by Carly Morgan
The song switched again. A slow song. Callan was sure Lux would give Kaelia up soon for Maddie, but he didn’t. He clung to her, their hands clasped together and his hand between her shoulder blades. Callan wondered how long this would go on, and then decided he wasn’t about to find out. He pushed himself up from the table, his chest thumping away in his chest.
“May I cut in?” Why was he so nervous? She was his after all. Did he really think she’d say no?
She smiled up at him, and the sight was dazzling, her face flushed from dancing and her dark eyes gleaming like onyx. She glided from Lux to him without saying a word, and pressed her face into his chest as Callan did his best to lead her across the floor while it felt like his heart was going to explode.
“I’ve been waiting forever for you to ask me to dance,” she admitted, and suddenly Callan felt like a fool. Of course she had. He’d known that.
“Well, I couldn’t let you and No. 69 have all the fun.”
“Lux?” She said his name as if she didn’t know who he meant. “He says he has something he wants to share with us later, up in the suites. Sort of like an after-party. I hope you don’t mind I said yes.”
“No,” Callan lied, and pulled her closer. Of course he minded. He wanted her all to himself, for now and for eternity, for as long as he possibly could. “Not at all.”
“Oh, good.” She smiled in that demure but cheeky little way she had, peeking up at him, her chin grazing his sternum.
“God, I love you,” he said, and sighed like the words hurt his chest.
Kaelia’s eyes gleamed contentedly. “I love you, too,” she murmured lazily, resting her cheek against his chest as they trailed across the room like two clouds intertwining on a breeze.
Chapter 16
Kaelia
Kaelia was giddy as the four of them made their way upstairs; her face flushed from dancing, and nearly gleeful she had finally lured Callan out onto the floor. She had clung to Lux intentionally, of course, using him as bait, and it worked like a charm. She felt exhilarated from happiness, and wasn’t sure how the night could get any better than this.
Lux had already slipped her a sip from his contraband bottle of whiskey. She wasn’t sure why, but she couldn’t handle alcohol the same way as regular people. She could get sloppy drunk with just a couple drinks, and after three she was on the floor. It might have been something to do with her spliced DNA, though it didn’t make any sense, seeing how well she handled everything else.
“What’s wrong with you?” Callan asked, after she laughed when she tripped getting out of the elevator. Lux winked at her mischievously, and Maddie giggled. Callan only frowned. Kaelia tried to get a hold of herself. She didn’t want him to regret saying yes to the after-party.
“A toast!” Lux announced, once she’d managed to get the key card into the slot of her door and let them all in her suite. “To the first and second prize winners of the surfing portion of Amity’s People Party’s Competition!”
He revealed the half full bottle of whiskey, holding it high as if it was the trophy itself. “I’ll get some cups,” Maddie obliged, heading for the kitchenette, stumbling over a chair that seemed to get in her way.
“Where’d you get that?” Callan asked, and Kaelia could tell he wasn’t impressed.
Lux flicked his eyes over him cautiously. “Maddie snuck it in. She knows I like to have a night cap after dinner, right darling?”
“A night cap?” she quizzed him, handing out the cups while they all settled down in the living room. Kaelia and Callan sat next to each other on the couch, while Lux took the armchair, and Maddie sat on the arm of it, practically in his lap.
Callan swirled the whiskey she had poured him, and then set it down untouched on the coffee table. “I don’t drink,” he said gruffly, leaning back and letting his arm fall over Kaelia’s shoulders. She looked up at him expectantly, feeling a sinking suspicion for both of them.
“How am I not surprised by that?” Lux said, his tone light but sarcastic. He tipped back his shot and then reached for a book on the coffee table, one Kaelia had never noticed before. “Ah! Look at this! The perfect drinking game.” Flipping it open, he read aloud from a random page, and Kaelia quickly realized the book was the one of questions for the trivia round of the competition. “What does the Roman numeral C represent? 100, 200, 300, or 5.”
