I wondered if my life would ever feel normal again. Did I even want it to? It would be nice to have a break from all the craziness, but the world felt so much bigger now than it used to. I was different now too.
When I saw my closet door covered in old photos, I crossed the room to browse through them and reminisce. A picture of Rayne caught my eye, causing me to pause. I stared wistfully at his face. The longer we were apart, the more my heart ached to be with him again. I pulled my favorite picture of him from the door. Heather had taken it at a pool party a couple months ago. Rayne’s eyes were bright like I remembered, looking over to the side with a grin, where I was planting a surprise kiss against his cheek.
I continued to hold Rayne’s photo close as my eyes swept over the rest of the collage. There were snapshots of me and my mom all over the place, at the beach, at my last birthday, at the school choir concert a few years ago. And of course there were tons of photos of Heather, camping with her family, on the first day of school hugging Nicole, Lindsey, and Julie in their new outfits, and all the formal pictures with our dates at every school dance we’d ever been to, including back in middle school.
Even though my experiences on Ambrosia were utterly amazing and eye-opening, I realized I still missed my friends. My first inclination was to grab my phone as quickly as possible and dial Heather’s number. Then I remembered that my phone was smashed into bits on the side of some road up in the hills of Santa Monica. For the first time, I actually wished my mom had kept our landline installed in the house, but we both had agreed that when I finally got a cell phone, the extra landline had become kind of pointless. I wondered how hard it would be to convince all my wardens to let me go to Heather’s house in a few hours when she arrived home from school.
I plopped down on the bed with a groan, when suddenly, a memory flashed through my head. I jumped back off the bed and dashed over to the bottom drawer of my grandmother’s vanity. It was right where I had left it; the brand new, unopened box containing the smart phone Dr. Jensen had given to me as a gift before he…before he moved on to a better place.
The sad thought made me wince, remembering the terrible circumstances of his death. I quickly tried to picture a few of the happy times I shared with him and my mom. I didn’t want to dwell on bad memories. If he were here, he’d want us to focus on the good times. And if he were here, it would make him happy to know I was enjoying his gift.
As soon as I could get everything assembled, I plugged in the charger and turned on the device. The instructions said to let the battery charge for several hours first, but I wasn’t feeling patient at the moment. I sent a text to Heather immediately, explaining that I was back and I had a new phone number.
It had to be less than five seconds later when the phone started to ring.
“Where have you been?” Heather blasted in my ear. “Do you realize how freaked out I was? It was like you totally disappeared off the planet or something!”
“I know, but I’m fine,” I said with a chuckle, just happy to hear her voice. “You don’t have to freak out anymore; I promise.”
“Whatever! Why didn’t you tell me you got a new number? I’ve been trying to call you for days. I haven’t even seen you since my party last Saturday—which you totally ditched by the way.”
“Hey,” I objected. “I texted you the next day and told you why I had to leave. That was the night Rayne and I got back together, remember?”
Heather sighed. “Oh fine, so you had a good excuse that day, but what about every day after that? Your mom wasn’t even answering her phone so I couldn’t ask her where you were. I even came by your house a couple times, but no one ever answered.”
I should have thought this through before I answered the phone. I had to come up with an excuse fast. “Sorry, we were…out of town,” I fibbed. “I lost my phone. And, my mom forgot her charger.”
“Well, then where did you go? You never mentioned anything to me about going out of town.”
“I know, sorry,” I said again. “It was like, a spontaneous last-minute thing that my mom surprised me with. I had no idea we were going until like, five minutes before hand.”
“So, where did you guys go?” she pushed.
“Uh, Santa Barbara,” I lied again. “I guess my mom’s been kind of stressed out lately. She just wanted a few days to get away.”
“Wait, I thought you told me that your mom left to go out of town with her boyfriend on Saturday.”
