Evolutionary Romance- The Complete Trilogy

by Sarah Biglow

  "I'm not close with those guys."

  I sensed a theme. None of them had many people in their lives they could share this with. I wanted friends to share things with, but I couldn't shake the fear we were all doomed to be isolated thanks to these abilities. Were we made this way?

  "Don't you get lonely?"

  "Maybe that's another reason I keep doing the whole superhero thing. Sure, people can't know it's me, but I know they're appreciative of me."

  "Do you see yourself doing it for the rest of your life?"

  "I hadn't thought about it."

  "Are you going to college in the fall?"

  "I got scholarships to a few places, but I'm going to stay local."

  "Because it's what Tina wants?"

  "No."

  "Spencer is going to be mad at me for saying this but I don't care. You have to know Tina likes you."

  "She's an okay friend but ... that's all we are."

  "You might want to better communicate that to her, so she isn't pining after you forever. Like she’s done with Spencer. You're hurting her letting her think there's a chance."

  "I’m seeing someone anyway."

  I knew that wasn’t the end of the story. “Spencer said there’s a reason you aren’t into Tina. What is it?”

  “Like I said, I’ve got someone already.” Self-doubt overwhelmed me, and he refused to look at me.

  “Are you gay or something?” It came out before I could stop it.

  “No!”

  “Okay. I am sorry I asked.”

  “Just because I’m not into Tina doesn’t mean I’m gay. Jeez.”

  "Sorry,” I muttered again. “Are you curious if your parents did the same thing with you?" I said after a moment of silence.

  "I wouldn’t be hanging with Tina and Spencer if I wasn’t. But I don’t know what it means if what you’re saying is true.”

  “Well, we can figure it out together. Thanks for letting me talk this out. I think I am ready to face Papi now.”

  Declan led me back to the front of the house and gave a stiff wave before shutting the door. As I started to make my way home, worry seeped into my consciousness. The closer we got to the truth, the more confident I became that my feelings for Spencer had been manufactured. Now I had to decide if following them was worth it.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Spencer

  The prospect of dumping the truth on Tina terrified me. Even before we'd been bound together by all the powered weirdness, she'd been a little scary. I avoided Tina until the end of classes Monday. We hadn't agreed on a meeting place, but the computer lab was a good bet. I headed down there and found Marisol waiting outside the door.

  "Hey," I greeted.

  "Hi." Her gaze was a million miles away.

  "Are you all right?"

  "I'll explain when we're all together."

  Her cryptic response hung between us as we ducked into the room. Declan was already sitting at one of the far computers. He and Marisol shared a knowing look, leaving me on the outside of a private moment.

  "She knows where to find us, right?" Marisol asked.

  "It isn't nice to talk about people behind their backs," Tina quipped as she strode in.

  Marisol turned to me and nudged me forward. I wanted to work up to dropping this bombshell. Maybe some light witty banter to ease into the fact her father was probably an unethical maniac. Tina looked from me to Marisol to Declan and back again.

  "Okay, seriously who died? You all look miserable."

  "I got shot," I volunteered.

  "We didn't have a great weekend," Marisol said, leaving me the opening I didn't want.

  "I don't want to hear about your romance woes," Tina said with an accompanying eye roll.

  "She's not talking about that, Tina," I interjected.

  "Whatever it is, I don't care. We need to get going if we want to find Room 804. According to both of her schedules, my mother is supposed to be at Town Hall until six."

  "You need to hear this," Declan added.

  "Fine, what is it?"

  I dug int the front flap of my bag and pulled out the article I'd found on Kirkpatrick Industries. I handed it over. "I did a little research on the company that owned the building before the library. Clayton Kirkpatrick was the head and he did research into gene editing."

  "Wow, Spencer, you did a Google search," she drawled.

  "Clayton Kirkpatrick is your father," Marisol said softly.

  Tina rounded on her, strands of blue and purple whipped across her face. "And how would you know that?"

