Shift (Anomaly Book 2)

by Jessica Gilliland

  “Lured you in like a fish.”

  “Kinda. I was already awake, though. Anyway, he turned me away like a gentleman.”

  “Cash is a saint.” Glitch shook his head.

  “Oh please. Don’t act like you’d be any different if you had his power. You’re not as much of a dog as you claim to be.”

  “Eh, I’m just saying. It’d be hard to turn it off the way he does.” He took down a couple of mugs, poured in the milk and slid it over to me. “So, why were you up? Can’t shut your brain off?”

  “I’m fine. I’m just not used to the house,” I said, but I couldn’t even convince myself.

  He gave me a flat look. “Come on, Liv. I know you. It's been years, but I know you.”

  I looked up at him and felt a wave of heat pass over me as my eyes suddenly watered. God, I was tired of crying. Alone in the kitchen with the one person in the Lair who knew what I’d gone through, all my defenses fell apart. All the pent up anger and hurt I’d been harboring rushed to the forefront and I just broke down.

  Retrospectively, I felt sorry for poor Glitch. I'd totally blindsided him.

  “Aw, Liv, don’t cry.” Glitch crossed the space between us in an instant and put his arms around me, cradling me to him. I started openly bawling. I would have felt pathetic if it wasn’t so damn cathartic.

  “I went back to Hawthorn House,” I told him, and I felt him stiffen. "Stone rebuilt it."

  Fear interlaced with the subtle anger that shot through him, a healthy mixture of hatred and caution. “Nothing has changed. There are different faces and different kids, but it's still the same. Worse, even. Jason is volunteering to be beaten in the name of research. Alexa and Jason…they’re okay with all of it. They…” I tried to finish, but I dissolved into tears again.

  “Hey, hey. Don’t worry. I know Jason. He can take care of himself and he would never let them hurt those kids like they hurt us.” He pulled me back and looked me dead in the eyes, all his joking gone. “Never.” He hugged me again and used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe the tears from my eyes.

  I nodded and tried to calm myself.

  "So, tell me. Does Lex still have a screw loose or has she reigned in the crazy?"

  I laughed, and finished drying my face as best I could. "She's the same old Lexa."

  Glitch grinned and nodded. "Still crazy as hell. Got it."

  I laughed again, enjoying the way it pushed away the heartache, even for just a moment. "Stone replaced you, you know?"

  "Psh, I cannot be replaced."

  "Of course not." I pinched his cheek. "Did I mention I have a sister?"

  "No, you forgot to mention that." Glitch leaned on his elbow and gave me a sideways look.

  "She's basically a carbon copy of me and she hates me with a fiery passion. A literal fiery passion. She almost burned my arm off."

  "Damn." Excitement pulsed inside of him. "That's badass. I mean, sorry she hates you, but that's cool."

  "It was pretty cool, yes."

  There was a long pause; silence stretched between us where naturally the next question about Jason would have fit. Glitch was a smart cookie. He understood Jason talk was off the table.

  "Okay, now I need to hear about the hell hole they stuck you in after they kidnapped us."

  "It wasn't that bad."

  "Really? They put me in a group home in New York. I had people watching me all the time. There was this nasty old lady who used to psychoanalyze me all the time until I eventually gave in and started telling her what she wanted to hear."

  "What did she want to hear?"

  "You know." He scoffed and flung his hand in the air. "Childhood trauma, and manifested false memories of being able to move faster than a speeding bullet. She told me I had a comic book obsession that allowed me to me escape my trauma and that I made up the whole thing." He laughed and finished his sandwich. "She wasn't wrong about the comic book obsession, though."

  "I had to do the same thing. My excuse was that I have selective amnesia and I used to fill in the gaps with made up situations. Blah, blah, blah."

  "That's why they separated us all. That way we couldn't corroborate each other's stories."

  "How'd you end up here, with the Nomads?"

  "I wasn't ACT material, so they cut me loose." He shrugged.

  "Huh?" I arched a curious brow.

  "ACT didn't try to recruit you?" He arched a matching brow, and we each twisted our heads and said, "what are you talking about?" in unison.

