The Change (Unbounded)

by Teyla Branton

  Not knowing anything about the statistics of the Unbounded gene pool, I looked at Ava helplessly. “Even if both parents are Unbounded,” she said, “the offspring Unbounded rate is only thirty percent without genetic manipulation. With so many generations removed, the chance is much slimmer.”

  “But it still happened.” Jace’s voice was full of wonder and hope.

  “We’ll watch you for the Change, just as we did Chris and Erin.”

  Chris and I both gave a start at the mention of his name, though I should have realized he’d been included in their observations.

  My mother suddenly snapped her fingers. “I know where I’ve seen you before.”

  “I told you—Ava’s my neighbor,” Grandma said.

  “That’s not it. I remember seeing her when I was a child riding my bike.” Mother looked intently at Ava. “I didn’t see the car, but you did. You pushed me out of the way. The car hit you instead. At first we thought you were dead.”

  “I remember that.” Grandmother stared in amazement at Ava. “I called the hospital later, and they said you’d been released. I was very relieved.”

  Ava smiled at her. “I was in town because you were thirty. When you were little, you looked a lot like my first daughter. I probably visited Kansas more because of that.”

  “So you’re saying,” Tom said, looking at me and not Ava, “that this woman doesn’t age—that you will never age, or not so we’ll notice. Does it mean you become stronger, too? Physically?” His mouth had a pinched whiteness about the edges and his voice was tight and hard. I’d never heard him sound so ill or controlled.

  I didn’t know the answer, but Ava did. “Unbounded are generally stronger and have more endurance than they did before the Change because their cells are continuously regenerating.”

  “Even if they don’t eat?”

  “Unbounded are always absorbing. Food consumption is immaterial.”

  Tom didn’t like that answer, but when I tried to catch his attention he didn’t seem to notice. He stared past me at something only he could see. Was he thinking about Justine? Or did he now regard me as some kind of a freak?

  Silence again, and then my mother spoke, tears in her voice. “Why didn’t you tell us about Erin? It’s been so hard these past days.”

  Ava sighed. “Because it’s not safe yet. Our enemies would be thrilled to get their hands on her—or any of you. But also because of the funeral. Do you know how difficult it’s going to be pretending to mourn, unable to tell anyone that Erin is very much alive?”

  My father’s lip curled. “We’ll manage. But you need to understand right now that we refuse to be cut out of our daughter’s life.”

  “That’s between you and Erin. She’ll be able to keep in contact by phone for now—as long as you don’t mention her name or anything related to the Unbounded.” Ava’s gaze met mine. “I’m sorry, Erin, but we need to leave. It’s vital that no one sees us here.”

  Everyone stared at me, my mother looking ready to cry, and I knew the time had come to make a choice. I wanted more than anything to go downstairs to my familiar bed and curl up, forgetting any of this had happened. Or go somewhere with Tom and work things out. But I couldn’t. I’d fulfilled my goal of telling my parents and Tom that I was alive. They were okay, and now I had to discover where the rest of my life would take me. Even if it was away from them for a time.

  I gazed at the healing cut on my hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll call you soon.” I expected an argument, especially from my father, or a guilt trip from my mother, but they were apparently too shocked for either. Everyone began hugging me goodbye.

  Only Tom stayed apart, his lips clenched tightly shut, his face stony. When he walked out to the hallway, I followed. “I wish I could be at Justine’s funeral for you,” I said.

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Of course it matters.”

  He grabbed my hand, turning my palm upward to expose the nearly healed cut. “The Erin I know would never do something like this. I don’t even know who you are anymore.” There was a trace of horror in his expression.

  “I’m the same person. I still feel the same about you.”

  “What, so you’ll be out fighting mysterious bad guys, repeatedly getting cut up or shot, disappearing for days on end—and all the while I’ll be at work selling stocks? Growing older every year? I’d be nothing more than useless baggage to you.” Something new in his demeanor now, something greedy, almost envious. Hateful. I was stunned with its intensity. In the months we’d been together, I’d never seen this side of him.

