Six Weeks Later
Laila scratches at the bandage on her neck as she paces the hospital room. “Are they going to let us go home already? We’re both fine!” she leans out the door to yell. “I don’t need a Healer for this! It was a scratch.”
“Just sit down, Laila. You’re making me dizzy.”
“I’m sorry.” She sits down only to pop right back up again. “I’m sorry for everything. I can’t believe this is the future you chose. This is crazy. Duke is a jerk. We almost died. Why in a million years would you choose this future?”
“You can ask me that a million times, and I still won’t know.”
Laila’s eyes drift to her purse on the chair in the corner. “The other future must’ve been really bad,” she says, “for you to have chosen this one.”
“Yeah, maybe you betrayed me for real in that one,” I say with a laugh.
Her eyebrows lower. “I …”
“I’m just kidding, Laila.” Sort of. Even though I try to tell myself it wasn’t Laila’s fault, I still get an ache in the back of my throat every time I think about it.
My mom comes whisking into the room. “Addie, Laila, I’m sorry. I promise it won’t be much longer. We’re filling out reports, the Healer will be in here to look you over, and then we’ll be able to leave.”
“How did you know where I was, Mom?”
“I didn’t. Your father called. I guess Mr. Paxton’s guilt got the better of him, and he called the Bureau to let them know that Bobby had you. Apparently Bobby has been teaching Poison how to extend his ability, and Mr. Paxton started to suspect he had something to do with the missing teenagers. When you went inside Bobby’s house, he decided to tell the Bureau his suspicions.”
“Missing teenagers?” I say.
She fills us in on the other girls Bobby had gotten to. Just like with Laila, he had forced them to hold knives to their own throats. Only unlike with Laila, he had actually used his recently acquired ability of nerve control to force them to cut their own throats.
“Why didn’t he just let them go? He said if he could convince me to keep my mouth shut, he would let me go.”
“This is before he had the ability to Persuade. The last girl had that ability. Thank goodness he didn’t get a piece of either of your abilities. This could’ve been even more tragic.” She kisses my forehead and then hugs Laila. “Has the Bureau taken your statements yet?”
“Yes,” Laila says with a sigh. She glances out the door and then back to my mom. “You haven’t seen my parents out there, have you?”
“I talked to your mom. She’s at work but hopes to get off soon. I couldn’t get ahold of your father.”
Laila nods, her strong-face firmly in place.
My mom looks back at me and her eyes move to my hair. “I can’t get used to that blue stripe. I think I’m going to take you to my hairdresser tomorrow and see if she can fix it. Maybe I should call her right now.”
“Mom, it’s after midnight. Don’t call anyone right now.”
“Oh, yeah, you’re right. I need some caffeine. You guys want something?”
“I’m good.”
After she’s gone, Laila sits next to me and leans her head on my shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing.”
There’s a knock on the open door, and Duke takes one step over the threshold. “Can I talk to you, Addie?”
“No!” Laila yells, jumping up. “Absolutely not. Get out of here.”
“Laila,” I say, “it’s fine. Just give me a minute.” I feel calmer than I should and know it’s his influence. He obviously didn’t extend the feelings to Laila though, because as she goes to walk out the door, she turns back as if forgetting something, stops in front of him, and punches him in the mouth. I cringe.
A trickle of blood drips down his chin, and he wipes it with the back of his hand. “I deserved that.”
She doesn’t respond but resumes her walk back out the door.
“If we’re going to talk, lay off your ability,” I say before he can begin.
“Sorry, it’s habit. It’s just kind of my aura now.”
“So when I always said you were naturally charming, I guess that wasn’t far from the truth.” I wonder who the real Duke is. What his personality would be without his ability. The blood on his lip is like a chink in his shiny armor, a flaw in his perfection. It makes me think that maybe beyond the facade, something real exists.
He smiles, and I avert my gaze.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Addie.”
“What did you mean to do?”
“I thought I’d just influence your emotions a little at first, make you feel happy around me. Then I thought that happiness would translate into liking me, and I wouldn’t have to do it anymore. You’d see us together in the future and be able to tell me which school to pick. This one decision will affect my entire life. If I make the wrong choice, I could end up with nothing. But …”
“But …” I wait for him to continue.
