VOLITION (Perception Trilogy, book 2)

by Strauss, Lee

  “You really believe that?” I asked.

  He stared hard at me. “Any guy would be lucky to spend two hundred years with you.”

  I felt fireworks in the stall, or maybe it was just the tingling heat that exploded in my body. There were some serious hormones shooting off in the barn tonight. Taylor Blake slid closer.

  I remembered the way his lips had felt on mine in the snow bank and by the look on his face I was sure he was remembering it, too. He leaned in. My eyes fluttered, and my throat grew dry. My heart bounced around like a rubber ball in a box, thudding loudly in my ears.

  Part of me really wanted to kiss Taylor Blake again, but a bigger, reasonable part of me knew it would be a stupid, stupid thing to do. I turned my head before he could reach me.

  He slumped before recovering.

  “I’m here to milk the cows.” His voice was warm and breathy against my neck and at that moment I wasn’t so sure how strong I’d be if he persisted. I was flushed and light headed. I might have stopped breathing.

  The mooing of the cows suddenly crescendoed, and Taylor slowly backed away.

  “I have to go,” he said. “They get irritable when I’m late.”

  I was suddenly pretty irritable myself. I apologized silently to Noah.

  Chapter 13

  I was still emotionally recovering from my encounter with Taylor Blake when Celia Galloway walked in. Did she know that Taylor had been alone in this stall with me? Was that why she was here?

  Good thing Simon and Hannah had slipped away earlier.

  I wasn’t sure if I should sit or stand, so I remained seated. She leaned against the door, weathered hands clasped in front of a stained apron. Her bonnet was tied firmly under the lose skin on her chin. Stray strands of gray hair peeked out.

  I couldn’t read the expression on her face. I expected a stern scowl that warned of a looming chastisement, but instead her eyes looked tortured.

  “Hello,” I said, since it didn’t seem like she was going to talk.

  Her expression softened. “Hello.”

  “Did you need to tell me something?” I probed.

  “Oh, no. I just wanted to make sure you were all right.”

  Okay. “I’m fine, under the circumstances. Noah and I will be out of your way, first thing.”

  “There’s no hurry to leave.”

  Really? “I’m being shunned.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  I waited for more, perplexed by this strange woman’s behavior and curious as to her motivation.

  “Your family must be really worried about you,” she continued.

  Even though my parents didn’t love me as much as they had Liam, they’d still be upset by my disappearance. They wouldn’t like that they didn’t know where I was or what I was doing. Especially Alison. It would provoke all her control issues.

  “Yeah, probably,” I answered.

  “How is your mother?”

  I found it a strange question, but she was probably relating to Alison, being a mother herself. “Not well,” I said. “My brother died recently. She took it really hard.”

  Mrs. Galloway looked horror-stricken. She probably couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose Taylor. “I’m so sorry,” she choked out.

  “Thanks.”

  Mrs. Galloway seemed a little unhinged, and quite honestly, she freaked me out a bit. I didn’t know how to get rid of her, but maybe I could get her to tell me about Taylor. My curiosity about him had spiked, by like, a million points.

  “How did you end up becoming guardians to the Blake kids?”

  Mrs. Galloway straightened and breathed in deeply through her nose. “Mr. Galloway’s sister and brother-in-law were their parents. They died tragically in a car accident. Taylor and Hannah were asleep in the back seat and were just bruised and scratched up some. Mr. Galloway was their only surviving relative. We didn’t have children so it made sense that we should take them.”

  Car accident and not carriage? That must mean they weren’t part of the commune.

  “Sounds awful,” I said. “When did this happen?”

  “Taylor was four and Hannah two. They are both very intelligent and well-mannered. A blessing to me.” She straightened abruptly. “I must go.” She took two steps to the stall door but turned to say one last, strange thing. “Zoe, I’m so glad I had the chance to meet you.”

