“We’re both pretty sore, but I think I got the worst of it. Which is pretty good, considering we’re both alive and walking around.” I tried to laugh.
“Well, thank God.” Danielle stood and hugged me. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”
“I feel the same way. Thanks, Dani.” I hugged her back.
My phone buzzed with an incoming text. From Jack. “Get 2 room OK? Take pain pill and get sleep. Meet for dinner?”
Mmm. Cafeteria food. How could I turn that down? I was not taking one of those painkillers. They made me completely loopy and overly tired. With everything going on, I wanted my full wits about me.
I shrugged at Danielle after reading the text. “Jack.”
“Ahhh. I can’t believe we’ve been here six years, and this is the first guy you’ve dated.”
“We’re not dating,” I protested. Not really. It was one date. I quickly fired off a text to him. “Sure. C u l8r.” Who was I kidding? I was in love.
“Yeah, right,” she said as she began packing up her books. “Keep telling yourself that.” She swung her backpack over her shoulder. “Hey, I’ve got a study group to get to. You need anything before I go?”
“No, thanks. I’ve got some studying to do myself.”
Danielle left. Just as the door clicked closed, my phone buzzed again.
“Be there in one hour. ~Marci.”
~~~~
“What do you know about Sandra Whitmeyer?” Marci answered my question with a question. Journalists.
“Not much, really,” I said. “Only that she worked with my Dad and Dr. DeWeese once upon a time.”
Marci twisted and wrung her hands in her lap. We sat on a bench outside a classroom building. It wasn’t a popular spot on Sunday afternoons.
From her sneakers and jeans all the way to the conservative auburn ponytail, Marci looked different than in the snazzy business suit and three-inch heels she’d worn the day I met her. No amount of make-up could cover the darkness now living under her eyes.
“Well… I have some articles that were written about her twenty or so years ago. Some feature her research and some societal stuff. Your father didn’t speak very… um… favorably of her.”
“Any pictures?” Did Marci know I was the spitting image of Sandra Whitmeyer from the time those articles were probably published?
“If there were pictures, I didn’t notice them.”
“Strange that Sandra’s name didn’t sound familiar to me when I first heard it. I’m sure she would have been mentioned in the scores of articles I’ve read regarding my dad’s old research.” Noticing Marci shift where she sat, I reached over and placed my hand on her fidgety hands. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. This has all been a little too much.” A couple of girls jogged behind us, and Marci jerked toward the scuffle of feet. “My editor wants to go ahead and publish the articles. But the FBI has threatened to squash the articles forever… a matter of homeland security.” Marci wrung her hands in front of her.
“Homeland security?”
She nodded. “The government can stop anything from going to press. We can yell ‘freedom of speech’ and ‘First Amendment rights’ all we want, but if the government deems it a matter of national security, our lips are sealed.”
“Can you tell me what the articles are about, now?”
The sadness, or maybe it was fear, that swam in Marci’s dark, brown eyes gave her a more youthful appearance, and made me want to comfort this woman who, I suspected, had loved my father for more than the scoop he provided.
“Before I tell you, you should know why I’ve fought my editor to keep these articles unpublished since your father’s death.”
“Okay.”
“Your father made me promise him one thing before I moved forward.” She stood and walked a few steps before turning and facing me. “I promised your father time to move you somewhere secure. He thought you were safe at Wellington while the public was in the dark about his research. But he also thought these articles might put you both in danger. He was already receiving threats.”
“And now you think I’m in danger?”
“I think anyone who knows what I’m about to tell you, or could know about it, is in danger.” She sat again.
Was this about Jack and me? Did she know that we were genetically-altered, cloned humans? Was Dad on his way to move me the morning he was killed? “Just tell me,” I whispered.
“Lexi, your father was working for the FBI when he was killed. He had compiled information about a governmental program that was cloning human beings that were genetically altered to be healing machines.”
She could have punched me in the stomach and not have knocked the air out of me as quickly as those words did. Healing machines? “What are you talking about? How many human clones are we talking?”
“He didn’t know.” She buried her face into her hands. “Or he was killed before he told me.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?” My voice was barely coherent.
“Lexi. He wanted to tell you. He planned to take you away with him.”
That was becoming obvious to me.
“Do you know why Dr. DeWeese went to Sicily?”
I shook my head.
“I suspect that, because your father gave them full guardianship over you, they went to collect his belongings.”
I’d never known exactly where my father lived. “You think his journals are there,” I whispered. What gave Dr. DeWeese the right to collect my father’s things?
“I think his latest journals could be there, but…” Marci glanced over her shoulder and then scanned the area around us, stopping on the school’s gate in the distance where a couple of men stood.
“But?” I prompted.
“Your father’s too smart to have left his journals where they would be easily discovered.”
“If Dr. DeWeese thinks these journals are in Sicily, and if you and your editor already know what this ‘discovery’ is, then why is someone trying to kill me?”
“What do you mean?”
I shared the details of the wreck with Marci. Worry and fear weighed the bags under her eyes down even further.
