“Just Joss filling us in on your luv connection,” Kat teased.
“That’s cool,” Dylan said easily, leaning down to give me a peck on my red cheek, “I’m already up to speed on that.”
That something could be so embarrassing and so completely awesome at the same time was really confusing.
“Where’s Eric?” Kat asked, looking up at the grate. I started sliding it back into place. “Didn’t he come with you?” When Dylan hesitated to answer, she whipped her phone out of her bag. “I’ll call him.”
“Just—hang on a sec, Kat,” I said. “I…didn’t ask Eric to join us. It’s just gonna be the four of us.”
“What? Why?”
Oh damn, I did not think this through. Suddenly, by the look starting to form on her face, that much was clear. I should have realized this might be a problem, but I just didn’t get this kind of stuff like I needed to.
“Okay, see, it’s like this: the problem with the setup at the Pit the other day, the reason I got so pissed at you guys, was because the risk of exposure there was huge. Not only was it a public place, but the group itself was way too big.”
“Those are our friends! At least, they think you’re their friend.”
“Hey now,” Dylan said, “slow down, Kat. Hear her out.”
I liked that Dylan defended me, but at the same time, I kind of wanted him to keep out of it.
“I am their friend.” I guess. “Look, I’m not saying we’re not going to take care of our friends. On the contrary, that’s the whole point. That’s why I asked you guys to come here and talk about this. I want to talk more about ways to take care of ourselves, how to be more aware of who’s around us, of what we say…I want us to find ways to work together, to share information, maybe find ways to get more. Hopefully, eventually figure out ways we can warn each other if trouble’s coming, maybe call for help if we need it.”
“Yes, please, take your own advice on that,” Heather said. “If you hadn’t happened to walk by my house the other night…”
I felt Dylan get tense. “Yes, like that. And thank you for sending Dylan to save my ass. But let’s drop that.”
“But I don’t get it. If you’re all about the sharing, why is it just us four?” Kat wanted to know.
“Because what we’re talking about is too important to be passing around casually. We need to be very careful about how we handle the flow of information, to be sure it stays with us, our friends. We can’t rent out a banquet hall and have a Talent convention to fill everyone in at once. That’s too conspicuous, and it opens too many of us up to risk at the same time. We need to keep it more on the down-low, let it filter through a network. Maybe something where each person only contacts two or three other people, you know what I’m saying?”
“Like a phone tree?”
“Maybe. We’ll see. I don’t have this all worked out yet. But that’s why I want to keep it just the four us, who I know I can trust—”
“You don’t trust Eric. Maddy, Matt, Elizabeth?”
Damn it. Someone pry my foot out of my mouth. I wondered if I was ever going to get better at the talking thing.
“After all the times he’s helped you out?” Kat added.
Because it really was just about her boyfriend. “Kat, I didn’t mean—”
“Dylan, Eric’s your friend. He’s been loyal to you. What do you think about this?”
“I’m, uh, sure that Joss has a reason for her decision. A good one.”
Yeah, and you sound so certain about that too.
“It’s too many people,” I repeated. “Maddy, Matt, Elizabeth, Eric…Who else, Kat? How many people do you think we can fit down here? How many can disappear through a hole in the ground before someone notices?”
“I guess I can see your point about that. But it’s stupid not to include Eric. We need him. I’m gonna call him.”
“Heather can’t vet him,” I said. I so did not want to go into this, but Kat was going to force me.
“Huh?”
“Look, just hear me out. You guys came to me, okay? You said you want me to organize us so we can take better care of our own. It seems like we’re losing Talents left and right, and we don’t know how NIAC’s finding out about them. So you’re right, we can’t just sit around and watch them pick us off.”
“You’re changing the subject,” Kat said.
God forbid I talk about what’s important. “No, I’m not. I’m getting to the part where what we do know is what Dylan and Rob found in Mr. Dobbs’s computer weeks ago: that he’s using his position as a guidance counselor to spy on us while he’s also working for NIAC, and that they’ve also got someone undercover, posing as a student. So when we’re talking about organizing, it’s not like we can have a master list with the names and phone numbers. Each person who knows what you can do is a risk. Even if they’re totally trustworthy, who knows what happens at NIAC after they leave? If they get a Talent who knows one or two other Talents, maybe they get one or two more kids. If they get one who knows about them all…”
“Yeah, yeah, I get that part. But what do you mean about Heather?”
“Heather doesn’t know who the mole is. She thinks, and I agree, that this guy—or girl—probably has training to block psychics like her. She can’t tell me who the mole is, but she can tell me who isn’t. It’s not you. It’s not Dylan. It’s not me. And I’m just gonna take it on faith that it’s not Heather because I’ve got no choice. But Heather can’t read Eric. So she can’t say it’s not him.”
“That’s bullshit! You’re convicting him—”
“No one’s convicting anyone!” I hissed, trying to keep my voice down and remind her to do the same. I had so screwed this up. “Look, I didn’t ask for this. You guys came to me, and it’s a huge responsibility you’re putting on me.”
“Don’t do us any favors.”
“Kat, cut it out,” Heather said, “we need her.”
