Mother Tyeesha guided her into a long white stucco building with a red roof. A pleasant-faced woman in a floral sundress sat reading to a group of children in one corner.
“Hello, Veronica,” Mother Tyeesha said. “Where’s Robin?”
“She asked me to fill in for a few minutes. She said she had to check on something.”
Mother Tyeesha frowned but continued toward a rear hallway. From down the hall came the tiny cries of babies.
“Birthday was just a few days ago,” Mother Tyeesha said. “Four new babies arrived.”
That had been the day everything had changed, the day Dr. Carlhagen had arrived back at the Scion School. The day she and Vaughan had eavesdropped on the Scions and their Progenitors.
“Did you meet their mothers?” Jacey asked quietly.
“No. When the infants arrive, they’re already two weeks old, according to Dr. Carlhagen. Though some appear to be a week or two older than that.”
“Of course,” Jacey said. “Birthday is a fiction too. They’re all born at different times.”
“True,” Mother Tyeesha said. “But not too far apart. I was always curious how he managed to time it so well, but now I suppose it isn’t that hard to accomplish using the right technology.”
They pick their way through the squirming and giggling mass of toddlers, Jacey waving her fingers and smiling at each as she passed. They went through a rear door, down a short corridor, and into a quiet section where a man in a linen tunic and pants sat in an armchair feeding an infant from a bottle.
“That’s Marcus,” Mother Tyeesha said.
“Morning, Mother,” he said. He returned Jacey’s nod with a slight smile.
Jacey peered into one of four little bassinets along one wall. An infant looked up at her, eyes blue and distant. But so bright.
Mother Tyeesha lifted the infant. “Would you like to hold her?”
Jacey gently took the child from the old woman’s arms. A tiny hand grasped her pinky, and Jacey felt a great wave of awe.
“What’s her name?”
“That’s Ariana,” Marcus said.
“Hi, Ariana,” Jacey said in a small voice, marveling at the tiny features.
She had once been like this child, she realized. Innocent.
A child didn’t ask to be born, didn’t have any choices. None of the children here could control the circumstances of their lives. Someone had to protect them.
Jacey’s awe shifted to anger. She gently set the child back in her bassinet and backed out of the room with Mother Tyeesha.
“I need to rest,” Jacey said. “I need to think.”
“It isn’t safe here,” Mother Tyeesha said. “As long as Summer is missing, they’ll continue their search, and they will certainly come here.”
Jacey’s head shot up. “They haven’t been here yet?”
“No,” Mother Tyeesha said in a worried tone. “But it won’t be long.”
They stepped out of the nursery, closing the door behind them.
“Mother . . .” Jacey began. Seeing the babies made it tougher to say what she had to say. But time was running out. “I overheard a conversation between Mr. Justin and someone off-island. A man named Orson. He was on holovid. Mr. Justin and this man are planning to steal the Scions. A boat is going to dock today, and they’re planning to come here first. I could recite the whole conversation for you if it would help.”
Mother Tyeesha’s face tightened, lips protruding in consternation. Though old, she was wiry and her steps full of vigor. “No need.”
“You don’t seem surprised.”
The woman laughed. “I’m shocked. But after what’s been happening, what Belle told me yesterday . . . Mr. Justin, you say?” Her mouth twisted in disgust, like she’d just taken a big bite of unripe mango. “I never trusted that man.” She leaned close to Jacey. “Truth is, I barely trust my own people here. All were hired by Dr. Carlhagen without my input. They do a good job, but they know who’s paying them.”
“I was thinking you could take the children to the Scion School. It would take six or seven trips with the Jeep packed full, but if we could get them there before the boat came, maybe . . .”
But Jacey only had half of a plan. Putting the children in one of the dormitories or the dining hall would do nothing to protect them. And with the senator and her guards based there, the school wasn’t particularly safe.
“Not much safer than here,” Mother Tyeesha said, as if reading Jacey’s thoughts. “But it’s a little safer. And I’ll take what I can get. That’s probably the best choice we’ve got. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, child. But I don’t expect Belle will help us. Do you know how to drive the Jeep?”
