Enders (8 page)

“So everyone’s all right there? Eugenia too?”

“We’re all fine,” Michael said. “Now.”

“What do you mean, ‘now’?”

“Well, it was weird,” Michael said. “One minute we were at home, and the next moment we woke up at the cabin. None of us can remember coming here. This guy, Ernie, shows up—”

“You tackled him,” Tyler said.

“What would you do when a strange guy shows up—”

“A Middle!” Tyler bounced up and down.

“Don’t interrupt,” I said softly

Michael continued, “He explained to us why we’re safer, but never how we got here.”

“We were kidnapped,” Tyler said in that half-joking, half-truthful way that only kids can pull off.

I glared at Hyden standing beside me. He shrugged as if to say it had been the only way. Then he motioned to his watch to remind me to wrap it up.

“I have to go. But you do what Michael tells you, okay?”

“Okay, Callie. You come join us soon,” Tyler said.

Michael looked serious. “Be good.”

“Be careful,” I said.

The screen went blank as their images faded into pixels.

“Sorry it couldn’t be longer,” Hyden said, nodding to the airscreen. “But we can’t risk any interceptions.”

I stood and faced him. He stepped back.

“So you drugged my family?” I said.

“Ernie probably gave them a light sedative so they wouldn’t panic. He had to get them out of the house fast, don’t forget.”

I felt my face get hot. “That’s what you did to me. That mint strip. I never fall asleep in cars.”

“Today was a rough day,” he said. “We had to get you all to places of safety. And we did that. Tyler is safe there. You’re safe here.”

“Don’t ever do that to me again.” I clenched my fists at my sides. “Or to my family. Just try talking to me next time.”

“Okay,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

His shoulders lowered. If he wasn’t truly sorry, then he was a pretty good actor. I focused on the blank screen. I wanted to go back to that good feeling of seeing Tyler’s face again, smiling. I had hated the chips for a million reasons before, but now it was worse. Now they were responsible for keeping us apart.

“Why can’t you take me there?” I asked.

“They’re safer without you,” Hyden said. “You’re the one he wants.”

“How many times do I have to say goodbye?” I stared at the airscreen, willing it to come on again.

Hyden was silent for a moment. “It’s late. You must be tired.”

I rubbed my face. “Where do I sleep?”

He showed me the section with the living quarters, which were surprisingly modest. My room, like the others, looked
like a dorm room. Really small, with just the basics. A tiny desk and bathroom.

“It’s not fancy,” Hyden said. “I put all the money into the technology. And I try to keep moving for security reasons.”

“That’s got to be hard.”

“You know what it’s like,” he said. “Running from place to place.”

Images from the past year flashed through my mind—sleeping bags on floors, overturned desks, running from marshals.

“How many Metals do you think there are?” I asked.

“I’m guessing my father has close to fifty. So there’s about another fifty out there somewhere.”

“Have you heard of a Starter named Emma?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so. No. She someone you’re looking for? Or avoiding?”

“She’s Helena’s granddaughter. I promised I’d find her.”

“I understand,” he said, hands in pockets. “You just have to realize, not everyone wants to be found.”

That night I dreamt I was standing in a field alone at night, with tall grass up to my waist. One tree stood in front of me. A red tree.

The Old Man walked out from behind the tree. The pixels on his mask danced and chased each other, glowing blue and giving off that slight buzzing sound.

“Callie. Where have you been?” he said in his raspy electronic voice. “I’ve missed you.”

“I thought you were gone,” I said.

“I’m right here, Callie. You know that. I’ll never leave.”

He approached. I backed up. Hyden rose from the tall grass underneath the tree. I thought he was going to help me. But he stood beside his father, walking toward me.

“We’ll never leave,” Hyden said.

As they got closer, all I could see were the blue pixels.

CHAPTER SIX

When I woke up, it took a moment to remember that I was at Hyden’s place. My head hurt. It could have been whatever Hyden used to sedate me. Or it might have been my chip. I blamed a lot of things on my chip these days. Anything that messed with your head that much had to have side effects.

I went into the cramped bathroom, showering quickly because I wanted to go find Redmond. Alone.

But when I went into the main lab, Redmond wasn’t there. Hyden stood at an airscreen, his sleeves rolled up, punching in codes. Before I could duck back out, he spotted me and waved me over. Surrounding him was a magical clutter of weird plasmas, elements that looked like bundles of tiny threads, the ends floating in the air. Liquids moved through invisible tubes.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I’m working on a blocker for you,” he said.

“So my chip can’t be tracked?”

“Don’t get too excited. It could take a while.” He stepped away from the airscreen.

“Redmond made a temporary one for me.” I felt the back of my head. “It’s still there, it just doesn’t work.”

