Entanglement (YA Dystopian Romance) (32 page)

Half
a mile from Dominic’s house, he felt it. A cold patch in the air. Static
electricity. The hairs on his forearms rose and swayed, as if swept up in an
underwater current, and there was no question as to the source.

At
ten fifty-seven, Aaron mowed over the dry brush outside Dominic’s gate, scaled
the wall, and sprinted up the driveway. He felt the ground buzzing through the
soles of his shoes. He circled the house.

At
ten fifty-eight, the laundry room door creaked open, and Aaron slipped inside.
It was like swimming through needles.

Only
the house was empty.

He
ran upstairs, Clive’s room—empty. The bed had been made, the walls stripped
bare. As if he never lived there. He ran downstairs and checked the kitchen.
Through a broken window, a breeze fanned the stench of rotting fish. It wafted
over him, warm and nauseating. Flies swarmed over piles of crusted-over china,
oil-smudged paper plates, and dripping take-out boxes. Sunlight burned streaks through
the humid haze.

Perhaps
they were already down below.

At
ten fifty-nine, Aaron plunged through the aitherscope’s frozen glare. At the
end of the corridor, the jagged stairs dropped into the Earth. His eyes watered
from the gases rising out of the dark shaft.

Aaron
took a deep breath, then stepped down.

And
he found Amber at the bottom.

***

Suspended
from the ceiling, dim bulbs flickered red-orange in wire cages. Moisture
gleamed like blood on the rough cavern walls.

She
was sitting on the operating table, dwarfed under the machine’s pulsating mass.
She held her legs against her chest, and her hair fell loosely in front of her
eyes.

She
was waiting.

Above
her, the machine idled, purred—it did something to the air, made it ripple. The
edges of the black steel blurred in and out of focus, as if the structure
itself was oscillating between worlds. A single green indicator light blinked
on the side.

It
too was waiting, like Amber. Waiting for the surgeon.

“Amber!”
Aaron yelled, but the machine’s hum swallowed his voice. He ran to the
operating table, and his footsteps faded behind him. Only when he touched her
arm did she glance up.

Her
mouth fell open. “Are you
dumb?
” she whispered. And suddenly her eyes glistened
with tears. “You can’t be here!”

“I
can’t let you do this,” he said, his breath misting.

“You
think everything’s about you, don’t you?” she said. “I meant what I said on the
phone . . . and I don’t need your permission.” Her eyes darted to the stairs then
back again, almost imperceptibly. “It’s not like you’re my half.”

“Maybe
I am,” he said. “The only reason you called is so I wouldn’t come.”

Suddenly,
her tone changed. “Aaron,
please
—” She glanced behind him again, her
eyes panicky. “Do you think I want you to see this?”

“See
what? The operation? Or
you?
” he said. “After they’re finished with
you.”

She
just glared at him.

“Get
off the bench,” he said.

“So
now you’re ordering me around?”

“I’ll
drag you off the bench if you prefer.”

“I
already made a deal with him,” she said. “I made him promise, and
you
can’t
do anything about it.”

“Promise
what?”

“To
leave you alone,” she said.

“In
exchange for
this?
”

“He
said it’s completely painless.”

“I’m
sure,” he said. “And what about after?”

“Isn’t
that the best part?” she said, smiling weakly. “Clive can do anything he wants
to me and I won’t remember a thing.”

“You’ll
remember what’s missing—” Aaron felt an itch at the back of his head, and he
glanced back at the stairs. They were empty. “We need to get out of here,” he
said. “It’s eleven o’clock.”

“Did
you hear what I just said?

“I’m
sorry,” said Aaron. “I made a deal with Casler first.”

“Too
bad. He likes me better.”

“I’m
not worth you throwing half of yourself away,” he said, and the itch in his
scalp became a burn. “Now let’s leave while we both still can.”

She
opened her mouth, but at that moment, Dr. Selavio, Clive, and Dominic emerged
from the dark stairwell, and the halogen lights ignited like blue suns around
the perimeter of the cave. They made the dimmer bulbs look like burned out
cinders.

***

“Dominic
said you’d
come,” said Casler, flashing his dazzling white teeth. He stepped up to the
operating table, set down a worn leather bag, and rested his hand on Aaron’s
shoulder. He beamed at Amber. “You’re free to go,” he said. “Aaron’s
volunteered to take your place.”

Figuring he’d play
along until Amber was in the clear, Aaron nodded. As soon as she was out of the
dungeon, he’d run for it, blockade the cellar door, and light the house on
fire. Then he and Amber could split the country.”

Amber glanced between
the two of them, horrified. “You
promised
,” she said to Casler.

 “Clive, why don’t you
take her upstairs,” said Casler, opening his medical bag. “She’ll be safer up
there.”

“But
Aaron’s
supposed
to be safe!” she said, and as Clive limped forward, she scrambled backward off
the operating table. Clive circled the bench, grabbed her arms, and lifted her
off the table.

“Let
go!
” Amber
tore at Clive’s hoodie, and for a split-second, Aaron glimpsed the scabs on
Clive’s shoulder—the ones he’d made the previous night with the car door—before
Clive swung her around and clamped his palm over her mouth, choking off her
screams.

Aaron felt his muscles
tense, but he held himself back. He just wanted her out of the dungeon.

Clive paused halfway to
the stairs and glared at Aaron. His pale eyes burned between his slitted
eyelids, challenging him—
daring
him. Then Amber jerked her head against
his chin, knocked him backwards, and broke free.

She
ran to Aaron and grabbed his hands.

“Are
you crazy?” she gasped, as Clive struggled to his feet behind her. “Why are you
doing this?”

“Because
I’m in love with you,” said Aaron, “and I can’t stand the idea of him taking
away everything that makes you who you are. Now go upstairs.”