  “So you were willing to stay by my side for months of recovery and operations, but all bets are off now that I’ll live longer than you will?”

  “Look, I wish you well in your new eternal life, but let’s not pretend I can be a part of it.” He pushed past me roughly, heading toward the front door.

  His rejection was like law school all over again. I’d given up then, unwilling to endure the disbelieving faces of my peers and the public disgrace inflicted upon me, but being Unbounded wasn’t something I could run away from—even if I’d wanted to.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” I yelled after him. Because I felt there was more, though I couldn’t explain why, except that his loathing hadn’t seemed entirely directed toward me.

  Jace appeared behind me, his arms sliding around my shaking body. “If he can’t accept this, he’s not worth it.”

  I leaned back into his arms. Trust Jace to say what I needed to hear. Justine would have said something similar. She would have embraced this opportunity, not broken under it. That’s what I chose to do.

  “This is your chance,” Jace added in my ear. “Your chance to do something big. To shine. You’ve always had it in you. Stop worrying about past mistakes. Stop worrying about our parents’ dreams for you. Do what you need to do. I’m so proud to be your brother. I wish I could go with you.” I clung to him. I wished he could, too.

  “And by the way,” he added. “That thing with the knife. So cool.”

  “I know.” I’d been showing off, and leave it to Jace to appreciate my effort.

  “Erin.” Ava was waiting.

  We took the downstairs exit and found Cort, Dimitri, and Ritter waiting for us in the backyard. Cort looked amused, while Dimitri appeared exactly the same as always—I guess after a thousand years, you aren’t easily ruffled. Ritter was squatted down in the grass, a machine gun slung across his chest, giving Max a good rub. Since Max normally barked like crazy at strangers and especially men with his bulk, this was amazing, but no more so than the relaxed expression on Ritter’s chiseled face. I wouldn’t have taken him for a dog person.

  “How did it go?” Dimitri asked. I wanted to thank him for the clothing he’d bought, but now didn’t seem the time.

  “As well as can be expected.” Ava glanced at me. “I’m worried about the boyfriend. If we hadn’t already been keeping track of him, I’d think he has something to hide. There was so much going on, I couldn’t get a good read on him.”

  Dimitri nodded. “I’m on it.”

  “What are you going to do?” I was mad and hurt at Tom’s reaction, but that didn’t mean I could let them hurt him.

  “Just make sure he doesn’t endanger you,” Dimitri said.

  Cort laughed. “Don’t worry, Erin. We don’t knock people off.”

  “No.” Ritter came to his feet, his expression hardening. “Usually we leave that to the Emporium. Now can we get out of here?”

  “Ritter’s right,” Ava said. “I haven’t waited hundreds of years to see my last blood line eradicated.”

  I lifted my chin. “You keep talking as if the Emporium cares about my family. I thought it was us they wanted.”

  Ava’s eyes glittered. “The Emporium would wipe out an entire family line if they so much as suspected it might carry the Unbounded gene. That’s why we’re willing to leave our families completely, or to see them secretly until enough generations pass that we
can bear the separation. By coming back to your family tonight without proper caution, you’ve put not only yourself but all of them in danger. If the Emporium learned anything about you at the burn center, your reappearance may give them all the verification they need.”

  I felt frozen, numb at the information. “What about the police? Won’t they protect my family?”

  “They can’t.” Ritter’s voice was clipped and hate gleamed from his eyes. “No mortal police can prevent an Emporium massacre, if that’s what they choose.” He turned on his heel and started toward the back gate, the one I’d gone through to my best friend’s backyard as a child. Max followed him, but the others hung back for a few moments, as though to give Ritter space.

  “How do you know?” I called after Ritter’s retreating back. He didn’t look around, so I turned to the others. “Will someone please tell me what’s going on? Why is he so angry?”

  They exchanged looks and finally Ava nodded at Cort who began speaking. “After Ritter started to heal from the attack I told you about, word of his survival found its way to the Emporium. They went to his house and killed everyone, including the Unbounded ancestor who’d come to protect him.”

