by Ruby Knight
James sounded panicked.
“James. I'm here.”
“Jules, these guys came. When Dad opened the door, they shot him with a tranquilizer. Mom started screaming.”
“James, where are you?” My voice came out higher than normal. I tried to calm my tone, so he wouldn’t be nervous, because I was scared out of my mind.
“They are going through the house,” he said in a frantic whisper. “How do I get out? What should I do?”
My eyes got wide and I motioned for Hank to take over. I couldn’t do this on my own. The emotions were coming too quickly, overwhelming me, and I still wasn’t good at processing anything when emotions washed over me.
“James, my name is Hank. You are going to have to listen to me closely. Your parents’ home is bugged. You have to know that by now. Is there anywhere in the house that you can go, where no one can find you?”
Sounds of shuffling and heavy breathing came through the phone.
“You are doing well, son. Where are the agents?”
James kept breathing heavily into the phone. The only place I could think of in the house was the attic, but I was positive they would check there.
Hank’s phone blared. He handed me my phone and I put it on mute.
“Quade, tell me there is a team there. I know damn well the other agents are there. What transcendents do we have there?” Hank lips pressed into a smile. “Perfect.”
He held out his hand for my phone, pressing the screen when it reached his fingers. “James, son, are you there?”
His breathing indicated he was.
“I have a team there. Don’t be frightened when someone approaches you. You won't see them until they are right in front of your face. You can't make any noise. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir,” James whispered harshly into the phone.
“Good, where are you? In the house, where are you?”
James’ breathing increased and voices started talking in the background.
“They said the boy was here for the funeral.” There was a pause as the voices in the background listened to muffled radio conversation. “No, we haven't finished searching the house yet, sir.”
A loud boom echoed in the phone, followed by a chorus of curse words. “Sir, a bomb just went off outside. Yes, sir.”
James whispered into the phone. “I am in my parents’ closet. Second floor.”
Hank held his phone up to his ear, relaying the information to Quade.
“Be ready. Don't panic,” Hank said.
We waited. The three of us were collectively holding our breaths as we waited for something to happen.
“Holy shit,” James whispered.
My fourteen-year-old brother was swearing. My mom would be pissed.
A voice I didn't recognize blared out of my phone.
“Hank, I've got him. Wayland made a distraction outside.” She continued talking but was addressing James. “Okay, kid. This is going to feel weird. You can't say anything, though. We’re going to be moving really fast. Really fast, you understand?”
A pause and a muffled yes came through the phone.
“Good. Hold on to my hand. Ready? Hank, I will call you when we are clear,” she said.
The line went dead.
Chapter Eight
I stared at the phone, willing it to ring. Please ring. I paced in front of the bed, making a route from the window to the door and back again. If I’d been a nail biter, I would’ve been doing that instead.
Cole blocked my path and I went to step around him, determined to keep up the pattern. He held up his arms and pulled me tight against his chest.
“It will be fine. Okay, you need to stop with the pacing. You are driving me crazy.”
He ran his fingers through my messy hair and when he brushed the skin at my neck, a refreshing calm rushed through my system. I took a breath deep and tried to think a little bit more rationally.
The phone rang. I practically leapt from Cole’s arms in search of the sleek device when I saw Hank putting it to his ear.
“Wayland,” Hank clipped out.
A pause followed as he listened to the information. My eyes must have been bugging out of my head because Hank glanced at me and put the conversation on speaker.
“I, Natalia, and James are on the way to the airport in Provo. It’s smaller than the one in Salt Lake. I think we will have a better chance of slipping through the cracks there. Can you have Quade charter a plane for us?” Wayland asked.
Hank looked at me and nodded. “Yeah, that should work out fine. We will charter a flight back to headquarters, and we will meet you there tomorrow to try and figure out what they want with these kids’ parents.”
I considered chewing on a nail, even though it was disgusting. I opted for pacing again.
“Julia, are you there?” James asked.
I jumped for the phone and leaned close to James’ voice.
