The panic that had receded upon learning Joss was merely unconscious flowed back into Morgan with a force and speed that made her gasp. What if something had happened to him since they’d separated? “I’ll go check.” She pushed herself to her feet, a pang of guilt coursing through her at the idea of leaving Joss. But, she reasoned as she started toward the door, it wasn’t as if she were leaving Joss alone. Wen was with her.
Upon entering the hallway, Morgan pressed out with her abilities, easily locating Lucas in Lia’s room. The hallway was clear of obstacles, but as Morgan moved toward Lia’s room, she noticed cracks in the drywall.
Lia’s door was open and Morgan walked in without knocking. Lucas was crouched over her, his hands around her ankle. As Morgan entered, he turned toward her, a half-smile on his face.
“Guess it’s a good thing I manifested as a Healer, huh?” Lucas turned back to Lia and stood, holding his hands out to help her to her feet. “Put some pressure on it. How does it feel?”
Lia shifted tentatively to the leg Lucas had addressed. “It’s good, Lucas. Thank you.” Her eyes flicked up to Morgan. “I tried to get to the doorway and twisted my ankle on the first step.”
Morgan nodded, holding her hand toward Lucas. “Come on, Lucas, Joss needs you. She’s unconscious and all… bloody. I think Ellie’s arm is broken. Greg and Wen seem okay.”
“What about Corbin?” Lucas asked, crossing to Morgan.
“And Kellen?”
Morgan turned back to Lia, surprised. Since the quake began, Morgan hadn’t given one though to Kellen. “I don’t know. My guess is he’s in the library, since he wasn’t with Wen—”
“I’ll go check,” Lia said.
“And I’ll check on Corbin, I guess.” She tugged Lucas to the hallway. “Joss and Ellie are in my room.”
Lia jogged ahead, crossing though the common area toward the library. Lucas went immediately into Morgan’s room and, with Ellie’s encouragement, went to Joss’s side.
Morgan turned from the scene in her room, ready to knock on Corbin’s door, and was surprised to see that it was already ajar, Corbin peeking out the opening.
“Morgan,” he whispered, beckoning to her. “Come here.”
She hesitated a moment before complying. As soon as she was in Corbin’s room, he clicked the door shut behind her.
“Are you okay?” she asked, surveying the state of his room.
He nodded dismissively. “I was able to hide under my desk while it happened. But that’s not why I’ve gotta talk to you.”
“Okay…”
“This is it. The final straw, you know? It’s what we’ve been waiting for. Morgan, it’s time.”
There was a slightly manic glint in his eye that Morgan didn’t like. “Corbin, are you okay?”
He took in a breath, giving himself a shake. “I’m sorry, it’s just—” He offered a small smile. “Let me start at the beginning.”
Morgan’s eyes strayed to the door. “I should check on Joss.”
“You can do that without leaving. And, Morgan, trust me—you wanna stay here. I’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”
Something, either in his tone or the emotions he projected, made Morgan realize he was right. She nodded. “I’m listening.”
“It’s funny. For all the times I imagined telling you all this… I never did get it right in my head.”
“Corbin.”
The unfocused look in his eyes disappeared and he looked at Morgan directly. “There’s a reason,” he began. “I know I’ve been acting… strange… since before Thanksgiving. I’ve been distant and cold and just mean to you, I’ve been picking fights with Luke, I’ve been hanging out with Kellen—”
“I know.”
“But I had to.” He rubbed his hand across his forehead. “I knew Kellen was coming here—way before he actually came.”
Morgan studied him closely. Was he manifesting as a Knower the way Lucas was? “How? Did you have a vision or something?”
“No. Not like that. Remember the night we had the false alarm?”
She nodded, her mind pulling the events to the forefront of her mind: Ellie’s alarm, Greg’s anxiety, and making it to the escape tunnel just in time for the all clear alarm to sound.
“They told us some campers got too close to the perimeter or something, but that was a lie. That’s the night Kellen showed up at the other safe house. That’s why we were on high alert. After that, Greg pulled me aside and told me what was going on, told me they were gonna bring Kellen here.”
