45

NOAH

Tack strolled into the clearing.

He faked a yawn, trying to play it cool. But his relieved eyes betrayed him. I could tell he was extremely glad to see us. Then Min tackled him in a flying bear hug.

“Tack!” Tears streamed from her eyes. He laughed, begging for mercy as they toppled to the ground.

I stood rooted to the spot. He’s alive. She was right.

Logically, I knew that finding Tack alive was the object of our trip—what we’d been desperately hoping for—but seeing him in the flesh nearly overwhelmed me.

I watched him die. Saw the light leave his eyes.

Yet here he is, like it never happened.

Min was straddling Tack and punching him in the chest as he lay pinned to the ground. “Tell me everything!” she demanded. “How are you here?”

“Get off me first!” Tack croaked, though I suspected he was perfectly content. Min relented and they both stood up. Tack glanced over at me. Gave a head nod, which I returned. Then he turned back to Min, eyebrows climbing his forehead. “I have no idea how I got here. The last thing I remember is collapsing in the church.”

He flinched involuntarily. I understood. I knew what it was like to be murdered.

Min pulled him into another quick hug. “Just tell us what you remember.”

Tack seemed to focus inward. “I felt the knife go in. Felt it . . . pierce my heart.” His breathing picked up, a sheen of sweat dampening his brow. “I went numb. My brain stopped working, and I hit the floor. Then . . .” His hands rose, accentuating an impossible description. “Nothing. I woke up here. Not even a rip in my clothes.”

Tack looked at Min, then me. “Just like you guys described. How is that possible?”

“We don’t know, but you’re not the only one.” Min told him about Hector.

“So, what, no one can die now? We all reset like you guys?”

“No idea,” Min admitted, brushing hair from her face. “But it’s a possibility.”

“Has it always been like this?” Tack wondered aloud. “I’ve never freaking croaked before, but maybe I would’ve reset every time, too.”

“Kids in Fire Lake have died,” I pointed out unhappily. “Remember Mary and Pete? They didn’t come back.” My thoughts were racing down tunnels, a dark idea taking shape. “I keep circling back to town square. They obviously gassed us for a reason. This might be it.”

“But you and I have been resetting for years,” Min said, tapping her thigh with an index finger. “We died and came back five times before they rounded anyone else up.”

“We’re the betas, remember?” The idea gathered steam in my head. “Project Nemesis used four test subjects as guinea pigs in the early trials. Then they gathered our whole class together to activate their final plan. That mist was probably some kind of experimental chemical. Maybe they were . . . infecting everyone, giving our classmates the same thing we’ve had since we were kids.”

Min was slowly nodding. “The shots in kindergarten. They took Noah and me into the woods. We could’ve been injected with something, then had our responses tested for years. Until the bastards were ready to infect the whole sophomore class.”

“But where did they go?” Tack countered. “Noah’s theory doesn’t explain why everyone vanished while we were unconscious, or . . . or”—he shuddered, then forged ahead—“or dead in the square. And how did the valley repair itself? That part blows my mind, no matter what angle I come at it from. Buildings don’t fix themselves.”

Min groaned. “You’re right. I think Noah’s close, but we’re still missing something.”

I ground my teeth. The answers felt tantalizingly close. I didn’t want the moment to slip away. “The damage could’ve been a mass delusion. Maybe the earthquakes, too.” My eyes popped. “Oh man, I suppose it’s possible that even the Anvil was invented. All of it—the reports, the natural disasters, everything—faked from the beginning. Our whole last week could’ve been one giant head game! Part of the Nemesis experiment. We’re isolated up here in the valley. They could’ve manipulated everything.”

Min was rubbing her forehead. “At this point, I don’t trust anything. Certainly not the government. But faking natural disasters? Hacking CNN, Fox News, and all the others, while also putting together clips as believable as disaster movies? It’s too much. In fact, I think the opposite is true—everything did happen, and it’s all tied to the project. I think Nemesis caused the chaos.”

“Now who’s reaching?” Tack muttered, but didn’t say more.

“Don’t forget,” Min said quietly, “Sheriff Watson was shot to death right here. That wasn’t a hoax.”

Tack’s jaw tightened. His father had been gunned down, too.

Min sighed in resignation. “So we’re nowhere. Right where we started.”

“No!” I said, drawing their eyes. A strange feeling was welling inside me. I felt a sudden release of the tension I’d been carrying for days. Hell, years.

I realized my anxiety was gone. Something had shifted. Loosened. I almost laughed with relief, but was too exhilarated. Puzzle pieces were snapping together in my mind. There were blank spaces, sure—holes that would have to be filled—but the big picture suddenly seemed so much clearer.

Project Nemesis had changed the rules we lived by.

I was a centerpiece of that. A crucial element. A keystone.