My mouth dropped open in a panic. “Uh…she…did. Yeah, but then she changed her mind and came back. They got in a fight or something. I don’t know, she wouldn’t really talk about it, you know how she is.” I held my breath, hoping Heather would finally let the subject slide.
“Oh, they did? That’s too bad,” Heather said. “Well, I guess I’m just glad you’re finally back and not dead in a ditch somewhere. I was seriously ready to call the police.”
If Heather knew what I had really been up to this week, her brain would probably explode. Anything beyond shopping, cute boys, and planning her future at UCLA was totally out of Heather’s capacity to understand. Not that it was her fault. This was the only life she’d ever experienced, so in my mind, she really just didn’t know any better.
“So, I guess I have to go to this talent show thing at my brother’s school tonight,” Heather explained, “but are you going to be at school tomorrow?”
I glanced to the side. “Oh, uh…I don’t know, maybe. But if I’m not,” I added quickly, “you don’t need to freak out again, okay? I’m totally fine. My mom’s just been acting kind of crazy this week, so I think I’m going to play it by ear. I promise you’ll hear from me before the end of the day.”
I hung up with Heather realizing I was lucky to get through the conversation without her totally calling me out on all my lies. It felt terrible. I hated the fact that I was actually beginning to understand why someone might need to lie in order to protect the ones they loved. Rayne had to do it with me for a long time, and I was pretty sure he loathed himself for it. My father had been lying to everyone ever since I was born, and now we were both doing it to my mom… At this point, it might have been the only thing I really knew I shared in common with my father—and that pierced me to my very core.
20. UNHINGED
I spent the rest of the afternoon doing my best to avoid spending more than twenty seconds at a time in the same room as my father. My mom on the other hand, couldn’t seem to get enough of him. I just hoped she wasn’t about to get her heart broken all over again. At least she seemed to be feeling better. She even cooked up a big batch of spaghetti to share with everyone for dinner.
Of course she couldn’t be happy with feeding just me and my father, she had to insist that every man in a black suit who had stepped foot in the house that day should join us for the meal. I carried my plate across the kitchen, feeling like everything was backwards, like I’d accidentally crossed over into another dimension of reality. It was like our house had been taken over by a military occupation, or in this case, a secret agent occupation from another planet. Even Agent Duke was sitting casually on the couch with a mouth full of pasta and garlic bread.
The mood definitely seemed relaxed compared to when we first arrived. I wondered if my father had told Orion’s agents to ease back on the surveillance after all.
I heard my mom’s voice calling from the back patio. “Sweetheart, why don’t you come join us outside?” Despite the strange men scattered throughout our property, she barely seemed to be fazed by the situation.
“Uh, okay,” I called back. Even though my father was out there with her, it seemed like the least awkward place in the house.
I didn’t really notice until I stepped outside, but the sky still appeared just as purple as I remembered it from the morning. I gazed out at it hopefully. Maybe it meant that my Watermark really was working better, or maybe the stone was helping to keep the Healing Water strong in my system longer.
“Sweetie, come sit dow
n,” Mom insisted cheerfully.
I nodded and joined them quietly at the table near the center of the backyard. I couldn’t help but shoot another glance in my father’s direction as I approached, but I quickly looked away. My mom seemed way too happy, like she was back to her old ways of pretending nothing bad existed in the world, but I could tell her mood had shifted when I sat down beside her. She watched me with worried glances, picking at her food until she couldn’t seem to handle the silence any longer.
“Sweetheart,” she began carefully. “I know this whole thing might be difficult for you, but I was hoping you and Lin could talk and get to know each other a little better. Maybe you could tell him about some of your projects at school. Or what about your job at the yogurt shop; I’m sure he’d love to hear about it.”
My throat tightened. I stared down at my plate.
I heard my father’s voice whisper to my mom, “No, it’s all right, Leena. She’s had a long day. We should let her relax.”
I turned to face her. The last thing I wanted was to upset her right now. We’d all been through a lot today. But I just wasn’t ready.