  I couldn’t help but think, as I sat up against the barn wall, that being shunned was the best thing that had happened to me so far at the commune. The good ones visited and the ones I didn’t like didn’t. I didn’t miss Dorothy or Hannah and especially not Rebecca. Nor any of the guys besides Noah and Taylor.

  Where was Noah, anyway? He said he’d come back. Did they have him roped up somewhere, too?

  I made use of the outhouse—the one provision I was allowed—then settled in under my covers for the night. Despite all the animal noises and bad smells, I predicted a good sleep. I’d missed a night’s rest and was exhausted.

  I fell into a coma-like state, and dreamed.

  I’m swimming in our eternity pool, overlooking the ocean in Sol City. Liam is there, diving into the deep end. His head pops through the clear water and he wipes his hair back off his face. His eyes sparkle with laughter and he smacks the surface with his hand, spraying me with water. I laugh back and splash him in return.

  Zoe? he says. I miss you.

  I miss you, too, Liam.

  Zoe?

  Yeah?

  Zoe? Zoe…

  Someone shook my shoulder and I startled awake for the second time that evening.

  “What? What?”

  “It’s me.” Noah crouched beside the cot.

  “Noah? Where have you been?”

  “I need to show you something.”

  “It’s the middle of the night.”

  “I know.”

  I’d been sleeping in my dress and a winter coat, needing every layer to keep warm. I tied on my ugly bonnet, anything to save my ears from the blistering cold, and stuffed my hands into the coat pockets.

  Outside, the moon reflected off the snow, and I felt exposed. Noah made footprints ahead of me and I concentrated on matching his stride to avoid getting wet feet.

  My breath escaped in frosty puffs. “Where are we going?”

  “You’ll see.”

  I was starting to wonder if Noah was planning a wintery Romeo and Juliet type ending for us when he stopped behind the shed and started digging in the snow.”

  “What are you doing?”

  He pulled up a mat revealing a hatch in the ground. He tugged it open and waved for me to go inside.

  My jaw dropped but I was too cold to argue. Whatever was down there was bound to be warmer than what was going on out here.

  I followed narrow, cement steps into what I thought at first was a cellar. Tiny panel lights lit the room and I raised an eyebrow at Noah. “This looks an awful lot like technology.”

  He closed the hatch. “There’s more to Finn Ranger than meets the eye.”

  I was stunned. “This is his? I don’t understand.”

  “Rebecca has a health condition requiring drugs you can’t get at the local pharmacy. Some science whiz-kid set him up so he could print his own.”

  “Really?”

  “It was the beginning of a slippery slope for him. He needed internet connection to do the research, and next thing, he’s reading news blogs.”

  “How did you find this?”

  “Finn showed it to me. Turns out, he’s a fan of my blog.”

  I burst out laughing. The irony and hypocrisy was just too funny.

  Noah logged in and pulled up his blog. “He wanted me to keep posting while we were here.”

  “Have you?”

  He gave me a wry look. “Yes and no.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He wanted me to go all religious fanatic against humanoids and technology. When I didn’t blog to his standards, he…well… I don’t know. It looks like
I fell asleep while I was logged on…”

  “Sleep deprivation is a cult tactic to control members,” I said, patting him on the back.

  He flashed me an embarrassed smirk. “He posted something himself.”

  “He posed as you?”

  “Yeah. Check it out.”

  God hates humanoids! And Gaps! All technology must be destroyed, or God’s wrath will be poured out and Satan given free rein on the earth, starting with Marley, Oregon.

  Repent ye or Burn!

  I couldn’t be more stunned. “Please tell me you deleted that.”

  “Of course. This is a copy. But look at the comments.”

  I peered over his shoulder and skimmed the text.

  You’ve been hacked, man…

  Take this crap down…

  Whoever the hacker is, he’s got a point…

  What’s he got against Marley…

  I was stunned. “He gave away our position.”

  Noah nodded gravely. “We have to get out of here.”

  “Have you checked the weather forecast?”

  “Apparently the weather is breaking today.” Noah shoulders slumped. Then he turned back and started tapping. “Also, there’s this.” Our pictures sprung up on the screen.

