Children of Evolution (The Gateway Series Book 2) (26 page)

You need to even your balance,
Michael piped up, proving once again that his sense of timing was the only thing worse than his volume control.

"Just what I needed," she groused, staying on her back.

"You giving up?" Sam asked in a low voice. His eyes had a spark in them that said he was enjoying himself, but when she didn't move that spark fizzled into concern. "Are you—"

"Done letting you win? Yep." She rolled to her feet.

Keep your balance, and keep your hands up.
Michael knew he was skirting the edge of a really nasty drop by giving her advice, but he butted in anyway. Nikki could feel his conflict clearly. He knew the last thing she wanted right now was coaching, but his desire to help was practically choking him. He'd tried to teach her this stuff before—more than a few times—but she'd never been interested. She hadn't seen the point back then. Why spend her time learning a bunch of fancy stuff when her fighting style was already perfectly suited to their power?
 

Now she knew why. Without her powers, her fighting style was next to worthless. That's why Michael had studied martial arts so hard. He'd always hated using his strength against people so he'd trained to the point where he didn't have to.
 

You spent your whole life preparing to be normal,
she thought to Michael as she squared off with Sam again.
Yet another reason why I should be the dead one, not you.

She didn't remember having that thought before, but now that it was out there between them, she knew it was exactly what she'd been feeling for the last four months. She was angry—no shock there—but not at Savior or Gideon, or even the Hunter. She was angry at Michael for leaving her. She was angry at him for forcing her to live a normal life without the only two things she cared about in the world. If she'd had the choice, she wouldn't have hesitated in the slightest. Live without Michael and her powers, or die and leave him to live the powerless life he’d always wanted. Easy choice.

Her realization hurt Michael. She felt his pain, a sharp stab that grew stronger as he realized how deeply she meant it. But Nikki didn't have time to dwell on it or explain. Sam moved to attack, and the fight took over.

The test went on forever, far longer than any fight had ever lasted for Nikki. When Sam finally called a halt, Nikki was beat, in every sense of the word. She was shaky and sucking wind like she'd been running at a dead sprint, and she was utterly humiliated.

She would have loved to say she gave as good as she got, but that would have been a big, sweaty lie. She'd spent more time on the mat than she had on her feet. She took so many punches and kicks that she felt bruised from neck to knees, even though Sam was careful to ease every blow.

Sam, of course, looked perfectly fine. She'd landed a fair number of shots on him—none as expertly softened as his—during the marathon, but he'd shrugged them all off like they were nothing, and he'd somehow turned each one into another embarrassing way to put her on the mat. Which, of course, was where she was now.

She took the hand Sam was offering, and he hauled her to her feet.
 

"Good job," he said softly when she steadied herself eye-to-eye with him.
 

She looked at him like he was crazy. What fight had he been watching? Was he messing with her?

"Failure or not, I'm not calling you sensei," she said. "Not happening."

It was his turn to look confused, but he didn't respond. He stepped back as Elias walked up and handed her a bottle of water, which she accepted with surprising enthusiasm.

"Well, sensei, what do you think?" he asked, smiling at Nikki like he thought she'd done something right too. Maybe they were all high.

She looked at Sam around the bottle as she sucked greedily at the water, but the voice that answered wasn't his.

"We have a lot of work to do," Mos said. At least, she would have sworn it was Mos if she didn't know for a fact that he was still bedridden in his room. She looked around as the voice went on, but he was nowhere to be seen. Elias and Sam both pointed to the camera mounted in the corner.

"Not too many bad habits though," Mos said through the speakers. "Not many habits at all. Just a lot of guts and instinct."

Nikki scowled at the camera.
 

"And a temper," Mos rasped a laugh, then paused. Laughing hurt him, she knew. She'd visited him often enough over the last couple days to know he was gritting his teeth and staring at the ceiling right now. "Instincts are dead on though. She'll learn fast. You boys and girls better watch yourselves. You'll be the ones on the mat before long."

Nikki looked around to see the others nodding seriously. They
were
all high. Her scowl tried to give way to a proud smile though, mainly because of the feelings pushing through from Michael.

