Revelations (12 page)

“Aiden found a storage space Mercer was renting,” Anthony explained, wondering where Jesse got that endless
energy. “It’s crammed with stuff. But Aiden thinks maybe something in there could lead us to whoever’s still after
Rae.”

“What about the government people? They didn’t clear it out?” Jesse asked.

Man, he’s quick, even with all that nonstop babbling,
Anthony thought as he drove down the street.
Jesse’s the

one who should be at Sanderson Prep, not me.

“Aiden was the point guy on the Steve Mercer situation,” he replied. “He was getting close to finding the storage
facility when he decided to quit. He’s the only one who knows where it is.”

“He quit?” Jesse popped the glove box and slammed it shut a couple of times. “I didn’t think you could just quit if
you were part of a secret government organization.” He shrugged. “At least you can’t on TV.”

“He told me he quit. But who knows. He made it hard enough to find him the other day,” Anthony answered. He
made a left at the corner, glanced at the little map he’d drawn for himself, and got in the right lane.

“And if he quit and it was all fine with everybody, he probably wouldn’t have moved out of his place so fast,” Jesse
said.

“Yeah. But you know what? I don’t really care either way. All I want is whatever info Aiden can get us.” Anthony
made the right turn. “Look for a sign that says Lock, Stock, and Barrel. It should be on the left in the next couple of
blocks.”

“Right there,” Jesse said, pointing to a sign that was so faded, Anthony might have missed it.

“Got it.” Anthony made the left and found a spot in the parking lot of the storage place. It wasn’t hard. The lot had
only two other cars. “Doing big business here,” he muttered as he climbed out of the Hyundai. “Aiden said we’re
supposed to meet him at storage shed number nine,” he told Jesse.

In silence they walked across the parking lot, through the sagging gate of the chain-link fence, and down the first
row of sheds. “Wonder if Mercer was broke or if he thought nobody would ever come looking for anything in this
dump,” Jesse finally said. His voice sounded twice as loud as normal in the deserted alley between the sheds.

“Maybe both,” Anthony answered. “The layout makes no sense. We just passed number eight, and now this one
says thirteen.”

“It’s over here,” a voice called. Anthony turned toward the sound and saw Aiden standing in the half-open doorway
of a shed off to the right. “I’m glad you brought help,” he told Anthony as Anthonyand Jesse headed up to him. “It’s-well, see for yourself.” He stepped back, and Anthony ducked inside the shed.

“It’s worse than my room,” Jesse joked as he squeezed into the shed.

“I haven’t gotten too far,” Aiden explained. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt and left
a trail of dirt behind. “Just through those five boxes in the corner.”

So that was five down and who the hell knew how many to go,
Anthony thought. The place was only about as big
as a one-car garage, but the boxes went from floor to ceiling, with only a couple of tiny paths running between the
stacks.

“Is it okay to drag a box outside?” Jesse asked.

Aiden’s mouth formed a thin line. “Better not,” he answered. “I don’t think anyone else knows about this place. But
better not. So pick a box, any box.”

“What should we be looking for, exactly?” Jesse asked.

“Could be lots of different things,” Aiden answered. “Definitely anything about Rae or her mother. And anything
about Erika Keaton and her relatives. I managed to track down a couple of her cousins. They live out of state and
haven’t been to Atlanta in years. That’s what I got from local sources. But we might get info on other relativesfrom
Mercer’s files.”

“I still don’t get this whole Erika Keaton relative thing,” Jesse said as he ripped open a box. “It doesn’t make
sense. Even if they blame Rae’s mom, it’s not like Rae did anything.”

“People do stupid things for stupid reasons all the time,” Aiden answered. He nodded in the direction of the other
side of the room. “Like I said, I’ve been stacking the boxes I’ve gone through over in that corner. Put yours over
there when you’re done.”

“Sounds good,” Anthony said. He wrestled a box down into one of the clear paths and used his pocketknife to
slice through the thick bands of packing tape. His gut clenched when he opened the box and saw that it was full of
notebooks. His reading had gotten better. A lot better. But it would take him a lifetime to get through even just the
notebooks in this box.

Then you’d better get started, right?
he asked himself. He snatched up the top notebook and flipped it open.
I’m

not going to be able to do this. I’m too freaking stupid,
he thought. He shoved the notebook back in the box,
grabbed another one, and flipped through the pages.

“Aiden,” he called. “I-” He hesitated.
Just say it,
he ordered himself. “I’m not going to be able to handle this box. All
the notebooks in it have, I don’tknow, chemical formulas or something.”

“We should start another stack for Mercer’s lab notes,” Aiden answered. “I’ll have to think about whether there’s
anybody we can trust to help us interpret them.”

Anthony dove into the task of clearing a space in another corner for the boxes of science stuff. This he could do.

Picking up heavy stuff. That’s what he was good for. When he’d moved everything there was to move, he opened
another box. More science garbage. He hoisted the box over his head and maneuvered it into place in the science
stack. Then he pulled out his pocketknife and started to attack another box.

“You guys have to see this,” Jesse called out, his voice getting higher with every word.

He sounds freaked,
Anthony thought as he shoved his way through the boxes and over to Jesse’s side. “What?”

“It seems like everything in this box is about Rae. Check this out.” Jesse thrust a folder into his hands. Anthony
flipped it open and saw a photo of Rae. She looked nervous, hyperalert, like she’d heard someone following her.

And she had. The bastard taking the picture.

Anthony flipped through the folder. All it had in it was photos of Rae. Rae painting in the empty art room. Had to
have been taken with a telephoto lens.

