by S. J. West
“Be here?” I asked.
“I told your father where we would be coming after we got through with the growth facility. He knows to send someone to get us if my father gets here before we’re done.”
“Done with what?”
Jace grinned. “Come on. I want to show you something.”
Jace opened his door and got out. I did the same, not seeing that I had much choice and curious to know what it was Jace wanted to show me here. I met him in front of the car, and he instantly took one of my hands into one of his.
“What’s here that you want to show me?”
“How long has it been since you played?”
I felt confused by the question, like Jace had suddenly started speaking in a foreign language. The word “play” hadn’t been a part of my vocabulary for a very long time.
“I guess,” I began, really having to think back to the last time I truly played, “it had to be before the war.”
Jace started to walk forward, tugging on my hand, indicating I should follow him.
“Then, come on,” he said.
We walked over to the swing set first. Jace turned me around in front of one of the faded green belt swing seats and gently pushed down on my shoulders, indicating I was expected to sit in it.
“Jace,” I said, taking the seat, even though I felt silly sitting in it, “we have a lot to do. We don’t really have time for this.”
“Of course we do,” he said, walking behind me.
“We have to get Simon back and figure out how to kill the Queen,” I argued.
Jace grabbed the chains of the swing and pulled me back. He let me go, and I began to swing in the air.
“We have time, Skye,” Jace said, continuing to push me until I got high enough to push myself through the air without his assistance.
Jace sat in the swing beside me and watched me swing back and forth, grinning like he was receiving joy in just watching me play.
The feel of the wind on my face was cool and cleansing. I closed my eyes and thought back to the last time I swung on a swing set.
I was in the backyard of my parents’ house. The war with the Harvesters had just begun. My mom and dad were packing bags, getting ready to take us into hiding because they knew what was coming. My mom had told me to go out to the backyard to play one last time because we were about to leave our home forever. I remembered not worrying about it too much. I was only seven after all. As long as my parents acted like everything would be fine, I didn’t see any reason to question the future.
I opened my eyes and looked over at Jace who was smiling for all he was worth. I used my feet to bring me to a stop beside him.
“Thank you for this,” I said, holding my hand out to him.
He twined his fingers with mine.
“I thought you might need it after the day you’ve just had,” he said, worry for me in his eyes as he looked at our joined hands.
I felt a sense of guilt. It seemed like that was all Jace ever did: worry about me.
“I did need it,” I agreed. “I just didn’t know it.”
He stood from his swing and tugged on my hand.
“Come on, let’s go on the slide.”
I laughed. “Are you sure you brought us here for me or was it secretly for yourself?”
Jace shrugged, still grinning. “Does it matter?”
I shook my head.
“No,” I said, happy to see a twinkle of amusement in Jace’s eyes instead of worry. “No, it doesn’t matter at all.”
And then Jace and I played.
We slid down the slide, went back and forth on the see-saw, and finally Jace pushed me on the carousel. It was one of the few times in my life I felt happy, almost carefree like we didn’t have anything in the world to worry about.
As I sat on the carousel going round and round, I told Jace, “My father asked me if we were planning to get married.”
Jace slowly brought the carousel to a stop. He sat down beside me on the platform.
“My dad asked me the same question a while back.”
I felt my head tilt of its own accord. “You never mentioned it to me. The first I heard of Michael wanting to know if we were going to get married was from Ian.”
“Ian?” Jace asked, surprised by this fact. “I didn’t realize he spoke to Ian about it.”
“It just seems silly, doesn’t it? Something left over from the old world.”
“I don’t know.” Jace shrugged. “Maybe it’s a good idea.”
“Do you want to get married or is it just because it would make things less awkward with our fathers?”
“Both,” Jace said with a slight laugh. “Would it be so bad if we got married?”
The way Jace was watching my face I knew my answer meant a lot to him.
“No,” I told him. “It wouldn’t be bad. If it would make you happy, I would be willing to do it.”
Jace hung his head and shook it. “Not exactly the enthusiastic response I was hoping for, Skye.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to sound like I don’t want to marry you, but, I mean, who still gets married?”
“Maybe we could start a trend,” Jace said, looking back at me. “Maybe we can show people that life the way it used to be before the war can come back.”
“I’m not totally against the idea,” I said, “but I think bringing the sun back would be more of a morale booster than a wedding.”
“I know. And I have every intention of helping you make that happen. Let’s make a deal.”
I narrowed my eyes at Jace. “What kind of deal?”
“On the first dawn we have, let’s get married. It’ll be like a new beginning for the world and a new beginning for us as a real family. Can we do that?”
I couldn’t help but smile at the sweet sentiment.
I nodded. “Okay.”
Jace smiled and tugged me over into his arms. He was just about to kiss me when I heard a car pull into the parking lot.
“I think your father made it here,” I said to Jace, looking over beside our car and seeing Paul open the door of the jeep he just drove up in.
Jace took in a deep breath.
“Play time is over then,” he said in disappointment. “I guess that means it’s time to start saving the world.”
