The Reverians Series Boxed Set

by Sarah Noffke

  Rogue nods, seeming to remember how stupid it is that family relationships are arranged for political reasons in Austin Valley. “Well, if the idea of that date came as a shock, then you probably don’t realize I’ve liked you since I could walk.”

  “What?”

  He smiles, looking almost proud at causing that reaction in me. “If my nanny is to be believed then you’re who encouraged me to take my first step.” He pulls my hand up and directs it around his back so we’re closer. “She says I walked so I could get to you on the other side of the room. I don’t remember it, but it sounds like something I’d do.”

  Being given this moment, hearing Rogue’s words, is a stolen dream. A forbidden one. One I never dared to have. And never before have I so badly wanted to be a criminal. “Are you kidding me?” I say, sliding my other hand around to his shoulder.

  “I kid about a lot of things, but how I feel about Em Fuller isn’t one of them.”

  “I don’t know, Rogue,” I say, shaking my head at him. “It’s a little hard to believe that I never knew all this. That I missed so much for so long.”

  He gives me a sideways glance. A clever gleam in his eyes. “Oh, I don’t know. I’d venture to say you miss more than you realize.”

  “What does that mean?”

  He waves his hand at me, dismissing my demanding look. “I just meant the whole being hoodwinked by our government.”

  “No, you didn’t,” I say, spying the guilty look on his face. “What else do I miss?”

  He shakes his head. “That’s all. Hey, enough of this. I vote we play hide-and-seek. You pick the next location.”

  As kids we talked about playing this game while dream traveling in fantastic places, fantasized about it. And now it was actually coming to fruition. “The Louvre,” I say.

  “You’re it,” Rogue says, and disappears.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  After eight hours of exploring and running around museums, monasteries, and the Great Wall of China, I awake in the tent to find my body cuddled against Rogue’s. My head lies on his chest and my arm drapes across his abdomen. Somehow as my subconscious dream traveled the globe, my body found its way over to Rogue’s side of the tent. Besides from our brief embrace in Amsterdam, he kept his distance the rest of the night, probably because he was trying to hide from me. Even so, I’m embarrassed by how intertwined I’ve made my body with his while we slept.

  Gingerly I pick up my arm and bring it back to my body. He hasn’t stirred yet and was still searching the Great Pyramid of Giza when I left him. If I’m swift then I can roll back to my side of the tent before he awakes. However, my first attempt is met with a small snag. Literally. My hair is locked under his arm. Angling my head up and away I manage to free my long strands with a gentle pull. I’m just about to scoot back when Rogue’s arm circles my waist and pins me to him. “Where you going?” he says against the top of my head.

  “I was just—”

  “Stay here.” He brings his other arm around, locking me in place.

  I can’t help but smile into his chest. “Okay,” I say. My dream travels with Rogue last night had been absolutely perfect. Deliriously so. I hadn’t laughed that much since…well, since before he disappeared. And every single moment had the backdrop of an incredible location I was free to explore at will. We talked between games and in one night I found the bond we always shared grew exponentially. And also I kept realizing he was someone new to me, not the same boy I grew up with anymore. His mannerisms were as familiar as Nona’s, and then there was a host of mysteries behind his green eyes that intrigued me.

  “I’d ask you how you slept, but I’m fairly certain I already know,” Rogue says, his voice sounding thick with sleep. He pulls a fleece blanket from the side and across us, making sure it covers my back. “In my haste to get to Amsterdam I forgot to cover us up.”

  I let go of the reservations I awoke with and snuggle into him. He smells of pine and campfire. “I think I figured out how to stay warm during the night.”

  “Yes, I see you did,” Rogue says.

  Outside the tent the forest is stirring to life as the sun streams over the hills opposite of us. Waking up to the songs of birds reminds me of my childhood.

  “Hey,” he says.

  I flip my head up and stare into his green eyes; his eyelashes are impossibly long. The stubble on his face is a little longer, although I love it. No Dream Traveler is allowed to leave their house in Austin Valley unshaven. It’s such a handsome look and makes Rogue appear more perfect in his unkemptness.

