He looks back and forth from me to Liam. Is he reading us? If he knows what just happened, he doesn’t let on. I wonder how his power works. He glances out the window and inclines his chin slightly, an apparent signal to the enforcers waiting outside. A bell chimes as the café door swings open, and my father turns his gaze to me. “Are you coming to the lab voluntarily, or will it require force?”
“I don’t think force will be necessary.” Seth strides to the table and grins. “Hey, Red. Nice hair.” He carries a package wrapped in brown paper under his left arm, and a pistol sits at his right hip. The same kind of pistol that sits in the bottom of my backpack on the bench next to me.
My heart threatens to pound a hole in my chest at the sight of him. Though it’s only been a week, it feels like I knew him in another lifetime. When I was a different person. I stand and take a step back, bumping into Liam’s chest. He puts his hand on my shoulder protectively.
“What are you doing here?” I eye the emblem on Seth’s chest. A circle of five stars—the enforcer symbol—replaces the new-recruit stripes he once wore.
He sees me looking and widens his smile. “I got an early promotion. Aren’t you proud of me?”
I lean into Liam’s warmth for reassurance. He’s been my rock through this whole ordeal, and I’m thankful he’s here now. My father sits there, typing something into his phone, and I stare Seth hard in the eyes.
“Listen, Wrennie.” Seth glances behind me at Liam. “Can we talk in private?” He implores me with his puppy-dog eyes, and I’m almost tempted to follow him. But I can’t let him get to me.
I shake my head to break the trance. “Anything you have to say to me can be said in front of Liam. He knows everything.”
He takes a step toward me, and the warmth of Liam’s touch gives me the strength to stand my ground.
“Does he know everything, Wren?” Seth says my name in that velvety tone that weakens my knees. “Does he know you’re only ticklish under your left arm? Does he know you prefer strawberry jam over grape? Or that running is your favorite way to relieve stress? Does he know the tiny sigh you make after a long kiss? Does he know you like I do, Wren?”
Liam’s grip on my shoulder tightens possessively as he gently pulls me closer. “The kissing part I do.”
Seth’s jaw tightens as he flicks his gaze briefly to Liam. He steps closer, ignoring the comment, and runs his hand through my hair. “I really do like it. It suits you.”
“Stop it.” I slap Seth’s hand away and glance at my father, who watches us with an almost-bored expression. Did he ask Seth to come, to convince me to go to his lab? Or did he come here on his own? “Why are you here, Seth?”
“Does your boyfriend know . . . I’m sorry. What was your name again?”
“His name is Liam.”
“Does Liam know you lost your cape after you tried to save your mom from that murderous wolf?” He unwraps the package to reveal my mom’s red cloak, streaked with mud and dried blood. “I was going to have it cleaned, but I thought you’d want to remember what you went through. What the wolf is capable of.”
He hands me the cloak, but the weight of the enchanted stones is too much for me to carry. It falls to the floor. It doesn’t burn like the amulet, but when I reach for it, it repels me like two north ends of a magnet. As long as Makka lives inside me, I won’t be able to touch the garment.
Liam seems to understand what’s happening, and he picks up the cloak, folding it over his arm. “I’ll hold on to this for you.”
Seth eyes Liam, and I can see the jealousy on his face. He never liked it when other boys talked to me at school. I used to think it was sweet he cared so much. Now I can see how dangerous the emotion can be.
“You really need to go to the lab with your dad. For everyone’s safety.” Seth looks at the cloak as he speaks, but his eyes seem distant, almost empty. “William had a kid, you know. The enforcer you killed. An eight-year-old little boy. I would hate for anyone else to lose a parent.”
“I didn’t—”
“Look, I was wrong to turn you in, okay? I’m sorry.” As he lifts his gaze to mine, sadness fills his eyes. Does he really regret what he’s done? Does he actually want to help me? He reaches for my hand, and I let him take it. “I should’ve listened to you. I should’ve helped you find your father, and no one would’ve died. That’s why I’m here. It wasn’t enough for me to tell your dad you were coming. I needed to be here myself to help you like I should have done before.”
