Chapter Thirty-Seven
The Gifting
Luka lays me down in a warm, comfortable bed—so much softer than the one I was shackled to for a lifetime, even if that lifetime was only two days. He rubs a cool salve onto my wrists while Dr. Roth encourages me to drink a really disgusting-smelling drink that steams inside a mug.
“It’ll help counteract the medicine they were pumping into your system.”
That’s all the convincing it takes. I gulp it down, then I curl into a ball on my side. Luka pulls the covers over my shoulder and sits with me until I fall asleep. When I wake up, he sits in a chair by my bedside, glaring at the red welts on my wrists. But I smile, because my head is clear and there is strength in my limbs.
“I’ll never forgive him for this,” he says.
“Who?”
“My dad.” He leans forward in the chair and rests his elbows on his knees. “He’s the one who did this. He’s the one who reported you to the authorities.”
So it was never Luka. Of course it wasn’t. I don’t know how I could have doubted him. I sit up in bed. A little too fast. The room tilts. I cup my forehead with my palm.
Luka sits up straighter, concern etched in the corners of his eyes. “Here, you should eat this.” He picks up a bagel off the nightstand and hands the plate over.
I place it on my lap, rest against the headboard, and eat small bites, taking equally small sips of the disgusting tea Dr. Roth had me drink before I fell asleep. With the sustenance, comes fear. I cannot be locked up again. Not like that. Not ever. “They’re going to come back for me.”
“I won’t let them get to you.”
“Luka, why did your dad have me locked up like that?” How could he—especially since his own son went to the very facility he locked me up in. For crying out loud, his dad bought the place in order to protect his son.
“It’s a long story.”
“I have time.”
He cracks his knuckles, one at a time, that muscle I’ve grown to know so well ticking in his jaw. “It all goes back to that screening.”
“Your mom’s pregnancy screening?”
He nods grimly. “The government didn’t approve of her decision. I guess the only way my dad could protect me was by striking a deal.”
An ominous feeling clamps onto my muscles. “Protect you from what?”
“That was the same question I asked my dad. He never gave me a straight answer.”
“What was the deal?”
“They knew my father was in the mental health field. They wanted him to do some screening. Look for crazy people. Dangerous people. Specifically, people who claimed to have prophetic dreams. Then report them to the proper authorities. If he agreed to do that, they’d forget about me. But my dad didn’t do it. At least not everyone. He went out of his way to hide as many as he could. Even more so when my symptoms began. That’s when he bought the Brooks facility. But then you moved to town and the rumors started circling and I was hanging out with you so much. My parents, they freaked out, and well …” His eyes narrow. “They made a really stupid decision.”
None of it makes sense. How could the government use a failed pregnancy screening as blackmail? And why did they want Mr. Williams to weed out people who were having prophetic dreams?
“You have to tell me everything you know. What’s been going on while I’ve been locked up? I don’t even know whose room this is. What happened after they took me from school?”
“I’m not sure; I left too.” He drags his hand down his face. “I watched them drive you away.”
A burst of clarity hits me like a sudden, bright flash of light. “One of the men. He called me Little Rabbit.”
Luka’s brow furrows.
“That’s what that man in my dream calls me. The one with the scar. The one you fought off in the hospital.”
He squints at the floor, as if trying to piece it together. I finish my bagel and the last of the tea, trying to put some pieces together myself. Only nothing fits. The man who called me Little Rabbit looked nothing like the man from my dream.
“Where are we?”
“Dr. Roth’s apartment.”
“Does anybody know we’re here?”
Luka shakes his head. “My dad warned me he’d take drastic measures if I didn’t obey him. He didn’t know I’d take drastic measures right back.”
“You mean like soliciting the help of a psychiatrist to break me out of a mental facility?”