“Are you safe here?” she asked.
“I think so. But I need your help.”
“With what? I’ll do anything I can.”
“I want to know exactly where Sandra Whitmeyer is. Do you have contacts that can find her? Her current address. What she’s doing now.”
“Have you asked John DeWeese? Seems like he would know. Or is it too awkward?”
I arched a brow. “Why do you say that?”
“They were supposed to be married before she broke it off. I just assumed he probably kept up with her whereabouts.” When my eyes just about popped out of my head, she continued. “I assumed you knew. I didn’t realize the importance of that. Their engagement announcement made the society pages.” She reached down and began sifting through what looked like a satchel of file folders. “Now that you mention it, I think there might have been a picture.”
~~~~
I know you’re up here.
I pulled my knees in and scooted further into the darkness. Hiding from Jack was the mature way to go. The roof of the girls’ dorm used to be the place I could escape at nights. To figure things out. Lose myself in the stars above. Be closer to heaven and God, maybe.
God. I chuckled. Oh, how he must have cringed when Jack and I were created. No wonder we were almost killed Friday night. We were an abomination.
Lexi, I know you’re upset.
Upset? No, upset was way too kind a word. I fought hard to close off my mind and keep him out of it. Jack probably thought I was being quite the drama queen. It wasn’t that I was hiding. I was assessing. Searching for some sort of survivor instinct deep within me.
His footsteps grew closer. The stars above me twinkled, reminding me of a time when my grandmother used to sing to me and whisper nursery rhymes as I fell asleep.
/> Amazing how complicated life can get. I fingered the starfish and the key hanging around my neck.
Please stop this, Lexi. His foot shuffled as he made a turn. He stood close. Look, I’m sorry. I should have told you.
Go away, Jack. I’ve reached my allotment for insane stories today. My entire life was engineered eighteen years ago. Right down to whom I was supposed to love. And you knew. I know you did.
“At least you’re talking to me now,” he said softly, almost a whisper.
I don’t want to talk to you right now. Don’t you get it? I peeked around the corner of the wall I hid behind.
He turned his head left, then right, and then at me.
I leaned my head against the wall. Did he see me? This really was juvenile.
“You would only have heard my actual words if you were near,” he said, leaning against the brick and towering over me.
I tilted my head up. He peered down at me with a smile.
“What do you want? Is it too much to ask for time to deal with all this… all this… life-controlling junk?”
He stepped away from the wall, and I thought he was going to leave. My heart practically stopped. It was what I wanted, right?
Instead of leaving, he walked around and sat beside me. His shoulder against mine. His knees bent in front of him like mine and flush with my legs. Only his were longer.
“You’re right. I’ve had longer to deal with a lot of this junk. I wish I could give you that same gift.”
I risked a look at him. I hadn’t thought of that. He must have been surprised when he learned what his father had done all those years ago.
“The simple truth is we are what we are.” Jack grazed the back of his hand against my knee. “And because of that, someone wants one or both of us dead.”
The lump in my throat prevented me from speaking.
“The other simple truth is…” He slipped his fingers under mine, and cradled my hand in his lap. “In one weekend, someone tried to drug you, kill us in a car accident, and drown you in my swimming pool. I don’t know if it was the same person every time, or what…” Jack leaned his head against our tangled hands. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I don’t think you can make that promise anymore.”
“That’s why I think you should run.”
“What?” I angled my body towards his.
“I’ll help you. I know someone I can trust who can get you a passport under a different name. Cash. Whatever. We’ll map out a plan—”
“Are you kidding me?”
He shook his head, with a look of defeat. “It’s your only option.”
I pressed my finger to his lips. “No.”
“You have to.” His lips were soft, warm. He spoke through my fingers.
“I’m not running.”
“Lexi, please,” he pleaded.
“My grandmother would be left all by herself. I would have no one. There is so much I still don’t understand about who I am. Why my father was killed. I’m not going to live a lie. I… We were created for some purpose I don’t understand. I’m not going to turn my back on whatever that purpose is. Not yet, anyway. Not before I at least understand it.”
Jack leaned his forehead against mine. Took in a deep breath. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“I didn’t think you would agree, but I had to try.” Something in his voice told me this wasn’t the last time we’d discuss this. “But you’re going to have to get used to seeing me a lot more. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
I smiled. “I think the dean might have a problem with you moving in with Dani and me.”
“I don’t care. I’ll pull the ‘she’s my sister’ card.”
I stifled a laugh.
“Okay, not that. I’ll think of something.”
We sat there for several minutes. Jack played with my hair that hung against my cheek and down past my shoulder. His eyes drifted down to my lips. I leaned closer giving him full permission.
He leaned in and pressed his lips gently to mine. They were soft and carried a faint taste of mint. He tugged on my arm and guided me closer. Next thing I knew, I was sitting in his lap, cradled against him. His lips were hot on mine.
And I knew.