Morgan’s head felt like a helium balloon and she took two steps backward, stumbling a bit over a book, before finding the wall and leaning against it. “For that long, you knew? And you didn’t say anything?” She touched her hand to her face. “But… you were… The day he got here, when I Saw something about Kellen you were angry. And when they granted him asylum… Are you telling me you knew about it weeks before it happened? And you didn’t tell any of us?”
Corbin grabbed his desk chair out from under a pile of clothes and settled upon it. He ran both hands through his hair before meeting her eye again. “I couldn’t. Greg swore me to secrecy.”
A flame of anger kindled in the pit of Morgan’s stomach. She shouldn’t be surprised to learn of yet another secret Greg had kept, but it still stung. “Why you? Why didn’t he tell me?”
Corbin bobbed his head, seeming to weigh his words carefully. “You’ve got to understand: the Watchers didn’t bring Kellen here because they believe his story. They were pretty sure his mission was to pretend he defected to get close to you, to manipulate you. And Greg knows about your history with Kellen, that you might be more inclined to trust him given the opportunity. He didn’t want to risk putting you in that position. So he chose me.” The corners of his mouth upturned briefly, but the expression didn’t reach his eyes. “He knew how much I didn’t trust Kellen, and he thought we might be able to bond as outsiders to the group.”
Morgan opened her mouth, ready to insist Corbin was wrong, he wasn’t an outsider, but he was talking again.
“The day he told me about Kellen coming to the cabin, Greg also told me… about you and Luke. About the visions Luke’d been having.” He shook his head. “Like it’d make breaking up easier or something. That’s… that’s possibly why I freaked out so bad at training that day when I saw him hugging you. It hit me kinda hard that I was just a placeholder—”
“No,” Morgan protested. “You weren’t—”
He held his hand up to quiet her. “I’m sorry if anything I did hurt you. It’s been hard, you know, not telling you. Or Lucas. He’s a good guy. A good friend. I didn’t like having to fight him. But I needed to convince Kellen I had a reason to want to make a move on Orrick, whether the Watchers okayed it or not.”
The information Corbin shared fit itself together like puzzle pieces in Morgan’s mind. This was why he and Kellen spent time together in the library, why Greg hadn’t seemed concerned when she and Lucas told him Corbin had the room walled off. “So, have you gotten any information out of him?”
He bit his lower lip. “Nothing huge. He’s given me some information about Orrick’s organization that we didn’t know. Greg’s told me that apparently some of Kellen’s information led to the liberation of a dozen or so Watcher spies. But so far, I haven’t made any headway on the most important thing: Where Orrick’s hiding. Kellen genuinely doesn’t seem to know. We can’t make a move until we know that for sure.”
Morgan snorted. “I never thought I’d hear you use the words Kellen and genuine in the same sentence.”
Corbin offered a half smile. “You’re gonna think I’m crazy when I say this, but… I’m starting to trust him. I mean, a little. It’s funny, the one thing we had to bond over is you. He believes in you. I think… I think I might believe he’s really here to help us.”
Morgan studied Corbin’s face, pushing forward with her abilities just enough to caress his energy, to verify he was being straightforward with her.
His words were such a departure from what he’d said about Kellen before that she was hesitant to take them as the truth. But his mind was open to her, and she Felt the validity of his thoughts. “If that’s what you think, I believe you.”
He smiled in earnest. “It means so much to hear you say that. I’m gonna see if I can’t use the quake to push Kellen into action. If he knows something he hasn’t told me already, this might be the thing that convinces him to give up the information.”
“If you really think he’s on the level, why hasn’t he told you everything yet?”
Corbin took a moment before answering, his expression thoughtful. “I think he’s hoping the Watchers’ll figure it out on their own so he doesn’t have to fully betray Orrick.” He shook his head. “He’s told me stories about Orrick—how he looked after him after his parents died, how he’s been a mentor to him. I don’t think he stands for what Orrick stands for anymore, but I think he still cares about him. That said, he’s also got a strong self-preservation instinct. Maybe now that the danger’s closing in on him, he’ll be more inclined to give us the information.”
“If he has it.”
