The Awakening

Nineteen

“BACK TO THE BEGINNING, then,” Derek said, settling onto his crate. “The last time we saw you, you were running for the warehouse with Rae. Our distraction worked and we got away, but we couldn’t go back for a while, in case they were watching. When we got there, you guys were gone.”

“Rae convinced me to leave.” She’d said that when she was alone with Simon, Simon hadn’t mentioned me at all—only worried about his brother. I knew now that wasn’t true—she’d known it would make me feel bad, maybe bad enough to leave with her, and now I was embarrassed that it had worked. “She…said stuff. She got me to leave to get my arm checked by Aunt Lauren, and then…”

I took them through the last two days, step by step, revelation by revelation. When I finally finished, they all sat there, silent, even Tori.

“So Brady and Liz are dead,” Simon said slowly. “And, I guess, that other girl—the one who was shipped out earlier.”

“Amber,” Tori said. “Her name was Amber.”

I nodded. “She was on the list. All three of them.”

Another moment of silence.

“Rae and Aunt Lauren are still there,” I said finally. “I know Rae betrayed us, and my aunt was one of them, but I-I need to get them out. I don’t expect any help with that—”

“No, you’re right,” Simon said. “Rae screwed up, but she sure doesn’t deserve to die for it.”

“I know we can’t rescue them alone.” I snuck a look at Derek. When he nodded, I felt a pinch of disappointment, like I’d been hoping he’d say that we could handle it. He was right, of course. We couldn’t.

“Once we find your dad, I want to go back,” I said. “I guess now we know why he took you guys and ran.”

“Because he decided genetically engineering his son hadn’t been such a bright idea after all?” There was a bitterness in Simon’s voice that surprised me. All this time, I hadn’t thought of that—I’d been too focused on Simon’s father as “the good guy.” But he’d put his son in the experiment, like all the other parents.

“They tried to do the right thing,” I said, remembering my aunt’s letter. “They thought it would make our lives easier. The Edison Group sold them this dream, and when it started to go wrong, your dad got out. Aunt Lauren tried, too.” I touched the letter in my pocket. “Just too late.”

“And then there are those of us whose parents never regretted it,” Tori said. “Whose mothers have turned out to be total evil bitches. But, hey, at least now no one can say I don’t come by it honestly.” She ripped the last bit of wrapper from her energy bar. “I don’t buy this crap about us being failures, though. They wanted stronger supernaturals. That’s what we are. They just need to teach us how to control it.”

“You go back and tell them that,” Simon said.

“What about you?” Tori waved at Simon. “Your powers work fine. You didn’t even get counseling at Lyle House.”

“Simon isn’t on the list. They consider him a success.”

“Whatever that means.” Simon shifted on his crate. “The experiment’s so-called successes seem to have weaker powers, but maybe they just haven’t kicked in yet. When they do, we could have the same problems.”

Tori nodded. “Ticking time bombs.”

Exactly what the demi-demon had said…

I hadn’t mentioned the demi-demon. An unnecessary complication and a chance for Derek to tell me I’d been stupid even to listen to her. As for what she said, about going back, freeing her? Not something I wanted to consider right now. If we did go back, we’d have Simon’s dad and he’d find a way to stop the Edison Group without freeing any demons.

“My dad will fill in the blanks,” Simon said.

“Great,” Tori said. “We can save Chloe’s aunt and Rae and get all our questions answered…just as soon as you find your missing dad. How’s that going?” She looked at our surroundings. “Not so well, I see.”

Anger flared in Simon’s eyes, but he blinked it away. “We’re working on it.”

“How?”

“Later,” Derek said. “Right now, we need to get Chloe warmer clothes—”

“Chloe, Chloe, Chloe. Stop worrying about poor little Chloe. She hasn’t frozen yet. What about your dad? Any clues? Hints?”

“Not yet,” Simon said.

“So what have you been doing for the last two days?”

His anger flared, and this time he let it, turning on her so fast she shrank back. “We’ve spent every waking minute of them on three things: surviving, finding Chloe, and finding our dad. What have you been doing?”

