Absolute Zero (14 page)

It was Georgia. “Yeah. Come on in.”

The door opened, and she crept in. “Tim and Nate are talking. Seems like everything went well.”

“Girl, I just did a partial freeze and heal. Look.” I showed her my arm.

“Looks less swollen and a little smaller. Sorry about pouring that junk on you. The pounding at the door scared me. He’s lucky I didn’t burn the room down.”

I laughed. “That would have been bad.”

Georgia shut the door and stepped in further. She sat on the tub and faced me. I leaned against the vanity.

“Okay, so Nate’s story. That’s an interesting one, huh?”

“No doubt. And you thought
I
was a rebel.” I poked at my arm. Still nice and cool but feeling much better. “He’s got me beat by a ton, huh?”

“I’d say. My nerves are still firing from seeing you dangling from that window. I need to calm down or I’m going to light something on fire.”

“Here. Hold my hand. I’ll cool you off. Just suck in a deep breath and calm down.” I let a little wave filter from my fingers into hers.

Muffled voices leaked in through the closed door. Georgia snapped open her eyes. “I’m feeling better. Let’s get out there and see what’s going on.”

I faced the mirror. Twenty red dots speckled my chest and arms. “Looks like I have the chickenpox or something.”

“Bummer you can’t heal them, huh?”

“Tell me about it. I’m starting to think I shouldn’t leave the apartment. Weird stuff, girl. Getting hit by that stupid car, Agents, falling balconies…”

“Mandy?” Nate’s voice sounded close.

I yanked the bathroom door open. “Yeah?”

“You okay?”

“Just needed to chill from the Peroxide Demon here.” I thumbed toward Georgia, who stood behind me. She pinched my butt, and I scooted out of the bathroom. “What’s going on?”

“Everything’s all set. Supe’s going to take care of things tomorrow.” He shifted his weight. “He asked if we could not stay in the apartment tonight, though. With no window, no balcony.”

“Makes sense.”

He nodded toward the doorway, and we followed him into the living room.

“Hey, Tim. This is Mandy and Georgia.”

“Sounds like you had quite a night,” Tim said.

“Hi. Yeah. Wild party.”

Tim was only a few inches taller than me, but his smile was genuine.

“Would you mind if we crashed on your couch tonight? Tim’s tiny, he doesn’t take up much room.” Nate laughed.

I glanced at Georgia. She shrugged, then nodded. I faced Nate again. “Yeah. I guess that’d be fine. Our little 19-inch TV will have to be okay for you, though. No plasmas here.”

“Thanks. They’ll be done with our window tomorrow,” Tim said, as he eased onto the couch.

“You guys want something to drink? You hungry?” Georgia said. “I make some mean pancakes.”

“It’s only a few hours ‘til sunrise anyway. Just call it an early breakfast, right?” Tim hopped up from the couch and scooted toward Georgia. “I’ll help.”

“There you go,” I said to Georgia. “Cook away. I’ll be sitting far from you, evil peroxide lady.”

“Let’s throw in some movies and pull an all-nighter. It’ll be fun,” Nate said. “Come, sit. You’re majorly injured.”

“I’m majorly tired. I don’t think I’d last more than five minutes watching a movie.” I eased myself onto the couch.

“That’s okay if you fall asleep. I’ll hold down the fort. Eat some pancakes for you,” Nate smiled. “Where are your movies?”

I pointed to the little wooden entertainment center. “CD cases in there.”

I nestled into the couch, resting my head on the arm as I watched. He messed around opening cabinets, pulling stuff out, opening jewel cases. My lids weighed a ton and kept bobbing until I couldn’t keep them open, even to watch Nate. I mean, he was crawling around on the floor looking at DVD cases. His tight, round butt filled out those jeans very well. It was a nice view.

I wanted to stay awake to talk and cuddle, but I couldn’t. I vaguely remembered warm breath whispering something to me followed by soft, moist lips pressed against my forehead before the lights went out on me.

Chapter 18

“S
o what’s with the balcony on your balcony?” Jasmine asked as she walked into the apartment.

“Party gone wild last night upstairs,” I said. I flicked my wet hair back.

I couldn’t believe I fell asleep within, like, five seconds of Nate looking for a movie. Then, they up and left at first light? That so totally sucked.

Jasmine whirled around, wide-eyed. “Are you serious?”

