Haunted (State v. Sefore) (17 page)

“Noah?”

“Who’s been in my file?”

Ryan frowned. “The last two entries were Commander Westin, head of the Academy, and … Regional Minister of Classification Joy Barnhardt. That’s weird. She never signs off on individual reports.”

His stomach rolled. He forced another breath. It was true. Somehow Daniel had known. No, been a part of it. His head dropped back against the wall.

“Noah.” Ryan’s voice demanded his attention. “What is going on?”

“I think Daniel had someone fix my placement. I don’t know how, but …”

“What makes you think that?”

“Something he said. About me being ungrateful for what he did four years ago.”

“When he was at the Academy.”

Silence filled the space between them.

Ryan sighed. “It doesn’t necessarily change anything, hypothetically, I mean.”

Blood pounded in his ears. “It. Changes. Everything.”

Chapter Twenty

M
addison and Jakob
stared at the bathroom door. The vidcom in the bathroom had been ringing for ten minutes. Something—else—was wrong.

“This is all you, sis,” Jakob whispered. He took a step back toward the kitchen.

She knocked on the door. “Noah?”

No answer.

She tried the doorknob, not locked. “Noah, I’m coming in unless you tell me not to.” Still, no answer. She twisted and the door the swung open.

Oh. Noah sat slumped on the floor, his legs awkwardly wedged between his torso and the bathroom cabinet. He didn’t acknowledge her presence. The vidcom spun on the floor beside his hand.

“Noah?”

He blinked. She reached for the vidcom. His hand shot out toward it. “Don’t answer it. Turn it off. Take the battery out too.”

“Okay.” She sat beside him and picked up the phone, following his instructions. “Who was it?”

“Daniel’s best friend, Ryan.”

“Did something happen to Daniel?”

A dark chuckle escaped him. The reality of it went against everything she knew about him. He shouldn’t be able to laugh like that.

“Something happened to me.”

Okay, she was officially scared. She grabbed his arm. “Noah, what happened?”

He turned to look at her, his eyes shuttered. “Daniel. I think Daniel got me placed in Class One.”

No. That wasn’t possible. He couldn’t have …

“Ryan works at the Regional Classification Office near our home. He looked at my file. Someone tampered with it. Someone at the office or at the Academy.”

Someone had deliberately put Noah in his worst nightmare? Not even Daniel would do that. Right? “How do you know it was him?”

Noah clenched his fists. “Friday night. When he threatened to kill you. He told me he had to save my life again, that I’d better be grateful considering I haven’t thanked him for anything else he’s done for me in the last four years.” His chest rose and fell, rose and fell. “Maddison, we’ve only been back in contact for two years. He shouldn’t have been able to do anything for me when he was at the Academy.”

She needed to play the devil’s advocate here. It could’ve been Daniel, but all of this info was circumstantial. “Maybe—”

“Ryan thinks Daniel could’ve done it.”

Shit. Daniel got Noah into the Academy. Daniel made Noah a liquidator. That kid was dead because of Daniel. Noah was haunted because of Daniel. They were going to kill Noah because of Daniel. Her vision went red.

“I could kill him.”

Noah shook his head and straightened. “Whoa. What just happened with you?”

Was he serious? She sat up on her knees. “Everything is Daniel’s fault. Everything.”

“Well …”

Her hands curled into fists. “Why aren’t you angry? I want to punch him. I want …”

“Hey, guys.” Jakob appeared in the doorway. She glared at him. “Taylor’ll be home any minute, so um, we should probably shift gears.”

She could do damage with her words right now if she wanted to, the anger felt that sharp.

“Maddie.”

“Give me a minute.” She spit the words. There had been too many revelations this afternoon. One too many. She closed her eyes and counted to ten. Unclenched her fists. Got to her feet.

She opened her eyes. Noah stood beside her. “I’m fine.”

Sure.

He took her hand. “Come on, let’s get back to the living room.”

Jakob led the solemn procession. “What’s our cover story?”

Noah kept his mouth shut but inclined his head to her. She considered the possibilities for a moment, searching for the best option. “We’ll tell everyone the truth.”

Both guys froze.

“That I overreacted about
his
arrival and lumped Noah in with him.” She pushed the anger back down. “But he’s not like
him
—parking outside our house on Friday night and defending a total stranger proved it to me.”

“I don’t like it.” Noah shook his head. “It makes me seem innocent. Can’t we come up with a way to even the scales a bit?”