“And I’m not going to take chances with kids’ lives just to make nice,” I went on. “It’s not like we’re not voting him into some social club. It’s not personal, and he’s not missing out on anything by not being here. I’ve got nothing to apologize for and I’m through talking about this. Take it or leave it.”
“I think I’ll just leave it to you guys. You’re all so smart and awesome, I’m sure you’ll save us all in spite of all our stupidity.”
“Kat…” I moaned as she started climbing the ladder. I was trying to put myself in her place. Was I being unreasonable? No, my logic was sound, I knew it was. I knew I was right.
But that was me being Joss, looking at it objectively. What if I had to look at it as Dylan’s girlfriend? What if I had to consider that he might be working for NIAC?
What if someone tried to tell me that one of the people I trusted most might be out to destroy me?
I shuddered and Dylan put an arm around my shoulders, hugging me to his side and rubbing a hand up and down my arm. We all flinched when Kat dropped the grate back into place over our heads.
I’d like to think I could look at things just as objectively, but I leaned into him and knew that I wouldn’t.
Why hadn’t I seen this coming? I’d picked a team based on what I wanted, what I felt comfortable with, and hadn’t thought about them at all. It had already led to disaster. This was supposed to be the brain that was the best hope of the Talents of Fairview?
“Yes,” Heather said aloud, in answer to my thought.
“Well, then, we’re all screwed.”
* * *
Dylan
“Where are you taking me?” Not that I really cared. Heather had left, we were alone in the dark, and Joss was holding my hand. But I was still kind of curious. The beam of her flashlight bobbed ahead of us as she made a series of turns through the tunnels.
“Not far.” She found a door—somehow—and pushed it open. Once she had closed it behind us, she left me and knelt in down a few paces away. A moment later, the space was dimly lit by the b
attery-powered lantern on the floor.
It was a small room, but I couldn’t really get a sense of the dimensions. There seemed to be a lot of large machinery in the shadows. The open area I was standing in was maybe four feet square. Near the lantern were boxes labeled “MREs” in thick, black marker. Those are the kind of nasty, non-perishable, instant foods the military uses. I’d seen them for sale at the Army/Navy. There were some cases of bottled water and other supplies I couldn’t identify just then. And there was an army cot set up with some blankets piled at the end of it. That’s where Joss was sitting.
Nice love nest you got here. It was almost out of my mouth, but I caught it in time, and silently congratulated myself for not teasing Joss.
“This is another one of my family’s safe-zone, rendezvous point deals. There are a few more cots, first aid supplies, some food and water, extra clothes, stuff like that. I think it will make a good hiding spot if we ever need a place to stash someone until we can get them out of town.”
“Um, yeah. Does your family have a lot of…places like this?”
“Like this, with all the gear? Not really. We’ve got a lot of meeting places in general. My dad likes contingency plans.”
This was hardly the first time I wondered what it was like to be Joss, to grow up with a father whose obsession with hiding his daughters from NIAC seemed to make up the bulk of their childhood experience.
“It’s not something I want to share with anyone else, until we have to, but I was thinking that I probably shouldn’t be the only one to know about it.”
It wasn’t like Joss to use so many words to say, “Let’s keep this between us.” It made me think she was nervous. Sometimes I really liked that I made her nervous.
“Okay,” I answered. Simple, no pressure. I flopped down on the cot beside, but not right up against her, and leaned back against the cold sheet of metal behind me.
We were silent for a moment before she said, “I can’t believe what an idiot I am. Why didn’t I see that coming?”
I patted her hand where it rested next to her on the cot. “I’m sure it’ll all blow over.”
“Seriously, I still don’t understand it.” Her hand slipped away as she turned to sit sideways, facing me. The dim light was on her face, but beyond her there was nothing. “That was supposed to be a serious thing, you know? We’re supposed to be trying to save ourselves from State School. It never occurred to me that people would want to bring dates. It’s just so…ugh!” When she threw up her hands, the cot bounced a little.
I shrugged, trying not to smile too much at how cute she looked when she was frustrated. “Some people get weird when their friends, or…significant others, don’t get invited to the same stuff they do.”
Her brows drew down. “Are you upset that I didn’t ask Eric to join us, and that I don’t want him involved at that level?”
I wasn’t sure how to say what I was thinking, if I should say it at all, and I hesitated. That was a mistake.
“Spill it,” she snapped.
“It’s not like that, it’s more... I just hate it, you know?” I heard a venom in my voice that I didn’t want to use around Joss, but couldn’t seem to even it out. “I hate that we have to think that way. That we have to make choices like that, be suspicious of our friends.”
“I’m not saying—”
I went for her hand again, and she let me. “I know you’re not. I get it, Joss, but I don’t have to like it. And I don’t like the fact that I knew Heather couldn’t read Eric, and it still wouldn’t have occurred to me to leave him out of the loop because he’s my friend and I trust him. Not many people see things as clearly as you do. Not many people even know what they should be looking for. That’s why we need you, so don’t let Kat’s drama get you down, okay?”
“Even if she cools off, I don’t know if I can trust her not to take everything I say right to Eric. I feel bad that I have to think that way, but I can’t risk trusting him, and now I know I can’t risk trusting her anymore. Not with this. I hadn’t known I was really counting on Kat being with me on this until I realized I couldn’t depend on her.”