He pulls me toward him and wraps his arms around me. My resolve almost dissolves inside his familiar embrace, and I briefly consider going with him. I know I shouldn’t trust him or my father, but what choice do I have? I thought I had a handle on the wolf, but now Makka is able to control me during the day. Who knows whether I’ll have any power over him tonight? I can’t let anyone else die. But I also can’t submit myself to being a guinea pig for the government’s science experiments. And I won’t succumb to Seth’s false charm.
I pull away from his embrace, wiping the tears from my eyes. “No. I won’t go.”
My father slaps his hand on the table. “You have to.” He glares at Seth. “You assured me you could convince her to come without force.”
“You have to come, Wrennie,” Seth says.
Liam takes my hand, pulling me toward him. “She doesn’t have to do anything.”
I’ve spent the past week wishing things could go back to the way they were before, but seeing my mom’s bloody cloak reminds me they never will. Seth used to be my normal. I used to trust him explicitly. Not anymore.
I gaze into Liam’s hazel eyes. “I don’t think I can control it another night. I don’t want anyone else to die.”
He gives my hand a squeeze. “You don’t have to control it. We have the chains. We’ve done this journey together so far, so we’ll stay together. I’ll see it through to the end, no matter what happens.”
Deep inside my heart, I believe him. He’s stayed by my side through all this. He’s endured every bad decision I’ve made, and he’s still here protecting me. “But if Makka can use my powers, won’t he be able to unlock the chains?”
“That’s what the lead is for. It weakens magic, remember? As long as there’s no blood moon, the chains will hold. I promise.”
“I trust you.”
Liam looks at my father. “Do you have a cure or not?”
“There’s nothing I can do for her here. She’s coming to the lab.” He rises from the bench as a pair of enforcers with their guns drawn enter the café.
Seth cups his hand around the back of my neck possessively and yanks me away from Liam. “Say goodbye to my girlfriend. She’s coming with me.”
I try to wiggle free, but the cold steel of a gun barrel presses into my side, and my heart thrums in my chest.
Liam steps toward Seth, but the enforcers grab him by the arms and hold him back. Two more officers step through the door, and another pair waits just outside the café. A soldier forces Liam into the booth and points a gun at his head.
“Don’t hurt him!” My voice is shrill as fear flushes ice through my veins. “Why are you doing this, Seth?”
“It’s for your own good. For everyone’s safety.”
“Take me too, then.” Even with a gun barrel pressed into his temple, Liam’s voice doesn’t falter. “We’re partners, Wren and me. We’re—”
“Liam, no!” I shake my head frantically, willing him to not to reveal our secret. They can’t take us both.
“The facility requires a security clearance,” Michael says. “I’m afraid you won’t be going anywhere near it.” He drops his phone in his pocket and stands in front of Liam. “According to records, you died three years ago, Liam Stevens. If I were you, I wouldn’t stay in the city long, unless you want to die again.” He looks at Seth. “Let’s go; we’re wasting daylight.”
“Wren!” Liam reaches for me as Seth and another enforcer drag me toward the door. One soldier hangs back, his gun trai
ned on Liam’s head, making sure he doesn’t follow.
“You’re lucky he let you live, boy,” the soldier says. “Run away while you still can.”
Liam’s gaze locks with mine as they drag me outside, and I know he’ll never run away. He’ll never abandon me.
As soon as we get to the car, Seth binds my hands with zip ties. After all the running . . . everything I’ve been through . . . I’m right back where I started. Betrayed by the person who was supposed to love me.
My father puts his hands on my head, and I can feel his energy probing around in my mind. Reading me. Violating me. His eyes widen in disbelief, and his hands tremble as he pulls them away and stares at me. He takes a deep breath and shakes his head as Seth shoves me into the back seat.