“But that’s what happened, minus what we can’t tell them. Olivia already suspects that I’m to blame.” Olivia and Sophie would chalk the situation up to Maddison’s suspicious nature, and Josh didn’t need another reason to dislike Noah.

“I think she’s right.” Jakob drummed his fingers on the back of the couch. “It’s the easiest solution. Besides, we’re talking about Aunt Taylor and Maddie’s friends. They’ll overlook a mistake of hers. You wouldn’t come out of it so unscathed.”

Exactly.

Noah did not look convinced. “Are you sure?”

She couldn’t be more sure. “Positive.”

“I still don’t like it, but I’ll go along with it.”

“Let me do this,” she said, giving his arm a light slap. He winced. Had Daniel hurt him more than he let on? How much pain was he still in? She put her hands on her hips. “Okay, you lay down. I’m going to go get an ice pack. You should at least rest until dinner gets here.”

He opened his mouth to argue, but she deepened her glare and pointed his head to the pillow. Once he complied, she headed for the freezer. How had it never occurred to her that some liquidators might be different? That maybe some of them could be victims too?

She’d been so wrong.

Grabbing several frozen bags of vegetables from the top shelf, she headed back to the living room. Noah lay down, one hand resting on his left side.

“Can you take over the counter pain meds with that shot?” She handed him the vegetables.

“I’m fine.” He held the frozen peas to the swelling on his right cheek and rested the bag of corn against his ribs.

“How much?” Maddison moved for the bathroom cabinet. He muttered something in response. “What did you say, dear?” She infused the question with a healthy dose of sugar.

“Four hundred milligrams.”

She brought back six hundred and a glass of water.

He glanced down at the number of pills in her hand. “Are you going to be difficult often?”

“If necessary.” She thrust her open palm toward him.

With an eye roll, he took the pills in one hand and swallowed them. He ignored the outstretched glass.

She smiled. “Thank you.”

The lock mechanism clicked. All three of their heads swiveled to face the front door. A disheveled but alert Aunt Taylor came through it seconds later. Maddison took a step forward. She needed to head Taylor off, and quick.

Taylor brushed past Maddison and observed Noah. “I don’t know why you didn’t seek treatment at the hospital but you won’t refuse it here. I’m going to examine you.” She stared at his pupils and grabbed his wrist to take a pulse. No one spoke or moved. After thirty seconds, Taylor released him with a nod and faced Maddison. “But first, I need to talk to my niece about throwing herself into a fight with a liquidator.”

Don’t roll your eyes. That’ll only make it worse.

Noah began to sit up and protest, but Taylor pushed him back down. “Jakob, look after him. We’ll be back downstairs before too long.” Her tone brooked no argument. She led Maddison upstairs.

This was not going to go well.

Once her bedroom door had closed behind them, Maddison turned. “Noah already lectured me about getting involved.”

“Well, hear it again.” Taylor paced in front of the door. “I heard you rushed in and threw yourself over Noah. What in the world possessed you to do that?”

“Someone had to stop Daniel. Noah could’ve died.”

“You could’ve too.” Taylor’s voice raised in volume to match her own.

“So, what? I was supposed to stand by with every other person and watch?” Her hands flew to her hips as she stood in Taylor’s path.

“I just want you to think. You could’ve called for help. Or tried to distract his brother another way.”

Maddison let the rage cool into a controlled and derisive tone. “Who would’ve helped? Did you hear about anyone else rushing out to help Noah or Ralph Emerson? Hundreds of doctors and nurses, people twice my age, filled the hospital, and no one moved a muscle to help them. The ones outside all stood by and watched, like helpless sheep.” Her voice dropped another note. “Well, they weren’t. And if you want me to tell you that’s what I’ll do when someone I care about is in trouble, you’re wasting your breath.”

Taylor leaned away from Maddison, her eyes wide.

Maddison’s arms slid off her hips, and her shoulders dropped. “I will make you the same promise I made Noah and Jakob. I won’t get involved unless I am one hundred percent certain there’s no other option. If someone else will step in and help. If Noah or Jakob or you can handle yourselves, I’ll make myself stand still and watch. Because it’s what you want. But not if it means watching someone else I love die if I can do something about it. Liquidator or not.”

Taylor sank down on the bed, her head bowed. “That’s what worries me. I don’t want you getting yourself killed trying to prevent something you can’t. Like with your parents.” Her last words tiptoed into the room, and Maddison leaned forward to catch them. She wished she hadn’t.

“I know now I couldn’t have saved them.” She sat down beside Taylor. “But today was different.”