“No, what?” Tack demanded finally, when I hadn’t spoken for several seconds. “You have some miracle plan to deal with Ethan and the rest?”

“We fight them,” Min answered automatically, her expression darkening. “We can’t let Ethan run things. Not after what he did to you.”

“Fight them how?” Tack shuffled his feet in a desultory manner. “Ethan’s got the whole class on his side—or afraid of him, which works just as well. I say we pick a good place to hide, then find some way out of the valley. Let that prick have his Kingdom of Morons.”

“You really think we can leave?” Min looked as if she’d never considered the idea. “I’m not so sure. Plus, you missed a few things while dead. There’s trouble in paradise.”

Min began catching Tack up on current events, but I couldn’t bring myself to contribute.

All my life, I’d been plagued by fear. Self-doubt. A crushing insecurity. I’d been told these problems were caused by a flaw in my psyche. The deranged conjurings of a broken mind.

But that simply wasn’t true.

The murders were real. The resurrections, too.

I wasn’t flawed. Or broken. I was being tested.

I cannot die.

Heavy curtains opened inside me, allowing sunlight to pour in.

What was I so afraid of all the time? I wasn’t crazy. I’d endured a crucible no one could suffer through unscathed. Frankly, it was a miracle I ever stepped outside my bedroom door. Who could’ve done better than me?

The murders were obstacles to overcome. I’d survived them all.

My spirit soared as the realizations dog-piled on top of one another.

I can be strong now. No, more than that.

I can be powerful.

“That’s another thing,” Min was saying. “Who are the other two betas?”

“We need to find out,” I said. Though suddenly, I thought I could guess.

“Does it matter?” Tack made a face. “No offense, but if everyone resets now, you betas aren’t different from the rest.”

My head swiveled. I flashed an almost condescending smile. “We’re the most prepared, Tack. Whatever this cycle is, we’ve been living it for a decade. We need to find the other betas and figure out what they know.”

Min shivered. “That shouldn’t be a problem, I guess. We can just ask around.”

“And give away our advantage?” My tone was incredulous. “No way. We have to keep this secret from everyone until we know how to exploit it.”

And it was an advantage, I just knew it. I was special. Chosen. Picked first.

I noticed they were both looking at me funny.

“What do you think is happening, Noah?” Min asked slowly. Tack had crossed his arms, was watching me with interest.

“I don’t think the project failed.” It was hard to explain, this feeling of purpose that had stolen over me. The answers suddenly felt so obvious, I found them difficult to express. “I think this is what we were prepped for. What our birthdays were leading up to.”

“Prepped? That’s what you’re calling it?” Min’s eyes narrowed. She spoke in a quiet but forceful voice. “When I was eight years old, I was pushed off a cliff. At ten, I drowned in a creek. On my twelfth birthday, I was run over. When I turned fourteen, the black-suited man bashed my head in with a rock. He shot me to death on Sunday. I wasn’t prepped for anything, Noah. I was terrorized throughout my childhood, and you were, too. Don’t forget that.”

Her rebuke was like a slap. “No, no! You’re right. That’s not what I meant.” I wasn’t explaining this well. “I’m not minimizing what was done. I’m just saying our experiences give us an edge.”

“For what?” Min snapped. “Over whom? What are we trying to do, take over the town ourselves?” She took a breath, but the heat didn’t dissipate. “I’ll be honest, Noah—I don’t like what I’m hearing right now. You’re starting to sound like Ethan.”

I flinched. Bit my tongue. How could she say that?

“We need to work together,” Min continued, a bit more calmly. “We should attack this mystery by involving everyone as equals. We need to share information, not build private sand castles.”

Irritation sparked—why didn’t she understand?—but was swiftly doused by shame.

God, Min was right. What was I talking about? I did sound like Ethan.

Another failure of character. While she aces every test.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” When that seemed deficient, I added, “It’s been a long day.”

Her posture softened immediately. “It’s okay. We’re all under a ton of pressure.” She reached out and squeezed my hand.

I thought back to the night before. Remembered her body cradled in mine, our lips inches apart as we slept, sharing the same breaths. Then my face reddened. Tack was watching us closely, his expression guarded.

He doesn’t know. And I doubt he can adjust.

I turned away, pretending to stretch. Couldn’t help but slightly resent the situation. Min always came to the right conclusion, while I always blew it. We were both betas, but not equals. Faced with the same obstacles, she’d become twice the person I was.

Tack broke the silence. “So what’s our next move? I haven’t eaten anything today, and I smell like Smokey Bear. I need a shower and a turkey sandwich. After that, we can declare war on Ethantonia.”

“I’d think hard before doing that,” a voice said.

I spun to face the forest.

Two figures were watching from the shadows.

Both held guns.