Jacey squared her shoulders. “Don’t worry about Belle.” She’d make Belle help, even if she had to drag her to the Jeep by her long white ponytail.
Mother Tyeesha gave a skeptical grunt and led Jacey around the corner of the classroom toward her own villa.
From behind, a steely arm wrapped around Jacey’s waist. Another clamped across her throat. She recognized the black fabric of a Scion’s uniform sleeve.
Dr. Carlhagen.
She tried to scream, tried to warn Mother Tyeesha, but Dr. Carlhagen’s arm was too tightly wrapped around her throat. It was all she could do to breathe. She flailed her legs, wriggled with all of her strength, but her arms were bound to her sides by his. He tightened his grip around her throat, forcing her to stop moving.
His breath burned her ear. “Stop struggling. Everything will go a lot easier for you if you relax.”
Mother Tyeesha finally noticed Jacey wasn’t keeping up. She turned and her eyes went wide. She shrieked and ran forward to pound against Dr. Carlhagen’s arms with her small, bony fists. Her blows had no more effect than raindrops on rocks.
Vaughan backed away from the old woman, dragging Jacey with him.
“Let her go,” Mother Tyeesha shrieked. “Let her go.”
Dr. Carlhagen said nothing and kept pulling Jacey backward. She relaxed, let him bear her weight until her feet were dragging. Now that he was in Vaughan’s body, Dr. Carlhagen was too strong to fight. Even the days he’d spent sedated hadn’t weakened him enough for Jacey to break free.
In a minute, he had moved her to the Jeep. “Open the passenger door, Mother Tyeesha.”
“I will not.”
Dr. Carlhagen squeezed Jacey tighter, until she began to choke for breath. “Do it or so help me, I will kill this girl.”
Mother Tyeesha tottered forward and opened the door. She trembled with rage, mouth gaping as she drew in heaving breaths.
The pressure on Jacey’s throat loosened and she sucked in air. “I’ll cooperate. I’ll cooperate.”
She had no intention of cooperating.
“Of course, you will, my dear,” Dr. Carlhagen said. His grip loosened around her arms, and she tried to turn and throw a punch toward his face. He deflected it easily, countered with a silencing slap across her cheek.
The world went quiet, and Jacey staggered. Pain bloomed on her cheek. Dr. Carlhagen spun her. His arm clamped across her chin, forcing her head to the side.
He gave a strong jerk and daylight turned to darkness.
31
The Compact and Deadly Force
Cold water splashed across Belle’s face, eliciting a gasp of shock. She welcomed its bracing effect, though. The tears had run out, leaving her eyes puffy and hot. Surprisingly, the spell of self-pity had left her muscles loose and her breath deep and relaxed, the way she felt after a long run on the Scion School paths.
She glanced at herself in the bathroom mirror, ashamed at the redness around her eyes, ashamed of so many things. But mostly for being tricked. She blotted her face dry, then left the small bathroom.
Mother Tyeesha met her in the corridor. The woman’s face was as pale as Belle had ever seen it.
“What is it?” Belle asked.
Mother Tyeesha strode past her, yanked the chair from beneath the door,
and pushed it open.
“What are you doing? There’s no other way to lock it.” Belle snatched the chair from Mother Tyeesha, ignoring the woman’s mutterings of, “Too late, too late, too late.”
Belle started to yank the door shut when she saw that the bed lay empty. Just above it the hurricane shutters swung open in the breeze. The remains of the screen, bent and torn, lay on the floor. “You unlatched the shutters!”
“I did no such thing, fool.” Mother Tyeesha toed the remains of the screen. “But someone did.” Her eyes lifted to meet Belle’s.
“You can’t think I did it! I locked him in.”
Mother Tyeesha’s lips pressed tightly together. “No. Someone else. Someone loyal to Dr. Carlhagen. I suspect one of the new nursery staff. Robin had the opportunity to do it. Somehow Dr. Carlhagen must have spoken with her—probably through the window itself—and gotten her to open it up.”