“I’m here, Jam. I’m here. You can trust these people, okay? I will see you tomorrow.” Strange how my voice came out steadier than I felt.
“Okay. Jue, I love you. Thanks for saving me.”
I shook my head to avoid tears. “Don’t thank me. Hank is the one we should both be thanking.”
I looked at Hank intently. He nodded in appreciation.
“Thank you, sir,” James said.
Hank leaned toward the speaker. “Quade will coordinate the details of the flights with you. Please keep us posted on your progress.”
“All right. Bye all,” James said.
The three of us looked at each other. I sat on the edge of the bed and stared out at the crystal blue ocean, wishing for a moment that I was a normal nineteen-year-old on vacation in the Caribbean. Well, not that particularly normal girls got to do this, but … I let my mind wander to a day spent sunbathing with a slushy drink in my hand.
A pop echoed in the room as Harrison joined the group.
“What exactly makes you able to do that? Can you just appear anywhere you want?” I asked.
Harrison quirked a smile at me, revealing that he was quite a bit younger than I had initially thought. A pop sounded again and he was on the other side of the room.
“It would be really convenient if I could transport anywhere I wanted to, but so far, it is only a local thing. I have to know the space. It’s almost like I visualize where I want to be and then it just happens.” He smirked. “It was a real issue in junior high, before I knew what I was. We were all sitting around in the boy’s locker room talking about how cool it would be to be in the girl’s one instead and then pop. I was there. I got suspended.”
I covered my mouth to muffle my laughter. Cole started laughing a deep laugh and nodded toward Harrison.
“Yeah, man. Imagine me being able to read and feel every emotion of every girl I’ve ever kissed.”
A flash of jealousy rushed over me. Harrison laughed and Hank tried to hide a deep chuckle as Cole’s face turned a little red. Cole, the blushing guy, who would have thought? He came over to join me on the bed.
“Can we go out and swim for a bit?” he asked in Hank’s direction.
Hank walked over to the window, forehead creased, fingers tapping on his arm.
“Yeah, we all have to go through. If the government has already sent one guy here, I’m not sure of the security of the island. I have no idea how he found us that quick, not to mention how he got here undetected. It was obvious that he was transcendent. I just don’t know to what extent.” He strode toward the door. “Let’s meet out back in fifteen minutes and we can go down to the dock.”
With that, he shut the three of us in my room. Harrison popped out of existence, most likely to get his swim trunks. I looked at Cole and he had a sad smile on his face.
“You doing okay? This is a lot to take in. I mean, I know it is for me, but I can’t imagine all that stuff with your dad…”
Cole nodded and linked his fingers with mine.
He pulled me back onto the bed and tucked me into his sid
e, so that my head lay flush against the crook of his shoulder. Embracing emotions and allowing myself to feel things wasn’t really what I expected. I mean, I knew I was a control freak, but feeling this quickly beating heart and hearing my breathing pick up speed was the strangest reaction my body had had. The only other time I have felt like this had been before a mission, or when I’d kicked freaking butt in training. Cole ran his fingers through my hair, distracting me from my thought process.
He leaned in and softly brushed his lips against my forehead, trailing kisses down my face until he met my lips. He had great lips, the most kissable lips a girl could touch with hers.
Cole’s kissing became more frantic as we moved to a full-on make-out. Making out being a completely new experience for me, I wasn’t exactly sure if I was supposed to be feeling like I had ignited from the inside out, but it was too good to question it. Cole rolled on top of me, keeping his hand on the small of my back, so our bodies stayed connected. A moan escaped his throat and that shook me from the trance.
I turned my cheek against his chest that felt a bit like a slab of granite. I took a few calming breaths, trying to slow my heart rate. He slid his hand from underneath me and rolled to his side, looking every bit like a model for some underwear campaign.
He brushed my hair behind my ear and smiled lazily at me. “Hey.”
I quirked my lips at him, rolling over to meet his face. “Hey, yourself.”
