Fated: The Epic Finale (Talented Saga Book 8)

by Sophie Davis

  “You can force her to sleep,” I told Talia. She stroked Penny’s back and sending calm energy into her best friend’s body.

  “I have Agent Meadows on screen one,” the droid interjected.

  “Put him on,” I said immediately. To Talia, I added, “Just keep doing what you’re doing. I’ll deal with Brand.”

  Brand Meadows, Penny’s boyfriend, appeared in the same spot the senators had. He spun in a circle, looking for his girlfriend.

  I moved to Ian’s desk and called out to him. “Hey, Brand.”

  “Oh, hey,” he replied, sounding as though he’d swallowed a handful of gravel. “What are you doing there?”

  “Long story. Where are you?”

  “Over the Atlantic, about an hour out from McLean. Is Penny around?”

  At the sound of her name, my eyes darted to the sofa. Our hesitation was noticed.

  “What happened?” Brand demanded. He no longer looked as exhausted as I felt.

  “Penny is fine,” I began.

  “Fine?” Brand snapped.

  “The stress is getting to her,” I admitted.

  Brand nodding knowingly, running a hand through his dark hair.

  “I knew leaving that her in charge was a bad idea. She’s too….” He trailed off as he searched for a word besides fragile. Because Penny wasn’t fragile. It was almost more that her hard drive was on the fritz. The energy overload from her created talents had combined with the ugliness in the world, and it was an explosive mix.

  “What should we do?” I asked Brand.

  He’d been through this before with Penny. Several times that I knew of.

  “Is your girlfriend there?” Brand spun in another circle. “Okay, yeah, I see her. If Talia can get Penny to sleep for a while that’s best.” He swallowed hard and turned back to face me. “There’s not much else anyone can do. Ian and I will both be back soon.”

  “How is Ian?” I asked. “Have you spoken to him?”

  Brand laughed shortly. “Just finished a call with Ian. Physically, he’s fine. But he’s pretty pissed off.”

  “Joint Nations denied his requests?” I guessed.

  “Not exactly.” Brand sighed as he rubbed his eyes with the thumb and forefinger of one hand. “They agreed to the extension, but the council also refused to order member nations to have their police and military forces aid in the evacuation efforts.”

  The compromise was better than I’d expected.

  “Okay…,” I said slowly.

  “That’s not why he’s pissed.” Brand shook his head as though unable to believe what he was about to say. “Gretchen McDonough made a formal request for her husband’s seat on the Joint Nations.”

  “What?” I shot back. I wasn’t the only one to reply.

  Miles stomped over and pushed me aside with a hip. “Are you freakin’ serious? On what grounds? What nation does she represent?”

  Only Talia didn’t register surprise. “I should’ve expected this. It’s such a Mac thing to do.”

  Brand’s holo image shook its head. “She’s arguing that Danbury didn’t just represent the Eastern half of the U.S. She said he represented the American Talented, and Gretchen wants to do something similar. The crazy part isn’t that she asked for his seat; it’s irrational that the Joint Nations is actually considering allowing it.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Talia

  Crane landed on the estate’s helipad exactly forty-nine minutes after Penny’s breakdown. Brand arrived ten minutes after the commander-in-chief. With Penny fast asleep on the sofa, and Miles watching over her, Erik and I went meet the choppers. Mr. Kelley and Alex were both awake, and they joined us on the roof to greet the men.

  Alex seemed to understand the severity of the situation. Still, his round little face lit up when he heard the whirring of air. In moments like that, I realized there could still be joy in the smallest of things.

  “Can you see the helicopter?” I asked, pointing at the growing dot in the distance.

  Alex’s milky blue eyes didn’t move, but he nodded and clapped his hands together happily. I shifted his weight on my hip.

  “Want me to hold him?” Erik asked.

  I shook my head. “No, I got him.”

  The wind picked up speed. Alex snuggled closer for warmth, resting his head on my shoulder. Mr. Kelley rubbed his back soothingly. Strands of hair whipped my cheeks as the first helo finally touched down, not ten feet from where we waited.

