A Chosen Destiny (The Samantha Project Series #3)

by Karpinske, Stephanie

  I felt my mind leaving the officer’s mind as he drove off. I was left with a pounding headache that was so bad I almost threw up. I took deep breaths and tried to focus. I could now see again from my own eyes. I had no idea what had just happened, but I couldn’t sit there trying to figure it out. I drove back on the interstate, keeping a careful watch on my speed, and got off at the airport exit.

  There were only a couple cars at the airport and no planes in sight. I parked right in front and took a minute to relax. My headache was finally subsiding. I went into the airport but didn’t see Colin anywhere. There was an attractive young woman sitting at a desk.

  “Excuse me, but where do people usually wait for their plane?” I asked her. “Is there a room somewhere?”

  She looked up from the book she was reading. “Are you waiting for a plane? I don’t remember seeing a girl on the schedule.” The woman flipped through some papers on the desk.

  “No. I’m just here to see someone. A young guy. Tall. Dark hair.” I wasn’t sure if Owens had used Colin’s real name so didn’t want to mention it.

  “Oh, yes. He’s back there.” She got up. “Just around the corner. I’ll show you.”

  “No. That’s okay. I can find it. Thanks.”

  I went to the back room. A basketball game was playing on the large TV that hung on the wall. Across from it was a leather sofa, where Colin was sitting. He’d fallen asleep. I smiled seeing him again, even though I’d just seen him hours earlier.

  “Colin?” I said quietly as I sat down next to him.

  He woke up, startled. “What? Who’s there?”

  “It’s me. Sam.”

  “Sam? What are you doing here?” Colin looked both surprised and angry. “Did you come here alone?”

  “Yeah. I need to talk to you.”

  “You could’ve been caught! What were you thinking?”

  “Forget about that,” I said, trying to erase the cop incident from my mind. “Just listen to me. I want you to stay.” I reached over and held his hand. “I love you, Colin. I can’t even describe how much. And I—”

  He pulled his hand away. “What is this? What are you doing here? I’m leaving in a couple hours.”

  “I know. But just let me say this. I need to tell you this. And I should have said it before.”

  “Said what? What are you trying to tell me, Sam?”

  I turned the TV off. “That I’m sorry, Colin. I took you for granted for so long and I shouldn’t have. I didn’t realize what I had. And you’re right. You’ve always held this relationship together. You’ve done all the work. And I’m sorry for that. I was just afraid—” I stopped, wondering how much to tell him. But I’d gone there to be honest with him and that meant not holding back.

  “Afraid of what, Sam?”

  “I was afraid of, I don’t know, a lot of things. I was afraid of letting myself get too involved with you when I was still in high school. I was afraid that people would judge me and tell me I was too young to be serious with a guy. But it wasn’t other people doing that. I was the one judging myself. I was afraid to accept how I really felt about you. Because I wasn’t ready for that. You know my rule. No serious relationships before I’m 30.”

  Colin nodded. “Yeah, I know it.”

  “And I was afraid that—” I stopped again.

  “What, Sam? What were you going to say?”

  “I was afraid that you’d find someone else. I’ve always been afraid of that. So I wouldn’t admit how I really felt about you. Not even to myself. Because if I did, I was afraid I’d get hurt.” I paused. “But that’s a risk I have to take. I get that now. With risk comes reward. People always say that but I never understood it until now.”

  “Why did you think I would try to find someone else?”

  “Because you can, Colin. You’re what every girl wants. You could have anyone.”

  “I never wanted anyone else.” Colin seemed frustrated. “I don’t understand you, Sam. I’ve never cheated on you. Why would you think I’d go looking for someone else? I haven’t even dated many girls.”

  “You dated plenty of girls before we started going out. Prettier girls. More popular girls. Like Caitlyn.”

  Colin stood up. “Caitlyn? Sam, are you still mad about that? You and I were barely friends when I dated her.”

  I looked away, wishing I hadn’t mentioned Caitlyn. But the fact that he’d dated her had always bugged me. And if I was being honest, I had to be open about the whole Caitlyn thing.