  We both burst out laughing then shushed one another.

  "You know all that schooling and head shrinking was to evaluate you for ACT recruitment, don't you?" He said through hushed chuckles.

  "No," I said, narrowing my eyes. "No way."

  "Yes way." He sighed and leveled his eyes on mine. "Look, ACT paid for college, and living expenses, and counseled us once a week. They were analyzing you, deciding if you would be able to handle a job with them or if you were a lost cause."

  "How do you know?"

  "One of the guys in my group home was like us. He could remember everything that ever happened to him, and read books in a matter of minutes. I'm talking big text books." Glitch held out his hands a few inches apart. "And he'd retain it all. But he was a little eccentric. He wasn't right in the head. ACT wanted him bad. They offered him a position with them. I guess they reconsidered, because police found his body in the river a few weeks later, dead from apparent suicide."

  "Wow." I stretched out the word, feeling a chill run down my spine.

  "My guess is that he wasn't working out, and ACT can't have a crazy guy out in the world who knows all their secrets. They weren't about to dump any more money into brainwashing it out of him, either. Better to just get rid of him, right?"

  "So, did they interview you, or something?"

  "No way. They didn't even bother sending me to college. They knew right away, I wasn't going to play well with others." He smirked and poked my forehead. "They probably would have offered you a position at ACT once you finished your classes. You're smart, pretty and with your power, you'd have made a killer agent."

  I cringed. "How crazy would that have been? So, they just cut you loose?"

  "They do this thing like an exit interview where they talk to you for hours and make sure you're good to go. You know, not going to start spouting crazy talk about secret organizations and super powers."

  "Gotcha."

  "That's actually where I met Cash. He was in for evaluation and we met in the waiting room. We decided to stick together after that."

  "Why keep running?"

  "We've had a few troubles." He sighed. "We don't like to stay in one place too long. Call me crazy. I have this sinking suspicion they'll come to kill us all one day."

  I scrunched up my face. "I guess I can't blame you."

  I yawned and wiped my tired eyes.

  "Go to bed, dude. Stop worrying. You're with us now. We've got your back."

  "Thank you, Glitch. you really saved me today," I said, hugging him tightly one last time.

  "Don't mention it." Glitch sent me to bed while he cleaned up the kitchen, and this time, when my head touched the pillow, it didn’t raise again for hours.

  Chapter Four

  I slept until noon the next day. The sunlight streaming through Charlie’s small window hit me square in the face, but I was so exhausted from worry and tears that I just curled up onto my side, and put my back to the afternoon.

  Headset and Glitch, however, had other ideas. They screamed and crashed around. I was able to ignore them for a while, but when a tiny figure leapt on my bed and began bouncing, I had to open my eyes. I was promptly poked in the face by Headset, who was staring at me expectantly.

  “Wake up, wake up, wake up!” He chimed in time to his bounces. He was caught mid-air by a frazzled-looking Charlie, who snatched him off of me and began apologizing like crazy. Something loud crashed downstairs and she glanced over her shoulder, rolled her eyes, and took off running with
Headset slung over her shoulder.

  I resigned myself to waking up and took a shower. I screamed once at the beginning of it as the water jetted out freezing cold.

  "You okay in there?" Dozer's voice echoed from just outside the door. I felt his embarrassment flush through me, and dissolve into relief once I reassured him I wasn't lying naked and incapacitated on the shower floor.

  When I joined the Nomads in the living area, Cash was seated at the bar with headphones and a mug of coffee as he scrolled through his phone.

  “Coffee?” He asked, and made a move to the refrigerator. The scent of coconut oil surrounded me and my face felt hot, like I were sunbathing.

  “No thanks,” I said.

  “We’ve got cereal and some eggs,” Cash said, as he perused the refrigerator. “Charlie has some turkey bacon if you feel blasphemous.”

  I laughed and felt the tension in my muscles loosen. “I’ll take some cereal, thank you.”

  Cash slid a bowl over to me and went to the cupboard to retrieve a selection of cereals. “We’ve got sugary sugar flakes, freeze-dried fruity marshmallows, and this one that looks like plain cardboard to me, but Charlie insists it’s healthy.”