Michael’s gaze locks with mine in the rearview mirror, and a hint of regret lingers in his eyes as he pulls out of the parking lot. “How did my daughter end up this way?”
“Like I told you before, sir,” Seth says. “She killed the wolf that was attacking her mother.” He turns around and gives me a tight-lipped smile, his eyes full of poorly timed sympathy. Too little. Too late.
“So there are four wolves left out there now, right?” He turns to Michael. “We’re one step closer to getting our land back.”
My father stares blankly at the road. “She was the last one.”
“Wren? Well, that’s great news! I wonder how long until we can tear down the city walls?”
He laughs cynically. “We’ll never tear down the walls. People are easier to control in confined spaces.”
“That’s not right. They told us at enforcer training that as soon as we caught all the wolves, things would change. Our borders would expand. With the Sense under control, the wildfires have stopped. Things can go back to the way they were before.”
Michael grips the steering wheel tighter. “You have no idea how things were before. It’s not worth going back to, and we couldn’t even if it were. You’ve been misinformed, as I’m sure most of the military has.”
I remember the way I felt when Missy revealed the truth to me. It was a jagged pill to swallow, but it seems so obvious now that I know.
Seth crosses his thick arms over his chest and arches an eyebrow. “Well then, inform me. Why can’t we move out of the cities? The fires and the wolves were the reason we had to move, and now they’re all accounted for.”
“That’s what they wanted you to believe.” Michael rubs his forehead like he has a headache. “They created the wolves to scare people. To give the government a reason to herd you all up. A reason you would accept. President Martin has no intention of letting things go back to the way they were.”
“Why not?”
He sucks in a deep breath and exhales hard. “Power. Greed. He’s an arrogant man who thinks the world should belong to him.”
Seth narrows his eyes skeptically. “Then why do you work for him?”
A humorless grin turns up one corner of his mouth. “He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Liam
The Energy Manipulation Lab consists of two brown buildings situated in the middle of six dusty acres. An eight-foot chain-link fence topped with razor wire surrounds the place. The fence isn’t electrified—I checked—and only one enforcer stands guard at the gate. For being a top-secret facility, it sure doesn’t seem secure.
I suppose the run-down look of the place deters any would-be invaders. It doesn’t look like much. The sign on the gate reads “Accounting Department,” but this isn’t a place for number crunchers.
Most of the facility exists underground. Missy told me about it before we left, showed me blueprints and everything. She also told me about the kinds of experiments they do here. Missy is a reader, like Wren’s dad. She went around to the communities looking for people with particular powers to take back to the lab.
After they rounded up everybody they thought was useful, they tried to kill off all the other people who had the Sense. Some of them escaped. And some people, like me, were born to normal humans who didn’t have any powers at all. That’s the thing about us Enlightened Ones—we just are. There’s no rhyme or reason for who has powers and who doesn’t. The Sense isn’t reserved for a single race or a certain type of person. Anyone can have it, and there’s no outward way to tell who does. I’m sure the government has been looking for a way to tell, but I don’t think they’ll ever be able to get rid of us all.
So they brought the useful people to the lab, and they started testing their powers, putting them through all kinds of torturous experiments to see what they could do. Then they started the energy manipulation and created who-knows-what kinds of monsters.
They’d already created the wolves, and that had backfired on them when they realized they couldn’t control them. So they were more careful. And now Missy says they’re working on ways to extract the Sense from people and bottle up their powers. Sounds to me like taking a piece of their souls. Once a victim enters the facility, I’ll bet they never see daylight again.
That’s why I didn’t want Wren to go in there. Family or not, I don’t think Michael Crane, senior energy analyst, is ever going to let a prize like Wren go. Once he reads her powers and finds out she’s a Soul Catcher, he’ll make sure she stays locked up forever.
I didn’t tell Wren anything about the experiments because Missy told me not to. She said Wren needed to find out on her own if she was going to grow and make the right decision—whatever that means. Missy’s a wise woman, and I trust her, so I did what she asked.