"Fitness is a problem," Mos said. To which Impact and Coop nodded and Sam busied himself looking elsewhere.

The proud smile melted. "Wait—what?"

Elias ignored her as he looked over at Ace. "Do what you need to do."

Ace nodded as she looked Nikki up and down. "We'll start first thing in the morning."

"Start what? We'll start what in the morning?" Nikki asked. Her only answer was a bark of laughter from Coop. That laughter cut off when Ace held out her hand toward him and raised her eyebrows.

"I was betting on Padre, by the way. Pay up."

Nikki

“Get up, Nikki," the creature said in a jarringly human voice.
 

During hours of terror-fueled running, Nikki had imagined a thousand horrible outcomes once the black-armored alien cornered her, but conversation was not one of them.

She’d led the creature—the full nightmare version of Gideon’s dark side—on an exhausting chase through twisted, constantly narrowing alleys in Seattle and L.A., and then through the shanties of every free zone she’d ever seen, each one blending seamlessly into the next. Her every stride had been sluggish, agonizingly slower than she knew she could run, like her legs didn’t quite grasp the gravity of her situation, literally. No matter how hard she tried to run, no matter how many clumsy turns she made, the creature stayed right with her. Finally, it cornered her in a blind alley that became the vault the minute she turned and pressed her back into the concrete wall.

The creature stepped through the door and slowly crept closer, looming larger than she remembered, its long taloned fingers stretching out for her as it opened its mouth to reveal razor-like teeth. Then it spoke again.

“Come on, Nikki, get up.”

As the creature gathered itself to pounce, a hand shot out of the darkness and latched onto Nikki’s arm.

*
 
*
 
*

Nikki lurched up with a shout, tangling herself hopelessly in the sheets and nearly smacking her head on the angled concrete above her fold-down bed.

“Fun dream?” Ace asked, pulling her hand back from Nikki’s arm. She arched an eyebrow as Nikki tried to salvage what little dignity a twisted, sweaty t-shirt and obviously terrified expression would allow.

“Didn’t think so,” Ace went on. “Look on the bright side though.” She tossed a pair of shorts and a long-sleeved exercise top onto the bed. “Your heart rate’s already up. That’s half the battle on day one of a new program.”

Nikki stared at the clothes in confusion as Ace waited.

“What time is it?” Her voice wasn’t as thick with sleep as it usually was in the morning. Maybe that was another “bright side” to waking up in terror.

“Later than I’d like,” Ace said with a roll of her impressive shoulders. She was wearing a similar getup of shorts and a long-sleeved running top. She filled hers out a lot better than Nikki would though, and her thigh muscles looked like they could crack walnuts. That didn’t bode well for whatever this “program” was going to entail.

“If I had my way, we’d have been on the trail well before first light,” Ace said, still waiting like Nikki was supposed to be moving. She wasn’t. “But with those creatures out there at night…”

Nikki started to pull on the shorts but stopped as that sunk in.
 

“There are more of them out there?” The too-high pitch of her voice tore away the last shred of dignity she’d held onto. She’d heard the others talking about the creatures, but she’d let out-of-sight keep the reality of them well out of mind. The thought of walking outside right into their claws was too much to shrug off after her latest nightmare.

“Only at night, according to Cole,” Ace replied gently. She hadn’t missed the tone. “I don’t think they like the smell of him. He says he’s found signs of one or two on the far shore, but they haven’t crossed to the island yet. Not since the night Mos got hit.”

Nikki finished pulling the shorts on, keeping her face averted. She didn’t know what her expression looked like, but if it came even close to matching how she felt, the shame would be too much to bear this early in the morning. She slid off the bed and busied herself changing shirts. Not that it mattered. Ace had turned away and was eyeing Nikki’s two-pair shoe collection.

“Are these the only running shoes you have?”

“Why? What’s wrong with them?” Her tone was a jarring mix of whine and challenge, at least to her ears. She loved her pink sneakers. They were old, yes, and a little worn in spots, namely the soles, but they were the shining jewel of her hand-me-down wardrobe. They were the one item she’d paid for with carefully hoarded ration pogs. They were an indulgence she’d chosen simply because she’d wanted them, not because she’d needed them—the only indulgence Michael had ever let her have without complaint.

