The speedboat soared across the lake like a quiet missile bouncing along the cold water.
At some point, Holden had taken over driving the boat. He had more experience on the water, but Six knew more about the area. His low deep voice was soothing as he navigated them away from their originally planned destination and took them southeast toward another town. Holden had feared they would be followed despite Trent’s confident claim that he’d made the other two boats unusable, but nobody came for them.
It was quiet and eerie, and the lake was far larger than he’d expected—extending out wide with the other town only a set of twinkling lights in the distance.
“Where are we going?” Nate asked quietly.
“Away from the farm.” Six was tense beside Holden, but he glanced back at Nate’s pale face before checking himself. “It’s safer if we just go rather than returning to the vehicles. We’ll ditch the boat farther south and then split up.”
“Why do we have to split up?” Holden demanded. “We need to figure out what to do.”
“I know.” Six wrapped his fingers around the railing and stared out into the water as the wind whipped his hair loose from the knot he’d tied it in. “But if they follow us, and they will, it’s better if we’re not all traveling together. We can regroup in a bigger city, and tell Jessica and Lia to do the same.”
“We could meet up in Poughkeepsie,” Trent said. “I have a friend who teaches at Vassar.”
“And your friend won’t mind hosting runaway psychics?”
“Well, dude, I wouldn’t put it to her like that, but I think she’d be cool.”
Holden nodded, latching on to that idea with both hands. A plan was good. It was what he needed to feel like all of this wasn’t flying apart and floating in different directions until everything was too far out of his reach. “Just so we’re clear, we’re going to regroup and figure out how to get back to the Farm?”
“Yes. If they’re still alive—”
“They are,” Nate cut Six off sharply. “At least Chase is. I can feel him.”
Holden didn’t have to ask why he couldn’t feel his half brother. The Payne bond they shared was nothing compared to the Blacks. The power flowing in their veins might have allegedly been borne of generations of inbreeding, but it’d resulted in extremely talented youths. Once upon a time, he would have been bitter about it. Now, he was thankful for the confirmation that Chase’s heart was still beating. If only they could say the same for Elijah.
The rest of the boat ride passed in silence. Before he was ready, they were jumping out and onto a muddy embankment in the middle of vast, endless fields. It was a darkness Holden had never seen before, one that was impossible to achieve in New York City. For miles around, there was nothing but fields, crop lines, trees, and the moonlight- and star-filled sky shining down on them.
“You go east,” Six told Nate and Trent. “We’ll go south, and plan to be in Poughkeepsie by morning. Where in the city are we meeting?”
“Let’s say the campus book store at Vassar. Opens at ten.”
Six pulled his phone out of his pocket and texted the information to Lia. Immediately after, he dismantled his phone. “They’ll be searching for me, so I plan to go on my own. The three of you—”
“Don’t try it, Sixtus.”
Six’s mouth was pressed together so tight it was a slash in his handsome face. “You’d be safer without me.”
“That’s bullshit,” Holden said. “If we’re together, we can watch each other’s backs.” Time to pull out the big guns. “And you can make us both impenetrable.”
It was an argument Six couldn’t deny. Judging from the way he instantly wrapped Holden in his mental shield, he didn’t really want to.
“Vassar’s bookstore opens at ten,” Trent repeated when nobody else spoke.
“And then we’ll figure out our next move,” Nate added.
They set out then, two figures—one slim and towheaded and the other brawny and dark haired—trekking across the field with long strides. Holden watched them go and was surprised at how protective he felt of the couple. They hadn’t had the most successful interactions in the past, but Nate and Trent’s willingness to cross the country and dive back into danger said a lot. They sounded more like Ex-Comm material than Holden did himself.
“Holden.”
Turning his gaze away from the steadily decreasing forms, Holden tiredly focused on Six. He looked as exhausted as Holden felt. As though every ounce of his energy had been wrung out into the lake. But it wasn’t the physical fatigue that really stood out—it was the dull cloud of defeat hovering around him.
“If you hadn’t gone back and distracted him, we would have never gotten Chase far enough to get on that boat.”
“But he didn’t make it out,” Six said hoarsely. “Neither of them did. It was a total goddamn failure.”