“Sorry,” I said. “I guess I’m kind of tired.”
Her expression fell, but she quickly changed to an encouraging smile. “Sure, sweetie. Maybe later then.”
I barely said another word as we finished eating. Of course, my mother was doing enough talking for all three of us combined.
“I think I’ll go rest in my room for a while,” I said, standing with my empty plate.
“Okay,” my mom said, “I’ll come back to check on you in a bit.”
As I passed through the house, Agent Duke and his partner were sitting in the living room watching a basketball game on TV. Just as I entered the room, the front door pushed open and Orion appeared through the opening. He didn’t even knock. As soon as the agents saw his face, they jumped to their feet and clicked off the TV.
“There’s like, five gallons of pasta in the kitchen,” I said to him, “so you might as well go help yourself.” I continued on to the hallway without waiting for a response.
By the time I reached my bedroom door, I was already fighting back tears again. This didn’t even feel like my home anymore. Everything was completely upside down. My window looked dark inside my room, and I was glad. It meant that this confusing day was almost over.
I grabbed a tissue from the corner of the vanity and blotted my wet eyes. My reflection stared back at me in the mirror, wondering how my life could possibly get any more frustrating. Just as I was about to give myself a silent pep talk, I noticed an odd flicker from the corner of my eye. I paused and looked closer. When I tilted my head, I noticed the flicker again, this time coming right from the center of my eye.
Something looked different about my irises. There still was a dark blue ring around the lighter blue center, but it was like someone had poked a circle of tiny holes around the edges and filled them with minuscule pinpoints of light. The more I moved my head back and forth, the more the tiny sparkles of light seemed to appear along the outer rings. It was like there were microscopic stars, or diamonds, forming in my eyes.
I shut my lids for a second, thinking that somehow when I opened my eyes the white dots would be gone.
Suddenly, a crash erupted from behind me. Every muscle in my body constricted at once. Without time to think, my eyes sprang back open, just as my window shattered out of nowhere into the room. A jab of pain hit my cheek. I screamed and twisted to hide my face. Shards of glass exploded across the bed, sending a wave of stinging pricks through my back.
My legs sprang to stand, and I knew I had to run, but the minute I moved a foot toward the door, a figure in black seized my body and yanked me backward. The figure was large like a man, with unrelenting strength. He jerked me across the room, restraining my arms as I tried to gouge my fingers into his mask. In a moment of hope, Agent Duke and his partner burst through the door across the room, but the man in black was too fast. His hand sprang with a gun and fired two shots with impeccable aim. The stunned agents jerked back from the blows, two clear shots straight through their hearts. Both agents crumpled to the floor.
The figure shoved me up off my feet and forced me through the huge hole in the wall where my window had been shattered. In less than ten seconds, I had a bag over my head, my wrists imprisoned behind my back with cuffs, and a harness strapped around my torso. The cloth bag flapped against my face as a deafening roar plunged down on us from above. I felt a clank against the harness at my waist. The figure in black grabbed hold of me, and my dinner flew across my stomach as the weight of both our bodies catapulted into the air.
Cold wind whipped around my body, the relentless noise circling over our heads. I couldn’t see, but I could sense the ground moving farther and farther away. I tried not to think about the mounting space between me and the ground, or the despicable black figure still clinging forcefully to my body. To keep myself calm, I repeated the words in my head, they can find me. I still have the tracker in my neck. They can find me.
A million theories pounded through my head, but there was only one that I was sure was the truth. It was Voss, come to take his revenge on my family once and for all. What other explanation could there be?
The force that pulled me across the sky slowed abruptly, causing our bodies to waver and spin. I was sure we had only been in the air a few minutes, even though every second felt like a year. Finally the world stopped spinning as my feet brushed against solid ground. Before I could find my balance, the pull on my harness released, causing me to fall. My side hit the hard surface below.
