All of them could have turned out like us. Healthy. Happy. Whole.
My heart clenched at the thought of those children dying in that place. It was wrong. So, very, very wrong. Albert and Marcus needed to pay. We needed to stop them from hurting anyone ever again.
“I’ll be back in a minute.” Father stood and walked out of the room, his arm trailing along the wall as if to steady himself. Grief made his cloud flow heavily behind him.
I watched him go as another thought struck me. Perhaps Project Renatus was never intended to give us better lives as the project’s pioneers. Perhaps that had only been Father being naïve and foolish. Originally, the entire purpose of Project Renatus had been to derive drugs that made humans better…more. Those drugs were intended to be sold privately, marketed to the rich and elite. Only, that goal was unattainable. Ultimately, adults could not survive the drug’s demands. With that downward descent, the project grew out of hand. Marcus and Albert had basically turned into mad scientists. Desperate to create the perfect human, they’d become drunk on their own ambition, experimenting on children at any cost. Only Father’s intentions stayed pure.
Flint watched Father leave. Flint’s expression was hard, his cloud unforgiving. It still saddened me that his opinion of Father hadn’t changed. I thought maybe, just maybe, he’d start to view Father differently, but if there was one thing Flint was good at – it was not forgiving those who’d hurt him.
Nobody said anything after Father disappeared. Luke’s eyes would flicker every now and then as he drummed his fingers against the table. Faint noise from the movie Amber and Edgar watched occasionally drifted into the room. Everyone else sat quietly, staring out the windows or looking lost in thought.
Mica finally broke the silence when she stood. “I’m gonna get a drink. Anybody want one?”
Jet’s eyes lit up. “Is it alcoholic?”
“It can be,” Mica said.
“Count me in,” Jet replied.
Jasper stood. “Let’s see what else the cellar holds.” The three of them left the kitchen, their footsteps trailing down the stairs as they descended to the basement.
That left me, Flint, Di, Jacinda and Luke in the dining room. Jacinda watched the latest newcomer with sideways glances. If I didn’t know her so well, I wouldn’t have noticed her curious stares at Luke. However, I wasn’t the only one who picked up on it.
“Something you’d like to know?” Luke asked in a deep voice. A small smile tugged on his lips. He turned his golden eyes on Jacinda.
My sister visibly jumped.
“Oh, um, I…” she stammered.
Luke turned his upper body toward her and draped an arm over his chair. His massive chest and shoulders were practically the width of two chairs. His voice dropped. “Yes?”
Jacinda clasped her hands. A rosy pink filled her cheeks. “I was, ah…wondering how it is that you’re so…normal?”
“Normal?” Luke’s eyebrows rose.
Flint smiled. He put an arm around my shoulders as he, Di and I watched the exchange.
“You know,” Jacinda said. “You’re not like Edgar or Susannah.”
Susannah still perched on the railing, the cold winter breeze ruffling her long, black hair.
Jacinda pursed her lips. “They both seem rather…different from you. You know, quieter and less…well…less confident.” Her cheeks were now bright red.
Luke grinned, a glint coming into his golden eyes. “Well, beautiful, I was his favorite. Marcus treated me better than he did the others. Not nearly as much torture. Maybe that’s why I’m so normal.”
Jacinda blushed when he called her beautiful. Actually blushed. I’d never in my life seen Jacinda rattled by any man. It wasn’t until a second later, that I processed what he said.
My head snapped back. “Torture?”
Luke leaned back in his chair. “Albert especially, from what I remember. When the kids in his group started dying, he seemed to believe they were doing it on purpose. That they were dying to defy him.” He snorted. “What a crock. That guy was as bad as Marcus. Neither seemed to care when kids died, but Marcus did seem to like me for some reason. I never did find out why.”
I shuddered. The kids in Marcus and Albert’s group would have definitely been better off left on the streets.
“So I guess that’s why I’m normal. Four months or so every year, I got out to run. I think that’s why I’m not so whack-a-do. The others,” he nodded to where Susannah perched. “They only got out a few days here and there.”