He looked right at Kaelia, waiting for a response. She shrugged, a bit embarrassed. “How am I supposed to know?” she grumbled. “I’ve never even been to a real school.”
Lux appeared puzzled, and he exchanged glances with both Callan and Maddie, who shifted their eyes uneasily. By their looks of alarm, she wondered if her lack of education was really something so uncommon. After all, she knew plenty of people who never graduated high school. Well, a few anyway. They had all worked for Pierson’s organization, though most had at least made it to the 8th grade.
“Take a guess then,” Lux eventually encouraged her.
Kaelia scowled, feeling not only like an idiot, but also a bit dismayed she’d have to memorize a whole book full of questions in order to get into the next round of the competition. “Five,” she grumbled, though it seemed like the most unlikely answer.
Lux made a sound like a buzzer going off. “Wrong answer! A five is a V, so drink. Now it’s my turn. Read me a question.”
Kaelia took a swig from the cup Maddie had poured her as Lux passed her the book. It was thick and heavy. Kaelia felt her head spin as she tried to read the words on the page, but they wouldn’t stay still. Finally, she managed to keep them straight enough, her voice coming out thick as syrup. “At what temperature does water boil?” she started, and then began slowly reading from the list of possible answers. “150 degrees…”
“212 degrees Fahrenheit,” Lux interrupted with the right answer. “100 degrees Celsius.”
“They didn’t ask for it in Celsius,” Kaelia grumbled. “But yes, you’re right.”
“I know,” Lux said, taking the book back from her. “Guess I’ll drink anyway.” He poured himself a generous shot, downed it, and then read her another question. Kaelia didn’t know the answer to that one either. “Drink,” Lux commanded, but before she could get the cup to her lips, Callan covered it with his hand and pushed it down.
“Wait,” he protested, his eyes narrowed. “You skipped us.” He indicated Maddie and himself.
Lux faltered. “But… you said you don’t drink.”
“I’ll play,” Callan responded shortly. “Read me a question.”
Lux thumbed through the book, and ran his finger down the page. “What element does the symbol Hg stand for; is it Uranium, Mercury, Titanium, or Lead?”
Kaelia watched expectantly as Callan seemed to get buried in thought. “Mercury,” he said at last, his voice only somewhat confident.
“Ding, ding, ding!” Lux chimed.
Kaelia folded her arms across her chest. “How does everyone know these but me?” she complained.
“Oh, don’t worry, honey, I’m horrible at these kinds of things,” Maddie assured her. “C’mon, darling, read me mine.”
“Okay, honey, here’s one for you. What horoscope sign is represented by the water bearer?”
“Oh!” Maddie put one finger in the air, excited. “I know this one! My father is an Aquarius. The answer is Aquarius.”
“See? You do know a few things,” Lux praised her. “All right, back to Kaelia.”
“I don’t want to play anymore,” she said darkly. “I thought we were going to celebrate. This is more like training.”
“No, it’s a drinking game,” Lux clarified. “C’mon, one more round. I’ll give you an easy one. What’s the first letter on a keyboard; Q, A, Z, or S.”
Kaelia wracked her brain. She had used keyboards before. Of course she had. Though not for over three years while she was serving her sentence in Krakian, and not very much before that either. “S,” she guessed what she thought would be the best answer. After all, S was the
most commonly used letter, wasn’t it? Or maybe it was A, though that seemed too obvious.
“Wrong,” Lux blurted. “It’s Q. Here, I’ll drink with you this time.”
Simultaneously with Lux, Kaelia slugged back another mouthful of his awful whiskey, and then reached across the coffee table and snatched the book from him. Except, he hadn’t seemed like he was quite so far away, and suddenly Kaelia felt everything falling from underneath her, and the floor hurtling right towards her face.
“Easy,” Callan said, catching her at the last second and steadying her on the couch. Kaelia scanned the pages before realizing how light-headed she felt, and then passed the book to Callan.
“Here. You read him one.”
