“My tracking device probably needs to be reset,” Tara stated, as if she wasn’t worried about being located easily by the Fundamental Society guards.
“Oh, yeah.” I exchanged a look with Jude. It was a possibility, but we couldn’t place our hope in that assumption alone.
“We don’t have much time,” Jude said in a persistent tone. “We have to get out of here on the off chance that your tracking device has been reset already.”
“Okay.” Tara still looked pensive about the situation and she hesitated to make any movements toward the door with us.
“Tara,” I said as coaxingly as I could. “If you want to live, then you need to come with us. We have to leave now.”
“Where did you say we were again?” Tara asked.
“At a Mutant safe house,” I told her. “We have them located around the area in case we need them. Most of the time the scientists and their guards have a difficult time infiltrating them, because they’re enchanted with magic that prevents their access.”
“Then why are you so worried about getting out of here?” Tara asked.
“Because,” I told her. “We can’t stay here for long or people from our school will start wondering where we are. Not to mention, the guards could still begin to surround the area and spot us. It’s too risky to stay in one place for long.”
Tara took an enormously deep breath and closed her eyes. “Okay,” she said after a pause. “I’ll come with you.”
I had to suppress the temptation to shout out for joy that she would be joining us. I wanted to get to know her. I was curious about her mystery and enthralled with her presence.
“There’s just one problem,” Tara said. Her expression was pained. “Maddie…”
“Who’s Maddie?” I furrowed my brow in confusion.
“She’s my best friend,” Tara whispered. “From the Home Base camp. She was pretty much my only friend, if we’re being honest.”
“We saw her,” Jude said and licked his lips. “But she woke up before you and started running farther into the woods.”
Tara looked appalled and shook her head. “Maddie wouldn’t leave me surrounded by a strange group of men.”
“Maybe she had temporary amnesia from the electric shock,” I suggested. It wasn’t unheard of for something like that to happen to a Mutant.
Tara seemed to be temporarily satisfied by that answer. “Maybe.”
“I’m sure she wouldn’t have left you on purpose without some kind of reasonable explanation,” Pete reassured.
“Maybe we’ll run into her along the way,” Liam said in a hopeful voice.
“I don’t know,” Tara said. “But I suppose I’ll never find her if I just continue to hang out in here wasting time.”
I smiled. Finally, we had convinced her that it was time to move. It sure had taken long enough.
“Where are we going, exactly?” she asked with a guarded tone.
“Back to school,” I told her.
“To the Mutant Academy.” She looked worried.
“Yes. I promise you will be safe there and welcomed with open arms.”
I wasn’t entirely sure about the last part, but it was worth a shot and we all knew we couldn’t leave her here to die at the hands of the Fundamental Society guards.
“One thing I want to ask you before we go,” I told her.
“Oh, yeah?” She approached me and stood right in front of me, gazing up into my eyes with a mischievous grin.
“Will you promise me that if we allow you to come with us unrestrained, you will not try to kick our asses anymore?”
Tara laughed, and it was the most beautiful and delicate sound I had ever heard, like wind chimes fluttering through a gentle breeze. The sound was music to my ears.
“Well, if we are making promises to each other,” she began.
“Yes?” I asked, feeling a little breathless. Tara had this effect on me that made me feel like I was spinning like a top.
She leaned her head up even closer to me. I held my breath in suspense.
“Don’t try anything like that on me ever again.”
“Like what?” I pretended to play dumb.
“That mind control shit?” She pitched her eyebrow and stared at me.
I chuckled. Two could play at this flirtatious game. “Fair enough.”
I extended my hand to shake with her. As soon as her slender, feminine hand slid into mine, I was instantly filled with inexplicable warmth.
She gave me a saucy smile. “Good. I’m glad to see we understand each other.”
“Agreed,” I said as we walked out the door as a group.
Things were going to be different from now on with Tara by our sides. There had been a shift in the current of our lives and things were about to change. I could feel it.
8
Tara
“So?” Pete’s eyes flickered with excitement. “Are you ready to come with us on an adventure of a lifetime?”
I inhaled sharply and glanced at each of the guys. “Are you sure I can trust you?” They were certainly trying to gain my trust.
“Of course.” Jude nodded with a friendly smile.
“Well, of course you would say that you are the honest ones of the world,” I mentioned with a roll of my wrist through the air. “Just to entice me to go with you.” I was still attempting to figure them out.
Gabriel took a step towards me. He took my hands and cradled them in his. I felt the intense heat of his body emanating onto me. The strength of his masculinity made me feel secure and comforted.
“I can promise you that we won’t do anything to cause you harm.” Something about his voice made me believe him. I was enthralled by him.
I craned my neck to see around him and inspect the faces of the other guys. They all wore earnest expressions. It was either trust them and go with them back to their school or stay here and wait for the Fundamental Society guards to track me down with the device implanted in my wrist.
“If we wanted to hurt you, then we would have already done so,” Liam mentioned.