  Two years ago, if someone told me that I’d ever be this excited and relieved to see Ian Crane, I would have laughed in their face. Nevertheless, when Crane’s tall form climbed from the doors, my heart felt lighter. He came straight for me.

  “Talia,” he said, wrapping Alex and me in an all-encompassing bear hug. “I can’t tell you how good it is to see you.”

  Though it was weird—Crane and I didn’t really hug—it felt right to be in his arms. It felt like when Mr. Kelley hugged me, like I imagined a father’s embrace would feel.

  “You, too,” I told Crane as he stepped back to look at me.

  He must have been pleased with what he saw, because Ian nodded approvingly. “Victoria promised you were being well looked after on Vault.”

  I grimaced. “I mean, if you call a twenty-four-hour prison guard being ‘well looked after.’”

  “A lot of prisoners are skin and bone when they’re released,” Crane informed me. He waved a hand, cutting off any protest I might have made. “None of that’s important right now. Right now, we need to talk about the pressing matters at hand.” He turned to Mr. Kelley and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Earon, good to see. I’m so sorry for your loss. Victoria was a great woman.”

  Mr. Kelley gave a weary smile, his eyes sparkling with moisture. “She sure was.”

  The helicopter pilot saluted Crane before lifting off. He was making way for Brand, who’d flown himself back from the Isle. Penny’s boyfriend was out of the cockpit within seconds of touching down.

  “How is she?” he called.

  “Resting,” Erik called back. “Glad you’re here, man.”

  “Did Penny have another episode?” Crane asked me.

  I nodded. “Yeah, just like an hour ago. Erik said it came on really fast. One minute, she was fine. The next, not so much.”

  “That’s the way things have been going.” Crane looked pointedly at Brand. “It’s why I left you in charge. I worried the pressure might make things worse.”

  “Erik said she did really well with the senators,” I said. Even though I agreed that the pressure was too much for her, I was still quick to defend my best friend. Penny was doing an amazing job, she’d held up through so much.

  “Of course, she did.” Crane grinned, brimming with pride for his niece. “She’s a great leader. It’s the toll it takes on her that concerns me.”

  Our group started for roof access door, Brand taking the lead in his desperation to reach Penny.

  Crane ruffled Alex’s blond hair as we walked. “How you been, kiddo?”

  Alex smiled shyly. “Good, Mr. Crane. Thank you for asking.”

  His polite response made me smile.

  “You are welcome, sir,” Crane replied. His voice didn’t contain a hint of sarcasm.

  I smiled at Mr. Kelley over Alex’s head. “Thank you,” I mouthed.

  The rest of us were silent on the return trek to Crane’s study. Only Alex was interested in chatting, and he spoke mostly about some jungle gym. I tried to make the appropriate faces and give the right responses, but my brain was wracked with everything else going on. Alex seemed satisfied regardless, because he grew more and more animated as the story progressed.

  Robo Gentry greeted us outside the study.

  “President Crane,” the robot began. “Your travels were safe, I assume?”

  “Yes,” Ian replied. “Thank you, Gentry.”

  “Ms. Crane is scheduled to speak with the UNITED council at 9:00 a.m.,” the robot reported. “Followed by an ap
pearance at the hospital at 9:30 a.m. Senators Branch and Radcliff are set for briefings at 10:45 a.m.” The droid continued to talk, but I stopped listening.

  No wonder Penny’s so stressed, I thought. Just hearing her morning appointments made me anxious. Until then, I hadn’t truly appreciated just how much she was taking on during her uncle’s absence.

  “Talia, does that sound okay with you?” Ian asked.

  “Huh?”

  I’d tuned out of the conversation and missed the question.

  “I could use you and Erik today,” Crane explained. “Gretchen McDonough has got her tentacles in the Joint Nations. I can’t take the chance that her reach extends to my organization as well. It would be incredibly advantageous if you could accompany me for the day.”

  “Of course,” I replied. “But I thought I was supposed to stay under the radar? You know, for all those people who think I’m a traitor or whatever.” Bitterness laced my voice, though the annoyance wasn’t directed at Crane. The whole situation with Victoria’s murder was just something I didn’t need to deal with.