  “Not just killed,” Ava added. “Slaughtered, in case there were any potential Unbounded among them, or anyone who might someday give birth to an Unbounded. The woman Ritter was supposed to have married was at his bedside when they burst in. Our people arrived barely in time to save Ritter.”

  Cort cleared his throat. “Ritter didn’t even know what an Unbounded was or why he’d survived the attack in the first place, but he blames himself, of course.”

  We’d reached the gate where Ritter had disappeared. Max was sitting there, brown eyes mournfully awaiting his return. To my knowledge, the old gate hadn’t been used in years, yet it opened as though it had been oiled recently and often. Ava reached down to pat Max’s head, and he licked her hand in a farewell he reserved for friends.

  “You should have told me before,” I said. “I’d never have put my family at risk.”

  Ava shrugged. “I asked you to wait, to trust me. Even now you don’t really believe. You still think the law would step in to save them.”

  She was right. It all sounded impossible.

  Dimitri motioned me through the gate to my neighbor’s dark yard. No lights gleamed in their windows. “There have been more recent occurrences similar to Ritter’s experience. Those massacres are one more reason we fight the Emporium.”

  “We’ll do our best to make sure your family remains safe,” Ava added quietly.

  I blinked. “You mean, as long as I go to New York.”

  “It’s not a bribe, Erin. It’s a promise.”

  I thought of how she’d saved my mother’s life as a child and nodded. “Okay. I’m in.” For now. Because no matter her promise, she couldn’t speak for all the Renegades, and I was willing to do anything to protect my family from all the Unbounded in this crazy world I’d stumbled into.

  We walked through our neighbor’s yard to Ava’s white sedan parked out on the street. Ava slid into the driver’s seat and Dimitri sat next to her. I climbed in the back next to Ritter, who avoided my gaze.

  “How did you find me anyway?” I asked Ava, as Cort wedged into the empty space next to me.

  “Every entrance to the house is monitored. Someone followed you on foot until you met those kids and got a ride. We thought you’d come here first—a small miscalculation.”

  “So you let me leave.”

  She sighed. “I’d hoped you wouldn’t make that choice. Living as long as I have, I sometimes forget how immediate things seem for mortals. Or those who were recently mortal.”

  It was surprisingly comfortable sitting between Ritter and Cort, but gradually my awareness of Ritter’s presence became acute. Knowing his story and how much he must have suffered watching his family being slaughtered troubled me. Besides, I couldn’t get the image of him petting Max out of my head, or how I’d felt standing close to him after our training session. The way I’d felt at that moment—well, I wasn’t sure I’d ever experienced that kind of pull even with Tom.

  Tom, who seemed to be hiding something. Or who simply didn’t want anything to do with someone like me.

  Exhaustion finally took over, and I was half asleep when we arrived at the gate to the mansion. Ava rolled down her window but before she could punch in the code, men dressed in camouflage rose up all around the car. They carried heavy rifles, which I knew couldn’t kill us but could incapacitate us long enough to allow them the pleasure of cutting us apart at their leisure.

  A clear image came to my mind of a beautiful young woman with long dark hair lying on a floor running with blood, her head separated from her body. Sightless eyes open, framed by dark lashes. The sword coming down again on her motionless torso.

  Blinding rage fought with an urge to vomit.

  I gasped and the scene vanished, leaving behind a dull ache in my head. Where did that come from? More Unbounded tricks?

  “Get out of the car,” a gravelly voice ordered. “And keep your hands where we can see them.”

  I heard a metallic click in the vicinity of Ritter’s waist before he opened the door. Whoever these people were, he wasn’t planning to go down without a fight.

  “NOT EMPORIUM,” AVA WHISPERED AS she slipped from the car.

  I wondered how she could tell. There were more than a dozen men, and looking over them I saw most were in their mid-twenties. Only two appeared old enough to be Unbounded, but neither had the confident presence. In fact, one of these was pasty with fright.

  “What’s the meaning of this?” Ava demanded.

  “Shut up.” This from the older man who didn’t seem afraid. He leveled his gun at Ava’s chest. “Oh, I know this won’t kill you, but it will be enough for now.” To his men, he added, “Secure them.”