His twin brother nodded in agreement. “That’s true. If we were working for…them,” he said, his tone laced with disgust. “We would have already led you back to them or killed you. There is no one else around here to stop us. Just look around and you’ll notice that we’re alone and have had plenty of opportunity to take advantage of you.”
“But we haven’t,” Pete emphasized. “That’s how you can know we are on your side.”
“Yeah,” Gabriel added. “I even knocked you out with my mind control and we did nothing to you while you were floating giddily through that dreamland of yours.”
I blushed after he said that and flicked my gaze to the floor so that I didn’t have to make eye contact with any of them. They were all raising valid points that were difficult to ignore. I weighed the pros and cons.
It was too dangerous to stay here alone. If worst came to worst and they tried to pull one over on me in the woods, I would just do my best to dash away and elude them until I could figure out what move to make next. I had options. I just had to remind myself of my strength and that I could survive anything that was thrown my way.
“Well,” I began and cleared my throat. “I guess I can’t stay in here forever.”
The guys began to exchange happy and hopeful grins with one another. My heart began to pound. They were young and attractive. What could possibly go wrong? I didn’t allow my mind answer that. I stood up and nodded at them definitively.
“What are we waiting for? Let’s get going before those nasty guards get too close for comfort.”
They led me from the room and we walked through a dimly lit hallway. I held onto the wall to keep myself from bumping into things along the way.
“The exit to the safe house is just around the corner,” Jude told me with an encouraging smile.
“Okay.” I nodded. I was part of this now. There was no looking back, but my pulse swooshed loudly through my ears.
At least for now.
As if reading my thoughts, Pete chuckled and shifted his glasses. I was growing fonder of the charismatic mannerisms that were part of his personality.
“It’s much better out here without the sound of the alarms blaring through the air.”
“You’ve got that right, brother,” Jude laughed.
He was the first to step out of the safe house. I heard the sound of his boots crunching over a bed of leaves. The others followed him and turned around with their hands in their pockets, staring at me expectantly.
They certainly didn’t appear to be threatening or dominating, but still I hesitated. I wasn’t really sure why.
“I’m sorry,” I said, suddenly feeling the urgent need to apologize to them.
They cocked their heads to the side. “For what?” Jude asked.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged and trailed my fingers through my hair. “I guess you could just say that I’m still trying to evolve from my trust issues.”
Pete chuckled with lighthearted amusement. “You aren’t the only one.”
I gave him a kind smile. “Thanks.” I shifted my feet and glanced at the ground. “That, uh…helps.”
“Come on.” He looked so handsome standing there under the milky glow of the moon. He extended his hand and beckoned me to reach out and take it. “There’s nothing out here that is going to harm you.”
I wanted to believe him with my soul, but it was extremely difficult to make that plunge, that dangerous leap of faith.
I nodded my head and clasped his hand. I took a deep breath in reaction to the sturdiness he represented as he cupped his hand protectively over mine. I immediately stepped out into the wilderness and braced myself for some kind of impact.
But nothing happened.
I stood right where I was, and no one jumped out of the darkness to attack me. I took a step in the guys’ direction. It was a baby step, but I was getting there. At least I had exited the door and ventured back outside, so that was progress.
As we edged out deeper into the circle of shadows, I was grateful that I wasn’t alone and that I had the company of five physically ripped guys to protect me if some wild shit ended up going down. Their burly bodies definitely increased my chances of survival.
Even still, I couldn’t help but feel a knot forming in my throat, a lump of sadness and dread.
“Why are you so quiet all of the sudden?” Pete asked me gently after a few moments of somber silence.
I gazed up at him with a teasing smile. “What is that supposed to mean? That I’m feisty?” It was just my personality trying to shift the subject off of the things I didn’t want to talk about. I had always used humor as a coping mechanism and this was no exception to that rule.
“Well, I uh…” Pete stammered and raked a hand through his hair.
“I’m kidding.” I playfully nudged him in the side with my elbow. “I am a self-proclaimed scrappy girl.”
A look of relief washed over Pete’s face. “If you say so, I won’t argue.”
“It’s just my friend…” I trailed off with a sigh. The subject of Maddie’s strange disappearance needed to be addressed.
Pete’s eyebrows furrowed in concern. “What did you say her name was again?”
I stared straight ahead and tightened my jaw as I swallowed hard. “Maddie.”
Pete paused a moment. “I’m sure she’s safe, wherever she is.”
I peered over at him. “Even I lie better than that. And I’m a horrible liar.” I appreciated the fact that he was trying to boost my outlook on the situation, though.
Pete chuckled, and I saw that he had a tiny dimple in his left cheek that gave him an extra flair of adorableness. “Yeah, I’m a horrible liar too.”
“That much is obvious.” I grinned.
I didn’t know what was coming over me. It was almost as if I wasn’t afraid of the danger I was in. All the threats of the world and the scariness of the Fundamental Society’s guards were washed away in the presence of these five men, who seemed to be making it their goal to protect me. I still didn’t understand why they were so hell-bent on helping me, but my mother’s words rang through my ears.
