Loop (16 page)

My heart resumed thumping, but it was a hollow thud. He didn’t know about Leto. Then I got angry. Why couldn’t they have come to me before Leto had? None of this would have happened. Chicken–egg. It had happened. There was nothing I could do to change it.

And I desperately needed help, whoever these benefactors were, now more than ever.

“Why do they want to help me?” I mean, I hadn’t exactly been the poster child for Shifter Excellence lately.

“Well, to be honest, they think you might be able to help them in return.”

Bergin chuckled when he noticed what must have been a suspicious look on my face.

“Nothing unsavory, I assure you. Are you familiar with ICE?”

“They’re the ones that pay for Buzztabs if someone can’t afford them.”

“And microchips. One of their functions, yes. I’m on their advisory board. They’ve been following your mother’s case with great interest. There are many within ICE who feel that your mother is the victim of a horrible crime.”

“What?”
I’d heard more theories than I could count about what had happened to my mother, but never that she’d been attacked.

“The crime of ignorance. And Shifting regulations that weren’t serving her best interests. I know we don’t fully know what happened to your mother that awful day, but we do know one thing: The system failed.”

“But what does this have to do with me?”

“Like it or not, Miss Bennis, you’ve become a sympathetic figure to those who want reform in the world of Shifting.”

“I have?”

He nodded.

“Well, I don’t believe my mom tampered with her chip, if that’s what you’re getting at. And Mom was a stickler for protocol on missions.” Well, except for the one glaring exception, the reason so many nonShifters thought she’d tampered with her chip. “If I signed up to be the poster child for some kind of anti-chip movement, she’d flip over in her—”

My breath caught in my throat, and I curled up tighter.

“Nothing like that.” His voice turned gentle: “ICE simply wants the regulations placed on Shifting to be more balanced. It will benefit everyone. Shifter and non alike.”

“So what exactly do they want from me?”

“For now, just your assurance of support.” He smiled. “Don’t worry. When the time comes, they’ll have some easy public relations task that you’ll be happy to help with.”

“And in return, they’ll pay all my mom’s hospital bills?”

“Yes, now I know you have free options available, but—”

I snorted. He was talking about Resthaven. I would do
anything
to keep my mom out of that place.

“Where do I sign?” I interrupted.

Bergin smiled and handed me a form and a stylus.

“I hate to have to even mention this,” he said, “after all you’ve been through, but some of your recent activities have been, shall we say, less than commendable. Switching missions, a forced fade. These are the kinds of actions that could corrode relations between Shifters and nonShifters.
Some might even say they reflect negatively on your mental state.
”

My breath snagged in my throat. Bergin’s words packed a hidden warning, and we both knew it.

“ICE is investing a lot into your mother,” he said. “Please don’t make them regret their decision.”

“Absolutely.”
Flaming piles of blarking turds.
I had to get rid of Finn. Now.

“Excellent. And I think that…” Bergin’s voice faded away, and with a startled expression he turned his gaze to the doorway. “Yes?”

I flipped around to see what he was looking at. Dr. Quigley had stepped into the room. She glued her eyes first on me, then on Headmaster Bergin.

“We had a meeting,” she said.

“We did? Oh, of course. Come in.” He turned back to me, his demeanor suddenly brisk. “That will be all, Miss Bennis.”

“Can we talk more later?” I asked.

“I’ll keep you updated.”

“But—”

He looked up at Quigley again with a strained smile, then back at me. “I said that will be all, Miss Bennis. Tut-tut, don’t want to keep you from any more of your classes.”

I glared at the dean on my way out of the room. Who did Quigley think she was, barging in like that? An anger-fueled pressure built behind my ears as I stomped toward the gymnasium. I gulped down a couple of Buzztabs without bothering to stop for a glass of water, my second dose of the day.

No. My third.

My Buzz had been so wonky since that midterm. It felt like my tendrils were being pulled ten different directions at once, but there was no way I was going to report it. Gym was the last class I felt like going to, but Bergin wouldn’t file skipping class under “commendable.” There were only twenty minutes left when I arrived.

Coach Black tossed a gravbelt at me and grunted, “Aerial day.”