“I was locked up.”

“So? That didn’t stop Chloe. What do you have to add, Tori? Did you find out anything? Or just piggyback on her escape?”

“Tori helped me,” I said. “Without her—”

She whipped around to face me. “Don’t you defend me, Chloe Saunders.”

Silence. Then Derek said, “Where can we take you, Tori? To a grandparent? Friend? You’re out now and you’re safe, so I’m sure there’s someplace you’d rather be.”

“No.”

I opened my mouth to tell them what had happened with her dad, but her glare shut me up.

“She doesn’t have any place to go,” I said. “Like me.”

“There must be someone,” Derek said, “maybe not in Buffalo, but we’ll buy you a bus ticket.”

“Preferably on one leaving in the next hour?” she said. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m joining your little gang of baby heroes on the quest to find Superdad.”

Simon and Derek exchanged a look.

“No,” Derek said.

“No? Excuse me, it was Rae who betrayed you guys. Not me. I helped Chloe.”

“And was it Rae who tormented her at Lyle House?”

“Tormented?” A derisive snort. “I didn’t—”

“You did everything you could to get Chloe kicked out,” Simon said. “And when that didn’t work, you tried to kill her.”

“Kill her?” Tori’s mouth hardened. “I’m not my mother. Don’t you dare accuse—”

“You lured her into the crawl space,” Derek said. “Hit her over the head with a brick, bound and gagged her, and locked her in. Did you even check to make sure she was okay? That you hadn’t cracked her skull?”

Tori sputtered a protest, but from the horror in her eyes, I knew the possibility hadn’t occurred to her.

“Derek,” I said, “I don’t think—”

“No, she didn’t think. She could have killed you with the brick, suffocated you with the gag, given you a heart attack from fright, not to mention what would have happened if you hadn’t gotten out of your bindings. It only takes a couple of days to die from dehydration.”

“I would never have left Chloe to die. You can’t accuse me of that.”

“No,” Derek said. “Just of wanting her locked up in a mental hospital. And why? Because you didn’t like her. Because she talked to a guy you did like. Maybe you’re not your mother, Tori. But what you are…” He fixed her with an icy look. “I don’t want it around.”

The expression on her face…I felt for her, whether she’d welcome my sympathy or not.

“We don’t trust you,” Simon said, his tone softer than his brother’s. “We can’t have someone along that we don’t trust.”

“What if I’m okay with it,” I cut in. “If I feel safe with her…”

“You don’t,” Derek said. “You won’t kick her to the curb, though, because it’s not the kind of person you are.” He met Tori’s gaze. “But it’s the kind of person I am. Chloe won’t force you to leave because she’d feel horrible if anything happened to you. Me? I don’t care. You brought it on yourself.”

Now that was too harsh. Simon squirmed, mouth opening.

I beat him to it. “Where is she going to go? She doesn’t have any money. Anyone she runs to will almost certainly call her parents.”

“I don’t care.”

“We can’t do that,” Simon said. “It’s not right.”

I knew Derek didn’t lack empathy—he couldn’t forget what he’d done to that kid who attacked Simon. But it was like he held some weird list of checks and balances, and if you got on the wrong side, like Tori had, he had no problem “kicking you to the curb,” to face whatever fate waited.

“No,” I said.

“It isn’t up for negotiation. She’s not coming.”

“Okay.” I stood and brushed off my jeans. “Come on, Tori.”

When Simon rose, I thought he was going to stop me. Instead, he followed me to the door. Tori caught up, and we made it into the next room before Derek jogged out, catching my arm with a wrench that yanked me off my feet.

I winced and peeled off his fingers. “Wrong one.”

He dropped my arm quickly, realizing he’d grabbed my injured one. A long minute of silence, then, “Fine.” He turned to Tori. “Three conditions. One, whatever your problem is with Chloe, get over it. Go after her again, you’re gone.”

“Understood,” Tori said.

“Two, get over Simon. He’s not interested.”

She flushed and snapped, “I think I’ve figured that out. And number three?”

“Get over yourself.”