by Liz Long
“I went there tonight, to Felix’s hole in the ground. And you were there, only it wasn’t you, it was Finley, but Felix seemed quite comfortable around the Gabriel he thought was there. So by my deduction, you’re pretty good friends with that psychopath. Now he has Finley and he’s going to die. You are going to kill every gifted being here and I can’t believe I trusted you!” Something inside me snapped and I yelled at him. “I trusted you!”
Before I could defend myself, Gabriel leaned over and grabbed my arms. I tried to fight him, but he covered my mouth and yanked me into his trailer. He slammed the door shut behind us and we grappled for a moment. I slammed my fists into his chest, shoved him into the door. All the while, he kept his hands on my arms and once I tired out, he merely steadied me. When I calmed down, he let go and I saw his hands now blistered from the heat on my skin. I looked up at him; his eyes faced the ground but after an excruciatingly long moment, he looked up at me.
“It’s not what you think.”
“Then explain it to me.” My hands curled into fists by my side.
“It’s not that simple, Luce.”
“Tell me, was anything you told me true? Your past, Rehab…your feelings?” I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him.
“All of that is true. I didn’t lie to you…I just didn’t exactly tell you everything.”
“That’s pretty much the same as lying if you ask a normal person.”
“I can’t tell you everything. We need to go to Sheffield.”
“The hell we do. I’m not going anywhere with you. I shouldn’t even be here, but if you so much as take one step out that door or towards me, I’ll set your ass on fire.”
“It’s not simple. I can’t explain everything, not when I hardly know the facts myself.”
“You have no idea what you’ve done. Finley is probably dead and I’m definitely next! Who are you?” To my humiliation, my voice cracked. I looked down and squeezed my eyes shut. I would not cry. He could not have that satisfaction. I swallowed the knot in my throat and focused on my anger.
“Please don’t…you have no idea how hard this has been for me,” he pleaded.
I felt sick to my stomach, couldn’t breathe through the anger. I wanted to punch his nose right off his face. “For you? For you? I don’t give a shit about your problems! You lied to all of us, to me. You ran back with information to Felix so that he could trick me, use it to kill Sheffield and enslave everyone here. My friend was killed tonight because of you.”
“No, it’s not like that, I swear. Felix already knew so much about you.”
“So you admit you’re working with him!”
“It’s not what you think!”
“Then explain it to me!” I yelled.
“I was supposed to protect you, not fall for you!” he shouted back. His hands clutched his head in frustration and he kept his head down. Totally taken aback, I didn’t know how to respond. Embarrassment and awkwardness piled on top of the anger and confusion.
Instead, I looked around at his camper for the first time. Somehow he’d gotten a single; I never would’ve expected it to be so neat. Books lay on every free space, no television or game console in sight. I spotted a folder underneath his bed, where a picture escaped the bottom. A picture of me, with my father, from years ago; I walked over and picked it up. Gabriel made no objections, but simply looked at me.
“Where did you get this?” I asked. I held the photo up, brought it closer so I could see. This was before my dad’s decree on fire; we were in a long-forgotten parking lot, where he had taught me the basics on how to move fire that wasn’t mine. My father stood behind me while I tried in vain to make his fire dance.
“Sheffield let me borrow it.”
“You lie. My mother took this photo. How would you get this from Sheffield, how would he have it? Why would he give this to you?”
“Lenny gave it to him, to show your progress. Everything in that folder, Sheffield gave to me, so I could know you, help you.”
I stared at the photo, ran my fingers over the smooth glossy paper. I lingered on my father, his face lit up with pride at my hard work. My face, so squinty in concentration, almost made me smile. In the photo, I exuded so much effort into that skill when now it came so easy to me.
Gabriel interrupted my memory. “I wanted to tell you everyday since that night at the bar. I was only supposed to keep an eye on you, make sure no one came after you. But instead, you turn out to be this woman that I have no idea how to handle. Your spirit and talent intrigued me and I had to know more. I wanted to know you better. I did it despite the fact I shouldn’t. That’s what I meant when I told you my feelings that night, about why I shouldn’t be with you. I gave in anyways. I don’t regret it, either.”
