by Kate Tailor
“So that’s what happened to your clothes?” Collin was back to the pacing. Raleigh wanted to shout at him to sit.
Rho ran his hands over the sleeves of Henry’s pajamas. “They took off my shirt, then had started on the pants when I incapacitated them.”
“Incapacitated them?” What did that mean? Rho didn’t seem like the type of guy to hurt anyone. Collin, she could believe, but there was something kind about Rho. He was genuinely concerned when he found her hooked up to that machine.
Bowing his head Rho looked up through his lashes. “One of them may’ve died. They both went down. A lot of people revived me, but only two were there when I broke out, a young man and an old one. The old one had a fragile heart. I can’t say if he made it.”
Collin snorted. “You should’ve killed them.”
At least Collin was a consistent jerk.
“They probably weren’t the guys who took me,” said Rho. “They were just doing their jobs.”
“And their work was killing you. They sound like wonderful people.” Collin put his head in his hands, shook it, and groaned.
“I stole the phone off the young one and texted Trevor. I told him I thought I was in Normandy. Thank goodness you taught me French, Sabine. The dialect made me think France instead of Africa. From the angle of the sun and the sea smell, I had a guess it was Normandy.”
“That’s impressive,” Raleigh said.
“My life depended on it. My legs were atrophied from not moving for months but I dragged myself over to the window which, unlike the door, didn’t have locks. I hoisted myself up and jumped. I was at least four stories up, and the building was on a cliff—in case that helps us find them. Not that there’s much we can do, if we do.”
“One thing at a time,” Collin said. “The more we all know, the better.”
Raleigh hated water and didn’t even swim in pools. Fainting on dry land wasn’t good—in water it became lethal. The thought of jumping off a cliff into the sea was terrifying. “The fall could’ve killed you.”
“It was better than the alternative. I’d rather drown or break my neck than be drained to death. It was clear that they were going to use me until I died.”
The blood rushed from her head when Raleigh stood. “That’s horrible. We need to call the police. If you remember where it is, we can have them check it out.”
Collin leaned over, blocking her path. “The police would never believe it, and the people are probably long gone. These guys are part of the illegal Lucid trade. They’re smart about avoiding the police.”
“Lucid?”
“It’s what everyone besides researchers call Lucidin.” Collin stayed planted until she sat.
Rho continued. “I survived the fall, and the tide washed me ashore. I crawled as far inland as I could and attempted to hide. Then you guys found me.”
Collin pointed to Rho’s shoulder. “They didn’t remove the tracking chip in your shoulder, so we were able to locate you. There wasn’t much around besides the tracks you left on the beach from your crawl. We had to get you out of there fast and didn’t think to cover them up.”
“They didn’t follow the plane, so we can assume we’re safe for a few days.” Not looking at Collin, he picked at a loose fiber on the couch. “Probably longer than that. For all they know, the fall killed me.”
Collin swept his arms out. “No, not that long. We only came here hoping to find Kappa. We should find your brothers as soon as possible.”
The guys both looked to Sabine. Her face fell. “He hasn’t contacted me in a while. It’s as it is with you, Rho. He instigates the communication.”
Unsurprised, Rho turned to Collin. “You could’ve gone to Marcel. He keeps up with Sigma.”
Finally, Collin stopped moving and flopped into the remaining chair. “Where do you think Brent is? In Paris with Marcel, which is where we should be heading. It’s safer there. Grant and Able know about Sabine, and they could have their eyes on this place.”
“Maybe not. Raleigh’s still here.”
“Because they don’t know who she is, and that’s why she’s perfectly safe here.”
“Either way, this was the right place to come. It would’ve been days before Marcel got hold of Sigma. I would’ve died.”
“Yes, coming here was a good idea. But staying long isn’t. We push off the moment you feel up to it.” For the hundredth time, Collin’s eyes went to the window.
Rho placed his head between his hands. “I’m not feeling up to it. Not yet. I need to get some sleep.”
Sabine stood up. “Collin, carry him up to bed, and I’ll help him get settled.”
“I can walk.” Rho teetered to his feet. “Or at least I can with a little help.”
Rising quickly, Collin tossed Rho’s arm around his shoulder, and they headed to the attic. Raleigh watched as they left. She was going to finish her oatmeal and turn in as well. There were still questions she had, but now she couldn’t trust any of Sabine’s answers. Before Rho left, she’d have to learn as much as she could about Lucidin and all the other things Sabine’d kept from her.
—
THE NEXT MORNING the rain broke, and brilliant sunshine met them, streaming through the windows. The dreariness of Rho’s visit dissipated in the presence of such radiance. Danger hadn’t sought them out overnight, and after a half hour extraction Rho’s vitality returned. Sabine, Henry, and Maggie went to work. It was better if they didn’t break their schedules because that might draw attention. Raleigh sat in the living room, observing how the three guests interacted as they ate their breakfasts one room over.
Around the table moods had improved, Collin’s most of all. Collin leaned over Trevor’s shoulder and spoke to Rho. “If you’re feeling well enough after a half hour, we’re ready for the train. Trevor, buy the tickets.”