“Sit.” I told her the story.

“I can’t believe that. How’d you cover?”

“Ever-proven adrenaline rush story. Extra strength in extraordinary situations.”

She turned her head from side-to-side. “Tiny apartment, huh?”

“Nothing like your mansion of solitude out in Timbuktu. I’m just sorry you had to burn it down when the
Coats
found us.”

“That’s okay. I got another place. It’s all good.” She sat on the couch and plopped her bag near her side.

Georgia strolled out from the kitchen holding a plate. “I love warmed up pancakes. Oh, and that Tim, he knows how to cook, too.”

“Tim?” Jasmine said.

“Neighbor upstairs. Roomie to Mandy’s new lover.”

“Lover?” I said with a screech. “
Lover
?”

Georgia giggled as she eased onto the chair beside the couch. I slouched to the floor next to her.

“You and your romance novels.” I shook my head.

“Dang. You’ve known you two are really sisters for, like, barely three months, yet you seem like you’re going on nineteen years.”

“True that,” I said. “Okay, Jas, so what toys did you bring us today?”

She scooted forward and pulled her bag from the couch and plopped it onto the little ottoman. “Before I got up here, I put in a couple cameras around the main floor. You know, main entrance, side entrances, stuff like that. Oh, and near the light above the door facing the back lot. That place is freaking scary in the dark, I bet.”

“Kinda dark. Only a few cars back there, though.”

“It faces a little stream and trees. That makes for a good escape route option.”

“But you picked a place with wimpy balconies.”

Jasmine laughed. “I brought you a laptop, you’ll use this one just for the security stuff, okay?” She pulled out a sleek silver computer nicer than the one I already have.

“Girl, where do you get all the money for this crap?”

“Courtesy of our friends from The Center.”

“I don’t want to know.”

“Good, because I wouldn’t tell you.” She flipped open the screen. Four smaller windows appeared. The one on the upper left showed someone walking into the main entrance. Total bed-head. Probably stayed out all night and was just coming home.

I glanced at my watch. Only ten o’clock. Yep, probably an all-nighter somewhere.

“The screens will scroll through the cycle. There are seven cameras out there. I’m going to put in a little thing so you can see who’s at your door, too.”

“Cool,” Georgia said.

“If you want to switch views manually, just press this button here. I set it up that the right arrow will move the camera views along.”

“I think even I can figure this thing out,” I said with a wink in Jasmine’s direction.

Her long brown hair cascaded over her shoulders. I never noticed how green her eyes were. Big, too. She wore a camouflage, of course, tank top with khaki-colored shorts. She was a couple inches taller than me, but the tiny thing commanded presence wherever she went.

“All right. I’m going to get that little peep hole installed, then I’ll be on my way.” Jasmine stood, grabbed her bag, then navigated around the ottoman toward the door. She plopped the bag down and knelt beside it and dug in.

“Hey, Jas?” I asked.

She looked back. “Yeah.”

“The two nimrods from the store didn’t know Andrey?”

She went back to what she was doing. “They’d never heard of him.” She pulled out what looked like a little gun, but it had a drill on it.

“How can that be possible? He was at The Center when I was there. He’s part of all that.”

“It’s a big organization. Maybe these guys we grabbed are in a different part. I’m not surprised they don’t know him.”

The drill buzzed to life, putting a hole in the wall, to the right of where the chain link fastened. I hopped up and walked over to her.

“Who were the dudes at the shop then?”

“They were sent to try and retrieve that book your mom mentioned. Someone at the Agency knows about it. Figured maybe you guys had it or something.”

I glanced at Georgia. She sat on the chair, watching.

“Where’s this damn book then?”

“Good question.” Jasmine knelt again, digging in her bag of tricks.

“Don’t you think we should disappear? You know, leave? Change names, crap like that?”

“You’re safe here. I mean, according to anyone that matters, you’re Reta and Gertrude Annapolis from Jersey.” She laughed. “Sorry. Had to find some funky names to register you for the apartment.”

“Do I look like a Reta to you?” I said.

“And me a Gertrude?” Georgia said.

“Who cares? The managers didn’t. They’re so busy with all their tenants, they don’t care about anything other than you have near perfect credit and you paid twelve months rent in advance. So, chill. I’ve done this before, little ones.”