A blush crept across my skin, and I averted my eyes from the gorgeous boy whom I’d just made out with.
“Cole,” I started and paused, trying to gather my thoughts. Maybe it was my emotions coming back, maybe it was them caring for my brother, maybe it was Cole himself, but I found myself actually wanting to talk to him. “I … you have to understand that I have no idea what I’m doing. I feel like my body and my mind and especially my heart have been spinning out of control ever since we left New York.”
He leaned closer to me, bringing his lips to my forehead. “I know. I can feel it. You will get a handle on it, though, and you will be stronger for it. I have this theory that once you can control your emotions, your ability will come easier to you.”
I smiled and rolled onto my back. Not exactly what I was talking about, but, whatever. I blew out a breath in a rather dramatic fashion.
Cole skimmed his fingers down my arm, effectively causing goosebumps to cover my skin, before he linked his fingers through mine. “As far as the rest of it goes, that’s just kind of normal. When I kiss you, everything goes haywire and I get lost in you.”
He actually looked shy while saying those words; a new emotion on him. Blushing and shy. Interesting.
I was suddenly so mad at my training from the government, because even though I was a strong asset who could manipulate any situation to work in my favor, I had no idea what it meant to feel this, to be a teenage girl with an overwhelming lust for a guy. How was I supposed to handle this? On top of everything else that was going on, liking a guy came up pretty low on my list of problems. Locking up these emotions for a while was the only way to move forward. Losing myself to Cole and giving up control was so not me.
“I’m going to change. I’ll meet you outside.”
I rolled off the bed and shuffled mindlessly through my luggage. The bed creaked as Cole shifted his weight to the floor. He took a step in my direction, but he must have thought better of it because he turned the knob of the door and quietly exited the room.
I let myself sink back against the bed. Nah, too graceful. I plopped to the ground and picked at my split ends of my over-processed hair.
After picking at my hair and grumbling to myself for a good minute, I leaned back over to my bag and pulled out clothes that Cole or whoever had packed for me. Hmm. I followed the end of an emerald green string to find two small triangles. Bikini. Right. Did he forget that I had spent my childhood in the conservative bubble that was Utah? I dumped the bag over. The bottoms to the swimsuit had a bit more material, and by a bit, I meant, maybe, like at least a foot total. I rolled my eyes at the suit in my hands.
I can do this.
It’s just a swimming suit. You have been in less clothes in a lot of training.
You have done way harder things than walking in front of Cole in a bathing suit.
I begrudgingly made my way to the bathroom and slipped off the clothes I had been wearing for far too many hours, leaving them in a heap on the floor. Whoever stocked the house had placed a nice little basket of toiletries below the sink, making my embarrassment go down somewhat with having freshly shaved legs. I was overthinking this, but I had the song about itsy bitsy, teeny weeny bikinis blaring on repeat in my head. I wrapped my towel tightly around my body, covering the swimsuit up entirely.
I walked downstairs and expected everyone to be staring at me. No one was there. I went out to the deck and looked to the shoreline that backed the house. Cole and Harrison were playing with a frisbee, Harrison making it ultimately entertaining by popping in and out of thin air. Hank was sitting on a lounge chair focusing on something in his hands. I took the stairs quickly and squished the soft sand in between my toes. Hmm, heaven.
I struggled to open the gigantic blue umbrella stationed just behind the lounger I had chosen and was fumbling to keep my towel on to cover up my goods. Lord knew I was showing more skin than I would if I’d been in a bra and underwear. I hastily straightened my towel and folded myself up onto the chair.
A soft, squishy ball sat on the chair next to mine, and my mind started calculating a plan to mess with Cole and Harrison. I picked up the ball and sprinted toward the ocean, leaving my towel in a lump on the chair. I got past the shallows and dove into the water. Feeling freer than I had in months, I held the ball under the water, to let it absorb as much liquid as possible.