“How cruel,” Jacinda frowned.
A noise sounded on the stairs. Mica, Jet and Jasper returned. Jasper carried a six pack of beer. So did Jet. They popped the tops off the beers and returned to their seats.
“What are you guys talking about?” Jet asked after taking a long swallow.
“Yeah, what’d we miss?” Mica’s fingers curled around some German beer with a name I couldn’t pronounce.
“Luke was telling us how Albert and Marcus tortured some of the kids in their groups.” Flint’s energy picked up, but his expression gave away nothing.
“Tortured?” Mica visibly flinched.
“But Luke got to run for a few months a year, outside,” I said. “He was free from O’Brien during that time. That’s why he’s normal.”
Luke met Jacinda’s gaze again. “If I’d known all I had to do was run to Colorado to find someone as gorgeous as you, I would have found you years ago.”
Jacinda swallowed audibly, a flush staining her cheeks.
Mica’s earlier horror seemed to die away as she laughed. She snorted a few times. “Luke, how can a wolf, who’s been held captive most of his life, be a womanizer?”
Luke’s eyebrows rose. “What’s a womanizer?”
Mica and the twins almost fell over laughing. I found myself smiling too, despite the horrors Luke so casually spoke of. The twins and Mica always had a way of lightening the mood.
“You’ve got some serious moves, bro.” Jet clapped Luke on the back.
Luke simply shrugged, as if he had no idea what they were talking about.
Footsteps sounded in the hallway. Amber burst into the kitchen.
“Guys!” Amber shrieked. “Quick! Come see this!” She turned on her heel and sprinted out of the room.
Our laughter and smiles died. We all rushed after her. She ran down the hall back into the theater. Edgar still sat on the couch, a bowl of popcorn sitting hap hazardously in his lap. It looked about to spill at any second. Father appeared in the doorway too.
“What?” Father asked. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Look!” Amber pointed at the large screen on the wall. An image on the TV showed the burning warehouse in Chicago.
“Turn it back up,” Amber said to Edgar.
He fumbled with the remote. When it became obvious he had no idea how to use it, Di whisked it from his hands. A second later, the sound came on.
The images on the screen flipped back and forth to footage of the burning warehouse and O’Brien’s headquarters. It was a news segment. A newscaster’s voice talked in the background, highlighting the explosion.
Amber trembled in her seat. “I flipped the news on after our movie ended. This was on.”
The image on the screen shifted back to the newsroom. An anchorwoman shuffled papers before saying, “Authorities are still looking for the group responsible for the explosion at O’Brien Pharmaceuticals last week. Video surveillance cameras showed this van–”
The screen flipped to a still image of the van we’d driven. A fuzzy picture of Di at the driver’s seat was visible. My stomach sank.
“The woman driving has not been identified, but authorities believe as many as eight people were involved in the explosion and are asking the public to come forward with any information.”
The camera shifted again, this time to a man in an expensive suit and tie. A scuffed bruise marred his cheek. Other than that, no one would ever guess he’d been thrown fifty fe
et from a building only six days ago.
I shuddered. Luke growled. Father’s sharp intake of breath made me turn. My eyes widened when I saw Father’s face. All color had drained from it.
Marcus stood in front of a building. A sign behind him read O’Brien Pharmaceuticals. Steel gray hair was expertly cut around his head, but his eyes were the same as they’d been six days ago. Cold and dead looking.
Marcus looked directly at the camera when the newscaster asked him what the company’s reaction had been to the explosion.
He spoke in a cold voice. “Our company is working with authorities to track down the perpetrators. I have no doubt we’ll find them, and when we do, justice will be served.”
The cold way he uttered the words and the direct way he stared at the camera made me feel as if he was speaking directly to us.
His determined gaze and cold smile said one thing.
He was coming for us.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
A cold winter breeze rolled across my cheeks. The pitch black sky stretched above with its dazzling array of stars. Flint’s warm side pressed against mine as we gazed upward.
