“No.”
“We need her. This last time you got hurt and Ronan was almost killed. We need all of the help we can get.”
“I said no.”
Nate watched him for a minute. “I’ll make you a deal. We’ll work with her every day for the next two weeks and if we aren’t able to make any progress, I’ll let it go for now.”
Luca frowned. “I get to be there every time you train.” The last thing he wanted was to have her in harm’s way. And the very last thing he needed was to be thinking about her while on a mission. Luca wasn’t used to making any demands on Nate. Though the two of them were more like brothers, in the end, this was Nate’s house and he was the one who made the decisions about how it was run. But the idea of Evaine being put into the middle of a situation where she could lose control again was too much.
Nate stood, checked his watch, nodded, and then left the room without another word. The computer screen showed pictures of the handsome boyish face, so tan and alive. Tristan Atwater was holding hands with her, hugging her, touching her face. A low rumble grew in Luca’s chest. His rage built.
Tonight was the last night—it had to be. He couldn’t keep going out and doing this. It was now or never. He was either going to confront this Tristan Atwater or leave it alone. Either way, tonight was the end of looking into her past.
Chapter Fourteen
“I’ll be gone tonight.” Luca’s voice was low.
“Where are you going this time?” Evaine could feel his nervousness from all the way across the room. He hadn’t come over to sit on her bed, but had simply come in a few feet and stopped by the wall. His emotions and body language were all over the place. She had hoped they’d gotten beyond this stage. Obviously she was wrong.
“I have to go into the city. I’ll be back soon. Get some sleep. You still need to rest. Tomorrow we start your training.”
“Is it going to be the same as last time?”
He made a small move toward her, but he stopped himself. The emotions were playing on him so fast she could barely register them one by one.
“No. There won’t be any human food. And I’ll always be there.”
“To keep everyone safe?”
“To keep you safe. Everyone else can take care of themselves.”
The thought that he would be there made her feel better, but she couldn’t understand why his emotions were on overdrive.
“Well, I won’t keep you from your errand,” she finally said.
He stood by the wall for a long minute. She wanted to go to him, to feel his lips on hers once more. To finish breaking down the barrier he kept throwing up between them. But she let him go without another word.
She ran her fingers through her hair. The clock told her it was past seven in the evening. She hadn’t been above ground in almost two weeks, and claustrophobia had begun to set in.
For a moment she wondered if she decided to dye her hair and put in some contacts, if she could go outside into the sunlight. With a thick coat of sunblock on. Maybe she’d feel more like her old self. Did she even want to be her old self? Her old self wasn’t someone she even knew anymore.
She longed to see the sun. Luca hadn’t punched the keypad to enter or exit. Wasn’t it locked anymore? She walked over to the door and rested her hand on the cool metal knob. Would she be allowed out anytime she wanted? She turned the knob and the door swung open.
She stepped out, a feeling of nervousness lodged in her stomach. It was eerily silent. She walked past a cell where a thin woman slept. In the next cell a small, frail girl sat in the corner, staring at the wall and rocking back and forth. Suddenly she stopped and her gaze turned toward the glass window. Slowly her eyes locked onto Evaine’s. Evaine’s vision blurred and went totally black. Evaine cried out in panic and stumbled backward. A light appeared, like a movie projector starting in her head.
Luca, Victor, Aron, and Ronan were in a room with her, looking for something while she spoke to someone familiar. Out of the corner of her eye she saw someone enter the doorway. She couldn’t place who it was because his face was hidden in shadow, but she knew the body. The man raised his hand and pointed a gun at Luca. She screamed and ran toward Luca as the gun fired.