  “Sam. Seriously? That was ninth grade. And I only dated her for a couple months.” Colin sighed. “I can’t believe you’re still hung up on that.”

  “Why her, Colin? You know how she treated me. Out of all the girls you could have dated, why did you have to pick her?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I was trying to make my dad happy. He had this stupid dream of me being quarterback and dating the most popular cheerleader. So I did. But that was his dream. Not mine. I mean, I liked playing football, but I didn’t want that to be my only thing in life. And I wanted to date you, not her.”

  “Well, it hurt me when you did that. I couldn’t stand seeing you with her. And I didn’t understand why we stopped being friends. And why you spent all your time playing sports and hanging out with those people, like I didn’t even exist.”

  “I was trying to figure out where I fit. It’s just part of growing up. Honestly, Sam, I didn’t even think you noticed me back then. I thought you’d outgrown our friendship. You never even spoke to me.”

  “Because I didn’t know what to say to you. When you started hanging out with the jocks and dating Caitlyn, it’s like I didn’t know you anymore. You weren’t the guy I grew up with.”

  “And all the time we were friends after that, Sam, and all the time we dated, you didn’t notice that I was still me?”

  “I guess I saw what I wanted to see. And I guess if I kept seeing you as that guy, I wouldn’t get too close to you. But everything changed after my parents died. The last few months, even the last few weeks, I’ve seen things so much clearer. And today, when we said goodbye, I felt sick thinking that I’d never see you again. But I didn’t know what to do to get you to stay. So I had to come back. Even if you get on that plane, at least now you know how I really feel.”

  He didn’t respond.

  “Will you stay? Please?”

  “I don’t know, Sam.”

  “We can take it slow. We can just be friends if you want and see how it goes.”

  “But still, after everything that happened with Erik and—”

  “I know. But there’s nothing there. Erik and I are friends. That’s it.”

  Colin wasn’t convinced. “Erik doesn’t think that. And the way you two mind-talk and have all these secrets. It’s just—”

  “I don’t have to mind-talk with him. I’ll tell him to stop. I can tune him out. Please, just stay. Even if it’s just for a few more weeks. If it’s not working, you can leave later.”

  Colin could see the desperation in my eyes. “Okay. A few weeks. And then we’ll see.”

  I hugged him. “Thank you!”

  “But we can’t go back to the way we were before.”

  “Okay. So what do you want to do?”

  “Like you said. We take this slow. Friends first. And we’ll go from there.”

  “Works for me.” I went to hug him again, but he stopped me.

  “Sam, you’re bleeding. Let me get something.”

  I noticed blood dripping from my nose. “It’s just a nosebleed. No big deal.” I felt the blood flowing harder as my head began to throb again.

  Colin handed me a wad of paper towels. “This is all they have. I could ask that woman out there if she has—”

  “No, this is fine. I’m sure it will stop soon. We should get going. You’ll have to drive.” I handed him the keys.

  Colin gathered his stuff and we headed out.

  “Hey, what about your plane?” the woman at the desk yelled at Colin as
we left.

  “Changed my mind,” he yelled back. When we got to the car, he opened the door, helping me in. My nose was bleeding even harder.

  Colin put his stuff in the trunk and got in the driver’s seat. “I found this in the trunk in case you need it.” He handed me a small towel. “You’re bleeding really bad, Sam. You sure you’re okay?”

  The paper towels were covered in blood. I set them aside and used the towel. “Yeah. It’ll stop soon.”

  But it didn’t. I gave Colin directions to the house then sat quietly. The pain in my head returned, even worse than before.

  “Sam, you’re really bleeding. And you don’t look very good. Should I pull over?”

  “No. I just have a headache. It’ll go away.”

  “Now you have a headache? Something’s wrong. You should see a doctor.”

  “For a headache and a nosebleed? It’s nothing. It’s probably from the stress of going to see you. I was really nervous telling you all that.”