The fountain had finally turned off. With its silent winter hibernation came a feeling of death and isolation. It was quiet now in the backyard. The only sounds were the wind, our breathing and the occasional shifting of pebbles beneath our blanket. Flint held me closely to his side. Ever since that news segment earlier this evening, a general feeling of anxiety had strummed in his cloud.
“He’s not going to stop, is he?” I said quietly.
Flint took a deep breath. In that sound, I heard the weight of the world. “No.”
I pushed up on my elbow and settled my chin on Flint’s chest. Marcus’ image kept swirling through my mind. First, the outline of him in the warehouse, his long trench coat swaying around his legs. Then, the image of him on TV when he promised to enact revenge. And last, a distant memory of him when I was a little girl. He’d held me down on a metal gurney before plunging a needle into my arm. His black menacing cloud had pulsed around him.
I shivered.
Flint wrapped his arms around me. I lay my cheek on his chest and listened to his strong heartbeat within. “We’re strong, though. We can beat him. I’m not a little girl anymore and none of us are weak.”
“I know.”
I pushed up so I could see him again. “So why are you so worried? We rescued Luke, Susannah and Edgar. All of us escaped alive and well. And, every day we become more in tuned to our abilities. We can beat him, Flint. I know we can.”
He smiled and tenderly brushed a strand of hair from my face. “You’re fearless and brave. I love that about you.”
I snorted. “Fearless, not really, and brave…well, I’m still scared but I know we can do this.”
“Hmm.” He sighed heavily again.
“Have faith in us,” I said quietly. “Have faith in me. I can take care of myself. I finally know that. And while I may still lose things all of the time and want to do impulsive acts, I’m getting better. I don’t rush quite so headfirst into things, and I still know exactly where my birth control is. I think.”
He chuckled. “Are you saying that you didn’t leave it under your jeans on the bed this morning?”
“Is that where it is? I thought I left it on the bathroom sink by my toothbrush?”
“Just kidding. It’s still there.”
I smiled and playfully pinched his shoulder. “But in all seriousness, babe. We’re going to be okay. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but if we work together and function as a family – we can do this. And then…we’ll finally have what we’ve always wanted. A life, a real life, in the world where we act and live like everyone else.”
“I’d love to have that with you.”
“We will. Now, we just have to find a way to beat Marcus so that dream can come true.”
“Come here.” He pulled me back to his side. Some of the anxiety left his cloud. Love and hope now filled it too.
I settled against him as an eagle scream filled the air. Susannah soared above, her outline flashing across the moon. So many changes had happened within our family and so many challenges waited ahead, yet if there was one thing I learned – it was that as a family we were strong, and together we could do anything.
CONTINUE THE STORY
REBORN – Book 3 in The Lost Children Trilogy is available on Amazon.com!
AUTHOR’S NOTE
If you’re reading this, you probably just finished the second book in The Lost Children Trilogy. Only one book to go! :)
Thank you so much for reading my work. As you may already know, I’m an indie author. As for what that means… I don’t have a publishing house backing me. In other words, the only people I communicate with about my books are those that I hire to do my artwork and editing, and of course you, my reader. If you’d like to contact me, feel free! You can message me via social media on the below links. And nope, I don’t have an assistant – I respond to all emails personally.
Lastly, I’d really, really appreciate it if you’d leave a review. Goodreads is great, but a review on Amazon is even better. Amazon has a ranking system for its authors – the higher you rank, the more visibility you get. And guess what helps ranking? Reviews! So if you enjoyed Remembered, please consider swiping to the end of this book and filling out Amazon’s review form. It’ll only take a minute or two of your time to delegate a star rating and write a sentence or two about what you thought. Remember what I said about not having a publishing house? Leaving a review is the best way to help me keep writing books.
I’ll end my note here. Thank you again for reading my work. I hope you enjoyed it. Take care and happy reading! K- xx
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