“I knew your parents were getting the runaround by the police. The authorities were no help. They wouldn’t let them see you, even when your dad wielded his influence. I didn’t know where else to go. So I went to Dr. Roth. Something in my gut was telling me I could trust him.” Luka leans closer. “Tess, he knows everything. When I showed up, he had me come into his office, almost as if he’d been waiting for me, and he locked the door and turned up some music and he told me to meet him back here with a bag for you and one for me. He’d already been planning on breaking you out.”
“Dr. Roth?”
Luka nods. “So I went to your house and I told your mom.”
“My mom?” My voice pinches over the word. I want to hug her, but I’m not sure when I’ll see her again. I’m not sure if I’ll see her again.
“I told her everything. About you and me and your grandma.”
“Did she believe you?”
“I think she believed that you were in serious danger. She made me promise that I’d take care of you. That I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you.” He takes my hand, his own hot. “It’s a promise I won’t break. Your safety means everything to me.”
His words and the way he says them makes my stomach quiver. But beneath the fluttering warmth, my fear grows. “What are we going to do? What if they find us?”
Before Luka can answer my questions, Dr. Roth flings open the door and steps inside. “We don’t have much time.” He hurries over to my bedside, listens to my heart with a stethoscope, sticks a thermometer in my mouth, flashes a light into my eyes. “I’m afraid you have to leave.”
“Already?” Luka asks, standing.
“It’s not safe. For either of you.”
I stand up too and notice for the first time that I am wearing a hospital robe. Luka hands me a bag. I pull out a pair of jeans and pull them up under the robe. He and Dr. Roth turn around, giving me privacy while I pull a t-shirt over my head and a sweatshirt too. “How did you get this stuff?”
“Your mom packed it for you.”
They turn back around as I get to work pulling my hair into a ponytail, shoving my feet into tennis shoes. The energy from the bagel works its way into my blood. “Why are you helping us?” I ask Dr. Roth. I can’t quite figure out where his piece fits in the puzzle. “Aren’t you supposed to be one of them?”
“I will never be one of them,” he says.
“Who are you, then?”
“I’m a Believer.”
“A believer in what?” Luka asks.
Dr. Roth goes to the window, peeks outside. To my surprise, it’s dark out. I’m not sure if I slept through another day, or if this is the same night of our escape. “I’ve been doing research for years. Taking notes. Keeping journals. Once I had sufficient proof, my plan was to find more of you. After this, I believe I have all the proof I need.”
“More of us?”
“Proof of what?”
Luka and I ask our questions at the same time.
Dr. Roth looks through the blinds again, and addresses Luka’s question first. “Proof that you’re all in danger.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I bend over and tie my laces, my gaze never leaving Dr. Roth.
“What do you mean all?” Luka asks.
“There are other people out there. People like you.”
I stand. “Who are we?”
“You are The Gifting.”
There’s a loud pounding at the door, followed by a deep shout. “Thornsdale police!”
> My heart jumps into my throat.
Dr. Roth shoves Luka’s bag against his chest. I strap mine over my shoulders.
“Quick, come with me.” Dr. Roth leads us to the back door of his apartment. “Come back tomorrow morning. I promise to tell you everything I know.”
More shouting from the front. “Open up or we’ll let ourselves in!”
Luka grabs my hand and pulls me out of the apartment, down the fire escape. We sneak into the dark of night, Dr. Roth’s words reverberating inside my mind.
You are The Gifting.
And there are more of us.
Tomorrow can’t come soon enough.
Book 2 in The Gifting series is available now! Click here to grab your copy of The Awakening. A complimentary excerpt is located at the end of this book.
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About the Author
K.E. Ganshert was born and raised in the exciting state of Iowa, where she currently resides with her family. She likes to write things and consume large quantities of coffee and chocolate while she writes all the things. She’s won some awards. For the writing, not the consuming. Although the latter would be fun. You can learn more about K.E. Ganshert and these things she writes at her website www.katieganshert.com. You can also follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Excerpt for The Awakening
The Gifting (Book 1 in The Gifting Series) Page 38