by S. J. West
She smiled at me, a small stretching of the lips that could light up the world with its brilliance. She held her arms out to me, and I didn’t hesitate to accept her embrace. I inhaled deeply, being reminded of how she always smelled of roses and sunshine.
“I’ve missed you,” I cried, hugging her tightly to make sure she was real and not just a mirage.
“I know, baby,” she said against my hair. “I’ve missed you too. You just don’t know how much I’ve missed holding you like this.”
I held my mother and didn’t try to overthink the miracle of being able to feel her arms around me, to feel her warm skin pressed against mine. But that nagging logical voice ever present in the back of my mind told me this shouldn’t be possible.
“How are you here?” I asked, realizing something else. “How am I here?”
I pulled away from my mom to look at her face and saw her worry.
“Am I dead?” I asked her, seeing it as the only reasonable explanation.
“For the moment,” my mother told me. “The doctor is trying to revive you. He will succeed but. …”
I could tell she was reluctant to say the rest.
“But what?” I asked, prodding her to go on. “What’s going to happen to me?”
“There will be complications from what you tried to do but nothing you can’t overcome, Skye. You’re strong. You need to always remember that.” My mother caressed the side of my face with the back of a hand looking melancholic. “We only have a few more moments before they bring you back to life. I came here to not only see you, but to tell you that I know how much you’re struggling with the idea of killing Lucena.”
I took in a deep breath. “I’m not sure I can do it, Mom. I know I need to, but I’ve always tried to avoid killing people. And …” I wasn’t sure how my mother would react to the rest of my statement, but I felt she already knew what I was about to say. “And she’s my mother too.”
“In order for the world to have a new beginning, she must die, Skye. You know that.”
“So you’re telling me to kill your sister?”
My mother shook her head. “Lucena hasn’t been my sister for a very long time. The girl I once loved was corrupted by madness years ago. In a way, you’ll be giving the sweet girl I once knew her final release. When the time comes, and it will, you must kill her. It’s the only way to give the world a fresh start. I think you understand that.”
I nodded. “I know.”
“Everything will work out the way it should. Your destiny was set into motion the moment you were conceived. Your fate is set. All you need to do is follow it.”
“I’ll do my best” was all I could promise.
My mother brought me into her arms, and I knew without her saying it that she was telling me good-bye.
“We’ve got her back!” I heard a man say in the distance.
“It’s time for you to go,” my mother said, yet refused to let me out of her arms. “I love you, Skye. I have always loved you. Now go and do what you were born to do.”
My eyelids felt like they weighed a ton. I forced them open and saw Jace sitting on the side of my bed, his perpetual look of worry for me on his face.
“What …” I said, intending to ask what happened but finding my throat too dry to get the words out. “Water.”
I heard water being poured and soon found a cool plastic cup pressed against my lips.
“Just drink a little bit,” my father said, tipping the cup slightly for me to drink from it.
I took two sips and stopped.
“What happened?” I asked as my father drew the cup away.
Jace and my father exchanged worried glances.
“What went wrong with the surgery?” I demanded.
“You died,” Jace finally told me. “I don’t think it could have gotten much worse than that, Skye.”
“I know I died,” I told them. “My mom told me.”
All was quiet until my father finally asked, “You saw Emma?”
“Yes. I saw her.”
All went quiet again.
“So what went wrong?” I asked, breaking the silence. “The last memory I have is Ken saying, ‘Oh shit.’ Not exactly something you want to hear the person cutting into your brain say, by the way.”
“The chip had a built in self-defense protocol,” Jace told me.
“What kind of self-defense?”
“When Ken grabbed it with the forceps, it bored down deeper into your brain.”
“Deeper?” I asked, my heart sinking at the implications of such a statement. “Tell me he was able to get it out, Jace.”
Jace stared at me for a space of a few seconds before he shook his head.
“He tried. Lord knows he tried, Skye, but every time he touched it, the chip just kept boring a deeper hole to hide in. I’m sorry, but it’s still inside you. There just wasn’t any way to get it out without doing more damage. Ken was barely able to bring you back from the dead.”
“You might as well tell her the rest of it,” my father said. ”She needs to know.”
“It gets worse?” I asked, not sure I was strong enough to hear “the rest.”
“Since you were dead when the chip kept boring a hole through the tissue, we’re not sure how much damage was done. The fact that you’re even awake and talking is a small miracle from what Ken told us to expect.”
“Maybe my body automatically healed itself,” I suggested, hoping I was right and very little damage was done. “Is Ken going to try to find another way to get the chip out?”
“No,” Jace and my father said in unison.
“It’s just too risky,” my dad told me. “Plus, Ken said if the chip went much farther you would die and there would be no bringing you back from the dead a second time.”
“Then I’m stuck like this,” I said on the verge of tears.
“You’re alive.” Jace grabbed my hand closest to him. “That’s what matters.”
“But I’ll be like this forever. Not really a human and not really a Harvester.”
“Then I guess I’ll just have to love you and keep you happy until the day you die to make sure your human side always wins.”