“But every time I let up on the emotions, you backed away or started to question us or me.…”
I shift my position, and the paper on the table beneath me crinkles loudly. “In other words, when you took away my feelings of like for you, I didn’t like you?”
“Exactly.”
“It’s because I don’t like you, Duke. You’re not my type. I didn’t like you before, and I especially don’t like you now.” I don’t want him to know how heartbroken I am. He had accomplished his goal of making me fall for him, but then he had ripped away my ability to ever trust him again. Even now I wonder why he’s in my room. What he wants from me.
And something else is bothering me as well. “Why Laila? Was she just for fun?”
“No. I thought what Bobby was doing was harmless. He was going to teach Laila to extend her ability. He told me if I could talk her into it that it would help you learn how to master the future. I never wanted to hurt you.”
“I don’t believe you were willing to play this game for years just because I have a convenient ability. Don’t you want to be with someone who likes you? Don’t you want to like someone?” I look up and realize through the course of our conversation he has gotten closer. If I wanted to, I could reach out and touch him. I don’t want to.
“I do like you. A lot.”
“No … you’ve manipulated emotions so much in your life that you can’t possibly know what real feelings are.…”
“I do, Addie.”
“You need to man up and come clean about your ability. Why did you feel the need to lie about it to everyone in the first place?”
“Do you honestly think the coach would’ve put anyone short of a mover in the quarterback position? On the team for that matter?”
“I have no idea.”
“Well, he wouldn’t have, no matter how amazing my aim is without Telekinesis. My dad thought it was the only way to make sure I got on the football team.”
“Which is very important to you.”
“Yes.”
“So important you’re willing to soothe people’s emotions so your teammates can deliver career-ruining injuries?”
He doesn’t say anything.
“How does Ray do it? How does he injure people?”
“He can move a lot more than just footballs. Muscle, bone.”
I hold up my hand, needing him to stop.
“If Coach finds out my true ability, he won’t let me play on the team.”
I’m ready for him to leave now, so I stand. “That sucks. I’ll make you a deal. You get your team to stop using their abilities when you play Norm schools, and I won’t tell Coach about your real ability.” I walk toward the door. He brushes his hand along my arm as I pass by, and I immediately jerk it away. “Oh, and you wanted my help picking a college?”
“Yeah.” It kills me to hear the hope in that single word.
“I think that school in California might be your best choice after all. Unless there is something even farther away.” I walk out the door.
Laila is nowhere around. Did the Healer come by to discharge us?
Halfway down the hall I see my dad walking toward me. I run the distance between us and throw my arms around his waist. “What are you doing here?”
“They flew me out to interview the suspects. I would’ve come either way, to see you. Are you okay?”
“I will be.”
“I was thinking …”
I look up.
“Maybe you’d want to stay with me in Dallas for the holidays to get away from the Compound, away from everything, for a while.”
I see Laila coming down the hall behind him. “Did they discharge us?”
“Yeah.” She nods to my dad and gives him a side hug. “The Healer said it looked fine.” She touched her neck.
“You okay?” he asks her.
She shakes out her hand. “My knuckles are a little sore, but I’m all right.”
“I was just telling Addie that she needs to come stay with me for the holidays. You should come too.” My dad reaches into his back pocket and pulls out two tickets. “The high school football team is playing in a holiday bowl.”
I raise my eyebrows at Laila. “You can see your Norm boyfriend. What was his name? Rowan?”
She laughs. “Whatever. If I remember right, there was a certain cowboy that you set your sights on.”
“Cowboy?”
“Yeah. He had the boots, the relaxed pose …”
An image of his brown eyes and dark hair come into my mind. “Trevor.”
A warmth spreads through my chest, and suddenly Trevor’s there, his image so clear that I almost reach out and touch him. The hallway, the hospital, is gone. He’s kneeling in front of me as I sit on a wooden staircase, an intense expression on his face. His chest brushes against my knees, and my heart picks up speed. “Are you okay?”
I open my mouth to answer, but the question comes again, in Laila’s voice. “Are you okay?” She has a hold of my arm and shakes me a little.
The wide hallway of the hospital is back. I take a deep breath, confused. That felt like a Search, but … no. I look between Laila and my dad. They both stare at me expectantly. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine. Yes, I want to go home with you, Dad.”