  “I can take care of that.” Crane winked. His features slowly smoothed into those of a much younger man. In fact, he looked just like Brand.

  “Perception Manipulation,” I said with a small smile. “I should’ve figured.”

  Alex’s arms were around my neck, and he squeezed tighter as we walked down a short flight of stairs. Being in the middle of things was in my nature. I liked action. All this downtime was driving me crazy, but I didn’t want to leave Alex for the day. We’d just been reunited. Even with all Crane’s security, I couldn’t be sure that Alex would be safe without me.

  He wasn’t all that safe with you, either, I reminded myself.

  “This place is a fortress,” Crane told me quietly, correctly guessing the reason for my hesitation. “And, I believe Brand will be here?” He posed it as a question, raising an eyebrow in his protégé’s direction.

  “He’ll be safe,” Brand swore.

  Even though I didn’t particularly like Brand, he was formidable in a fight. Alex would be safe with Penny’s boyfriend as a guard.

  “I found some toys in the old nursery,” Mr. Kelley added, placing a hand on Alex’s head. “That bouncy horse will keep us busy all morning, won’t it, buddy?”

  “Talia, the horsey flies!” Alex told me excitedly.

  “Hover enabled,” Mr. Kelley whispered in my ear.

  I hugged Alex tighter and smiled at Crane. “Let me get dressed.”

  “I’ll check on Penelope.” Crane checked the time on his comm. “Meet me here in an hour.”

  Sixty minutes to change my clothes was wholly unnecessary. Instead, I used the time to hang out with Alex and the bouncing hover horse while Erik and Mr. Kelley talked. I did spare fifteen minutes to check in with Kenly, Alpha, and Epsilon. None of them had been to bed yet because they were too busy decrypting Mac’s files. The other children from the Clearwood Institute were already at the hospital being looked over. So was James, who’d spent the night with his sister. Emma and Kip were still sleeping, so I left them a short note telling them where I was going.

  Before I left, I poked my head into the crypto bank on the basement level of the estate. “Any progress?” I asked.

  Kenly glanced up at me with round, bloodshot brown eyes. “Some progress, not much. We’ve identified several folders pertaining to the creation drug trials. We’re still trying to get through the encryption on the individual files. It’s…it’s….” She shook her head. “Like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

  “We found something else. Blueprints that we believe are for the Privileged Institute in France,” Alpha piped up.

  “Thank you,” I said, my mind elsewhere.

  When I transferred my attention to her, Alpha dodged meeting my eye directly.

  “Of course.” Alpha offered me a tentative smile. “We will have more to report when you return from the hospital.”

  I waved goodbye and headed upstairs to meet Erik and Crane. The two men were waiting outside the study when I arrived. On the ride to the hospital, Crane told us about his meeting with the Joint Nations. It sounded like hell made from red tape and bureaucracy, but I didn’t say so aloud.

  I gave him a quick rundown of the battle with Sons of After at the McDonough School. After Erik’s recap of the senators’ briefings, the whole situation made a lot more sense to me. Apparently, the super organized band of Talent-haters was actually an international conglomerate of assholes who liked to kidnap children.

  Charming.

  “Wait…Linthicum knows where Amberly’s nieces are, but he doesn’t want to get them?” I demanded. “Ian, seriously? You aren’t just going to let the hostages die, are you?”

  “It’s not that simple, Talia,” Crane replied patiently. He navigated the hover into a spot directly in front of the hospital entrance with a sign that read “Reserved for President Crane.”

  “Yeah, it is,” I snapped, annoyed. “It is exactly that simple.”

  “Tals, come on,” Erik implored. “You know that going in there blind is dangerous. We could lose more than we save.”

  I glared at him but didn’t press the issue. It wasn’t the time. And Erik wasn’t wrong. Raiding that mountain facility without sufficient intel was dangerous. Still, things were off between us. Part of me felt like he was arguing with me simply for the sake of arguing, though I had no idea why.

  Crane glanced between us. “Let’s wait until we hear back from Senator Linthicum before we make any final decisions.”

  It was nice not being recognized as we walked through the heavily guarded entranceway. I didn’t know what I looked like to the soldiers, but it wasn’t my long, dark hair and purple eyes they saw when our trio passed by.