She closed her eyes and leaned against him. The world felt all hazy, intangible, and only he was real. She sensed him opening the book, and then listened foggily as he read a question. “Name the number that is three more than one-fifth of one-tenth of one-half of 5,000; 503, 103, 53, or 118.”
All those numbers made Kaelia’s head hurt, but Lux answered with ease; 53. She waited with her breath held for Callan to confirm if he was right, and then when he did, she could scarcely believe him. She grabbed the book out of his hands while she stared at the page in disbelief. Kaelia struggled to get her wits about her enough to find the question, and the answer; 53.
“How the hell do you keep getting so lucky?” Kaelia exclaimed, her voice rising in an inexplicable anger. What was she getting so upset about? It was just a game, after all.
Lux shrugged dismissively, downing the rest of his drink and then reaching for the bottle on the table. “I had very good tutors when I was younger.”
“No.” Kaelia shook her head, unwilling to accept that for an answer. “First the rock climbing, then the surfing…”
“The surfing I taught you,” he reminded her. “What? You’re not worried, are you? You mastered surfing in a few days, why not trivia. Or is that not one of your specially redesigned features…”
He stopped himself abruptly, and Kaelia instantly picked up on it. Her brain struggled to focus through the effects of the alcohol, but she definitely knew there was something off about the way he had said that, as well as his mannerisms. Redesigned features. And then suddenly she knew, and she lunged for him.
Flying over the coffee table, she knocked Maddie out of the way and the open bottle out his hand as she knocked him backwards off his chair, the pungent liquor streaming through the air and the bottle smashing against the wall. Crouched on top of him, she held him against the floor with her hands around his throat; not quite strangling him, but not quite giving him a hug either.
“It was you!” she yelled at him, holding his shoulders on the ground. “You sent that note! Who are you? Sent here to spy on me?”
“Stop!” Maddie was yelling. She grabbed for Kaelia’s shoulder, but was easily shaken off. “What is going on?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Lux raised his hands over his head in surrender and looked up over her shoulder. She knew Maddie and Callan were standing there, though neither of them moved out of her peripheral vision. “I may be a spy, but I’m not spying on you, per se.”
She clutched a fistful of his hair and slammed his head against the floor just hard enough to make him wince. “I’ll kill you!”
“Wait!” Lux protested, his eyes widening in fear as he glanced pleadingly around her. “Come on, Merone, can you maybe convince your psycho girlfriend to get off me so I can explain?”
But Callan didn’t move, and a moment later he said in a slow drawl, “You know. I don’t think I will.”
“If you can explain, then you better start doing it,” Kaelia lowered her face over his like she might tear him apart with her bare teeth. “Now!”
“Look, look, look. I did send the note, okay? I did. But I was trying to warn you! It’s just… c’mon. I like you. You’re my friend, right?”
“Am I?” Kaelia cocked her head. “I’m not so sure anymore.”
“Kaelia, there are people looking for you!” he blurted all at once. “Dangerous people. If you’re… if you’re… who I think you are, part of that… that lab. The illegal genetics redesigning lab, or whatever…”
“How do you know about that?” Kaelia growled, pressing her knees into his chest.
“How do I know about that?” Lux practically laughed, the sound short and disbelieving. “Sweetheart, my former profession involved collecting highly secretive information. Have I not mentioned that before?”
Kaelia eased herself off him, letting it all sink in. Were his words starting to make sense, or was that simply the alcohol talking, confusing her on what was real and what wasn’t. Could it really be Lux had sent that note, simply trying to warn her rather than scare her out of the competition? Could it be he really knew anything about her at all?
“When did you find out?” she stammered when she spoke, her head still sloshing, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that there might be another one, after all these years—now there might be not one, but two people who knew about her.
“Find about what? You? The DNA and Genetics Redesigning Lab? You need to be more specific.”
“Can somebody please tell me what is going on here?” Maddie suddenly cried out in a shrill voice. Kaelia was only very mildly aware she was even still there; she was so intent on Lux. He had referenced the place where she came from, word for word. He knew. “What genetics lab?”