Mutants always look out for one another. It’s just who they are. Never forget where you came from, and never trust a human.
It was a peculiar sentiment for my mother, since she herself was a human. But she wasn’t referring to herself or the other kind humans out there, no matter how few and far between. There were good ones sprinkled among the bad seeds. They just didn’t happen to be any of the ones I had ever met, but to be fair, I hadn’t had the chance to venture outside of a Home Base camp since the age of eight.
I looked at the guys as we walked along. I knew I needed to keep them at bay and on a short leash at the same time. It was going to be a difficult challenge to conquer.
“I hope you are right,” I said after a few moments of silence between us.
“About what?” Pete asked.
“Maddie,” I said with a sniff. “I hope that she’s safe wherever she is.”
Maybe if I kept attempting to force that scenario into my mind, I would eventually be able to believe it. I had to keep the hope alive somehow so the fire inside of my spirit wouldn’t die out.
The guys seemed legit enough, but I was still cautious. Regardless, it appeared as if we were heading farther into the forest instead of back in the direction of the Home Base pod, so that was another sign that they were friends and not foe.
“So,” I said and cleared my throat to make small talk as we trudged along. “Your school.”
Jude glanced at me over his shoulder. He was walking a few steps ahead. “What about it?”
“It’s only for Mutants? Like, only Mutants can attend?”
“That’s right,” Liam said with a proud grin. “That’s why we feel confident that once we present you to the headmaster, he will be welcoming to you. Because you’re one of us.”
“The headmaster?” I asked. “Is he nice?”
“He’s strict but fair,” Nick said with a shrug. “I think he’s a pretty good leader for an old man.” He gave me a wink. “Just don’t tell him I called him an old man.”
I blushed. “Of course not.”
I couldn’t deny the fact that I was growing increasingly excited the farther we trudged away from the Home Base camp and toward the Mutant Academy school. If the guys were being truthful with me and I really could become a student with them, then things were looking up.
I didn’t want to get my hopes up, of course, but it was nice to imagine a brighter future where I didn’t have to be poked and prodded with invasive machines and tests, day in and day out.
There were still a lot of questions up in the air and hanging over my head, but I was hoping that in time favorable things would start falling into place for me. I’d certainly paid my dues in terms of suffering. Now it was time to start a new chapter and move on to bigger and brighter things.
“Just how far away is this school?” I asked casually after a time.
Nick glanced at me. “Are you getting tired?”
“No.” I didn’t skip a beat as I shook my head. “I’m fine.”
He gave me a warm smile. “Good. We’ll have to take a boat to get there.”
“A boat?” My heart drummed rapidly in my chest.
“Yes.” He nodded. “The ocean is just on the other side of these woods.”
“Wow…” I trailed off, mesmerized at the thought.
I had never seen the sea before. I was enchanted by the mystery of what lay ahead, but finding Maddie was still front and center, pulsing in my brain.
I needed to keep the vivid image of her alive in my mind so
that I could somehow stay connected to her.
I know you are out there somewhere, dear friend, and I’m going to make it my purpose and life goal to find you alive and bring you back to safety.
But how could I make that mental promise to her when I didn’t even know if I was being led into safety myself?
“I think it’s kind of crazy that you haven’t heard of our school before,” Liam chuckled, jolting me out of my thoughts.
I gave him a curious glance. “Well, to be honest, I’ve been cooped up under laboratory machines for most of my life.” I meant it to be a lighthearted joke, but my voice came out extremely melancholy.
Liam let out a slight laugh. “I suppose that’s true.”
I glanced among them all. They seemed so assertive, so confident. They walked along, completely emanating assurance and courage. There was a sliver of my psyche that harbored a certain amount of jealousy that they had evaded capture and lived a life of freedom.
They were at a school getting an education, for crying out loud. That kind of lifestyle was so foreign to me that I didn’t even know how to process it. How I could ever mold myself to fit in with them, or any of the other students, for that matter?
But I was up for the challenge. It was better than sticking around here and waiting for the guards to come for me. I just needed to count my blessings. It was exceptionally rare for a Mutant to successfully flee from a Home Base camp.
I knew how lucky I was to have escaped, but I didn’t want to get too excited about my freedom. Every second hung in the balance. There was no room for error or mistakes, my new friends included. They were Mutants too. If they were seen, they would be seized too. Our senses were on high alert.
“Are you sure you aren’t tired?” Pete’s eyes shimmered with a mixture of concern and protective assurance. “We can take a break if you need to rest.”
I smiled. I was humbled by his genuine concern for my wellbeing. “I’m really okay,” I told him.
It was the truth. My body was fueled with adrenaline and the passionate desire to get the fuck out of these woods as quickly as possible. Stopping to rest would only increase the odds of my tracker beacon giving me away.
Mutant Academy (The Fundamental Society Book 1) Page 7