I popped up and scanned the beach, and as soon as Cole released the frisbee, I threw the ball like a world champion baseball player. The snapshots of the moment went off in slow motion in my brain. Cole was focusing on where Harrison would be, not seeing the ball heading for him. It effectively smashed into his face while soaking him in water. The shock on his face was so candid. I squeaked out a laugh and quickly dunked myself beneath the water to hide my smile of pride. Success. I fist pumped on my way out of the water.
I got in one deep breath before the popping sound clued me into Harrison’s rapid appearance.
“Nice.” He held out his fist for me to bump, and we laughed together as Cole sprinted toward the water. I eyed Harrison, and the most brilliant idea ever came floating into my head.
“Can you take me with you? You know, when you dissolve or whatever you do?”
Harrison looked at me and shrugged. “I don’t know? I’ve never tried. Are you offering yourself as the guinea pig?”
I nodded, maybe with a little bit too much enthusiasm.
“Hurry, let’s do it. Before Cole gets here.”
Harrison smirked at me and shook his head.
“Okay, maybe just jump on my back?”
He sounded unsure, but that seemed like as good of a guess as I would have suggested. He turned around and I climbed up him like a monkey. Cole was only three feet from us. He popped up out of the water to see me waving from Harrison’s back. His jaw dropped.
A huge vacuum cleaner was suddenly sucking my body through it, making me feel like Jell-O wiggling around in a mold as the world spun around me. Way worse than the Gravitron ride I went on at the State Fair. My ears popped, or maybe my whole body did, as I unceremoniously found my butt in the sand. “Whoa.”
Hank was running over to me and Harrison with disbelief scattered across his features.
Harrison squatted down in front of me. “Julia, how many fingers?”
I shook off the dizziness and smiled.
“Three. That was insane! Want to try again?”
Harrison sat back into the sand and looked at me in awe, before he barked out a laugh.
“What in the world were you thinking, Harrison?”
Hank looked pissed. I tried really hard not to laugh. It didn’t work, though. A bubble escaped, and soon, I was crying while grabbing my side from laughing so hard.
“This isn’t a laughing matter! Stop laughing,” Hank said as he fought a smile.
Cole ran up onto the beach from the water. “Dude, I want to try,” he yelled as he kicked up sand.
I did my best not to ogle him while water dripped off of his eight-pack. I failed. Shoot. Would have to try harder next time. I wiped the remainder of tears from my face and took a few breaths to calm my fit of giggles. Who knew I could laugh like that? I didn’t remember the last time I had.
“Cole, no. When we are back in the Catskills and in the protection of the lab, we can work on this newfound addition to Harrison’s ability. Not here, though. Julia.” Hank looked increasingly sterner as he talked. “What you and Harrison just did was stupid. Who knows what could have happened to you? Your body could have been split in two, for all we know.”
I tucked my legs underneath me.
“Hank, with all due respect, it was my choice. I know that I have the luxury to tell you I am fine, but I am. What he did, what that felt like, I know he could do it again, and I am living proof that you can come out the other side with all body parts intact.” I held up my hands and wiggled my fingers.
“When you agreed to join The Sway this week, you made a promise. Part of that is following a chain of command, which I know you are familiar with. Please don’t be this reckless again. Cole, that goes for you, too. You both need to understand the magnitude of the situation we are in. Harrison, I need to meet with you inside. Five minutes.”
Harrison shrunk down a size as he nodded to Hank. He popped out of thin air, leaving me and Cole looking like misbehaved puppies at his dad’s feet.
“After dinner tomorrow, we will fly back to the Catskills. Dinner will be in two hours. Take the time to explore the island. Enjoy it, because once we are back, we have a damn planet to save.”
No pressure.
Chapter Nine
I stepped off the plane sometime around two in the morning. The distance from the plane’s stairs to the waiting black Chevy Tahoe proved far enough that I regretted not grabbing my sweatshirt from my backpack. I’d get to see James in the morning. The thought had me doing a happy dance. In the years I’d spent as an asset for the government, I’d never once had regrets about growing up away from my family. That part of me was gone.