Evaine’s vision ended. A piercing scream filled her head. The girl in the cell screeched, her eyes wide in terror. Evaine covered her ears, but it didn’t help. Another scream reverberated in her head and disoriented her. She bumped into another glass cell with a bang. A giant of a man towered over her from inside. He had to have been close to seven feet tall. His eyes glowed orange like fire. His overalls were stained and dirty. Howling at her through the glass he pounded with his hands so hard she wasn’t sure the cell could hold him. Something prevented her from running from him; she was stuck to the spot as if he had drawn her to him. He rammed the glass with his head. The glass held fast, and so did his hold over Evaine. The anger and rage he exuded was paralyzing in and of itself. If whatever had been done to her had been done wrong, she could have ended up like him. The realization was overwhelming.
Then just as quickly as the howling had started it ended. He stared at something behind her. Evaine felt as if a crushing fist let go of her and she took a step away from the glass.
“His name’s Curtis.”
Evaine turned to see Cami staring at the large Forgotten in the cell. Moving forward Cami touched the glass with her hand. The Forgotten, Curtis, looked at it and then he too lifted his hand and touched the glass. They stared at each other for several minutes.
“He’s my best friend. I know we’re an unlikely pair, but we used to be inseparable. Curtis wasn’t the brightest in school, but he was the biggest, which meant only one thing to the school we went to—football. When we were juniors he needed a tutor and we found out we had lots in common. We ended up at the same college.” She turned and looked at Evaine. “I loved him more than anyone I had ever loved, not that I’ve loved many people. But…” She shifted her gaze to the cell again; her hand still on the window. Curled up in a ball on the mattress, Curtis now slept. “I don’t remember what happened. None of us do. I remember having a meeting, but Curtis didn’t like it, so he came along to make sure nothing happened to me. This was the result. I came back, Curtis didn’t. Ironic really, since he was always kinder and gentler then I ever was.”
“How long have you been here?”
“All together about three years. We’d been here for about six months before I couldn’t handle it anymore. Seeing him like this day after day, I wanted to die. I went and stayed with Damien and the Feeders. I was completely out of control. One day, when I was in an especially enraged mood, Victor found me. I’d killed three people that day and was high as a kite. Victor had tracked me to an alleyway. He tried to explain to me that Nate needed me to come back, for Curtis. In the time I had gone, Curtis had become totally uncontrollable. Attacking anyone who came close to him. They had to keep him sedated almost constantly. I…I…” Her voice faltered as she looked at Curtis. “I didn’t want to. I knew it was my fault. Victor made it clear that it wasn’t really an invitation. They were going to have to kill Curtis if I didn’t return.
“I attacked Victor, and I did pretty well. But his powers are much greater than mine, so in the end he knocked me out. It took weeks to detox from the amount of human food I had in my system. The agony was almost too much to take. And through the whole thing Victor held my hand, literally.” She smiled. “Not that I had much choice. I had to be restrained most of the time, so I couldn’t get away from him. When it was all over, he was still there holding my hand. I’ve stayed ever since to take care of him and Curtis. I’m the only one Curtis responds to. But I think now he might respond to you as well.”
“So you have the same ability as Luca?”
“Yes and no. I talk to him in his head, the way that Luca can speak to others in their heads. Only I have to do it in pictures. I can’t speak actual words. So like when I wanted him to know you are a friend and that you won’t
hurt him, I showed a picture of you and I hugging. That he understands. It doesn’t work for everyone. I try to explain to him about Victor being a friend, but he didn’t take that one too well.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too.” Cami’s expression became a shade sadder. “He used to be so gentle. A great big teddy bear. Everyone loved him. They were drawn to him. Students, teachers, you name it.”
“Do you think you’ll ever leave again?”
“Not until—well, let’s just say, not for a very long time. I don’t think that Victor will be leaving anytime soon anyway. We’re happy here, and he has a job to do.”
“Does he have an ability?”
“Yes, his magnetism. He draws people to him and keeps them there till he wants to let them go. He doesn’t do it to me, but he’s done it to others. There used to be a little girl here, Cindy, who tried to befriend him while I was away. He didn’t mean to hurt her, but his sheer size alone compared to her small six-year-old body…” She pressed her lips together tightly for a moment and shook her head. “He cries for her. He doesn’t understand what he did. It was a terrible day for everyone from what I was told.” Cami studied Evaine for a moment. “He used it on you, when you were standing there a minute ago, didn’t he? That’s why you couldn’t move.”
