Revelations

Melinda Metz

Fingerprints 06 - Revelations

Okay, you can do this,
Rae Voight thought.
Youhave to do this.
She peered down the hallwayshe knew Anthony
would use to get to thecafeteria. She didn’t want to see Anthony. Not now.Not ever. Which was why she’d been
avoiding himfor days. But she had to talk to him. He had a rightto know how things had ended. Until she told
him,she couldn’t get on with her life. And that’s all shewanted. To get on with her normal-girl life withher so-far-above-normal-former-ex-boyfriendMarcus Salkow.

Thinking of Marcus made her feel all cozy, like she’d been wrapped in her favorite fuzzy blanket.
A few minutes

with Anthony, then it can be all Marcus all the time,
Rae promised herself. She took anotherlook down the hall.

Come on, Anthony, come on,
she thought.
I want to get this over with.

An electric tingle ran down Rae’s spine. And a moment later she saw Anthony heading toward her. It was like the
rest of her body recognized him before her eyes did. Except no. No. There was no reason for a surge of energy to
run through her just because Anthony Fascinelli was in the vicinity.

Rae nervously fluffed her curly, reddish brown hair. She wished she’d worn shoes with higher heels. It would feel
good to be taller than Anthony during this conversation. Maybe she should wait until tomorrow and-

No,
Rae ordered herself.
You are doing this. Right here. Right now.
“Anthony,” she called out before she could
change her mind. He reached her way too quickly. She wasn’t ready. She-

“Steve Mercer is dead,” she blurted. “So no one’s after me anymore. I just wanted you to know because… because
in a way he was after you, too, since you were helping me. So thanks. And have a nice life.”

Anthony blinked. “Back up,” he demanded, staring at her as if she were speaking another language. “
Who
is
Steve Mercer?”

Like you care,
Rae wanted to scream at him. Instead she pulled in a long, slow breath. Somehowit had all blurred
together in her mind… what Anthony knew and what he didn’t know. Maybe because she was trying her hardest not
to know any of it anymore, to just forget it had ever happened.

“Steve Mercer was a scientist,” she explained. “He was in charge of that group my mother was in.”

“Right. The group,” Anthony agreed. He paused. “Hold on-a scientist? I don’t get it. What exactly was the group
about?”

Rae swallowed. Why couldn’t Anthony just let her get through this quickly?

“The group was-they were people who had some kind of special ability,” she said. She glanced around the
hallway almost out of habit, then reminded herself that no one was after her anymore. “And Mercer’s job was to get
the people in the group to develop major psi powers,” she continued, focusing her gaze back on Anthony. “Drugs,
radiation, shock treatment-you name it, Steve did it to them. To my mom,” she added in a softer voice.

“And it worked,” Anthony said, his brown eyes wide in amazement.

“Yeah, it worked so well that I ended up… you know,” Rae said. “And that’s why Mercer was after me. I guess the
guy went kind of nuts. He decided that what he’d done to the members of the group was dangerous to society. So
he basically went on alittle killing spree. He killed my mom and at least one other person from the group. Maybe
more. And he watched the kids who were born after the experiment. Watched us our whole lives. When he saw that I
had been affected, he decided he needed to kill me, too.”

Rae shook her head hard. “But you don’t need to know all this. What you need to know is that it’s over. Mercer’s
dead. Guys from the government agency that funded the experiments killed him. So no one’s going to be attempting
to massacre me again. No one’s going to get kidnapped.”

“That’s great. That’s so freakin’ great.” Anthony reached for her. Rae jumped away, scraping her back against the
corner of the trophy case behind her. How could he even think of touching her after what he’d done to her?

“Freakin’ great,” Rae repeated. “Yeah. Exactly. So what I wanted to tell you is your life can go back to normal.

Yours and Yana’s.” The name Yana felt like it was made of razor blades. Rae was surprised her mouth didn’t start
bleeding the second she’d gotten the name out.

“Rae… I…” Anthony jammed his hands into his pockets. “I should have told you that Yana and I had hooked up. I
shouldn’t have-”

“What?” Rae interrupted. “Shouldn’t have destroyedmy little sweet-sixteen birthday dinner by showing up with
Yana?”

“It’s not like you and I were ever-” Anthony began to protest.