“Yeah, I guess you will,” I said, trying to muster up a smile for him but failing miserably as tears formed in my eyes.
Jace crawled into bed with me and held me as I cried. I faintly heard my father walk out of the room, giving me time to come to terms with my fate.
Once I calmed down, I still clung to Jace, not wanting to let him go for fear I might sink into a black abyss and never find my way back out again.
“It was my only chance to get back to normal,” I told him. “I’ll never be the person I used to be now.”
“That’s not necessarily a bad thing, Skye,” Jace said.
“Was that some kind of backwards compliment?” I asked, trying not to take offense.
“Everything you’ve been through has changed you, not just that chip in your head. Even if you somehow found a way to take it out, there’s no guarantee you would go back to the way you were when we first met. And honestly, you don’t need to be that girl again. You’re perfect the way you are right now.”
“I’m scared,” I admitted. “I’m scared the Queen will get what she wants. I’m scared she’ll change me back into a monster. I’m scared of losing you and the kids. I’m just scared, Jace.”
Jace tightened his arms around me.
“There’s nothing that can happen to us that we can’t handle together. Absolutely nothing, Skye.”
I sighed and pulled away from Jace slightly, so I could look into his face. When I did, I noticed something strange happen.
As I looked at him, it was like a white haze suddenly covered him and everything else inside the room. I tried to tell Jace what I was seeing but found myself unable to speak. Either from fear or from whatever was happening to me, my heart began to race, and I felt an uncontrollable panic set in. My fingers began to twitch of their own accord, and I was
helpless to stop their movements. Every muscle in my body went completely stiff all at once.
Jace brought me back into his arms and simply held me, not saying a word. Oddly enough, my thoughts remained clear, unblemished by the betrayal of my body. I wanted to ask Jace what was going on but simply couldn’t find my voice. Time passed and Jace continued to hold me until my body finally relaxed against him, releasing me from its prison.
Jace kissed me on the forehead.
“I’m so sorry, Skye. We hoped this wouldn’t happen.”
I felt almost too weak to ask what he was talking about, but I had to know.
“What was that? What’s wrong with me?”
“It was a seizure,” he told me. “I’m sorry. I was hoping the damage wasn’t as severe as we feared. Ken warned us you might have them since the chip went so deep when it repositioned itself.”
“How long will I have them?”
“The rest of your life.”
I closed my eyes, unable and unwilling to face any more bad news. I felt completely exhausted like I had just run a marathon and simply sought the succor sleep would provide to save me from my waking nightmare.
When I awoke, I found Doc Riley standing by the window in the room looking out at the city.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, sitting up in the hospital bed.
Doc Riley turned to face me and tried to put on a brave smile.
“Your father and Jace asked me to stay with you while they were away,” she replied, coming to stand by my bed. “I’m sorry, child. I should have known that woman would make it impossible to remove the chip. It never even occurred to me that it would have a self-preservation program built into it.”
“It’s not your fault,” I told her. “Like you said, no one has ever tried to remove a chip before. There was no way of knowing what would happen.”
“Ken had no idea the chip would react that way either.”
“Do you believe him?”
Doc Riley nodded. “Yes, I do.”
“Then there wasn’t anything any of us could have done. And I had to try. You know that.”
“Yes, I know,” Doc Riley sighed. “But it doesn’t assuage the guilt I feel over this epic failure. As doctors, we take an oath to do no harm. And I’ve done you a grievous injustice, child. I should have tried harder to talk you out of it. I shouldn’t have let my feelings for you get in the way of my better judgment.”
I held one of my hands out to her. She walked closer and grasped it.
“You were just being my friend and trying to help me do something you know I would have found a way to do anyway. If you hadn’t helped me and found someone who halfway knew what they were doing, I would probably be dead. So, quit blaming yourself. It was my decision, no one else’s. Now, what can be done about these seizures?”
“I hope we can bring them under control with medication, if we can find it. It’s not exactly like I can just run down to the local pharmacy and write a prescription for them.”
“Would the Queen have access to the medicine?”
Doc Riley’s eyes narrowed on me like she suspected I was up to something. “Why would you ask such a question?”
I shrugged. “I just want to know.”
“I would presume she probably has access to the medication you need. But she won’t just hand it over to you, at least not without gaining something in return.”
Jace and my dad walked into the room with Rose and Simon.
“I thought they would be the best medicine for you right now,” Jace said, handing me Rose. Jace took Simon from my father and sat down on the side of my bed, sitting him on his lap facing me.
I looked at my son and daughter and felt even more determined to do something I felt was important for them.
I looked at Doc Riley. “Have you been able to find someone who can activate Jace’s precognition with the genetic codes we found? I want to find Zoe’s sister if we can.”
“Ken says he knows how to do it,” Doc Riley told us. “Apparently he helped develop the technology.”
“So after her code is uploaded to you,” I said to Jace, “we’ll know if she’s alive or dead, right?”
“Yes, I’ll see her if she’s still alive, or I’ll see nothing if she’s dead. That’s usually how it works.”
