A Chosen Destiny (The Samantha Project Series #3) (36 page)

Brittany didn’t seem sold on the idea. “What would we do in New Hampshire?”

“My cousin runs a small private school in town,” Abigail said. “You and Colin could finish up your last semester of high school there.”

“Colin, I know you’ll probably choose to return to Minnesota,” Dave said, “but I wanted to offer this as an option. Oh, and it’s safe to call your folks now. You should do that today. Let them know you’re okay. And Samantha.” Dave smiled at me. “Given the recent events, I think that you’ll be able to go to Stanford.”

“Are you serious? Aren’t you worried about GlobalLife?”
 

“Yes. But Abigail and I have already been discussing ways to deal with those concerns and although we have some issues to work through, if all goes as planned, there’s a good chance that you’ll be attending there in the fall.”

I went over and hugged him. “That’s awesome!” I sat back down next to Colin. “But about New Hampshire, Uncle Dave, I need to think about that some more.”

“Yes, I understand. We just wanted to offer it as an option. We realize you’re all technically adults now and are free to do what you want, but Jack and I think it would be best if we stuck together, at least until the dust settles.” Dave’s face got red, as it always did when he tried not to cry. “And I selfishly don’t want to see all of you leave. I love you kids. I’m not ready for you to go your separate ways.”

“Oh, David.” Abigail reached over to hold his hand.

Erik looked at Jack. “I don’t know about moving there, Dad. I’ve never had the chance to go out on my own. I think I’ll take off. Maybe go back to Texas and figure out what I want to do.”

“I know, Erik. And I don’t expect you to stick around. It’s your decision. And if you want, we can both go back to Texas.”

“Well, all of you think about it and let us know later,” Dave said. “Abigail and I are leaving next week. We’d love if you all came with us, but we understand if you don’t.”
 

Hearing Dave talk about leaving almost had me in tears. I got up, not wanting to break down in front of everyone. I finished breakfast, then went back to my room.

“Sounds like we might get a break from all this for a while.” Erik was standing at my door. He came in and sat down next to me on the bed. “Have you decided what you’re going to do?”

“No. Not yet. But it sounds like you’re taking off.” I felt tears forming again as I thought of Erik leaving. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him. And I knew he wasn’t ready to say goodbye to me. But I also knew how hard it was for him to see me with Colin.
 

“I need to get away, Sam.”

“I know.” We sat there in silence for a moment. “Brittany won’t like that you’re leaving, Erik. She’ll really miss you.”

“She needs to focus on school. She’s on the right track, Sam. I don’t want to get in the way of that. She’s better off without me.”

“She’s not the only one who will miss you.”

He looked at me with those piercing blue eyes. “Are you saying you’ll miss me, Sam?”

“You know I’ll miss you, Erik.”
 

“You have Colin now. You don’t want me around. And I know
he
doesn’t want me around.”
 

“Of course I want you around. I understand why you want to go, but I wish you’d change your mind.”

He stayed quiet.

“Erik, I know what you did to Owens. And I want to say thank you. You saved Colin. Owens was ready to put that needle in him. He would have done it if you hadn’t stopped him. You saved Colin’s life. And you hurt yourself doing it. You could’ve done permanent damage to your brain doing what you did.”

“It’s over now, Sam. It doesn’t matter.”

“It
does
matter. You didn’t have to do that.”

He smiled. “Well, I did kind of owe Colin a favor after trying to steal you away from him.”

“You didn’t do it because of that.” I hugged him tight. “I really am going to miss you, Erik.”

“We can still talk, Sam.” He kissed my forehead as he got up. “You can come knocking on my brain anytime you want. I’ll always listen to your thoughts.”

A little later, Colin stopped by. I was sitting up in bed leaning against the headboard thinking about how much had changed in just 24 hours.
 

“Sam, is something wrong?” He sat next to me. “Why are you hiding in here?”

I rested my head on his shoulder. “I’m just sad. I mean I’m relieved that we can live halfway normal lives again. But I’d gotten used to the idea that we’d all be together forever. And now everyone is going their separate ways.”

“Even if people move away that doesn’t mean you’ll never see them again.”

“I know. But I’m not ready to leave Uncle Dave. He’s like family to me. Plus I can’t leave Brittany. We need more time together.”

“Why would you leave them? You still have months before college starts.”

“Because I want to be with you. And you’re going back to Minnesota.”

“I never said that.”

“You have to go back. Your family’s there.”

“
You’re
my family now, Sam. I don’t need to go back there.”

“Yes, you do. Your parents are there. Your friends are there. And your sisters will be home from college in the summer.”

“I can still go see them. And I just got off the phone with my parents. We had a long talk and I explained things.”

“What did you tell them?”

“Well, I didn’t tell them about the genes or GlobalLife or any of that. It’s better if they don’t know about that stuff. I went with the story I’d already told them about me going to find you. And I told them that we were both okay and that I was finishing school.”

“And they weren’t mad?”

“I’m their third kid. They don’t care.” He laughed. “I’m just kidding. They’re not thrilled with me living away from home. But I’m 18 and I was leaving in the fall anyway, so they kind of just accepted it.”

“Are you going home to see them?”

“Yeah, I’m going there in a couple weeks. Dave’s going with me. He thought it would be good if you went, too. He needs to take care of some stuff and thought you’d want to go back and see your old house. Maybe get some of your things.”

“Yeah, I’d like that.” I got excited just thinking about going back to my house. “So you’re okay with us living in New Hampshire?”

“Sure. I’ve never been there, but why not? And besides, we’ll only be there for a few months and then we’ll be at college.”