When we got back to the mansion, we found everyone in the living room. Michael immediately hugged Jace as soon as he saw him. Surprisingly enough, Ian hugged me just as fiercely.
“Wasn’t sure I would be seeing you again,” he told me, “at least not the human you.”
I hugged him back.
“Good to see you too.”
I looked over to the bay window in the room and found Lux, Kirk, Teegan, and Kale all trying to soothe a very upset Rose. I walked over to them.
“We have literally tried everything,” Lux said, obviously at her wit’s end.
“And she means everything,” Kirk confirmed, his usually coiffed hair messy from running his fingers through it.
“That kid’s got some lungs on her,” Kale said in amazement. “Man, I never knew a baby could get that loud.”
Teegan patted Kale on the back, sympathizing completely.
“Here, give her to me,” I said to Lux.
Lux stood and placed Rose into my arms. She immediately stopped crying and looked up at me. She took in a cry-induced shuddering breath, closed her eyes, and promptly went to sleep.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Lux said, staring at a now slumbering Rose. “How the hell did you do that?”
I shrugged, silently pleased by Rose’s reaction to my holding her.
“She probably just wanted her mother instead of a pink haired stranger,” Ian said from behind me, peering over my shoulder at Rose.
Lux crossed her arms and stared daggers at Ian.
“And what’s wrong with pink hair?” she asked, almost daring him to insult her.
Ian looked at Lux. “Nothing … if it’s Halloween.”
; Lux’s expression became tight with anger. “And who the hell are you exactly? The fashion police?”
Ian gave Lux one of his signature lopsided grins. “No, I just say what I think. You might actually be pretty if you didn’t distract people with that hot pink fuzz ball sitting on top of your head.”
I knew coming from Ian what he just said was actually a compliment, but from the murderous look Lux was giving Ian, it didn’t seem like she was taking it that way. I could almost see the steam billowing out of her ears like a cartoon character in an old Acme Corporation animation.
“Skye,” Jace called out to me, “could you come over here please?”
“Excuse me,” I said to my friends, glad to be given an excuse to get out of the line of Lux’s verbal fire I felt sure was about to erupt all over Ian.
Michael, Jace, and my father were all studying the map Michael had brought with him. It was the same map I marked on four months ago to show where all of the Queen’s installations were located. Many of them were now crossed out with red x’s to indicate Michael’s group had destroyed them. But there were still a lot of them left to take out.
“My dad thinks she would probably take Simon here,” Jace said, pointing to the second Harvester chip production facility in Geneva, NY.
“It’s one of the most fortified camps she has left,” Michael told me. “She could have gone to the Stone Mountain facility, but I have a feeling she wouldn’t go that far without you being with her.”
I nodded, knowing Michael was probably right. The Queen still held out hope that she could turn me back into a Harvester.
“Then that’s where we go,” I told them.
“We should prepare to mount a full on offensive there,” Michael said.
“No,” I told him. “Jace and I take a small tactical team in first. It’ll take too much time to move troops there for what you want to do.”
“I agree,” Jace said, backing me up. “Anyway, how many people did we lose in her attack at the new camp? Over half? I don’t think we have enough for a full on offensive attack.”
“We lost three quarters,” Michael admitted. “She took us by surprise.”
“How many people do you have with you?” I asked my dad.
“Six hundred left with us from the Southern Kingdom. We’ve probably picked up an extra three hundred on our way here,” my dad answered.
“So with Michael’s people and your people we might have a couple of thousand?” I asked.
Michael sighed. “It’s not enough.”
“Wait,” Jace said, his eyes alight with excitement. “What about the people in the Cain virus infested camps? Like the one in Alliance?”
My father and Michael looked at one another.
“It might work,” Michael said. “Especially after I tell them it was the Queen who infected them.”
“But can they be trusted?” my dad asked.
“Not completely,” Michael admitted. “But they’ll be mad about what she did to them. We can use that to our advantage.”
“How many camps like that exist?” I asked. “She didn’t have them marked on her map. I don’t know where they are.”
“I do,” Ian said, walking over to us. “Freddy showed me where the other camps were. I can mark them for you.”
“Okay,” Michael said. “Mark them on the map, and I’ll go to them myself. They all know me. It’ll be one of the few times being Lucena’s husband might actually come in handy. I’m pretty sure they all know how much I hate her.”
Ian marked the camps on the map. There ended up being five in all.
“It’ll take me some time to mobilize them,” Michael said. “Give me a week.”
“Have them all come here,” my father said. “The camp is secure and there’s plenty of space to house them.”
“What about food?” Michael asked. “We can’t bring them here just to starve.”
“We need Ava,” I said to Jace. “She has to be in the Geneva camp. The Queen would want to keep her close to feed her own troops.”
“Let me go with you,” Ian said. “While you get Simon, I’ll get Ava and Jackson.”
“She has Jackson too?” I asked.
“He wasn’t a part of the casualties,” Michael told me. “She has to have him.”