Taylor sighed. “His brother did that to him?”

“Yeah.” And so much more.

“How is he taking it?”

Maddison fidgeted with a throw pillow. With that revelation? “Better than I would be. But he’s had longer to adjust to the idea.”

“So, what about you?” Taylor laid a hand on her shoulder.

An image of Noah thudding against the hospital wall flashed before her eyes. Another of Daniel kicking him. Her throat tightened. She sucked air in. “He could’ve died, Aunt Tay.”

He could still die. A sob forced the air back out. Fear clogged her airway.

“The fight keeps playing over and over …” Her voice cracked.

Taylor’s arms encircled Maddison. “One little breath at a time. It’s going to be okay.” Taylor’s hand moved up and down her back. “Take another for me. In. Out. Good. He’s okay. Noah’s okay.”

After several minutes, her lungs quit screaming. She took two more deep breaths. The panic faded away. “He won’t tell me how much pain he’s in, but I think it’s bad. I gave him six hundred milligrams of anti-inflammatory right before you walked in the door. He refused anything before then.”

“I’ll make sure he’s going to be okay.” Taylor brushed Maddison’s hair off her shoulder and down her back. “How are you feeling about everything else?”

She brushed the tears away with a frustrated swipe. “I’ve been such an idiot.”

“He doesn’t seem to think so.” Taylor smiled at her. “You know, I think that boy would walk through fire for you.”

He already had.

*

Noah glanced up at the ceiling again. “They’ve reached a compromise.”

Jakob laughed. “I bet they’re crying on each other’s shoulders.”

“You sound like an expert.”

“My dad gave me some pointers, but if you want to survive living with two women, you pick up on things quick. They’ll get it out of their system and be fine when they come back down. You,” he pointed a finger at Noah, “might be a different story. Maddison’s bossiness is genetic. I think Aunt Taylor has a gold medal in getting her way. She’ll only be satisfied with a complete examination.”

“I’ll consider myself warned.”

A physical examination wouldn’t be a problem. He just needed to avoid the computer-monitored tests and their ability to display the increased brain activity indicative of a liquidator.

“I have to take my placement exam next week.” Jakob’s voice held an anxiety Noah had never heard from him before.

Just a placement. His file. Daniel. His life. Noah pushed himself up into a sitting position.
Focus on Jakob
. “What tier do you want to score in?”

“Third.”

The tier he’d tried to … No. “Education. What do you want to teach?”

“History.”

Me too.
He weaved his fingers together. “You know there’s no way to prepare for the test. You heard me talking about that?”

Jakob slumped in his seat. “How did you know?”

“Lucky guess. You’ve eavesdropped before.”

“Fine, you caught me.” Jakob studied his hands.

He knew the answer but asked anyway. “Are you nervous about scoring too low or too high?”

“Too high.” With a slow, circular motion, Jakob pushed his cuticles back. “What if I score top tier?”

Noah stood up and walked over to him. The fear was all too familiar. Realistic or not, it could still gut a person. Ignoring the pain, he knelt in front of Jakob and put a hand on his shoulder. “Then I’ll help you prepare as much as I can. And on the day you graduate, I’ll be waiting for you.”

Jakob stiffened. “Couldn’t I run? Go underground?”

Noah sighed and sat on the coffee table. He turned his back toward Jakob and pulled his shirt collar down. “See the gray bruise?” He pointed to the square on his left shoulder blade. “The day you arrive at the Academy, they insert a unique, GPS-tracking microchip under your skin. To protect their investment.” He dropped his hand and faced Jakob head on. “To keep tabs. It monitors your heart rate, among other things. If you flat line, because of death or because you disconnect it, a distress signal is sent to the regional headquarters. A local team is dispatched within seconds. Their response time is less than fifteen minutes.”

He rubbed at the tan line on his right hand. A tan line he shouldn’t have. “I’ll never be free of them, Jakob, and if you run, neither will you. Even if you could elude their grasp before being shipped off to the Academy, you could never stop running. The Elite are very good at hunting down their enemies.” He locked eyes with Jakob and inclined his head toward the stairs Maddison and Taylor had disappeared up. “And they’ll use every means necessary to do so.”

Jakob’s eyes dropped. “I wouldn’t put them at risk.”

“I know. I’m just making it clear: the one choice you have is how you handle your commission. So if you end up needing my help, you have it.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re important to me—and not just because you’re Maddison’s little brother. I promise, if the worst happens, to stand by you anyway I can.”

Jakob met his gaze and nodded. “Thanks.”