Tall heights. Loved them about as much as water.

I cinched the belt up and buoyed a few feet off the ground, did a little jazz-hands thing, and kind of kicked my feet around. Maybe it would appease him and he wouldn’t make me go any higher.

“Nope,” said Coach. “All the way up to the top mark, three flips, then you can free float.”

“But—”

“You got a problem with that, Bennis?” He pulled out his whistle and gave a tiny
tweet
to Patrice Wallingham and another transporter who were bobbing along the ceiling chatting. I expected him to reprimand them, but he just smiled and waved them on. Coach Black was one of the few nonShifter teachers at the school, and he always played favorites with the transporters. I scowled and had started to say something I’d regret when a strong hand wrapped around mine and gently tugged me upward.

“She’s good, Coach.” Wyck flashed me one of his infamous come-hither grins and only let go when we reached the mark. I panicked, grasping the air for something to hold on to, but there was nothing. He slipped his hand around my waist to steady me.

“Easy there.”

Tweet-tweet.

Coach pulled his whistle out of his mouth and made a V at me with his stubby fingers in the universal
I’m watching you
sign. Then he rolled his arms over each other.

The flips.

“We’ll do it together,” said Wyck. He placed his hand at the small of my back and guided me forward. The world tumbled around me. I had no idea how long I’d been spinning when he grabbed me by the shoulders. “Whoa there.”

It took me a moment to recover my equilibrium.

“So you’re not still mad at me?” I asked.

“About that, I’m sorry I stormed off last night.”

“No, I shouldn’t have blamed you for how the mission went.” I kept my eyes glued to his. If I didn’t, I’d go back to panic mode. “Transporters always get the crap end of the stick. I’m the one who needs to apologize.”

“Don’t. You’re one of the good ones, Bree. And I really do feel horrible about the forced fade. Promise you’ll let me make it up to you.”

I started to argue with him, but then it occurred to me that I’d just found Finn’s transporter. I bit my cheek to keep from smiling too widely.

TWEET.

“Less chatty, more twirly!” yelled Coach Black.

Above me, Patrice snickered and whispered to her friend. If Bergin thought I’d have an iota of sway with any of the nonShifters at the Institute, he was going to be sorely disappointed.

“You wanna hang out later?” asked Wyck, ignoring them all.

“I can’t,” I said. “Homework.” If sitting on my bed figuring out a way to sneak Finn into the Institute without raising suspicions qualified as homework.

Wyck mimed a knife stabbing into his chest. “You’re killing me here, Bennis. You know that, don’t you?”

“Another time,” I said, meaning it. I clutched his elbow one last time to steady myself.

A few minutes later, Coach blasted his whistle and tapped each student’s name on his clipboard to indicate he’d tortured us all a sufficient amount. We hit the showers, and as I passed Patrice Wallingham’s locker she murmured, “Tink.”

That was it.

“Do you want to say that to my face?” I asked.

Out of nowhere, a tru-ant crawled onto my toe and stung it. “Oww.” A warning. Literally. I needed to toe the line.

Fine. If ICE wanted a poster child, they would get one. I dressed in a hurry.

Mom’s bills were a thing of the past. I’d be rid of Finn soon. And surely my future self was just keeping Leto’s delivery safe for me—she’d give it back in no time. Nothing could shake me. Then I walked out into the hall and saw the welcome banner.

Family Night.

*   *   *

Mimi had her feet tucked under her legs on the sofa like a nesting bird. A gleaming smile matched her shiny, fresh-brushed hair. When she saw me walk in, her face fell, not in
a don’t-rain-on-my-parade
way. In an
I-wish-I-could-get-you-your-own-float
kind of way. The first few Family Nights since my mom’s accident, Mimi had told her parents to stay home and had spent the evenings with me instead. But after a while, it seemed silly. Besides, I loved seeing the Ellisons.

I pulled up my messages and tossed a few new pieces of junk mail away. One envelope glowed a dull orange. In the spot where a real envelope would have a seal, this soligraphic one had a countdown clock, ticking away, only a couple minutes left. I turned it over and over but couldn’t get it open.

Feet skittered past in the hall as more and more names were called. Mostly the younger students, but a few of my friends.