I tore my gaze away from my father’s image, back to Gabriel’s blue eyes. “You’ve been watching me for Felix. You took everything I said to him and now he’ll use it against me, turn it around to hurt me and everyone else here.”
“No! I never worked for Felix. He only thought I did. I’m here because Sheffield asked me to be here…and I stayed because of you.”
My anger, lessened by the photo, faded a little and I sunk onto the edge of Gabriel’s bed. I leaned over, picked up the folder and opened it. Gabriel didn’t stop me, only watched me from where he stood a few feet away by the doorway.
The folder contained a few sheets of paper that showed my basic information: my gift, with several details scribbled underneath in Sheffield’s handwriting, including the incidents since I’d been here; my previous addresses and schools; my history of power and usage; and a family tree. My mother’s side was completely human, of course, but my dad’s side contained little stars next to names. Gradually, more stars grew as the line went down. Four stars were scribbled next to Lenny Sullivan, while my name held five and an exclamation mark. I could hazard a guess to the significance.
A handful of photos spilled out on my lap. They chronicled different times in my life after we left the show: me juggling fireballs in the backyard at fourteen; of me and my mother, her head on my shoulder and a soft smile on her face; my high school graduation shot; one at my father’s funeral, looking more stoic than sad; and finally, a shot of me on my first day back, laughing with Delia.
Seeing the shot of my mother and me saddened me. All the heat left my body and I felt more depressed than ever. For the first time in as long as I could remember, I was cold. My shoulders hunched and I looked up at Gabriel, defeated.
“Why would Sheffield need you to spy on me? He can ask me whatever he wants.”
Gabriel cautiously walked towards me and took a seat on the bed next to me. In the small space, our shoulders touched. He touched the folder and his hand accidentally grazed mine. I tried to ignore the tingly thrill my skin had at his touch.
“He gave me what was in there; I didn’t do any research. It wasn’t necessarily about getting to know you. That’s just your history. He asked me to at least try and talk to you. He wondered about some things, but most of it was my doing. He’d warned me you were tough, would be hard to get to know and I guess part of it was my arrogance at first. I thought I could crack you. You keep everything so hidden, I was sure I could figure you out without using my gift. When I couldn’t, it made me more curious. I wanted to get to know you better.”
“You knew about Felix all along?”
“Yes. Felix wants your gift, but to do so, he’ll probably have to kill you. I won’t let that happen.”
“Did you ever think maybe I don’t need your help?” I snapped the folder shut, but not before I took the photos with my parents in them and put them in my back pocket. When I shifted to do so, I leaned into Gabriel and he didn’t pull away.
“You need everyone’s help. We need to work together; Felix is powerful, now more so than ever,” he said.
“Funny that you’re rallying the troops together. You didn’t want anything to do with us when you got here.”
“My only co
ncern was you, because that’s why Sheffield brought me here. Then I got to know you, spent time with you and shared secrets no one knows. Eventually, my protecting you wasn’t just for Sheffield anymore. I wanted you safe. I’ve never felt about anyone the way I feel about you.”
I dropped the folder back on the ground. It fell with a slap and I kept my eyes on it. “How can I believe anything you say?”
“We can go to Sheffield right now. He’ll back me up.” His tone edged on pleading.
“Why ask me all those questions about Sheffield when you already knew?”
“I needed to throw you off my scent for one. I don’t know him as well as you think. I didn’t know he was a Collector until very recently, so I obviously had to act surprised when you told me. I also didn’t want you to be a lemming, another one of Sheffield’s blind followers. You’re smart enough to think for yourself. You deserve to know the truth about your dad, what he’d been through to protect you. I don’t know a lot, but I shouldn’t know more than you do about your own father.”