I knew I’d never run. I wouldn’t turn my back on my newfound identity, even if it went against everything I believed in. Because turning my back on the monster that I was would be shutting out the beautiful creature who held me now.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Listen up.” Coach Williams paced in front of the team after morning practice. “Dean Fisher has halted all off-campus travel. No one is to leave Wellington without express permission from a parent or guardian.”
Coach’s eyes traveled over my teammates’ faces but stopped on mine. I shifted and crossed my arms. Water dripped off the end of my nose. I was the reason my classmates and I had been confined to campus until further notice.
“And furthermore, if I find out any of my swimmers sneak out and break this curfew in any way, in addition to the dean’s punishment, you will not swim in the state qualifying meet in two weeks.”
Why was he staring me down as he said that? I glanced around the deck to see if my teammates noticed the guilt written all over my face.
Kyle stood across from me smirking. “Whatever,” he mouthed at me.
When Coach had completed his lecture and stare down, the swimmers scattered toward the showers and Coach to his office. I marched straight over to Kyle. “What’s up?” I asked, attempting a level of indifference.
“I refuse to be held prisoner. You and I are practically eighteen, we’ve raised ourselves as child geniuses, and yet we’re held here like we’re in some sort of juvenile detention.”
“Aren’t you being a bit melodramatic?” I chuckled. “It might be for our own safety.” That part was definitely true. In my case anyway. “Can you get a waiver that lets you off campus?”
“My uncle will sign one. But where am I going to go if no one can go with me?”
My lips pressed into a thin line. There wasn’t even a remote chance I would get off-campus privileges. Not even with Jack.
“If I can get permission, I’ll go off campus with you. Where would you want to go?”
A smile played at the corners of Kyle’s mouth. “A movie? We deserve time away from here.”
Not quite what I had in mind. “Okay. Will you take me by the nursing home, too?” I hadn’t seen my grandmother in almost a week. With the recent attempts on my life, I was craving a little family time.
He smiled. A hint of something I didn’t understand hid just below the surface of his grin. “Sure.”
“Okay. Well, I’ll let you know.”
I left Kyle and padded off toward the shower.
While the hot water rained down over my tired muscles, I plotted how I would convince the dean to give me permission to leave campus. Why have the ability to mindspeak if I couldn’t use it to my advantage?
Jack kept telling me that our abilities were bound by control. If we controlled our mind, we’d reach the potential of what we were engineered to do. It still didn’t make sense to me, but two weeks ago I would never have believed my geneticist dad had raised a cloned human as his daughter.
For now, I’d practice my ability. I’d start with gaining off-campus privileges while blocking Jack from knowing anything about it.
~~~~
To beat the boredom the students all swore they’d die from if the dean confined them to campus for long, the school organized an outdoor movie showing on the multipurpose field for the next night.
The school even allowed vendors in to sell kettle corn, hot dogs, deep-fried Oreos and pickles. Only in Kentucky could you get that gourmet cuisine.
Danielle and I surveyed the food choices.
She crinkled her nose. “Are they kidding with this stuff? My arteries are constricting just smelling the grease coming from the fried Snickers stand.”
I l
aughed. “Yeah, they think we’re at risk leaving Wellington, but they’ll feed us heart attack on a stick for dinner.”
Where’ve you been? Jack’s voice prodded my mind.
Jack. I did a three-sixty searching for him among the sea of students who had already turned out for the movie. Even in my head, his voice had a way of sending a shiver down my spine. I hoped he couldn’t sense that.
I’d worked hard to keep him blocked out the past few days. Mainly I was practicing for times when I needed to keep him out of my head. I couldn’t have him hearing my every thought. Not to mention Jack was convinced someone had discovered how to get inside my head and make me “sleepwalk” right into dangerous situations, starting with the night the fire alarm was set off in the dorm.
I wondered if it went back further than that, like the night Dad died, and someone chased me at Jack’s farm but then disappeared. Maybe I didn’t have to be fully asleep, just vulnerable.
“Who’re you looking for?” Dani had pulled a snack-pack of rice cakes from her backpack.
“Jack. Pretty sure he’s already here.”
Cold.
I turned my head to the right. Everything was a game to him.
Colder.
“Wish you could see the goofy grin on your face.” Dani laughed. “Don’t think for a second you’re deserting me. I don’t mind being a third wheel.”
I put my arm around her and steered her around in the opposite direction from where I was looking. “I would never desert you. You’re no third wheel.”
Oooh. Warm.
Warmer.
I spotted him on the other side of a soccer goal carrying a blanket. I tried to suppress the glow that spread across my face.
Dani rolled her eyes.
“Oh, stop. You’re the one who wished for this,” I whispered.
“I know, but…” She elbowed me playfully. “You know I’m kidding. I’ve just never seen you fall for anyone.”
“I know.” It frightened me.
When we reached Jack, he leaned down and whispered in my ear. “Would you like to go to the movies?”
I pulled back and lifted a brow.
He shrugged. After last weekend, I hoped to make this an official date. To make up for that disaster.
So much happened that night and in the days after. Jack’s face turned serious, and I realized I hadn’t answered the question.
I nodded. Of course.