Amber
blinked, and for an instant her eyes were completely unguarded, exposed. “No,”
she whispered, and moved closer.

Casler
sighed. “Can
somebody
get her out of here?”

Dominic
appeared at her side. “Come on, Amber. Upstairs where it’s safe.”

But Amber ignored him.
Her green eyes never left Aaron’s. “I want
you
to be safe,” she said.

“There’s no point if I
don’t have a half,” said Aaron, and he winked.

She looked confused.

“Just go upstairs,”
said Aaron, and he tugged his hands out of her grip.

“But
you’re the only thing that matters,” she said. “You can’t let him do this to
you!”

It took both Clive and
Dominic to drag
her toward the stairs. She
squirmed and
clawed at their arms, and her hair whipped behind her.
“We had a deal!” she yelled.

“You’re
right,” said Casler. “I just don’t need your end anymore.”

“Casler,
you double-crossing liar,” she gasped.

“Please—”
He gave a weak smile. “Call me dad.”

While
she kicked and struggled, they dragged her out of the dungeon. As soon as she
was gone, Aaron breathed out a sigh of relief.

Casler
leaned over his medical bag. “Now,” he said, extracting
a surgical mask, latex
gloves, and a syringe.
“Let’s begin.”

***

“You think I’m stupid?”
said Aaron. “I’m not donating my clairvoyance either.” He started toward the
stairs, ready to sprint if Casler pursued him.

“If
you’re thinking of running away with her, it won’t work . . . ,” said Casler.

“That
wasn’t the plan.”

“ . . . because
she and Clive are still connected. They need to be near each other constantly,
especially in the beginning. If you kidnap her now, she’ll get separation
anxiety. She’ll get sick. Eventually, she’ll die. I don’t think you want that,
Aaron.”

“No
shit.” Aaron slowed and glanced behind him. “That wasn’t the plan. I just
wanted her off your operating table.”

“And
I agree with you,” said Casler. “As her half-father, I didn’t want to let her
donate anything, but since she’s eighteen, it’s her choice. Aaron, I didn’t
lie to you this
morning. I
did
want to make you two halves again, but Amber wouldn’t let
me. She insisted I leave you alone. As I said before—and as you can clearly see—her
decision to donate clairvoyance is separate from her decision not to be your
half.”

The
words stung. Aaron spun around to face him. “She thought it was either her or
me.”

Casler smiled. “Trust
me, I’m not taking anybody’s clairvoyance without their permission. No, the
real reason is that as Clive’s half, she’s facing a lot of pressure
to conform. She wants the operation done so she
can be like the other girls in the Juvengamy Brotherhood. Just a thimbleful . . . I’m
not willing to take out any more than that.”

“This
is getting really sick,” said Aaron.

Casler nodded, his face
somber. “I know. I don’t like the influence the Brotherhood has on her either . . . ”
He scrunched his eyebrows, brooding. “There
is
another solution.” 

Aaron stared at the
doctor, hardly knowing what to believe anymore—and still clinging to the hope
that somehow he and Amber could end up halves again. “Bullshit,” he said.  

“I can make it safe for
you two to run away together. As much as it would hurt Clive, I want her to be
with her original half . . . and I want her to be safe.”

“If we’re not halves,
then how?”

“Right now, we just
need to sever her channel,” he said, and seeing the look on Aaron’s face, he
added, “we’ll put Clive in the machine. Remember, her channel can heal like
yours. You won’t be connected like halves, but at least she’ll be free.”

“Forget it,” said
Aaron. “You’re not cutting her channel again.” He marched toward the stairs,
but Casler called after him.

“Once you leave, Aaron,
she’s just going to come back down here. She gets what she wants, you know.”

Aaron hesitated. He was
right. She would come back down here, and
anything
was better than that.
The next instant, Casler stood over him.

The man grinned,
flashing a row of perfect white teeth as he slipped the white mask over his
nose and mouth and snapped the gloves into place. “Keep her safe,” he said,
“and bring her back in a few months. I’ll make you halves then.” He winked.

Casler’s cologne filled
Aaron’s sinuses, calmed him. Tempted him. He knew it was wrong, though. But
even as he edged away from the doctor, his brain scrambled for a reason—
any
reason—to trust him.

“You’d really put Clive
in the machine?” said Aaron.

“All I need is a tiny
sample of that scar tissue so he’ll survive without a half.”

“No way. You’re not
drilling a hole through my head.”

Casler chuckled. “That
was for the
autopsy
, Aaron. It’s a noninvasive procedure. I’m going to
give you an injection that dissolves some of that scar tissue into your
bloodstream. Then, all I need to do is draw a sample of your blood. Then you’re
free to go . . . and I’ll take care of the rest.”

“That’s it? Just two
shots?”

“Just two shots.”

Aaron considered the
risks. When it was explained like that, his doubts seemed absurd. All the guy
wanted was a sample of the scar tissue; he had made that clear from the
beginning. If Aaron complied just this once, it would at least get the guy off
his back and buy him more time with Amber. Also, he would force the doctor to
show his hand. The worst Casler could do, short of injecting him with poison,
would be to tranquilize him and strap him into the machine anyway. And Aaron
wasn’t that stupid. 

He felt his mouth widen
into a smirk. “I’ll do it on one condition,” he said. “You inject yourself
first.”

Casler peered into his
eyes, then ruffled Aaron’s hair with his palm. “Gladly. I think this is the
right thing to do, Aaron.”

And Aaron knew it
wasn’t.

“Any allergies I should
know of?” said Casler, as he rummaged through his medical bag. His voice was
deep and soothing behind the mask. He was a doctor, after all.

Aaron shook his head,
gaping in disbelief as the doctor filled two syringes with a clear liquid. This
was actually happening.