  “Oh,” I said as I read the news report. There was a plea from my father. His anguish was hard to miss.

  I frowned. Did I really do the right thing?

  Noah read my mind. “Zoe, they had you drugged up. They changed your personality, the essence of who you are. Your parents were in on it.”

  “Why are you showing me this?”

  Noah’s gaze dropped to the ground and he spoke softly. “I felt like you needed to be reminded of the reality of our situation.”

  Right. Stay away from Taylor Blake.

  “I’m sorry I let my guard down, Zoe. If they find us, it’ll be because of me.”

  Noah took me back to the barn, but instead of leaving for the house, he climbed in the cot and spooned in behind me. It felt so good to press up against him again. Warm and comfortable. I fell asleep in seconds.

  Noah’s rustling out from behind me stirred me awake.

  I wiped my eyes as they adjusted to the faint light of dawn breaking.

  “I’ll get my things,” Noah said. “Get ready to go.”

  The cool breeze that replaced Noah as he left sent me into a fit of shivering. I changed out of the dress into my frosty jeans, my cold fingers fumbling with the zipper. My bag was already packed so there wasn’t much left for me to do but use the outhouse.

  Before I could leave, I heard the barn door squeak, and tip-toed to the wall to peek through the crack.

  It was Rebecca. Her long, dark braid hung down the back of her winter jacket. She picked up a tin pail and a three-legged stool and headed for the cows.

  I was desperate to use the bathroom and padded quietly behind her, hoping she wouldn’t see me. No such luck. She laid her dark, tired eyes on me and scowled as they scanned my jeans.

  “Heathen,” she muttered.

  I ignored her and rushed out. They must be expecting us to leave today. I hurried to the outhouse and back, stopping briefly to wash my hands in the snow. They burned with the cold and I swore. If all went well today, I’d never have to use a toilet that didn’t have a flusher ever again.

  Rebecca stood when she saw me. She made a strange face with wide eyes and a twisted mouth. I was about to tell her to get over it, thinking she was going to rant over my clothes, but instead she collapsed and flopped on the dusty, wooden floor.

  I ran ankle-deep through fresh snow to the house yelling for help and slammed the kitchen door open. “Something’s wrong with Rebecca!”

  It was like the walls came alive as the guys who were still at the table jumped up and approached the door, scooting past me.

  Finn, Mr. Galloway, Philip and Simon. And Taylor who actually squeezed my hand as he brushed by. I looked for Noah, but didn’t see him.

  “He’s in the shed,” Hannah said, noticing. She broached the window along with Dorothy who was twisting a T-towel in her hand. They stared hard toward the barn.

  “Does this happen often?”

  Hannah spoke without looking at me. “Every once in awhile. God always heals her.”

  Clearly, my duty was done, so I headed back to the barn, intending to grab my bag and meet Noah at the car. Hannah decided to follow me and we reached it at the same time as Finn. I knew he’d just come from the shed.

  He ignored me as he hurried by, carefully holding a glass of water in hand. I followed him in. Mr. Galloway was praying. Simon held Rebecca’s hand and Philip stroked her hair.

  “Rebecca,” Finn said, reaching her. He pushed Philip out of the way and lifted her head, feeding her the water.

  It sloshed over her face, mixing with the foam that had formed at the corner of her lips. Soon she revived enough to gulp it all down. Her eyelids fluttered open and she looked around at the faces of the men. Her expression went from confusion to awareness.

  “Oh, no,” she sputtered. “It happened again.”

  “Praise the Lord,” Mr. Galloway said. “She’s been healed.”

  Noah joined us at that moment. “What happened?”

  “Rebecca had a seizure. God ‘healed’ her,” I said with finger quotes. “With the help of Finn’s special water.”

  “Just because medicine is involved, doesn’t mean God isn’t,” Noah said.

  Fine. “Can we get going?”

  “Yes. Let’s go.”

  I realized I hadn’t made it back to the stall to get my bag. “I need to get my things.”