  "We saw your birth certificate."

  Tina lunged. I'd never seen Declan move so swiftly as he put himself in her path. She slammed against his outstretched arm and grunted. Marisol took a few steps back and reached for my hand. I squeezed tight in an effort to reassure her.

  "You had no right to dig into my life," Tina spat.

  "You wanted answers about where we came from. This is the answer," I said. “And if you’re going to be mad, you should be mad at me. I had one of the Town Hall employees pull it when we were looking for blueprints.”

  "There's something else," Marisol added softly, holding out a crumpled packet of paper flipped to the final page of signatures. "My parents signed an agreement for Kirkpatrick Industries to help them have a baby. Your father's research wasn't just theoretical. He did it. We're the proof."

  She hadn't told me about this discovery and suddenly her and Declan's look made sense. We weren’t exactly in the best of places so why would she confide in me? Still, it stung a little. Tina ripped the paper from Marisol's hand and angrily turned back to the first page. On the brink of tears, she tossed it on the desk beside her.

  "You just had to be right, didn't you?" She snapped at me.

  "Tina, I'm sorry this is what came out of everything. I didn't want to find this out before you did. Maybe the reason you couldn't was because they kept everything analog. It's hard to hack paper if you don't know it's there."

  She rubbed at her eyes but refused to let the tears fall. "So, we've established my mother is a liar. Let's get the proof. I need to know why she kept this a secret."

  Declan moved to allow her to lead the way out. She kept her distance from me and Marisol as we left school grounds behind. Declan brought up the rear, as silent as ever. Having no desire to hear the mental tirade Tina likely had brewing, I kept my powers in check.

  The library parking lot was sparsely populated when we arrived. I expected Henry to be manning the desk, but he was nowhere to be seen. Some woman I didn’t recognize sat behind the computer. I eyed our destination off to our left. If no one went in on a regular basis, four teenagers traipsing through would draw suspicion.

  "What's the plan?" I whispered.

  "We go in and Declan kicks down the door if he has to," Tina replied.

  "I'm not breaking anything," Declan muttered.

  "We can't all go in at once. It will look like we're up to something," Marisol added.

  "Fine, I'll keep her busy while you three sneak in and I'll join you," I offered.

  "You aren't the flirty type, Spence," Tina mumbled, pulling out the same setup she’d used to get us into Town Hall.

  I ignored her. I could flirt just fine for our purposes. I sauntered up to the desk and cleared my throat. "Excuse me, can you help me?"

  "What do you need?"

  "I'm looking for some information on ..." I stalled out. Maybe I should have thought this through before I came over. I glanced over my shoulder and Marisol mimed what I took to be two people making out. "Uh, romance novels," I finished.

  "What kind?"

  "Sorry?"

  She looked at me, "What sub-genre of romance?"

  "Oh, um, well I'm not sure. Do you have any recommendations?"

  "Well, are you looking for a straight romance? Same-sex romance?"

  "The first one." I caught movement out of my peripheral vision. "Could you maybe get some different ones and I can take a look?"
/>
  She huffed. "Don't touch anything."

  I held my hands up for her to see. She left the desk unattended and vanished into the stacks. I darted to the Restricted sign and slipped through the door before it locked. Tina, Declan, and Marisol waited just beyond the first set of stacks.

  "You have no idea how embarrassing that was," I said.

  "Yes, I do," Marisol said with a giggle.

  "Not funny," I sniffed as we marched between the dusty shelving to the back of the space. The wood paneling along the wall had no space to activate a doorway so we tried the inner wall. Nothing jumped out at us on this wall either.

  "Please don't let it be cliché and hidden behind a book," Tina griped as we reconvened in the middle of the room.

  Declan was nowhere to be seen. The space wasn't big enough to truly lose sight of each other. Maybe he'd found something. His head appeared over a set of books on one of the far stacks. "I think I found something."