“Lessons,” she’d said. “You can’t change the world if you never learn.”
I’m used to her saying ambiguous stuff like that, so I let it go. If she thinks it’s important for us to do this, then it must be.
Still, I didn’t count on Wren actually going into the facility. I thought her dad would tell her there was no cure at the café, and that would be that. Boy, was I wrong.
I sit in the truck in a drugstore parking lot, trying to figure out how to get in. They must have cameras surrounding the place since only one guard stands outside. I’m sure I’d be caught if I tried to climb the fence, plus the razor wire would tear me to bits. The only way in is through the gate, but how will I manage that?
I’m sure they have her locked up in a cage by now, and she’s probably having flashbacks to her childhood. Her dad and that Seth dude won’t understand why she hates small spaces. They weren’t there when . . .
Seth almost had her convinced to go with him. I mean, I know they were dating and all, but all he had to do was lay on a few lines—and they were definitely lines—and she melted right into his arms. I’m so glad she figured out he was manipulating her. Not that it made any difference; she’s locked up in that stupid lab anyway. But still . . .
She deserves better than a creep like that. Ever since she kissed me in her mom’s old house, my head’s been swimming. I knew I was falling for her from the moment I met her, but that kiss sealed the deal.
I have to get her out of there, plain and simple. I take stock. What do I have to work with? I’ve got Wren’s backpack with the journal and photo album. Those won’t be useful, so I’ll leave them in the truck. I’ve got the gun with a full clip. If I’m lucky, I won’t need it, but I’ll take it just in case.
I latch the amulet around my neck to protect me from Makka and hopefully any other monsters I might encounter inside. Too bad it can’t protect me from the human kind.
The cloak had an interesting effect on her. She couldn’t even lift the fabric, so it must be enchanted like the amulet. I suppose her mom sewed stones into the hem. I could rip them out. They’d be easier to carry, but the cloak was her mom’s. She wouldn’t want it torn up, so I shove the whole thing behind the seat. The amulet will have to be enough.
Now, back to the question of how to get inside. This parking lot is the last public area on the road before the complex, so if a delivery truck happens to go by, it’ll definit
ely be headed where I need to go. Maybe I can hop on the back and sneak in. It’s a long shot, but it’s the only plan I’ve got.
Two hours pass before a truck finally comes along—a military flatbed loaded with something that’s covered with an olive-green tarp. The driver pulls into the parking lot and heads inside the store. I slip out of the cab of my truck and close the door ever so gently so it doesn’t make a loud sound and draw attention. I’m in stealth mode from here on out.
I slink over to the bed of the military truck and search for a loose piece of canvas. Thick bungee cords secure it tightly all the way around, but I manage to pry one of the cords from its loop, creating enough slack for me to shimmy underneath and climb inside.
The smell hits me first. I’ve done some gardening, and I’d recognize the scent of fertilizer anywhere. Fantastic. I’ve managed to situate myself in a big pile of manure.
Every muscle in my body screams for me to crawl out of this dung heap, but it’s my only way inside the complex. I’ll gladly wallow in poo if it means I can save Wren.
It feels like the driver’s inside the store for hours, but I’m sure it’s only minutes. The truck rocks when he gets in and slams the door shut, and the bed vibrates as the engine rumbles to life. In less than five minutes, we’re at the complex. The brakes squeak as we roll to a stop at the entrance.
A muffled conversation between the guard and the driver ensues, but I can’t make out their words. My pulse pounds in my ears when I hear gravel crunch under boots. They’re circling the truck, getting closer to the loose bungee . . . closer to me. Do they notice the oddly shaped lump of Liam lying on top of the poop? Please don’t insist on inspecting the load.
I hold my breath as they approach—which I should have been doing this whole time since this crap stinks—and I will them to walk on by. The truck rumbles, and we make it through the gate. I allow myself to feel five seconds of relief before my mind kicks into overdrive. I still have to get off this pile of manure, get inside the building, find Wren, and get her out.
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