She turned to storm away, and Belle knew she was going to confront the culprit.
“No, don’t do it,” Belle said. “If you back them into a corner, they might . . .”
“Attack me? Kill me? So what if they did?”
It shocked Belle to hear Mother Tyeesha talk in such a way. “Stop, Mother,” she begged. “The children need you. Stay here in the villa. I’ll go find Dr. Carlhagen. If something happens to me, it won’t matter. Do you have any weapons?”
Mother Tyeesha gave Belle a flat look. “Weapons? In a school for small children? But you won’t need any. Dr. Carlhagen took the Jeep.”
Belle ran through the house and out the front door. The Jeep was gone.
The door opened and closed behind her, and a warm hand pressed against her back. Belle didn’t jerk away from it, but she didn’t lean into it either. She never liked being touched, except by Vaughan. But she felt something in the old woman’s gesture, a sort of support, she thought. Not literal support, not helping her stand up, but a different kind. It struck Belle as a strange idea, and she couldn’t fully grasp it.
“Jacey’s going to throw a fit,” Belle said.
“Jacey is with him.”
“She went with him?” Belle screamed, turning on Mother Tyeesha. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She didn’t go with him voluntarily. He kidnapped her.”
“Oh.” Belle ran a hand down her ponytail and gave it a tug. “That makes more sense.”
She sat on the bottom porch step and folded her hands between her knees. Mother Tyeesha descended on shaky legs and plopped down next to her with a moan.
A single thought swirled in Belle’s head. She considered it, looked at it from all angles, and surprised herself by deciding she hated it. The thought—that maybe Jacey was getting what she deserved—did not come from Belle’s sense of justice. Only her desire to hurt Jacey.
Belle berated herself for entertaining the idea at all. “Back at school, right after Dr. Carlhagen transferred into Vaughan . . . he tried to rape Jacey.” She said it softly into the evening air. “He kept calling her Jacqueline. I guess that was her Progenitor’s name.”
Mother Tyeesha made a low grumbling sound. Belle turned to find the old woman’s face contorted in fury. She was actually growling.
“Jacey escaped that time,” Belle continued. “So she’s got a better chance than most to get away from him now.”
“He knocked her unconscious, then tied her into her seat.”
Belle had no answer to that problem. “How long have they been gone?”
“Five minutes,” Mother Tyeesha said. “I can’t believe you didn’t hear the racket.”
“I was in the bathroom washing my face.” Belle felt the tears welling again. This time she had no idea where they were coming from. If anything, she supposed it was from her sense of utter powerlessness. Even if she ran as fast as she could, she had no hope of catching up to the Jeep.
She hated Jacey, but she hated Dr. Carlhagen more. Whatever he possessed, Belle wanted to take.
She put her head in her hands, and though the tears flowed, she managed to keep her sobs inside. Mother Tyeesha rubbed her back. Belle did not pull away.
“Maybe there’s hope after all,” Mother Tyeesha said after a long spell.
“There’s no hope for any of us,” Belle said, wiping her nose on her arm, no longer caring about the state of her uniform.
“You can’t know that,” Mother Tyeesha said, her voice rising, a strange quality coming into it. Her hand was gone from Belle’s back, and she was standing. “Look. Over there.”
Belle looked up. Her mouth fell open.
Summer strode across the little square between the buildings. But it wasn’t the willful Spider that brought new tears to Belle’s eyes.
For behind Summer strode an image Belle never thought she would see again. The breath went out of her, and a spark of hope flared in her heart.
It was a man. The compact and deadly force Belle had known her entire life as Sensei.
32
That Wonderful Jacqueline Buchanan
The surf tumbled Jacey, crushing her into the seafloor, spinning her until she lost all orientation. The need for air drove her to panic. She struggled to claw for the surface, but her hands wouldn’t move. Lost in the spinning crush, roar crescendoing, she flailed for air. Doom descended upon her, pressed her beneath its merciless talons, bashed her beneath the seabed and into utter blackness.
Air rushed into her lungs with a rasp. Her eyes flashed open from the nightmare. Her body jerked. Heart pounding, she moaned. Wind whipped her face and the world continued to bounce.