“Yeah. If he has it.” A smile stretched across his face. “I’ve missed this. I’ve missed you. It’s been hard not being your friend.”
Morgan took a step toward him. “We never stopped being friends.”
For a few seconds, they just stared at each other. Understanding their business was complete for the moment, Morgan offered a smile before turning toward his door. When she left his room, she immediately sought out Joss to be sure she was okay. She found her, along with Ellie, Wen, and Greg, in the common area, cleaning up. Joss was over by the craft station picking up scattered materials, and Morgan made a beeline for her.
“I’m fine,” Joss insisted, firmly pressing Morgan’s hands away from her face. “Your boyfriend did a fantastic job fixing me up, so you can stop worrying.”
Morgan felt a flush of pleasure at her cousin’s casual reference. “Where is Lucas, anyway?”
“In the library,” Wen said, approaching from the kitchen. “Lia said Kellen got pretty banged up. Heavy books plus earthquake…” He watched Joss working for a moment. “Why don’t you sit down? I’ll pick this up.”
From where she stood sweeping up the mess in the kitchen, Ellie snorted. “You abandon me, your flesh and blood, so you can do someone else’s work?”
Wen barely glanced in his sister’s direction. “You just had a broken arm, and Lucas Healed you just fine. Joss was unconscious. Besides, you’ve got Greg to help you.”
“I’m okay, really,” Joss said quietly.
“Couch.” Wen’s voice was firm. He glanced at Morgan. “Would you help her over?”
Joss rolled her eyes but allowed Morgan to guide her to the nearest couch.
After getting Joss settled, movement at the far hallway caught her attention. Turning, she saw Lucas, complexion ashen, being helped into the common area by Lia. After a glance at Joss to reassure her that her cousin was all right, Morgan rushed to him.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s okay.” Lucas gritted his teeth, his face going even paler.
“Yeah, she buys that,” Lia muttered. She looked at Morgan. “It’s all the Healing. It’s taken a bit out of him.”
Morgan looked over her shoulder at Greg, who stood watching the scene. “You should go lay down, Lucas. You need to rest up and recover.”
“What, that’s it?” Morgan asked.
Greg nodded. “He’ll be fine, Morgan. He overexerted himself, that’s all.”
Her mind flashed back to the stories of Healing that Ellie and Wen had told them. “Are you sure?”
“I feel like I’m getting over a nasty flu,” Lucas said. “Just help me to my room.”
Morgan acquiesced, joining Lia in her effort to guide Lucas. When they finally made it to his room, Morgan and Lia used their abilities to clear a path to his bed. Once he was safely settled, Lia offered a smile and left Morgan and Lucas alone.
“Really, are you okay?” Morgan asked.
Lucas sighed, pressing himself into his pillow. “Truth? I may have overdone it a bit. But I’ll be fine. I just need to… recover.” He smiled. “I’ve learned a very important lesson, though.”
“Yeah?”
“No zombie army for me.” He closed his eyes. “Kellen was the worst off, but he wasn’t anywhere near dead. I think if I’d done just Joss and Ellie I’d be okay, but…”
Morgan waited for him to continue, but after a few moments it became clear that he’d fallen asleep. Morgan leaned forward and planted a kiss on his forehead before quietly leaving the room, making her way back to the common area to help with the cleaning efforts.
But when she entered the room, no one was cleaning. Instead, everyone’s attention was on Kellen, who stood at the mouth of the far hallway.
“You’re naïve if you think this was a coincidence.” Kellen looked straight at Greg as he spoke. “The Veneret clearly have a decent idea where we are. They’ve narrowed it down pretty well—it’s only a matter of days before they’re here.”
Greg shook his head. “If they knew we were here, they’d be here, they wouldn’t just be causing earthquakes—”
Kellen threw his hands up. “You’re not hearing me. I agree, they don’t know exactly where we are. What I’m saying is that they’re close, and they’ll figure it out soon.”
“K, what exactly are you suggesting we do?” Wen asked.
Kellen’s eyes scanned the room, passing over Morgan once before returning, his gaze fixing on her. “We move on Orrick. Now.”
Morgan took a few steps closer. Her eyes flicked to Corbin briefly. “You mean you know where he is? You’ve known all this time?”
