I couldn’t help it. A smile crept across my lips. Kale saw it, too.
“Don’t. It doesn’t mean anything. The thought was there one minute and gone the next. I could push you from the car right now and not think twice.”
I shook my head. “No. You couldn’t.” A short snicker escaped despite my best efforts to rein it in. “You wouldn’t make it far. You can’t drive well, remember?”
“You did something. When you kissed me. My head’s been…wrong ever since.”
“It’s not wrong, Kale. It’s starting to clear.”
…
We drove until the sun crested the horizon. I didn’t know where we were going and didn’t ask, instead following the directions Kale would occasionally bark. I was tired but energized by the tiny glimpse of progress. It was enough to keep me going. The road that stretched in front of us was full of possibilities. Despite the situation, I felt more hopeful than I had in months.
Kale had me pull the car off the interstate and into a Sunoco station parking lot. Digging into his jacket pocket, he said, “I’m going to make a call. Don’t speak.”
“Make sure you put it on speaker,” I said, and to my surprise, he did.
It rang six times before a girl’s voice, frantic, answered. “Kale?”
“What’s going on, Roz.”
“Oh my God, Kale. I’ve been so worried.”
It gave me some small amount of pleasure to hear the chill in his voice as he spoke to her. It was all business, tinted with anger. And the expression on his face? Yeah. Obviously, Kale wasn’t feeling the love. “What’s going on?” he repeated. “I was attacked by agents.”
On the other end of the line, you could have heard a feather hit the ground.
“How did they find me?” he pushed.
“Are you sure they were Denazen agents? It could have been an Underground tr—”
“They were Denazen. Why would they attack me, Roz?”
“I—I have no idea. Where are you? Come home. Please? You’re so close to a breakthrough. Mindy’s waiting to do your next session. If you miss it you’ll lose all the progress you’ve already made.”
“I’m in the middle of something.”
I could hear the panic in Kiernan’s voice. Teeth digging into my tongue to keep from saying something out loud, I leaned a hair closer. Kale didn’t seem to notice, or if he did, he didn’t care. I let myself believe the latter.
“Then tell me where you are. I’ll come to you. Whatever it is, we can tackle it together. You don’t have to be alone.”
“I’m not alone. I have Kiernan with me.”
I could almost hear the steam coming from her ears. Her reaction was so epic that for once, I didn’t get pissed about him calling me Kiernan. “What?”
“I found her outside Thom Morris’s house.”
“And you, what?” she snapped. There was banging in the background—like she was slamming things around. Typical Kiernan. She was the temper tantrum queen. I’d seen it a thousand times. She’d hummed her cell through one of the windows at the hotel when some guy at Ginger’s Six-only rave never called her back. “Thought you’d take her for a ride? Didn’t Daddy give the kill order? Why is she even still alive?”
“First I owe her for what she did to me.”
The tension in her voice eased a little. “But we need you back here. We have to find the others before they do any damage—and your treatments… I want to see you well again, Kale. Why don’t you bring her home? Maybe Daddy can reason with her.” Then, in a softer voice, she added, “Please…I miss you.”
Kiernan was frantic. It reinforced Aubrey’s theory about Kale’s memories coming back on their own. Every minute I spent with him was another that her control over him might slip. She knew how much he loved me. Spending time with the real thing—and not the phony—was bound to shake something loose.
Dez Cross. Accept no substitutions.
“I can’t yet. There’s something I need to do.”
“What?” she squealed so loudly that I cringed. “What could you possibly have to do?”
“You’re going to have to trust me.” His eyes darted to mine, then back to the cell. “You trust me, right, Roz?”
“Of course I—”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I don’t like you running around with her. She’s dangerous.”
“I can take care of myself. I’m hanging up now. I’ll be in touch.”
“Kale, wait. I—”
He looked down at the cell, then up at me. It wasn’t a smile. Not really. But it wasn’t a scowl, either. “Let’s go find the truth.”
15
We drove for another hour before Kale made me pull off the interstate again. I asked him twice where we were going and he kept saying he wasn’t sure, but it looked like we were headed somewhere specific.
“How much farther? Remember Simmons’s plane comes in tomorrow. We can’t miss it.”
“We won’t.”
And that was it. It was all he said for another forty minutes. When he spoke again, it was to tell me to pull into the driveway of a small, unassuming ranch with a barricade of firewood all around the front porch and a three-foot lit snowman with a bright red Santa hat by the door.
I killed the engine and unfastened my seat belt. “So obviously we’re here for a reason. What is it?”
He got out of the car without responding and started up the walk. I stuck my head out the open window. “Kale?” And when he didn’t answer, I extracted myself from Ginger’s uncomfortable seat and begrudgingly followed him to the house. “Are we just randomly knocking on people’s doors for some reason, or do we have a specific purpose here?”
“I don’t know,” he snapped, then stopped halfway up the walkway. Sighing, he said, “I don’t know where we are or why we’re here. I don’t know who lives inside, and I don’t know why I feel such a pull, but I do.”