Trevor rubbed his fingers on his napkin, brushing off the toast crumbs before he put his fingers on his keyboard. The transportation website popped up, and he quickly had train tickets put into the cart. All that remained was to pay, but he didn’t put in the credit card information, instead he referred to Rho.
“Not yet, Trevor.” Rho bit down on a bit of toast, and then his eyes flicked up catching Raleigh’s.
Collin’s tension wound tighter at the prospect of staying. “There’s no reason to stay. We’ll get to Paris and contact your brothers through Marcel. They need to know what’s happened. This is the first time in over a year that anyone has been organized enough to capture one of you. It’s important that you tell them. They need to know what to watch out for.”
Sighing Rho put down his toast. “What do I say? Watch out if fifteen guys kick down your door?”
“We agreed to leave the moment you felt better.”
With his lips a pleasing pink, Rho couldn’t claim to be sick. If he kept his promise, the tickets would be bought today. “I’m not ready to leave yet. Physically I could make the journey, but I’m hoping that the four of us can go.”
Trevor spoke, a rarity. “Raleigh included?”
“Do you see how ridiculous that is?” Collin pointed at Trevor’s raised eyebrows.
She had enough of people acting like she wasn’t there. Raleigh stepped towards the table. “I agree with Collin.”
“At least she has sense.” Collin took a deep breath. The calm only filled his face and lungs, his knee shook under the table.
“You can’t stay here.” Rho leaned back in his chair, a storm clouding his blue-gray eyes. “I’m worried that Collin’s right, and they’ll follow us. In all likelihood, they’ll just surveil Sabine and Henry. There’s no reason to harm them. But you can’t stay here as long as that’s a possibility.”
Luckily, she had a solution of her own. “I can go home. Collin said he could get me an extraction machine. I’ll be able to defer college for a semester instead of a year. My parents have been on me to get back. This is a win for everyone.”
“She’ll be safer at home.” Collin tapped the table.
<
br /> They all waited for Rho to talk. The others might defer to Rho, but Raleigh didn’t take her orders from anyone. The arguments never came, instead he lifted himself from the table, his arm muscles straining. “I need a walk. Take one with me?”
“Fine. There’s a nice park around the corner. I could use getting out of here for a bit.” Collin stretched his arms and walked towards his shoes piled near the door.
“I meant Raleigh.”
The conversation she’d had with Collin while he’d carried her downstairs popped into her head. Rho could be persuasive, all that she’d seen so far justified that claim. She wasn’t about to leave for Paris with a group of men she’d just met—a group that didn’t seem very well organized, never mind that one of them almost died recently and was capable of influencing people’s bodies.
“Let me put my hair up.” Raleigh only agreed to go on the walk because she wanted to learn about Lucid. She jogged upstairs to get a hair tie. She heard Collin attempting to dissuade Rho from bringing her. If she did go—an idea she refused to entertain—she knew Collin would treat her horribly the whole time.
Collin intercepted her at the bottom of the stairs. “Stick to your guns. I don’t care how pretty he is.”
She turned her head, so he wouldn’t see her cheeks flush. Rho gave her an apologetic smile, and it struck her that he could sense her. The warmth creeping up her neck was a telltale sign of an emotion she knew too well. It was disconcerting that he had the same ability she did.
“I’m more than a pretty face. Besides, Raleigh doesn’t seem like that kind of girl.” Rho opened the door. “If you are that kind of girl, this will go a lot smoother. I can be really charming.”
Rho wasn’t the same withered guy who was brought there two days ago. Dark curls hung around his gorgeous face and his natural tan had returned. He looked as though the sun had blessed him once with a kiss.
“It is a very good thing that I’m not that type of girl.” Raleigh decided Rho wouldn’t be interested in dating her, and he probably wasn’t the type of guy that dated girls long-term. Why was she thinking like that? “Are you well enough to walk? Your legs are still a bit tired.”
In answer Rho gave her a winning smile, and they headed out the door. “When I’m well enough, I’ll barricade so you won’t have that sort of insight. I’m not used to being the vulnerable one. Now I know how Trevor and Collin must feel. I think this walk will be good. The more I use my muscles the better.”
“Barricade?” First influencing and now barricading, Sabine had failed her in so many ways.
“One of many reasons you should stay with me. You know the area better than me. Is there a park?”
“Up the street.” The steep slope of the street was hard on the legs of a fit person, much less one that had been drained to an inch of their life. Raleigh sensed weakness in Rho’s legs and wondered if he could handle it.
“Lead the way.”
He matched her steps. They passed by the row houses without saying much. Most of Raleigh’s attention was on the many familiar faces they passed, even if she didn’t know their names. Would Grant and Able pursue her? What if someone else came for Rho? Collin was right, they needed to leave.
“I really am excited about getting home.” Time to convince Rho to go without her and to spill everything about Lucid before he did.
“And from the conversation back there, you know that I’m set on you joining us.”
“I’m touched that you want to take me with you, but have you thought this through? We’re a bunch of kids.”