Ace nudged one of the shoes with her toe. She looked less than impressed. “They’ll do for today. We’ll see about getting something better tonight.”

Just like that. The way these people looked at money, rather, the way they disregarded it, still surprised Nikki even after all this time. She had money at her disposal now too, if she asked, but parting with even a few coins pained her. She couldn’t wrap her mind around putting as little thought into a purchase as she did which shirt to wear for the day. She just couldn’t get used to it.

She snatched her sneakers out of Ace’s disapproving eyeline and sat down to put them on.
Don’t listen to her, babies,
she thought as she pulled them on reverently.
There’s nothing better than you.

Ace didn’t give her much time to dawdle. As soon the last knot pulled tight, Nikki was hustled into the hall and toward the galley, which was fine with her. All that running in her nightmare had worked up an appetite.

Unfortunately, food was not part of Ace’s program. They bypassed the enticing smells coming from the kitchen and headed up the steps to the church. When Nikki complained, in the nicest possible way, Ace just chuckled and said, “No need to waste food,” whatever that meant.

A grueling half hour later, Nikki understood. If she’d had any food in her belly, it wouldn’t have stayed there.
 

What started as a casual jog in the crisp morning air quickly turned into a series of sprints up every hill they encountered on the island trail. By the third one, Nikki was mentally cursing the cold air searing her lungs. By the fifth, she was vocally cursing Elias for getting her into this. He, of course, was nowhere to be seen.
 

When they reached the open space where Impact practiced his flying, Ace finally called a halt and started stretching. Nikki dropped to her butt on the damp ground and tried to catch her breath. She had a lot to say—none of it nice—once she could breathe enough to speak.

“Don’t get too comfortable,” Ace said. She wasn’t breathing heavily at all. Her cheeks were a little flushed but that looked to be more from the cool air than exertion. Was she some kind of machine?
 

“You need to stretch while you’re warm,” Ace said. “But don’t do any bending over for a minute. Let your pulse rate drop a little. I don’t want you passing out on me.”

“I’m fine,” Nikki lied. What she was was out of shape. Badly. Or so she guessed. She’d never been out of shape. She’d never gotten this winded from running.
 

“You’re out of shape, kid,” Ace said.

For once, hearing somebody say she was right was the last thing Nikki wanted.

“I can’t be,” Nikki said, standing up faster than she should have and grabbing a foot to try to mimic Ace’s balanced pose. “I’m seventeen, and I look fine.”

Ace looked Nikki up and down and shrugged like she wasn’t convinced. What was that supposed to mean?

“What? I’m a teenager. Teenagers don’t get out of shape.” She knew it was more than youth that had kept her in shape up until now though. She’d never worked out, per se. She’d never had to. Nikki and Michael had always stayed tight and toned and had the cardio systems of gazelles, thanks to their power.

“They do if they spend four months barely getting out of bed.”

Nikki’s look must have matched what she was feeling. Ace immediately went on. “With good reason, I know. I might have done the same in your place. But you can’t lie around forever and expect to stay fit. And you can’t keep eating like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like Coop,” Ace said with a smile as she switched legs.

Nikki followed suit, with the switching, not the smiling. After a couple of false starts she got her balance. “What’s wrong with that? He seems to be in good shape.”

“He is. He’s also twice your size and hasn’t missed a day’s workout since puberty. He needs that many calories. He burns them. You don’t.”

“Yeah I do.” Nikki shifted to match Ace’s new stretch. Strangely, this one took more balance, even though she had both feet on the ground. Once she got settled, though, it did feel pretty good on the leg stretched out behind her. “You don’t see me gaining weight, do you?”

“Well…” Ace trailed off and didn’t seem fazed by Nikki’s glare.

“Well what?” Nikki kept her voice down, sort of.

“Well,” Ace paused to switch legs, and Nikki nearly crawled out of her skin. “You are getting a little hippy.”