Rae walking through Little Five Points with Yana, carrying a shopping bag and laughing. Rae in the car with her
dad. Rae coming out of Oakvale, looking wiped out, probably after an especially nasty group therapy session. Rae
and Anthony standing in Rae’s driveway, hugging. As he looked at the photo, he could almost feel her body pressed
up against his, almost feel her hair against his cheek. That night had been one of the worst ones of his life, and Rae
had been there for him. She’d-

Not the time for thinking about that,
Anthony told himself. He handed the folder off to Aiden, who’d managed to
squeeze in between him and Jesse.

Anthony reached into the box and pulled out a notebook. Mercer had sure loved his notebooks. He opened it and
focused his attention the way he needed to when he read.

Rae Voight is exhibiting signs,
Anthony read slowly, mouthing the words.
It is time for me to take action. If she

lives, there is no way to tell what she will do with her powers. I must eliminate her. I must eliminate the risk. It is the

only logical choice. More than that, it is my responsibility. When I look at Rae, I see the greatest mistake of my life.

Killing her is the only way of redeeming myself.

Anthony’s hands started to shake so hard thathe had to put the notebook down.
Mercer’s dead,
he reminded
himself.
He can’t hurt Rae. He’s dead.

But somebody was still after Rae. And Anthony had no idea who it was. Or where they were. Or what they would do
next.

He dug into the box and pulled out another notebook. He needed answers. Fast.

“Okay, you’re up, Rae,” Ms. Abramson said.

I wish Jesse were here,
Rae thought. She liked talking mostly to him when she had to do her how-I’m-doing recap
in group therapy. It was just good to have a friendly face to look at when you spewed. And she could really use a
friendly face today, when any second she could start hearing voices in her head. Not a happy circumstance when
you were busy trying to demonstrate your sanity.

Not that Ms. Abramson didn’t have a friendly face. But she was always so intense, so focused on every word, that
it ended up making Rae nervous. Ms. Abramson always seemed to see so much, like she was able to peer into the
inside of your mind. Was Rae going to be able to convince her that all was right in Rae-world?

I guess I should say basically what I said to Abramson on the phone,
Rae thought.
Do the I’m-so-happy speech.

Yeah, it’s all a big fat lie. But there’s no way I’m going to start babbling about the voices in my head. Even I know

that that’s textbook schizophrenia.

“Things are great, actually,” Rae began. “I have to give you all a dork alert before I say this, but I got to be
Moonbeam Queen at this dance at my school, which is kind of a big deal. And it made me feel
normal
again, you
know?”

Rae glanced around the room and saw a couple of girls giving her nods. But Ms. Abramson wasn’t. She was
looking at Rae like she wasn’t buying a word Rae was saying.
Can she see it?
Rae wondered.
Can she see the

craziness that I keep shoving down?

“Go on,” Ms. Abramson urged.

“Um, okay. My boyfriend and I danced almost every dance. And-” She struggled to come up with something else to
say. “And I’m doing volleyball in PE. I caught a ball with my head, but other than that, school’s fine.”
Other than that

and a few flyers about my mom being a psycho killer, emphasis on the psycho,
she added silently.

Ms. Abramson seemed to be waiting for Rae to say more.
Probably she wants me to cough up something a little

negative,
Rae thought.
What’s therapy without a painful revelation or two?

“My boyfriend, it’s great between us,” Rae saidin a rush. “But sometimes, when he looks at me, I think he’s
remembering last spring. I mean, he was there when I had the breakdown. I don’t think he’s ever been able to get it
out of his head. It’s like… it’s like sometimes he’s waiting for it to happen again.”

“Could you be projecting?” Riley Simpson asked, shooting a little glance at Ms. Abramson to see if she approved
of his insightful question. Riley’d only been in the group a few weeks, and he was still in full-out butt-kissing mode.

“It sounds like you might really be afraid that you’re going to have another breakdown, but you’ve decided to tell
yourself that it’s your boyfriend who has those fears.”

“That’s an interesting observation, Riley,” Ms. Abramson said. “What do you think, Rae? Are you experiencing any
doubts about your mental health? It would be completely natural if you were.”

Oh my God. Kill me now,
Rae thought.
Or better yet, kill Riley.
Yeah, she was afraid she might be heading for
another breakdown. Voices in your head were never a good sign. But she absolutely wasn’t projecting anything
onto Marcus.

“I guess sometimes I still worry,” Rae answered. “But not as much as I used to.” She’d wanted to throw Ms.

Abramson a bone, and she had. But thatwas it.

“We’ll all be interested to hear how you’re doing with those fears at our next session,” Ms. Abramson told her.

“We’re out of time for today.”

The horrible sound of metal chair legs squeaking against the floor filled the room as everyone charged for the
door. Rae led the pack. When she made it out of the main exit, it was like her entire body let out a sigh of relief.

Until she remembered what she had to do next. She was supposed to meet up with Yana at the hospital to see how
Yana’s psychiatric evaluation had gone. Just the thought of going into that place again made all of Rae’s muscles
go tight as guitar strings. Tighter. So tight, it felt like the slightest wrong move could snap them all, leaving Rae in a
motionless heap.

Suck it up,
Rae told herself as she headed to the bus stop.
You’ve got to do whatever you can to make sure Yana

doesn’t end up in the hospital.
Friend, not friend-it didn’t matter. If a total stranger needed help staying out of a
straitjacket, Rae’d probably do it.

She spotted the bus coming down the street and jogged the last few steps to the stop. The doors wheezed open,
and Rae climbed on. In about half an hour she’d be at the hospital.

Rae spent the half hour figuring out exactly how tight the muscles in her body could get. By the time she entered
the hospital, her neck muscles felt like they’d hardened into granite. Like if she wanted to turn her head, she’d have
to grab it with both hands and yank. Except her arm muscles might do the snapping thing if she tried to lift her arms
that high.