  “I’ll take the sugar flakes.”

  “Good call.”

  I poured myself a bowl and dove in, preoccupying myself with doing the kid’s puzzles on the back in an attempt to avoid the pull of Cash’s voice. Even when he stopped talking, the power of his voice lingered. Even if I was blind, I could feel where he was in the room. Every cell in my body was pulling toward him.

  “How’d you sleep?” Cash asked.

  “Not bad. The music helped a lot.” I fiddled with the cereal box and followed his lead, avoiding eye contact despite etiquette telling me how rude I was being. I figured that was just how it had to be with Cash. “Thanks again.”

  “No problem.” Cash nodded and returned to his seat next to me at the bar. Sunlight poured in through the cutout in the kitchen, and I could hear the ocean waves roaring outside. It was hard to differentiate from what was reality and what was the effect of Cash’s power on my brain.

  Charlie was chasing Headset around the kitchen and the living room. Dozer and Glitch were completely engrossed in a Terminator movie on the television.

  “Okay, my boys.” Charlie clapped her hands together to get their attention, but they didn’t even look up at her. Well, Dozer did, from the corner of his eye. Sweeping her hair out of her face with a little huff, Charlie marched into the living room and promptly unplugged the television. Glitch let out a plaintive cry.

  “Hey!” He pouted.

  “As I was saying,” Charlie continued, “we’re running low on groceries and Headset needs new clothes again, so today is a designated shopping day.”

  Slowly and unwillingly, the three older boys pulled themselves away from their activities at Charlie’s whim. She had them trained pretty well.

  When we got to the market, I thought we would all go shopping together, but the older boys took Headset and announced their intentions to run amuck for a while. Cash pushed a wad of bills into Charlie’s hand and we made plans to meet back up for dinner.

  When I asked Charlie about it, she smirked. “Are you kidding me? I never take the boys shopping with me! Do you know what would happen if I did?”

  I shook my head.

  “There’d be three-hundred dollars worth of Hot Pockets and PopTarts in the kitchen.”

  We walked into the small market and grabbed a cart. Charlie started deftly picking items off the shelves, as though she knew them by heart, and tossed them into the basket.

  “And as for the money thing, Cash makes a lot doing what he does. We save most of it. We have to make sure we always have a decent amount of cash saved. Especially now.” There was sadness in her voice and frustration flowing through her mind.

  “Especially now?”

  “We’ve been here a while. It’s not safe for us Nomads to linger in one place for too long.”

  “I get it.”

  “Can I ask you something kind of personal?" Charlie asked as she searched through the produce. I could feel her hesitance, but it was something she felt the need to ask me. It wasn't out of mere curiosity. It felt like a necessity.

  "Shoot," I said casually, but my nerves were on edge.

  "What are you running from?” Her voice was soft; her brilliant blue eyes were serious as she weighed a bag of apples. Then I understood the necessity. She was worried about her family. She needed to make sure I wasn't going to bring all hell down on the Nomads. I understood, and part of me felt guilty because I couldn't guarantee that I wouldn't.

  “It’s that obvious, huh?” I said, unable to keep the quiver from my voice. I looked down at my hands, and picked at my nail. When I looked up at her, she offered me an apologetic smile.

  “I know a lot about running,” she admitted.

  I nodded. “I take it Glitch told you about Hawthorn?”

  Understanding and sadness swept over her. “Oh.”

  “Yeah,” was all I could say. I didn’t have to explain the details. She already knew why I’d run from them.

  "Are they coming after you?"

  "No. They don't know where I am and they don't know how to find me. Even if they wanted to."

  Confusion nipped at her. “Shouldn’t you be happy, then?”

  “I guess I should be, but…” I trailed off. My heartbeat grew heavier. I picked at my nails a little harder.

  Charlie seemed to understand. “There's a guy, isn't there?” She guessed. It felt like an arrow flying straight into my heart, pinning me there. I could feel the tears welling, hot and quick in my eyes.

  “Isn't there always?” I swallowed hard.