“Perhaps I should escort you back to your room?” Callan tried to take Maddie by the elbow, but she brushed free of him.
“I’m not going anywhere until I find out what’s going on!”
“Darling, try to understand,” Lux started on her. “This is very sensitive information we’re dealing with, and I’m currently being pinned to the floor by a former murder-for-hire assassin, who has already mentioned something about killing me. Perhaps you wouldn’t mind stepping out of the room for just a moment or two?”
“Great idea,” Kaelia seconded with her face still a snarl at the smarmy way Lux spoke. Even while pinned to the ground, he still managed to sound full of himself.
“Just for a moment,” Callan beckoned her again. Maddie sighed with annoyance, but eventually flounced from the room, refusing Callan when he tried to follow.
“I can find my own way across the hall, thank you very much,” she snapped, slamming the door in his face.
Kaelia tightened her grip on Lux. “All right. She’s gone. Now spill.” She had a sudden rush of clarity, and felt hopeful the alcohol might be wearing off.
Lux hesitated, his eyes searching out Callan, still hovering over them. “What about…?”
“He can hear,” Kaelia interrupted him vehemently. “Now you better start talking if you want to keep all your perfect white teeth. I’ve heard dental work is expensive these days.”
“Okay, okay,” he said quickly, his eyes fluttering closed for several seconds, as if searching for the story. When he opened them again, they were much less frantic than before; nearly serene. “It was a job I was assigned, years ago. These scientist guys hired me to find out if there was anything left of this crazy lab – one that was splicing animal DNA with human DNA to make these highly specialized, genetically redesigned super humans, capable of all kinds of crazy shit.”
He raised his brows at her expectantly, as if asking for her clarification that she was one of these humans. Kaelia didn’t oblige him. “Go on,” she said instead, easing off him just a bit more.
“I’m trying to think, okay?” Lux whined petulantly. “I’ve had quite a bit to drink, after all. Okay, let me see… The lab had been raided years ago by the same guys. These scientists. It was illegal, what the guy was doing – what was his name? Gordon something? The guy who created it all.”
“Papa,” Kaelia whispered, very softly, not quite sure if she had spoken aloud at all. Papa, who raised them; her and her sisters. Who taught them to read and write and how to play hopscotch, and also sent them to training each d
ay? By the time Kaelia was five; she could take down an armed military professional. She could scale mountains and swim mile laps underwater, she could jump twenty feet through the air. Papa had been so proud of them. “You mean Dr. Martin Gordon,” she spoke again, clearer this time.
“Yes.” Lux nodded. “Him. Very interesting guy, or so I’ve read. Anyway, they threatened him. They wanted one of his products, or else they were going to sell him out to the Feds. Gordon thought about it for a while, but at the last minute reneged. You see, these guys who hired me, the scientists – they were crazy. Did all kinds of cruel, inhumane tests on humans they bought on the black market. That’s why they wanted one of these super humans. For testing. But Gordon was fond of his creations. He wouldn’t part with one of them for that. There weren’t that many of them. Only, let me think…”
“Sixteen,” Kaelia did the math for him. The twelve boys in Callan’s division. And the four girls, who lived with Papa.
“Yes, sixteen,” Lux nodded. “Of course, he could have made more, but the practice was strictly prohibited, and Gordon was paranoid about it. Anyway, so he backs out of his deal with the scientists, and they get mad, right? They decided to take what they wanted anyway. Got the Feds involved, SWAT teams, the whole nine yards. But the night of the raid, Gordon had each and every one of those kids executed himself. ‘If he couldn’t have them, then nobody could’ sort of mentality.”
“That’s not what I found out,” Callan’s voice sounded funny in the room, as if he wasn’t supposed to be there. “The private investigator I hired said when the Feds raided; they found a bunch of mutant creatures, so they killed them all themselves as a service to society.”