“I’m still in the dark about that one,” I muttered. “But I still don’t understand why’d you try to lead me away from Sheffield being a trusted ally, all that mafia circus bullshit, how other groups are scared of him.”
“Some of it is true. You needed to have an idea, an inkling of the rumors Felix would try to feed you. I knew he’d tell you those things because he told me. Had I not already known Sheffield, been working for him, Felix may have persuaded me to the wrong side. I wanted you to form your own opinion.”
“What if I’d formed the wrong one, genius? What if I’d believed you, believed Felix?”
“I knew you wouldn’t. You’re too good.”
I scoffed at him and he shook his head.
“No really, I mean that. You believe in right and wrong, and you’ve known Sheffield for so long. You wanted to protect him, your friends, even me, and I can’t explain to you how much I admire that. I knew you would never take Felix’s side.”
“So is any of it even true? Are there really others who fear Sheffield?”
“Yes. Sheffield got to the top for a reason and there are some who will come after him as they’ve done in the past. I wanted to make sure you heard it from me instead of Felix, because he’s tricky enough to convince people. After Felix approached you, Sheffield wanted to know where your loyalties lie. When you stayed strong on your opinions, I had no problem telling him you would support him. He wanted to know what Lenny told you about their work, but obviously there wasn’t much to go on there. He wouldn’t tell me everything. He’s pretty good at secrets.”
“Like most other people around here, it seems. I don’t know if I can ever forgive you for this, no matter what Sheffield confirms. You’ve lied to me all this time. Sheffield can’t back you up on whatever feelings you say you have.”
“I know. The other night on the Ferris wheel, I almost told you everything. But you were already so mad at me that I knew you’d burn the place down. I can’t begin to explain how hard this has been. I’m not asking for your forgiveness, but I want to help you.”
“Why you? Why did Sheffield want you of all people to protect me?”
“I have the sort of history Felix looks for in his groupies. I fit his criteria—I have a powerful gift, I’ve abused it in the past, and I don’t really like authority. I’ve helped Sheffield for a few years now, since your dad died, actually. But when you called him up and joined, he decided I was of better use here.”
“Sheffield brought you in to trick me? To make me…to get close to me?”
“No. I was supposed to keep an eye on you, make sure Felix didn’t get near you. Instead, I wound up crazy for you. The other night when you saw me with that girl, it was two-fold. I never should have confessed my feelings for you. I’m still not sure why—maybe I thought I could balance it out. I was hurt when you reacted the way you did. So I did what I did out of anger, but I guess maybe I thought it would also push you away, reestablish that I couldn’t be with you. It killed me to hurt you like that. Lucy, I still want you, to be with you.”
With no idea how to respond to his emotions, I decided to focus on the bigger problem at hand. My personal feelings couldn’t get in the way right now.
“Did you tell Felix I was here?”
“No. He’s sent some of his own people in here occasionally to spy for him. They buy tickets in and sneak around for information. Sheffield’s never given them much to go on. But then Felix heard about the bar fight, got interested in the violence that occurred. He found those men from the other night, discovered that it involved a redheaded girl with the power to burn. He knew, used Knox’s Tracker power to be sure.”
His right leg bouncing impossibly fast, Gabriel looked everywhere but at me. He caught me looking at the movement and he stopped, cleared his throat, and continued.
“When he learned I was there that night, I couldn’t lie without being caught. He believed he could use me to get to you. I was the reason that hose didn’t work that night you helped the clowns—I unhooked it and Felix was there to make sure of it. He was so fucking happy when you ran out there.” Gabriel’s voice grew hard.
“Why didn’t you tell us it was Felix when you saw Marty’s body that night? We could’ve formed a different plan if we’d known he was a Firestarter.”
He gave me a look. “Boy, you don’t miss anything, do you? I didn’t know it was Felix that killed Marty at the time. He’s got some Firestarters on his side, figured they were following orders.”
“You did lie to me, you know, giving me some bullshit story about Sheffield and his circus mafia, warning me I shouldn’t side with him. You made me think my father was some sort of hit man.”