I put my hand on his shoulder and was surprised when he didn’t pull away. “It’s okay.”
“I feel like I have to be here.”
“Then let’s be here.” There was nothing else to say. There was desperation in his eyes as well as fear. He’d spent his entire life controlled by Denazen, having no free will to speak of. Feeling the need to come here, but not knowing why, must have brought up buried fears.
He turned to me and I saw it again. A glimmer of my Kale. “I don’t know if you’re telling the truth, but I know something’s wrong. I can feel it. My own family attacked me, and I keep seeing…”
I had to fight the urge to grab his hands and shake him. “Seeing what? Are you having flashes?”
He looked like he wanted to say more, but he only nodded to the house. “Let’s go.”
We climbed the steps and knocked several times, then waited. Unfortunately, it looked like no one was home. There was no sound coming from inside the house and it didn’t seem as though any of the lights were on.
“That’s inconvenient.” I sighed. The only chance we had of finding out what had drawn Kale here was getting into that house. I tapped the doorframe and waggled my eyebrows as I turned to him. “We could always do a little breaking and entering. See what’s inside?”
“There’s no need to break in. Just knock a little louder.”
We both jumped, spinning back toward the door. A woman slightly older than Mom, with short black hair and bright green eyes, watched us from behind the screen. She looked from me to Kale and when her eyes fell to him, a brilliant smile lit her face. “You came!”
That was unexpected. “You know him?”
She stepped back, holding the door open, and enthusiastically waved us inside. “Not formally, no. But we’ve met…in a manner of speaking.”
We stepped into the house, Kale more easily than I did. Apparently, along with his memories, he’d also lost his caution to Denazen. My Kale would never just walk through a door in a strange place without checking things out first.
“What are you names?” I
didn’t miss how she looked from left to right, almost as if to be sure we were alone, before closing the door and clicking all three intricate padlocks in place.
Huh. Someone was a paranoid puppy.
“My name is Kale.” He pointed to me. “This is Kiern—”
I shot him a look that would have scared most children and small animals, daring him to finish the sentence.
“Honestly, I have no idea who she is,” he finished with a shrug of his shoulders.
I smiled and held out my hand. “I’m Dez.”
The women nodded, smile bright as the sun, and shook my hand. “It’s very nice to meet you, Dez and Kale. Please. Take a seat. Make yourselves comfortable.”
We followed her inside and I settled on the couch, while Kale sat in the armchair on the far side of the room. The woman sat between us, saying nothing. She watched Kale, and I found it a little creepy how she just sat there smiling at him.
“That’s a really cool bracelet,” I said in an attempt to get things moving. As nice as it was to be somewhere with real heat, we didn’t have all day. Things to do. Secrets to uncover. Evil corporations to topple.
“Thank you,” she said, holding up her arm. On her wrist was a shiny silver band with a raised red stone. It was simple yet elegant. “It’s my good luck charm. A…safety blanket so to speak.”
“You seem like you’ve been expecting me. But you didn’t know my name?” Kale fidgeted. Not flicking his fingers but back to tapping again. Sets of three.
One. Two. Three. One. Two. Three.
“Let’s start out easy, shall we?” Smile still in place, the woman asked, “Do you know who I am?”
“I don’t remember anything about my life,” he said, leaning forward, elbows on knees. “My childhood, family, friends—all of it’s gone.”
She lost her smile. “I thought something might be wrong.” Leaning back, she placed both hands in her lap and crossed her feet at the ankles. It was all very British, as Alex would have said. “But if your memories are gone, how did you find your way here?”
“I don’t know. We just started driving. This is where we ended up.”
We started driving? I drove, and technically it was more a hostage situation than the leisurely road trip he made it sound like. Granted, I was a willing captive, but still, he didn’t necessarily know that. “What do you mean, you thought something might be wrong?”
She relaxed a little and faced me. “First, explain to me about his memories.”
“A place called Denazen happened,” I spat without thinking. To most people, the name wouldn’t mean anything. The company made the news at the beginning of summer when the building burned down, but other than that, as far as the world was concerned, they were a simple law firm specializing in juvenile and divorce cases. This woman, though…this woman knew who they were. Her expression softened, but there was a distinct twitch in her right eyebrow. Fear. “They scrambled his brain,” I continued. “Turned him against his real family and friends.”
“So you’re the girlfriend?” she said with a sad smile. “One of the Supremacy children?”
A chill raced through me, chased by a healthy dose of fear. I stood, and to my surprise, Kale rose and stepped close. It was an unconscious gesture. I could tell because after he did it, he stopped and looked down at me, taking a step away, confused, as if he hadn’t been aware of his own actions.
She threw up her hands. “Please. I mean you no harm.”
“How do you know who I am—and more importantly, who are you?” At the mention of Denazen, she’d been afraid—but that didn’t necessarily make her an ally.
“I know who you are through Kale.”