  “Yes?”

  He cranes his neck until his lips are close to mine. His breath is warm in the crisp morning air. I scoot up, making it so he doesn’t have to bend so much. He pauses an inch away.

  “Em?” Rogue whispers.

  “What?”

  “I want you to leech me.”

  I deflate slightly. Sigh and roll off him to the side. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  He rolls over on his side, propping his head up on his bent elbow. “And I think it’s a fantastic one. You said yourself you have to figure out how to unleash the power you leech.”

  “But Rogue, I could hurt you. Tammy looked exhausted at the lab, like she was going to pass out.”

  “You might hurt me, but just a little and I don’t mind. I wanna see it.”

  “Rogue.”

  “Em,” he says, mocking my tone. “I won’t kiss you if you don’t. Not anymore.”

  I purse my lips at him. “You’re so immature.”

  “I know you are but what am I?” He leans in close, tempting me, his breath on my lips. “Leech me, Em.”

  “Oh, fine,” I acquiesce.

  He flashes a brilliant smile before pressing his lips into mine.

  ***

  “I’m not even sure how to do it,” I say once we’re outside, stationed in front of the tent. “When I did it to Tammy I was scared, and with your father I was terrified.”

  “Yes, fear is a great motivator. You just have to find a similar one. Think of preserving yourself maybe, like you were when my father tried his intimidation tactic,” Rogue says, his face haunted by something.

  I close my eyes and picture I’m running through the woods again. I think of the need to get away from my father, from the President. I think about surviving as the gods intended me and not being altered by the injections. I feel that motivation inside me stir. “Now what?” I say, snapping my eyes open.

  Rogue unfolds his fingers and sitting in the palm of his hand is a silver compass. “Take this using my apportation ability.”

  I don’t have the slightest idea how that ability works, but I didn’t know how President Vider’s did either. It was all instinct inside me, the way I’m sure Rogue’s is for him. With intense focus I picture the compass popping out of his hand and into mine. I desire it to be in my possession. And as second after second ticks by it stays sitting firmly in his palm. “Maybe it hasn’t been long enough since the injection.”

  “Maybe, but my guess is that it has,” Rogue says. “We dream traveled the whole night and you’ll find it’s incredibly regenerative. That’s why my father only allows Reverians to do it one hour, one night a week. Otherwise everyone’s skills would be more powerful.”

  “But I’ve dream traveled illegally before and it didn’t combat the injections.”

  “How long did you dream travel on these occasions?”

  “An hour or two,” I say.

  “Yeah, well, we dream traveled for twelve hours,” Rogue says confidently. “Your gift might be weak, but it will be there. Now try thinking of a different motivator, really feeling it.”

  I think of Nona. Of protecting her. Of taking something in order to protect her. Of stealing whatever it takes to keep her safe. I look at Rogue and for a second I picture he has what I need for this. That all I need is to borrow it from him and that it really belongs to me anyway.

  Rogue slumps slightly, lets his head fall and the
n looks at me under hooded eyes. “It worked.”

  “What? How do you know?”

  “Besides that I’m suddenly in desperate need of a nap?”

  “Oh.”

  He opens his fingers again and the compass twinkles back at me. “Take it.”

  Not even a full second passes before the compass disappears from his hand. I open mine thinking it must already be there, but it’s not.

  “There’s always a slight delay,” Rogue says, staring at my hand.

  And just as he finishes his sentence I feel the slight weight of the compass in my palm. It’s warm from Rogue’s skin. I squeeze my fingers around it and allow a smile to unfurl.

  “Now that’s cool!” Rogue says, giving me an exhausted smile. “If it’s even possible I’m even more attracted to you now. You can do anything you want! Have any power you decide. You’re like the queen of super powers.”

  I smile back at him shyly, opening my fingers again to spy the compass in my hand. It’s beautiful, engraved with the initials “RV” on the back.

