at the water ring her glass had made on the table. “As usual, though, healing doesn’t come without a price. Absorbing all that toxicity took its toll. The other two healers got sick and...died. I almost did, too. It took me weeks to recover.” The memories flooding her mind slipped into my thoughts and I felt her pain and anguish at losing her friends. Sensing my intrusion, she shut me out and forced a smile. “Still, I’m happy we could help so many people at once.”
“You did an amazing thing.” I touched her shoulder in an effort to reassure her that she wasn’t alone and that her sacrifice meant something. “You were very brave.”
“That was before the baby. The staff at the lab has been much more careful with me since I’ve been pregnant.”
The new revelation opened a hundred doorways in my mind. Was I able to heal someone remotely? I knew I could heal animals. I’d done it before with the wolves, but other than believing I had a green thumb, I’d never considered the effect I had on plant life or even contemplated water purification. On a grand scale, and with the help of others like me, that might mean healing our polluted waterways and even re-energizing land that had been destroyed by chemical pesticides and over farming. Neri must have seen the wheels turning in my head.
“I’d be happy to teach you once all this craziness is behind us, but first, I wanted to ask, are you and Will like—a steady thing?”
I wasn’t sure I had the right to be staking claim over Will, but the answer to her question popped out. “Yeah, we’re steady.” We exchanged uncomfortable grins, hers appearing to be a mix of disappointment and doubt.
“He’s sweet. You’re lucky to have him.”
Even after we’d spent the night torturing each other with kisses, I wasn’t sure anything had been resolved between us. I didn’t want to get into all of the philosophical differences between Will and me, and how those differences were causing no end of trouble, so I simply said, “He’s been a good friend.”