  "We don't have to talk about him if you don't want to."

  "Thanks. I'm just not ready."

  Charlie smiled and reached out to give my arm a reassuring squeeze. We picked out a few ripe avocados and I collected myself.

  “So what about you and Dozer?” I raised my gaze to her, flashing a little smile.

  Her cheeks flushed pink. “It’s that obvious, huh?” She echoed me.

  “I know a lot about emotions,” I said, feeling a little better once the focus was off of me.

  Charlie grinned. “I thought there was something else about you. You’re an empath, right?”

  I nodded. “Yup, that's why Glitch wanted to call me The Feeeeeeler.” I wiggled my fingers like he had, and we both laughed.

  “Well, I won’t tell if you won’t.” She held out her pinky. My heart ached as I thought of Lexa. I stared at Charlie’s hand for a moment, feeling like there was more to this agreement than the surface value. She was smiling brightly, her face so open and kind. She was willing to let me into her life, share her room, her home and her secrets.

  I took a deep breath and reached out, hooked my pinky with hers, and smiled back. “Deal,” I said.

  “Deal.” Charlie giggled. "Now, let's get some eggs and we can do a little clothes shopping before we have to meet the boys. Cash gave me some extra for you."

  We finished up shopping and headed back to the Beast with arm loads of groceries and a few bags of clothes since I didn't have much to work with from my backpack, and there was no way I was fitting into anything that Charlie owned. She had a body like a swimsuit model.

  By the time we got to the Beast, the boys were already waiting. They had hit a comic book shop somewhere in the town, and when I say hit, I mean hit. They looked like they had robbed the place.

  “Jeez, have enough comics?” I mused, peering at one Glitch was reading.

  "Never." Glitch smiled wickedly.

  We all helped get the groceries into the Lair. Charlie and I set to putting things away in the kitchen with Dozer’s help. He put things on the high shelves where Charlie couldn’t reach. When it was all packed away, Dozer ran his hands through his hair and sighed. “There we go. Home, sweet home.”

  “For now,” Charlie muttered.

 
An uncomfortable silence fell over the room.

  “Uh… Headset, let’s go play with your Legos.” Dozer took Headset’s hand and led him out of the kitchen. Their footsteps echoed up the staircase.

  “It’s about that time,” Charlie said, turning around, flexing her hands against the sink’s edge. Her lips were pressed firmly together, her eyes not as bright and jubilant as they normally were.

  “Moving day,” Cash clarified. Both he and Glitch entered the kitchen. Cash plucked a green apple from the grocery bag and buffed it against his shirt.

  Dozer came back down the stairs and joined us in the kitchen, shooting Charlie a reassuring glance. Headset was preoccupied with his toys and out of earshot of our conversation.

  "This is my favorite place so far. It feels the most like a real home, like we can make a life here," Charlie said.

  “So, tell me again why you can’t stay? Has ACT given you any sign that they know where you are now?”

  “After a while, ACT always starts sniffing around and we can't let them find Headset. They'd take him. I know it,” Charlie explained.

  “They'll always find us because of the chip in my brain,” Glitch added.

  “Actually, it’s in your neck,” I corrected him. Everyone stopped and stared at me.

  "It's not in my brain?"

  "I doubt it. Mine was in my neck," I said.

  “You have one too?” Cash asked, and for a second the tone in his voice was hard-edged. There was fear there, anger masking it.

  I shook my head, a little hurt at his anger. I shouldn’t have even cared, but for some reason it stung me.

  “No, I mean, I did. I had one.” I guess I gave him a reproachful look because he immediately felt sorry and softened. "You can't feel it there?" I poked the back of Glitch's neck and felt the hard outlines of the chip beneath his skin.

  "I just thought that lump was a scar from when they shoved it in there," Glitch said, wide eyed.

  Charlie suddenly perked up. “Wait, Liv, you got yours taken out?”

  I nodded. “Yeah.” I looked over at Glitch, who was busy curiously poking at his neck to try to find his chip. “In fact, it’s not deep at all…”

  He caught me looking at him, and concern flashed over his face and through his body. “What?”