“That’s not what I said—”
“What is it, then?” Greg asked. “Either you know where he is or you don’t.”
Kellen sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t know exactly where he is. But I think I have the information.”
Greg threw his hands up in exasperation, but Ellie nudged him with her elbow. “Let’s hear what he has to say.”
Corbin nodded encouragingly at Kellen, who took his time in speaking.
“After the warehouse, when Orrick tried to trick Morgan into killing me—” He glanced at Morgan. “Have I ever thanked you for not doing that, by the way? Anyway, after that, there was no way Orrick was going to accept me back into the fold. And I didn’t necessarily want to be. And that was scary. If it was anyone else, he might’ve had me killed, but I think maybe our history kept him from giving the order. Instead, he let me go.”
“I’m still not seeing how this leads us to Orrick.” The irritation in Greg’s voice was evident.
Wen cleared his throat, casting a pointed look in Greg’s direction. “He let you go. Did he wipe your memory?”
Kellen snorted. “You know as well as I do Orrick never trusted us with contingency plans. Things were always need-to-know, and he rarely saw the need for us to know that kind of stuff. I didn’t know his safe house locations.”
Morgan caught Corbin’s eye. He wore the same quizzical expression she could feel on her own face. “You didn’t know? What, you do now?”
Kellen pressed his lips together, exhaling out his nose. “When he turned me loose, Orrick knew there were two options for me. One, I see the error of my ways and I want to come back. Two, I do just what I did—I come to find you. No matter which option I picked, he figured I’d need one critical piece of information: where to find him.”
“Wait—Orrick wants us to find him?” Lia raised an eyebrow.
“Things’ve gotta end sometime, right?” Kellen shook his head, turning his gaze to the floor. “I’m guessing he put the information in my head because he figured no one would get to it.”
Corbin looked at Greg. “I thought you said the Watchers scanned him for information when he first turned himself in. How could they miss something as huge as Orri
ck’s safe house?”
Kellen sighed. “It’s because I’m not aware of it. It’s buried in my head—deep.”
Wen sat down on Joss’s couch, the springs creaking as they took on his weight. One hand went to his face. After a moment, his eyes found Kellen. “It’s gotta be unlocked?”
Kellen gave the slightest of nods.
Morgan looked back and forth between them. Wen understood something that she didn’t. She glanced around the room, but the expressions she saw were mirrors of the same feeling she felt: confusion.
Neither Kellen nor Wen seemed to notice the effect of their conversation. Wen pressed the palms of his hands to his knees, his posture hunched. “Who’s the key? Morgan?”
Kellen nodded. “And me.”
Wen shook his head. “Bastard.”
Joss scooted closer to Wen and placed a hand on his shoulder. “What’s going on?”
For a moment, he said nothing. He glanced at Joss, a look of surprise crossing his face, as if he’d forgotten he and Kellen weren’t the only people in the room. “One of Orrick’s security measures. Dude can be paranoid. To keep information safe, sometimes he’d lock it into someone’s brain, meaning it would have to be unlocked for the person to know the information.”
Joss nodded encouragingly. “Okay. But I’m not seeing why this is causing that look on your face.”
“The unlocking process…” Wen bit his lower lip. “I’ve only seen it done once.”
Kellen nodded in agreement. “Aurelia. She wanted so badly to prove herself to Orrick.”
“It’s not pretty. And… Aurelia was never the same again. She was always eager, an over-achiever, but after… She turned ruthless.”
Kellen snorted. “She was never exactly pleasant, but even I didn’t like her after she got unlocked.” The corners of his mouth quirked up momentarily. “That’s saying something.”
“And Orrick’s put his location inside your head?” Greg asked. “He’s locked it in there?” He waited as Kellen and Wen nodded. “So, let’s get it out.”
Kellen held his hand out. “Slow down, Man Teach. It’s a little more complicated than that. I can’t unlock it since you guys have me all drugged up. I’d need my abilities to do it, and, unless my calculations are off, even if I go off the meds cold turkey, it’s still gonna take some time before I could do it.”
The Naturals Trilogy Page 60