  Noah nodded. “I’ll wait for you at the car. We’ll wave good-bye as we drive away.”

  I brushed by Hannah who was staring at Rebecca’s recovering form.

  “Heard you in the loft last night,” I whispered with a knowing grin. Hannah’s face almost burst into flames. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m not going to tell.”

  She covered a look of true mortification with her hand and flew out the barn door. I felt a moment’s remorse for teasing her.

  Everyone else cleared out, and I was left alone with only the baaing of sheep and oinking of pigs to break the silence.

  I retrieved my bag from under the cot. A sound from outside reached my ears that I hadn’t heard in a while. I rushed to a barn window and peered out. My heart grew colder than the room.

  From this position I could see the driveway and the front of the house. A black car with tinted windows was parked there. A man I’d hoped to never see again in this life stepped out of the driver’s side.

  Agent Grant.

  Chapter 14

  The last time I’d seen Grant was at Grandpa V’s house as he’d chased Noah up the stairs while some other moron held me tight. Just after Grandpa’s big confession on how he’d financed Liam’s illegal experiments and had his lab partner killed, and just before I was subjected to a mind altering concoction created by my ex-boyfriend to steal all my memories related to Liam and the experiment, which included all my memories of Noah.

  Grandpa V hadn’t counted on Noah getting away, and Noah had been on the run from Grandpa’s lynch men since.

  And now, so was I.

  Finn and Dorothy huddled on the front porch to greet them, much in the same way they did when Noah and I had driven up just three days ago.

  Finn’s bellow echoed through the air. “State your business.”

  Grant wore a high-tech jacket, and I imagined it emitted sensors that scanned the property for live persons and ammunition. Another agent, a woman, accompanied him. She was tall with an athletic build and dressed similarly to Grant. Her dark hair was cut short and pushed behind her ears in a no-nonsense manner. She walked stiffly away from the car as she scanned the grounds.

  Grant strutted toward the Rangers with that arrogant gait I remembered.

  “Have you seen these two kids?” He tapped his ComRing and three inch head and shoulder holographic images of Noah a
nd me popped up.

  Dorothy gasped and closed her eyes.

  “We don’t permit technology on our property,” Finn said. “Now, if you’d kindly turn that off.”

  “My apologies.” Grant flicked his ring off. “But have you seen them?”

  Finn answered Grant’s question by shaking his head. I wasn’t sure why, but Finn had decided to cover for us.

  “Noah Brody is wanted by the state of California and the Federal Government for the kidnapping of Zoe Vanderveen. If you willingly assist them, you can be charged as accomplices to this crime. This would mean prison, Mr. Ranger.”

  Dorothy grabbed onto Finn’s arm.

  “So, I’ll ask you again.”

  Noah and I were in big trouble. I grabbed my bag and moved to the far side of the barn, past all the moaning beasts to one of the windows that faced the shed. I jimmied open the shutters—the sliding lock was stiff from the cold and my flesh tore as I pressed it. It wouldn’t budge. I looked around frantically for something to hammer it with. I spotted a tool used to clean hooves and started banging.

  “You need help with that?”

  I yelped. “Taylor, you scared me to death.”

  “Well, if death is something you’re trying to avoid, let me assist you.”

  I handed him the tool and he unlocked the hinge with seemingly little effort. I tossed my bag out and worked to get my body out of the window. My foot slipped, trying to find purchase.

  Taylor clasped his hands together. “I’ll boost.”

  He practically launched me out of the window and hopped after me like a star athlete.

  “Come on,” he said.

  I draped my bag over my shoulder and raced after him, dodging through the forest, trying to stay hidden by the trees.

  Taylor took us straight to the bunker.

  “Is Noah here?”

  “He’s coming.”

  Taylor moved the door mat and opened the hatch. I went first, feeling a whoosh of cold air follow me down. I didn’t have a jacket and broke out in goose bumps.

  He wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and then pulled me into a bear hug.

  “Body heat is the best kind,” he said with a chuckle.