  We joined him near the front of the section beside what looked like an electrical box. I hadn't noticed it upon entering. Probably the point. He pulled the front panel clear off exposing a blank screen the size of a human hand. Tina pulled out her lock reader and searched for a spot to plug it in. Finding none, she let out a huff.

  "Maybe it's un-hackable," I suggested.

  "I can't break it open," Declan added.

  "What if you tried your hand print," Marisol said.

  "Right, like that would actually work," Tina scoffed.

  "Doesn't hurt to try," I said.

  Tina shoved her gadgets into my hands and slammed her right hand onto the scanner. A pale blue light ran the length of her hand but nothing else happened.

  "Any more bright ideas?"

  "Welcome Christina," a mechanical voice announced.

  Tina's cheeks flushed, and I caught Declan snicker behind his hand. A section of wall that looked ordinary clicked and recessed to reveal an entrance. I was of the mind that Tina should go first, lest we encounter any other tech barriers. Declan stepped through first. Also, a good option for heading into the unknown. Tina ducked in after him, leaving Marisol and I to bring up the rear.

  "You told Declan about the contract," I said as I trailed her a pace or two, the passage only wide enough to proceed single file.

  "I needed to clear my head and ended up at his place. It's not a big deal."

  "You don't have to justify it," I said.

  "You are still hurt I didn't tell you."

  "Now I know how they feel," I muttered under my breath, realizing this must be what it was like for Declan and Tina.

  The passage slopped downward and soon the ambient light from the library vanished. We all pulled out our cell phones and let the LED lights guide us onward. Right when I thought the passage wouldn't end, we came to a plateau and another doorway blocked by another scanner.

  "You're up." Declan shuffled aside.

  Tina studied the scanner for a minute and shook her head. "It's an iris scan."

  "Your hand print worked before. Maybe your eyes will, too," I said.

  She crouched down and stared into the machine. The same pale light flickered on and ran a vertical and horizontal sweep of Tina's eye. Nothing else happened.

  “One of you two better give it a try,” she said.

  I was about to shuffle forward when Declan nudged Tina out of the way and bent down. The blue light flickered over his eye. The door beeped and slid open like a pneumatic door.

  "You’ve never been down here before, right?” I whispered.

  “Never,” he answered.

  "Cross my heart and all that shit," Tina added.

  We ended up in a hallway with doors branching off at varying intervals. The closest one bore 807. I jogged down the hall to find the numbers ascended. "Go to the left," I instructed.

  Room 804 wasn't hard to find. The sense of anticipation that had been building in my mind since Friday night broke with disappointment when we reached the unassuming wooden door with no window. A simple handle adorned it and I pushed it open to reveal .... an entirely boring boardroom.

  "Well, this is a letdown," I said.

  "There has to be more," Tina shouldered past me and scoured the room for more panels. Her thoughts screamed at me, begging me to assure her we hadn't come up empty-handed.

  "Let's check the other rooms," Marisol said.

  "She's right," Declan agreed.

  Tina ignored the suggestion, frantically searching beneath chairs and under the table. I grabbed her arm and jumped as electric current flowed through me. I staggered back and hit the door frame, my body twitching from the jolt.

  "What the fuck was that for?" I spat, my tongue thick after I bit it.

  "There has to be something here."

  Marisol closed the distance careful not to make contact. "I know you want something to be here. We all did. But this place is huge. We are not done looking. We will find the answers. I promise."

  I expected Tina to snap at Marisol or insult her powers. Instead, Tina straightened, dabbed at her cheeks, and nodded. "You're right."

  Maybe Marisol used her empathy to strike a chord with Tina. Whatever the reason for Tina's sudden acquiescence, I didn't argue. We regrouped in the corridor outside Room 804. So far, our entry remained unnoticed but, with our luck, it wouldn't last.

  "Let's check down this way," I suggested and took off back the way we'd come without waiting for anyone else's opinions. I assumed they'd follow suit. After all, what choice did they have?

