Part 19 (2/2)

”How is he holding up?” Paul asked her.

”Seems fine so far,” Dr. Maria mumbled.

Paul knelt down. I saw my face in his gla.s.ses. There was a streak of blood across my cheek, like someone had been careless with a paintbrush. ”It's important for you to understand me right now. It turns out we were wrong about yesterday's bombing. It was actually designed to draw our attention away while this Nomad team got inside. They had help, too. Someone on the inside hit our detection systems with a virus. Whoever was behind this, they knew our schedule, knew you'd be in the Preserve unsupervised. They probably figured this was the perfect time to make their move.”

”Did they get anybody else?” I asked.

”No,” said Paul, but my question seemed to interest him. ”Why do you ask?”

”They were talking,” I started to say, then thought I should hide what I knew. ”I couldn't make out much of it.”

Paul nodded. ”Do you remember anything else?”

”No,” I said. ”They just grabbed me, told me to keep quiet.”

”I think he's in some shock.” I looked over at Dr. Maria and found her gazing at me seriously, and when our eyes met, her head seemed to hitch slightly. Had she just nodded to me?

”Maria,” said Paul.

”Yeah?” Her head snapped away, up to Paul, and I thought her eyes looked wide, like she'd been caught.

But Paul was looking across the clearing. Two officers were carrying Evan out of the trees. He was still unconscious. ”Go see to him, would you?”

”Okay.” Dr. Maria grabbed her bag and hurried away.

Paul turned to Cartier. ”Go check the bodies for information,” he said. ”I'll meet you over there.”

Cartier left, and now it was just me and Paul.

He leaned closer to me, lowering his voice. ”Look, Owen: it's time we talked more frankly about what is going on here in EdenWest.” He reached out and rested a hand on my shoulder. ”About what's going on with you you.” I wanted to slide away from his touch, but my body was still foggy from the dampener. ”I thought we could take our time,” Paul went on, a slight smile forming and fading, ”let things develop in their own way, but I'm afraid this little incident ill.u.s.trates that we're going to have to get right to the point. Do you understand me?”

I didn't answer.

”I think you do, Owen,” Paul said like I was a child, ”but this is my fault. You deserve to know what's really going on here, and I, I need to know everything that you know.” He glanced to the bodies, then back at me. ”It's the only way I can keep you safe.”

For a moment, I almost had an urge to tell him. After the bullets, the deaths... Paul was the most powerful person here. If I had just gone to him about my gills, told him about the siren and the vision, he might never have let me out here, and none of this would have happened. Maybe it was time to stop playing games, to stop keeping secrets, before there were more bodies.

Except, who was really the one playing games? Paul had lied to the camp multiple times. I'd seen it. And what he'd just said: it sounded more than ever like he knew way more about what was happening to us than he was letting on, and he was just sitting back and letting things develop develop? So, if I told him everything, what would he do then? Was that when the experiments would begin like he did with Anna?

And I reminded myself that these Nomads weren't the only victims of this place, of Paul's Eden. There was little Colleen, and the other kids the CITs had talked about. Paul hadn't kept them safe. And it was more than just me who was in danger now. There was Lilly. The Nomads mentioned a girl. Lilly was the only one who'd seen the siren, like me. I wished I could find her right now. She was the only one I could talk to about all this. The only one I could trust.

Paul's hand lifted off my shoulder. ”Listen, I have to clean things up here. In the meantime, I'm going to have you brought to my office. We'll have a talk. It's long overdue. That sounds good, doesn't it?”

I looked into his black lenses and wondered what to say, but there was really only one answer. ”Sure.”

”Good.” He patted my knee. ”Just sit tight. I'll have some officers take you back.” He stood and left.

As soon as he was gone, I tried moving my legs. They were still a little like jelly, but I got my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. I started to shake. From everything.

I watched Paul return to where the three bodies were now lined up. An officer handed him Pyra's phone. I looked over to where Dr. Maria was tending to Evan. She kept glancing over at the bodies. Paul the liar. And Dr. Maria, the... what? What had that nod been before? And her tears about the Nomad... Maybe it had just been the sight of death, or was it something more?

I pushed up harder with my legs, my back sc.r.a.ping against tree bark as I stood. It took a second to center my balance.

Paul had moved out to the bridge. He and Cartier were inspecting the broken lock on the hatch door.

Sit tight, he'd said. Right. Sit back and wait for the next thing to happen. For the next drowning, strange vision, veiled comment, for the next attempted abduction, the next death. All of these things that kept happening to me, with no explanation for why. And really, wasn't it my fault, too? I'd been ignoring the dark questions about what was going on here, about my gills, all of it, focusing instead on nights with Lilly, on finally belonging to something. But I couldn't avoid it anymore, not after this.

There was a tingling in my fingertips. I could feel my heart rate increasing, and my body shuddering more.

Ten meters away from me lay three bodies, dead because of me. And not far away was another body, Evan. He'd been trying to ignore the questions, too. And while any other day I would have been happy to see him flat on his back, not today. Would he be okay, or was he another casualty of me? And what if that had been Lilly back there in the game? What if they'd gotten her too? There could have been a stray bullet, a fall off the catwalk, she could be a still body on the pine needles now, too....

I wanted to talk to her so bad. She'd know what to do. But, no, talking to her wasn't an option right now. I I needed to know what to do. needed to know what to do.

I leaned on one foot, then the other. Flexed my toes. Swung my arms. All systems back online? All systems back online? I asked the technicians. I asked the technicians.

Yessir, looking good, they reported.

Then hang on, I told them.

Paul and Cartier were still checking the hatch. Dr. Maria was bent over Evan with her penlight.

Everyone had their back to me.

I turned and ran.

Full on. Not looking back. Straight into the trees, tearing down the slope, my feet slipping in the orange needles. Once I'd covered some ground, I dared a glance back. No one was following. How long before they noticed? Probably just a few more seconds.

I cut left. Trying to retrace the path my captors had taken. Heading for that stream, heading for the lake. I wished Lilly was with me, but I had to fight the urge to go and try to find her. There was no time now. This was my only chance.

No more sitting around waiting. I wasn't going to Paul's office. I wasn't letting anyone take me anywhere, anymore, unless they were ghostly blue and deep in my world only.

I was going to the temple.

Chapter 15

I CAREENED DOWN THE HILLSIDE THROUGH THE dark pine gloom, heard a familiar gurgling sound, and reached the tiny bridge where, some blurry stretch of time ago, there had been fists and darts and abductions. Remnants of the b.u.t.terfly sparkled on the mud bank. dark pine gloom, heard a familiar gurgling sound, and reached the tiny bridge where, some blurry stretch of time ago, there had been fists and darts and abductions. Remnants of the b.u.t.terfly sparkled on the mud bank.

I jumped down off the bridge, landing in the shallow water. My ankle twisted. My hip cracked against a tall boulder. Already out of breath. Already feeling the screw-top twist of the cramp in my side. My lungs felt like metal cans that wouldn't expand enough.

Behind me, something crashed in the woods. Were those voices?

Keep moving.

And now I was in water, the cold seeping through my socks and shoes, causing tremors up my calves and tingles in my gills. Water would be my savior, I just had to follow it. This stream babbled downward; it would lead to the lake. There were shallow slopes to either side but no trails, so maybe they wouldn't think I'd gone this way.

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