“Depend on me,” I said, pulling her into my arms. She didn’t resist, so I pretty much had to kiss her. Sitting there with her, alone in the dark, I’m surprised I’d managed to wait that long.
It would have been so easy to get carried away. It felt so good to hold her like this, the way she curled into me, the silky feel of her hair between my fingers, the softness of her lips, the taste of her that was driving me crazy. But something about Joss’s intensity was off. The way she pressed against me wasn’t all hots for me. There was something else going on with her.
I pulled back from her, watched her eyes open. I had to take a moment, tuck her hair behind her ear. I wondered if she could feel the slow, heavy thud of my heart in my chest, and if it could be so wrong to just ignore everything else, pretend there was nothing else in the world and just go on kissing her for a while. I brushed my thumb across her lower lip and almost gave in to that. But that wasn’t what she needed. Not really.
“What is it?” I asked her.
For a moment she looked confused, then worried. “What, did I—?”
Do something wrong? Christ no, Complicated Girl. “I just wanted you to know, if there’s something wrong—something else, besides Kat, you could talk to me about it. I mean, you don’t have to, but if you want to.”
Smooooth.
She moved into me, turning her face into my neck. I closed my arms around her, drew her in tighter. My throat closed up and I had to swallow hard. I wasn’t used to having her turn into me like this, and it was weird how much it affected me. But I could get used to it.
We were quiet for a few moments, just sitting like that in the dim light of the lantern. I was thinking how just yesterday I was afraid to talk to her, and now here we were. Like maybe we had spent the last several weeks getting to know each other, getting comfortable, it was just that whole boyfriend/girlfriend label thing getting in the way. Then she started to talk about her dad, missing money, some strange, curly-haired guy with an envelope full of cash—blackmail again. When she got to the part where he called her by name, I got real stiff and it was hard to make myself relax again. I ran my fingers through her hair. That helped.
“How long do you think this has been going on?” I asked.
“I’m not sure. I haven’t had a chance to go back through the store records and see how long money’s been going missing. But it kind of seemed like it wasn’t the first time the guy had been there, you know?”
“Your dad seems to be taking it pretty well.”
“You seem to be taking it pretty well.”
“I’m just saying, there’s someone out there who knows about you, right? Who’s gone to your dad, threatening to turn you in if he doesn’t pay up. And your dad seems to be doing okay.”
“I guess.”
“Not only that, but you’re here with me, not under house arrest. When he came to get us at the park the other night, he was okay. I mean, pissed, yeah, but he seemed pretty together. And even after you told him what went down—mostly—you’ve still got your free time and friend privileges.”
“Okay…”
“For your dad, there is nothing more important than keeping you safe. You and your secret. It’s like his whole reason for being.”
“Uh-huh…” Her head came up at that and she narrowed her eyes at me.
“Don’t get that huffy tone with me, I’m not saying anything.” Talking about Joss’s dad was dangerous territory. I was dancing in a mine-field. “Just, if someone was going around threatening you like that, I’d expect him to be less…together, to be in hyper-protective mode. I’d expect you to be under house arrest, no contact with us riff-raff who only get you into trouble, that kind of thing. But he hasn’t been. It’s like he’s…distracted. Like he’s not totally focused on you, because maybe it’s not about you.”
“You lost me.”
I
thought about making a crack about how maybe if it wasn’t all about her, she just couldn’t get it. But that would have been incredibly stupid. I should get points for not saying every dumb thing that pops in my head. “I’ve just been thinking about all the crime that’s been going on around town lately—the stuff we know Marco’s been involved in, the stuff they haven’t pinned on anyone.”
“And what’s that got to do with this?”
“Your dad’s a merchant. A protection racket usually starts with the kinds of petty crimes we’ve seen in the paper over the last month. At least, that’s how it works in the movies. That’s what they do to introduce the merchants to the idea they need protection, right? And then it escalates, especially when there are some who won’t pay, or give them any kind of trouble. Something more serious to show them the consequences of non-compliance or whatever.”
“Like burning down a store.”
“Exactly.”
Even in the lousy light I could see her cheeks color. “I’m an idiot. I totally didn’t see it.”
“You’re not an idiot. It’s not like that was a crazy conclusion to leap to. And yours might still be the right one.”
“Yours makes more sense, though.”
“Well, okay, so less ‘Joss is an idiot,’ more ‘Oh Dylan, you’re so smart!’”
She rolled her eyes at me, but it got a little smile too. Then, “So we stopped Marco from blackmailing Talents only to have him start using Talents to extort money from merchants. From people who work hard and can’t possibly do anything to fight back against the kind of powers he has access to.”
“Um, maybe?”
“I think I liked my original idea better.”
“Don’t say that shit.”
“I don’t mean…I’m not that much of a martyr or anything. I just mean that if it was just me it wouldn’t seem so big. But a protection racket, so many people involved, that makes doing anything about it a lot riskier. But with so many people involved, so many people who can’t fight back…How can I just sit back and watch that happen? I don’t think I can do that.”