“I thought we were friends,” Rae interrupted. “That’s what I thought we were. And then you got together with Yana
just so I’d know how it felt to have someone go behind my back. Even though I only looked for your dad because I
wanted to help, and I didn’t even send Yana’s dad that stupid letter.”

“The letter about treating Yana better? What does that have to do with-”

“Yes, that letter. Don’t bother pretending to be so innocent, Anthony,” Rae cut in again. “I know you and Yana got
together as payback. She
told
me. She thought I went behind her back with the letter, so she decided to go behind
mine. And you went along for the ride.”

“You just assume I was in on it, right?” Anthony said, his voice flat. “You don’t even ask me. You just assume.

Because that’s just the kind of thing I’d do.”

“So you started going out with my best friend because you-” Rae began.

This time Anthony interrupted her. “Because she’s hot, okay? And it’s not like you and I were-”

“But you kissed me,” Rae accused. “And then you were sticking your tongue down Yana’s throattwo seconds
later.” She pressed the heels of her hands against her forehead, then dropped her arms to her sides. “This isn’t
what I wanted to say to you. I just wanted you to know that everything is over and that you, Jesse, me, we’re all safe.

”

Rae forced herself to meet Anthony’s gaze. Usually his eyes reminded her of melted Hershey’s Kisses. But right
now they were hard and cold. “Thanks. Thanks for what you did for me.”

“Yeah, thanks, and now you that you have no use for me, I should just get away from you, right, Rae?”

“It was your choice,” she muttered. Then she had to look away. She felt like Anthony’s eyes were turning her to ice.

“Oh, there’s Marcus. I should go.” She didn’t wait for an answer. She just rushed over to Marcus and hurled herself
at him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Hi,” Marcus mumbled against her lips.

Rae didn’t answer. She closed her eyes, wanting to lose herself in the taste of Marcus. Just kiss him and kiss him
and kiss him.

“Maybe we should take this to my car,” Marcus finally said, pulling away half an inch.

“Maybe,” Rae agreed. She slid her arm around his waist, turned him toward the nearest exit-and saw Mr.

Jesperson staring at them. The teacher creeped her out, always so interested in how she was
doing,
but Rae forced
herself to smile at him, anyway.
Look at me, Mr. Jesperson,
she thought.
I’m fine. I’m more than fine. You don’t have

to worry about poor, troubled Rae Voight anymore. I have my life back. And I’m going to make it perfect. Perfect with

Marcus.

“I know we’re going to the car,” Rae told Marcus. “But I think I have to kiss you again right here.”

Anthony felt his lips heat up. Like he was the one kissing Rae instead of Marcus.
But you’re not,
he told himself.

She’s made it glass clear that you’re dead as far as she’s concerned. Dead and rotting.

Saliva flooded his mouth, and he got that about-to-puke feeling. He had to get out of there. Anthony turned on his
heel and strode back down the hall and out into the parking lot. He pulled in gulps of the crisp fall air until his
stomach stopped trying to jerk itself up his throat, then he headed over to his car-technically his mom’s car-and got
in. He put the Hyundai in reverse and backed out of the parking spot so fast that the motion threw his body back
against the seat. He didn’t care. He had to get out of there. Away from Rae. Rae and Marcus and kissing. Now, now,
now.

Anthony just drove. He didn’t care where he was going as long as it was away. At least that’s what hethought until
he realized he was heading to Yana’s school. He did a cop check of the street, then pressed the gas pedal down a
little farther. Less than two minutes later he was parked in front of the school. He didn’t want to waste time looking
for her, so he asked the security guard at the closest entrance where to find the main office. After the guy did a
friggin’ inspection of Anthony’s ID, he pointed Anthony down a hallway to the left. Anthony held himself to a walk,
even though he wanted to put down his head and plow the way he did on the football field.

“I’m Yana Savari’s cousin,” he announced as soon as he was through the office door. “There’s a family emergency.

I’m supposed to get Yana and take her to the hospital.”

Anthony expected to get a bunch of questions, but the girl behind the desk, who didn’t look any older than he was,
didn’t seem to care. She just turned to the computer, hit a few keys, then said, “Room 104. You want to go down
there and get her yourself?”