“Yes.” She couldn’t imagine the horror of this huge hulk of a man hurting a child. What could he have done to her so easily if he hadn’t been in the cell? “My mind was telling me to run, but my body wouldn’t respond. Like a giant fist held me and refused to let me go. Then you came.”
Cami nodded.
Suddenly a thought struck Evaine. “You remember your past!”
“Yes.”
“When did you get your memory back?”
“Very quickly, I’m afraid, almost immediately. When Aron, Luca, and Nate came to get us. I was just waking up when I heard terrible howling on the other side of my curtain partition. Aron tried to keep me out of the way and get me into some clothes, but when the partition ripped down I saw Curtis. He didn’t see me right at first. He’d knocked both Nate and Luca to the floor and was making a run for the door. Nate tried controlling him with his influence, but it only confused Curtis more. I told them to stop and called out to Curtis. When Curtis saw me, he grabbed me, picked me up to protect me. He didn’t understand; neither of us did. Aron hit him with a tranquilizer dart. Boy, did that make Curtis mad. I’d never seen him like that. I was terrified. He set me down and pushed me behind, then he charged Aron. He missed and sprawled across the floor hitting a cabinet full of supplies and sending them exploding everywhere. He’d tackled so many times before on the field, the sight was so familiar, that I instantly remembered everything.”
“I sure know what it feels like to have someone stand between you and Aron and Nate.”
Cami laughed. “Yeah, I heard about you and Luca. It’s got everyone talking.”
Evaine shifted uncomfortably. “Well, I’m not so sure there is a, ‘me and Luca.’ He’s so infuriating. One minute he’s all over me, the next he won’t come near me. I don’t get him.”
Cami laid her hand on Evaine’s arm and smiled at her. “I’ve been here a while, and let me tell you, there’s something there for him, whether he wants it or not. Over the years I’ve seen girls come and go, many girls, and all of them have tried to get his attention one way or another. But Luca’s never looked at any of them, let alone talked to them, more than just to be polite. He watches after you though, makes sure that when he’s away that there’s someone who’s responsible for you.” She paused for a moment and pulled her hand away before continuing, as if trying to decide whether or not to say something. “I saw him the day you were tested. I was behind the glass watching. He flew down there in such a rage; I’ve never seen him so pissed. Banging on that door when you held it closed. I thought he was going to tear it down with his bare hands. I could see him trying to connect with Nate to stop the testing, but by then it was too late. And man, the fight that broke out after you collapsed. I didn’t think that he was going to let them take you. He almost attacked Nate, insisted on carrying you himself and being there whenever they were going to check on you. He stayed with you the whole time.”
“He said Nate wanted him to stay with me.”
Cami laughed. “Nate was happy to have him out of the way for a few days while they both cooled down, but no, Nate didn’t ask him to do that. That was all Luca.”
She wasn’t sure if Cami’s words made her feel better about Luca or worse. She was happy he’d looked after her and wanted to protect her, but he’d lied to her about it. Evaine didn’t speak for several minutes. Her eyes drifted to the sleeping Curtis. “So that’s how it happens. You remember all of a sudden, something triggers it?”
“If we remember, most of us remember because something triggers it. A few have remembered bits and pieces at a time with some holes still in there. Others never remember, like Victor. You should be prepared for the fact that your memories may not return or that it may be years. Figure out who you want to be now; because even if you do remember, you’ll never be that person again anyway. This is you now.”
People kept telling her that. “So that’s what you did? You let go of your old life and started a new one here? Underground, everyday, never leaving, never seeing the people you used to know.”