“Molly Hayashi.” That First Year who I’d caught coming back to berate herself. She should try to get in good with her parents while she still could.

I pried my nail under the seal of the envelope, but it stuck tight.

“Wyck O’Banion.” Probably his brother, Den, sneaking contraband junk food in.

Why couldn’t I get this thing open?

“Charlie Wu.” He’d play it cool but was always secretly giddy when his grandma visited.

The envelope timer hit zero and sprang open.

Dolores cleared her cactus throat over the P.A., and Mimi scooted to the edge of the couch, waiting for her name to be called next.

I pulled out the note. It read:

Hey, kiddo.

Deadline’s up.
[
Leto.
The name came out like a swear in my mind.]
You disappoint me. I hate being disappointed. Which got me thinking about disappointments in general: What sort of things get a resourceful gal like Bree Bennis down? Nothing came to mind, but in a stroke of luck, I’m headed to the hospital soon. I’ll be sure to drop by your mom’s room to ask her. No one knows you better than her, right?

P.S. Tough break on that forced fade. My sources tell me you have a new friend to help you through it. Glad to hear it.

My skin went frigid as I tried to rip the note up. Even as I tore and tore, the pixels knit themselves back together, yet another reminder that I couldn’t escape Leto. He knew about Finn. Which meant Leto must be having me followed. This was bad. This was very, very bad. And that threat against my mother. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t.

Of course he can!
a voice shrieked in my head.
He’s a blarking chronosmuggler. What were you thinking?

And Bergin had
just
warned me to be on my best behavior. If I got caught … But then, paying for my mother’s bills was the least of my worries if Leto got to her first. I whimpered.

“Bree Bennis.”

I jerked my head up. Dolores had said my name. This couldn’t be happening. Leto.
Here.

Wait.
My brain caught up with my racing pulse. Leto operated in shadows, not school cafeterias. There was no way he’d come here. But I had no one else, or at least no one who cared enough about me to …

Oh. No. Finn. Didn’t.

chapter 14

UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES,
one more set of footsteps would have added to the din in the steel and glass portico. Today the sound of my feet silenced the rest.

I could hear everyone’s thoughts. “What’s she doing at Family Night? Bree never comes to Family Night. Who does she have other than her mom?”

Yes. Who?

My long-lost—what would Finn have gone with?—cousin, probably, stood there at the welcome desk, his arms spread wide like he was expecting a hug. Hug, my arse. He’d be lucky if I didn’t give him a giant slap upside the noggin. With the prying eyes that surrounded us, a quick neck squeeze it was. It wasn’t my fault I hadn’t had time to file my fingernails in a week.

“Ow.” Finn grabbed the spot on his skin where I’d left a claw mark. “Nice to see you, too.”

My cement smile fractured. “What are you doing here for Family Night, dearest…”

“Distant cousin Finn.”

“Yes, as you can see, so many of the other students have their
distant cousins
visiting them.”

Finn’s lip brushed my ear as he bent down to whisper, “I’m not here to see the other students.”

Heat radiated from the base of my neck and tingled down my spine. Nerves. And anger. Too bad sending Finn away would only draw more attention.

“All right.” I rumpled my fingers through his hair so the style didn’t look so ridiculously out-of-date. “I’ll handle the introductions. Follow my lead and keep your blabber shut. You’re my withdrawn and dim-witted relative who happens to be both nonverbal and—”

Ow.
I stumbled into Finn. Mimi’s mom had stepped on my foot as she plowed past me with her husband, their hands outstretched. Mimi had inherited the supermodel gene from her mom. Her dad? Kind of looked like a peeled potato with dead caterpillars for eyebrows.

“Mimi didn’t tell us Bree had any family in the area!” Mrs. Ellison grabbed my hand, only to release it a second later to grab Finn’s.

“It’s so good to meet you. How are you two related?” asked Mr. Ellison.

“You’ll sit with us at dinner, won’t you?” His wife interrupted him before I had a chance to make something up.

“And we’d love you to join us in the weekly Ellison Yahtzoid game later on.”

“How could Mimi never have mentioned you?” Mrs. Ellison looked at her daughter with a hint of reproach.