  Along the way, we tested handles on the non-keypad doors. They remained locked. We didn't have time for Marisol to pick each one. At the end of the hall we came to a juncture with two more corridors branching off in a T.

  "Which way?" Declan asked from behind me.

  I closed my eyes and listened. Not with my ears, but with my mind. I sought out any other people we might risk running into if we took the wrong direction. I blocked out the swirl of thoughts from my friends and reached out to my left. Nothing jumped out at me. I turned my attention to the right and came up against static again.

  "Shit," I swore and pinched the bridge of my nose.

  "What is it?" Tina came to stand shoulder to shoulder with me.

  "There's someone down that way." I gestured right. "I couldn't get any clear thoughts. Just static. Like with Marisol's ex and your mom."

  "So, it could be either of them," Marisol said.

  "The left is clear. I say we check that out first. Maybe we get lucky and we find ... something." At this rate, I wasn't sure what we expected to find on our little treasure hunt.

  "No. I think it's time we call my mother out for the liar she is." Tina marched forward before I could stop her.

  I didn't want to bear witness to this confrontation. It was bound to get ugly fast. I hung back, allowing Declan to pass me. Marisol fell into step with me and I reached for her hand. She moved a pace ahead of me, so it would be too awkward to get a good grip.

  "Hey, what's wrong?" I whispered.

  "I have been thinking about everything that happened the other night. I am still not sure what all of this means. If we were experiments, if they made us this way, how can we trust what we feel?"

  “If you’re worried about me pushing you to do things you don’t want to, I promise it won’t happen again.”

  "I want to believe you, you know I do. But I can't help wondering, what if we were made to find each other. If what we feel is manufactured."

  I caught up to her and pulled her to a halt. "Even if that’s the case, I think we owe it to ourselves to see where this goes. Maybe someone made us to find each other, but why is that such a terrible thing?”

  "These powers have controlled my life long before I knew they were real. I just want to know that what I feel is true."

  "Marisol Esparza, I know we haven't known each other for long, but I can't imagine being with anyone else. I can't be my whole self with anyone but you. We might be a madman's creation, but you are the best thing to c
ome out of it."

  She blinked tears from her eyes and threw her arms around my neck, careful to avoid my injured arm. I let this hope for our future wash over me, filling me until I believed it myself. “I am starting to see that coming here and finding you were what I needed, too. It may take time, but I want to try and make this work."

  "Come on, let's make sure Tina doesn't bring the whole library down around our ears when she confronts her mom,” I said.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Marisol

  As we went in search of Tina and Declan, I let Spencer’s determination wrap around me like armor. I had my doubts, but at my core I wanted to believe we deserved this happiness. Besides, we had bigger problems to think about. Given Mrs. Boudreau's demeanor the last time we questioned her about her knowledge of our existence, I doubted the second time would be any different. The screams and burst of fluorescent blue flames emanating from one of the rooms ahead of us was a clear sign the situation wasn’t going well. Spencer pushed past me.

  “Spencer, wait!” I yelled.

  Throwing himself into danger's path yet again, he barreled toward the source of the fire. Part of me didn't want to follow him and see what horror awaited us but the excitement at finally having answers overshadowed my fear and I inched forward. I had almost reached the doorway when I felt waves of anger I had come to associate with Tina. I stepped inside the room to find a bank of computer monitors lining the wall directly across from me. If I could have imagined Tina's ideal surroundings, this would be near perfect.

  Garbled rasps drew my attention from the tech set up. Declan pressed his left arm across the throat of a surprised looking Henry. His hands flickered with sparks of blueish flames, but Declan kept his body angled to avoid being turned into a human torch. Tina and Spencer stood a short distance away. Spencer's eyes were watering and his cheeks burned from exertion. I picked up on frustration. Frustration at the fact he couldn't read Henry’s thoughts. Tina cradled her right arm close to her chest. I took a few steps toward her and winced, her pain so intense my arm ached in sympathy. I really wished I could get these powers under control.