Cami shrugged. “My family is here now, and the two men I love are here. What’s out there for me to go back to? Do I miss shopping at the mall? Hell yes. And about once a year I dress up and put on a wig and go out and shop for a day or two. I go into the city and stay at a hotel, but I don’t ever stay away too long. Both Victor and Curtis worry. Besides, I find that the temptation is too great when I’m out among humans too much. I’m weak by nature.”
“What about the Feeders? Do they dress up and go out?”
“No. Feeders aren’t…they don’t care about anything but the feed. If you still have your humanity, and aren’t trying to drown yourself in pity, it isn’t a very nice place to be.”
All the talk of eating off diet made her hunger flare. She changed the subject. “So what does everyone do here?”
“Well, you’ve met most everyone so far. The security team is Ronan, Bobby Lee, and John Casey. Then you have the tactical team.”
“The what?”
“The tactical team. The guys who go out and pick up the newborns and bring them here. Victor’s the muscle, Luca’s the one who is able to reach the newborns minds. He’s also a pretty good piece of muscle himself.” Cami wiggled her eyebrows, and Evaine laughed lightly. “Ronan’s the computer brains, Aron’s the doctor, and Nate orchestrates everything from here. But, uh…word is, as soon as you’ve learned to harness your ability, you might be the new muscle.”
Evaine blanched. She didn’t want to hurt anyone again. “What do you do?”
“I take care of the Forgotten. I feed them, bathe them when they let me, talk to them. Do what I can to make them comfortable.” Cami’s eyes swept down the row of cells. “Raze, Kade, and Alec are other enforcers that we sometime call on to help out. But they don’t stay here. They’re nomads. They keep to themselves unless we need to get a hold of them. Most stay within three hundred miles of one of the Haven Houses. No matter how careful you are out there, there are always times when you could need a friend’s help, especially medically. Anything could kill you for good.”
“How do you get a hold of others who aren’t here?”
“Karen.”
“The resident White Pages,” Evaine intoned.
“Yeah, her. Of course I prefer to call her the resident snob, but that’s a totally different subject for a completely different day. Anyway, she sleeps a lot because she dreams of those outside of here. She has a mental link to all of us. We aren’t sure how. But there’s a common thread in all of our DNA. She can tap into that thread with her mind and find people anywhere. Sometimes Nate will ask her to tap in and find a specific person. She finds all the newborns.”
“So can she contact anyone?”
“No, she can’t contact people, only locate them. Then Victor or Luca go pick them up, depending on whether they’re an on-diet eater or an off-diet eater. On-diet eaters like us are easy for Luca to go to alone. Off-diet eaters can sometimes require more persuasion—that’s where my Victor comes in.”
Finally she asked Cami the question she had asked everyone else, but no one would answer. “Do you know where Luca went before my testing? Where he went tonight?”
Cami shifted her eyes, and furrowed her brow. “I think he—”
“Cami!” Victor broke in and Evaine whirled to glance at him.
How long had he been there?
“I think you’ve told her quite enough for one day.” He glowered at Evaine.
Cami smiled, winked at Evaine, and then skipped off to Victor’s side. “Don’t pay any attention to Mr. Hurt Pride over here. He’s mad because no one’s ever beat him before in a fight. He’s used to being the star.”
Victor frowned, but Cami beamed and laced her tiny fingers into his enormous ones. He rolled his eyes and suppressed a smile.
“Well, don’t be a stranger. Come and see me anytime,” Cami said cheerfully.
“Our room—it’s our room,” Victor said.
“Yes, well, we’ll see, dearest, won’t we?” Apparently there was some kind of inside joke going on that Evaine was not privy to. “Anyway, I’ve asked them to give you a room near mine so we can see each other more. And don’t let this big baby scare you away from visiting. He’s really just a pussy cat.”
“More like a saber-toothed tiger.” He growled, picking her up over his shoulder and carting her down the hallway. Cami squealed with delight, and Evaine could hear a tinkle of laughter echoing down the hall behind them as they left. Evaine smiled to see them go; they looked so normal.
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