  “My mother gave it to me,” Rogue says when my questioning eyes flick up to his.

  I remember now the part of Rogue’s past that I’d forgotten. His mother, Violet, died when he was five. Since a Reverian rarely dies before old age, it was considered strange, but no explanation was given about her death. Rogue spoke about it rarely, but I know it weighed on him all the time. I open my mouth to ask the question I’ve always wondered, but he cuts me off.

  “Now we need to find how you unleash the energy.”

  “How do I do that?”

  “Hmmmm... Do you feel the energy?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe,” I say, closing my eyes, concentrating on the depths of my insides. Not the internal ones, but the energetic part of me. “There does seem to be something new, like a buzzing light. That’s the best way I can describe it.”

  “Focus on expelling that.”

  “Okay,” I say tentatively.

  “First though.” Rogue stands, grabs both my shoulders, and angles them so I’m facing him on profile. He nods at me. “I don’t want to get blown up or whatever it is you can do.”

  I give him a devilish smile. “Don’t cross me, Rogue.”

  “Noted. And I never would anyway,” he says, winking at me.

  “Okay, here goes nothing.”

  “Says the girl who just sucked my gorgeous energy out of me leaving me exhausted,” Rogue says with a chuckle, taking a seat again on a large rock.

  I smile at him. “Remember, I’ve had this hidden from me for almost four years.”

  He nods and pushes his hand at me, imploring me to focus on the task. I think of pushing the buzzing light out of me. For some reason I see it with a tinge of blue. My instinct tells me to raise my hand. I point it out in front of me, aware I look like a loon. I reverse the feeling from before when I leeched the power from Rogue. I focus on letting it go, pushing it out of me. And then, although I’d been looking for the release, something quite unexpected happens.

  “Whoa!” Rogue says and then laughs in astonishment. “Was that what I think it was?”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Four more times Rogue makes me leech him, explaining that I need to have the process built into my motor memory like walking. He’s stretched out in the tent when Zack approaches. I’d been paranoid all day that someone might be searching for us, so I’d been watching for the slightest sign of movement in the distant woods when I spotted Zack’s blond hair. I toss a packet of granola at Rogue and rush off to meet Zack.

  He darts forward when he catches sight of me. His arms wrap around me in a way I’ve never known from him and he twirls me around with an overexuberant excitement, lifting me off the ground. “You’re all right?” he asks, holding me out at arm’s length.

  “I’m fine,” I say.

  “I’ve been so worried about you,” he says, and from the lines under his eyes I know he’s telling the truth.

  “Thanks for taking care of Dee. Not a bad job, I guess, considering,” I say, giving him a sly smile. He shakes his head at me, his eyes not finding mine.

  “You’re welcome, but it was actually an awful job,” Zack says. “Still worth it to protect you.”

  “Come on,” I say, tugging him toward the camp excitedly. “I have something to tell you.”

  Zack stops, skepticism and caution swathing his features as soon as he arrives in front of the tent. First his eyes stare at Rogue, who’s half asleep, and then to me. His gaze follows down to my still ripped skirt and then to my face. He slides the mailbag he has slung across his shoulder off and hands it to me. “I brought you some clothes. Thought you’d need them. They’re my mother’s and a few things Nona was able to round up as well.”

  “Thanks,” I say, rummaging through it to find a pair of shoes. I’m overly excited by the idea of having something besides Rogue’s oversized socks to wear.

  “Em, are you really okay? You got here all right?” Zack asks again, taking in my ridiculous getup.

  “Beside from breaking every fashion law in the city, I’m fine. A little bruised, but Rogue fixed me up.”

  Rogue smiles from his place lying flat on his back in the tent, his eyes closed, but his ears apparently listening. “I did, indeed.”

  Zack’s eyebrows knit together, a question on his face, but I cut him off before he can ask it.

  “What’s going on in the Valley?”

  “Your father’s madder than I’ve ever seen him. He gave Dee two days of being hooked to the night terror generator. Nona would be in extreme trouble, but she’s mysteriously come down with whatever you had and is under quarantine. It was your tutu who actually handed your belongings off to me.”