“You got my mother out. The leader of Ex-Comm.” Holden drew Six into an embrace and sighed softly when it was automatically returned. That strong body wrapped around his own and melted. “And you didn’t have to go back for them at all. Empathy or no empathy, you’re such a fucking good person, Six. You’re so goddamn brave.”
“So are you.”
Holden scoffed. “Right.”
Six leaned far enough away to pin Holden with one of his intense I’m-not-taking-your-bullshit stares.
“You have no idea of your worth, Holden. Because you grew up with that fucking monster. And I know you heard what he said.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter,” Six said sharply. “Because it’s bullshit. I knew he was trying to make me angry enough to say the wrong thing and give myself away, but I didn’t care. That’s the first and the last time I sit by and listen to someone say that shit about you without ending them. Do you understand?”
Holden shrugged, trying to look after Nate again, but Six gripped his chin and kept it immobile. “Say that you understand me,” he said urgently. “And that you know how much it means that you came back for me even though you just gave up your entire life.”
“I don’t care about that. I just wanted you to be safe.”
“Exactly. And that’s why you should know he’s wrong.” Six jerked him close enough to kiss. “Precogs in Ex-Comm saw this moment, Holden. They saw you here with me. They knew you would join us, but I wasn’t so sure because I don’t trust psys the way they do.” His face grew fiercer, and his hands gripped tighter. “Premonitions are fickle, and everything you said and did could have changed this outcome. But it didn’t. And it had nothing to do with fate. It had to do with you. Only you. Putting yourself at risk for Elijah. And Chase. And for me.”
Little by little, the void that had widened inside of Holden began to fill. As that empty coldness was filled with warmth, the connection between him and Six strengthened. Every word cleared Holden’s mind, and he could once again feel Six. Just Six. The dark bits that were tangled and gnarled after years of existing in this hateful place, but also other parts of him that were strong and full of hope and love.
It was nothing Holden had ever felt—this absolute tie with another person. There was so much between them that he’d never experienced before and had never expected. More than a burst of lust or anger or sadness that he could hook in to and play with until he milked out a certain response from the person emitting the impression. With Six, he could feel every corner of his mind and cavity of his heart. He knew him better than he’d ever known anyone else.
Holden pulled him into a brief, hard kiss. “The next time we’re in a dangerous situation, we’re never splitting up again.”
“I’ll try not to suggest it.”
“Just don’t, because I refuse to let you out of my sight again.”
That tiny grin found its way onto Six’s mouth right before he brushed it against Holden’s forehead. “Are you ready for this, Holden? Not just getting to Vassar. I’m talking about meeting the rest of Ex-Comm, coming up with a plan to get onto the Farm and get back Elijah and Chase . . . Everything. Are you sure you don’t want to just go back to Evolution and pretend you were never here?”
“I couldn’t, even if I wanted to. After everything I saw tonight, there’s no way I could go back to that life. I’m not even sure that life was ever real. It all seems so pointless now.”
Six slid his hand down to link with Holden’s. “It wasn’t. You tried your best to make a safe place for people like you, and that mattered. People knew you cared. I knew you cared all of those years ago at the tribunal. And, until I met your mother, that one moment with you was the only reason I didn’t let myself believe there were only two types of psychics—sheep and the predators.”
That was exactly what the Community was starting to look like, though. A hunting ground for predators with agendas he couldn’t begin to understand, and a false haven for vulnerable psys who only wanted a place to belong. Besides the urge to rescue his friends, Holden couldn’t stop thinking about the rest of it. And he was starting to think about ways to stop it.
“You said Ex-Comm saw me coming?”
“Yes.”
“Did they see me taking down the Community? Because that’s the only other place to go from here.”
“I don’t know if they saw that much, but I’m not surprised. Beneath your suits and ties and designer sunglasses, I knew you were a fighter.” Six squeezed his hand tighter. “And I loved watching your inner defector grow.”
Out of all the compliments Holden had received in his life, that was the best one. Six had believed in him all along. Even before he’d believed in himself.
Six looked into the distance. “Are you ready?”
Holden nodded. “Let’s go.”
Together they walked away from the lake as the moonlight shone down on them like a promise to guide them to their next destination.