“He wasn’t a hit man, Lucy, but he did do favors for Sheffield. You don’t know everything and maybe you shouldn’t, but Sheffield and others have gone to great lengths to protect this group.”
I looked up at him, at his blue eyes underneath long black lashes. “Including you?”
“Yes, including me. Originally, I did it because Sheffield helped me and I felt obligated to repay his favor. I can’t say I care too much about the group. But you…for you, I will do whatever it takes.”
Against my better judgment, I met his gaze. His eyes searched mine and when I didn’t look away, he put his hand against my cheek. I sat motionless; too many emotions conflicted with my thoughts. He leaned in to kiss me and I didn’t turn my head; instead, I met him halfway. I closed my eyes in anticipation. I felt the heat on his skin and my pulse sped up as his lips brushed mine.
Chapter 36
Blam! I jumped a foot in the air as a fist pounded on the door and we heard Nikolas shout. “Hey asshole—get the fuck out here! Now!”
“Batman and Robin to save the day, no doubt,” Gabriel said.
He heaved a sigh as we stood up and walked to the door. Gabriel swung it open to find his visitors outside. Nikolas and Brooklyn looked pissed while Delia looked worried, but my guilt kicked in full swing when I saw Keegan’s face.
“Lucy, get away from him,” Nikolas demanded.
“Are you all right? Your shirt is torn,” Delia pointed out.
I nodded and stepped outside. “Whatever you think, it’s wrong. We need to go to Sheffield.”
“You can’t possibly believe anything he says,” Brooklyn said.
Keegan, who had remained quiet, came to stand beside me. He didn’t take his eyes off me. “Finley’s gone and Gabriel knows where he is,” he said.
“Actually, I know where he is, which is why we need to see Sheffield right now,” I said. They all looked surprised. I turned to Gabriel who still stood in the doorway. “You’re going too. C’mon.”
Nikolas glared at Gabriel as he stepped out and lit a cigarette. Brooklyn followed suit and began walking to Sheffield’s office camper without another word. Keegan held out his hand to me, a question in his eyes. I didn’t look at Gabriel, instead put my hand in Keegan’s. The rest of us followed Brooklyn
and I tried not to look at Gabriel. On the way over, I finally snuck a peek at him; his expression remained passive. I almost regretted my actions, until I remembered the last few days, how Keegan had been there for me while Gabriel lied. Keegan deserved better. I would sort it out later. Right now, I needed to be logical and think of what needed to be done about Felix.
“What do you know?” Nikolas asked me.
“It’s better I tell it one time or I might set the place on fire,” I answered. “Trust me, you’ll want Sheffield to explain things. I know I do.”
“Is Finley ok?” Keegan said.
“I don’t think so,” I answered. Everyone fell silent as we reached Sheffield’s camper. Nikolas pounded on his door. Sheffield opened it, saw the group and cocked an eyebrow. He saw me and Gabriel, the looks on our faces.
“I take it there’s something you’d like to discuss?” he asked.
“She knows, Sheffield,” Gabriel said.
“And Felix has Finley,” I added.
He wordlessly backed away from the open door and walked back to his desk while we filed inside. Sheffield took his seat behind the desk while Brooklyn and Delia sat in the chairs in front. Nikolas, Keegan and Gabriel stood with me and we all waited for Sheffield to speak.
“Tell me what happened tonight,” he said.
I started at the beginning, from my drive over to Felix’s makeshift lab to the discovery of Finley as Gabriel. I made sure to include that Felix thought he made a cure for gifted, continued all the way up to my confrontation with Gabriel back on the grounds. I stopped there, unsure if I should reveal to the group of Sheffield and Gabriel’s secrets. Nikolas beat me to the punch.
“So tell me why we should trust that malaka,” he said with a pointed look at Gabriel, who raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
“I asked Gabriel to fool Felix into trusting him,” Sheffield admitted. “That is my doing and perhaps my mistake.”
“But he’s actually on our side?” Brooklyn asked.