  I smile, realizing that Nona and my tutu are going to be all right as long as they have each other.

  “Your father is having the Middling neighborhoods searched for you,” Zack continues. “He’s already had the farm shut down for the day for a full sweep. And border patrols have been stationed at the north and east end.”

  “They don’t suspect this end?” I ask.

  “No, they don’t think you’d be able to get over this or the southern pass.”

  “Fools,” Rogue sings from the tent, his eyes still closed.

  “Rogue, are you okay?” Zack says, ducking down and checking on Rogue laid out under the green mesh of the tent. “What has you looking so exhausted?”

  Without opening an eye, Rogue points straight at me. “It would be that girl, brother. She damn near killed me. Exhausted me to hell, but I begged her to do it, so who am I to blame.”

  I laugh and want to simultaneously slap and kiss him.

  Zack twists around, a confounded look on his face.

  “You were warned,” I say to Rogue.

  “And I don’t regret a minute of it,” Rogue says, stretching up to a sitting position. Looking somehow adorably half drunk, he says to Zack, “It’s her gift. You have to see it.” He slides his eyes to me, the effort looking excruciatingly difficult. “Show him, Em.”

  Zack looks at me with disbelief. “You did that to him? Using your gift?”

  I nod.

  “Show me,” he says eagerly.

  “No,” I argue. “Are you paying attention? Look at what I did to Rogue,” I say, pointing to him half slouched in the tent.

  “Worth it,” he sings again, a chuckle in his voice.

  “Oh, shush it, Rogue.” I turn to Zack. “I think it’s best that I explain my gift to you. That’s the safe option.”

  “That’s the boring one,” Rogue says. “Show him. It’s more fun.”

  “For who?” I say, turning to Rogue and planting my hands on my hips.

  “For me,” he says, shaking his head like he’s trying to shake off the tiredness, his hair whipping around wildly. He pushes it back with both hands, but it’s still a complete mess. “I wanna see his face.”

  “Em,” Zack says, taking a seat on the rock beside the campfire, “I’ve be
en dying for you to get your gift. Show me.”

  “You don’t understand though. I’ll drain your energy.”

  “That’s your gift?” Zack says, looking at me, confused.

  “Oh no, brother. That’s only part of it,” Rogue says, looking proud.

  “Do it, Em,” Zack says, nodding, looking to prepare himself internally. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Are you sure?” I ask.

  “Yes.”

  “Okay,” I say.

  First, I evoke the motivation that I built into my leeching protocol the last two times I did this to Rogue. He’s right that practicing makes the process easier. Now it feels simple, like I’ve done it a hundred times. Zack doesn’t slump or change in appearance at all, but still I feel the space in my body change, like something new has entered me.

  I know with certainty that in Zack’s breast pocket his lucky charm resides. He’s religious about keeping it there. Always has been. With a skill I don’t own I slip it out of his pocket and allow it to hover just in his line of vision. It takes a second or two for his eyes to register the coin hanging in the air a foot and a half in front of his face.

  He recognizes it and snatches it from the air. Stares at it in his hands and then me.

  “Did you just do that?”

  I nod, feeling a little guilty for taking his prized charm from him.

  “You’re telekinetic?” he says with elated astonishment.

  “No,” I say, muffling my laugh. “You are.”

  “Wait,” he says, holding up his hand. “Did you just steal my gift?”

  “Borrow,” I say.

  “That’s amazing. And you can do that to anyone?”

  I nod, smiling at the dirt, unable to look at Zack directly to catch the smile he has to be wearing right now.

  “That’s not even the best part,” Rogue says, his words a little slurred but still sounding giddy. “Show him,” he encourages.

  I turn, line my shoulders up in front of the dry kindling in the campfire. My nervous eyes hover over it and then flick to Rogue’s. He’s sitting all the way up, a smile tucked at the corner of his mouth. He encourages with a nod.