“Oh, don’t go all Jedi Master on me, Jas.” I hated it when she called me little one. Made me want to kick her ass. And I could, too. I was stronger than her.

She laughed. “Sorry. Got to have a little fun. You know?”

Georgia chuckled.

“Okay, Miss Smarty Pants. But everyone and their grandma knows about our smoothie shop. Scott’s a sitting duck there.”

“No he’s not. I’m with him almost 24/7. I’ll take care of him.”

“Promise?” I said.

She stopped messing with the door and looked at me. “I know I joke a lot, goof around, and can be really annoying.”

“True.”

She stood up and squeezed my shoulder. “I’ve been on my own for so long. Never felt like I belonged anywhere, or to anyone. I’ve just been trying to survive, like you and Scott.” She removed her hand from my shoulder. “But now, that’s all different.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded at me, then glanced at Georgia. She returned her focus to me and said, “I really love Scott. I’ll protect him, Mandy. With my life.”

The depth of her sincerity tugged at my heart. She was tough, too. And besides the super-strength, she knew about all the army-type stuff involved with protecting someone. She could hear most anything for up to a half-mile away and with her super-speed, she could whisk Scott from danger if it found them.

It’d always just been me and Scott, floundering around not really knowing what to do to stay safe. But now, Jasmine had found us. I found out I had a twin sister, so all felt normal. Well, as normal as our freaky little family could be.

I’m not one to just give out hugs to any ole girl. I mean, I show the love to Georgia, because she’s my girl, but Jasmine’s sentiment demanded a hug. I yanked her close and squeezed her tight.

“Thanks, Jas.”

Georgia scurried up from her chair and joined in.

“Okay. Okay. Don’t go all Kelvin and Blaze on me. I’m not invincible, you know.” Jasmine shrugged out of our grasp.

She must have been as uncomfortable with hugging as I used to be. I stepped away and slid my hand beneath my eyes, which had suddenly turned into faucets.

“Oh. And before school starts, get out and learn this area. I want you familiar with everything within a mile radius. I already have an escape route planned, so I need to show you that. If you’re stuck in the dark, in those trees out back, you need to know exactly where you’re going.” Jasmine tilted her head toward me. “Got it?”

“Yes, Mother.”

“Maybe Nate and Tim can take us out strolling around,” Georgia said.

“Nate? Tim?” Jasmine arched an eyebrow. “New boyfriends all ready, Mandy?”

I slugged her shoulder.

She cracked open the door. “You rebound fast.” Then disappeared around the corner to work on something out front.

“Jerk.” I scurried to my bedroom to get my phone. Georgia had a great idea. Me, her, Tim, and Nate could go strolling around to learn the area. Georgia and I needed to find a secluded place to goof around with our powers anyway.

“Oh, and Mandy?” Jasmine called out to me. “I want to meet these two guys and check them out, okay?”

Boy, my calling her mother wasn’t too far off the bat, was it?

Chapter 19

“C
lasses don’t start until Monday. Why are we sitting here on campus today?” I asked, as Georgia and I followed Nate and Tim to a table.

“Just trying to see the layout of the place, you know? Find classes.” Nate plopped our tray of food on a table beneath a little umbrella. “Plus, I had to check out the grub to see if it sucked and I needed to be packing a lunch.”

It was Friday afternoon, and I so did not want to be on campus. I was nervous enough to start classes on Monday, didn’t need my gut to be rolling three days early. I slid onto the concrete bench next to Nate. Georgia and Tim sat across from us with their own tray of food.

“How come you guys only have two classes?” Tim asked.

“We registered really late. Didn’t have much of what we wanted open.”

“At least we got PE together. That’ll be fun kicking your butt in racquetball.” Nate nudged my side.

“Competitive little bugger, aren’t you?” I glanced at him quick.

The sun bouncing off the cement ignited the amber flecks in his brown eyes. We sat beneath an umbrella, but it was still really bright. He emptied our tray of turkey sandwiches, crinkle chips and soda onto the table.

We’ll see if this place can match my brother’s sandwich-making skills.

“What’s your other class again?” Nate asked.

“Philosophy. I can only imagine why that one was still open when I registered.” I shrugged. “I’m so not a philosopher, so we’ll see how that one pans out.” I bit into the massive sandwich. Okay, they were pretty good at these.