  One of the men reached for my hands, and I wondered if I should struggle. Ritter looked at Dimitri and Ava and Cort briefly in turn. His chin dropped infinitesimally. A sign.

  The world exploded into motion.

  Ritter slammed his fists into two men, dropping them before anyone had the chance to move. His knife whipped out as he threw another man into the path of bullets fired from the leader’s silenced rifle. He was liquid in motion, a black blur that somehow avoided the soft pops of the rifle fire. A foot went up, then an arm, each connecting with their target. A deadly dance with men dropping all around him. If I weren’t seeing it for myself, I’d never have believed anyone could move like that—or anticipate the attackers’ movement so accurately. Five down already and a sixth falling, his neck twisted at an impossible angle.

  Beyond him, Ava was also in motion, her foot flying backwards into a man’s stomach. Two others lay unmoving at her feet. Dimitri had taken out two men as well but had collapsed, grabbing his stomach. Cort grappled with his third opponent over control of the man’s weapon.

  Only I seemed to be rooted to one spot. Think, I told myself. Do something.

  The next minute, a man grabbed my hands and started dragging me toward a black car barely visible next to the shrubbery. The engine revved. I slammed on the man’s foot and pain exploded there as my shoe connected with his boot. Was that a grunt of amusement from my captor? I made my knees go weak, my body heavy, a trick my nephew had pulled in his younger years when he didn’t want to go somewhere.

  The man swore and leaned to pick me up. I was in position, so I tried the elbow jab Ritter had taught me mere hours before. I didn’t have much hope of it actually working, but I felt a momentary thrill of success when the man grunted in pain and jackknifed forward. Twisting from his weakened grasp, I swung my freed hands into his head. I felt them connect, but the blow didn’t faze him.

  With a growl, he launched himself at me, tumbling me backwards. I kept waiting for a miracle, for one of the others to save me, or for my so-called Unbounded talent to kick in and tell me what to do.

  Nothing.

  Sitting o
n my stomach, my assailant punched me hard in the face. Fury burst through my fear. I’d been burned practically to death, lost my best friend, held prisoner, separated from my family, trained till my arms bled, and finally rejected by a man who’d claimed to love me. I wasn’t going to let myself be kidnapped by a twenty-something idiot I didn’t even know.

  I feigned semi-consciousness but was really absorbing nutrients from the grass I laid in, the trees looming above, the air I breathed. My assailant came to his feet, dragging me with him. In seconds, I’d be in that car, all hope of escape gone. There were no convenient rocks or heavy sticks nearby to use as a weapon. But there was the car.

  I faked a stumble, grabbing at him and using my body to ram him into the car. Then I grabbed his head and shoved it into the window with all my strength. After a sickening thump, he slid down into a heap.

  I was free.

  A man leapt from the other side of the car, a pistol in hand.

  Crap, I thought.

  He fired, too soft a sound for the hot fire that sliced into my right shoulder. While I stood in shock, he rounded the vehicle.

  The crack of an unsilenced gun split the false quiet of the night, and the man crumpled, a bloody hole blossoming on his chest. I glanced and saw Ritter turning back to his own opponent in time to smash a pistol into the man’s face.

  Everything was still. I counted eighteen men lying dead or unconscious. Ava was seated by Dimitri. “You shouldn’t have jumped in the way like that,” she told him. “He might have missed me.”

  He gave her a pain-filled smile. “Ah, well, you know me.”

  “We’ve got to get this looked at.”

  “I’m fine. I’m a doctor, remember?”

  Ava laid her hand on his cheek, and in that moment of unguarded tenderness, I saw what I hadn’t seen before. I wondered if they knew it themselves.

  Behind them Cort on the phone, no doubt rounding up our security. He was also pulling out a dark green bag from the trunk of the car. He threw it to Ava, who removed a bottle of something and passed it to Dimitri. Then she brought out a familiar bag of liquid. When Dimitri had finished the drink, she pressed the bag over his wound.