She was in the Jeep as it barreled along the coast.
Dr. Carlhagen sat behind the steering wheel, eyes intent on the road speeding toward them. Desperate, Jacey went for the door handle. Her arms wouldn’t move.
She looked down to find her wrists bound tightly together with a length of nylon rope. Dr. Carlhagen had also wound it around the restraining strap crossing her chest.
She kicked out, but her ankles were also bound and secured to a support strut beneath the seat. Only her head remained free.
“Relax, my dear,” Dr. Carlhagen shouted over the wind. “I don’t want you damaging yourself.”
“Where are you taking me?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m taking you back to the Scion School.” He seemed smugly sure of himself, exactly the way Dr. Carlhagen always behaved.
“They’re looking for you,” she said. “As soon as you appear, Humphrey will have you detained. He’ll put you back in the medical ward, strapped to a gurney and sedated out of your mind.”
“An interesting theory, my lovely. But you’re quite mistaken.”
Jacey gave up arguing and continued to struggle against her restraints. But Dr. Carlhagen had tied them securely. Though it took all of her will, she forced herself to calmness. She couldn’t exactly relax, but a stillness came over her purely out of the will to preserve her energy.
She gazed at the landscape to gauge how far they’d come from Mother Tyeesha’s. The thick canopy of the rainforest was far behind, and they traveled through the open scrublands along the southern coast. That meant they would be turning to climb the hills and then head down to the school gate at any moment.
Jacey scanned the sea but didn’t see any sign of an approaching boat. There was still time to get the children away from Mother Tyeesha’s if she could just get control of the Jeep. She eyed Dr. Carlhagen, heart burning with hatred at the sight of his face. What would he say if she told him Mr. Justin’s plan?
He’d probably laugh at her. She toyed with telling him anyway but stopped herself. If Mr. Justin was around when they got to campus, maybe she could play them off each other. A desperate hope, but it was all she had.
“I have no idea where Summer is,” she said. “Torture me all you want.”
“Summer?” Dr. Carlhagen said as if trying to remember who Jacey was talking about. “Oh yes, her. I have no interest in our errant Snake.”
Either he was telling the trut
h or bluffing extraordinarily well. And if he was telling the truth, that meant that he wanted something else from Jacey.
She knew what that would be. Memories of him chasing her through the medical ward flashed before her eyes. “I’m surprised at you, Doctor,” she said. “Taking a woman by force . . .”
He didn’t look at her, but his smile soured. “I have little memory of that night except that a madness came over me. I can only attribute it to the transfer into this young body. I was temporarily overwhelmed by its surplus of virility.”
“That’s no excuse.”
He became serious. Gone was the arrogant mocking tone. “I am sorry, my dear.” But his eyes gave the lie to his statement, for they dropped from her eyes to her chest.
She looked away from him. “You disgust me.”
“Not for long,” he said. “You see, I have a solution to this little dilemma, one that will satisfy my desire for you, and one which will satisfy your very correct point that it is despicable and unforgivable for a man to take a woman by force.”
Panic rose again in Jacey. She knew what he meant. “If you think drugging me will get me to offer myself to you, you don’t know me at all.”
He laughed. “My dear, you have never enjoyed andleprixen. You know nothing of which you speak.”
The Jeep descended the long winding mountainside, and he barely slowed as he approached the gate. She was sure they were going to crash through. But then he tapped something on the center screen, and the gate began to slide open, its red light flashing and the siren sounding in the late evening silence. The tires crackled over the gravel as he guided the machine past the mango grove and to the quad.
He had barely brought it to a stop when several black-garbed men appeared, waving handguns.
Dr. Carlhagen lifted his hands from the wheel and slowly got out of the Jeep. “I am Dr. Carlhagen,” he said. “I am here to see Senator Bentilius.”
One of the men shouted toward the medical ward, “Get Alice!” Another rushed forward and forced Dr. Carlhagen to his knees, pulled his hands behind his back, and secured them with a strap.
Child of Lies Page 20