  “I’d like to see Bryn Wellington first, if that’s okay?” I asked Crane quietly. Nurses and hospital staff swarmed us in the main bay.

  Crane waved them off. “I will meet with all of you shortly. There is a patient I’d like to see immediately.” He glanced at me. “Bryn Wellington, she was brought in yesterday. Where is her room?”

  According to her nametag, the nurse’s name was Carroll. She offered to show us to Bryan’s room personally, which Crane accepted. As we walked, Carroll gave Crane a rundown on the patients who’d been admitted in the time since the vote. Most were Talents from America who’d been injured in riots around the country. Some were refugees who’d been hurt trying to leave their home territories. Only the most severe cases were being brought to McLean. Other than Patel and his team in California, the best medical personnel were in Virginia.

  “Has Frederick Kraft arrived?” I asked Nurse Carroll. “He’s coming as a transfer from West Bank.”

  The nurse gave me a long appraising look, almost like she was trying to see through Crane’s manipulation of my appearance.

  “Frederick?” Crane raised an eyebrow. “Was he on the Isle?”

  “He was on a team of reinforcement agents going to the aid of those on the islands,” Erik explained quietly. “We don’t have the specifics yet.”

  “Henri?” Crane asked.

  Erik shook his head. “No word yet. But no news is good news, right?”

  “Kraft, Frederick,” Nurse Carroll muttered, looking down at a portable. “Ah, yes, I see the transfer order. The medi-hover is due to arrive within the hour.”

  “Let me know as soon as it does,” Crane told her.

  “Of course, sir. And, here we are.” Nurse Carroll stopped in front of a private room in the intensive care wing. “Ms. Wellington is inside. You may stay five minutes. Typically, only family is permitted in the ICU, so please keep it short.”

  When I entered Bryn’s room, I expected to see an unconscious girl lying in a hospital bed with her solemn brother camped out beside her. Instead, she was awake. And laughing.

  “Bryn,” I breathed, hurrying inside her room.

  She smiled up at me. “How’s my dress?” she asked, referring to the so-not-my-style
outfit I’d borrowed before the fight at Pure Bliss.

  Behind me, Erik laughed softly.

  “We owe you a new one,” he told her, coming to stand beside me.

  Bryn’s smile widened. “As long as it was ruined in the pursuit of a good time, we’re good.”

  James’ laughter was music to my ears. I’d never seen him this happy.

  “How’s Kenly?” he asked me.

  Wait, they see us, I realized. They know who we really are.

  Crane was outside talking to Nurse Carroll, but I was able to catch his eye. He smiled at me with a mischievous wink. He was as skilled with his gift as I was with mine, I often forgot that fact.

  “Good. She’s working with Alpha and Epsilon on the files from the McDonough house.” I shrugged. “That’s where she’s in her comfort zone.”

  “Glad to see your injuries weren’t as bad as they looked.” James gave me a once-over. “There was so much blood.”

  I shifted uncomfortably. He didn’t know Phi had healed me. Was it supposed to be a secret?

  “I’m not the only one who made a miraculous recovery,” I said, hurrying to take the focus off me.

  “Bryn, how do you feel?” Erik asked. “You look good.”

  “I feel good.” James squeezed his sister’s hand, and she grinned at him. “Thanks to you guys.”

  Erik and I exchanged glances.

  “I think you mean despite us,” I said with a short laugh. “We are the reason you were shot.”

  Bryn shrugged. “That’s technically true, I suppose.”

  “I hate to break this up,” Crane interjected from the doorway, “but we have other patients to see.”

  I gave Bryn a quick, gentle hug, which she returned with a tight squeeze.

  “We’ll come back,” I promised her.

  “You better.” Brin grinned cheekily. “You owe me that much.”

  Once we were in the hallway, I turned to Crane. “What about Riley?” I asked.

  Penny said she was having him sent to Crane’s estate, but I hadn’t seen him there.

  “Mr. Wyld was released about twenty minutes ago,” Nurse Carroll informed me. “Per Ms. Crane’s instructions, he was sent to your estate, Mr. President.”