“Can I come along?” Lux asked, walking over to our little group.
“And what good are you supposed to be?” Ian asked. “Plan on scaring the Harvesters to death with your pink hair? Or distract them because they’ll be too busy laughing at you to kill us?”
“I wouldn’t tease her too hard,” I warned Ian. “She’s a dead shot with a bow and arrow.”
“If stealth going in is what you want, I’m the person to help,” Lux told Ian, boasting but having the skill to back it up. “I suppose you just go in half-cocked with guns blazing and drawing attention to yourself.”
Ian gave Lux his cockiest smile. “It’s my specialty actually.”
I rolled my eyes at Ian and turned to Lux. “I need your stealth. Thanks for volunteering.”
Lux winked at me. “No problem. I’ve got your back.”
Lux noticed Ian staring at her.
“What?” she asked him, not attempting to hide her irritation. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Who exactly are you? Where did you come from?”
“More like when,” Lux said, rubbing the back of her neck as if she were just realizing the mess she was now involved in.
“When?” Ian asked, looking between me and Lux.
“Come on.” Lux tilted her head toward the entrance of the room. “I know where the liquor is.” Lux looked at me somewhat guiltily. “Sorry, snooped around a bit earlier and found some stuff.”
“Snoop all you want,” I told her. “It’s not my house.”
Ian held his arm out to Lux, and she looped one of her own through it.
“Lead the way to the booze, my little troll doll. It’s been a while since I had a stiff one.”
Lux laughed as she and Ian walked out of the room arm in arm.
“You and me both,” Lux said, eyeing Ian up and down. “You and me both.”
I watched Ian and Lux walk out of the room and got the distinct feeling Lux wasn’t talking about alcohol.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
It was decided we would send in a scout to the Geneva compound to gather some intel before we went there. If we didn’t know where Lucena was keeping Simon, we would just be going in blind and wasting time. Michael left to choose someone from his group to go there for us. It wasn’t likely they would be back before the next morning with the information we needed.
After Michael left to send his scout to Geneva, Doc Riley called me and Jace into the Queen’s laboratory.
“I think I found something that might be of use to us in the future,” Doc Riley told us.
“What did you find?” I asked.
“I found the others.”
I felt completely at a loss.
“What others?” I asked.
“The other children,” Doc Riley said like I should completely understand what she was talking about.
“Doc,” I said, “you’re going to have to spell it out for me because I don’t know what the hell you’re trying to say.”
“The other children like you,” she said. “The ones Lucena engineered.”
“You found their genetic codes?” Jace asked. “The ones she gives me to find them?”
“Oh yes,” Doc Riley said excitedly. “It appears she was able to narrow them down to the ones she knew to be dead and the ones she thought might still be alive.”
“Can I see the list?” I asked, excited by the prospect of what I might find.
“Are you looking for someone in particular?” Jace asked me, not missing my reaction to the news.
“Let me look first,” I said. “I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up.”
Doc Riley pulled up the list on the computer screen, then moved to let me scan it for the na
me I was praying to see.
I teared up when I saw it on the screen.
“There,” I said, pointing to the name.
Doc Riley looked over my shoulder. “Piper McIntosh? Who is that? Do you know her?”
“Maybe. It was the name Zoe’s mother was going to name the baby she was about to give birth to in the past.”
“But Zoe’s family was killed in a nuclear blast,” Jace said. “Wouldn’t she have died there?”
“Get up for a moment, Skye,” Doc Riley said to me. “Let’s see what her file says.”
It took Doc Riley a few minutes, but she finally found Piper’s file.
“From what this says,” she said. “It looks like the girl was taken to another camp after she was born. The camp Zoe was in had a surplus of babies, so the extra ones were taken to another nursery where there was a shortage of prospective breeders.”
“Does it say which camp she was taken to?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, no. The convoy of children she was in was overtaken by a group of humans. There’s no record of where she ended up.”
“If she’s still alive, I can find her,” Jace said. “All you have to do is figure out how to upload her genetic code into me.”
“All?” Doc Riley scoffed. “You may have to wait for me to get a degree in genetic engineering before I can work that small miracle, my boy.”
“You don’t think you can figure it out?” I asked, losing what little hope I had quickly.
Doc Riley sighed. “No, I don’t think I can, but we may have someone who would be willing to help us with this … and that other matter you asked me to look into.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I told Jace about removing the chip. Who do you have that might be able to help?”
“We captured one of Lucena’s scientists, a surgeon who used to perform the chip implants.”
“Does he know how to get the chip out?” I asked, daring to hope we found the miracle worker I needed.
“I’m not sure yet,” Doc Riley said. “He’s doing some research on the matter, but he did tell me it might be impossible, just like we’ve always thought.”
“But why is it impossible?” Jace asked. “Would it actually kill Skye if you tried to do it?”
Doc Riley opened a drawer located directly underneath the computer in the counter it sat on and pulled out a white notepad and pencil. She quickly sketched out the shape of the brain and parts of its interior.