  Colin reached over and put his hand on mine. “Sam, if this is going to work between us, you can’t be nervous about telling me stuff. You should be able to tell me anything.”

  “I know. And I’ll try to get better at that. I promise. Hey, it’s the next exit. Turn right, go like a mile, and then turn left at the intersection. It’s the second house on your right. White with black shutters.”

  “So what do you think Dave will say about you taking this car and not telling anyone? I still can’t believe you did that, Sam.”

  “I think we both know he’ll be mad. But it is my first offense.” I looked down to see that the towel Colin had given me was now covered in blood. I tried to hide it from his view, but he caught a glimpse of it when we came to a stop.

  “What the hell? That thing is soaked! Sam, we should go to a hospital!”

  “You know we can’t do that. Just get me back to the house. I’ll be okay.”

  I was lightheaded by the time we got there. Colin helped me inside. Jack, Dave, Erik, and Brittany were all sitting in the living room, waiting.

  Dave burst from his chair when he saw me walk in. “Sam, what’s wrong? Why are you bleeding? What happened? And Colin, what are—”

  “Uncle Dave. It’s just a nosebleed. I went to the airport to get Colin. I know I shouldn’t have, but I had to.”

  “Did you get in a car accident or something?” Erik asked.

  “No. Everyone just relax.” The room started to get blurry and I found it hard to stand.

  Dave took me from Colin. “Samantha, you could have been caught! GlobalLife isn’t that far from here. Sit down. Someone get her another towel.”

  “Can we just talk about it later?” I felt my head getting heavy. Then everything went black.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Transference

  I woke up and found myself in bed in Brittany’s room with Dave sitting next to me. “What happened?”

  “You blacked out,” Dave said, getting closer. “How’s your head?”

  “It’s a little better. Still hurts, though. Do they have some aspirin here?”

  “Aspirin won’t help, Sam.” Dave glanced back at someone. I looked closer and saw that it was Abigail, the woman we met when we arrived there. “We need to talk about what happened when you feel up to it.”

  “Listen, I know I shouldn’t have taken the car, but I couldn’t let Colin leave. I’m sorry, Uncle Dave, but I knew you wouldn’t—”

  “I don’t care that you took the car, Sam. I want to talk about what made you black out like that. Did something happen when you were on your way to get Colin?”

  “Um, maybe.” I wasn’t sure if I should tell him about the cop incident. But he seemed okay with my taking the car, so maybe he wouldn’t care.

  “Sam, we really need to know.” Dave pointed to the device that disabled the microphones in the room. “It’s okay to talk in here. Tell me what happened.”

  Abigail came over and sat across from Dave on the bed.

  “Well, I kind of got stopped for speeding,” I confessed.

  Dave tried to remain calm. “Okay. So you were pulled over by the police?”

  I sat up. “Yes. But I didn’t have my license, so he went to call it in. He said he was taking me to the station.”

  “But he didn’t, so what happened?”

  “I don’t know. I tried to read his thoughts. Next thing I knew, I was—okay, this is going to sound really weird—but I was seeing what the officer was seeing. It was like I was in his head. And I was talking for him. Almost thinking for him. I wanted him to leave and then he did. He gave me the registration back and drove off.”

  Abigail didn’t seem at all surprised by my story. “Mind transference,” she said to Dave. “I thought this might happen when they filled in that section of DNA.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked her.

  “Your mind is capable of extraordinary things, Samantha. This is one of them. You’re able to get inside the mind of another person and essentially take it over.”

  “What? No way. That’s crazy. I mean, I can’t explain what happened with the police officer, but—”

  “Sam, you said you felt like you were in the man’s head, talking for him, thinking for him,” Dave said.

  “Yeah, but I wasn’t trying to take over his mind. I was just wishing he would let me go.”

  “It can happen automatically,” Abigail said, “especially because you haven’t learned how to control it.”

  “So this is one of my new abilities?”