I thought about my dream last night. How could I trust the son of the Old Man? My mom used to quote an expression, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Hyden clearly had the technical genius of his father. But what else did he have?

He gave me a curious look. “Do I make you nervous?”

I shrugged. Was I that easy to read?

“I know,” he said. “You woke up thinking, what am I doing with the Old Man’s son?” He wiggled his fingers in a spooky motion. “Just because my father is a monster doesn’t mean I am. In fact, I know exactly what I don’t want to be, because of him.”

“And sons never turn out to be a lot like their dads?”

“Well, you’ll just have to watch me to make sure I don’t go to the dark side.” He ran his hand through his hair and stared at his airscreen. “I’ve been working twenty-four-seven to try and stop him.”

Hyden had to feel responsible. Because he was. He was the one who’d come up with the technology.

“And now we’re running out of time,” he said. “He escalated everything with that bombing.”

I stared at one of the tubes near him. A rainbow of colors flowed through it.

“Wasn’t it a waste for him to destroy a Metal?” I asked. “He can’t make any more.”

“It was worth it to him to get you. Which he almost did.”

I turned at the same time he did and accidentally brushed his bare arm with my hand. Hyden recoiled, held his arm, and squeezed his eyes shut as if to will away the pain.

“Are you okay?” I remembered the way he’d reacted at the parking garage.

He sucked in a breath. “It’s nothing.”

But it obviously was something. He opened his eyes. A flush of embarrassment came over his cheeks.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, not making eye contact.

“I didn’t mean to,” I said. “What’s wrong, Hyden? What happened to you?”

He looked at me as if he wanted to explain but couldn’t find the words.

“I have to go. Sorry,” Hyden said over his shoulder as he left.

The sterile lab was empty. I went into the hall, wondering where else a scientist would be. Then I smelled coffee. I followed the smell, and it led me to the kitchen.

It was a utilitarian, almost industrial kitchen, very basic, but large. Redmond stood with his back to me, brewing coffee. “Hello, Callie,” he said without turning.

“How did you know it was me?”

“Your footsteps are much lighter than Hyden’s or Ernie’s. And I knew you’d come looking for me.” He turned and smiled. “Want some?” He raised the coffee carafe.

“Sure.” I looked at the counter and saw various cereals in glass jars. “I thought you Brits only drank tea.”

I took a cup and stirred in some milk.

He put his finger to his lips. “Shh. Don’t tell the queen,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “So I hear you’re living in Helena’s house?”

“She left it to me. Half of it. The other half goes to Helena’s granddaughter. Once I find her.”

“I know Emma. Met her several times. And her mother.” He looked down.

“I’m sorry.” I sipped my coffee.

Emma’s mother—Helena’s daughter—would have been a Middle, of course. Whenever anyone spoke of Middles, it brought up the sadness. I didn’t know her. Whether Redmond had known her well or not, anytime the conversation went to losing a Middle, it brought on the memories of all the Middles you’d lost. It would just make both of us sad. I wasn’t going to let him go down that path.

“What’s Emma like?” I asked.

“All the ladies in that family are stubborn and opinionated. Must be in their genes. Especially Emma. Thought she knew how to fix the world. Typical Starter, as you call them.”

“If you see her, will you tell her about her grandmother? And her inheritance.”

“If I do, I’ll tell her.” He stared at his coffee. “What’s it like living in Helena’s house?”

“Beautiful. Feels like she’s still there.”

“She was quite a gal,” he said. “She wanted to save the Starters. If only she had known that the man she hated the most had a son, a Starter who shared her goal.”

I thought about Hyden. He was so complicated.

“What’s wrong with his arm?” I asked. “Do you know?”

“His arm? You mean his whole body, don’t you?”

I was totally confused.

“I should let him explain it to you,” he said.

“Was he injured?”

“Just don’t touch him and you’ll be all right. Once I accidentally brushed his hand. It took a week before he relaxed around me again.”

“And he trusts you?”

“As much as he trusts anyone.”

That reminded me of his father’s warning.

“Do you know his father?” I asked.

“I know of him. And what he wants to do. If he can get ahold of the full technology, he’ll have no qualms about selling it to the highest bidder—a terrorist regime or worse. And that’s why I’ll put up with living like a gopher.”

“Can’t we just reclaim it? Get the rest of the Metals and find a way to eventually remove or nullify the chips?”

“We can’t take it back. We need to work on counter-measures.”

“Why not just give it to the government and let them work on it?”

“Hyden doesn’t trust them. I’m not sure I do either. It’s an outrage, locking up homeless Starters in institutions.”

I saw his point.

“Redmond, for someone to connect to my chip, they’d have to have access to the technology. But only Hyden and his father have it, right?”

“Far as I know.”