The noise backed away, until it was a constant hum above me in the distance. I was yanked to my feet. The cloth bag flew off of my head, and just as I feared, black deathly eyes glared in front of my face.
The eyes were wild and unfocused. Voss’s lip curled as his hand shot to my neck, gripping like a vice. “You didn’t think I would give up that easily, did you?”
I tried to tune out the fear, taking in careful breaths beneath his grip. I wasn’t sure what kind of distance a helicopter could fly in a couple of minutes, but I didn’t think we had gone very far. My eyes shifted back and forth through dark, until I realized we were on some kind of rooftop.
“You could have killed all of us by now,” I coughed back. “I don’t understand what you want.”
He squeezed and yanked my throat, forcing me closer. “Shut up! I’m doing the talking.”
My lungs heaved, searching for air. My feet struggled to find ground.
“Hamlin should learn to watch his back,” Voss snarled. “I’m still here, and I’m not done with any of you.”
The air wheezed out of my mouth with an uncontrollable groan, so stunned I could hardly think or speak. Voss growled at my lifeless stare and chucked my body across the roof. I sucked in oxygen just before the concrete knocked it back out of me.
Voss paced like a madman, circling around me as I dragged my head off the ground. “I’m tired of your wretched, insignificant little boyfriend getting in my way,” he said. “I can’t wait until the Council throws him to the wolves like he deserves.”
I scowled up at Voss’s shaky, erratic form. “That’s not going to happen. My father’s going back to get him out.”
Voss’s feet stopped. He let out a crazed laugh. “Your father? Your father is a powerless fool. Rayne is going to suffer a slow and painful death in exile, and there’s nothing any of you can do about it.”
“Death?” I whimpered. “What do you mean death?”
Voss smiled with cruel, narrow eyes. “There’s a fate worse than prison on Ambrosia. It’s called Cayno. I know; I was there. That’s where they send the worst kind of heathen to rot in agony. But they don’t die quickly. That would be too merciful. Instead…” Voss paused and lowered his face right in front of mine, whispering with malice. “Instead…they live with just enough Healing Water, deep below ground, to make them suffer a lifetime of torment and anguish, until they go
mad. That’s how I earned these astounding black eyes…”
I tried to push my body back with my legs, my cuffed hands reaching and grasping at the concrete behind me, struggling to pull away. Voss had always been callous and fierce, but now he seemed completely deranged. Every time I moved away an inch, his seething eyes moved closer, pursued me like a hunter, cornering me until I was trapped against the wall. He hovered over my body with wicked anticipation, as if imagining the thrill he could achieve if only he had claws like an animal to tear my body to shreds. There was no escape. I stared back at his loathsome eyes, trembling, wishing my arms could break free to shove him away.
His expression suddenly twisted, centered at the side of my face. He shoved my head to the wall and peered at my cheek, mumbling as if talking to himself, “Didn’t you get cut…”
Without warning, he licked his thumb and dragged the vile, jagged surface across my cheek. I flinched in disgust. My knee kicked up out of instinct and knocked against his head. Voss lost balance and fell sideways out of his crouch, but he recovered quickly. His hand flew down at me before I could think. My neck whipped back. Pain pierced through my jaw, slammed my head against the wall.
My eyelids opened and closed, opened and closed, trying to focus.
“Yes,” Voss said with a wretched laugh. “Fight back. I detest an easy target.” He fumbled eagerly through his pocket and pulled out a key. Then he reached down, grabbed the cuffs around my wrists, and yanked me off the ground to my feet. The metal dug into my skin, his arms jerking my body to his side.
He whispered callously in my ear, “When I release these cuffs, you’re going to defend yourself. Do you understand? You’re going to claw and scratch and wrestle for your life until you can’t fight anymore.”
The handcuffs released and Voss tossed them to the ground. “Now fight,” he demanded, his chest heaving through clenched teeth. “Defend yourself.”
Ambrosia Shore (The Water Keepers, Book 3) Page 17