I felt sad again, knowing that going to college meant I would be apart from Colin. “So you’re still going to U of M, Mankato?”

“No. Mankato wasn’t my first choice.”

“I guess you don’t know if you got in anywhere else.”

“Actually my parents said that I got some more acceptance letters.”

I perked up again. “Colin, that’s great! You applied at Iowa, too, right? And University of Wisconsin, Madison? So you’re saying you got into both?”

He smiled. “Yeah. And one more. It was kind of a long shot, but I figured I’d apply anyway. And according to my parents, I got in.”

“So what school?”

He couldn’t stop smiling. “Stanford. I got into Stanford, Sam.”

I jumped up from the bed. “Are you serious? Because I’m going to kill you if you’re making this up!”

“I’m totally serious.” He laughed. “Now get back over here.” He pulled me into his arms.

“Why didn’t you tell me you applied there? How could you keep that a secret?”

“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think there was a chance in hell I’d get in. I mean, my grades are good, but not perfect like yours. I guess they liked the fact that I was so involved in sports and school activities. And I’m sure your dad’s recommendation helped a ton. They like to hear from alums.”

“My dad? He did that? He never told me.” I felt tears forming as images of my dad flashed in my mind. I missed him and my mom so much that it still hurt to think of them.

“I asked him not to tell you. Your dad was the one who suggested I send in an application. I told him it was crazy, but he talked me into it. He said I’d never know unless I tried.”

“Sounds like you guys talked more than I thought you did. He
was
always really good at giving advice.” I bit my lip to keep from crying. Even though I was still mourning my parents, I didn’t want to keep crying whenever I thought of them. I wanted my memories of them to make me smile.
 

“So what you do think?” Colin asked.
 

“Are you kidding? It’s awesome!”
 

“But we still don’t know if we’ll be able to go there, Sam. You heard Dave. He said he’s still working on it.”

“Well, as of right now, let’s say we’re going, okay? And if we do end up there, then I guess you’ll be collecting on that bet we made.”

“What bet?”

I sat up and looked at him. “Come on. You remember. It was your idea. Back when we were at Stanford walking around the campus? I told you I’d never go there because of GlobalLife and you bet me I would. You said if I ever did go there, I had to marry you.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I remember. I was just kidding when I said that.”

“You’re letting me off that easy? You’re not even going to try to collect?”

“No. That’s not something I want to force you to do. Besides, you’ve told me a million times that people shouldn’t get married until they’re at least 30.”

“That’s true. Although I
am
kind of rethinking that 30 rule.”

“Oh really? Because you’ve had that rule for as long as I’ve known you.”

“Yeah. But in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve changed. I’m not the same person I used to be.”

“I noticed.” He smiled. “And I love you even more than before.”

“I love you, too.”
 

I glanced down at the ring Colin had given me, twisting it around my finger. I took it off to read the inscription again.
 

“I guess we’ll have to keep working on the whole save the world thing, huh?”
 

Colin took the ring and slid it back on my finger. “How about we just try to get through college first?”

“Deal,” I said.

He laced his hand in mine as I rested against his shoulder. After everything I’d been through, I couldn’t believe how happy I felt. It didn’t even make sense that I could feel that way after experiencing so many horrible events.

I knew that bad things could still happen. I knew that GlobalLife could take an interest in Erik and me again. Or that people connected to Owens could come looking for revenge. But I’d worry about that another day. Or maybe I’d never have to.
 

From the bedroom I could hear Brittany and Dave laughing in the other room. Erik and his dad were talking sports. For once, things seemed normal. I smiled, realizing how thankful I was to have that one moment. I wished that I could freeze it forever, knowing that a moment like that might never come again. It was a snapshot in time when everything was going well. When everyone I loved was safe. I savored it, capturing each tiny detail in my mind. Because I knew from experience that life can change in an instant.

From the Author

Thank you for reading The Samantha Project series. When I started it, I had no idea it would end up being a trilogy. But the story just kept going in my head so I let it. The initial idea came from a dream I had a few years ago. The dream was the scene from book 1 where Samantha wakes up in the all-white room at GlobalLife after being captured. In the dream, I knew she’d had this genetic enhancement and was in danger from the people who were holding her in that room. When I woke up, I came up with an entire back story for how Samantha ended up there.
 

I didn’t do anything with the story until years later. When I finally decided to make it into a book, I set the story in current times because the technology described throughout the series isn’t as futuristic as you might think. When I was researching the science behind genetic engineering, brain waves, and other things in the book, I found that many of the things I considered to be science fiction were actually not science fiction at all. For instance, scientists are trying to alter genes to allow people to go days without sleep, a trait that could be useful during military missions. There’s already technology developed that makes it possible to read and interpret brain waves. And the brain wave fingerprint technology in book 2? It actually exists!
   

If you want to learn more about the science behind The Samantha Project books, check out my blog (
stephaniekarpinske.com
). There you’ll also find some Samantha Project “extras” such as Erik’s point of view in different scenes, information about the golden ratio from book 2, and other fun stuff. And you’ll get news about the books (blog tours, giveaways, etc).
 

Although I haven’t planned on writing another book for this series, I haven’t ruled it out either. I have pages of notes with ideas about where Samantha and the gang might be years from now. Will Sam and Colin really go to Stanford? Will they get married? Where will Erik end up? Will Samantha and Erik be in danger again? Will they get new powers? If you’re interested in reading more about these characters, let me know!
 

Thanks again for reading Samantha’s story. If you liked it, please leave a review or tell a friend. Indie authors like me really appreciate it!
 

Stephanie Karpinske

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stephaniekarpinske.com