I looked down at Rose and Simon. “I think we owe it to them to find their aunt if we can. And I want to do it for Zoe as our last gift to her. If she were here and knew her sister might be out there somewhere, she would move heaven and earth to find her. I can’t do any less.”
“Then we’ll find her,” Jace said, full of confidence.
I took heart in his assurance. I needed to believe at least one thing would go right for us.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Ken didn’t try to persuade me to stay in the hospital that night. There was no need. If I was going to have any more seizures, I could have them at the house just as well as in the hospital. It didn’t really matter where I was. I was helpless to stop them and there was really nothing anyone else could do to prevent them, not unless they could magically produce the drugs I needed. Everything, even my own body, seemed to be leading me back to the Queen.
When I had made my bargain with her, I had hoped to return to her minus the Harvester chip in my head. Now, I would have to go with the specter of becoming a Harvester shadowing my every move, every decision. It definitely wasn’t what I had planned, but whenever I looked at Jace and the kids, I somehow knew the future would turn out the way it should. I kept replaying the scene my future self showed me where Jace and I were playing with the kids on top of a hill. I had no doubt it would happen, but I was clueless to how we would eventually get there.
Ken promised to perform the procedure of uploading Zoe’s sister’s genetic code into Jace the next morning. I had no idea how such a miracle worked but held on to the hope that we would be able to find Piper once it was done.
I knew Zoe’s sister would have to be around the age of eleven by now. I prayed Jace saw a future for her instead of total darkness. The search for Piper served a twofold purpose for me. I truly did want to find her, not just for myself but for Rose and Simon. At least with Zoe’s sister involved in their lives, they would always have a living, breathing piece of their biological mother to connect with. Plus, I planned to encourage Jace to begin his search for her immediately. I knew it would take him a while to find her and by the time he got back, I would either be long gone or back home too. I was counting on a miracle and hoping I would make it back before he returned. All I had to do was kill the Queen. With her dead, we could live our lives the way we wanted. No more war. No more danger. We would be able to rebuild the world the way we wanted it and hopefully do a better job the second time around.
Blue didn’t leave my side while I was at the house. I think he sensed something was wrong with me and wanted to be near in case I needed him.
Early the next morning, our regular troupe of babysitters (Kirk, Teegan, and Kale) came over to take care of Rose and Simon while Jace and I went to the Queen’s laboratory in the mansion. I was glad they didn’t mind their roles as caretakers of my children. I felt better knowing the kids had people in their lives they could count on besides just me and Jace. Rose naturally connected with Teegan, and surprisingly Simon loved Kale. It might have been all the curly brown hair Kale had on his head because Simon seemed to pull on it just to watch it spring back and forth.
When Jace and I pulled up to the mansion in our car, my father and Doc Riley were sitting on the porch in rocking chairs having a heated discussion with one another. I used my Harvester hearing while we drove up to listen to what they were arguing about.
“He never should have said such a thing to them,” Doc Riley said to my father, anger in her voice. “It places her in too much danger, John.”
“I know,” my father agreed. “But apparently he felt it was the only way to get some of them to cooperate.”
“What if they find out she’s th
e cure he promised them? What’s to stop them from bleeding her dry?”
“He didn’t tell them how the Cain virus cure worked or what it was. After the war, we’ll just tell them the cure was destroyed by the Queen before we were able to get ahold of it. I have no intention of curing them just so they can become Harvesters again. And I seriously doubt Michael has any intention of honoring his promise either. This is war, and we have to use everything at our disposal to win.”
“Win first and deal with the consequences later?” Doc Riley scoffed. “Not much of a plan if you ask me.”
“No, it isn’t,” I heard my father say as Jace and I walked up the steps to the porch, unaware I had heard his conversation with Doc Riley.
They both stood from their chairs as we approached them.
My dad walked over to me and gave me a hug as he asked, “How are you doing?”
I knew what he really wanted to know because the same question was plastered all over Doc Riley’s face too.
“I haven’t had another seizure,” I told them both. “Maybe my body is healing the damage.”
Doc Riley nodded.
“It very well could be,” she said, even though I could see the doubt of believing in such a miracle on her face.
“Is Ken ready to perform the procedure?” I asked her.
“Yes, he worked all through the night to make sure everything would be prepared this morning,” Doc Riley told us. “I think he feels guilty for not knowing about the Harvester chip’s defensive programming. He wanted to make sure everything went smoothly today. I expect the very best outcome.”
Lux stuck her pink head out the front door.
“Hey, you guys ready?” she asked me and Jace. “Ken’s waiting.”
Lux opened the door wider, and we all went straight to the Queen’s laboratory.
Ken was standing near a hospital type bed in the center of the room, exactly where my mother’s glass and iron coffin had stood at one time. A computer sat on a cart by the bed.
“Good morning,” Ken said to us, a bright smile on his face. “And how was your evening?”
“No seizures,” I told him, assuming he was asking the question in the same roundabout way my dad had.