“Who you’ve said you’d never met until we showed up on your doorstep,” I finished for her. “But then you said you thought something was wrong.” Shoulders squared, I narrowed my eyes and gave her my most intimidating stare. “You’re all over the place, lady. Make up your mind already because you’re making me dizzy.”
“Answer her questions,” Kale said, voice low. “Who are you? And how did you know something was wrong with me?”
“It’s true. I’ve never met Kale in person, but I know you from his memories. You were inside his head—and his heart.” She turned to Kale. “And I know you because my blood moves through your veins.”
“You’re a relative?” His eyes became impossibly wide and just a little bit hopeful, but I knew that wasn’t the case. Ginger was his only living relative. If there’d been someone else, she would have told us.
Then again, maybe not. This was Ginger.
The woman shook her head. “I’m sorry, no. But you are as you are because of me.” She stood and held out her hand to him. “I’m Penny Mills.”
16
I couldn’t speak. Now that she’d said it, I could see a faint resemblance to the picture Ginger had shown us at the cabin. The eyes were the same, and the shape of her face similar, but not much else. She’d obviously gone to great lengths to change her appearance.
“I can’t believe it,” I whispered, sinking back onto the couch. Kale took a seat beside me. “My friends are looking for you. Denazen is looking for you.”
“Yes, I’m quite popular, aren’t I?”
“But how have you stayed hidden? Denazen is looking under every rock in the country right now—and let’s face it, those guys have some pretty insane resources.”
“I’ve been extremely careful since parting ways with Denazen. I only managed to maintain my freedom because they believed me dead. It wasn’t until recently that they uncovered the truth about my survival. I’m afraid my carelessness in being discovered has led to the current predicament.”
“Current predicament? You mean the creation of a working trial of the new Supremacy? Domination?”
“Yes,” she said. “They used my blood to make it, but it’s not one hundred percent successful. People are still dying.”
“Exactly!” I exclaimed—but that still didn’t answer all our questions. If she didn’t stop being so cryptic I was likely to implode. “How do you know all this? Do you have contacts inside Denazen? You still haven’t said how you know Kale. The thing about your blood is a little vague…”
“Contacts inside Denazen?” She laughed. “How absurd! No, I have a special connection to the latest trial. Apparently, since my blood was used, I can communicate on a subliminal level with anyone given the new drug. That’s how I know Kale. It’s how he knew where to find me.”
“Wait,” Kale said, paling. “You’re saying I was given Domination? That’s impossible.”
“I’m afraid it’s true. I wouldn’t have been able to feel you otherwise. The drug was administered in late September. I knew you the moment it integrated with your system.”
“How many others are there besides Kale? Have you spoken to any?”
She looked at me as if I were insane. “Spoken to them? Of course not. Kale is the only one I’ve contacted.”
Holy crap. Getting information from her was like dragging an elephant out of a mouse hole. “You keep saying that. Contacted. What do you mean?”
“And why me?” he added. “Why contact me at all?”
“I’m what Denazen calls an empath. I feel the emotions of those physically close to me. When given the Supremacy drug, my ability became heightened. I was able to focus on a specific person—no matter where he or she was—and use my ability. In the case of those administered the new drug, the one that contains my blood, I found I didn’t need to try establishing a connection. It was automatic. I felt people involuntarily. I also found I could communicate with them while in a rested state.”
“Rested state? You mean when they were asleep?”
She nodded. “Asleep or relaxed. Some of my communications with Kale were while they had him semi-sedated, shortly after administering the drug.”
“This is very interesting, but it doesn’t tell me why you chose to communicate with me and not the others,” Kale said flatly.
“You were overwhelmingly sad and frightened after you received the drug—not like the rest. You were so worried not only for yourself but for the girl you loved. A girl from the previous trial.”
Kale glanced at me, then quickly looked away.
Penny’s eyes teared as though the pain were her own. “Those first few days were excruciating. You felt so alone—but you weren’t. I was there with you.”
Kale stood and took several steps toward the door. “This is crazy.”
“But something changed.” Penny stood as well, frowning. “The connection grew clouded and erratic. I could still sense you—could still feel you—but it was pure confusion. I thought it was possibly a new side effect of the drug. That maybe you were somehow allergic but not fatally so. Now I understand it must have been what they did to your mind.”
“A Resident did it. They needed to be sure they could control him if he survived,” I said.
Kale shook his head and was almost to the door. “You’re both wrong,” he insisted. The look in his eyes was enough to steal the breath from my lungs. Fury, disappointment, and worst of all, pain. “No one controls me.”
The ferocity in his voice sent my heart thundering. Kale had been given a taste of freedom—his first—when we met in the woods behind my old house. Until that day he’d been told where to go, what to do, and who lived and died. Once free from all that, he swore no one would ever have that kind of power over him again.
“I showed you where to find me so I could help cure your girlfriend,” Penny said softly.
“Your blood,” I said, watching Kale. “We have friends who believe they can create a cure using it.”