“Trevor and I are twenty-two, and Collin is twenty-three. We’re not teenagers.”
“I am. I’m eighteen.”
“Then you should believe me when I say that the four years I’ve been on this Earth longer than you have taught me a lot.”
Raleigh laughed. He wasn’t simply a pretty face. His lighthearted mood took the serious edge off their conversation. “My mother’s plan before I met Sabine was to keep me at home until we found a cure or treatment for my blackouts. We’ve been looking for more than a decade. My plan was to go to college. I applied and received scholarships, got the whole thing together. Even with my illness, I wanted to move forward.”
“And college is forward?”
“An education is.”
“And what was your major going to be?”
“Pre-med.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. You’d be a good doctor.”
“School isn’t the only reason I want to get back.”
“You have a family back home... and they mean a lot to you.”
“Yes. My mom’s been insanely worried since I came here. I promised to return when I got a portable machine. Collin says he’ll give me one. So, I can go home now.”
“Families are a sore spot. I’m an orphan, but some of my brothers aren’t.”
“Geez, how many do you have?”
“A lot, and some of them had adoptive families.”
“So your parents kept on having kids and giving them up for adoption or to the orphanage? That’s weird.”
Rho’s charismatic smile dropped. “My brothers and I have a very interesting story that I’m not going to share with you until you decide to come with us—and even then, only when the time is right. Suffice to say the people who were interested in Lucid were able to get to my brothers through their adopted parents.”
“Grant and Able.”
“Yes, Grant and Able. They might treat you better than they did me, but they’d use you all the same.”
Rho looked both ways and slid his arm through Raleigh’s as they crossed the street. She would’ve pulled away, but she knew his legs were unsteady after walking up the hill. He appeared to be making a kind gesture, but he may very well have done it just to stay on his feet. Despite feeling slightly odd walking arm in arm, she didn’t step away. He was on her left, the side with the port. The hairs on her arms stood on edge, and her nerves sparked where their skin touched. Hopefully, he didn’t notice.
“Raleigh, you’ll go home and get your medical degree. Sometime, maybe while you’re in school, or maybe after, things will catch up with you. You’ll be drawn to helping people, and, as I said, all it will take is one word to the wrong person, and you’ll be discovered.”
“So, I should just go with you? With danger certain to find me? I can’t think of a better way to attract these people than staying with you. They’ll be after you and discover me in the process. It won’t be a hypothetical that will happen someday. It will be a likely thing that will happen very soon.”
“I can teach you how to influence and how to set up a mental barricade, so that others can’t influence you. Do you know how I met Collin?”
“A dating site? Because I think he’s in love with you.” Raleigh instantly wished she could swallow the words. It wasn’t her place to make observations about their relationship. But if it offended him, she didn’t sense it.
“He was part of Grant and Able’s army. The women they trained as healers, the men as soldiers. It was his job to keep me there.”
Sabine had mentioned the captivity to Raleigh. Thinking of Collin in that capacity drove the point home. An army of Collins would be awful. One seemed like too much.
“Luckily, Collin flipped sides,” Rho said.
“It’s disturbing that they have an army. But it isn’t my problem.”
“It could become your problem. The army will hunt you if they have to.”
“I want to go to college. We should be getting back. I’m very thankful for your concern and interested in the idea of influencing, but I can’t leave with a bunch of strangers.”
At the top of the hill, Liege waited below. The buildings followed the river, and the train station sat to their right. They had different paths, but for now they returned down the hill together.
Once inside Raleigh grabbed her computer from the living room. “I’m going to call my parents and let them know I’m booking a flight home.”
“I think it’s a mistake.”
She let Rho’s concern fall on the steps behind her. She’d made her decision.
9
RALEIGH SAT ON her bed and checked the clock one more time. It was early Sunday morning in Colorado, but not so early that her parents would be asleep. They wouldn’t mind being awakened by such good news.
After a few rings her father’s large face appeared on the screen. It was nice that some things didn’t change.
“Raleigh! Good to see you. Patrick’s over, we’re playing golf today. He’ll want to say hi.”
“Dad, listen, tell mom to cancel her ticket here.”
Her father moved his hand across the air, as if the gesture could stop the pressure building between Raleigh and her mother. “I know she’s complained about you going, but she really does want to see where you’re living. Humor her... even if she gives you grief the entire time.”
“It’s not that. I’m thinking that I’ll be coming home soon.”
“So, your uncle told you about those people, Grant and Mable, or something like that.”
Raleigh’s heart plummeted into her stomach. “What?”
“I don’t want you to come back until you’re ready. Ignore your mother. She’d keep you here forever. Belgium is supposed to have drab winters, but it shouldn’t be worse than here.”
“Dad, back up. What did Patrick tell you about Grant and Able?”
“Just that they’re interested in you, or more they were interested in Dr. Moore and what he knows about Lucidin. Patrick said they might call us but that we should let the doctors discuss your treatment. He seemed hesitant, said a lot of the Lucidin studies didn’t work out and that we shouldn’t be talking to them because they aren’t very credible. Like I said, he’s here now if you want to talk to him.”