  Dave nodded. “Yes. But it has risks, Sam. Abigail thinks that it could damage your brain. That’s probably why you had the headaches and nosebleeds.”

  “The amount of energy it takes to do this overwhelms the brain’s circuitry,” she explained, “sending it into a type of overdrive state. Similar to overloading an electrical circuit.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “Abigail is a very talented geneticist,” Dave said. “She’s been studying the alien genetic material for years, Sam. A scientist from the rebel group stole a file containing detailed information about it back in the nineties. Abigail was asked to work on analyzing its properties and its potential effects on the human body. She knows more about it than GlobalLife does.”

  Abigail smiled at him. “Well, thank you, David. That’s very kind. But I’m sure that’s not true.”

  David? I’d never heard anyone call Uncle Dave “David.” I glanced at Dave, who couldn’t seem to take his eyes off Abigail. “So you knew I could do this?” I asked her.

  “I theorized it was possible. I’ve built many models using the information we have about the alien genetic material. As for this particular part of your enhanced genes, the part that gives you this ability, I’ve worked with a group of neuroscientists to help predict how this ability might affect the brain.”

  “She’s brilliant, Sam. You should see the complicated models she’s built. And not just for the brain. She’s looked at how your enhanced genes affect all different areas of your body.” Dave smiled back at Abigail, almost flirtatiously.

  “Sam, are you okay?” Colin stood at the door.

  “We don’t know yet,” Dave answered for me. “Tomorrow we’re taking her to have some tests run.”

  “I don’t need any tests, Uncle Dave. I’m fine.”

  “You’re going, Samantha.” Dave got up. “We’ll let you two talk. Colin, fill her in on the plan, will you?” Dave motioned for Abigail to leave, then followed her, smiling from ear to ear.

  “What’s up with those two?” I asked Colin.

  He laughed. “I think Dave has a thing for that lady. I thought he’d given up on women. Has he even dated anyone in the last 20 years?”

  “He’s never had a chance to. He spent too much time at work. He’s acting really weird around her.”

  “It’s that early stage of dating when everything’s awkward and you’re nervous all the time.” He smiled. “You remember that, don’t you, Sam
?”

  “Yeah. I’m glad that’s over.” I held his hand, still thrilled that he’d decided to stay. “Hey, can I have a kiss?”

  He gave me a look.

  “Oh. I forgot. We’re not dating. Never mind.”

  “Yeah, but since you aren’t feeling well, I’ll give you one.” He leaned down and kissed my cheek.

  I made a face. “That’s it? I guess I’ll take what I can get. So what was this plan Dave was talking about?”

  “Jack and Dave went to a meeting with Abigail and a bunch of people from that rebel group. They want me to meet up with some girl and see if I can get information from her.”

  “What girl? What kind of information?”

  “The chief scientist put in charge of the alien genes at GlobalLife has a daughter our age. She goes to some fancy school. I think it’s called The Academy or something. Anyway, she goes to this coffee place after school. I’m going to start hanging out there to get to know her.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “They think I could get information out of her, like stuff her dad tells her about GlobalLife. Or stuff she overhears. Her parents are divorced and she lives with her dad. He’s worked at GlobalLife for years.”

  “So they want you to date this girl?” I tried to hide my jealously.

  “Not really date her, but get to know her. I don’t think it will work. I mean, I’ll go hang out at this coffee shop, but that doesn’t mean she’ll talk to me or be interested in me.”

  Colin never understood how much girls liked him. When they flirted with him, he just thought they were being nice. This girl would totally be into him. A tall, athletic guy with deep brown eyes and a perfect smile? Of course she’d be interested.

  “What are you supposed to find out from her?”

  “Where the alien genes are being stored in the GlobalLife Genetics building in White Plains.”

  “She’s not going to tell you that.”

  He shrugged. “Whatever. I’ll see what I can find out.”

  “What if you get caught?”

  “There aren’t any cameras in the coffee shop. It’s in a really small town. This girl’s dad doesn’t even know she goes there. She hangs out there because they let her sing and play her guitar or something.”